Since we want this community to involve more than just the playing of games, this will be the first in a series of discussion-threads concerning Saga and Star Wars.  Here, we will be discussing upcoming sourcebooks and other releases from the Star Wars line from Wizards of the Coast.  To start off, here is a list of upcoming releases:



Knights of the Old Republic Campaign Guide
Release date: Out now!
Make the jump to lightspeed 4,000 years before the Battle of Yavin to a time when Jedi Knights and Sith Lords clashed in galactic conflict. As the galaxy plunges into one war after another, the forces of the Republic, along with their Jedi allies, struggle to protect themselves from hordes of invading Mandalorians, tyrannical Sith lords, and traitorous allies on every front. This campaign guide offers both players and gamemasters a wide array of new options that can be used to craft an epic Star Wars roleplaying game experience during one of the most dangerous periods of galactic history.

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The Force Unleashed Campaign Guide
Release date: September 16 2008 (they claim. . .  :p)
Unleash the Force and fight the Empire.

The Emperor has swept away the last vestiges of the Old Republic. Darth Vader and his dark apprentice hunt down the surviving Jedi one by one, but a few escape capture and find refuge on backwater worlds. Fewer still reach deep into the Force, unleashing powers beyond their wildest imaginings. Meanwhile, other brave heroes rise to oppose the tyranny of the Empire, heralding the birth of the Rebellion.

This campaign guide draws its inspiration from The Force Unleashed, a revolutionary new video game from Lucasfilm Ltd. It presents a complete campaign setting during the period between Episode III: Revenge of the Sith and Episode IV: A New Hope. The guide offers exciting new character options and Force powers for players as well as adventure content, campaign seeds, and ready-to-play adversaries for Gamemasters.

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Scum and Villainy
Release date: November 18 2008
New options for scoundrel characters from the Star Wars Roleplaying Game.

Learn what it takes to be a smuggler, or how to build up a criminal empire that can rival the Hutt clans. Take your ship on the dangerous Kessel run, or chase down a bounty and claim your reward. Watch out for the long arm of Imperial law, though, or you may find yourself on a one-way trip to the spice mines.

This book provides extensive information on life on the fringe in the Star Wars universe. More than just information for players, this book gives Gamemasters a wide variety of information on bounty hunters, crime syndicates, smugglers, pirates, and criminals of all stripes throughout the Star Wars setting. Covering everything from vile Hutt gangsters to smooth-talking con artists, Scum and Villainy gives both players and Gamemasters everything they need to fit right in at Mos Eisley spaceport.

Scum and Villainy brings the Saga Edition rules to the fringes of society, introducing new rules and information on smugglers, bounty hunters, crime lords, and anyone else that walks outside the law.

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The Clone Wars Campaign Guide
Release date: January 20 2009
The Clone Wars Campaign Guide launches heroes into the middle of sweeping battles to determine the fate of the galaxy. This book provides everything you need to set your adventures during the conflict between the Galactic Republic and the Separatist forces under the command of Count Dooku.

This book includes new information for heroes on both sides of the war, including new talents, feats, prestige classes, and equipment designed to tailor characters to the unique feel of the Clone Wars conflict. More than just information for players, The Clone Wars Campaign Guide provides Gamemasters with descriptions and statistics for starships, vehicles, allies, opponents, and planets and features in-depth information on material drawn from Lucasfilm's new CG animated series, The Clone Wars.

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Legacy Era Campaign Guide
Release Date: March 17 2009

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Jedi Acadamy
Release Date: May 19, 2009
The Empire rules the galaxy once more, this time under the control of the vile Darth Krayt, and resistance is crushed under the heels of Sith overlords. The Jedi are scattered and devastated, with only a handful remaining to resist the tyranny of the Sith. The Galactic Alliance fleet is but a shadow of its former self, struggling to stay hidden while engaging in hit-and-run attacks against the Empire.
This is theLegacy Era, set 130 years after the Battle of Yavin. This campaign guide gives players and Gamemasters the freedom to shape the Star Wars galaxy during an exciting period when no one is safe from evil. Players can join the struggling Alliance fleet, or fight for Roan Fel's Empire-in-exile. This book contains everything players need to create heroes that fit perfectly into the Legacy Era, while Gamemasters will find the book filled with allies, antagonists, starships, and plot hooks to create exciting adventures against the backdrop of a galaxy ruled by the Sith.

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Rebellion Era Campaign Guide
Release Date: July 21st, 2009
This message was last edited by the GM at 00:41, Mon 03 Nov 2008.

Personally, I'm looking forward to every single book on the schedule.  :p  KotOR CG is already on it's way here, and I know for sure I'll be getting Legacy as soon as it's published, as well.  As for the others, I'm likely to get them all, though depending on finances, I may have to wait for some.


Update:  KotOR CG is here...  and it's awesome.  Everyone and their mother should buy at least one each!  :D  Seriously, though...  it has enough character options and crunch to be great for any player (even if you're not using the KotOR era), and enough 'fluff' to be a good source for a GM not that familiar with the era.  A bunch of new species, new talent trees for every base class, some neat Force Powers, and one of my personal favorites, the Feat Combos.  This book is full of awesomeness, from beginning to end, and I give it my highest possible rating - the Natural 20!


This message was last edited by the GM at 01:01, Sat 23 Aug 2008.

I picked up the KotOR sourcebook last week and love it. Finally having information on the era down in a book with all three major players (republic/jedi, sith, mandalorians) was great to see and I definately loved seeing the Mandalorian stuff.

I'll probably pick up all of the other books as they come out. I'm definately excited to see that WotC is finally putting some money into the Star Wars roleplaying books. Don't get me wrong, I liked the d20 rpg, but Wizards really just left them hanging and there wasn't enough support for the game meaning not a lot of extra books like they've all got planned out for SWSE. I'm excited.

Great points there - Saga seems to be getting a quite decent support for a game that to WotC isn't nearly as profitable as D&D and Magic, and one book every few months is more than enough for me, I don't need a situation where we're getting two or three releases a month, as was sometimes the case for D&D 3.5.  As a GM, it gives me more time to look over the new material, make sure it is appropriate for the campaigns I want to run, and pick out the things I'll want to throw at the PCs, before yet another one is shoved out the door.


I'm also very happy with the web content published these days - the Bounty Postings were fun, most of the previews do their job in getting me excited about the upcoming releases, and I like how things getting cut from books can end up as Web Enhancements.  And the Dawn of Defiance campaign, given to us for free no less, is great stuff, really.  I may not like what they're doing to my D&D and Forgotten Realms (Abeir?  Ugh...), but when it comes to Star Wars, it looks like WotC is on the ball, and I'm very happy to see that.  :-)

Yeah, one book every few months works for me and for my pocket book as well, haha. It's really nice to see them putting out the Dawn of Defiance adventures. I haven't had a chance to look all the way through the six of them that they've put out so far, but all the web enhancements and extra's they are tossing out on the SW website are great.

For those not aware already, on the next episode of the Order 66 Podcast, the hosts will have a special guest with them - Sterling Hershey, who is one of the writers for the KotOR CG.  Bound to be an interesting listen.  :-)

For those already with the KOTOR sourcebook, is there much in that suitable to a early Rebellion era campaign?

I don't know if I'd say 'much', but there is some, sure.  Most of the species included are (or at least, can be) still around, a lot of the new talents would work well in any era, and the same with the feats.  Speaking of which, they have a new thing called 'combined feats', which lets you use two different feats together in new ways - but this is really just errata by another name.  Examples of this includes Quick Draw + Weapon Proficiency (Lightsaber) = you can draw and ignite your lightsaber as a Swift action;  Force Training + Improved Disarm = you apply the bonus from Improved Disarm when using the disarm Force power;  Weapon Focus + Weapon Finesse = when weilding a one-handed weapon in which you have Weapon Focus, you can treat it as if it is a light weapon for the purposes of Weapon Finesse.

Also, the new Prestige Classes and talents for old Prestige Classes can probably be used, too.  There are a bunch of new Force Powers and Force Techniques which can also be used, at least most of them, without much trouble.  So, while it might not be the single most useful book for someone running a Rebellion-era game, it's certainly not useless, either.  Hope that was of some help to you.  :-)

Did they un-nerf Battle Meditation?

They added a number of Talents (1 in the Jedi Guardian tree and three in the Jedi Knight based Jedi Battlemaster tree) which add onto its effects.

One of the talents doubles its radius and applies a penalty to enemy attack rolls when they are within that radius.  Others provide a Reflex Defense bonus or the ability for a downed ally to take a Second Wind or a +2 instead of a +1 bonus to your allies attack rolls.

I don't know if that counts as un-nerfing it... I don't have a good enough feel on the interaction of Battle Meditation with the rules to start with to even know if the base power is too weak or not.

I'm not sure if I like having Battle Meditation enhancers be part of the Jedi Knight's talent trees...  after all, Jedi are far from the only ones to succesfully use Battle Meditation, several Sith have been shown to be powerful in it through the expanded universe.

As for the ability's power in Saga, I'll admit to never concidering the talent for any of my characters - it's simply too weak, as is.  Spending a full round action and a Force Point should do more than give allies within 6 squares (and who must remain within 6 squares, or lose the benefit at once) a simple +1 to attack.  The only time I can see this being worth it is at starship scale, where 6 squares can actually be quite effective (and even then, I'd take the improved version quickly if I wanted to make a difference).

New sourcebook scheduled for May 2009 release, leaked by Amazon.com.  Jedi Academy - all I know about this is that I tried a computer game by that name once, and thought it was decent-ish.  I doubt they'd release a sourcebook based solely on that, so I'd guess that this is mostly a sourcebook on the Jedi Order, bringing us more Force-related goodness, but time will tell, I suppose.  Thoughts, anyone?

Wasn't Jedi Acadamy one of the novel trilogies? Could be focusing around that part of the timeline, or simply be a Jedi focused expansion book?

It could also focus on the Jedi Academy during the upheaval by Jacen Solo after the Vong Wars.

Big news, everyone!  Someone from the WotC boards has received their copy of The Force Unleashed early, and has posted a lot of information about it's contents for everyone to see!


Sounds like the right way to do Unleashed, for those who want to include it in their games - and obviously, it explains the Battle Meditation of Bastila from KotOR.


Heh, I knew Togruta would be included in this one, thanks to Shaak-Ti.  :p

Whip(h?)id - that's master K'kruhk's species, right?  If so - awesome!

Chiss - I haven't read any novels involving these, or seen them in any games/comics, but I'll be darned if they aren't the coolest-looking group of near-humans out there.  :p

Most of these, though, I've yet to hear about before.  What's a Talz, a Yarkora, a Togorian, or a Caamasi, for example?  Guess I'll have to look 'em up in Wookiepedia.


Looks good - and finally a droid-specific prestige class.  Looks like it might suit a certain C-K/R droid in another game I'm in, too, heh. . .  :D


Ooh, new Destinies!  Must have!


Some of these already appeared in KotOR CG (Kinetic Combat, Illusion), but still, cool.  And the DS rule is pretty similar to what I've played with as a GM myself, so it's got my approval, for sure.  :p


Droid Jedi?  Cool!


E-Web Missile Launcher?  Count me in, please!  :D  Lightsaber Pikes also looks like fun, that's what the Emperor's special guard uses (the guys in all-red), right?



The thread can be found here, for anyone interested in asking questions of the original poster.  Right now, this is looking like another must-have for me, and it's just ten days until it's supposed to be released...  looks like I'll just have to wait for it, then.  :p

droids can already take jedi at any level other than one.

The new races are nice to see, especially Chiss and a few of the others. It'll be nice to see specifically how they work out the unleashed aspect of the game.

The Imperial Guard use Force Pikes, which are in the SECR, not Lightsaber Pikes.

Sweet. :)

Droids can take Jedi at level 1, they just can't gain Force Sensitivity. It's not efficient. Same with Scout and Shake It Off. My droid scout looks a little silly now.

They can't take Jedi as their first class if they are under the custom rule.
In general you are right with them not being able to get force-sensitive but they are also not able to get Jedi as their first class.

I understand why it could be impossible for them to get Shake it off, but why can't they I didn't read anything in this direction. Don't you only need to be Trained in Endurance? And a Droid can be trained in endurance but he would use his strength mod instead of his nonexistent con mod if I don't remember it wrong.

As I remember it, you also need a minimum of 13 Con, which a droid can't get.  Right?

Correct, droids have no constitution at all, but I would think they would just substitute Strength for Constitution like they do for Fortitude defense. I'd have to look it up.

I've got it there only about 2 meters behind me.

*cough* I am exhausted what a hard 2 meters this were.

Yep you are right, then it won't be possible.

It's seldom that I play droids and especially droid scouts.

Too bad.

I was thinking about a Droid soldier one time, or an Astromech droid based on scoundrel.

Whatever. I think I will order my copy of the KotOR Sourcebook tomorrow.

In reply to GM Sunset Miko (msg #17):

Yeah, lightsaber pikes are completely different from a force pike, and they are used by the Emperor's Shadow Guard.

...so, now that we have lightsabers, short lightsabers, double-bladed lightsabers, lightsaber pikes, lightsaber whips, lightsaber nunchucks, what's next?  Lightsaber breadknife, like in the movie adaption of Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy?  :p

Forked lightsabers, lightsaber foils

Lightsaber sword-chucks. This would be two lightsabers connected by a length of chain. Its inspired by Fighters sword-chucks in 8 bit theatre :)

...

Fiberlink Twin Saber.


As demonstrated here, by Asajj Ventress;
<a href="http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v205/KaguraHakubi/?action=view¤t=Assaj_bf2.jpg" target="_blank"></a>

And here, in a much cooler manner, by Fate T. Harlaown;
<a href="http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v205/KaguraHakubi/Nanoha/?action=view¤t=fatestrikers.jpg" target="_blank"></a>

Lightsaber-chucks FTW!

Just out of curiosity, is there a limit on the number of objects a jedi could telekentically control?

Could you telekentically control one light sabre (or even more), while fighting with one or two in your hands? You'd need damn good control, but I'm thinking it might be possible to do.

The Zeison Sha force tradition are telekinetic experts, but they prefer a chakram-like weapon called a Discblade over the traditional Lightsabers of the Jedi, Sith and Jensaarai.

Kreia, at the end of KotoR II however, wields four lightsabers against you telekinetically while standing in the middle.

The Move Object power in Saga only lets you move one object, theoretically, but I've used it a couple of times to hurl "miscellaneous debris" around - I described it once as picking up all the rocks and used needles and rubbish in an alleyway and hurling them all simultaneously at a target to deal something like 8d6 damage.

I'm not familiar with the Zeison Sha. Where are they from?

I should also point out I'm yet to play a Jedi in the rpg, so my knowledge of the force mechanics is pretty much zip.

Yanibar.

Though I think you probably mean where do they fit into the setting. They're a Star Wars Roleplaying Game creation from the Hero's Guide.

They're isolationist survivors from the Outer Rim. The colonists on Yanibar were abandoned shortly after they landed, and Yanibar is a harsh world. They don't seperate children from their parents to train them - Force Sensitive parents will raise a Force Sensitive child and raise them, but if the parents aren't Sensitive, an independant Sensitive will act as a tutor for the child, while the child remains with their parents to grow as an individual.

The Jedi are really quite miffed that the Zeison Sha are better at telekinesis than they are.

Information taken from http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Zeison_Sha

Some quick stats for new species, courtesy of the guy with Force Unleashed CG on the WotC boards:



Edit:  Added Togruta


This message was last edited by the GM at 19:45, Mon 08 Sept 2008.

Wow, from a strictly stat viewpoint Chiss kick butt over Humans now. I'd trade off a bonus feat for a +2 int and low light vision any day.

Heck, I'd trade the bonus trained skill for the +2 Int alone.  Together, that's an inherent two extra trained skills.  O_o  Why would they provide both of those bonuses in the same place, especially with no drawbacks?

No kidding. Makes the biggest drawback to being a Jedi (Low skill count) almost non existant.

Re:  Chiss being better than humans - I disagree.  Very few characters have Intelligence as one of their most important abilities (the exceptions are, naturally, slicers and mechanics), and the bonus feat humans gets makes them much more versatile, letting them excel in any area they choose.


Anyway, since I've just received my copy of Force Unleashed, I'll be posting some of my thoughts here...

Species - some neat ones, I'll definitely want to play a Togruta sometime soon.  I'm not one for the more 'exotic'-looking aliens, though, so most of them I won't be using as a player.  Chiss are listed next to Thrawn's stats, not the rest of the species, which I didn't really like, but it's better than not having the stats at all, heh.

Talents - new slicer talents, yay!  I like the Spy-talent tree (for Scouts), but I don't care much for the new Soldier-talents, personally.

Skills - there are two pages worth of new uses for your existing skills, which I think is cool.  Mechanics can now be used to craft things, yay!

Feats - some neat ones, but the one everyone will want to hear about, I figure, is going to be Unleashed.  Taking it requires only that you have a Destiny, and taking the feat lets you use all the abilities, as long as you have the feats/talents/Force powers that you'll want to Unleash.  And, since each activation costs a Destiny point, I don't think they're all that overpowered, either, all things concidered.

Prestige classes - only four existing prestige classes gains new talents (Bounty Hunter, Elite Trooper, Force Adept, Jedi Knight), but there are six new ones in the book.  Independent Droid is one of the most interesting ones, I think, and is the only prestige class that can be entered with only three levels prior to taking it!  They also gain 1d12 HPs each level, equalling the Elite Trooper for hit dice.  And yes, BadCatMan, this is definitely an excellent fit for Seeker.  ;-)

Organizations - the book comes with sample organizations, as well as rules for making new ones (and not just as a GM, PCs can also start their own organizations here!)

Other things worth noting - Ryyk blades are now the best melee weapon out there, dealing a whopping 2d10 damage as a medium-sized weapon meaning that yes, these things can be dual-weilded!  There are also new Droid Talent Trees, one for each of the five 'degrees' of droids, that work similarly to the Force talents (meaning, you can take one instead of the ones your heroic class would normally give you).


All in all, my first impressions of TFUCG is great, and I'd reccomend it not only for those playing in the Dark Times/Rebellion eras, but really, for everyone - the new character options are great for all eras.  :-)

Could you please post the Names of the Soldier talents?

Sure - they're all from the Mercenary talent tree:

Commanding Presence
Dirty Fighting
Feared Warrior
Focused Warrior
Ruthless

What does ruthless do in general?

Five bucks says Commanding Presence beats the living tar out of Battle Meditation.  THe bonus is probably as good or better and doesn't require the use of a force point...

In reply to GM GreatNightwolf (msg #40):

When you do damage to a target exceeding their damage treshhold, you get a +2 to damage against them for the rest of the encounter.

In reply to GM Furousha (msg #41):

1/encounter, activates as a swift action.  All enemies within 6 squares take a -2 penalty to Will Defense.  Mind-affecting, fear-effect.

oh, by the name of it i thought i'd be a buff for allies, not a de-buff for enimies.

Independent Droid? Droid Talents? Sweet! Finally droids get some love!

Anything good for Purge in there, boss?

In reply to GM Sunset Miko (msg #45):

Purge is second-degree, right?  If so, Mechanics Mastery (lets you take 10 on Mechanics no matter how stressful the situation) might be a decent choice for a talent.  Vehicle Mechanic is also decent.  Some of the Independent Droid talents might also fit.

Speaking of the Independent Droid, the illustration for that prestige class is a 3P0 type droid.  With glowing, red eyes.  And a blaster rifle.  And two heavy weapons on it's back, one of them looking suspiciously like a rocket launcher of some sort.  Awesome, no?  :p

Cute. ^^

Something else that I thought was cool in the book, was a new type of astromech - the Q7 series, to be precise.  It costs a whopping 6,500 credits, and has most of the capabilities of your standard R2 unit - but where the Q7 separates itself from all others, is that it doesn't walk, use wheels or tracks.  It hovers!  And yes - the Q7 droid can be played as droid heroes.  :D

That sounds an awful lot like C-3PX, a protocol droid reprogrammed into an assassin.

Did it look anything like....this?!

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/C-3PX

Dun duuuuun!  (It's hard to be dramatic in text.  XD)

Palpatine has got it right.  Of all of the releases since the core rules, this one is a must.  There's so many juicy, crunchy bits to it, it makes the game feel much more complete.

Of course, I'm more of a person that likes options stuff, so it's no wonder why I like it so much.

In reply to PC Nintaku (msg #49):



That's the one!  :D

Ruthless works pretty well with Devastating Attack it seems.

In reply to GM Palpatine (msg #51):

Whoa...that's a sweet looking droid. xD

You mean that's not the core rulebook?

No, no it's not.  :p

and here I thought that was where the fun half of the game was :P

I'm not sure that this is the right thread but since it comes from a fairly new release...

I noticed while looking at the Covenant Shadow in the KotOR CG that it's listed as having the Talent "Visions". Have I had a complete brain fart? Where is that Talent from?

That's a Force talent under the Sense category from the core rules.  Page 101.

I can't wait for the S&V book. I <3 smugglers, pirates, and all the seedy underbelly of the Star Wars galaxy.

I mainly want it because various items in the KotOR guide refer to the customization expansion slots in S&V.  Kinda bothers me that they referenced rules that hadn't yet been released.

Keep in mind that they didn't in any way make references that meant you had to have S&V to use KotOR - the item upgrade rules works fine just the way they are in KotOR, but if you do get S&V, you'll be able to use those instead, if you so choose.  And, really, that's a good thing - it saves the developers the trouble of people getting on the WotC forums and whining (not that the people over there will ever quit that, but...) about how the books aren't connected and just ignore each other.  As it is, you don't need anything from S&V to use KotOR, but when S&V is released, you already know how it'll interact with KotOR.  Simple as that, really.

Okay.  Looked a little further into that, and it seems I was just skipping over some important pages, namely the Weapon and Armor Accessories section in KotOR's equipment chapter.

Not a new release in the traditional way, but I figure this thread was the best one to put this in - WotC has some new errata and rules clarifications up at their site, which I reccomend you all check out:
http://www.wizards.com/default...article/sagaederrata

Those rules are (like wealth) very powerfull. A Wealth PC now has SO MUCH CASH. I know it's not all about the gear, but as some of my players have learned, a little cash can go a long way. 4d10X2 anyone?

The only PCs with Wealth who will be getting more cash, are ones with levels in classes like Crime Lord, which also gets access to the Wealth talent:

Yes, but that means the Batman (who took wealth at level 1) is going to be richer... I like the errata though, and I need to print it out and memorize it.

Only for the levels he takes in Crime Lord, which I've yet to see in more than a single (potential, not actually used in any games I've been involved with) character build.  Don't think it makes much of a difference, really - except for the wealthy crime lords, and really - the class gives access to Wealth, it had better count for how much credits they get.  :p

Is that rebellion one for real?

Yup.  :D

http://www.amazon.com/Star-War...225380681&sr=1-1

I'll really enjoy the clone wars book when it comes out. I've run a few games in the clone wars era and my players really loved it. There are a lot of possibilities for this little three years of galactic history.

Does it say when the book is coming out? Sometime next year?

Clone Wars should be out January 20th, according to my sources.

Interesting, they're actually putting out a Rebellion Era Campaign guide? The KoTOR guide, Force Unleashed, and Clone Wars one I can see, since there needed to be a lot more fleshed out for those, but Rebellion era? I mean, in my thinking, a Guide comes out to flesh out the areas where one might not know a lot about whats going on. And while there could be a lot of behind the scenes stuff in the Rebellion Era, I'm just not so certain it needs a whole guide for it.

On that front, I wonder if they'll go forward in the time stream and give us a New Republic Guide (would include everything from end of RoTJ through Yuuzahn Vong) and Legacy of the Force Guide (current book series and/or the comic series).

Legacy of the Force is actually already been slated for next May or March, I do believe.

Not Legacy of the Force, just Legacy - there's a description of the book in the first post in this thread, but basically, it's covering the era of the Legacy comic books, not that of the Legacy of the Force.

And, I think Rebellion Era CG will be good, especially for GMs who are fairly new to Star Wars, or at least the Expanded Universe - hopefully, it'll help flesh out the era beyond what we saw in the original trilogy, but also give good tips on how to run games in the era (like the Force Unleashed CG did for the Dark Times).  More information on the Rebel Alliance, perhaps using the organization-structure from TFU, would also be nice, I think.  So, yeah - assuming it keeps the high standard the Saga line has set so far, I'll be buying it, for sure.

See I knew I'd get burned not looking back at the beginning of the thread :)

I haven't taken a look at TFU CG just yet, saw it when I was at the bookstore last night but wasn't what I had in mind on picking up. But from the sounds of it, if they make the Rebellion Era similar it could actually work. Guess it just kind of sounded weird that they'd do a CG for an era they (mostly) covered with the movies.

Well, remember that the movies only covered the Rebellion, as it was seen by a small group of heroes - there's bound to be much, much more that can benefit both GMs and PCs, and help flesh out the era beyond what was seen in the movies.

Right, which, the more I thought about it, the more it made sense. It was just the initial knee jerk reaction to it. When it comes out I will more than likely take a look at it, if for nothing else than to expand my knowledge of the universe. Which was part of my reason for buying the KoTOR guide.

Not to mention there are some pretty decent gaps in between the movies. IRC Shadows of the Empire was the first mention of the Black Sun, that would be nice to get some good stats on that. And while thinking of Black Sun perhaps we could get some decent rules for constructing Human Replica Droids. The more I think about it the more stuff there is to look forward to in a Rebellion Era book.

Human replica droids can be found in threats of the galaxy, I do believe.

Figures it'd be in the first book I don't have.

Yup, stats for Guri, standard human replica droid, and how to play one yourself.

Words do not express the frustration I feel currently.

Lol!

Oh yeah, that was in there, wasn't it?  I totally forgot.

Again, a book has been shipped early, and a poster at the WotC forums has gotten it - Scum & Villainy, in this case!  I don't have time to go through the post and copy the highlights over here, but check it out for yourselves if you'd like:
http://forums.gleemax.com/showthread.php?t=1109694

New species:

I'm assuming the Jawa will be the same as the stats already published online, but the others will be interesting to see, particularly Clawdites (shapechangers, as seen in Episode II) and Falleeen.  I'm assuming Toydarians will have a significant bonus (+5) to their Will defense against mind-affecting abilities, or something like that.  Never heard of Blood Carvers or Ryn, however - anyone care to enlighten me?  :-)

And, concerning Jawas, and their new stats as opposed to the ones from the conversion document, I'll quote SWSE game designer Rodney Thompson (who has the most awesome job, ever! :p):




I'm not sure how to read the first line - first, it says that all base classes gets new talent trees, then it specifies that the Noble gets an entirely new tree...  does this mean that nobles get two new talent trees, or that they are, in fact, the only ones getting a brand new tree?

I was hoping to see additions to the Smuggler tree out of TFU, but from what I've read here, I'm pretty excited about the new talents.  It's also stated in the post that apart from the Jedi Sentinel talents, there's nothing Force-related in the book, which is rather refreshing, as a good deal of my favorite Star Wars characters were just plain old scoundrels.  :p


Yes!  Cheating at gambling!  Awesome!  :D


Looks good to me - want some more info, and I'm hoping there are more non-combat feats in here, too.


Looking good - I like the new prestige classes, though I think Bounty Hunter could double pretty well for Assassin, really.  Interesting to see a non-core prestige class (Master Privateer, TFU) get new talents, as well.


...awesome!  Assuming this is all balanced, it'll be a great addition to the game.  :-)


I'm a fan of these fluff-heavy chapters, so thumbs up here!


I know some people on the WotC forums will have you believe that stats for a named NPC are useless, since they will rarely (if ever) show up in your games - I say, nonsense!  Sure, I might not ever use Zam Wessell - but if her stats are decent enough, I might just nab them for another Clawdite bounty hunter/assassin instead, and just change the name.  The less work I have to do making stat-blocks, the better.

New organizations = yay!  :D


As mentioned earlier - fluff-heavy chapters are good with me.


Adventures = good.  They make it easier for new GMs to get started, and even if I don't plan on running them myselves, I like reading adventures, as they help me plan out my own, give me thoughts on what to do and not to do, etc.

Ryn were featured heavily in in the New Jedi Order. They're a very Gypsy-esque race that turned into a bit of an under-the-radar information network. Distinguishing characteristics were a pungent odour, beak, and a prehensile tail.

Blood Carver

Blood Carvers were an almost insect-like alien race native to Batorine


Ryn

The Ryn were an uncommon humanoid species, with prehensile tails, beak-like noses, long fingers, white hair, and distinctive odor. They were known for their musicality and diligent cleanliness despite being often mistaken as dirty due to their strong odor.

... Ryn are monkey-Tengus!

GM Palpatine's official review of Scum & Villainy is coming sometime this weekend-ish, but from a quick look-through, I'll give you my first impression of it - it is awesome, and if you can, you should buy it if you have any interest in scoundrels, smugglers, bounty hunters, and all other things concidered 'Fringe'.  Doubly so if you're a GM!  My favorite part, so far, is the equipment and upgrade parts, and getting a couple of new deckplans for ships is also neat.



Called it!  :D  +5 against Use the Force checks for abilities with the Mind-Affecting tag (as Qui-Gon experienced first-hand with Watto - "Republic Credits will do fine").
This message was last edited by the GM at 08:35, Fri 14 Nov 2008.

Oh, and sometime tomorrow, I'll type up the new Jawa stats for GM Furousha - for the players in that game, I can assure you, these stats are good.  :-)

If it's that good, I might have to rustle up a copy of one.  From what I hear, it'll really help in those games where you don't want those strange people with their long glowsticks running around on their acid trips thinking they can somehow move matter with their mind.

Damn stoners.

Oh yes - definitely a non-Jedi book, this.  It's got one Jedi Sentinel talent, one talent tree for Force Sensitive Gand Bounty Hunters, and one drug that'll let you make an untrained Use the Force check for Telepathy only, but as far as I can tell, that's it.


Oh, and I just love the option to have your Destiny tied to a specific ship, rather than picking one of the Destinies listed in the core rulebook.

How exactly does that work? The destinies part.

I'll just post up a short version now, before going back to bed while I wait for the doctor's office to open, but basically:

Instead of choosing a normal Destiny, you choose one ship to be tied to (the classic example is, of course, the Milennium Falcon and Han Solo).  No matter what happens, your ship is never completely destroyed, at least some small part will always 'survive' for you to use to rebuild your ship if it is destroyed in battle.  When you do this, you can only spend Destiny Points on your ship, on a specific set of actions that depends on your station (Pilot, Co-Pilot, Commander, Engineer, or Systems Operator) on the ship.  Characters with 'regular' destinies cannot use Destiny Points with starships, however, unless they have one Starship Maneuver from SotG, the book says.  So, basically, you're destined to do the really important things in your life, while flying in your own, special starship.

Interesting.

Anyone catch the Star Wars: Clone Wars episode from this last friday? I have to say two astromechs fighting is pretty funny looking.

Yep.  They were just kind of getting in each others' way, and trying to zap each other.  That's about all they can do.

Ooooo, that looks like a lot of fun.

Niiiiiice.

"This title will be released on May 19, 2009" Awww, I want that book now *throws tantrum*

Oh. Ah.

So, I'm sitting here now watching this weeks episode of Star Wars the Clone Wars and I thought Kit Fisto sounded a bit... jamaican. So, the more I thought about it, the more I thought that I recognized that voice.

Now, what other character out there is there that sounds Jamaican? Hermes Conrad from Futurama! So, I looked it up and Kit Fisto is voiced by none other than Phil LaMarr.

To be fair, Phil LaMarr is in everything animated, computer games included.  He's a very talented voice actor.

YEah, I just found it interesting that they made Kit Fisto sound Jamaican.

Is it his dreadlock-style tentacles? ('Dreadtacles') :D

This thread is for upcoming RPG releases, discussions about the animated Clone Wars show should probably be posted in the 'Expanded Universe' thread.  However, since we're on the topic of Clone Wars already. . .


http://wizards.com/default.asp...oneWarsCampaignGuide

Sweet. I want a padawan just like Ashoka!

I want a Padawan that actually follows the orders I give her.

I want clone troopers that follow orders.

I want a Sith Apprentice who's actually competent at killing major heroes.  :p

So Clone Wars Campaign Guide came to my doorstep today. Here's my little run-down.

So the races are: Dug, Gen'Dai, Iktochi, Kaleesh (the dog-ish looking race that Anakin liberated from the techno people and got his scar during the fight on that planet in the Clone Wars cartoon not CGI show), Kaminoan, Kerkoiden (the commander of the droid army that fights Anakin and Obi Wan at the beginning of the CGI Clone Wars movie), Nautolan, Nelvaanian and Vurk.
Hidden later in the book are stats for playing a Clone Trooper, Umabarn, Genosian and Chagrian's.

Talents, Jedi get some dealing with concealment and ones that grant allies hit points. Noble get a Collaborator and Loyal Protector talen trees, one of which gives them a follower. Scoundrel get one new Misfortune talent and an Opportunist Tree. Scout gets a Reconnaissance and Surveillance trees, with the recon one being a great leader of many tree. Soldier gets some new Brawler and Commando talents and the Squad Leader talent tree.

Several new feats that run a large range of what they are useful for, everything from droids, to treat injury to resisting deception and using artillery.

The rules for followers isn't as extensive as I would like and followers are also very weak.

For prestige classes Ace Pilot and Gunslinger both get one new talent. Elite Trooper gets some new talents and the Republic Commando tree. Force Adept get some talisman talents and Jedi Knights get an Archivist and Healer tree. Officer gets new Military Tactics talents one of which gives 5+ one half character level hit points to all allies within 20 squares. Another is once per day increase all defenses for one round by half your character level.

New prestige classes are Droid Commander (which is cool... for a droid), Military Engineer and Vanguard.

Force powers are pretty sweet with Cloak (helps with stealth, Levitate, Malacia a light side power that disrupts others equilibrium, Morichro which slowly knocks people out, Phase (yes you too can be Kitty Pride of the X-Men), Rend a dark side ability that hurts people, Shatterpoint which lowers the damage threshold of an opponent depending on how well you roll (anywhere from a -5 to a -20) and spending a force point allows you to ignore the opponents DR as well and Technometry which allows you to do psychometry on a droid or some other electronic device.

There is lots of cool toys in regards to starfighters, cruisers, guns, stats for droids and troops. There is some rules for fighting mass battles which are interesting but if you took characters who were designed with mass battles not in mind or with other books and just added this book to your new campaign a lot of the cool stuff gets dropped (mostly because any character talent/feat that only affects one target doesn't affect the battle or units at all).

You have the Kaleesh mixed up with the Nelvaanian. The Kaleesh are the race that General Grievous comes from.

Thanks for the correction! I should have written that while looking at the races, not just their names listed on one of the pages.

All in all, I think that Clone Wars is a pretty good supplement to cover the era. You get some new ships from the most recent movie and the new cartoon on Cartoon Network, as well as quite a few of the NPC's that they've introduced in the last six months.

One thing I liked about it is that they gave you an index of sorts in the back of the book with a list of things that would be available during the Clone Wars and where in what book you can find the item/starfighter/stat block.

The book I'm really looking forward to however is the next supplement coming out in March which is Legacy Era. I hope they give us a lot of good stuff with that expansion.

... Cloak.

They made Cloak a force power.

*sigh*

It's already a Talent! Of course, Cloak and Haze should be the same Talent, but... sigh.

Phase and Technometry sound cool, though, hehe, but since when could Jedi walk through walls without the aid of a Lightsaber? That's just... silly.

I've got my copy of the Clone Wars Campaign Guide, and there's really just one thing to say other than what's already been mentioned here:

"Roger, roger!"

:D


Oooh, yeah!  Just in time for my birthday, too!  Can't wait for that - my favorite era to play around in, bar none.  And finally, we'll see some published stats for Zeltrons (yeah, I like the ones from the minis preview, but I'm guessing they'll change it around - Dug in CWCG isn't the same as the stats from their mini preview article, after all).


That Force Power is canon, thanks to the Dark Woman, the only one to use it that I am aware of.  As Rodney Thompson posted over on the WotC forums - he could have either designed it for the book, and let GMs decide for themself if they wanted to allow it (he said that he would only allow it in KotOR, Clone Wars, and Legacy games - it would just be silly to have this in use during the Dark Times, really), or to leave it for GMs to try to design it themselves.  I think it's neat, but very situational, and not something I'd allow for most characters, to be honest.

I guess that depends how it works, really. Walking through walls is a pretty cool power... though, I have to admit, we've got ninja jumps, ki blasts and now phasing... what's next, generating an energy blade without a lightsaber?
This message was last edited by the GM at 23:07, Sat 24 Jan 2009.

Are you saying this isn't Marvel or DC?  :o

*giggles*

Actually, it's Dark Horse.  :p


*conciders the Dark Horse SW comic books the best part of the Expanded Universe*

Heh, actually I was refering to anime, where flight, walking through walls, energy blasts and energy blades seem to be the standby powers of supernatural monsters.

Not quite flight, but there is a Levitate power in here, too. . .  only up and down, though.  Yes, even with the Improved Levitation technique.  :p

Sounds like DC and Marvel to me.  :p  Kitty Pride anyone?  *giggles*

Well, Shadowcat is the coolest X-man.

Hm. Her or Storm, I never could decide...

Storm!  Hands down!

I guess goddess beats super-genius ninja kid, heh.

Oh yeah.  And it sure didn't hurt that Halle Berry played Storm in the movies.  :p

No, that's true. That didn't hurt at all... *grin* Plus, Ororo was a badass in leather.

*giggles*  Yeah, I have to agree there.  :p

It doesn't matter because Lady Death is the best female comic character...although Elektra and Psylocke are pretty damn good to.

*wanders back to the topic*

I picked up Clone Wars Campaign Guide today.. and I noticed something on page 194 that I hope is a misprint/mistype. The droids have attack bonuses ranging between 91 and 181! Now that's scary for CL 12 and 6 droids :P

There are quite a few typos like that. It's like they sent it to print without proof-reading the stat blocks. The Crab Droid has an attack bonus of like +141 and a +181 under certain circumstances. I think Asajj Ventress has one like that as well.

Ahs, I figured out why. Those attacks have special text and what should be a ¹ is just a regular 1. Looks like they all lost their formatting.. or it was just never added.

Still might be fun to play as is against my players >:)

:D

*growl* I played a Ref35 heroine in our PnP game, I've had quite enough of always being hit, thank you.

Take your adventures into the far future of the Star Wars universe.

The Empire rules the galaxy once more, this time under the control of the vile Darth Krayt, and resistance is crushed under the heels of Sith overlords. The Jedi are scattered and devastated, with only a handful remaining to resist the tyranny of the Sith. The Galactic Alliance fleet is but a shadow of its former self, struggling to stay hidden while engaging in hit-and-run attacks against the Empire.

This is the Legacy Era, set 130 years after the Battle of Yavin, gives players and Gamemasers the freedom to shape the Star Wars galaxy during an exciting period when no one is safe from evil. Players can join the struggling Galactic Alliance fleet, or fight for Roan Fel's Empire-in-exile. This book contains everything players need to create heroes that fit perfectly into the Legacy Era, while Gamemasters will find the book filled with allies, antagonists, starships, and plot hooks to create exciting adventures against the backdrop of a galaxy ruled by the Sith.

I just got Scum & Villainy and am already using it in my SW D6 game. I don't need it for equipment or races or feats, but the sections on "fringe adventures" is great. Like, for example, providing the DC for docking to a spinning derelict ship.

That is what really makes the book, the central section on job generation, mini-adventures...the whole works.

Can't wait for my copy to get here, it looks pretty cool from the previews provided from the people getting their books early over at the WotC forums.  I'm especially interested in the new stats for the Zeltron, as they have been changed from the ones given in the Minis preview.  Also, the Jedi being placed in the 'Fringe' chapter of the book is all kinds of cool.  ;-)

I'm fairly excited about this one.  Legacy is my favorite era to play in so hopefully it's well written and lacking in hideous bugs.

Oh bleh. Can't we forget all the crap after Star by Star? Actually, can we forget everything after Survivor's Quest? Please?

Legacy Era is the book I've been most excited to see come out.

It's awesome.  Some people have been complaining about certain talents or equipment, but for the most part, I don't see the big deal.  Yes, Imperial Knights gets a single talent that's essentially Armored Defense + Improved Armored Defense.  However, to get it, you'll have to belong to a select group of people, and you'll have to go your first 7 levels without it, unless you want to start focusing on Armors before you reach your prestige class.  Also, as pointed out by Rodney Thompson in the latest Order 66 Podcast (featuring discussion of the Legacy CG with Rodney, Sterling Hershey, and Gary Astleford), you can only take five total talents from the Imperial Knight prestige class.  Taking this one talent represents 20% of your total talents in the class.  Compared to a Soldier, you can gain a total of 10 talents from the class, but have to spend 2 talents to get the same benefit...  also 20% of your total allowed talents in the class.  So, yeah, hardly gamebreaking at all.  Of course, it's a shame that they named it Armor Mastery, as that's the name of a Soldier Talent, so that might need some clarification, heh.  :p

---

*drools*

Is there a release date for Jedi Academy?

If the information in the initial post in this thread is correct, it's coming out on May 19th.


Having looked some more through Legacy...  the Legacy Destinies are really cool, and I want to play a character using one of them A.S.A.P!  :p  If anyone is thinking about running a Legacy-era game, and won't mind a Skywalker running around, do let me know!  :D

I've been considering it...but it's probably going to be at least a couple months if not longer before I'm ready to commit myself to running a game in the legacy era.  I'd rather have the time to re-read the comics and get a full understanding of it all.  Although I'd have to seriously consider letting a player be a Skywalker...but who knows.

Is there a game mechanics reason to be a Skywalker, or is this desire "just because" kinda thing.

There is a game mechanic...in the Legacu Era book it's a new type of Destiny called Legacy.  Alot of the famous family/clan names have them.

Picked up Legacy on Saturday (thank you 40% off Borders coupon). So far I'm liking what I'm reading, definitely seems to be a good book (course my only other campaign guide is KoTOR). The epic destinies are pretty darn cool, and I like how they left it open so you can create your own as well. Would definitely be up to running in a Legacy era game, if and when it got up and running.

Simply being a Skywalker doesn't provide any game mechanics, but if you take the Legacy Destiny for Skywalkers, you'll gain the ability to spend a Destiny Point to treat your next Use the Force check as a natural 20.  Plo Koon's Legacy has the same thing, while those of the legacy of Wedge Antilles or Nien Nunb gets the ability to spend them for 20s on Pilot checks.  The Solo legacy does this for Mechanics, and Organa has the same thing for Persuasion checks (as does the Fey'lya legacy).  Of the legacies that don't let you boost skill checks with Destiny Points, there's Fett (lets you score critical hits on 19-20 for the rest of the encounter), Koth (gain the ability to not move down the condition track as the result of an attack for the rest of the encounter), or Ackbar (double any insight, morale or competence bonuses you grant others until the end of the encounter).

The drawback, as far as I can tell, is that unlike regular Destinies, there's no way to 'complete' one of these - if you fulfill an Education Destiny, for example, you get a +5 bonus to a single skill of your choosing (which stacks with Skill Focus), and other Destinies let you boost your ability scores.  The Legacy Destinies doesn't have any of that, you just gain one extra way to spend a Destiny Point.


But for me, the desire to play a Skywalker is mostly a "how cool would that be!?" kind of thing.  :D

That is neat, tracking the bloodlines.

I thought the Ackbar destiny let you recognize traps easier. :)

I really wanted to make a clever joke about that, but my wit failed me, I'm afraid.  :p

I wouldn't bother. Ackbar jokes are a tra...wait a minute...

http://www.wizards.com/default...diAcademyrpgpreview1
Preview of the upcoming Jedi Academy Training Manual, showing some of the new Lightsaber Form Powers, which any lightsaber-weilding Force user will no doubt love to death.  I can't wait to see the rest of these, they look really cool, and I like how they give you an added kicker if you have the particular lightsaber form talent associated with the power, without being useless for those who don't have it.

Also...

Anyone had a look at the Background mechanic found in the Rebellion Era Campaign Guide?  I really like it as an alternative to Destiny in less high-powered games, and really, I can see it being used alongside Destiny in games in which balance isn't a primary concern.  What I like the most about it, I think, is being able to make a Jedi who starts out trained in Stealth, or even Persuasion for the Consular-types out there, or to give my Scouts training in Acrobatics (which is the one skill I really feel is missing from their list).

Also, Racial Feats are pretty cool, Jedi Heritage especially for all the twi'lek Force users who are suffering from their poor Wisdom.  :p

Opinions:

Amongst my PnP group, it was considered that the 'Crippled' background was too overpowered compared to the others and should be banned. Essentially, you start out with a free cybernetic limb and your DT doesn't go down when you slide along the Condition Track.

Of course, you're also turning yourself into one of the few individuals in the galaxy who suffers equally from both Stun and Ion damage, which is a drawback that's worth concidering.  And, of course, if you want to Use the Force, that now comes with a penalty as well.  There's really no benefits to having a cybernetic limb in Saga.  :p

You're forgetting "rule of cool"

Then there's ALWAYS a benefit to having a mehcanical arm :D

Actually with the cybernetic rules in Galaxy at War there could be benefit to having cybernetics.

For those who haven't heard, after Galaxy of Intrigue and the Unknown Regions, the Star Wars RPG produced by Wizards of the Coast is coming to an end, as their license from LucasFilm haven't been renewed.  This also applies to the SW Minis game, that after the Dark Times and Masters of the Force will be coming to an end.  For more information, look here for the announcement from WotC:

http://community.wizards.com/g...e_Coast_announcement

To be honest, I don't think the announcement harms SAGA too much. I mean, there aren't many things not done in the other books. To prove my point they're doing a book on the Unknown Regions - clearly running out of ideas there.

wonder if anyone else is going to pick it up under a different system...

My buddy and I were discussing this and neither of us could think of a company that could afford the license that we had faith would do the setting justice. It is unfortunate but as was already said the game has done just about all it can do with LFL restrictions and using a D20 system.

I've enjoyed it and own almost every book and plan to get the last book as well.

*shudder* I just imagined White Wolf running with the Death Trooper line...

Yeah, the real problem is that frequently, when a game's not being published anymore, a significant portion of the fanbase quits player for no apparent reason.  Nobody's quite clear why but it happens, a lot.

Don't say that Vibetrippin. Now I have potential White Wolf titles for Star Wars games floating through my head.
Empire: The Oppressing
Jedi: The Enlightened
Rebellion: The Alliancing

I think White Wolf writers with Eve Online's influence could come up with a decent system to parlay the universe if they would not use Storytellers. You are right though, they could easily buy the license and try to make it fit their universe mythos though I think LFL would be against that.


Too true. It happened to Heavy Gear so much that stores won't admit that the company Dream Pod 9 actually exists and has new product (admittedly only for their miniature line though Steve Jackson will be putting out a new RPG for them), sometimes after showing them the active website.

It happens though, without new product to spend our hard earned money on then why keep playing it? People want to play with their new toy and if that is a new RPG book from some new company then so be it.

I'd see it more as Alliance: The Rebellion

And don't forget Droid: The Servitude

Last cover art for the Saga line...  and in my opinion, the best one, perhaps tied with Scum & Villainy.

looks like the outer rim. Na'gai are cool

Unknown Regions I believe, so all the crazy stuff from out there.

Can't wait for all the Chiss/Thrawn clones.

In my opinion, Thrawn is to Star Wars what Drizzt Do'Urden is to Forgotten Realms.


He's that ultra-cool "alien" that entire series are devoted to, and so many people want to be "that guy" that it spawns a whole culture of imitators.

I could also see that arguement made for Boba Fett.

Chiss has been a PC species in the game since the release of the Legacy Era Campaign Guide, and I think it was around as an NPC-species since The Force Unleashed, so that option has been out there for a while - and I've yet to see any Chiss characters even close to resembling Thrawn in my time playing this game.  Come to think of it, I can't recall seeing any Chiss characters in games I were in - I played a Scout once, in a Legacy Era game, myself.


There's a preview thread up on the WotC boards, here's a list of the species from Unknown Regions:


For the rest of the thread, look here: http://community.wizards.com/g...ost_num=21#409786469

Sounds like a good way to end the product line. Hopefully they complete all of the little web enhancements that may have been in the works and publish all of it as one big compressed file.