Re: [RPG]: Knights of the Old Republic Campaign Guide, reviewed by Phlophouse (3/5)
A mostly useful review, but pretty clearly not proof-read. Normally this wouldn't be an issue, but sentences like this one:
Quote:
He has bonus to defenses to appear unflinching is something interesting.
... just bring the reader to a halt, stunned and confused. There's a number of such collisions in the review, which obscures the very in-depth look at what sounds to be a very good book.
I especially like the comparison to old school D&D. That's both clever and a great idea on how to use this book, even for folks like me who are only casual fans of the movies (of which there were only two, in my universe -- Lucas tragically died before foisting singing, hang-gliding teddy bears on us).
Re: [RPG]: Knights of the Old Republic Campaign Guide, reviewed by Phlophouse (3/5)
Quote:
Originally Posted by Kyle
Nice review Peter.
One question : how complete is this sourcebook, if one only have the Saga core book ?
Do you also need the following to play :
Starships of the Galaxy
Threats of the Galaxy
Scum and Villainy
Not sure where Peter lands on this but I would say that you could do without those books although they might prove useful depending on the focus of you campaign. SotG will be invaluable if you want to have epic space battles and TotG has a lot of premade NPCs and critters which could save you some time. SaV is an interesting book but I don't see it being invaluable to a KOTOR game.
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Re: [RPG]: Knights of the Old Republic Campaign Guide, reviewed by Phlophouse (3/5)
Thanks everyone,
Wizbang, you are correct. I just read the post. There are a few glitches in it. I don’t know why, but the transfer from MS Word to the post always messes up the paragraphs settings. “Soft Chew-digesting the setting,””Crunchy Bits-digesting the mechanics” and the background to the Sith; were suppose to be separated. I thought I caught them all when proofreading the submission. I will admit that it was completely my fault, sorry guys.
Yes, you are also right about the “unflinching” sentence. That one tripped me up but I wanted to mention each of the special abilities that the prestige classes had. The original draft did not have it in there and it was a smoother read, in my opinion. However, I realized that I had excluded the Gladiator’s special ability, so I went back and added it. It is a clumsy line.
Yes I feel you can play KOTOR without any other supplements. There are plenty of Stats in there for the GM. Additionally, if you keep to Force-users NPCs you can create a lot of opponents. But Ah, there’s the rub; without the supplements you will have a lot more work to do. Exp- Last night one of my players managed to steal a professional swoop racer’s swoop bike. Although it did not affect game-play, next session he will want to know the stats on it. Thank goodness I have all the campaign guides, because I can just glance at all the swoops, pick one to slightly adapt. My other choice is; to try and figure out how to build the stats from scratch- that will take more time. I guess what I am saying is: when it comes to GMing you have to spend cash for time or spend time instead of cash.
Re: [RPG]: Knights of the Old Republic Campaign Guide, reviewed by Phlophouse (3/5)
That is probably the most informative and considered review I've ever read on RPG.net. It gave a very clear picture of what one can get from the book. Many thanks.
Re: [RPG]: Knights of the Old Republic Campaign Guide, reviewed by Phlophouse (3/5)
*sigh* And as usual, both this author and the Game Geeks reviewer totally missed the fact that all this began much longer ago then the video games.
In fact, it began with the much better rules found in Star Wars d6 by West End Games...which came out with items such as Tales of the Jedi Sourcebook. Indeed, THAT work was predicated on a whole slew of comics about the ancient past of Star Wars produced by Dark Horse Comics. Now, perhaps I could be mistaken...Tales of the Jedi might focus on an even earlier era - when lightsabers had powercords attached to powerpacks, and there were no blasters - only highly radioactive pulse-wave weapons and needlebeams....
(From what I understand, there is also another comic series more recently produced that covers thise era?)
Anyhoo - there is a rich history to delve into. I would agree this book is great source material even if you dislike d20 in any of its forms...it is very well produced and written, and quite enjoyable. But be sure to track down WEG's works - they defined the Star Wars RPG first, and best IMHO. D20 is often merely adaptation of what they created - but then again, the continuity is pleasing.
Yes - the era it is set in is wide open and in many ways a lot more fun. Wild Space is not way out there - ALL the Republic is still very much Wild Space - navigation is slower (the max hyperdrive rating on ships is x2...which really should be x3 or x4) and more difficult, and the Republic's ability to control anything is questionable.
Re: [RPG]: Knights of the Old Republic Campaign Guide, reviewed by Phlophouse (3/5)
While the previous post was a bit...on the geek rage side, yes he has a point. The Tales of the Jedi era began many many years before KOTOR was a glimmer in Bioware's eye. I gotta admit I too get a little annoyed when people portray KOTOR's setting as some amazing idea ex nihilo. From what I've seen the KOTOR games are a bit after the TotJ comics but a relatively "recent" 50 years or so after, so we're still talking basically the same technology level, structure of the Jedi, etc.
Re: [RPG]: Knights of the Old Republic Campaign Guide, reviewed by Phlophouse (3/5)
The KOTOR games take place a short time after the TOTJ comics, and characters from the latter (e.g. Exar Kun, Ulic qel-Droma) are commonly referenced in the former.
Aesthetically, the KOTOR games look a lot more like "modern" Star Wars, while the TOTJ comics are more aesthetically archaic and "fantasy-like." That said, the technology is essentially identical and there's no plug-in lightsabers or anything of the like. Blasters are blasters, hyperdrives are hyperdrives (although less of the galaxy is mapped), etc.
Re: [RPG]: Knights of the Old Republic Campaign Guide, reviewed by Phlophouse (3/5)
Quote:
Originally Posted by jeremywolf81
While the previous post was a bit...on the geek rage side, yes he has a point. The Tales of the Jedi era began many many years before KOTOR was a glimmer in Bioware's eye. I gotta admit I too get a little annoyed when people portray KOTOR's setting as some amazing idea ex nihilo. From what I've seen the KOTOR games are a bit after the TotJ comics but a relatively "recent" 50 years or so after, so we're still talking basically the same technology level, structure of the Jedi, etc.
Erk. Sorry about the geek rage. Guess my tone could have been better. My apologies to all...
I do love the plug-in lightsabers, weird ship designs, and pulse-wave weapons. Mechanically, not huge differences - but as a GM, I would be sure to point out some of this stuff.
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