Today’s question is easy to answer: What was the most recent RPG you played? Mine is Star Wars Edge of the Empire Beginner Game by Fantasy Flight Games. I played it solo using the Mythic GME as a tool. You can read the Actual Play Post ħere.

So, what do I like about the Star Wars RPG line by FFG?

• it’s Star Wars
• the “narrative” dice mechanic: there is no binary roll, basically it’s a yes-and/yes-but and no-and/no-but system: you can succeed but generate Threat and thus bad things can happen, too
• having good skills or good (base) abilities have the same benefit, so someone cunning is also good at deception to a certain degree but someone who isn’t that cunning but spend a lot of XP on training deception gets the same result
• there is still some crunch for those who like it but not that much that it’s too complicated
• abstract combat ranges instead of battle maps with grids or similar
• you can play a Droid!
• interesting careers: iconic smugglers and bounty hunters but also social characters like the Politico
• great splat books, i.e. the book for the Hutt sector
• gorgeous look: full color, awesome illustrations
• did I mention that it’s Star Wars!?

What don’t I like?

• three core books: the basic rules are the same but the careers and one mechanic (“Obligation”, “Duty” or “Morality”) differ: couldn’t FFG that have done differently? The core books are heavy tomes and most of the content is the same. (Yes, there are different adversaries and different background info depending which style of game you prefer (EotE = smugglers and criminals, AoR = military campaign, FaD = Jedis, but still… ¹)
• splatbooks: you don’t need them but if you could have them, wouldn’t you buy them? (that’s not good for my budget)
• high entry threshold: the core books are 400+ pages, that’s a lot to read - and they cost > 50 € each, that’s not very beginner friendly (plus you need custom dice or an app)
• no electronic versions (PDF)

Links:
Star Wars Edge of the Empire Beginner Game
Actual Play: Star Wars Edge of the Empire Beginner Game