Star Wars: Edge of the Empire Beginner Game

[Argyle King]

4 out of 5 rating for Star Wars: Edge of the Empire Beginner Game

Typically, I'm someone who likes crunchy games and a bit of realism, so I went into the idea of a game built around being story and drama driven with some reservations. To my surprise, I was blown away. Edge of The Empire is currently my 2nd favorite rpg. I love that there's never a 'dead roll of the dice.' Even if you fail, most likely, the dice will produce some sort of result. I very easily went from someone who had reservations about the game to someone who has purchased a few books for the system. The artwork was top notch, I like the rules, and I feel the Beginner Game does a good job of explaining how the game works. I also love that Edge of The Empire focuses on parts of the SWs Universe that aren't given a lot of attention in the movies. I love that because there's enough SWs feel there to capture the imagination of the most hardened SWs fanboy while keeping things loose enough and open enough that someone who knows nothing at all about the SWs Universe could sit at the same table and still have fun without feeling as though they're missing out. However, there are a few almost-negatives to note.One thing to point out is that there are a few very minor differences in the rules when you compare the Beginner Game to the later books. Honestly, you're unlikely to notice without close scrutiny, but there are some differences. It's understandable given that the beginner game is an earlier version of the game and a more stripped down version, but it's still something to mention.The spaceship combat could be a little more clear. I understood most of how it worked, but a lot of the people in my group had trouble grasping some of it. I think the game could use more examples of how spaceship combat is supposed to work. I didnt mind the lack of Jedi and Sith at all, but I'm aware that some people may be bothered by that. Personally, I loved having a different focus; it felt a lot like Firefly set in the SWs Universe. However, there was one member of my primary gaming group who was upset about not having access to more force powers. Whether or not this is bothersome to you will depend on what you're looking for.Overall, I was pleasantly surprised by Edge of The Empire. I highly enjoy it. I've even stolen a few of the mechanics for use in other games that I run. For example, I use the force die and the fate token system in the GURPS game that I currently run. There are a lot of ideas in Edge of The Empire which are (in my opinion) cool and easy to port into other systems.

 

[El_Fez]

4 out of 5 rating for Star Wars: Edge of the Empire Beginner Game

I have been gaming in the Star Wars universe since 1989 or thereabouts with the West End Games system. I tried the D20 system that Wizards of the Coast put out a handful of years ago and just didn't like the class system and thought the starship combat was clunky at best. So while one might say that I'm an expert at the D6 system, one also might say that I am very set in my ways. It takes a well written system to turn my head. Fantasy Flight Games may very well have done just that with Star Wars: Edge of the Empire. WHAT YOU GET - The Edge of the Empire Beginners Game comes with two books, several maps and a couple of booklets. There's a four page booklet marked "Read This First" outlining what a Role Playing Game is, a brief overview and an opening yellow words Star Wars scroll. Labeled "Read This Second" is the adventure book containing the game "Escape from Mos Shuuta", detailing the players and their - well, escape from Mos Shuuta. Lastly we get a Rule Book (marked "Read this last") fleshing out the details and concepts not covered in the Adventure book" Also, we get a set of fourteen custom dice made specifically for this game, a two sided map with a YT-1300 on one side and a couple of locations in and around Mos Shuuta on the other, and a handful of tokens with characters and ships on them. Lastly we get four 4-paged books of character sheets - a smuggler, a droid, a wookiee and a bounty hunter - with a couple of upgrades throughout the adventure. THE GAME ENGINE - At its heart, the Fantasy Flight Engine is reasonably simple. The GM assigns difficulty dice (breaking a bicycle padlock = one purple difficulty die while cracking a safe at Fort Knox = four purple difficulty dice) and then perhaps a boost or setback die depending on environmental conditions (You're trying to pick the lock in the dark while stormtroopers are shooting at you = two setback dice, but you slipped a hacking program into the mainframe the day before = one boost die). The player takes their base attribute (in this case, we'll say Three Cunning) in green Ability Dice, upgrade their skill (in this case, one Skullduggery) in yellow Proficiency Dice and combines them in one dice pool. So for this example, the player would roll two green dice, one yellow die, one purple die, two black die and one blue die. If the result comes up more symbols for success than symbols for failure, the player succeeds. If there are more failure symbols, the player doesn't. Simple! There's also the mechanic of Advantage, Threat, Triumph and Despair - it's possible for a player to succeed, but to have a negative outcome, or for a player to fail and have something positive happen. For example, the player picking the lock fails to open the door but generates several Advantage symbols. The door remains shut, but they accidentally shut the door between them and the stormtroopers shooting at them. Or they unlock the door but generate enough Threat symbols that not only do they open their door - but every door in the base, including the stormtrooper barracks just on the other side. It's an interesting dynamic that allows the GM and players to be very creative in interpreting the dice rolls beyond boring "you open the door" moments. THE GAME - As the box says, this is very much an introductory adventure that holds your hand (both player and GM) through the whole "this is a roleplaying game" thing and how the game engine actual works. The Adventure book walks your group through, step by step, starting with a very basic combat and then slowly adding in concepts and game mechanics - how bargaining and interaction with NPCs works, how Destiny Points are used, how a fight with a large crowd of minions works, how a battle with a rival should unfold and finally starship combat. By the time the adventure is over, everyone at the table should be passingly at ease with the game engine. Fantasy Flight Games wisely set the introductory game on Tatooine, a planet that even someone only passingly acquainted with the Star Wars universe should have a good concept of. The bad guy pulling the strings is a Hutt - while not Jabba, should be familiar enough that players don't have to wrestle with "wait - who is that?" and learn the engine at the same time. From Gamorreans to Trandoshans - everything in the game should be recognizable to someone who grew up with the old Kenner action figures ("Oh yeah, the pig guys? I remember them! Bossk? Yeah, he was a badass!") The Rule book covers more ground than the introductory adventure. It includes more about the game engine, ways to creatively interpret the success and failure of the dice rolls, expanding the combat, some of the core games skills and talents, some basic equipment vehicles and starships, plus some non-player characters. THE DARK SIDE - The box that the Beginners Game comes in is flimsy and crap for storing your game components. I found that my tokens were falling out the other end of the box as fast as I put them in. The Adventure contained within is very linear and railroads the players with a very blatant hand. That said, the game is mostly a tool for showcasing the game engine and how to play. As an adventure it's crap, but as a tutorial - it's well done! The rule book is a little light. It doesn't cover the greater Star Wars universe, how to run an extended campaign or even how to build your own characters. But then again, this is the Beginners name and is primarily just a tool for learning how the game engine works with pre-built characters. If you're looking for more depth to the rules, seek out the Edge of the Empire core rule book. THE LIGHT SIDE - The presentation is excellent and everything is written in a clear and concise manner. It only took an evening's worth of play to get my gaming group up to speed on the basics of the engine - and the beginner's game had a LOT to do with that. SUPPLIMENTAL - I should mention that while the canned game is really short and built to be a tutorial, Fantasy Flight Game has released - for free on their web page - a follow-up game called Long Arm of the Hutt. While the this game is still pretty basic and good for beginners to get their feet wet, it's longer, more intricate and a pretty good opportunity to reinforce what you learned in the Beginners Game. Also, available on their web page are two more pre-generated characters. This allows the players a choice of what they'd like to play or allows the GM more characters for a larger overall party. CONCLUSION - The Star Wars: Edge of the Empire Beginner Game is great jumping on point to the hobby of roleplaying games and a good tutorial for Fantasy Flight Games' take on Star Wars. It holds the hand of the new players, it explains the rules nicely and clearly, and it's a great classic Star Wars adventure that captures the spirit of the movies well to boot. Well recommended for both old school veterans and brand new players alike.

 

[alfarobl]

5 out of 5 rating for Star Wars: Edge of the Empire Beginner Game

Excellent box for the price comes with Dice and a very good adventure to introduce new players to Star Wars. You could very easily start playing right away... each time you play is different so big replay value. Counters are really nice to have. Only down is cheap quality box, not made to last but contents is high quality, beautiful illustrations. Star Wars feel... quick and nice system for it. Dice pool takes a couple of rolls to get the mechanics. The more you play the more you get used to it, don't decide about it with only one session.

 

[Jhaelen]

4 out of 5 rating for Star Wars: Edge of the Empire Beginner Game

Having recently played this introductory adventure with a few of my board gaming partners, I have to say that FFG has done a really excellent job on this one. Despite having had no previous RPG experience, the players had absolutely no difficulty to get into the right spirit. Initially, they were a bit unsure about what they could do, but by giving a good example, they quickly caught on. Interpreting the dice might have been a bit tricky, but since our GM handled most of that, it wasn't a problem. The game material is top-notch and the adventure, while short and simple, provided several memorable encounters that encouraged the use of different skill sets and approaches while teaching the players all relevant aspects of the game rules. If I have a complaint, it's probably that you'll get little use out of the set after the first playthrough. Still, it's great for its price, and may be the best RPG introduction I've seen, yet.