Well, last night I finished Knights of the Old Republic for the second time. I did the light side first and then the dark side. I had heard how great the dark side ending was, so I want to see it for myself. Honestly, it was anti-climactic. I mean, what happens is cool is all, but it’s exactly what you’d expect from a dark side victory. I thought there’d be some final twist to make it exceptional. Nonetheless, KOTOR was quite excellent overall and very fun to play. It’s also the first electronic game I’ve actually finished since SSI’s Warhammer 40K game Chaos Gate (computer game fans may now gawk in disbelief).
It seems, however, that I am not done with Star Wars. My game group decided that SWd20 is the game I should run for the new campaign. We got together Thursday to make characters and talk a bit about the campaign and its tone. New players seemed to fit right in with the old hands, so that’s good. I gave them the option of playing a “Luke turns to the dark side on the second Death Star and he and Darth Vader now rule the Empire” campaign or a Knight of the Old Republic campaign. Only Rick was keen to do Rebellion Era, so KOTOR took it. I’m going to adapt a bunch of the weapons and equipment from the computer game, so I’ll be picking up the Prima strategy guide so I can use it as a faux RPG sourcebook.
This will be the first time I try the d20 Star Wars rules. I played the WEG game a bunch years ago, which had its quirks. Many of the classes in the d20 game seem to simply suck (like the fringer) and I’ve never really cared for the Wounds/Vitality system. Everyone always says how “cinematic” it is. To me, the idea that a stormtrooper can get a critical hit on a 20th level jedi and kill him outright is the exact opposite of cinematic. We’ll see how it works out in play.