anyone still play West End Games d6 Star Wars?

[Liquidsabre]

I just started playing in a new D6 Star Wars campaign! We're incorporating nice new bits that we like from D6 fans (like martial art rules) and some new things from D6 Space and D6 Space Ships.

I can't even find anyone who actually plays SW-d20 though. I ran an entire year-long campaign for d20SW a few years back when the revised first came out. System has funky bugs to this day and now no book support! I've been getting better game development (ruleswise) and material from the d20 fanbase for years now, silly WotC.

 

[GlassJaw]

Well, like all d20, combat can be slow if you aren't too familiar with the system.

Well I'm not sure what you mean by "familiar". I've played 3ed since it came out and do most of the modifier calculations for all the players in my head. The tactical and modifier-heavy nature just make it slower system than others. Trust me, when I run 3.5, I push my players a LOT in combat to keep the pace up. I do so many of modifiers in my head so it keeps moving.

high level SWd20 combat is NOTHING like high level D&D combat. Force Powers and feats don't cause the same delay that high level spells and such do.

Very true. The lack of magic, especially magic items, makes a huge difference. Good call.

d20 lends itself to min-maxing...but d6 does, too, just in a different, but just as specialized, way.

Perhaps but level-based system are more susceptible IMO.

Is anyone here familiar with d6 and d20 and actually PREFER the latter? Most folks seem to like the WEG version.

If I had a choice, I would probably play d6 but nostalgia and the fact that's it's not d20 would be factors in the decision. I play a lot of d20 and I get burned out easily.

But yeah, I have a couple of friends/fellow gamers who are adamantly opposed to d20 SW. It gets close to the level of anger that the thought of d20 Shadowrun brings up (almost, but not quite). I like both systems though and would enjoy playing either.

 

[Breakdaddy]

I really like the D6 version and still use my D6 books for the excellent source material contained within. I am now playing in a SWD20 game (GMing it to be more precise) and we are all really having a blast with it. I wouldnt have minded going D6 at all, but most of my players wanted to go with something in print that they could easily pick up and that would continue to be supported (HAH!).

 

[kenobi65]

I'm extensively familiar with both, and prefer the D20 version. Ankh-Morpok Guard is the same way, I believe.

Count me in that camp, as well. I've played a ton of both, and both are good games...but I like d20 better.

Note that I'm not saying it's perfect (my biggest pet peeves center around the starship rules), but I certainly haven't found the d20 ruleset to be an impediment to good roleplaying and storytelling. Maybe I'm just blessed with good players.

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

I'm extensively familiar with both, and prefer the D20 version. Ankh-Morpok Guard is the same way, I believe.

Yep, d6 Star Wars was my first RPG, and I very much prefer the d20 game.

Well I'm not sure what you mean by "familiar". I've played 3ed since it came out and do most of the modifier calculations for all the players in my head. The tactical and modifier-heavy nature just make it slower system than others. Trust me, when I run 3.5, I push my players a LOT in combat to keep the pace up. I do so many of modifiers in my head so it keeps moving.

Yeah, it can be slower, but like I said, it definitely isn't as slow as some people complain about D&D 3e being. I've always found SWd20 combat to be fast, insanely dangerous(that keeps some good tension), and very cinematic.

Perhaps but level-based system are more susceptible IMO.

I guess I can agree with that. I'd say they're more susceptible because its a bit more obvious to see HOW to do things, though that's even debatable. As The Universe mentioned earlier, its very, very easy to trick out a couple skills in d6 Star Wars to the point where its just insane...much more so than the restrictions of the level based SWd20.

 

[GlassJaw]

I've always found SWd20 combat to be fast, insanely dangerous(that keeps some good tension), and very cinematic.

I agree - it's certainly better than 3.X. I really like the VP/WP system and armor as DR. Those (or variations of) are both essential to cinematic gameplay.

 

[wingsandsword]

Is anyone here familiar with d6 and d20 and actually PREFER the latter? Most folks seem to like the WEG version.

d6 WEG Star Wars was the first RPG I ever played and ran, I ran a campaign of it that lasted over a year, and I still know all the rules by heart (as well as having about 90% of the books ever made for it).

I have everything made for the d20 Star Wars RPG (except the first two issues of Star Wars Gamer) and know it also by heart, and ran a yearlong campaign of that as well.

So, being experienced and knowledgeable about both games, I'll have to say that I'd rather run d20 Star Wars, it's more balanced (Jedi were utterly sick & broken in the d6 system) and I think the WP/VP system works very well for Star Wars battles. I still use all my d6 stuff as reference materials (Fragments from the Rim, that's a great one, too bad WotC would/could never make a book like that one).

 

[Dragonhelm]

I've played Star Wars first in a homebrewed White Wolf system, then the WEG d6 system, then the original d20 SW system, and then the revised d20 system. You might say I've been around the block.

I think a lot of which system you prefer depends on what types of rules you prefer in general, whether more of a skill-based rules sytem, a class level system, or something else entirely.

As far as rules go, I prefer the SW d20 system, as it is not only a class-based system like I like (namely a D&D system), but it also has much of the same flavor as the d6 system in terms of the Force rules. In fact, I like the d20 Force rules better. The d6 was fine, but there were a few things I didn't like, such as how you might have projective and receptive telepathy, instead of lumping that all together.

Likewise, I wasn't a fan of the separate B&R skills. I think d20 streamlines it some.

That being said, if I was to play Star Wars and d6 was my only option, sure I'd use the system. It's a good system, and one that influences me to this day.


Going beyond game systems is the question of sourcebooks. Overall, I think WEG did a better job on their sourcebooks. I like the flavor and background in those a bit better. That's not to say I don't like the d20 books. There are some good d20 books too, although a few I might not use as much.


What I find whenever I'm involved in a Star Wars game is that I use all the source material at my disposal. It doesn't matter if it's d6, d20, or not even a gaming book at all.


All in all, I've got a pretty decent Star Wars collection, and I'm pretty happy with it. If I ever landed up running Star Wars again, I'd have a lot of tools at my disposal.

 

[kenobi65]

Going beyond game systems is the question of sourcebooks. Overall, I think WEG did a better job on their sourcebooks. I like the flavor and background in those a bit better. That's not to say I don't like the d20 books. There are some good d20 books too, although a few I might not use as much.

In that regard, some of that difference may be a function of the time in which the books were done, and Lucasfilm's control over them.

A lot of WEG's best work on SWd6 came about in the late 80s and early 90s, when there wasn't much (if anything) being done on the SW license; WEG appears to have been given a lot of free rein to, essentially, "make stuff up." The Control / Sense / Alter system (which has since been used by Decipher and WotC, and seems to be quasi-canon now), and a lot of the names (species, equipment, systems, etc.) that are now fairly canonical were developed by WEG for the game.

By the time WotC came along, Lucasfilm appears to have become a lot more strict about what the licensees can and can't do (especially as Lucas refines the storyline and the nature of the Force through the prequels).

As wingandsword says, it may not be that WotC didn't wish to create some of the sorts of things that WEG did; it may be that the license doesn't allow them to.

 

[Dragonhelm]

As wingandsword says, it may not be that WotC didn't wish to create some of the sorts of things that WEG did; it may be that the license doesn't allow them to.

Excellent point.

To WotC's credit, they did use a fair amount of WEG d6 materials in the d20 system. I've even seen some minor characters and prestige classes based on WEG d6 stuff.