Escape From Jakku

Like much of the country, we're experiencing ridiculously bad weather here in western Nevada, so the whole family has been cooped up at home. However, it's been a great opportunity for the boys and I to crack open Star Wars: The Force Awakens Beginner Game and give it a whirl. Today we ran through about two-thirds of the introductory mini-campaign, and we'll probably finish it up tomorrow. The adventure takes place on Jakku, and thus far we've helped some friendly nomads repel an attack by local gangsters, discovered vital secrets buried in the bowels of a downed Rebel Alliance corvette, and made a harrowing escape from the desert world during a second enemy assault.

What's the verdict? Well, of the three of us, Nathaniel is the only one singing its praises. Of course, he's an easy sell -- he loves learning new game systems and he loves anything related to Star Wars. Matthew and I have a more lukewarm impression. I'm not sure either of us would be keen on picking up another of the Star Wars RPG books any time soon, especially with Tales From the Yawning Portal coming out in a couple of months to get us roaring back into D&D.

There's nothing inherently wrong with the Star Wars RPG system, it's just that it plays kind of slowly. For example, when it's time for an attack or a skill check, you roll a fistful of dice and sort them according to the symbols that come up. (There are no numerals on any of these dice.) At the most basic level, you need to have more Success symbols than Failure symbols (just like the attack rolls in X-Wing). In addition to Success and Failure symbols, you also have Advantage, Threat, Triumph, and Despair. Regardless of whether or not a check succeeds, an abundance of Advantage symbols allows you to "buy" useful side-effects from a list options, whereas Despair symbols allow the Gamemaster to screw you in some way even if your check succeeded. So, for every check, there's a non-trivial follow-up period where everyone is interpreting what just happened. It's fine if you're rolling to fix a broken hyperdrive engine or hack (sorry, "slice") into a computer system, but for combat encounters, the action moves so slowly that players (especially a couple of six- and nine-year-olds I know) tend to wander from the table when it isn't their turn.

If you don't mind the pace, though, the system gives you a fine Star Wars fix. We all cheered heartily when Nathaniel's character clambered into a rusty old turbolaser turret and blasted a landspeeder to smithereens with a single shot. The Force was with us on that one!