Star Wars Roleplaying Game Core Rulebook, Saga Edition

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Editorial Reviews:

Product Description
Immerse yourself in the excitement of the greatest space fantasy of all time!

This new edition of the Star Wars Roleplaying Game encapsulates all six feature films while presenting a thorough revision of the rule, making the game easier to learn while improving the overall game experience.This new edition includes new character abilities and options, a world gazetteer, statistics for key characters from all six Star Wars films and the Expanded Universe, and guidelines on how to use Star Wars miniatures and battle maps in play.

Customer Reviews: Read 66 more reviews...

5 out of 5 stars

Rule changes are great (but too bad they had to cut some of the fun details from the previous edition) June 6, 2007
69 out of 74 found this review helpful

The 30th Anniversary Saga Edition is the latest update for the Star Wars D20 RPG (with the latest rules and content from all six films). This one Core Rulebook still contains all the information both players and Gamemasters need to start playing. And though the structure of the book is very similar to the previous edition (see list of chapters at the end of this review), some of the rules themselves have changed quite a bit (i.e., most are much simpler -- especially character creation and the combat rules). However, the new rules are still similar enough to the old rules that those who have been playing for a while should have little trouble adapting.

Overall, the book looks great (it is printed in full-color on high quality paper, and contains lots of great full-color photos and illustrations). However, this new edition is surprisingly compact (not only are the dimensions of the book smaller, but it contains about 100 less pages than the previous edition). A character template is still included at the end of the book. If there is one drawback to the appearance of the new edition its that some of the introductory text and many of the photos were taken from the previous edition.

This book includes a double-sided battle map. However (and unfortunately), both of the maps were previously released (one in the Rebel Storm Ultimate Missions book and the other in the Attack on Endor Scenario Pack). Further, NONE of the terrine is properly marked on either side of the map (i.e., walls, hindering terrain, etc.). Perhaps they did this because it is meant to be used with the RPG, but it will unfortunately make it harder to use the maps with the regular minis game (i.e., Rebel Storm, etc.).

The shorter length has also lead to a few other minor drawbacks over the previous edition. Here are SOME examples: (1) details are provided about fewer characters from the movies and books -- and the information that is provided is more limited, (2) the allies and opponents AND vehicles chapters are much less inclusive, (3) the Star Wars galaxy map is no longer included -- too bad because that was a pretty cool part of the previous edition, and (4) the equipment chapter no longer contains a picture of the items being described -- again, this is too bad because this was a very helpful part of the previous edition.

Overall, however, I think most of the changes are for the best, and I think those who play the Star Wars RPG will be very happy with this latest edition. And, the simpler rules will hopefully appeal to a wider audience. Some might even like that this book includes less information as it makes it easier to find what is most relevant to making game easier to play.

Finally, as promised above, here is a list of the chapter titles (I looked all over for this info, and couldn't find it anywhere... So I decided to include it here in case anyone else is interested):

Chapter 1: Abilities
Chapter 2: Species
Chapter 3: Heroic Classes
Chapter 4: Skills
Chapter 5: Feats
Chapter 6: The Force
Chapter 7: Heroic Traits
Chapter 8: Equipment
Chapter 9: Combat
Chapter 10: Vehicles
Chapter 11: Droids
Chapter 12: Prestige Classes
Chapter 13: Galactic Gazetteer
Chapter 14: Game-Mastering
Chapter 15: Eras of Play
Chapter 16: Allies and Opponents

Hope this helps!

4 out of 5 stars

It's back!!! June 7, 2007
57 out of 59 found this review helpful

I have to admit that I wasn't happy when Wizards of the Coast announced they were, once again, revising their Star Wars RPG. I've been generally frustrated with WotC's re-release schedule and this, at first glance, seemed like just another ploy to plumb my pockets. But as they started releasing previews of the new system I became more and more intrigued. As a veteran of the old West End Games version of Star Wars I remember a day when the game was fast and furious and not so formulaic. Its adoption into the d20 RPG machine, I felt, deadened some of its spirit. While I felt there were some features that the d20 system brought that made it worth the effort the game often became too cumbersome and too sluggish for me to enjoy. I longed for the old day.

Well, the old days have returned with the Saga Edition of the Star Wars RPG. They've shed many of the trappings of the d20 system that held it down for so many years, and even freed themselves from many problems that have continually plagued the RPG since the d6 days. They started with a fresh new take on core concepts like The Force, starships, and character creation. The rules have been streamlined while still adding more flexibility for character creation. But most importantly (and I can't stress this enough) after 20 years of the Star Wars RPG, this may be the first time they've truly nailed it in regards to the spirit of the films.

From a design layout standpoint the product is the best Star Wars RPG book since the pre-revised second edition d6 book. They finally moved away from cramming the book full of images from the movies and went back to filling the book with rich, original artwork that shows us that the Star Wars universe is more than what you see on the screen. The dimensions of the book are a bit strange (about 9" x 9"), but that only serves to make the book more unique (though copying the character sheet will be a bit tricky).
The only down side to this book is that it is a little thin on "stuff." There aren't a lot of starships, Force Powers, NPCs, and so on. This version begs for a number of good quality supplements (which is the ONLY reason I gave this book 4 stars instead of 5). But I don't think that's a bad thing. Dividing the rules (in this core rulebook) from the "stuff" (in various, appropriate sourcebooks) is a good design philosophy, if not a bit more expensive.

The bottom line is this: if you're a Star Wars RPG veteran who lost faith after it was taken in to d20, come back. I think you'll like it. If you're a veteran of the d20 version, and have enjoyed the heavier rules of the Revised Core Rulebook (or D&D 3.x), you may want to steer clear of this one. it's designed to be a lot lighter and play a lot faster, but good, flexible character design is not sacrificed. I won't go into great detail of the changes to the rules (I'm sure other people will do that and everyone's view on what's important is so subjective anyway). But accusations that this system is simply a revamped version of their miniatures combat rules are simply wrong. Make no mistake this is a role-playing game, and a hopping good one at that. With a few solid supplements it might shape up to be the best Star Wars RPG yet.

5 out of 5 stars

Great Revision...something to look forward to in 4e? June 7, 2007
20 out of 26 found this review helpful

It seems that they have done an excellent job in simplifying the process for playing Force users in this update. They incorporated tons of d20 Modern elements (including the Talent Trees) to make your characters truly customizable. The Jedi talent trees have a brand new simplified Use the Force skill that makes things SO streamlined when compared to the 20+ skills from before.

It truly is a little masterpiece and I hope that the general public picks up on it.

2 out of 5 stars

I WANTED to like this, but couldn't. July 30, 2007
17 out of 22 found this review helpful

Whether or not you will like Saga Edition really depends on your playstyle and personal preferences. So, before you pick up a copy for yourself, it's probably a good idea to check it out and make sure you like it before committing. If you put your money down before seeing what you're getting yourself into, you may end up disappointed; on the other hand, you may really enjoy it.

As for myself, I appreciate some of the new innovations in the book, but overall I will not be able to enjoy the game very much without significant modifications on my part. I'm sure other reviewers will have already gone into all the details of the book, but I will do so again regardless:

One of the major design approaches to this version of the game was the idea of "streamlining": simplifying and eliminating certain rules to make gameplay faster and easier. This includes trying to cut down on the number of dice rolls, such as by eliminating extra attacks (from having a high base attack bonus) and turning saving throws into static defense scores. However, as for whether or not this will make the game faster or easier for you, your mileage may vary; I personally am having a little difficulty relearning rules I have been using for many years and never intended on changing. Saga really is a totally new version of the game, with lots of changes in all areas of the rules.

Chapter 1 is Ability Scores, is this is pretty much the only area of the game that did not change significantly. You still have six attributes (Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma), and they still affect such things as your attacks, damage, skills, etc.

Chapter 2 is Species, and there are a few changes in here. Species no longer gain skill bonuses, instead gaining the ability to reroll certain skills. I really do enjoy this change because it makes the species much more interesting and unique. A few of the species also got a few changes to their ability adjustments, whether for good or ill. Overall, this is a good chapter.

Chapter 3 is Classes, and it takes a bit of a different approach from previous versions. For those of you that play D20 Modern, each class now has talents (basically class features they can choose between) and bonus feats every other level. Jedi are a lot weaker, and all the other classes are a lot stronger. In fact, you may want to give Jedi a few more skills, cause otherwise it is difficult for any of them to be good at anything besides swinging a lightsaber. Tech Specialist was basically combined into the Scoundrel class (see the Wizards of the Coast website for a web enhancement for Techie characters), Fringer was combined into Scout, Jedi Consular and Guardian were combined into one Jedi class, and Force Adept was eliminated. Instead, any character can easily use the Force as well as any Jedi, regardless of what class they are. Overall, these changes were pretty well-done as well.

Chapter 4 is Skills, and this gets into one of the bigger changes of the system. Instead of skill points and ranks, all characters get a bonus to all skills equal to one-half their level; if they are trained in a skill, they get a +5 bonus and can use the "trained only" uses of the skill. Characters can also take the Skill Focus feat to gain a +5 bonus with a particular skill. This has the effect of making characters better with their skills at low levels (having a bonus of +5 or +10 at 1st-level instead of a maximum of +4 ranks in the RCR), but less skilled at high levels (at 20th-level, +10 if untrained, +15 if trained, +20 if Skill Focus, compared to in the RCR having +23 from ranks). Additionally, many skills have been combined: Balance, Escape Artist, and Tumble are now Acrobatics; Bluff, Disguise, and Forgery are now Deception; Demolitions, Disable Device, and Repair are now Mechanics; Listen, Search, Sense Motive, and Spot are now Perception; Diplomacy and Intimidate are now Persuasion; Hide, Move Silently, and Sleight of Hand are now Stealth; and all the Force skills have been turned into a variety of talents, force powers, and a single skill called Use the Force. There are also two new skills: Initiative and Endurance. Overall, I like the combinations of skills, but I don't like how characters can have relatively high bonuses at 1st-level and relatively crappy bonuses at higher levels; however, this is just personal opinion, and you may like it just fine.

Chapter 5 is Feats, and there aren't really a lot of major changes in this section. All the skill feats have been eliminated and reduced to just Skill Focus (which gives a +5 bonus) and Skill Training (which lets you select an additional trained skill). Great Fortitude, Iron Will, and Lightning Reflexes are gone, replaced with Improved Defenses (+1 bonus to all Defenses). A few feats, such as Spring Attack and Shot on the Run, have been combined. If you want to trip, pin, or bantha rush an opponent, you now need a feat to do it; if you don't have the feat, you can't do it. Likewise, you need certain feats (Double Attack, Triple Attack, or the Dual Weapon Mastery feats) in order to make multiple attacks, since multifire and additional attacks from BAB have been eliminated. The multiattack feats also aren't very good, since you get a really high penalty and they require a full-round action; with how much more mobile SW characters are now, it will be very difficult to pull off a double/triple attack. All in all, not a very bad section.

Chapter 6 is the Force, and it introduces a new Force system to the game. If you play D&D, these rules may be very familiar to you: Force-users select a number of powers, and they can use each power once per encounter (or more times if the select the same power several times). It's very similar to the Maneuvers system of Tome of Battle: Book of Nine Swords; I personally don't enjoy it because it doesn't make sense to me how a Jedi could "use up" one power and be forced to use another one instead. ("Well, I ran out of Force Lightning. Time for some Force Choking.") Another thing I don't like is the distinction between Force Slam, Force Thrust, and Move Object; Force Thrust in particular is like a crappy version of Move Object, so I doubt it will ever see much use. Force Points are also now an exact duplicate of Action Points from D20 Modern: you get a crapload of them (5-15 each level), and they are extremely weak. The Dark Side is very different; there are no longer ability score penalties for being corrupted, and the only real change I can see for falling to the Dark Side is that the GM can take away your character. This chapter also gives barely any information on a handful of Force-using traditions: a page each about the Jedi, Sith, Jensaarai, and Dathomiri. However, this chapter also introduces generic talent trees for Alter, Control, Sense, and Dark Side, which are available to any Force-sensitive. The Jensaarai and Dathomiri each also have their own talent tree. Overall, this chapter was a great disappointment to me: the Force power system is not at all what I hoped for, the Dark Side system seems pointless (I honestly don't see any significant effect for falling to the Dark Side), and the information about the Force seems very scant and trimmed. However I enjoyed the talent trees for the Jensaarai and Dathomiri.

Chapter 7 is Heroic Traits, and it gives a little information about defining your character's age, height, weight, and personality/background. However, there is no dice rolling involved in any of this; you instead get charts with average height, average weight, and the age ranges for the different age categories. I particularly enjoyed rolling dice to generate the little details of my character, but this is now unfortunately gone. However, half of this chapter discusses a new optional rule mechanic: Destiny. Destiny Points are a slightly more powerful version of Force Points from previous versions, and you character can choose between different destinies (including corruption, destruction, discovery, education, redemption, and rescue) that give your character different goals and bonuses for furthering your destiny. Destiny Points can be extremely powerful, but they are an interesting idea. Finally, Reputation has been completely eliminated from the game. Overall, I am a little disappointed in this section because of how much was removed, though I do enjoy the addition of Destiny.

Chapter 8 is Equipment. A few weapons were tweaked with different stats, but the major change is for ranged weapons: instead of range increments, there is a chart to determine whether an attack is at point blank, short, medium, or long range. I'm not really sure why they did this, since I found the range increments to be a lot simpler and easier to use, instead of having to look up a chart. Armor now gives a bonus to Reflex Defense (AKA Armor Class if you play D&D, Defense if you played the SW Revised Core Rulebook), but if you wear armor you do not get your class bonuses to defense; this seems to be an old idea that they brought back from the Original Core Rulebook, for some reason. If you're high level you get penalized for wearing armor, even if you're proficient; there's a talent that eliminates this penalty (but you still gain practically no benefit from wearing the armor), and a second talent lets you gain a small bonus from your armor. It is extremely impractical to make a character that wears armor, since the costs far outweigh the benefits; it goes along with the philosophy of the designers wanting to punish players that wear armor, which has been going on for years now. Overall, this chapter was a bit of a disappointment, especially the section on armor.

Chapter 9 is Combat, and it reflects the biggest changes to the system. Vitality points and wound points are now gone, being replaced by hit points (for better or worse). A condition track makes the game slightly more realistic; if you take damage in excess of your damage threshold, you move down the condition track, taking penalties that represent your fatigue. One-handed blasters can make attacks of opportunity, instead of being limited to melee weapons. Combat is now much more mobile than before; you can move half your speed to avoid taking an attack of opportunity while still being able to attack in the round (in previous versions, Withdraw was a full-round action); this makes it almost impossible to pull off a full attack, so most characters just run around and fire single attacks. Autofire is basically an area attack that targets a couple squares (I think they got the idea from D20 Modern). I believe I already mentioned that saving throws have been turned into three defense scores (and blasters/lightsabers/etc. target Reflex Defense). Also, the new rules make it practically impossible to disarm or sunder an opponent's weapon. Overall, I am disappoint at the combat system; it is rather clunky in some ways (especially regarding disarm/sunder), and the changes to Attacks of Opportunity change the game in ways that I don't like. Your mileage may vary.

Chapter 10 is Vehicles (combination of land vehicles and starships), and it can be summed up rather easily: same as character combat. Starships now move and attack almost exactly like a character (including capital ships pulling tight turns with ease). Heck, vehicles even have their own ability scores (Strength, Dexterity, Intelligence...). Space combat doesn't even feel like space anymore, so I have to give this system bottom marks in every area. Truly a disappointment.

Chapter 11 is Droids, and the only real change is that droids no longer have a Constitution score. Meaning the only thing that decides how sturdy they are, how many hit points, is their level: apparently all droids are made of the same materials and designed with the same quality. I believe it was copied over from D&D, where constructs and undead creatures do not have Constitution scores. However, it didn't even work over there: most (if not all) of the new undead creatures add their Charisma score to hit points, since they have too few otherwise. It's not a big change, but it seems completely pointless.

Chapter 12 is Prestige Classes, and is basically what you would expect. Each prestige class has certain requirements you must meet (including a minimum character level), and each one introduces one or two new talent trees and some bonus every other level. No complaints here.

Chapter 13 is a Galactic Gazetteer with scant information on several of the most important planets in the Star Wars galaxy. It's very small (about 10 pages), but it is a nice touch. I'm glad it was included.

Chapter 14 is Gamemastering, and it has information and tips about running a campaign and creating adventures. This is one of the sections that took the biggest hits: although it has the bare bone information such as an Experience Point Awards table, most of the information for a running a campaign is missing. There are practically no guidelines for being a gamemaster, meaning it will be very difficult if you are new to the job. There is also no information about cities/settlements, and barely anything about challenges/encounters. This is one of the areas of the book that could not afford to be skimped on, and I am sorely disappointed with it.

Chapter 15 is Eras of Play, and is basically a trimmed down version of the same section that was in the Revised Core Rulebook. You are provided with very slim summaries of each era and a handful of stats of main characters. They don't even cover all the main characters, either; Jango Fett, Darth Maul, and many others are absent. Yet again, a chapter for gamemasters that doesn't provide enough information.

Following the theme of the previous few chapters, Chapter 16 is Allies and Opponents. If you are expecting an encyclopedia of NPC's like was included in the RCR, you will be sorely disappointed. The only alien species you'll find are Aqualish, Hutts, Neimoidians, and Yuuzhan Vong. All the creature classes (herd animal, parasite, predator, scavenger, and vermin) have been combined into an all-encompassing and ill-suited Beast class. The professional classes (including Diplomat, Expert, and Thug) have been combined into an equally ill-suited and all-encompassing Nonheroic class. There are a grand total of 14 NPC's: 4 Imperials, 2 Rebels, 3 Republic, and 5 Fringe; compare to the RCR with over a hundred allies and opponents, with different-leveled versions of each.

Overall, I am disappointed with quite a few of the rules changes (including some of the "streamlining" that actually make things more difficult for me). The book is 100 pages shorter and is actually slightly smaller than its previous versions; most of this lost material was ripped straight out of the sections for gamemastering, easily some of the most important sections of the book. You will also notice quite a few errors in the rules; the Wizards of the Coast site has an errata document that is currently 4 pages long. However, even this doesn't catch all the errors and inconsistencies, and several sections of the game are very problematic. If you've never GMed a game before, I don't know how well you'll be able to do it with so much information missing.

But like I said at the beginning of this review, this is all personal opinion. Some people love the game, others do not. I happen to fall more toward the negative side; it's not a horrible game, but it has its problems. I strongly advise browsing through the book before you purchase it: you may greatly enjoy it, but you may be disappointed.

5 out of 5 stars

An Excellent First Role Playing Game August 31, 2007
11 out of 11 found this review helpful

There are plenty of reviews written by experienced role players for other experienced role players. If you want the perspective of a complete newcomer, read on.

Although I immensely enjoyed both versions of Knights of the Old Republic, I had never played a pen and paper role playing game until my brother-in-law introduced me to Dungeons & Dragons a few months ago. While I continue to enjoy D&D very much, after buying this book and gamemastering a couple games, I wish Star Wars Saga Edition had been my first introduction to role playing games.

First of all, character generation is very simple and flexible. One of my players had zero role playing experience of any kind. However, he said he wanted to play a character like Greedo, and we were able to easily come up with exactly what he wanted. We have a standard jedi in the party, but we also have a force-using noble and a very skilled pilot. In this game, you think about what kind of character you want then find the rules to support that kind of character, rather than seeing what kind of character the rules will allow you to build.

There are rules to cover anything you can think of to do or be from the movies, and there are explicit examples for many of them. For example, there is a stat block for the trash compactor from the Leia prison rescue scene, and there are feats to cover the scene where Darth Vader absorbs Han's blaster shots, then makes the gun fly into his hand.

For a gamemaster the simplified skill set adds to the element of surprise. My players were surveilling a building when I had them roll a perception check. They assumed it was to notice something about the building, but it was really to notice the rancor sneaking up behind them. They failed the check, but if they had succeeded, they would have noticed a bad smell and turned around. Having all the senses, including smell, rolled into the perception check is really fun.

Vehicles are another element that makes the game fun. Everything from a speeder bike to a star destroyer is represented. Vehicles enhance the dynamics of the game, and increase characters' capabilities. For example, that rancor attack was way above my party's level, but they had a fighting chance on speeder bikes.

My main complaint about the book is that some of the information is scattered, and the index is terrible. I ended up making my own index for my personal use.

I highly recommend this game to anyone who is just getting started with pen and paper role playing games. It's relatively easy to learn, and the possibilities are endless.

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