The Star Wars RPG and its various forms

[Inquisitor Tremayne]

Let's get a discussion going on the pros and cons of the various incarnations of the Star Wars RPG. Including any adopted systems anyone may have played.

The current published versions that I am aware of are WEG's d6 version, WotC's Original Core Rulebook (OCR), WotC's the Revised Core Rulebook (RCR), and now WotC's Saga Edition.

I have played all of the above and I am interested to hear other peoples takes on them.

I am also interested to hear if folks have adapted systems to the SW universe and how those worked.

Post away!

[jisan74]

Well i never played the weg version but i have read the rules and watched several friends play it for about 6 hours.To be honest i never did like it something about it put me off and i'm not sure what it was.

As the orginal book and the RCR book i've played numerous session with them and i found the rcr book the best for me.I've managed to take some of the rules from the original book and added them to the rcr.

As for saga i've only read some reviews and and read some posts from other forums about the game.The game seems good but much like weg version something about it is putting me off.

I've been thinking off taking some rules from the palladuim game system and putting them in my rcr games but i haven't decided which rules i will use or not.

I've also been thinking of adding 2 new ability scores to my rcr game
they are accuracy ranged and accuracy melee. This would mean the strength score would no longer affect how good you hit with melee and unarmed attacks and ranged attacks would not be affected by dex anymore.But i'm not sure if i'm going to add it or not.

[PhishStyx]

Don't forget the Wushu version!

http://bayn.org/nameless/starwars/index.html

Now, there is a truly cinematic Star Wars game I want to play.

[vadersson]

Just to chime in with my thoughts.

I started with WEG and have now played several games in it and also runs some campaigns. (See my sig)

The d6 system is wonderful, until you get to a Jedi campaign. My love for D6 was severely strained running a New Republic game with some young Jedi Knights. Even with 180 Character points, the Jedi were not as powerful as I had hoped. The Force system was also cumbersome. Overall I still like D6, but it is showing its age.

The few times I played the first d20 system just flat out sucked. I have never liked the system, but some of that my be resentment over D6 losing the license.

The Saga edition looks great. So far I have read a lot of the book. The system looks robust and simple enough to help focus on the game, not the mechanics. I am willing to give it a try. I will let you know if I get a game going.

See ya,
Duncan

[vadersson]

Sorry, just testing my new sig.

[pawsplay]

D6 (1st edition) was a revolution when it came out. Fast play, very simple, and a lot of fun. It had some weaknesses in the Force powers department, though; especially as characters became very powerful, Force powers became trivial to use and with enough breadth, a Force user could put other kinds of characters out of business, with the exception of grease monkeys.

D6 (2nd edition) - Smoothed over damage and Force power acquisition, but introduced a ton of noxious changes. The worst SW RPG ever.

D6 (2nd edition revised) - Removed most of those noxious changes, simplified some new systems (like customization), and offered more flexibility. A very fine game. Tends slightly toward buckets of dice at higher levels. Unfortunately, characters seem to swish a lot, even against weaker foes. And the Wild Die, I have just never gotten used to.

d20 (original) - It was okay. D&D in space, but with some worthwhile systems simplied out, which caused problems.

d20 (revised) - A fine game, but ultimately flawed. The WP/VP system became cumbersome in some scenarios, stun weapons were never quite down right, and feat chains become totally unwieldly past about level eight or so. Could not do a lot of cinematic derring do... most cool abilities that were allowed came about as feats. The class divisions seemed ultimately arbitrary.

Saga - A very fine game. It plays fast and has a lot of flexibility. My main complaints are some arbitrary systems (the "Force suite" is purely a balance thing, it reflects no in-universe rationale except very abstractly), somewhat chunky advancement (desired Talents are going to be at least two levels apart), a weak Feat list, and some race descriptions that need some work (Ithorians are probably a canon mistake; in no other sources do they have this bellow, which seems to be inspired by a Jedi power from the Clone Wars cartoon). Despite encouraging multiclassing in a lot of ways, it's a bit punitive toward low level multiclass characters (less than 4th level), since skill training takes a feat. There are some break downs which the Revised system tried to address, such as the utility of armor, high hit point characters shrugging off blaster rifles, etc. For instance, putting on a blast helmet and vest is likely to get you killed in Saga!

[Inquisitor Tremayne]

D6 (1st edition) was a revolution when it came out. Fast play, very simple, and a lot of fun. It had some weaknesses in the Force powers department, though; especially as characters became very powerful, Force powers became trivial to use and with enough breadth, a Force user could put other kinds of characters out of business, with the exception of grease monkeys.

D6 (2nd edition) - Smoothed over damage and Force power acquisition, but introduced a ton of noxious changes. The worst SW RPG ever.

D6 (2nd edition revised) - Removed most of those noxious changes, simplified some new systems (like customization), and offered more flexibility. A very fine game. Tends slightly toward buckets of dice at higher levels. Unfortunately, characters seem to swish a lot, even against weaker foes. And the Wild Die, I have just never gotten used to.

d20 (original) - It was okay. D&D in space, but with some worthwhile systems simplied out, which caused problems.

d20 (revised) - A fine game, but ultimately flawed. The WP/VP system became cumbersome in some scenarios, stun weapons were never quite down right, and feat chains become totally unwieldly past about level eight or so. Could not do a lot of cinematic derring do... most cool abilities that were allowed came about as feats. The class divisions seemed ultimately arbitrary.

Saga - A very fine game. It plays fast and has a lot of flexibility. My main complaints are some arbitrary systems (the "Force suite" is purely a balance thing, it reflects no in-universe rationale except very abstractly), somewhat chunky advancement (desired Talents are going to be at least two levels apart), a weak Feat list, and some race descriptions that need some work (Ithorians are probably a canon mistake; in no other sources do they have this bellow, which seems to be inspired by a Jedi power from the Clone Wars cartoon). Despite encouraging multiclassing in a lot of ways, it's a bit punitive toward low level multiclass characters (less than 4th level), since skill training takes a feat. There are some break downs which the Revised system tried to address, such as the utility of armor, high hit point characters shrugging off blaster rifles, etc. For instance, putting on a blast helmet and vest is likely to get you killed in Saga!

I agree with everything except your complaints about Saga.

I will go into more detail later.