Love Being Jedi/Sith, Don't Care about Star Wars

PencilBoy99 · April 04, 2015, 08:13:06 PM

My friends and I enjoyed playing a hacked version of the new Star Wars game where we played Sith (mostly to be cool, we didn't do anything evil). However, none of us are huge "I want to play in the star wars setting" people. There must be some game out there where you play semi-mystical Samurai with different fighting styles, that isn't Star Wars. I know Legend of the 5 Rings exists, but I've heard that it pushes you into not being in combat.

What do you recommend!

Spinachcat · April 04, 2015, 09:26:30 PM

The D6 system is free online. You could grab D6 Space and D6 Fantasy and slap together anything you wanted. You could totally do Space Samurai with your own "War in the Stars" setting.

Legends of the Five Rings is awesome, but combat is deadly. I greatly enjoy the game and its got all the mystic samurai and shukenja nonsense in their faux-fantasy pseudo-not-Japan called Rokugan.

I highly recommend the first edition. Most flavor, least complication.

Wasteworld has a whole power armor samurai nation with laser swords. It's a good solid system too.

The game had two setting books - The Shogunate (techno-samurai) and Hydra (biotech).

Here is a Review
http://www.rpg.net/reviews/archive/13/13937.phtml

You can buy it used on Amazon
http://www.amazon.com/Waste-World-Roleplaying-Savage-Future/dp/1901621006

Snowman0147 · April 04, 2015, 09:27:53 PM

Try out Scarlet Heroes, or this one. They are the best games for bad ass samurais and mystical sword fighters.

The Butcher · April 05, 2015, 02:26:28 AM

Palladium has you covered.

Rifts Japan has mystic martial artist samurai. And cyborg samurai. And ninja. And dragon cyborgs. And all sorts of Japanese-flavored Palladium-certified madness.

Ninjas & Superspies has modern-day mystic martial artists, and samurai training (Zanji Shinjinken-Ryo) is one of several options.

Dirk Remmecke · April 05, 2015, 05:35:41 AM

Quote from: Spinachcat;824002The D6 system is free online. You could grab D6 Space and D6 Fantasy and slap together anything you wanted. You could totally do Space Samurai with your own "War in the Stars" setting.

There are two D6 games that are variants of Star Wars: The Metabarons is a darker (and yet, still colorful) game about a bad-ass warrior caste (complete with "vibro blades", psionics, and a mystical "Amarax/Necro Dream" aka Jedi/Sith force point currency).
It's Star Wars as seen through a Dune/Fifth Element lens, based on two French series of graphic novels by Jodorowsky/Gimenez and Jodorowsky/Moebius.

The other one is just a few pages in the Mini Six Bare Bones book, "Imperium in Revolt". This is basically a Microlite Star Wars RPG with filed-off serial numbers...

jeff37923 · April 05, 2015, 06:18:17 AM

Quote from: PencilBoy99;823993My friends and I enjoyed playing a hacked version of the new Star Wars game where we played Sith (mostly to be cool, we didn't do anything evil). However, none of us are huge "I want to play in the star wars setting" people. There must be some game out there where you play semi-mystical Samurai with different fighting styles, that isn't Star Wars. I know Legend of the 5 Rings exists, but I've heard that it pushes you into not being in combat.

What do you recommend!

My initial reaction is HERESY! No Star Wars, no Jedi/Sith!

Then after my meds took effect, I realized that you could do what you are looking for with Mekton II or Mekton Zeta. The Mekton II + Mekton Empire books have everything you need. You can dial the system from science fiction to fantasy pretty easily. I've done several science fiction shogunates with the system.

Gabriel2 · April 05, 2015, 10:15:39 AM

Quote from: jeff37923;824079Then after my meds took effect, I realized that you could do what you are looking for with Mekton II or Mekton Zeta. The Mekton II + Mekton Empire books have everything you need. You can dial the system from science fiction to fantasy pretty easily. I've done several science fiction shogunates with the system.

This works fairly well in Mekton II. Let characters with Danger Sensing use that skill to parry projectiles with plasma blades. Also, to make those plasma blades really lightsabers, use the MZ rule where they subtract 4 SP from armor.

Also, having something like MZ's Mecha Pool for out of mech action is helpful when mecha action isn't the focus. My recommendation is a pool of Luck type points equal to Reflex minus 5. Specialized kills like Martial Arts (as opposed to basic Hand to Hand) may increase the value of this pool. Although, if you want to make it more directly parallel the MZ Mecha Pool rules you may want to make it something like Martial Arts skill minus 5 instead.

Iron_Rain · April 06, 2015, 06:05:07 PM

You know, I think Exalted might be appropriate here.

IggytheBorg · April 07, 2015, 12:42:46 AM

Quote from: The Butcher;824059Palladium has you covered.

Rifts Japan has mystic martial artist samurai. And cyborg samurai. And ninja. And dragon cyborgs. And all sorts of Japanese-flavored Palladium-certified madness.

Ninjas & Superspies has modern-day mystic martial artists, and samurai training (Zanji Shinjinken-Ryo) is one of several options.

Seconded. Rifts also has rough Jedi equivalents in the Cyber Knight, and Sith equivalents in the Mystic Knights.

Omega · April 07, 2015, 07:44:45 PM

Yeah. Rifts came to mind right off the bat there.

5e D&Ds Eldrich Knight could easily be themed to a sort of jedi-esque warrior. And the warlock pretty much comes with a self generated light saber.

flyingcircus · April 08, 2015, 11:21:29 AM

There's Lightspeed, it has a Ripoff of the Empire as one faction and a Ripoff of the Federation from Star Trek as the other faction, could make Jedi in it.

Bren · April 08, 2015, 12:45:04 PM

Quote from: flyingcircus;824624There's Lightspeed, it has a Ripoff of the Empire as one faction and a Ripoff of the Federation from Star Trek as the other faction, could make Jedi in it.

But the concept of the Jedi (magically special people who are better than mundanes based on special bloodlines and the will of a galactic wide mitochondrian group mind) seems opposed to the democratic socialism of the Federation. Might be more interesting to have the Jedi guarded "Republic" in opposition to the Federation.

Or maybe I took that editorial by David Brin too seriously.

RPGPundit · April 10, 2015, 03:34:47 AM

Yeah, RIFTS would be an obvious choice.

Baron Opal · April 10, 2015, 01:40:42 PM

Quote from: Bren;824646But the concept of the Jedi (magically special people who are better than mundanes based on special bloodlines and the will of a galactic wide mitochondrian group mind) seems opposed to the democratic socialism of the Federation. Might be more interesting to have the Jedi guarded "Republic" in opposition to the Federation.

Or maybe I took that editorial by David Brin too seriously.

Perhaps. If we look at the era where the Jedi are in force, there is a Senate of the Republic. The Jedi seem to me more as a Special Ops force with a specific moral code. That gets lost along the way for a variety of reasons.

I also just ignore the whole empowering microbe business.

I can see the inherent social conflict between the Federation and the Galactic Republic, however.

Bren · April 10, 2015, 03:39:27 PM

Quote from: Baron Opal;825168I also just ignore the whole empowering microbe business.

It was pretty dumb. And it really bugged my co-GM who is a biologist/zoologist. She rated it and flat out refused to use it. So no midichlorians in our SWU.