Recent Star Wars Saga chat session with designers

[RodneyThompson]

Hey Moridin,

It always bugged me that a ship's defense was based mostly on size. That works fine for capital ships which can't really dodge. But for starfighters I have always felt that the Defense (i.e. Armor Class) should be based directly on the pilot's skill with a bonus or penalty based on the speed and maneuverability of the ship in general.

Do the new rules address this?

Yes, but I will say it's not in a way you might expect. I can't say more than that, though.

 

[solkan_uk]

I'd quite like it if level got removed entirely from the Skill factor. Higher level characters can have more skills, but not better. For instance in this Saga 3 level system have Non-proficient at +0, Proficient at +4 and Mastery at +8. Then just modify for attributes.

That lets you get all these level 1 experts and more competent low level characters.

 

[Owen K.C. Stephens]

How will it do for an all-jedi game?

In my opinion? Great. Better than any previous version. I've run an all-Jedi campaign (set in campaign where Vader captured Luke on Cloud City, the two of them turned on the Emperor, and Leia was running the new Jedi Academy in a desperate bid for enough Jedi to win a 3-way war). Those Jedi were very hard to model in previous editions, as many were really fringers with one or two force powers, but they could be very effective with those powers. More early Kyle Katarn than old Republic Jedi.

Under this edition of the rule's they'd be easy, diverse, and fun.

Will there be an adventure (or preferably series of adventures) released?

Can't say. I certainly support the idea, but we just flat can't talk about unannounced products. So even if we knew they were coming, we couldn't tell you. Nor if we'd been told there were no plans could we let that slip. So... I hope so, but no matter what I do or don't know I can't say.

Owen K.C. Stephens
d20 Triggerman

Need better cheap magic options?
Get Loot 4 Less II: Rods, Staves and Wands

 

[Pbartender]

In my opinion? Great. Better than any previous version. I've run an all-Jedi campaign (set in campaign where Vader captured Luke on Cloud City, the two of them turned on the Emperor, and Leia was running the new Jedi Academy in a desperate bid for enough Jedi to win a 3-way war). Those Jedi were very hard to model in previous editions, as many were really fringers with one or two force powers, but they could be very effective with those powers. More early Kyle Katarn than old Republic Jedi.

Under this edition of the rule's they'd be easy, diverse, and fun.

Heh. This makes me want to run a Star Wars campaign based off a "What if?" scenario I had quite some years ago, but never got a chance to...

EXTERIOR: HYPERSPACE.

The pirateship is just coming out of hyperspace; a strange surreal light show surrounds the ship.

INTERIOR: MILLENNIUM FALCON -- COCKPIT.

HAN: Stand by, Chewie, here we go. Cut in the sublight engines.

Han pulls back on a control lever. Outside the cockpit window stars begin streaking past, seem to decrease in speed, then stop. Suddenly the starship begins to shudder and violently shake about. Asteroids begin to race toward them, battering the sides of the ship.

HAN: What the...? Aw, we've come out of hyperspace into a meteor shower. Some kind of asteroid collision. It's not on any of the charts.

The Wookiee flips off several controls and seems very cool in the emergency. Luke makes his way into the bouncing cockpit.

LUKE: What's going on?

HAN: Our position is correct, except...no, Alderaan!

LUKE: What do you mean? Where is it?

HAN: Thats what I'm trying to tell you, kid. It ain't there. It's been totally blown away.

LUKE: What? How?

Ben moves into the cockpit behind Luke as the ship begins to settle down.

BEN: Destroyed...by the Empire!

HAN: The entire starfleet couldn't destroy the whole planet. It'd take a thousand ships with more fire power than I've...

A signal starts flashing on the control panel and a muffled alarm starts humming.

HAN: There's another ship coming in.

LUKE: Maybe they know what happened.

BEN: It's an Imperial fighter.

Chewbacca barks his concern. A huge explosion bursts outside the cockpit window, shaking the ship violently. A tiny, finned Imperial TIE fighter races past the cockpit window.

LUKE: It followed us!

BEN: No. It's a short range fighter.

HAN: There aren't any bases around here. Where did it come from?

EXTERIOR: SPACE.

The fighter races past the Corellian pirateship.

INTERIOR: MILLENNIUM FALCON -- COCKPIT.

LUKE: It sure is leaving in a big hurry. If they identify us, we're in big trouble.

HAN: Not if I can help it. Chewie... jam it's transmissions.

BEN: It'd be as well to let it go. It's too far out of range.

HAN: Yeah, I think you're right. We'd better get out of here, before he calls in the cavalry. Chewie, forget the jamming... pull up the coordinates for Nar Shadda.

EXTERIOR: SPACE.

The Millennium Falcon zooms into infinity in less than a second.

What if Han listened to Ben and got away before the Death Star tractor beamed the Millenium Falcon?... Leia gets executed, but Obi-wan lives. Now what? The Jedi Order reborn? Perhaps using a revised philosophy of the Force?

It'd be fun to explore.

 

[scourger]

Thanks for the answers. I'll look forward to seeing what comes out for the game.

 

[Dragonblade]

Here is an out there question that you may not be able to answer. I really liked the Dark Empire graphic novel series and the power that Jedi Masters could wield. I really liked how Luke was powerful enough to take down an AT-AT simply by gesturing at it. Or how the Emperor could take out entire capital ships with force storms. I also liked how they greatly expanded what you could with the force. For example Luke used the Force to create a illusory duplicate of himself and the Emperor could use the force to transfer his consciousness into a clone body. I thought that was awesome and made the Force much more interesting.

Do the new rules in any way allow for Jedi of this power level? Perhaps a blurb on epic level Jedi? Or to perform those special powers? Or does the book stick with only the abilities and power levels shown in the films? I kind of expect that to be the case and will buy the book anyway. But one can always hope!

I was extremely disappointed in the prequels when Yoda had to struggle just to move one of those senate seats. And Yoda with a lightsaber, while cool, seemed inappropriate for a master of his stature. Yoda shouldn't need a lightsaber. He should be wiping out entire squads with a simple gesture. The battle with Yoda and the Emperor should have been more epic like the final psychic battle in the film Dark City. I thought Jedi Masters were way underpowered in the prequel films.

 

[Skyman]

That's interesting. I thought Jedi were way overpowered in the prequel films. I liked in the originals how Yoda was tired out by lifting up an X-wing, and Palpatine's lightning was a mysterious and very impressive use of the Force. I guess that's just different styles. Hopefully the system will be flexible enough to account for both our preferences (of course for me it's probably easy to simply disallow certain uses of the Force or maybe cap the Use the Force skill if I find it to be too extraordinary, though that might underpower the Jedi class).

 

[RodneyThompson]

One of the things we looked at was the fact that the EU displays Force powers far above and beyond the movies. While the movies are our primary source material (and most of the powers and such in the book model what we see in the movies), we do make allowances for some of the more "epic" uses of the Force, without having to have 43rd-level Jedi or anything. More than that, I can't say.

 

[Plane Sailing]

I'd be very glad to see something which concentrates on the film 'level of power' rather than the EU 'level of power', FWIW. That's the star wars I fell in love with in the 70's

 

[JEL]

Will there be prestige classes, or is everything going be handled with just the adaptable base classes?