Who Should Make The Next Star Wars TTRPG, And What Should It Look Like?

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Since this thread is full of Star Wars fans who also play RPGs, I want to shout out Notorious, a solo RPG I played here last year. As a game generator for bounty hunter adventures (not you, Book of Boba Fett), it was incredible.

I cannot hype it up enough. I loved Star Wars: Tales of the Old Republic when it came out, but even at its best moments, it never felt as much like Star Wars as the serial numbers-filed-off Notorious did. I cannot recommend it enough, especially the hard copy version, which is spiral-bound, to make it easier to use during play.

 

[Reynard]

I still stand by the idea that if it's design does not model something in the world, but instead represents an intangible for the purposes of driving a story plot or character development, it is to some degree a narrative mechanic.

The Force exists in the Star Wars fiction.

Bennies/drama points/etc are meta mechanics IMO.

But they aren't narrative mechanics.

 

[aramis erak]

Fortunately, Level Up has nothing to do with 5.5.

And isn't WotC. Which is what I was responding to. And what most people are going to want: same mechanics as current Official D&D.

Stockholm Kartell, so we can have Star Borg.

But seriously, I figure the only companies that could afford that license would be the big ones. So that would be, what, Wizards, Paizo, or Modiphius.

Mongoose, as well. They did get an interview in 2008 on their bid for it.
Matthew Sprange blogged about it... and how he knew it had just been assigned to someone else. (but had it actually? Or was it just a panic response to a competitive but disliked bid? FFG staff denied having gotten the bid. But then they got it.)

Free League, Darrington Press, or MCDM might also be able to put a credible bid. It scares me to think about what Monte Cook would charge for a SW core box, but given a KS, they certainly could.

Odds are, however, we won't see a new licensee until 2027 or 2029, depending... such licenses usually being 7 or 5 year leases.

 

[overgeeked]

Something else that's boring for a fun thread is that getting new books for the current rpg approved by Disney might also be an uphill struggle right now. IIRC Mandalorian books where given a no because "it the storyline wasn't finished" so that would not get an okay until after the movie at the earliest. Later efter they want to add more.

That’s also a reason to DIY the thing. You don’t have to wait years for approval. I’ve worked on licensed RPGs as a freelancer. The nerds into RPGs and into the IPs enough to want to work on them are a lot of the same people who’re writing the wikis. There’s a lot of overlap. A lot of the gaming stuff is slightly rewritten wiki articles. All you’d need is the game stats. Which most gamers could manage easily enough for most of the popular media franchises.

 

[Fenris-77]

I find your excess of faith disturbing.

 

[Celebrim]

Bennies/drama points/etc are meta mechanics IMO.

They certainly can be and are often intended to be, but I think it's possible for that to cross the line. D6 has a "force point" that is both a meta currency and intended to represent something that does exist in the setting. Whether the ability to occasionally dramatically access the force (or be used by the force) to do something incredible is best represented by meta-currency is a different discussion, but it is clear the designers weren't throwing them in purely with the idea of "meta currencies are good" but because they felt the dramatic narrative and the setting supported the idea and that players saying "I use a force point" would feel like they were doing something very relevant to Star Wars narratives.

 

[Micah Sweet]

They certainly can be and are often intended to be, but I think it's possible for that to cross the line. D6 has a "force point" that is both a meta currency and intended to represent something that does exist in the setting. Whether the ability to occasionally dramatically access the force (or be used by the force) to do something incredible is best represented by meta-currency is a different discussion, but it is clear the designers weren't throwing them in purely with the idea of "meta currencies are good" but because they felt the dramatic narrative and the setting supported the idea and that players saying "I use a force point" would feel like they were doing something very relevant to Star Wars narratives.

Force points are specifically one I feel is ok, because it represents something real in the fiction.