Star Wars Saga...

[Raithe]

I have to step out and admit a guilty secret...

I've been picking up the Star Wars Saga rpg books for a few months now.

 

Originally, I thought the system was a little squiffy, almost like they had tried to shoehorn aspects of d20 Modern with elements of Spycraft 2.0 and then squeezed in a few strange things... But after going back and reading it again, doodling around with it, it's grown on me.. and I find myself actually quite enjoying it... So I have to say, Star Wars Saga is actually something that WotC can expect money from me now. After all, D&D 4th is just some twisted, horrible mess that I will never go near (even if it does have such shiny art).

 

Still, I happen to be curious, how many people out there have been getting their space opera jones worked on with some Star Wars campaigns? Who did follow over from the original Weg to d20 at WotC, and now to the Saga Edition?

Thoughts? Speculations? Emotions?

[Rosbjerg]

I've always played Cyberpunk if I wanted a sci-fi setting, mostly because I feel the SW setting is way too epic for the PnP playing style.. I've looked at the Star Trek system (can't remember it's name) once or twice, but I felt that it was too stiff.

 

Have you had any good games with Star Wars Saga?

[Raithe]

I have to say, background music to get people in the frame of mood is ridiculously easy..

 

And if you have a grasp of the expanded universe it's not that hard to push the epic away (or at least, sort of sideline it) and concentrate on different campaign styles. That said, I think it's almost impossible to have a deadly serious campaign with Star Wars. Even if you're playing one set in the Dark Times / Rise of the Rebellion eras, and trying to pump that "burgeoning resistance movement / criminal fringe" aspects, everyone still slides into that slightly geeky 5 year old when playing...

 

So if everyone having fun is purely the yardstick you're using... Then good games.

 

Hm, cyberpunk has always been more the grim and gritty "near-future" times for me, sometimes you want to play sci-fi thats pure pulp/space opera..that's what Star Wars is good for.

[Rosbjerg]

Fun has the be the measurement used when you are using X hour(s) of your free time doing something.

 

everyone still slides into that slightly geeky 5 year old when playing...

 

That was kind of what I worried about, as lightsabers and tiefighters don't really mix well with seriousness.. and somehow vampires do? well.. okay point taken..

[Raithe]

It'll come down to how everyone in the group approaches it.. Cyberpunk games, and Vampire type (well, every single WoD related game) hammer the brooding seriousness and tend to slide into the almost emo approach.. But that's part of the guilty fun of playing around with them.. That's inherent to the genre.

 

But Star Wars.. now that's grand opera on the space plane..

 

Yes, you can play certain levels of seriousness to it, add a sense of grit to the play.. even if you don't put in much "Force" waving. Although jumping back to a Knights of the Old Republic era and playing around more with Jedi / Sith philosophy, falling to the dark side and possible redemption.. If you want to put the effort in, and the other players can handle it, those are all quite possible.

 

But even if you do it with the firm emphasis that all the players are non-force users, throw it in the Rebellion era, with everyone playing fringe characters, dealing with smuggling groups, pirates, the hutts, and trying to keep below the Imperial radar.. the very nature of space opera means you have to have the han solo shoots first, hijack the starship, swashbuckling piratical boarding sequences...

 

Heh, I guess I'd just suggest having your gaming group sit down, put on some star wars music, and see what sort of moods they all end up in That'll give you an idea of how they'd handle a Star Wars game and whether it's worth it..

[Rosbjerg]

I don't think they would enjoy it to be honest

 

But I'll bring it up, if nothing else it's good to try different things.

[Walsingham]

I kinda follow your reasoning there, Raithe. I don't PnP very much these days, ude to lack of energy. BUt I'd certainly PnP if I knew a good ref, and I'd probably be up for Starwars on pure cheese value alone.

[Darque]

Tough choice, I think I like Saga edition better because it covers a wider range of eras.

[Raithe]

It was one of those interesting things, WEG were given leave to do the Rebellion era (which at the time was before the EU really exploded) and then picked up when the Timothy Zahn books came out.. there got to do the first "Knights of the Old Republic" era , but Lucasarts had the firm rule they couldn't make any rule sets for pc's to play dark siders....

 

They only changed that when Star Wars d20 came out shortly after The Phantom Menace... Lucasarts gave the go-ahead to dark side rules for the purpose of playing "characters that can be redeemed" etc....

 

 

It's possible to play it without the cheese factor overtaking it.. but damn it all, its space opera, so there's always a slice of cheese somewhere around..

[Sunking]

I must say i haven even glared in the direktion of new starwars rules since D20 SW came and I desidet to stay with Westend but ohh we have enjoyed many hours with the universe.

 

I would say that you can play SW just as serious as most other of the RPG out there, for the sake D&D have moonrats Rats who are just ordanary until in moonlight were the gain int... WoD were malcavians are from yes i know i teori wery serious, but have you ever made it throu a session were the malcavian did somthing f****** crasy without ROFLOL, every system have it flaws or should we call em "fun sides"

 

But what are the basis of the saga rules.

[Raithe]

But what are the basis of the saga rules.

 

Saga rules are like a modified d20 set. It's sort of somewhere between 3.5 D&D, d20 modern, and spycraft 2.0....

 

You've got classes that enable you to pick "talents" at every odd level and a bonus feat at every even level, every class has handful of different talent tree's to pick from and it's own list of bonus feats available.. and you get the multi-class options from d20. It's very easy to customise your character growth to go with a concept.

[Raithe]

..Dang nabbit, and now WoTC have announced officially that they won't be continuing with the license.. So the Unknown Regions sourcebook coming out in a month will be the last thing they do..

[Darque]

surprise -9000

 

This is what they do.