is it me? FFG Star Wars

[Red Dice Diaries]

If you are interested in a Fate Star Wars hack, Ryan M. Danks made one available online a while ago:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0ByVpAo4rxDGuX09IWkVydDcyOFE/view?usp=sharing

 

[Chimpy]

For players that enjoy high-narrative systems and a lot of improvisation and lateral thinking, I think FFG Star Wars works really well. The dice system is very different and isn't for everyone, but if you get into it I think it's really fun. I love the level-less talent and skill system.

The careers and specialisations don't play much differently at the start, but as players invest experience points, they begin to diverge and after a while characters do become very different in what they can do proficiently.

Ship and vehicle combat is a bit of a mess imo, which is my main gripe with the system.

The books are beautiful too.

 

[Merkaile]

Way late to the thread but I'd jump in to say you can't really go wrong with Fantasy Flight Star Wars. It's my favorite of all the rpg systems that have ever been put out by far. The character build freedom is rather nice in my opinion.

The dice, once you get used to them are really very quick and easy to interpret. My kids (11 and 9) picked them up much faster than the traditional rpg dice.

As has been mentioned more than once, the artwork is awesome.

 

[robus]

For speeding up combat would it be possible to ignore the advantage/disadvantage (unless the PC indicating they were pulling off some fancy maneuver)? I.e. just go with successes vs failures?

Looking into running this over the holidays and concerned about combat bogging down.

 

[The Fighter-Cricket]

Well, you certainly can omit the advantage/threat results in combat if you want to have quicker fights. Nobody stops ypou from doing that and it also doesn't really brake the system. Critical hits from certain weapons won't be working though, because they rely on a number of rolled advantages to be fired off.
But you can tweak the system to your preferences by saying that you won't use threat/advantage for narrative results but only for suffering strain and/or critical hits. Voila, now you have incorporated the advantage/threat symbols but don't have to get super creative all the time about how the symbols affect the narration of the fight.

 

[Chimpy]

For speeding up combat would it be possible to ignore the advantage/disadvantage (unless the PC indicating they were pulling off some fancy maneuver)? I.e. just go with successes vs failures?

Looking into running this over the holidays and concerned about combat bogging down.

You could, but if you just do:

• advantage = add boost dice to own next check
• threat = add setback dice to self next time

then it's a quick and easy interpretation. Also advantages can be spent to trigger critical hits.

From experience, combat is usually over in about 2 or 3 rounds anyway - it's very quick in the FFG system, although can be quite brutal with some unlucky rolls.

Do what works for you and your group

 

[aramis erak]

Well, you certainly can omit the advantage/threat results in combat if you want to have quicker fights. Nobody stops ypou from doing that and it also doesn't really brake the system. Critical hits from certain weapons won't be working though, because they rely on a number of rolled advantages to be fired off.

That DOES break the system, and actually lengthens many fights; It means no "kill one minion per 3-4 adv/1 Tri". So minions last considerably longer. It also prevents fight shortening extra damage from blue dice and using adv for extra damage to non-nemesis opponents.

Many actions require counting advantage to trigger: autofire, two weapons use, area effect attacks, and a number of feats, plus every critical using weapon.

 

[aramis erak]

You could, but if you just do:

• advantage = add boost dice to own next check
• threat = add setback dice to self next time

then it's a quick and easy interpretation. Also advantages can be spent to trigger critical hits.

From experience, combat is usually over in about 2 or 3 rounds anyway - it's very quick in the FFG system, although can be quite brutal with some unlucky rolls.

Do what works for you and your group

It's worth noting the statistical values of the dice

die	Success	Adv	Triumph
Blue	8/24	16/24	0
Black	-8/24	-8/24	0
Green	15/24	15/24	0
Purple	-12/24	-18/24	0
Yellow	16/24	18/24	1/12
Red	-14/24	-18/24	–1/12

Note that situational modifiers (blue) provide extra advantage ... A black doesn't actually cancel a blue; a black plus blue has an expected result of 1/3 advantage; 3 black plus 3 blue has an expected result of +1 advantage (but can range from +3S to –3S and +6A to -3A).

Most of my fights run 5-7 rounds, but my players and npc's both tend to take cover, which does reduce the damage per round. Most of the minions are taken out with crits, not accumulated damage.

 

[Water Bob]

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

I don't play Savage Worlds, but I know a lot of people like it. From what I've seen (and I haven't studied it), it's similar to D6 Star Wars where a character has a dice code for his stats and throws that when he needs to roll for a task.

What is it that you don't like about Savage Worlds?

 

[JeffB]

I don't play Savage Worlds, but I know a lot of people like it. From what I've seen (and I haven't studied it), it's similar to D6 Star Wars where a character has a dice code for his stats and throws that when he needs to roll for a task.

What is it that you don't like about Savage Worlds?

Not a major thing but first up- all the stupid gambling/poker terminology.

The preference for minis/grid

Cards for initiative

Raises

Damage Soak

Bottom line- just don't like a game where It takes a couple rolls and a couple decisions (and possibly another roll) to arrive at an outcome.

Its not nearly as bad as EXALTED, for example...but it's not my thing.