Shouldn't there be another purple in there for using two weapons?

No, one of the Purple dice was already upgraded to Red. You don't do two upgrades.

To say nothing of using the second Boost die when the rules say one weapon is used to determine the success of the attack, ...

Each weapon gets two boost dice (I did say that I had Balanced Hilt plus all the available additional modifications to that Attachment), and I didn't roll the extra two boost dice for the other weapon until I had confirmed whether or not it had hit. The extra two boost dice did not factor into the calculations shown above.

... or dual wielding a pair of two handed weapons 6.5 feet long.

In my mind, when dual-wielding them with the particular Attachment I have, they are not 2m in length, but due to the auto-telescoping shaft, they are instead more like 1.7m long each.

But I according to the RAW, I could be dual-wielding two vibro-swords and do just one less point of damage each, and they'd also give me an INCREASE to my Melee Defense. So, in some ways that would be even better, because I've got a wide variety of talents that help me increase my damage, and losing just one point of damage per weapon wouldn't really bother me.

I choose to use the pair of Vibro-Axes because that fits my character concept better, and my GM and I have worked out a way that allows me to do that -- at the expense of spending two HP per weapon.

You shouldn't get the same base damage as the vibro axe or the vicious the same imo.

Shouldn't there be another purple in there for using two weapons?

No, one of the Purple dice was already upgraded to Red. You don't do two upgrades.

I'm away from book, but isn't using two weapons an increase to difficulty rather than an upgrade?

You shouldn't get the same base damage as the vibro axe or the vicious the same imo.

I would be fine with that. You could reduce the damage from each vibro-axe by one point, which would bring it down to the level of the vibro-sword. And, in fact, that would make the vibro-axe worse than the vibro-sword, because you wouldn't be getting in trade the Defensive attribute which vibro-sword gets. You'd be spending 2HP you wouldn't otherwise need to spend, you'd do the same damage/pierce/crit as the vibro-sword, and you wouldn't get the Defensive attribute.

But I'd still be fine with all of that, because the vibro-axe just fits my character concept better.

I'm away from book, but isn't using two weapons an increase to difficulty rather than an upgrade?

The rules written on CRB:211 are pretty densely written, but my previous reading was that you upgraded the difficulty.

However, on re-reading, it seems that you increase the difficulty instead. So, you are correct. It should have been three purple dice and not one purple and one red. To be honest, I prefer that over what I actually rolled -- If nothing else, I don't have to deal with the possibility of getting a Despair.

As expected, the probabilities do change a bit:

$ ruby dicecalculator.rb -D:PPPPADDDBB -T:SAA

++++RESULTS for Dice Pool: PPPPADDDBB++++
Total Chance of Success: 89.69%
Total Chance of Advantage: 79.33%
Total Chance of Threat: 9.9%
Total Chance of Failure Symbol: 4.08%
Total Chance of Reaching Target (SAA): 54.79%
Total Triumph Chance: 29.39%
+++++++++++++++

And:

$ ruby dicecalculator.rb -D:PPPPADDDBBSS -T:SAA

++++RESULTS for Dice Pool: PPPPADDDBBSS++++
Total Chance of Success: 81.64%
Total Chance of Advantage: 69.02%
Total Chance of Threat: 17.56%
Total Chance of Failure Symbol: 8.79%
Total Chance of Reaching Target (SAA): 37.84%
Total Triumph Chance: 29.39%
+++++++++++++++

I guess I'll just have to increase my melee skill by a couple of ranks. No problem.

Thanks to everyone who has posted their opinions so far, I was basically looking for system changes/approaches.

I fully understand other ways of stymieing players, but don't like to mess with their stuff or put up stupid/improbable situations or even stupidly overpowered stormtroopers who just happen to be on a passing shuttle.... that seems to stretch the bounds of belief or sways in to the area of gm dickery.... once is ok in my book, but more than that you are just messing with the players, their hard work to get skills, talents, equipment etc and this is just not fun....

My hope is to produce a decent, rewarding, fun, and tactical narrative combat system, that more evokes the feel of star wars

Base Ranged combat:

Short Range 2 purple

Medium Range 3 purple

Long Range 4 purple

Extreme 5 purple

Cover now has levels difficulty

a Little Cover 1 setback

quite a bit of Cover 2 setback

oodles of Cover 3 setback (a bunker, only see an extremely small bit of the target)

total cover (can't shoot and can't be shot)

Defense now Upgrades difficultly not adds set back (and thus defense now stacks with cover)

Dodge, Sidestep etc... Now increase the difficultly not upgrade

New Reflective Manoeuvre Duck, this costs 1 manoeuvre and adds a Setback dice to an opponents attack against you, this is sort of an anti-aim, it is also possible to Double duck (spending your second manoeuvre and 2 strain)

and finally allow players to spend yellow dice, against one attack to add purple dice (increase difficulty). this final one is a bit of a system fudge but allows peoples to spend their ability to hit to not be hit themselves, allowing for people not to be hit and allowing for scaling of skills... this could increase combat lengths and if so I may need to alter soak (see below)

e.g. Bob the bounty hunter is skilled with his rifle, YYYG, but he is currently harried but the Galactically famous Terry the Terror who is shooting at him from medium range PPP vs Terry's skill of YYYYBB (he aimed as well). Bob goes on the full defensive ducking twice and putting himself in difficult angles to shoot. Spending 2 of his Yellow dice to make the difficulty

YYYYBB Vs PPP PP(from skill) BB(from ducking)

this will obviously need more testing and I have a long 12 hr session coming up where I may give this a go...

The alteration to the soak rules makes combat WAY more lethal.. It completely removed Brawn from Soak.. no difference in damage...

Reasons for this change is Brawn already gives you more Health, giving you more soak as well is a double up. again this would need more testing and I'd be loathed to put in both changes at the same time

Thanks to everyone who has posted their opinions so far, I was basically looking for system changes/approaches.

....

Please do keep us posted, I'm starting a big campaign soon and considering similar stuff to yours. A few comments:

1)The spending of yellow dice I dont think it feels "right". I think the approach of reflexive maneveurs and actions would work better. Improving side step and the like more if you feel they still need more defense might be a better bet.

2)This is probably not an option since your team is already powerful, but i'm considering establishing some "benchmarks" of how good players can normaly get to get more into the line of defense. TBH I think i'm discarding this idea, I'd rather give more options for defense, better cover etc.

1)The spending of yellow dice I dont think it feels "right". I think the approach of reflexive maneveurs and actions would work better. Improving side step and the like more if you feel they still need more defense might be a better bet.

I agree it don't feel right, but I'm trying to give options for defense to players/characters that don't have the dodge/sidestep/etc.. talents and don't have access to those talents, it would mean those players that do still have an advantage, but those that don't still have defensive options...

plus its sort of a way to recreate the the bad guys and good guys, who normally kill people with ease, can't seem to hit each other shtick that occurs in actions movies often..

There's a very easy solution to this. When someone uses a defensive talent the opponent must subtract one (or more) success after the dice have been rolled. This is an easy way to balance the game without introducing more dice.

There's a very easy solution to this. When someone uses a defensive talent the opponent must subtract one (or more) success after the dice have been rolled. This is an easy way to balance the game without introducing more dice.

I like that idea. It's an autosuccess in defense, and no need to roll more dices. Maybe i'll test it.

Update from weekend session and new rules.

I used the defensive talent change idea of Gallows

and over all I think it went very well, combat was till quick, but defenses were more meaningful and people actually missed, which was nice to see..

slight change to my Exp idea. I think I give normal exp amounts, but I'm changing the following

• Skills now cost 10 x level they are going to, +10 for non-career skills
• Dedication can only be applied once to a stat

This will put the onus on talents and make them a little better to buy...

Our group played through Beyond the Rim, and whatever circumstance there was to complicate the narrative, someone in the group had no problem overcoming it in short order.

BtR is more of a "beginner" adventure, so it’s not surprising that your group got through it pretty easily.

How did they do on JoY, which is more advanced?

And if JoY didn’t hold any challenges for them, what about throwing them at the Yuzhong Vong? Maybe you can save Chewbacca from being killed?

It's a shared responsibility thing. I'm already doing things like planning how to reach Dedication in the Survivalist tree *without* taking Enduring, and forgoing integrating Superior customization into my battle armor, because I'm already the party tank at Soak 7. Modest by many campaigns' standards, but I've no interest in pushing an arms race between my fellow players, my GM, and myself to the point where support weapons need to be involved to threaten my character (and one-shot my allies).

I’m doing the same thing with my Wookiee Maurauder. He is already the party tank with Soak 5 and a Catch Vest, and he has 25 WT, so now I’m looking at adding new Specializations that let him branch out into other areas where he is weak.

He’ll never be the best Doctor in the group (that would be our 2-1B unit), but he could be okay as a Combat Medic.

He’ll never be the best Mechanic in the group (we have the Toydarian backed up by the Duros), but he could tinker around with his own gear.

He might even ultimately go into Politico — he would never be as good as our Aqualish, but he might be able to help boost morale in the group in his own way.

[ Edit: Correction and clarification ]

For specifics, the hired gun in the party had about 300 xp. He had Agility 5, Ranged Heavy 3, and two ranks in True Aim. Say he's shooting at someone or a group of someones at Medium range, in cover, with Adversary 1. That's a Red, a Purple, and a black. If he uses autofire, add a purple. If he moves to short range, remove a purple. If he aims, add a blue and two upgrades. So you're looking at something like 5 yellow and 1-2 blue vs. a red, a purple, and a black. I understand there are various ways to make that more difficult. I also don't want to make it too difficult for other players that still enjoy shooting their blasters but aren't as focused in combat.

IMO, you’re doing it wrong.

The other players should be aiming at the Minions and Rivals, and should be sufficiently challenged by them that they should not be even thinking about the Nemesis.

The Hired Gun in your group should be going for the Nemesis, who should have a really high Soak (maybe 10 or more), a really high WT (maybe 25-30 or more), at least two or three levels of Adversary, and possibly a Droideka-style personal ray shield (so that all blaster attacks just bounce off).

Each group in combat should only be going after the opponents for which they are matched. And you should have a large enough selection of targets that each player is well and truly challenged by the opponents they are faced with.

Otherwise, you’re basically doing it wrong.

My biggest problem is yes I can 'write' around the problems facing me with my extremely tough group

7 players, 1 brutal wookie marauder, droid assassin, human armour master, slicer, mechanic, pilot and now thug faceman

but as others have said my group is hyper specialised as well, as none wants to step on others toes, and with dangerous covernets the wookie can now kill any number of minions in a couple of rounds…

That particular special talent can only be used once per session, so your Wookiee had better be **** sure that he wants to use it this time during this combat, otherwise he’s going to be faced with a situation later in the session where he would really have wanted to use it — but he can’t, because he already used it earlier during that session.

But IMO, seven players is too much. Even six players is probably too much. Five players is stretching it, but can work.

As for everyone being hyper-specialized, just because the group already has one Doctor, doesn’t mean that they can’t have one or two more people in the group who are Combat Medics. They’re not Doctors, they don’t take all the skill ranks and talents that the group Doctor has, but they have some skills in that specialization.

And you can do the same for every other Career and Specialization in the book — the players just have to be careful when they take on a new specialization that is already covered by someone else, that they don’t get better at it than the primary person.

I am an experianced GM I have been running games for over 35 years...my main issue is why should I have to constantly think out of the box to challenge my players.. the system should scale well and this one doesn't.. that being said I do like to think out of the box, but everyone likes a rest and contantly having to do it is a drain and we do this hobby for enjoyment and relaxing …

If you’re not having fun, then you have to question why you’re doing it. This game is supposed to be all about telling a cinematic and enjoyable story, and doing so in a collaborative way between the players and the GM. If that’s not happening, then something is going wrong.

Let me get this straight I love this system I think the narrative dice are brilliant and the skill system amazing... I have introduced many many people to rpgs through this system.. it is easy intuitive and fun..... at low exp

I think if I ever run this system again, cos as it stand there will be no season 2 for me, I will be scrapping the exp example in the book and give a max of 5 a session... or just running short running camapgin in it where none of the system holes will appear...

First off, I think you want to run it with fewer players.

Secondly, you need to get their active help in trying to make the collaborative story telling thing working. If all they’re doing is focussing on being the biggest and baddest whatever in the galaxy, or maxing out their money, then they’re doing it wrong and you need to look for different/better players. Or, you need to work with them to try to help turn them into the kind of player that helps you tell a fun and engaging story in a way that everyone can enjoy — yourself included.

You're suggesting putting in a dozen (or more) nemesis-level opponents onto a customs ship. Then you say that they're just 'experienced stormtroopers' that have somehow leveled-up to such a high point. This reeks of video games where even the mooks have to be 'level appropriate' and it really doesn't fit in with Star Wars all that well. There are elite formations of stormtroopers, but you're not going to find them just hanging out on a customs ship.

Maybe it’s not just a normal customs ship. Maybe they are an elite formation of stormtroopers who have been put in a particular sector on what is supposed to look like a normal customs ship, because there have been some really bad problems with pirates in that sector — like the kind of pirates that don’t just turn tail and run when the customs ship suddenly appears. These wouldn’t be specifically targeting the PCs, but the PCs could easily get caught up in the crossfire.

Or maybe they have been put into a particular sector because they’ve had some problems with a particular rag-tag group of people who’ve been way too casual about who they’ve been killing and what they’ve been taking. In this case, they are specifically targeting the PCs, not necessarily by knowing who they are individually, but by putting together bits and pieces regarding their Modus Operandi and putting out a few "Honeypot" traps in likely target areas.

as for spread the minions about a bit. it doesn't matter he has the new signature ability from dangerous covenents.. He kills EVERY minion in the scene in two rounds, after spending some destiny..

That’s a Signature Ability that can only be used once per session. So, he needs to be real careful about how and when he uses that ability, otherwise he’s going to find himself in a world of hurt in the second big combat of the night.

The wookie again because he is an extreme get a base +70 to every crit.. his axe has a crit rating of 1 and superior quality so he more often than not crits multiple times against anyone he swings for.. he crit kills more often than removing wounds... now he seriously work for this Ax.. it took most of the season for him to cobble together the mods and get them fitted so I don't mind him having funwith it as he worked for it... this really isnt my problem

Yup, that’s just like my Wookiee Maurauder. He’s even swinging a pair of vibro-axes that are modded so that they can be used one-handed. So, imagine having that same kind of situation, times two.

the problem is their normal pool for an average character is YYGGBB (YYYGBB for combat focused and the wookie is YYYYYBB), against a normal medium range shot is PPB if they are in cover.. this will hit every normal rival.. now an extremely dangerous nemesis has RRPBB, now these should be one offs, but hitting this guy is no problem for the wookie or the other combat characters.. the wookie would quite often and has quite often one shotted such a foe..

In combat where everyone always hits and damage is always very high it is who ever hits first wins and takes out the opponents.. it is a fine balance.. between tough fight and tpk..

this is what i mean ... high exp combat is boring. everyone always hits, defenses are lmost seen to be pointless as poeple try to get the first hit in, make it a good one and take out the opposition...

What my GM has been doing is throwing more opponents at me that are a real challenge. They’re not going to one-shot my Wookiee, but they can take me down in two shots. And if I crit them, then I take them down in one shot.

But now there’s a lot of them, and I have to think and fight smart — like pulling them into a hallway that is wide enough for only one individual, so no more than one can attack me at a time. Yet, there is room for a party member behind me to reach around and fire a blaster at one of them that is further back and not Engaged with me. And if my friend behind me happens to get a Triumph, well he can kill them as fast or faster than I can.

If one of these guys comes after one of the other party members, then I have to make sure to rush in and put myself between. Otherwise, my friend does get hit and taken down in a single shot, and then I have to fight that opponent anyway.

$DEITY help me if/when the enemy start using Blasterswords, so that they can either close with me and go toe-to-toe in Melee combat, or sit back and use the same weapon to do ranged combat with one of the other members of our party.

But then, if we manage to kill a few of them, we can pick up the Blasterswords and start doing the same thing to them that they would be doing to us. And that kind of thing might even be enough to convince me to give up my ultra-special super-duper heavily modified vibro-axes.