Reddit reviews Star Wars Roleplaying Game Core Rulebook, Saga Edition

I understand now - sorry. I thought you were making a joke about the dice system because it is so free-flowing. I get it now. You did lay your complaints out clearly. I thought you were asking ironically. :)

I personally think that this system is so heavily narrative that it is not going to appeal to everyone. It just isn't. For me, it's breathed fresh air into a hobby that I really didn't care about anymore and caused me to discover a number of narrative-style systems and I find the complication of every single roll to be interesting and fun. I was so tired of just hitting or not and just playing math against terrain, conditions, and ultimately baddie hit points.

It sounds like you favor the "strategic" side of role-playing more than the creative nature of storytelling - and I've said this before on this sub, that's totally ok. There is no shame in playing the game the way you like it! I don't know that there's a way to address the complaints you have for the system without tearing out parts of the spirit of the game. For me, limiting how Advantage/Disadvantage and Triumph/Despair can affect every kind of roll is limiting the game potential both from a mechanical and a player perspective.

Have you played Star Wars d20 or Star Wars Saga before? It sounds like these systems would appeal to you far more than FFG's narrative dice system. They're d20 based and lend heavily to a grid map battle system and a simple "hit or not" system. They've got the Star Wars feel (especially Saga) with that tried and true "roll a d20 and add some stuff and simply hit or not" method of gaming.

Hope this helps - and sorry again for the confusion on your post. :)

My group prefers to play the West End Games d6 version, but I've read through the SAGA edition for d20 and like it quite a lot more than the first d20 Star Wars RPG.

The thing I like about SAGA is that it is all fairly balanced and is very easy for a D&D player to get into due to the core rules being d20. A great many of the subsystems have commonalities with 4e D&D for speed of use, which I also like.

d6, however, has potentially much more lethal combat and allows for Force-users to really shine. That said, it can be a struggle to integrate a full-fledged Jedi knight with a regular party and not have him outshine everyone else. Depends on the story, of course, but we manage.

Looking quickly over your document, it looks very similar to the D20 Star Wars RPG that Wizards of the Coast put out a while back.

You might want to use that instead of coming up with your own. I agree that the FF version is radically different than DnD players would be used to, but the D20 version is basically DnD 3.5 with a Star Wars veneer plastered over it.

So the good news is: yes there's a rulebook with classes, rules, etc and you can play as Sith and Jedi. The bad news is: all of the editions of the game are currently out of print. The further good news: you may still be able to find the books new at gaming stores and you can definitely find them used on eBay and Amazon.

There's been three versions of the game as Gunnulf mentioned. Those most recent of which and the one you'll most likely find unused copies of the books would be the Saga Edition. The books are easy to recognize as they're 9"x9" rather than a more traditional 8.5"x11". To play the game you'll need at least the Core Rulebook which has the basic rules of the game and a decent list of vehicles and starships.

The additional books are not necessary to play and really contain supplementary information for their subjects. For instance if you want to play an Old Republic era game the [Knights of the Old Republic Era](http://amzn.com 0786949236) book would be pretty useful. It has setting information as well as game stats for things seen in the games and comics. However if you didn't want to buy the book it isn't that difficult to wing it and just write stuff up from Wookipedia. It's worth the money if you don't have the time or experience to write the stuff up yourself.

I don't really recommend the D20 version of the game as a lot of "Star Wars" feeling gets lost in the rules. It takes a really good GM to make the game feel like you're playing a Star Wars game. My favorite is the D6 version West End Games used to publish but it's long out of print and the books are getting harder to find. It's also a very different system than what you're currently playing with D&D. It might be tough to learn the whole new way of playing if you're still just learning to play tabletop RPGs. Come join us in /r/rpg if you want to learn more about tabletop games.

Are you playing this version? Is it any good?

Really the only things you need to get started is the main book( Link ), dice, pencil and paper. Here is the Official Character sheet if you would rather use that.

> I am currently playing a custom adventure under the 4th edition D&D ruleset.

The Star Wars Saga edition is pretty much 4.0 beta, but because it is out of print it can be a bit expensive. I am running it now, and enjoy it. There is also a campaign setting book for that era.

http://www.amazon.com/Star-Wars-Roleplaying-Rulebook-Edition/dp/0786943564/ref=cm_lmf_tit_1

http://www.amazon.com/Rebellion-Campaign-Guide-Star-Roleplaying/dp/078694983X/ref=cm_lmf_tit_9

As for inspiration, I personally draw them right from the EU books. I am doing Legacy setting now, and took the campaign right out of issues 57+

Old Republic Campaign Guide

Basic Game

There's the d6 game by West End Games, the d20 game by WotC similiar to D&D 3rd edition, there's saga edition by WotC (which would have made a better basis for D&D 4th edition), and then there's the series of games by Fantasy Flight; Edge of Empire, Age of Rebellion, and Force and Destiny.

I don't know if I'd go Revised for a group like that, Revised is fairly similar to 3.5 in general IIRC. Personally, I prefer the Saga system, I feel like it flows a bit better overall.

While I never touched the old West End Games RPG (which gets a lot of love from old-timers), I have played both the Fantasy Flight Games (FFG) versions (e.g. Edge of the Empire, Age of Rebellion, Force and Destiny) & Star Wars SAGA Edition from Wizards of the Coast.

The difference between those two is that FFG is it's own system that takes getting used to, and has a much stronger narrative focus than SAGA, with the dice system sparking all kinds of creative twists, surprises, and complications. One great thing about the system is that it scales up to starship combats/chases pretty well. It took some learning, but I found it really enjoyable as DM once I got the swing of it. It does use its own non-standard dice. And if you want a game with Force users alongside Clone troopers alongside Rebel spies, you're looking at picking up 3 books. Oh! And they also put out The Force Awakens Beginner Game boxed set.

Whereas Star Wars SAGA you can get by with just the core book, or possibly the core book + an era book. It's much less narrative and more conventionally d20-based. Combat can be quite deadly, whereas falling is almost inconsequential - reflecting how it is in the movies. Learning curve is waaay easier than FFG for a D&D player. One downside is that the starship combat/chase rules require you learning a subsystem (and likely devising some of your own challenges/hazards/complications without much guidance). One SAGA book I highly recommend is Galaxy of Intrigue, which has the best treatment of skill challenges in any book, much better than 4e and most of the hacks I've seen online.