Awesome example! Thanks for making it a lot clearer with the dice.

Can someone post the chart for using regular dice? And maybe say which colored dice is for which purpose? I figured the white and black dice are for Force use, but which dice is for setbacks, abilities, etc.?

Tensen01 said:

Ok, so while this isn't what I was hoping for in the next iteration of Star Wars rpg, much like the original d20, the revised d20 and eventually saga edition, I'm willing to give it a try.  Got to believe it can be an improvement over WOTC.

Looking over the dice monkey image, it looks like 4 d6, 6 d8 and 4 d12.  Is that correct?  While I wait for my copy of the rules to show up, I want to go pick up some blank Chessex dice and want to make sure I have the right ones.

adaq said:

Not sure who posted this, or where it was posted, but it was in my notes:

% dice for the occurrence of "obligations" in an adventure, or look ups in assorted tables

Positive Dice
3x d8 "ability dice" to generate basic successes
2x d12 "proficiency dice" to generate successes in combination with training
1x d6 "boost dice" to generate successes pulled from story, plot, or circumstance bonuses

Negative Dice
3x d8 "difficulty dice" to oppose ability dice and cancel successes
1x d12 "challenge dice" to oppose proficiency dice with well prepared opponents
1x d6 "setback dice" to counter situational bonuses from boost dice

Force Dice
1x d12 force die to generate the entire session's resource pool of destiny points, both light (player use) and dark (GM use)
 

I completely finished the dice section… and whoever mentioned it, yeah… it is a marathon. At least 15 pages. But they are not confusing at all. Once you get it, it is pretty simple.

I will mention one thing that blew my mind in its brilliance… No need for apposed rolls. You use the NCPs Skills and Stats to add the difficulty dice into the players roll. Now THAT is just elegant.

adaq said:

Or do like I do - play Savage Worlds.  There are several quality conversions available for free (as if you really need them with SW), and the rulebook is  cheap.  SW is an awesome system, played a variety of games with it.

FFG lost me with this one, I was hoping for something original, not WHFRP in space.

BrashFink said:

Not sure I'd call it elegant.  Different, sure.  But mechanically it's the same thing, just shifting the burden.  One roll vs two - makes the player feel like their own enemy.

As difficult a barrier the custom dice are becoming for new gamer entry, I believe one solution will be to enable those who want to to generate the dice in the easiest means possible. This means more than just "we gave you a label sheet". One of the VERY FIRST products they put up on the site, other than a Character sheet PDF, NEEDS to be a printable LABEL SHEET format of the dice. And NO, that does NOT mean a hi-rez replica of the sticker sheet in the book, that means a sheet configured to print on your average Avery or other office-max style sheet of label paper. Like a 2" x 4" shipping labels sheet.

I have severe reservations on the use of stickers and blank dice. The blank dice are NOT readily available, it took hours of searching to acquire a reasonable set. I refuse to trust stickers on pre-cut faces of existing dice, and hold the adhesives suspect till proven durable. Manual dice face placement will be prone to imbalance and the "real dice" better be damn rapid in the offing, as I am suspicious of the long-term play durability of the labels for wear and tear, environmental factors, and simple gamer sweat.

Put the tools in the gamers hands earlier and easier to overcome the self-created barriers to entry. Cross reference charts for classic dice are a stopgap patch, and you know it. (so do we) 1 Sheet of labeled dice will NOT be enough as gameplay and playtesting progresses. Even worse, when the inevitable happens and some of the Beta owners throw up their hands and chuck the game on Ebay or their local FLGS/used book store, the dice labels WILL NOT be transferred with the leavings.

jamesewelch said:

heh, that would be me, over in the D20Radio forums and the OSRGaming forums.

Speaking of which….need MOAR dice?

If you need more dice labels than the included sheet will generate, go to

http://osrgaming.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=98&t=2383&p=28474#p28474

and DL for use on Avery 48863 Shipping Label sheets. Dice sides are marked with borders to ease the cutout process.

Contact me if you want the .docx to target specific template dice.

Character sheets and the replica of the dice sticker sheet from the book are up on the SWFF site

http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_minisite_sec.asp?eidm=218&esem=4

Of course, unless you are using an aftermarket uncut 8.5x11 sheet of adhesive backed print stock, and have the laser eyes of a CSI crimelab (yellow sheets, I'm looking at you) good luck cutting the die faces. Bordered sides (takes 5 minutes with MSPaint) makes the cutout process sooooooo much easier.

Ah, excellent forethought then. Die Edges marked they are. Carry on! (the other contentions still stand tho!)

Callidon said:

I'd say having a nav computer keeps the Difficulty die from being upgraded to a Challenge die.  I think the setting makes it clear that if you don't have a nav computer making the hyperspace calculations you're gonna find yourself inside a star quickly.

Were it my game, there's be no advantage die added to the pool because the base roll assumes it's there.

selderane said:

So…add a challenge die or leave that line item off your mental checklist as you build the dice pool?  There's nothing stopping you from building a dice pool how you want.  There may be some rough guidelines or suggestions in the fiinal product but in the end it comes down to what make sense in your game at the time.  I whipped that example right out of my behind so it may not be a perfect one.  There's also not a specific benefit that I've seen about having Chewbacca on your crew :-)

Maine said:

But heres a nuance:

The proficiency (yellow) dice are more helpful to the players than the challenge (red) dice are harmful. Its subtle (about 1 failure less on a challenge die than a proficency die has successes), but it is there. The game slightly tooled in the favor of whoever it is rolling the test.

I gotta say, I'm excited to see how this can turn out. In theory, its possible to fail a test, get a threatened condition, but have rolled 3 triumphs (crit successes). So basically you fail horribly, but somehow manage to turn the odds in your favor.

Or the reverse, Succeed, get the advantage, but suffer from 3 despair (crit fail) rolls.

Or a mix of the two fail the test, get an advantage, get 3 triumphs and 3 despairs (those things don't cancel out). Of course, this is relying on a test having quite a high amount of skill backing it, opposed by a very difficult check, and rolling a highly particular value on 6 d12s. Not to mention net failures, and enough advantages. Still, in any given dice pool there are quite a few ways things can turn out.

In other words, these dice definitely provide us with better "resolution" in terms of how many discreet possibilities we can roll. The test will be to see how effective the rules are at showing the difference between 2 net successes and 2 net advantages, or 2 net successes and 1 net advantage

 My only issue with the dice is that they don't seem to be for sale anywhere and the sticker sheet in the back of the book is only a temporary stopgap measure.  Stickers on dice or notorious for their lack of durability.  

Once the dice are available I will buy them, I love dice, the sound of them rolling on a nice walnut dinning room table; the feel of them in my hands.  I have aroundf 8 or 9 gallons of dice, I have sets of dice in my car, backpack, work locker, game store locker and suitcase.  

No electronic dice for me or allowed at my tables.