Come Sail Away...

We finished running "Rebel Breakout" yesterday, using my modified version of the old West End Games Star Wars. It went fine (the "adventure" isn't all that great...though as a starter/sample, what would you expect?) but the kids really enjoyed it...they were far more enthusiastic about this little game than the supers game. Getting a chance to blast stormtroopers and fly Y-Wings I suppose...

I am satisfied with the system enough that I'm taking the time to write it up...at the moment it's about five pages long, but the final thing will probably come in around 20 or so pages, depending on formatting and how much I decide to "pad" the thing out. Probably there won't be much of the latter...I mean, it's just Star Wars. And it's really just WEG with a slightly different system. We'll see how it holds up over a couple-three adventures.

However, while folks wait for the PDF, I might as well give y'all the gist of the thing...something for the "so inclined" to ponder over the weekend (I will be very busy, with multiple baseball/soccer games and Covid vaccinations going on). Here are the basics:

• Dice pools get substituted for polyhedrals: 1D = d4, 2D = d6, 3D = d8, 4D = d10, 5D = d12, 6D = d20. Much of the mechanics involve "shifting" die size UP or DOWN. Above d20, shifts go to d20+1, d20+2, d20+3, etc. all the way up to an absolute maximum of d20+9 (the equivalent of 15D; there are a couple dudes who have these scores). Fractional "pips" from WEG are generally dropped or rounded when doing conversions.
• Target Numbers are pretty simple: Very Easy = 2, Easy = 4, Moderate = 6, Difficult = 8, Very Difficult = 12, and "Heroic" (from 2nd edition) would be around 15, if you wanted to set something that high. Many rolls are contested (meaning an opponent is trying to prevent your action), in which case you must beat the opponent's roll AND the target number to succeed.
• Character creation goes like this: start with the same six attributes (DEX, KNO, MEC, PER, STR, TEC) at 1d8 each. You can select a max of two to shift UP to 1d10 by selling down others to 1d6. Nonhumans can shift ONE 1d10 to 1d12 by selling down an additional attribute (either another 1d8 to 1d6 or a single 1d6 to 1d4). Skills are mostly the same, though I've combined some ("parry" has just been subsumed under melee, for example, "shields" are part of piloting, cultures/aliens species/planetary systems is just one combined skill as is jumping/climbing/swimming, etc.) to shorten/streamline the list. Starting characters get seven skill advances to raise die types (up to two shifts per skill); so, for example, if I have "Blaster" at d8 (because my DEX is d8), I could spend up to two of my advances to make the skill d12. Characters with force skills (force adepts, aged padawans, washed-up Jedi) can assign these skill advances to the usual control, sense, alter skills, but as they start at NO DIE TYPE (they don't fall under an attribute) the first advance gives you a d4 and the second a d6, should you choose to "max" them. Trappings (i.e. equipment or "starting stuff") is based on template, and I've got a list of 19, mostly taken straight from the original 1E list. It's workable.
• Combat works more-or-less like WEG: declare actions, adjust die type downward for multiple actions (such as shooting while dodging), high rolls happen first, rolls must beat both opponent's defense AND target numbers to succeed (tie rolls allow simultaneous attacks/damage). Melee is simplified (no parries, just compare attack rolls). Succeeding allows a damage roll versus STR (adjusted by armor) to determine wound level. Wound results are as per 1E rules (stun, wounded, incapacitated, mortally wounded) with the addition of messy, instant kills for damage rolls exceeding 4X the target's STR roll.
• Damage for melee is generally STR + damage die determined by weapon (knife: +2, club: 1d4, spear: 1d6, sword/axe: 1d8. vibroblade: 2d4, vibroaxe: 2d6). Lighsabers do 1d12 + control skill. Ranged weapons don't add STR, and range from 1d4 (thrown rock) to 1d20+2 for an E-Web heavy repeater (standard blasters are 1d10+1, heavy blaster pistols are 1d12+1). Armor has two ratings: a die roll that's added to STR versus physical attacks, and a die shift to STR versus energy attacks.

For example: a stormtrooper (STR 1d6) rolls 2d6 to resist physical damage (1d6+1d6) and 1d8 to resist energy damage (like blasters and lightsabers). If your angry wookie PC (STR 1d12) bashes him, he's a lot less likely to get killed than if the wook uses his bowcaster (1d10+3), which counts as an energy weapon. 

[working out the damage/armor stuff was one of the trickiest bits, just by the way...how to make armor effective, but not too effective (especially with regard to stormtroopers and modeling their tendency to fold like paper cups)? This actually works out quite well in play, but it took a while to get it right]

• For fans of The Mandalorian, I added my own rules for beskar armor that work like this: each piece added increases the protection of the armor (+1d6/+1 shift with one piece; +1d8/+2 shifts with two pieces; +1d10/+3 shifts with three pieces, considered a "full set"). A partial set can be worn with light body armor, increasing both physical and energy protection one step (to +1d8/+2 and +1d10/+3); however, doing so forces the character to use the body armor penalty (-1 die shift to all DEX related skills). Beskar amor by itself carries no penalties.
• Force points are awarded and used much the same as per the 1E WEG rules: spending a force point allows you to double the dice rolled for any actions taken in the round. So, for example, if I'm shooting at a 1d8 (possibly because I'm blasting multiple opponents), I'd roll 2d8 for each shot, greatly increasing my chance of success. My daughter used her force point to convince the AT-AT pilots via commlink that the PCs were actually Imperial pilots (flying Rebel Y-wings) so that they could escape without being blasted; she rolled a truly heroic success!
• We haven't seen any Jedi characters (yet), but my intention is to allow any force skills found in the 1E rules, rather than worry about characters learning "spells" (or whatever they're called) in 2E. Since it hasn't come up, I haven't had to mock up a table for it, but it will probably be an extrapolation of the stuff I've already got here. Maybe I'll put some Dark Inquisitor types in my next adventure.
• Skill points: using the rules from 1E (rather than 2E's character points) with some slight modifications. I'm handing these out in play in the form of poker chips; all players get 1 to start and then I toss them another every time they do something amusing, heroic, or "Star Wars-y," and every time they finish a combat or significant action sequence (like a chase). Chips can be spent to re-roll any failed die (one re-roll attempt only!); no player is allowed to hold more than 10 chips at a time.  At the end of the session, the GM (me) throws each player a couple-three extra chips depending on the final result of the adventure...whatever is in their pile (again: maximum of 10) gets "banked" and can be used for buying advances, as per 1E rules (i.e. for skills or for modifying ships and signature gear). Increases are strictly by die type, so it costs a number of skill points equal to the new die to advance it (to improve a skill from d6 to d8 costs eight skill points, for example). Dice that are already at d20 (or higher) can be advanced (to d20+1, d20+2, etc.) with a flat expenditure of 20 skill points; as stated previously, d20+9 is the absolute maximum. 

 Light combat
armor + 1 piece
of beskar.

And...mmm...that's about it. Oh, there's some more stuff about nonhuman's special abilities (basically: you can get an advantage by taking a disadvantage from an old list of mine), and I haven't taken the time to put together the droid stuff (I don't think it will be too hard), but that's plenty for folks who want to try stuff out. I'll add that the d6holocron site has been invaluable resource in putting this together, especially the fan-made sourcebooks for later films and SW shows (most of which are very well done).  

The kids really liked the game, and picked up the rules pretty quickly. They especially appreciated the fast-flying skill chips which caused them both to be more courageous and heroic (seeing as how I was rewarding bold action). This had the effect of pushing the pace (always good for a "Star Wars" adventure) as they competed with each other to see who would be the first to brave the dangerous circumstance...it also caused them to think of clever things to do in order to amuse me. It was a great example of a reward system impacting behavior, and I didn't mind doling out the chips as they spent 'em nearly as fast as they were earned.

In retrospect, it might appear that I've crafted something that looks like a cross between FATE and "Savage Worlds Lite" (I don't actually own Savage Worlds, but I owned and played PEG's Deadlands way back before Savage was even a thing...), though such was unintentional on my part. And I have to say that the lack of fiddly-ness, the abstract wound system (favoring the PCs), and the exuberance of space opera all combine to make for a much more satisfying play experience than what I've found in either of those particular systems. That's pretty cool, and I might play this game for a bit.

In other news, my boy has plans to introduce his D&D club (now fully half of his 4th grade class) to actual Dungeons & Dragons, which will be a serious first for all of them. He's considering the B/X system in order to teach them the game, but anticipates moving into Advanced play soon enough.

; )

Returning to WEG

Happy birthday to my daughter, Sofia, who turns 7 today. Seven?! Sheesh...how time flies. Last year, her "party" was a Zoom call with her class. This year, we are actually having a small gathering (three kids) which will be held outdoors, with masks and social distancing. The theme is "garden party" and there will be croquet, lemonade, and shortbread cookies...also tiny sandwiches that I am supposed to make. The weather looks to be beautiful (again).

But the sandwich making won't be going down for a couple-four hours, at least (and I still need to pick up a gallon of guest-friendly hand sanitizer). Which gives me a chance to blog a bit. Yay!

I've been working with the old West End Games version of Star Wars this week, what is commonly referred to as "D6 Star Wars." I usually just refer to it as WEG on Ye Old Blog, and if you check through my old posts, you'll find the last time I wrote about the game did NOT have me saying many (any?) complimentary things about the game. 

Welp, that was more than ten years ago. And just as time flies so, too, do past complaints and bitchin-moaning flit away on summer breezes. It ain't that I've "mellowed" so much as I'm just a bit smarter (maybe) than I once was about what makes (and breaks) a game. Much of the time the proof is in the play, and there are reasons designers do what they do.

Of course, I'm also smarter about doing what I do, which is to say running games. And part of this is ignoring true dross...like the scripted intro to the Rebel Breakout adventure found in 1E WEG...and getting to the meat of play.  Which is what I did yesterday afternoon (more on that in a minute).

Why O Why, though, am I looking at Star Wars again? As with most of my motivations these days, it stems from my kids. As I've mentioned before, my son has been running his own game that he calls "D&D Five," which is more-or-less Star Wars run using a D&D (mash up edition) chassis. Players choose from races like human, wookie, "yoda," droid, and ewok and then one of several classes like bounty hunter, Jedi, pilot, etc. He's put together his own club at school the last couple weeks and has been running the game for a group of five or six kids.

[some might be curious about my children's "version numbers" for their game designs, and I'm not exactly sure where their numbering scheme comes from. My daughter started this a year or so ago when she started running her own game she called "D&D Three" to distinguish it from both the B/X game I was running and the B/X campaign of her brother (which consisted of a rather endless megadungeon with no name). Sofia's campaign is this weird world of "tower" dungeons, talking animals, and superheroes that really deserves its own post. I'm not exactly sure what game is supposed to be "D&D Four" in my son's mind...that perhaps is our current Advanced Dungeons & Dragons campaign. I should probably ask him about that...]

ANYway...the boy working on his own game and the kids rewatching Star Wars Rebels during their lunch breaks got my mind turning towards Star Wars again,  and wondering if maybe I should/could be running a SW game. Not only because the kids are reaching that age when they're really starting to dig on RPGs (and are trying new styles and genres) but because it might help them with their own game design development.

So enter, WEG Star Wars. Oh, I own all those Fantasy Flight Games books for the latest version, but the tomes are far too massive to incorporate all of them into a single game (which is kind of the beauty of the original SW universe, what with its rebels and scoundrels and Jedi)...at least not effectively in any meaningful way. And even Saga Star Wars (which I ALSO still own) is too fiddly for my kids (and me) to make practical use of. No, fast and loose is the order of the day for the SW (space opera) genre and WEG does a good enough job of that...better than "good enough," in fact.

1500+ pages or less than 140? Hmm...

However.

There are a couple issues. The first is relatively minor: my preference for the 1st edition of the game. I know, I know...I have badmouthed this edition to no good end in the past for all its "deficiencies." Can a person be allowed to wise-up with a decade plus of experience under the belt? I should hope so.

Increasingly over the years, when I've revisited old RPGs, I have found the original "first editions" to be the best, especially when it comes to explaining and maintaining the designer's clarity of vision. 2nd edition seldom improve the original design...they add mechanical nuance that cloud the maker's vision or "patches" that create new flaws. Some of the 1st editions I've come to prefer to later editions (even when I actually started on later editions) include: Advanced D&D (naturally), Heroes Unlimited, Vampire the Masquerade, Top Secret, Gamma World, Shadowrun, and Traveller.  

WEG Star Wars now (for me) falls into this category. I know I decried things like "lack of scaling rules" or "missing force powers" or the need for "character points" (both for advancement purposes and narrative control)...I now see all those complaints as pretty much bunk. There are rules for difference in scale between vehicles and people (for example), and they are far simpler than the 2E rules (and do we really need a scaling chart to show Death Star class threats? Shouldn't that kind of be self-explanatory?). More definition of "force powers" aren't needed...the Force should be mysterious, strange, and hand-wavy, and the powers are fine the way they are. And the original game's "skill points" don't need to be altered from the way they already work, and attributes shouldn't be dithered about with anyway (why make advancement even more glacial?).  No, the 1E version is JUST FINE...although I did just order a copy of the original edition Star Wars Sourcebook off the internet the other day (still want my extended equipment list). 

The second issue though, isn't quite so minor: giant handfuls of D6s. At the moment, the basic WEG system doesn't work for me for a couple-three reasons:

• I don't want to invest in buckets of D6s.
• I don't want to add big handfuls of D6s and compare them to other giant added sums of D6s.
• And (mainly) I'm running Star Wars for my kids as an inspiration for their own games (at least for that of my son). And the boy is already invested in polyhedral dice having picked up several sets (with his own money!) to supply his school crew with their own dice (he also took the time to sanitize them and bag them in individual packets...the kid is meticulous!).

SO, silly as it may sound, I spent the last couple days (Monday and Tuesday) converting the entire WEG game to a system that uses polyhedral dice instead of dice pools, calculating probabilities, altering target numbers, etc. Madness? Yeah, sure. But guess what? It works. We ran Rebel Breakout yesterday (the sample adventure from the book) with the conversions, and there weren't any issues whatsoever. For running something like Star Wars Rebels or The Mandalorian, the system works fine. It's Star Wars...not D&D. Which I understand doesn't appeal to everyone, but it's a nice change of pace now and then. 

All right, that's all I have time for this morning. I've got a garden party to organize!

: )

Matters of Scale

The boy and I have been watching Star Wars Rebels lately (it runs on TV in Paraguay, though I have to ask him to translate the show for me). It's good enough, and fun enough (and kid friendly enough) that we decided to go ahead and download the first season on iTunes. Unfortunately, with the crap internet connection here, that means about four+ hours per episode. When the internet is working.

*sigh*

Things aren't always this exciting...but often enough.

Still, the first three or four episodes have been worth the cost (in time and money), especially as I now get to watch the show in English (the boy misses a lot, after all...he is only five). But while there's a lot of annoying things about it (mainly about the main characters), I'm still finding the show to be (in sum) a good watch and interesting from the possibility of game development.

The idea of using a single ship as a reason for an adventuring crew to stick together isn't anything new. Traveller did it. Star Trek (and IP-inspired works like Far Trek) did it. Ashen Stars did it. Bulldog did it. Back in '05 I was working on something called "Shipboard," I was doing it. I'm sure there are others that I'm forgetting. But having adventures/stories revolve around the exploits of a single crewed vessel is a time-honored tradition of science fiction...whether you're talking comics (the Micronauts, Dreadstar), television (Star Trek, Space 1999, Firefly), or film/novels. It's a good trope, the whole "life-in-a-can" thing. Very Das Boot...you're stuck together, so better work together.

So that's not anything I find terribly interesting (though it is a rather new thing for the "Star Wars" 'verse...usually, you've got SW protagonists operating all over the galaxy simultaneously). No, what's more interesting to me is the scale at which these rebels are carrying out their various subversive ops against the Empire. Rather than the usual galactic scale, we find them working at a planetary scale...in and around (for the most part) a single planet.

This is a very interesting choice of setting and one that makes a lot of sense when you think about it. I mean, the scales in Star Wars are all wonky anyway...you have a couple dozen (maybe) star fighters going toe-to-toe with an Empire that has the resources of a trillion beings to draw upon? Um...okay.

What can one ship or rogues do against a whole galaxy? Or a whole system of inhabited planets? Or against even a couple capital ships? Not much, of course (run away!)...but I'm not just talking about open conflict (laser-on-laser action). What kind of difference can a single ship make in helping the oppressed people of an over-thrown, galactic republic?

Not much...that's a lot of (refugee) mouths to feed.

Much of the Star Wars comics published by Marvel (back in the pre-prequel, pre-RotJ days) centered around the antics of Luke and Leia acting as spies and diplomats, trying to drum up support for their rebellion (flying around, talking to planetary governments about throwing in their lot with the rebels and getting all united in The Revolution), while Han and Chewie did their Hand and Chewie "loser thing" (getting into small change trouble with small change crooks). I mean, you can't rescue a princess and blow up a Death Star every episode/issue, right?

[you know, come to think of it, Lucas really did a huge disservice to his whole franchise by rehashing the Death Star thing in Return of the Jedi. Forget your hate of ewoks, forget the inconsistency of yet another appearance on backwater Tatooine at the ass-end of the galaxy, forget the whole crazy Leia-is-your-sister thing. Sure...those things all have varying degrees of suckage and lazy-plotting attached to them. Lucas, at the tail end of a broken marriage and a thwarted attempt at (real) empire-building was just trying to tie the thing up in as expedient a manner as possible, in order to make a buck (thank God for licensing, huh?)...and that, of course, is understandable. BUT, the bit that sucks the hardest is the recycling of the same film plot from the first movie with a bigger scale. What we should have seen is a showdown with Vader and the Emperor (and those dudes in the red imperial guardsmen) in some shadowy, lava-moated citadel with ALL the protagonists present and accounted for, with ALL the heroes facing their "moment-of-truth" with new Dark Side mind-fucks and Jedi mysticism, a culmination of the path of the first two films, while matched with the B-SciFi monster horror and Flash Gordon comic-tropes that Lucas mashed together in the first place. What a wasted opportunity]

[*sigh*]

But doing what Marvel did isn't a great recipe for an RPG. Playing diplomat is fun if you're playing a game like Diplomacy (natch), but it's fairly boring stuff in a game that's supposed to be about soaring space opera and blasting stormtroopers. Splitting protagonists and giving them different agendas in different parts of the galaxy may be nice for expanding and growing a setting, but it's a superficial exploration...not the dig-down-deep that it could be.

A while back I wrote a bit about "closed systems;" what I suppose I meant as limited environments for exploration. A single dungeon for a D&D-ish game. A single city for a superhero game. For a game that features a spacecraft capable of faster-than-light travel (and a galaxy filled with a million inhabitable worlds) confining the setting to a single planet (with occasional side jaunts) seems fairly limiting...at least given the homogenous environments of the Star Wars universe (where every planet has a "type:" water world, desert world, forest world, etc.).

I like this. Sorry, I do. I know some folks buck the ideas of limits, of artificial restraints imposed on their adventures. But for me, it seems there's plenty of good adventures to explore in such a small environment, plenty of impact to be had by acting on a single world, plenty of character that can be developed within a small crucible. I mean, it IS a planet...even if it lacks the diversity of environment, culture, and species found on little ol' Earth, it's still big enough that you can make for a meaningful series/saga. There's a lot of potential there, even with a relatively unimportant planet in the empire (and I'm not so sure Lothal IS unimportant...being a farm planet, it appears to supply a ton of food to the Empire's military. Tampering with that supply will get the number of troops at the garrison upped in no time flat).

So, cool. It's got me thinking of one or two ideas. It's also making me think I might have short-changed Star Wars (the West End Games D6-based RPG) back in the day. If I'd considered something of this (small) scale, I might have found it easier...and saner...to run a SW saga.

Why NOT Just Play D6 Star Wars

Despite a decided lack of posts the last few days, there’s a subject that’s been on my mind quite a bit. Enough that I’ve ended up having conversations about it (or at least mentioned it) with 3 to 4 people. Yes, it’s all about Star Wars, my usual obsession. Those uninterested in the subject matter…sorry. I’ll be blogging more about White Plume Mountain later.

The subject I want to expound on is “D6 Star Wars – Why I Hate Thee.” Of course, I don’t actually hate D6 Star Wars…it’s hard to hate the thing that revitalized an entire franchise and touched off the commercial explosion of books, film, comics, etc. What, you don’t believe me? You must not have been around back in the pre-Prequel, pre-Timothy Zahn, pre-Dark Horse days. D6 Star Wars was the biggest collection of Star Wars “codification” and “canonization” on the market, and helped fuel and inspire all the rest. Yes, at base we all have Lucas to thank for Star Wars (and for what it’s worth, criticizing GL is kind of like criticizing Gygax for any number of imagined slights…fact is, we wouldn’t have Star Wars at all without Lucas, or D&D without EGG, and what a much sadder world this would be). But West End Games helped rebuild and rekindle interest in the franchise…or at least, they kept the flame of interest alive until Lucas got back in the Star Wars game and opened it up into its next commercial phase, the “expanded universe.”

At least, that’s how I see it…and as a guy who pretended to be Luke Skywalker or Han Solo on the playground loooong before I ever picked up a D&D book, I can say West End Games did a more than admirable job converting the films to an RPG using their D6 system.

However, that doesn’t mean I don’t have real and severe issues that preclude me from ever playing D6 Star Wars.

And no, I’m not just talking about cheesy pastiche, scripted dialogue, or a skill system that makes me exceptionally cranky. Yes, D6 has all those barriers in the way to me liking it, but I might be willing to look past those…or at least work around them…if the game (both the 1st and 2nd editions) didn’t have the same unforgivable flaw: an advancement system that’s inconsistent with the films.

Now briefly, let me explain my position on “advancement systems” in role-playing games. I do NOT think it is necessary to include advancement mechanics in ALL role-playing games. An advancement system (whereby a character develops into a more effective vehicle for player interaction with the game world) is NOT a requirement of having a fun/enjoyable role-playing experience. A lot of RPG game designers get stuck in this idea that character development needs to be a large or central part of game design…because otherwise, without measurable “achievement,” players are just spinning their imaginary wheels, “playing pretend.”

What utter bullshit. All we are doing is “playing pretend” when we sit down to play an RPG. We are having the same kind of fun we did as kids at recess, albeit with a few more rules. I’ve said it before: playing RPGs is NOT curing cancer, or fighting poverty, or getting more socially conscious politicians elected to office. YES, playing RPGs has VALUE: exercising the mind, stimulating the imagination, promoting social interaction with others. But caring whether your character is 14th level or raising your skill percentage in “sword attack/parry” is an EMPTY goal in the long run.

But JB, you’ve said that there is exceptional value to playing long-term D&D campaigns! If getting one’s character to 5th or 15th or 25th level is an “empty goal” [because, for example, one can always create or pre-gen high level characters for both campaigns and one-off adventures…like we did with White Plume Mountain], then why do you expound on the “goodness” of playing long-term? Why would you bother to put out something like the “B/X Companion” if you didn’t want people to play B/X up to level 30?

Ah…I see my point about long-term play may have been unclear in the past. The “goodness” of long-term play isn’t the advancement/increase of a character’s power, or the opening of “new content” (and by the way, much of the reason for the writing of the B/X Companion was to provide new content for a specific form of play; i.e. “high level type”). The GOODNESS of long-term play comes in seeing the development of characters over time in the imaginary game world…the relationships they build (with each other and the campaign’s NPCs), the impact they have, the legends they write. In other words, the stories (or “yarns” as R.E. Howard might have said) that come about from the on-going adventures of a heroic persona in a fantasy world.

You don’t need to start at level 1 and go to 36 (or 14 or 20 or whatever the maximum “achievement” level is). And if all you’re interested in doing is collecting XP/gold, or check marks next to your skills, maybe you should be playing a different game. Like the stock market.

Having said all that…and just to reiterate, my point is simply that ADVANCEMENT SYSTEMS ARE NOT OBLIGATORY TO AN RPG (there are plenty of other “reward systems” that can be used to make a game enjoyable)…having said THAT, let me now say that in SOME genres or types of RPG, an advancement system, while not necessary, is certainly desirable AND true to the genre the game represents.

[and let me just note, I’m using the word “genre” as an expedient term; I understand it is a poor word and may end up causing some confusion]

Star Wars is one game that cries out for an advancement system and a method of character development.

Why? Because that’s what the movies are about! The protagonist starts out as a shmuck and grows up to be a badass (if still kind of a shmuck). Whether you’re looking at the original trilogy or the prequels, the Jedi (at least) are constantly comparing themselves to each other and looking at their own relative power levels, which grow and develop over time with experience.

Though even non-Jedi grow and develop during the films…certainly in the “extended universe” (see Princess Leia becoming a Jedi, as well as Amidala and, yes, Jar Jar Binks). If any RPG based on a specific IP is begging for game mechanics that model “advancement,” Star Wars is it. Compared to other serial fiction (for example, Firefly/Serenity or Michael Moorcock’s Elric) SW is probably the BEST example of heroic development over time.

Which is why D6 Star Wars is soooooo Goddamn frustrating: its development system is terrible and glacially slow…in direct contrast to its own cinematic example! If one looks at Luke Skywalker’s stat blocks between episodes…or even from the beginning of Episode IV to the climactic battle at the end…one can see the character advancing/developing a LOT faster than player characters in the game. And the game designer’s justification for that? Well, YOU aren’t Luke Skywalker.

POW. That’s me, punching the game designer in the mouth.

Why the hell do you think I’m playing a Star Wars RPG in the first place? Because I WANT to be Luke Skywalker. Or Han Solo. Or Princess Leia. Or Obi-Wan Kenobi. Or whoever! Don’t tell me I don’t get to be The Hero of the Rebellion…or of the Clone Wars for that matter. Why do I (or my players if I am the GM) have to play 2nd fiddle to the movie characters? To preserve the films’ integrity?

Or was the designer just too lazy to design an advancement scheme consistent with the rate of advancement displayed in the films?

Regardless, it chaps my hide.

So THAT (plus the excessive skill system) is the major reason why I find the D6 system completely un-satisfactory for my purposes (my “purpose” being “a Star Wars RPG that allows me to recreate the films and the types of adventure/development found in the films”). D6 can go fish up a tree.

Not that WotC and D20 is any better, of course (I hate D20 as a Star Wars vehicle…even the exemplary Saga edition…even more than D6), but it is at least a BIT more consistent with the films. Just excessively complicated and non-cinematic.

Recently, I picked up MERP, a game with a level-based advancement scheme that peaked at level 10 and it got me thinking: how many levels does one really need in a game, anyway? After all, there are other ways to instill granularity besides having dozens of levels. Why does Yoda need to be level 20? Why not level 8 or 9?

Anway, some folks may be getting tired of this conversation (or the subject matter in general), but it’s something I keep getting drawn back into…I’m about 99% sure my B/X-based space opera game will be the next project completed by Yours Truly. Why? Because I see similar patterns with my first book, the B/X Companion:

1) Obsession-compulsion for the subject matter (such that I keep returning to it).
2) Complete dissatisfaction with others’ prior attempts at the material.

I tend to be stubborn and egotistical (ask my wife), but I also tend to be lazy (again…ask my wife). If there’s anything that can keep me motivated to finish a project, it’s the two things I list here.

Okay, end Star Wars discussion (for today, anyway).

; )

My First Gaming Convention - Day 2

Today was Saturday and Day 2 of Dragonflight XXXI here in the Pacific Northwest. And for the second day this week, I made it over to Bellevue despite the horrendous traffic. Saturday afternoon freeway driving is pretty bad in the summertime anyway, but in 90+ degree weather? Hoo-boy!

Today, I was signed up to run Mr. Raggi's Death-Frost-Doom (using B/X or "Redbook" as it appears to be known in these parts...I also had Labyrinth Lord on prominent display at my table). My time-slot was the 2pm-6:30; Saturday afternoon and prime time. After yesterday's strikeout, I was pretty excited!

I spent the morning working up suitable pre-gens (thanks to B/X this only takes about 40 minutes to get eight) as well as printing up the DFD pdf. Oh, yeah...and running to the store to buy more printer paper halfway through the job (dammit). Still had a chance to read through the whole thing, make mental notes of important stuff and got to the place early, unlike yesterday.

And again, no one signed up.

I mean...wow. I am batting exactly .000 in my last three attempts to get a game going. So much for the "fear of running games for strangers;" either I must appear to be pretty scary myself, of B/X D&D is completely passe! Or something!

Actually...there appears to be a lot more going on than that, but that's all for a separate post. As with yesterday, I got enough material for another half-dozen posts or so, which I will hopefully get to over the next week or so while decompressing from the weekend.

I would also like to say that, again, I had a total blast at the Con! I'm heading back tomorrow straight after breakfast, hopefully in time for the auction going on between 9 and noon.

Why was today so great? Well:

- Even though (again) no one showed up at my table, I got invited to join another game that was short a player or two. I ended up playing an indie game called PDQ that I've never even heard of, let alone played or owned (and I've got several indies on my shelves). It was crazy and funny and fun mainly due to the GM and the chosen setting (it's a rules-light game). And it deserves its own post.

- Made some great contacts. The folks playing PDQ are part of outfit called the Emerald City Gamefest who not only play a regular weekly game and are open to new players, but they're in my neighborhood! Not just my neighborhood, but they game at the same coffee shop I frequent every Friday and from which I often blog! Not only that, they run their games on Thursday nights...the night I've been looking to find a regular game (since Fridays are my day off) since...um, last December? Wow...I told you folks, Greenwood is God's Country. Too cool.

- In browsing the vendor booths, I made not one but TWO great scores. Some folks from Spiffandswag.com brought their boxes of used games out of the basement, and I was able to big up two things I've been wanting for awhile. 2nd edition Star Wars (from WEG), and a complete boxed set of Twilight 2000! Hoo-boy! Now I can go back to the American Eagle booth and clean out all those mint-condition T2000 modules at 50% off. What a deal!

- In other vendor news, chatted with Tim over at Gary's and found out about the auction (I had been unaware there was such a thing going on), and am excited to get in on that!

That's a lot of good stuff going on considering everything else. The "everything else" isn't just people not showing up to my game...it's my perception of the state of the role-playing hobby itself. Man O Man...what the hell is going on with gaming?

But THAT is totally a different blog topic for another day. It's after midnight now, and my eyes are having a difficult time staying open. I think I'll thumb through my Twilight 2000 a little before turning in...I've got one last busy day ahead of me!

G'night, folks.

: )

Playing In Spirit, not Character

Anyone who’s played West End Games’ Star Wars RPG knows that one thing the game does absolutely right is emphasize the spirit of Star Wars…both the original RPG and the 2^nd edition were very much about recreating the tropes of Star Wars and the feel of the movies within their game.

Now this was, of course, PRIOR to the “Expanded Universe” or the Prequel Trilogies (the Darkforce Rising comics and and Admiral Thrawn trilogy that opened up the expanded universe came AFTER the release of WEG Star Wars and drew plenty of info/inspiration from the game supplements). As such, the only thing WEG had to go on was the original trilogy (and some minor Lucas apocrypha) and for the most part the emphasis was on re-creating a Star Wars-like adventure environment. This included:

- Space Opera over hard sci-fi

- Starship “dog fights” and explosions (with sound!) in space

- Endless ammunition

- Everything bigger than life and twice as loud

- “Fudging” to prevent player character death (don’t kill the actors!)

- Catch-phrases and Star Wars-isms (“I have a bad feeling about this”)

It’s the last one on the list that I want to write about.

Personally, there are two different ways that I prefer to look at (and play) Star Wars, neither of which goes very well with the WEG version of the RPG:

1) Star Wars as Heavy Metal magazine (i.e. the “non-Jedi version”). Players are random mercenaries a la the Han Solo adventures, hanging out at bars, picking up cargo to smuggle, getting in trouble with whatever passes for an authority figure in the region (Hutts, Imperials, whatever), and basically being crass and blaster-happy.

2) Star Wars as Paladin the RPG (i.e. the “Jedi-centric version”). Everyone is a Jedi or Force-user or aspiring Force-user and must struggle to walk the straight-and-narrow path even as they learn and grow in power to prevent falling to the Dark Side.

Notice these two different themes, while both possible in a “Star Wars Universe,” are fairly mutually exclusive. But these are MY kind of Space Opera…there’s always that exploration of the seedy/shadow side of life. The Star Trek exploration/do-gooder thing just doesn’t appeal to me at all.

Of course, neither of my preferred styles jibes with playing “in the spirit” of Star Wars the Original Movie Trilogy.

To me, playing in the spirit of an established intellectual property takes a lot of balls, and I just haven’t known all that many ballsy gamers. Or maybe I did, but I didn’t personally give them the space to explore their “cheesy side.” Because in a way, playing In The Spirit requires a certain amount of hamming it up with a healthy dose of cheese…and that requires trust and commitment on the part of the players.

That’s asking for more than simple “investment in one’s character.”

It’s definitely led to trouble for my groups in the past…I think I’ve mentioned before that I’ve played a lot of ElfQuest and Marvel Superheroes, both games that have (or did have at the time the RPGs were published) well established conventions/tropes of their respective intellectual properties. Unfortunately, attempting to run long-term campaigns with either of these games proved problematic. With EQ, the games with groups of players always degenerated into “going to war with the trolls (again).” And Marvel…well, I believe I previously mentioned how my buddy/GM Scott had to institute “negative karma?” One would hardly say we were playing in the spirit of Marvel “heroes!”

Asking people to get on-board with the spirit of a specific IP is asking a lot…that’s my point. Let me give a specific example of how that backfired with Star Wars:

The original WEG Star Wars includes a beginning/sample adventure scenario… "Rebel Break-Out" I believe it’s called (I don’t have the book with me). It involves one-long running battle through a mine (shades of dungeon crawling/Mines of Moria) to pair of Y-Wing fighters to escape with a set of plans vital to the rebellion. Basically one medium-long linear adventure. Fine and dandy…it’s a sample so you don’t expect much.

But to get the players IN THE SPIRIT of Star Wars, it provides an actual script that it expects players to read at the beginning of the game. The adventure begins in media res if I remember correctly, and here your character is expected to speak AUTHORED DIALOGUE written by someone else…in order to show you HOW TO PLAY RIGHT.

Ugh! Double ugh! I’ve run Rebel Break-Out two or three times and my players have always HATED the script thing. They’ve railed, they’ve scoffed, they’ve ridiculed, they’ve done everything EXCEPT take the damn thing seriously. If anything it feels so awkward and fake (and contrived) that if they were in the mood to play a space opera/Star Wars game by the time they’re done with the script they’re no longer very interested.

After all, these were not actors auditioning for a role…they were players of a game. They had created their own characters with their own personalities (however two- or three-dimensional those personalities were made no difference). You just can’t script role-playing. It’s a different artistic genre from theater.

Now having written all THAT, let me do a bit of a 180 and say that while it’s been my experience that you cannot script role-playing AND furthermore it is incredibly difficult to get players to play “in the spirit” of a particular creative license that does NOT mean:

1) that playing in the spirit may still be appropriate to certain game systems, and

2) it may be possible to facilitate playing in the spirit by working it into the rules/design

I look at the Dying Earth RPG as an example. DE is based on the excellent stories of the same name by Jack Vance, and Mr. Vance is known for his own Vancisms of flowery, elaborately obscure language…characters in Vance’s Dying Earth stories speak like they’ve swallowed huge dictionaries and practice verbal fencing every day (as well as their regular swordsmanship). To facilitate creating the proper Vancian flavor, the actual reward/advancement system is tied to the use of this Vancian language…each player is handed a list of properly erudite phrases at the beginning of the session, and being able to work them into your dialogue in play earns you points with which you may improve your character. Simple and fun. It’s un-necessary to participate (there’s no script) and the player’s have the choice of how and when to use the phrases (if they want to use them at all), and they are rewarded for it…AND it helps everyone at the table get into the spirit of the game.

Now in discussing advancement systems for my B/X space opera game, one thing I might be willing to consider is something of this nature to encourage the Star Wars-isms and playing In The Spirit…not necessarily specific lines of dialogue (“I have a bad feeling” and “May the Force be with you” are the only oft repeated lines from the film), but something a little more open-ended.

Think of any drinking game for a beloved television: everyone takes a drink whenever regular character says or DOES something often repeated and well-established as their particular pattern of behavior. It may be possible to incorporate some system like this (the Drinking Game Advancement System! Need to trademark that!) into an RPG where players earn bonus “points” for their characters by adding interactions to the game that promote the flavor of the licensed IP.

Reward systems encourage behavior patterns, that’s a damn fact (and one of the reasons I don’t like the idea of just rewarding simple participation…assuming they want to play a space game in the first place or they wouldn’t show up at the table). If you want people to play a certain way, encourage a particular behavior rather than trying to discourage the “wrong” action.

Now, unfortunately, this is not necessarily helpful to me in light of my “preferred ways of playing Star Wars” (see above), because Star Wars-isms from the original movie trilogy tend to be a little more goody-good than my exploration of the game world…but even so, this train of thought may be helpful to folks that ARE trying to develop RPGs based on specific licenses. And who knows…maybe my game will be more goody-go when finished than I’m currently envisioning it.

; )

The Madness Has Abated

My wife helped me see how ridiculous my recent D20 Star Wars obsession had become...or as she put it, "you need to finish one project before you start going off on another!" Not that Star Wars my "secret project" mentioned earlier...but it certainly was eating up my time (especially cutting into my sleep time), and keeping me from the things I have to finish.

For instance, I've received another four illustrations for the B/X Companion...more beautiful stuff I might add...and have been in contact with another illustrator. Unfortunately, the cover artist I was attempting to hire has fallen through, so now I need to get someone who knows how to paint OR try to mock something up myself that my buddy can "color" for me. Neither prospect is especially appealing, but I really want a REAL cover illo, not some plain-wrapper cover (reminds me of Spinal Tap's Black Album).

The adventure for the B/X Companion still needs to be finished up, especially the maps which need to go to the Good Doctor for finishing. Doc is actually working on an adventure module for the "secret project" and he's been starting to pester me for the chargen and combat rules...something else I need to finish writing!

SO...no more Star Wars posts, at least for awhile. Certainly not about D20...I'm actually fed up with it.

Oh chargen is fun, if extremely complex and fiddly (finally found out why some of the character write-ups in the core rules have a mysterious extra "+1" bonus in their attack stats: a sidebar on lightsabers gives characters a bonus when using a self-crafted weapon)...and combat is...well, it's a good step up from D20 3rd edition. I certainly prefer the skill rules in the Saga Edition to any other version of D20 I've seen, though that's not saying much.

But the starship rules are the real deal-breakers.

Personal combat using maps and grids is one thing. But dogfights in space need to be more abstract by necessity, at least if one is playing an RPG and not an "X-Wing simulator" video game. Unfortunately, D20 Star Wars treats ship-to-ship combat pretty much the same as personal combat (ships just being extensions of their characters) right down to two-dimensional grid combat. Definitely not what I'm looking for...

I pulled out my WEG Star Wars and compared the two and once again was thoroughly impressed with their handling of the same subject. In fact, the more I read it the more I find I prefer A LOT of the D6 Star Wars game, despite its lack of cool "combat effects" (feats, talents, etc.) or "customizable character creation."

WEG Star Wars still has problems for me, though. The advancement is too slow, the force "powers" are too clunky and ugly, the "backseat to the film NPCs" extremely annoying. Plus it doesn't take into account the Prequel films, which is problematic in some regards. And I have to admit, I get a little tired of rolling handfuls of dice just to add them all together (if you're just looking for one number, why not roll one or two dice and add bonuses? Sheesh!). Also, it's promotion of "fudging" goes against MY dice-rolling sensibilities (aren't there already Force points and metagame mechanics to take into account the heroic nature of the player characters?).

So while WEG did many things right, it still has flaws...ones that make me put it back on the shelf.

D20 Star Wars will be keeping it company, I'm afraid. It's very pretty but it's SO complex I can't see playing it. I mean, I'm sure if I logged several hours of game play, I could memorize most of the fiddly bits (just as I memorized all those rules regarding Weapon Speed Factors and segments back in my old AD&D days). But I just don't have the time and patience for it. Nor the time and patience to find like-minded players. One of the problems I had when I WAS playing 3rd edition D&D was the inability to find players that were on the same page. The games I played in (instead of as a DM) I found that I knew more than the DMs regarding the rules and spent a lot of time explaining the finer points of tumbling and attacks of opportunity and such...and when I had players that KNEW the rules, they were universally gamist munchkins and min-maxers I found incredibly annoying (both as a DM and as a fellow player).

Ugh...I know, I know...I'm a big fat whiner.

Anyway, that's the end of the SWD20 posts for a good long while (and here I was starting to get tempted to do more than browse that Rebel Era Sourcebook - *shudder*). In fact, the next time I talk about Star Wars at all, it may well be to promote my own SW look-alike RPG. After all, Wizards has given up the IP rights to the RPG...I don't think it would be too difficult to build a better mouse trap.

Yes, yes...one project at a time. Got it.

; )

O Shame! - D20 Star Wars (Part 3)

[by the way...apologies to everyone for the tiny font in a couple of these recent posts. I've had a couple posts that got typed up in Pages and for some reason they didn't copy correctly to blogger. Sorry...I was trying something new. We now return to our usual font size]

I wrote up a big old blog post the other day about creating campaigns in Star Wars, especially comparing/contrasting the different perspectives between Knights of the Old Republic (the XBox video game based on D20), WEG Star Wars, and the films. I did not have a chance to post it last night, however, and after some consideration I find I'm not really interested in waxing on about video games anyway (at least not today).

Still, I have something to say regarding the whole XP/level thing.

Was there ever a greater setting more appropriate for a "level up" game than Star Wars?

Personally, I don't think so. Looking at other examples of serial adventure fiction (and what is an RPG "campaign" but a series of adventures?) and you see something VERY different from Star Wars: a noticeable lack of character development/improvement.

Look at Indiana Jones or the characters from Firefly or Battlestar Galactica. Look at James Bond or Jason Bourne of the Bourne Identity series or the elves of ElfQuest. For the most part, what you see is what you get...through the entire series. Characters don't improve dramatically over time...they start badass and/or quirky and remain that way through the entire film/show/book. We follow the series because we enjoy watching the characters, their interactions with each other and their various "adventures." There may superficial changes (Captain Kirk gets new uniforms and rank, for example) but the essential qualities...and in RPG terms, the in-game effectiveness...do NOT change.

Now contrast this with Star Wars. Throughout the entire film series there is a constant emphasis on growth of power and improvement. "You'll find my powers have doubled since last we met." "He has grown in strength and wisdom." "You'll find I am more powerful now than you could possibly imagine." "When I came to you I was but a student, now I am the master."

Throughout the series, over time, we see growth and development, not just of character and personality, but actual ability. In Episode I, Anakin can't float a rock to save his ass. In Episode II he can levitate an apple. By Episode V, Vader is ripping machinery off the walls and tossing it around like it was nothing.

Look at Obi-Wan: he starts out as a rookie Padawan, gains Knighthood status (getting his ass handed to him by Dooku), and then finally becomes a Master, capable of single-handedly knocking off Grievous and Vader.

Luke Skywalker, of course, has a well-illustrated progression from farm boy to ace pilot to Jedi Knight. But even the other characters from the original trilogy (Leia, Han, Lando) show improvement over time, gaining new skills and confidence that translates to "in-film effectiveness." In RPG terms, these characters are "going up in level" based on the accumulation of XP.

For me, that really IS a good reason to play Star Wars using a D20 system. Assuming the system itself works (a whole 'nother post/topic) the changes of class/type and improvement over time is set-up really well to work with these particular game mechanics.

And I say this as a guy who not only would campaign AGAINST most WotC products, but as a guy who is halfway through the design of his own Jedi/Star Wars RPG (it's been put on-hold indefinitely with my other projects, but it's still burbling in the background). I'm not quite ready to say that the D20 Saga Edition is better than WEG Star Wars 2nd Ed. (my prior favorite in published Star Wars RPG products), but the two are drawing closer together.

Anyhoo, just my thoughts of the day, as I get ready to post a new character re-write.

; )

O Shame! - D20 Star Wars (Part 1)

So last night, my wife and I are at this pseudo-French place in Greenwood and she tells me I such a “double-standard man.” What do you mean double-standard – I don’t have double standards!

M: Oh yes you do, you are always saying how much you hate cheesecake and here you are ordering cheesecake!

JB: No I don’t! I say I’m not a big fan of cheesecake, but I like cheesecake sometimes.

M: No, how many times have you said “ew, cheesecake, I can’t stand cheesecake, let’s get something else?”

JB (remembering): Well, okay, maybe I have said something like that in the past, but c’mon! Fresh, hand-picked huckleberries from Montana?

M: Double-standard. How fresh do you really think those huckleberries are? You’re going to eat it and say “ugh, don’t let me order THAT again,” just like always!

JB: Well…I’m sure it’ll be delicious.

M: Double-standard!

The cheesecake WAS quite tasty, even though the huckleberries didn’t taste all that fresh; I did not regret my dessert choice. However, my wife got me thinking about my actions lately…specifically my vehemence of opinions on certain issues being reversed 180 degrees at the drop of a hat.

Take my recent Star Frontiers post, not-quite-retracting my earlier diatribe (and to be fair, most people seem to have missed the whole point of the original post: that some games won’t be worth re-visiting, specifically 4^th edition D&D). In the former, I did a more in depth re-read and consideration of the Star Frontiers rules and found it “just fine” in the context of its own setting. Despite my often noted dislike of Skill Systems, SF skills are simple enough that they really don’t get in the way of fast character creation, or quick task resolution (and it’s not much of a “stat block” to write “Beam 2, Demolitions 1” or whatever). My main gripes have always been (and continue to be): rate of advancement, combat, and lack of starship rules in the main game. But within its basic setting, starship rules aren’t really necessary and everything else can be chalked up to the particular idiosyncrasies of its particular system. The subject of “modeling realistic combat in an RPG” deserves its own loooong post.

So…180 degree turnabouts. Hmm, where to start? Here’s the thing: I tend to be fairly passionate (do put it mildly) about the things I’m passionate about. Which probably sounds like a big “duh” except that I tend to be passionate about EVERYTHING. There’s very little “moderation” in my life, though I’ve gotten better at the attempts (I think). I have a tendency to LOVE LOVE LOVE things or HATE HATE HATE them…or more specifically to “not give a shit” about the things that don’t matter to me.

Take Sarah Palin, for example. I have decided that what she does or doesn’t do makes no real difference to me. I would not vote her into any elected office and would actively vote for most any opposition candidate to prevent her from achieving any sort of power in this country. But I understand that some people find her an attractive candidate for our next president (at last poll it was 20% and falling, thank God!). That 20% (or less) of the U.S. that would vote for her…well, they are so far outside MY particular perspective of what is “good leadership” that it doesn’t make sense for me to expend the energy trying to sway them…I mean we aren’t even on the same page! Something about Palin simply attracts a portion of the population, and it’s probably the same stuff that repulses me. You can’t fight that, you can only accept that different people have different tastes and hope that more people share your view than the other (oh…and work to be a good person with your own life and actions).

Okay, so…I TRY not to spend time and energy spewing the negative, but still it sometimes comes out. Especially when I sit around talking politics with friends. Or when I’ve been drinking. Or both. ‘Cause I’m a naturally passionate individual (triple Scorpio did I mention?) and when I get relaxed, sometimes the restraints come off.

So, too, with this blog. I assume there are folks that dig on 4^th edition D&D. I KNOW there are huge fans of D20 and Pathfinder. I’m not. Sometimes, I get irritated about one-thing-or-another and I type a big, long post about how much I HATE this-that-and-the-other. That’s me. However, sometimes I find something I like about a game system I’ve previously denigrated, and I expound on the subject. That’s me, too.

But sometimes, the week feels like I’m living in Backwards Land and I start eating cheesecake just because it has huckleberries, or I start thinking about starting a Star Frontiers Campaign just because I’ve been watching that Caprica TV show and I can draw comparisons. And sometimes I do something truly retarded like run out and buy a brand-spanking-new D20 game, purposefully lining the coffers of Wizards of the Coast and supporting something I loathe.

It feels like I made a campaign contribution to Sarah Palin.

The game I purchased is the latest version of D20 Star Wars (the Saga Edition). I’m not going to attempt to justify my purchase, but I’ll tell you the events that led to me putting down money for it:

1. I love Star Wars. I have since I saw the first movie at the age of FIVE. I own five of the six films on DVD (and have owned them in other mediums) and have watched them all many, many times. I especially like episodes II and III for their subject matter (Jedi – Sith conflict).

2. West End Games went out of the Star Wars business long before the prequel movies were released.

3. I saw the Star Wars RPG in the “used” section of my local game store, and over a couple-few days decided I could pony up the dough just to have it “as a reference.”

4. I went back to the game store and found the used copy had been sold. Denied of my instant gratification after a day of planting 65 pound stepping stones in the back yard (using only my own brute force, a shovel, and my wife’s pinpoint directions), I bit the bullet and blew $40 on a new copy of the game.

As I said, there’s no justification for my actions, and I would not encourage anyone to do what I did. I don’t know if I’ve related this story before, but shortly after Knight of the Old Republic had been released on the Xbox, I purchased their first edition of the D20 Star Wars RPG from a WotC retail store (remember when they used to have those? At least, they used to have ‘em in Seattle). After perusing the game for less than a day, I returned it to the same store and got my money back. Star Wars or not, cool setting or not, the game sucked and I decided I would never play it.

Now…well, I’m going to withhold posting what I think about it till, I’ve had a chance to read more. On first pass, the thing seems to be worse than I even remember D20 being. Pretty much every character is multi-classed (save Padme and the droids), with stat blocks that look like a ton of gibberish. Not only are their feats and skills, there are “talent trees,” “force powers,” “secret force powers,” and a host of strange minutia.

Hmm…talents are like class-specific feats…severing limb is a talent? And only available to a prestige classes? So a 20^th level Jedi is too inelegant to do anything but bash an opponent to death with his or her lightsaber? Storm troopers are a 4th level “Un-heroic” class?

Ugh. Ugh-ugh-ugh. It’s like pounding nails into my brain.

As I said, I’ll be writing more about this game as I continue to read it (perhaps this will be the “theme of the week”). We’ll see if I can do another 180 with this thing.

2nd Look at 2nd Edition

No...not 2nd Edition AD&D.

Finished up reading my new $10 copy of the Star Wars RPG (1st edition). I know I wrote that I was pretty excited to get my hands on it. I know I said I was very glad that it was the 1st edition, the one published prior to the horde of Star Wars novels that inundated readers in the 90's prior to the release of the Star Wars prequel trilogy. I know I said the only differences I recall between the 1st and 2nd edition were a slew of new Force powers based on said novels.

Ok, so I was talking out of my ass. It's a blog...sue me.

Having finished up my reading I now see gaping holes in the rules that I remember being filled by the 2nd edition...and NOT simply rules regarding Force powes. Where are the scaling rules between walkers, speeders, starships, and capitol ships? Where are the alternative to death rules (aka "lightsaber maiming")? For that matter where is the stuff on prosthetic limb replacement?

Regarding the Force, the 2nd edition introduced Character points as a combo XP/karma point for doing cool stuff and saving your bacon, even if you weren't Force sensitive. Force points were capped in 2nd edition for non-Force sensitives. And there were a LOT more rules regarding the Dark Side, how it interacted with Force use, as well as rules for redeeming characters that had fallen to the Dark Side (my favorite type o story to tell).

All of this is missing from the 1st edition book, and I'm sure there's more (I didn't peruse deeply the starship rules because I've already decided 1st edition ain't enough). Ugh. I need to get in touch with that guy who was going to sell me his stack of old Star Wars stuff...and buy it!

Maybe I need to retro-clone WEG's Star Wars. But what would I call it? I'd have to re-name "the Force," of course...maybe I'd call it the Source.

; )

...In a Galaxy, Far, Far Away...

I said that this day had originally been set aside to do a bunch of Traveller posts and I'm serious. I've been on hiatus from B/X D&D for a couple weeks now and have allowed my B/X Companion project to slide (O the Shame!). This comes in part from having a life, family, and day job, and in part because I can be a bit unfocused with my attention, allowing it to wander all over the place...like to Traveller.

Damn it, it's just such a good game, so worthy of attention. And yet, I just keep reading it and thumbing through it and dreaming it and not actually bothering to cobble together a campaign. Even non-gamers have heard of Dungeons and Dragons and are banging on my door to play it (see my posts about the nephews!). Only old gamers like me have heard of Traveller and know the wonders that await between its simple black covers.

However, system DOES matter and Traveller can't do everything sci-fi related (though it can do a helluva' lot). Some game systems are literally tailor-made to play to a particular genre or theme, sometimes excellently so (Dying Earth) and sometimes not-so-much (Serenity RPG).

So today I picked up another of my proverbial "blasts from the past" while I was at Ye Olde Game Shoppe (it's actually called Gary's Games in the Greenwood neighborhood of Seattle), and it is this more than anything that is threatening to derail my blossoming Traveller fetish. Check it out:

I have posted before that in the past I have owned both the 1st and 2nd editions of the West End Games' Star Wars RPG, and have regretted selling them. The MAIN reason for my regret comes from the fact that they are now out-of-print and the WotC version are absolute dog-shit. I know, I know...I am a grumpy old gamer that doesn't like D20. Bull. Even before I came to my senses and kicked D20 to the curb I had already figured out that D20 and Star Wars do NOT mix. Well, not in a pleasing, RPG-type way. Maybe they mix in a vomit-and-fecal-waste-matter-type way.

In my earlier post I wrote that I preferred the 2nd edition rules to the original edition when I owned them both. This is true, and in fact when I say SW on the shelf in the used section I did a quick look to see if the 2nd edition was lurking around somewhere as well (it wasn't). However, after picking it up I was trying to remember what exactly I liked BETTER about the 2nd edition (besides the cool purple cover...woo-hoo!), since from all I can tell the rules are pretty much the same. After many minutes of memory dredging there's only one thing I could think of: force powers.

If memory serves (*hope*hope*) the 2nd edition of the game was designed not to improve on the 1st edition (the rules stayed pretty much the same) but to take advantage of the CONTINUING SAGA of Star Wars. For those young 'uns who may have the wrong idea, this has ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with the Episodes 1-3 films which had not yet been filmed, written, or probably even imagined at the time.

Back in the day of West End Games there were only two sources for Star Wars fiction: the original three movies and written imaginings of other authors. The Thrawn trilogy (Heir to the Empire, Darkforce Rising, and The Last Command) were big news when they hit the book shelves in 1992. Finally, folks who loved Star Wars could follow their favorite characters through new licensed adventures in the Star Wars universe! And once THOSE got published (and showed themselves to be a tremendous cash cow) Lucas really let it off the leash and authors began publishing dozens of books furthering the adventures of the original characters, their children, and their children's children. Much of it (what I read anyway) was fairly mediocre fare, but it was frigging mana in the desert to the SW-starved masses.

The 2nd edition game gave you the option of setting the adventure in the Rebellion era or the New Republic era (following the new novels basically). It provided few new rules that I recall, except for new Force abilities...specifically DARK Force abilities...that had been exhibited in the books and comics published during the 90's. I, of course, was always a fan of the Fallen Jedi-type character (see my earlier post on Geezers), so this was meat and drink to moi.

But NOW...well, first off Lucas basically blew up anything resembling cohesion to the novels' canon when he created his prequel trilogy (specifically, what the "Clone Wars" were all about). And let me tell you, I'm not sorry he did, for although the prequel films weren't as awesome as I'd hoped, they were still a damn sight better than the pastiche of the Thrawn books.

Secondly (and more importantly from the RPG perspective) he didn't do anything different from what was in the first set of films.

There were no great, new Force powers. Lightsabers worked the same. Stormtroopers are stormtroopers, whether they're cloned humans or normal humans. Jedi are still just one master and one apprentice (Dark or Light). People that get killed don't come back and possess the folks (and learning to communicate from beyond the grave at all is a trick few possess and only ever observed in Jedi characters, not Sith). People carry around extra lightsabers like it ain't no thang.

And I like it. I like the simplicity. It can still be Star Wars.

And having said all that, I have to say I am very excited at the 1st edition game I picked up for $10. Because it was based solely on the first film trilogy...which means it is un-tainted by the books and comics that came later. Which means I can change it and taint it as much as I want to play in an Old Republic setting! And that is something Traveller is NOT as good at...for a game involving smugglers, pirates, and gamblers (in other words, a Han Solo novel), Traveller is the one to use. If you want Jedi consulars working aggressive negotiations with lightsaber in hand...well, I'll stick with WEG's Star Wars RPG.

1st edition baby! Man I am getting OLD!

; )

What Goes Around...

Forgot to mention I picked up a copy of Paranoia 2nd Edition the other day (not surprising really, as I'm sure there's a number of things I've forgotten/neglected to mention). $4 used...quite a steal really. This is the only edition of the game I've ever played and one I've never owned, though I remember it well, especially the great Jim Holloway illustrations.

When I played it before it was circa 1990...I was in high school and a member of the cast of my school production of Bye-Bye Birdie. One of my fellow cast members (an acquaintance though a "non-gamer" person) got the game and we played it back-stage while waiting for our time to "go on" (though only during the rehearsals...not the actual performances!). I recall all of us that played had a lot of fun and laughing a lot, though I don't recall my own particular character (we used the pre-gen ones from the rule book) nor any details of the plot/adventure scenario.

I've actually been wanting to get a copy of the game for some time, but was not interested in the updated rule systems I saw floating around the game shop. To me the 2nd edition is the "original," classic game and even researching the 1st edition on-line seems to indicate this is the feelings of others...apparently the 1st edition was released in a much darker, less humorous vein but with adventures that pushed the humor and satire. The second edition, published by the same company (West End Games) and the same designer simply made the game into what everyone was "already playing."

Not that it doesn't have great potential as a "straight" Orwellian/dystopian future type game...I don't think there's any game that could do that kind of genre as well as Paranoia (assuming you wanted to play out something like akin to Brazil or 12 Monkeys or whatever...even Equilibrium with a few modifications). But does anyone want to play that kind of depressing genre in an age where...well, all paranoia aside we HAVE taken some steps towards a constantly monitored society.

To me, I find it very interesting how art (specifically RPGs) imitate life and act as a "sign of the times." When first introduced to Paranoia, I immediately "got it:" the whole commie-mutant-traitor think, the turn-on-your-neighbor-to-get-ahead game play. Part of this is because it's a well-designed game pointing out huge, gaping flaws in human nature and exploiting them to their (extreme but logical) conclusions. Part of it has to do with the world I was living in at the time. I can't help but believe there was at least a tiny bit of subversiveness underlying the satire of a game like Paranoia being released in 1984 and (for the 2nd edition) in 1987.

[for those gamers that don't remember the 80s, having been born later, Ronald Reagan was a classic fear-monger when it came to Communists, helping to jump-start a Cold War by proliferating a nuclear arms race with the Soviet Union...this after a decade where we had backed-off a lot from the paranoia of earlier generations...hell, even Nixon opened the door to China...but whatever...oh, yeah American Consumerism was off the charts as well...O Yuppie Where Art Thou?]

I'm kind of surprised that there haven't been more subversive RPGs published in the last decade seeing all that's been going on in the world. Oh, I know there are a couple (3:16 comes to mind as do a couple of other Forge-y games), but none with the kind of popularity that Paranoia enjoyed in its hay-day. I'm sure part of this is because the RPG has fallen out of favor of the general population...why buy a game you have to read when you can press "on" and start playing immediately (yes yes I am a cranky old man).

But I don't think it's a lack of creativity on the part of game designers these days, just a lack of will to do so. If D20 is what sells, well shit, that's what one is going to write for, right? How many companies converted their games to the D20 system? How many licensed IPs got made into D20 games? How much time and energy was spent trying to shove out D20 material before the door to that particular cash cow could be closed? (wow a REALLY cranky old man!)

Probably I am just exhibiting my own paranoia...spending time reading games like this (ones that are more substance than crunchy rules bits that need mastering) always starts those wheels turning, ya' know? It is quite a good little game, though, and I'm glad I was able to pick it up for such a good price. I'll bet my nephews would get a kick out of it...though of course I'll have to update it by changing the word "Communist" into "Terrorist." Otherwise, they probably won't get the humor.