First edition has some problems as-written, but the free Rules Upgrade fixes most of them (it was a free pamphlet insert in a lot of the early releases, and later a pdf download). There's a lot of things I like about this edition. The initiative order is very clever, alien PC stats only go up to 5d max instead of varying by species (sorting the blasterproof wookiee problem and bad alien balance generally that second ed created), and the skill list is shorter because many of the skills are broader (such as Piloting as one skill compared to second's more simulationist split between starfighters/transports/repulsorlift/etc.) I agree that second edition's wild die is an improvement, but it's very easily house-ruled into first ed, while the reverse isn't true about the things I like about first. When I ran first ed, the big difference in play from second that really leapt out was how being hit always denied your next action. It makes combat a lot tougher. Arguably it models how taking a blaster shot is a big deal in the movies, but I think it can feel frustrating to be on the receiving end of it.
The losing an action every time you're hit is really frustrating in play, as it's easy to avoid being damaged, but constantly be denied actions through being hit. From a player perspective, it means you're sat around not getting to act, which makes the action feel slow and unwieldy. Aliens being able to get 5D in any attribute though is a massive advantage, especially when it's not balanced by any disadvantage. Wookiees in 2e get massive strength, but can't speak to anyone who doesn't know their language, can't use much armour, or disguise themselves, etc. So are disadvantaged for their advantage. But in 1E an alien can get 5D Dex, allowing them to shoot better, dodge better, etc, and just choose a species which looks generally human, and therefore suffer no disadvantage for it. (or be the uber pilot with a 5D Mech). I do find myself wondering if they provided the rules upgrade pamphlet with the FFG release recently?
@@RPGGamer - It's a really easy adjumstment. Either ignore it, or give -1d on their next action. Depending on what flavor you want as GM. Easy house rulin', as mentioned.
@@RPGGamer No, FFG didn't include the rules upgrade with their reprint. West End isn't around to host the pdf anymore obviously, but fortunately it's still easy to find with google. You're right about the alien details and 5d Dex being hard to come by in 2e, but Strength is the god-stat of the d6 system (especially with 2e's damage rules), so going to 6d in that stat in particular is a big deal. Every other stat is only the basis for some skills (with a slight exception for Perception with initiative, but 2e reduced that to only the best Per in the group rolling) but Strength's role can't be duplicated by buying up skills. 6d means hitting like an artillery weapon in melee and soaking up most blasterfire without injury (and being at almost zero risk of taking a one-shot-kill from a normal Stormtrooper blaster, which is a real danger especially around 3d Strength or lower in 2e rules). The damage soak they have slso reduces the chances that they'll be stuck with a Wound, which saves walking around with a 1d penalty to everything, helping the 6d Strength character's relative skill rolls compared to lower-Strength species. In practice, the wookiee disadvantages don't seem to be that bad. Not being able to talk to many NPCs just means letting the party face, who's better at it anyway, do it, and putting up communication barriers between the PCs is probably just going to get on everyone's nerves, so the speech limit doesn't matter much unless the GM works to make it matter. The problem with standing out is a disadvantage in the abstract, but when the players all make alien PCs (because whatever job or role a PC has, there's an alien who's outright better at it than a human), it just means that the GM can't run adventures requiring undercover/disguise among Imperials anyway because everybody stands out.
Running my first SWd6 1e one-shot next week. This is my players' first time playing it too. Your video is going on my suggested viewing list thanks to your clear and concise explanations. Thanks!
There is something so originally Star Wars that the WoTC and Fantasy Flight rulebooks for SWRP that never captured for some reason. The D6 system is truly the classic and best version of the star wars tabletop roleplaying experience.
It's got it's flaws, but it's the game I keep returning to. Still running 3 different d6 campaigns for different groups, so I'm definitely not going to disagree with you.
There's a lot of problems that 2e R&E introduced. But it did also solve a bunch of problems 1st edition had. We went back and played 1st edition in a campaign a couple of years ago, and we did find various elements of it annoying (losing your action whenever you're hit for example, meant that certain players had to sit entire combats out as they were slow on initiative and got hit before their action, which made them very grumpy indeed that their combat monster characters never got to go). Guess what I'm saying is, 1st edition is great, but it might be worth house ruling in some of the improvements from 2e R&E.
@@Ashmoleon2006 Yep, that would work well. It's the combination of not being able to reduce damage to nothing, and Stuns making you lose all actions, just makes it annoying for players when they have to sit out combat rounds.
You can't "Dodge' more than once. Each action after the 1st reduces your die code by one. She's running and dodging, so her Dodge die code would reduce from 5 to 4. However, she can take a full dodge action, and take her full run. In that case her dodge roll ADDS to the difficulty roll of the blaster which is determine by range. If there are multiple people firing at her, her SAME dodge roll applies to all their difficulties.
I tend to simplify the rules at first for new players. I run Star Wars for a group of teenagers at my local community centre, so keeping it simple and quick is important. For the first sessions I ignore multiple action penalties, letting people take a single attack and single defence each, to ignore that complexity. Because once they're used to rolling, the idea of losing a dice to get an extra action is easy to understand. I also tend to use the second edition damage categories but rationalised to make them easier to remember, so 0-5 damage does a stun, 6-10 does a wound, 10-15 does Incapacitated, and 16+ is a Mortal. With those in place, the combat is then just basically, each side rolls a number of dice equal to the relevant skills, and whoever gets the highest wins. Then just roll weapon damage against Strength + armour, and if you roll higher on damage, work out how much. Oh, and for initiative, everybody rolls Perception, and whoever gets the highest goes first.
I just tend to ask them what they want to do when its their turn. Having run for larger groups, my memory isn't up to remembering what everyone declared anyway.
First edition has some problems as-written, but the free Rules Upgrade fixes most of them (it was a free pamphlet insert in a lot of the early releases, and later a pdf download).
There's a lot of things I like about this edition. The initiative order is very clever, alien PC stats only go up to 5d max instead of varying by species (sorting the blasterproof wookiee problem and bad alien balance generally that second ed created), and the skill list is shorter because many of the skills are broader (such as Piloting as one skill compared to second's more simulationist split between starfighters/transports/repulsorlift/etc.) I agree that second edition's wild die is an improvement, but it's very easily house-ruled into first ed, while the reverse isn't true about the things I like about first.
When I ran first ed, the big difference in play from second that really leapt out was how being hit always denied your next action. It makes combat a lot tougher. Arguably it models how taking a blaster shot is a big deal in the movies, but I think it can feel frustrating to be on the receiving end of it.
Good thing about 1st edition is how easy it can be for implementing simple house rules or modifying stuff such as those you mentioned.
The losing an action every time you're hit is really frustrating in play, as it's easy to avoid being damaged, but constantly be denied actions through being hit. From a player perspective, it means you're sat around not getting to act, which makes the action feel slow and unwieldy.
Aliens being able to get 5D in any attribute though is a massive advantage, especially when it's not balanced by any disadvantage. Wookiees in 2e get massive strength, but can't speak to anyone who doesn't know their language, can't use much armour, or disguise themselves, etc. So are disadvantaged for their advantage. But in 1E an alien can get 5D Dex, allowing them to shoot better, dodge better, etc, and just choose a species which looks generally human, and therefore suffer no disadvantage for it. (or be the uber pilot with a 5D Mech).
I do find myself wondering if they provided the rules upgrade pamphlet with the FFG release recently?
@@RPGGamer - It's a really easy adjumstment. Either ignore it, or give -1d on their next action. Depending on what flavor you want as GM. Easy house rulin', as mentioned.
@@RPGGamer No, FFG didn't include the rules upgrade with their reprint. West End isn't around to host the pdf anymore obviously, but fortunately it's still easy to find with google.
You're right about the alien details and 5d Dex being hard to come by in 2e, but Strength is the god-stat of the d6 system (especially with 2e's damage rules), so going to 6d in that stat in particular is a big deal. Every other stat is only the basis for some skills (with a slight exception for Perception with initiative, but 2e reduced that to only the best Per in the group rolling) but Strength's role can't be duplicated by buying up skills. 6d means hitting like an artillery weapon in melee and soaking up most blasterfire without injury (and being at almost zero risk of taking a one-shot-kill from a normal Stormtrooper blaster, which is a real danger especially around 3d Strength or lower in 2e rules). The damage soak they have slso reduces the chances that they'll be stuck with a Wound, which saves walking around with a 1d penalty to everything, helping the 6d Strength character's relative skill rolls compared to lower-Strength species.
In practice, the wookiee disadvantages don't seem to be that bad. Not being able to talk to many NPCs just means letting the party face, who's better at it anyway, do it, and putting up communication barriers between the PCs is probably just going to get on everyone's nerves, so the speech limit doesn't matter much unless the GM works to make it matter. The problem with standing out is a disadvantage in the abstract, but when the players all make alien PCs (because whatever job or role a PC has, there's an alien who's outright better at it than a human), it just means that the GM can't run adventures requiring undercover/disguise among Imperials anyway because everybody stands out.
Running my first SWd6 1e one-shot next week. This is my players' first time playing it too. Your video is going on my suggested viewing list thanks to your clear and concise explanations. Thanks!
Many thanks for the kind comment, and very much appreciated. May I wish you loads of luck, and hope you have a great time.
Sharing this with my RPG group in preparation for our Star Wars RPG campaign! Thank you for this video!!
Glad it's been useful to you, and I hope you have a great game.
Thanks so much for the great video, Freddy. Much appreciated! Take care
I'm very glad you enjoyed it, many thanks for the kind words.
There is something so originally Star Wars that the WoTC and Fantasy Flight rulebooks for SWRP that never captured for some reason. The D6 system is truly the classic and best version of the star wars tabletop roleplaying experience.
It's got it's flaws, but it's the game I keep returning to. Still running 3 different d6 campaigns for different groups, so I'm definitely not going to disagree with you.
i have seriously been considering running a 1st edition game. I've ran 2nd edition R&E but i find that i prefer this version
There's a lot of problems that 2e R&E introduced. But it did also solve a bunch of problems 1st edition had.
We went back and played 1st edition in a campaign a couple of years ago, and we did find various elements of it annoying (losing your action whenever you're hit for example, meant that certain players had to sit entire combats out as they were slow on initiative and got hit before their action, which made them very grumpy indeed that their combat monster characters never got to go).
Guess what I'm saying is, 1st edition is great, but it might be worth house ruling in some of the improvements from 2e R&E.
@@RPGGamer yeah i'd probably house rule that if you're hit and not damaged that you'd take a minus 1D for all rolls in your next round or something
@@Ashmoleon2006 Yep, that would work well. It's the combination of not being able to reduce damage to nothing, and Stuns making you lose all actions, just makes it annoying for players when they have to sit out combat rounds.
You can't "Dodge' more than once. Each action after the 1st reduces your die code by one. She's running and dodging, so her Dodge die code would reduce from 5 to 4. However, she can take a full dodge action, and take her full run. In that case her dodge roll ADDS to the difficulty roll of the blaster which is determine by range. If there are multiple people firing at her, her SAME dodge roll applies to all their difficulties.
I said dodges, I meant Actions. She can take as many Actions as she likes, losing 1D for each after the first. I trip over my own tongue occasionally.
I want too run this for friends but the combat is sooo confusing
I tend to simplify the rules at first for new players. I run Star Wars for a group of teenagers at my local community centre, so keeping it simple and quick is important. For the first sessions I ignore multiple action penalties, letting people take a single attack and single defence each, to ignore that complexity. Because once they're used to rolling, the idea of losing a dice to get an extra action is easy to understand.
I also tend to use the second edition damage categories but rationalised to make them easier to remember, so 0-5 damage does a stun, 6-10 does a wound, 10-15 does Incapacitated, and 16+ is a Mortal.
With those in place, the combat is then just basically, each side rolls a number of dice equal to the relevant skills, and whoever gets the highest wins. Then just roll weapon damage against Strength + armour, and if you roll higher on damage, work out how much.
Oh, and for initiative, everybody rolls Perception, and whoever gets the highest goes first.
Ok, sounds good. Do you still use the declaration segment or do you just allow players to do what they want when it comes to their turn?
I just tend to ask them what they want to do when its their turn. Having run for larger groups, my memory isn't up to remembering what everyone declared anyway.