For Day 2, "Change,: Let's talk about the path that made my D&D 5e online group turn to Star Wars d6.
Like most of the gamers my age, at least one friend had a copy of the Star Wars (d6) RPG by West End Games. Most played a few sessions and things got shelved, only to be dusted off from time to time.
My Star Wars RPG knowledge was limited to some short games in high school, and college, a few great convention games, and actively ignoring one of the greatest Star Wars campaigns ever!
Over a decade ago, I had the idea for a Christmas in July game using Star Wars d6, and despite my best efforts, it was still easier to playtest a D&D convention event,
But two things happened this year amid the pandemic: The Star Wars 30th Anniversary Slipcase went on deep discount through Miniature Market, forcing me to buy it...
... and when polling my online players for the next game I put Star Wars (d6) on as a whim, and it was unanimously selected.
Pulling my 2nd Edition Revised copy off the shelf, I've been reviewing rules and target numbers, but I haven't relegated myself to the stoic old-school format (especially in 1st Edition. I have been doing massive research to apply my "Yes, But" style into Star Wars.
First off is a round of applause for the Campaign Podcast. The original campaign on the podcast was Star Wars using the funky dice from Fantasy Flight Games. There were some fantastic traditional rolls of success vs failure, but the concept of interpreting disadvantages, advantages, triumphs, and despairs in the dice pool make the dice pool far more interesting.
Mix all that in with a healthy dose of Powered by the Apocalypse games, and I'm far better working through the "Yes, But..." or "No, But..." results
Let's throw in the Force/Wild die for fun. The idea of a result of 1 "complicating" an event is already written in the 2nd Edition rules, but the result of a 6 is simply an exploding die adding to the result. The idea of a built-in advantage regardless of whether the roll was a pass for failure seems to be working well in the first few sessions of the campaign. In fact, it seems simpler in application than the FFG dice could ever be. Our only problem thus far, is watching for the final die rolled on roll20.
And that Christmas/Life Day game on Bespin will see some life this December. Gotta blow the dust off that folder.
Like most of the gamers my age, at least one friend had a copy of the Star Wars (d6) RPG by West End Games. Most played a few sessions and things got shelved, only to be dusted off from time to time.
My Star Wars RPG knowledge was limited to some short games in high school, and college, a few great convention games, and actively ignoring one of the greatest Star Wars campaigns ever!
Over a decade ago, I had the idea for a Christmas in July game using Star Wars d6, and despite my best efforts, it was still easier to playtest a D&D convention event,
But two things happened this year amid the pandemic: The Star Wars 30th Anniversary Slipcase went on deep discount through Miniature Market, forcing me to buy it...
Pulling my 2nd Edition Revised copy off the shelf, I've been reviewing rules and target numbers, but I haven't relegated myself to the stoic old-school format (especially in 1st Edition. I have been doing massive research to apply my "Yes, But" style into Star Wars.
First off is a round of applause for the Campaign Podcast. The original campaign on the podcast was Star Wars using the funky dice from Fantasy Flight Games. There were some fantastic traditional rolls of success vs failure, but the concept of interpreting disadvantages, advantages, triumphs, and despairs in the dice pool make the dice pool far more interesting.
Mix all that in with a healthy dose of Powered by the Apocalypse games, and I'm far better working through the "Yes, But..." or "No, But..." results
Let's throw in the Force/Wild die for fun. The idea of a result of 1 "complicating" an event is already written in the 2nd Edition rules, but the result of a 6 is simply an exploding die adding to the result. The idea of a built-in advantage regardless of whether the roll was a pass for failure seems to be working well in the first few sessions of the campaign. In fact, it seems simpler in application than the FFG dice could ever be. Our only problem thus far, is watching for the final die rolled on roll20.
And that Christmas/Life Day game on Bespin will see some life this December. Gotta blow the dust off that folder.
I laughed out loud at "Forcing me to buy it...."
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad to know I'm not the only one this happens to!
I was one of those guys that had the original West Eng Games Star Wars (and... still do...) and played a couple of sessions and then shelved it forever... I think it was the very first game I played that used dice pools - and while that's one of my favourite mechanics NOW - at THAT time, in the 80s, me and all my friends were ALL ABOUT PERCENTILES (which now I think is utter rubbish)! Things do change...
This system you have sounds a lot like Wrath & Glory - dice pools with a "Wrath" die that adds "Complications" on 1s and gains "Glory" (and other effects, depending on the situation.type of test) on a 6. I'm really LOVING it - I want to convert the system for use outside the 40K universe!