Star Wars Roleplaying Games

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away…

This legendary line kicks off one of the biggest and greatest space opera sagas of all times that has enthralled millions of fans worldwide over the course of more than 40 years. Many people who are not really into the genres fantasy or sci-fi have seen the movies, and quotes or memes from certain scenes and dialogues have already become part of mainstream culture.

So, how about taking it to the next level and dive into this fascinating universe to experience adventures like those of Luke Skywalker, Han Solo and Princess Leia?

 

Why should I play Star Wars Roleplaying Games?
An interesting question, but the more obvious one would be: Have you seen the Star Wars movies and how much do you like them?

I’ve tried several times to get someone who didn’t know or like the movies excited for the Star Wars roleplaying game and the reaction was underwhelming. But how should I explain to someone who’s not interested at all what’s so great about flying a “piece of junk” halfway across the galaxy, bartering with strange looking aliens whose language sounds like gibberish or shooting weird “laser pistols” at dudes in white armor who are cannon fodder for some guy with a breathing issue?

I dare to say that only someone who has seen and enjoyed the movies will be able to enjoy the roleplaying game. Someone who figured what they would do or who they would talk to in this seedy cantina in Mos Eisley. Someone who wished to be in that gunwell on the Millenium Falcon and shoot down the TIE-fighters themselves, before taking their X-Wing to the Death Star trench to sink a torpedo into the ventilation shaft. Someone who wanted to fly a Snowspeeder in the battle of Hoth and enwrap the imperial walkers with their tow cable. Someone who would dare navigating through an asteroid field in order to escape the imperial star destroyers. Someone who would seek out a Jedi-Master in the swamps of Dagobah to learn about the ways of the force. Someone who would cross lightsaber blades with the dark lord in order to save the galaxy.

I could bring many more examples, but I think I made my point clear: Star Wars roleplaying games are fan-service! You’ve seen the movies, you’ve read some of the books or comics and maybe you’ve played some of the computer games, but you still hunger for more adventures in a galaxy far, far away. In that case, Star Wars roleplaying game is just the thing for you! If you manage to find a decent playgroup you are going to have a blast of a time.

Contrary to “standalone” RPGs like Dungeons&Dragons and the like Star Wars roleplaying games build on references, quotes, memes and other little hints at the source material. Of course, not every adventure will take place on the desert planet Tatooine, lead you to the infamous Mos Eisley cantina, have you fight off dozens of stormtroopers or lets you dogfight TIEs in your X-Wing, but all those little hints and references to scenes, locations, characters or other things from the movies that can be included in an adventure usually help set the mood and trigger certain memories and emotions that let you dive deeper into this fascinating galaxy.

 

The Star Wars Roleplaying Games
Yes, there have been several, but each has come (and gone) in their own time due to licensing procedures and fees of Lucasfilm.

The first Star Wars RPG came from West End Games (WEG) in 1987. Based on their fast, simple and flexible d6-rules system they first brought the galaxy far, far away to life in a pen&paper RPG. The rules are slim, lightweight and leave players and GMs a lot of freedom to come up with interesting characters, as well as to run adventures in different styles and even modify the rules to suit their playstyle. There were more than 100 different books published for this system ranging from rulebooks in several editions to sourcebooks covering almost every aspect of the Star Wars universe and also a healthy stock of ready-to-play adventures and campaigns. There are sourcebooks available for many of the Star Wars novels of that time detailing on the locations, new species, vehicles, starships and characters that were introduced in the corresponding novel. They even went so far as to give those sourcebooks to the writers of subsequent novels as research material and guidelines because all info therein was considered extended canon.

The release of this RPG fell exactly into the second decade of Star Wars, where there were no new movies coming out, but fans desperately yearned for any new bits of material concerning their favorite universe. And they were not afraid to come up with their own ideas to expand the stories of the movies in their imagination.

There are 3 different editions of the core rulebook: The 1^st Edition was released in 1987, the 2^nd Edition in 1992 and the “2^nd Edition – Revised and Expanded” came out in 1995. Even though some rules changed a bit between the three editions most characters and game mechanics are compatible with each other.

Unfortunately, West End Games went bankrupt in 1997 and could no longer afford the license fees for the Star Wars products. The company and its d6-system survived, but without the popular Star Wars franchise they went back to being a small publisher of homemade RPGs. All of the publications are long out of print, but with a bit of luck they can be found in second-hand bookstores (including online). There is also still a very lively community on the internet which keeps the Star Wars d6 alive and even expands it with fan-based material.

 

In 2000 Wizards of the Coast (WotC) published a new Star Wars roleplaying game based on the rule system “d20” from their own flagship “Dungeons&Dragons”. They released a great number of sourcebooks to expand the Star Wars universe and also included events, locations, tech and characters from Episode 1 and 2. The playable timeline went from the Old Republic era all the way to the Legacy comics, covering almost every aspect of Star Wars ever released up to this date.

Instead of the more open and flexible d6-system the d20-system features fixed character classes which bring along certain skills and traits exclusive to that particular class which is almost impossible to change later on.

In 2007 the d20-system game mechanics for Star Wars were replaced by the “Saga Edition” which streamlined and simplified many of the rules and mechanics and better adapted them to the Star Wars setting. There were new sourcebooks that included all of the thus far 6 movies and many comics and computer games that had been published during that era.

But things also came to an end as Wizards of the Coast decided to not renew their licenses in 2010, thus ending their Star Wars product lines. The Star Wars d20 as well as the Saga Edition are all out of print now and can also be found in second-hand bookstores or on the internet.

 

Since 2013 Fantasy Flight Games (FFG) published a new Star Wars Roleplaying Game which is split into 3 parallel “Editions”:

“Edge of the Empire” is the general part where you can play as smugglers, bounty hunters, adventurers, outlaws and other vagabonds of the galaxy.

“Age of Rebellion” focusses on the fight of the Rebel Alliance against the Galactic Empire.

“Force and Destiny” brings in force users in all their facets.

All three editions share the same basic rules system which is based on proprietary dice sets that are color coded and imprinted with different symbols. Depending on the character’s attributes, his training in a certain skill and other positive factors a combination of “useful” dice is added to a dice pool, while difficulty of a task and other negative influences add a number of “harmful” dice to the pool. Then the player rolls the whole dice pool at once and counts the different positive and negative symbols which neutralize each other in certain combinations. The kind of symbols that remain determine the success or failure of that action, as well as positive or negative side effects that can all be incorporated into the gameplay in a combined effort from players and GM.

All three editions have a separate beginner set each with pre-generated characters, basic rules and an introductory adventure suited for both beginner players as well as first time GMs. There are also core rulebooks for each edition as well as supplements that expand on the character classes, source material and adventures.

 

Which rules system is the best?
That’s a tough question and one that everyone has to answer for themselves.

I for myself am a fan of the old d6-system from WEG because it is simple, fast, flexible and easily modified. For the same reason I dislike the d20-system because it is more fixed in most aspects which is fine for a fantasy setting like D&D, but not suited for a fast paced cinematic experience like Star Wars. To be honest, I have not played Star Wars d20, nor the Saga Edition yet, since I don’t know a single playgroup that uses this system. This might be due to the fact that there is no German version of the Star Wars d20 and Saga Edition, so its popularity among German speaking players is significantly less than with the other two RPGs that feature German versions of the core rulebooks, many expansions and several adventure modules.

I had the chance to play the new FFG-system a few times so far and the pre-generated characters, as well as the layout of the books, the illustrations, maps and other material are of high quality and very appealing design. But this system has also quite fixed classes and skills, although there are several paths for each class that can add more flavor (or complexity) to it, but in the end it means less flexibility. There’s also this sometimes huge dice pool that needs to be assembled for every single roll depending on skills, difficulty, environmental factors, story factors and a lot of other things that can be included. The interpretation of that dice roll is yet another thing. Some groups seem to rely on every player to contribute ideas as to play out the dice results, even if it means having to think of negative impacts on their plans. Other groups like to distribute perks tactically throughout the group so that the combined efforts lead most effectively to their goals. I had both versions for one-shots and both had their pros and cons, but I’m not so happy with the whole rules system in general.

 

Conclusion
I can honestly say that Star Wars roleplaying games are for everyone who has enjoyed the wonders of the Star Wars universe in the movies and other media and wants to dig deeper into it and experience their very own adventures in this phantastic setting. The type of rules system usually comes with the availability and the preference of a playgroup and is not as important as having fun with your own adventures among the stars.

 

May the force be with you!