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Star Wars has a new Revised RPG. Will this be an updated version of the d20 system or will it operate with a new set of game rules. Just curious. I'm still partial to the old 6d game. :-)
JnW
The new Star Wars RPG book will operate under a further revisement of the d20 rules system. I am afraid you are never going to see the d6 system again, since that is owned by the folks at West End Games.
I hear that the buzz over this book is really good, with some of the stuff leaked on the WotC boards getting folks really excited to see the book. I personally can't wait to see it, being the big Star Wars geek that I am. :)
-Lisa
I think that now that Revenge of the Sith is out Star Wars campaigns can really bloom. Now you dont have to worry about messing with the basic story line and can build off of it a little better than you could before. Just the Clone Wars itself would be a great background for an epic campaign and never really have to touch anything in the movies or the main characters. One of the things I ve always struggled with was how to run a SW camapign in which the players would not feel as if their living in the shadows of Obi-Wan, Luke, Han and the rest of the main characters, and that their actions where just as if not more important than than the original SW cast of characters.
I'm at a crossroads, Paizo staff. I'm pretty much done with running "The World's Most Popular Roleplaying Game". LOL
And as much as I love the work of Vaughn, Logue, Jacobs, Pett and Greer, that means no Pathfinder adventures for me. And it looks like Gamemastery adventures are out of the picture too.
I love Star Wars (I have my Saga Edition preordered) and I am a sci-fi and superhero genre fan, and I look forward to running those genres in the future.
Are there any products that fill this niche at Paizo?
The new Star Wars RPG book will operate under a further revisement of the d20 rules system. I am afraid you are never going to see the d6 system again, since that is owned by the folks at West End Games.
I hear that the buzz over this book is really good, with some of the stuff leaked on the WotC boards getting folks really excited to see the book. I personally can't wait to see it, being the big Star Wars geek that I am. :)
- Lisa
Sadly speaking, I was a fun of the old D6 system because of the modules they produced. They had the feel of the first three movies. When WotC published Star Wras d20 and went to a class system. The book lost its cinematic flavor. The game look more or less like Dragonstar. Well, I'll check out the new revised book, but do not expect me to adhere to the d20 rules and prestige class system.
JnW
I think that now that Revenge of the Sith is out Star Wars campaigns can really bloom. Now you dont have to worry about messing with the basic story line and can build off of it a little better than you could before. Just the Clone Wars itself would be a great background for an epic campaign and never really have to touch anything in the movies or the main characters. One of the things I ve always struggled with was how to run a SW camapign in which the players would not feel as if their living in the shadows of Obi-Wan, Luke, Han and the rest of the main characters, and that their actions where just as if not more important than than the original SW cast of characters.
Personally I never had a problem missig with the SW story line or major Characters like Obi Wan or Darth Vader. I just have no respect with Official Canon when it comes to my games. you want to get a bunch of rebel PCs really scared, have them face Darth Vader. Players think it is really cool when they can interact with characters fronm the movie. What I have done is get rid of the "I need to stay with in the SW story line" Mentality, remember it is only a game and your's and your player's game. So enjoy playing in YOUR game in the Star Wars universe.
More than D&D, Star Wars needs a good Adventure Path treatment. Star Wars is too epic to consist of random encounters and miscellaneous adventures.
It really needs to build to something grand.
YES!!! I agree fully. I would love to see a full story arc done set suring the period between Episode 3 and Episode 4.
And more ship designs. That was one thing I did love seeing every once in a great while oh-so-long-ago was the full ship plans that snuck into the pages of Dungeon.
More than D&D, Star Wars needs a good Adventure Path treatment. Star Wars is too epic to consist of random encounters and miscellaneous adventures.
It really needs to build to something grand.
According to Rodney Thompson's blog, Dawn of Defiance is slated for July:
http://gamescribe.livejournal.com/87702.html
More than D&D, Star Wars needs a good Adventure Path treatment. Star Wars is too epic to consist of random encounters and miscellaneous adventures.
It really needs to build to something grand.
Dawn of Defiance looks interesting at first glance. (Particulary because (a) it's free and (b) there's no other adventure paths out there.)
What frustrates me is that for d20 Modern (and Star Wars) there is little push for creating a solid niche of modules, like that which is being done for D&D. (Please, Paizo - give us more! WotC apparently won't.)
Personally, I haven't decided whether to buy SAGA. I'm a bit wary of the hype. Moreover, in my town of 20,000, I'd be the only one with it. (Online gaming, here I come ... again.)
Moreover, I'm invested right now in building a d20 Modern adventure path for a Dark Matter Campaign setting that will ultimately end with a tweaked use of Expedition to Castle Ravenloft.
I haven't tried this for Star Wars. Maybe its possible. But for d20 Modern, I have found various D&D modules and mini-adventures that translate relatively easy to d20 Modern. (Also, check out Steal this Plot! at WotC's website. There may also be plenty of adventure ideas to ties together there.)
One of the things I ve always struggled with was how to run a SW camapign in which the players would not feel as if their living in the shadows of Obi-Wan, Luke, Han and the rest of the main characters, and that their actions where just as if not more important than than the original SW cast of characters.
I may be in the minority... But that was so much easier to pull off in the WEG D6 system.
I am afraid that the D20 system isn't very good for the Space Opera genre. It is very hard not to live in other cast members shadows when you are stuck in a level based system.
But that is my opinion.
Oh boy, message board gremlins strike again. Well, I'll post my initial assesment just taking the new book out of its cardboard container via USPS:
1) Damaged corner. Thanks USPS.
2) Square 9 1/4" book vs. regular 8" x 11" book like the rest of WotC offerings
3) Attractive art front and back; inside art and photos appear to be borrowed from previous sourcebooks. Cant fault them for that - the profit margin on this book is probably slim to none.
Yeah, the size is kinda funny. You have to wonder how that came about.
I was in attendance for the panel on the Star Wars minis at Celebration on Friday. It was a great candid moment to hear the developers speak about that game and for us to air our complaints and suggestions. The minis game is great (albeit a money pit).
They said a few words about the Saga Edition, insomuch as they had a few plans for product tie-ins between the obviously related games. I think Owen K.C. Stephens was there, and it didn't really dawn on me that the book was misshapen compared to the standard. So I didn't ask him why.
My thought is that the new square size is extremely close to the size of the Star Wars minis Revenge of the Sith Starter (as well as the similar D&D Basic Game boxed set). I think this kind of product integration is what they think they need. After all, the minis are selling a lot more than the Star Wars RPG these days. I blame that on lack of supplementary material. There are so few supplements for that last edition that it seems almost pointless to consider them. And with the licensing issues, I doubt we'll ever see third party modules or sourcebooks for the Star Wars universe...
I mentioned in another thread that the owner of my local hobby shop says he sells way more T/CCGs and minis of all types than any other item in the store. What I didn't mention is that he's not participating in Free RPG Day for one simple reason--there's less than a couple dozen of us who buy RPG products from him. Friday and Saturday nights he stays open till midnight. In the old days, D&D games ruled the roost, but now, no-one role-plays at the store--they play the CCGs and hold massive minis battles and skirmishes, hours on end.
As far as buying goes, minis can be exciting to buy, primarily because of the thrill involved with the unknown. This also happens to be the main problem I have with the collectible minis games (pot calling the kettle black here) because you can pour endless amounts of money into them and still not have a complete set. Metal minis will never die, but they're suffering these days (aside from Games Workshop).
I'm a young yet old school gamer, with as much experience in table top miniatures as with RPGs. But I won't hesitate to say I prefer a role playing game.
Really, the reasons I never bought the d20 Star Wars were the lack of supplements and because the editions that were released were of an incomplete story. (So they thought it would be good to release a version incorporating AOTC as an update, informing me that these kind of updated editions would be neverending). I don't even care as much about the new trilogy stats and rules, but let's face it - gamers are completionists.
D&D 3.5 was worth buying, because it amended the problems with the 3rd edition. Star Wars d20 v2 didn't provide errata as much as additional material in my opinion. And why not keep it clean and offer us a sourcebook instead, so we won't get all worked up about spending.
If it's not easy to enjoy, people won't buy it.
...Really, the reasons I never bought the d20 Star Wars were the lack of supplements...
This is why d20 CoC never caught on (despite the outrageous prices the book runs for on ebay). Hard core CoC players were reluctant to move from BRP to d20 to begin with, but Chaosium didn't help the situation. While in my opinion they put out topnotch material, they put it out erratically, and publication dates literally stretch out over years. There are several dual system CoC supplements (OK, I can think of five and a handful of investigations), but they came out over a seven year period. I don't think Chaosium has any plans to continue dual system publications in the future, so...d20 CoC did little more than show how versatile d20 could be, and Monte's version saw only one printing.
More than D&D, Star Wars needs a good Adventure Path treatment. Star Wars is too epic to consist of random encounters and miscellaneous adventures.
QFT.
I'd love it if WotC was planning on doing something like that, but since they're not even telling us the name of their initiative, I guess there's no reason to assume, well, anything. Lovely!
There's just as much chance that there will be as won't be something really spiffy keen like that.
Here's my rambling incomplete non-comprehensive review:
I don't go into detail on a lot of these points because I'm tired, and besides, you can get a lot from reading the preview articles on WotC's site.
Overall impression: I'm ready to adopt SWSE rules to all my d20 games. It's like D&D 3.75 but in a good way.
Things that Work
Base Attack Bonus increases with every level
This is a very good idea. At the very least this prevents the deflating let-down that is earning a level where “nothing happens,” that is BAB doesn’t go up or Saving Throws don’t go up, or whatnot. It also just makes sense.
Damage Bonus increases with character level
See above.
Defenses
No more Armor Class. You read that right! Instead, every attack goes against either Reflex, Fortitude, or Will. This is a big departure but it’s good and here’s at least one reason why: It makes more sense—especially to people who’re new to the game. I’ve had many a new person in my games and many a time they’ve asked, in so many words, why there are saving throws when there’s already an AC. It works better in reverse: Why is there an AC when there are already three types of defense-related stats? This unity brings everything together into something a bit more sensible.
Class bonuses to Defenses
That handy table clearly illustrates the first differences among the various character classes. It sounds min/maxy at the start, but really I think it will help new players understand that there are concrete differences between the classes and that the differences aren’t just window dressing. And, importantly, they can see that each class is balanced, making the choice more of what they’d like to play. In this way, a min/maxy table encourages roleplaying by freeing people up to not think so much about min/maxing an advantage over other classes.
Ability score increases
You get two at a time instead of one. ‘Nuff said.
Bonus feats
Everyone gets them every other level.
Talents
Oh, yes. Good all the way around. They’re really keen and you get them every other level. Sweet. Also, every class gets them at the same rate.
Feats
Maybe it’s the two-page spread table listing them, but it seems like you get a lot of ’em to choose from.
Iterative attacks
Gone—replaced by feats. The design reason was to speed things up and I agree, it absolutely will. But you can still do iterative attacks if you have the feats for it—and you easily can because there are so many got damnedable feats it should be easy enough to pick ’em up if that’s what you want to emphasize.
Force Points
a.k.a. Action Points and everyone gets ’em.
The Force and Force Talents
I like how it’s handled. It’s been too long for me to remember how the previous editions handled it, but I like the way this edition does it.
Destiny
This is awesome. Your character chooses a destiny as part of character background and when you make progress toward fulfilling your destiny you get Destiny Points, which are like Hero Cards, that is to say, you can trade them in to dramatically affect the game session (a critical hit didn’t hit you, stuff like that).
I like this because it encourages roleplaying and is an important, though overlooked, factor in the setting. Everyone in Star Wars does have a destiny if you think about it, and this is a wonderful mechanic for bringing that out and encouraging players to think about their characters more than they otherwise might have. It’s worth including in every RPG.
Armor
You pick which value is greater, your armor bonus or your natural (class) defenses. Since your defenses go up all the time, the more experienced you are the less you need to wear armor. This helps reinforce the idea that stormtroopers are low-level losers—and at the same time acknowledges and codifies a known truism of D&D/d20: Whoever wears the heaviest and most expensive armor doesn’t have the highest armor class.
Swift Actions
At last they’re easy to understand, use, and make sense.
Critical Hits
Occur on a natural 20 and that’s it—no re-rolling to confirm. Why is this good? Because it’s quite a let-down to roll a natural 20 and then have the prize taken away from you like the proverbial rug being pulled.
Second Wind
Once per day you can keep yourself from dropping dead. Purty sweet—especially in a game with no raise dead.
Damage Threshold
Mechanically makes more sense than Death from Massive Damage—but not the part where it affects the Condition Track (see below).
Suppress an Enemy
It’s the opposite of Aid Another. That is to say: Everyone, no matter what, has an opportunity to concretely benefit the entire party in combat.
Grappling
Satan just put on a sweater because grappling is easier. How? Here’s the short form: To do fancy grappling things, like pinning, you have to have a feat for it. Pow. No one’s going to take that feat so no one’s going to try to pin, so no one’s going too far into the grappling rules, so grappling just got a helluva lot easier through disuse.
Smartest thing in the book.
Diagonal Movement
They simply cost double. None of this 1.5 or every-other-square-costs-more business that makes me insane with rage far out of proportion to the offense against nature provoked by the 1.5 monstrocity.
Though personally, in my games, I’m going to continue to use my own math, which is that every square costs one because for goodness sake.
XP
It’s easier to assign from the GM’s side.
Things that Don’t work
The index
I fully understand the difficulty of indexing a 285-page book and having only a single page to do it. Yet, I can’t avoid the experience that nothing I’ve tried to find has been in the index.
Upkeep rules are not in the book
There’s a table for upkeep, and if you have the DMG you can find the rules for upkeep, but if you’re playing Star Wars SAGA Edition you have no idea what they’re talking about. Maybe there’s an explanation in another chapter—I’ll never know because it’s not listed in the index...
The Condition Track
As I write this, I don’t think there’s a force on Earth that could convince me that any sort of condition track for PCs is in any way a good idea. I’ve never seen one that worked and SWSE continues that tradition.
And by “works” I mean one that’s intuitive, doesn’t slow the game down, doesn’t require the player to look anything up during play, and is as easy to track as hit points.
SWSE’s track has six conditions, with penalties that are -1, -2, -5, and -10. Why not 1, 2, 4, and 8, that is to say, something easier to remember is unknown. Why the odd number? Why not just halve the number of conditions and say 4, 8? There’s probably some high-falutin’ math reason for it but whatever it is, it’s not worth more than having something easy to use.
Defenses
It’s a thing that rocks (see above)—but there’s still something rotten: If you have three defense-related stats, why not go the whole way and unify everything under one aegis, and have your hit points effectively be your defense too?
And more to the point: Why do you need a condition track when there are already three defense stats?
Squeezing
According to the rules, there are no narrow passages in the universe.
See, creatures can squeeze through openings half their size—but if and only if they can end their movement in a space where they’re not squeezing. Ergo, no one has ever crawled through anything longer than, say, 30 or 60 feet. Upside: You never have to look up squeezing rules ever again.
For adventures, I believe you can still get the old 'Living Star Wars' adventures off of the official site. It would be nice to see Paizo do something like post top fan made adventures on a website... FOR FREE ;D, like Star Wars or Oriental or even DARKSUN. My thinking is this would encourage a wider audience to peruse the website and possibly buy more, hmmmm.
I think the biggest thing that sounded good is they tweaked the bloody force rules. Getting rid of all of the feats required to use the force is a hecka good idea.
Bleh, $40 bucks though. *Weighs gas money vs. the thought of another rpg* My opinion... Lucas should be paying the fans money after what he did to the series. Why Darth? Why are you such a sissy?
It's hard to imagine the last movies being anything but DEculture, a blinding array of computer graphics in place of acting and imagination. I honestly would have rather read a spoiler on the third movie and gone and watched laser floyd.
Anakin was probably the biggest reason for this. I know a 'faithful' fan wouldn't dare whisper the fact the our future Lord Darth Vader could only act his way out of a box if someone threw him out, but if somebody would have told this to Lucas when he was making the films maybe we would have an Anakin that didn't whine throughout the movies.
Anakin and the laser/lightsaber show (I closed my eyes for fear of seizures), I really love star wars and the role playing material is surprisingly well written and thought out. I felt the d20 versions had didn't have an epic star wars feel to the rules and I secretly wished west end games would take over the franchise again. Hopefully this new edition fixes a lot of problems.
So far, I only have too negatives against Saga:
A) While the Jedi, Scout and Soldier are very well done classes, the noble and scoundrel are extremely limited. Limited to the extent that they don't stand well on their own as a character's primary class. They're more like supplementary classes — one that you would multiclass into for a level or two just to pick up the odd talent and gain access to the class list — that's it.
B) The book only offers the bare minimum required to put together a SW game. There's quite a lot missing in terms of matériel — almost no capital ships; only the most iconic of the iconic fighters; one freighter; only rudimentary Force abilities, etc. — which could hamper the scope of most campaigns. To me, it really won't be a complete game until after Starships and Force Unleashed are out.
It's a good system with a lot of promise, but the game just isn't there in terms of a full-blown STAR WARS experience yet...
More than D&D, Star Wars needs a good Adventure Path treatment. Star Wars is too epic to consist of random encounters and miscellaneous adventures.
It really needs to build to something grand.
I ran a lengthy Star Wars mini-campaign that kicked ass (at least my players thought so) but I played around with "canon" a lot to create it. Incredibly good times though. Three of the five players turned to the dark side...all in the grand finale climax encounter of the arc! That session remains one of my all time favorite RPG sessions of all time.
One of the things I ve always struggled with was how to run a SW camapign in which the players would not feel as if their living in the shadows of Obi-Wan, Luke, Han and the rest of the main characters, and that their actions where just as if not more important than than the original SW cast of characters.
Maybe it's just my players, but I've never had a hard time getting them to enjoy the Star Wars experience while pretty much completely ignoring all the main characters from the movies. Gambling cruise ships, swoop races, intergalactic gangsters, extended universe characters, the occasional stop at a super-famous place like Tatooine, using the Force and having the force-sensitive character/s get discovered by the Empire and chased down by some power-hungry Outer Rim Moff all worked pretty well to create the right feel without having to worry much about what Luke, Han and Leia were up to; I guess I just gave the players more than enough to worry about on their own.
Star Wars is big enough (and I think this is proven by the myriad of adventures all the characters, big and small, manage to go on throughout the huge number of books so far released) that epic things can take place with the idea that the "important" characters are way too preoccupied to deal with everything across the whole galaxy (and beyond). That's probably the easiest tool to use to hook players: face them with a threat where the idea is that they're the only ones who know enough and have enough time or resources/insider information to do something about it. It's a big Republic/Empire and an even bigger galaxy.
If you want a good Star Wars game, go with the Star Wars Revised Core Rulebook and Starships of the Galaxy, if you can find the latter for less than $200, which is the last price I saw..
If you want a good Star Wars game, go with the Star Wars Revised Core Rulebook and Starships of the Galaxy, if you can find the latter for less than $200, which is the last price I saw..
I have both books and neither have seen any real use. I'd happily sell them to anybody who offered me insane amounts of cash for them.
After breezing through the book, I have found it interesting, good points and bad points. Overall, I believe they have made the game the more generic, allowing optimal character customization.
The character classes (the 5 of them) do not an awful lot of special abilities that you get just for gaining a level. Instead it looked like about every other level the player has the option of choosing a feat or selecting a trait off of the development tree (or whatever it is called).
Feats cover all of the regular stuff, plus a couple extras that they took out of normal character development. You can choose to gain extra attacks as a feat (you take a -5 to hit on the 2nd attack) rather than gaining that ability once your BAB goes above +5. Another one is a force abilities feat (1 + WIS mod = # of new force powers) rather than gaining a couple powers each level. I like this because it allows ME to optimize the character.
The development tree allows a character to specialize in different areas of the class by offering abilities. A jedi could choose to specialize using force abilities or work on mastering his lightsaber. By doing this, the creators are able to eliminate jedi consular and guardian and simply make a jedi class.
Skills and defense are changed in interesting ways. At creation you select skills whose ranks equal 1/2 character level + ability mod + 5. The only way to gain more skills is by taking the skill feat (selectable multiple times) in which you gain new skills, no more skill points. Defense is similar to skills (1/2 character lvl +), but it absorbs saving throws as well. REF defense is your AC, FORT def is your ac to avoid poisons and such, and WILL is your AC vs the force and mind control.
Lastly, the book is freaking square! They lose about 1/3 the size while keeping the same margins. This is my biggest gripe because it lacks logical marketing thought. How am is my character sheet going to look on square paper?
These are the big changes that I noticed while skimming over the book. It's creators (different from the last ones) are trying to give more freedom in character development while reducing the redundancy of rolls.
After reading this book, I am curious to see if WOTC makes 4th edition like this. It's a small change in the rules, but large enough that you might have to rework characters or npcs from previously published adventures.
After breezing through the book, I have found it interesting, good points and bad points. Overall, I believe they have made the game the more generic, allowing optimal character customization.
Wow, they pretty much redesigned the d20 system, didn't they? I like what I'm hearing. The concept of 'modular' classes is very cool in my opinion. I can see that it would also eliminate the need for Prestige Classes and multiclassing, both of which would be a good thing in my opinion. I will probably have to give this book a shot, but I agree that the square format seems a little silly and unnecessary. They probably just did it so that it would have a 'unique' look to draw people's attention to it on the gaming store's bookshelves. That's my guess.
The concept of 'modular' classes is very cool in my opinion. I can see that it would also eliminate the need for Prestige Classes and multiclassing, both of which would be a good thing in my opinion.
The Gamecrafter’s Review I read had a summary of multiclassing and prestige classes, and it seemed like the reviewer liked it. It didn't seem to eliminate the need for prestige classes and multiclassing, however.
Multiclassing and prestige classes are still a part of the game. I thought the core classes are just a little more solid and there is no real need to multiclass unless you are looking for a flair from a different class.
I didn't read the prestige classes as closely as the base character classes, but for cutting down about 1/4 to 1/3 of the content the creators didn't really skimp on them. It looked like there were maybe 10 to 15, but those looked more like the usual-specialize-from-lvl-1 classes. I wasn't too impressed with this aspect.
Note on multiclassing - NO XP PENALTY. You can multiclass as much as possible. The biggest reasons I can think of to multiclass is to open up more options for your character, skills (1 lvl to pick up the feat to choose the skills) or development tree abilities (which you get at either 1st or 2nd level).
The latest attempt by WotC in the Star Wars RPG line is a follow up on what I consider one of the worst executed sci-fi RPG game systems of all time. While the Saga edition is VASTLY improved on the original and revised core rulebooks, it suffers from the following problems:
1.The book must have been rushed. I have counted 5+ format/editing/grammatic errors in a once-read through that would have been easily detected before publishing.
2.They just did not nail the space combat system. I do not play the starship miniature game, nor am I familiar with those rules. Also, I admit that this would be the most difficult portion of the game to bring to life. The rules are overly complex for gaming purposes, and I envision game masters house rulering space combat, or shying away from it altogether.
3.Speaking of complexity, they did some things very well where roleplaying and character creation and options are concerned. However, in an attempt to reduce the amount of dice rolling (speeding along the game), they introduced new mechanics (or changed old mechanics) that increase bookkeeping or require other game play considerations. In other words, the game is just as complex as it used to be, but in different ways.
4.WotC made repeated errors in past Star Wars RPG editions by ruling what can and cannot be done in d20 fashion. Stated differently, the game system is rigid; this is because due to the d20 system itself in additional to the requirement of being miniature compatible. Rules in early versions of a game might make a specific type of attack (or maneuver, etc.) illegal, then later in the next movie we see a Jedi perform the trick. This results in a laundry list of erratas and FAQs (many found in the Jedi Council blog) that make the hardcover book you payed $40 for totally useless. They made the same mistake in this Saga edition. [Citing an example: you cant throw a double-bladed lightsaber. Why? It must be because we haven't seen anyone do it. As the Emperor would say, WotC suffers from “a lack of vision.”]
5.I'd be in err if I didn't mention the strong d20 Modern influence. Some of the text (specifically the equipment) is ripped straight from that book, and its highly inappropriate for the Star Wars Universe.
Note that I do not address character class “balance”; Jedi's power relative to other classes had been a major issue in prior versions. In my opinion, Jedi's appear to be superior to other classes in a straight combat game, but the gap has been closed considerably. How powerful a Jedi should be relative to other classes is a game design issue with no real “right” answer.
In summary, I think the game is much better than earlier versions. I think I could even play the Saga edition, given that one of the first lines in the book reads that these rules are GUIDELINES. If I ever run this game, I won't be afraid to house rule anything – its something of a necessity.
If your looking for ROLEPLAY, this isn't your game. Find West End games D6 version. Its much truer to the saga. Want ROLLPAY? This IS the game system your looking for.
I think that now that Revenge of the Sith is out Star Wars campaigns can really bloom. Now you dont have to worry about messing with the basic story line and can build off of it a little better than you could before. Just the Clone Wars itself would be a great background for an epic campaign and never really have to touch anything in the movies or the main characters. One of the things I ve always struggled with was how to run a SW camapign in which the players would not feel as if their living in the shadows of Obi-Wan, Luke, Han and the rest of the main characters, and that their actions where just as if not more important than than the original SW cast of characters.
To that effect, you could always do a quest of some sort that takes place far before the movies...one in which the players must save some pregnant woman from Tattooine who (as you reveal after the campaign is over) is the mother of Shmi Skywalker.
Fun times when your heroic PCs realize they've just inadvertently stopped the prevention of Darth Vader ever coming into existence. (That is, unless they metagame and come back and kill Shmi Skywalker. Though that'd be interesting, because they would get locked away in a nuthouse if they said the reason they killed someone was because her "kid would be evil...trust us.")