With Star Wars Saga Edition do I need other d20 SW books?

[Dragon-Slayer]

I haven't seen a thread about this and I have only thumbed through the Saga edition book. I would like to know because my local Hastings bookstore has all of the d20 Star Wars books for about $10 each used and I can pick those up and the Saga rules for a decent price all at once. But if I don't need them there is no point in tossing money away.

Thank you for any advice!

 

[drothgery]

Well, the mechanics aren't really compatible. On the other hand, the books that are more 'fluff' than 'crunch' could be useful, and some things port over pretty easily; the mechanics of most of the species in Ultimate Alien Anthology have already been done by one of the mods on WotC's boards.

 

[Dragon-Slayer]

Hey thank you for the quick reply. I have never played any incarnation of the Star Wars rpg, but the look of the new Saga rules and a quick perusal made me want to get into it. I am not up on all of the books out and my Star Wars video game experience is limited to both Battlefront games and both Lego Star Wars games. I might grab a few of the books for the fluff then.

Seeing all those Star Wars rpg books made me wonder if someone just needed the money or was getting into the new books and the older d20 books were not of any use.

 

[Faraer]

You certainly don't need them, but that's a lot of information and ideas for the money. They have interesting Star Wars content regardless of rules.

 

[Donovan Morningfire]

Required. Not in the slightest.

However the Coruscant/Core Words and Geonosis/Outer Rim have some very useful fluff in terms of planets.

Ultimate Alien Anthology gives a pretty good brief on the various races, and Matthew Lee's conversion site still requires the book for most the races, particularly in the realm of ability score adjustments.

Galactic Campaign Guide is mostly advice on running Star Wars games with minimal crunch. I'm an experienced GM and still found some useful tidbits.

Matt's site is also a good source of NPCs, most of the generic, which can be useful if you want more than stormtroopers as opponents at lower levels.

http://sagaconversions.mattylee.com/

 

[Dragon-Slayer]

Thanks again for the posts and for the link to the conversions. I will maybe grab a few of the titles with the Saga Edition.

 

[Bagpuss]

You can get loads of fluff online at the official Star Wars Databank and wookiepedia, I'm not sure if it's worth buying books just for fluff.

 

[Donovan Morningfire]

You can get loads of fluff online at the official Star Wars Databank and wookiepedia, I'm not sure if it's worth buying books just for fluff.

True, but I've run across several places where the fluff in the books is more detailed and in-depth than the fluff on either of those sites.

And with Wookiepedia, there is also the chance that what you're reading isn't entirely accurate, since it isn't a professionally-edited website, and thus being prone to intentional or accidental errors in the information presented.

 

[Michael Tree]

The only one with useful crunch would be the Ultimate Alien Anthology, but it would be a very useful addition, and it's not likely to be obsoleted by a Saga book for years. The equipment guide would also be useful, but would require more conversion.

Other than that, the setting books have good encounter/story ideas and advice.

 

[wingsandsword]

And with Wookiepedia, there is also the chance that what you're reading isn't entirely accurate, since it isn't a professionally-edited website, and thus being prone to intentional or accidental errors in the information presented.

Yeah, but while it might not be "professionally edited", it is probably the single most comprehensive archive of Star Wars lore available to the public. Unless LucasFilm Limited grants you access to the Holocron database, it's the best Star Wars archive out there. There might be a few errors, but it's much more comprehensive and probably more accurate than having even the most dedicated of Star Wars fans at your beck and call to answer questions.

If you can accept that it's possible, albeit unlikely, that there are errors then it's a blessing of the Force to any Star Wars fan (in my experience, smaller dedicated wikis have less vandalism than Wikipedia, since they have fewer articles and a much better regular editor to article ratio and can patrol the wiki much more closely).