Wednesday, October 4, 2017

The Original Star Wars RPG Returns!

With all the crap flying around the last few days, I thought something more pleasing would do for today. Yeah, it's on my Wish List, but it's not actually going to be in anyone's hands until February of next year.

That, right there, is the original official tabletop RPG for Star Wars. It too is under license, as a one-time offering, published by Fantasy Flight Games. This is the game that bought the day after Thanksgiving in 1987 when I had poker winnings from a foolish cousin in my pocket and a local store worth a damn to buy it from. (Shinders, if anyone cares.)

This is the game that gave us the Shantipole reference for the B-Wing's origins in Rebels (Strikforce: Shantipole), introduce Adar Talon and Jodo Kast (Tatoonie Manhunt), and founded the Extended Universe that the Mouse discarded like so much scrap. West End Games formed the EU bible that writers like Tim Zahn referenced in their own work; without this game, Grand Admiral Thrawn and his brilliant machinations would never exist at all.

Sure, this original version and its original supplement lacks a lot that later editions of both the d6 and succeeding versions of the game would include, but it's also the fastest-playing version both at the start and on-going thereafter- and most of what is not there can be added in quite easily. (You really only need stats for vehicles/ships and some form of scaling accounted for, lest you have stupidity like blaster pistols blowing apart TIE Fighters- the latter being easily handled by the GM and not a mechanic.)

My birthday is on Saturday. If I get a copy, I will gladly run this game next year and show you all how it's done. Make it happen.

1 comment:

  1. I hope it includes the errata that makes PCs hittable.

    ReplyDelete

Anonymous comments are banned. Pick a name, and "Unknown" (et. al.) doesn't count.