D6 Star Wars RPG Thoughts

Wednesday Boy said:

Another house rule we used was to completely ignore the space combat rules as written and run a more simplified form of space combat that was more cinematic. I don't remember the space combat rules specifically anymore but I recall feeling that it required too many rolls to simply maneuver around and space combats in turn felt very slow.

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That depends on which space combat rules you used. First off, there was the boxed set called Star Warriiors, and this was a very detailed board game with a hex map and counters. Many of the first edtion adventures would refer to this game to play out detailed space combat. Usually, two options were given, the Star Warriors version and the role playing version from the first edition rulebook. Once second edition came out, Star Warriors was never updated, and references to it in adventures was dropped.

So, if you're talking about Star Warriors, then, yes, it was designed as a war game. Those can be slow, but a lot of people prefer the detail.





The role playing version in the first edition core rulebook are pretty simple rules. All the action takes place in the imagination. No maps or counters. This combat system was designed to involve players and their characters, so there's rolls the ship's crew needs to make: Piloting, Shields, and Gunnery.

This space combat system played out just like personal combat. There was a Piloting Segment, where everyone says what they're going to do in the round (which is just like the personal combat Declaration step). Then the Speed segment, where position can be changed (a simple roll to see if the ship that you're chasing gets farther away from you, or if you get closer to it). Then there are Fire segments, where the ship's weapons are fired.

1. Declare Actions
2. Move ships (in imagination) to see if there is new range.
3. Fire weapons.

So, the space combat really was pretty simple.




Now, I've always disliked Declaration phases, and just like what I did with personal combat, I did with space combat. We rolled initiative and then moved each ship in turn just as if we were playing a personal combat encounter. It worked great.




Each time the rules changed, the space combat procedure was changed, too. So, when the Rules Upgrade came out, the first edition space combat rules were altered. Then, again, when the Rules Companion was published.

And, even again, when Second Edition and Second Edition Revised & Expanded. So, you might have played one of those versions of the rules.

Typically, the space combat procedure was simplified with each new rule tweak, but, in contrast, more crunchy aspects were also added to space combat.

For example, in first edition, each space ship has a Speed code. This is a simple die code just like a character's stat or skill. The Millennium Falcon has a code of Sublight 4D. So, if the Falcon were chasing a TIE fighter, it would roll its sublight speed code and compare that to the same of the TIE. If the Falcon wins, then the Falcon increase one range category closer to the TIE. If the TIE wins, then the TIE moves out farther from the Falcon by one range category.

Ranges are simple: Short, Medium, Long. If the TIE is at Long range and increases range, then TIE gets away. If an Imperial Customs Frigate makes range to the Falcon Short, then the Frigate can attempt to board the Falcon.

Pilots can combine their Piloting skill roll with the ship's Speed roll to reflect not just the power of the vessel (Speed code) but the pilot's ability in the cockpit. This counts as an action if the pilot is going to do other things during the round (like angle a deflector shield or fire the ship's weapons).

As the rules were upgraded, the Speed Code disappeared and was replaced with actual movement points. This allowed the GM to play out space combat on a hex map or still keep it in the head with the movement points and a more elaboarate movement system (4 different movement options).

Water Bob said:

The role playing version in the first edition core rulebook are pretty simple rules. All the action takes place in the imagination. No maps or counters. This combat system was designed to involve players and their characters, so there's rolls the ship's crew needs to make: Piloting, Shields, and Gunnery.

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We played the Second Edition Revised and Expanded and I guess I'm confusing something about it. We never paid the space combat section much mind but I thought I read later that you had to roll for every change in movement. So if you wanted to loop back on someone who was following you, it required a Piloting roll for each 90 degree turn that you made. It's been a loooooong time since I looked at the rules and I could have read them incorrectly back then. But we took a very lax approach to following any space combat rules.

Wednesday Boy said:

We never paid the space combat section much mind but I thought I read later that you had to roll for every change in movement.

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Second Edition got rid of the Speed Codes and instituted a new movement system. SW 2E R&E gave ships a Space statistic. These are basically movement points. For example, the Millennium Falcon was rated at Space 8. It's akin to a character's move rating (Move 10 means a character can walk 10 meters per round). Space units are not defined. This can be a number of hexes on a board or just a generic way of keeping track of distance between vessels (mostly for combat range purposes).

Like a character, a ship could move at Cautious Speed (half Space number), Cruising Speed (full Space number), High Speed (double Space Speed) or All-Out Speed (4 x Space).

Whether or not you have to roll for movement depends on two things: The space terrain and the speed of the vessel.

Cautious Move: Vessel movement doesn't even count as an action in most space terrains. It's a free action. But, when the space terrain is classified as Difficult, Very Difficult, or Heroic, a check vs. Pilot skill must be made.

What is Difficult Space Terrain? Starfigthter combat among a lot of other space vehicles or in a dense asteroid field. Remember the scene in The Empire Strikes Back where the Falcon is being chased by TIEs through the asteroids close to Hoth? That's Difficult Space Terrain.

Very Difficult and Heroic terrain are steeper degrees of stuff in the way.



Cruise Move: Move at 1x Space Speed. This does count as an action but the action automatically succeeds on Very Easy, Easy, and Moderate terrains. The Difficult, Very Difficult, and Heroric terrains all require a throw.

High Speed: 2x Space Speed. Requires a roll for all movement modes. Counts as an action.

All-Out Speed: 4x Space Speed. Requires a roll for all movement mods. Pilot can peform no other actions.

if you wanted to loop back on someone who was following you, it required a Piloting roll for each 90 degree turn that you made.

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There are several maneuvers that second edition presented for the game. The idea was to involve the pilot (and crew) character, allowing them to roll on their respective skills.

Ships sensors required a throw and used a couple of different modes. Shields were used as reaction skills, like the Dodge or Brawling Parry in standard character combat. There were weapons to be fired, and if the ship was damaged, then Damage Control tasks could be performed.

All this to allow regular roleplaying from the seat of an X-Wing or the bridge of the Falcon.

The Rebel Alliance Sourcebook for 2nd Edition introduced fighter maneuvers where the pilots could peform various maneuvers to help the ship get position on the enemy. Some GMs used the maneuvers meant for air speeders while in space battles. They all required a throw to perform the maneuvers.

TECHNICAL

I'm still reading over the first edition core rulebook. Whether I actually get a game going or not is up in the air. I'm just enjoying the read!

There's lots of things to fix in the Star Wars universe: starships and speeders, droids, weapons and armor and other gear. It's a technologically advanced society.

So, it makes sense that one of a character's six main attributes measures his technical aptitude: Technical.

In Star Wars, if the character doesn't have an improved skill, he simply throws the die code of the governing attribute, and TECH governs all the repair skills. So, everybody in the Star Wars universe can fix some things--it's just the stuff that's real hard to fix that requires additional training.

Reading through the skills section, I saw that the game's got this neat little repair mechanic.

Remember the character Roark Garnet from earlier in the thread? He's got Technical 2D+2 with no improved skills, which means, anytime he attempts to repair anything, he rolls a base 2D +2.

So, let me show you how this repair mechanic works. I do it with an example.





Roark's ship takes damage when navigating the rings of a gas giant. The GM rules that the difficulty number to fix the ship is 20.

So, Roark rolls 2d+2 and gets a total of 8. So, 8 points of the total of 20 is fixed. Now, the target number is 12.

The first try at repairing something takes 15 min (unless the GM specifies otherwise).

The second try takes a day.

The third try takes two more days.

Try four takes four more days.

Try five takes eight more days.

And so on.


So, going back to our example, Roark has to repair 12 more points of damage. He works an entire day on it and rolls his TECH attribute 2D+2, gets a total of 8 a second time. The ship still isn't fixed, but there's light at the end of the tunnel.

Two more days (for a total of 3days and 15 minutes) Roark has been working on this ship. Once these extra two days are up, he rolls his 2D+2 for 4+ and gets a 10. The ship is fixed!



That's a nice little piece of mechanics writing. I appreciate a good, simple game mechanic.

D6 Star Wars is all about fast action, blaster bolts flying, speeder drivin' fun.

The rules, even the lite rules provided in first edition, can get as detailed as a GM wants. For example, every weapon is given range categories so that one blaster pistol may be a bit more effective at short range than the other.

But, if you don't mind glossing over these types of details, and you just want a wam-bam exciting game, there is a suggestion in the first section of the first edition combat rules: It says to play out combat in the imagination--don't mess with maps and exact distances. The GM describes the action, players describe their actions, and the GM puts it all together, telling players when to roll.

The suggestion for quick combat goes on to say: Regardles of the exact weapon values, consider Point Blank Range to be 3 meters or less (about 10 feet).

Consider most indoor locations to be Short Range.

If the indoor location is very big (this is Star Wars, after all), like a large hangar bay, then use two ranges: Short and Medium Range. If targets are far, then use the rule of thumb that blaster pistols are at Medium Range while blaster rifles are at Short Range.

And, if conducting the combat outside, where typically there is a lot of space, use a similar rule of thumb: blaster pistols at Medium and Long Range; blaster rifles at Medium range.

Remember that the difficulty for Long Range is so hard that it's usually reserved for sniping weapons with scope attachments.



So, the game can be played on a grid, measuring everything out, using different range categories based on weapon type and movement in exact squares.

Or, the game can be played in the imagination, fast and furious, with generalized rules that lead to exciting scenes and fun.


As GM, pick your poison.

I love using miniatures for all my games except Star Wars. It's our imagination for me.

OK, so here's another non-traditional, but quick way of doing things with the D6 Star Wars rpg. (I so admire these rules.)

There is an option to play out combat on a grid, but as I indicated above, the default is to play it out in the imagination.

Rolling for initiative isn't necessary. Players declare their actions, and then the GM guides the game through narration, describing the scene as if watching a Star Wars movie.

One suggestion for Declarations is to go by Perception scores, with the lowest perception going first--indicating that person generally doesn't see the whole picture before acting, and the highest PER going last--with the effect of that character perceiving the moves of the others before making his own move.

Initiative is not important when playing out the combat scene. When it is, the actual results of the skills used are considered which character shot first.

Take the situation with Han Solo and Greedo at the cantina in Mos Eisley. (Let's use the version where Greedo fires first.) We're in a roleplaying situation that breaks out into combat.

While in the roleplay...

PC Han: I don't trust this guy. I'll slowly pull the catch on my blaster and ease it out of the holster, but keep it hidden under the table. I'll say, "Even I get boarded sometimes. Do you think I had a choice?"

NPC Greedo: He doesn't seem to notice. He's so full of glee that you see drool wink out of his snout. (Then, in character, the GM says...) You can tell that to Jabba. He may only take your ship.

PC Han: Over my dead body. If he makes even a micro move, I'm blasting him.

NPC Greedo: That's the idea. I've been looking forward to this for a long time. And, the green thug jerks and fires!

PC Han: I'll let him have it!



The way the game (first edition) suggests this be handled is just to look at the higher blaster skill roll total.

Both the characters make blaster skill checks. In this case, Greedo's total is higher, so the rodian's shot is considered first.

PC Han uses his Dodge skill as a reaction roll, which is high enough to make Greedo's shot a miss.

Now, we look at Han's shot. It was lower than Greedo's, but the difficulty at Point Blank Range is only 5+. So, Han's going to hit unless Greedo dodges. The rodian does dodge--why wouldn't he--but his dodge skill is not high, and his roll is low. Han's blaster shot is still higher than Greedo's dodge total +5. So, Han hits.

Then, Han's damage is high enough to kill Greedo outright.



That's how it would play out in Star Wars first edition. No fussing around with initiative--just straight to the action.





Another look at how this plays out--

We're in a scene where the PC is trying to break out of the Death Star. He's lost, and he's trying to make his way back to the ship. The alarm is out. Stormtrooper squads are looking for him, and the guy is doing his best to find his way to the hangar bay where his ship sits.

GM: You turn a corner and run right in front of a stormtrooper standing at guard in front of a bank of elevators.

Player: Crap! Does he see me?

GM: The trooper raises his blaster rifle and says, click, "You there! Halt!"

Player: I'm outta here. I can't afford to get bogged down in a firefight. I'm gone, moving as fast as I can the way I came.

GM: The trooper fires after you. OK, now, we're into combat rounds.

GM rolls stormtrooper's blaster rifle skill.

Player rolls his character's DEX skill, and the player wins the toss.

GM: OK, you high tail it back down the corridor and around the corner. Blaster bolts explode into the wall behind you. You were too quick to act--the trooper couldn't get a good shot at you before you were around the corner.

(If the trooper had won the toss, then we would have seen if his shots hit and damaged the PC BEFORE the player rounded the corner.)

Initiave throws are not needed. Just roll regular skill dice and play off the results.

This is a brilliant system.

Water Bob said:

Take the situation with Han Solo and Greedo at the cantina in Mos Eisley. (Let's use the version where Greedo fires first.) We're in a roleplaying situation that breaks out into combat.

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Clearly you have fallen victim to some Lucasian Heresy. As everyone knows, Han Shot First.

Olgar Shiverstone said:

Clearly you have fallen victim to some Lucasian Heresy. As everyone knows, Han Shot First.

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LOL. No, I just picked that version because it was a better example. Greedo fired first but did not hit. Han not only fired second, but hit and killed. I was just showing how that would play out mechanically using first edition rules.

As for who shot first preference? Han shot first, of course.

Luke: What a piece of junk!

Solo: She'll make point five past lightspeed. She may not look like much, but she's got it where it counts, kid.



I've always wondered about the "point five" thing. What does it mean?

In WEG's Star Wars RPG, this has actually become part of the game. Each ship with a hyperdrive is rated with a hyperdrive multiplier. This stat reflects the speed of that particular drive. ".5" or 1/2 is the fastest in common use. "2" is the slowest in common use at the time of the original trilogy.

What this means is how fast the ship will navigate through hyperspace. If a trip is plotted to take 10 days, then a vessel with a hyperdrive 1 will make that trip in 10 days. Hyperdrive 2 will make it in 20 days. The "point five" Han was referring to means that the Falcon has a 1/2 multiplier--meaning that it cuts standard trip times in half. If the trip normally takes 10 days at hyperdrive 1, the Falcon can do it in a mere 5 days.

Solo: She's fast enough for ya, old man.





Interesting handwave about the Star Wars universe. I get this from the Star Wars RPG, WEG's version.

It says: Most of the weapons used in Star Wars cauterize as they wound, so people rarely bleed to death or die of infection. In addition, medical technology is fantastically advanced, so even the most severely wounded character can be healed in short order, if medical assistance is available.