New Star Wars RPG!

[Plane Sailing]

Excuse me while I scream like a little girl meeting Orlando Bloom.

I know what you mean, he IS bloody frightening.

 

[wingsandsword]

From what I recall, the SW RPGs had to have their "own" system to meet Lucas Arts restrictions. This is the reason that the rules deviated from the standard D&D/d20 Modern ones.

Well, that and d20 Star Wars came before d20 Modern. The original Core Rules was published in November 2000, and the Revised Core Rules in May 2002, and d20 Modern in October 2002. That and D&D is meant for a somewhat generic medieval fantasy game, if you want to adapt it to something else, like a very specific space opera/science fantasy setting, you are going to have to make a lot of changes to make the system fit the setting.

Also, a lot of the changes seemed good for mimicing Star Wars, instead of being D&D with Jedi and Lightsabers. Wound/Vitality became a very popular rules change, to the point of being ported over as an optional rule for D&D in UA, and I believe they did say the only reason d20 Modern didn't use it was for compatiblity with D&D. Using meters instead of feet fit because in Star Wars they do use metric in the movies. Classes had to be changed of course, because Jedi aren't Psychic Warriors or Paladins, and I'm glad they came up with a Force system that wasn't vancian spell levels, or even like D&D psionics, and kept with the established flavor of Star Wars in the Force having Control, Sense, and Alter aspects.

 

[Greg K]

and I'm glad they came up with a Force system that wasn't vancian spell levels, or even like D&D psionics, and kept with the established flavor of Star Wars in the Force having Control, Sense, and Alter aspects.

I agree. The Force System is the best thing to come out of the d20 Star Wars game. That is one thing that I would not want to see change and I wish the designers of both d20Modern and DND3.5 Psionics had adapted it for their games.

 

[hobgoblin]

im not sure they could have done that. control, sense, alter allso existed in west end games D6-based star wars, so i dont think its a creation of wotc. it may well be that its part of the IP that wotc is allowed to tap into.

the wound/vitality system however is something they most likely have created in-house, and therefor can port over to any other game they feel like.

and given that you can do a lower level psionic or spell by using a higher level slot these days (and some other interesting stuff, like applying modification feats on the fly if your a sorceror and have the slots available), the modern "vancian" system is more or less on par with your avarage mana pool system. ok, a bit more fiddly but still

these days, its only the wizard style classes that gets a shaft from the vancian system by their requirement to preselect their spells rather then having a collection to select from as needed.

but i guess you can do a modified sorceror by saying that a wizard can memorize x number of spells pr class level and can swap any number of them out after 8 hours of rest and some "meditation" time. then they become more flexible then the sorceror, as the sorceror is locked to the spell he selected at the last level increase.

another thing to consider btw is that the vancian system is a d&d classic. for many it would not be d&d if it didnt have said system it goes as far back as pre-a d&d

 

[Aaron L]

Wow, this is good news. I really like SWd20, and am glad that its going to get some more support. Im also glad that some apparently good guys are handling the return

 

[qstor]

Anyone know if the RPGA will still run Star Wars games?

Mike

 

[Ranger REG]

I am so glad I didn't buy either the original or the revised release. I imagine the release will coincide with several major Star Wars events, including the TV show and (probably) KotOR3.

I doubt KOTOR. That's more LucasArts premises.

 

[Ranger REG]

Excuse me while I scream like a little girl meeting Orlando Bloom.

Better than screaming for Tom Cruise, or Menudo (back in the days).

 

[Ranger REG]

From what I recall, the SW RPGs had to have their "own" system to meet Lucas Arts restrictions. This is the reason that the rules deviated from the standard D&D/d20 Modern ones.

Huh?

Last I checked, KOTOR came out years AFTER Star Wars d20. The videogame's material is "loosely" based on the d20 System. To say that LucasArts got first dib sounds utterly ridiculous. Next you'll tell me that they claim to have created d20 System for WotC.

 

[0-hr]

there's just too much non-functional stuff that needs fixing. Really basic, core stuff, .

I know your pain. Luckily, I really like to fiddle with rules and have found a group that doesn't mind playing "StarWars 3.5" with me.

My current list of house rules (which are my attempt to compensate for much of what you mention), are online here:

Morningstar d20 StarWars

If anyone developing the new book wants a little more playtesting info, the house rules there represent what our group (after a couple years of playing) feels was needed to make the game playable.

You can ignore the setting info further down the page (the setting is Star Wars mixed with Fading Suns - not that that has any real impact on the house rules).

Regardless though, I'm glad to hear a new book is coming out. I'm also glad for the recent reprinting of "Power of the Jedi". But if PotJ is made obsolete by the Saga book, then WotC will look pretty sleazy.