Miscellany: Star Wars Saga Edition RPG

If there's one sci-fi property that's the equivalent of a tired 45 year-old prostitute with a bad meth habit, it's "Star Wars." Ever since Luke and Leia swung across that chasm in 1977, an endless line of spinoffs and licensed merchandise have flooded the public consciousness to the point of exhaustion. Some of these products are sublime (the "Knights of the Old Republic" video game, the LEGO "Star Wars" line) and some of these could serve as gateways to Hell itself ("Star Wars Holiday Special" AKA "The Two Hours Time and God Forgot").

Thankfully, the new Saga edition of the "Star Wars" d20 system RPG belongs to the former category (mostly). Every kid who's ever seen the original trilogy imagines what it would be like to duel with lightsabers, pilot an X-Wing, or outfox a Rodian in a musty cantina. Such material seems like an ideal candidate for a pen-and-paper RPG, but aside from the middling d6 version from West End Games, only Wizards of the Coast has been brave enough to try publishing one.

The book itself is a handsome thing, with a menacing gold-and-black image of Vader adorning the front. It's hardcover, full-color (for $40, it better be) and mostly intuitive, given that it apes the D&D Player's Handbook almost perfectly. There are revised rules for "Using the Force," and many of the skills and classes have been simplified, making the game play more like KOTOR than D&D. The seven hour play session I had felt pretty neat - at the end, my Han Solo-like character and two Jedi found themselves trapped in the underbelly of Coruscant, tasked with bringing a lunatic up into the outside world.

There are a number of issues keeping me from giving the book an unqualified thumbs-up. As nice as it is to be able to play with a single book and not multiple core rulebooks, the info for the GM concerning enemies and the environment is skimpy at best; it only occupies about 60 pages, and ends up feeling like an afterthought. The text itself is annoyingly small - they could have easily enlarged it given the book's generous margins. The terse one-page index and crudely divided equipment sections need improvement. But if you want to bargain with a Trandoshan or match wits with a Sith Lord, the Saga Edition's the only game in town right now.