The Force should have hit the snooze bar and rolled over for another century.
I’ve held back my opinion on this topic for a number of years now. I used to be the absolutely biggest Star Wars nerd on my block. Not just the movies, but the RPG and the novels too. (See what I did there?) I cherish every memory of those days. Then Disney f*k’n came along and killed the franchise for me.
I’m serious. Anyone who knows me knows I was the biggest Boba Fett fan of my friend groups. I have a Darth Vader shrine as well as one dedicated to my hero, Boba Fett. I cherish my autographed picture of Jeremy Bulloch. (R.I.P.) And then Mandalorian happened. Then this new Boba Fett series. Yeah. yeah… <disgruntled fan noises>
Enough sadness. Let’s turn to the part of the franchise I loved more than anything. The RPG.
Seriously, I ran the RPG all the way through high school and a long time in college. (*Old Grognard moment incoming.) I remember when D6 Star Wars RPG from West End games first arrived at my doorstep. I remember how excited I was when THE Star Wars Sourcebook came out. Back then if I wasn’t running AD&D, it was Star Wars. (Then DC or Marvel supers…) Star Wars RPG was a major part of my life
I had to laugh when the 30th anniversary reprints came out. I still have my originals where I can easily find them. I also have the other D6 editions. It was so amazing attending the WEG writers panel at Gen Con. I learned so much that day.
One of the happiest days of my life was meeting and getting to play in a Star Wars game with one of the original D6 Star Wars playtesters. Really amazing barbeque after we extinguished the fire in his yard, LOL! Ahh… Old gamer memories.
We ran the heck out of the D6 game in college. I met a girl that I dated for a long time through D6 Star Wars. I had this other friend that was into Star Wars in general and the RPG almost as much as I was. He and I talked Star Wars so much and connected so well that my best friend said it sounded like we were speaking binary together. It almost literally sounded like ones and zeros with some giggling thrown in.
I ran it at conventions. I ran it at home. I role played it solo many times. I had some of the best groups I’ve ever run any game with in Star Wars or any game. Star Wars is the only RPG is one of a handful of games I’ve roleplayed solo. I even found a Clone Wars campaign that I was building for D20 written in a notebook about twelve years ago when I was stocking groceries. (You have remarkable amount of time to think when you’re stocking shelves.)
Not joking- I still have ALL of my old convention game notes, and a couple of entire campaigns I ran for the D20 game still sitting on an old laptop and on paper. My wife will tell you there was a time, before I had kids that I ate, drank, slept and breathed Star Wars. So many good times.
Star Wars D20. Better than people gave it credit for.
I was okay when WotC introduced the d20 Star Wars RPG. I bought every sourcebook that came out like the drooling fanboy that I am. I met the man who performed our wedding looking for Star Wars players online.
The WotC system was based on D20 which was basically a revision of D&D. It was a little clunky in places. Jedi powers were a little tricky, or at least trickier than the old game. Combat was okay to run. Very minis based, not so much theatre of the mind which is what I was used to.
I’m not kidding when I say the RPG is a big part of my life. Or it was, rather…
Welcome to the new era, I guess.
I probably would have breen okay if Disney hadn’t made the third trilogy. Star Wars could have feature at Disney World and they honestly could have left it alone. They could have even dropped some more cool animated stuff like Clone Wars and I’d have been okay with it. (I absolutely love Ahsoka Tano, btw.) Mark Hamill is one heck of a voice actor and they could have done so much.
Ya know, it’s not even the characters in the new movies. I even like the fact that we get to see Jedi being Jedi more than ever. What had me literally screaming at my TV was when they started killing off Episodes IV-VI characters in the most horrible, stupid ways possible!
I get that Harrison Ford asked to be written out. We will all miss Carrie Fisher, may she rest in peace. But why the actual flying flaming f*ck did they bring Luke back just long enough to portray him as a miserable failure and kill the character? Someone should be dragged into the street and flogged with a gaffi stick for that one!
If that’s what Lucas originally intended for Luke Skywalker, then I’m sad. I’d like to blame Disney. After George Lucas handed the rights over, it was all on Disney to do whatever they wanted (their worst) to the franchise. Admitedly, at least we don’t have warm, fluffy revisions of everything where everyone gets along and nothing bad ever really happens. At least the franchise hasn’t been overrun by Ewoks and Gungans holding hands and singing “Yub nub” everywhere.
The only really nice thing that has come out of the last trilogy is the roundabout way the Zahn novels have more or less become canon. That’s a plus because the Zahn books are some of my favorites. Yay, Boba Fett came back and most of the Clone Wars animation was also made canon.
I was still pretty pumped to run the RPG until-
The movies really deflated my interest in the whole franchise. Sorry, friends and family. I don’t know if I can bring myself to run it again knowing what Disney and their crew of assorted hack artists did to the thing. If I ever did run it again, I’d have to rewrite three movies (or more) worth of canon. Then players get confused and complain. Not sure if it’d be worth it even as a writing exercise.
I was all happy that Fantasy Flight Games got the nod to do Star Wars again. I have a couple of friends that work there. It’s a good company. They make a ton of cool stuff. Except they’ve now FFG has canceled the entire line and another Star Wars RPG is in the works from yet another company.
That’s also sort of a downer. (I Sense a disturbance in the Old Grognard Force. Rolled an 18.) Who knows what will happen next or how many dozen sourcebooks will follow. Time will tell. I’m sticking to the old D6 and D20 stuff (plus tons of homebrew) until then. Old Jedi shakes fist at corporations.
So, May the Force Be With You, Always. If Star Wars is still your jam, I’m happy for you. It will always have a special place in my heart. Or Episodes I-VI will, anyway. The D6 and D20 versions of the RPG will, anyway. I kinda miss chopping battle droids into tiny bits with a lightsaber.
Thanks for being here. I appreciate you. See you tomorrow.
Jeff's Game Box 