Star Wars RPG....

By Master_Liu, in Star Wars: The Card Game

I'm actually more concerned with the RPG, and how the game dynamics are going to work. I have not play any games from FFG so I have no idea how their system works. I have played the WotC and own all the saga edition and am currently using them for a TOR campaign.

Is there any information on the RPG? A preview? Any information? I don't ask for a release date since I read a post saying that 2012 BUT! I want to see if it will be worth buying this RPG by FFG.

  • Character creation
  • Combat & space combat
  • Force users & powers
  • Timeframe
  • Equipment & modifications
  • Ships & modifications

I read somewhere that it will be a percentile die(s)? I do have to say that WEG's I think had the simplest system. And now since there is no Star Wars: RPG section of the forums, I figured that this would be a better place to ask this/these questions. I do greatly appreciate your patience. I do look forward reading up on the game and previewing it.

There hasn't been any news yet on a Star Wars RPG. I can only assume it's not ready to be spoilered yet.

It is highly unlikely to be d20 or WEG d6. Other than that very little can be guessed at. Claims at it being % based are probably presuming that it will use the 40k RPG system as its basis, which I regard as unlikely (and I feel would be unsuited to it). I would see Warhammer 3rd edition being more likely, but that is too expensive for a more mass market aimed RPG that Star Wars is likely to be.

borithan said:

I would see Warhammer 3rd edition being more likely, but that is too expensive for a more mass market aimed RPG that Star Wars is likely to be.

I'm very curious to see what shape the RPG takes as well. For me personally, I feel that Star Wars is deserving of a system designed for it, as opposed to adapting a system designed for something else. Mechanically, the Force is not easily swapped out with magic, and the combat has a very specific feel to it that is at once very cavalier in that heroes are very difficult to actually hit, but also very lethal in that when people get hit, they go down. A game where players amass huge numbers of hit points, and end bosses require you to hit them with blasters 50 or 60 times to actually kill them just doesn't feel like Star Wars.

So I would prefer something more akin to what D20R did with Vitality and Hit Points, where you had a "massive hit point pool" that didn't represent taking actual damage so much as your luck and ability to mitigate damage you take. When this pool was worn down, then you lost damage to your hit points, which always remained relatively small (so that 1-3 blaster shots would reduce you to zero. I felt like this represented star wars really well in that as you level and become more powerful, your "luck" or vitality increased, but your hit points always stayed relatively low, leveling the playing field somewhat.

I think the most challenging thing about Star Wars is balancing out and integrating character scale, vehicle scale, and starship scale combats. Traditionally, this has been the biggest challenge for all Star Wars RPG games. We have seen abstract square concepts and minis attempted to handle this before, never to any sort of real success.

Flavor should be emphasized. The RPG has room and reason to develop areas of the Star Wars galaxy that films, cartoons and novels don't have space to really pin down. This is one of the things that the WEG game did better than anyone. Their Imperial Sourcebook and Rebel Alliance Sourcebooks really laid out how both factions worked from top to bottom. This sort of information is great for GMs that want to make players really feel like they are in an actual organization with layers of bureaucracy and the different sorts of units they can be assigned to or fighting against. Such organization also gives players a clear sort of BBEG "leveling" ladder where the GM can sort of see who the next link in the chain should be as the players move up the boss ladder. It also makes your material more appealing to non-gamers. Whenever a company can tap into a non-gamer market for their products, thats only going to help the viability of the line, and perhaps convert a few readers into gamers, helping RPGs everywhere.

I think flavor needs to be a big part of the RPG, introducing NEW corners of the Star Wars galaxy, and exploring those things only hinted at by the novels and comics. Legacy of the Jedi and Fate of the Jedi novels (18 in all) have a huge following. Doing a sourcebook dedicated just to that era would be something you could sell as a book companion as well as an RPG game. Perhaps one of the authors (aaron allston has a lot of RPG writing experience) would even be interested in contributing some new content. Dave Filoni in a recent interview with IGN just touched on all these little side-stories about bridging things in the cartoon series that won't ever be covered in the show, but that he has little stories for to explain it. This is prime material for little flash fiction pieces to accompany a Clone Wars era sourcebook or Jedi Order faction sourcebook, whatever. Getting these names onboard and tweeting and facebooking the releases is another way to increase sales. Remember the RPG is part of a bigger licensed universe, as Dark Horse Comics and Del Rey have shown of late with Knight Errant, The Old Republic, and New Jedi Order, and even Shadows of the Empire back in the day, the more collaboration you have between licensees, the better it is for everyone.

I wish FFG the best of luck with the RPG, and I really hope they succeed in ways previous incarnations have stumbled.

Keith "Nar" Kappel

http://www.fandomcomics.com

Dear FFG staff,

I hope you guys will make a great Star Wars RPG!

Things I hope to see:

• Special dice, cards and party mechanics (like in the new Warhammer RPG).

• All Force Powers should have its origin from the movies, books or comics (like the spells in Deciphers LOTR RPG). And let them work as they do in the original source – for instance “force lightning” stuns a person when hit by it – except if you parry it with your ligthsaber or (if you are Yoda) with your hand or dodge it (never seen that happen though :D ). And it kills you slowly and painfully.

• Character powers are not necessarily balanced in a game term sense with regards to classes, races, skills, ect. But more “in touch” with the world (like the deadly spells in Mongooses Conan RPG).

• More “hard-core” rules less “flavour text” stories. For instance: How can you create a PC/NPC like General Grievous – what are the pros and cons? How does the Bothan spy network work in the game? Not just background stories about it. What happens when your arms and legs are cut off (and you are a force user)? Flying through asteroid fields, creating a base on Hoth, racing a pod race, how do you blow up the Death Star? How do you jam a signal? How do you live as a trader/smuggler? ect.

• Starting (level one?) Sith players NOT being able to cast force lightning or other similar stuff.

• A good explanation why it’s better to wield a single lightsaber with two hands (like a majority do) and not attack with your “choke powers” while in a lightsaber duel. J

I really hope you think outside the box and not just make a balanced “MMORG” RPG where we have our tank, controller and assassin characters but instead make a game that bring us, mentally, into a galaxy far far away.

Regards,
Ryan

I had not heard that the FFG rpg will use percentile dice. Where did you hear that? That would be a tragically BAD choice.

I have played the WOTC rpg's, both "2nd Ed" and Saga Ed, and I have played the old WEG d6 game as well. My favorite is still the d6 game from WEG.

I would love to see SW rpg use the Cortex System from Margaret Weis Productions - it's used in games like Serenity and Leverage. It's pretty good and seems like it would fit a SW rpg pretty **** well.

I just hope FFG comes out with something good that does NOT use percentile dice as a system. Ugh....

What is wrong with using a system based on the most easy to understand system of numbers? We are a pentatonic people and working with percentages is normal and natural and requires no abstraction.

The simpler the system, the less it takes to explain/understand and the more time you can spend immersing yourself in the world. I want a game that supports that, and if % is what is going to give it to me then so be it. Rolling hordes of dice is just not appealing to me. Makes me feel like I should be shouting out yahtzee!

Penfold said:

What is wrong with using a system based on the most easy to understand system of numbers? We are a pentatonic people and working with percentages is normal and natural and requires no abstraction.

Personally, I prefer using a d20 over percentile dice. The increased granularity compared to 5% steps is not something that is adding much, imho.

I really don't see FFG creating an RPG using another company's rules, even the 40k rpg system which they now own. A new system is much more likely, or the use of a heavily modified version of the Warhammer 3rd edition rules (though I would agree that they would probably want to find a way to make the buy-in cost a bit cheaper).

The key is going to be for the rules system to have an unmistakable Star Wars feel. There's an epic feel to the movies that can't adequately be captured with the d20 system, because no matter how much emphasis you place on skill bonuses, the core mechanic is simply too unpredictable to make you feel like one of the galaxy's greatest heroes. A ruleset that gives players complete control over their dice-rolls would be preferred. Perhaps FFG's Dice Shift mechanic from Fireborn ought to make a return here. That added an unfamiliar depth of strategy to dice-rolling, and would be welcome in a Star Wars game IMHO.

I think more than anything since the announcement of FFG having the Star Wars license, I'm really keen to see how they work out their RPG system for it. Since playing Saga, I felt this is a really easy system to get the hang of to allow you to actually play it rather than endlessly consulting tables and tables of stuff. But then, I don't really have an extensive career of RPGing. I suppose it's always hard to see how your favourite way of doing something could be bettered.

I thought it interesting to note that a couple of days/weeks after the announcement they had the license, there was a news post about them hiring for RPG writers. Linked, perhaps?

I would really like to see the RPG put out by FFG to properly delve into the universe, much like WEG did when they produced the d6 game. So much of the expanded universe from that time grew out of what they did, particularly with Bantam's novels, that it became a truly organic process of development. It would be nice to see FFG work with Del Rey and Dark Horse to properly expand upon and delve deeper into SW, rather than just stand on the sidelines and support whatever is put out by the fiction writers with campaign guides and sourcebooks like WotC seemed to do (as much as I love the Saga system, they never got truly adventurous with the line until The Unknown Regions, creating all those planets etc. So much wasted opportunity).

I played d6 system and d20 system (all 3 version) Star Wars RPG, and even home-made GURPS, Basic RPG and Storyteller System of Star Wars RPG. d6 system is still my favorite.

FFG please consider getting the license for d6 system which capture the mood of epic space fantasy of Star Wars. d6 system had the best RPG rules for force powers and pilot X-Wing, fast and heroic!

I can't imagine % system to do with the Force..."You have less 1% chance of success in attack run...trust the force, then you have 30%..."

Solar said:

I played d6 system and d20 system (all 3 version) Star Wars RPG, and even home-made GURPS, Basic RPG and Storyteller System of Star Wars RPG. d6 system is still my favorite.

FFG please consider getting the license for d6 system which capture the mood of epic space fantasy of Star Wars. d6 system had the best RPG rules for force powers and pilot X-Wing, fast and heroic!

I can't imagine % system to do with the Force..."You have less 1% chance of success in attack run...trust the force, then you have 30%..."

I agree, at least partly. I'd love to see FF adopt some of the ideas that were present in the D6 system. Specifically die pools and a "wild/force die" type concept. I would however LOVE to see FF use there fantastic design capabilities to give these components the flair they need to compliment the visually lush setting. Give us "specialty" dice, something like Warhammer Fantasy, but not so complex. Perhaps just specialty six siders with various symbols for the 1's and 6's. And make the "force die" a 10 sider or the like....with various symbols (rebel alliance insignia, imperial insignia etc), each representing a different "modifier" to the die pool.

This is all very vague I know. But I really love what FF did with Warhammer Fantasy, but I know that in order to make a Star Wars game in a similar fashion, they're gonna have to make it slightly more accessible if they want it to be successful.

Give us more simplified "action" and "force" cards. Perhaps just cards that summarize what a PC can do in a round. Tokens to represent "force" points. or "dark side" points...etc.

If they're also able to somehow tie the miniatures game into the rpg somehow, that would be fantastic. As we all know, Star Wars is in large part about STAR, WARS....space combat (or ship combat as it were). Think of some of the most memorable scenes from the original trilogy....The trench run, the battle for Hoth, tie fighter/X wing dog fights, the asteroid field chase...etc etc. In my humble opinion, none of the previous RPGs have done a very good job of capturing this particular element. With FF's design abilities and their brand spankin' new minis license, I can def forsee them taking full advantage of this idea...I hope.

GoblynKing said:


Give us more simplified "action" and "force" cards. Perhaps just cards that summarize what a PC can do in a round. Tokens to represent "force" points. or "dark side" points...etc.

If they're also able to somehow tie the miniatures game into the rpg somehow, that would be fantastic. As we all know, Star Wars is in large part about STAR, WARS....space combat (or ship combat as it were). Think of some of the most memorable scenes from the original trilogy....The trench run, the battle for Hoth, tie fighter/X wing dog fights, the asteroid field chase...etc etc. In my humble opinion, none of the previous RPGs have done a very good job of capturing this particular element. With FF's design abilities and their brand spankin' new minis license, I can def forsee them taking full advantage of this idea...I hope.

I would hate see cards and minis in a new SW game. Please do not repeat the last mistake of SW:SE

I am a happy man.

I have never been satisfied with the ability (or lack thereof) of the d20 system to represent the drama and action of the star wars universe. While at the same time giving enough depth to the mechanics to make that side of the game interesting (no simply adding +2 to your skill roll does not represent an interesting mechanical depth) never used the d6 system, but many folks seem to have good things to say about it. - just how much of this is nostalgia and how much of *** is the system genuinely being great i do not know.

What I do know is that having played WFRP3 (Which has a dice system only bettered in my opinion by AEG's Roll and Keep system) I think FFG definitely have what it takes to produce a game that is capable of conveying the drama, setting and excitement of the Star Wars universe.

I am looking forward to this - it's been a long time since Star Wars got me excited. Will be watching this forum with interest.

Actually the old Rolemonster is most SW style system so far... Hit points are not important, but if you got kritical hit, you can be dead by one blow... Well actually RM would not be perfect to SW, but the idea that a hero can fight a long time without a srcatch and then die to one blow that hits the target is a lot what SW fights are about.

Maybe a system where every hit eats a little bit of your fatique, but when you got that killing blow it would be fatal or near fatal. You lose your hand, or your head. The blaster rip of your chest and so on. The problem is that in long run there will be that "unlucky" die roll that kill every character in the SW universe... Maybe a fate point system would balance that out, by allowing a reroll when thins looks too cloomy.

Solar said:

FFG please consider getting the license for d6 system which capture the mood of epic space fantasy of Star Wars. d6 system had the best RPG rules for force powers and pilot X-Wing, fast and heroic!

Totally agree!

Solar said:

I can't imagine % system to do with the Force..."You have less 1% chance of success in attack run...trust the force, then you have 30%..."

Why not? The Force exist and its will is undeniable, but your ability to use it is not so absolute. Your skill as a force user determines how good you can use it.

And your concentration. I think that % system would be perfect to use. Look at WH40 combat, it is furious, fast and deadly, very fun, just as the SW shoud be..fun...its a very simple system for playing so you can leave your atention to roleplaying. I can almost see a high level powerfull jedi or a sith with some of the stats between 70-90, and as for the wounds, well everybody gets them if they get hit, but that`s why there are skills like dogdge, parry or some powers based on willpower to deal with that... When Luke`s hand was cut of...it was cut of....critical hit table from WH40, yes it can be a bit modified, but if you ask me, it suits perfectly.

Actually here is how I see it: You could merge all 4 WH40 games and use it`s expirience to make SW:

Dark Heresy: Scoundrels, Troopers, Bounty Hunters...ordinary people

Rogue Trader: Generals, Starship Battles

Deathwatch: Jedi and forcewielders

Black Crusade: Dark Jedi, Sith.....

I admit that I`m not very expierienced RPG player, I played d20, %system, and had a look a bit in some d6 and dice pool systems, but % system looks the best for me, because SW is all about the world, the chars, and rp, and thats pretty much the imagination part, so I hope they use % system, and give us lots of carriers, skills, weapons, powers and loads of old and new flavours and world informations.

Star Wars The Old Republic in RPG.....yes the mmo is cool, but I`ll wait to play this :)