Great White Games/Pinnacle Entertainment Group

[Alastor04]

In response to FFG’s announcement of Star Wars Edge of the Empire, I have decided to take the time and create a Star Wars setting for Savage Worlds. I think Savage Worlds is far more fitting with the universe than what I understand about Edge of the Empire. For most of the mechanics it will be the same as Savage Worlds Deluxe but many things will be renamed in order to better fit the setting. The key changes will be the Professional Edges, The Force and Starships. Below is a rough outline of what I am thinking for the pdf I intend to create.

Character Creation
-Expanded species and droid creation rules
-Modified Skill, Hindrance and Edge lists

Equipment
-Weapons
--Templates: Blasters, Ion, Slugthrowers, Vibro, Lightsaber
-Armor
--Templates: Mandalorian, Vonduun Crab, Armorweave
Other Gear

-Vehicles- Creation rules + a few examples
--Currently I am thinking of having shields work as a bonus to your toughness that you lose when you would be shaken (rather than out of control), another idea is that they act as a number of soak rolls you can make before taking wounds.

Game Rules
-As Savage Worlds Deluxe but many things will be renamed for setting purposes. Bennies will now be called Destiny Points for example.

Situation Rules
-As Savage Worlds Deluxe

The Force
-Either one skill and powers purchased with Edges (Like Saga Edition and Savage Worlds) or Three Skills and skill uses unlocked per point spend on the skill (Like Star Wars d6)
-Each power or force skill use will have strain which is a penalty to the casting check (No Power points system) unless I see that it is overpowered.
-Using either of the above option I intend to have a fewer abstract powers rather than 60+ powers games like Saga Edition have. For example Telekinesis will cover Force Push/Grip/Move Object/Kinetic Combat etc but at the same time these powers will not be able to do the massive damage they could do in other games (10d6). I’m thinking 3d8 to multiple targets will be the max and that will be Force Storm which is dark side.

Game Mastering
-Campaign Types
-Eras of Play
-World, NPC and Beast Creation


Please let me know what you think and if anyone is good at making pdf I could use some assistance.

[Bavix]

I looked at the Edge of the Empire beta book and watched a couple of demos this past weekend at GenCon. I honestly think Fantasy Flight is taking a horrible approach to Star Wars. The system looks WAY too complicated and cumbersome—especially when you add in the proprietary dice with cryptic symbols. What a huge disappointment.

On the other hand, I played in a Savage Star Wars game during Savage Saturday Night that was an absolute blast. I believe the secret to making a good Savage Star Wars conversion (or any conversion for that matter) is to retain as much of the core system as possible. For example, instead of dropping Power Points completely for Force users, the game master kept the core system and just let characters regain Power Poiints a little faster between encounters.

Also, one suggestion I have is to not let Jedi, and especially lightsabers, get overpowered. Almost every conversion I've seen makes lightsabers way too powerful. In my opinion, what makes a lightsaber stand out is its ability to cut through almost anything. That probably shouldn't be shown with high damage dice, but with a VERY high Armor Piercing score.
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[Vinzent]

One of my pet peeves about actually running Star wars is the lightsabers cutting through everything.

But we have seen that there are non-lightsaber weapons that can deflect lightsabers, like the electrostaffs used by Greivous's android bodyguards. One would think that in a universe of Jedi, these counter weapons would be commonplace.

One idea is that a lightsaber is no more powerful than a blaster in terms of damage unless the Jedi channels the Force into (see Qui Gon melting his way through the Trade Federation door). But this creates a new problem with canon: "The Force is never used for attack, only defense." At least by Jedi.
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My Savage Worlds Blog
Get off the Human reservation. Read The Starrunner by C.B. Jones

[Preatori0us]

[Vinzent]

Yeah but the canon problem is that every jedi in the prequel films would be walking around with 60+ darkside points.
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My Savage Worlds Blog
Get off the Human reservation. Read The Starrunner by C.B. Jones

[tigerguy786]

Honestly, if I ran a Star Wars game I wouldn't spend too much time on dark side/light side stuff... Morality systems are kind of annoying and I don't think they mesh well with Savage Worlds

Also, I might be Dark Side aligned...
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TIGER, tiger, burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?

[ValhallaGH]

By Expanded Universe canon, every Jedi has fallen to the Dark Side at least once (assuming they live through their first big scary event). Real Jedi redeem themselves, while the less awesome ones are redeemed.

Falling to the Dark Side is (apparently) step 5 on the path to true Jedi mastery.
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"Got a problem? I've got the solution: Rocket Launcher."
"Not against a Servitor."
"... We're all gonna die."

[kronovan]

There's a good many Star Wars conversions at the Conversions page @ savageheroes.com, so I'd recommend checking those out before you start creating your own.

I agree about Star Wars Edge of the Empire looking to be far less than desirable as a PnP RPG. From all I've read it looks to be a Pulp SciFi reskinning of Warhammer Fantasy RP 3rd ed, which is a system I don't care for at all. Then again, I generally don't care for anything RPG from FFG.

[Thunderforge]

[johnnii]

One thing that bugs me about lightsaber damage in most conversions and the laser sword in SWD, why does strength matter for damage? The blade cuts equally fast through most materials (with some exceptions mentioned above).

[wyrdhamster]

I have my and one pals beta converstion, but it's in Polish and not finished.It's based on SWD and Saga Edition. All PCs have Destiny, and they got both Destiny and Force Points instead of Beanies. First once are taken from Saga Edition to smoe very epic moments, like Star System Battle Meditation of Bastilla Shun,and second are normal Beanies in SW game. All Force-Users are part of only one Arcane Backgorund ( Force ) and use skill Force ( Spirit ). There are special, Dark Side Points, that can give you next black six dice, that can be added to both Skill and Wild Dice results. It's also use "no Power Points" rules variant for Savage Worlds Deluxe.

[ValhallaGH]

[Bloodwork]

[johnnii]

[Bloodwork]

Of course, and also add some AP.
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"I was expecting someone a little more heroic."

"Heroism costs extra."

[amerigoV]

[amerigoV]

My "Big Issue" with Star Wars, regardless of ruleset, is that you are trying to either upscale normal people into superheros or trying to scale back superheros into normal people just so you can have Jedi and non-Jedi in the same group. Not that Eps 1-3 are any good storywise, but they do show off just how powerful Jedi should be (vs. that Jedi wannabe Luke )

I ran a Star Wars one-shot where everyone was a teenager training at the Jedi Temple when Anakin and the 501 came strolling in. I use the Supers Companion to make the Jedi (got the idea from one of the older conversions that used Necessary Evil). That worked great in my opinion. Lots Veteran Extras vs. P Jedi were pretty comparable in a fight.

If I were to do a campaign, I guess I would have low XP Jedi using the SPC and regular PCs using core Savage Worlds with a much higher XP count. But I do not know where that balancing point is (+30 XP maybe?)
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I call Shinanigans!

[Bloodwork]

If you use the core rules, aren't they already balanced?
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"I was expecting someone a little more heroic."

"Heroism costs extra."

[eric.kiser]

So, how is the conversion coming?

[ValhallaGH]