An Open Letter to Fantasy Flight and Cubicle 7 -- Cut the "Foreplay" and Give Us the Good Stuff

[Remus Lupin]

Meh. From the point of view of the original trilogy, i would never consider Vader to be a PC.

I think that's what he meant.

 

[Crothian]

You can make every character in Star Wars using these rules.

There are more then seven characters in A New Hope. In fact those seven are the ones I care about least because those are someone else's creation.

I can't make sandpeople. I can't make jawa. I can't make most of the alien characters in Mos Eisley. There are is no Star Destroyer so can't do the opening scene. We have no information on the Death Star so we can't do those scenes. We don't have X-Wings or a Tie Advanced to do those scenes.

 

[Neonchameleon]

Everything he ACTUALLY DOES in the movie Star Wars is covered in these rules.

And this, to me, is the important thing.

Again- I would argue Obi-Wan is as much a PC as Darth Vader myself.

As far as I know only Darths and Droids made Vader a PC. (Well, the Smallville RPG would as well).

There are more then seven characters in A New Hope. In fact those seven are the ones I care about least because those are someone else's creation.

You mean that all the characters with more than two lines are someone else's creation and so should be ignored?

I can't make sandpeople. I can't make jawa. I can't make most of the alien characters in Mos Eisley.

Which races are there there?

There are is no Star Destroyer so can't do the opening scene.

This is untrue. The whole point of the Star Destroyer in the opening scene was that it was an armoured plot device that didn't need stats. It was simply overwhelmingly more powerful than anything the PCs would have had access to.

We have no information on the Death Star so we can't do those scenes.

One-off armoured plot devices with only a quest-mandated way of defeating them again don't need stats.

We don't have X-Wings or a Tie Advanced to do those scenes.

In short you can't do the death star trench run and don't have a little of the advanced equipment they picked up at the end.

 

[Crothian]

You mean that all the characters with more than two lines are someone else's creation and so should be ignored?

They are great NPCs but I like to play original character. YMMV

Which races are there there?

Of the top of my head I don't know. But a very quick internet search told there are 32 district species there so a lot of them.

This is untrue. The whole point of the Star Destroyer in the opening scene was that it was an armoured plot device that didn't need stats. It was simply overwhelmingly more powerful than anything the PCs would have had access to.

One-off armoured plot devices with only a quest-mandated way of defeating them again don't need stats.

In your games maybe the PCs are willing to just let things happen like a movie. In my games my PCs are manning the gun ports and firing on that ship. I don't use them as near indestructible plot devices. I don't make it so there is just one quest driven way to defeat an enemy. I don't like to rail road my players like that.

 

[Remus Lupin]

Well, but here again, and particularly for those who are arguing "This is Episode IV" so all is good, If I want to do the trench run, the game should give me tools to do that. It doesn't have to give me tools at this point to do every single solitary thing that ever happened in a star wars situation, but it should give me the ability to do some of the central iconic scenes, including the trench run. It sounds like maybe, just maybe, you could do an effective lightsaber battle, but little-to-no starship combat, and no battles between capital ships at this point.

And again with alien races, I don't necessarily need something like "Aliens of the Galaxy," but I would expect to have a reasonably large sampling of creatures from the SW universe, and certainly anyone that has any significant role in Episode IV, such as Sand People and Jawas. Are there Rodians at least?

 

[Neonchameleon]

They are great NPCs but I like to play original character. YMMV

But to match the setting the original characters should be something like the protaginists.

Of the top of my head I don't know. But a very quick internet search told there are 32 district species there so a lot of them.

I meant in Edge of Empire. (And I think some of those were only in the remastered version in which Greedo shot first?)

In your games maybe the PCs are willing to just let things happen like a movie. In my games my PCs are manning the gun ports and firing on that ship. I don't use them as near indestructible plot devices. I don't make it so there is just one quest driven way to defeat an enemy. I don't like to rail road my players like that.

The Star Destroyer was in the opening scene setting up for the game. The rules there are very different. And I'd no more bother to stat the Star Destroyer for other than speed or sensors than I would to stat an entire column of cavalry against 3rd level PCs. If the PCs have to fight it head on they lose and the damage is cosmetic. The question is whether they can flee it.

And it was only ever fought in the opening scene.

Likewise the Death Star. The whole point of that thing was nothing could fight it head on. Now you might not want to use near indestructible plot devices against the PCs ever. But in that case don't use a Star Destroyer against the Millenium Falcon.

 

[Crothian]

Are there Rodians at least?

Bothans, Driods, Gands, Humans, Rodians, Trandosians, Twi'leks, and Wookies. Those that species choices when making a character.

In the adversary section there are some basic stats for a wider range of characters but they are for NPC. If you don't know what a Sullustan is for instance reading the small paragraph about them and their NPC stats isn't going to paint a great picture for you.

 

[Remus Lupin]

Another thought, as I'm looking at the FFG page for the game, I think one problem with the game as presented at this stage is the price point: I might be able to get behind a product that has what Edge of the Empire has for $20 or even $30, but it's hard for me to justify paying $60 for it, with the knowledge that I'm expected to lay out another $120 before I ever get the toolbox that I need to do what I want. I think this was part of the original poster's complaint as well.

But on Neonchameleon's last point: Here again, it's the question of what you want the game to enable me to do. If I want to send a YT cruiser against a Star Destroyer, it won't be able to go head to head with it, but are there rules to tell me how it could outmaneuver it? Can you do the "Escape the Death Star" scene where Han and Luke shoot the Tie-figters out of the sky? I think you should be able to.

 

[Vigilance]

They are great NPCs but I like to play original character. YMMV

All the characters in Star Wars are human, except for the Wookie and the Droids.

If you want to make "original characters", you have races for that in Edge of the Empire: Twi'Leks, Gand, Trandoshans, Rodians.

Just because it doesn't have EVERYTHING in one book, does not mean the book is flawed.

Fitting all of Star Wars, from old republic to prequels to the classic era seems to be what you want.

So far you've said you want full Jedi rules, advanced military gear for the rebeliion and the empire, and minor fringe races like Sand People.

If that's the bar, then no Star Wars game book I have ever read met that bar in one book.

This is not some dastardly plan of Fantasy Flight's. When I look at their publishing plan, I see the first book allowing me to make characters from Star Wars, the second allowing me to make characters from Empire Strikes back, and the third allowing me to make characters from Return of the Jedi.

That seems like a really SENSIBLE plan to me.

 

[Scars Unseen]

Well, but here again, and particularly for those who are arguing "This is Episode IV" so all is good, If I want to do the trench run, the game should give me tools to do that. It doesn't have to give me tools at this point to do every single solitary thing that ever happened in a star wars situation, but it should give me the ability to do some of the central iconic scenes, including the trench run. It sounds like maybe, just maybe, you could do an effective lightsaber battle, but little-to-no starship combat, and no battles between capital ships at this point.

And again with alien races, I don't necessarily need something like "Aliens of the Galaxy," but I would expect to have a reasonably large sampling of creatures from the SW universe, and certainly anyone that has any significant role in Episode IV, such as Sand People and Jawas. Are there Rodians at least?

Strictly speaking, EotE takes place between ANH and ESB, so that would be one reason why there would be no details concerning the Death Star(the other, obviously, being that such information would be outside the scope of a scum and villainy focused product). That said, in a scenario such as the Battle of Yavin, the Death Star wouldn't be some statted ship anyway. It would be a location. The trench run would be akin to flying through a narrow canyon(just like Beggar's Canyon back home) with gun emplacements and a eventually a high speed TIE fighter pursuit. While the book does not have a Star Destroyer in it, there are ship combat rules and capital ships.

As for races, EotE does not have every race in it, and I guarantee that if WotC were to make a new SW game, it wouldn't have every race in one book either. Races sell books, and selling books keeps publishers going so they can keep making new ones. I expect that the coming support books will each have a few more races to keep people interested(the first one, Enter the Unknown, has a Chiss on the front cover). And before you go and start calling that a dirty marketing scheme or some other nonsense, keep in mind that WotC did the exact same thing with prestige classes and feats for pretty much every d20 product they sold(at least the ones that anyone bothered buying).

At any rate, the races included in EotE are Bothans, Droids, Gands, Humans, Rodians, Trandoshans, Twi'leks, and Wookies. Though not comprehensive(or official, obviously), there are more races available in the Unofficial Species Menagerie