Star Wars Saga Edition vs The Expanse Roleplaying Game
Compare Star Wars Saga Edition and The Expanse Roleplaying Game side by side. See differences in complexity, dice, genre, cost, and more.
| Star Wars Saga Edition | The Expanse Roleplaying Game | |
|---|---|---|
| Genre | Scifi | Scifi |
| Tags | Licensed IP, Space Opera, Heroic, Cinematic, Character Building, Tactical | Licensed IP, Space Opera, Ship-Based, Crunchy, Social Combat, Investigation, Faction Play, Social Intrigue, Strong GM Support, Tactical |
| Core Mechanic | Roll d20 + modifiers against a target number or opposed defense score. Three static defense values (Reflex, Fortitude, Will) replace saving throws. Trained skills grant a flat +5 bonus. A five-step Condition Track applies cumulative penalties as characters take damage, replacing hit-point attrition with escalating impairment. Force Points and Destiny Points provide narrative and mechanical resources for critical moments. | Roll three six-sided dice, two matched and one differently colored Drama Die, and add an ability score plus a focus bonus of +2 if applicable. The total must equal or beat a target number set by the GM or an opponent's result. Rolling doubles generates stunt points spent on combat, exploration, or social effects. The Drama Die's value sets the degree of success. |
| Dice | d20 | 3d6 |
| Complexity | Medium | High |
| Accessibility | Very Low | High |
| Runnability | High | Very High |
| License | Star Wars license (Wizards of the Coast, expired 2010) | All Rights Reserved |
| Third-Party Publishing | Not yet researched | No verified route found |
| Summary only, not legal advice. Check current terms before publishing. | ||
| Cost | Unavailable | $$ |
| Publisher | Wizards of the Coast | Green Ronin Publishing |
| Year | 2007 | 2019 |
| Languages | English | English |
| Best For | Star Wars fans who want a d20-based system with deep character customization through talent trees, covering all film eras from the Old Republic through the New Jedi Order. | Groups who want a character-focused science fiction campaign of crew jobs, faction pressure, and danger across the Solar System. It suits tables that want structured action, investigation, and social encounters alongside ship travel. |
| Highlights | Talent trees let two characters of the same class play differently based on branch selection, Condition Track creates escalating combat tension without binary alive-or-dead states, covers all major Star Wars eras with era-specific content in supplements, streamlined skill list consolidates the d20 System's skill bloat | Backgrounds, professions, talents, and focuses build characters with mechanical ties to their lives before the campaign begins. Action, exploration, and social encounters each use dedicated stunts, giving different kinds of scenes procedures beyond a single skill roll. The Churn turns accumulated complications into escalating story events, giving the Game Master a structured way to introduce setbacks. |
| Considerations | The game has been out of print since 2010 with no official digital release, so acquiring a copy means the secondary market. Force-using characters reach powers that can outpace non-Force party members at higher levels. Characters track a condition track alongside hit points and talent-tree choices, adding per-character bookkeeping over the d20 baseline it derives from. | Combat stunts are drawn from six separate category tables covering roughly sixty options, requiring both players and the GM to check charts mid-fight to keep pace. Ground and air vehicles receive no example statistics, leaving their combat rules almost entirely improvised. The forty-page setting guide summarizes the solar system's factions and history at a survey level, so groups wanting deeper political detail need outside reading of the novels. |