Hi. I'm Moridin, also known as Rodney Thompson. I run this website and wrote the Star Wars RPG Saga Edition.
The sky is not falling. Everyone needs to take a step back and chill for a second.I'll try and hit the high points here, but if I miss something I'll try and come back to it. I just got back from GenCon (literally, 20 minutes ago) so that's why I've not been posting here. Fear not, faithful reader, for my silence is from a lack of internet access at my hotel.
Wizards of the Coast does not need to submit its complete rules systems to the fans in advance of release for your approval. No offense, but if they did that then the book would never get published. If you think you have no input, you're fooling yourselves -- do I not read these forums day in day out? Do I not run this website? Do you honestly think I would not take your desires into consideration while writing the game?
I'm excited about this game because we got to think outside the box. I remember back when the original d20 SWRPG came out, all I heard was "ZOMG! It's D&D with Wookiees! WotC is teh suxxor!" so I would think building a better system would excite some people. Basically, they let me and Owen (who I think have a significant amount of SW street cred) do what we wanted in redesigning almost all of the core systems. If we're going to build a game that captures the Star Wars experience, I think it's better that we do so from the ground up. Now, since d20 Star Wars has helped define that iconic experience, you'll certainly see its influence, well, everywhere.
There's no polite way for me to say this, but you all know hardly anything about the game system and the time to panic has not yet come. And by that same token, WotC does not owe you any explanations of the system -- see what a little teaser has done? It's sent you all into a tizzy over nothing. I believe that many of you will look back on this thread and laugh at the snap decisions being made here. Not only that, but every system they announce in full can just as quickly be "stolen" and adapted by other game companies.
Now, I'll try and hit a few specifics which may or may not to serve as a small tranquilizer for you rabid wolves.
Hit Points: If you think D&D hit points (or even d20 Modern), I'd stop if I were you. The same basic concepts that are found in both HP and VP/WP are still present -- a numeric way of counting how quickly you die -- but that's to be expected. Your stormtroopers will still go down in one or two hits (depending on how solid the hit is), while your lightsaber duels will go on much longer. I think you'll find that it's become easier to model the Obi-Wan/Anakin duel now with the new HP system. I don't know how many lightsaber duels you guys ran before, but none of them lasted more than 5-6 rounds, if that (a mere 30 seconds of in-game time). HP, combined with the sliding condition scale, retains that cinematic feel. And as a side note: if you think having 50 HP means you take 50 HP worth of blaster fire to the chest before you die, I'd reconsider your definition of HP, and think of it more as a "survivability scale" than a pure physical resource pool.
The Force: No one has come that close to guessing how it really works, so relax. Just because we have 1 Use the Force skill now does not mean that every Force power hinges on that one skill. Also, regarding the loss of the Force Adept, this is one change I think you're all going to LOVE. Without revealing too much, let me just put it this way: I think you can now model almost any Force tradition far more precisely than you ever could before, and your FA's will no longer have class features that are useless to them.
Speaking along similar lines, character creation is about a million times more flexible than it was before. It's seriously the part of the book I'm the most proud of. I think you're all going to like it a lot more. Also: don't panic about the missing classes. You'll still be able to model the same kinds of characters as before, and then some. Given the greater flexibility of the system, I also think you'll find a LOT of new options available to you as well. I don't want to get myself into trouble here, but let me just say that just because there is no longer a Jedi Guardian class or a Jedi Consular class doesn't mean that you can't play a Jedi Guardian or a Jedi Consular. Not only that, but you'll probably be designing whole NEW types of Jedi if you so choose, especially with some of the new options for Jedi. Hmm. And Dark Siders, for that matter. But, I digress. You can still make a level 5 Rodian fringer, he just won't be a Rodian Fringer 5. Also, all the classes have received a major shot in the arm. The new soldier and noble both freaking rock. Gone are your "feat every other level" for soldiers; now, they are badasses. Seriously, I wouldn't take away your fringer, it's just a little bit different to build now.
Oh, and before anyone goes on a shooting spree regarding the new "miniatures-friendly rules" I'll just repeat something Chris Perkins said at the seminar: miniatures-friendly means more that the diagrams and examples in the book will uses photos of miniatures than it affects the rules. We did filch a couple of rules -- cover, for example -- from the miniatures game, but good game design shouldn't be ignored just because of its source. I pulled a few ideas from a well-liked Star Wars video game; does that mean they're bad ideas? I feel as though everyone is putting too much emphasis on "miniatures-friendly" in that it really just means that you'll be able to use the miniatures more easily, not that the games is Miniatures Rules, oh and with some story bits. It's and RPG first and foremost, and though you may see some elements of the minis in the game most of those elements are things that work within the context of a Star Wars story.
Yeah, the book is shorter, but that's what happens when you cut out a huge chunk of the skills (folding two to three skills into one certainly cuts out a big chunk of those chapters, not to mention the changes to the Force system removing Force skills and feats). You're going to see a much more unified class chapter, for example, removing chunks of flavor text (or folding it into existing descriptions) and the like. Those are just a couple of examples, but when you look across the board at the way the game was designed you'll see the pages aren't "lost" so much as they are folded in elsewhere. And as my esteemed ally GMSarli pointed out at the seminar, the D6 2nd Edition R&E sourcebook was the same size as Saga Edition.
I know this doesn't satiate you entirely, but I must admit the fervor with which many of you have responded (and basing decisions on almost no information) is startling. When the game comes out, if you look at it and don't like it, I won't think ill of you. If, however, you write the book off based on an hour and a half seminar during which almost nothing was revealed, well, then I think you may want to reevaluate the way you evaluate a game.
I guess I'm just asking for a little patience, and a little faith. The book is a long ways off just yet, so if they don't reveal every iota of information about it RIGHT NOW I think maybe you should understand that it's not soundto do so in any creative business. I'm as eager to talk about the book as I can be, so don't get too bent out of shape if I don't blab everything I know.
I'm excited about the game, and I understand the trepidation many of you must feel. The anger and vitriol? That I just don't get. But hey, it's the web, I'm used to getting yelled at and insulted on a regular basis.
I promise, I'll try and answer as many of your questions as possible, but if I have to say "no comment" I'll beg you to understand. Lucasfilm's implant could go off at the slightest trigger.
