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Older D&D/AD&D and Other Systems The forum for discussions specifically related to the rules and procedures of either any of the older editions of Dungeons & Dragons (1e, 2e, BECMI, OD&D) or any other non-D&D roleplaying rules (Vampire: The Requiem, Dread), including non-fantasy d20 systems (such as Mutants & Masterminds).

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Old 09-19-2012, 04:37 AM   Top  -  End  -  #1
Sarone
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Default Star Wars: Edge of the Empire Beta (FFG)

Hey all, I have bougth the Star Wars: Edge of the Empire Beta book today and was wondering if anyone has done so as well.

What are your thoughts on it?
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Favorite Merc Maxims

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3. An ordnance technician at a dead run outranks everybody.
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Old 09-19-2012, 06:48 AM   Top  -  End  -  #2
king.com
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Default Re: Star Wars: Edge of the Empire Beta (FFG)

I thought Dark Heresy was lethal....then theres Star Wars....
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you know whats worse than a regular Daemon-host? A Daemon-host with a Plasma Cannon.
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Old 09-19-2012, 09:29 AM   Top  -  End  -  #3
Sarone
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Quote:
Originally Posted by king.com View Post
I thought Dark Heresy was lethal....then theres Star Wars....
Yeah. That was my first thought.

What I do like is that it is essentially a levelless system.

Boosts and increases are based on participation as well as how well the group completes their objectives and missions.

No need to worry about power creep, since Mr. Stormtrooper that was a threat in Session #1 will still be a threat at #20.

PROBLEMS:

I'll definetely be sending Fantasy Flight Games an email saying, "Leave the Grim, Dark Future with the 40K and Games Workshop crowd." I do not like, and in fact absolutely hate, lethal systems. It might take me a day to come up with a character, but this is not Extreme Lethal Dungeon at a convention, and I DO NOT want to waste my time making characters that won't last a session, let alone a story arc.

Being complicated with the dice/buy new dice. Chart is nice, but again, back to the Dark Heresy reference.

Character Generation doesn't seem complicated, but depending on how many players and the over all theme to the group, it can get unwieldy or skewed toward power gamers. Not enjoyable.

I also think that it is a bad sign that character creation is this easy.

Resources don't seem cover alot of gear, thereby encouraging people to take more obligations. Depending on the GM, this is can be an issue, or can help motivate a story. Problem is, I do not have much faith in APs and Modules published by Fantasy Flight Games that they'll be at most Hazardous.

I am not a fan that they are making Jedi and full force users the equivelant of Space Marines.

I'll be honest, from my end, it looks good, but needs alot more refinement.
__________________
Cool. His ego and his survival instincts are fighting for control of his mouth. - Ennesby, Schlock Mercenary

Favorite Merc Maxims

2. A Sergeant in motion outranks a Lieutenant who doesn't know what's going on.
3. An ordnance technician at a dead run outranks everybody.
27. Don't be afraid to be the first to resort to violence.

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Old 09-19-2012, 10:29 PM   Top  -  End  -  #4
king.com
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Default Re: Star Wars: Edge of the Empire Beta (FFG)

Quote:
Originally Posted by Sarone View Post
Yeah. That was my first thought.

What I do like is that it is essentially a levelless system.

Boosts and increases are based on participation as well as how well the group completes their objectives and missions.

No need to worry about power creep, since Mr. Stormtrooper that was a threat in Session #1 will still be a threat at #20.
I disagree here, the way rolls are determined you end up geetting to add a bunch of dice to your opponents negative dice pool when your increasing skills and armour, along with your straight better weaponry as you advance, much like the dark heresy system, you end up negating the kind of mooks thrown at you as a brand spanking rank 1 character versus a rank 9 character. The system's levelling seems very familiar with the tree system from Dark Heresy, simply with far fewer options on each table and allowing you to jump down the tree far more quickly.


Quote:
Originally Posted by Sarone View Post
PROBLEMS:

I'll definetely be sending Fantasy Flight Games an email saying, "Leave the Grim, Dark Future with the 40K and Games Workshop crowd." I do not like, and in fact absolutely hate, lethal systems. It might take me a day to come up with a character, but this is not Extreme Lethal Dungeon at a convention, and I DO NOT want to waste my time making characters that won't last a session, let alone a story arc.
As a tip, that kind of phrasing is a signal for the person read to start the 'thank you for your feedback' response, and ignore the rest of the email.

Lethal systems are not bad, they exist to develop a systme that forces a player to avoid combat at all costs. This is really what I think they are trying to do with this book. Your smugglers, your job is to AVOID trouble. Really cool idea and combat being super dangerous is fine. You have the light side/dark side point system to mess with the balance so its an interest mix, though something which could go extremely badly with a poor GM. What Star Wars then layers on top is a passive defense system. You cannot choose to 'dodge' an attack but simply have to modify your wounds by the damage inflicted based on a bunch of rolls. This is great for a wargame as it speeds up play but generally creates unsatisfactory feedback in an rpg.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Sarone View Post
Being complicated with the dice/buy new dice. Chart is nice, but again, back to the Dark Heresy reference.
Im not sure what you mean by Dark Heresy having custom dice? Do you mean Warhammer Fantasy? I dont mind it personally but yea its a pretty pointless system to have outside of a boardgame when a regular d6 and d8 seems to work fine.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Sarone View Post
Character Generation doesn't seem complicated, but depending on how many players and the over all theme to the group, it can get unwieldy or skewed toward power gamers. Not enjoyable.
The character creation system is very very broken. There is virtually no reason to not take as a many obligations as you can as it A) makes you more powerful and B) gives more story time to your character.

You should ALWAYS level your stats and ignore your skills as you can easy level those up with gameplay XP. Its wierd and I dont know the reasoning behind this.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Sarone View Post
I also think that it is a bad sign that character creation is this easy.
Could you explain this one? Easy character creation is good no?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Sarone View Post
Resources don't seem cover alot of gear, thereby encouraging people to take more obligations. Depending on the GM, this is can be an issue, or can help motivate a story. Problem is, I do not have much faith in APs and Modules published by Fantasy Flight Games that they'll be at most Hazardous.
The entire system seems designed for a game running purely on character based stories. So you have a smuggler who took the 'Debt' obligation so you do the obvious 'Jabba the Hutt is after me!' plot. The GM creates a session or two following this plot the players get to play along with and then you roll the dice once it is resolved. This roll determines who is next to have their story told. Maybe the Bounty Hunter with a grudge against the Empire get the next scenario about them. A rotating GM system may even work nicely here.

Regardless this is not a game I really want to run, being the GM of the group. I like my character development as much as anyone but the way the obligation system is setup seems to override the campaign's plot. Theres not a hell of a lot of motivation for me to plan individual characters and their own unique stories constantly.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Sarone View Post
I am not a fan that they are making Jedi and full force users the equivelant of Space Marines.

I'll be honest, from my end, it looks good, but needs alot more refinement.
The Jedi being the super powerful game changers who make virtually everyone inconsequencial when it comes to anything except when there is a sith showing up where the jedi and the sith have to go dual while everyone else does something else? Yea I got no problem with the rules simply developing them as an entirely seperate entity.
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you know whats worse than a regular Daemon-host? A Daemon-host with a Plasma Cannon.
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"Eh. I do to 'Mechs what Simon does to American Idol contestants."
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Old 09-23-2012, 12:14 PM   Top  -  End  -  #5
Sarone
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Default Re: Star Wars: Edge of the Empire Beta (FFG)

That's one other review. Any one else seen the new RPG?
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Favorite Merc Maxims

2. A Sergeant in motion outranks a Lieutenant who doesn't know what's going on.
3. An ordnance technician at a dead run outranks everybody.
27. Don't be afraid to be the first to resort to violence.

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Old 09-25-2012, 03:43 AM   Top  -  End  -  #6
Siegel
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Default Re: Star Wars: Edge of the Empire Beta (FFG)

Quote:
Originally Posted by king.com View Post
The entire system seems designed for a game running purely on character based stories. So you have a smuggler who took the 'Debt' obligation so you do the obvious 'Jabba the Hutt is after me!' plot. The GM creates a session or two following this plot the players get to play along with and then you roll the dice once it is resolved. This roll determines who is next to have their story told. Maybe the Bounty Hunter with a grudge against the Empire get the next scenario about them. A rotating GM system may even work nicely here.

Regardless this is not a game I really want to run, being the GM of the group. I like my character development as much as anyone but the way the obligation system is setup seems to override the campaign's plot. Theres not a hell of a lot of motivation for me to plan individual characters and their own unique stories constantly.
There is no campaign plot and you don't need to have one! Why does there have to be one?
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Old 09-25-2012, 08:33 AM   Top  -  End  -  #7
Seatbelt
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Default Re: Star Wars: Edge of the Empire Beta (FFG)

What are you talking about, no campaign plot?


ANH: First session is R2 and 3P0 trying to get the DS plans to Obi-wan. Second the dice come up Obi-wan's obligation to help Leia. Third session comes up Luke's obligation to help someone in distress. Fourth session is Leia's obligation to fight the empire.

Etc etc. Tying the obligations into an overarching plot is just another facet of cooperative story telling.
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Old 10-01-2012, 10:40 AM   Top  -  End  -  #8
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Default Re: Star Wars: Edge of the Empire Beta (FFG)

I am actually an avid Dark Heresy player, and fan. The lethality of it makes the game more entertaining, when a player can no longer march their character into a bar guns blazing and march back out with as little as a scratch it makes it more fun. Lethality is a great concept, exactly as was stated - Storm troopers, while horrid shots, can now be a threat a level 1 and level 20, you didn't suddenly become impervious to blasters at level 12 or something. Some players won't like lethality, but it does add a more "believable" aspect to the game.

Fantasy Flight has a good idea of what they are doing when it comes to their system concept, but the beta is designed to be just that - a beta. My retail kit should be waiting for me when I get home, I'll be busting it open and reading it cover to cover. I will be back for sure as soon as I have further educated myself.
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Old 10-01-2012, 08:17 PM   Top  -  End  -  #9
mohdri
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Keep in mind this is still beta. Updates are being released weekly. Those with tangible comments/complaints, post some of this over on their boards. Who knows, they might actually listen.

Just as a side, they do have a pretty nice dice app (for for both android and iOs) for 5 bucks. It's got dice for the RPG, the new miniatures game, and a regular set of numerical (d4, d6, etc) dice.
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Old 10-07-2012, 08:43 AM   Top  -  End  -  #10
Hopeless
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Default Re: Star Wars: Edge of the Empire Beta (FFG)

Ordered a copy hope to test it out in a week or so with luck.

Anyone noticed Fantasy Flight is advertising their version of the red box for their new Star Wars game?

Edge of the Empire Beginner's box, looks interesting might be worth picking up have any of you heard about it?

Here take a look for yourself

Okay the game I'm thinking about running to test this is a remake of the very first game I played in the Star Wars campaign from west end games.

The Characters were;

A Smuggler,
An Engineer ( this was mine so npc unless one wants to play him),
A Rebel Pilot,
An Alderaanian Gambler
and a Scout.

They're pretty much all human but if I get the book in plenty of time I might be able to let them create their own if necessary but for timing purposes I think this might be the best unless I use whatever pre-gens they provide instead.

I could run the game they portrayed in those audio podcasts I suppose.

The first game I mentioned involved us being in a bar and stormtroopers burst in opening fire as the were after the Rebel Pilot of course because we were nearby we got framed as being rebel "terrorists" as well ending up fleeing aboard our freighter only to be caught and imprisoned on a Victory class Star Destroyer (well all bar the rebel pilot who had his own ship... well I can correct that mistake this time!), we had a trainee interrogator who the gambler outwitted and my character reprogrammed the ship's fighter launcher so after we left the fighters' they tried to launch blew up disabling the star destroyer at least long enough for us to jump out.

I figure this time have the fight in the cantina and then they race to the spaceport however the rebel pilot discovers the base ship along with all of the hidden fighters have been impounded due to a traitor (who remains unknown at this time good for an obligation perhaps?) and he has to escape on the freighter along with the gambler who'll be escaping some gambling debts...:(His obligation)

Escape off world and try to jump clear but take damage forcing a landing in another system where we learn who the gambler owes and to avoid getting killed take up a mission to deliver a cargo to the figure mentioned in the podcast.(I figure the damaged ship would be the smuggler's obligation with the engineer an npc unless one of the others buys his own copy!)

The Rebel Pilot uses the time to contact his people but not only do they think he's the traitor but the real traitor is plotting to secure the only threat to "his" identity by means of sending a mercenary team to the delivery (they're the pre-gens from the podcast) as a local contact arranges for the local imperial garrison to larn of the exchange leading to them making the delivery waiting to get the chit so they can leave, the people the spice is for turn up and start a fight with their contact and the empire sends a sortie to sort things out.

Could go several different ways but given what i know about the players I can see the gambler trying to make off with some if not all of the spice if not what they're given to take back to Black Sun... well back then I didn't know about them, no time like the present isn't it?!

They could rescue the boss and then escape the imperials but have the mercenary group as an ongoing enemy as well as having them be in the black books of both the empire and the rebellion... lucky they're on the fringes of imperial space isn't it?

Last edited by Hopeless : 10-07-2012 at 09:09 AM.
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Old 10-07-2012, 10:09 AM   Top  -  End  -  #11
Sarone
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Default Re: Star Wars: Edge of the Empire Beta (FFG)

Don't over complicate the story. The PCs will barely have enough experience to boost their characteristics and get a skill or talent. Taking on Stormtroopers migt be a death sentence for them.
__________________
Cool. His ego and his survival instincts are fighting for control of his mouth. - Ennesby, Schlock Mercenary

Favorite Merc Maxims

2. A Sergeant in motion outranks a Lieutenant who doesn't know what's going on.
3. An ordnance technician at a dead run outranks everybody.
27. Don't be afraid to be the first to resort to violence.

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Old 10-07-2012, 10:12 AM   Top  -  End  -  #12
Hopeless
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Sarone View Post
Don't over complicate the story. The PCs will barely have enough experience to boost their characteristics and get a skill or talent. Taking on Stormtroopers migt be a death sentence for them.
So Cantina scene first then the chase to the spaceport, have the Rebel Pilot learn whats happened to his ship and friends, the Gambler learn he's being hunted by his creditors and the smuggler has to get to his ship...

Need a subplot for the fourth character who wasn't involved the first time round...

Leave the rest for a sequel!

Character Possibilities:
EXPLORER/Scout and the Fringer, SMUGGLER/Pilot and the Scoundrel and the TECHNICIAN/Mechanic

Last edited by Hopeless : 10-07-2012 at 10:19 AM.
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Old 10-07-2012, 12:36 PM   Top  -  End  -  #13
Sarone
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Hopeless View Post
So Cantina scene first then the chase to the spaceport, have the Rebel Pilot learn whats happened to his ship and friends, the Gambler learn he's being hunted by his creditors and the smuggler has to get to his ship...

Need a subplot for the fourth character who wasn't involved the first time round...

Leave the rest for a sequel!

Character Possibilities:
EXPLORER/Scout and the Fringer, SMUGGLER/Pilot and the Scoundrel and the TECHNICIAN/Mechanic
Have the fourth character be a member of the local rebel cell.
__________________
Cool. His ego and his survival instincts are fighting for control of his mouth. - Ennesby, Schlock Mercenary

Favorite Merc Maxims

2. A Sergeant in motion outranks a Lieutenant who doesn't know what's going on.
3. An ordnance technician at a dead run outranks everybody.
27. Don't be afraid to be the first to resort to violence.

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Old 10-07-2012, 01:18 PM   Top  -  End  -  #14
Hopeless
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Sarone View Post
Have the fourth character be a member of the local rebel cell.
Originally when this particular player first joined in her character was the traitor, hmm well it does work after a fashion!

Last edited by Hopeless : 10-07-2012 at 01:20 PM.
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Old 10-09-2012, 05:55 AM   Top  -  End  -  #15
Hopeless
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Got my copy now I'm off to study it!

Wish me luck!
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Old 10-10-2012, 04:01 AM   Top  -  End  -  #16
Xaragos
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Kudos for pointing this one out. I had no idea there was another SW RPG system in development. I am still a fan of SAGA, but it will be interesting to see where this one is going.
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Old 10-10-2012, 07:11 AM   Top  -  End  -  #17
Hopeless
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Xaragos View Post
Kudos for pointing this one out. I had no idea there was another SW RPG system in development. I am still a fan of SAGA, but it will be interesting to see where this one is going.
Might want to check out the Order 66 podcast then, they've been holding the line where Saga edition star wars is concerned (and got me initially interested with their Commander Cody bit where he tells the listeners that General Kenobi said "Goodbye"!) and they've been playing and reviewing this new game even an actual play or two! (One at GenCon and another with some friends of theirs).
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Old 10-15-2012, 04:02 AM   Top  -  End  -  #18
Hopeless
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Default Re: Star Wars: Edge of the Empire Beta (FFG)

Ran the scenario in the back of the book.

took the eight pre-gens I created but they decided to create their own and had a bit of trouble understanding me when I explained how it worked.

Funnily the Gurps specialist took to the reference sheet detailing how to convert normal dice to the new system like a duck to water!

I was getting threats and failures mixed up which didn't help!

So my players went for;

Droid Outlaw Tech with an obligation to his former owners,

Female Bothan pilot who either has a bounty placed on her by her family or her entire family has a bounty on all their heads!
I gave her the option of owning her own ship in return for an additional Debt Obligation which she agreed to.
Spoiler


Human male Mercenary Soldier whose obligation is why I'm checking with him on whetehr to make him a Mandalorian

and a Human male Scoundrel whose apparently a modified version of his original character and kept me guessing as to whether he was a force user or not, though having the obligation of Debt and a motivation of greed leaves me wondering if he's going Sith once that third book comes out!

Having been trying to get them to explain their obligations in a manner they prefer but thats a work still inprogress (ie they haven't replied!)

Because this adventure is in the back of the SW Edge of the Empire Beta book I figure those of you who don't want the details spoiled shouldn't read the following spoiler;
Spoiler


Well that one I need to think on, let me know what you think about this!

Last edited by Hopeless : 10-19-2012 at 06:11 AM.
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Old 10-19-2012, 02:51 AM   Top  -  End  -  #19
heroicraptor
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So how's it going so far?
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Old 10-19-2012, 06:23 AM   Top  -  End  -  #20
Hopeless
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Quote:
Originally Posted by heroicraptor View Post
So how's it going so far?
Oh that's right I forgot about their new enemies!

Do NOT read if you're a player in this game!
Spoiler


When the PCs fled the system Walter (Scoundrel PC) broadcasted a fake transmission drawing the attention of an Imperial customs ship with the likelihood the Empire might be taking a closer look at the PCs and their ship in the near future...

Was thinking of using the playtest adventure used at GenCon and listened on the Order 66 podcast as the next adventure but given their evident uncertainty I was thinking of having the next adventure be a set up where bountyhunters come after the Rodian pilot and maybe, just maybe have them lose the ship in an ambush forcing them to pull a die hard in a ruin, still needs more thought though!

Last edited by Hopeless : 10-20-2012 at 01:58 PM.
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Old 10-19-2012, 08:25 PM   Top  -  End  -  #21
heroicraptor
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>.> I was actually more curious about how well the rules system works...
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Old 10-20-2012, 04:21 AM   Top  -  End  -  #22
Hopeless
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Quote:
Originally Posted by heroicraptor View Post
>.> I was actually more curious about how well the rules system works...
The one player I expected problems with actually took to it like a duck in water!

Admittedly he used normal dice but he was handling it far better than me!

Otherwise it was fine, I'm actually prepping a scenario of my own whilst getting to know the system better for hopefully the next session if they're game

Last edited by Hopeless : 10-20-2012 at 04:21 AM.
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Old 10-20-2012, 08:47 AM   Top  -  End  -  #23
Looshkin
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I have tracked you down, Hopeless - was curious about your comments re the forums! Fair warning, don't forget to avoid spoilers.

Re the system, it seems fairly straighforward. Basic skill mechanic is simple, if a little clumsy to my mind. Haven't seen enough assisted actions to have that nailed yet, may steal the rulebook briefly next time, that may be fiddly. I do like the way it tracks success/fail and advantage/disadvantage separately (ie you could end out getting a square hit on the bad guy but leave yourself exposed to return fire from his friend, or magnificantly fail to hit the bad guy by falling on your face and being hidden from return fire). There's a relatively finite set of skills to use, so lends itself to a cinematic style, no point trying to get hung up over fine detail as the system won't do it. It has the annoyingly popular skill tree mechanic rather like an MMO to add a little variety (which I personally loathe, but whatever floats your boat).

Two big points - it's fiddly as hell if you don't have the proper dice (there's a conversion chart for normal pip dice but it's pinfully slow to use), and I reckon combat is likely to be highly lethal, so not for the hack-and-slash players.
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Old 10-20-2012, 08:53 AM   Top  -  End  -  #24
ThiagoMartell
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Default Re: Star Wars: Edge of the Empire Beta (FFG)

Wait, they are SELLING a beta version? So you PAY THEM to playtest THEIR game?!
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Old 10-20-2012, 12:07 PM   Top  -  End  -  #25
Hopeless
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Looshkin View Post
I have tracked you down, Hopeless - was curious about your comments re the forums! Fair warning, don't forget to avoid spoilers.
Re the system, it seems fairly straighforward. Basic skill mechanic is simple, if a little clumsy to my mind. Haven't seen enough assisted actions to have that nailed yet, may steal the rulebook briefly next time, that may be fiddly. I do like the way it tracks success/fail and advantage/disadvantage separately (ie you could end out getting a square hit on the bad guy but leave yourself exposed to return fire from his friend, or magnificantly fail to hit the bad guy by falling on your face and being hidden from return fire). There's a relatively finite set of skills to use, so lends itself to a cinematic style, no point trying to get hung up over fine detail as the system won't do it. It has the annoyingly popular skill tree mechanic rather like an MMO to add a little variety (which I personally loathe, but whatever floats your boat).
Two big points - it's fiddly as hell if you don't have the proper dice (there's a conversion chart for normal pip dice but it's pinfully slow to use), and I reckon combat is likely to be highly lethal, so not for the hack-and-slash players.
Sounds like I need a second copy!
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Old 10-21-2012, 05:06 AM   Top  -  End  -  #26
Hopeless
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Default Re: Star Wars: Edge of the Empire Beta (FFG) Part 1

Right the last time i did this I was kicked out and lost the entire message even though i tried to backtrack so forgive me if this is done under several edits, okay?

Okay here goes!

I was wondering about how to handle the Force Powers of the new system and something caught my eye.

Okay I had a bit of inspiration this morning (and yes I had a bad feeling about this too!)

There was an argument or rather tepid discussion on how to create a Jedi under the new rules (well tepid does sound better than an argument doesn't it?) and I asked about having the Force Rating being treated as a Characteristic which has already been talked about (I just haven't been on the fantasy flight forum long enough to find it!).

The thing is as it stands you start off with a Force Rating of 1 after spending 20xp (or 30 if its the third career speciality you purchased for your character) to become Force Sensitive after which you spend 10xp to gain each of the Force Basic Powers (covered by Influence, Sense and Move) with upgrades then becoming available to buy if you have the spare xp along with the talents covered by the Force Exile Talent Tree.

Now my idea is this due to having played the west end games version of star wars I was wondering about swapping the Influence, Move and Sense Talent Trees for the Alter, Control and Sense Force Skills.

Currently the only way to increase your Force Rating is either through the purchasing of the Force Rating or Dedication talent both of which allow for a +1 increase making a maximum Force Rating of 3 under the Edge of the Empire Beta rules with the remaining Force Powers being at 10 each before using regular Talent purchasing rules for the upgrades.

My suggestion is to treat Force Rating and the Force Skills (Alter, Control and Sense) the same as characteristics with the one proviso that by becoming Force Sensitive you gain 1 free skill rank in ONE of the three Force skills gaining one power of your choice from the list of the chosen Force Skill ONLY.

To gain a Force Power covered by 2 or more Force Skills you would have to increase every one involved by 1 to gain that specific Force Power.

The new restriction is that to improve your Force Rating or Force Skill any further you would need some kind of teaching device (Holocron, Force Artefact perhaps even some written works or carved instructions in a tomb) or even better an actual Teacher (and best of all more than one!!!)

However either of these can only increase your Force Rating or your Force Skill to an absolute limit of one less than their score so no matter what there will always be one force power you can't learn from them

Last edited by Hopeless : 10-21-2012 at 06:07 AM.
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Old 10-21-2012, 05:31 AM   Top  -  End  -  #27
Hopeless
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BlueKnightGuy
 
Join Date: Jan 2007
Default Re: Star Wars: Edge of the Empire Beta (FFG) Part 2

Okay just to make sure my message isn't garbled I chose to add my examples in this message rather than edit any further on my earlier response.

So since I have access to early edition of weg star wars rpg's specifically the Star wars sourcebook I'm going to try and give examples of my suggestion from above.

So just for estimation Darth Vader has a Force Rating of 6, his Force Skills are Alter of 4, Control of 5 and Sense of 6 since he has fallen to the darkside I'm going to estimate he has Darkside points of at least 7 since I believe if you gain Darkside greater than your Force Rating you become an npc character as per original weg rules!

Lets say he gets annoyed at an admiral for alerting the rebel's too early at the start of the empire strikes back so being able to see the admiral even though he's on another star destroyer he acts to choke him so gets his Force Rating in ability dice which his Alter skill upgrades 4 to proficiency dice.
However because he's being violent he gets to use his Darkside points which upgrade the remaining 2 ability dice to proficiency dice but also adds the excess darkside points in to 4 extra Boost Dice.

The base difficulty since he's operating at exteme range is add 4 difficulty dice to the roll and the target gets to add their Brawn of 2 and Resilience of 1 so adds 1 extra difficulty and a Challenge die to the roll so every success on this roll adds to Vader's Force Rating for damage purposes so say after rolling 6 proficiency dice, 4 boost dice, 5 difficulty dice and a single challenge dice he gets a triumph, four successes and say two threat he does 10 damage to the unfortunate admiral who inevitably incites Vader's anger with his response to Vader's accusation so gets to roll again the next round even if he didn't want to thereby killing the admiral just showing using the darkside is never safe and should be discouraged after all why else did you think Padme died?
Its not as if Anakin wanted to kill her, he simply lost control (Well I assumed he didn't want to kill her, anyway...).

Last edited by Hopeless : 10-21-2012 at 06:12 AM. Reason: My English teacher is shaking her head at my spelling!
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Old 10-21-2012, 05:51 AM   Top  -  End  -  #28
Hopeless
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BlueKnightGuy
 
Join Date: Jan 2007
Default Re: Star Wars: Edge of the Empire Beta (FFG) Part 3

Sorry regarding Darkside and Lightside points.

Just as indicated Darkside points are used in violent actions or evil acts only, lightside points can be used to boost good acts or healing and recovering and more importantly can counter darkside points of an opponent which is why and how you get those incredible fight scenes between Jedi and Sith and why Jedi are so great at defence which is lightside as you aren't trying to harm anyone, oh it does help if you deflect energy attacks that you don't use them to hurt another living thing since droids can be repaired (there aren't many living things (ie Durge) who can survive being beheaded for example!).

Anyway just for your amusement;

Yoda has an estimated Force Rating of 7 with Force Skills of Alter at 3, Control at 7 and Sense at 6, I could lower the Force Rating by 1 to increase all of these skills by 1 but this sounds more accurate.

Obi-Wan Kenobi has a Force Rating of 6 with Force Skills of Alter at 2, Control at 6 and Sense at 6 could do the same as above but it also sounds about right.

Oh and finally Luke Skywalker as of the Battle of Yavin has a Force Rating of 1 with Force Skills of Control at 2 and Sense at 1, hmm certainly fits the Edge of the Empire power level doesn't it?

Oh and I'm not even going to guess how many lightside points they have! (Or Force Points if you have a later update on the Star Wars classic characters handy!).

Finally Ben uses Affect Mind on some Stormtroopers to insure he, Luke and the Droid's pass a checkpoint unmolested and undetected, since that power is covered by all three Force Skills he gets his Force Rating of 6 in ability dice and upgrades them by the lowest of the three relevant Force Skills which in this case is Alter of 2 so he upgrades 2 of his Force Rating ability dice to Proficiency dice and adds two difficulty dice to represent the Stormtroopers Willpower which as minions means they only get to upgrade 1 die per additonal Stormtrooper present so as far as I recall there were only two so upgrades one of the difficulty dice to a Challenge die meaning he rolls 4 Ability Dice, 2 Proficiency Dice, 1 Difficulty Dice and 1 Challenge Dice and needs 2 successes to persuade the Stormtroopers that these really aren't the droids they're looking for!

(Yes I think there might have been more but if there's three both difficulty dice upgrade to Challenge dice and every extra Stormtrooper after that should add a setback dice (and would require 1 extra success per extra stormtrooper although a triumph would be handy!), it could be argued this could include a Negotiation or Coerce skill in this dice pool along with whatever Talents cover those skills!)

Anyway let me know what you think!

Last edited by Hopeless : 10-21-2012 at 06:14 AM. Reason: She's still shaking her head!
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Old 10-21-2012, 06:01 AM   Top  -  End  -  #29
Hopeless
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BlueKnightGuy
 
Join Date: Jan 2007
Default Re: Star Wars: Edge of the Empire Beta (FFG)

Oh and if the player of Walter Slovotsky is reading this the change would mean you'd start off with say Sense at 1 and only need to spend 20xp to gain 1 in both Control and Alter to select Affect Mind as your (only) force power with distance between you and your target as extra difficulty dice to their base Willpower upgraded by Discipline if they're not minions and if they are use difficulty dice equal to the higher of those two characteristic or skill.

So say you have a Force Rating of 1 and the above all at 1 you get a single Proficiency roll against a probably 2 difficulty dice of a human minion at touching distance or 3 at close range and can use any successes from that to improve a regular skill check or apply a simple suggestion and no give me all your money is not a simple suggestion but I'd accept Give me your sandwich and I am your dog!

And you can bet if your tutor dies and either you're responsible or they're feeling grouchy they will be sticking around as force ghosts to comment on your actions so be prepared to buy them some hot dogs!!!

Oh I am so loving those clips from Star Wars Detours!!!

Last edited by Hopeless : 10-21-2012 at 09:57 AM. Reason: I think she's weeping now!
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Old 10-21-2012, 12:12 PM   Top  -  End  -  #30
Hopeless
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BlueKnightGuy
 
Join Date: Jan 2007
Default Re: Star Wars: Edge of the Empire Beta (FFG)

Latest updates include renaming the Resilience Talent as Enduring and Droids get it as a bonus Talent (Each time its picked the user gains +1 to their soak value) didn't even notice as I originally assumed they meant the skill but I guess the name change was to insure no one else makes that mistake.

The entry for Skill Training has been reverted to what was originally in the Beta book.

Some encumbrance changes for various vehicles.

Force Sensitive non-career specialization has been relabelled a universal specialization and some changes to the Force Move Power.

Apparently the Influence Basic Force Power only does Strain damage and I thought it actually helped a Coerce, Deceit or Negotiation check!

So any reactions from any of you reading this thread?

Last edited by Hopeless : 10-21-2012 at 02:57 PM.
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