Let’s learn some Optional Combat Rules in West End Games’ Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game 30th Anniversary Edition. You can learn more about Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Wars:_The_Roleplaying_Game
You can pick up the original sourcebooks as PDF’s here: https://www.starwarstimeline.net/Westendgames.htm
Time Stamps:
- 0:00 Intro
- 0:24 Foreword
- 2:05 Using Maps
- 3:47 Using Miniatures
- 4:53 Movement
- 6:10 Miscellaneous
- 7:42 Damage Modifiers
- 8:03 Afterword
- 8:30 Outro
About Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game 30th Anniversary Edition
Few books or games have had as enduring an impact upon the Star Wars galaxy and its fans as Star Wars™: The Roleplaying Game. Originally published by West End Games in 1987, it arrived at a time when the future of the Star Wars galaxy was uncertain, and it captivated a whole generation of gamers with rules and guidelines that made it possible to design and enjoy adventures truly worthy of the Star Wars universe and its ongoing space opera.
Now Fantasy Flight Games is proud to offer faithful recreations of this influential rulebook and The Star Wars™ Sourcebook. Our Star Wars™: The Roleplaying Game 30th Anniversary Edition is a limited edition set of both books, printed with higher quality than the originals and packaged in a stylized slipcase.
These books were sent to Timothy Zahn as references when he started to develop Grand Admiral Thrawn and his Thrawn trilogy. They introduced materials that were later adopted into Star Wars canon, such as the names of alien races like the Twi’lek, Rodians, and Quarren. They even inspired members of the Lucasfilm Story Group as they worked on their writers’ bible.
Now, Fantasy Flight Games is proud to return Star Wars: The Roleplaying to print as a collectible set of two high-quality, hardbound books presented in a stylized slipcase. You’ll find all the original game materials—just as playable as ever—and they’re presented with the same graphic design and fake, in-universe Star Wars advertisements for the Imperial Navy, the R2 astromech Droid, and more.
Even the books’ use of black-and-white, blue ink, and full color sections have been recreated, along with its use of still photos and concept art, some of which have been updated for this new 30th Anniversary Edition. Finally, the books come with a foreword by Pablo Hidalgo, one of the creative executives on the Lucasfilm Story Group.
Transcript
Intro
Welcome to The Infernal Brotherhood of the Scruffy Looking, Nerf Herders! In this episode of How to Play West End Games’ Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game 30th Anniversary Edition, we are discussing Optional Combat Rules.
Foreword
While many tabletop roleplaying games or TTRPG’s began as a ‘theater of the mind’ styled system, there will inevitably be player characters or PC’s and game masters or GM’s who are visual learners. When combat strikes especially, it’s important for every player to know exactly where they are and what is happening, for even the briefest attention deviation or lack of detail described can end in total confusion and re-litigating the scene or actions. The result for many players is to pull out scraps of paper and note on it where the PC’s and non-player characters or NPC’s and creatures are. This is incredibly important in combat scenarios.
Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game is intended to present, quote, fast and furious action, and while I don’t personally think the opposed skill rolls pays out that concept, it is a typical game mechanic across many game systems. And in my opinion it slows down combat when you compare it to a game like Advanced Dungeons & Dragons where you are simply trying to roll over your opposition’s Armor Class or AC rather than have contested rolls. So I truly don’t think you lose anything by adding in some of the presented optional combat rules. If these help flesh out the realism in your game, awesome. If not, feel free to ignore them and play as presented in earlier videos.
As a final note before we continue, this only applies to PC’s not ship to ship combat. In Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game, starship combat is always more abstract and uses basic ranges as location references.
Using Maps
As mentioned previously, at times it is helpful to have some form of a map to show where PC’s are compared to NPC’s. Or to simply illustrate the layout of a structure or area for the PC’s to engage with. Using visual aids like maps is the simplest way of adding immersion and clarity to a scene. Many published adventures contain maps with a square grid running across it. Of course you can do a simple search engine search, and find endless numbers of battlemaps. In addition to using a virtual tabletop or VTT like Roll20 for example, square grids are the standard. In these cases, and in Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game, one square should represent a space two meters across. In the book, these are presented for use on graph paper where you can make marks with a pencil to showcase the area. In a VTT they allow the PC’s to control their own characters on a battlefield. In this game, using a grid is only half the fun, as movement and facing is incredibly important. On paper you can mark the facing direction with a dot or arrow.
A PC can only fire a blaster or attack an NPC that they can see. You can always determine this by laying a straight edge or drawing a virtual line from the center of the facing PC’s square that they are occupying to the square of their target. If the line goes through a wall or obstruction, they cannot see the NPC. The GM should not draw in a reference for an NPC or creature the PC’s cannot see. At times a PC and GM map of the same combat scene is helpful. In a VTT you can use layers to this same effect.
Using Miniatures
Rather than using maps or in addition to using them in a VTT or tabletop battlemap, you may use miniatures. When this game was released, there weren’t standardized miniature sizes and gridded maps for this application, but today this is common. Miniatures are another great tool to immerse the PC’s into the game, and they can empower the PC’s with creativity. While grid squares on paper maps or maps in an adventure are typically ¼”, a miniature simply won’t fit. But you can scan in those maps and enlarge them on your PC, or recreate them for use with a VTT or printed out battlemap so 1” would be equal to the two meter scale, and the miniature would fit fine . When using a tabletop battlemap, feel free to be creative and use books, glasses, and anything else on hand as representations of structures or obstacles. When using miniatures without maps, don’t feel confined to the idea of a square grid, and use a ruler for movement reference with 1” equalling two meters.
Movement
Rather than a default of walking five meters in any direction as a free action, turning any direction you want, or running ten meters in any direction as an action, and only being able to turn up to 90 degrees. When using maps and miniatures, we use movement points. The numbers are the same, five movement points for walking and ten movement points for running. Wounded characters move at half the aforementioned rates rounded down. When using a square grid, moving from one flat side to another costs two movement points. When you move diagonally from one square to another it costs three movement points.
This is where facing is incredibly important. Changing the facing direction costs one movement point per forty-five degree turn. So turning around one-hundred and eighty degrees would cost four movement points. Turning ninety degrees to the side would cost two movement points. As with basic combat, falling prone doesn’t cost any movement, but standing up costs four movement points. Moving through anything other than clear terrain costs more movement points. This is outlined in the Optional Movement Chart.
Miscellaneous
Using a grid where one square represents two meters is an easy way of counting range. Measuring vertically or horizontally is two meters per square. Measuring diagonally is three meters per square. There are also situations that will modify the basic Difficulty Number for attacking a target by using terrain and stances represented in the Optional Fire Modifiers Chart. Another option to add immersion is Surprise. If one group is ambushed by another, meaning one group does not know the other group is present and about to attack, the ambushers gain one action segment of surprise. So in the first segment of the first combat round, only the ambushers get to act. The targets cannot move or dodge in that first segment! The target’s first action will occur in the second combat segment of the first combat round. We should also discuss ammunition. In most cases in Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game, you will not need to think about ammunition. But if there is a good reason in the adventure to use the concept, the GM should tell the PC how many rounds are in the weapon, and each shot should be tracked. This adds intensity to a scene and can add stress to the PC’s making them think more strategically than they may have otherwise thought. Replacing a battery pack removes one die from all subsequent actions in a combat round, but it doesn’t take an action.
Damage Modifiers
There are also a number of factors that can increase or decrease damage done by a grenade or detonator. These are outlined in the Optional Grenade Damage Chart. Situations vary from whether the area is enclosed, if the targets are on the other side of an obstacle like a wall, whether there is a window or doorway present, and whether the target is in a vacuum.
Afterword
It is really up to the GM and PC’s if they want to use one or all of these optional combat rules, but they can add immersion and control, empowering your players, at the expense of speed and fluidity of combat. Personally, I prefer to give the PC’s options when it comes to combat. This enriches the experience and heightens the tactics during an encounter, making for a more colorful and satisfying game.
Outro
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Until the Infernal Brotherhood convenes again my fellow scruffy looking, nerf herders “May the Force be with you.”