In the first part of my strategy to brainwash my nephews and nieces into thinking rpg's are the greatest thing to do with their free time, thereby guaranteeing myself a gaming group forever, at this time 2 of the nephews are wayyyyyyy into Star Wars.

I know there have been Star Wars rpg's put out, and I read that there was some disagreement as to which is the best version.  Don't worry about the age of the kids, I'll scale it to fit them---but tell me, in your opinion, whats the best SW RPG, and why?

thx

I still hold the original version of WEG Star Wars D6 as a paragon of what good games should aspire to. It's got a few bugs, but over all it's simple, inuitive, complete, elegant, fast playing and fun.

Later edition of D6 Star Wars might have fixed some bugs, but at they lost some of that essential simplicity.

I had the first D20 version of Star Wars and I found it was dry, overly complicated and souless. I ran it a few times, it was sad and cumbersome. I've heard good things about the D20 Saga edition but I've never checked it out. I just don't consider D20 systems as cinematic, they tend to be more tactical, but I could be wrong.

There is however one major trend I noticed. People who think of Star Wars in terms of Hans Solo and Chewie often favour the D6 version. People who think of Star Wars in terms of light sabres and Force powers tend to prefer the D20 versions. Again, it's just a hunch.

I love D6 Star Wars, and think it is awesome in so many ways.

Star Wars Saga, is about the best "d20" rules set I've seen though in terms of play balance (according to Luca's vision of SW) and its pretty crisp.

I'm almost more interested in trying to run it in something else completely like Starblazers or ADVENTURE! Simply because it be different than my other experiences. If you want something already primed for SW though I'd recommend on of the top two.

Quote from: Soylent Green;396958I still hold the original version of WEG Star Wars D6 as a paragon of what good games should aspire to. It's got a few bugs, but over all it's simple, inuitive, complete, elegant, fast playing and fun.

Later edition of D6 Star Wars might have fixed some bugs, but at they lost some of that essential simplicity.

I'll second that.  WEG Star Wars (especially 1E) had a very fast and loose feel to it that completely emulated the genre. The revised edition fixed a few bugs, but started a trend where Jedi quickly became uber powerful combat machines.  I always said if you want to emulate the original trilogy, go with 1E.  If you want the lightsaber action of the prequels, go with the revised and expanded edition.  Both have their place, depending on the type of campaign you want to run.  

I don't factor the d20 versions into it.  They just don't feel like Star Wars to me. But if the kids are used to WoW and other level-up video games (or any of the Star Wars Knights of the Old Republics), they might feel comfortable with it.

Pete

Quote from: pspahn;396960I'll second that.  WEG Star Wars (especially 1E) had a very fast and loose feel to it that completely emulated the genre. The revised edition fixed a few bugs, but started a trend where Jedi quickly became uber powerful combat machines.  I always said if you want to emulate the original trilogy, go with 1E.  If you want the lightsaber action of the prequels, go with the revised and expanded edition.  Both have their place, depending on the type of campaign you want to run.  

I don't factor the d20 versions into it.  They just don't feel like Star Wars to me. But if the kids are used to WoW and other level-up video games (or any of the Star Wars Knights of the Old Republics), they might feel comfortable with it.

Pete

Thx guys. The kids are so young, 5 and 6, that the system will be stripped down significantly anyhow.  But as they get older I'd like it to grow with them.   Right now their influences are the movies, the animated series on TV, and the Legos sets they have.    I played a made-up-on-the-spot game with the 6 yr old today, using a skeletal bare bones system I created as I went, and he was really into it.  I figure if I can use the d6 game, stripped down to its basic core, and add in things as they get older, it should be fun.  I guess I'll use the revised 2nd edition, since they have exposure to the new jedi stuff.  

Looking forward to it!

I've ran Star Wars Saga Edition for my 6 year old boy and we've had a blast.  The best d20 game I've ever read and the best Star Wars game I've ever read.  Flexible with potential for coolness that starts at level 1 and only explodes from there.

I don't think I would introduce the WotC versions of the Star Wars rpgs to some 6 year olds, unless they're already well versed in video games.

A simplified version of the WEG Star Wars would probably be a better introduction for 6 year olds really into Star Wars.

I'm rather fond of WEG's version of Starwars.  I think they captured the feel of the movies rather well and the nature of the d6 system ensures that all players are balanced with the other players in terms of abilities.  It is simple, and straight forward, and you can do pretty much whatever you wish with the system, it's very easy to work with.  What I really like about it, is that they ported it to a board game, so if you wish to run a space battle wargaming style, you can check out Star Warriors, which is a very fun game in itself.

 This is not the case with Saga edition, which I've been playing for the last 2 years on a weekly basis. The aliens are bland, the ships are tasteless and the force powers pretty much trump anybody(this was also the case in WEG, but in order to gain force powers, you had to handicap your character in other ways), and the force user's abilities to block blaster fire or melee attacks without the need to roll dice is kind of ridiculous(They still have to roll, but any jedi worth their salt will be able to block anything from anyone up to about 5 levels higher than they are).   They also garbled up the hand to hand combat.  Grappling is silly, and most of the weapons that aren't blasters or lightsabres are laughable in their uselessness.   For instance, if you sneak up on someone and use a garrote on them, they get to automatically escape the razor thin wire wrapped around their throat without rolling.  Added to that, thanks to the manic publishing schedule of Wizards, you a many volume encyclopedia of talents, feats, skills and powers every character has, and you'll be left with a feeling of vertigo when you try to run a game.

I guess I just really don't like Saga edition.  People tout it as the ultimate d20 game out there, but I think the 3.5 rule set was much better.

Quote from: p4nic;396982I guess I just really don't like Saga edition.  People tout it as the ultimate d20 game out there, but I think the 3.5 rule set was much better.

How would the Saga edition compare to the d20 versions of Star Wars from 2000 and 2002 (revised)?  (I've never played the Saga edition).

Quote from: ggroy;396983How would the Saga edition compare to the d20 versions of Star Wars from 2000 and 2002 (revised)?  (I've never played the Saga edition).

Light years better.

No spending Vitality points to use Force Powers, prestige classes are far more accessible, the classes are far more customizable (and reduced to five base classes), skills are dramatically simplified.

Quote from: p4nic;396982I'm rather fond of WEG's version of Starwars.  I think they captured the feel of the movies rather well and the nature of the d6 system ensures that all players are balanced with the other players in terms of abilities.  It is simple, and straight forward, and you can do pretty much whatever you wish with the system, it's very easy to work with.  What I really like about it, is that they ported it to a board game, so if you wish to run a space battle wargaming style, you can check out Star Warriors, which is a very fun game in itself.

 This is not the case with Saga edition, which I've been playing for the last 2 years on a weekly basis. The aliens are bland, the ships are tasteless and the force powers pretty much trump anybody(this was also the case in WEG, but in order to gain force powers, you had to handicap your character in other ways), and the force user's abilities to block blaster fire or melee attacks without the need to roll dice is kind of ridiculous(They still have to roll, but any jedi worth their salt will be able to block anything from anyone up to about 5 levels higher than they are).   They also garbled up the hand to hand combat.  Grappling is silly, and most of the weapons that aren't blasters or lightsabres are laughable in their uselessness.   For instance, if you sneak up on someone and use a garrote on them, they get to automatically escape the razor thin wire wrapped around their throat without rolling.  Added to that, thanks to the manic publishing schedule of Wizards, you a many volume encyclopedia of talents, feats, skills and powers every character has, and you'll be left with a feeling of vertigo when you try to run a game.

I guess I just really don't like Saga edition.  People tout it as the ultimate d20 game out there, but I think the 3.5 rule set was much better.

See, I find D6 to be incredibly bland.  I played it for years in and around high school and tried to get back into it a couple of years ago and...ugh.  One of my personal pet peeves is massive skill lists, and that's what 95% of your character is.  Nothing about D6 screams action packed or cinematic to me, and the only thing about it I still really, really like is the die cap system for different combat scales (such as characters vs walkers and so on).

All that being said, I would still use D6 before I would the first two d20 versions.  Ugh.

IMO, along with FASERIP Marvel, d6 Star Wars is an ideal introductory RPG for kids. I may be biased because those were the first two RPGs that I ran by myself for friends, but hey... empirical evidence.

I played d20 Star Wars when it came out. It was terrible. It felt nothing like Star Wars.

I like SW D6 for sentimental reasons, as I've played a couple of epic campaigns back in the day. I find the system OK, nothing thrilling, but very functional (as long as you're not rolling oodles of dice).

Since those are very young kids, you might want a pretty, new, shiny book. And sadly there's no comparing production values for WotC books to the old WEG editions, though I feel D6 is friendlier.

I'd just use some variant of FATE tbh. Here are the reasons:

1. 3.0 is free (if you haven't some version of it at home anyway)
2. It does cinematic better than d6 and d20
3. The math involved is better to grasp for children (you know, just add the pluses and subtract the minuses from your skill etc.)
4. It allows you to easily scale the level of detail
5. Does anyone really need to pay for books containing star wars background? I mean seriously that seems just silly considering that most of us grew up with that stuff/have lived with it for a long time

I think the SAGA version is the best SW game I've read. I think the D20 SW game would make a great generic sci-fi game. Even a good cyberpunk setting. I think the Ultimate Alien Anthology is one of the best D20 books I ever read. Races that can be used in any D20 game. Just imagine a standard D&D game with nothing but SW races.