D20 Sci-Fi

Aeson · Jun 18, 2005

It seems to me many turn Star Wars into D&D in space. I'm not sure why. I want to run a Dragonstar game or Star Wars soon. I think if we go with Star Wars I'll try to encourage somehow to go for the movies feel. I don't plan to have alot of loot for them to plunder.

Storyteller01 · Jun 18, 2005

Aeson said:
did the Dragonstar game not go far because of the setting or was it the players? I want to run it sometime soon and I would like to avoid any pitfalls in the setting.

Mostly the company. Most of the folks I know were looking forward to more suppliments. Be warned though, it's not a game for melee monkeys without giving them some huge options up front (power armor for speed, high AC, and Str boost; high end energy weapons to compete the the ranged weapons; etc). One campaign I've heard of works for the Empire, so they started with this fairly early.

Te fact that it wasn't converted to 3.5 didn't help either.

Personally, it my favorite game. Best Sci-fi game for me.

Zoatebix · Jun 19, 2005

Traveller20 has a lot of good stuff that I've never seen. I totally dig the +1/4 BAB progressions and the emphasis on social situations, science, and exploration along side combat, but it's unfortunately one of the least used books on my shelf. I was kind of turned-off by the computer rules and all the tables. I think I was spoiled by d20 Mecha (an effects-based vehicle system with very little bookkeeping by the dude who wrote Gurps Vehicles? Sign me up!). One of these days I'll ratchet d20 Mecha's vehicles and Traveller20's starship combat rules together. Though there's still a place for Star Wars-WWII-inspired unrealistic space combat...

scourger · Jun 19, 2005

Aeson said:
It seems to me many turn Star Wars into D&D in space. I'm not sure why. I want to run a Dragonstar game or Star Wars soon. I think if we go with Star Wars I'll try to encourage somehow to go for the movies feel. I don't plan to have alot of loot for them to plunder.

The classes are too balanced in the game. The revised book makes the jedi a little more versatile, though, with respect to things like piloting. In my current game, there are only 2 players and we each play 2 jedi PCs. I chose jedi because it's what I want to play SW for. The other guy compared all the options and decided jedi are the most powerful class at 9th level. Whatever. You just have to give each player an incentive based on his or her playing style. If I were to run a SW d20 game I would probably use a recent optional rule from the web site that makes all force skill sunder one of the three main disciplines with ranks in the discipline equating to skill ranks in all those individual skills. Plus, I would make them part of the Rebellion so they wouldn't really have an incentive to just fly around the galaxy, kill aliens and take their stuff.