Stuff that WEG screwed up, and how should it be fixed

[CRMcNeill]

This is pretty much an open ended topic. If you have come across anything in the RAW or in WEG stat write-ups that you think is in error, and have an idea for how to fix it, this topic is for you. Ideally, if you think something is in error, you should have some sort of film evidence (or some other canon source) to back up your assertion. I have some strong opinions of my own, and I have made them well known in other topics of the forum recently, so for now, I would like to just open the floor to whoever wants to speak next. Thoughts?
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"No set of rules can cover every situation. It's expected that you will make up new rules to suit the needs of your game." - The Star Wars Roleplaying Game, 2R&E, pg. 69, WEG, 1996.

The CRMcNeill Stat/Rule Index

[ZzaphodD]

Ok, I only have one problem with WEG rules: lack of concistency. This is mostly a problem regarding when it comes to stats for ships/weapons/armours.
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My Biggest Beard Retard award goes to: The Admiral of course..

[CRMcNeill]

[Nico_Davout]

[CRMcNeill]

[S-Foil]

Here's my small list:

Indexes - I know indexes weren't easy to do with the DTP software of the day but it can be extremely difficult to find material in the WEG books. I've got a huge collection and there's stuff I know is in one of the books but I can't remember which.

Lack of guidance on skills - Outside of the write-up in the detail of each skill there's little GM guidance for how and when skills might get used. The light nature of the rules is always something I've enjoyed about D6 but it can be a bit of extra stress on the GM to adjudicate badly described skills. This goes for Force powers as well.

Arbitrary character stats - Reading through NPC stats can sometimes be frustrating in the books. You'll have one character who is supposed to be a senior/elite character only to see their actual skills little better than some other NPC that is supposed to be a bumbling goof.

[cheshire]

Lack of guidance on skills - Outside of the write-up in the detail of each skill there's little GM guidance for how and when skills might get used. The light nature of the rules is always something I've enjoyed about D6 but it can be a bit of extra stress on the GM to adjudicate badly described skills. This goes for Force powers as well.[/quote]

Seconded! So, am I supposed to go unnoticed through sneak, or hide? Yeah, I know it's supposed to be sneak for any sort of stationary or moving stealth, and hide is for hiding an object, but sometimes the writers forgot about that, and used hide for the former.

[garhkal]

Hence why one thread i posted a while back in the Character area, was questioning the supposed book stats for Rebel Special forces npc base levels...
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Confucious sayeth, don't wash cat while drunk!

[jmanski]

Character stats in general. You have some combat characters with 4d blaster, then somewhere else you have a rebel agent with 7d blaster (when the purpose of the character seems to be stealth).
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Blasted rules. Why can't they just be perfect?

[Fallon Kell]

[Matthias777]

I have a viewpoint that I feel like some will vehemently disagree with, but here goes:

I think that WEG screwed up by making 2D-4D the range for Humans and most aliens, with 2D being the average. "Okay, so this NPC is supposed to be below-average at this...er...wait. Guess he can't be worse than average, really." 1D in a skill/attribute was reserved for people literally handicapped in some way, and you couldn't go below that at all, even if you wanted to.

The attribute range for Humans and other like species, IMHO, should have been 2D-5D, with 3D being "average". It gives you a little room below "average", and you get double that amount of room on the upper end of the spectrum for people that are above-average or somewhat exceptional. Having six attributes and an average of 3D in each would also mean that you would have a nice scale of attribute dice/pips to work with for non-adult characters (NPCs would have 18D in attributes at the age of 18, 12-year-olds might have 12D, etc.---obviously you don't have to go with a uniform progression, since it could be argued that we don't develop that way, but there's an easily adaptable framework in place for however you want to do it). PCs might get 24D or so in attributes, 10D or so for starting dice for skills, yada yada...you get the idea. The only problem is a slight increase in the amount of dice being rolled, really, and you gain so much more. Obviously you'd have to rewrite stats for everything, so it's not exactly easily implementable, but I really wish this was the foundation they had gone with.

I guess we're supposed to suggest a solution. I see a few options:

1) Get everyone to agree on it and work together to rewrite everything. (Heh.)
2) Quit your day job and work on it yourself for a couple of years, then find people willing to play using your system.
3) Suck it up and keep playing regular old D6.

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Arek | Kage

[jmanski]

3. I don't have a problem with Attributes the way they are. But I don't see 2d as "average" for a skill. I use 3d, then 4d for "professional", and then go up the list.
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Blasted rules. Why can't they just be perfect?

[MacRauri]

Matthias777, I don't mind rolling a few more dice and this would certainly smooth out some of the variability on the low end. Would your suggested change also include a shift in the difficulty intervals? Or is it ok to allow 24D PCs routinely make D or VD checks perhaps without even being trained in the skill?

[Guardian_A]

I always thought that Force Users were a little overpowered in groups with non-Force Users.

My own way of balancing the issue is this to seperate the Force Skills and Force Powers. When buying the first 1D in a Force Skill, they gain one related Force Power, after that, all Skill increases and Powers are bought seperately. In addition to that, I allow Force Users to buy up a Force Power the same way you would a traditional skill. This encourages Force Users to dump a bonch of points as their characters grow, but it also allows them to show a natural aptitude for certain powers.

While its not a perfect solution to the problem, its always worked well with the groups I've run.

[Grimace]

Wow, things wrong with the WEG D6 System in Star Wars....

As was mentioned, the attribute ranges are one of the aspects I feel is a problem. However, rather than increasing the amount, I feel they should be 1D to 4D. That keeps 2D as "average", makes 3D pretty good, and 4D is the best a human can be. That also lets alien races be better (5D or more) without the dice totals getting out of control.

I feel the scales are off. Speeder scale, Walker scale, Starfighter scale and Capital scale. There needs to be more granularity in there. A speeder bike shouldn't be at the same scale as a hovertank. A Scout Walker shouldn't be at the same scale as an AT-AT. A Corellian corvette shouldn't be at the same scale as an Imperial Star Destroyer and I really don't see bulk freighters that are 100 meters or less being in the same scale as an A-Wing. My fix for that is to rework the entire scale system.

The Force is...messy. Not really "wrong" or "broken", but it is messy. I worked up a fix for it, but I'm not the most happy with that fix. If I put my mind to it a bit more I could probably come up with something much better and less messy.

Weapon stats. The damages are, as the term has been used, inconsistant. Oh, some are quite good, but some of the later material started getting into the "bigger and better" syndrome of RPGs. So you ended up with weapons doing plainly silly amounts of damage or having aspects that are simply too great for the cost and availability of the weapon. This also goes for vehicle stats. Sadly, the fix for this requires fixing everything. Not a likely situation.

NPC stats. As with RIFTS, though not quite to that severe of an extent, Star Wars started drifting into the "this character has to be better than all of the others" syndrome. This eventually led to some of the main movie characters being surpassed by created NPCs for the game. Now I'm not the type that believes that no one can ever be better than the movie characters, but neither do I believe that every Tom, Dick and Harry bad guy that comes along is better than every bad guy and most good guys that came before. It's the syndrome of always needing to come up with a new and even greater challenge for the heroes. And sadly most people think the best way to do that is with an even MORE skilled bad guy. It just gets silly after a while. My fix for that is to either get rid of a bunch, or severely knock off the top ends of a lot of characters. This, of course, could lead to movie heroes defeating every new thing that came across. The fix for this is simply getting people to understand that the galaxy is a huge place and the movie heroes can't just keep going around and defeating every bad guy that pops up. That's what the PCs are for!

I also think that the D6 system needs a way to handle the "upper ends" a little better. I've never had characters above 12D, and I present enough variables that even at 12D, I can still challenge the players without needing the create ever increasingly skilled NPCs. I understand some people get character with a lot more than 12D being rolled (not counting when a Force point is used), but I feel that is another problem not really associated with the system. As for the fix for the "upper end handling" of the system...I don't know yet. It's something I'm attempting to solve, but it's a crafty problem with no easy fix. Oh, there's work-arounds, but it's not really a problem solver...just a work-around. Like duct tape on a leaky pipe - it might work for a bit, but it didn't really fix it.

That's about all I can think of right off the top of my head.