One topic that often comes up from newcomers to 1E is the special version of initiative that is used in the game. People are used to rolling initiative in other rpgs to decide the order of actions in a combat round. Players are often confused when it comes to "initiative" in 1E because the game doesn't use a traditional initiative throw (though a traditional throw is used in 2E).

Initiative in 1E is extremely simple. After I got the hang of it, it became one of the chief things that I love about first edition D6 Star Wars.

Let me show you...

1E INITIATIVE

In 1E, narrative is king. The GM describes the opening circumstances in a combat round. "Two stormtroopers approach, each casually holding their blaster rifles. 'You there!' You hear from their mechanical voice boxes, 'Let's see some ID.'

Then the players react to that, telling the GM what they want their characters to do (this is the Declaration Segment). Jon says, out of character, "We don't have any valid ID. I'm going to draw on 'em. I'll pull my blaster and fire at the one on the left."

Fred agrees. "Yeah, my character will fire his blaster rifle at the one on the right."

The Ref mentally notes that Jon's character is drawing while firing, while Fred's character already has his weapon in his hands.

Initiative is sometimes organic. No type of roll is needed at all. If it is clear, though the situation and the intended actions of the PCs and NPCs, then no roll will be consulted at all. The Ref just directs the action as seems logical.

When one character can effect another character, as when one character is shooting a blaster at another, then some type of dicing is needed to see which character fired first.

In our situation above, the Ref will handle the combat in two stages. Jon's character is firing at the left stormtrooper. That will be handled separately from Fred's character firing at the right stormtrooper. If the left stormtrooper were firing at Fred's character, then that would be a situation where all four characters would be regarded together. But, as it stands, the Ref will resolve the Jon-->Left Trooper situation, then he will resolved the situation between Fred and the Right Trooper.

JON AND THE LEFT TROOPER

Jon is pulling his blaster from his hip holster and firing at the left trooper. Mentally (the Ref does not inform the player), the Ref decides that the trooper will dodge and fire back at Jon's character.

Behind the screen, the Ref rolls the trooper's 4D Dodge. He gets 6. Range is Short, so Jon's target number is 16.

The Ref says to Jon, "As you turn, the trooper quickly raises his blaster to fire back." This does two things. It alerts Jon to the stormtrooper's action this round--the trooper is firing at Jon just as Jon is firing at the trooper (it's information that Jon's character could pick up in a split second). Second, it gives Jon an opportunity to Dodge the trooper's shot. (Jon doesn't declare a Dodge).

Behind the screen, the Ref rolls the trooper's attack. 4D blaster skill, -1D due to armor, -1D due to the Dodge. 2D are rolled, getting a total of 3.

Jon, the player, rolls the attack for his character. 5D+1 blaster skill, -1D for the draw. 4D+1 is rolled, getting a total of 17.

The rolls for the blaster shots serve two purposes: As initiative, to decide who shoots first. Then as attacks, to see if a shot is successful.

In this case, Jon's roll is higher. Jon's character spins, pulls his weapon, and fires, hitting the trooper, before the trooper can lift his weapon and fire at Jon.

Jon's shot is successful because his attack of 17 is higher than the trooper's 16 Dodge.

The trooper never gets off his shot (or, for effect, the GM could describe a shot that went wild, blowing a divot in the ceiling.

Jon's blaster bolt slams into the trooper, knocking him down, smoking his armor. Damage from Jon's heavy blaster pistol is 5D. Rolled, the damage is 19.

The trooper's defense is 2D STR +1D armor. 3D are rolled, getting 14. This means the trooper is now Wounded.

FRANK AND THE RIGHT TROOPER

Frank has declared that he is going to raise his blaster rifle and fire at the right trooper.

The Ref has decided that the trooper is going to tongue his helmet comm to contact the patrol outpost and alert them to send back up for these Rebels.

So, we've got an initiative situation here. Can Frank shoot the trooper before the trooper can contact the outpost?

In order to find out, we compare Frank's blaster attack total with the trooper's Mechanical throw to operate the comm.

Frank's blaster attack is 3D, getting a total of 8.

The trooper's throw to operate the comm is 2D, getting a total of 6.

So, what happens? Frank's blaster attack wins initiative. The shot happens first. Range is Short, though, with a difficulty of 10. So, the shot misses the trooper.

The allows the trooper's action to go through. The comm roll is a 6, and the GM has set a difficulty of Very Easy to operate the comm. Since 6 beats the 5+ required to operate the comm, the trooper's message goes through.

THIS COMBAT ROUND

1. 2 Troopers Approach, asking for ID.
2. Jon swings around, pulls his blaster, and blasts the one on the right. He goes down with a smoking hole in his armor, wounded.
3. Frank raises his blaster rifle but misses the other trooper.
4. The standing trooper calls into the outpost, requesting back up troopers to this location.

INITIATIVE

What I like about this is a few things. First, there is no extra initiative throw. That makes the game move faster. Often, it is obvious the way the action should flow, and the GM just describes the action in a logical order.

Second, when initiative is needed to see what event happens first, the character uses the skill appropriate to what he is doing. If he's shooting, he uses his blaster skill. If he's moving, he uses his Dexterity. If he is using his helmet comm, then it is Mechanical. Characters will be quick where they are skilled and not as quick in the areas where they are not as experienced.

New player confusion often centers around the dual nature of a roll used for initiative. When Blaster skills is used, for example, the roll total is first considered as initiative and then the same roll is considered separately and secondary as a blaster attack. It is sometimes confusing to those new to this system when a character rolls a blaster attack, loses initiative, is shot, and then his blaster attack is regarded as if it never happened. This happened to the Left Stormtrooper in the above example. Jon won initative with his higher roll, and the shot was successful. Therefore, the trooper's blaster skill roll was only used for initiative and not as a blaster shot. Jon shot and wounded the trooper before he could fire.

1E INITIATIVE - SUMMARY

The GM should use his best judgement for who goes first and the order of actions. No rolls needed.

When in doubt, as when two people are shooting at each other, simply have each side roll their skill. The highest roll is taken first. In this way, the skill roll serves two purposes. First, it is taken as an initiative roll. Second, it is taken as a skill roll as intended by the player.

Sometimes people get confused when Larl fires at a stormtrooper: Both roll their blaster skills, and Larl has the higher roll (wins initiative) and hits and damages the trooper. In this case, the trooper never fired. His roll was strictly considered for initiative only. He lost initiative, and thus was not able to fire back (because he got hit before he pulled the trigger).

And, sometimes, that same situation will happen to player characters, confusing the player. They'll ask, "Now, I rolled my blaster skill...why was it again that I didn't fire my blaster." You'll have to explain to them, "Your skill roll serves two purposes, first as initiative and then as a blaster attack throw. Since you lost initiative, the trooper fired first, hitting you, which means that you cannot take any more actions during the round. Your actual blaster skill roll never served as an actual attack."

The system is quick-n-easy, like most things First Edition. I love it. Once you get the hang of rolling your combats like this, you'll probably fall in love with it too.

It's just a little quirky feeling for some players used to rolling initiative for combat rounds, each and every round.

You'll find that the 1E SW method uses a lot less rolls and speeds up the game.

It may not be intuitive the first time you use this initiative method, but after you get the feel for it, you'll all of a sudden why more games don't use the same method. I find myself wanting to adapt the method to the other RPGs I play.

Excellent post. Reading this helped cement how it works in my head, thanks.

I really like the more dynamic approach to initiative, and especially that it cuts down the amount of rolling in a fire fight. I can see that the looser structure will take a bit of getting used to for players and GMs alike.

I think the combat rules mention seating people around the table in order of their perception lowest to highest, and asking them what they are doing in that order during the declaration phase (so that the least perceptive character acts before he sees what others are doing, and the most perceptive gets to see what actions others are taking. It sounds like a good idea, but I wonder if its better just to go in the order people naturally declare their actions. I suppose it depends on the group.

I'm curious how you would resolve 2 v 1 (and other odd) encounters? Do you make all three roll and see which of the two players rolls ends up being opposed against the npc, and have the other one make it unopposed? I suppose it depends on whether the NPC is firing at one or both. I may have answered my own question!

19 hours ago, TheBloke said:

I really like the more dynamic approach to initiative, and especially that it cuts down the amount of rolling in a fire fight. I can see that the looser structure will take a bit of getting used to for players and GMs alike.

I think the combat rules mention seating people around the table in order of their perception lowest to highest, and asking them what they are doing in that order during the declaration phase (so that the least perceptive character acts before he sees what others are doing, and the most perceptive gets to see what actions others are taking. It sounds like a good idea, but I wonder if its better just to go in the order people naturally declare their actions. I suppose it depends on the group.

I'm curious how you would resolve 2 v 1 (and other odd) encounters? Do you make all three roll and see which of the two players rolls ends up being opposed against the npc, and have the other one make it unopposed? I suppose it depends on whether the NPC is firing at one or both. I may have answered my own question!

The method works like a dream once you get used to it.

Don't think of the Declaration Segment as so rigid. The rules were meant to govern a more fluid flow. Keep your game in the high drama. Use narrative--GM description to keep your players in the realm of living a Star Wars adventure (and not playing a roleplaying game).

So, seating players in PER order is fine. But let it all just flow organically. As GM, describe the scene--let the players know what they see, feel, taste, hear--and then let them react to it.

That's your Declaration Segment. The GM describes the situation, and the players react.

Once they react--say what they're going to do--then you, as GM, cut that down into segments.

What you want to do is get into a habit of describing the scene, then allowing the players to say what they want to do in reaction to what you've just said.

"You two Rebels are trying to remain unobserved. You've got the cowls of your hoods pulled over your heads, and you scan the tapcafe from the darkness that covers your face.

"To your right, you see a stormtrooper enter. You can't quite hear his mechanical voice, but he speaks with the barkeep--who points in your direction. The trooper glances your way and begins to beeline you way, blaster rifle held at the ready.

"What do you want to do?"

So, the situation is set. Now, we're at the Declaration Segment, where the players say what they are going to do. Except, we don't make it cold and game like. We don't say, "It's the Declaration Segment. What do you want to do? Instead, we tell a story--describe the scene for the players--and have them react. That's their Declaration."

Player of Abbus: "I hate stormtroopers, I'm going to fire."

GM (for clarification): "From your seat at the table? Or are you going to rise and fire?"

Player of Abbus: "I'm going to stand. And, take two shots."

Player of Sneaky Beet: "To **** with this! I'm going to get my alien butt out of here!"

GM (for clarification): "Running where?"

Player of Sneaky Beet: "To and out the nearest exit!"

This is the point at where the GM digests what the players have declared and works out, in his head, how it will work with the rules. He mentally breaks down what the players have said into action segments.

The stormtrooper is approaching. That's the NPC's action. He's going to ask them for their ident cards.

Abbus wants to stand and fire twice. In segment one, he rises fires. Segment two, he fires his second shot. That's two actions, firing twice, which means -1D each. And rising tacks on another -1D penalty to his first shot. Plus, he has to draw, which means another -1D penalty to his first shot.

Segment One, Abbus rises, draws, and fires at -3D. Segment Two, Abbus fires at -1D.

Sneaky Beet just wants to run out of here. Since nothing is effecting this character, he doesn't roll initiative. The GM decides to logically resolve Abbus and the stormtrooper first, then have Sneaky Beet run out of the tapcafe between Segments 1 and 2.

PLAYING IT OUT

The stormtrooper is walking towards the seated Rebels. His intent is to question them, based on what the barkeep said. He's not expecting to fire his weapon, so the GM, in his mind, plays the character that way.

Abbus is going to rise and fire at some point.

And, Sneaky Beet is going to rise and run out.

Notice how no initiative is needed in this combat. The trooper is approaching, and Abbus shoves his chair back, rises, draws, and fires.

Abbus takes the shot: his blaster skill -3D, as described above (he rises, pulls his weapon, and fires). Blaster 5D +2, reduced to 2D +2.

GM: "Wait! The trooper will use his Reaction skill to Dodge." Behind the screen, the GM rolls Dodge for the trooper, which is 3D + 10 (Short Range). Oh no! He rolls 1, 1, 2, making his target number 14.

Abbus fires, 2D +2, getting: 1, 5 +2 = 8.

"The trooper is bee-lining towards Abbus. The Rebel can see him from within the folds of his hood. Abbus glances at Beet. That alien sees the trooper too and seems nervous. That's it! Abbus shoves his chair back. It falls over behind him. In a wave of motion under the cloak, the Rebel pulls his blaster and points it directly at the trooper! BLAAAM! The explosion from the weapon deafens those in the room. The trooper jaunts to his right, behind a waist high table, blaster now pointed at Abbus. These stormtroopers are professionals. Abbus' shot explodes into the bar. Glass flies everywhere. Steam shoots out of some pipes.

"Sneaky Beet is up out of his chair and running, over tables when needed, to get out of the bar."

(Segment Two)

"Abbus swings his arm to aim at the stormtrooper's new position. He fires."

GM: "The trooper will Dodge again, this time at -1D. Behind the screen, 2D + 10 = 17. The trooper must be crouching at the waist, making himself a smaller target at this short distance, with the table covering him from the waist and below."

Abbus rolls: Blaster 5D+2 reduced to 4D+2. Total is 19. A hit.

GM: "Abbus' weapon jerks and spits its brilliant fire again. This time, the bolt slams into the troopers left shoulder, blowing off the pauldron. The trooper spins, goes down, upturning the table as he does so.

Note that we don't know how damaged the trooper is. He could just be stunned. We'll know as soon as damage is thrown. But, the GM can go on with the description, because the minimum damage in 1E from a hit is a stun with the target knocked to the ground. Get creative and visual with it.

So, we end the combat round with Abbus standing, pointing a smoking blaster at the downed trooper. And, Sneaky Beet has just burst through the doors to the outside.

Note how the summation for the last round is the intro for the next round.

GM: "Beet, you're out of your chair, around some tables, through two aliens talking, sliding across another table, drinks splashing to the floor, bottles breaking, on your feet again, your heartbeat in your ears....and you slide through the double doors to the outside, coming to a stop immediately in front of two stormtroopers who probably had door duty while the squad leader went inside.

"You're standing there, your lungs pumping hard. The two troopers turn to you. Obviously something is wrong, but they probably didn't hear the blaster shots inside.

"(Click) Hey! Hold it! Raise your hands!(Click)," says the trooper on the right. Both have become more alert in this second since you've appeared, and both raise blaster rifles in your direction. The range is point blank to the one on the right and short to the one on the left.

"What do you want to do?"

NOTE: That's all I can write right now. I've got to work! I'll do an example with two characters later tonight.

Very helpful again! Also I'm on the edge of my seat!

OUTSIDE THE TAPCAFE

So, as normal, the GM sets the scene.

GM: "You're standing there, your lungs pumping hard. The two troopers turn to you. Obviously something is wrong, but they probably didn't hear the blaster shots inside.

"(Click) Hey! Hold it! Raise your hands!(Click)," says the trooper on the right. Both have become more alert in this second since you've appeared, and both raise blaster rifles in your direction. The range is point blank to the one on the right and short to the one on the left.

"What do you want to do?"

Player: "Beet is going to charm them! He's a lover not a fighter!"

In Character, to the trooper who told him to raise his hands. "(Beet raises his hands immediately!) Hey! Good! Sir, they're firing blasters in there! I just ran as fast as I could to get out of there! You better get in there! They're killing people!!"

GM: "Old Sneaky Beet isn't a stand-up Rebel, is he? Sending these two in after his companion."

Player: (Laughs), then (in character): "Hey, better him than me! I don't know about this Rebel stuff anyway. I'm not dying here!"

GM: "Well, you're making a Con attempt. Difficulty is 17." For difficulty, I picked Moderate but also used a modifier of +2 to make it a tad bit harder. Stormtroopers hate aliens.

Sneaky Beet has CON 5D. It's what he does. The roll totals 16. Ouch! Almost! Bad roll!

BTW, I'm using an online dice roller as I write this! That makes writing the example fun for me! I would have thought that good old Sneaky Beet would have made that roll, but there it is.

Also NOTE: We're not in combat rounds right now. When Beet got outside, we changed from combat rounds to roleplaying scenes. But, it looks like we're about to roll back into combat scenes. It's pool old Sneaky Beet vs. the two stormtroopers. Serves him right, huh? Leaving his buddy and trying to send the troopers that way? Well, let's see what happens.

GM (as the trooper on the right): "Ok buddy, come down from the landing, face the wall, and put your arms behind your back."

GM: "You see the left trooper raise his blaster rifle at you and then back up a meter or two. He's now gone from Point Blank to Short Range. The trooper on the right also has his blaster leveled at you. He's the one giving you the instructions, and he's still at Point Blank range, down three steps from the landing (where you stand) at the bar's entrance.

Then, the GM pauses for the player to describe what his character will do.

Again, the player's remarks are the Declaration for the character as we go into combat.

Player of Sneak Beet: "I'm going to jump over the handrail, trying to land to the trooper's left so that the right trooper will be between me and the farther trooper."

GM: "That's pretty cool! Very STAR WARS! But, you know that you'll be directly behind the trooper, if you pull this off, with the building right behind you. There will be no where to run.

Player: "Desperate times." He smiles.

The GM breaks this down into combat segments in his head. The Right trooper will fire. The left trooper--the one at Short Range, will thumb his weapon selector and switch to Stun, then he'll fire, trying to take the alien down. Of course, this is something the GM knows in his head. He doesn't tell the player this. The player will live the event through the GM's description of the action as it happens. The GM is not required to Declare actions to the player.

Sneaky Beet is going to jump over the rail, and if successful, he'll be behind one trooper and using him to block fire from the left trooper. Note how the player is not declaring any other actions (like attacking the right trooper after he jumps behind him). The player doesn't want to do two actions and lose a die off his roll to jump.

Sneaky Beet will be using the Climbing and Jumping skill, which he doesn't have improved, so the character's STR will be used, which is 3D +2.

INITIATIVE.

Here, we need initiative, because it has to be determined whether either of the troopers get a shot off before the alien jumps over the rail. If Beet makes it over the rail, well, it's a new ballgame. Remember, I'm rolling real dice (using the dice roller), so I don't know, as I type these words, what is about to happen.

Oh, the suspense!

Right Trooper will fire at point blank range.

Sneaky Beet will use his right to a Dodge reaction for the blaster attack. Plus, the Dodge is good for all shots at him that segment, so his Dodge roll will be used for both troopers. The bad news is that Beet's Jump will be at 1D because the Doge is considered an action.

The Dodge, as the first use of a reaction skill, is not penalized because the character has not taken any other actions before its use. This means that the Dodge is at full dice, but the Jump will be at -1D since it is a second action.

Initiative will be determined...

(Sneaky Beet also rolls his Dodge of 5D, giving him +12 to range, which is 17 for the right trooper and 22 for the left trooper).

Sneaky Beet rolls his Climbing and Jumping at -1D. He rolls 2D +2. His initiative is 6.

Right Trooper rolls Blaster of 3D: gets initiative of 6.

Left Trooper rolls Blaster of 2D (-1D for changing to stun): gets initiative of 5.

Interesting! Again, I'm rolling this!

We've got a tie between the right trooper and Sneaky Beet! Ties go to PCs, to Sneay Beet moves first!

So, the round will play out like this...all in segment one....

-- Sneaky Beet will attempt his Jump, using his Jump roll of 6.

-- Right Trooper will fire IF Sneaky Beet is not successful in his jump. His shot rolled 6, which will miss (Dodge gives Beet a target number of 17).

-- Left Trooper will fire Stun, which will miss as his shot totaled 5, and the Dodge gives Sneaky Beet a target number of 22.

The big question is: Did Sneaky Beet make the jump? Looking at the skill description, I'd say that the maneuver is harder than Very Easy but not as hard as Easy. So, I'm going to add +2 to Very Easy, making it a 7+ roll.

I didn't do that on purpose to make Sneaky fail. I did it because that makes the most sense to be about difficulty.

GETTING CREATIVE

The GM describes all this for the player...

GM: "Sneaky leaps, but he's too short--shorter than humans--to make it over the rail. Instead, the poor guy gets one leg over, then his weight takes him down to the bottom of the three steps." Aaaaaahhhhh! Blaster bolt and stun beam goes over his head. Beet slides off the rail and bumps right into right trooper, who stands his ground like a brick wall. Beet bounces off the trooper and now stands, shaky, immediately in front of the right trooper who has just taken a shot at him.

Time for round two.

We'll pick up right there. The GM will ask the player what he wants to do, and the GM will think in his head about the actions the troopers will take.

Then, the GM will break it all down in his head, have initiative rolls, if necessary, and then resolve the round.

And, so on.

Just for poots and giggles, may I introduce Sneaky Beet!

"...What? It wasn't me! No, what? Really, what?"

-- Sneaky Beet

Hah I can see why Sneaky Beet ran away, he doesn't seem like the fighting type

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Abbus wants to stand and fire twice. In segment one, he rises fires. Segment two, he fires his second shot. That's two actions, firing twice, which means -1D each. And rising tacks on another -1D penalty to his first shot. Plus, he has to draw, which means another -1D penalty to his first shot.

So rising and drawing give -1D each but only in the segment they took place in?

Rising from a chair: That was a GM call. I tried to make the example reflect a real game where things come up that are not in the rules. Changing stance is described on page 13 of the rulebook (also page 47), and if a person stands, from the prone position, it does count as an action. Therefore, the -1D penalty would apply to all actions in the round.

In my GM opinion, rising from a chair is not quite the same as having to stand up, so I only applied the penalty to that segment--like the Drawing rule for blasters.

You may see it differently in your game.

Drawing: This is covered on page 48. I originally read the rule as applying the -1D to actions in that one segment but not the entire Combat round. That's the way we've played it in my games, and that's what I'm used to. So, that's why I wrote it the way I did.

I use the rule not as written. What I originally interpreted as only applying to the one combat segment was really reading something to the effect like, "Drawing doesn't count as an action, so it can be combined with a Blaster attack in the same segment, but mechanically, treat it as an action."

So, by the book, Drawing should affect all actions in the round by adding to the Multiple Action Rule.

I probably should have written it by the book above. My mistake.

Just Go! The 1E SW RPG is about edge-of-your-teeth action. Just do it. As a GM, come up with a rule or a role quickly, and just do it. Correct it later--next session, after you've had time to ponder the matter. If a player brought up what you just did, I'd let the action stay as it was this game session. I'd make a quick note to check it out in-between games. Then, next game session, I might change the rule. Maybe Rising From A Chair will be the same as any type of Changing Stance, and have a -1D to all actions.

The Drawing rule, I obviously played not as written in the book. That's OK. If I don't want to use it the way I did as a House Rule, then I could just correct it to the "right" way for next session.

Page 28 has some great advice to GM's, especially #4 in the boxed section. The the GM advice chapters at the end of the book are marvelous and should be required reading.

By The Book: Just to be clear and answer your question, anytime a -1D penalty shows up in the game, it affects all skill and attribute rolls for the entire combat round. What I wrote in the example (and I shouldn't have) is a House Rule that I'm used to--I should have caught it.

I think the example still gives you a good idea of how the game is played, though.

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I probably should have written it by the book above. My mistake.

Don't worry about it. It seems like a reasonable ruling anyway. As you said, its best just to make a quick ruling and move on. I found the GM section to have some good advice.

These posts have been helpful. You should consider going over all the rules in a series of blog posts. Ive just discovered your dodge post, off to read it now.

2 hours ago, TheBloke said:

Don't worry about it. It seems like a reasonable ruling anyway. As you said, its best just to make a quick ruling and move on. I found the GM section to have some good advice.

These posts have been helpful. You should consider going over all the rules in a series of blog posts. Ive just discovered your dodge post, off to read it now.

In the future, I will put extra effort into writing examples using only the rules as written. I think with the above, I was so used to using that House Rule that I just plain forgot that the rule wasn't written like that in the core rulebook.

I've played 1E D6 Star Wars for decades. I love the game. If I can help in any way in understanding the rules as written, then just let me know. I'll do what I can to write up a clear example.

I wouldn't mind seeing a good example of the space battles, for example starfighter vs starfighter, multi-person ship vs starfighter, capital ships, and so on. Oh, and person vs vehicle I suppose!

I just wrote up an extensive starship combat example.

It's really pretty simple once you get the hang of it.

The starship combat system is really designed for small starfighter vs starfighter combat. Anything over a light freighter, like the Falcon, typically just go broadsides, like we see in the films (look at the beginning of Revenge of the Sith). Capital ships don't really maneuver. They just start pounding it out.

In this game, which is more character centered, the starfighter and stock light freighter are where the action is at. The GM can create scenarios, though, where fighters squadrons are tasked with swooping in close to the hull of a Star Destroyer, trying to knock out weapons and shield balls, all with TIEs swarming around like flies.

If determined for a Capital ship combat system, look to the Rules Companion, page 33.

Also note that, if you like board game style space combat systems rather than the narrative system provided in the core rulebook, look to a boxed game WEG published for 1E called Star Warriors.

Star Warriors can be quite fun. It can be played apart from the rolepalying game, but it also meshes with the 1E version of the roleplaying game in that it uses skill codes and such for pilots. It is played on a hex map. And, it can accommodate starship battles as small as starfighter vs. starfighter all the way up to Star Destroyer vs Mon Cal Cruisers. There's even a Death Star trench run scenario.

Many of the early 1E adventures included optional Star Warriors combat encounters.

It is detailed, and there is some learning curve in getting to know the game. But, once you go, it can pay off big time for players that like this type of play. GMs who learn the rules can break it out anytime there is a starship combat encounter and use it instead of the narrative system in the book.

Speaking of the narrative system in the book, notice the scaling rules that are used in specific situations. Read the first couple of paragraphs on page 29 of the Sourcebook. The scaling rules that I'm talking about are embedded in the text. See page 58 and page 66 of the Sourcebook for an example. Page 65 of the core rule book also addresses some scaling issues.

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I just  wrote up an extensive starship combat example.

Nice, Ill check it out.