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:Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game

{{Short description|Tabletop space opera role-playing game}}

{{For|other types of Star Wars role-playing game|Star Wars role-playing games}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=November 2024}}

{{Italic title}}

{{Infobox RPG

|title=Star Wars

|subtitle=The Roleplaying Game

|image=Star Wars Role-Playing Game 1987.jpg

|caption=Cover based on the original movie poster by Tom Cantrell, 1977.

|designer= Greg Costikyan

|publisher={{Unbulleted list|West End Games|Fantasy Flight Games}}

|date={{Unbulleted list|1987 1st edition |1992 2nd edition|1996 2nd edition Revised and Expanded|2018 30th Anniversary edition}}

|genre=Space opera{{cite book |first=M. Keith |last=Booker |title=Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction Cinema |series=Historical dictionaries of literature and the arts |year=2020 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |isbn=9781538130100 |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=_C_YDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA390 390] }}

|system=D6 System

|footnotes=The core system is based on that of WEG's Ghostbusters RPG.

}}

Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game is a role-playing game set in the Star Wars universe, written and published by West End Games (WEG) between 1987 and 1999. The game system was slightly modified and rereleased in 2004 as D6 Space, which used a generic space opera setting. An unrelated Star Wars RPG was published by Wizards of the Coast from 2000 to 2010. Since 2012 the official Star Wars role-playing game is another unrelated game, published by Fantasy Flight Games.

Development

The game, based on WEG's earlier Ghostbusters RPG, established much of the groundwork of what later became the Star Wars expanded universe, and its sourcebooks are still frequently cited by Star Wars fans as reference material.{{citation needed|date=December 2017}} Lucasfilm considered the West End Games' Star Wars sourcebooks so authoritative that when Timothy Zahn was hired to write what became the Thrawn trilogy, he was sent a box of West End Games Star Wars books and directed to base his novel on the background material presented within. Many of the first uses of Star Wars alien names (such as the Twi'lek, Rodian, and Quarren) appeared for the first time in WEG's Star Wars books. Even after Disney's reboot of the Star Wars Expanded Universe in 2014, much of this nomenclature still exists in new canon works.{{cite web |url=https://www.starwars.com/news/west-end-games-expanding-that-galaxy-far-far-away |title=West End Games: Expanding That Galaxy Far, Far Away |publisher=Starwars.com |first=Tim |last=Veekhoven |date=October 30, 2015 |accessdate=February 27, 2017}}

In 1992 West End Games published the second edition of the game, in which the title remained unchanged. In 1996 a revision of the second edition appeared, but its title was slightly changed from Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game - Second Edition to The Star Wars Roleplaying Game: Second Edition - Revised and Expanded.{{Cite web|url=https://index.rpg.net/display-covers.phtml?mainid=78|title=Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game Covers|website=RPG.net}}

By the end of the game's run around 140 sourcebook and adventure supplements had been published for the game during its run through three editions.{{cite web|url=http://www.sandcrawler.com/SWB/westend.html|title=The Star Wars Collectors Bible: West End Games|website=Sandcrawler}}

In addition fifteen issues of a magazine series, the Star Wars Adventure Journal, were published between 1994 and 1998. The Adventure Journal was published in novel format with around 280 pages, and consisted of adventures and articles for the game, plus short stories intended to provide inspiration for gamemasters and news relating to Star Wars.

WEG's license to produce Star Wars material was lost after the company declared bankruptcy in 1998, and the license was later acquired by Wizards of the Coast, who held it until 2010.

In 2018, Fantasy Flight Games published the 30th Anniversary Edition comprising the original core rulebook, and The Star Wars Sourcebook.{{cite web |last1=Jarvis |first1=Matt |title=Star Wars: The RPG's 30th anniversary edition |url=https://www.dicebreaker.com/games/star-wars-the-roleplaying-game/deal/star-wars-rpg-anniversary-half-price |website=Dicebreaker |access-date=August 3, 2021 |language=en |date=December 11, 2020}}

Game system

Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game uses the D6 System, originally developed for the Ghostbusters roleplaying game.

Reception

Richard Thomas reviewed Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game in White Wolf #10 (1988), rating it a 10 out of 10 and stated that "you have a truly superior product. This is a game which is presented with style and humor as well as a great sense of fun and I heartily recommend it."{{Cite magazine |last= Thomas |first= Richard |date=1988 |title= Review: Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game |magazine= White Wolf Magazine |number=10 |page= 37 |url=https://imgur.com/a/eGDdTuY}}

Chris Hind reviewed Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game (2nd edition) in White Wolf #34 (Jan./Feb., 1993), rating it a 5 out of 5 and stated that "in summary, Star Wars Second Edition is a great improvement over the original, and it's now one of the strongest SF roleplaying games on the market."{{Cite magazine |last=Hind |first=Chris |date=January–February 1993|title=Capsule Reviews |magazine= White Wolf Magazine |number=34 |page=75-76}}

In a 1996 reader poll conducted by the UK magazine Arcane to determine the fifty most popular roleplaying games of all time, Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game was ranked 9th. The magazine's editor Paul Pettengale commented, "The rich and varied background already created by the movies helps a great deal, but there have been many games based on great fiction, and few of them work nearly as well as Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game. Everything about the system has been designed to complement the setting's unique blend of fantasy, science fiction and myth, and to recreate the same feel and atmosphere as the movies. [...] The rules system is beautiful in its simplicity, yet ably copes with everything from vicious space battles to speedy chases through narrow canyons. A clever set of guidelines covers the use of the Force, complete with details of both its Light and Dark sides, enabling characters to make heroic efforts and pull off the kind of stunts that are vital to what Star Wars is all about. [...] Perhaps the perfect system for introducing new players to roleplaying, and yet offering more than enough to keep even the most jaded gamers happy.{{cite journal|last= Pettengale|first=Paul|date= Christmas 1996 |title=Arcane Presents the Top 50 Roleplaying Games 1996|journal=Arcane|publisher=Future Publishing|issue=14|pages=25–35}}

In his 2023 book Monsters, Aliens, and Holes in the Ground, RPG historian Stu Horvath noted, "Everything about the system is arranged around building momentum to a climactic finish, and it joins Toon in actively encouraging GMs to throw rules out if they endanger the flow of the action and the story."{{cite book| last = Horvath| first = Stu| title = Monsters, Aliens, and Holes in the Ground| publisher = MIT Press| date = 2023| location = Cambridge, Massachusetts| pages = 169–174| isbn =9780262048224 }}

Awards

At the 1988 Origins Awards, Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game won in the category Best Roleplaying Rules of 1987.{{cite web| url=http://www.originsgamefair.com/awards/1987/list-of-winners| title=Origins Award Winners (1987)| publisher=Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts & Design| accessdate=October 9, 2007|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20090505174850/http://www.originsgamefair.com/awards/1987|archivedate=May 5, 2009}}

List of core rulebooks

File:Star Wars The Roleplaying Game - Second Edition 1992.jpg

File:The Star Wars Roleplaying Game Second Edition - Revised and Expanded 1996.jpg

;1st Edition Rules

  • Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game {{cite book|last=Costikyan|first=Greg|title=Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game|publisher=West End Games|location=New York|date=October 1987|editor1=Eric Goldberg|editor2=Paul Murphy|editor3=Bill Slavicsek|edition=Hardcover|page=142|isbn=0-87431-065-2}} (1987) {{ISBN|0-87431-065-2}}

;2nd Edition Rules

  • Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game - Second Edition {{cite book|last=Smith|first=Bill|title=Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game - Second Edition|publisher=West End Games|location=New York|date=October 1992|editor=Ed Stark|edition=Hardcover|page=176|isbn=0-87431-181-0}} (1992) {{ISBN|0-87431-181-0}}
  • The Star Wars Roleplaying Game: Second Edition - Revised and Expanded {{cite book|last1=Smith|first1=Bill|last2=Schweighofer|first2=Peter|last3=Strayton|first3=George|last4=Sudlow|first4=Paul|last5=Trautmann|first5=Eric S.|last6=Farshtey|first6=Greg|title=The Star Wars Roleplaying Game: Second Edition - Revised and Expanded|publisher=West End Games|location=New York|date=August 1996|edition=Hardcover|page=288|isbn=0-87431-268-X}} (1996) {{ISBN|0-87431-268-X}}

List of supplements

Star Wars Adventure Journal

  • (1994–1997) Star Wars Adventure Journal 1–15

Spinoffs

File:Star warriors.jpg).]]

Four board games were published to coincide with the role-playing game, all of them by West End Games:

  • Star Wars: Star Warriors {{Cite web|url=https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/3593/star-wars-star-warriors|title=Star Wars: Star Warriors|website=BoardGameGeek}}{{cite magazine|last=Woods|first=John | date=April 1988 |title=Flexible Fighting|magazine=The Games Machine|publisher=Newsfield|issue=5|pages=99}} (1987)
  • Star Wars: Escape from the Death Star {{Cite web|url=https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/2725/star-wars-escape-death-star|title=Star Wars: Escape From The Death Star|website=BoardGameGeek}} (1990, not to be confused with the 1977{{Cite web|url=https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/4845/star-wars-escape-death-star-game|title=Star Wars: Escape From Death Star Game|website=BoardGameGeek}} game)
  • Star Wars: Assault on Hoth {{Cite web|url=https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/3548/assault-hoth-empire-strikes-back|title=Assault on Hoth: The Empire Strikes Back|website=BoardGameGeek}} (1988)
  • Star Wars: Battle for Endor {{Cite web|url=https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/3594/star-wars-battle-endor|title=Star Wars: Battle for Endor|website=BoardGameGeek}} (1989, based on the battle from Return of the Jedi, not the similarly titled Ewok movie)

A miniature wargame was also written in 1989:

  • Star Wars Miniatures Battles.{{Cite web|url=https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/7420/star-wars-miniatures-battles|title=Star Wars Miniatures Battles|website=BoardGameGeek}}

Five gamebooks were published by West End Games in the 1990s:

  • Scoundrel's Luck {{Cite web|url=http://www.gamebooks.org/show_item.php?id=2398|title=Item - Scoundrel's Luck|website=Demian's Gamebook Web Page}} (a Han Solo adventure) and Jedi's Honor {{Cite web|url=http://www.gamebooks.org/show_item.php?id=2399|title=Item - Jedi's Honor|website=Demian's Gamebook Web Page}} (a Luke Skywalker adventure), both published in 1990, were the two only gamebooks of a series titled Solitaire Adventure, a type of Choose Your Own Adventure books.
  • The Imperial Doublecross, published in 1997, was not part of the Solitaire Adventure series and used the Star Wars D6 rules and characters' die codes.
  • The Lightsaber Dueling Pack {{Cite web|url=http://www.gamebooks.org/show_item.php?id=1395|title=Item - Lightsaber Dueling Pack|website=Demian's Gamebook Web Page}} and Starfighter Battle Book {{Cite web|url=http://www.gamebooks.org/show_item.php?id=2396|title=Item - Star Wars Starfighter Battle Book: X-Wing vs. TIE Interceptor|website=Demian's Gamebook Web Page}} were picture gamebooks, presenting viewpoint series of pictures and the possible next courses of action, similar to Ace of Aces.

In the early 1990s, before the advent of the modern Internet, the FidoNet Star Wars Echo ran a message forum for playing the West End Games Star Wars Roleplaying Game on-line on computer bulletin board systems. The game also gathered a large Internet following via mailing lists such as the SW-RPG Mailing List.

Fantasy Flight Games reprint

In 2018, Fantasy Flight Games, the current holders of the Star Wars RPG licence, released a re-print of the original core book, in a deluxe slipcase format, along with the Sourcebook supplement.{{cite web|url=https://www.fantasyflightgames.com/en/news/2017/8/16/dont-underestimate-the-force/|title=Don't Underestimate the Force – Star Wars™: The Roleplaying Game 30th Anniversary Edition|website=Fantasy Flight Games|date=August 16, 2017}}

References

{{Reflist}}

{{Star Wars tabletop and pinball games}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:D6 System

Category:Greg Costikyan games

Category:Origins Award winners

Category:Role-playing games introduced in 1987

Category:Star Wars role-playing games

Category:West End Games games