Edge of Empire Beta
Would anyone really pay for the beta of a game? Er... hello!
I actually like the heart of Fantasy Flight's Warhammer 3rd Edition rules system so I was intrigued to see how it would work with the Star Wars universe.
There is some interesting stuff in the rules system as this is much more abstract than Warhammer and while it relies on special dice there are no additional cards and sub-mechanisms going on so the result is something a little leaner and slightly more cohesive. There are also some interesting indie game influences in the form of Obligation which represents the driving motivation behind the group. So Han's debt to Jabba ends up driving his story through the films.
However it is still intensely crunch heavy which is something of a turn off as the Fantasy Flight propensity for little, fiddly special rules is here. The design may be good but is never committed to finding the simplest answer to problems.
While the equivalent of Talents have been simplified and now take the form of Talent flows they are still more complicated than they need to be and there are a few examples of Talent I, II and III instead of creating a base effect and then allowing an extension to the base effect each time the ability is purchased again.
The book has a nice layout and the illustrations are excellent but I suspect that the rules wonkery that appealled in Warhammer is going to seem fiddly and tedious in the world of the space opera.
I actually like the heart of Fantasy Flight's Warhammer 3rd Edition rules system so I was intrigued to see how it would work with the Star Wars universe.
There is some interesting stuff in the rules system as this is much more abstract than Warhammer and while it relies on special dice there are no additional cards and sub-mechanisms going on so the result is something a little leaner and slightly more cohesive. There are also some interesting indie game influences in the form of Obligation which represents the driving motivation behind the group. So Han's debt to Jabba ends up driving his story through the films.
However it is still intensely crunch heavy which is something of a turn off as the Fantasy Flight propensity for little, fiddly special rules is here. The design may be good but is never committed to finding the simplest answer to problems.
While the equivalent of Talents have been simplified and now take the form of Talent flows they are still more complicated than they need to be and there are a few examples of Talent I, II and III instead of creating a base effect and then allowing an extension to the base effect each time the ability is purchased again.
The book has a nice layout and the illustrations are excellent but I suspect that the rules wonkery that appealled in Warhammer is going to seem fiddly and tedious in the world of the space opera.
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