New Star Wars RPG in playtest

[Grimace]

It looks like Fantasy Flight has now released a beta version of the new Star Wars Roleplaying Game. It's going to cost you about 30 bucks to take part in the beta playtest, but you could have a part in forging the new game by providing useful and helpful feedback.

Check out the details: HERE

[red5_5]

Sounds interesting...I'm not sure if I'll spring for the beta book or if I should wait for the finished product. I'm intrigued by FFG's decision to split the game into different core books for different settings. It will be a different take on the setting than WotC and WEG. I can't wait to learn more.

[boccelounge]

I dunno... great news that FFG is finally moving ahead with the license, and I look forward to seeing what they come up with... but $30 to playtest? I don't care about $30 (if it's a good game), but it seems rather greedy. I have my name in a handful of sourcebooks as "original playtester," but I've never been asked to pay for it.

Are they experiencing a little "sticker shock?"

Say what you want about WotC... but they previewed all the games for free. Just sayin'.

[Grimace]

Yeah, the pay-to-playtest seems a little odd to me. At one time I think they do a disservice to the gaming community by not putting the playtest out there for everyone to run through the wringer. While at the same time I guess I can understand that if you spend 30 bucks you might actually feel invested to give it a playtest and turn in a playtest report rather than just picking it up and letting it languish.

[Sithspawn]

I'm really looking forward to seeing what FFG do with the game. But I'm not going to pay for the Beta version, I'll wait for the full release.

Only thing I'm a bit hesitant about are the custom dice. We're old school RPGers who all want our own dice, so that will be extra spending. That said, I was against WFRP 3rd. ed. having custom dice and it turned out that was the bit of the system that I liked.

[Seghast]

There's actually been a discussion about this on the SWAG boards as well, so I thought I'd share a couple of links that popped up over there.

First we have an article with some scans of the book/pages from GenCon. Personally, I didn't like what I saw here but I may just be pessimistic since I haven't been able to enjoy any system other than the old WEG D6 stuff.

This thread on the FFG forums is a review from someone who has beta-tested the game with a group. Again, I'm not really impressed with what I'm hearing. I have little doubt that my group will want to pick it up and try it once it's officially out in stores, but I'm not looking forward to it.

[Grimace]

I was reading the second link and I see that this new version of rules goes even further towards the idea that ALL Force Sensitive are Force Users. I hate that aspect, and started seeing it take hold in the WOTC versions and translate to people playing the D6 versions. Just because a character is Force Sensitive doesn't mean they're a Force User. *shakes head*

I'll probably look at this new version of Star Wars when it comes out, but I doubt I'll buy it. If I play any Star Wars, it'll be with D6.

I'm curious for those that have this beta version...what's with the dice? How do they work?

[stoic_75]

WOTC has the right idea when it comes to play tests. I am part of their 5th Edition D&D play test. All I had to do was sign up on their website and download the pdfs whenever they are released. After playing through each phase with my group, we fill out a survey and send it back to WOTC. It is all free for both parties. I don't get paid by WOTC for soliciting my opinions and I certainly don't pay them. The way I see it, it is a win for all involved.

I am not sure why FF would pay to have a book published, charge people to review it, then put out another book with revisions at a later date. The cynic in me thinks they are hoping people will pony up and buy two books. I hope it is because of something else.

[Ardent]

Yeah, the pay-to-playtest seems a little odd to me. At one time I think they do a disservice to the gaming community by not putting the playtest out there for everyone to run through the wringer. While at the same time I guess I can understand that if you spend 30 bucks you might actually feel invested to give it a playtest and turn in a playtest report rather than just picking it up and letting it languish.

It is the new model.

Incidentally, you get the "print" book at a discounted rate (or free) with most companies; I haven't actually read FFG's offer but I would hope they intend to duplicate the model fully.

[JegerGryte]

The main reason one has to pay for the beta is that it's a dead tree version and that the license from Lucas doesn't cover PDFs (some archaic notion of electronic stuff being different from printed stuff or something) and they don't like freebies as far as I have come to understand. I for one have no problem with this, but I understand that some feel its "greedy" to demand payment to participate in the beta, but then again no one have to participate and I for one think its nice they actually have a beta test phase. Instead of waiting to sometime next year, I have a more or less finished product earlier. For me that's worth the 30 bucks plus shipping (almost the same amount since I live in Norway and they have odd shipping options).

As I'm still waiting for my book I can't really comment on anything directly game-related. For concerns on the force sensitivity concerns, I share those, but there's always a way to tweak that. I have yet to meet a game that survives actual play.

My question for Moridin and/or the moderators/admins of this site is if there's going to be a dedicated sub-forum here for the FFG version, like that of D6 and D20? I would appreciate that as most official forums tend to focus more on naysaying and disagreeing than anything else. At least in my experience. Plus the swrpgnetwork forums have always been good to me, the people polite and interested, even if they don't particularly like a certain incarnation of the game or not.

[Moridin]

I picked up the beta at GenCon, but I had to ship it back here to Seattle so I didn't get much of a chance to read it during my vacation. It looks like it is mechanically similar to WFRP3, with some MMO-style talent trees for character advancement.

My question for Moridin and/or the moderators/admins of this site is if there's going to be a dedicated sub-forum here for the FFG version, like that of D6 and D20? I would appreciate that as most official forums tend to focus more on naysaying and disagreeing than anything else. At least in my experience. Plus the swrpgnetwork forums have always been good to me, the people polite and interested, even if they don't particularly like a certain incarnation of the game or not.

My feeling is that the FFG version is sufficiently different from the D6 and d20 versions to warrant its own subforum, once traffic is high enough to warrant that.

[JegerGryte]

Well, I should get on the recruiting then been a while since I was active myself, but I pop by every now and then. It's good to see the hard core still using the forums. My interest in swrpg has been somewhat reinvigorated by this new game, but we'll see if my thesis let's me dabble enough with rpgs again. I certainly hope so... been far too long since I ran and did some proper rpg stuff.

[boccelounge]

Thanks for the insight, Jeger. I completely agree on the need for a distinct FFGSW forum.

[JegerGryte]

My copy of the book is now en route. Exciting days, got my new laptop today too. Just now re-installing everything on the nice ssd.

Once I have the book and have had a test run or two, I can post some comments on the shebang. The FFG forums are already "thriving", but a smaller another corner to post notes, compare notes (if anyone on these boards' got the book) and answer questions is also nice I think.

[Donovan Morningfire]

I got my copy about a week ago (ordered it the Friday that FFG put it up for sale on their website). Given the hassles with LucasArts and PDFs, I'm not surprised at FFG being forced into the dead-tree version.

Haven't gotten a chance to actually play this yet, but it does seem interesting, mainly as the book's primary focus is Firefly-style groups of "independent operators" during the Rebellion Era (no prequels, NJO, or KOTOR material), and the starting "classes" (for lack of a better term) really reflect that. Character building isn't quite as free-form as WEG, but it's not quite as rigid as d20 was; you can go in most any direction in terms of character type, the only trade-off is that it's going to be very costly to raise "non-class" skills, although the specialization system can allow a player to expand or alter several of their class skills.

As for Force-sensitives, you can have someone that's "Force-sensitive" without a single Force "power" to their name. Yeah, you'd be paying valuable XP for something that would only have a minor benefit unless you delved into the Force Exile talent tree, which has some pretty nifty first-tier talents that boost your perceptiveness and initiative; i.e. see things before they happen Just don't get your hopes for any Jedi, as not even Luke circa ESB would really be possible with the given rules. Although the lightsaber in this version is probably one of the deadliest versions I've seen to date. Damage equal to a blaster rifle, pretty much ignores armor, grants some nice defensive perks, and can easily score critical hits that are going to hurt. It's also well out of the hands of a starting player character, which is just as well.

I do have some qualms with a couple of the design decisions, namely the uber-effectiveness of Force Powers and the pricing of some aspects of them, and I'm still not 100% sold on the "custom dice" thing, but at least it doesn't have the excessive cards and tokens that really soured me on WFRP 3rd edition. Combat is pretty abstract, much like D6 in a lot of respects, and the species presented so far are fairly simple in comparison to the d20 versions.

So overall, it's interesting, and I probably will pick up the "finished" version when it comes out (thinking next year, maybe GC '13?). While a free playtest like what Paizo and WotC did would be fantastic, at least FFG is giving us the chance offer feedback on where the game works and where it still needs work. And if worse comes to worse, Edge of the Empire is still a complete and fully playable game.