Knights of the Old Republic d20?

[ post #1 ]

Does anyone know if Wizards (or SWRPG Network) is planning on making a d20 sourcebook based on the era portrayed in Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic? For those who haven't played the excellent game yet, it's set 4000 years before Rise of the Empire and it's built on a foundation of SWRPG d20 rules. I want to start a campaign set in this dynamic time period!

I know there are some relevant details in existing sourcebooks, but what about new races (Rakata and Selkath), stats for Sith Troopers, optional lightsaber crystal properties, new feats and force powers? ...the list goes on. The most important stuff would be background information about the state of the galaxy: what technology is not yet available, what races have not been discovered, and how planets are different during this period than they are in the films.

I would propose making a fan-created supplement, but it seems silly when all these characters already exist in the d20 rules that form the backbone of the game. Still... I may be forced to whip something together. Any suggestions?

[ post #2 ]

There's no KotOR related sourcebook planned at the moment.

The closest official thing you could get is the D6 Tales of the Jedi era sourcebook. If you're interested in getting a better idea of the galaxy at that time, read the Tales of the Jedi comics.
Be aware that Knights of the Old Republic seems to contradict these in many ways (for example, the look of the ships and tech is very different). Just from a brief glance at the website, I spotted several cnotinuity errors. Doing sourcebooks and stuff related to any lucasarts games is difficult because they always have so many continuity errors.

If you're interested in background for the era, I've written a little bit about it for the players in my ToJ era campaign, which you can find here. A fair bit is my interpretation of the galaxy and it probably doesn't reflect the galaxy presented in KotOR (I may or may not change it when I get the game).

__________________
"You're good, but you're no Wes Janson." - Wes Janson

"You are never certain that a person will notice something but there is a good chance the person is going to have to kill it sooner or later. Therefore my padawan, never get any awareness or stealth skills, just be really good at killing." - Jedi Master Yatzi Googol Safefefe

[ post #3 ]

for some reason i thought i remembered something about some KotOR stuff being included in a future sourcbook, but not having one to itself.... of course i could be mistaken.

[ post #4 ]

Here is stats for the sith starfighter


Sith Starfighter
Class: Starfighter Crew: 1 (Skilled +4)
Size: Diminutive Initiative: +8 (+4 size, +4 crew)
Hyperdrive: None Manuver: +10 (+4 size, +4 crew
+2 equipment bonus)
Passengers: 0 Defense: 24 (+4 size, +10 armor)
Cargo Capacity: 20 kg Sheild Points: 30 (DR 5)
Consumables: 2 days Hull Points: 60 (DR 5)
Cost: 95,000 credits (new), 63,5000 (used)
Maximum Speed in Space: Ramming (12 sq/a)
Atmospheric Speed: 19 sq/a
Weapon: Heavy Blaster Cannons (2 fire-linked)
Fire Arc: Front
Attack Bonus: +14 (+4 size, +4 crew, +4 Fire Control, +2 equipment bonus.
Damage: 6d10x2
Range Modifiers: PB -2, S -4, M/L n/a.

[ post #5 ]

I ran a campaign for d20 in the Tales of the Jedi era (same as KOTOR). The d6 book Tales of the Jedi sourcebook is a fantastic resource and I converted things over from it, and used it just to establish timeline, history and corporation names.

What I would like to see is some stats for the Ebon Hawk...I have my own, but I want to see some other takes on it.

Its a very interseting timeframe, feels like Star Wars meets the wild west in my opinion, very frontier oriented. Alot of improtant events happened back then and PC's can play jedi freely.

__________________
The Empire seeks to destroy the Jedi; I defeat the Empire by becoming Jedi.

In the theatre of the mind, the GM is the lighting.

[ post #6 ]

Tales of the Jedi era always seemed like the mythical star wars era to me. Some people don't like some of the over-the-top things like Sith sorcery, Force imbued artifacts and things, but I like the mythical feel they give. And it always leaves you wondering whether these stories are accurate, as the title suggests, whether they're tales, elaborated and changed from the original events.

I think the era shows the Jedi in a 'pure' form - confident, respected and powerful. They're much more aggressive than later era Jedi, especially late OR ones, who are bound in by the council and strict rules on their conduct. TotJ era Jedi have the confidence and strength to operate without all those rules. To my mind, the rules, particularly the one on love, just suppress human feelings and flaws. They lead to suppression of problems, whereas TotJ Jedi would accept and deal with them.

Star Wars is mythos, but the TotJ era is the mythical era of Star Wars. To my mind they're more directly linked (or the better stories are) to classical mythology, especially the Ancient Greek Republic(s) and the way they established their power - though of course all mythology is essentially similar, so they can be this, a wild west frontier, and Star Wars.

Of course they don't necessarily agree with George Lucas' vision for SW (and in many places contradict it), but who really cares about him anyway.

__________________
"You're good, but you're no Wes Janson." - Wes Janson

"You are never certain that a person will notice something but there is a good chance the person is going to have to kill it sooner or later. Therefore my padawan, never get any awareness or stealth skills, just be really good at killing." - Jedi Master Yatzi Googol Safefefe

[ post #7 ]

Rogue, thanks for the information and the link. That's a helpful page! I also enjoyed your thoughts on the era. The "frontier" nature of the time period is what appeals to me as well.

What are some of the inconsistencies between the comics and the game?

I have read some of the oldest TotJ comics, but in spite of some interesting comics, I was generally disappointed with them. Comics and games are both really the red-headed stepchildren of Star Wars continuity, but I got the impression that KOTOR was more "official" than the old comics because it was more recently created and it's hitting a more mainstream audience.

[ post #8 ]

I remember thinking that KOTOR was supposed to take place in a more recent time period than TotJ, and this developer chat quote supports that memory:

Question: How closely did you guys reference the Dark Horse Tales of the Jedi Comic series when you were coming up with characters, planets etc? Casey: Since our game takes place in a period between the comics and the movies, we had a lot of freedom in creating the look and the content of the game. The comics established an early starting point for what some people might expect from the game, but the movies more heavily influenced a lot of the art style and content.

Of course, that doesn't explain why both the game and the comics claim to take place 4,000 years before trilogy.

[ post #9 ]

KotOR takes place 40 years after TotJ

[ post #10 ]

Originally posted by JohnnyONeal Rogue, thanks for the information and the link. That's a helpful page! I also enjoyed your thoughts on the era. The "frontier" nature of the time period is what appeals to me as well. What are some of the inconsistencies between the comics and the game? I have read some of the oldest TotJ comics, but in spite of some interesting comics, I was generally disappointed with them. Comics and games are both really the red-headed stepchildren of Star Wars continuity, but I got the impression that KOTOR was more "official" than the old comics because it was more recently created and it's hitting a more mainstream audience.

Glad you liked the stuff I'd written.

Officially, everything but infinities is considered canon material, but of course there's so much that contradictions are inevitable. In practice, generally the comics are much better at continuity than the games. Almost all the games contain major continuity errors and inconsistencies, and at best expand out from other events way too much (like the constant swarms dark Jedi in the Jedi Knight games).

From a quick scan of the KotOR site, here are some continuity errors:
- the game visits Tatooine and kashyyyk, neither of which was discovered.
- one of the characters is called "darth." Sith Lords only started adopting this title after Darth Bane, 3,000 years later.
- the status of Korriban seems a bit odd. I think it's at least hinted that the world is hidden/lost in the comics, but the detail remains vague enough that there may not be any direct contradictions. The fact there's a spaceport and community there, on the greatest dark side world in the galaxy is decidedly suspicious.

To be fair, these are pretty minor errors, so hopefully the game's not too bad. Also, even in the Redemption comic, set 10 years after the others, the look of the technology has begun to change.

__________________
"You're good, but you're no Wes Janson." - Wes Janson

"You are never certain that a person will notice something but there is a good chance the person is going to have to kill it sooner or later. Therefore my padawan, never get any awareness or stealth skills, just be really good at killing." - Jedi Master Yatzi Googol Safefefe

[ post #11 ]

From Moridin's notes on the GenCon SWRPG Seminar:

A Tales of the Jedi sourcebook has been talked about, and is a good idea, and if it happens it will probably include information from the recent Knights of the Old Republic video game, including possibly the Jedi Sentinel. Additionally, the developers of KOTOR used design documents of the Star Wars d20 to design the game, so reverse engineering wouldn't be a problem.

I attended the seminar as well and when Bill S. and Chris P. asked the audience about interest in this era the response was virtaully 100% of the audience. They seemed to take that very well and indicated that it's definitely an area of interest they'll keep in mind.

All that said, a book for that era isn't currently on the schedule, so I imagine it will be a while before it could come out if it is decided to do so.

__________________
Chris Curtis / ICQ: 3114497 / AIM: oldarmygary
Star Wars Artists' Guild, Servais Sector, Chris Curtis dot Org

[ post #12 ]

ah yes, Chris Curtis, thats what I was talking about in my earlier post. Thanks I couldnt remember where the info came from.

[ post #13 ]

Yes, the coordination between KOTOR vid game staff and WOTC artists or Lucas arts artistsis obvious- look at the light repeating blaster in the video game (triangular barrel) and the illustration in the WOTC RPG revised and expanded Core rulebook - same blaster.

I think using Old Republic erea in SWD20 is great because the GM has more leeway with regards to miniatures. Since it is so frustrating to try to obtain miniatures for SWD20 for the 3 main Eras, using the Old Republic era opens up the creative faucet.

Since there are not so many overdone images and contructs of old republic droids, ships, and clothing styles, the slate is almost empty, ready for the GM to fill with fresh ideas.

I think a WOTC SWD20 supplement from the KOTOR video game is a great idea.

[ post #14 ]

I agree, gcrutch, though I have the opposite problem when it comes to miniatures!

Our prequel-era campaign uses action figures in place of miniatures. Between the players and the GM, we have a big collection of loose figures, so we use a map with 2"x2" squares to represent 2 meters of space and resolve our combat that way. We sometimes have to do things like substituting stormtroopers for clonetroopers, but it's great fun and it's honestly not much more expensive than using miniatures.

For my KOTOR-era campaign, it will be harder to capture the look with figures from the movies. Ah well, maybe I'll have to improve my customizing skills...

Anyway, it's great to hear about the possibility of an official KOTOR sourcebook. In the meantime, I'll work on my own stats and post them on my gaming group's SWRPG site.

[ post #15 ]

Although I've not played the game yet, I also find it weird that there would be a community/starport on Korriban during the KoTOR period in the SW Timeline, Rogue (unless the community/starport were completely run by the Sith Order). I understand that in future eras (e.g., the Rise of the Empire era), that archaeologists and would be tomb robbers frequent Korriban, though. I think that by the NJO era, there might even be mining/industrial operations on Korriban. Still, a community on Korriban while the Sith are relatively strong (during the time that KoTOR is set), weird.

By the way, from what I read in the Secrets of Tatooine supplement, the planet reportedly had visitors from the Old Republic as early as 5,000 years BBY, so it would not negate the established SW timeline, for characters in KoTOR to visit Tatooine 4,000 years BBY, especially when this was the first period of time that Tatooine was extensively being colonized. I know...I'm a geek with too much time on my hands.

All that said, I would love to see a d20 conversion for the SWRPG system.

Darth Fierce

__________________
Currently Working On:
--The Holonet Alien Anthology
--The Friends and Foes Compendium
In loving memory of P.C., we who knew you will never forget you...

Last edited by Darth Fierce on 28 September 2003 at 01:45 AM