Star Wars TTRPG revived

[Shadow Reaper]

Those of you familiar with the Fantasy Flight Games Star Wars tabletop RPGs: Edge of the Empire, Age of Rebellion and Force and Destinywill be exited to learn the new owner of these landmark RPGs will be republishing the books and reissuing new dice starting next month.

These books routinely sell for well over $100 because of their rarity, and republishing is expected to drop their price back down to 1/3 of this. Also their proprietary “narrative dice” the system is based upon are being reissued, which is again expected to cause prices to drop enormously.

If you like Star Wars and tabletop RPGs, keep an eye out for Christmas gifts, especially for yourself.

The narrative dice system is widely held to be superior to the D20 system made popular by Dungeons and Dragons and picked up by many other games. IMHO it is better than the D20 system.

Cheers

 

[Thalstan]

Wait, you mean I was sitting on a gold mine and didn't know it?

How much are my old West End Games versions? Or my copy of Unearthed Arcana from AD&D (1st edition game)....dang it.

 

[Shadow Reaper]

Ha! Sorry, but so far as I’m aware, it’s just the ffg TTRPG books and dice that suffer rarity. I think there’s something on the order of 20 of them and especially the three sourcebooks even used are over $100@. New, sourcebooks are often over $200@. That’s what’s about to change.

The “narrative dice” are totally unlike D20 games, and IMHO are far better. I’ve played D&D for 42 years, and I’m still sharing that opinion. They just make for better storytelling.

The ship to ship combat system needs work, IMHO; but I saw an interview with one of the new developers 6 months ago where it sounded like they intended to rework that and one other part of the game. Those changes should be in the new books.

One cool thing about the game is the way the ship stats affect combat. It’s actually very advanced and not too cumbersome (which is a flaw you’ll find in systems like Pathfinder that hope to create more realism.). The issue with the ffg ship combat system is that it seems a smidge too simple. But the host of abilities each ship stat and mod bring to the table is enviable. Really striking if you ask me. Lots of cool choices available to players who want to trick out their whips.

Unfortunately, too many groups settle for versions of the YT1300 from lack of familiarity with their choices. Get a friggin’ Jedi Sojourner! Man, that ship is so cool.

https://star-wars-rpg-ffg.fandom.com/wiki/Category:Freighters_%26_Liners

 

[Thalstan]

I’ve played that version and have the sourcebooks and the dice. Honestly, I was not that impressed with it. I have kept most of my TTRPG games, including hero, fantasy hero, champions, palladium (Robptech), amber, shadowrun (couple of editions), warhammer 40k RPG, Amber diceless RPG, most 1st ed, 2ed AD&D, core rules for 3rd, 4th, and 5th Ed, the boxed D&D versions from the 70s and 80s, , mechwarrior 1st and 2nd Ed, battletech, most of,the tech supplements. Aerotech, Star Wars, Everquest, Girl Genius, Pathfinder, Star Trek, and the list goes on.

 

[Shadow Reaper]

I have to agree the narrative dice are unusual, and require some effort to learn, but I do think they’re more narrative, meaning they’re better at storytelling. It’s an odd consequence that you can radically succeed and fail at the same time and thus does seem to generate more detailed story—like amplifying the effects of critical rolls and flubs (which most play has now abandoned). I just think it’s fun.