I Love Reading D6 Star Wars

[boot]

Out of every game I have, every game I've gamemastered, every game where I've read supplements, it is the D6 Star Wars game that I enjoy the most.  I've been reading D6 SW supplements just for recreation!  The 1E Sourcebook was a pure joy to read.  I'm reading, now, cover to cover, Galaxy Guide 1.

There's some really great stuff tucked into these supplements.

[Falconer]

Do you have a large physical collection, boot?

Probably the reason I haven’t read too much is because my physical collection is limited, and I can spend only so much time with a PDF.

[boot]

Yeah, I own just about the entire game. I bought it all, then I sold most of the 1E stuff back in the day when I was playing 2E. Dammit! But, I made sure that I didn't sell any 1E stuff, like GG6, where info was eliminated. I have two GG6's, a 1E and 2E edition. I got rid of my 1E adventures in favor of the Classic Adventure collections. And, I never did buy the Planets stuff because I purchased the omnibus Planets Collection as it had all three books.

So, I basically have a complete D6 SW physical collection sans the duplicates.

I never did buy those mini-games, though. Maybe I should have. You know...Assualt on Hoth, and that stuff.

I do have both versions of the Miniatures Battles, though.

And, I've got a complete set of the Adventure Journals.




Oh...and I feel the same way about pdfs.  I think a tablet helps, but still, I prefer old style books, just like Captain Kirk and his lawyer, Samuel T. Cogley.

[Falconer]

It’s cool you have so much as you do. Much of that stuff is PRICEY.

I love the Adventure Journals. I think I have #7 and #11 (they contain some essential Zahn stories).

[boot]

Apr 17, 2019 22:34:44 GMT -6 Falconer said:

It’s cool you have so much as you do. Much of that stuff is PRICEY.

I love the Adventure Journals. I think I have #7 and #11 (they contain some essential Zahn stories).

I had a lot of it, buying it as it came out.  Then, when WEG was going out of business, before the WotC d20 line started, there were several stores online selling brand new WEG stuff for a huge discount.  I got a lot of it back then, brand new, for a third cover cost.

On top of this, I was playing in a multi-year Star Wars campaign at the time, and I asked my group to help out.  They did.  The deal was that I kept GMing the game that they were all into.  They'd help me buy the rest of the line.  And, I could keep the books.

They figured I deserved it since, as GM, I put a butt load more time into the game than they did.  I played with them, as GM, and I spent hours upon hours working on the game before each session.  I figured I had earned it too.  

So, it worked out.

[boot]

BTW, many of the Adventure Journal stories have been reprinted in collections, the fourth and fifth books in the Star Wars Tales series: Tales of the New Republic and Tales From The Empire.

The Journal only took professional authors. It is a very impressive "magazine." High quality. Each one is really a game sourcebook. Most stories were written by authors who had written Star Wars novels, like Timothy Zahn (as you note), Michael Stackpole, and Kathy Tyers.

There's no fan stories in them. And, many of the stories use characters from those authors' books, like Stackpole's Corran Horn from the X-Wing novels. The first story, in Adventure Journal 1 is by Tim Zahn and features Talon Karde. It's a pretty cool story.

[Falconer]

It’s worth mentioning, though, that the stories contained in SWAJ come with illustrations as well as related game stats and adventure seeds at the end of each story. These are missing from the two Bantam “Tales” collections which you mentioned. Also worth noting that Tales of NR includes some stories which never made it into SWAJ (they were commissioned for it but it folded).

[Zulgyan]

I have a complete physical collection of all 1E core books and supplements. I don't have all the modules, about 5. I will limit my collection to 1E. I do have Han Solo and the Corporate Sector though. I also have the 2E and 2E R&U corebook, plus 2E complete trilogy sourcebook. 

[Falconer]

Wow, sweet. I only have the 1e Rulebook, Sourcebook, Campaign Pack, Tramp Freighters, Planets of the Galaxy Volume One, Alien Races, Heir to the Empire Sourcebook, and a handful of modules—Tatooine Manhunt, Starfall, Battle for the Golden Sun, The Politics of Contraband, not sure what else. I have the 2e Introductory Adventure Game and the Dark Empire Sourcebook (not sure why; I’ll probably resell it).

[Zulgyan]

I do have the IAG, I forgot!

My Tramp Freighters is falling apart in very bad condition. Maybe I'll buy another one. They are quite rare.

Anyway, I want to scale back my collection. I will probably sell the books I never use.

But I'll try to get all the modules.

I don't have any of the Adventure Journals, but I think I won't get into collecting them.

How good is the 2E Gamemastering Guide?

[Zulgyan]

I have to admit, that so far the 1E Corebook + 1E Sourcebook + Classic Adventures (Retroclone), plus the module of the day, have been all I needed to run my 9 games sessions of the game thus far. The other sourcebooks are a great resource to learn about 90s Star Wars lore, but so far I haven't use them in actual play. Maybe in the future after playing too much that essential Corebook+Sourcebook duo, I'll find some actual game usefulness in the extra sourcebooks. All the books look cool at my personal library though!

[boot]

Apr 18, 2019 11:54:39 GMT -6 Zulgyan said:

How good is the 2E Gamemastering Guide?

The Gamemaster Handbook For Second Edition is similar to the excellent GMing information provided in the 1E Core rulebook but on steroids.

I think it is a fantastic book.

Here are the chapters...

Introduction describes how this book is useful to both new GMs and those with experience.

Beginning Adventures Excellent discussion of how to create an adventure from scratch.

The Star Wars Adventure Where the previous chapter discussed creating opening adventures and adventures for new players, this chapter discusses how to ensure your created adventure has that "Star Wars" flavor.

Settings A discussion on locals for your Star Wars adventure. Includes a form that you can copy to use in your game where you can keep all information about a setting at your GM's fingertips.

Gamemaster Characters Advice for creating and running NPCs. This chapter includes a chart called The Universal Standard where it puts into perspective, for the GM, the various power levels of skill dice. I've always found that chart very useful.

Also defined is "The Extra", "The Supporting Character", and "The Major Character". Examples of each type is provided, showing the amount of detail and game information needed for each one.

Included in this chapter are sheets that can be copied: short and long form Character Logs.

Encounters Notes focusing on running encounters. Running multiple characters, main characters, recurring characters. Plotting. Difficulty levels. Objective of the encounter. Staging. Believably. Animals. Heroic Encounters. Etc.

Equipment and Artifacts Creating new artifacts and devices. Star Wars technology. Villan's equipment. Super technology.

This section has a step by step process for creating items for use in the game.

Props Discusses scripts, handouts, maps, miniatures, illustrations, music, and the like.

Improvisation Excellent GM advice for a GM.

Campaigns Excellent GM advice on running a campaign. Every GM should read the "Keeping the Characters Hungry" section.

Tales of the Smoking Blaster A complete adventure!

Star Wars Rules Questions Corrections and clarifications about the rules. Nice section to read, but it is directed at the 2E game.