There was a gaming club that I was a member of back when the first Star Wars Role Playing Game came out. There were many gaming sessions spent with our motley group of rebels attempting to stay one step ahead of the Imperial forces.
After the Star Trek RPGs, I can see myself writing a lot of homebrews for the Star Wars systems. Each new series adds to the mythos of the Star Wars universe and it screams “this is a great RPG setting.”
-The Star Wars Roleplaying Game-
West End Games released The Star Wars Roleplaying Game in October 1987. That was a long time ago that we spent in a galaxy far, far away. The D6 system was quick and simple which made for some pretty interesting gaming sessions. One player discovered the power of a high bluff skill roll. Suddenly everyone wanted to be able to bluff the Imperial officers we encountered. “Yes sir our freighter is the ‘Fresh Fruit Express’.” We had one session that had twenty players at the table (not counting the poor GM). Luckily that only lasted one session. One player kept performing an exotic dance in front of some Wookie PCs, which could have ended up in a sticky situation. I had moved away from the area in the middle of a campaign and moved back about nine months later. While I was gone I had found an old Star Wars toy blaster that still worked. I brought it with me to the first gaming session after returning and waited the entire game for a combat situation to come up so I could pull the blaster out and surprise everyone with it. I had written an article about The Star Wars Roleplaying Game for a local gaming club newsletter. I’ll have to see if I can find it and get it scanned for inclusion on the site. I also found a bunch of notes that I had created while playing the game. Mostly equipment charts with costs. If offered, I would play this system again (incorporating some of the rules from the Open D6) and I can see myself homebrewing for this system. I’ve also collected a lot of books for this system.
-Star Wars Roleplaying Game-
After Wizards of the Coast picked up the Star Wars license, they released the Star Wars Roleplaying Game based off of the D20 (D&D 3.5) rules. At first I was a little weirded out seeing Luke and company with D&D stats, but I accepted it after a while. I’ve collected some of the books, but I haven’t had a chance to play this system yet. I also understand that there is a Saga Edition of this game. But I don’t have the core book to compare it to the D20 versions that I own.
-Star Wars Age of Rebellion Roleplaying Game-
A company called Fantasy Flight Games has released a series of games based off of the Star Wars franchise. I was able to pick up the Age of Rebellion book, only to discover it was a beta version of the game. So I don’t know how this compares to the “final” version of the game. The company has released material based off of the era that the players want to play (Edge of Empire, Force and Destiny, etc.). No one around the area has been interested in playing so I don’t know how the system holds up. My lack of knowledge makes me hesitant about doing any homebrewing for this system.