SWRPG thoughts for a newish DM

Dagger75

Epic Commoner
Jurble said:
hmmm ok cool thanks guys :) Any suggestiosn for the space combat rules if there are better ways of handling it? (are the inherent SWRPG spaceship combat rules good?) Also do they work 3d decently or is that abit of a pain?

Lastly how does it work having a group mixed Jedi and non-jedi? Say a lvl6 scoundrel and a lvl6 jedi guardian etc, would they be of similar power level or would the jedi bat away the scoundrels blaster bolts and open him up from shoulder to hip?

Basically with that last would you recommend avoiding a mixed jedi/non jedi group or encourage it?

thanks for the help guys :)

Last game I ran had one Jedi, 1 scoundrel and one Soldier. If you have ALL combat then yes the jedi will shine but throw in computer checks, searches, spot, repair, pilot and the other people will do just fine. A jedi has to SPEND lots of points on his force stuff leaving very little for him to spend on other skills.
Durning combat the Jedi did pretty good when he got into melee, the Soldier was an equal fighter. The scoundrel actually shot a lot. After fighting a few Dark Jedi he bought a slug thrower which the Jedi can block but not deflect back at you. He killed a few Dark Jedi with crits thanks to the VP/WP thing.

Starship combat I pretty much winged it. Roll some pilot checks, roll some gun checks, avoid this astroid and what not.
 

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Ranger REG

Explorer
Wraith Form said:
Heck, even short "framework" style plot outlines would be handy, inexpensive, and provide a creative spark that the DM could, if desired, turn into full-fledged campaigns.

(hint hint, WotC)
That needs approval, too. ;)
 

Dr Simon

Explorer
I own D6 and D20 SW RPGs, but I've never got around to playing them (scarily, by D6 books are now 20 years old!)

I found that the SW d20 rules were a bit unadventurous, but this is probably because they were a very early non-D&D d20 game set. Compared to second generation d20 games like Arcana Unearthed, Iron Heroes, B5 2nd Edition or even True20, they really are just D&D in space and it's a bit disappointing that there are any really cool subsystems in there that make you go 'Yeah'. In fairness, when it first came out Vitality/Wounds were new, as were Force (ie Action) points, and I guees it was probably the first system to work on a vehicle combat system. This, and the spacecraft combat which is so similar it should have been in the same chapter, come across as slightly over technical and too miniature based for a good fast-moving SW game (it ought to just come down to, as other posters mention, hand-waving opposed Pilot rolls or the like).

Class-wise it's almost a class-less system since only the force-users get much in the way of interesting class abilities. For some of the classes to shine it seems like you really need an opportunity to haggle and an opportunity to fix something in each session!

The races are also quite bland. Most get a simple +/- to stats and perhaps a mod to a saving throw or a couple of skills. The more exciting racial packages belong to some of the races that are more likely to set teeth on edge - the ewoks and the gungans!

Feats suffer from the same glut of dull skill bonus feats that infected 3.5 (you know, all those ones that give you +2 to two related skills). There are very few new and neat Star Wars specific feats that I remember.

As for mixed jedi/non-jedi - the area where Jedi are really hurt is in skill points, so the other characters are important for 'every-day' matters. A blaster does the same damage intially as a lightsaber (this increases with jedi levels), although a lightsaber ignores armour (damage reduction). My limited experience was that a Gungan fringer throwing energy balls was about as effective against low-level thugs as a Jedi guardian, although the dice dictated a lot of this!

In short - there's nothing particularly *wrong* with SW d20, but I feel it could have been done better. You may want to start above 1st level, because 1st level characters really don't give the cinematic feel of SW, IMO.
 

Pbartender

First Post
Wraith Form said:
My big gripe about SWRPG is the lack of adventures. I'm not saying there are none, but they're few and far between. Pre-written adventures are important for 1) new DMs (myself included) and/or 2) people with little time or creativity to write their own.

If you don't mind restatting the NPCs, you can still find a lot of WEG d6 Star Wars adventures floating around. They made oodles of them, back then.
 

The_Gneech

Explorer
Wraith Form said:
My big gripe about SWRPG is the lack of adventures. I'm not saying there are none, but they're few and far between. Pre-written adventures are important for 1) new DMs (myself included) and/or 2) people with little time or creativity to write their own.

Everything else about the game seems cool.

The WotC published SW adventures weren't very good, anyway. Despite their claims that "it's not just D&D in the SW universe!" that's what several of them turned out to be. One was going through the maze-like crypt of a long-dead Sith in search of artifacts while fighting off his ghost, fer cryin' out loud. The rest were "film noir" crime stories about Hutts.

So yeah, find the old WEG adventures and convert. I particularly recommend Planet of the Mists and Battle for the Golden Sun.

-TG :cool:
 

iwatt

First Post
Pbartender said:
I've haven't tried it yet, but it strikes me that True20 would probably work really well for a Star Wars game...


Yes, it works very well. Check out the following: True Star wars by ValhallaGH (here and at the True20 forums). He also has a very free flow space combat system based on a more narrative style than the minis based one in th RCR.
 


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