Reddit reviews Star Wars: Force and Destiny - Beginner Game

you could also look at the Age of empire or force and destiny or even the force awakens beginner boxes.. they are each $25 on amazon

they each kinda focus on different aspects of star wars.. or you could check ebay.. i way a EoTE beginners box there for $33.. the box wasnt in the greatest shape tho.

They are definitely scaled down, but you can easily run a game with characters starting at a higher XP level and compensate. The best way to get into FFG is one of the Beginner Game boxes. You'll want the Force & Destiny one if you want a game of force users.

I dunno how much you know so I'll assume not much. RPGs are just "collaborative improvised storytelling" If you're interested in the Star Wars RPG then you're in luck. It doesn't take a lot of money to "dive" in. It actually takes about 25 bucks. You'll get a handful of odd dice, a premade adventure and several premade characters that are all tied into the story. The first adventure even typically teaches the players how to play as they go. The publisher for the system has 4 "seperate" systems for the SW universe, you just need to pick one that fits your groups desires. Generally they are

-Edge of the Empire- you are mercenaries or criminals, generally less force/jedi focused, typically set between the prequels and originals


-Age of Rebellion- you ARE rebels, set during the war, its about military stuff


-Force and destiny- Pretty much all players are force sensitive and is also set during the height of the galactic civil war


-Force awakens- setting is just before the Force Awakens, some force sensitives and jedis


That being said they are all compatible with each other with minor differences such as morality, or duty.
I like edge of the empire a bunch because there is nothing specifically "expected" of the players but being a jedi is fun. Another commenter suggested the oneshot podcast, they don't exactly teach you the game but theyre pretty fun if you have a lot of time on your hands.

If you liked the game then you can dive in deeper and get the core rule book, followed possibly by premade adventures if you want more help or inspiration

here are some of the starters

Force and destiny

Age of Rebellion


Force Awakens


Edge of the Empire

If You were willing to branch out a little I would HIGHLY recommend Fantasy Flight Games series of Starwars RPG. It encourages both player and GM to work together to craft the story through a narrative dice system. This system removes a lot of crunch and encourages creativity and storytelling. It truly feels like you are playing in a movie.

You can play nearly any type of character or campaign you can dream up. there are three game lines but they all integrate seamlessly. Edge of the Empire contains your smugglers, bounty hunters, explorers, colonists etc. Age of Rebellion contains different Rebel archetypes fighter pilots, soldiers,political support, fleet commanders, spys. Force and Destiny contains most of your Jedi and other force sensitive groups.

It can be a bit pricey, the books are frequently out of stock (both of which can be solved by shopping around/ waiting for a sale on Amazon) and you will need to get and at least 1 set of dice but I would Highly recommend one of the beginners boxes

Edge of the Empire

Age of Rebellion

Force and Destiny

The force Awakens

They come with a paired down rulebook, one set of dice, some tokens and a pregenerated story. It is the easiest system I have ever had the pleasure of GMing I have frequently run games with 30min notce or less.

if you have any questions come over and ask us at /r/swrpg

TLDR: FFG's Star Wars system is great for players of all ages highly versatile and easy to GM. Oh and the art is amazing.

Edit: found a link that had FnD in stock

The Star Wars RPG beginner boxes have great "learn the system as you play adventures". The adventures are broken down into a series of "encounters" and each encounter is designed to help the players learn the system in some way, and combat is typically reserved for the third or fourth encounter.

Force and Destiny

Age of Rebellion

Force Awakens

Also those beginner adventures tend to be challenging enough for a new party of those who don't roleplay, but not so challenging as to not make them want to continue playing RPGs (which Lost Mine of Phandelver in DnD 5e starter box has issues with). Each adventure also has a free adventure followup. AoR Followup. These follow up adventures don't read as easily (they read more like FFGs pre-published ones, but are still really excellent).

For GMless and a one shot I recommend Fiasco. Which can also be found in PDF form here. It's a system more geared towards actors and story tellers, and less for those that want heavy combat. There's even a video of Wil Wheaton playing it with some writers/actors. And there are tons of free playsets.

For one shots with a GM:

I recommend Dread. It's a horror system that uses a Jenga tower instead of dice rolling for any sort of check. In Dread the idea is you're playing in a horror movie, there's even an Alien (Ridley Scott) playset for free on the website, and the goal is to survive. The GM has the players pull from the Jenga tower when their character does something out of their normal skill range, or under duress. A good Dread GM will get the tower to fall at the most dramatically appropriate moment. It takes skill and practice, but it's also an excellent system.

Tabletop Dread Episode.

For beginners, those are my recommendations. Star Wars FFG is a more traditional, but easy to read RPG, while Dread/Fiasco are one shots that are incredibly fun.