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SW Tabletop RPG Recommendations Anyone?


DNA_Cowboy

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Been getting the itch to at least pick up some expanded universe or uber-specific setting materials from one of the established RPG settings (WEG, WoC etc.), not so much because I have a definite plan to ever run a game (who knows), but because I might some day, I always appreciate a well done setting book and I could always cannibalize some aspects for another homebrew setting.

 

I have immediately realized that I have no idea which source books are considered by both player and cannon aficionados as being high quality, in-depth, well written, produced etc. So, I ask anyone who catches this thread before it plummets off the page to give me feedback.

 

Out of Print isn't necessarily a concern for me, as I can check drivethrurpg to see if they're selling PDFs (not my preference, but I could make do) or try and snag a copy off of eBay. Also, though I'm open to new rule sets, I'd probably run a BRP conversion or something like that anyway, so the crunchy bits don't matter all that much to me.

 

Any old school tabeltop, PnP RPGers have any advice?

Edited by DNA_Cowboy
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Saga Edition is greatness. I consider it the closest to perfection that a D20 system has come. And, since I like D20, it's one of my favorite systems to play.

 

I'd stay away from the two earlier D20 attempts, as they have some issues that really killed the game for me ("hit points" fueling all Force powers, for example), but you might enjoy those as well. And some people swear by the old WEG d6 system.

 

But I and my group are quite happy with Saga Edition.

 

Those are the official RPGs. They're all out of print now, as WotC couldn't afford (or didn't want to keep paying) to keep the license. So, there is a bit of a limbo period now, as we look forward to seeing what Fantasy Flight is doing with the license apart from a card game and a tactical space combat game.

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The very first game made for Star Wars by West End Games is the best to date. The system was simple, easy to learn, and made the action flow. Plus they had the Star Wars Adventure Journal published to support it, thick digest-like books with game material and stories by the greats (like Timothy Zahn and Kevin J. Anderson).

 

Saga edition...eh, it was okay.

 

Fantasy Flight Games just got the license for the latest incarnation of the game. Should be interesting to see how it stacks up against earlier editions.

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I liked both the WEG and WOTC versions. The West End version is easier to get tabletop characters the are close to representing the classes you can role, though the force rules only reflect how things were done up to the Corellia trilogy. The WOTC would be easier to set in the TOR era and you can replicate your chars too, just have to do your planning on what to take. Though once again, the force rules reflect the comics and books up to the time the license ended. I will be looking at what FFG will be doing with a lot of interest.
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No they didn't. They got a license to do a Rogue Squadron card game.

 

Darn.... And here I was all psyched up about Fantasy Flight Games doing a Star Wars RPG. They did an amazing job with the Warhammer 40,000 Roleplaying Games (Dark Heresy, Rogue Trader, Deathwatch, etc). If they did get the license to do a Star Wars RPG, they would probably use a similar rule set, and I love the rule system for the Warhammer 40K RPG's.

 

I would also be happy if they did a reprint of the old West End Games D6 Dtar Wars RPG, as that one was simple and very fun. And it probably wouldn't be too hard to add rules for Old Reblublic, Clone Wars, and the events after Return of the Jedi.

 

Well..... Now you got me all inspired to go check out various game websites to see if they have any old copies of that D6 Star Wars RPG for sale.... :)

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No they didn't. They got a license to do a Rogue Squadron card game.

 

"Fantasy Flight Games is pleased to announce that it has entered a comprehensive licensing partnership with Lucasfilm Ltd. for the worldwide rights to publish card, roleplaying, and miniatures games set in the popular Star Wars™ universe!"

 

http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_news.asp?eidn=2528

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West End Games (D6) did a great job, however their system is geared towards heroes rather than villains.

 

Many of the 'great' SW authors actually started with writing little bits for the D6 sourcebooks.

 

If you have to go D20, I'd go 2nd edition (Revised Core Rulebook). SAGA is just too clunky.

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FFG got the full license.

 

Most people aren't holding their breath, however.

 

None of the systems Star Wars has been officially published with are very good.

 

If this is indeed the case, then I have a feeling that their version of a Star Wars roleplaying game will be really excellent. I have all of FFG's Warhammer 40,000 roleplaying material (Dark Heresy, Rogue Trader and Deathwatch), and those are amazing. I hope they use a similar ruleset for Star Wars.

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  • 2 months later...
I've been putting together a campaign in the old republic, I'm basically using White Wolf's d10 system as a lot of the powers are already in there in one form or another. Sith lightning and Jedi mind tricks, pfft that's just Tremere magic and Dominate. Everything else I make up as needed.
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  • 2 weeks later...

Great news that someone has at least picked up the franchise - hope they see fit to develop some tabletop role-playing resources as well as the CCG and miniature games!

 

These days, my campaigns tend to be homebrew, but I have a great fondness for the game mechanics of the original WEG D6 system. They were simple enough to teach people who hadn't roleplayed a lot, and complex enough that you could customise a terrific character. The D20s systems were ... OK. But better for source material than for actual gaming. I tended to pick them up at sales.

 

The last thing I ran was a short campaign set just after the Clone Wars, using the Fate system. There were some problems, but I think now I have more understanding of how and when to compel aspects, I think it might work well when I run the next tranche in a few months time.

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  • 4 months later...

Going down the list.

 

West End Games Star Wars - Not bad, however keep in mind the books could be hard to come by as it has been out of print for a number of years now. Off that bat I can tell you it has tons of books that have all kinds of info in them. The game style is a bit odd if you are playing it like the book tells you, namely the book tells the GM to tell the players about villains talking about their next move and the like. The dice system I found a little odd as well, and due to it coming out in the 90's you may want to recon or ignore a few things in the books.

 

Star Wars D20 - I missed out on getting it so I'm just leaving this out for now.

 

Star Wars D20 SAGA Edition - Okay this one I did get and I did run two games with it, the first one was running it and sticking to the main rulebook, the other was using the D20 system and I'm sorry I <3 the D20 system 3.5 DnD/Pathfinder FTW! But yeah let me get into this...

 

First things first Jedi in SAGA are the most OP thing ever. Now Jedi in the first WoTC Star Wars I heard had been underpowered, in SAGA however? Well along with their stats and a few other things Jedi's get a skill called "Use the Force" and you can use that for everything. Jedi who is working with the Rebels and jumps into a TIE Defender that he/she has never trained on before? Use the force and he/she can fly it like an ace pilot. Want to slice a system? Use the force, congrats you just sliced it better then the guy who took the slicing skill. Three games in and our Jedi player who was a powergamer/munchkin was having the time of his life and the rest of the group was ready to kill him. Not like they didn't want to do that before.

 

The game has a lack of classes, the item list imho is very just generic and didn't offer as much as WEG SW. The guides are nice, the artwork is great, the game play however? Not so much.

 

Really for the second game I just went with the D20 rules, redid a number of the WEG stuff for D20. Put classes in, really I stole the classes from SWG. Use the force was only used for using a force power, and even then I did nerf half the force powers in the game. The munchkin wasn't happy but oh well.

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First things first Jedi in SAGA are the most OP thing ever. Now Jedi in the first WoTC Star Wars I heard had been underpowered, in SAGA however? Well along with their stats and a few other things Jedi's get a skill called "Use the Force" and you can use that for everything. Jedi who is working with the Rebels and jumps into a TIE Defender that he/she has never trained on before? Use the force and he/she can fly it like an ace pilot. Want to slice a system? Use the force, congrats you just sliced it better then the guy who took the slicing skill. Three games in and our Jedi player who was a powergamer/munchkin was having the time of his life and the rest of the group was ready to kill him. Not like they didn't want to do that before.

 

 

I'm sorry but the "Use the Force" skill does NOT work like that. It's used to activate force powers, go into a force trance, move small objects, sense force users and objects and a few other minor things like that. I can't be used in place of other skills like your jedi player has been using it and no feats or talents allow it either , so your jedi has been cheating.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I don't have any good recommendations because my style of SWRPG is picking and taking that makes the gaming experience more fluid depending on the people I am working with. So initially I use almost all of the books I can grasp.

 

[edit]

 

I have ran "Dark Side," "Light Side," "Jedi Training," "Sith training," "Jedi vs Sith," "Sith vs Jedi," and many more types of campaigns from just splicing the books. It is really fun to do, but then I had four plus years in GM-ing.

Edited by Maj-Odo
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