Star Wars Saga Edition vs Traveller
Compare Star Wars Saga Edition and Traveller side by side. See differences in complexity, dice, genre, cost, and more.
| Star Wars Saga Edition | Traveller | |
|---|---|---|
| Genre | Scifi | Scifi |
| Play Style | Licensed IP, Space Opera, Heroic, Cinematic, Character Building, Tactical | Sandbox, Simulation, Exploration, Deadly, Character Building, Faction Play |
| 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 2d6 + skill + modifier ≥ 8 to succeed. Character generation is a mini-game. |
| Dice | d20 | 2d6 |
| Complexity | Medium | Medium |
| Accessibility | Very Low | High |
| Runnability | High | Very High |
| License | Star Wars license (Wizards of the Coast, expired 2010) | Traveller Fair Use Policy |
| Cost | Unavailable | $$ |
| Publisher | Wizards of the Coast | Mongoose Publishing |
| Year | 2007 | 2022 |
| 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. | Hard sci-fi sandbox campaigns with trading, exploration, and realistic space 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 | Comprehensive sci-fi toolkit, lifepath character creation, detailed trade/travel systems |
| 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. | Lifepath character creation rolls for aging and career mishaps, so a Traveller can leave chargen weakened or pushed onto an unwanted path. Subsystem rules are spread across multiple supplements, so the core book leaves several procedures without full depth. Characteristics are recorded as a hexadecimal Universal Personality Profile string, an unusual notation newcomers must learn before they can read a stat block. |