Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game
From Wookieepedia, the Star Wars wiki.
Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game was the first licensed roleplaying game set in the Star Wars universe. It was published by West End Games from 1987 until they lost the license in 1998.
One player is the gamemaster who is in charge of the world, being something like the director and referee, while the other players have a single character or role to play. They have various skills and equipment and some can even use the Force.
Three versions of the main rulebook were published: first edition, second edition, and "Revised and Expanded" second edition. All three were based on West End Games' "D6" system.
The West End Games sourcebook collection is made of almost 100 books—not including second editions and compilations—plus 15 quarterly magazine issues under the title Star Wars Adventure Journal. They also edited several books related, but not belonging to the Roleplaying Game line, including Star Warriors, the board games Escape from Death Star and Assault on Hoth; the two-players game Lightsaber Dueling, the Introductory Adventure Game, Star Wars Miniatures Battles, the Live Action Adventures and single-player adventure books.
The material produced by West End Games was one of the major sources of Expanded Universe material before the publication of Heir to the Empire in 1991 sparked new interest in Star Wars publications. West End Games' material was popular amongst both players of the roleplaying game and Star Wars enthusiasts for its detailed information on the Star Wars galaxy at large as well as new information on new adventures and worlds unique from those covered in the films.
Being one of the first sources giving numbers and data to the universe shown in the films, several of the statements given by the sourcebooks have been deemed contradictory or have been retconned. Among of the most known are the SSD continuity issues and the Mon Calamari "discovery."
Since 1999, the license holder for publishing a Star Wars RPG is Wizards of the Coast, using their "D20" system. It is considered in some circles that the old pre-1999 incarnation is superior, but due to dwindling availability of old sources, the new edition tends to have more players. As for West End Games, in 2004 they started publishing D6 Space, a generic space opera game system based on the former Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game, but not including specific Star Wars content.
Among the RPG players, there are still many using the "D6" system; from West End Games old books, combining with the new D6 Space, or taking bits and converting from the "D20" system. Major Star Wars RPG websites support both "D6" and "D20" systems.
[edit] Behind the scenes
In the early 1990s, before the advent of the modern Internet, the FidoNet Star Wars Echo ran a message forum for playing the West End Games Star Wars Roleplaying Game on-line on BBS.
When Timothy Zahn was hired to write what became the Thrawn trilogy, he was sent a box of West End Games Star Wars books and directed to base his novel on the background material presented within. After the novel trilogy's success, West End Games created a series of sourcebooks inspired by Zahn's work.
