As in all role-playing games, in the Saga Edition players take on the roles of different characters, which are guided through their adventures by a game master who narrates the scenes and referees the action. As with its two immediate predecessors, the Saga Edition shares the d20 game mechanic powering Dungeons & Dragons 3.5 Edition.

Players roll a 20-sided die, add in a few modifiers based on physical, social and mental abilities and compare the result to a target number, called a Difficulty Class (DC). If the result is equal to or greater than the DC, the attempt (be it a heroic leap across a ravine, a desperate slash of a lightsaber or the last-minute evasion of an X-wing) succeeds.

There are more than a dozen races, including Human, Bothan, Gomorrean, Mon Calamari and Wookiee, each with its own strengths and weaknesses. The game offers five basic classes—Jedi, noble, scoundrel, scout and soldier—each with its own skills, feats and talents. Skills allow players to perform certain tasks, such as reprogramming a droid or sneaking past a stormtrooper. Feats give bonuses to skills or allow special attack maneuvers, while talents are class-specific abilities that allow characters to pursue focused specialties, such as a Jedi negotiator or Republic commando.

Uniting everything is the Force, which all characters have access to through Force points. Force points can be used to enhance die rolls, prevent instant death and power certain class abilities. Jedi can do more, performing mind tricks, perceiving faraway locales, choking opponents and electrifying enemies with force lightning, depending on their affiliation with the Light Side or the Dark Side.

More elegant, for a more civilized time

The Saga Edition is the third edition that Wizards has released since winning the license from West End Games, and it's the first that doesn't feel like "Dungeons & Dragons in space."

While many of the basic concepts in the game are the same as the earlier d20 versions, much is changed as well. The skill system has been greatly simplified, turning what could have been a complicated subsystem into a straightforward affair that guarantees that every character has at least a chance to succeed at any action.

Earlier editions had issues with superpowered Jedi overshadowing lesser characters. While one could argue that this is as it should be—Jedi are Jedi, after all—it makes for a less than stellar role-playing game. The Saga Edition's use of talents offsets this phenomenon by allowing for the rise of characters like Han Solo and Boba Fett, who are just as exceptional as Jedi ... but in a different way.

The game feels faster and more cinematic than its predecessors. The combat system has been overhauled, allowing most characters only one attack per round instead of up to four, and merging Defense and Saving Throws into one streamlined system. The changes mean there's a lot less die-rolling in the combat, which leads to faster fights.

At first glance, the game looks almost like a square coffee-table art book, with a black cover and a striking, gold-traced Darth Vader reaching toward the reader. It turns out to be a beautifully laid-out book, with chapter artwork featuring screen captures from the movies that blend with artistic drawings. Most of the art is recycled from earlier editions, but it feels fresh here.

On the downside, while the book looks great, the font size is tiny. The page count is lower than in the previous edition (not including content lost due to the new square format), and it feels like game master and supplemental material suffers for it.

There is only basic information on the galaxy at large, statistics are given for only a handful of major characters, and there's a smattering of stat blocks on non-player characters and monsters. The rule book does give everything game masters need to get a campaign up and running, but until the supplemental source books are released, they can expect to do a lot of the heavy lifting themselves.

Overall, this edition of the game makes for fun, fast-paced games that should appeal to long-time gamers as well as those whose only experience with d20 gaming comes from playing through Knights of the Old Republic on their PCs and Xboxes.