The Business of RPGs

Making the Star Wars RPG the 'Ultimate Gaming Machine'

By Peter M. Kim
Associate Business Manager, Tabletop Roleplaying Games

You can recreate the battle on Hoth with action figures, save Naboo in a board game, pit Obi-Wan against Darth Maul in a card game, and duel with lightsabers in computer games. The possibilities seem endless. So how do you create a new Star Wars game and differentiate it from other great games already on the market?

I'm Peter M. Kim, business manager for the Star Wars Roleplaying Game line. Working with the design, art, marketing, and sales team, we create products that position themselves as "the Star Wars game that revolves around the players." We want to offer you the tools and options to create and play in the main storyline or discover the fascinating plot left on the editing room floor. We created an experience designed to let you take center stage in your own chapter of the Star Wars saga.

In putting this experience together, our team had to address many challenges. One of our primary goals was to showcase the versatility and range of the d20 system. In this regard, the Star Wars team acted like the racing unit of an automobile company, tuning and refining the d20 system to make it the ultimate gaming machine. Most of our design team had extensive experience with the old system and gave it major consideration. The stakes were high, as we were not only designing a new RPG experience but also dealing with one of the most revered licensed properties, one with many established products. We set the goal of making a product that filled a missing element in the Star Wars line, an experience that lets you create the scenarios and control the behind-the-scenes action.

Managing the continuity was another important challenge. In all of our products, we try to offer as much era information as possible. With the expanded universe and the extending storylines, this could have been cumbersome, so we concentrated on three time periods: the Rise of the Empire, the Rebellion Era, and the New Jedi Order. After all, in creating an innovative game that allows you so much freedom, it would be easy to contradict some aspects of the Star Wars continuity. Rest assured that this is one of our prime concerns. We work extensively with the great people at Lucas Books to ensure that we don't mix facts and don't reveal too much.

Our third challenge was giving the players of the Star Wars RPG a feeling of ownership. Lucas has set aside a part of the galaxy for an ongoing, massive, multiplayer, tabletop roleplaying game, one in which the outcome of your adventures and decisions will directly shape the solar system. Now your heroes can safely save or destroy worlds without worrying about adding movie or novel content into the campaign later. In addition, the Living Force campaign is a great way for fans to determine the course of the Star Wars galaxy. It lets you have direct involvement in the game itself and offers the ultimate differentiation from other products.

For our fourth challenge, we had to build tools that weren't found in any other Star Wars game. With the d20 system, you can use the standard species found in the core rulebook or create player characters with other species templates. This allows you to discover new characters to enroll in the Jedi Academy or play in a little cantina band. And for the first time ever, we allow PCs to follow the path of corruption -- the ultimate in character control. Now you can do the master's bidding, embracing the feats and skills of a Sith Lord. The Dark Side, by Bill Slavicsek and JD Wiker, is the first product ever to let you ponder the dark side of the Force -- or, for those so inclined, to feel its true strength! The Dark Side is critical to the RPG experience, truly giving players and Gamemasters the ability to control their campaigns.

Our final challenge was implementing two of the most captivating aspects of the Star Wars universe: the equipment and the ships. We've all fantasized about making a critical strike with a lightsaber or weaving around the Death Star in our X-wing. While the computer has allowed us to get closer to such dreams, we've focused on letting you build your own intergalactic starship, or adventure across countless planets to craft and hone your own personal lightsaber. You might even follow in the footsteps of Anakin Skywalker and construct your own droid. Again, we want you to be able to blend the vital aspects of the main storyline with your campaign, to customize the grand saga for your individual use. We believe this gives you a personal investment in the coming of age of Anakin, the struggle of the Rebellion, and the fight for freedom in the New Jedi Order.

In creating these powerful tools and positioning the RPG as fully customizable, we haven't forgotten the allure of the Star Wars epic and its continuing saga. From the Alderaanians to those pesky Jawa traders, the Star Wars RPG will change your view of the galaxy. So which elements of the Skywalker legacy will you be able to interact with? We're planning for future products to reveal key figures and address long-held questions, including many queries inspired by the end of Episode VI: Return of the Jedi. One of our key concepts, after all, is to always listen to the fans. This is the kind of love and dedication that drove us to produce the Star Wars RPG -- a game that we hope each of you will call your own personal Star Wars.

To learn more about the development of the Star Wars Roleplaying Game, check out this pre-release interview with the brand manager and one of the game's designers, then read an in-depth chat transcript with the game's creative director and art director.