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

[Micah Sweet]

While all three branches of the take are compatible, there are small discrepancies between the various books. Touching up a few of those and further accentuating the compatibility would be nice.

I haven't looked at the Asmodee reprints yet, so it could be that they've already done that.

Aside from that, release some newer material. There were a few things released for the most recent trilogy, but it was overall somewhat sparse. A few more adventures would be nice.

I do see that Asmodee has started to reprint some of the books that had been out of stock (such as the Gadgets and Gear book that consolidated lists of items from the the product lines). I didn't know that until looking it up before this reply.

Maybe try advertising the game a little better. I recently visited the Star Wars area of Disney. There were a lot of people there from a wide variety of ages, backgrounds, and identities. If I were to guess, the vast majority of them likely have no idea that a Star Wars ttrpg (or "board game" to some of them) exists.

All agreed. Reprints are good (I'm waiting for Starships and Speeders myself), but they could be doing so much more. The line has lain fallow for far too long.

 

[aramis erak]

Your reasoning is sound, but that isn't how it's played out over the years if Star Wars and Star Trek are any indication. I don't think any licensed product is likely to bring in many people new to gaming. If Dallas and Star Trek couldn't do it I just don't know what game would.

Star Wars and Star Trek have brought a lot of people in, over the years. Just not anything like how many D&D has.

 

[MGibster]

Star Wars and Star Trek have brought a lot of people in, over the years. Just not anything like how many D&D has.

I'm sure it's brought a few people in. Do you know of any reliable way to figure that out though?

 

[aramis erak]

I'm sure it's brought a few people in. Do you know of any reliable way to figure that out though?

of the 50-some people who have joined my SW games, I know 3 of them were Star Wars as their first RPG... but a different SW for each. One was WEG, one was SWSE, one was FFG. Only the WEG was at my table for their first game...
Correction, 1 more: my youngest's first game was FFG, so that makes 4.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Thinking more on it, I think i would want to see a team come together to make a fresh game. I mean yes i want an updated SAGA Edition with 5e sensibilities. But.

Give me a team pulled from people involved in d6 SW, Wotc SW, SW5e, and EoTE. Let them go nuts. Give them the budget to hire whoever they think will help them make the best game.

 

[Justice and Rule]

A little late to the party, but...

Put me down as a guy who really loved the FFG game. It had some problems with certain kinds of uses for its systems (If you wanted to a campaign closer to the old X-Wing/TIE Fighter games, you needed to make some modifications) and one book came out a bit undercooked (Fully Operational and its crafting rules, iirc), but generally it really did well with capturing the vibe, having crunch where it worked and being able to go light when it didn't. I ran games across a decade and I don't think I ever fought a ground combat that ever needed anything like a map because the rules-light ranges really worked to help speed things along in a Star Wars way. Less so for Space Combat, but I happen to be one of those X-Wing dudes, so...

Counterpoint: Wookiepedia.

IMNSHO, Star Wars is the poster child for why "rules light" and "narrative focused" isn't a gaming panacea. If there was ever a fandom that screamed for crunch, details, and complicated subsystems, Star Wars is it. There is no silver-bullet unified mechanic that can distill everything from giant space ships, magical superheroes, cyber hacking, WWII dogfighting, sword fights, espionage, guerilla gunfights, international politics, and social arguments into a single die roll and be satisfying for all of them.

Embrace the power of the complexity. Let it flow through you. Then, and only then, will your Star Wars RPG training be complete.

Yeah, absolutely. Honestly I would love to see some adaptation of the L5R5e social battles because I think those rules had good ideas. I know I kind of adapted one of the rules about hitting your stress limit to my own, where if you lost your strain in a social situation you didn't pass out but basically became socially useless.

No Klingon clerics... ever.

I've got Scum & Villainy for myself, so I am voting for the rules-lite, mass appeal category to get more people to funnel into the hobby outside of D&D (which can be clunky and slow around combat). And by rules-lite, I don't mean your typical incredibly light,. all vibes and barely any GM support. It should be able to run adventures or handle more improv style.

I think FFG Star Wars was actually pretty damn close. Streamlining the narrative positive and negative consequences like how Daggerheart would go a long way - there's no reason a table should ever look at Crit + 3xSuccess + 3x Threat and have to BS their way into making those meaningful. Streamlining the skill list to be simpler to understand and specialize (like how Swords of the Serpentine made Gumshoe fun for me to run!). Streamlining combat and gear a bit more would help. And of course, getting rid of the unique dice. Also, PDFs need to be a must, it's 2026.

But it gave some great basic 101 advice that many RPG books don't bother with - table management. How to actually herd those cats that we call players. It separating campaign premises into different books with a different core mechanic is actually pretty smart - I think it makes a ton of sense to have the Scoundrels, Rebellion and Jedi be uniquely separate games. I'd go further and make the skill list and combat systems match these better too. Obligations are still one of the coolest takes on that mechanic I've seen but it doesn't have as much GM Support as I would like around it.

See, I think the "Crit Plus Successes Plus Threat" were some of the most fun ones to come up with (You did something amazing but wasted a bunch of resources or set yourself up for a tougher situation down the road).

However, I also think that one underrated thing is to simply take/gain some stress back or add a die to a situation. Not that you should always do it, but if you don't have something, doing something easier while gaining strain/lose strain/gain a boost or setback die. One of the things that people initially got hung up on when I introduced them was to try and use all the symbols in unique and interesting ways, and it's something that I had to tell them that if they didn't have anything particularly cool, it's perfectly fine to take valuable but simple boosts and keep moving. Much like not having everyone roll for everything (so that you didn't crush the pacing by trying to interpret every die roll), it's one of those things you really need to learn.

Has getting the Star Wars license ever killed a company?

No... though I do remember a miniatures company getting killed by the Halo license. A smaller company in a more niche market with a worse deal (again, iirc), but it does show that it's possible.

The x-wing mini game and BGs and CCGs made loads more money than the RPG. Im not sure there is an interest in licensing out the RPG, and then the Bgs, and then the CCGs., etc.. All those being under one license is likely more attractive. So, thats another hurdle for RPG companies to get the license.

Not much as far as I can tell. Disney and/or Asmodee might seem fine sitting tight at the moment. I think all the factors above demonstrate why folks are not fighting for the license. Big IPs need big investment.

Oh, absolutely they did. However, the RPG always seemed to do well when they were producing books; it always was close to the top of the industry charts until they basically let it wither. Really f****** tragic how badly Asmodee screwed up things.

 

[payn]

Oh, absolutely they did. However, the RPG always seemed to do well when they were producing books; it always was close to the top of the industry charts until they basically let it wither. Really f****** tragic how badly Asmodee screwed up things.

To be fair, it was done to Asmodee as they got gobbled up in a corporate merger and then saddled with crippling debt.

 

[Justice and Rule]

To be fair, it was done to Asmodee as they got gobbled up in a corporate merger and then saddled with crippling debt.

I think that happened just before the merger with Embracer Group, but the whole situation was f***** up.

 

[John R Davis]

It needs to be way faster player than any previous SW game. It shouldn't get buried in anything technical, no shopping around for better weapons, armour, upgrades, etc.

Fallout 2d20, stripping out a few things may work. The system in Barbarians of Lemuria would be even better.

 

[Deset Gled]

It shouldn't get buried in anything technical, no shopping around for better weapons, armour, upgrades, etc.

But those are huge elements of the movies? The scene showing the technical strategy of how to destroy the Death Star is not only iconic, but central to the plot. The introduction of Han and Chewie comes from a shopping scene. The upgrades to the Millennium Falcon are not only part of the history of the ship, but a major driving factor of ESB. Showing off better and different weapons is a major part of so many scenes, from the new ships in the battle of Endor, to Darth Maul and Kylo Ren showing of their custom lightsabers. Even getting new armor is a regular plot point of The Mandalorian.