# D6 Star Wars RPG Thoughts



## Water Bob (Feb 26, 2013)

WEG's D6 Star Wars game is brilliant, no matter which version of the rules you use. It's one of my favorite all-time games. I've said before that I think it's the best marriage between a set of mechanics and a gaming universe that I've ever seen in all my decades of gaming.

Still, I had a few dislikes. I thought I'd list two of them here. Feel free to post your D6 Star Wars tweaks in this thread.




First off, I don't like the combat round structure presented in the game. It changes, somewhat, depending on what version you're using, but it's basically the same in each version. 

1. Determine which side in the combat goes first. In SW 2E R&E, this is done by the character with the highest PER score on each side making opposed throws. The character with the highest throw decides which side gets to go first.

2. When a side goes, each character in that side gets to act. And, the character with the highest PER score acts first, followed by the second highest, and so on.

3. But, each character is allowed to do only ONE action. After the entire side has moved (all characters have performed one action), then the second side gets to move, and so on.

4. Once all sides have moved, then we go back to the first side and perform section actions, and so on.

So, for example, if you wanted your character to move to the doorway and zip around the corner, popping off two shots at the stormtroopers, you'd first wait until your side goes, then you'd do one action--you'd move to the doorway. Then everybody on your side behind you gets to do one action. And, then, the other side gets to do one action, until if finally comes back to you, at which time, you can lean around the corner and fire once. Then we go through everybody again, until it all comes back to you for your third action.

On the surface, this sounds like a great way to simulate simultaneous movement and action. In practice, it's dull and boring and...very _un-Star Wars_, in my opinion.

I was surprised to see this system in the game, to be honest. All over the book, especially the first edition book, you'll see lots of advice on running a quick, seat-o-the-pants game to simulate the frantic action of the Star Wars movies. Then, the game presents this meticulous round procedure.

My solution was to go a more traditional route with the combat procedure. First, I'd have every character in the fight roll PER, and I'd record the order. This sounds like a hassle, but I only did this one time--to establish order--at the beginning of a combat. Once order was established, I followed it to the end of combat. A character could "hold" his action, if he wanted, basically lowering his initiative count, but if he did that, his count would remain at that position for the rest of the fight. If newcomers entered the fray, they simply rolled PER on the round that they entered, and I'd fit them into initiative line-up a the point indicated by their roll.

This worked great when I ran my multi-year Star Wars campaign. The fights would play out in a much more "Star Wars" fashion than what was suggested by the official rules.

Now, under my House Rule, if a player wanted his character to run up to the doorway and pop-off two shots at the stormtroopers down the corridor, well, that's exactly what he'd do when his turn came up: Move and pow, pow.

It did dawn on me that, maybe, the D6 game designers were trying to keep the player characters alive when they designed the combat round. Blasters can be quite deadly, and where one shot might stun or wound a character, two or more shots might incapaciate or kill a character.

So, if you use my house rule, consider all of the ramifcations.





One thing that you might want to consider, if using the House Rule suggested above, is to take a nod from Classic Traveller and add a damage phase in between rounds. So, your combats would play like this:

1. PER check for initiative (first round only)
2. All actions peformed on the character's initiative count, but damage not inflicted until damage phase.
3. Damage Phase: Apply damage just before the start of the next round.

Thus, if you run up to the doorway, pop around the corner, and fire two shots at the stormtroopers, then you'd do that, but if you hit, you wouldn't apply damage until the end of the round.

Thus, the stormtroopers, if damaged, would not feel the effects of that damage until the damage phase. That way, you've still got the easy-breezy Star Wars ease-of movent, and you can simulate simulate a more simultaneous combat round.






The other House Rule I used is one that I brought over from Classic Traveller, and you'll want to consider this rule change only if you're using one of the later editions of the game. That's because the later editions added a lot of skills to the game. For example, in the first edition, you've got Starship Piloting. In 2E R&E, there's Capital Ship Piloting, Space Transports, and Starfighter Piloting. What was governed by one skill in the first edition of the game is covered by three skills in the last edition of the game.

The Technical skills is another area where skills were added. In the first edition, there's Computer Programming & Repair, Demolition, Droid Programming & Repair, Medicine, Repulsorlift Craft Repair, Security, and Starship Repair.

In the last edition of the rules, The Technical skills increase to 18 skills:

Armor Repair
Blaster Repair
Captial Ship Repair
Capital Ship Weapon Repair
Computer Programming/Repair
Demolitions
Droid Programming
Droid Repair
First Aid
Ground Vehicle Repair
Hover Vehicle Repair
Medicine
Repulsorlift Repair
Security
Space Transports Repair
Starfighter Repair
Starship Weapon Repair
Walker Repair

My first thought, seeing the lastest rules, was, "Well, how did Luke Skywalker get to be such a hot-shot pilot? He's 19 years old--a moisture farmhand on a desert world who has lived with his aunt and uncle is entire life."

Using the 1st edition rules, it makes sense, because there's only one skill that covers Starship Piloting. One can assume that, with one skill, the knowledge needed to fly a military spacefighter isn't that much different than piloting the family vessel. But, if Starfighter Piloting and Space Transports are different skills, then it makes no sense at all that Luke could have flown the X-Wing starfighter the way he did. Where would have have gotten that training--before he was 19 years old?

In order to bridge the 1st and 2nd edition rules, I suggest this House Rule: Whenever a task can be performed by a like skill, then allow the use of the alternate skill at one die less.

For example, young Luke Skywalker could, indeed, have achieved a high Space Transports 6D rating by using Uncle Owen's space caddilac over his youth. When he got to the cockpit of the X-Wing, he saw that the controls were not that much different. Thus, Luke's Space Transports skills serves as Starship Piloting 5D (one die code lower).

The same argument can be made for Repulsorlift Operation. Luke has his two-seat land speeder, and in the garage, we see the T-16 air speeder that he said he used to bullseye womp rats. Plus, the airspeeders used by Rogue Squadron on Hoth would use the Repulsorlift Operation skill. Flying those vehicles around, in my estimation, really isn't that much different that piloting a starfighter. Thus, I'd allow the use of my House Rule: If Luke had Repulsorlift Operation 7D when he met Ben Kenobi, then he is qualified to use Starship Piloting 6D.





Another House Rule I used was to allow the Search skill to be used for Initiative. Search is governed by Perception, and my reasoning was that a character in the Star Wars universe should be learn and improve his combat reactions. Thus, Search became an important skill.

Of course, the game has rules for improving a character's PER score--it's just very, very hard to increase stats. You can do it, but you sacrifice the improvement of a lot of skills. Most Star Wars characters do not improve their six main stats after character generation. Even Darth Vader has the same amount of dice in his six basic stats as any starting human character.

I figured that a character could go to the Star Wars equivalent of Marine Corps boot camp and come out with a better understanding of sizing up a combat situation. Search seemed like the best skill to use for that use.

You may or may not want to do this in your game. One of the ramifications is that you might end up with group of PCs who some perceptive, searching SOB's. If that seems unrealistic to you, then just keep the PER as the stat you use for Initiative. (Or, you can make up an Initiative skill....?)





Other than those changes, I pretty much ran the game as directed by the 2E R&E rules. And, to be fair, if I started a new Star Wars game today, I know I'd use the same round structure house rule and the "like skill" rule, but I'm not sure about using Search for initiative. I go back and forth on that one.


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## Randalthor (Feb 26, 2013)

D6 Star Wars is also my favorite version of the game - particularly 2E R&E. I did not have the problems with initiative that you did, likely because I haven't played the game in well over a decade, and my evolution as a gamer wasn't where it is now. Would love to have a game of SW now, though.... *sigh*


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## Stormonu (Feb 26, 2013)

Water Bob said:


> For example, young Luke Skywalker could, indeed, have achieved a high Space Transports 6D rating by using Uncle Owen's space caddilac over his youth. When he got to the cockpit of the X-Wing, he saw that the controls were not that much different. Thus, Luke's Space Transports skills serves as Starship Piloting 5D (one die code lower).




Somewhere in the WEG books, it mentions that the T-16 Skyhopper and the X-Wing had the same piloting configuration; that was supposed to explain how Luke was such a natural pilot of the X-wing.  But I see what you're getting at. 

Sadly, it's been so long since I've played WEG Star Wars, I've forgotten any custom rules we had, other than no Kid or Ewok players being allowed in the group.  I do agree, however, that WEG Star Wars (R&E) was my favorite version of the RPG.  However, it would need a heavy revision of the Force rules to allow for Jedi characters of the likes you see in the prequels.


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## Randalthor (Feb 26, 2013)

Stormonu said:


> other than no Kid



Shucks, one of my favorite RPing experiences was when I was playing a Kid, and an Outlaw character - who did not really get along - in a Star Wars game. 

It was way back in the mid-to-late '80s, I was in the Marine Corps and stationed in Okinawa. We would play at what we called the "Burger Barn" a sort of restaurant there on Camp Foster. The group was small so we were all playing 2-characters, there was a wide variety, and as there were already 2 jedi in the group (I think one of my first characters was a jedi, but he died) I went with something completely different - at least for me -  a Kid. The Awesome Session involved no action, in fact there were no die rolls that we did not impose on ourselves for whatever reason. (Like: Did my character overhear the conversation being had by these other characters? - that sort of thing.) All the 6+ hour session was, was the group of us arriving at a starport on some planet in our busted up ship, in need of some serious repair. We landed, dealt with the port authorities and repair guys, then walked to a nearby bar. The session ended with our arrival at the bar. (I think it was closing time, around 2 AM for the Burger Barn.)

What made it so fun was being in character the whole time (mostly, we did get food and stuff), talking with the other PCs - and a few NPCs, here and there - and just i_nteracting._ Some of the other characters made a point of instigating little problems between my two characters as they all knew the Outlaw did not like having the "runty little pest" around. For his part, the Kid just had a lot of fun bugging the Outlaw as he knew it got under his skin; the other who did not mind him being around, the Kid did not bother - usually. Now, that is not to say that in every session the Kid was doing nothing but causing problems with the other characters, he did things for the current mission (it was the rebellion era, of course), but liked to play around a bit here and there. For the life of me, I cannot remember why the Kid was running around in the rebellion, but it probably had something do with avenging his family, or something like that. (This was a loooooonnng time ago.)

I always wondered what the other patrons of the place thought when they saw us roleplaying... nobody gave us any grief, so that's good, but I still wonder.


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## Wednesday Boy (Feb 26, 2013)

I think we used individual Perception checks for initiative too.

Another houserule that we had were all races started with 18D starting dice, regardless of what was listed.  That evened the playing field somewhat for the races that, for whatever reason, would get more or less starting dice.  It helped level the racial playing field a little but the disparity in mechanics of the races was still very prominent.

And in a two-player campaign where we both played jedi, the GM let us put 1D into each of the jedi power attributes (control, sense, and alter) without having to use our starting 18D.  He thought it made us more well-rounded in the force and normal skills and we weren't about to argue!


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## Crothian (Feb 26, 2013)

We had a lot of fun playing this for a few years.  It took a long while but I eventually tracked down a copy of each book they made for the game.  I know the game had its problems and the dice rolling could get ridiculous but we made it work.


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## Water Bob (Feb 26, 2013)

Randalthor said:


> I did not have the problems with initiative that you did....




Out of curiosity, did you run the combat sequence as written?  If so, it work well for you?

Just curious about your opinion on it.







Stormonu said:


> Somewhere in the WEG books, it mentions that the T-16 Skyhopper and the X-Wing had the same piloting configuration; that was supposed to explain how Luke was such a natural pilot of the X-wing.




Yeah...that rings a bell.  It's been a while.  I think both the T-16 and the X-Wing were manufactured by Incom, thus the similar control scheme.

Still, that doesn't quite fit with the movies.  Remember how Luke professed to Han that he (Luke) wasn't such a bad pilot.  I don't think he was talking about just Incom manufactured vessels.







> I've forgotten any custom rules we had, other than no Kid or Ewok players being allowed in the group. I do agree, however, that WEG Star Wars (R&E) was my favorite version of the RPG.




Man, we had a great time with some comic relief characters.  One of my players played a...oh heck, I forgot what they were called. 

This dude look like a four-foot high squirrel that walked on its hind legs.  Small, beedy eyes.  Big buck teeth.  Covered in short fur.

The species was known for bad eyesight, so this character (the player named him "Byrne") had a set of auto-telescoping goggles that he placed over a leather skull cap (that looked like a WWI flyer's hat).   These eyepieces were constantly zooming in an out, like the telephoto lense of a digital camera.  It created a hell of a scene that use to crack me up when the player would simulate the way the guy looked.

Byrne also had a stutter, and just a tad bit of a lisp.  Probably a little bit of Tourettes, too.

When something would go wrong for the group in the game, we'd suddenly hear this high-pitched, "Phhhhuuuucccck!"  The entire table would burst out laughing.





Same campaign, but a little later on, a different player started playing this Squib.  He's another short fellow, but IIRC, they're fearless and quite annoying.

The player would have this character go on these long rants, about anything.  Curse words right and left.  He sounded like a sterotypical Mexican momma-mia pouring out these waves of litany.  

You probably had to be there, but, man, we would laugh so hard that tears came to our eyes when this guy got started.

The other thing the Squib would do was contantly pull out his blaster.  He's pull it out of its holster, real quick, with a bright look on his face, then his eyebrows would drop.  And, his trigger finger would come off the trigger, waving at his target, as if to say, "Watch it....I'm quick!  I'll bow you away."

The Squib did this all the time until he did it to the wrong customer.  He ended up getting a big dark hole in his chest, pulling his weapon like that one too many times.

Quite a memorable character though.


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## Water Bob (Feb 26, 2013)

I found this on the net: It looks like a fan-made New Player Introduction Packet. I didn't read it completely, but from a skim, I think there are some house rules used in there.


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## Randalthor (Feb 26, 2013)

Water Bob said:


> Out of curiosity, did you run the combat sequence as written?  If so, it work well for you?
> 
> Just curious about your opinion on it.



Sorry man, it has been so long since I played I couldn't tell you for sure. But, at the time, I don't think we were big into house-rules and we played most games straight - or with very little modification.

What I can tell you is that all I have are fond/happy feelings of my days playing Star Wars, and that even now I would not do much in the way of house-ruling if I was to run it. (This coming from a man who has no problem house-ruling a game during my the session.)


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## Water Bob (Feb 27, 2013)

Randalthor said:


> Sorry man, it has been so long since I played I couldn't tell you for sure. But, at the time, I don't think we were big into house-rules and we played most games straight - or with very little modification.




I try to play that way today, no matter which game I'm playing.





> What I can tell you is that all I have are fond/happy feelings of my days playing Star Wars...





Me too.  I love that game.  Not just because I'm a Star Wars fan, but also because the mechanics were designed for fun.


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## Randalthor (Feb 27, 2013)

The mechanics were some of the best, I keep meaning to try out the generic D6 rules, but I cannot seem to get a group in this area to play them. (Really, it is hard getting anyone here to play something other than D&D 4E/Encounters, Pathfinder, or another D&D clone, none of which I really want to play.)


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## Water Bob (Feb 27, 2013)

Water Bob said:


> Man, we had a great time with some comic relief characters. One of my players played a...oh heck, I forgot what they were called.
> 
> This dude look like a four-foot high squirrel that walked on its hind legs. Small, beedy eyes. Big buck teeth. Covered in short fur.
> 
> ...





Oh yeah, he was a Tynnan.  More of a chipmunk, now that I see the pic.  Imagine the dude below (I always imagined Byrne to be a little chubbier, more of a pot belly), with a WWI leather flyers cap, those telescoping goggles, a lisp, a stutter, and a touch of Tourettes Syndome...

Man, we had some good times with this game.


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## LostSoul (Feb 27, 2013)

I used a house rule to determine how much one skill could help with another.

The first situation was where the PCs were making some fake IDs.  One PC had good forgery skills (whatever it's called) and the other PC was a good computer programmer.  The programmer wrote some software to help the forger make the fake IDs.

I had the programmer roll his computer programming, divided the roll by 3 or so, and used that as bonus pips/dice to the forger's roll to make the fake IDs.  It seemed to work okay and I used it for a long time.  (I didn't really divide by 3, I set 3 to +1, 6 to +2, and 10 to 1D; 13 to 1D+1, 16 to 1D+2, 20 to 2D; etc.)  If I gave it more thought I might refine that mechanic a little more.

I also used abstract rolls for wealth, though hard numbers ended up to work better.  These days I'm thinking about using fuel and consumables as dice ratings that get reduced like damage vs. STR rolls, because I don't want to track days of fuel/food/air/water etc.  I should put some thought into that, though.


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## Water Bob (Feb 27, 2013)

LostSoul said:


> I used a house rule to determine how much one skill could help with another.




I don't know how familiar you are with the later rule sets, but I do remember that the Combined Action rule was refined a few times.  Today, I don't remember exactly how it was used, but second edition revised & expanded had a pretty good rule for it--I remember thinking at the time.






> I also used abstract rolls for wealth, though hard numbers ended up to work better.




I've heard that the new Star Wars game by Fantasy Flight uses a die code for wealth.  That wouldn't be too hard at all to translate into the D6 game.  It's kind of a neat idea.

Each character would have a Wealth statistic.  1D would represent minimum wealth, if the character has anything at all.  Something like 6D or 8D would mean that the character is very wealthy.

Then, items to buy simply have difficulties assigned to them.  Something inexpensive, like a new pair of boots, might have a Difficuty of 3, or 7, or maybe even 10.  The GM can adjust the difficulty to account for item options and quality--and also scarcity.  Supply and Demand is a simple matter of picking a Difficulty number for an item.  The price of a starship might have a difficulty of 30 or more.

I'm just making this up as I write.  You'd have to refine the idea.  But, how it works is:  Let's say a character needs a new pair of boots.  The GM says that a cheap pair is Diff 3.  A regular quality pair is Diff 7.  And, a high quality pair with reinforced toe is Diff 10.  

The character simply throws his Wealth code, and if he achieves the number or higher, he buys the item.  If he fails the roll, then he doesn't have enough money.

You could even use the Bargain skill with this, maybe adding a character's Bargain skill to his Wealth code.

So, let's say a character has Bargain 4D (decent at bargaining) and a wealth code of 1D (broke).  The character throws 5D when attempting to purchase an item.

Just like in real life, though, not everything can be bargained. So, maybe, on some items, Bargain can't be used--just the wealth code.  Other items might have a limit to the amount of Bargain that can be used:  Maybe something with a little give will allow only 1D of Bargain to be combined with the character's wealth code.

It's a real interesting idea.  And, it has the added benefit that it requires no bookkeeping, the way keeping track of money does.







> These days I'm thinking about using fuel and consumables as dice ratings that get reduced like damage vs. STR rolls, because I don't want to track days of fuel/food/air/water etc. I should put some thought into that, though.




You know, they also took the consumables out of the 2nd edition game.  I have both the 1st edition and 2nd edition supplement on Tramp Freighters.  The first has a system for starship supplies, like life support, battery back-ups, etc.  The second edition book completely throws all that out in favor of fast and furious play.

If you wanted, you could also use some kind of dice code system for this, too.


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## Water Bob (Feb 27, 2013)

Here's 15 minutes of AWESOME Star Wars. Better than ANYTHING in the prequels (not saying much, huh). We can only hope that Disney does such a fine job on the new upcoming movie.

CLICK HERE FOR STAR WARS AWESOMENESS.





And, if you're in the mood to run a D6 Star Wars game, here's a couple of fan made goodies that I found on the net:

New Player Handout

Galaxy Guide 15: Attack of the Clones



And, here's a bad-ass pick of Dark Leia and her father.  Why is Dark Side Leia so much more sexy than Light Side Leia?  She's so Dark, she's got to have her high beams on in order to see!


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## LostSoul (Feb 27, 2013)

Water Bob said:


> I don't know how familiar you are with the later rule sets, but I do remember that the Combined Action rule was refined a few times.  Today, I don't remember exactly how it was used, but second edition revised & expanded had a pretty good rule for it--I remember thinking at the time.




I used it as the basis for a lot of little rules I had, though I preferred the original 2E table instead of the R&E Command rule.  I apparently made a rule for auto-fire weapons that used that table.



Water Bob said:


> Each character would have a Wealth statistic.  1D would represent minimum wealth, if the character has anything at all.  Something like 6D or 8D would mean that the character is very wealthy.




Yeah, that's pretty much how it worked, though looking at my rules now I see they are very flawed!

One thing that I did make a lot of use of was the damage table.  It's kind of like a graded success chart.  For wealth, you'd roll against the item's value as a die code (difficulty would work fine as well); you'd then compare the difference and see how much "damage" you'd take to your wealth score.

I did that for some other things as well:

[sblock=]Cool Drinking Rules of the Star Wars Galaxy

```
Drunk Rules:  Use the damage table.  Roll the Stamina:
              Alcohol skill as Strength against the
              damage of the alcohol.  Alcohol damage is
              cumulative.*  Remember that the penalties
              apply to willpower, and PCs can be easily
              Con: Seduced.

* - use combined actions to determine amount for add. drinks.

Drunk Damage Table:
Drink Damage > Stamina: Alcohol by      Result
0-3                                     Mildly Intoxicated.  
                                        Treat as stunned for
                                        1D * 10 minutes.
4-8                                     Drunk.  Treat as
                                        wounded.
9-12                                    Wasted.  -2D to all
                                        skills.
13-15                                   Passed out.  Treat as
                                        incapacitated.
16+                                     Alcohol poisoning.  Damage
                                        carries over to real damage
                                        table, resist at full STR.
```

Though the numbers are flawed since I wrote those up from memory.[/sblock]

One other thing I found very helpful - so much so that I internalized it - was the table that told you what each die code meant in-game.  It was something like this:

1D - Below average human ability
2D - Average human
3D - Some training or natural talent
4D - Professional or amazing natural talent
5D - Elite
6D - Best in a city
7D - Best in a continent
8D - Best in a world

Having internalized that chart, it meant that I could stat up NPCs on the fly.


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## Randalthor (Feb 27, 2013)

> And, if you're in the mood to run a D6 Star Wars game, here's a couple of fan made goodies that I found on the net:



Dude those are awesome! Did you make them?


PS: I am talking about the 2 PDFs you link to, The New Player Guide and the Galaxy Guide, I cannot have links yet - even if they are really another posters links in quotes. Silly!


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## Wednesday Boy (Feb 27, 2013)

Water Bob said:


> Same campaign, but a little later on, a different player started playing this Squib. He's another short fellow, but IIRC, they're fearless and quite annoying...  ...Quite a memorable character though.




My friends and I often joked about creating a squib character and a ugor character (http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Ugor) for some comic relief because the two races are constantly locked in a war over trash collecting in the galaxy.  Alas, they never came to fruition but that was probably best for our campaigns.


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## Water Bob (Feb 27, 2013)

LostSoul said:


> Having internalized that chart, it meant that I could stat up NPCs on the fly.




Yes, I found it extremely easy to make up NPCs at a moment's notice, using D6 Star Wars--especially with first edition.







Randalthor said:


> Dude those are awesome! Did you make them?




Not I, young Jedi.  I just found them while surfing the net.  They are cool, though.  The author's did good jobs on them.







Wednesday Boy said:


> My friends and I often joked about creating a squib character and a ugor character (http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Ugor) for some comic relief because the two races are constantly locked in a war over trash collecting in the galaxy. Alas, they never came to fruition but that was probably best for our campaigns.




Most of our PCs were "serious" as well, even if they were snake-men or some other type of alien.  We had a lot of aliens in our group.  The only other comedic one we has was this young kid pa'lowick.  He wasn't Force Sensitive, but he thought he was destined to become a Jedi.

He didn't make it too far, as I recall.  Some baddie turned him into froglegs.


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## Wednesday Boy (Feb 27, 2013)

Water Bob said:


> Most of our PCs were "serious" as well, even if they were snake-men or some other type of alien. We had a lot of aliens in our group.




Most of our characters were serious too but we loved coming up with absurd concepts. I thought it would be funny to make a columi seductress because they have an incredibly high Perception maximum and are obviously ravishing.


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## Water Bob (Feb 28, 2013)

I've been perusing WEG's D6 Star Wars core rulebook. The first edition is action, and lite rules, and fun, fun, fun. If you want more grit, go with 2nd edition. There, you'll see a more dense rulebook with rules that you are used to seeing in most RPGs.

But, Star Wars first edition?

Get this: Character creation is given two pages. The entire chapter is four pages, but the last page and a half (half the page is a pic of Han Solo), is a detailed example of how to create a character.

And, just how do you create a character? Well, you pick one of the 24 character templates from the book's appendix. An example of a template is the Tounge-Tied Engineer, the Smuggler, the Loyal Retainer, or the Laconic Scout.

Each template comes with blanks for typical character sheet info, a background for the character, his starting equipment, blanks for the player to assign dice to his skills....and stats that are already assigned a die code.

That's right. In Star Wars first edition, the player does not assign dice to his own stats. That's already done on the templates.

All a player has to do, in order to create a character for the game, is assign 7D to the character's stats, with the restriction that no more than 2D can be assigned to any one skill. Skills that aren't improved this way use the die code of the governor attribute (for example, Blaster falls under DEX, so an unimproved Blaster skill will use the same die code as the character's DEX).

Have you ever seen a more simple method of generating characters? All you gotta do is decide where 7 dice go. That's it. You're off and running.

Literally, it takes mere minutes to create a first edition Star Wars character.







Here. I'll show you. I'll use the example character in the book.

We pick the Smuggler template. We'll call him: Roark Garnet. Write in player's name and make up character description: 6', 180 lbs., Male, age 28. Roark's got a pencil thin mustache, leather jacket, jeans and boots. He's in good shape. He always wears a blaster in a worn leather holster.

OK. We're done with that.

Next, on the template, we see his stats.

*DEXTERITY 3D+1
KNOWLEDGE 2D+1
MECHANICAL 3D+2
PERCEPTION 3D
STRENGTH 3D
TECHNICAL 2D+2

*Those stand as they are. Our job--our final job in creating this character--is to assign 7D to Roark's skills. We use whole dice. We can't move more than 2D into any one skill. And, every skill in the game, Roark now uses at the code of the skill's governing attribute. For example, we're not going to improve Astrogation, which is governed by the Mechanical stat. Therefore, Roark's skill is Astrogation 3D+2.

So, we assign those 7D. We put 2D, the max, into Blaster. That's a DEX skill. And, we put 1D into Dodge, another DEX skill.

We don't improve any Knowledge or Technical skills.

Under Mechanical, we put 2D into Starship Piloting.

And, with our last 2D that we have to spend, we put one into Bargain (Perception skill) and one into Brawling (Strength skill)

So, combined with the stats above, Roark turns out lookling like this:

*Blaster 5D+1
Dodge 4D+1

Starship Piloting 5D+2

Bargain 4D

Brawling 4D

*As I said above, any other skill uses the governing attribute's dice code.

And....that's it! We're done! We've created a first edition Star Wars character. Easy Cheesy.

Even a someone new to the game could do this in five minutes.





Our template gives us a little more information about the character. He's got a stock light freighter (a ship!). He gets a comlink and a heavy blaster pistol. And, he gets 2000 standard credits as starting wealth, which he can use to buy additional equipment at standard prices.

Oh....ha! And, the template says that he starts 25,000 credits in debt to a crime boss. This can be a story element for the GM (with the Hutt's men out to get Roark), and a bit of a game balancer--he gets a ship, but he has to contend with the debt!


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## Water Bob (Feb 28, 2013)

Reading over the rules, I am reminded of another variant round structure that we used with first edition. IIR, it worked quite well.

Movement, in 1E SW, was simple, like every other rule. A character could walk 5 meters in a round or run 10 meters in a round. If the character ran, then that was enough effort to be considered an action--and thus the multiple action penalty would come into effect. If a character wanted to run and fire his blaster, the blaster shot would be done with a -1D penalty (Roark, above, would fire using 4D +1 instead of his usual 5D +1).

I never have liked declaration phases in games, and I was always looking to keep the game--no matter which game we were playing--flowing fast and exciting. This seemed especially appropriate for a Star Wars game.

So, we rolled DEX for initiative (later, we changed that to PERCEPTION) for every character, noting the throw, creating a initiative order, and then we kep that order for the entire combat--not unlike 3.5 d20.

When it came time for a character to move, he could do anything he wanted, but 2nd actions came at a -2D multiple action penalty. A 3rd action would have a -3D penalty, and so on.



Thus, let's say that Roark wants to fire his blaster then run. He throw his full 5D+1 blaster skill, but then have to throw for his movement. If he failed the Move check, he'd have a mishap--like falling down (doing too much at one time--stumbling around).

So, the GM would make the terrain Very Easy, since it was flat corridor, but the kicker is that second actions get the -2D penalty. This is a DEX check, and Roark's has DEX 3D+1. 

That means, when Roark runs, he'd have to make a 5+ roll using 1D+1. That ain't easy, and odds are, Roark will fail, slip, and fall.

His character just isn't that coordinated enough to pull that off even half the time.



Or, let's say that Roark wanted to stand in place and squeeze off 3 shots of his blaster. No problem. He doesn't move, and his first shot is at 5D+1. He second shot at 3D +1. And his last shot at 1D +1.

Recoil.

As he stood there, quickly squeezing off shots, the recoil of the weapon made him less and less accurate.




It's not a bad House Rule, and it fits the "universe" well.





EDIT: The RAW is that a character can walk 5 meters a round and still do one action at no penalty, or he can run 10 meters in a round, having it count as an action (thus -1D to any other actions performed).

Under my House Rule above, that translated like this:

Roark uses his blaster and then walks? 5D+1 on the shot, then move the character 5 meters.

Roark walks, then uses his blaster? Move the character 5 meters, then use 3D+1 on the shot.*



*Some players argued that, since the base game allowed a walk + single action at no penalty, then there should be a special case in our House Rule for this. I think that's a fair argument. So, if you wanted, you could allow, just in this instance: Move the character 5 meters, then use 5D+1 on the shot.

Basically, you would consider Walking a "free" action that did not count towards the multiple action penalty. Thus, a character could move 5 meters then sqeeze off 3 shots at 5D+1, 3D+1, and 1D+1. Depending on the target number, though, that last shot (and possibly the second shot, too) might be a waste of ammo.


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## Water Bob (Feb 28, 2013)

There was one other initiative system that we used for a bit with first edition Star Wars. The combat round played out as I outlined above (first action - no penalty, second action - minus 2D, third action - minus 3D, etc.).

Instead of rolling for initiative, each round, automatically, the person who went first was the one with the highest Perception score--then the next highest, then the next, and so on.

If Perception was tied, the tie was broken by the highest Dexterity score. If still tied, Player Characters won over NPCs, and any tied PCs went simultaneously.

Therefore, there was no rolling, and the combat round was smooth as glass. He round, the GM knew, easily, who's turn it was.

We added to this our own version of Haste (much different than Haste in the book). Any character could challenge the character immediately in front of him. They roll opposed DEX throws. If the challenger won, his place in the initiative count was moved up one place for the rest of the combat. The character could attempt this Haste once per round on his turn (and he can only challenge the character, friend or foe, immediately before him).

Performing Haste was considered an action, and thus, even if the character won the Opposed DEX throw, his next action would be at -2D. So, a player really needed a good reason to want to change his line-up position. (The defender was not penalized an action--only the challenger. I didn't want this turning into a tactic to penalize the guy in front of you.)



So, let's say Roark (PER 3D, DEX 3D+1) ran into two stormtroopers (PER 3D, DEX 1D). The combat would be played out in this order:

First, Roark.
Then, Stormtrooper 1 is simultaneous with Stormtrooper 2.

So, Roark starts to act, but Stormtrooper 2 declares a Haste challenge. We roll opposed DEX throws, 3D +1 vs. 1D. Roark rolls a total of 5. The trooper gets lucky and rolls a 6.

The round becomes
Stromtrooper 2
Roark
Stormtrooper 1

On that first round, Stormtrooper 2 will have a -2D penalty associated with his first action (-3D on the second, and so on) because of the Haste attempt. He gets this penalty regardless of whether the Hast challenge was successful. But, the perk is that he has changed the initiative line up for the entire fight (and there are no Haste penalties on later rounds--only in the one where the Haste was performed).


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## DnD_Dad (Feb 28, 2013)

Oh man I love me some WEG Star Wars.  I think the fantastic technology books, specifically droids added so much to the game.  I'm going to go read my old books now and see if I can get a group going.


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## Water Bob (Mar 1, 2013)

I've been looking over that old Star Wars rule set. Man, I love that game. I've been thinking of running a by-the-seat-of-the-pants, blasters firing, princess saving, asteroid dodging game using just the first edition rules.

I haven't found all of my old stuff yet, but I did uncover an adventure I've never played: Battle For The Golden Sun.

This looks perfect. 

I'm not 100% going to do this yet--just thinking. But, if I do run it, I want to change the beginning a bit. I want to set the players up as normal citizens (as normal as you can get in the Star Wars universe), and then let them make decisions during play as to if they want to be Rebels...or maybe they'll go more towards the Fringe.

Here's what I'm thinking....





We'll start the game on Alderaan. This is shortly before A New Hope. I've got three players right now, so I'm thinking I'll start them as the crew of a tramp light freighter. They can pick from an assortment of aliens, if they don't want their characters to be human. I've got all the Alien books. There's a ton of species to pick from.

The Trade Federation has been heavily taxing the local space routes, and our PCs start the game fallen on hard times. Credits are tight. Payment for their ship is due.

First scene of the game session: I figure we'll start in a spacer bar near the starport. Their looking for work. There's actually lots of work--lots of small cargos that need to be taken to different worlds, but the problem is, once you figure in local export tax, then import tax at the destination, the Empire's transport tax, and now, the Trade Federation's lane tax, there's nothing left for profit.

The bigger shipping lines are soaking up all the smaller cargos. They can make it work, financially, by the shear quantity of freight that they can move at one time. Plus, the big companies are politically connected, getting the quantity discount from the Empire and the Trade Federation (and with many of the worlds that they service).

This situation is leaving scraps for the independent--the tramp freighter captains.

All of that is a bunch of BS I just made up, but I think it's good enough for a Star Wars game. Maybe I'll refine it. Besides the "push" this creates to get the PCs off planet, it also puts a bad taste in their mouths for the Empire.




So, for the one and three man stock light freighters, finding a profitable job has become an exercise in managing expenses. Some jobs filter through the cracks, sure, but operating a vessel of this size is no longer a matter of just going to a posting office and grabbing the next ticket.

At this point, a droid approaches the PC's table and introduces itself. It's designation is G0-B-TWN, but the droid tells the players that they can address it as "Gobiteen" or "Gobi" (Go Between....get it?).

The PCs have heard of this droid. Since times got tough, and the law on Alderaan is fairly strict on the fringe element, spacers have set up a method of business contact without having to identify themselves. The droid is used as the go between, and each side doesn't know the other.

Now, this is a fairly risky way to do business. The freighter captains don't like not knowing their employers, but as times have become lean, even the most honest captains have resorted to this method of business.

Many times the jobs that Gobi will have are those that are just trying to skirt the high taxes. And, sometimes, the jobs are of a more nefarious quality--gun running, things like that.

A freighter captain that deals with Gobi takes his chances. But, there are those in the spaceport that have made runs for the droid and have been quite happy with their compensation.

So Gobi has a deal for the PCs. Would they run a cargo of local wiker tradeables (baskets, figurines, ornate chairs, wall hanings and the like) to Coruscant? The run pays quite well. The stipulation is that the PC's ship must leave within 4 hours.

Let's see...good compensation...leave within 4 hours...deal through Gobi...and it's a cargo of wiker do-dads. Riiiight.

But, that's the deal.




If the PCs don't take the deal, then I think it will be time for an action scene with some toughs by the local crime boss. Where's the money?

Or, if the PCs bought their ship legitimately, this crime boss becomes a legitimate Repo agent. Either way, where's the money?

The PCs don't have it.

Now, maybe, the ship will be taken, and the game will go off on a tangent. I need to think about this and be prepared. But, hopefully, the PCs will take Gobi's job. Because they've got no real other choice. It's a bit of a railroad, but this is Star Wars. And, I won't stop them from not taking the job. If they don't, I'll probably change the direction of the adventure, making it the PC's vs. the Repo Agent, or the PCs vs. the Crime Boss.




So...the PCs take the job. The cargo arrives. And, they need to lift off. I'll put a sense of urgency with the delivery of the cargo by moving the timetable up, explaining that a certain Alderaan traffic controller was going off duty earlier than expected...,"So, you got to leave port NOW!"

The PCs will most likely want to dig into the cargo once its aboard. There won't be a lot of time to do that while its being loaded. I bet they'll wait until their in hyperspace. But, if the players figure a way, every container that they open does, indeed, have wiker do-dads in it.

And, that won't make sense. What they're being paid is way too much for what they're carrying, even if the shipper is just trying to skip under the taxes. It can't be even worth the bribe to get off of Alderaan.

When the deal is struck with Gobi, he'll offer to pay them half in electronic Imperial credits, or X amount (whatever I think the PCs should have as starting money) in hard currency--the rest once they reach Coruscant.

If they take the electronic Imperial credits, these will completely blank out and become worthless (nonexistent) after a few hours. Of course, the PCs don't know this at the time of lift off. I'll tell them, though, if the players ask the right questions at deal time, that electronic credits can be risky once offworld.





Once the PCs lift and break Alderaan's orbit, I want an action scene with an Imperial customs boat bearing down on them. "Come to and prepare to be boarded!" I might throw in a couple of fighters and an SDB just to make it clear to the players that they are outgunned.

We can trade some pops here in a Star Wars-esque escape from the planet scene. Maybe the PCs will get lucky and knock off a TIE fighter or two...

...and that, right there, is changing their lives on Alderaan....

...while they rush to get the navicomp ready to make the jump to hyperspace.

The stars make lines, and, boom, the PC's ship escapes.



But, something is immediately wrong. Alarms are going off. The ship should be safely in hyperspace now, but the instruments are showing that the ship is coming out of jump.

That's impossible. The players might think that they're just outside the Alderaan system.

But, in fact, they've suffered a hyperdrive mishap that has taken them far off-course, through a treacherous, gravitic-thick region of space, to the waterworld of Sedri. The PCs, though, will have no idea where they are until they can somehow figure it out.

The ship is damaged, and it plunges through the atmosphere. I'll have the pilot do some throws for a heroic splash landing in Sedri's great ocean.

There will be a few moments as the PCs recover from the crash. The interior lighting is flashing on and off. The PCs may check the ship. The hyperdrive is damaged, and she is taking on a bit of water. They'll plug the hole, I'm sure, but they'll find out that there's no fixing the hyperdrive without new parts and a starport repair facility. Comm's damage. Power finally goes completely out, and the ship is adrift on Sedri's world ocean.




Then, the PCs hear a crash on the hull. Out the dorsal hatch, they exit the ship to see....that their ship has floated into the remains of a sea battle. There are pieces of vehicles (a big piece just slammed into the ship with the roll of the ocean) and bodies....yes, bodies, floating out in the water.

There was some kind of skirmish here--some battle. Wait, what's that? Is that a stormtrooper floating over there?

Then, in the distance, they see the colored beams of blaster bolts being fired across the water. How to investigate? Among the debris about the ship, the player see an intact sea-speeder.

It's up to them. Do they take the sea speeder and investigate the battle in the distance...or, do they just stay with their ship?

And, that's pretty much where the adventre Battle For The Golden Sun.




So....what was going on with Gobi on Alderaan? I'm thinking that the PCs were set up to drag attention away from a different ship lifting with the real smuggled cargo. The PCs were played as fools.

And, I've got room for recurring villians and other NPCs. It might be interesting to see Gobi show up somewhere after the PCs finish the adventure on Sedri. And, sometime, maybe on Sedri, or after they leave, they'll hear about their homeworld being destroyed by the Death Star.

If I can find it, I also have the adventure called Graveyard of Alderaan. It's a neat little adventure that features scrap hunters around the asteroid field that used to be Alderaan. 

You never know how games will go. I like to set up a story, then when gaming, not hesitate to deviate from it when players go in a different direction than what I had planned.


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## DnD_Dad (Mar 1, 2013)

Bob I'd totally play that game with you.  I'd make a droid, or a Defel.  Defels are so cool.


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## Wednesday Boy (Mar 1, 2013)

I like the intro Water Bob, sounds like lots of fun!  If you set it up ahead of time you could have a crimelord hire the PCs to bring back some shipment from Alderaan to him.  After Alderaan is destroyed the unreasonable crimelord still considers their agreement binding and either their lives or their ship will be in jeopardy if they don't get him what he wanted.  That could be a bridge into your Graveyard of Alderaan adventure, where they return to the Alderaan Asteroid Field to see if they can find the stuff he wanted and get out of hot water.
 [MENTION=6682741]DnD_Dad[/MENTION], yeah.  Defels are the coolest!!


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## Water Bob (Mar 1, 2013)

LOL! Poster on another forum suggested this as the intro...



> So, you're sitting in this bar, down on your luck, trying to figure an angle on scraping some coin together before the ship gets port-locked, when this scruffy looking droid wheels over... designation G0-B-TWN. 'Gobiteen', or just 'Gobi' to those who know it - and you know it. Or, of it, at any rate. So does The Law.
> 
> This rolling pile of plasti-sheet and neuro-circuits is trouble - trouble of the capital T and the capital punishment kind. Its also the promise of credit of the tax free and clear kind...




That's what's cool about the Star Wars universe.  It makes this kinda story not so cheesy, but fun!


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## Water Bob (Mar 2, 2013)

Okay, Star Wars first edition "Eight Useful Things to Remember About Gamemastering."

*1. You can't learn everything at once.*

*2. Understand the rules and talk them over with players. If they ask you to describe something, do. Let them worry about whether or not what you describe is important.*

*3. Expect to extend the rules. No set of rules can be as ingenious as players. Use your common sense to handle problems that arise, and keep playing. Don't waste too much time looking up minor rules. Reserve the right to change your mind about rule judgments. "This is my ruling tonight, but after I've thought about it, I may want to change my mind."*

*4. Expect to be wrong sometimes. Admit it. Say, "Oops," do an instant replay on teh action if necessary, and get on with the game. Don't be a pushover, though. Sometimes somebody has to make an arbitrary judgement, and that person is you.*

*5. Be fair. Earn your players' trust. Players cheerfully ignore rules mistakes and hesitations, as long as they believe the gamemaster is not picking on them or playing favorites.*

*6. Be impartial. When you are pretending to be the villians and bad guys in your adventures, be as clever and resourceful (or bumbling and incompetent) as they would be. But when it comes to judging conflicts between characters, as gamemaster you m ust be partial to neither side.*

*7. Be prepared. At first, use published adventures like "Rebel Breakout" (included in the core rulebook). Study them carefully. Think about how to present the characters and events they contain and how to anticipate the reactions of your players. Later, when you design your own adventures, organize your throughs and adventure materials before your players arrive.*

*8. Be entertaining. Ham up your characters, try to get across the huge scope and sense of wonder that's a part of Star Wars, and make every moment as action-packed and suspense-filled as it can be.*

And, this section ends with this advice....

*Relax! Wing it. Rely on common sense and imagination. Don't get too hung up on making sure everything is just as it should be. Having a good time is more important than paying attention to picayune details.*

Old school, baby! This is what made roleplaying GREAT in the early days.


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## Wednesday Boy (Mar 2, 2013)

Another house rule we used was to completely ignore the space combat rules as written and run a more simplified form of space combat that was more cinematic.  I don't remember the space combat rules specifically anymore but I recall feeling that it required too many rolls to simply maneuver around and space combats in turn felt very slow.


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## Water Bob (Mar 2, 2013)

Wednesday Boy said:


> Another house rule we used was to completely ignore the space combat rules as written and run a more simplified form of space combat that was more cinematic. I don't remember the space combat rules specifically anymore but I recall feeling that it required too many rolls to simply maneuver around and space combats in turn felt very slow.




That depends on which space combat rules you used.  First off, there was the boxed set called Star Warriiors, and this was a very detailed board game with a hex map and counters.  Many of the first edtion adventures would refer to this game to play out detailed space combat.  Usually, two options were given, the Star Warriors version and the role playing version from the first edition rulebook.  Once second edition came out, Star Warriors was never updated, and references to it in adventures was dropped.

So, if you're talking about Star Warriors, then, yes, it was designed as a war game.  Those can be slow, but a lot of people prefer the detail.





The role playing version in the first edition core rulebook are pretty simple rules.  All the action takes place in the imagination.  No maps or counters.  This combat system was designed to involve players and their characters, so there's rolls the ship's crew needs to make:  Piloting, Shields, and Gunnery.

This space combat system played out just like personal combat.  There was a Piloting Segment, where everyone says what they're going to do in the round (which is just like the personal combat Declaration step).  Then the Speed segment, where position can be changed (a simple roll to see if the ship that you're chasing gets farther away from you, or if you get closer to it).  Then there are Fire segments, where the ship's weapons are fired.

1.  Declare Actions
2.  Move ships (in imagination) to see if there is new range.
3.  Fire weapons.

So, the space combat really was pretty simple.




Now, I've always disliked Declaration phases, and just like what I did with personal combat, I did with space combat.  We rolled initiative and then moved each ship in turn just as if we were playing a personal combat encounter.  It worked great.




Each time the rules changed, the space combat procedure was changed, too.  So, when the Rules Upgrade came out, the first edition space combat rules were altered.  Then, again, when the Rules Companion was published.

And, even again, when Second Edition and Second Edition Revised & Expanded.  So, you might have played one of those versions of the rules.

Typically, the space combat procedure was simplified with each new rule tweak, but, in contrast, more crunchy aspects were also added to space combat.

For example, in first edition, each space ship has a Speed code.  This is a simple die code just like a character's stat or skill.  The Millennium Falcon has a code of Sublight 4D.  So, if the Falcon were chasing a TIE fighter, it would roll its sublight speed code and compare that to the same of the TIE.  If the Falcon wins, then the Falcon increase one range category closer to the TIE.  If the TIE wins, then the TIE moves out farther from the Falcon by one range category.

Ranges are simple:  Short, Medium, Long.  If the TIE is at Long range and increases range, then TIE gets away.  If an Imperial Customs Frigate makes range to the Falcon Short, then the Frigate can attempt to board the Falcon.

Pilots can combine their Piloting skill roll with the ship's Speed roll to reflect not just the power of the vessel (Speed code) but the pilot's ability in the cockpit.  This counts as an action if the pilot is going to do other things during the round (like angle a deflector shield or fire the ship's weapons).

As the rules were upgraded, the Speed Code disappeared and was replaced with actual movement points.  This allowed the GM to play out space combat on a hex map or still keep it in the head with the movement points and a more elaboarate movement system (4 different movement options).


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## Wednesday Boy (Mar 2, 2013)

Water Bob said:


> The role playing version in the first edition core rulebook are pretty simple rules.  All the action takes place in the imagination.  No maps or counters.  This combat system was designed to involve players and their characters, so there's rolls the ship's crew needs to make:  Piloting, Shields, and Gunnery.




We played the Second Edition Revised and Expanded and I guess I'm confusing something about it.  We never paid the space combat section much mind but I thought I read later that you had to roll for every change in movement.   So if you wanted to loop back on someone who was following you, it required a Piloting roll for each 90 degree turn that you made.  It's been a loooooong time since I looked at the rules and I could have read them incorrectly back then.  But we took a very lax approach to following any space combat rules.


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## Water Bob (Mar 2, 2013)

Wednesday Boy said:


> We never paid the space combat section much mind but I thought I read later that you had to roll for every change in movement.




Second Edition got rid of the Speed Codes and instituted a new movement system.  SW 2E R&E gave ships a Space statistic.  These are basically movement points.  For example, the Millennium Falcon was rated at Space 8.  It's akin to a character's move rating (Move 10 means a character can walk 10 meters per round).  Space units are not defined.  This can be a number of hexes on a board or just a generic way of keeping track of distance between vessels (mostly for combat range purposes).

Like a character, a ship could move at Cautious Speed (half Space number), Cruising Speed (full Space number), High Speed (double Space Speed) or All-Out Speed (4 x Space).

Whether or not you have to roll for movement depends on two things:  The space terrain and the speed of the vessel.

Cautious Move:  Vessel movement doesn't even count as an action in most space terrains.  It's a free action.  But, when the space terrain is classified as Difficult, Very Difficult, or Heroic, a check vs. Pilot skill must be made.

What is Difficult Space Terrain?  Starfigthter combat among a lot of other space vehicles or in a dense asteroid field.  Remember the scene in The Empire Strikes Back where the Falcon is being chased by TIEs through the asteroids close to Hoth?  That's Difficult Space Terrain.

Very Difficult and Heroic terrain are steeper degrees of stuff in the way.  



Cruise Move:  Move at 1x Space Speed.  This does count as an action but the action automatically succeeds on Very Easy, Easy, and Moderate terrains.  The Difficult, Very Difficult, and Heroric terrains all require a throw.

High Speed:  2x Space Speed.  Requires a roll for all movement modes.  Counts as an action.

All-Out Speed:  4x Space Speed.  Requires a roll for all movement mods.  Pilot can peform no other actions.







> if you wanted to loop back on someone who was following you, it required a Piloting roll for each 90 degree turn that you made.




There are several maneuvers that second edition presented for the game.  The idea was to involve the pilot (and crew) character, allowing them to roll on their respective skills.

Ships sensors required a throw and used a couple of different modes.  Shields were used as reaction skills, like the Dodge or Brawling Parry in standard character combat.  There were weapons to be fired, and if the ship was damaged, then Damage Control tasks could be performed.

All this to allow regular roleplaying from the seat of an X-Wing or the bridge of the Falcon.

The Rebel Alliance Sourcebook for 2nd Edition introduced fighter maneuvers where the pilots could peform various  maneuvers to help the ship get position on the enemy.  Some GMs used the maneuvers meant for air speeders while in space battles.  They all required a throw to perform the maneuvers.


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## Water Bob (Mar 3, 2013)

*TECHNICAL*

I'm still reading over the first edition core rulebook. Whether I actually get a game going or not is up in the air. I'm just enjoying the read!

There's lots of things to fix in the Star Wars universe: starships and speeders, droids, weapons and armor and other gear. It's a technologically advanced society.

So, it makes sense that one of a character's six main attributes measures his technical aptitude: Technical.

In Star Wars, if the character doesn't have an improved skill, he simply throws the die code of the governing attribute, and TECH governs all the repair skills. So, everybody in the Star Wars universe can fix some things--it's just the stuff that's real hard to fix that requires additional training.

Reading through the skills section, I saw that the game's got this neat little repair mechanic.

Remember the character Roark Garnet from earlier in the thread? He's got Technical 2D+2 with no improved skills, which means, anytime he attempts to repair anything, he rolls a base 2D +2.

So, let me show you how this repair mechanic works. I do it with an example.





Roark's ship takes damage when navigating the rings of a gas giant. The GM rules that the difficulty number to fix the ship is 20.

So, Roark rolls 2d+2 and gets a total of 8. So, 8 points of the total of 20 is fixed. Now, the target number is 12.

The first try at repairing something takes 15 min (unless the GM specifies otherwise).

The second try takes a day.

The third try takes two more days.

Try four takes four more days.

Try five takes eight more days.

And so on.


So, going back to our example, Roark has to repair 12 more points of damage. He works an entire day on it and rolls his TECH attribute 2D+2, gets a total of 8 a second time. The ship still isn't fixed, but there's light at the end of the tunnel.

Two more days (for a total of 3days and 15 minutes) Roark has been working on this ship. Once these extra two days are up, he rolls his 2D+2 for 4+ and gets a 10. The ship is fixed!



That's a nice little piece of mechanics writing. I appreciate a good, simple game mechanic.


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## Water Bob (Mar 3, 2013)

D6 Star Wars is all about fast action, blaster bolts flying, speeder drivin' fun.

The rules, even the lite rules provided in first edition, can get as detailed as a GM wants. For example, every weapon is given range categories so that one blaster pistol may be a bit more effective at short range than the other.

But, if you don't mind glossing over these types of details, and you just want a wam-bam exciting game, there is a suggestion in the first section of the first edition combat rules: It says to play out combat in the imagination--don't mess with maps and exact distances. The GM describes the action, players describe their actions, and the GM puts it all together, telling players when to roll.

The suggestion for quick combat goes on to say: Regardles of the exact weapon values, consider Point Blank Range to be 3 meters or less (about 10 feet).

Consider most indoor locations to be Short Range.

If the indoor location is very big (this is Star Wars, after all), like a large hangar bay, then use two ranges: Short and Medium Range. If targets are far, then use the rule of thumb that blaster pistols are at Medium Range while blaster rifles are at Short Range.

And, if conducting the combat outside, where typically there is a lot of space, use a similar rule of thumb: blaster pistols at Medium and Long Range; blaster rifles at Medium range.

Remember that the difficulty for Long Range is so hard that it's usually reserved for sniping weapons with scope attachments.



So, the game can be played on a grid, measuring everything out, using different range categories based on weapon type and movement in exact squares.

Or, the game can be played in the imagination, fast and furious, with generalized rules that lead to exciting scenes and fun.


As GM, pick your poison.


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## DnD_Dad (Mar 3, 2013)

I love using miniatures for all my games except Star Wars.  It's our imagination for me.


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## Water Bob (Mar 4, 2013)

OK, so here's another non-traditional, but quick way of doing things with the D6 Star Wars rpg. (I so admire these rules.)

There is an option to play out combat on a grid, but as I indicated above, the default is to play it out in the imagination.

Rolling for initiative isn't necessary. Players declare their actions, and then the GM guides the game through narration, describing the scene as if watching a Star Wars movie.

One suggestion for Declarations is to go by Perception scores, with the lowest perception going first--indicating that person generally doesn't see the whole picture before acting, and the highest PER going last--with the effect of that character perceiving the moves of the others before making his own move.

Initiative is not important when playing out the combat scene. When it is, the actual results of the skills used are considered which character shot first.

Take the situation with Han Solo and Greedo at the cantina in Mos Eisley. (Let's use the version where Greedo fires first.) We're in a roleplaying situation that breaks out into combat.

While in the roleplay...

PC Han: I don't trust this guy. I'll slowly pull the catch on my blaster and ease it out of the holster, but keep it hidden under the table. I'll say, *"Even I get boarded sometimes. Do you think I had a choice?"*

NPC Greedo: He doesn't seem to notice. He's so full of glee that you see drool wink out of his snout. (Then, in character, the GM says...) *You can tell that to Jabba. He may only take your ship.*

PC Han: *Over my dead body. *If he makes even a micro move, I'm blasting him.

NPC Greedo: *That's the idea. I've been looking forward to this for a long time.* And, the green thug jerks and fires!

PC Han: I'll let him have it!



The way the game (first edition) suggests this be handled is just to look at the higher blaster skill roll total. 

Both the characters make blaster skill checks. In this case, Greedo's total is higher, so the rodian's shot is considered first. 

PC Han uses his Dodge skill as a reaction roll, which is high enough to make Greedo's shot a miss.

Now, we look at Han's shot. It was lower than Greedo's, but the difficulty at Point Blank Range is only 5+. So, Han's going to hit unless Greedo dodges. The rodian does dodge--why wouldn't he--but his dodge skill is not high, and his roll is low. Han's blaster shot is still higher than Greedo's dodge total +5. So, Han hits.

Then, Han's damage is high enough to kill Greedo outright.



That's how it would play out in Star Wars first edition. No fussing around with initiative--just straight to the action.





Another look at how this plays out--

We're in a scene where the PC is trying to break out of the Death Star. He's lost, and he's trying to make his way back to the ship. The alarm is out. Stormtrooper squads are looking for him, and the guy is doing his best to find his way to the hangar bay where his ship sits.

GM: You turn a corner and run right in front of a stormtrooper standing at guard in front of a bank of elevators.

Player: Crap! Does he see me?

GM: The trooper raises his blaster rifle and says, click, "You there! Halt!"

Player: I'm outta here. I can't afford to get bogged down in a firefight. I'm gone, moving as fast as I can the way I came.

GM: The trooper fires after you. OK, now, we're into combat rounds.

GM rolls stormtrooper's blaster rifle skill.

Player rolls his character's DEX skill, and the player wins the toss.

GM: OK, you high tail it back down the corridor and around the corner. Blaster bolts explode into the wall behind you. You were too quick to act--the trooper couldn't get a good shot at you before you were around the corner.

(If the trooper had won the toss, then we would have seen if his shots hit and damaged the PC BEFORE the player rounded the corner.)

Initiave throws are not needed. Just roll regular skill dice and play off the results.

This is a brilliant system.


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## Olgar Shiverstone (Mar 4, 2013)

Water Bob said:


> Take the situation with Han Solo and Greedo at the cantina in Mos Eisley. *(Let's use the version where Greedo fires first.)* We're in a roleplaying situation that breaks out into combat.




Clearly you have fallen victim to some Lucasian Heresy.  As everyone knows, Han Shot First.


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## Water Bob (Mar 4, 2013)

Olgar Shiverstone said:


> Clearly you have fallen victim to some Lucasian Heresy. As everyone knows, Han Shot First.




LOL.  No, I just picked that version because it was a better example.  Greedo fired first but did not hit.  Han not only fired second, but hit and killed.  I was just showing how that would play out mechanically using first edition rules.

As for who shot first preference?  Han shot first, of course.


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## Water Bob (Mar 4, 2013)

Luke: *What a piece of junk!*

Solo: *She'll make point five past lightspeed. She may not look like much, but she's got it where it counts, kid.*



I've always wondered about the "point five" thing. What does it mean?

In WEG's Star Wars RPG, this has actually become part of the game. Each ship with a hyperdrive is rated with a hyperdrive multiplier. This stat reflects the speed of that particular drive. ".5" or 1/2 is the fastest in common use. "2" is the slowest in common use at the time of the original trilogy.

What this means is how fast the ship will navigate through hyperspace. If a trip is plotted to take 10 days, then a vessel with a hyperdrive 1 will make that trip in 10 days. Hyperdrive 2 will make it in 20 days. The "point five" Han was referring to means that the Falcon has a 1/2 multiplier--meaning that it cuts standard trip times in half. If the trip normally takes 10 days at hyperdrive 1, the Falcon can do it in a mere 5 days.

Solo: *She's fast enough for ya, old man.





*Interesting handwave about the Star Wars universe. I get this from the Star Wars RPG, WEG's version.

It says: *Most of the weapons used in Star Wars cauterize as they wound, so people rarely bleed to death or die of infection. In addition, medical technology is fantastically advanced, so even the most severely wounded character can be healed in short order, if medical assistance is available.*


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## Stormonu (Mar 4, 2013)

Water Bob said:


> It says: *Most of the weapons used in Star Wars cauterize as they wound, so people rarely bleed to death or die of infection. In addition, medical technology is fantastically advanced, so even the most severely wounded character can be healed in short order, if medical assistance is available.*




Unless they've lost the will to live .


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## DnD_Dad (Mar 4, 2013)

Or I gutted them with my Vibroblade.


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## LostSoul (Mar 4, 2013)

I think that you should just cut through the prologue and skip to either here



Water Bob said:


> Once the PCs lift and break Alderaan's orbit, I want an action scene with an Imperial customs boat bearing down on them. "Come to and prepare to be boarded!" I might throw in a couple of fighters and an SDB just to make it clear to the players that they are outgunned.




or here



Water Bob said:


> But, something is immediately wrong. Alarms are going off. The ship should be safely in hyperspace now, but the instruments are showing that the ship is coming out of jump.




depending on how big of a deal you want to make the cargo shipment.  

Tell the players that you're going to jump into the middle of the action, like a good Star Wars story would, but that will require some framing.  If they're okay with it, prepare a "title crawl" that deals with GOBI and the backstory, then jump to the point where they have some real decisions to make.

If they're not okay with that, drop the idea of running the module (use it as the outcome for a wild die complication on an astrogation roll, or add it to a table of adventure seeds).  Then flesh out the backstory with GOBI and the wicker goods, the repo agents/crime lord, and any other possible adventures/sources of cash the PCs can come up with.

(For GOBI - instead of playing the PCs as fools, which isn't very "Star Wars-y" in my opinion, how about this: Princess Leia or Bail? (I forget his name) Organa are sending a message to someone (probably a Bothan) in the rebellion.  The message is molecularly encoded in the wicker, so yeah, it is just wicker.  You have to put it together in the right way to read the message - the "code key" - which only the guy on the target planet has.

The message is about some kind of secret imperial project - big news! - that they've got wind of, and the rebel agent should send his "espionage" astromech droid to go and collect it from some kind of big imperial installation.  But there's a mole in the operation and the Bothan dies - he won't be the first - and the PCs are caught up in the intrigue, with the promise of a lot of cash if they complete the mission.  If that's all they care about.

Obviously you can read between the lines - the PCs are going to get the Death Star plans on R2-D2.  Maybe they'll even be on the Tantive IV when Vader captures Leia.  While I wouldn't get too caught up on Star Wars canon, there's a lot on this page you could mine for adventure ideas.)


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## Wednesday Boy (Mar 4, 2013)

LostSoul said:


> chop




Stellar ideas!!


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## Mrdrasco (Mar 4, 2013)

Love West ends Starwars, a great system, and fits the starwars universe well. Unfortunately are game masters leaving for another state and the game dies, so sad.


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## Sabathius42 (Mar 4, 2013)

Water Bob said:


> 3. But, each character is allowed to do only ONE action. After the entire side has moved (all characters have performed one action), then the second side gets to move, and so on.




I am pretty sure you have this wrong, and as a result combats would be pretty boring indeed.  You are allowed to do extra actions on your turn but each additional action you do past the first makes all of your other actions harder to do.  You figure out how many actions you want to do total and lose 1D from all your rolls for each action beyond the first.

So, for example, this might be a combat round....

PC1:  I just want to move up (one action) to the crates and try to not get shot (dodge - second action).
GM: Give me a dodge roll minus one die.
PC2:  Why are you hiding from stormtroopers?  They suck.  I want to shoot all four of them with my Heavy Blaster Pistol (4 actions).
GM: Give me four Blaster rolls at -3D each.

Or, in my favorite moment of the old campaign we played back in the day....my Jedi responds to a knock at the door and opens it to find 4 bounty hunters with blasters at the ready to take him in.  My reply....

ME:  I want to pull my light saber (one action), block all four of their shots at me (4 actions) and instead of just blocking them I want to actually deflect them back at the individual shooting at me (4 more actions).
GM:  Dude, that's 9 actions.  Everything at -8D.
ME:  I guess I am using my force point too!

The result was 4 dead Bounty Hunters and a moment that would be the coolest moment ever in the SW movies had it been filmed.

I loved D6 SW.


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## Water Bob (Mar 5, 2013)

Sabathius42 said:


> I am pretty sure you have this wrong, and as a result combats would be pretty boring indeed.





Man, I wish I was wrong about it, but, straight from pg. 46 of the first edition Star Wars rules: Each combat follows the following sequence.

Decision Segment: Where Players and the GM decide upon what they're going to do for the round.

Declaration Segment: Where Players and the GM announce the intended actions of each character.

First Action Segment: (I'll copy this verbatim) Each character for whom an action was declared takes his first action. An "action" is either movement or a skill or attribute use.

Second Action Segment: If any character declared more than one action, characters' second action are now resolved. Any character for whom only one action was declared does nothing (but may dodge or parry) in this segment.

Subsequent Action Segments: If any character declared more than two actions, additional action segments ocur until all characters have performed all declared actions.





You're right. This is quite boring _if played on a grid, _which is how I usually do things (though I'm warming up to the idea of going mapless in the future).

You have to remember that this combat system was designed to be played without a map. Star Wars game sessions are more casual affairs (designed like AD&D 2nd edition) where the GM and players sit comfortably around the coffee table in the den. When a combat breaks out, the GM will ask his players what they will do.

Jon: Roark will is going to run to the crates, and using them as cover, fire at a stormtrooper on the left.

Brad: Babbs will cover Roark's move. Babbs won't move himself, but he will fire twice at the stormtrooper on the left.

GM: Both stormtroopers will split up, one moving to the left, the other to the right, along the wall, attempting to catch you two in a cross fire. The one on the left will fire once at Roark. The one on the right will fire once at Babbs. They'll both fire first then move, getting into position for next round.

That's the first two phases of the combat. Next, we go into into the First Action Segment.





GM: OK, everybody gets to roll their firs actions. The stormtroopers fire:

ST Right gets a total of 18. He takes a -1D on the shot because he's performing two actions.
ST Left gets a total of 12. He also takes a -1D on the shot for the same reason.

Babbs takes a -1D on his first shot because he declared two actions and fires at ST Left, getting a 15.

Roark does not take a -1D penalty on his throws because, although he is peforming two actions, characters are not penalized if they walk--Roark's shot will come in segment two. And, since he's moving in segment one, he'll roll his DEX to determine if he's shot at before he reaches the cover of the crates. He throws DEX code, getting a 16.





Order of resolution for the first segment (this is determined by their skill and attribute rolls above):

1. ST Right fires at Babbs.
2. Roark moves to crates.
3. Babbs fires at ST Left.
4. ST Left fires at Babbs.





ST Right fires at Babbs....

This means that ST Right was quickest with the trigger (with his 18 Blaster Rifle shot) and shoots Babbs.

Brad: Babbs will attempt to duck the shot. He rolls Dodge and adds the total to the trooper's target number. 

GM: The trooper missed! His shot sizzles past you, and you can hear it explode on the wall down the corridor behind you. But, Babbs is now doing three actions during the round, so his second shot in segement two will be at -2D.



Roark moves to crates....

GM: Roark, ducking the blaster fire, arrives at the crates and goes down on one knee.



Babbs takes first shot at ST Left....

GM: OK, Babbs has already fired, so the -2D penalty because of his Dodge Reaction is not applied to any throws that have already been thrown. It's a total of 15 on his attack. 

GM: ST Left will Dodge, but that doesn't help him. Babbs still hits.

Brad: My damage is 13 points.

GM: Your blaster bolt slams into the trooper and throws him up against the wall. A second later, he's on the ground (the trooper is stunned, down for the rest of the round--but the GM will not tell the players this--they have no way of knowing).



ST Left Fires At Babbs....

GM: This can no longer take place since Babbs just downed the trooper. Now, we're moving into segement two.





Segment Two.

We're doing second actions now. ST Right will move. ST Left is still stunned, so he will do nothing. Roark will now fire from his crouched position behind the crates. And Babbs will take his second shot at ST Left (even though the trooper is down, Babbs declared to shots at him).

So Babbs and Roark roll, since they are making blaster shots. ST Right has no need to roll because nobody is firing at him. And ST Left is still stunned.

Babbs gets an 8.

Roark gets a 16.



Order of actions in this segment...

1. Roark fires at ST Left.
2. Babbs fires at ST Left.
3. ST Right arrives at the position along the right wall.





Roark fires at ST Left.

GM: Roarks is on one knee, behind the creates, blasting at ST Left. Since he's taking 2 actions this round (the move then the shot), he's -1D on his shot. And, since ST Left is prone, that's +5 to difficulty.

ST Left can't Dodge because he's stunned.

Roark misses, anyway.



Babbs fires at ST Left.

Babbs is taking 3 actions this round (The Dodge and two shots), so he's -2D on his shot and is +5 to difficulty because his target is prone.

The ST Left is still stunned, so he cannot Dodge.

But, Babbs' shot is a miss--too many penalties.





ST Right completes move.








OK, that's a full round of SW first edition. It's a lot to write out, but I think it flows fairly well if the GM runs the game as intended, that is to say, verbally playing out the combat encounter.

If you played this out on a grid, I do believe it would not have a very "Star Warsy" feel to it.


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## Sabathius42 (Mar 5, 2013)

From your description we must have played incorrectly (or perhaps from a different edition?) but in a way that made the action flow much better.

This is, in detail,  the timing of how we did all of our combats....

1.  Initiative was rolled.  I can't recall at this time (we played in the early 90s!) if we did individual initiative or group, but I suspect it was individual.  I can't recall what stat we used but I suspect it was Perception.  Turn order was set for the rest of the battle based on this initial order.

2. At the beginning of each round everyone who wanted to actively defend had to declare they wanted to actively defend.  This active defense counted as an one action.

If the ONLY action you took was defending (minus a small "free" move like ducking behind a door or diving behind a crate a few feet away) the number you rolled on your defense roll (which was usually dodge but also might have been Brawling Parry or Starship Piloting if in a space battle) was ADDED to the difficulty of the attacks against you.

If you wanted to actively defend and take other actions as well you would still roll a defense roll but instead of adding to the base difficulty to hit you, it instead would SUBSTITUTE for the difficulty if it was beneficial to you to do so.  You had to figure out how many actions you were going to take on your turn so you could subtract the correct amount of dice.

3. Starting at the top of the initiative order and working your way down the list each player and NPC would take their full set of actions.

GM:  Ok, Luke goes first.

Luke:  I use my magnetic grapple to climb to the underbelly of the AT/AT#1 (Action 1), slash open the door with my lightsaber (Action 2), toss in a thermal detonator (action 3), free fall back into the snow (GM rules this is a free action but may cause damage), and run like hell away (Action 4).  [Rolls: Climb -3D, Lightsaber Combat -3D, Grenades -3D]

GM:  [after dice are rolled and damage is dealt]  OK, it looks like ATAT#1 blew its doors out and is a smoking hulk, but still standing.  Wedge you are next.

Wedge:  I tell my co-pilot to shoot the tow cable at ATAT#2's legs as I fly by.

GM:  Its a bit away from you still, you have to move to get to it this turn.

Wedge:  OK, I move up to it (action 1), get my gunner to shoot a cable into its legs (GM rules this as Gunners Action 1), fly around its legs a few times to tie it up (action 2 and 3), release the cable at just the right time (Gunners Action 2) and fly like hell away(action 4).  Also I dodged this round (action 5).

GM:  OK, since you are flying really close to a moving ATAT you are going to have to make rolls for the two circling moves.  [Wedge Rolls: Speeder -4D, Speeder -4D (he also already rolled Speeder -4D earlier for his defend roll)]  [Janson Rolls:  Whatver Skill Harpoon Cable Guns Are -1D]

GM:  Awesome!  Its all tied up.  Random Hoth Rebel, you are next.

RHR:  I shoot ATAT#3 with my big giant laser turret thing.  [Rolls: Whatever skill the giant laser turret thing would use]

GM:  Great!  The shot bounces off its armor.  Again.  That's like the fifth time.  You should probably try something else next time.  OK, now its the ATAT's turn.

GM:  OK, ATAT#1 falls over in a smoking pile and [Roll: Survival for those aboard] a few straglers come piling out of the wreckage.

GM:  ATAT#2 pauses to take a shot at Wedge [Roll: Walker Gunnery or somesuch] and tried to move forward but [Roll: Walker Operations] fails to stay on its feet.  Its front comes crashing down into the snow but its not destroyed or anything.

GM:  ATAT#3 is laying waste to the Rebel trenchs [Roll: Walker Gunnery -3D four times].  RHR, you are dead buddy.

GM:  OK, thats everyone, who wants to dodge next round?



4. After every character has had a turn go back to step 2 and repeat until one side is finished.

When I played all the time in the early 90s we never used a grid or minis, just imagination.  I have since played a reunion game or two that DID use a grid and felt it slowed down the pace of combat with little or no addition of strategy or tactics to trade off.


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## Water Bob (Mar 5, 2013)

Sabathius42 said:


> From your description we must have played incorrectly (or perhaps from a different edition?) but in a way that made the action flow much better.




The combat system in the game was changed several times, once with the Rules Upgrade, then again with the Rules Companion supplment.  Rolling for initiative came with second edition, IIRC, or maybe the Revised & Expanded rules set.

There were five different versions of the rules, so it's likely that you either played a different version, or your GM used a house rule as I suggested in the OP.


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## Randalthor (Mar 5, 2013)

Mrdrasco said:


> Love West ends Starwars, a great system, and fits the starwars universe well. Unfortunately are game masters leaving for another state and the game dies, so sad.



To be totally selfish: Does he happen to be going to Tennessee, specifially the Knoxville area?


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## Lord_Blacksteel (Mar 5, 2013)

I ran thru a similar re-look last year with 2ER&E and then again last month when I picked up the 1st edition book and while there's a lot I like there are things I would change, especially with 2ER&E. 

The skill list is just choked with over-specialized redundant skills and combat is full of modifiers and special cases and clunky concepts. It reads like a Star Wars game that someone has tried to turn into a general space opera system, and that's pretty much what happened. I know some of it was to clamp down on skill inflation - presumably that's why you end up with literally 14 different mechanical repair skills and things like being able to move half of your movement with an action at no penalty but if you move more than half of your movement rating then it counts as a second action. Yeah that's great.

1E may suffer from rapid skill inflation (I am told, I never ran or played it long enough to see it) but it also plays a lot more like the movies. I think a tweaked 1E would make a pretty good game even now.


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## Water Bob (Mar 5, 2013)

Delete.


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## Water Bob (Mar 6, 2013)

I'm warming to the first edition combat sequence. It reminds me of first edition AD&D and the combat segments it used. Both of those systems play out in more simultaneous style than typical I-do-all-of-my-actions-and-movement then you-do-all-of-your-actions-and-movement by initiative style games (as I was suggesting in the OP!).

I also realized that you don't have to roll every character's first action in each segement--that would be unwieldy. Just take the combat in portions--you're only rolling if a character's action affects another character.

I'm really starting to like the idea of not using a grid, too. I have a big cork board that I lay on the gaming table when we play our Conan campaign. I draw on these big graph paper sheets with a dark marker. Characters are represented by stick pins. It does a great job of mapping combat, but it is a pain in the butt to clear all the food and drinks and paper and dice from the table in order to lay this thing down.

Just playing out the combat scenario in the imagination, with maybe just using a sketch, not to scale, to aid player visualization, sounds like something I'd like to try.





I've been reading the *Rules Companion*. This is the second rules adjustment for first edition. First, there was the Rules Upgrade--that's only 4 pages. Then, WEG expanded and updated the rules in the Rules Upgrade in a rules supplement called the Rules Companion.

I do like a lot of the new rule adjustments, but it does make the game more complex. Part of the charm of first edition is the rules-lite, speed-o-light system that fits the fast fun of the Star Wars genre so well.

There is a major rule change that I don't like, though. That's the RC version of the combat round sequence. It has been changed from the above to this....

1. Declare Actions and Full Reactions: Both PCs and NPCs, with lowest DEX score declaring first.

2. Declare Combat Reaction Skills: Both PCx and NPCx, with highest DEX score declaring first. Character actions can account properly for Reaction skills. You'll find out your being shot at in the first phase, then in this phase, decide if you want to Dodge.

3. Roll Actions and Reactions: First roll non-movement actions, then roll movement actions.

4. Calculate Damage: Damage is done at the end of the round, after everybody has acted (like Classic Traveller), unlike first edition Star Wars.



I liked the character's skill roll determining initiative in the example above from first edition SW. Here, with the RC, that's thrown out the window, and a new concept called Haste is used. I don't like it. The benefit of declaring Haste is that the hasted action is done before any other actions. The penality is that declaring Haste penalizes all die codes by -1D, just like taking another action.

Thus, if Fred declares that he will fire his blaster twice, he'll do so at -1D each shot. If Barnaby declares that he will also fire his blaster twice, but one shot is hasted, then he fires both shots as if he was performing 3 actions. Both shots would be at -2D. The benefit of doing this is that hasted actions are performed first. Thus Barnaby's hasted shot would happen first, then Barnaby's second shot and Fred's two shots would happen (what is considered) simultaneously.

Unless I'm reading something wrong, I don't really see the benefit of hasting combat actions. A player might want to get a door sealed before the enemy can catch up to him--I can see that action being hasted. But, with combat, all damage is done at the end of the round--so, there's no real reason to shoot first. You will still get your shot.


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## LostSoul (Mar 7, 2013)

What are your feelings on Force Points/Dark Side Points and using/getting Character Points?  I'm not sure I like the tension between advancing your stats or improving a specific roll using CPs.


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## Wednesday Boy (Mar 7, 2013)

LostSoul said:


> What are your feelings on Force Points/Dark Side Points and using/getting Character Points?  I'm not sure I like the tension between advancing your stats or improving a specific roll using CPs.




I'm with you.  I hoarded my CPs as much as I could and hated when I had to spend them.


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## Water Bob (Mar 7, 2013)

LostSoul said:


> What are your feelings on Force Points/Dark Side Points and using/getting Character Points? I'm not sure I like the tension between advancing your stats or improving a specific roll using CPs.




I like them.  I think they do a great job of bringing The Force into the game mechanically.  A player can do something superhuman, one time, or he can use those same points to improve his character just a little bit.

I made the mistake of awarding CPs after every game session in my 7-year campaign back in the 90's (used R&E rules), and I remember my players using them all the time in the game--usually to save their butts, but sometimes to do some heroric, amazing stuff.  Rarely did they improve their characters with them.

First Edition Star Wars does not use Character Points, btw.  That's a Second Edition mechanic.  And, PCs only start out with 1 Force Point.  So, in first edition, there's a lot less use of The Force than you might have experience playing second edition.



In first edition, there is "Skill Points", which work just like CPs except that you can't use them "in game".  They're strictly used to improve the character, somehow.  They're mainly meant to improve the character's stats and skills, but also, they can be used to improve equipment.

I don't know how I feel about that last bit--using Skill Points in order to add more damage to a blaster, get a bonus on the attack throw, have it hold more ammo, have longer range--or whatever.




The neat thing about the D6 system is that it's easy to modify.  It even says, on page 28 of first edition, where advice is given to the gamemaster:  Remember, the purpose of the game is to have fun.  If our suggestions (meaning the rules) get in the way--toss 'em out.  Having a good time is more important than attention to picayune details.

So, if you don't like the uses of CPs, then don't use 'em.  Revert to first edition Skill Points.  Or, have both:  Skill Points and Character Points, using skill points for character improvement and character points for representation of the effect of The Force in the game (along with Force Points).



As for Dark Side Points, I found them very useful in the mega-campaign I ran.  My players, all roleplayers, did not want their characters going over to the Dark Side.  Most of them were not Force Sensitive, anyway.

We did have a character go over to the Dark Side at the climax of our game:  he became Vader's apprentice, known as Darth Raige.  The player playing him did not want to go that route, and it was a bit of a tragedy.  But, he was truly seduced during the game by the Dark Side.  I kept giving him hard choices to make, not unlike Luke leaving Degobah to rescue Han and Leia when Yoda and Kenobi's spirit protested.  Like Luke, the character followed his honor, but unlike Luke, he was unable to withstand the pull of the Dark Side.

We never did get around to it, but I always meant to run a follow-up campaign where this character, as Darth Raige, was the primary bad guy.  I thought it would have been neat to see if the PCs could redeem him.

But, to answer your question, the Dark Side points were instrumental in this long process of having this character turn to the Dark Side when the player was unwilling to go that route.

Man, that was a fantastic campaign.  We all loved it.


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## Man in the Funny Hat (Mar 7, 2013)

Just found this thread and been thinking vaguely for a week or two about running a SW d6 game.  I thought I still had the 1E rules but find that all I have now is the 2E Revised edition, and the (ick!) d20 edition.  Guess I sold off the 1E books and just about everything else I once had for SW (which was a fair amount).  Got no adventures or sourcebooks, so it's probably not surprising that what I started thinking of is essentially a "reboot" of the setting.  That'd let me throw in just about any planet, vehicle, alien I care to dream up.  Let some smartass smuggler find out that it's HIS father who is the Emperors right hand man.  Let a PC Jedi find out that the Sith are an entirely different kind of threat than what the movies said they were.

Been so busy this week that I haven't had time to do much more than give the rulebook a superficial glance to start re-familiarizing myself with the system.

I do remember having a LOT of fun running a 1E d6 game which ended because I was putting so much energy into running the game sessions that I needed a break.  I think the simple fact of my advanced age will help there - I won't have the energy to overwork myself in the first place.    I remember I started to have some issues with characters becoming a little TOO good.  All the emphasis on combat only encouraged dumping all their points into nothing but blasters, dodging, and improved armor (allowing the combat droid PC was an unfortunate move).  I only vaguely recall concerns about the Force skills system - whether it was just worries about Jedi PC's dominating play once they got points into their skills or what, I no longer recall.  I guess I'll just have to read up on it, stay flexible, and maintain communication with players about potential pitfalls.  IF I ever even bring this off...

One advantage - I still have piles of minis, including plenty o' stormtroopers.


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## Water Bob (Mar 7, 2013)

Man in the Funny Hat said:


> Just found this thread and been thinking vaguely for a week or two about running a SW d6 game.




Let go you conscious self and trust your feelings.  Then, those notions you get will become less cloudy by the calling you've received of The Force!





> Got no adventures or sourcebooks, so it's probably not surprising that what I started thinking of is essentially a "reboot" of the setting. That'd let me throw in just about any planet, vehicle, alien I care to dream up.




The Star Wars universe is rather big...even without a reboot, there's many, many, many stories to be told.  




> Let some smartass smuggler find out that it's HIS father who is the Emperors right hand man.




No need for a reboot!  I think there's plenty of room to tell a story like that.  Plus, your players will never forsee it--a third Skywalker babe!  Not Luke and Leia, but...their step brother.

There is 19 years between Episode III and IV, then another 4 years before Vader's death--plenty of time for another birth, that maybe the Emperor commanded Vader to kill (and is believed dead--but isn't).

Or, what about Anakin not knowing a lover was impregnated--this, pre-Episode II?

Or....how about this!  Remember that Skywalker's mother had a virgin birth.    Maybe...just maybe....she wasn't the only one.

Maybe we really don't know the story of the True Chosen One....




> Let a PC Jedi find out that the Sith are an entirely different kind of threat than what the movies said they were.




Quite possible, if you use a splinter group.  The Jedi were guardians of the galaxy for a thousand generations.  The comics and books tell us the history of the Sith...._some_ of it.

There is plenty of room, in all those thousands of years, for some permutation of the Sith.


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## LostSoul (Mar 7, 2013)

Thanks for the replies.  I only vaguely remember skill points; we never used them in our games.

In my favourite SW campaign I changed the Dark Side Point mechanic: you'd only fall if you hit 6 DSPs, and you didn't have to roll each time you got one.

I think that gave the players more space to explore the themes presented in the movies.  We had a Jedi who would call on the Dark Side every now and then, and I - as DM - was sure to play that up.  The PCs ended up taking views that the movies probably wouldn't have supported, but in our games it made perfect sense: I think I gave a FP and a DSP to the PC who pushed the hated Hutt out of the window to his death in the penultimate session of our campaign.


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## Water Bob (Mar 7, 2013)

LostSoul said:


> I think I gave a FP and a DSP to the PC who pushed the hated Hutt out of the window to his death in the penultimate session of our campaign.




If you go back and look at the movies, though, there's a lot of places where the Jedi don't act as "good" as you might think they would.

For example, in A New Hope, when Luke, Ben, Han and the Falcon jump into the Alderaan system, the TIE fighter zooms by.  Han's first instinct is to kill the pilot, and Ben does nothing to stop it.  

Even with an enemy, you might think that a Jedi might want to find another way, if possible--only kill in self defense, and all that.  Nope, Ben just sits there and watches Han try to murder this guy.

Take a close look at all three films, and I bet you'll find more instances like this, usually dealing with some miscellaneous alien or Imperial.

Given the game rules, yeah, pushing the Hutt out the window MIGHT require a DSP...but given the movies, I think that needs to be re-evaluated.  Your campaign climax sounds very Star Wars to me.


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## Man in the Funny Hat (Mar 8, 2013)

Water Bob said:


> Even with an enemy, you might think that a Jedi might want to find another way, if possible--only kill in self defense, and all that.  Nope, Ben just sits there and watches Han try to murder this guy.




"Murder" is not the correct word - unlawful killing with malice aforethought.  Ben was quite clear they did NOT want "Imperial entaglements".  Solo went along with that... for a higher fee.  The TIE was a surprise to everyone and Ben, Luke, and Han all were in agreement that the pilot was headed off to report them being there and _That Would Be Bad_.  Oh, it would be a crime to smudge one TIE fighter and its pilot, but then everything they were doing at the time was a crime.  They just blasted their way out of Mos Eisley.  Kenobi was attempting to deliver stolen state secrets (Death Star plans) to the REBELLION!  Oh, they were gonna kill that pilot all right - but it would not have been murder.

I do agree that the Jedi were not always acting as Lawful Good as we tend to expect.  We think of them as Paladins but they're not - they're Jedi.  While they have a lot of moral and ethical commonalities in their oaths and practices they're not the same.  Jedi are "guardians of peace and justice", or were for a long time.  That essentially makes them a cross between cops and UN blue-helmets for practical purposes no matter what high-falutin' training they get and that suggests that they're going to fail occasionally as paragons of virtue.  Don't forget either that it is the failures of the Jedi that enabled the Sith to infiltrate the Republic and even let one become Emperor right under their noses with a ready-made army of clones to do the dirty work, and then nearly wipes the Jedi from the universe with one Special Order.

I'm reasonably sure that if you go through the movies again though you'll find that while the Jedi aren't always pure as the driven snow the killing and maiming that they do is at least by necessity.


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## Water Bob (Mar 8, 2013)

*Star Wars First Edition + The Rules Companion


*
I do like most of what the Rules Companion brings to the game. The Haste thing is personal taste. With first edition, it was a character's skill roll that allowed him to go first in a segment. With the RC, it's which every player is willing to take the most Haste penalties.

So, in first edition, going first meant a higher dice throw. With the RC, skill still does influence order of action, because a character with high skill can accept more Haste penalties.

I still like the first edition method better, but I can see where some would rather not leave it up to chance and have more control of acting first.





There are a lot of little rules, here and there, that the RC brings to the game. I like the range of target numbers for a given difficulty, and I like that a medpac can be used more than once on an indivdual in a given day at a higher difficulty.

You can see the beginnings of the Movement system presented in second edition in the movement changes brought by the RC. I think second edition R&E does a better job at the movement rules, but there's got to be something said for the pure simplicity of Speed die codes and two character movement modes of first edition.

The capital combat system is neat. I like how it draws on the Command skill of the ship's commander, the use of the tactics skill, and such.


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## Water Bob (Mar 8, 2013)

Looking at the various combat round procedures in the editions of D6 Star Wars, what changes is how initiative is determined.

In first edition, which character acts first is determined organically, logically, and by skill throws. If two characters fire blasters at each other, both players pick up dice and make their attack throws. The higher attack throw happens first. Reaction skills thrown only if needed.

*First Edition Combat Round Procedure*

1. Decision/Declaration - organically during the process of the game.

2. First Actions performed - organically. Skill checks used if initiative needs to be performed.

3. Second Actions performed - and so on.





With the edition of the Rules Companion, initiative becomes a bidding war. The player that has a character with the need and can take the penalties declares higher Haste than anyone else.

*Rules Companion Combat Round Procedure*

1. Declare Actions - In order of lowest DEX to highest DEX, all characters.

2. Declare Reaction Skills - You know who's shooting at you, so you can declare your Dodge now.

3. Roll Actions - Those who have declared Haste go first, followed by everybody else, who are considered simultaneous.





In second edition, Initiative is figured with a Perception check, and all actions are performed on one side first, then the other (say...first all the PCs, then all the bad guys, for one action, then repeat).

*Second Edition Combat Round Procedure*

1. Initiative - Combatants are divided into sides, usually the PCs and the bad guys. The character with the highest Perception score on each side rolls initiative. Winner decides which side declares first.

2. Delcaration - As determined by Initiative, one side declares, then the other.

3. Roll Defensive Skills - If you want to use Dodge or Melee Parry, then you roll it now.

4. Roll Actions - Side One does all their first actions, then Side Two does theirs. Then, Side One does all second actions followed by Side Two's second actions, and so on.





Second edition, R&E, got rid of the pre-rolling of the Reaction skills introduced with the RC, going back to the way it was done in first edition. Initiative uses the "side" concept used in second edition. And, there is no longer a Declaration phase.

*Second Edition Revised & Expanded Combat Round Procedure*

1. Initiative - Combatants are divided into sides, and the character with the highest Perception score on each side rolls initiative. Winner of the toss decides which side acts first.

2. Roll Actions - All characters on Side One perform first actions, then all characters on Side Two performs first actions. Then, second and third actions are performed the same way--and so on. When a side acts, the character with the highest Perception score acts first followed by the character with the second highest score, and so on.


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## Water Bob (Mar 9, 2013)

The Blackstar Warrior! Lando Calrissian, he's the baddest cat in the galaxy!

Cracks me up.


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## Water Bob (Mar 9, 2013)

A Star Wars fan film featuring Boba Fett.

It's pretty good!

Boba Fett is brutal.


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## Water Bob (Mar 9, 2013)

For those of you interested in the D6 Star Wars game, you can download the official D6 rules from DriveThruRPG for FREE! In fact, you'll find lots of low cost and FREE D6 items there, like the D6 Space Ships supplement that you can use as a guide to make your own Star Wars vessels.

The core rule book will give the Star Wars GM different options to bring into his game. For example, D6 Star Wars uses the Wound Level system for character damage. If you prefer hit points, you can use the alternate Body Points method detailed in the generic D6 rules.

If you don't like the Star Wars template method of character generation, the D6 Space book also introduces a point-buy type system. The GM can use the guidelines in D6 space to take the broad Star Wars skills and make the more narrow in scope. An advantages/disadvantages system is introduced. There's rules for alien species creation, cybernetics (fairly ignored in Star Wars, yet Luke and Vader obviously get a lot of use out of cybernetics), and if you don't like rolling a lot of dice, a method is presented to lower the number thrown.

It's interesting to note that the Initiative methods akin to first edition and second edition R&E are both used as options in the D6 Space core rules. And, the one-action-per-segment thing, that was a part of all the D6 Star Wars rules, is gone. Now, when a character acts, he performes all of his actions--just like the house rule I used to use with my old D6 Star Wars game (in the OP).

Mentioned in the Star Wars game, but more formalized in the D6 rules, is a system for measuring the result of a skill throw is needed--when more than just a pass/fail answere is needed (how well did the character suceed?).

Combat is easy and summed up in a few pages, and there are options for adjusting the deadlieness of a game to suit player and GM tastes. Plus, there are combat options that never made it into the Star Wars rules, like Disarming a foe or fighting with unweildy weapons.

One neat chapter of the generic D6 rules covers making skill attempts. The chapter is loaded with details and sample tasks to give GMs a good feel of the game.

The Metaphysics chapter is very similar to The Force chapters in the various Star Wars rulebooks. It's easy to mix-n-match stuff from the two sets of rules. In most cases, The Force descriptions are just altered with new titles. Instead of the three Force abilities being Control, Sense, and Alter, the Metaphyics chapter calls them Channel, Sense, and Transform. They mean the same thing in both rule sets.

The Equipment chapter can be used directly with Star Wars. "Robots" are "Droids", obviously. But, with the non-Star Wars rules, you'll get a lot of non-blaster type weapons, which can be good or bad, depending on if you want a bigger variety of weapons used in your Star Wars game. For example, do you want your players going to a lower tech world where shotguns are being used instead of blasters? That's a GM choice. Plus, a GM can just call the weapons "blasters" and say that the shotgun fires particles of ultra-heated tibanna gas, using the weapon's stats as-is. If you ever wanted to play Traveller using D6 rules, this section is MADE FOR YOU!

There's a basic ship design system included in the core rules (also see the *D6 Space Ships* book, also free on DrivethruRPG, that I mention and link at the top of this post).

And, there's nice reference sheets at the end of the book.





There's a neat Funds rule where, instead of keeping track of every credit the character has, he's assigned a die code. The Funds a character has is derived from various aspects about the character. His Knowledge stat, Perception stat, Business skill, appropriate skill specializations, and appropriate advantages and disadvantages are all considered to modify the base 3D Funds attribute where every character starts. A poor character would have Funds 1D while a rich character might have Funds 5D, 6D or more. 

When a character needs to buy something, he simply rolls his Funds attribute. Whatever he's trying to buy will have a difficulty associated with it. So, it's a task to buy something. Want a new blaster? Well, on this world, that's a 10+ throw. 

If you need to know the exact number of credits the character has on him, the rules even specify a method for converting the code to actual credits.

Brilliant.


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## Water Bob (Mar 9, 2013)

Here's a question for you Star Wars D6ers...

Dodge. Melee Parry. The Reaction Skills.

Would you allow them IF the character is unaware of the threat? Because of the Declaration phases in most Star Wars combat procedures, characters know when they are being attacked in a round before the character is actually attacked.

But, with second edition R&E, there is no declaration phase. Thus, it is truly a pure reaction when a character is shot at.

What if a character is walking through a canyon, and a stormtrooper with a sniper blaster rifle is concealed i the hills. He fires at the character. Does the character get to Dodge the shot? Or should the difficulty be tied soley to range because the target is unaware that he will be shot?

The same things goes with Melee Parry. Let's say that an NPC sneaks up on a PC successfully and attacks with a vibroaxe. Should the PC be allowed to parry?

The game rules don't address this situation, but logically, I wonder.


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## Water Bob (Mar 10, 2013)

The D6 Space game has a pretty neat Movement rule. I think I like it better than what I see in the Star Wars game editions. It's very simple.

Let's say a character has a rating of Move 10, which means his base move is 10 meters per round (humans). When a character needs to move, he uses an action, just like everything else he does. He must roll this move.

The base difficulty is 0 (meaning it's automatic). Thus, if a character wanted to use his first action to move 10 meters, he wouldn't have to roll--he automatically beats the target of zero.

If you've got terrain that would normally interfere with regular movement, you simply raise the movement difficulty. Characters use their base DEX code or their Running skill to make these move checks.

For subsequent movement, the difficulty is upped 5 points. Thus, if a character wanted to run 30 meters, he'd move 10 meters automatically on the first segment. On segment two, he'd have to make a 5+ on his Running check. On segment three, he'd have to make a 10+ Running check. Remember, this is three actions, so that Running check is -2D when used to make these checks.

A character can move, each segment, as long as he's got at least 1D to throw--so characters with higher Running skills can move farther than characters with lower Running skills.

That's pretty neat. And, easy.

What happens if a Running check is failed? Well, it typically means that Movement has stopped. The character was too slow to get all the planned movement accomplished within the 5 or 6 seconds in the round.

There are rules to go further than this, too, if using the Wild Die (a "1" complication could mean a trip) or by checking the degree of failure (if the Running check is failed by 5+ points, then the character trips).

This also fits well with the previous Star Wars rules. If a Move 10 character wants to move half movement and fire his blaster in the same segment, he can do that: Move 5 meters then fire is only considered one action.


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## Man in the Funny Hat (Mar 10, 2013)

Water Bob said:


> Dodge. Melee Parry. The Reaction Skills.
> 
> Would you allow them IF the character is unaware of the threat? Because of the Declaration phases in most Star Wars combat procedures, characters know when they are being attacked in a round before the character is actually attacked.
> 
> ...




From the "Rules Upgrade" under Reactions (and therefore should be 2E R&E rules):


> When someone attacks a character, the target character declares the reaction and must roll the skill before the attack roll is made. The reaction skill roll is the attacker's new difficulty number and is in effect for the rest of the round.
> 
> The character can use up any remaining actions for a reaction or have the reaction be an extra action, accepting a higher multiple action penalty for the rest of the round.



So, if I understand how it works you declare your actions and accept whatever penalty for multiple actions as normal.  As combat proceeds and somebody attacks you that you didn't expect you get to react and roll the attackers new difficulty number but you either have to start sacrificing actions you WERE going to perform or start accepting addtional penalties for additional actions against everything you're doing for the rest of the round.


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## Water Bob (Mar 10, 2013)

^^

R&E is the only D6 Star Wars rules set that doesn't include a Declaraton Phase.  In 1E, there is a Declaration Phase, but Reaction Skills do not have to be declared.  With the RC and 2E, Reaction Skills are declared.

So, let's say Babbs wants to fire his blaster at one stormtrooper, move 10 meters and drop to one knee, then fire his blaster a second time at a different stormtrooper.  That's 3 actions:  On segment one, he'll fire his blaster;  segment two sees him moving and dropping;  segment three is his second blaster shot.  Since he's taking 3 actions, he's -2D on the blaster shots (and movement rolls, if he makes them--depending on the rule set).

Let's say that, on segment one, a stormtrooper fires at him after he moves.  The second stormtrooper uses his comm to call in reinforcements.

If we're playing 1E + RC and 2E, then Babbs will know this when declaration is done, so Babbs will declare his 3 actions and add in a 4th action to Dodge, pre-rolling his Dodge number.  He'll now be -3D on all actions.

Depending on the initiative system used, we'll assume that the order is Babbs, Stormtrooper One, then Stormtrooper Two.





1E + RC and 2E

1.  Babbs declares his three actions.  Stormtrooper declares that he will fire once at Babbs.  Stormtrooper two declares his communication action.

2.  Babbs rolls his Dodge.

3.  Segment One:  Babbs fires at stormtrooper one, using -3D penalty to account for all four actions.  The Stormtrooper also fires at Babbs this round (provided that he's still standing and can fire--Babbs could take him out).  Stormtrooper Two communicates.

4.  Segment Two:  Babbs moves and drops.

5.  Segment Three:  Babbs fires a second time, using -3D.




In R&E and in 1E, Reaction Skills do not have to be declared (even though 1E has a Declaration Phase).  Reactions can be performed as true reactions instead of being "planned" with in the Declaration phase (R&E doesn't have a Declaration Phase).

0.  In 1E only, not R&E, Babbs will declare his three actions:  to fire at stormy one, move and drop, then fire at stormy two.  The two stormies will declare as they did above.  

With R&E, there is no declaration.  Initiative is determined, and we simply go to the first character to perform his first action.

1.  Segment One:  Babbs fires at stormy one, using -2D, because he plans on doing only 3 actions.  If able, Stormy One fires at Babbs.  Stormy Two communicates.

When Stormy One firest at Babbs, the player running the PC makes the decision to Dodge at this point.  Now, Babbs is doing 4 actions this round, but any rolls that happened before this point are unaffected by the Reaction Skill.  Thus, Babbs' Dodge is at -3D, and so will be his second shot in Segment Three.

2.  Segment Two:  Babbs moves and drops.

3.  Segment Three:  Babbs fires second blaster shot, using -3D penalty.




The big difference is that the systems that require Reaction skills to be declared (1E + RC and 2E) account for Reaction at the beginning of the round, before any actions are performed.

With 1E and R&E, a player can simply use the Reaction skill when he's shot at.  He doesn't have to decide to use it until he's actually being shot at.  And, thus, if the character is not shot at until segment three, the character actually gets two segments without being penalized for the total number of actions he's taking during the round.

For example, the above:  Remember that Stormtrooper Two only declared one action--to use his communicator to call in reinforcements.  Let's say that the Rebels are jamming the signal and the stormtrooper will have to make a skill check to punch through the jamming and get his message through.


Then, on segment 3, Babb's fired at him.  The trooper could then Dodge, at -1D (because this would be his second action for the round), but his comm roll to punch through the jamming would remain not penalized.





I like the 1E and R&E method of not worrying about Reactions until they are needed.  For one thing, I find it unwieldy to roll Dodges early, remember that total, then use it when it comes up in the appropriate segment.  It's much easier, and flows better, I think, to just roll Dodges when they're needed--when someone shoots at you.


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## Water Bob (Mar 10, 2013)

BTW, my question in Post #67 above, is really a question of if movement is considered part of a Dodge.

If a character Dodges, is it just a mechanical thing?  Or, must a character dash behind cover, drop to one knee or even prone, to account for the Dodge?

The game rules in all editions of D6 Star Wars seem to support the idea that it's just a mechanical thing.  If a character uses his Dodge, then the character really doesn't duck behind a wall or drop low, making himself a smaller target.

Then, again, I have a non-published draft of D6 rules from WEG that specifically state that movement is inherent when the Dodge is used.  If a character gets shot at, he must step to the left, or jump behind some crates, or tuck and roll away from a grenade blast.

So, my question is:  How do you prefer it.  Is using Dodge just another way to create a target number for the enemy?  Or, is Dodge a real action that must be accounted for in the game?


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## Man in the Funny Hat (Mar 10, 2013)

Dodge is just a mechanical thing - and yes, you should account for it in the game as well.  SWd6 is all about cinematic gameplay - recreating at the table the kind of stuff you saw in the movies.  In the movies when the heroes get shot at they get missed a lot, they duck this way and that, are behind cover or whatever.  The game mechanic of dodging is just a way to give the attacker a higher difficulty number to have to meet in order to damage the defender, BUT the idea is supposed to be that you are continually describing in cinematic terms what's actually happening to fit the dice results.

Started taking notes last night on my "alternate history" campaign setting and started rewatching the movies starting with Episode I.  I won't succumb to the temptation to start going over AGAIN all the awful plotting and story for the prequels but I think I have a good idea of where to start.  It WILL start with general parallels to E1, but this being an RPG campaign it will start on a much smaller scale.  The PC's won't start by fighting armies, they have to have stuff to lead up to that.  They will begin at a point where a schism is growing within the Jedi between those who believe in midichlorians as the source of the Force and those who still believe the Force is a supernatural, ineffable thing.  I'm actually considering the midichlorians as a tool the Stih are actually using to engineer the split - like an otherwise benign virus that they've slowly weaponized.

The Clone Wars will be simplified by a step.  In E1 the piffle with the Trade Federation and invasion of Naboo is the pretext that Palpatine is using to eventually justify the employment of the secretly created clone army to assume control from within.  Screw that.  The clone army is the army that the Sith are intending to use to straight up invade and conquer the Republic.  The Republic is like Rome - decadent, irresolute and spread too thin.  The Sith only needed two things - to cloud the Jedi ability to forsee what's happening and a large enough military force to take on the thinned Republic standing defenses.

So who's the BBEG?  The players will naturally suspect it's going to be someone in the senate.  I'm going to use that against them and falsely reinforce that idea.  However, the betrayal will not be a Sith mole but will come from within the Jedi - someone whose high midichlorian count leads himself and others to believe that he will bring balance to the Force.  That will either lead to open conflict between Jedi factions (betrayal and murder) or at least just distract them long enough for the Sith to track them all down and... well, we'll see where the campaign goes from there.


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## Water Bob (Mar 10, 2013)

Man in the Funny Hat said:


> BUT the idea is supposed to be that you are continually describing in cinematic terms what's actually happening to fit the dice results.




If you account for it, then it can change what a character is doing--thus the crux of the question.

And, does awareness affect the use of the Dodge?

If a stormtrooper is on guard, facing away from a PC who sneaks up on the stormtrooper, should the trooper be able able to Dodge or use Brawling Parry/Melee Parry (since it's been established that the trooper had no idea that anyone was behind him)?

In addition, it's hard for players to penalize themselves.  For example, if a grenade is thrown, and a character dodges out of the way, you typically won't see a player say that his character tucks and rolls out of the way, ending up prone--not when standing up from prone is going to cost him an action and another -1D for the round after the explosion.

A Dodge from a baster bolt can be a simple sidestep--a shifiting of a character's body weight from on leg to the other--just enough to alter stance so that the blaster bolt that would have hit him ends up narrowly missing him.  Once players learn this...they tend to do this all the time.  Gone are the exciting leaps behind cover and the quick drops prone to avoid enemy fire.

In the past, I've struggled with how Dodge is handled for these reaons, especially with R&E where there is no declaration phase so that a character has no idea who will shoot at him after he acts.

1.  Is awareness of the attack required in order to use Dodge skill?

2.  If Dodge is used, must the player also describe how the character is dodging--and if so, how do you get the player to describe the dodge as more than a step to the left or right, but a duck, a drop to the floor, a tuck around a corner, or a leap behind cover?


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## sabrinathecat (Mar 11, 2013)

I loved Starwars. After years of running D&D, having to spend 2-4 hours per session in prep-work, SW took about 20 minutes, and if the players decided to fly off the plot, they could. In fact, that resulted in some of our best RP & complications.
However, We used some different rules.
_*All *_action is simultaneous. Bad guys were resolved first for the sake of the GM's convenience. If they hit, that would be a problem for the players _next_ round. Then the players could kill them. We just went around the table.
The exception was if someone wanted to haste and action to go first, which cost a 1D penalty.
D penalties for multiple actions applied to ALL rolls. If you Dodge, Shoot, Pick a pocket, and try to slice a computer, that was -3D to ALL rolls.

The game was quick, brutal, and fun.
And I remember several instances of amazing chaotic fun, usually caused by the wild die/d'oh die/FU die.
I haven't seen much comment on this mechanic. In short, whenever you roll anything, 1 die is different (color, size, something) If it is a 6, you keep in and roll another die, still adding, until you get something that is not a 6. If you roll a 1, you lose that die, and your highest remaining die, and that is your total. GM rolls a die. If that is also a 1, well, sucks to by your character--something really bad happens. Thus it is possible for someone to get really lucky, and even a non-jedi could fire a proton torpedo down a 2-meter shaft with turbolasers and fighters shooting at him, and it is possible for Han Solo to step on the only dry twig in the entire Endor Rain-forest.

So fun consequences:
Defel Merc throws a grenade down a hole. d'OH! it bounced from the far wall and went off in his crotch. OK, resist that 5d grenade. d'OH!!!!! well, so much for that character.
Wookie Brawler tackles a 6-yo girl (and serial murderer). Wookie has 9D of brawling and rolls modestly well. 6-yo has 2D in everything and nothing else. 6-yo rolls her 2D of brawling parry. 5+6. 6. 6. 6. 6. 6. 6. 6. 4. So, the 6-yo squirmed out from her jacket, leaving the massive wookie who tackled her holding a scrap of ruined cloth as she ran down the alley.
I spent 30 minutes designing one bounty hunter and writing his back history. He and a bunch of friends show up and ambush the party. The character with the lowest blaster score tags him. Roll damage from the blaster pistol: 12. Roll to resist: D'OH!!! um, 2. DEAD.
StarShip combat was just a variation of Player combat, but used different skills from Mech instead of Dex and Str.
Sure, it's minimum of 3 rolls. Instead of minimum 2 rolls most of the time as people.

8 years ago I but up most of my gaming books on eBay. I kept the SW books.

Oh, we had a few other house rules:
If you burn a force point to do something heroic in character combat at a climactic moment, you got it back. If you wanted a second one, it had to be non-character combat. (Luke firing the torpedo, jousting from speeder bikes, shooting 8 TIE fighters in 1 round with a quad-turret).

I based adventures on the Flash Gordon Movie, 4 different Doctor Who Audio plays by Big Finish Productions, a movie called "Guilty as Charged", ExoSquad, and more. One time I wanted to try an ExoSquad campaign--turns out that wasn't as original as I thought.

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Dodge vs Cover.
Dodge is a skill the players roll.
alternatively, characters can drop prone, drop to one knee, or try to hide behind cover. In that case, the difficulty to hit them is fixed at 13-15, depending.
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Reaction skills: base difficulty for the range and for the weapon. It the target is unaware, he/she is unaware. That is the whole point. Of course, if you can do it to the players, the players can do it to your NPCs.
Imagine 5 snipers firing at Vader. Each one targets a different part of his body (head, chest box, belt buckle, right and left light boxes). Their target number is 30, reduced by sniper scopes, range-modified sniper blasters, bi-pods, and taking time to prep. All 5 fire at once because the spotter makes a decent command roll. Then have 4D blaster, +1d for prep. Their difficulty has been dropped to 20. Chances of hitting aren't great, but oh, they each spend a skill point. No, 2 skill points! 7D to roll a 20 is better than average likelyhood. Sure, one will probably miss. Maybe 2. But just as likely one will beam him with a 6. So, Vader gets hit 3 times. If he d'OH's his resistance roll, or one of those hits rolls really high damage, he is dead.
Guess it was another robot like the one Yoda had hiding in the tree?


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## Water Bob (Mar 11, 2013)

sabrinathecat said:


> _*All *_action is simultaneous. Bad guys were resolved first for the sake of the GM's convenience.




Like 1E AD&D, the first edition rules of D6 Star Wars do a pretty good job of simulating simultaneous actions.





> The game was quick, brutal, and fun.




Man, was it ever.  This rule set(s) stand out as an excellent example of how rules can be extremel fun, easy to master, and not very complicated.

Beautiful design.







> And I remember several instances of amazing chaotic fun, usually caused by the wild die/d'oh die/FU die.
> I haven't seen much comment on this mechanic.




That's because we've been mainly speaking of 1E, and the Wild Die wasn't introduced until second edition.

Some people love the Wild Die.  Some think it complicated unnecessarily an excellent system.


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## Wednesday Boy (Mar 12, 2013)

sabrinathecat said:


> And I remember several instances of amazing chaotic fun, usually caused by the wild die/d'oh die/FU die.
> 
> I haven't seen much comment on this mechanic. In short, whenever you roll anything, 1 die is different (color, size, something) If it is a 6, you keep in and roll another die, still adding, until you get something that is not a 6. If you roll a 1, you lose that die, and your highest remaining die, and that is your total. GM rolls a die. If that is also a 1, well, sucks to by your character--something really bad happens. Thus it is possible for someone to get really lucky, and even a non-jedi could fire a proton torpedo down a 2-meter shaft with turbolasers and fighters shooting at him, and it is possible for Han Solo to step on the only dry twig in the entire Endor Rain-forest.




I like the exploding aspect of the wild die but I think the fumbling aspect has the potential to be too punishing.  The way that we played is that on a 1 either the GM thought up that "something really bad" or if they couldn't you'd subtract the 1 and your highest die from your total.  Often our GMs thought up something really bad but really interesting and fun, so I liked fumbled wild dice.  But when the wild die rolls a 1 multiple times, it feel like you do nothing productive on your turn and that can be very frustrating.

A wonderful fumble on the wild die:  A crime lord's thugs confiscated our weapons and we were held at gunpoint, waiting to be blasted.  Our Force user tried to TK his lightsaber out of one thugs hands but fumbled and the GM had him accidentally turn the lightsaber on and slice the thug in half.  This caused a commotion to ensue and resulted in an extremely fun and chaotic combat.

A wonderful explosion on the wild die:  We were bountyhunters who teamed up with an NPC bountyhunter because she had the best lead on a target.  It turned out that she was friends with the target and would lure bountyhunters to a deathtrap.  She was able to get one shot on us before the wookie bountyhunter chopped at her with his vibroaxe.  The wild die kept coming up as 6 and he ended up doing enough damage to kill her twice over.  My friend who played the wookie reminisces on that story often.


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## Water Bob (Mar 12, 2013)

Wednesday Boy said:


> I like the exploding aspect of the wild die but I think the fumbling aspect has the potential to be too punishing. The way that we played is that on a 1 either the GM thought up that "something really bad" or if they couldn't you'd subtract the 1 and your highest die from your total.




That sounds like your GM's call.  In the R&E rulebook, one of the examples given for a complication is the scene in Return of the Jedi where Han Solo is on Endor, sneaking up behind the speeder bike trooper.  He steps on a dry limb, and there's a loud snap.  The trooper hears him, turns around, and the action starts, leading into the chase.

The point here is that the complication was merely that his stealth automatically failed.

Other complications can be something like your blaster running out of Tibanna gas (thus, no more ammo), or perhaps an electrical fire starts when the character is repairing a droid.

The book says, "*Complications should be fair and balanced:  they may put the character in danger, but they shouldn't be 'death traps' with no possibility of escape*."

When Lando was attacking the second Death Star in the Falcon, he made a throw to pilot the ship around all the girders and beams.  He made the roll but also rolled a complications.  The GM decided that the Falcon hit one of the beams and sheared of the sensor dish, disabling the Falcon's sensors.

Or, when Luke and Leia are running from the troopers, trying to escape the Death Star in A New Hope, they come to a door where the bridge is out.  Luke makes a throw to quickly operate and lock the door controls, but he not only fails the throw, he rolls a complication--he can't figure out how the lock works.  So, the door will open, allowing the troopers to get them.  The player thinks quickly and simply blasts the lock with a shot from his rifle, buying some time with the door closed.





If your GM played Complications harder than that (those are examples straight from the book), then he made a decision to play them harder and more deadly in his game.

Also note that the book gives THREE options for a "1" on a Wild Die.  And, all three are the GM's choice.

Choice A.  Add up the total normally.
Choice B.  Complication occurs, while skill roll total determines success.  
Choice C.  Subtract the 1 and the highest die from the total.



Choice C is best for simple checks.

Choice A is often ignored, from what I've seen of responses talking about it.  Choice A is just to ignore it.  

Choice B, a Complication, can happen even if the task is a success.  See the Lando example above.


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## Wednesday Boy (Mar 12, 2013)

Water Bob said:


> If your GM played Complications harder than that (those are examples straight from the book), then he made a decision to play them harder and more deadly in his game.
> 
> Also note that the book gives THREE options for a "1" on a Wild Die. And, all three are the GM's choice.
> 
> ...




Don't get me wrong, the complications that my GMs threw at us weren't extraordinarily difficult.  As you point out, Choice B often results in either outright failure (Han stepping on the twig) or taking one step forward and two steps back (running out of Tibanna gas before you can shoot).  And Choice C often leads to failure because dropping the wild die and your highest means you're likely to miss the target difficulty.  When that happens 1 out of 6 times, it can be very frustrating.


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## Water Bob (Mar 12, 2013)

Wednesday Boy said:


> When that happens 1 out of 6 times, it can be very frustrating.




Exactly.  That's why Choice A is there.  Just ignore it.  Keep on going.  A GM should keep his thumb on the pulse of the game, and if another Complication would be not fun, then use Choice A or Choice C.

For a while, we had standard rules for certain types of throws.  For example, on the Perception throw for initiative, if a 1 on the Wild Die popped up, it was automatically Choice C - subtract the one and the highest die.

I also used a chart so that players wouldn't feel like I was picking on them (by arbitrarily deciding a Complication would happen), and I weighted the chart so that Complications were more rare.

Thus, when a "1" on the Wild Die appeared (1 in 6 times), I'd throw on this chart....

1-3 means add up normally.
4-5 means subtract 1 and the highest
6    means complication


This made complications more rare.

When a "1" popped up on the Wild Die, half the time it meant nothing.


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## Water Bob (Mar 13, 2013)

I remember in the epic Star Wars campaign that I ran, the PCs were in a freighter, zipping around the towers of Nar Shaddaa.  That's the Hutt moon.  It's entire surface is covered with buildings, like Coruscant.  But, unlike Coruscant, this place is run-down, beaten up.  It's a sleazy boom town after its prime.  The Hutts control the place, and this is a great place to go if someone wants to get lost--or get his throat cut in the night for the few credits he has in his pocket.

My players were having thier characters zip in through this place with bounty hunters on their tail.  Ship's blaster bolts were flying.  PCs were in the turrets, swinging around, blasting away.

Each combat round, the pilots of each vessel made a piloting check to avoid all the obstacles.  If a Complication was rolled, I gave then an unexpected obstacle.

For example, the third bounty hunter, succeeding on his piloting roll, also rolled a 1 on his Wild Die that led to a Complication.  As the PC ship and two Hunters in front of him zipped around a building, he came in too close.  I gave him a special maneuver to perform.  If he succeeded, then great.  But, the check was made as a new action, taking all the appropriate multiple action penalties.

If he failed, he slammed into the side of a building--maybe doing minor damage, maybe ripping off an S-foil, or maybe exploding into a ball of flames or go zipping out of control in true Star Wars style.  It all depended on the success of the roll and the random damage taken.

In normal combat, a complication was sometimes a jammed weapon, a comm that lost its battery, a grenade that fell off the character's belt with the pin out (giving the character time to jump free, on a Dodge throw), or maybe a slip, with a failed DEX check meaning that the character goes down on his bum, right there in the middle of the fight (maybe slipping on gore!).

That's how I used complications in my game.  I just tried to "complicate" the situation, challenge the character, and hopefully add a little fun and unforseen excitement to the game.


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## Applied Vectors (Mar 13, 2013)

I loved the first edition Star Wars game, It still remains my favorite version of Star Wars ever!

Such an easy to use and fast system to learn, meant you could focus on the story rather than be bogged down by rules.


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## wingsandsword (Mar 14, 2013)

D6 Star Wars was the first RPG I ever played, the first one I ever ran, and one of my all-time favorites, if not my favorite (it would be between that and D&D 3.5).

In terms of mechanical thoughts:
1. I would do more to consolidate the Technical skills.  There are a LOT of them, and they are often redundant.  This goes double when you start adding in skills from some of the sourcebooks like (A) Space Station Engineering, (A) Capitol Ship Engineering, Mechanical Repair (from Shadows of the Empire Sourcebook, an NPC repairman on Coruscant had it, meant to represent ability to repair plumbing and other mundane utility/hardware issues). 

I would fold Starfighter Repair, Space Transports Repair, Capitol Ship Repair, Space Station Repair and Starship Weapons Repair into just a Starship Repair skill.  I would do the same with the (A) Engineering versions into a (A) Starship Engineering skill.  

2. I would come up with a better way of handling wounds/damage.  As-is, a starting wookiee with a starting strength of 6D has little to fear from a random 4D blaster pistol hit.  If he's wearing any armor, he can basically shrug off anything except sustained fire and becomes a juggernaut.

3. I would genuinely love a well made sourcebook that incorporated events after WEG collapsed in '98.  I've always been kinda upset that they folded right before the prequels got underway.  What WEG would have done with the prequels could have been awesome.  I've seen some fan-made works, but they were of varying quantity.

A lot of new powers, and new versions of old powers would need to be created.  Probably some mechanic for keeping certain powers rare too.  Morichiro is essentially a weaponized version of Place Other in Hibernation Trance.  Emerald Judgement is a version of Force Lightning that isn't dark-side (i.e. easily game breaking if not restricted, and it's already tightly restricted in the setting).


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## Water Bob (Mar 14, 2013)

wingsandsword said:


> 1. I would do more to consolidate the Technical skills. There are a LOT of them, and they are often redundant. This goes double when you start adding in skills from some of the sourcebooks like (A) Space Station Engineering, (A) Capitol Ship Engineering, Mechanical Repair (from Shadows of the Empire Sourcebook, an NPC repairman on Coruscant had it, meant to represent ability to repair plumbing and other mundane utility/hardware issues).





Solution 1:  Go back to the (fewer) mechanical skills in 1st edition.

Solution 2:   Combine away.  I don't think the game would suffer.

Solution 3:  I suggest upthread a bit to allow a lot of overlap with the skills.  If a character is trying to hide some data in a computer bank for his Rebel contact to find, and this character has a high Droid Programming skill, then allow the character to use that at a -1D penalty rather than standard Computer skill.







> 2. I would come up with a better way of handling wounds/damage. As-is, a starting wookiee with a starting strength of 6D has little to fear from a random 4D blaster pistol hit. If he's wearing any armor, he can basically shrug off anything except sustained fire and becomes a juggernaut.




1.  In WEG's *D6 Space* game (free, see the link earlier in the thread to obtain it), a second method of handling wounds is offered.

2.  Don't forget that, the more D6 you throw, the more centralized the distribution.  More dice means highs and lows will on occur as often.  The average on 4D is 14.  The average on 6D is 21.  BUT, you'll have bigger swings more often with the 4D throw.  The spread can account for a Wookiee's toughness and ability to shrug off wounds.

3.  Limit STR for rolling wounds.  Use the same rules, but half STR.  Or, apply wound effects and other penalities that do not normally apply.  For example, a wookiee with 6D STR is -1D to all skill checks, but not the damage resistance roll, when wounded.  Well, consider that a wounded wookiee cannot resist damage as well as a wookiee that is fully healed, and thus use the -1D penalty.





> 3. I would genuinely love a well made sourcebook that incorporated events after WEG collapsed in '98.




See the link up-thread for the fan made Clone Wars sourcebook.  It will blow your mind.  It looks just like a WEG product.


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## Water Bob (Mar 16, 2013)

Here's a D6 Star Wars question that I haven't quite tweaked to my satisfaction. 

Consider Character Points and piloting a starship. A pilot can use them to influence his throws, but that turns out to be a big burden for the pilot character. If you get into a couple of dog fights--and this is Star Wars, so you SHOULD get into dog fights, often--the pilot character burns up his character points while the rest of the player characters, manning other positions on the ship (gunner, navigator, or just as a passenger) still have all of theirs ready for personal combat.


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## Water Bob (Apr 22, 2013)

Star Wars Computer Rules.  Clicky, clicky.


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## Water Bob (Apr 22, 2013)

Net Guide:  X-Wing.  Clicky, clicky.


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## Water Bob (Apr 22, 2013)

Star Wars Starship Challenge.  Clickety-do-dah.


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