Rules Companion and Rules Upgrade [RC] and [RU]

klhaviation · Lieutenant Commander Joined: 19 Aug 2014 Posts: 188

One thing that further complicates 1st Edition, is the relatively quick succession of verious official rule updates. I don't have time to make an inclusive list however here is the gist.

RULES UPGRADE.
this was a 4 page pamphlet, released in 1988 which changed a few things. This was the first time the concept of Full Dodge vs. Combat Dodge was introduced. Previously a dodge roll was always added to the firer's difficulty... this caused them to drop combat segments and switch to a single round... instead of simultaneous actions being detrimental by highest skill roll... the concept of haste was introduced. Basically you could declare haste as an action to shoot quicker... of course you would suffer a 1d penalty for every haste you declaired. There were other sundry rules to clean up little issues... but this was a nice package. I still think I prefer the original combat system... bit this did offer a simpler approach.

RULES COMPANION.
Somewhere along the way... someone decided to make D6 crunchier... RC started this trend. Movement became more quantified (it would reach its complicated apex in 2nd edition). Instead of allowing the GM no narate vehicle combat with skill rolls to determine various outcomes... movement and combat shifted toward a more minatures based game.

The force rules were tightened up a lot mechanically... but more powers were added which had both good and odd aspects to it.

This book also introduced die cap scaling rules.. allowing for capital scale combat and better vehicle combat rules. Oddly enough they also included a capital ship combat system... which wasn't that necessary since scaling rules were cleaned up... still it is a fun side game.

Other than that a few other rules were tightened up, Star Warriors board game conversions were included, and a short adventure too.

All in all I prefer the Original 1st ed with few modifications. I think RU did a nice job cleaning up combat with the full vs. Combat dodge option... but it took away a unique aspect of the game in a way. 1st ed combat is a bit more crunchy because the combat round is broken down into action segments... one segment per declaired action. Each segment a character has to reuse their reaction skills at a 1d penlty.

This has the effect of making players rather tough in single slug matches... but makes bigger firefights very interesting.

Rules companion took the D6 system into what it would be in the 90s and beyond. Movement would be broken down into meters, combat was stripped down into shoot dodge shoot. Not that the changes were all bad... 2nd edition 2nd ed r&e and REUP all have a tight core system... but the open-ended nature... and rather deadly combat system, made 1st ed a unique flavor.

Most never get to experience it... as a player you hardly notice the difference ... until the blaster fire starts. Then the shoot dodge shoot system becomes more dodge dodge.... maybe next time we should form a combat plan and lay down some 3 action segment cover fire..... the run shoot... cover.

Where it really shines is in the hands of a good GM. The RAW is quite flexible and designed not to slow down.

That isn't to say that there aren't broken bits. Oh thereare for sure. Plenty of contradictions, skill names change in the middle of the book.... basically it was poorly edited.

That hopefully will be fixed soon.