I'm working on a reskin of Shadowrun 4A to a system for a Star Wars game. I'm not done, but I wanted to share what I have so far.

Click here for Google doc

Thoughts? Questions?

Flames?

Depending on how much work you want to do, I'd recommend researching the 3 big Star Wars games: the old West End Games version, the d20 (revised) one, and the new Fantasy Flight one.

Instead of Adept/MysAd, I'd use the Magician rules for standard Jedi/Sith. Magic = Force (like The Force, not Spell Force). Create three Force skills (Control, Sense, Alter -- fairly standard to Star Wars RPGs). Then write abbreviated spell lists from the lore. Heal, Improved Attribute, Improved Reflexes, Control Thoughts, Armor, and plenty of others can be adapted cleanly. Then use Force + Control or Force + Sense or Force + Alter for each of those spell (Force Power) categories.

The Magic/Force part would be a very quick rewrite. You might want to add some spells like Force Leap and Force Speed that follow the general movie/RPG/lore lines (Force Leap: each net hit on the test propels you up to 10m toward your target, etc).

No Astral.

I'd also consider gutting most of the cyberware and Matrix for simplicity. Slicing could be more Logic+Computer vs System Rating, and less involved that Shadowrun, since computer hacking isn't a major focus of Star Wars. Some 'ware can be adapted, but I wouldn't add in stuff like Wired Reflexes and the like. Cybernetic implants are fairly common in the Knights of the Old Republic computer game setting, but they're pretty rare otherwise.

I'd suggest trying to cut down on +IP modifiers, anyway, except for Jedi and maybe some super-rare things (maybe some combat droids?) because for the most part Star Wars is gunslinger/western in space with lots of movement and running fights, and not '3 second blur-fast shootout' like Shadowrun.

I tried something similar a few years back (before SR4A) and came to mostly the same conclusions. I'd probably suggest Jedi using Log + Int for drain whereas the sith use Cha + Int instead. I ended up just using the whip as is mostly (with reach 1 to match other swords) though but I agree that the game changes over fairly easily. Nice job so far. At this point though, I'd probably recommend trying to draw new players in with the "current" version of the game, namely SR5.

I really like this idea. So much so, in fact, that I've spent the last week or two trying to organize my thoughts into house rules to make Star Wars work in SR4A.

Here's what I have so far:

Armor Thoughts

Attributes and Skills

Character Creation

Cyberware Thoughts

The Force

Weapon List

I incorporated most of the suggestions in this thread. The only one I'm really concerned about is the hacking/slicing thing. I would like slicing to be more involved than just a single skill check, but I'm not sure how to do it without a VR Matrix. Also, I think the wireless hacking they started in SR4 and expanded on in SR5 is cool, but I don't know how to keep it balanced and fun. I would also have to make assumptions about ubiquitous wireless networks and the like, which are not usually addressed in Star Wars.

To the OP, if you are still working on this yourself, please use any of my stuff you like. To everyone else, please comment with your thoughts or suggestions, either here or by commenting on my google docs.

A couple thoughts for you guys.

A lot of the SR5 mechanics would really help here. Specifically:

1) One 'attack action' per action phase. Combined with the burst mechanic, this would cut down on too many overkill actions like getting double-shot or +damage burst/auto.

2) Melee damage based on STR +, rather than STR/2 +. Melee attacks are very viable in Star Wars.

3) Armor ratings, rather than Ballistic/Impact. The armor rules in general.

4) REA + INT for defending, rather than just REA.

5) Weapon accuracy.

So sample weapons might be:
Vibrosword
Acc 5, DV (STR+3), AP -2, Reach 1

BlasTech DL-44 Heavy Blaster Pistol
Acc 4, DV 8P, AP -2, Semi-Auto, 50©

Sample armor might be:
Stormtrooper Armor, Armor Rating 12 (including helmet) (it's really not that great)
Blast Vest, Armor Rating 10
Armored Flightsuit, Armor Rating 8
Armored Clothing, Armor Rating 6
Jedi Robes, Armor Rating 9

Then something fancy like a lightsaber might be:
Acc (Force), DV (Force + 4)P, AP (-Force), Reach 1
(or Acc 3, DV 6P, AP -3, Reach 1 in the hands of a non Force user)
Where (Force) is the Force stat of the wielder.

In general, I'd suggest dropping Conjuring/Summoning altogether. You very very very infrequently encounter 'free spirits' usual some sith dude or somesuch.

I wouldn't say melee is viable - lightsabers are viable, so they should probably do Strx2 damage or something. I dunno about the one attack option - I think that's a terrible rule that causes more problems than it fixes. Limits are a stupid mechanic, so drop accuracy.

For slicing, you might just want to say wireless in non-viable and you need to directly jack in for everything, but cybernetic enhancements were relatively common even in the movies.

I prefer SR4A to SR5, but I have considered some parts of SR5 that would be easy to house-rule into SR4 to make it better. In particular, the REA+INT for dodge makes a lot of sense for Star Wars, but also makes it so most characters will miss more often than they hit, which is frustrating.



I agree that I don't like the One Attack Action rule from SR5, but it may work for the Star Wars universe since combat is a lot slower than in the Shadowrun universe. On the other hand, I have already removed everything that gives extra initiative passes, so maybe limiting everyone to one attack per round is too much.

Have you ever played the old Knights of the Old Republic game from Bioware? They had quite a few implants that you can get for your character... here is a link for them.

I have played KotOR I and II, but I felt like the implants were just in that game for min-maxing, not really for story reasons.

However, I am realizing that cyberware is more common that I thought. I don't know about the OP, but when I was writing down my ideas I was mostly just thinking about Luke and Vader's cyberlimbs. Then I remembered Lobot and realized cyberware is more prevalent than just limb replacement.

I wish that Jedi could not have gotten those implants, but those implants make sense in the SW universe. Think about it, if Jedi and Sith are so bad-ass, you need SOMETHING to help even the odds... something that doesn't equal throwing 50 guys at the slot and praying for a miracle.

At least to me, it always seemed that Cyberware (Limbs especially) were, for the most part, only replacements, not actual augments/boosts. There were exceptions, of course (Lobot, for instance).

The trick is that cybernetic enhancements in Star Wars (ignoring KOTOR) are largely nonspecific. No one appears to become lightning fast or super-strong, they're mostly just window-dressing.

Indeed... They seemed to be VERY non-specific in nature.