# Star Wars (WEG 1987) Oh, *Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game* from West End Games (1987) – because apparently, watching Luke Skywalker whine about power converters wasn't enough for some people. This game is basically the grandfather of all *Star Wars* RPGs, predating the era when *Star Wars* meant "Disney merchandizing machine." Why should anyone care? Well, this game is historic for one thing: it single-handedly expanded the *Star Wars* universe at a time when the only other source material was a couple of movies and some really bad holiday specials. Yes, that's right – this RPG filled in gaps with lore, characters, and settings that the later *Star Wars* universe would embrace and canonize. The game's influence is so profound that it practically wrote the blueprint for what *Star Wars* would become in the Expanded Universe. Mechanically, it uses the D6 System, which means players get to roll handfuls of six-sided dice and hope for the best. The system is praised for its simplicity and cinematic feel – perfect for those who like their space battles fast and their character deaths faster. It also introduced the infamous Wild Die, adding a layer of chaos to an already unpredictable galaxy. Historically, *Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game* from WEG is a cornerstone of RPG history. Not only did it rescue fans from the dreariness of *Return of the Jedi's* Ewoks, but it also set the stage for the way role-playing games would approach licensed properties. Think of it as the Jedi Master to your modern RPG Padawan. In short, if you’re a *Star Wars* fan with a love for dice and a tolerance for 1980s game design, this game is basically your holy grail. For everyone else, it's a curiosity from a time when the Force was strong with West End Games. ## Links - [The D6 Holocron](http://d6holocron.com/downloads/wegcore.html): This is pretty much it, the only place you can get the originals, though there are rumors of a new edition coming of the original WEG D6. We shall see. > [!note] Editor's Note > > For such a critical part of the TTRPG lexicon, there is a surprisingly small amount of discussion online. > > Given how influential it was, it always shocks me when I do a search to find out what is out there.