WEG Star Wars 1e as a QuestWorlds Game

[Stan Shinn]

I was looking at West End Games Star Wars (the beloved 1st edition), and it made me wonder how hard it would be to convert it to a QuestWorlds game.

It seems to me like you could take the WEG Star Wars character sheet, convert the abilities like DEXTERITY and PERCEPTION to Keywords, and convert all the skills underneath the abilities to Breakouts. You'd need to tweak the math on doing CharGen, but in theory, wouldn't that work?

As for Jedi, it seems to me like you'd want a 'Jedi' Keyword, and maybe somewhere you map out what powers are associated with Control / Alter / Sense, and Control / Alter / Sense would be breakouts. Alternatively, you could ignore the Control / Alter / Sense structure and just out every Jedi power as a breakout.

Anyway, if anyone has any advice or opinions on this I'd love to hear it! I know you could always do a free-form ability approach, but I'm intrigued by the idea of using these skill lists.

-- Stan

 

 

[jajagappa]

19 hours ago, Stan Shinn said:

I know you could always do a free-form ability approach, but I'm intrigued by the idea of using these skill lists.

The problem I see with doing skill lists is that it puts the GM and players into a simulationist mind-set where the focus is on the skills. Based on years of running RQ, that was still my mind-set when starting with HQ/QW, and I did not find it worked well. May just have been me, but I do think it drives you towards a tactical approach that doesn't lend itself to what HQ/QW can offer.

[AndreasDavour]

If you have newbies to the system, I think it could be a workable solution to get people started with the system. Run it like that for a session or two, and then redo the characters with the opportunity to create keywords whole cloth.

The play style shouldn't have to be dependent on how the abilities are presented. Using a traditional presentation and then using them in a different way can be an excellent way to introduce a new way of playing.

But, yes it's very true that HQ/QW does not suit the tactical thinking, at all.

[David Scott]

We just use the main categories as (Rune) Keywords and skills below as breakouts. We also used Occupation and (Alien Race, or Droid when appropriate) as a keyword. The main Keywords were those with the highest dice to start with.

Force abilities are broken out from occupation (Jedi, Alien student of the Force)

Eg:

Cynical Scout

Knowledge 1M

            +1 Languages*

            + 1 Planetary Systems*

Perception 13

            + 1 Persuasion*

Strength 17

 

Ithorian 13

Scout 17

             +1 Space Transports*

Cynical 17

Blaster 13*

 

*5 Abilities

12 points left to spend

3 Flaws left to describe

[Stan Shinn]

On 7/9/2023 at 6:12 AM, David Scott said:

We just use the main categories as (Rune) Keywords and skills below as breakouts. We also used Occupation and (Alien Race, or Droid when appropriate) as a keyword. The main Keywords were those with the highest dice to start with.

Force abilities are broken out from occupation (Jedi, Alien student of the Force)

@David Scott, I love this approach! Sounds like you've been in a campaign like this? How did it go?

Edited July 11, 2023 by Stan Shinn