Star Wars Saga Edition?

[Numion]

Really, the 1 minute look ahead on Search Your Feelings seems worthless to me.

Maybe not worthless - but I certainly don't think it would be as game-breaking as felon says. Augury in D&D is pretty weak, and that's in a game with dungeons trapped to the teeth, where pulling a random lever will more likely end badly for you than in a SW game.

And I still don't get how using force willy-nilly to satiate rpg players' paranoid feelings is ever going to be ok. The book says that jedis aren't supposed to do that; the sith are. The DM can always fall back on that, even though it's not a hard rule. Everyone knows what joda said about fear, etc..

Or is it my rule zero-point-five working here: "don't play with jerks" ?

I mean, I think it would be poor form for someone to play a jedi and constantly use force for minor things. The book says Jedis don't do that - why would someone make a jedi to purposefully do things that jedis don't do?

 

[Plane Sailing]

Now, while I don't care that much about it, I am sure gonna debate with anyone who thinks that knowing whether every action they're considering will yield weal or woe is a weak, trivial ability with zero potential for disruption. With that hand of cards, I may not feel compelled to raise, but I sure ain't gonna fold either. I'll check. And in that respect, I am possibly my own worst enemy.

Sorry Felon, but I'm going to ask you to drop that aspect of the subject. Either that or drop out of the thread, because you've been contributing (in a 'me-vs-nearly-everyone-else' sense) to a major derailing of this thread. It takes two to argue, so that goes for everyone else too, of course - if anyone wants to talk about 'take 10' issues and DCs or whatever, please go ahead and start a new thread for it.

Having said that, I'm glad that you love SWSE. Please tell us about the things you like!

MoogleEmpMoogle too - what are the things that you think are particularly grand?

 

[BryonD]

Maybe not worthless - but I certainly don't think it would be as game-breaking as felon says. Augury in D&D is pretty weak, and that's in a game with dungeons trapped to the teeth, where pulling a random lever will more likely end badly for you than in a SW game.

And I still don't get how using force willy-nilly to satiate rpg players' paranoid feelings is ever going to be ok. The book says that jedis aren't supposed to do that; the sith are. The DM can always fall back on that, even though it's not a hard rule. Everyone knows what joda said about fear, etc..

Or is it my rule zero-point-five working here: "don't play with jerks" ?

I mean, I think it would be poor form for someone to play a jedi and constantly use force for minor things. The book says Jedis don't do that - why would someone make a jedi to purposefully do things that jedis don't do?

I agree with your assessment.
But that does not make expecting the players to fix things amongst themselves be any less poor design.

But even if the players restrain themselves for the sake of the game, the idea that this can be automatically done whenever the need arises still completely undermines the dramatic feel presented in the movies and turns it into a ho-hum non-event.
I'm still not saying it is broken. Just that it is miles off the mark in catching the coolness that could have been.

 

[Donovan Morningfire]

I'm still not saying it is broken. Just that it is miles off the mark in catching the coolness that could have been.

Every RPG ruleset to some extent or another has loopholes in the mechanics that can be exploited by players willing to do so. That's why they have one person that's responsible for being the final arbiter of the rules as well as providing the adventure framework for the session.

Not to put to blunt a point on it, but given the imagination of the designers of ANY role-playing game is VASTLY outnumbered by the number of players out there, it is impossible to create a truely interactive role-playing game that will perfectly cater to everyone and cover every possible scenario. That's why the role of GM exists, to cover things like this. It's the nature of the beast. No matter how well intended the designers of any RPG are, there is going to be a player out there that spots and exploits a loophole in the rules.

Given that, I think Chris, Rodney, Owen, Gary, and whomever else was involved did a bang-up job on getting a set of game mechanics that captures the "wow" factor of Star Wars but without letting things get too out of control, especially for Force-users in general and Jedi in particular. And as someone noted earlier in this thread, it seems that a lot of what we see as being overlooked issues were actually intended by the designers in some form or another.

I for one am toying with applying Saga Edition (sans Force stuff) to Mechamorphosis for a Transformers game, with a bit of d20 Modern and d20 Future thrown in as well.

 

[Numion]

Given that, I think Chris, Rodney, Owen, Gary, and whomever else was involved did a bang-up job on getting a set of game mechanics that captures the "wow" factor of Star Wars but without letting things get too out of control, especially for Force-users in general and Jedi in particular.

Even though it has a slim equipment chapter, I'm really feeling (in addition to Jedi) the bounty hunter and gunslinger classes. Some of those abilities fit Jango Fett really well. That was really some "Trigger Work" when he shot the jedi with blasters in EPII.

So if I were to play, I don't know whether I'd do a Jedi or somebody aiming for bounty hunter. And that's good.

 

[schporto]

Despite the arguing this thread convinced me to actually purchase the book. So my first biggest question (as with any of these things), where can I find out more? Really the number one thing on my look up list is an adventure...
-cpd

 

[Numion]

Despite the arguing this thread convinced me to actually purchase the book. So my first biggest question (as with any of these things), where can I find out more? Really the number one thing on my look up list is an adventure...
-cpd

There's one at what if games. http://www.whatifgames.net/downloads/sws_mlg.pdf

Seems like professional work to me. Remember to DL the additional map.

 

[BryonD]

Every RPG ruleset to some extent or another has loopholes in the mechanics that can be exploited by players willing to do so. That's why they have one person that's responsible for being the final arbiter of the rules as well as providing the adventure framework for the session.

This is not a loophole or exploit. It is using the rules exactly as written.

And it actually requires an independent workaround to restore the dramatic option.

 

[Raven Crowking]

When I ran a Star Wars game, I broke down the films into sequences, and discovered that they follow a pattern. I then intentionally mimicked this pattern with my game arc. That helped to reproduce the Star Wars "feel" for me.

RC

 

[RFisher]

Of course no one will use a Star Wars game as a generic sci-fi game, because Star Wars is fantasy. (^_^)

How is "fast and furious action" unique to Star Wars? How is playing small bands of heroes unique to Star Wars? If you're nto rescuing a princess, you're not playing Star Wars? Sorry, this is pretty superficial stuff. Is the Star Wars "feel" just a thin coat of paint?

Yes. Lucas drew on myths, movie serials, WW2 films, Herbert, Kurosawa, &c. There is--intentionally--little unique except perhaps the mix. There is a feel there even if it isn't unique, though. It is entirely possible for a work with the name "Star Wars" on it to miss the mark in that regard.