Kickin' it old school: Star Wars d6

Every once in a while, an RPG system captures a setting very well and gives a feeling appropriate to the setting. One example that I think did that was West End Games' version of Star Wars RPG. Star Wars RPG uses the d6 system that West End Games created for a fast and loose gaming session.

The d6 system is based completely on the standard d6, unlike the d20 system. Characters have six main stats: Strength, Dexterity, Knowledge, Perception, Mechanical, and Technical. Strength, Dexterity, and Perception cover obvious things. Knowledge focuses on knowing information like planetary knowledge, science, cultures, etc. Mechanical is the operation of equipment like starships, communications, astrogation (calculating hyperspace jumps), and using sensors. Technical determines your aptitude for things like repairing devices and programming computers or droids.

Under each stat, you have several different specific abilities like Firearms under Dexterity and Alien Species under Knowledge. As you gain character points (as opposed to experience points), you increase your specific skill within a certain stat, customizing your character however you see fit. Your score in a given stat or skill determines how many dice you roll. So if you have a 6D in Space Transport Repair, you roll 6 dice and add them together to determine if you manage to get the ship's hyperdrive online long enough to escape the Imperial ship. Usually the GM determines a difficulty number for you to beat, but sometimes you have to beat an NPC's roll depending on what you're doing.

The exciting and heroic parts of the Star Wars d6 system come from the things that alter the dice rolling. For one, you pick one d6 as your Wild Die. If you roll a 6 on your Wild Die, you get to roll another d6. Roll a 6 again, and you roll another one. However, if you roll a 1 on your Wild Die, you lose that die as well as the highest die from your other dice. These events represent something bad happening though a person rolling lots of dice still stands a good chance to succeed even if they roll a 1 on their Wild Die. The other thing that changes dice rolling is using the Force.

Everyone can call on the Force to try to do a particular thing better. You declare you are using the Force prior to rolling and then roll TWICE the number of dice for the ability you are using. Imagine Luke using the Force to shoot his torpedoes down the shaft of the Death Star. Normally, he might stand a chance but by using the Force, he guaranteed success. Since that was a heroic act, he would get the Force point back at the end of the session. However, if you use the Force for selfish reasons, you don't get it back until you do something heroic. Or even worse, if you use that Force point to do something evil, you gain a Dark Side point. If your Dark Side points ever equal or exceed your Force points, you can be overcome by the Dark Side - say hello to your GM's evil whims.

The game has all the classic elements of the Star Wars universe, and West End Games produced tons of books for the game with materials on space ships, pirates, the Rebel Alliance, aliens, and more. You can even play a Jedi, but beginning Jedi are pretty weak in comparison to other characters for obvious reasons. eBay is a great source for finding the old books. You can also find a handful of communities online that are fans of the game such as the Rancor Pit - http://www.rancorpit.com/.

After ShoshieB1 has gotten her D&D fix, I think I'm going to try to convince her to play some Star Wars RPG.