Not sure this is the best place to ask but; Any suggestions on the best one? My friends are looking at the FFG one but seem somewhat discouraged that they'd need to buy all new dice.

I haven't played any, but I know my fellow podcasters have been doing an Age of Rebellion RPG campaign over Skype and putting it on YouTube. None of them have done the game system before, so you can learn about it. I have enjoyed listening to it as I think Jbot does a good job with the background story. It's also amusing.

If you have the FFG dice app, you can use that for either X-wing or any of their Star Wars games. It's not that much in the app store. Also, I'd be more put off with price of rule books than buying new dice. I'm sure you could always make some translator for regular d8 dice to their system.

I loved the old WEG RPG. Second edition REVISED was the best. Still have plenty of the books and it used standard D6 dice. The downside is occasionally high end stuff could get silly - 12 D6 on a roll? Wow... um, you succeed, put those down before you break something.

Avoid the mid-ranged Wizard of the Coast RPG - it was a bad port into the AD&D rules which really focused on CLASSES which... um... We all know Star Wars smugglers weren't restricted to a single archetype.

FFG looks like a big improve over Wizard of the Coast. I have not played it however and it does have those special dice. Heychadwick is right though, the dice app will cover you cheaply from home without heading to the store to pick them up, and then you have digital X-Wing dice as well. There's talk of trying this game out in our gaming group, but it might be a while due to house hunting in an insane market.

7 hours ago, Kingsguard said:

Not sure this is the best place to ask but; Any suggestions on the best one? My friends are looking at the FFG one but seem somewhat discouraged that they'd need to buy all new dice.

First off I'd point out that the FFG games have the advantage of still being in print.

Having poked around in the RPG forums I'd point out that you get a set of dice in the beginner's game boxes and that the dice mechanic is very interesting in that it helps you tell the story. The dice are what actually had me considering an RPG.

http://www.uptofourplayers.com/comic/edge-empire-rulez-pt-1/

Here's more about the dice:

I have played the FFG ones. They are very good systems but a tad complex. Probably a bit harder than D&D to initially learn, but easier to actually remember most of the fiddly bits once you get the core elements down. The custom dice can be a bit off putting at first, but they are well worth it because they allow for multiple things to be determined with a single die roll. If your at all familiar with Imperial Assault, it is similar to how the dice in that can determine damage, but also surges used to trigger special effects.

In my limited experience (one campaign) I can tell you that rules for space combat in the FFG RPG line are very complex. The whole way that the rules are set up are so you don't need a grid to determine how many spaces away the characters are, but when you move into space and your trying to dodge shots and line up shots, the standard rules don't quite work, so they made new ones. It almost seemed like a different game tacked onto the base game. Or maybe our GM just didn't grasp the rules well enough to teach us.

I do really like the story dice, and that stats in general are kept to a minimum.

That's a problem with every sci fi space opera RPG. I have yet to find one that actually handles vehicular combat well. If you have a group that would get into it, better to just use a different game, like x-wing to handle ship to ship action.

Look up the D6 Holocron ...lots of WEG-compatible stuff available there.

I vouch for the FFG games as well. My tabletop groop has run a campaign for 4-5 years now, from 150 xp to over 600.

Alright, thanks very much for all your replies. It should be of great interest to my gaming group.

There have been a few articles that merge X-wing with the RPG game. I'd probably do that instead of the space game system in the books.

4 hours ago, heychadwick said:

There have been a few articles that merge X-wing with the RPG game. I'd probably do that instead of the space game system in the books.

Actually, I nearly did that in the last one I GM'd for, if only for visual help.

The FFG system is amazing. And in case you are worried about needing to buy special dice, there is a dice app you can put on your phone or tablet.

It may seem complex at first, but that's actually deceptive. Its actually brilliantly simple once you get the hang of how the dice work. And the dice really help drive the story since the actual individual dice results of a roll can help drive the narrative.

Just as an example for how the dice can drive the narrative.

Gek the Bounty Hunter fires at the stormtroopers chasing him and his friends down the narrow corridor. He however fails to hit the stormtroopers. However his roll included a triumph, which he then elects to use in the following way "my blaster bolt misses the troopers, but it fries the console they were hiding behind causing the blast door between us and them to close". His roll also however included a despair. The GM elects to use this as follows "your blaster does indeed destroy the console the troopers were hiding behind, providing you with a lucky means of escape. However your blaster has jammed and you'll need to spend some time repairing it, time you likely do not have as you're still being pursued".

Its just an awesome narrative system.

On April 18, 2017 at 9:30 AM, LagJanson said:

I loved the old WEG RPG. Second edition REVISED was the best. Still have plenty of the books and it used standard D6 dice. The downside is occasionally high end stuff could get silly - 12 D6 on a roll? Wow... um, you succeed, put those down before you break something.

Avoid the mid-ranged Wizard of the Coast RPG - it was a bad port into the AD&D rules which really focused on CLASSES which... um... We all know Star Wars smugglers weren't restricted to a single archetype.

FFG looks like a big improve over Wizard of the Coast. I have not played it however and it does have those special dice. Heychadwick is right though, the dice app will cover you cheaply from home without heading to the store to pick them up, and then you have digital X-Wing dice as well. There's talk of trying this game out in our gaming group, but it might be a while due to house hunting in an insane market.

I have always heard excellent things about WEG d6. The Star Wars Roleplaying Game, Saga Edition by Wizards of the Coast (not the earlier, non-'Saga' iteration) is the one I've played and enjoyed a lot. It does not really suffer from the problems LagJanson mentioned, which I believe refer to the previous d20 edition, as multiclassing is extremely fluid (the class frameworks are almost just for convenience) and each class presents a myriad of abilities to choose from, leaving you complete freedom in terms of archetype. It's also no hack, but rather elegantly designed for its place on the d20 timeline. Unfortunately, though, the books are now rare and expensive. I'd be quite interested to try the FFG version, as their game design seems highly proficient, but I already own so many of the Saga Edition books and I'm not playing too much of RPGs at the moment, sadly.

6 hours ago, TheHumanHydra said:

I have always heard excellent things about WEG d6. The Star Wars Roleplaying Game, Saga Edition by Wizards of the Coast (not the earlier, non-'Saga' iteration) is the one I've played and enjoyed a lot. It does not really suffer from the problems LagJanson mentioned, which I believe refer to the previous d20 edition, as multiclassing is extremely fluid (the class frameworks are almost just for convenience) and each class presents a myriad of abilities to choose from, leaving you complete freedom in terms of archetype. It's also no hack, but rather elegantly designed for its place on the d20 timeline. Unfortunately, though, the books are now rare and expensive. I'd be quite interested to try the FFG version, as their game design seems highly proficient, but I already own so many of the Saga Edition books and I'm not playing too much of RPGs at the moment, sadly.

I'm glad to hear WoC produced a good product. I was quite unhappy with being unable to select skills I wanted because the class chosen didn't have those available. I'll admit after the initial bad taste I never went back to try again. I was unaware that there were two versions of the RPG produced by WoC.

4 hours ago, LagJanson said:

I'm glad to hear WoC produced a good product. I was quite unhappy with being unable to select skills I wanted because the class chosen didn't have those available. I'll admit after the initial bad taste I never went back to try again. I was unaware that there were two versions of the RPG produced by WoC.

Unfortunately, the game still suffered from that flaw, although it was mitigated by how much broader the skills were, how many were available to each class, and the ease of multiclassing. But, yes, class skills should probably die in a fire.

I am sort of in the same boat about wanting to play although I am extremely time constrained so it always seems like a wistful dream.

I actually have all iterations of SW RPG's (I buy each version thinking "ok, THIS is the decade that...") and have read them all and "leaned" the systems but without playing, couldn't really comment on how the mechanics run together but the newer systems really do seem like fun, even though I have always had more of a hankering to play the WEG version.

my kids are 3.5 and 2, so this really MIGHT be the decade...

[insert obligatory "neeeeerrrrrd" reference]

I ran a short abortive campaign last year, first time in decades...? Uhg. Yeah, I know how you feel. I think I'm retiring from GM status.

I don't think you can go wrong with the SW RPG, IMO it is miles ahead of D&D (but of course I still love D&D too). I like the dice mechanic and added threat to completing almost any action.