I'm not seeing where he says he won't make changes -- in fact, he refers you to the forums so that you can see the (enormously lengthy) debates over what to change, if anything. I know he isn't eager to re-write the entire rules set, but I also believe he is strongly inclined to fix the rules which require the Conan the Wizard/Einstein the Barbarian effects as well as Experience in general, looking hard at the pole weapon rules and talents in general, and thinking about all sorts of new things like new creatures and so on.
Also, Liz Danforth is being tagged to do the new counters as well as some interior art for the game. And over on the threads, at least one thread closed with a firm demand (and a fairly firm commitment by Steve) to have Liz do at least one counter with purple bellbottoms and no feet.
So, again, I'm not sure where all this pessimism comes from.
From: Cris Fuhrman <fuhrmanator@gmail.com>
To: tft@brainiac.com
Sent: Thursday, March 1, 2018 8:46 AM
Subject: Re: New SJGames TFT website
Thanks Brett! On the page, SJ says maybe most of the rules won't change. I was thinking at least the Conan-Wizard paradox (high ST) would be tackled, but I guess it's a personal peeve. The proposed solutions are all to some degree more complex (and I guess they can be applied).
I can appreciate that SJ doesn't want to make too many changes, but at the same time are we all going to be satisfied with a new TFT that only has a new art/presentation? Seems like a missed opportunity, especially after all these years of blathering on this group. :-)
I recall Liz Danforth said in an interview she drew bell bottoms on the art because she wasn't good at drawing feet as an artist at the time (a very humble and charming comment). But, those bell bottoms are part of the reason I love the old TFT counters. I guess the old ones will always be there.