Are these essentially the same dice as the Star Wars RPG game?

Unclear at this time. They seem to be, but we don't know if the faces will have the same distribution yet (unless I'm missing something).

So I compared the faces of each of the SW Dice with the above picture.

• The Boost and Setback dice appear to be identical--of course, we can't see three of the sides, but they look like they may be the same.
• The Proficiency die looks to be a little different. If you place the die so the Triumph is facing like it does in the picture, the two top sides that are clearly visible match up on the SW die. The far top right side, barely visible, is an Advantage, which also matches. The barely visible face on the bottom right appears to be a Success which also matches with released dice. The difference is the bottom left result: it shows Success/Advantage, whereas the SW die shows double Success. However, on the side to the bottom left, the one not visible on picture, is a Success/Advantage face.
• The clearly visible faces on the challenge die match up on the SW die. However, the two on the side that appear to be a single failure on the top and a double failure on the bottom. The bottom does match, but the single failure doesn't, but there is another single failure face on the SW challenge die.
• The Ability and Difficulty dice are a little different. Using the blank face of the ability as a reference, you can see each of those faces--success, advantage, double advantage--but they are in different locations. The setback die is much the same--there is an angle where you can see each of the symbols shown, but on different faces.

Conclusion? It looks like the faces have been shifted, but the values remain the same. So these dice are not just SW dice with different symbols, but they can be interchangeably used.

I'm away from my Dice, but here's a picture of the Dice Pack:

This should give us a better idea what's on the facings.

(Also, no white Force Dice counterpart)

Interesting note, both the Genesys and Star Wars dice cost the same, but it seems the Genesys have one less die in the pack. Which, considering the liscence for the latter, I expected the dice to cost more (for Star Wars)

You heard it here first, expect a price increase on the Star Wars Dice.

23 minutes ago, That Blasted Samophlange said:

Interesting note, both the Genesys and Star Wars dice cost the same, but it seems the Genesys have one less die in the pack. Which, considering the liscence for the latter, I expected the dice to cost more (for Star Wars)

Actually I just looked at the dice product page and it says you get 2 Challenge (red) dice

8 minutes ago, bsmith23 said:

Actually I just looked at the dice product page and it says you get 2 Challenge (red) dice

I only see where it says one challenge die.

Adventure in Your Hands

The Genesys Roleplaying Dice Pack features three Ability dice, three Difficulty dice, two Setback dice, two Boost dice, two Proficiency dice, and two Challenge dice. These dice, combined with the Genesys Core Rulebook , give you everything you need to run a game with infinite possibilities.

These specialized dice provide dynamic results to every skill check, allowing players to succeed in their task while experiencing a massive setback, or finding some advantage in a critical failure. Not only that, but the dice are easy to interpret, keeping the flow of the game steady and smooth as players and game masters apply the results of the myriad of skill checks.

Wow, I actually got that to work!

I would certainly have liked if the Proficiency and Challenge dice were slightly improved. As some people point out adding a single Boost dice to a single Ability dice increases chance of Success more than upgrading that Ability die to a Proficiency does. I know Triumph comes into it, and really you want to do both, but essentially your better to sweet talk your GM into giving you a boost for circumstances than using a Destiny Point to upgrade the pool. Also spending a Triumph to upgrade someone's check is a complete waste.

So a couple extra success symbols on the Proficiency, or even a side with 3 results instead of just 2, would have made that balance just a touch better. Obviously what happens to the Proficiency should happen to the Challenge too even though they already slightly differ.

1 minute ago, Richardbuxton said:

I would certainly have liked if the Proficiency and Challenge dice were slightly improved. As some people point out adding a single Boost dice to a single Ability dice increases chance of Success more than upgrading that Ability die to a Proficiency does. I know Triumph comes into it, and really you want to do both, but essentially your better to sweet talk your GM into giving you a boost for circumstances than using a Destiny Point to upgrade the pool. Also spending a Triumph to upgrade someone's check is a complete waste.

So a couple extra success symbols on the Proficiency, or even a side with 3 results instead of just 2, would have made that balance just a touch better. Obviously what happens to the Proficiency should happen to the Challenge too even though they already slightly differ.

You do get a significantly better chance of advantage. On a straight and equal green vs purple roll you start at 40% chance of success and increase from there, but because the green dice has slightly more success the chances of success go up as you add more dice. Straight yellow vs green increase success and advantage both by 6-7% but have a higher chance of a double result with an omnipresent 12.5% chance of a triumph, adding a blue dice increases your chance of success 8% and your chance of advantage even more significantly, however it has less chance of rolling more extreme results than an upgrade. Think of it like this, boost increases your consistency, but upgrading can provide a burst result, and of course upgrading can eventually add a green die , which is better by far than a boost.

I suspect the balance is as they wanted. The devs seemed to want a higher rate of advantage/threat than success/failure.

Interestingly, there seems to be conflicting information on what's included.

On the announcement page it says you get " three Ability dice, three Difficulty dice, two Setback dice, two Boost dice, two Proficiency dice, and two Challenge dice . " However, the product page says you get " three Ability dice, three Difficulty dice, two Setback dice, two Boost dice, two Proficiency dice and a Challenge die … " Bold added by me for emphasis.

Based on the picture of the dice set, I can only see one Challenge die. Not sure if that's an actual product image or just a rendering of what they expect to be in it. If it's the former, we only get one red die. If it's the latter, the team could have been going off of the product description and only included one.

6 minutes ago, c__beck said:

Interestingly, there seems to be conflicting information on what's included.

On the announcement page it says you get " three Ability dice, three Difficulty dice, two Setback dice, two Boost dice, two Proficiency dice, and two Challenge dice . " However, the product page says you get " three Ability dice, three Difficulty dice, two Setback dice, two Boost dice, two Proficiency dice and a Challenge die … " Bold added by me for emphasis.

Based on the picture of the dice set, I can only see one Challenge die. Not sure if that's an actual product image or just a rendering of what they expect to be in it. If it's the former, we only get one red die. If it's the latter, the team could have been going off of the product description and only included one.

I THINK that's a rendering; something about it looks...artificial.

As far as dice distribution, I hope it's the former; they'd basically be replacing the d12 Force Die with a second d12 Challenge die for the same cost.

Makes the most sense to do it that way.

Just now, DarthGM said:

I hope it's the former; they'd basically be replacing the d12 Force Die with a second d12 Challenge die for the same cost.

\Makes the most sense to do it that way.

As do I. And it does make more sense.

Perhaps it was originally going to be a die less in the package, and someone pointed out that the cost, people would just buy the star wars dice instread, and the announcement article was changed?

It only just dawned on me that there are no Destiny Point tokens in the dice pack image. Either there's some other pack we need to buy or the Destiny Point mechanic is no more! That sucks if you ask me, I love that system, but I guess it doesn't fit all genres.

28 minutes ago, Richardbuxton said:

It only just dawned on me that there are no Destiny Point tokens in the dice pack image. Either there's some other pack we need to buy or the Destiny Point mechanic is no more! That sucks if you ask me, I love that system, but I guess it doesn't fit all genres.

That's interesting, because the Destiny point mechanic is alive and well in Genesys . Per the product page :

" [A]t the start of a session, players receive one story point for every player, and the GM receives one story point for their own pool. While these story points have a variety of uses, players can use points in their pool to upgrade an Ability die to a Proficiency die, and the GM can use their points to upgrade a Difficulty die to a Challenge die. Spending a story point as a player gives an additional point to the GM, and vice versa. "

I'm guessing they just suggest that players use coins, poker chips, or something of that nature for Story Points. I'm also guessing that if they do any beginner boxes, they'll include setting-themed Story Points among the other tokens.

2 minutes ago, SavageBob said:

I'm guessing they just suggest that players use coins, poker chips, or something of that nature for Story Points. I'm also guessing that if they do any beginner boxes, they'll include setting-themed Story Points among the other tokens.

Yeah, I was thinking about that. Since it's not two-sided Light Side/Dark Side you can use any tokens you have lying around and pass them back and forth.

9 minutes ago, c__beck said:

Yeah, I was thinking about that. Since it's not two-sided Light Side/Dark Side you can use any tokens you have lying around and pass them back and forth.

That's an interesting idea. Maybe the way Story Points work will be genre-dependent? I hadn't thought of that. In Star Wars , it makes sense you flip them from GM to PC sides. But maybe in other genres, you might trade them among players, discard them, earn new ones somehow, etc....

29 minutes ago, SavageBob said:

That's an interesting idea. Maybe the way Story Points work will be genre-dependent? I hadn't thought of that. In Star Wars , it makes sense you flip them from GM to PC sides. But maybe in other genres, you might trade them among players, discard them, earn new ones somehow, etc....

The product description I quoted above says they pass between players and GM:

" Spending a story point as a player gives an additional point to the GM, and vice versa ."

It's the same basic mechanic, just not SW specific. When a player users a Story Point they give it to the GM. When the GM spends one it goes to the players.

Flipping from GM side to player side (as in SW) or passing from player pile to GM pile (as in Genesys ) have the same outcome. It's just two different ways of achieving the same goal.

On 6/29/2017 at 1:55 AM, Richardbuxton said:

I would certainly have liked if the Proficiency and Challenge dice were slightly improved. As some people point out adding a single Boost dice to a single Ability dice increases chance of Success more than upgrading that Ability die to a Proficiency does. I know Triumph comes into it, and really you want to do both, but essentially your better to sweet talk your GM into giving you a boost for circumstances than using a Destiny Point to upgrade the pool. Also spending a Triumph to upgrade someone's check is a complete waste.

So a couple extra success symbols on the Proficiency, or even a side with 3 results instead of just 2, would have made that balance just a touch better. Obviously what happens to the Proficiency should happen to the Challenge too even though they already slightly differ.

The difference between Boost/Setback and Proficiency/Challenge is a feature, not a bug . How do you get the best possible bonus? Do you roll play by crunching numbers or role play by describing something awesome?

You role play!

This difference is especially prevalent during social encounters if you talk first and then the GM decides your check. But you also have the potential flow in combat of: use an advantage to notice something, do something cool with that detail the GM doesn't expect, get a Boost die (or dice). I make a point to reward player creativity much more consistently than any 'sweet talk.'

As much as I chide the removal of the Force Dice, swapping it out with a second Challenge dice is a fair exchange. It balances out the player/check dice and also encourages GMs to use the pesky red dice. When there is only one in a pack or two in a double set, it is more of a pain to incorporate them into the dice check since there might not be enough. By making them equal to the Upgrade dice and assuming two packs, there should be a lot more opportunity to have the frightening "four red dice staring at you" checks.

I actually really like these dice, and if it weren't for the fact that I already have a few sets of Star Wars dice, I'd buy two sets of these and call it a day.

Actually the 3/2/2 spread on the three tiers of dice works really well and undoes the bottleneck of the red dice. Two sets and you have six green/purple, four blue/black, and four yellow/red, which should be proficient for any one check. Maybe a third pack to balance out corner cases and have "table dice". It kind of stinks that rounds out to $45, though, which is more than the MSRP of the core book.