Join The Infernal Brotherhood of the Scruffy Looking, Nerf Herders as they continue their How to Play West End Games’ Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game 30th Anniversary Edition. In 1989, West End Games realized that while the “theater of the mind” was great, players wanted more. Enter: The Star Wars Rules Companion. Today, we’re looking at how this seminal supplement evolved the 1st Edition into a more tactical, flexible, and detailed roleplaying experience.
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
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 stepping into a larger world.
In 1987, West End Games captured the grand sweep and cinematic excitement of the original trilogy with a system that let you swing across chasms, con Imperial guards, and dive through asteroid fields. But as the game grew, players yearned for more detail, more flexibility, and—yes—more rules. Today, we are introducing the essential bridge between the basic game and the expanded universe of the D6 system: The Star Wars Rules Companion.
Description
Released in 1989 and written by Greg Gorden, the Rules Companion was created as a response to thousands of players who wanted to maintain the fast-paced “movie-like” spirit of the game while adding a layer of tactical depth.
It is important to understand what this book is—and what it isn’t. The Rules Companion is not a standalone game; you still need the original Core Rulebook to use it. Think of it as an evolution of the system. Inside this 80-page supplement, you’ll find a mixture of brand-new mechanics and vital clarifications for existing ones.
One of the most critical aspects of using this book is that it functions as an “intertwining system”. Unlike some RPG supplements where you can “cherry-pick” rules cafeteria-style, the Rules Companion works best when used as a comprehensive whole. The new movement rules support the combat rules, which in turn support the new attribute and skill clarifications. If you’re planning on playing future published adventures for this edition, you’ll want to get comfortable with this book, as those adventures were designed to be fully compatible with these updated standards.
The Star Wars Rules Companion updates the core game across seven specific chapters, expanding the “fast-paced, breathtaking parameters” of the original system. These chapters are designed as an intertwining system rather than a “cafeteria style” menu of options.
The Seven Chapters of Revisions
- Chapter One: Attributes and Skills: This chapter retains the original six attributes but introduces a more granular scale for difficulty numbers to reflect subtle distinctions in tasks. It also clarifies the dice and pips system—explaining how to round pips into dice for equipment and skill improvements while maintaining pips for in-game action rolls.
- Chapter Two: Movement: These rules replace or extensively revise the original system to work in concert with new combat mechanics.
- Chapter Three: Combat: This chapter introduces refined combat sequences for both personal and starship encounters. It emphasizes haste and coordinating work, where a commander’s Command skill determines how many characters can combine their fire for a single, more powerful attack.
- Chapter Four: Starships: This section provides vital corrections to the Astrogation Gazetteer and Chart, changing travel times from days to hours. It also details how hyperspace journeys can be shortened at the cost of increased difficulty.
- Chapter Five: Star Warriors Conversion: This chapter provides a specialized system for converting starships and pilots between the roleplaying game and the Star Warriors board game.
- Chapter Six: Droids and Equipment: Beyond new items like syntherope and breath masks, this chapter provides the definitive framework for creating Droids as non-player characters or even fully playable characters.
- Chapter Seven: Capital Ship Combat: This chapter introduces massive-scale fleet mechanics, including facing (top, bottom, left, right, forward, and rear) and rules for managing ship-wide damage and shield states during a battle.
The Force Section
In addition to these seven chapters, the book features a comprehensive Force section that completely replaces the original Dark Side rules. It introduces mechanics for “calling upon the Dark Side” in desperate moments, which provides a Force Point but requires a difficult Perception or Control check to avoid corruption. It also introduces a “power total” for Force skills, limiting a character to mastering three powers per full die of their Force skill code.
Outro
The Rules Companion represents the moment Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game truly matured, offering the “crunch” that veteran gamers craved without losing the “breathtaking parameters” of the films we love. Over the next few episodes, we’re going to break down these chapters one by one so you can decide which systems will best serve your own galactic campaign.
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Until the Infernal Brotherhood convenes again, my fellow scruffy-looking nerf herders… “May the Force be with you.