Star wars - which version?

[wingsandsword]

Most of the available systems have different merits and cater to different styles of play and gamers.

Which is good, Star Wars is a setting and not a single game (or union of setting and system), and depicting the setting is best, not dogmatic adherence to one system. Given the variety of flavors of adventures within the Star Wars canon (from the fantastic whimsy of The Ewok Adventure or the *shudder* Star Wars Holiday Special, to the grim darkness of Revenge of the Sith, to the serial adventures of the old Marvel Comics and The Clone Wars TV Series, to the epic adventures like A New Hope, to down & dirty smuggling like the old Han Solo novels, and outright exploration of the fantastic like Outbound Flight or some of the Lando Calrissian novels, Star Wars has a lot of room for different styles of play and different campaigns.

The d6 version (2nd Edition Revised & Expanded is by far the best) is a good fairly rules-light system. It was the first game I ever GM'ed, and is quick to learn and characters are very customizable. The only problems I would give it are that due to the test of time and the prequels and expanded universe products there is little support for eras other than the Rebellion and early New Republic Eras (2 BBY to 11 ABY). There was one book, the Tales of the Jedi Companion, based on the original comics which established the ~4000 BBY era, made far more famous by the KOTOR games set in that time period which came out a few years later, and some of the stats for Movie Characters are obviously not reflecting what they did in the prequels (The official stats for Palpatine don't even give him the Lightsaber skill, or Obi-Wan any skill with flying a starfighter). Also, fairly advanced characters can seem nigh-godlike to mooks. A veteran group of PC's (not even as powerful as the movie characters) can plow through Stormtroopers and the like with such ease that it can be hard to challenge them unless you're a very skilled GM. Yes, it had a decent

The d20 versions have their pros and cons. The original version from 2000 was a good start, but doesn't have much to recommend it over the Revised Core Rules and Saga. The original d20 SW rules had a downright lousy space combat system, to be honest.

The Revised Core Rules from 2002 is very crunch-heavy. If you want a game with lots of customization and "Fiddly bits" for making a character and running combat. It was the crunch-heaviness of D&D 3.5 translated to Star Wars. If that's the kind of game you like, it will be well represented there.

Star Wars Saga Edition was, in my opinion, a compromise between the Revised Core Rules and some parts of d6. Not mechanically like d6 at all, but in the ideas from d6 of PC's being well rounded yet highly customizable.

If I run SW, It would either be Saga Edition, or maybe d6. I really like Saga Edition, but the old d6 is a very good game too (but you might need to homebrew stats for characters/races/vehicles for other eras).

 

[pawsplay]

Not if you use the optional Background rules from the Rebellion Era Campaign Guide.

Which, of course, replace the Destiny rules. *sigh* I swear, they almost made a very cool little game with Saga, but something went wobbly along the way.

 

[Nifft]

But at least I have not heard anyone advocate a SW clone yet.

Playing a SW clone is awesome! You absolutely can recreate the small-squad tactics feel of Republic Commando.

Cheers, -- N

 

[masshysteria]

To answer the question at hand - the revised WEG d6 System is, bar none, the best system out there for mimicking the Star Wars franchise.

Due to the age of the game and the shear amount of material that has come out since WEG lost the license, I'm not sure if "franchise" is the right word. That isn't to say it is a bad game or or that gaps can't be filled in by the GM or fans, but think of everything we've learned about Jedi since the prequels. I think Saga, thanks to the time frame it was released, took this new knowledge into account during the design and development (of course whether you like the implementation or not is a matter of taste.)

- The Dark Side point system is a joke, my players treat them as a badge of honour when they get them because they have absolutely NO game effect until you get enough to make you an NPC. Get a DSP in d6 and you'll know it.

Have you checked out the Dark Side rules from The Force Unleashed Campaign Guide? It makes getting gaining dark side points a bit more nasty.

 

[wolff96]

Due to the age of the game and the shear amount of material that has come out since WEG lost the license, I'm not sure if "franchise" is the right word. That isn't to say it is a bad game or or that gaps can't be filled in by the GM or fans, but think of everything we've learned about Jedi since the prequels.

Other than what was in KOTOR, "I, Jedi", and the five books by Timothy Zahn, I try to forget everything I *learned* about Jedi since the first three movies.

<Okay, I'm kidding. But not all that much.>

 

[billd91]

Other than what was in KOTOR, "I, Jedi", and the five books by Timothy Zahn, I try to forget everything I *learned* about Jedi since the first three movies.

<Okay, I'm kidding. But not all that much.>

But even if you add in Phantom Menace, what do you add? Jedi can hold their breaths a long time and put on a quick burst of speed. Still not that much. But then I think Lucas caught a case of "More Intensity" and ramped up Jedi action to the Nth degree in Attack of the Clones.

 

[Wik]

For those who are afraid of the bucket o' dice problem, there is a solution: only roll dice up to 5D. For every die beyond that, take the average. Round up for PCs and down for NPCs, or just round up.

So, if you'd be rolling 7D, instead, you'd roll five dice, and add seven (3.5*2). If you had to roll 12D, you'd roll five dice and add 25 to the result (3.5*7 = 24.5, round up).

This is an optional method recommended in the newer WEG d6 systems, such as d6 SPACE and d6 FANTASY. It will help speed up play. The wild die, of course, is still rolled as part of the d6s you're rolling.

Another variant, great for mooks, is to roll only two dice for NPCs (one wild, one not) and take the average for the other rolls. This will help the GM when seven stormtroopers are all firing at one PC... and will help keep the flavour of misses that is "Only imperial stormtroopers are this accurate".

 

[pukunui]

Which, of course, replace the Destiny rules. *sigh* I swear, they almost made a very cool little game with Saga, but something went wobbly along the way.

*sigh* I just ignore that and use both. No game is perfect.

 

[LostSoul]

I really enjoyed the d6 version - it was my main RPG during the 90's. I tried out the d20 version but didn't like it.

That's probably all I can say since I'm far too biased for the d6 version to make any sort of rational point.

 

[minitrue]

Personally, I prefer the WEG d6 system, as a group can create characters and be playing in the shortest amount of time. But the key to keeping the Jedi in check early is to make sure they only get the 18 dice for their 9 attributes and limit the amount they can put into force skills at the start of the game, and making use of the multiple action rules. Eventually if the campaign goes on long enough, the Jedi will eventually have enough dice to do take over combat. I would also suggest as others have, go with the 2nd edition revised rules.

Next, of the three WotC games I'd go with SAGA. I never had the chance to run or play any of their three versions, but own them all and SAGA did seem to be their best attempt.

But in the end, which ever you go with, you can definitely get some good info out of some the the other system books. There is even some SAGA converted to d6 material out on the web.