Hey all, for anyone that is interested, I wrote up a post-mortem on Star Wars Saga based on my experiences running a game from 1st to 12th level (as well as a short play by post and a few one shots) on my blog:
Feel free to swing by and comment if you are so moved.
Well done, and I pretty much agree with your observations. I'm running a module for my group right now that's an all-Ewok party taking place during the Imperial Survey on Endor prior to the construction of the 2nd Death Star. Scaling back the technology has helped balance out most of the power creep in the weapons/equipment. I generally allow for any feats, but equip my beasts with the same. The beast/hazard/skill challenge rules are a MUST-HAVE if you plan on running a SW game!
Very nice analysis, bud.
I only had the original set a long time ago (and lost it, unfortunately!), but your post seems right on the money from what other things I've read.
Pity they don't publish the saga core rules anymore, because I'd love to get my hands on a copy and get into a game. The prices on Amazon for it are outrageous.
As somebody famous for being all about the Saga Edition (at least when I was), I concur with your conclusions. :) I would also add to watch out for talents and such that move people around on the condition track too easily -- there are some hidden gotchas that can really take out a foe with one or two shots if you don't pay attention to 'em ... whether that foe is a mook, a PC, or Darth Vader.
That said, in many ways, it's still an awesome system.
-The Gneech
As somebody famous for being all about the Saga Edition (at least when I was), I concur with your conclusions. :) I would also add to watch out for talents and such that move people around on the condition track too easily -- there are some hidden gotchas that can really take out a foe with one or two shots if you don't pay attention to 'em ... whether that foe is a mook, a PC, or Darth Vader.
That said, in many ways, it's still an awesome system.
-The Gneech
Yeah, I didn't call that out as much, but you are right, I had a few players whose characters didn't worry about hit point damage much at all, because they would have someone knocked out in a couple rounds from condition track moves.
Very nice analysis, bud.
I only had the original set a long time ago (and lost it, unfortunately!), but your post seems right on the money from what other things I've read.
Pity they don't publish the saga core rules anymore, because I'd love to get my hands on a copy and get into a game. The prices on Amazon for it are outrageous.
Much as I'm not always thrilled with new "half" editions, I would have loved a Saga 1.5 core book that incorporated some of the better ideas from the latter books in a more cohesive manner.
Well done, and I pretty much agree with your observations. I'm running a module for my group right now that's an all-Ewok party taking place during the Imperial Survey on Endor prior to the construction of the 2nd Death Star. Scaling back the technology has helped balance out most of the power creep in the weapons/equipment. I generally allow for any feats, but equip my beasts with the same. The beast/hazard/skill challenge rules are a MUST-HAVE if you plan on running a SW game!
I had several sessions when me did a lot more with hazards and skill challenges than with full blown combat. For the most part it ran in a very fast paced manner, so that it was still an action sequence, just not a combat sequence.
I think one of the best "arcs" in the campaign was my group wandering around Dxun dodging beasts and trying to close in on Mandalorians without drawing the attention of any patrol Basilisks.
I found that I could avoid a lot of the issues that you bring up by strictly prohibiting PrC's, Feats, Powers, and Talents that were -a- Timeline specific, and -b- Supplement specific. IE, Unleashed Force Powers, Clone Wars specific, etc. Once I got rid of those, all it took was handwaving away specific amounts of credits (I prefer to have my PC's haggle and negotiate for their gear rather than keep tabs of exact amounts of money - and besides, they all had jobs and could therefore either requisition or outright buy most of their gear) to get the game to where I felt it was balanced and perfectly playable.
I never really had an issue with Destiny Points, and went so far as to give my PC's a flat 6 Force Points per session - I wanted them flowing like water, rather than being hoarded like gold and only getting refreshed/updated every level. That also worked well, to the point that my players had their PC's take stupidly heroic (and therefore absolutely in-genre for Star Wars) actions frequently throughout each session. It meant I had to modify the Force Boon Feat, but it worked out fine. ;)
Oddly, with my game running from 1st to 12th Level, I never really ran into a problem with power creep from the PC's. Maybe I'm just an overly crafty and cunning GM, but my players were constantly complimenting me on the challenges they faced and how much danger they felt their characters were in. I never came close to a TPK, but the post-game feedback sessions were always full of comments about how the players felt that they were being challenged and driven to think on their feet, rather than just relying on their skills and powers to see them through.
One thing I will say - I agree with the point you make about Beasts. The same can be said for Droids. A few Droids of an identical EL to the party is rarely a challenge, even at low levels. I found that mixing a squad of Droids in with one or two NPC mooks and a "sergeant" or two made for a much better, more challenging encounter.
If anyone's interested in the plot and/or outcome of my game, I have a mess of title-scroll bumpers up and available for viewing at the Atomic Rocket Games Youtube channel (look up user "atomicrocketgames").
I've noticed in my Saga games, some of the thing you mentioned, about the splat books being written in a vacuum, but stupidly powerful when used with other books. We had a sort of loose house rule about not crossing era books, like if we were playing KoTOR, then we couldn't use certain things from The Force Unleashed, etc. General feats that made sense in any era were ok, but specific force powers and equipment got banned. This really helped keep things balanced and era-appropriate.