Star Wars Saga Edition [SECR] Preview #2 is Up

[Professor Phobos]

That jack of all trades thing sounds like it ain't just applicable to Star Wars.

What?! It sounds exactly like Star Wars!

 

[nerfherder]

What?! It sounds exactly like Star Wars!

Yes, that's what he said. Re-read it and note the "just".

 

[Professor Phobos]

Yes, that's what he said. Re-read it and note the "just".

Embarassing!

I'll just slink away now.

 

[nerfherder]

Embarassing!

I'll just slink away now.

.

 

[iwatt]

What about Obi-Wan and Han Solo?

I think what he was trying to say is that just about any protagonist in a book or movie based on high octane action is ridiculously competent.

- Indiana Jones
- Doc Savage
- James Bond
- Jason Bourne (both the Ludlum and the new version)
- Han Solo
- Obi Wan
- Grey Mouser
- Fafhrd (to a lesser degree than the Mouser)

That's just a list of 4 genres (pulp, spy, Space Fantasy, Fantasy). we could go on and on.

 

[MoogleEmpMog]

All I can say is BRILLIANT. Abso-freaking-lutely brilliant.

Genre emulation (for any genre d20 does without major mods, no less) + faster character creation + smoothed play in skill-based situations =

... actually, I'm not sure what it equals, because that's a level of awesome I never would have expected from a major release like this.

If these previews are any indication, Star Wars Saga Edition is looking like the best d20 game to date.

 

[Gentlegamer]

i must say, this sounds very interesting. thing is that if one look at levels and xp as a kind of life experience then your picking up some odd skills here and there. thats your untrained skills.

but then there are some skills that your formally trained in. guess what, those are your trained skills.

then there are those that you use so often that they become second nature to you. those are the ones that you have "skill focus" on.

in many ways, rolling untrained skills are a bit like defaulting to attributes in some other games. only that they get a bonus from your overall life experiences.

hmm, i wonder if i should snag this concept somehow

I'd say that conceptually, this is similar to the SIEGE Engine in Castles & Crusades. Very flexible!

 

[JohnSnow]

I'd say that conceptually, this is similar to the SIEGE Engine in Castles & Crusades. Very flexible!

Conceptually perhaps, but (and this may be my bias showing) not in implementation. For one, there's more granularity in skills - 15-20 (I think) rather than just 6. So you can be good at some Dex-based skills but not all of them. Personally, I like that.

In addition, it seems that Saga is keeping the notion of class skills, and certain classes being better at things than others. It wouldn't surprise me a bit if you were only allowed to "train" certain skills in a particular class. So, for example, Deception could be a class skill for scoundrels, nobles, and jedi but not scouts or soldiers. Stealth may be a class skill for scouts and scoundrels, but not jedi, soldiers and nobles, and so on.

Now, here's a question, what would people think about the notion of making attack and defense work this way as well? You're either untrained (+1/2 level), trained (+5 + 1/2 level) or focused (+10 + 1/2 level). I realize that isn't the way it is in Saga (I don't think...), but what do people think about that?

 

[lukelightning]

I love the new skill system. It seems to make character creation much faster, and from my experience there are more NPC encounters in Star Wars than in D&D; in Star Wars you're generally fighting far more people than you are "monsters." This was always a hurdle when I was running my SW game; it made game preparation laborious.

 

[Plane Sailing]

Now, here's a question, what would people think about the notion of making attack and defense work this way as well? You're either untrained (+1/2 level), trained (+5 + 1/2 level) or focused (+10 + 1/2 level). I realize that isn't the way it is in Saga (I don't think...), but what do people think about that?

I personally like combat skills rather than BAB and use that in my own OGL sci-fi game - however, the ability for 1st level PCs to start out at +10 would make a huge- huge- huge gap in combat capabilities, and sorting out challenges that work for are not a walkover for one PC and a dire threat for others would be pretty difficult (skill challenges are rarely as significant in that respect)

Cheers