Star Wars House Rules



Upgraded Brawling
Being a big fan of cinematic brawling- anything from Indy and the Bald Nazi to almost anything out of Hong Kong, I found the Star Wars rules... lacking. One or two good, solid punches and the other person drops like a bad habit. I then took steps to correct that perceived design flaw, the result you see before you.

Mechanics-
The first part of the Upgraded Brawling is: For every 3D you have above your base strength in your Brawling skill, you get +1D for damage purposes. So, Ren, who has a 3D+1 base strength and a 9D+1 brawling skill then gets a total of 3D+1 plus 3D for a total of 6D+1 when she pops a thug upside his head. (You might think this an amazingly generous bonus- suddenly Ren's fist is doing more damage than a Heavy Blaster Pistol! Not in the context of the next part of the rule- read on)

This reflects the fact that with that level of skill, the brawler has a much greater level of control on how and where she hits the opponent. Jackie Chan may not be that much stronger than your Common Man, but his hits are much more devastating.

The second part of the brawling upgrade is a reworking of the damage rules. Being a big fan of fisticuffs- be it Jackie in Rumble in the Bronx or Indy and the Bald Nazi going at it. However in Star Wars, two good swings and the foe goes down. This is not fun or interesting. So, I propose a slight re-working of the damage rules. Normally it goes:

Dazed (called it that to avoid the stunned or shot on stun and Stunned confusion)
Wounded
Wounded twice
Incapacitated
Dead

With the new way of figuring damage, when someone is using a blunt object- a fist, stick, chair, what have you, non-lethal damage starts occurring. It goes like this...
Damage Roll > than Str
0-3Brawl Dazed-1D for this round
4-8Wounded-2D for rest of this round and the next
9-12Wounded Twice-1D for rest of the combat
13-15Incapacitated-2D for the rest of the combat
16-18Mortal WoundTarget is knocked out
Then continue the Damage Table as normal:
Damage Roll > than Str
19-22Wound
23-26Wound Twice
27-30Incapacitated
31-33Mortal Wound
34+Dead

You still can kill an opponent with a stick or your fists, you just have to go around the damage list once.

An example-
Ren and a Generic Thug are in a fight. Ren's Strength is 3D+1, the thugs is 3D. Ren, with her 9D+1 brawling manages to connect with Thug easily. She gets a 22 for damage, the Thug gets a 11, so Ren Brawling wounds him twice (-1D for the rest of this fight).

Ren manages to block the incoming blow and then connects again. She rolls a 39 (got a 6 on the wild die once) for damage, Thug gets a 16 for resisting. She beats him by 23. Under normal rules this would kill him, but with the new setup, she only knocks him out and gives him a real wound twice (-2D until healed when he wakes up- she broke his arm or something)

Drinking Rules

Smugglers, pirates and Players love to party like it's 2199. These rules give you a guideline on how the handle the mechanics of such a binge. Following the damage table below, roll the Stamina or the Hold Liquor specialization, and compare it to the damage code of the alcohol consumed. Apply the indicated result and away you go!

The damage the drink inflicts is the proof of the alcohol- IE: Everclear does more damage than Zima. Also, all drinks are cumulative

Drink Damage
> Stamina
Results
0-5 Buzzed: -1D x30 minutes
6-10 Drunk: -2D+2 x1 hour
11-15 Hammered: -3D+1 x1.5 hours
16-20 Wasted: -3D+2 x3 hours
21-25 Plowed: incapacitated, but may be resuscitated by artificial means. -4D x6 hours
26-30 Passed out: incapacitated, but may be resuscitated. -5D x8 hours
31+ Alcohol Poisoning: +1 Wound level for every 5

After the allotted time has passed, all drinking damage has been healed and dice lost have been recovered (except for alcohol poisoning). However, even though the drunkard has recovered, the character is still -1D from the hangover and morning fuzziness. This last for 1/2 the time it took the character to recover (duration for a hangover from a Wasted level is 1.5 hours, and so on).

The dice loss applies to everything- except the Stamina/Hold liquor dice. That remains unaffected during the drinking binge.

An example-
Sidney and Jared decide to test their manliness in a drinking contest. Jared starts slow with a Cloud City Foo-Foo (+2 damage) and rolls a 18 (with his 6D Stamina)- he's fine, for now. Sid (with an 8D Hold Booze), jumps to the hard stuff right away, downing a pitcher of lum in one shot. The damage is 16, and Sid rolls a 28- he too is fine.

Jared, not to be outdone, moves on to the mixed drinks. He gulps down an afterburner for 17 damage (2D+1, a 6 on the wild die and the +2 from the Foo Foo), and gets a 28. Sid, goes for the gusto, and slams a Tatooine Sunrise for 35. and he only gets a 28- The damage exceeded his roll, making him officially drunk.

For the next round of drinks, Jared detoxifies the alcohol in his system and watches his drinking buddy. Sid, slams a Starshine Suprize for 44 damage. Sid, with a lousy roll gets a 18, a 1 on the wild die, and promptly passes out in his nachos.

Some Sample Drinks
Mixed Drinks Damage Code
Afterburner 8D/drink
Cassandran Choholl 1D+2/drink
Corellian Whiskey 1D+2/drink
Elshandruu Pica Thundercloud 1D/drink
Eth fire water 2D+2/drink
Flameout 2D+1/drink
Hoojib's Revenge 1D/drink
Meltdown 1D+2/drink (a narcotic hallucinogen)
Pink Lizard Thunderbolt 1D+1/drink
Reactor Core 1D/drink (a narcotic hallucinogen)
Renan Irongut +2/sip, 2D/guzzle
Revenge of the Jedi 6D/drink
StarShine Suprize 3D/drink
Savareen Brandy 1D/drink
Tatooine Sunburn 5D/drink
Beers and Laugers Damage Code
Bidziil 2D/drink
Dantic +1/drink, 1D/pitcher
Daranu +2/drink
FozBeer +1/drink
Lum 3D/pitcher
Rodian Ale 1D+2/drink
Ryll Beer +1/drink
Skannbult Likker +1/drink
Thuris Stout +2/drink

These Damage codes assume peak condition of the drinker under optimal drinking conditions. If the drinker has not had anything to eat all day, add 2D to the overall damage aginst him (Rodian Ale plus Tatooine Sunburn after not eating= 9D+2).

Star Wars Rules Upgrade
Once upon a time, West End Games promised to put the Star Wars Rules Upgrade on the web. However they have no real web presence, so I leap in to fill the void. We now proudly present The Star Wars Rules V2.1.