RPG Review - Star Wars Saga Edition Part 1

Part 1 of my review of the Star Wars Saga Edition RPG by Wizards of the Coast. WotC has recently announced that they will not be renewing the Star Wars license, so if you want to get your hands on this game, I urge you to do so now.

http://www.wizards.com/Company/Brands/StarWars.aspx

Also be sure to check out the links below related to RPGs:

Game Geeks RPG Channel-
http://www.youtube.com/user/pugknowspro

Captain Machine's Channel-
http://www.youtube.com/user/cptmachine

Chromemagnus' Channel-
http://www.youtube.com/user/Chromemagnus

Pen & Paper Games Forum-
http://www.penandpapergames.com/

Category:

Gaming

Tags:

• RPG
• D&D
• Dungeons
• Dragons
• Role
• Playing
• Games
• Star
• Wars
• Savage
• Worlds
• Vampire
• Unisystem
• Deadlands
• Dice
• d20
• WotC
• Wizards

[kradrol]

there are plenty of non-combat options for feats and talents, you just have to branch out into other books. this is a limit to this though, as there should be. i.e. a level 8 or 9 character should have SOME combat feats, otherwise how did they get to 9th level?

[Webhead123]

@kradrol Correct, which is why I wanted to clarify in my review that my experience was only with the corebook and the first few supplements that were released.

Still, the d20 System is a fairly combat-oriented system, much as you point out. A 9th-level character is expected to have seen lots of combat. That's a general contention that I have with d20, as I don't find that a very agreeable model. It works fine for our gung-ho PCs but doesn't emulate many NPCs very well...like my example Jedi.

[kradrol]

@Webhead123 but doesn't that model apply to basically all role playing systems? do you not gain experience in the d6 system for defeating monsters and accomplishing other goals? the other aspect of this point is that level doesn't equal worldly experience or character age. you could have a non-combat npc who is very wise, and has been around for along time. but since he is non-combat he is easy to kill in combat. that same would aplly in real life.

[Webhead123]

@kradrol Not as such. In the D6 System, experience rewards aren't very explicitly "formulaic". Defeating 10 Stormtroopers doesn't necessarily award more "XP" to the PCs than defeating 5. Characters could also presumably earn as much XP in completely non-combat adventures as those that are nothing but.

More to my intended point though, character progression is context-specific. You could have a character who has, say, very high aptitude in bargaining and inter-personal skills but who has...

[Webhead123]

...never held a weapon their entire life. Where an interconnected "Level-based" system like the one we see in d20 makes this difficult is that the "Level" establishes certain limitations. A character is restricted in the number of ranks they can have in *any* skill by their Level. So, the aforementioned character could only be *so* good at bargaining before they must be "leveled-up" to allow them to progress further. And with extra levels comes more BAB, Hit Points, Feats, etc.

All I'm...

[Webhead123]

...suggesting is that, because "Level" has such weight upon characters in d20 System-derived games through the accumulation of new abilities and because, often, so many of those new abilities are designed with a bias toward increasing combat capability, this ultimately means that all PCs take on increases in combat-function, even if/when such a thing doesn't really make sense. Again, it's hard to represent a "high-skill" character without making them "high-Level" simply due to how the game works

[Webhead123]

...Oops...sorry! I meant to say "all *characters* take on increases in combat-function".

[GoongalaGoongala]

The Force Unleashed and Knights of the Old Republic sourcebooks are excellent additions to the SAGA edition. So much good content in those books. Definitely two keepers if you prefer to game Star Wars d6 rather than d20 Saga edition.

[lowew79]

Wow it surprises me that you are even able to play without a grid there are so many things that are distance dependent. when I very first started GM'ing I never used a grid, after I tried it the first time I loved it, made everything more real and present to the player, also added a fun tactical/strategy element to the game.