I recently got a copy of the Genesys Core Rulebook from Fantasy Flight Games. The Genesys system is the updated and revised system that has been used in the Star Wars RPG products Edge of the Empire, Age of Rebellion and Force & Destiny. I've been very pleased to read through the Genesys rulebook because it's a great update and clarification to the SW RPGs and also a fantastic sandbox for creating your own games.
The Star Wars games have a really interesting engine revolving around narrative dice. Until recently I found this difficult to embrace because it violates my two preferred points in RPGs:
1. A free System Reference Document (SRD) or Quickplay that introduces the system and rules before you purchase it. RPG books get expensive and I like when companies believe in their product enough to share it and give people a chance to try before they buy. Fantasy Flight doesn't do this with their RPG products. To make things harder, the system requires specialized dice, so SW or Genesys requires you to also buy dice or use commercial apps to run the game.
Luckily people who play RPGs are inventive and there are several free dice rolling programs available for the Star Wars RPGs (and now the Genesys RPG)
https://community.fantasyflightgames.com/topic/253078-genesys-web-assistant-dice-roller-destiny-pool-tracker-chat-character-tracker-initiative-tracker/
Let's talk about these narrative dice. To perform a task you make a dice pool that consists of an Attribute and a Skill. Attributes are things like Brawn and Cunning. Skills are things like Melee and Knowledge. You roll Attribute + Skill. Whichever is the larger becomes the basis for the 8-sided Green dice in your pool. The smaller number is the number of Green dice you upgrade to 12-sided Yellow dice. These are better and have the important Triumph symbol that appears nowhere else. You may also get some 6-sided Blue dice for special advantages.
Once you have the positive pool you include 8-sided Purple dice for the difficulty of the check. Some of these may upgrade to 12-sided Red dice to represent greater challenges. You may have 6-sided Black dice to represent disadvantages.
Successes and Failures cancel out. Advantages and Threats cancel out. Triumphs are both 1. a Success and 2. a special positive effect. Despairs are both 1. a Failure and 2. a special negative effect. If you have at least 1 Success you are successful. You may have Advantages, Threats, Triumphs or Despairs to narrate the effects of. These can significantly modify the scenario and make things more interesting. It's a fun mechanic that can be used for very crunchy simulationist play or very loose freeform narration (see the Campaign Podcast).
2. The Star Wars games are heavily licensed products. There's nothing in the game that encourages you to make things your own. Instead it drives you to reading lists of pre-built aliens, ships, worlds, etc. I am familiar with Star Wars but not a superfan. I don't know anything about the shows and have watched the movies but not recently, so despite the fact that I think Star Wars is cool I don't appreciate the incredibly closed system that Star Wars operates in.
But I like Genesys. There are two ways I take this book: firstly it's an interesting multi-genre book that gives you 6 settings and ideas on how to use them immediately for under $40 (actually more than that on Amazon). Secondly as a book that shows you how to hack the Star Wars RPG.
The book gives all the basic rules for play and six different specific settings: fantasy, steampunk, 'weird war', modern, near future and space opera. It also makes it very easy to mix these genres. If you want to play a game like Shadowrun with magic and computer hacking in the near future it's very easy to do. You could alternatively play a 'fantasy in space' game that might look like Spelljammer. It would be simple to do a time-jumping game that plays like Dr. Who. It's all there.
If there's a weakness to this book it's that things are too simple and non-specific. The sections on Character Archetype, which replaces Race in many games, and the Career that replaces Class are each about 2 pages. The Talents section of the book is simple and generic. There are optional rules for including magic, computer hacking, spaceship combat and more. These are all very basic and short form. As a new GM or runner of games it would be a complicated task to make your own setting and add your own game details.
As someone who enjoys creating and customizing worlds, it's a very open sandbox that makes me want to play. I have ideas for modern-era monster hunters, steampunk space travelers, high fantasy fun and so much more that I can easily build out of the book.
One of the highlights of the book for me is that there is a section devoted to Social Encounters. This gives more structure and attention to non-combat scenes, something that many games fall flat in handling. Genesys gives ideas on how to use its Narrative Dice system to build interesting social scenes. As a regular listener to the Campaign Podcast, a podcast run in the Star Wars RPG system that almost never involves combat, I think this is a great addition.
In terms of hacking Star Wars, I've always found it odd that there's no formula in any of the core SW RPG books for creating aliens, new careers or specializations. I understand that this is probably a matter of licensing and making new products but it's something that I want. Genesys shows you how to modify Character Archetype, gives you instructions on building new Talents and Skills and keeps all the rules very modular. This is a great game to pull apart and put back together but there's also a lot here that tells you how Star Wars was made. It's probably not reason enough to buy the game but it's a great reference for those that already have SW RPGs.
UPDATE:
I noticed today that Genesys has gone up on DriveThruRPG and also hit Bestseller Status immediately. If you're more inclined to look at things electronically, I hope this sways you to do so. I wrote Fantasy Flight an email suggesting this just Tuesday and while I don't think it had any sway, I also suggested a Community Creator program like Monte Cook Games uses. Let's hope to see that soon!
The Star Wars games have a really interesting engine revolving around narrative dice. Until recently I found this difficult to embrace because it violates my two preferred points in RPGs:
1. A free System Reference Document (SRD) or Quickplay that introduces the system and rules before you purchase it. RPG books get expensive and I like when companies believe in their product enough to share it and give people a chance to try before they buy. Fantasy Flight doesn't do this with their RPG products. To make things harder, the system requires specialized dice, so SW or Genesys requires you to also buy dice or use commercial apps to run the game.
Luckily people who play RPGs are inventive and there are several free dice rolling programs available for the Star Wars RPGs (and now the Genesys RPG)
https://community.fantasyflightgames.com/topic/253078-genesys-web-assistant-dice-roller-destiny-pool-tracker-chat-character-tracker-initiative-tracker/
Let's talk about these narrative dice. To perform a task you make a dice pool that consists of an Attribute and a Skill. Attributes are things like Brawn and Cunning. Skills are things like Melee and Knowledge. You roll Attribute + Skill. Whichever is the larger becomes the basis for the 8-sided Green dice in your pool. The smaller number is the number of Green dice you upgrade to 12-sided Yellow dice. These are better and have the important Triumph symbol that appears nowhere else. You may also get some 6-sided Blue dice for special advantages.
Once you have the positive pool you include 8-sided Purple dice for the difficulty of the check. Some of these may upgrade to 12-sided Red dice to represent greater challenges. You may have 6-sided Black dice to represent disadvantages.
Successes and Failures cancel out. Advantages and Threats cancel out. Triumphs are both 1. a Success and 2. a special positive effect. Despairs are both 1. a Failure and 2. a special negative effect. If you have at least 1 Success you are successful. You may have Advantages, Threats, Triumphs or Despairs to narrate the effects of. These can significantly modify the scenario and make things more interesting. It's a fun mechanic that can be used for very crunchy simulationist play or very loose freeform narration (see the Campaign Podcast).
2. The Star Wars games are heavily licensed products. There's nothing in the game that encourages you to make things your own. Instead it drives you to reading lists of pre-built aliens, ships, worlds, etc. I am familiar with Star Wars but not a superfan. I don't know anything about the shows and have watched the movies but not recently, so despite the fact that I think Star Wars is cool I don't appreciate the incredibly closed system that Star Wars operates in.
But I like Genesys. There are two ways I take this book: firstly it's an interesting multi-genre book that gives you 6 settings and ideas on how to use them immediately for under $40 (actually more than that on Amazon). Secondly as a book that shows you how to hack the Star Wars RPG.
The book gives all the basic rules for play and six different specific settings: fantasy, steampunk, 'weird war', modern, near future and space opera. It also makes it very easy to mix these genres. If you want to play a game like Shadowrun with magic and computer hacking in the near future it's very easy to do. You could alternatively play a 'fantasy in space' game that might look like Spelljammer. It would be simple to do a time-jumping game that plays like Dr. Who. It's all there.
If there's a weakness to this book it's that things are too simple and non-specific. The sections on Character Archetype, which replaces Race in many games, and the Career that replaces Class are each about 2 pages. The Talents section of the book is simple and generic. There are optional rules for including magic, computer hacking, spaceship combat and more. These are all very basic and short form. As a new GM or runner of games it would be a complicated task to make your own setting and add your own game details.
As someone who enjoys creating and customizing worlds, it's a very open sandbox that makes me want to play. I have ideas for modern-era monster hunters, steampunk space travelers, high fantasy fun and so much more that I can easily build out of the book.
One of the highlights of the book for me is that there is a section devoted to Social Encounters. This gives more structure and attention to non-combat scenes, something that many games fall flat in handling. Genesys gives ideas on how to use its Narrative Dice system to build interesting social scenes. As a regular listener to the Campaign Podcast, a podcast run in the Star Wars RPG system that almost never involves combat, I think this is a great addition.
In terms of hacking Star Wars, I've always found it odd that there's no formula in any of the core SW RPG books for creating aliens, new careers or specializations. I understand that this is probably a matter of licensing and making new products but it's something that I want. Genesys shows you how to modify Character Archetype, gives you instructions on building new Talents and Skills and keeps all the rules very modular. This is a great game to pull apart and put back together but there's also a lot here that tells you how Star Wars was made. It's probably not reason enough to buy the game but it's a great reference for those that already have SW RPGs.
UPDATE:
I noticed today that Genesys has gone up on DriveThruRPG and also hit Bestseller Status immediately. If you're more inclined to look at things electronically, I hope this sways you to do so. I wrote Fantasy Flight an email suggesting this just Tuesday and while I don't think it had any sway, I also suggested a Community Creator program like Monte Cook Games uses. Let's hope to see that soon!
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