Saturday, December 31, 2011

Licences fade, systems are forever / Star Wars Saga Edition Hacks

I was thinking this morning about how good a game SWSE is, and that it's a shame that it's dead now.
I was also thinking that if you remove the official licensed elements of Star Wars from the game, you've still got an excellent system for a Sci-fi game.

Are there any Star Wars SE hacks out there?
If not, here's my initial ideas...

Rename The Force to, say, Psionics or Psychic Ability, as well as the classes and races, and you're away.

Scoundrels can become Criminals.
Jedi become Psychics (and lose the combat feats and hit die to become more like a Cleric instead of a Paladin).
Nobles can become Politicians or Celebrities or Traders.
Soldiers and Scouts stay as is.l
You could even add some more classes as required - Scientist, Bureaucrat, Investigator etc.

For Races, I'd use the Pathfinder/4e approach to Humans, and give them a +2 to assign to any attribute, as well as the extra trained skill and Feat.
I'd formalise Droids into a race, and call them Androids or Artificial Beings (a 'pc' term) (I believe the term 'Droid' is a Lucas trademark). They'd receive a +2 and a -2 to assign to fit the concept. No CON score and a choice of pre-programmed skill bonuses. I'd also add a Feat to appear Human/other race (+4 to Disguise attempts to pass as a member of that one race, or something. Probably used by Spy, pleasure and care Androids). Without the Feat, they'd be obviously mechanical. Finally, Androids start with a budget for extra appendages and tools, and can spend credits on upgrades. Androids would not be able to take levels in the Psychic class.
I'd include Clones or Replicants as a race. They'd be bio-engineered and artificially grown Humans (to prevent the number of Races nearly doubling). Replicants would get a +4 to one Ability and -2 to two more. They'd not get the extra Human Feat, instead they'd get the extra trained skill and either a faster movement rate, low-light vision, a +2 bonus to one Defense or faster healing rate. Clones would not be able to take levels in the Psychic class.
Other Races would be a mix up of standard sci-fi races, with hopefully a couple of original ideas. I'd probably rule that Races with remarkably high physical bonuses could not take levels in the Psychic class, just to avoid the rampaging twinks that would result.

The Use the Force skill should be split into three, and key off a different Ability - INT, WIS and CHA. The INT skill would govern affecting the physical world with telekinesis etc, WIS would govern perception and ones own body whilst CHA would be used to mentally affect anyone else.

Psychic powers would pretty much crib off the existing Force powers.

Mechanically, the system can be utilised with little adaptation.
The setting is another matter...

What kind of Sci-fi setting would this work for? Maybe something in the vein of the revamped Star Trek, with a focus on exploration and competition for resources. Maybe pioneers, with less of the wild west/Firefly-isms.


2 comments:

  1. A few months ago, I had the idea to run a World War II game using SWSE. The house rules: No aliens & no space travel. Everything is renamed to sound like it belongs in the setting, ie: Jedi are Knights Templar and/or Freemasons, Sith are Teutonic Knights. Obviously, this would be an extremely variant history.

    Some of my friends, even my wife, sounded interested, but to me it sounds like one of the dumbest ideas I've had, and I haven't pursued it.

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  2. I don't think it's that dumb an idea, Sean. There are strong correlations between Star Wars and WWII - Lucas was clearly inspired by Hitler's rise to power when plotting Palpatine's journey from Senator through Chancellor to Emperor. Order 66 has rough parallels with the Night of Long Knives.

    And, I did have an idea for a Star Wars Imperial Officers game after watching Valkyrie - Following the destruction of Alderaan, a cadre of high ranking Imperial Officers, possibly Moffs, realise that the Emperor is insane and must be shopped.
    They form a conspiracy to assassinate Palpatine, and the players must devise and execute this plot without being discovered.
    If you've not seen Valkyrie, I heartily recommend it.
    http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valkyrie_(film)

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