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Tonight my eight year old nephew (eight and three quarters!) rolled up some characters using Swords & Wizardry Core. “I love D&D” he said, even though he hasn’t played in nine months or so. I guess he’s heard me talk about it here and there. He received his first ever set of polyhedral dice tonight as a gift. As an additional memento, I scanned in one of his 4x6 character cards. Yeah, they’re small, esp. for little kid writing! He’s developing his teeny scrawl skills though. It took us a while to get a couple of these done, but right after we finished with the elf, he said, “This is getting to be fun,” before we even started playing. That was encouraging - maybe it was because of my descriptions of spells (he chose “Charm Person”). We couldn’t accomplish playing before his bed time, considering the imperative of finishing watching Krull (he changed his mind and decided to give it a thumbs up after initially finding it boring) and of course Man vs. Wild. The latter show seems well suited to introducing a brand new, young D&D player to the ideas of survivalism and investigating your surroundings. We love that show, as silly as it sometimes is... After rolling up some characters we finally decided to take a break and watch some Clone Wars (the computer animated tv series, not the movie), which he loves.At some point I mentioned that there are role playing game versions of Star Wars, and his eyes lit up just a little in interest. “Really?” - Yep, I said, but truth is that I know next to nothing about them, other than that I’ve heard and read some bad things. So is there any d6 or old schoolish version of Star Wars as an rpg? I’d love to see a type of S&W White Box Star Wars if you know what I mean. Maybe it’s out there, or something close to it is, already. Of course I’m familiar with Traveller, Star Frontiers, and X-Plorers. This would need to be something fully recognizable as part of the Star Wars franchise, but it'd have to be very rules light to interest us. Is there such a beast? It'd be nice to have him be able to play with my wife in her upcoming solo campaign, but it might not take. As much of a Zelda fan as he is, Star Wars trumps at the end of the day.
Update: Yeah, he named his elf "Bodabox". Don't look at his Aunt and Uncle, I can't remember ever buying a Bota Box! Mom?
10 comments:
The old version of the SW RPG was published by West End Games in 1987. It is based on the d6 system. I found it fun to play and much more in tune with the style of the the old movies than the present d20 version.
I should be quite easy to find it on the internet. Good luck!
Yep the d6 version is the one I remember playing a couple of times - must be 10ish years ago now!
Theres always Ebay B-)
Ah, a lad after my own heart.
Yes indeed I was intrigued by D&D and played it as often as I could until the day I discovered...other games. Specifically Villains & Vigilantes and Star Trek by FASA. I was always more interested in Sci-Fi and Superheroes than dragons and knights.
As for Star Wars, I will through in my two cents and say that if you can get ahold of the D6 system by West End Games do it! The game rocked and stands the test of time. I'm actually running a campaign using it once a month here in NY.
I hereby officially proclaim that it's WEG STAR WARS or nothin'. I'm Doctor Rotwang!; I know what I'm talking about.
Seriously, dude, that game is aces. It's fast, it's friendly, it's in tune with the movies (as squidman rightly says above) and it gets the job done with no fuss and no muss.
There were three editions of the game -- the original in 1987, a second edition (sometimes called "The Blue Trainwreck") in 1992, and a final version called "Second Edition Revised & Expanded" which came out in 1996. I'd recommend either one of the first or 2nd R&S, though truth be told I'm a touch more fond of the latter.
There is talk that Wizards of the coast published three editions of their own STAR WARS RPG as well. It's true but I deny it.
I have a hardcover WEG Star Wars RPG (Second Edition) that I've never used for anything other than rolling up some characters. The system looks pretty decent and I've always wanted to give it a shot but never have.
There's a light version called Mini Six that might be easier for an eight year old.
http://antipaladingames.com/minisix.html
Combine that with the source books.
I like the way he writes his Ds. The look a bit like greek alphas or something.
I love the character sketch!
Thanks for the link and ideas folks - you know, I sorta knew that there was a d6 Star Wars game, but I missed it back in the day. I might have been exposed to it - like most folks here I’ve played a ton of rpgs - but I must have overlooked it or just barely missed it. By the time WEG’s Star Wars came out, I’d started drifting away from games in senior high and towards sex, drugs, and rock and roll, so to speak. And by the time D&D 2e came out, I’d graduated and had stopped playing rpgs altogether. I’ll now refer to this time period as “the lost years”. :)
His PC is all kinds of win! I hope you guys have a blast!
In the last week I've had a ton of great comments both on Exonauts and on forum threads about which sci-fi rpg to choose. WEG was heavily pushed on some of the forums in particular--so much so that I dug out my old (2E) manual locked in storage to review.
If you want a quick look at the rules, there's a free version of WEG d6 Space that is more or less the same rules with a few minor tweaks.
BTW everyone, it looks like WEG is gone for good as their website has now folded. :(
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