I just got the Star Wars Roleplaying Game: Saga Edition a couple of days ago, and I’m totally geeking out about it. I’m about halfway through the book, and in no particular order, here are some things that I really like about the game:

• The changes to the skill system. Instead of the huge laundry list of skills found in most d20 games, Saga Edition has a slimmer list of broader skills. Instead of having separate skills for Bluff, Disguise, and Forgery, you’ve got Deception. Instead of having Tumble, Escape Artist, and Balance, you’ve got Acrobatics. Also, your skills automatically improve with your level instead of requiring skill points to be spent, with your trained skills always being at least +5 better than your untrained skills. It’s simpler and maybe offers a little bit less flexibility, but I think the end result is better in that it will dramatically reduce character creation time (always a plus for the GM).
• The condition track. Hit points still exist, but now there’s a condition track that you move up and down on when you take large quantities of damage. Moving down causes you to suffer penalties to just about everything, and if you move down far enough you’re unconscious (or maybe dead). It allows the designers to very elegantly do away with ability damage, negative levels, specific penalties for things like starvation and sleep deprivation, and it gets rid of negative hit points. And it’s very, very slick and easy to use.
• The changes to the way the Force works. There’s now one skill, Use the Force. You can’t use it unless you have the Force Sensitivity feat, but you can use it untrained if you have that feat (at least, you can use certain aspects of it). There are also a host of Force talents associated with the Jedi class, as well as with simply having Force Sensitivity, and with various other Force-using traditions. Also, there are Force powers, which have a “use-them-then-lose-them” effect similar to D&D spellcasting, but much better. In effect, you make a Use the Force check to use a Force power, after which it’s used up. However, you can spend a Force point to get a used Force power back, and if you roll a natural 20 when using a Force power, you get all of your Force powers back. Also, you basically get them all back after an encounter ends and you get a chance to rest.
• Force points and Destiny points. Force points are a lot like action points in d20 Modern, and can be used in many of the same ways. Destiny points are way more powerful and way more rare. You can choose a Destiny for your character, too; furthering it gives you temporary bonuses while running away from it imposes temporary penalties; completing it gives permanent bonuses. It’s a cool, mechanically-driven instant plot hook for the GM.
• Starting hit points are tripled now, in addition to be maximized. If you get 1d10 + Con modifier in hit points every level, you get 30 + Con modifier at first level. Very cool; it improves survivability at those low levels. Watch out, though; weapons tend to do more damage in this game. A blaster rifle does 3d8 points of damage, and that can be increased to as much as 5d8 with a feat. Ouch!
• Defenses. The concepts of AC/Defense and saves have been rolled into a single concept of Defenses. A Defense acts as a DC for attacks and effects that might hinder you, and is basically the sum of your heroic level + a class-based bonus + your relevant ability score + 10. Reflex helps you avoid attacks, just like Defense or AC would in other d20 games. Fortitude helps you resist poisons, diseases, radiation, and similar hazards, and also acts as your Damage Threshold (if you take this much damage from one attack, you move down on the condition track). Will protects you against Force powers and mind-affecting effects, and acts as the DC for skills like Persuasion or Deception.

I could go on. Believe me, I could go on. But I won’t just now. Suffice to say that, so far, just about everything’s been streamlined and polished and coated with awesome, and I can’t wait to play this game. I may do a full review once I’ve read the whole book and played it once or twice, but honestly I think you know what I’m going to say already.

This entry was posted on Monday, June 18th, 2007 at 11:04 am and is filed under Links, Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.