Why Doesn't Star Wars Hold More Mind Share in the RPG Market?

[Deset Gled]

For me personally, the moving license is an issue.

I got really into the WEG SW RPG, and I have a nice collections of books. I was just starting to think about getting into d20 SW when they switched it to the "Saga edition", which changed the game. Then, 3 short years later, Saga edition was cancelled. Three years later, the FFG version came out. Then Lucasfilm got sold to Disney, and I assumed that Disney would pull the license.

Maybe the FFG version could be considered relatively "safe" now, but it's hard for me to have faith in any IP that's moved around so much. At this point I feel like collecting old WEG stuff would be a better long term investment.

Edit: typo

 

[practicalm]

For space games, I've preferred Traveller or GURPS over Star Wars. Partly because there just seems more room in the Traveller Imperium or in my own homebrew than in the Star Wars space.

 

[Undrave]

I was wondering about this the other day. I know that the RPG market has long been dominated by the Fantasy genre, but I can't help but wonder why Star Wars (being Science Fantasy) does not capture a larger part of the RPG market than it currently does.

One could argue that, like Middle Earth, many people feel like they could not play in the setting without playing second fiddle to the events of the books/movies, but in the case of Star Wars the GM has an entire galaxy to play with.

Regarding the current iteration of Star Wars RPG, do people shy away from the funny dice and mechanics? Personally, I think the system is great, but perhaps I am in the minority. Maybe it's just that they can never seem to find a copy at their FLGS? Because, let's be honest, FFG never produces enough copies of their products to meet demand.

What do you, my dear EN Worlders think?

I think the problem is the licence appears very difficult to hang onto and is very expensive, so they keep moving from one company to the other. This means there isn't a sense of continuity between editions the same way there is for D&D. Each publisher comes at it with its own set of expectations and design principles... It looks similar because it's Star Wars but as a game it always feels different.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

I think there is just less to talk about, and fewer secondary/supplementary products that come out, and so people just sort of play StarWars, and don’t really get online about it.

 

[Undrave]

We never got into it since we were used to D&D and D&D in space was too far from the comfort level we are used to. I wonder if creating dungeons are harder when you have the whole galaxy to make or play in.

I suppose it would be something we would try if we were looking for something and had time to play more. I have heard of it and know some of the races and such, so that would be a plus over other games like one based off a book I never read. I guess if the system was close to D&D it may work. A d20 system and not a new system like MAGE or VAMPIRE.

You should try to find the SAGA edition books! It's d20 and sits somewhere between 3.5 and 4e in terms of designs. It can use some house-rule to really flesh out your characters (there's TONS of talents that have a very lacklustre 'once per day' use that only get one extra if you take it again, those are kind lame) but there's plenty of material.

One thing that bugged me about it was the lack of 'support' option in Force Powers. I wanted to make an Ewok Shaman as a sort of alternative Force tradition but there just wasn't enough meat there, sadly.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

For space games, I've preferred Traveller or GURPS over Star Wars. Partly because there just seems more room in the Traveller Imperium or in my own homebrew than in the Star Wars space.

Also this.

We are building a Space Fantasy! setting using D&D, and like, as few houserules and homebrew as possible, so wear literally playing 5e D&D with the setting being a spacefaring galaxy similar to Treasure Planet meets Star Wars.

We love Star Wars, but we’ve grown tired of playing two different systems, and frustrated with things we don’t like about Saga Edition, which is the only SW system we all like overall. So, we had some discussions about wheat we actually love about playing Star Wars, and built a galaxy about it.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

You should try to find the SAGA edition books! It's d20 and sits somewhere between 3.5 and 4e in terms of designs. It can use some house-rule to really flesh out your characters (there's TONS of talents that have a very lacklustre 'once per day' use that only get one extra if you take it again, those are kind lame) but there's plenty of material.

One thing that bugged me about it was the lack of 'support' option in Force Powers. I wanted to make an Ewok Shaman as a sort of alternative Force tradition but there just wasn't enough meat there, sadly.

Talent and feat consolidation, along with relaxing of prerequisites, are the two main types of edits we considered making to Saga before giving up.

Still a very fun system to play, regardless.

 

[Undrave]

Talent and feat consolidation, along with relaxing of prerequisites, are the two main types of edits we considered making to Saga before giving up.

Still a very fun system to play, regardless.

We tried one feat and one talent per level and for a while it worked okay, but we started getting so ridiculously good that we were joking that our only challenge would be a Dooku-Cloning Machine

I'd say do that but only the first three level and keep going as normal afterward so your characters have a little more they can actually do and be interesting.

 

[pogre]

No matter how big the universe is it seems like the main story has been told. My players like to create the main story.

 

[TheSword]

I’d say it’s a similar problem Game of Thrones, Lord of the Rings and Wheel of Time. The strength of the source material is also its main problem.

Creating relevant characters and situations that feel like Star Wars / GOT / Middlearth / WOT seem to usually do this by referencing characters and events in the films/TV/Books. So how do you make it your own and not be overshadowed by the main storyline.

I think Star Wars does better than most with the huge body of spin off material. But to a lesser extent this suffers from the same problem.

Star Wars rpg products are something I love to read, but when it comes to running a campaign I find ideas become either totally derivative or so unlike Star Wars to make it pointless.