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Message: <blockquote data-quote="MoogleEmpMog" data-source="post: 3789274" data-attributes="member: 22882">I've been playing Saga since a week after it came out - every other week for campaign play, more often for concept playtesting during the week.PLUSSESCharacter creation has gone at least as fast as in D&D, despite the players needing the learn the quirks of the new system.  Note that that's for low level characters; I've done high level characters as possible antagonists for later in the campaign and they've gone twice as fast or more.NPC creation is particularly fast; the 'nonheroic' class for mooks and support NPCs is very fast to work with and flexible, and combined with the skill system allows for the '1st or 2nd level Expert with a Craft higher than most near-Epic characters but single digit hp' that D&D is sometimes lamented for lacking.Gameplay has gone much faster and smoother than in D&D; I'd say we've had approximately 1.5x as many encounters of significant import each session, those encounters have been larger on average, and the players have actually gotten 2x as many turns per encounter because each action takes significantly less time to adjudicate.The balance between classes is MUCH better than in previous d20 games, especially D&D.  No class stands out like a CoDzilla, and the system appears fairly difficult to break.  On the flip side, you would have to put a LOT of effort in to make a character who WASN'T at least somewhat useful in an action scene.Characters start out competent.  I HATE the way starting D&D characters are at sub-real-world levels of competence; Saga characters are actually good at what their schtick is supposed to be.Static defenses as opposed to active saves make things both faster and more consistent.  Area effects resolve in about a quarter the time they previously did.  Since the active character rolls for everything, it makes it more interesting for PCs to use skills and 'spells' on their opponents - and allows those who have Force Points to apply them...Moving around in a fight is both practical and desirable.  Between the Running Attack and Acrobatic Strike feats and the ease of withdrawing and charging, characters almost never stand still unless they're carefully lining up a shot or locked in a duel, and both of those options are mechanically supported as well.The per-encounter balancing (not explicitly, but effectively) of most abilities makes it much easier to design fun and challenging encounters.Spending Force Points to convert a lethal blow into one that knocks a character unconscious has caused the players to get much more attached to their characters than they would have in a D&D game.Defense scaling, Force Points and various, often non-numerical, bonuses take the place of the usual assortment of magic items.  Certainly this fits better with the types of fantasy I'm interested in (sword and sorcery and JRPG), where a character is likely to have one or two signature items, if indeed any at all.MINUSESThe class skill lists pretty much force you to multiclass for many character types, and the system penalizes you fairly heavily for not starting in a 'skilled' class.The way the Use the Force skill scales vs. defenses means that 'magic' is only really useful against mooks as you get to higher levels.  This is appropriate to the setting, in which the Force demolishes the likes of stormtroopers and battle droids but Darth Vader and the Emperor have to be lightsabered, but would probably have to be adjusted for fantasy rules.Armor is PROBABLY too costly/difficult to use for a typical fantasy setting.  It IS really, really good if you invest in it, though, even as high as 20th level.  This is a tough call; making armor tough to use and not necessary - but really awesome for those who put the time in to use it well - might actually be better for most fantasy and certainly for a setting based on medieval Europe.The Grapple rules seem like they aren't 'there' yet.  I don't know if they're better or worse than D&D/d20 Modern; they're simpler and allow for a bit more variety of results, but seem much, much weaker and not terribly intuitive.The rules for droid PCs seem kludgy, at once overly complex and insufficiently flexible.  Possibly a Star Wars specific issue, but it does show that as of SWSE's release WotC still had trouble putting together more unusual playable races.The dichotomy between Force and Destiny points is annoying, at least as it currently stands.  Possibly a Star Wars specific issue, but I'm not sure.  I wouldn't be surprised to see both Action Points and Destiny Points in 4e.  Destiny seems like a good idea, but it also seems underdeveloped compared to similar ideas in non-d20 modern RPGs.The Dark Side rules are at once not tempting enough and not punitive enough.  This is a Star Wars specific issue, however.The editing was not good, especially in terms of the NPC stat blocks.OVERALLSWSE is a massive upgrade to the d20 system, reincorporating many of the innovations developed in other d20 games into a single core.  Its certainly not perfect, but its problems are mostly setting-specific and minor to boot.</blockquote>

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