Shadis #27: The Edge: Star Wars RPG

The Star Wars RPG

by Rob Vaux

The Star Wars RPG: Since its inception in 1987, it has gone through two editions and spawned an ever-growing number of sourcebooks--about what you'd expect from a game based on the god-king of product merchandising. We stuck the job of reviewing it to our assistant editor, Rob Vaux.

In an essay entitled Luke Skywalker is a Nerd and Darth Vader Sucks Runny Eggs, Harlan Ellison had the guts to admit he was less than thrilled with the Star Wars phenomenon. Recounting stories of Lucas-fixated vandals, friends who never left the theaters and hordes of mindless sci-fi drones chanting "May the Force Be With You" ad nauseum, Ellison dared to voice contempt for a film that the entire country was worshipping like a pagan god. While he eventually reversed gears with the release of The Empire Strikes Back, the shocking precedent he set remains unchanged; the man ripped apart George Lucas's masterpiece and wasn't a bit sorry about it.

That essay has more than tangential bearing here. For while twenty years have passed since that galaxy far, far away first appeared on the silver screen, the fervor over it has never really abated. Star Wars has touched everyone on the planet some way, somehow, and now stands as one of the definitive shared experiences of our time. So when it came time for The Edge to publish a review of West End's Star Wars: The RPG — a now-classic system that countless gamers are familiar with — Ellison's essay serves as a bulwark to keep us all from diving lemming-like into fawning adulation. After all, how can one possibly review the cultural touchstone of our time? What can one say about it that hasn't already been said? How can one express a valid opinion without either toadying up to the Lucas juggernaut, or risking the wrath of countless millions who love the films like their own children?

Luckily, Star Wars the RPG isn't Star Wars the film series. It's merely a licensed product, one of thousands that have come out in the last twenty years. One can feasibly express contempt for it without being dragged into the street and flayed alive. Nevertheless, it still has the awesome mystique of its namesake behind it, and one invariably hesitates before condemning anything that might have connections to The Films. But with Ellison's precedent in mind, and the fact that the role-playing game is not the movies close at hand, we can hopefully bring ourselves to look at SW:TRPG with some kind of emotional detachment. Here then, is an objective, fact-finding analysis of West End's flagship product…

This game rocks.

West End has taken Lucas's beloved creation and done justice to it in both word and spirit. They've created a fast-paced, easy to play RPG that emphasizes character development and player fun, while keeping intact the subtle, mythical reverberations that make the story so powerful. They caught the films' lightning and put it in a box for us to buy, and we can thank God that they did it all with style.

Players portray members of the Rebel Alliance, fighting desperately against the evil Galactic Empire. From that basic description, a staggering variety of character options can arise: you can be a hardened smuggler, a broken-down Jedi, any one of a hundred alien races, or even a droid. The only stipulation is that you must be a Rebel; from there, the sky's the limit. West End has done a terrific job of bringing the diversity of the Star Wars universe to life, and more importantly, making it available to the players. That weird looking thing in the corner of the Creature Cantina? You can play him. The bizarre ship parked next to the Millennium Falcon? You can have that. Anything that doesn't get covered in the basic rulebook is handled in one of a slew of sourcebooks, guidebooks and supplements; there isn't a single facet of the Star Wars universe they haven't covered. Races, technology and background story material from the beginning of the rebellion to the victorious New Republic are provided in rich detail, allowing players plenty of material for their favorite aliens or techno-toys.

The system is a bit clunky, but has some major pluses. Success rolls are based on attribute dice, rolled against a difficulty number. The better you are at something, the more dice you get to roll, and so on. Combat is resolved through a few quick rolls of the dice, and vehicle checks run much the same way. That speed is one of the strongest parts of the game, allowing the fast-paced action of the movies to translate easily into a role-playing setting. It also prevents the game from getting bogged down in mechanics, bringing the focus back to characters and storytelling — which, after all, is what Star Wars is all about.

And oh yes, lest we forget, there is the Force. Characters are permitted a certain amount of "Force points" which allow you to double your effective score for a given roll. Everyone starts the game with Force points, although only specific, "Force sensitive" characters (i.e. Jedi) can have more than five. Those particular characters can eventually do the kinds of things with the Force that you see in the movies — lifting ships out of bogs, using your lightsaber in breathtakingly cool ways, carrying little green guys on your back for hours on end, etc. But like the movies, you can't misuse the Force without a price. You gain "Dark Force" points by doing evil things with the Force; too many Dark Force points and you become an agent of evil — which is, of course, majorly uncool.

Ironically, the biggest drawback to the Star Wars system is that it remains constantly in the shadow of its parent material. Players can't really portray Han, Luke or any of the rest of the characters from the films, yet anyone else they roll up runs the risk of playing second fiddle ("Yeah, stealing those access codes was pretty important, I guess. But not as important as blowing up the Death Star; we never get to do that…"). A glut of supplemental sourcebooks focusing on Luke & Co. in their various stages of development emphasizes this considerably, and unless players are careful, they'll develop a serious inferiority complex within the space of a few sessions.

However, clever GMs can circumvent the problem by emphasizing the interconnectedness of the Rebellion and how the player's missions tie into that. That prototype TIE fighter the characters destroy might have eventually blown the Millennium Falcon from out of the sky. That Admiral they kidnap might have shown up to turn the tide at the Battle of Endor.

Everything the characters do is a step that ensures the Empire is just a little weaker than it might have been, and a good Star Wars GM can make sure the players understand that. West End has helped by publishing a bunch of other supplements that shy away from the derring-do of the film's principal characters. The Dark Stryder campaign, for example, focuses on a group of characters who have little or nothing to do with Lucas's principals. The looming presence of the films is always there, but with a little effort, it can be circumvented.

Star Wars is currently undergoing a big marketing push in anticipation of its re-release next year. Which makes it the perfect time to discover or re-discover this gem of a game. Fast, fun and crammed full of Lucas-essence, Star Wars: the RPG is something that even the most jaded player can enjoy. It's almost a pity it wasn't around earlier — then maybe Harlan wouldn't have bitched so much.