STONE-AGE STAR WARS

By Jonathan Hicks

Star Wars is a huge universe encompassing all kinds of weird and wonderful technology; blasters, jetpacks, lightsabres, starships are presented on screen and paper with a variety of capabilities.

But there are places in the galaxy where technology has not proceeded with the same kind of speed or influence. Look at the tribes of Ewoks on Endor, at an almost stone-age level of existence. There are species and worlds where blasters would be regarded as ‘boom-sticks’ and the Force would be compared to wizards who wield a deep magic.

To reflect this I have created list of items that would usually be found in a medieval setting, mainly weapons and armour. Other more simple items do not need to be covered by this list as they do not really have independent stats that will judge the outcome of an encounter, similar to the rest of the Star Wars galaxy.

The stats are mainly character scale, but there are some larger weapons that reflect the three main scales. These are character (small), speeder (medium), walker (large) and starship (massive). There is no capital scale as it is doubtful that such a low-tech world would have designed items that could affect such huge constructions.

These designs have been lifted from an ill-fated fantasy D6 system created by myself a long time ago and have been designed taking into account the statistics of existing old weapons in comparison to their modern counterparts, and then compared to what would be considered ultra-tech. Hopefully, they will give an accurate experience that will heighten the drama and increase the tension during those encounters with low-tech worlds. At the very least, when the characters swagger into a village with their technology and laser weaponry and think themselves higher than the lesser blessed about them, they may get a bit of a shock when they find that these ‘primitive’ items are a lot more effective than they took them for!

WEAPONS

HAND TO HAND WEAPONS

WEAPON DAMAGE COST

Hand Weapons -

Club STR + 1 10

Hammer STR + 2 20

Knife STR + 2 25

Sword STR + 1D 100

Bastard Sword STR + 1D+1 150

Axe STR + 2 80

Polearms -

Spear STR + 1D+1 90

Lance STR + 1D+2 250

(2D when mounted)

Halberd STR + 1D 100

Two-Handed Weapons – cannot be used in conjunction with a shield

Battle-Axe STR + 2D 300

Two-Handed Sword STR + 2D 300

Flail STR + 1D+2 250

Warhammer STR + 2D 290

MISSILE WEAPONS -

WEAPON DAMAGE RANGE (S/M/L) COST

Thrown item As item 3-7/8-20/21-40 -

Sling STR + 1 3-14/15-30/31-60 15

Crossbow 4D 3-32/33-64/65-200 200 (3)*

Normal Bow 4D 3-24/25-48/49-250 150 (2)*

Long Bow 5D 3-32/33-64/65-300 300 (4)*

*Numbers in parentheses are the cost of a single replacement bolt/arrow

HEAVY WEAPONS -

WEAPON DAMAGE/SCALE RANGE COST

Catapult 5D/Medium 3-40/41-80/81-400 2100

Siege Catapult 4D/Massive 3-40/41-70/71-500 2800

Ballistae 7D/Small 3-30/31-60/61-250 1800

Sling Catapult (trebuchet) 5D/Large 3-60/61-110/111-600 3200

ARMOUR

ARMOUR

TYPE PROTECTION PENALTIES COST

Shield None Increases parry 1D 200

Pot Helmet +2 pips on head None 200

Full Helm +1D on head -2 pips PER 500

Leather Padding +1 pip body/arms None 300

Hard Leather Padding +2 pips body/arms -1 pip DEX 450

Ringmail Leather +2 pips body -1 pip DEX 400

Chainmail +1D whole body -2 pips DEX 600

Plate +1D+2 whole body -1D DEX 1000

Plate + Chain +2D whole body -1D DEX, -1D PER 1600