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Message: <blockquote data-quote="masdog" data-source="post: 8928558" data-attributes="member: 7039919">Great post and thread.I’d like to add a few thoughts here:1. I think it really depends on the IP and much freedom it gives you to create your own story.Star Wars is a great example here because it is such a large universe to play in across various time frames and (now) two continuities. A GM could easily create a story that can both feel familiar to fans without, or only barely touching, the established canon. The same goes for Trek - you can easily craft a ship and crew and plop them in some out of the way place to tell your story while still bringing in familiar elements to link it to canon.Other licensed IPs don’t really have that freedom because the universe is smaller or has more load bearing characters that are harder to work around.And that brings me to my 2nd point: the system. The system has to enable you to tell a story that is enjoyable, easy to pick up, and fits in the style of that universe or IP.WEG’s Star Wars D6 let you tell a story that felt like cinematic like Star Wars while still providing a lot of creative freedom, and it’s relatively simple. I don’t think the WOTC or FFG* offerings really capture this feel. (Character adaptations is one thing I liked about WEG D6 - there are no levels so the writers are free to just adapt characters based on what’s shown/written in published media)The Star Trek systems I’ve looked at have always felt VERY crunchy.Other licensed IPs seem to have custom-designed systems specifically for that IP. I was looking through the Power Rangers RPG core book at my FLGS, and it seemed very customized for a Power Rangers story.I think that D&D (and Pathfinder) excels because it’s really a system with multiple settings. The core rulebooks provide a framework for telling a high fantasy adventure. You don’t have to use any of the settings that WOTC published.  That’s harder with licensed IP, even something more open like Star Wars.* - I haven't played Star Wars FFG.  Just read it.That’s called the Barbie Dream House, a miniature tabletop game. It’s expensive, and it’s also got competition from the even more expensive “American Girl Doll” RPG and its slightly cheaper generic 18-inch girl doll knockoffs.</blockquote>

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