New Guy interested in 1st Edition

[McKinley]

[wulfgar]

[wulfgar]

Hmmm, reading the "which edition do you like best" threads around here I knew 2nd Revised and Expanded was the most popular choice, but it also seemed like a significant minority preferred the original rules. Suprised no campions of 1st edition replied to the thread.

[Darth Mischevious]

I only ever played 1st edition. But our group always used Star Warriors to handle space combat, so a lot of the differences already discussed between the various rules versions just didn't arise for us because we enjoyed the board game tactical combat.

[schnarre]

I found 1st Ed. the simplest to just get in & start playing (it's the first I got ahold of, when WEG put out the game). Originally, scaling was oversimplified (an example is a TIE fighter's stafing run on a character was simply doubled dice: 5D became 10D damage). The Rules Companion--which I still use heavily--opened the door for a lot of extra stuff! I still use variants of the Capital Ship Combat rules, & employ Star Warriors for space combat; it also introduced scaling--I still use this version of scaling to make combat more lethal (in 2nd Ed., a Capital scale weapon was no longer assured of dropping a TIE unless the roll was 16+ over the TIE's soak; in 1st Ed. a damage roll 4x the soak roll destroyed the fighter, & dice rolled above the cap were dropped instead of simply rounded down as in 2nd. Ed.--frankly I felt 2nd Ed. tried to make PCs un-killable). I still prefer to employ the Speed Dice of 1st Ed when possible.
I didn't really care for how R&E carried out scaling: by those rules, enough Stormtroopers could drop a Capital Ship.
In 1st Ed. Force Lightning was 1D of Damage per 2D in Alter rather than 1D per 1D--more survivable unless you were cybered, but still painful.

The starting scenarios were nice in the 1st Ed Rulebook (Cal Ambre with Roark rescuing his copilot, & Rebel Breakout to get PCs in the Rebellion right away). I wish they had been revamped.


My two credits worth anyway!
_________________
The man who thinks he knows everything is most annoying for those of us that do.

[shnar]

Having been only a 1st Ed player back in my highschool days (i.e. late 80s, early 90s), I'm starting a new 2nd Ed campaign right now, and quite frankly don't like the changes. None of them really smooth anything out and all of them are just making a simple system needlessly complex. Some players like that, I'm not trying to knock the system, but I *really* loved the simplicity of the 1st Ed.

Here's a few details I've picked up on so far:
- Skill Specializations: Not only are the rules really awkward around this, IMHO, it's just not needed. It's like they found a rule in another system and thought it might be good for this system. It just adds a small level of complication for no good reason.
- Initialization System: Another really strange move IMHO, a side vs. side initialization, then declare all up front, etc. 1st Ed's act based on PER stat is so *simple*, why change it?
- Wounds: This is more of a preference, but I liked the 1x 2x 3x simplicity of Wounding in 1st Ed over 2nd Ed's look up a chart.
- Wild Die: I'm not a big fan of the Wild Die. If you have 5 or less dice, you pretty much have a 1 in 6 chance of your roll having *no* effect what so ever (if you roll a 1, you take away the Wild Die AND the Highest Die you rolled, so your 5D has suddenly changed to a 3D-). The odds just don't work out.
- Scaling System: I really liked the simplicity of Scale in the Companion Rulebook of 1st Ed, where you toss out the die if it rolls higher than the cap. It's SIMPLE and even makes sense.
- Starting Char Points: For some reason, 2nd Ed characters start with Char Points. Free XP just doesn't make sense to me.
- Setting: It seems that the 2nd Ed setting is specifically designed for after RotJ. None of us want to play then, we want to play during the movies!

Well, that's what we've found so far. We're going to keep playing in 2nd Ed for the next few sessions and see if we feel any better, and if not, just revert back to 1st Ed. At the very least, if you plan on using 2nd Ed, get the R&E version. There's a few cleanups (like Skill Specializations, Init system, and changing the setting to be anything you want it to be) in the rulebook.

Now, if you DO go 1st Ed, here are the books I found invaluable:

Rulebooks
- Rulebook
- Sourcebook
- Rules Companion

DEFINATELY get the Rules Companion. What few changes between 1st and 2nd Ed that are good are all found in the Rules Companion.

Sourcebooks
- Imperial Sourcebook
- Rebel Sourcebook
- Galaxy Guide 5: Tramp Freighters
- Galaxy Guide 8: Scouts

I've also found the first Planet Guide to be good on creating your own systems. In fact, most of the Galaxy Guides are really good. The ones I found kind of pointless were the ones on the movies, since they are just character writeups of movie characters (unless of course, a campaign were to meet these particular characters).

Adventure Books
- Starfall
- Tatooine Manhunt
- Scavenger Hunt

LOVE Starfall. Best one out there IMHO. I mean, an adventure that allows the players to run around inside a Star Destroyer? Cool. And Tatooine Manhunt is just a fun one.

Anyways, good luck

-shnar

[shnar]

Another comment, we haven't gotten into space/vehicle stuff yet, but I loved the simplicity of the original system (as was described earlier). It fits the cinematic feel of the movies very nicely. The way 2nd Ed revamped it may feel more realistic, but it's more complicated (and thus time consuming) and less cinematic.

We like our games to move, like how the movies moved along, and so the feel of 1st Ed is a lot more of our style of play. If we wanted a more realistic game, we'd be playing Spacemaster. 1st Ed Star Wars is definately more of a multi-player story telling device than a realistic chart managing system.

-shnar

[shadoes]

greeting all. First post here thought I would chime in.


I have always liked the Heroes and Rogues book for some extra character templates. If you can find it I would recommend picking it up.

[Whill]

[shnar]

[Whill]

[shnar]

I'm not saying the Wild Die is bad, I'm saying it epitomizes the difference between 1st ed and 2nd ed. Added complexity to an otherwise simple game.

And my bad on the dates. I was out-of-country when 2nd ed game out, so for me, I felt like 10 years (I coulda sworn it was mid 80s not late 80s, but my memory gets worse as I get older ).

-shnar

[schnarre]

I remember the Star Wars Adventure Game fondly...

Thanks for the reference to the "Regina Cayli" adventure Whill! I'm going to try yanking that one out again. *proceeds to shake off dust & cobwebs*

...I've found things I could employ from 1st Ed. & 2nd Ed., & hybridized a system with elements of both. The Rules Companion is in my opinion a must-buy when available, regardless of which edition preferred: it expanded 1st Ed. while retaining simplicity, & provides material that may be incorporated into 2nd Ed.

I concur with shnar regarding favorite eras in which to play: the Original Trilogy era has so much to offer for adventures.
_________________
The man who thinks he knows everything is most annoying for those of us that do.

[shnar]

Agreed. IMHO, the Rules Companion "completed" the 1st Ed. rules. They filled in the few gaps that existed in the 1st ed, like scale, pips, droids, the force as skills, etc. They of course incorporated all of this in 2nd Ed, and then expanded a lot more.

But of course, play as you and your players deem most appropriate for you

-shnar