Return of the Star Wars RPG

Return of the Star Wars RPG on store shelves

By Editor T. Rob Brown
At retailers (June 6, 2007) -- Star Wars RPG fans have been waiting since a long time ago, yet not necessarily in a galaxy far, far away, for the return of the well-loved Star Wars-flavored d20 system. Now, the circle is complete.

When last we met news from Wizards of the Coast, a division of Hasbro and publisher of the Star Wars RPG d20 line, in 2005 the support of the RPG portion of their Star Wars franchise rights had taken a complete backseat to the miniatures game. Despite the release of Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, the company focused on its miniatures line and left the Star Wars RPG fans stranded in space without a hyperdrive -- they even canceled the RPGA Living Force campaign. Then, in early 2006, RPG stats were suddenly included with some of the company's Star Wars Miniatures line products. This was followed up by an announcement at Gen Con Indy 2006 that they were working on a new Star Wars Roleplaying Game Saga Edition Core Rulebook, scheduled for an April 2007 release.

Despite some expected delays, the fruit of that labor is now on store shelves and in the hands of many die-hard Star Wars RPG fans. Initial reactions from the fans might have included, "another core rulebook?", "It's about time they included Revenge of the Sith material," or "Where did armor class go?" The truth of the matter is that Wizards has completely revamped the rules system -- they've streamlined it, made it sleeker, faster to play, easier to create characters with, and made lots of changes that just might appear in upcoming versions of their more-popular Dungeons & Dragons RPG line.

By streamlining the classes down to five basic, starting classes, it might seem like they've taken options away from the players but in fact, the options are vast. Through the use of a new Talent system, each class has numerous variants via Talent trees for wide customization opportunities.

For instance, in the Revised Edition players could choose between three Force-based characters: Force Adept, Jedi Consular, and Jedi Guardian. To streamline this class, there is just Jedi. Within Jedi, though, are talent trees for the Jedi Consular, Jedi Guardian, Jedi Sentinel, lightsaber skills, and so much more. You can now mix and match these Feat-like abilities to build your character just the way you want them.

Want to build a gunslinging scoundrel with awesome piloting skills like Han Solo? No problem, he's still a Scoundrel class. Perhaps you want to tailor your scoundrel to be more of the gambling type like Lando Calrissian? No problem, he's still a Scoundrel class -- just taking different Talents than Han Solo would have.

The vast number of improvements and changes to this system are too numerous to list in this article. For a time, fans will be the learner. The best way to soak up the new system is to play the game with some friends or pick up the book and delve into its immersive chapters.

Star Wars RPG Saga Edition is now the master.

[Editor's Note: For Additional Star Wars RPG Saga Edition links visit: Official Star Wars RPG Page, Star Wars RPG Saga Edition on Overstock.com, http://greatsithwar.com, http://t-rob.com/swrpg.htm, and don't forget our site's forums at http://t-rob.com/phpBB.]

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