Star Wars Saga: Adding drawn special actions

[Irenaeus]

Hey. It's been a few years since I posted here. I ran a saga game way back when it came out, and was generally happy with it. However, we felt in general that the combat at times was a little too static when compared to the stuff we saw in the movies and in general how we imagined it. Last year, we fired up a new SW campaign using the FFG game, but the system wasn't a hit for several reasons. Now we're thinking of going back to SE, but we had a little meet where we talked about what kind of game we wanted, and agreed that we would like to see more of

1) Alternate attacks – where the characters more often would use unarmed or secondary attacks at times it felt appropriate, so that an epic struggle could potentially flow between ranged and melee/unarmed .

2) More movement – characters standing close in melee or staying behind cover for long periods of time just feels a little wrong. You can fluff it a bit, of course, but it's not an interesting game situation.

Now, I've let this marinate in my thoughts for a while, and wondered about adding some special action cards or some such to simulate a somewhat more dynamic and cinematic flow of combat. It's all in a very early, formative stage, and I'm quite uncertain of it. but I thought I'd throw it out there and see what suggestions people had for it's development, or if they could come up with better alternatives.

The idea is that every PC gets a few (two?) cards drawn randomly from a deck cinematic maneouvers which can be used to aid them in combat, and the GM gets aproximately the same amount. Note that by "cinematic", I don't neccesarily mean over the top – in fact some are quite modest, just that they aid the character in taking actions which enables more dynamic situations. Every third round or so, they get another one. At the end of the encounter, you discard all cards and draw two new ones.

Some ideas for these maneuvers are as follows:

- Disarm opponent at no penalty and place their weapon at a few squares distance instead of a normal attack.
- Make an unarmed attack as a free action without provoking an attack of opportunity
- Make an attack with an alternate weapon (including gun club) as a free action without provoking an attack of opportunity.
- Make an unarmed attack as a free action and move the opponent three squares back instead of damage on a hit.
- Make an unarmed attack as a standard action and move both yourself and the opponent three squares back and prone on a hit.
- Make an unarmed attack as a standard action to throw an opponent and place him prone two squares past you.
- Ignore a hit as a reaction, but you must immediately retreat (if in close combat) or move towards cover, and you lose your entire next turn. (I'm not sure at all about the details of this, but I've played in several systems where you're allowed to forfeit your next turn after being hit to get a last chance of defending, and the effect is really cool, with one really feeling that one is sometimes forced onto the defensive. I'm pretty certain I want some sort of dynamic like this introduced, even if not this exact one.)
- Quick Draw a weapon or item as a swift action

There will of course be duplicates, and I think some must be more common than others.

More? I don't know. I should note that my players have no inclination to try to break the system or even optimize all that much, so I'm a little less worried about balance than I would be with others. We're also heavy into rule 0, so this trust goes both ways. That said, it would of course be quite bad if you would break it without even trying during casual play. I forsee it reducing the power of full attacks in melee a bit, but none of the players seem to be inclined towards such a build.

Thoughts? Suggestions? Alternatives? Clear flaws? I'm pretty rusty on Saga right now, so I expect to have overseen a few things at the very least.

[LibraryOgre]

I don't think it's a bad idea, but I've also used some of these narratively. You're in a close hand to hand fight and roll a low damage attack... you kicked him when he deflected your lightsaber. You've been taking cover behind those boxes, but they've been getting shot with blaster bolts, so it offers less cover... if you want more cover, you'll need to run for it.

[Irenaeus]

Yeah, I've used them narratively too, and in some campaigns I've been happy with them. In a game system as crunchy (relative to other stuff we are playing) as Saga I feel a greater need for them to be represented in some way in the mechanics, though. Some of them are also a "changing the trump"-kind of actions, affecting the flow of the battle beyond just this round. Enabling an escape, removing a weapon and the like.

[LibraryOgre]

Another option is switch Force points from a "per level" mechanic to a "per session" mechanic, and giving people more they can do with Force Points.

http://rpgcrank.blogspot.com/2013/08...es-change.html

You might include something like "Draw from the Special Actions deck" and include some of your card ideas there. Or have the Special Actions be part of a critical.

[Irenaeus]

Another option is switch Force points from a "per level" mechanic to a "per session" mechanic, and giving people more they can do with Force Points.

http://rpgcrank.blogspot.com/2013/08...es-change.html

You might include something like "Draw from the Special Actions deck" and include some of your card ideas there. Or have the Special Actions be part of a critical.

Thanks for the link (and for the blog in general)! More utility from Force Points (and Destiny Points) is definitely on the table. In my previous campaign, I allowed players to play a Force Point to skirt the rules a little, if it was dramatically appropriate. I'd like a little more systematic approach to it rather than just GM fiat over and over again, but never got around to it.