Star Wars USA

I tend not to have as much to say about games I play in as I do about games I'm running, partly because I tend to analyse games I run quite a lot with a view to getting better at GMing, and partly because people might not like what I have to say about the way they run their games. (And it's fair to say that whenever I see any game, film, book, or even a project at work, there's always something I would have done differently, sometimes radically so. It's not necessarily the case that my change would necessarily make things better, it's just that I would prefer it that way.)

It's also true that I usually have a lot less to say about one-offs than about campaigns, since there's so much less to see, and also because the quality of a one-off is hardly a fair indicator of how things normally are - when I ran Star Wars d20 I had a really bad day; when I ran Ravenloft I had a really good day; reality is somewhere in the middle, and it's reality that my current group are having to deal with at the moment.

That said, I was asked for comment, so here goes:

The scenario was simple: you're on Hoth, the Imperials are invading, time to leave.

This is good on three counts:

1) It's nice and simple, and presents a scene familiar to 99% of all gamers. And the other 1% don't count.

2) It jumps straight into the action.

3) It allows you to take the game in any direction you want.

The other good thing about the game was that it was kept flowing. Because there wasn't any interaction with NPCs (at all!) there were no awkward bits where we didn't know where to go. It just ran.

Now, the less good stuff:

1) Just because we know where Hoth is doesn't mean you get to skimp on describing it. Tell us about the field of white in front of us, the smoke from the burning Rebel defences, the clank of the approaching AT-ATs. Remind us that our YT-1300 transport is looking a bit beat-up. Use words like "squat", "ugly" and "boxy" to describe the Imperial vehicles, phrases like "efficient white" for the Stormtrooper armour, "welcoming embrace" for the chairs in the transport, and "empty vastness" for space.

Description is king. It changes a tactical exercise (get to the ships) into a thrilling life-or-death struggle (get to the ships!).

2) Variable difficulty numbers. If the PC has 6 dice in his pool, and the difficulty is rated at 4 dice, this is statistically equivalent to the player rolling 2 dice and trying to get a positive number.

Honestly. It really is.

What's more, since the difficulty number is calculated behind the screen, it doesn't make a damn bit of difference whether the difficulty is rolled or just pulled out of a hat. Better to just stick with the difficulties out of the book (what is it? Simple 5, Difficult 10...?). Rolling extra dice doesn't add anything to the game, and it just slows things down. Not to mention the fact that you can't consistently get a 5 on d6's, which means your difficulties effectively go up in increments of 3.5. Is that really what you want?

3) Deus ex machina.

If the DM puts the PCs into hopeless situations and then has his pet NPC miraculously show up and save their skins, the players will (rightly) get pissed off. If the DM puts the PCs into hopeless situations and then has the gods decide to make a surprise visit, the players will be rightly pissed off. One of the reasons a lot of people don't like the Forgotten Realms is the prevalence of high-level NPCs, which can make the PCs exploits seem unimportant by comparison.

So, we had the PCs trapped on the open plains, being chased down by an AT-ST walker, transport gone, and in deep trouble. What happens? In comes the A-Wing to save the day. Later, the PCs are trapped by an Interdictor, and in all sorts of trouble. So, here comes Rogue squadron! (Quite aside from the fact that Rogue Squadron gets so badly mauled on Hoth that the squadron is actually disbanded! I think Wedge and his gunner are actually the only two who walk away from that firefight.)

4) Wild dice. If there's one mechanic I hate in RPGs it's botching. Be it 1's cancelling successes in Storyteller, critical fumbles on a natural 1 in d20, or the Wild Dice in Star Wars, it sucks. The biggest part of the problem is that these mechanics tend to take the form of "The GM is encouraged to be inventive." This translates to "screw over the players as much as you want." Worse still, these rules inevitably don't get applies equally, so it becomes a question of whoever has pissed of the GM lately getting screwed, while other characters getting an easy time of things. Which really sucks.

(As an aside, if you're planning a d20 campaign and are considering implementing this as a House Rule, be aware that I most likely will not play. I'll grudgingly tolerate these mechanics when they're written into the system, but I see no reason to do so when they're there at the whim of the DM.)

In Conculsion

It may seem that I'm being very negative. However, it should be noted that point 4 above is a fact of the game system, and nothing to do with the particular game at all. And point 2 is an example of "something I would have done differently... It's not necessarily the case that my change would necessarily make things better..."

I think points 1 and 3 are valid, however. Improving on descriptions will make a huge difference to the quality of your games. Meanwhile, if deus ex machina is overused in the game going forward it will kill it. If you have to bail the PCs out of trouble more than a couple of times in the campaign, something's not right. And if it's that the PCs keep getting themselves in deeper than they should be, let them fry.

I did enjoy the game. But saying that doesn't make for a very full post.