Star Wars Roleplaying Game (D6)

[Hisham]

I'm a GM of West End Games' SWRPG, the one where whose sourcebooks were used by novel / comics writers in the 90s to streamline their stories (which strangely enough were adapted back into RPG sourcebooks) ... I've been GMing since 1989, and haven't GMed since 1999. Nowadays I only play over IRC.

If anyone is interested in getting a group together for a face-to-face session, please discuss here in this thread or forever hold your peace.

[fishyahoo]

Hey, I've got some of those books as well. Never played the RPG but a great read and useful for writing own Star Wars fiction.

Count me in for a live face-to-face Star Wars RPG sessions one day. Hmm... what's a good character to use?

[LordRaven]

In my RPGing experience, all 12 plus years of it, I'd go with Wakka Wakka, the one armed, blind Ewok. He always kicks Sith Lord butt....seriously....*snickers*

[Hisham]

It doesn't matter what character you use. As long as it's not ridiculous for the character to exist (and believe me, a Wookiee gourmet chef / scout / stand-up comic is NOT a ridiculous character in my opinion, seriously.

Also, the GM will have to give your character chances to shine in the game. What use of you creating a great character with lots of quirky traits and background history if game after game all you do is go on missions to infiltrate an Imperial garrison and destroy it.

Here are examples of some of my players' characters over the years:

Strikeforce Enteague

Here is a pic of a group I'm currently playing as a player and not a GM, I'm the ARC trooper in the back. He's a genetically defective clone, who lisps and was rescued from termination from the Kaminoan scientist Dr. Towan Ki, and assigned to work with Republic Intelligence Team Sabredart.

Yes, in character I actually say things like:

"Evathiiiive!"
"Hey, you guyth have anymore garbage we can jettithon?"
"Not ath bad ath, maybe, being buried to the neck on Aglothtine, and a Rancor cometh up."
"I'm not thuited for voithe comm, for obviouth reathonth."
"Now that'th thomething you dont thee every day."
"Thir. I thuggest we move fatht."
"Dont worry, mathter Weequayth. You have my attention. Now return to beating the crap out of each other."

[Jorrigun]

Hisham's lisping ARC Trooper's speech impediment is the subject of many a humorous encounter in our games.

But there's a wonderfully tender side to that character too, as Hish has so ably demonstrated in recent games. BU-77 is a really well-rounded character, whose had both funny and serious moments.

In fact my advice for anyone thinking about getting into Star Wars gaming would be to chat to Hish about playing a character. He does it so well, believe me.

I'm very glad to have you, Hish, as a player in Saberdart.

[fishyahoo]

How issit you guys actually play the game without being 'in person' around a table with pen & paper?

[Hisham]

The magic of IRC.

Our group consists of Simon as GM in Manchester UK, Stuart Cunningham in the area of London, (is it Simon? Can't remember), Chris Curtis in Texas; Darren Borquist in Arizona, Billy Rhodes in South Korea; and Brian Critchley in Canada. We roll dice using a dicebot program that appears as another user in the IRC channel.

[Jorrigun]

Stuart Cunningham in the area of London, (is it Simon? Can't remember).

Stu lives in West Lancashire, UK Hish, which is less than an hour's drive from where I live.

How issit you guys actually play the game without being 'in person' around a table with pen & paper?

IRC sessions are very much like a normal face to face session, with the exception of having to use description even more to describe a tactical situation, rather than with minis and a map.
This might sound daunting at first, but providing everyone's willing to 'cut a little slack' on the 'exact' relative positions of their PC's in combat, everything usually works out fine.

I reccommend IRC gaming to anyone who's thinking of trying it. The advantage of being able to 'type in character' adds so much more to the experience.

For me personally, the written word remains in my memory longer than the spoken word does. I can readily recall small details from most of our Saberdart games which I can't do with a lot of my 'tabletop' games.

Also, as GM, IRC allows you to take just that little bit longer to really think about how you're going to describe a situation. Since I'm really into description (Hish knows this ), players reading a long descriptive text will be more inclined to remember it. If I read aloud the same text in a 'tabletop' situation, some players might subconsciously 'switch off' after a 10 seconds of hearing me drone on, missing the meaning.

Give it a try sometime. ;D

[fishyahoo]

Jorrigun said:

Give it a try sometime. ;D

Maybe when you guys have schedule a next session, those interested could 'look-in' the IRC and see how it's done?

[Jorrigun]

Maybe when you guys have schedule a next session, those interested could 'look-in' the IRC and see how it's done?

I think what might be even better is if I ran a 'demo' IRC game for anyone interested. It wouldn't be anything too intense, just a friendly, brisk couple of sessions to get people involved.

I'd probably run a D6 Star Wars 'side trek' style adventure, because the rules are so easy to understand (GM gives you a difficulty number and you 'roll' dice to get equal to or over that number).

If anyone reading this finds the above idea attractive, send me an e-mail and we'll try and sort something out.