Star Wars!

[fishyfishyfishy]

The newest movie has inspired myself and my group to play a TTRPG version of Star Wars. We are most comfortable with d6 and d10 based systems. D20 is as little unbalanced for our tastes. Can anyone give us any advice on choosing a new Star Wars based system for our table?

[Mutazoia]

IMHO (which is shared by quite a few) is that the D6 version is, one of, if not the best edition so far, although I have been hearing some good things about the new system from Fantasy Flight. I haven't picked that one up yet, as I currently don't have a gaming group to try it with.

[hifidelity2]

I play the D6 (Second Ed – Revised and Expanded) and find that it allows you to run the games as per the films – fast paced, with enough space opera without it getting silly

You need some house rules esp with the Jedi characters as they have an almost exponential increase in power but overall I would recommend it

[Eisenheim]

The newest star wars ttrpg from Fantasy Flight Games is very interesting. I've read it but not played yet. It's a rules-heavy narrativist game, which is odd, but intriguing to me. If that sounds interesting to you, check it out. They have 3 books, which can share material or be self-contained. One for playing scoundrels and smugglers, one for rebels and one for jedi and force people in general.

[fishyfishyfishy]

That sounds perfect. Thanks guys, I'll look more into it and show it to the group!

[Jigawatts]

If you prefer d6 systems, definitely go with the WEG 2nd Edition Revised and Expanded, its the best version of d6 (and arguably, depending on who you talk to, still the best Star Wars RPG to this day).

[ALOR]

Ive been bitten by the star wars bug too. I still have all my old d20 star wars stuff which is an ok game. The d6 game was fun, but sadly I sold all of it off many years ago and as others have said force users are really powerful. The Fantasy flight system intrigues me but I have 2 issues. 1st is the cost, it looks like 60ish$ a book for the core books (180 for all 3). 2nd i'm worried my group wont like it after the investment. we love roleplaying, but also love our crunch (a bit of powergaming). Ive read reviews and either people love it or hate. There does not seem to be any in the middle. Does anyone who has played it have any advice?

thanks!

[Malifice]

Ive played them all and the D6 version by WEG is great.

Saga edition by Wizards is the best in my view (although its D20). Its the system that balances Jedi with other classes perfectly.

[Rakaydos]

Ive been bitten by the star wars bug too. I still have all my old d20 star wars stuff which is an ok game. The d6 game was fun, but sadly I sold all of it off many years ago and as others have said force users are really powerful. The Fantasy flight system intrigues me but I have 2 issues. 1st is the cost, it looks like 60ish$ a book for the core books (180 for all 3). 2nd i'm worried my group wont like it after the investment. we love roleplaying, but also love our crunch (a bit of powergaming). Ive read reviews and either people love it or hate. There does not seem to be any in the middle. Does anyone who has played it have any advice?

thanks!

Start with 1 of the $60 books. Each one is a conplete system, focused on a certian... point of view, as it were. Your Han Solos, boba fetts, and Malcolm Reynolds us e the white book, and all the gming advice is focused on PC being slimy no good rotton nerfhetders. The red book covers people like Counsular Leia, Wedge Antilles, or Commander Shepard- games where the PCs have an organization behind them. And the black book covers force users like quigon, dathomir witches, Gand Finsmen, ewok shamans, and the like.

[Hopeless]

It depends on what you want to play.

If Firefly or Leverage in space is your thing then Edge of the Empire will interest you,

If you want to play as part of a military or the Resistance from TFA then Age of Rebellion is worth looking at,

However if using the force is more interesting then Force & Destiny might fit the bill.

The WEG d6 version is a lot easier to get straight into a game so it really depends on what you fancy playing?

[Jigawatts]

Ive been bitten by the star wars bug too. I still have all my old d20 star wars stuff which is an ok game. The d6 game was fun, but sadly I sold all of it off many years ago and as others have said force users are really powerful. The Fantasy flight system intrigues me but I have 2 issues. 1st is the cost, it looks like 60ish$ a book for the core books (180 for all 3). 2nd i'm worried my group wont like it after the investment. we love roleplaying, but also love our crunch (a bit of powergaming). Ive read reviews and either people love it or hate. There does not seem to be any in the middle. Does anyone who has played it have any advice?

thanks!

By d20 stuff do you mean Saga Edition, or the earlier versions of the Star Wars d20 system? Because those early iterations are kind of crappy. If you guys love crunchy games I would definitely recommend Saga as the one to check out, I think it will be right up your alley.

[Dizlag]

I definitely recommend FFG's new Star Wars RPG, more specifically the Beginner's Game (https://www.fantasyflightgames.com/en/products/star-wars-edge-of-the-empire-beginner-game/) for about $30 or maybe less at your FLGS. You get a great adventure to introduce you to the system both as a DM and a player, a great map of a Tatoonie spaceport called Mos Shutta, a great ship map of a YT-1300, a set of basic rules (no character creation rules, btw in this Beginner's Box), and set of special dice.

FFG has also published a free follow-on adventure called Long Arm of the Hutt (long_arm_of_the_hutt_lr.pdf). So where the Beginner's Box adventure will probably last about 4 hours or so, this follow-on adventure will be another 8 - 10 hours of gaming (2 - 3 sessions). FFG also has a couple more pre-generated characters up on their website for it (https://www.fantasyflightgames.com/en/products/star-wars-edge-of-the-empire-beginner-game/) as well in the Player's Resources section near the bottom.

Personally, this roleplaying system is the best one I've played in the 30+ years I've been roleplaying. It's very engaging for the players using this new narrative dice system. No longer is there a "you passed" or "you failed". You can pass a check despairingly or fail triumphantly. The dice are not the end of a result, they are a means for ALL to tell an interesting story and have fun.

Oh, one more thing ... they have Beginner Box sets for the other two lines as well. Age of Rebellion (https://www.fantasyflightgames.com/en/products/star-wars-age-of-rebellion-beginner-game/) and Force & Destiny (https://www.fantasyflightgames.com/en/products/star-wars-force-and-destiny-beginner-game/). Along with more pre-gens and a free follow-on adventure for each.

Good luck!

Dizlag

edit: added the links for AoR and F&D.

[Philistine]

Or you could, y'know, choose not to give money to a game company that charges players for the privilege of being their beta testers, and splits the core archetypes of the setting into as many different "core" books as possible in a cash grab as naked as Peter Jackson turning The Hobbit into a trilogy.

[Dizlag]

Or you could, y'know, choose not to give money to a game company that charges players for the privilege of being their beta testers, and splits the core archetypes of the setting into as many different "core" books as possible in a cash grab as naked as Peter Jackson turning The Hobbit into a trilogy.

It's still a great roleplaying system worth the try, IMHO. Regardless of whether or not you think the game company is out for a "cash grab". As far as I'm concerned, I'm hooked and can't wait for the next supplement.

Dizlag

[Jigawatts]

We found that the Fantasy Flight funky dice slowed down gameplay quite a bit, due to someone just sitting there while trying to think of something cool to do, half the time going "I add a boost die" or "I recover strain" after the minute or so it took them to decide. Plus there is their oversaturation of rulebooks with 3 different lines ever expanding of core, supplements, adventures, etc....no thanks. I will admit that I simply prefer simulationist systems over heavily narrative ones, so FF is on the wrong side of the scale for me personally.

Saga is a complete game, and a good one at that. If you need an adventure, there is the free Dawn of Defiance (http://swse.xphilesrealm.com/Dawn%20of%20Defiance/pdf/) 10 part full campaign that goes all the way from levels 1-20.

[Anonymouswizard]

Or you could, y'know, choose not to give money to a game company that charges players for the privilege of being their beta testers, and splits the core archetypes of the setting into as many different "core" books as possible in a cash grab as naked as Peter Jackson turning The Hobbit into a trilogy.

Gah, I know there are valid thematic reasons to split EotE and AoR apart (not that I like it), although they could include proper rules for starting as a force sensitive (no, I do not own thea rulebook so I don't know what the Force Sensitive Exile is like). A simple splatbook giving the 'force adept', 'jedi guardian', and 'jedi consular' (and maybe 'jedi sentinel') careers as well as rules for lightsaber styles and a large selection of force powers is all I'd want, I'd be fine only having one of EotE and AoE because I coould hack careers from one to fit the other alright.

Heck, I'm annoyed that I have two 40kRPG rulebooks (Dark Heresy 1e and Rogue Trader), and only bought the second because a real life friend said it was even better than DH. I don't see why FFG couldn't sell a 'Warhammer 40k Roleplay Core Rulebook' and a 'Star Wars Roleplaying Core Rulebook', and then sell the 'games' as expansions.

On a related note, I'm that weird person who doesn't like the system. I think that advantages come up too often and it's too easy for somebody as specced as they can be at character creation (5 Attribute and 2 Skill) to have such a high chance of failure, although that might be my poor luck with dice rolls. I plan to write up a GURPS conversion for Star Wars if I ever try to run it, because assembling dice pools and interpreting results just takes too long for me. I can stand 'roll and then apply successes to actions', but it should not take me 5 minutes to calculate a dice pool. Also, I have the GURPS core back at uni (along with a pdf of UltraTech), so I don't need to shell out money beyond ink, sheets, and pencils to play it.

the FFGSW games are fun, but I at least would recommend looking elsewhere. Unlike Fate they don't let you try the game for free, and it can only be used for Star Wars out of the box (and honestly? Fate could probably do it just as well). I can see myself using the core engine for an Exalted-esque game, but it's not really enough for me.

[Jigawatts]

I don't see why FFG couldn't sell a 'Warhammer 40k Roleplay Core Rulebook' and a 'Star Wars Roleplaying Core Rulebook', and then sell the 'games' as expansions.
This. Their business model uses practices that I am really not fond of.

[Mutazoia]

This. They're Their business model uses practices that I am really not fond of.

A lot of game companies have been using that business model for years. WOTC did it long before they bought out TSR with MTG, and Wizkids actually killed one of their long running franchises (MageKnight) that way. Unfortunately, you have to look a little higher on the food chain to see the real culprit in most of these cases...Hasbro has been driving this business model since they bought WOTC, in an attempt to make TTRPGs and non-traditional board games (CTCGs) "more profitable".

[Rakaydos]

So, most of the people who are "pro FFG" are saying it's a great game, and most (not all, by any means!) of the "anti-FFG" people are saying that they disaprove of the parent company's practices.

My current group is on hiatus because the GM' wife between one half of an adventure and the next. We're organizing a second game on the side to play around the old GM's now confined schedual.

[Jigawatts]

So, most of the people who are "pro FFG" are saying it's a great game, and most (not all, by any means!) of the "anti-FFG" people are saying that they disaprove of the parent company's practices.

I dislike the actual system. And I own one of the FFG LCG's, so I don't boycott them as a company, they're just not anywhere near my go-to first choice as a game company.


A lot of game companies have been using that business model for years. WOTC did it long before they bought out TSR with MTG, and Wizkids actually killed one of their long running franchises (MageKnight) that way. Unfortunately, you have to look a little higher on the food chain to see the real culprit in most of these cases...Hasbro has been driving this business model since they bought WOTC, in an attempt to make TTRPGs and non-traditional board games (CTCGs) "more profitable".

I don't have a problem with supplements, it's a problem with the SW and 40k like being split into 3 to 5 different game lines.

[LibraryOgre]

Another note on the 2e... the d6 system is available as a free PDF from Drivethru RPG. (http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/20447/D6-Space?it=1)

It doesn't have the Star Wars specific material, but it does have the mechanics.

[RickAllison]

I have only played with the FFG system, but the two groups I've done have really enjoyed it. Some tips and interesting mechanics that we are fond of:

An online dice roller. I am one of those people who prefer the tactile pleasure of good dice in hand, but rollers (especially the one at http://game2.ca/eote/#) reduce the cost and make the experience more enjoyable, as well as tending to be more intuitive and fun than more conventional rolling programs.

The enemy systems. The style that the enemies are handled in means that the weakest enemies can still be credible threats to the party if fought head-on. Just like in the universe, one stormtrooper can easily be taken out at any level, but even Luke post-RotJ needs to think tactically about engaging a platoon working in concert. The minion groups allow for Galaxy Masters to seamlessly move from boss-like platoons of 15 troops, to 3 squads of 5, or 5 fireteams of 3. The flexibility is fantastic for keeping the players on their toes.

Jedi are both useful, but not overpowered. We have recently started using Force and Destiny and the users of the Force seem to be balanced well with the rest of the classes. There is a little bit of an exponential curve, but the requirements to obtain more Force dice limit the power of the PCs (while letting devious GMs wreak havoc). This is perfect for creating the new Force users that would pop up post-Order 66, though it does make it a little difficult to create characters like Yoda.

The Destiny mechanic. This little bit allows both GM and players to create the coincidences and otherwise-impossible moves that characterize the Star Wars movies by altering fate, and then empowering their enemy to work against them. This is such a versatile system that I plan to carry it forward into future games I GM, as it creates the sense that the party is special and important without giving them undue credit in-game.

This isn't to say that the system doesn't have its issues. The range bands make approximate distances simple, but also create some paradoxes and make it hard to represent characters like snipers; it is hard for a squishy long-shot to be a credible threat for a team when by vanilla, they are never more than three full turns of movement away from melee(although a particularly sadistic GM might make a recurring adversary using multiple Sniper Shot ranks to fire from ranges beyond sight...). However, it is a beautiful system when the players all invest into it.

[Mutazoia]

So, most of the people who are "pro FFG" are saying it's a great game, and most (not all, by any means!) of the "anti-FFG" people are saying that they disaprove of the parent company's practices.

I don't have a problem with splitting up a game like that. It's when you put essential material into separate books to force more book sales, that it gets to be a problem....such as with D&D 4e's multiple Players Handbooks.

I generally disapprove of the FFG version (so far, having not played it) for other reasons (see below)


I don't have a problem with supplements, it's a problem with the SW and 40k like being split into 3 to 5 different game lines.

A lot of long standing titles go through that mess as well, as companies lose the license and a new company picks it up. Fortunately, it is usually fairly easy to pick up the material for the previous versions of a game cheap with a little leg work and google-fu. It's the brand new iterations of a title that prove costly to pick up.

Basically, just pick an older version of a title (in this case Star Wars), get what you can find, and try it. For instance, a large chunk of the SWD6 books are all archived on D6holocron.com, and as you can see, there are a lot of people that prefer that version over later ones (it also has the largest amount of "splat" material to work with when compared to the D20 versions).

Personally I have played SW:Saga and wasn't all that thrilled (found more loop holes in that system than I ever did with the D6 version), and haven't tried the FF version yet, partly due to not having a current gaming group, and partly because I'm not overly fond of games that try to add their own special dice (or other non-standard mechanic) to a game. It's just a higher learning curve when your starting out, and an extra cost buying the special dice (which is part of the business model). By now most gamers will have a zillion sets of standard polyhedron dice, and enough d6's to sink the Titanic all over again. But why should I have to buy a whole new set of custom dice that I can only use for one specific game?

[Rakaydos]

I don't have a problem with splitting up a game like that. It's when you put essential material into separate books to force more book sales, that it gets to be a problem....such as with D&D 4e's multiple Players Handbooks.

What's "Essential Material" to you? people played Edge of Empire for 3 years (including the beta) before Force and Destiny came out.

[fishyfishyfishy]

Another note on the 2e... the d6 system is available as a free PDF from Drivethru RPG. (http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/20447/D6-Space?it=1)

It doesn't have the Star Wars specific material, but it does have the mechanics.

Nice, thanks for that link!

[Anonymouswizard]

So, most of the people who are "pro FFG" are saying it's a great game, and most (not all, by any means!) of the "anti-FFG" people are saying that they disaprove of the parent company's practices.

This is an oversimplification. I'm not anti-FFG because, although I dislike what they are doing with Star Wars and 40k, because I buy games based on the quality of the games and if I like them, not the practices of the company. This means I recently gave them money to get my copy of Anima: Beyond Fantasy.

I will say that I dislike the new Star Wars game system. I don't like the dice used, I don't like the way dice pools are built (I just prefer to give a specific number of successes required), I'm not overly fond of character creation (I think XP is a it too short and you should be able to buy skills to 3), the only part of it I like is how Droids are treated, I think it's the one place they got it right. I just don't like the system, although that doesn't mean all games using it are bad, it just means I'll use GURPS for Star Wars.


Another note on the 2e... the d6 system is available as a free PDF from Drivethru RPG. (http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/20447/D6-Space?it=1)

It doesn't have the Star Wars specific material, but it does have the mechanics.

This is good. I don't have a physical copy or a laptop, which stops me from running it, but d6 Space is definitely a good start. I'm certain Metaphysics can be changed into the Force easily.

[LibraryOgre]

This is good. I don't have a physical copy or a laptop, which stops me from running it, but d6 Space is definitely a good start. I'm certain Metaphysics can be changed into the Force easily.

IIRC, Metaphysics is pretty much the Force rules from 2e R&E with a find and replace to change "Force" to "Metaphysics".

[Philistine]

What's "Essential Material" to you? people played Edge of Empire for 3 years (including the beta) before Force and Destiny came out.

"Essential material" would certainly, at the absolute minimum, suffice to allow play as any character archetype represented in the main cast of any of the films. Otherwise you might as well not bother filing off the serial numbers from the WH40KRPGs.

[Rakaydos]

"Essential material" would certainly, at the absolute minimum, suffice to allow play as any character archetype represented in the main cast of any of the films. Otherwise you might as well not bother filing off the serial numbers from the WH40KRPGs.

Replace "any of the films" with "original trilogy", and you can do it with just Edge of Empire.
(They havnt explictly touched on the prequel era at all, though the jedi book gives the crunch you need for that era)

Do you really need to flip past Gungan every time you make a Rogue Squadron style fighter pilot? How many pages of blasters does a jedi need to plip past before reaching his lightsaber?

[Anonymouswizard]

Replace "any of the films" with "original trilogy", and you can do it with just Edge of Empire.
(They havnt explictly touched on the prequel era at all, though the jedi book gives the crunch you need for that era)

You can do Luke, Han, Leia, and Chewie, as well as Lando, the problem is that with EotE or AoR you can't do Obi-Wan Kenobi, due to the lack of Jedi classes. This isn't horrible, but Obi-Wan is a member of the party up until his death (as well as my favourite Star Wars character, so this is a bit personal), so I get annoyed as not bring able to start as the old Jedi brought out of hiding.


Do you really need to flip past Gungan every time you make a Rogue Squadron style fighter pilot? How many pages of blasters does a jedi need to plip past before reaching his lightsaber?

Gungan isn't a major thing to leave out, but I certainly would have taken it if I had the chance. Also, in EotE lightsabers are there, actually accurate enough to the OT where they didn't vary that much and a lightsaber was a lightsaber. I would personally prefer to run a post RotJ 'Republic Soldiers and Jedi' game to any of the released ones as well.

Oh yeah, that's issue 2 (several cores was issue 1). As it is the first two games are very focused, being 'thing X in time period Y', where Y is during the Empire. I would have felt better if the first three were explicitly different time periods, sort of Empire/Old Republic/New Republic.

Anyway, I want to play Jar Jar Kenobi.

[neonchameleon]

You can do Luke, Han, Leia, and Chewie, as well as Lando, the problem is that with EotE or AoR you can't do Obi-Wan Kenobi, due to the lack of Jedi classes. This isn't horrible, but Obi-Wan is a member of the party up until his death (as well as my favourite Star Wars character, so this is a bit personal), so I get annoyed as not bring able to start as the old Jedi brought out of hiding.

This is a partial truth. You can do Old Ben Kenobi using all the Jedi abilities he shows in ANH using EotE and the Force-sensitive Exile. What you can't do is Former Jedi Knight Obi-Wan Who Has All Jedi Skills In All Movies - but then running that alongside Farmboy Luke would be problematic.

[Rakaydos]

You can do Luke, Han, Leia, and Chewie, as well as Lando, the problem is that with EotE or AoR you can't do Obi-Wan Kenobi, due to the lack of Jedi classes. This isn't horrible, but Obi-Wan is a member of the party up until his death (as well as my favourite Star Wars character, so this is a bit personal), so I get annoyed as not bring able to start as the old Jedi brought out of hiding.

Quite the contrary, you can do Old Man Ben just fine in EoE. His only force power is the mind trick he uses on the stormtroopers, the same one as an AoE he uses on the Tuskan Raiders, and the same one he uses to convince more stormtroopers they heard a noise somewhere.

Just dont expect Old Man Ben to be doing the same sorts of things General Kenobi did in his prime years. New campain, new sheet.

[Anonymouswizard]

This is a partial truth. You can do Old Ben Kenobi using all the Jedi abilities he shows in ANH using EotE and the Force-sensitive Exile. What you can't do is Former Jedi Knight Obi-Wan Who Has All Jedi Skills In All Movies - but then running that alongside Farmboy Luke would be problematic.

No Lightsaber skill. :smalltongue:

It's still annoying. I actually don't want PT Jedi, I just don't want to be told 'you can't be a Jedi'. Also, I haven't looked into it, the GM I played under didn't allow you to start with force sensitive and limited to one per party, and the bounty hunter nabbedit before I could, but I don't think you can get somebody with all of old Ben's skills and powers from char gen, you need 20 XP to nab Force Sensitive Exile, then you have to take Survival, Mechanics, a few social skills, Lightsaber, and Knowledge: Force. Plus you wouldn't be able to afford a lightsaber.

Old Ben is obviously very skilled, but his stats have deteriorated. He still has good INT and Pre, but his lightsaber dice pool is mainly the skill and not high Brawn or Agility. Have I mentioned that I hate the skill cap of 2 ranks?

[Rakaydos]

No Lightsaber skill. :smalltongue:

It's still annoying. I actually don't want PT Jedi, I just don't want to be told 'you can't be a Jedi'. Also, I haven't looked into it, the GM I played under didn't allow you to start with force sensitive and limited to one per party, and the bounty hunter nabbedit before I could, but I don't think you can get somebody with all of old Ben's skills and powers from char gen, you need 20 XP to nab Force Sensitive Exile, then you have to take Survival, Mechanics, a few social skills, Lightsaber, and Knowledge: Force. Plus you wouldn't be able to afford a lightsaber.

Old Ben is obviously very skilled, but his stats have deteriorated. He still has good INT and Pre, but his lightsaber dice pool is mainly the skill and not high Brawn or Agility. Have I mentioned that I hate the skill cap of 2 ranks?

Mechanics? Social skills? When did old ben fix anything? And the one time he offere to buy someone a drink, an arm ended up on the floor.

[Mutazoia]

Anyway, I want to play Jar Jar Kenobi.


And immediately after character creation, an armada of 1000 Death Stars show up and vaporize 10 square parsecs of space, centered on you.

[Rakaydos]

There's a trick to playing hated architypes.

Instead of the saber swinging cannibal Ewok Jedi, an Ewok Shaman with a mental link with animals and a sachel full of drugs and poisons.

[Anonymouswizard]

Mechanics? Social skills? When did old ben fix anything? And the one time he offere to buy someone a drink, an arm ended up on the floor.

Mechanics come from the time where he shut down the tractor beam. Only one rank, because he doesn't really fix things, but it pays to have a bit of mechanical knowledge when you have to build your own lightsaber.

Social skills are important, but he doesn't have all of them. He's better when he's sitting down at a table convincing you then just socialising.

Although, I'm now off to see if I can build Old Ben Kenobi without a force rating. It should be possible, as long as I give him the lightsaber for free.


There's a trick to playing hated architypes.

Instead of the saber swinging cannibal Ewok Jedi, an Ewok Shaman with a mental link with animals and a sachel full of drugs and poisons.

The trick is to avoid the hated archetypes. You aren't the bumbling comic relief gungan, you're the wise old sage gungan with many knowledge skills.

[Waar]

No Lightsaber skill. :smalltongue:



You are aware that there is a lightsaber skill in Edge of the Empire, right? (it is for instance used in a npc stat block, availability subject to GM approval :smallwink:)

[Hopeless]

Stick with the melee skill unless you plan on adding the lightsaber trees from Force & Destiny.
In my head canon the OT game uses Edge for the first movie with only Leia using a career from AOR, when they did the PT series it was long after they finished the third movie and only because the GM had no plans on revisiting their original movie game... then Star Wars Rebels happened... sigh!
Poor GM still doing their best to prevent OT PCs from being used, only as NPCs...
Except for Lando of course... I was surprised they didn't ban C3-P0 after that session but who invited Ahsoka's player?!!

[Jayngfet]

Replace "any of the films" with "original trilogy", and you can do it with just Edge of Empire.
(They havnt explictly touched on the prequel era at all, though the jedi book gives the crunch you need for that era)

Do you really need to flip past Gungan every time you make a Rogue Squadron style fighter pilot? How many pages of blasters does a jedi need to plip past before reaching his lightsaber?

If you want to play an alien species that isn't rubber forehead cosmetics having entries is important. Likewise there are a number of different blasters the PCs will probably encounter that need rules. I mean if stormtroopers set up a gun emplacement or have a sniper you need rules on it.

Bare essentials can be fun, but eventually you just get to rehashing the trilogy because neither players nor GM's can really do something unusual.

[Mutazoia]

If you want to play an alien species that isn't rubber forehead cosmetics having entries is important. Likewise there are a number of different blasters the PCs will probably encounter that need rules. I mean if stormtroopers set up a gun emplacement or have a sniper you need rules on it.

Bare essentials can be fun, but eventually you just get to rehashing the trilogy because neither players nor GM's can really do something unusual.

Which is why my vote is still the D6 version ;)

[Rakaydos]

If you want to play an alien species that isn't rubber forehead cosmetics having entries is important. Likewise there are a number of different blasters the PCs will probably encounter that need rules. I mean if stormtroopers set up a gun emplacement or have a sniper you need rules on it.

Bare essentials can be fun, but eventually you just get to rehashing the trilogy because neither players nor GM's can really do something unusual.

Gun emplacent? They'e got the Heay Repeating Blaster from hoth in the equipment section of Edge of Empire core. Sniper? They'e got the Long barrel weapon mod, that can be put on a blaster rifle to turn it into a sniper weapon.

Next?

[houlio]

Bare essentials can be fun, but eventually you just get to rehashing the trilogy because neither players nor GM's can really do something unusual.

I have not found this to be the case. Been playing in two campaigns (AoR and FaD alternating), and neither follow anything like the movies. In AoR for example, we are an elite rebel cell tasked with hunting down and killing all of the Grand Admirals after the events of Empire. Our sessions tend to play out like Cohen brothers films, with lots of ineffectual planning that ends up with very high body counts. I think only one character uses anything from splats. I am the group's general best fighter, and everything I use is from the core.

If the group keeps doing movie plots, that's not the game's fault.

[RickAllison]

If you want to play an alien species that isn't rubber forehead cosmetics having entries is important. Likewise there are a number of different blasters the PCs will probably encounter that need rules. I mean if stormtroopers set up a gun emplacement or have a sniper you need rules on it.

Bare essentials can be fun, but eventually you just get to rehashing the trilogy because neither players nor GM's can really do something unusual.

In reality, rehashing the trilogy would take a lot of work. The books (probably intentionally) do not give stats for any of the major characters, and give no guidance on pulling out any of the major set-piece battles of the OT. One group we ran with FFG had a semi-disastrous that took place during the battle of Endor that proved why PCs do not mix well with established canon. The battle culminated in a four-way ship engagement between IG-88 (who now was in control of the Death Star), the Emperor and the remnants of the Imperial Navy there, the Rebel fleet, and the party. The difficult part of the encounter for the GM was recreating the Emperor and the Death Star, not the parts that the players would encounter.

If you want a gun emplacement that will give players a challenging encounter, look no further than the Heavy Repeating Blaster or several Light Repeating Blasters. If you want an even larger emplacement that forces the party to dispatch it tactically, use any of the ship weapons which range from reasonable Auto-Blasters to hulking Heavy Turbolasers. The best crew for it would probably be a minion group with Ranged (Heavy or Light) substituted for Gunnery instead, so the party can't just take pot shots and hope to really disable the gunner. It would also let you change the difficulty of the encounter on the fly.

If you want a sniper that can lock down the party from long-range, I would be happy to give you the stats on an antagonist I made just using the same character generation (with extra experience and money for cybernetics and weapon modifications) that all players go through. He is capable of firing from beyond Extreme range and reliably strike his target, so it captures the idea of an enemy that you don't have to see to fear. Admittedly, he did borrow specializations from both EotE and AoR, but he could have been built using more XP with just one or the other.

If you could name any other examples of situations that a GM might want to recreate, I would be happy to figure out if I could recreate that using the core rulebooks. True Jedi might be hard to create without the use of Force and Destiny, but the Force-Sensitive Exile serves for most basic needs and NPCs have several examples in the Adversaries section of the two other books that can be adapted to fit custom opponents or allies, or even made into PC talents.

[Knaight]

One option that hasn't been mentioned is Warbirds. It's niche, and I wouldn't use it for most things, but if you want a game about a squadron of X-Wing pilots or similar, it is a beautiful option. Even if you don't, it might be worth stealing from its vehicle rules to some extent.

[obryn]

If you're a fan of Star Wars d6, don't forget the fan-maintained Re-Up (http://waveyourgeekflag.blogspot.com/2015/04/star-wars-d6-reup-re-updated.html) version, which is fantastic.

[Mutazoia]

One option that hasn't been mentioned is Warbirds. It's niche, and I wouldn't use it for most things, but if you want a game about a squadron of X-Wing pilots or similar, it is a beautiful option. Even if you don't, it might be worth stealing from its vehicle rules to some extent.

To which I would reply "The D6 version has "Star Warriors", a stand alone "Tactical" game about star ship combat that can be used in conjunction with the regular RPG rules for more in depth ship to ship combat."

[hifidelity2]

If you're a fan of Star Wars d6, don't forget the fan-maintained Re-Up (http://waveyourgeekflag.blogspot.com/2015/04/star-wars-d6-reup-re-updated.html) version, which is fantastic.

Thanks for this - downloaded and will be reading this & probably moving over to it (I have the Revised & Expanded) so only a few minor changes

[fishyfishyfishy]

If you're a fan of Star Wars d6, don't forget the fan-maintained Re-Up (http://waveyourgeekflag.blogspot.com/2015/04/star-wars-d6-reup-re-updated.html) version, which is fantastic.

Oh nice! I'll check it out when I have an opportunity. Do you know if there is a summary of the changes made and why they made them?

[obryn]

Thanks for this - downloaded and will be reading this & probably moving over to it (I have the Revised & Expanded) so only a few minor changes
Glad to help!


Oh nice! I'll check it out when I have an opportunity. Do you know if there is a summary of the changes made and why they made them?
I found this (https://www.reddit.com/r/StarWarsD6/comments/32vel8/star_wars_reup_differences/) which I hope will help.

[Jigawatts]

Oh nice! I'll check it out when I have an opportunity. Do you know if there is a summary of the changes made and why they made them?

All the differences are listed in the box on page 6 of the pdf.