force powers

[GhostofAnakin]

I have time to play, pretty much anytime.

 

I live in the Eastern time zone, so I guess as long as none of you are from Europe or Australia and want to play at 5 or 6 am my time, I'm good to go.

 

Personally, I'd like to play through the KOTOR period.

[EnderAndrew]

West End went out of business a while back. That's why Wizards of the Coasts has the Star Wars license now.

 

The two links I gave you will give you character sheets, skill lists, force powers, etc. I think they have equipment lists there as well.

 

I have two copies of the rule books still, despite losing many over the years. Gaming stores and Ebay might be able to find you one if you really want the book in your hands.

 

Character creation is a little wierd, but the rules are quite simple.

 

You have six attributes. Each attribute and skill has a rating. But instead of having a static number like 5 or 15 for the rating, you have a dice rating.

 

For instance your Dexterity may be 4D or 3D+1

 

With the latter rating, you would roll 3 dice, and add 1 to the result. Here is where the rules get a little wierd and trip people up. Each dice breaks down to 3 pips. Since a 6 sided dice equates to an average roll of around 3, you have 3 pips to a dice. If you increase a rating from 3D, it goes to 3D+1, then to 3D+2, then to 4D (then to 4D+1, 4D+2, 5D, etc.)

 

When you roll your Dexterity, you just roll that many six-sided dice. (Or in our case, we'll have an online dice roller which makes things even simpler.)

 

Now, let's say you have a Dexterity skill of Blasters. Your skills start at a rating equal to your attribute, and let's say in this instance that you have 4D in Dexterity. If you put a dice into Blasters, you have 5D in Blasters.

 

During character creation, you grab a character sheet off the web. You get 18 dice to distribute amongst your six attributes. You can break the dice down to pips if you so desire. Then you get to put 9 dice into skills (once again, you can choose to put 1 dice into 9 skills, or break them down to pips to distribute across more skills if you so desire). You can not put more than 2D into any skill at character creation. Now, if you attempt to do something unskilled, you have fewer dice to roll (you roll your attribute straight up) and the difficulty is higher. So there is some benefit to taking a bunch of skills at low levels, but you may want to have just a few skills at high levels.

 

Then you choose three specializations. Let's say you have a Blaster skill of 5D and you want to specialize in a specific type of blasters, like the Blastec DL-44 Heavy Blaster, or a Blaster Rifle.

 

You create a new skill under Blasters, called Blaster Rifle, and it starts out 1 dice above whatever the base skill was. So you'd have 6D in Blaster Rifles or whatever. From here on our, those are two independent skills. If you work in general Blaster skills and improve that, it doesn't improve your specialization, or vice versa.

 

After choosing 3 specializations, you're basically done unless you play a Force user, and then you need to move onto Force Powers.

 

There are no hard and fast rules for starting equipment. That's GM discretion.

 

I think the best thing to do would be to hop into a chat room some night, when you guys have the skill lists and character sheets infront of you. If you have specific questions, I can answer them at that time.

 

The Rancor Pit website also has rules for playing Aliens, etc.

[ShinIchiro]

Wow...that seems awesome...i didn't see you write the links or put down anything about feats. Are there any feats or did I just read too fast?

[GhostofAnakin]

Bookmarked the two sites. I'll check them out tomorrow or wednesday.

[Judge Hades]

Ah, the real Star Wars PnP game. I remember those days.

 

*sniff* Gods, I feel old.

[EnderAndrew]

There are no feats. Now, aside from Attributes and Skills, Force users get Force Powers. I should note right now, that the rules for Force users aren't entirely fair. Force users are more powerful than non-Force users. That's just the Star Wars universe. However, playing a Force User means worrying about Dark Side points, being a constant target, and me expecting more out of you as a player.

 

This is a very different system. It's much simpler. You want to do something. So, you declare an action. I set a difficulty number, and tell you to role dice. If you hit the difficulty number, you succeed. You can ATTEMPT any action in the world you want. You don't need feats. Now, you may be incredibly unlikely to succeed, but that's another story.

 

There are home-brew rules for Advantages/Disadvantages. I haven't read over any of those rules recently, but here's a site.

 

Advantages and Disadvantages

 

Those reflect background and other factors, such as allies, wealth, assets, good healing rates, charm, cybernetics, etc.

 

If people really want to use those rules, I can implement them. I briefly glanced the home-brewed rules, and it said everyone automatically got so many points to spend on advantages. I'd have to consider that.

[ShinIchiro]

Amazon has it. What's the most recent printing?

[EnderAndrew]

If people want to get a jump-start on character creation, they can grab a character sheet and fill out the top portion. What is your name? What species are you? What planet are you from?

 

What are your objectives and goals in life? What do you look like? What is your background? Etc. Etc.

 

Some of this may depend upon setting. Do you guys have a preference for setting? Do you prefer an all-Jedi party, a no-Jedi party, a mixed party? I do allow non-Jedi Force Adepts, but there are penalties for not having a teacher/mentor.

[GhostofAnakin]

Ender,

 

How close do the new rules compare with the ones I'm familiar with (the old West End Games ones)?

 

Are the character templates similar? I still have a bunch of old templates laying around if they're similar.

[ShinIchiro]

I'd have people do whatever they want to. I'd probably be a jedi. Depends what era. If it's thrawn (that has alot of potential) and aftermath of taking of coruscant era, that sounds fun. So does the KOTOR era.

[EnderAndrew]

The West End rules never really changed much. I probably run the same rules you are familiar with. The old templates still work.

 

1st Edition changed a bit going into 2nd edition, but 2nd edition revised featured some really minor tweaks.

[GhostofAnakin]

So if I pick a freighter captain, I'll have some crime lord wanting his 25,000 credits back soon?

[EnderAndrew]

That doesn't have to be the case.

 

However, because of the simplicity of the rules, they had no rules for fair distribution of equipment. If a player got to start with a spaceship, they were encouraged to start in debt, or have some trade-off for the ship.

 

If you want to start with a ship, come up with a good story, and we'll work from there.

[ShinIchiro]

Forgive poor me the inexperienced one, but on the Rancor Pit there are no alien rules, just _d+_/_d+_ what's with the slashes? Are the numbers on the left the bonuses to a stat?

[EnderAndrew]

Sorry. I should have explained that.

 

Humans and most aliens have 12 attribute dice. (Player characters get 6 more dice since they aren't standard, they are heroes.) The racial minimums and maximums for humans is 1D to 4D, respectively.

 

Let's take a Mon Calimari as an example. They have:

 

Mon Calamari

Attribute Dice: 12D (as a player character, it would be 18 dice)

DEXTERITY 1D/3D+1

KNOWLEDGE 1D/4D

MECHANICAL 1D+1/3D+1

PERCEPTION 1D/3D

STRENGTH 1D/3D

TECHNICAL 1D+1/4D

 

So, the minimum a Mon Calimari can have in Technical is 1D+1 as opposed to 1D for a Human. And their maximums also change. Mon Calimari also have special racial features.

 

Special Abilities:

Moist Environments: In moist environments, Mon Calamari receive a +1D bonus for all Dexterity, Perception, and Strength tasks.

Dry Environments: In dry environments, Mon Calamari receive a -1D penalty for all Dexterity, Perception, and Strength tasks.

Amphibious: Mon Calamari can breathe both air and water and can withstand the extreme pressures of the ocean depths.

Story Factors:

Enslavement: Most Mon Calamari not directly allied with the Rebel Alliance are enslaved by the Empire, and the Empire has placed a high priority on the capture of any "free" Mon Calamari.

 

If you so desire, you can make up your alien species so long as they are balanced. You will notice that certain aliens get more attribute dice, or fewer attribute dice than others. I highly encourage everyone to play a species that has 12 (18) dice in the spirit of equity.

[EnderAndrew]

This will give you an example of what various dice ratings equate to.

 

Let's say you max an attribute, and put 4D in it. (Some aliens can be higher). Let's say you put the maximum in a skill to start, and start with 6D in a skill. And then let's say you specialize in that skill. You could have 7D at character creation, making you quite skilled. However, that would also leave your character fairly weak in other areas.

 

1D Below Human average for an attribute.

2D Human average for an attribute and many skills.

3D Average level of training for a Human.

4D Professional level of training for a Human.

5D Above average expertise.

6D Considered about the best in a city or geographic area. 1 in 100,000 people will have training to this skill level.

7D Among the best on the continent. About 1 in 10,000,000 people will have training to this skill level.

8D Among the best on a planet. About 1 in 100,000,000 people will have training to this skill level.

9D One of the best of several systems in the immediate area. About 1 in a billion people have a skill at this level.

10D One of the best in a sector.

12D One of the best in a region.

14D+ Among the best in the galaxy.

[ShinIchiro]

What does that _/_ for movement mean? Is taht the same min/max idea?

[EnderAndrew]

Yep. However, I usually just use a stock move rate for a species. I don't know why they give variables. Humans and most humanoids move at 10, which is 10 meters in a full combat round.

[ShinIchiro]

Was thinking of Hapan for a sec, but they have 13 points and for a west end newbie like me I'll stick with probably human or something easy but cool. My question now is would you reccomend that I purchase the book? It is 30$ and I am low on cash, but I can make ends meet I think.

[EnderAndrew]

Let me explain basic mechanics a little.

 

Let's say you're being chased by a Bounty Hunter, and you duck behind some cargo. You want to shoot the Bounty Hunter with your blaster.

 

In this case, you've got a pretty good shot at a clear ambush, and having suprise. If surprise wasn't a factor, we would roll Perception for initiative. My house rule is that you declare backwards, so the person with the lowest roll declares first, and the person with the highest roll goes first.

 

You declare you want to shoot the Bounty Hunter with your Blaster. You have 6D in Blaster. After all the declarations, when it's your turn, you roll your 6D. I give you a target number of 15 to hit a target at medium range.

 

Now, when you roll, you have one dice that is a different color than other dice (or rolled seperately in a dice roller program). This is the wild die. If you roll a 6 on this die, you get to reroll it and add it to the total. If you get a 1, you get a complication. We'll get into those later. Complications do not necessarily mean automatic failures, not does rolling a 6 equate to automatic success. You still have to roll higher than the difficulty number.

 

Now, on 6 dice, you'll average around 18, so you've got a pretty good shot of hitting the person. Let's say you have a very important dice roll, and you don't make it. Let's say this dice roll is to soak damage, and you don't want to die for instance. You can spend a few character points to roll additional dice. These character points are permanently spent. These character points are basically the "experience" you get at the end of a session. You can use these to augment dice rolls, or to raise your skills and attributes through training. It's up to you whether you want to save character points to train, or spend them freely on dice rolls.

 

You also start with either 1 or 2 Force Points depending on whether or not you are a Force User. If you spend a Force Point, you get to double your dice-pool for that round. At the end of the session, I may award Force Points back, and additional Force Points depending on how they were used.

 

The rule of thumb is this. If you are a non-Force User, you have to use the Power in dramatic fashion to get it back. The more dramatic, the higher chance you'll also receive an additional point back. Let's say your a freighter pilot, and at the crux of a story, you spend a Force Point on a piloting roll to evade capture from Imperials by darting through asteroids. That's a dramatic use. Spending a Force Point to a gambling roll to get money for booze and hookers is not dramatic use. But hey, that's up to you.

 

If you're a Force User, you start with two, but the rules are tougher. You have to use the Force Point "heroically" to get the Force Point back with another. If you spend the Force Point saving your own skin, it's gone. You can play a grey, and you can play a non-Jedi Force adept if you so desire. However, not having a mentor to teach you really sucks. The rules don't really support playing Dark Jedi, and I don't really have a desire to run a Dark Jedi campaign. If you do evil deeds, or use the Force to hurt people needlessly, you get Dark Side points. Each point increases your chances of succumbing to the Dark Side. Each time you get a point, you roll a dice. You have to roll higher than your number of Dark Side points, or fall to the Dark Side.

 

You can attone, and get ride of DS points.

[ShinIchiro]

So should I get the book?

[EnderAndrew]

I don't think the book is all that necessary. I think I can teach the system fairly well. And where as you need to refer to tables and charts in D&D, you don't really need such things in Star Wars so much.

 

And if I did want to refer to the tables and charts, I've got them online, or heck I own the books.

 

If you want to play a Hapan, I am willing to make an exception here and there for someone having one extra die in attributes. It's not huge. However, Nohgri have 4 extra dice in attributes which is huge.

[ShinIchiro]

so what are the rules on the penalties for if you roll a one with the colored die?

[ShinIchiro]

shouldn't there be lightsaber specializations involving saber staff? I dunno know if there are saber forms or the rules on duel weilding, but also might they count as specializations?

[EnderAndrew]

Well the game came out before Phatom Menace, but I could see lightsaber specialties in dual wielding. I think a saber-staff would have to be a seperate skill since it's so different.

 

Okay, let's say you roll a 1 on the wild die. Stock rule says that you have a complication, and that I take away both the 1, and the highest die. Do if on four dice you roll a 4, 5, 2, and 1 on the wild die, I take away the 1 and the 5, leaving you with a total of 6 on four dice.

 

There are lots of house rules I've seen regarding complications, but that all depends on what you're trying to do, and how all the other rolls go down. Let's say you're trying to sneak into an Imperial Base, and you're spotted by a Scout Trooper. He's about to sound the alarm, and you want to shoot him first. Let's say you roll your Blaster skill, and due to the complication, you fail your roll miserably. What if you accidentally shoot the alarm turning it on? Or if you make your shot (despite losing the highest die, it is still possible) then you shoot the Trooper, and knock him into the alarm.

 

Complications can even be helpful once in a while. A complication merely is an unexpected result from your action.