is it me? FFG Star Wars

Crothian · Sep 4, 2014

It's different but not good different. The dice add a level of extra thinking to convert all the symbols without a worthwhile payoff. The classes don't have enough uniqueness about them to feel mechanically different and the races are even worse. The books I felt were over priced for the small amount of useful content in them. The adventures were also pretty sub par. We played for about 9 months but it always felt like we needed to make the game feel like Star Wars as the game seemed to want to be generic Firefly.

FreeXenon · Sep 4, 2014

The FFG Narrative Dice is great and flexible. It allows narrative scenes that you would not normally get in a normal system. The dice do take some getting used to it, but once you do a whole new story world opens up for you. The books are gorgeous too.

fjw70 · Sep 4, 2014

I love. Star Wars and want to like the FFG game, but I am not totally sold yet.

I love the boost and setback dice idea and I like the complication of not just succeeding or not succeeding. One potential problem is that is plays slower in my experience. You can't just have the play say "I shoot the stormtrooper," roll dice, and the GM declare a hit or miss. There is usually threats or advantage (and possible triumph or despair) to deal with before moving on. I think I would like it better if the threats and advantages didn't come it as often, but that is a personal preference.

I also don't care for the idea of soak/DR in RPGs. I am an old D&D player so I like just having a pool of HP better. Again a personal preference.

The game is also a little to crunchy for me. With talent trees, force power trees, equipment mods, etc. there seems to be too much of a focus on character building for my taste.

That said. I want to give it another shot. However, I would love to see a slimmed down basic rule set for the game with options to remove soak, but I am not holding my breath.

innerdude · Sep 4, 2014

JeffB said:
And while I appreciate suggestions, I really do not like Savage Worlds

But . . . but . . . but . . .

*sigh*

Crothian · Sep 4, 2014

JeffB said:
And while I appreciate suggestions, I really do not like Savage Worlds

For a suggestion on what to play Star Wars with I would suggest mini 6. It is a free game so big plus there. It plays like the old d6 Star Wars but the dice don't get as out of hand as they could in that game. It is nicely simplified and very flexible of a system.

Neonchameleon · Sep 4, 2014

JeffB said:
I downloaded a Edge of Empire fast play adventure freebie thing, and the resolution mechanics seem crazy complicated to me. Probably the whackadoo dice make it worse when reading, but IS it a scomplicated as it seems? My first reaction is " I would never get into RPGs, if this was my first experience with a rulebook".

I am burnt out on D&D for the Kids group and looking to try something completely different. The kids like Star Wars. I am a big fan of the old D6 game, but not of the first two D20 versions (never bothered with Saga because of them).

Is it worh printing this thing out and buying some of the dice? I want fast cinematic Star Wars. Not involved tables and complex dice mechanics.

It's much more unusual than complicated. Once you know instinctively which symbol means "Success", which means "Fail", which means "Lucky", and which "Unlucky" (something that takes about a dozen rolls if that) resolution becomes extremely fast. You just throw the dice, pick the cancels off the table and then count the rest. IME it's both faster than a d20 with modifiers and much more evocative because of the lucky and unlucky results.

Now if you don't have official dice and have to use a lookup table it's hideous.

And for an alternative Star Wars system with kids I'd look at Fate Core - or even Fate Accelerated and just go for it.

JeffB · Sep 5, 2014

Thanks everyone for the feedback!

I ended up checking out some vids on yootoob, and they helped explain the dice mechanic quite a bit. I agree it is very different and seems promising from a story perspective. EotE/AoR overall seems like a nice departure, and I know *I* would enjoy playing it, and enjoy the dice, but running it for the kids is a different story. As it is, they hate any games that do not move at a quick clip, and combats that take 15 minutes or more drive them nuts

(we play mostly OD&D/S&W with some watered down PF and 4E ish feats/powers/healing)

I have put the feeler out there for them to try the EotE quick start as just a one-shot, and see what happens..so far no responses. I can always try to pick up a WEG D6 book and adventure on ebay or Amazon (I sold my collection a while back).

I will check out the suggested systems as well. Also need to go find my old PDF copies of Stars Without Number, and Terminal Space and give 'em a quick once over. Maybe one of those might be the answer.

JeffB · Sep 5, 2014

Crothian said:
For a suggestion on what to play Star Wars with I would suggest mini 6. It is a free game so big plus there. It plays like the old d6 Star Wars but the dice don't get as out of hand as they could in that game. It is nicely simplified and very flexible of a system.

I just took a looksee and downloaded the PDF.

SUPER Cool.

I am thinking I can run a quick one-shot with this to see how the Kids dig it, and then it looks to be very easy to work with old WEG SW materials**

**I am a unashamed non-fan of the prequel trilogy, and have never bothered with learning anything about the Expanded Universe, other than reading Splinter of the Minds Eye 35 or so years ago, so it will be a Rebellion era game anyway

Crothian · Sep 5, 2014

JeffB said:
I just took a looksee and downloaded the PDF.

SUPER Cool.

I am thinking I can run a quick one-shot with this to see how the Kids dig it, and then it looks to be very easy to work with old WEG SW materials**

If you find that you need a little more complexity there is also d6 Space which I think the PDF is free and I've seen copies of the hardbound book for as low as $5 at cons. When I ran Mini 6 last summer I mostly used it but I borrowed skill idea and other character option from the more complex books to add in when needed.

For the most part using these with d6 Star Wars should be cake. You will find things like skill specialization and advanced skills won't be there. Also the force stuff might need to be simplified if you are going to use it.

Darth Quiris · Sep 5, 2014

IMNSHO this is the best officially published version of Star Wars ever. FFG really nailed it here and the dice, while different, add a lot to the game because they are different.

And they are easy to understand. Sure it looks and appears to be kinda complicated, but after you roll a few skill checks it will become second nature. There are not many charts at all and the only one that is necessary is the critical chart for combat and its rare that it comes up.

If you like the smuggler/firefly idea of game than get Edge of the Empire. If you like the idea of being part of the rebellion taking the fight to the Empire get Age of Rebellion. All you need is one book and you're set.

is it me? FFG Star Wars

Crothian

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FreeXenon

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fjw70

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innerdude

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Crothian

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Neonchameleon

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JeffB

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JeffB

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Crothian

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Darth Quiris

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