Who Should Make The Next Star Wars TTRPG, And What Should It Look Like?

aramis erak · Feb 10, 2026

John R Davis said:
No one shops in star wars, except as a plot point. There is lots repairs,but no one in the trilogy buys armours, better blasters, droids, ship upgrades, etc. It is just not a feature

but they do outside the OT.
Ep 1: Shopping for a hyperdrive connects Anakin to the Jedi.
Ep 1: upgrading a podracer
Bad Batch: buying improved hardware is in a few episodes.
Mandalorian: upgrading the armor is a huge driving plot element in season 1.
Rebels: Ezra upgrades his blaster, kanan adds armor.

Those are the most obvious examples.

aramis erak · Feb 10, 2026

Cergorach said:
I don't think WotC/Hasbro would be interested in the SW IP for pnp RPGs at this point, it seems they are concentrating on their own IP or trying to develop their own new IP. Which I find a shame, because an official 5e compatible version of SW would be interesting!

I extremely dislike Modiphius. They are very good at exploiting licensed IPs though...

Free League I didn't even consider, they are very good with popular licensed IPs, even have long support for them (Aliens is now in it's 2nd edition). Funny thing is, for LotR they produce two versions, one for 5e and one for their own system. If they did something similar for SW, that would be cool! But have you seen the release tempo of FL? It's slow and limited, the old FFG selection is wider then any FL game...

FL doesn't own The One Ring... they produce it under license from Sophisticated Games, the actual Estate-licensee. Same as C7 was. TOR is very much not theirs.

aramis erak · Feb 10, 2026

Cergorach said:
I suspect years, at least 5-6 before they would even consider giving up on the license... And if we'll ever see another book for FFG SW, I doubt it at this point. Maybe a second edition IF Asmodee ever gets in a better financial situation and I suspect that's also going to take years.

Now, look at the history of the SW RPG: WEG went bankrupt, WotC choose to not continue the license in 2010, apparently the sales of the RPG and the prepainted miniatures line were not good enough for WotC to extend the license.

WEG went bankrupt due to other licenses: Indiana Jones, Tank Girl, Ghostbusters, MIB, Hercules & Xena, Batman d6, Necroscope... Star Wars was paying the bills nicely until they got too many licenses with limited appeal (TG, MIB, H&X, Necroscope) and the consulted with Asimov on Shatterzone.
TORG also ran out of steam about the same time...
And the GB license sunsetted. Also around then. WEG SW died because of everytghing else besides SW...

Cergorach said:
FFG got the license to SW about a year after it expired with WotC. WotC had already announced in January 2010 that they wouldn't extend the license, I suspect that there weren't many parties that could realistically do anything practical with it, otherwise it would have been picked up far sooner.

There were several bidders for it. Mongoose was interested, even pitched it. Got told, "no thanks." Matt's comments upthread downplay his interest in it.
I think a Traveller version could be good... but I don't know if Mongoose should

Cergorach said:
Before the Asmodee merger they release SW X-wing (miniatures), the SW Living Card Game, the SW RPG, not much after (or even during) they released Imperial Assault (board game), and SW Armada (miniatures).

I would also like to add that FFG has historically not been afraid to drop IPs they have milked dry, examples are the whole Games Workshop license, DUST, DOOM, StarCraft, WarCraft, Battlestar Galactica, and quite a few others. Even in their own IPs, they'll drop them hard when there's no more money in them. As Edge is still reprinting SW books, there's still money in that, and looking at the miniatures/cards side, there's money there as well. Just currently not in making more new books...

Edge isn't FFG, and does business differently. FFG only has the boardgames now; Asmodee ripped the SW, Genesys, and L5R properties away to Edge, to "Reduce business overlap"... and in the process fired everyone who had worked on either system.

Cergorach said:
Why would Disney pull the license when they get paid the licensing fee?

Because they think they can get a better ROI by licensing someone else. At the next renewal window, I'd be shocked if Asmodee came out of it with a renewal. Why? Because it's not selling enough.

Cergorach said:
I suspect that the RPG license is contractually tied to the other fields of cards, miniatures and boardgames. So splitting that up would be a headache for Disney.

They split the licenses before. They're likely to again. They already have a split of licenses for computer games.

Cergorach said:
Not to mention re-licnesing a property is going to cost quite a bit in lawyer fees.

Not so much to the licensor; the licensee's up front fees cover that.

Cergorach said:
Currently, as long as Asmodee keeps extending the license and paying on time, for Disney there is no upside.

Wrong. Disney knows that things not getting new material don't generate them as much in royalties.
While we don't know the exact terms, we do know it's a flat up front fee, and then a per unit sales rate; I don't know if it's a percentage or a per copy or a per page. If they can end the deal with Asmodee, then they can find someone else who will produce more unit sales.
More wildly, they could easily go to the d6 copyright/trademark holders, and say, "Hey, we'll let you do the entire WEG back catalogue provided you update it to conform to current understandings of the setting."

Cergorach said:
Especially if there's a risk that a new (smaller) licensor might go broke and even more costs for a new licensor deal need to be made. Not to mention the damage to the IP, because a couple of books and then another licensor that again reinvents the wheel is going to damage the IP.

Technically, LFL owns all of the WEG and D20 versions' texts. There's a proof that there is a reprint right, too, in that WEG d6 1e was reprinted (near verbatim) for core and sourcebook. And it sold. Not as well as many hoped for, but it's a great reprint.

All Disney needs to ensure are (1) the company will be getting more sales than current FFG sales at renewal time, (2) the company is big enough to put out multiple books, and (3) the company has a sales channel sufficient to achieve #1.
Given the lack of new material, even tho' there are 3 finished series not covered at all, and sales are slow on the reprints...

Now, a single unified license, like FFG had? It's burned FFG and Disney with the rather abrupt end of a number of SW lines... not just FFG SW. Disney could make a whole lot more with fresh blood on the job... or a small bit less... but a new licensee means up front and new products.

Keldryn · Saturday at 9:39 PM

Bill Zebub said:
I do think there could be some paths for making PC Jedi work:
- High cost/risk to using force powers, which lessen as experience increases. (One such risk could be similar to "Eye Awareness" in The One Ring.)
- Roleplaying constraints: sort of like old-school Paladins, Jedi players have restrictions that mean you can't just go around mind controlling and telekinetically strangling NPCs at will. Or that you can, but you'll regret it.

It would be highly dependent upon the era of play, but anytime post-ROTS until the fall of the Empire, Vader and the inquisitors will be hunting down any Force users who draw attention to themselves. This doesn't necessarily have to be directly witnessed by someone. "There has been an awakening. Have you felt it?" An unintentional yet strong display of latent Force talent could send ripples through the Force in an era where Force users are rare.

In a post-ROTJ or Mandalorian era game, there could still be some inquisitors remaining, possibly serving Palpatine's contingency plans. There are also powerful Dark Siders like Baylan Skoll or the Knights of Ren.

In the PT era, PC Force users could attract the attention of Sidious himself. Or perhaps Maul or Dooku, searching for their own apprentices. There's always going to be some Dark Lord watching for someone to manifest Force abilities.

And of course, in WEG SW, Dark Side Points put a limit on what PC Force users could get away with. Automatically becoming an NPC if you roll under your total Dark Side Points may not go over well with a modern audience though.

Micah Sweet said:
I could see that being a good play time, even if I doubt I could square it personally with my simulationist mind.

A mechanic built around party splitting would be really easy to justify within the fiction of the SW universe.

Something like Bastila's Battle Meditation in KOTOR, but the Jedi stays away from the others so that a Dark Side user isn't drawn to her companions.

Characters can already communicate telepathically or sense emotions over great distances. WEG already incorporated Proximity and Relationship factors into using the Force.

Rey was able to pass Luke's lightsaber to Ben Solo through the Force. Yeah, that's attributed to them being a dyad in the Force. But in a Star Wars RPG, you could have two PC Jedi bonded the same way. Sure, it's extremely rare, but the PCs would be the only ones in a generation.

Micah Sweet · Saturday at 10:31 PM

Keldryn said:
It would be highly dependent upon the era of play, but anytime post-ROTS until the fall of the Empire, Vader and the inquisitors will be hunting down any Force users who draw attention to themselves. This doesn't necessarily have to be directly witnessed by someone. "There has been an awakening. Have you felt it?" An unintentional yet strong display of latent Force talent could send ripples through the Force in an era where Force users are rare.

In a post-ROTJ or Mandalorian era game, there could still be some inquisitors remaining, possibly serving Palpatine's contingency plans. There are also powerful Dark Siders like Baylan Skoll or the Knights of Ren.

In the PT era, PC Force users could attract the attention of Sidious himself. Or perhaps Maul or Dooku, searching for their own apprentices. There's always going to be some Dark Lord watching for someone to manifest Force abilities.

And of course, in WEG SW, Dark Side Points put a limit on what PC Force users could get away with. Automatically becoming an NPC if you roll under your total Dark Side Points may not go over well with a modern audience though.

A mechanic built around party splitting would be really easy to justify within the fiction of the SW universe.

Something like Bastila's Battle Meditation in KOTOR, but the Jedi stays away from the others so that a Dark Side user isn't drawn to her companions.

Characters can already communicate telepathically or sense emotions over great distances. WEG already incorporated Proximity and Relationship factors into using the Force.

Rey was able to pass Luke's lightsaber to Ben Solo through the Force. Yeah, that's attributed to them being a dyad in the Force. But in a Star Wars RPG, you could have two PC Jedi bonded the same way. Sure, it's extremely rare, but the PCs would be the only ones in a generation.

That all sounds reasonable to me. Man, now I want to run a Star Wars game!

Reynard · Saturday at 11:21 PM

Micah Sweet said:
That all sounds reasonable to me. Man, now I want to run a Star Wars game!

A hill I will die on: Star Wars is the most gamable setting ever.

Bill Zebub · Saturday at 11:38 PM

Reynard said:
A hill I will die on: Star Wars is the most gamable setting ever.

...if only somebody would publish the perfect system...

Reynard · Sunday at 12:03 AM

Bill Zebub said:
...if only somebody would publish the perfect system...

The best part is that anyone can use their preferred system to play a Star Wars campaign.

Bill Zebub · Sunday at 1:13 AM

Reynard said:
The best part is that anyone can use their preferred system to play a Star Wars campaign.

Eh....can, sure. But I'm a pretty firm believer that rule systems vary in their ability to evoke different feels, different atmospheres.

Keldryn · Sunday at 1:31 AM

Micah Sweet said:
That all sounds reasonable to me. Man, now I want to run a Star Wars game!

I'm planning to run a session or two of Star Wars D6 for my regular group of players, as a change of pace from our Shadowdark game. Actually thinking of just using the 1st edition book, as the past year of running Shadowdark has really made me appreciate streamlined rules and speed of play. 2nd edition is definitely a lot more fiddly.

Reynard said:
A hill I will die on: Star Wars is the most gamable setting ever.

Absolutely. Despite the massive amount of lore published for it, I never feel confined in the way I do with Dragonlance or Forgotten Realms. (Also, I haven't read any of the novels/comics since the mid-90s anyway)

It's unfortunate that there have been three different TTRPGs and yet so much of it has been out of print for years. Also, we've only had two single-player CRPGs -- and those were more than 20 years ago!