Quote from: tenbones;857304Never checked out Ghostbusters... may need to rectify that.

It's a "rules-light indie game" before such a thing existed. Definitely check it out.

QuoteRecognize we're both talking about our own opinions here - but I always felt rolling a bunch of d6's in WEG SW and adding them up was no big deal. But in Edge - I think is ridiculously easy. You're barely adding anything up, once you factor in the negations. The only reason other dice exist is to delineate - Skill (d12's) Environmental (d6) and that's it. I found rolling a pile of dice in either game to be eh, but in terms of outcomes, I discovered Edge's take on using the dice for specific reasons is pretty cool. I certainly didn't find it intrusive. I found the system to created very cinematic play welded solidly to the mechanics.

Obviously this is one of those "hate it or love it" games; that's all I can say. However, I'll still maintain that for casual gamers (like people who'd never be caught dead playing D&D but will join a SW game just because it's SW) d6 is the way to go.

Quote from: tenbones;857304But in Edge - I think is ridiculously easy. You're barely adding anything up, once you factor in the negations. The only reason other dice exist is to delineate - Skill (d12's) Environmental (d6) and that's it. I found rolling a pile of dice in either game to be eh, but in terms of outcomes, I discovered Edge's take on using the dice for specific reasons is pretty cool. I certainly didn't find it intrusive. I found the system to created very cinematic play welded solidly to the mechanics.

My kids like it, and the five-year-old likes to "play the game too" by watching the rolls and loudly announcing "ooooh, DESPAIR!" and giggling while we work out what effect it has...

"sorry sweetie, but your stolen-and-customised Storm Trooper rifle overloaded and blew apart in your hand!"

Quote from: IggytheBorg;856794My group and I never looked too seriously at any of the Star Wars RPG's as they came out.  We were lucky enough to find the time for AD&D and DC Heroes.  As a consequence, we know almost nothing about them.  Maybe because the new movie's coming out, we are considering starting a Star Wars RPG.  What are your thoughts on the various versions? Which one did you like best, and why?

I liked WEG but my memories are a bit hazy.  The Saga edition was a good RPG system and streamlined in some important ways over the original d20 edition.  

I have not tried the FFG edition but this review gave me the impression that it takes a bit of TLC to tune it: http://thealexandrian.net/wordpress/37670/roleplaying-games/review-star-wars-force-and-destiny

But opinions definitely vary

Quote from: Brad;857361Obviously this is one of those "hate it or love it" games; that's all I can say. However, I'll still maintain that for casual gamers (like people who'd never be caught dead playing D&D but will join a SW game just because it's SW) d6 is the way to go.

I hear you!

I was rummaging around my WEG SW collection last night because of this thread. It's positively glorious. And I'd forgotten about the Journals! Those had a lot of kickassery going on. The whole line is inspired.

I mean did WEG leave *anything* out? To the contrary - they were the ones that expanded the Star Wars universe to it's fullest potential. (minus a lot of the shitty novesl).

Quote from: tenbones;857460I hear you!

I was rummaging around my WEG SW collection last night because of this thread. It's positively glorious. And I'd forgotten about the Journals! Those had a lot of kickassery going on. The whole line is inspired.

I mean did WEG leave *anything* out? To the contrary - they were the ones that expanded the Star Wars universe to it's fullest potential. (minus a lot of the shitty novesl).

I used to collect those Journals.  I got in late, but I remember details about a planet named Sirocco (I think) and young 'space pirate' prince.  And ironically enough, that planet is listed in the FFG stuff.

WEG did a lot of cool stuff that other Star Wars games still use to this day.

Quote from: IggytheBorg;856794My group and I never looked too seriously at any of the Star Wars RPG's as they came out.  We were lucky enough to find the time for AD&D and DC Heroes.  As a consequence, we know almost nothing about them.  Maybe because the new movie's coming out, we are considering starting a Star Wars RPG.  What are your thoughts on the various versions? Which one did you like best, and why?

Savage Worlds Deluxe, Explorer's Edition if you want.  Seriously, it's got everything you need for Star Wars, only with the serial numbers filed off.

That said, if you only want to know about licensed editions, I was in an EotE game for a while and many of the ideas were good.  Making a character was fine and fun, the weapons and armor lists decent, etc.  The fact that you could play a droid using essentially the same rules was wonderful as well.  However, I personally loathed the dice, and the system around them.  I felt it was needlessly complex, slowed things way down, and made every action feel too random, along with, as an example, having to come up with some explanation for why you nailed the stormtrooper, but fell on your face while doing it because you rolled weird.

I remember liking the various D6 editions but never ran or played them.  I also generally liked the D20 stuff for what it was, but I think class/levels are a generally bad fit for Star Wars even though EotE was OK with how it handled it's "classes."

Prior to finding Savage Worlds, I'd have run Star Wars using Gurps, BESM, or Fudge depending on the day.

I believe there's some damn nice Savage Worlds home-brewed SW up on their forums. Savage Worlds is a fun system! It could do SW very easily (and probably better than EotE if it had some real support).

Quote from: tenbones;857542I believe there's some damn nice Savage Worlds home-brewed SW up on their forums. Savage Worlds is a fun system! It could do SW very easily (and probably better than EotE if it had some real support).

I actually used Savage Worlds for my Star Wars campaign a few years ago. I did my own homebrew version and finished it right before Pinnacle announced they were releasing a Scifi Companion, which would have made my life a lot easier. The system worked really well, though I would have made some changes if I had to do it all over again.

Quote from: tenbones;857101In reference to the dice... yeah that was my biggest hurdle. Then I used'em... eh, pretty easy.

Yeah, I ran the Force and Destiny Beginner box for my ADD son and one of my players, and we were rolling (no pun intended) with the new dice by the second or third set of die rolls. Super easy.

How in the Hell anyone looks at the reams of fiddly skills lists of D6 or modifiers all over the d20 versions  (and I loved the Saga Edition) and thinks this one is the complicated one amazes me.

Now, if you want to decry this one for being the "story game", then I guess you can do that (though it's not really one).

My son loved it, but told me he wanted to make a character next time instead of a pregen, so I wound up with the Force and Destiny core a week later (with Age of Rebellion arriving tomorrow...they need to reprint Edge of the Empire soon).

Quote from: Tommy Brownell;857557How in the Hell anyone looks at the reams of fiddly skills lists of D6...

Because no one in their right mind starts out playing WEG's D6 by using reams of fiddly skill lists. Those lists get created by completists who use 10 years of published materials.

Quote from: Ratman_tf;856932I'm about ready to get off my ass and get a new group together, and was noodling around the idea of a Star Wars campaign, (that or 5th ed) and I'm finding that the FFG system gets a huge range of reactions from "Yuck!" to "Super neato!" which makes my decision to get into the game or not all the harder.

A. Dice rolls need numerical modifiers.
B. Dice rolls are pass/fail.

If you think rolling dice means one of both of those, FFG SW is not for you.

Quote from: tenbones;856985Care to elaborate?

I'm a pretty demanding GM when it comes to my sniff-test on roleplaying. I detested D&D4e as being exactly what you assert FFG's SW to be even if I'm being a dash hyperbolic. I liken 4e as Talisman on steroids. The reality is I *could* make it work... but I'd never like it due to its constraints.

Found that strange. DnD4e had more allotted space in the rule book given over to talking about 'roleplaying' than the previous editions, yet somehow it seems to be the edition where people supposedly did less roleplaying.

Quote from: Sommerjon;857613Found that strange. DnD4e had more allotted space in the rule book given over to talking about 'roleplaying' than the previous editions, yet somehow it seems to be the edition where people supposedly did less roleplaying.

The issue is all the mechanics, it's all obviously unified (as opposed the other editions, which also were, but aren't as obviously), which apparently very few people actually read past.

My personal issue with 4e (and this is just me) is that each class feels very hyper-focused.  Not to mention that it chopped the Fighter class in two, and gave all the good parts to a misnamed cheerleader that everyone ended up loving.  The other half got turned into a very good ambulatory roadblock.

However, roleplaying was never an issue when I ran it.  We did a lot of that when I ran it.

Quote from: Brand55;857543I actually used Savage Worlds for my Star Wars campaign a few years ago. I did my own homebrew version and finished it right before Pinnacle announced they were releasing a Scifi Companion, which would have made my life a lot easier. The system worked really well, though I would have made some changes if I had to do it all over again.

dang. I need to pick up that Sci-Fi companion now...

Quote from: Sommerjon;857613A. Dice rolls need numerical modifiers.
B. Dice rolls are pass/fail.

If you think rolling dice means one of both of those, FFG SW is not for you.

I don't understand. FFG SW is both of these. They don't *have* to be but by default usually are. But that's depending on your GM. Which is the inverse of...

Quote from: Sommerjon;857613Found that strange. DnD4e had more allotted space in the rule book given over to talking about 'roleplaying' than the previous editions, yet somehow it seems to be the edition where people supposedly did less roleplaying.

This... which yes, you can roleplay your ass off with 4e if you want to. But that's up to your GM to support in-game. By the mechanics of the game alone, it "feels" like you just swarm encounters and beat up monsters and take their loot. There's not a lot of non-combat options in the 4e ruleset. Just like I could technically make a game of chess be a roleplaying experience, I'm merely pointing out that mechanically it doesn't feel very well supported.

FFG does all of that. So does WEGd6. But as with all RPGs (and chess) your mileage may vary.

Quote from: tenbones;857658dang. I need to pick up that Sci-Fi companion now...

It's great for handling ships (which would have been my main use for it), plus it has the latest rules on species creation. It's not perfect, but it's a big help if you're gonna run any sort of space opera game in that system. I combined it with some stuff from the first Super Powers Companion to make Jedi since my group was okay with Force-users who are mechanically narrowly focused but inherently more powerful than normal folks.

As for the official Star Wars games, I've always wanted to play the original d6 version. My only experience was trying EotE, but I had some players who really didn't like the dice. If I was to ever try another Star Wars campaign, I'd probably either give d6 a shot or rework my Savage Worlds conversion using the newer companions.