What are your views of D6?

[ssampier]

I played d6 WE Star Wars a few times, but I'm going to massacred for this, I like the d20 version better.

I am currently reading Warhammer Fantasy Roleplaying and I understand the first edition was d6. The d10 version seems quite elegant; all you need are 2d10s.

In short, d6 are better for craps and rolling for rogues hit points (plus the various d6 weapons).

 

[Staffan]

Isn't this the same system that started out as Torg at one point?

No, TORG came later and used a completely different system where you rolled a d20, converted the roll to a bonus number via a chart printed on your character sheet, added the bonus number to your skill, and try to beat a difficulty number. Star Wars/D6 instead used a system where you roll a bunch of d6es depending on your skill, possibly add 1 or 2 (to provide some more granularity, it goes 1D, 1D+1, 1D+2, 2D, 2D+1, and so on), and try to beat a difficulty with the sum.

Personally, I love both games a lot, and have played fun campaigns in both.

 

[Shadowslayer]

I used to GM the d6 Star Wars system and we found it to be an excellent system. The one caveat really is that the game got a little unweildy at higher levels. I don't believe the Star Wars game was designed for years long running campaigns. SO kinda depends on what you want to do.

 

[HeapThaumaturgist]

SW d6 is my best memories of role playing from back in high school. My worst, as well.

Heh.

Got in a fight with the guy who bought the books and wanted to run the game. He pretty much handed me the books and dared me to do better. So I did.

I ALMOST used the d6 version this summer because I was running an all-Jedi "Tales of the Jedi" era game ... wasn't able to get a copy of the OOP d6 TotJ sourcebook, so I went ahead and did what I could with the more-well-known d20 version ... then one of my players brought me a copy of the TotJ book in PDF. >.< Would have gone d6 had I gotten that just two weeks earlier.

We generally found out that we DID NOT like the d20 StarWars for a Jedi game. I had to use a bunch of house-rules just to get people enough skill points to make average-for-level checks in both Force and non-Force skills. And Jedi fighting Jedi is not in any way cinematic. Maybe realistic ... but those pumped up Dex and Attack Bonus scores mean alot of hits. And with big damage and dinged VP scores, even the guardians could only soak maybe one hit to VP before getting cleaved in two.

Next time I'm going to do it with M&M.

--fje

 

[kenobi65]

The one caveat really is that the game got a little unweildy at higher levels.

IME, that's a massive understatement. It became incredibly unwieldy at higher levels. This was especially true when you spent a Force Point (in the SW version), because that doubled all your dice values for a round.

"OK, I have 8D in Blaster. I spend a Force Point, so that's 16D, so I take 9 shots at 8D each...but wait, I Dodged somewhere in there, so the last 5 shots are at 7D..."

And, each attack might require four dice rolls:
- Attacker rolls attack roll
- Defender may make a defense roll (Dodge / Parry)
- Attacker rolls damage roll if attack succeeded
- Defender makes roll to resist damage

If you think d20 combat takes too long, just try a d6 combat with experienced characters and experienced bad guys. It can easily take several hours.

And, IMO, the Wild Die affects the rolls way too often. One in three rolls either are "really good" or "really bad."

 

[Shadowslayer]

IME, that's a massive understatement. It became incredibly unwieldy at higher levels.

Heh. I was merely being polite.

SW worked at its best for a shorter campaign. You do a series of adventures with an overarching story. Once the story is over, the campaign is over. Ours never lasted more than 2 or 3 months. Then it was new characters and a new story. (I hesitate to call them mini-campaigns...no one ever said an RP campaign had to last years.)

Bear in mind we always kept the tone light, and made it a point to buy into the DMs story. I always had the Star Wars music cued up, and at the beginning of the game session I'd make up a summary drawn up in the style of the scrolling story at the beginning of each movie. It was cheese, but it was fun cheese. And perfect as an alternative to our "serious" D&D game.

 

[The Grackle]

Next time I'm going to do it with M&M.

--fje

I just ran an All-Jedi one-shot w/M&M and it worked great. The players said it had the most Star Wars feel of any SW RPG they'd ever played.

 

[Zappo]

I played d6 WE Star Wars a few times, but I'm going to massacred for this, I like the d20 version better.

Nah. I for one agree with you.

 

[Thanee]

Although I am surely not a friend of d20ifying everything, but Star Wars d20 is definitely one of the better ones.

Bye
Thanee

 

[No Name]

IME, that's a massive understatement. It became incredibly unwieldy at higher levels. This was especially true when you spent a Force Point (in the SW version), because that doubled all your dice values for a round.

"OK, I have 8D in Blaster. I spend a Force Point, so that's 16D, so I take 9 shots at 8D each...but wait, I Dodged somewhere in there, so the last 5 shots are at 7D..."

And, each attack might require four dice rolls:
- Attacker rolls attack roll
- Defender may make a defense roll (Dodge / Parry)
- Attacker rolls damage roll if attack succeeded
- Defender makes roll to resist damage

If you think d20 combat takes too long, just try a d6 combat with experienced characters and experienced bad guys. It can easily take several hours.

And, IMO, the Wild Die affects the rolls way too often. One in three rolls either are "really good" or "really bad."

I second this, but I also have a lot of good memories of D6 Star Wars. I don't want to complain about a game that has such memories attached to it.

One thing I did like about D6 SW is that experience earned is used to improve skills. There are no levels. There were no specific classes either. It did have a bunch of templates (ex. Laconic Scout, Quixotic Jedi, etc.), but you could assign 18 dice worth of stats where you wanted (limited by race) and call your character anything you like. Not all bounty hunters had to have the same stats.

Wish I could offer more info about the D6 system, but WEG's Star Wars is my only experience with it.