I've just returned from a fantastic GenCon 2006 in Indianapolis. It was a great convention this year. Of course, there were many new games and many new things for current games. Unlike last year, there didn't appear to be noticable shortages of newly released product.

I had hoped to post updates to my blog from the con, but was too busy to assemble a good post.

On the Star Wars games front, there was a lot of good news. I'll hit the major highlights below. However, much has already been reported elsewhere on the web, so instead of retyping everything yet again, I'll link to the best sources I've seen.

The big announcement was the resumption of the Star Wars Roleplaying Game line, starting with the March 2007 release of the Saga Edition. A line of supporting accessories and books is planned, but yet to be announced.

* It is d20 based (for those who remember, it is NOT the old Saga rules from Dragonlance)
* It is designed for use with Star Wars Miniatures and incorporates some concepts from the minis game. HOWEVER, it is NOT wholly minis dependent and will be a distinct game in and of itself. It is NOT a "Minis plus" rules set, as some have previously speculated.
* Classes revamped. Some less popular core classes eliminated because the same character types can be built using other elements of the game with the remaining classes.
* Skill system streamlined, some skills combined.
* Force skills and feats have been replaced by a "Use the Force" skill plus Force Powers. This is a very interesting revision that hopefully will better emulate the way the Force is used in the movies. See the links below for more detail.
* Revised combat and damage system (HP + condition track replaces the VP/WP system).
* and much more....

I should note that the two designers and the editor/developer are all long time Star Wars RPG players and designers. They've played a lot of d6 and played and written a lot of d20. The current Jedi Counselor is the editor/developer. I know all of these guys and they're working very hard to make the best game they can AND make it feel like Star Wars. They are applying a lot of lessons learned in the past several years about the current version.

There was a good deal of news on the Star Wars Miniatures game as well. Also, the first Bounty Hunters preview is live on the site. I am once again one of the previewers....if that's a word. You know what I mean. Some of the Bounty Hunters characters were on display in the Wizards booth. They looked fantastic.

* The next set in May 2007 is the Alliance and Empire set, which will be tied to the 30th anniversary of Star Wars.
* Someone managed to convince the lead designer to reveal that one of the Alliance and Empire Unique characters will be Wicket.
* Alliance and Empire will have reduced complexity for lower-power characters, reserving complexity for the rares or very rares.
* There will be more sets after that, but they have not been announced yet.
* The DCI tournaments will be bolstered, possibly with better support and perhaps a championship game. However, the discussions have just started, so it may be a few months before you see them.
* Some new Star Wars EU content may be developed through the minis game. This might allow a tournament winner to create a new mini or character for an upcoming set as part of their prize (subject to WotC and Lucas approval, of course).
* The AAT may be released as a one shot at some point.
* The Rancor Attack product that appeared on Amazon was cancelled before it made it to the catalog, but amazon gets their info from other sources and posted the info anyway.

The upcoming Starship Battles game was also discussed.

* November 2006 Release
* Starter set will have 2 Gargantuan ships (SSD and Mon Cal ship) plus other random ships.
* This is a Huge set, but also included Large and Medium units.
* 2" grid
* Round bases for Light Side, Octagonal for Dark Side
* No further ships sets are planned, though they are not completely out of the question if the game does well. The current spread of ships covers the major ones from the movies and EU (except KotoR and Yuuzhan Vong).
* Double sided stat cards for ships. One side has full-strength stats, the opposite side has reduced strength stats for use after a certain amount of damage is received.

I've combined information from both SW game seminars in the lists above. The second seminar also included a representative from Lucas Licensing who provided additional insight into the discussions and decisions behind the development of the games.

Even though I covered a lot of material above, a lot more was discussed. Check out the following sites for more information:

GamingReport.com video of the first Star Wars RPG/Minis seminar, also posted at Google video. This has decent sound and picture, but it cuts off just as the lengthy QA session started.

Edit: The SWRPGnetwork d20 Saga Thread....with comments from one of the designers and the editor...link goes to the first page with the designer's comments, about 20 pages into the thread. It will save a lot of trouble to just start there. LOTS OF GREAT INFO HERE!

The GenCon Clearinghouse RPG discussion thread at the WotC boards (lots of detail and detailed discussion here...much speculation as well).

Comments on the Saga Edition from the editor/developer clarifying several points, all in one convenient thread

A couple of WotC SW Minis message board threads with some info and pictures:
http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?t=685161
http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?t=685640

Bounty Hunter set pics from the WotC Dealer's Hall case over at base contact.

General GenCon wrapup from Gaming Report

Also keep an eye out on the Wizards main Star Wars page for a GenCon wrap-up article and/or pictures (not sure when it will go live).

I'll probably have a few more GenCon comments later in the week, after I recover a bit more.

2007 will certainly be an exciting year in Star Wars gaming.