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1E: essential books
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KPeterson
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PostPosted: Wed May 14, 2014 1:30 pm    Post subject: 1E: essential books Reply with quote

Hi there. I'm new to The Rancor Pit, and to WEG Star Wars. I've picked up a few 1E books, rather cheaply, from Half Priced Books and have been getting familiar with the game.

What would you consider to be the essential books that were produced for 1E? Books that would form a strong 'core' to a SW gameplay experience, besides the main rulebook. Or, what other supplements, from later editions, would you recommend that could be slotted in easily without rules anomalies?

I'm sure that this question has been asked and answered before, so please direct me to any threads that have already discussed this. Thanks!
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shootingwomprats
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PostPosted: Wed May 14, 2014 1:52 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Hey there KPeterson weclome to the Pit. As for 1E books that are a must? If I remember there were not all that many to be honest. 2E came out rather quickly and that seems to be where the lion's share of material will be found, that and the 2E R&E which is essentially 2E with pretty pictures and some rule changes, but nothing drastic.

With that being said, I would encourage you check out http://d6holocron.com/wiki/index.php?title=D6_Holocron_Wiki for material and go from there. There are also a series of fan made books called, "Stat Books." Do yourself a favor and download these immediately.

Hope that helps.
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DougRed4
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PostPosted: Wed May 14, 2014 2:13 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Yeah, I think most of the product was made for 2E, though stuff is fairly compatible or easily converted.

BTW, I don't think there's going to be any D6 Star Wars this year (first year in about 6-7 that it won't be present), but I think there's going to be some Saga played a local small convention me and my friends do each year. It's coming up next month (June 19-22) and is held up in the Lynnwood area. Shoot me a PM if you'd like more details.
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KPeterson
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PostPosted: Wed May 14, 2014 2:26 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

shootingwomprats wrote:
With that being said, I would encourage you check out http://d6holocron.com/wiki/index.php?title=D6_Holocron_Wiki for material and go from there. There are also a series of fan made books called, "Stat Books." Do yourself a favor and download these immediately.

Interesting. Thanks for the link!
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KPeterson
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PostPosted: Wed May 14, 2014 2:34 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

DougRed4 wrote:
Yeah, I think most of the product was made for 2E, though stuff is fairly compatible or easily converted.

Well, that's good to hear. I was hoping to avoid a situation where conversion of stat-blocks, etc., would be a mess.

Quote:
BTW, I don't think there's going to be any D6 Star Wars this year (first year in about 6-7 that it won't be present), but I think there's going to be some Saga played a local small convention me and my friends do each year. It's coming up next month (June 19-22) and is held up in the Lynnwood area. Shoot me a PM if you'd like more details.

Sounds like fun. Not sure I'd be hip on playing the SAGA version; I wasn't really too enthused by the original d20 versions.
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aegisflashfire
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PostPosted: Wed May 14, 2014 3:40 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

the 2nd Edition rule books really can function stand-alone. There are very few rule changes and modifications to rules outside the base book. Virtually all sourcebooks contain specialized rules without significantly expanding player options or stats on specific races, vehicles and equipment.


Really the only exceptions to this are in the case of Jedi Powers & ship modifications.
I've *'d the ones that really stand out
I've +'d any that have significant supplemental rules




*+Galaxy Guide 6: Tramp Freighters (get the 2nd edition version if you can find it)
Thrawn Trilogy Sourcebook
+Pirates & Privateers
+Tales of the Jedi
Alien Encounters
Gundark's Fantastic Technology:Personal Gear
+Rules of Engagement:The Rebel Specforce Handbook
Galladinium's Fantastic Technology: Guns and Gear for any Occasion
+Cynabar's Fantastic Technology: Droids

The rest of it is just books full of new aliens, new planets, new adventure ideas, new equipment, and frankly at least the species & equipment is probably duplicated online and better researched (and reflecting newer material) than the books
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schnarre
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PostPosted: Wed May 14, 2014 6:48 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

...The Star Wars: Rules Companion is worth tracking down if you haven't already--even after 2nd Ed. came out, I still use a good deal of material from this book.
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shootingwomprats
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PostPosted: Wed May 14, 2014 7:05 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Well if your looking for must haves for 1E:

Star Wars the Roleplaying Game
Star Wars Rule Companion
Star Wars Sourcebook
Rebel Alliance Sourcebook
Imperial Sourcebook
Galaxy Guide 1-5

Books not 1E but really are quite good:
Alien Encounters
Cynabar's Fantastic Technology
Galaxy Guide 6: Tramp Freighters
Galaxy Guide 9: Fragments from the Rim
Galaxy Guide 11: Criminal Organizations
Gamemasters Handbook
Gundark's Fantastic Technology
Galladinium's Fantastic Technology
Platt's Starport Guide
Special Edition Star Wars Trilogy Sourcebook
Tales of the Jedi Companion
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KPeterson
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PostPosted: Wed May 14, 2014 9:25 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thank you for all the suggestions!

I made a couple impulse purchases today: The Thrawn Trilogy Sourcebook, Fragment's from the Rim, and Platt's Starport Guide. I'll keep my eye out for some of the other interesting books. I'm not going to be able to shell out an arm and a leg for some - like Tramp Freighters - but I'll keep an eye out for good deals.
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Whill
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PostPosted: Wed May 14, 2014 10:11 pm    Post subject: Re: 1E: essential books Reply with quote

KPeterson wrote:
Hi there. I'm new to The Rancor Pit, and to WEG Star Wars. I've picked up a few 1E books, rather cheaply, from Half Priced Books and have been getting familiar with the game.

What would you consider to be the essential books that were produced for 1E? Books that would form a strong 'core' to a SW gameplay experience, besides the main rulebook. Or, what other supplements, from later editions, would you recommend that could be slotted in easily without rules anomalies?

I'm sure that this question has been asked and answered before, so please direct me to any threads that have already discussed this. Thanks!

Welcome to the Pit!

Quote:
1987 Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game (first edition) 144-page hardcover

1989 The Star Wars Rules Companion (upgrades to first edition rules, "1.5") 80-page paperback including an adventure

Unless you are planning on playing 1E, the 2E versions of material produced in both editions would be more essential by default. But since you specified 1E in your question, below are all of the 1E publications with material not reproduced for 2E in some form, for the record.

Quote:
1988 Battle for the Golden Sun 40-page paperback adventure w/ color Aquatic Imperial Garrison schematics poster

1989 Scavenger Hunt 40-page paperback adventure w/ color Lambda-class Shuttle schematics poster

1989 Crisis on Cloud City 40-page paperback adventure w/ Sabacc card game

1989 Otherspace 40-page paperback adventure w/ color map

1990 Otherspace II: Invasion 40-page paperback adventure including Assault On Hoth scenario w/ game cards

1990 Black Ice 40-page paperback adventure

1990 The Isis Coordinates 64-page paperback adventure

1991 Cracken's Rebel Field Guide 80-page paperback supplement

1992 Planet of the Mists 64-page paperback adventure

1992 Mission to Lianna 64-page paperback adventure

I own all of these along with every 2E publication. My personal favorite of the above list would probably be Crisis on Cloud City but I probably wouldn't even consider that "essential."

Galaxy Guide 6: Tramp Freighters 2E does have some text accidentally cropped from one of the chapters, but I'd still recommend the 2E version (the missing material is available online).

My personal most essential 1E book is my copy of the 1E rulebook which I've owned since the week it was released in the Fall of 1987, but it is admittedly mostly for nostalgia.
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KPeterson
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PostPosted: Wed May 14, 2014 10:31 pm    Post subject: Re: 1E: essential books Reply with quote

Whill wrote:
Unless you are planning on playing 1E, the 2E versions of material produced in both editions would be more essential by default.

I'd be more inclined to game with what I've got - my $8 copy of 1e - using whatever 2E supplements can slot in easily. The system seems perfectly suitable, and I'm not that excited by the idea of shelling out $100+ for 2E (or 2E Revised?.. the one with the Millennium Falcon cover).

Thank you for the details on 1E products.
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Bobmalooga
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PostPosted: Thu May 15, 2014 9:00 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

For my money, and I've managed to pick up all of the books over the years, the books that are (in my mind at least...) absolutely essential are these:

Star Wars the Roleplaying Game
Star Wars Sourcebook
Rebel Alliance Sourcebook
Imperial Sourcebook
Galaxy Guide 1-6, 9 and 11
Alien Encounters or just Galaxy Guides 4 and 12
The Planet guides or Planet collection sourcebook.
Gamemasters Handbook
The 'Technology' collection of books
the Droid book as well
Hive of Scum and Villainy.
Special Edition Star Wars Trilogy Sourcebook (Nice coverage on the movies, but unless you're going to use all of that of little use...)
Tales of the Jedi Companion (essential for the Jedi power listing, but really little else..)
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aegisflashfire
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PostPosted: Thu May 15, 2014 10:01 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Don't get me wrong, I loved both the Rebellion & Imperial sourcebooks when they came out, but they contained nothing in the way of new rules, and were all either stats or org-chart type stuff.
The fluff text is summarized (and in some cases, corrected) on wookipedia.
That decreases their value in my eyes.
The stats for equipment in those books was all replaced in later sourcebooks, leaving the Imperial /Rebellion sourcebooks the books as out of date material.

On the other hand, all of the books I mentioned all included new rules for playing the game including optional rules.


This is what you get out of the following books:
*+Galaxy Guide 6: Tramp Freighters (get the 2nd edition version if you can find it) - Rules for upgrading ships, trading, starport types, etc
Thrawn Trilogy Sourcebook Force Powers, few skill uses & misc. equipment
+Pirates & Privateers - ship upgrades, systems targeting rules, pirating rules
+Tales of the Jedi Force powers
Alien Encounters additional rules for creating aliens, tons of alien species for players to play, consolidated from most other sources
Gundark's Fantastic Technology:Personal Gear specialty gear, mostly non-combat related
+Rules of Engagement:The Rebel Specforce Handbook rules for making combat harder, more deadly, martial arts rules
Galladinium's Fantastic Technology: Guns and Gear for any Occasion this is basically just gear porn. The Street Samurai Catalog for Star Wars. A few additional rules
+Cynabar's Fantastic Technology: Droids - Rules for creating & modifying droids
Dark Empire Sourcebook - Force Powers

Other books have very small rules/fluff ratios. Stats I can build on my own spending 5 minutes on wookipedia and get a good estimate of what is accurate. On the other hand, the rules themselves are not available from other sources.
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DougRed4
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PostPosted: Thu May 15, 2014 12:14 pm    Post subject: Re: 1E: essential books Reply with quote

KPeterson wrote:
I'd be more inclined to game with what I've got - my $8 copy of 1e - using whatever 2E supplements can slot in easily. The system seems perfectly suitable, and I'm not that excited by the idea of shelling out $100+ for 2E (or 2E Revised?.. the one with the Millennium Falcon cover).


Keep watching Half-Price Books. I don't even remember if it was where I got my copy of 2R&E (and yes, that's the one with the Falcon on the cover), but I know I found a mint, pristine copy there once for only $30 (which suprised me, as they usually have things priced very accurately). I also picked up a somewhat beat-up version of the same book for my son last Christmas, and I think I only paid $25 for it.
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DougRed4
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PostPosted: Thu May 15, 2014 12:16 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

aegisflashfire wrote:
Don't get me wrong, I loved both the Rebellion & Imperial sourcebooks when they came out, but they contained nothing in the way of new rules, and were all either stats or org-chart type stuff.
The fluff text is summarized (and in some cases, corrected) on wookipedia.
That decreases their value in my eyes.
The stats for equipment in those books was all replaced in later sourcebooks, leaving the Imperial /Rebellion sourcebooks the books as out of date material.


I completely agree. I've picked up both of these books at Half-Price Books over the last few years, but I've found only a tiny amount of info that I've put to practical use in my game.
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