Core Rules Introduction

The *Star Wars* films depict an amazing galaxy of strange aliens, wonderous machinery, mystical powers, epic struggles, great heroes, and terrible villains. Fron the moment the first Star Destroyer blazed across the screen, the story of *Star Wars* captivated the world. With this game, you can re-create the story of the films or create your own adventures in the *Star Wars* universe. All you need is some dice, a few friends, and your imagination.

## This Is Star Wars

Blasters; X-wing starfighters; lightsabers; clone troopers; the Force…
      *Star Wars* is space fantasy at its best, full of action, adventure, and a sense of wonder. the heroes are larger than life. The villains are utterly evil. The universe has a lived-in, well-used look and feel to it. It’s a familiar story, but it’s never been told quite this way before. It has mystic elements that speak to the heart of the audience. It’s epic in scope; everything appears on a grand scale. And it’s fun. Vehicles move very fast. Things blow up. We want to cheer for the good guys and boo the bad guys. And, sometimes, we want to be a part of that faraway galaxy.

## This Is a Roleplaying Game

It’s a game of your imagination, where you get to tell stories by taking on roles of the main characters—characters you create. It’s a game that offers a multitude of choices to those characters—more choices than even the most sophisticated computer game, because the only limit to what you can do is what you can imagine. The story is like a movie, except all of the action takes place in your imagination. There’s no script to the movie (other than a rough outline use by the Gamemaster); you decide what your character says and does. The Gamemaster is the director and special effects designer, deciding what the story is about and taking on the roles of all the other characters—the villains, the extras, the special guest stars. The Gamemaster also keeps track of the rules, interprets the outcome of actions, and describes what happens. Together, players and Gamemaster create a story, and everybody has a great time.

## This Is the Star Wars Roleplaying Game

Combine the fabulous elements of the *Star Wars* universe with the imagination-powered engine of a roleplaying game, and the faraway galaxy draws nearer. Everything you need is in this book except the dice. Check out **The Basics** (see below) to get an idea of the fundamentals of the game.
      When you’re ready, browse through the rest of the sections for this book (Core Rules). It offers a wealth of options, allowing you to play in any *Star Wars* era. It lets you play the good guys, the bad guys, or the guys in between if you want to add a little ambiguity to an otherwise black-and-white universe.
      When you ply the *Star Wars Roleplaying Game*, you create a unique fictional character that lives in the imaginations of you and your friends. One person in the game, the Gamemaster (GM), controls the villains and other people who live in the *Star Wars* universe. Through your characters, you and your friends face the dangers and explore the mysteries that your Gamemaster sets before you.
      Anything is possible in the *Star Wars Roleplaying Game*. You can have your character try anything you can think of. If it sounds good and the dice fall in your favor, the action succeeds. **The Basics** section below has more details.
      Now get ready. It’s a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away. And the Force is with you. Enjoy!

## Characters

Your characters are the stars of the movie, the main characters in the game. We sometimes refer to them as “heroes,” not in the “good guy” sense per se, but in the sense of the main protagonists of the story. Each character’s imaginary life is different. Your character might be…

* A tough blaster-for-hire
* A Padawan learner seeking to gain power in the Force.
* A brash starfighter pilot.
* A gambler looking to make the next big score.
* A grizzled spacer making a living on the space lanes.
* A smuggler with a heart of gold.
* A young senator from a prosperous world.
* A Rebel spy.
* A Jedi Knight wielding a lightsaber in defense of the Republic.
* A galactic scout exploring the hyperspace lanes.
* A soldier trained for war in the Outer Rim.
* Or any other kind of character you can imagine.

## What You Need to Play

Here’s what you need to start playing the *Star Wars Roleplaying Game*:

* The Core rulebook, which tells you how to create and play your character.
* A copy of the character sheet.
* A pencil and some scratch paper (or your favorite text editor/word processor).
* One or two four-sided dice (d4), four or more six-sided dice (d6), an eight-sided die (d8), two ten-sided dice (d10), a twelve-sided die (d12), and a twenty-sided die (d20). CONTRIBUTOR’S NOTE: In my experience, adding three of each type of die to your dice collection saves on having to reroll dice when the dice pool gets larger, and also allows one to switch out dice for when they eventually misbehave.
* A miniature from the *Star Wars Minatures Game* line to represent your character. CONTRIBUTOR’S NOTE: Lego® *Star Wars*™ figures are fun to use instead, though they are a little oversized for one-inch scale.

## Dice

The rules abbreviate dice rolls with phrases such as “4d6+2,” which means “four six-sided dice plus 2” (generating a number between 6 and 26). The first number tells you how many dice to roll (all of which are added together), the number after the “d” tells you what type of dice to use, and any number after that indicates a quantity that is added or subtracted from the result.
      Some examples:
      **3d6:** Three six-sided dice, generating a number from 3 to 18. This is the amount of damage that a blaster pistol deals.
      **2d8:** Two eight-sided dice, generating a number from 2 to 16. This is the amount of damage that a lightsaber deals in the hands of a 1st-level Jedi.

## The Three Eras of Play

The *Star Wars Roleplaying Game* support adventure and campaigns set in many different eras, three of which are described in detail on this site. You can set your campaign in the time of the prequel movies (Episodes I-III). Known as the Rise of the Empire era, this is a period when the Republic’s power is waning, war grips the galaxy, and the Jedi Council still holds sway over ten-thousand Jedi Knights. This time period pre-dates the Empire but includes the tumultuous Clone Wars.
      Or you can go forward in time to the classic period of galactic civil war and play in the Rebellion era, when the power of the Empire is supreme and those capable of using the Force are few and far between. This is the time described in the original *Star Wars* films (Episodes IV-VI).
      Or, jump to a time twenty years after the Battle of Endor and participate in the events surrounding the invasion of the galaxy. Aliens from beyond the edge of known space have begun an incursion into the New Republic as forces conspire to threaten the hard-won peace in the era of the New Jedi Order (as described in the Del Rey Books (now Random House) novel series).
      In addition, the rules on this site can be used to support campaigns set in other eras. For example, in the distant past the Jedi and Sith warred for the fate of the galaxy, as described in Dark Horse Comics’ *Tales of the Jedi* and  *Knights of the Old Republic* series, as well as the *Knights of the Old Republic* video game series. Alternately, you may choose to set your game in the Legacy era, as popularized in Dark Horse Comics’ *Legacy* series: Forty years after the New Jedi Order era, the Empire has once again risen to power and the Sith have regained control of the galaxy. Although these time periods are not explicitly covered in the Core Rulebook, the rules herein can be used as a basis for play in these eras.

## The Basics

A longtime ago in a galaxy far, far away…
      With this compelling phrase, every *Star Wars* film thunder onto the screen. These epic movies enthrall us with a mix of space fantasy, high adventure, and mythology. We thrill to the adventures of Luke Skywalker and Han Solo, Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi, Anakin Skywalker and Padmé Amidala. We imagine ourselves piloting X-wing starfighters down the Death Star trench or engaging in fight-to-the-death lightsaber duels with Darth Maul, Count Dooku, or General Grievous.
      With the *Star Wars Roleplaying Game*, you can experience this epic saga in a whole new way. Imagine yourself as a Jedi in training or a Republic Senator, a brave starfighter pilot or a powerful Wookiee. Whether you want to be a player or the Gamemaster, this site is your portal to the action-packed *Star Wars* galaxy.

### The Core Mechanic

The *Star Wars Roleplaying Game* uses a core mechanic to resolve all actions. This central game rule keeps play fast and intuitive. Whenever you want to attempt an action that has some chance of failure, you roll a twenty-sided die (or “d20”). To determine whether your character succeeds at a task (such as an attack or the use of a skill), you do this:

* Roll a d20.
* Add any relevant modifiers.
* Compare the result to a target number.

      If the result equals or exceeds the target number (set by the GM or given in the rules), your character succeeds at the task at hand. If the result is lower than the target number, you fail.

### The Gamemaster

When you play the *Star wars Roleplaying Game*, you’re participating in an interactive story. Players take on the roles of unique characters, called heroes. One player serves as the Gamemaster, a combination director, narrator, and referee. The GM describes situations, asks the players what their characters want to do, and resolves these actions according to the rules of the game. the GM sets each scene, keeps the story moving, and takes on the roles of the opponents and other characters that the players’ heroes encounter in each adventure. If you’re the GM, you should read through all sections of the Core Rules; you don’t need to memorize it, but you do need to have an idea of where to find things once play begins.

### Heroes

If you’re a player, you take the role of a hero—one of the “stars” of the *Star Wars* saga that you, the other players, and the GM all help to develop. You create your character with the help of the game rules that follow, according to your own vision for the type of hero you want to play. As your character participates in adventures, they gain experience points (XP) that help them improve and become more powerful.
      For more information, see Character Creation.

## Game Play

This overview gives you enough of the basics to get a feel for how this roleplaying game works. The chapters that follow take these basic concepts and expand upon them.
      **Important!** You don’t have to memorize the contents of this site to play the game. It's a game, not homework. Once you understand the basics, start playing! Use this site as a reference during play. The table of contents, categories, and the search bar up top should help you find a specific topic easily. When in doubt, stick to the basics, keep playing, and have fun. You can always look up an obscure rule after your game session ends, but remember that you don 4t have to sweat the details in the middle of play.

### Rolling Dice

We’ve already explained the basic rule that forms the foundation of the game—roll a d20, add a modifier, and try to get a result that’s equal to or greater than the target number. Whenever your character tries to accomplish something significant, the GM asks you to roll a d20.
      **Important!** Not every action requires a die roll. Roll dice in combat and other dramatic situations when the success of an action is in doubt.
      The d20 is used to determine results in combat and when making skill and ability checks. In other words, the d20 determines whether or not you succeed at an action.
      The other dice (d4, d6, d8, d10, and d12) are used to determine what happens after you succeed. Usually, the other dice come into play after making a successful attack roll to determine how much damage the attack deals to the target.

### A Game Session

In the *Star Wars Roleplaying Game*, the Gamemaster and players get together to tell a story through the play of the game. We call these group-created stories “adventurees.” A *Star Wars* adventure features plenty of action, lots of opportunities for combat, cool villains, epic plots, and a sense of wonder and grandeur.
      Typically, the game consists of adventures that resemble episodes in the movie saga. One adventure might play out in a single game session; another might stretch across several evenings of play. A session can last as long as you’re comfortable playing, from as short as one hour to as long as a 12-hour marathon. Most groups get together and play for two to four hours at a time. The game can be stopped at any time and restarted when the players get back together.
      Each adventure consists of interrelated scenes. A scene might feature some kind of challenge or roleplaying encounter, or it could revolve around combat. When there’s no combat going on, play is much more casual. The GM describes the scene and asks the players what their characters do. When combat breaks out, game play becomes more structured, and the action takes place in rounds.

### What Characters Can Do

A character can try to do anything you can imagine, just so long as it fits the scene the GM describes. Depending on the situation, your character might want to:

* Listen at the door
* Use a computer terminal
* Explore a location
* Converse with an alien
* Bargain with a merchant
* Intimidate a thug
* Talk to an ally
* Pilot a vehicle
* Search for a clue
* Bluff an official
* Repair an item
* Swing across a repulsorlift shaft
* Move
* Duck behind a bulkhead
* Attack an opponent

      Characters accomplish these things by making skill checks, ability checks, or attack rolls, all of which entail a modified d20 roll.

## What’s Next?

If you’re new to roleplaying games, you might be wondering how to proceed. After you’ve read over these basics to get an understanding of the game, check out **The First Game Session** (see below). This example of play provides some insight into how a roleplaying game session plays out. Then review the first few chapters of the Character Creation category. When you’re ready, use the Character Creation overview and a copy of the character sheet to create a character. When you, your Gamemaster, and the other players are ready, start playing!

### Setup

After you’ve created a hero, get together with the rest of your gaming group for your first adventure. Prior to this, the GM has developed a story line for the adventure. They might buy a complete, ready-to-play adventure or grab one off the Internet. Alternately, the GM might developed one using the guidelines in **Gamemastering**.
      Pick a convenient time when you and your friends can spend a few hours playing the *Star Wars Roleplaying Game*. Decide on how much time you want to spend playing. (Two to four hours is a good length for a game session.)Where should you play the game? Anywhere that’s comfortable. The place should have a flat surface to roll dice on, such as a kitchen table. The GM sits so that the other players can’t look over their shoulder or peek at their adventure notes. The GM needs enough room to spread out any materials they might have for the game session, including other *Star Wars* books, a battle map, miniatures, a pencil or pen, dice, and their adventure notes.

### General Advice

The first couple of game sessions you play might be a little uneven as everyone learns how the game works and gets comfortable with the idea of roleplaying. Remember that these rules are guidelines, a framework and structure for playing *Star Wars* adventures in a roleplaying game environment. A roleplaying game is a living game; it evolves and develops as you paly it. If something isn’t working for your group, and the entire group agrees, make a change. But wait until you’ve played a few times with the official rules before you decide to tinker.

### The First Game Session

You and your friends have reviewed the basic rules and created 1st-level characters. Your Gamemaster has reviewed the rules and is ready to run her first adventure. You’ve agreed upon a time and place to play. Then the time arrives and the game begins!
      Sitting around the table, with dice an snacks scattered in all directions, the players gather, Michele is the GM. She takes her place at the head of the table. Chris sits in the next seat; he's running Sia-Lan, a female Jedi. Next to Chris is Mike, practicing his Wookiee sounds to inject a little authenticity into his character, Rorworr the scout. Across the table, Penny makes some last-minute notes on her character sheet, adding a little more detail to Vor’en the soldier. Next to Penny, Brian anxiously waits to get started. He’s running Deel Surool, the crafty scoundrel.
      Michelle has selected a number of *Star Wars* miniatures from her collection to use in tonight’s game. The figures will help the players visualize the action in certain situations and will speed along play. She’s got a miniature to represent each of the players’ characters, and she places them in the middle of the table. She leaves a few others hidden on the floor beside her. She’ll use these later to represent opponents that will challenge and compete with the heroes.
      Michelle doesn’'t have a specific character for herself. While the players each run a single hero, the Gamemaster narrates the story, adjudicates the rules, and plays all of the GM characters—the supporting cast that serves as allies and opponents for the heroes.
      Anyway, it looks like everyone’s ready to get started. Michelle answers a few last-minute rules questions, then begins the game.

**Michele (GM):** *A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away…it is the time of the Republic, about twenty-two years before the days of the Empire and the first Death Star battle station. Supreme Chancellor Palpatine leads the republic, Mace Windu and Yoda lead the Jedi Council, and the start of the Clone Wars is still a few weeks away.
      You’re in a spaceport cantina on Corellia, a prominent world in the galactic core. The place is pretty busy for a weekday afternoon, though it’s not packed to capacity. You see humans an a variety of other species drinking, laughing, and talking quietly near the bar, in shadowy booths, and at a scattering of freestanding tables. Among those you see are the other players’ characters. Why don’t you each take a moment to describe yourselves?*
      **Chris (Sia-Lan):** *You see a young woman with brown hair sitting alone in one of the booths. She’s sipping a clar liquid and watching the crowd. Her hairstyle and outfit mark her as a Jedi. She’s a Padawan learner, if any of you know anything about the specifics of the Jedi order. She has a lightsaber hanging at her side, but it’s probably hidden beneath the table.*
      **Mike (Rorworr):** *There’a a young male Wookie standing at the bar. He’s exchanging words with the bartender. He’s tall, but perhaps a bit thin when compared to other Wookiees you may have seen. He’s got a bowcaster slung across his back, and he’s nursing a huge mug of some foamy liquid.*
      **Penny (Vor’en):** *My character sits in a corner booth, his back to the wall as he nonchalantly studies the crowd. He’s got dark eyes and an intense gaze, and he looks strong and capable. He’s wearing bits and pieces of light body armor. If he has any weapons—and you’re sure he does—they’re either hidden under the table or in the booth’s darker shadows.*
      **Brian (Deel):** *You also see a young male Twi’lek—you know, the guys with the head-tails, like Bib Fortuna—sitting at one of the tables in the middle of the room. He’s playing sabacc with a few of the spacers, and it looks like he’s begun to amass more than his share of credits.*
      **Michele (GM):** *Okay. You’ve all noticed each other, but you don’t know each other yet. Before anything else happens, why don’t each of you make a Perception check for me?*
      The players each roll a d20 and add their Perception skill modifier to get a result. If a character doesn’t have the Perception skill as a trained skill, the player still gets to apply their Wisdom modifier (if any) to the roll. After all the players have made the skill check, they let the GM know the results.
      **Chris (Sia-Lan):** *Sia-Lan got a 15.*
      **Mike (Rorworr):** *17 for Rorworr!*
      **Penny (Vor’en):** *I rolled an 8.*
      **Brian (Deel):** *The amazingly perceptive Deel Surool got a 22.*
      Michele consults her notes, checking to see what the DC for the Perception check is. She nods and makes a note or two, just to keep the players guessing.
      **Michele (GM):** *Vor’en the soldier, even though he’s watching the room, fails to notice something that the rest of you successfully spot. The rest of you see a Human male who looks a lot like Senator Alastar Treen of Corulag. He’s dressed like most of the other spacers in the cantina, and he’s deep in conversation with a Rodian female.
      Just then, you all see the cantina doors slide open as a group of tough-looking thugs enters the room. The bartender yells, “Hey, no blasters in here!” He ducks behind the door, just in time, as one of the thugs casually fires a blaster bolt in his direction. There are four thugs—two humans, a Rodian, and a Gamorrean. the Gamorrean wields a vibroblade, and the other three are armed with blaster pistols. The Gamorrean grunts something foul and gestures toward the table where the senator is sitting.
      “For the Separatists!” shouts one of the Humans with a sneer as he prepares to target Senator Treen.
      Everyone make an Initiative check!*
      The players each roll a d20 and add their Initiative skill modifier to get a result. If a character doesn’t have the Initiative skill as a trained skill, the player still gets to apply their Dexterity modifier (if any) to the roll. Michele rolls a single Initiative check for the group of thugs, and one for the disguised senator and his companion.
      **Chris (Sia-Lan):** *Sia-Lan got an 18.*
      **Mike (Rorworr):** *10 for Rorworr!*
      **Penny (Vor’en):** *Vor’en got a 12.*
      **Brian (Deel):** *The fast-acting Deel Surool got a 15.*
      Michele writes down the initiative order, from highest result, to lowest. She jots down:
      Sia-Lan 18
      Deel 15
      Thugs 13 (her roll)
      Vor’en 12
      Rorworr 10
      Senator 7 (her roll)
      **Michele (GM):** *The thugs look like they’re gunning for the senator. Sia-Lan, what are you going to do?*
      **Chris (Sia-Lan):** *I leap out of the booth and position myself between the senator and the thugs as my first move action. As my second move action I draw my lightsaber. As a free action, I activate the lightsaber and shout, “This man is under the protection of the Jedi Knights!”*
      **Michele (GM):** *Your lightsaber hums to life. Deel, you’re next. What are you going to do?*
      **Brian (Deel):** *Helping a senator and a Jedi could be profitable. Deel tips his table over and crouches behind it to get some cover. I guess that’s a move action. Then he pulls out his blaster for his second move action.*
      **Michele (GM):** *When the table crashes onto its side, sabacc card-chips and credits scatter across the floor. The spacers you were playing with dive for cover.*
      **Brian (Deel):** *Oops, I forgot about the sabacc game in all the excitemnt. No matter, I guess. Most of the credits belonged to Deel, anyway.*
      **Michele (GM):** *The thugs act next. The two humans each take a shot at the Jedi who’s standing between tem and the senator. the Rodian thug takes ashot at Deel, and the Gamorrean rushes forward to slice at the Jedi with his vibroblade.*
      **Chris (Sia-Lan):** *I’m going to use the table next to me to protect myself from the blaster shots.*
      **Michele (GM):** *Sure. That gives you cover against all the thugs, but increases your Reflex Defense by +4.*
      Michele makes the attack roll for the two thugs. the first one gets an 11. The second one gets a 19.
      Sia-Lan’s Reflex Defense when she uses cover to protect herself is 19. That means she blocks the first bolt, but the second bolt gets through.
      Michele rolls 3d6 damage for the successful blaster pistol attack. the total is 11. Sia-Lan has 22 hit points, so the attack reduces her hit points to 11.
      The rest of the round continues, with Michele finishing up the thug’s actions, the Vor’en, Rorworr, and Senator Treen acting in turn. Each round plays out in this order until one side is defeated or flees. Then the heroes would get a chance to meet each other and find out why the senator is in disguise and under attack. And so begins this *Star Wars* adventure!

Notes
There may have been some modification and/or removal of text from the original text written in the book. This was done for one or more reasons including but not limited to:

* To remove unnecessary redundancy, repetitiveness, or outright errors.
* Because the original formatting does not lend itself well to the web/wiki environment.
* The original text has been updated due to official errata.

In all cases, this contributor is confident that the context and meaning of the original text has not been compromised as a result of these edits. Edits that affect stats or that might have an impact on gameplay should contain reference notes on what was changed and why.