Player Handout

New Player's Guide to the Star Wars Roleplaying Game By Mike Fraely

This is your guide to creating a new character for the D6 Star Wars Roleplaying Game for the REUP rule set. It covers creation and guidelines for character development. Though it serves as a basic aid, it cannot replace the main rulebook, but will help newcomers to the system get their start:

Attributes

There are six attributes:

• Dexterity – General hand-eye coordination. - This attribute governs how well you fire a blaster, evade being hit, and other such abilities.
• Knowledge – Your understanding of the galaxy. Includes your willpower, languages, and understanding of planets.
• Mechanical – How well your character operates mechanical devices. This does not include repair, but does include how well you can fly an airspeeder, pilot a starship, or operate shields and sensors.
• Perception – How observant your character is. The skills under this attribute determine your character's ability to sneak, hide objects, con, bargain, and forge documents. This attribute is also used for general awareness or "spot checks."
• Strength – How physically strong and tough your character is. Strength includes the ability to lift objects, engage in hand-to-hand combat, and physical endurance. Since there are no hit points, this attribute roll is also used for damage resistance.
• Technical – Your character’s ability to fix mechanical objects. The skills under Technical determine how well you can fix walkers, speeders, or starships. This also allows for your first aid rolls, or your ability to improve blasters or build a lightsaber.

Each attribute has a die code that may be represented as 1D, 2D+1, 4D+2 and so on. The number before the D indicates how many six sided die you may roll, and the number after the + is a simple modifier. 2D+2 means that you would roll two die, and then add two to the result. (If you need an understanding of how well versed your character might be in any given attribute, consult the ranking chart. It shows a die code and how that compares with the general level of competency of other beings in the galaxy.)

Before choosing attribute die codes for your character, you must first choose a species. The species statistics has a few vital pieces of information. First is the attribute dice (which shows how many dice the average member of the species has in their attributes), and then the species minimums and maximums (showing how weak or strong a character is allowed to be in their attributes). It also features a “Move” value, which indicates how fast the species can move on foot. (Beginning characters start with the minimum “Move” value.) We’ll be using humans for our example.

Humans:
Attribute dice: 12D
Dexterity 2D/4D
Knowledge 2D/4D
Mechanical 2D/4D
Perceptions 2D/4D
Strength 2D/4D
Technical 2D/4D
Move 10/12 

Though the attribute dice tells how many dice the average human has (the moisture farmers, scouts, barkeepers, and menial laborers), you’re not going to be playing any of those types of characters. You’re playing a hero! As such, your character is going to be a bit above average. Take your species attribute dice, and add +6D, and use that number for your character creation. If you are human, you begin with 18D.

Now you must decide if your character is Force sensitive, or if they have Force skills. Obviously, in order to have Force skills you must be Force sensitive. To make thing simple, we’ll be creating a character without Force skills first.

Creating a Character Without Force Skills

In the D6 system we do not literally “roll up” new characters. All attribute values are assigned. It makes for quick, easy, and customizable characters. Since we’re using humans as an example, we have a pool of 18D to assign to our character’s attributers. (12D for the species and 6D just to give your character that added extra edge.) We may break those dice up as we wish and assign them to our attributes. Note that you cannot assign more dice than the species maximum allows, and you may not assign any fewer dice than the species minimum allows. Observe the following example:

Attribute	Dice	Current Total:
DEX	3D	3D
KNOW	4D	7D
MECH	2D	9D
PER	3D	12D
STR	4D	16D
TECH	2D	18D

You may also split up a single die into three “pips.” A pip is a +1 modifier added onto a die value. You may split up as many die as you wish to provide the desired modifier. You may have a +1 or a +2, but never a +3, as three pips equals another whole die. Please consider the following example:

Attribute	Dice	Current Total:
DEX	2D+1	2D+1
KNOW	2D+2	5D
MECH	4D	9D
PER	3D+2	12D+2
STR	3D+1	16D
TECH	2D	18D

If you are deciding on attributes and have decided not to purchase any Force skills right away, use the chart below. Remember that 2D is about average for the normal human being in the galaxy, so plan your attributes around what sort of character you want. A rough and tumble fighter is going to want a high Dexterity and high Strength score. A con man or diplomat will want a high Perception attribute followed by a reasonable Knowledge level. Mechanical and Technical attributes are good for pilots and technology specialists. However, attributes aren’t everything. If you attribute level is relatively low, you can still boost skills under those attributes. But pick your attributes first either on the table below, or on your character sheet:

Attribute	Dice	Current Total:
DEX
KNOW
MECH
PER
STR
TECH

Creating a Character with Force Skills

If you have permission from your GM to begin the game with Force skills, you need to follow a similar method of creation. Beginning Force skills are treated as attributes at the time of character creation only! Later you will advance them as normal skills. Also, you do not need to purchase your Force skills immediately. It is possible to learn a new Force skill later on in your game even if your character has had no prior training.

There are three Force skills: control, sense, and alter

• Control – The Force user’s ability to control the Force within his own self.
• Sense – A Jedi’s ability to sense beings or the Force around her.
• Alter – The ability to manipulate the Force around an object or within another person. This Force skill is often taught last, and almost never exceeds the Jedi’s control or sense skill.

If you begin with a Force skill, the minimum starting point is 1D. You may not have 0D+2 or 0D+1.

Consider basing your character off of the following examples:

Attribute/Force Skill	Dice	Current Total:
DEX	2D	2D
KNOW	3D	5D
MECH	2D	7D
PER	3D+1	10D+1
STR	3D+2	14D
TECH	2D	16D
Control	1D	17D
Sense	1D	18D
Alter	X	18D

Attribute/Force Skill	Dice	Current Total:
DEX	2D+1	2D+1
KNOW	2D	4D+1
MECH	2D	6D+1
PER	3D	9D+1
STR	3D+2	13D
TECH	2D	15D
control	1D	16D
sense	1D	17D
alter	1D	18D

Notice how beginning with Force skills greatly weakens your character’s attributes. This balances out Jedi characters, who, if are able to develop too quickly, will dominate the game. You should now create your character either in the chart provided below or on your character sheet.

Attribute/Force Skill	Dice	Current Total:
DEX
KNOW
MECH
PER
STR
TECH
control
sense
alter

Choosing Skills: Your character may now spend 7D on beginning skill dice. Each attribute has a number of skills listed under it. The following chart allows you to see the distribution of skills under each attribute plus specializations. Specializations are focused talents and training in one small part of a broader skill. For example rather than your character being trained to fly starfighters in general, he may be skilled at flying an X-Wing exclusively. To help you decide on skills, please consult the following chart:

DEXTERITY SKILLS	Specializations
Archaic Guns	Black powder pistol, matchlock, musket, wheelock, etc.
Blaster	Blaster pistol, heavy blaster pistol, blaster rifle, hold-out blaster, repeating blaster, etc.
Blaster Artillery	Anti-infantry, anti-vehicle, surface to air defense, surface to space defense, surface to surface, etc.
Bowcaster
Bows	Crossbows, long bow, short bow, etc.
Brawling Parry	versus boxing, martial arts, etc.
Dodge	versus energy weapons, slugthrowers, missile weapons, etc
Firearms	pistols, rifles, machineguns, etc.
Grenade
Lightsaber
Melee Combat	swords, knives, axes, vibroblades, vibroaxes, etc.
Melee Parry	versus lightsabers, knives, clubs, etc.
Missile Weapons	Concussion missile, grenade launcher, power harpoons, etc
Pick Pocket
Running	long distance, short sprint
Thrown Weapons	knife, spear, sling, etc.
Vehicle Blasters	heavy blaster cannon, heavy laser cannon, light blaster cannon, light laser cannon, medium blaster cannon, medium, laser cannon

KNOWLEDGE SKILLS	Specializations
Alien Species	Wookies, Gamorreans, Ewoks, Sullustans, etc.
Bureaucracy	specific planetary or administrative government –Tatooine, Celanon, Bureau of Commerce, etc.
Business	Specific field or company - starships, weapons, droids, Sienar Fleet Systems, etc.
Cultures	Specific species or culture – Corellians, Alderaan royal family, etc.
Intimidation	Interrogation, bullying, etc.
Languages	Wookie, Huttese, Bocce, etc.
Law Enforcement	Alderaan, Tatooine, the empire, the Rebel Alliance, etc.
Planetary Systems	Tatooine, Endor, Hoth, Kessel, etc.
Streetwise	Specific planet or criminal organization – Celanon, Corellia, Jabba the Hutt's organization, Talon Karrde's organization, etc.
Survival	Volcano, jungle, desert, poisonous atmosphere, etc.
Value	Specific planet's markets or type of good – Kessel, Coruscant, starships, droids, etc.
Willpower	versus persuasion, intimidation, etc

MECHANICAL SKILLS	Specializations
Archaic Starship Piloting	Specific ship type
Astrogation	Kessel run, Tatooine to Corsucant, etc.
Beast Riding	Banthas, cracian thumpers, dewbacks, tauntauns, etc.
Capital Ship Gunnery	Concussion missiles, gravity well projectors, ion cannons laser cannon, proton torpedoes, tractor beams, turbolaser, etc.
Capital Ship Piloting	Imperial star destroyer, victory star destroyer, Nebulon-B frigate, etc.
Capital Ship Shields
Communications
Ground Vehicle Operation	Specific vehicle
Hover Vehicle Operation	Specific vehicle
Powersuit Operation	Spacetrooper armor, etc.
Repulsorlift Operation	Xp-38 landspeeder, snowspeeder, etc.
Sensors
Space Transports	YT-1300 transport, Gallofree medium transports, Corellian transports, etc.
Starfighter Piloting	X-wing, TIE-Fighter, TIE-Interceptor, Z-95 headhunter, etc.
Starship Gunnery	Concussion missiles, ion cannons, laser cannon, proton torpedoes, turbolaser, etc.
Starship Shields
Swoop Operation
Walker Operation	AT-AT, AT-ST, AT-PT, etc.

PERCEPTION SKILLS	Specializations
Bargain	Spice, weapons, droids, datapads, etc.
Command	Rogue squadron, Imperial Stormtroopers, etc.
Con	Specific type of con
Forgery	Specific type of document
Gambling	Sabacc, etc.
Hide
Investigation	Mos Eisley, Imperial City, etc.
Persuasion	Specific subject
Search	Tracking
Sneak	Specific type of terrain

STRENGTH SKILLS	Specializations
Brawling	Boxing, martial arts, etc.
Climbing/Jumping	Climbing, jumping
Lifting
Stamina
Swimming

TECHNICAL SKILLS	Specializations
Armor Repair	Stormtrooper armor, bounty hunter armor, etc.
Blaster Repair	Specific blaster type
Capital Starship Repair	Specific capital ship
Capital Starship Weapon Repair	Specific capital ship weapon
Computer Programming/Repair	Computer type
Demolition	Bridges, walls, vehicles, etc.
Droid Programming	Specific droid type
Droid Repair	Specific droid type
First Aid	Specific race
Ground Vehicle Repair	Specific type of vehicle
Hover Vehicle Repair	Specific type of vehicle
(A) Medicine	Medicines, cyborging, surgery [requires 5D in First Aid]
Repulsorlift Repair	Specific vehicle
Security	type of lock or device
Space Transports Repair	YT-1300 transports, Ghtroc freighter, etc.
Starfighter Repair	X-wing, Y-wing, etc.
Starship Weapon Repair	Specific weapon type
Walker Repair	AT-AT, AT-ST, AT-PT, etc.

When you describe what your character does, the gamemaster will tell you when to roll the dice, and tell you what happens as a result of how well (or poorly) you roll.

In a way, you, the other players, and the gamemaster are creating your own Star Wars movie with your characters as the stars!

Winning. There are no winners and losers. Having fun is what counts.

Cooperate. If the characters are to stand any chance of succeeding in their adventures, you and the other players have to work together.

Be True to the Movies. Remember, you're playing Star Wars! Be heroes. Use snappy one-liners. And above all else, have fun!

Become Your Character. Don't be afraid to ham it up a little! Speak like your character and adopt his mannerisms in your movements and actions. You can act out scenes—for example, if you're playing a gambler, you could have fun trying to con the other characters. However, never act out scenes that could be considered threatening or dangerous.

Use Your Imagination. Your character can do whatever you can imagine someone in that situation doing. If you can imagine it in the real world (or the Star Wars universe, it can happen in the game!

Keep Things Moving. Don't worry about the rules. Simply tell the gamemaster what you want your character to do, and he'll tell you what to roll and when.

Getting Started

Select a character template that looks like it would be fun to play. Grab a pencil and a few six-sided ("normal") dice.

The right side of the character sheet describes your character's personality and background. You can change some of these elements, but make sure those changes are approved by the gamemaster.

Each character has six attributes:

Dexterity — Your character's eye-hand coordination and agility.

Knowledge — Your character's knowledge of the galaxy.

Mechanical — Your character's "mechanical aptitude," or ability to pilot vehicles, starships and the like.

Perception — Your character's powers of observation, and ability to convince others to do things for him.

Strength — Your character's physical strength, health, and ability to resist damage.

Technical — Your character's "technical aptitude," or ability to fix, repair, and modify all kinds of technology, including starships, droids, and vehicles.

Each attribute has a die code. A typical die code could be 3D (pronounced "three dee"). That means you roll three six-sided dice whenever the attribute is used.

Example: George is playing a kid, who he names Cev Rees. Cev has a Mechanical of 3D. When he jumps behind the controls of a landspeeder and tries to drive on a busy highway, the gamemaster tells George to make a Mechanical roll. George rolls three dice and gets a 2, 3 and a 5—Cev's Mechanical total is 10.

If there is a +1 or a +2 after the "D," add that number to your total.

Example: Cev's Dexterity is 3D+2. (Pronounced "three dee plus two.") When Cev throws a grenade, the gamemaster tells George to make a Dexterity roll. George rolls a 3, 4 and a 5 (for the 3D), but he also adds +2 to the total (for the +2) to get a total of 14.

A die code of 2D is about average; a die code of 4D is pretty good.

Skills

Skills are things your character learns and can get better at over time. Skills include things like blaster, dodge, starfighter piloting and brawling.

A skill is listed under its attribute; each skill begins with the same die code as its attribute.

Example: Cev's Dexterity is 3D+2. Since blaster is a Dexterity skill, Cev's blaster skill starts at 3D+2.

You can add more dice to skills to get better at certain things. If you add one die to a skill, the number in front of the "D" increases by one.

Example: George decides to add one die to Cev's blaster skill (a Dexterity skill). Cev's blaster skill is now 4D+2.

You can add one or two dice to a skill, but you only have seven dice to spend on all your skills. (You can't improve every skill—you can only pick the ones you think will be important!)

Example: Cev has the following attributes: Dexterity 3D+2, Knowledge 2D+2, Mechanical 3D, Perception 3D+2, Strength 2D+1, and Technical 2D+2.

George has 7D for skills. He decides to place 1D in blaster (a Dexterity skill), so it's now 4D+2. He adds 1D to another Dexterity skill: pick pocket, which becomes 4D+2.

George thinks Cev has spent a lot of time on the streets and adds 1D to his streetwise skill (a Knowledge skill) to make it 3D+2.

George adds 2D to Cev's repulsorlift operation skill: Cev's Mechanical is 3D, so his repulsorlift operation skill is now 5D. Cev's a really good driver—it's too bad no one will give him the chance to prove it!

George then spends 1D on con, a Perception skill. His con is 4D+2.

George spends his last 1D of skill dice on Cev's sneak; since it's also a Perception skill, it goes to 4D+2.

Important Skills

Here are some of the more important skills for characters in the Star Wars game. They cover your character's knowledge of a field or ability to do the following:

Dexterity skills:

blaster: Fire blasters.

brawling parry: Block someone else's unarmed (brawling) attack.

dodge: Get out of the way when people shoot at you.

melee combat: Fight with weapons in hand-to-hand combat.

melee parry: Block hand weapon attacks (only if you're holding a weapon).

Knowledge skills:

alien species: Knowledge of strange aliens—anyone not of your species. (For example, if you're playing an Ewok, your alien species covers your knowledge of humans.)

languages: Speak and understand strange languages.

planetary systems: Knowledge of different planets and star systems.

streetwise: Knowledge of criminal groups and people in the Fringe and how to deal with them.

survival: Survive in harsh environments, like arctic wastes and deserts.

Mechanical skills:

astrogation: Plot hyperspace jumps.

repulsorlift operation: Fly vehicles like snowspeeders, airspeeders, landspeeders and cloud cars.

space transports: Fly freighters (like the Millennium Falcon) and any other ship that isn't a fighter and isn't a capital-scale (large) combat ship.

starfighter piloting: Fly space fighters like X-wings and Y-wings.

starship gunnery: Fire starship weapons.

Perception skills:

bargain: Make deals.

con: Fast-talk your way out of situations or talk people into doing things for you.

gambling: Gamble.

search: Look for things.

sneak: Sneak around without being seen.

Strength skills:

brawling: Fight with your bare hands.

climbing/jumping: Climb and jump.

stamina: Push your physical limits and resist disease.

Technical skills:

computer programming/repair: Use, repair and program computers.

droid programming: Program droids.

droid repair: Repair droids.

first aid: Knowledge of first aid techniques.

space transports repair: Repair freighters.

starfighter repair: Repair starfighters.

If you have any questions about skills and how they work, just ask the gamemaster.

How the Game Works

The gamemaster assigns a difficulty number when a character tries to do something and there's a chance of failure, such as shooting a blaster at stormtroopers, flying a starship, or fixing a busted droid.

Roll the skill's die code; if you don't have the skill, roll the attribute's die code. If your roll is equal to or greater than the difficulty number, your character succeeds. If it's lower, your character fails.

Example: Cev is at the controls of an airspeeder—kind of like the snowspeeders in The Empire Strikes Back—racing through a canyon. Up ahead, the canyon narrows into a tight passage.

Cev's repulsorlift operation skill is 5D. The gamemaster decides that the difficulty number is 18. George rolls a 22; Cev races through the opening without a scratch!

If George had rolled a 17 or less, Cev would have failed. maybe he only would have scraped the rocks, rocking the speeder for a second or two. If the roll was bad enough, maybe Cev would have crashed his speeder!

Example: Cev is going to ride a tauntaun for the first time. The gamemaster tells George to make a beast riding roll—beast riding is a Mechanical skill. Since Cev doesn't have any extra skill dice in beast riding, George just rolls his Mechanical attribute of 3D...and Cev hangs on for dear life.

Opposed Rolls

If your character is acting against another character, you are making an opposed roll: you roll your skill dice, while the other character rolls his skill dice. Whoever rolls higher succeeds.

Example: Cev is shooting at a stormtrooper. Cev rolls his blaster skill (4D+2) to hit; the stormtrooper dodges (skill of 4D) to get out of the way.

Cev rolls a 15. The stormtrooper rolls a 17—the stormtrooper dodges out of the way of the incoming laser blast. If Cev had rolled a 17 or higher, the shot would have blasted the stormtrooper.

Actions in a Round

The game is broken down into rounds; each round is about five seconds of game time.

Your character can perform one action in a round. Roll the skill or attribute die code for that action.

Characters can try to do more than one action in a round, but it's harder to do more than one thing at once.

If a character tries two things, lose one die (-1D) from every skill roll.

If a character tries three things, lose two dice (-2D) from every skill roll.

If a character tries four things, they lose three dice (-3D) from every skill roll, and so forth.

Example: Cev is racing through the streets while several thugs are shooting at him. George decides that Cev will fire his blaster twice—once at each thug—and dodge to try to get out of the way.

That's three actions in a round, so Cev loses -2D for all of his skill rolls. Cev's blaster skill roll is 4D+2, so he only rolls 2D+2 for each blaster shot. For his dodge he uses his Dexterity, which is 3D+2. After subtracting the -2D, Cev only gets to roll 1D+2 for his dodge.

The Wild Die

One of the dice you roll should be of a different color than the others. This is called your "Wild Die." Anytime you roll skill or attribute dice, pay special attention to what you roll on the Wild Die.

If the Wild Die comes up at a 2, 3, 4 or 5, just add it to the total normally.

If the Wild Die comes up as a 6, you add the six to your score, but also tell the gamemaster. He will have you roll that die again—add the new roll to your score, too. If it comes up as a 6 again, add the six and roll the die again—and keep on doing so as long as you get sixes.

If the Wild Die comes up as a 1, tell the gamemaster. He will have you do one of three things:

• Just add it to the total normally.
• Subtract that die and your other highest die from the total.
• Add it to the total normally, but the gamemaster will warn you that a complication happened—something unusual (and probably bad) has happened that livens things up for your character.

See also

• Characters
• Attributes and Skills