Got the Genesys core rule book from my FLGS yesterday - w00t!

I am curious - all of you who have played the Star Wars RPG (Edge of the Empire, Age of Rebellion or Force and Destiny), what are some of the differences you have found in regards to rules in Genesys? I know character creation, and especially Talents, are handled a bit different, but what else? Do you find these changes and improvement?

Personally, I like the Story Point mechanics. It is very similar to Star Wars "destiny points", but I like how clean it is, and that you simply get one per player (no roll).

I think the rules in general make it harder to min-max characters, and give greater incentive to investing in skills. For example, the soft characteristic cap has been lowered from 6 to 5. I like these sorts of changes.

Maybe we should generate a list of the small differences to help SW players jump straight into Genesys.

I'm optimistic about the talent pyramid system, but I do worry that some talents are simply more attractive to almost everyone, which may lead to less differentiation between characters. I'm taking a wait and see approach on this.

25 minutes ago, TheSapient said:

I'm optimistic about the talent pyramid system, but I do worry that some talents are simply more attractive to almost everyone, which may lead to less differentiation between characters. I'm taking a wait and see approach on this.

I think any GMs worried about it can just make lists with Talent limits depending on character idea/setting.

Has it done anything to clear up defense? (i.e. If you are wearing an armor with a defense score of 1 and get the defensive talent that increases ranged defense by 1 and melee defense by 1, is your defense against melee attacks a 2 or a 1?)

3 minutes ago, gorthano said:

Has it done anything to clear up defense? (i.e. If you are wearing an armor with a defense score of 1 and get the defensive talent that increases ranged defense by 1 and melee defense by 1, is your defense against melee attacks a 2 or a 1?)

Things either provide defense or increase defense. Things that provide defense do not stack. Things that increase defense do. Under no circumstances can defense exceed 4.

Cool isn't used for Fear checks, only Discipline. My group is still sticking with how SWRPG does it, though.

1 hour ago, 2P51 said:

I think any GMs worried about it can just make lists with Talent limits depending on character idea/setting.

I don't think limits quite address my (possible) concern. If it turns out that everyone always takes the same level 1-3 talents, it think the GM would need to create additional talents at those levels that some people at the table would find compelling. Just to be clear, I'm not actively worried about this. I just think it is worth watching to see if it happens.

1 hour ago, CitizenKeen said:

Things either provide defense or increase defense. Things that provide defense do not stack. Things that increase defense do. Under no circumstances can defense exceed 4.

If I recall from my reading last night, the rule says that things can "provide" or "add to" defense. I wish they were more careful with their language in other places to only use those words. I know at least one place (taking cover?), you "gain" defense. I assume this is the same as cover "providing" defense, so would not stack with armor.

2 minutes ago, TheSapient said:

I don't think limits quite address my (possible) concern. If it turns out that everyone always takes the same level 1-3 talents, it think the GM would need to create additional talents at those levels that some people at the table would find compelling. Just to be clear, I'm not actively worried about this. I just think it is worth watching to see if it happens.

For sure all Talents from SW weren't included. Genre books will add more I'm sure. If someone is playing a specific concept they'll be hard pressed by xp costs I think and the pyramid structure.

Attachments are presented as optional rules. Modifications on attachments are no longer a thing, so attachments only give one or two modifiers to a weapon or armor. Installing an attachment requires half an hour and an average Mechanics check; failure means the character will have to try again, whereas despair can break an attachment (on failure) or cause it to stop working or fall off later (on success).

Modifications might come with some sourcebooks. I personally won't miss them because they stack on crafted items to make OP deathsticks imo.

4 minutes ago, 2P51 said:

Modifications might come with some sourcebooks. I personally won't miss them because they stack on crafted items to make OP deathsticks imo.

I very much agree with this (even though my main current SW character has a ridiculous weapon because of crafting and attachments). I hope that future books can avoid power creep as much as possible. If modifications happen, I hope they do minimal things,are significantly limited in number, and/or have drawbacks. I'd be OK with, say, a single +1 boost die with a +1 encumbrance.

I kinda tweaked the crafting rules. I had any category of goodness use a HP. You could stack multiples on a single HP, so Accuracy used one HP regardless of how many, Pierce, etc. Kinda dialed it down enough.