'Star Wars: the Force Awakens' Gets a Tabletop RPG, Card Game

Fantasy Flight is going all in on Star Wars Episode VII later this year, releasing a new collectible card game to complement the upcoming release of The Force Awakens Beginner Game.

Star Wars Destiny, a card-and-dice game due in November, uses “what-if” battle scenarios, one of the series’ most tried-and-true approaches, to wage heroes and villains spanning the entire length of the Star Wars saga, including TFA.

To begin, each player assembles a team of three different series protagonists and antagonists, split up between three classes – Force, Rogue and Command – meaning you could theoretically include Han Solo and BB-8 (sadly, the droid probably isn’t playable) in a squad that’s facing off against, say, Count Dooku and Emperor Palpatine.

The duels can also take place all over the Star Wars universe, designated by special battlefield cards. The battlefield cards double as ability cards which are counterbalanced by sacrificing any remaining actions on a player’s turn. Strategy also plays a sizable role in battle, and players will use special dice for attack, defense, abilities or resource gathering. The rest of the 30-card deck are character upgrades, event, and support cards.

Fantasy Flight also has a slew of new cards coming in five-card booster packs. That number may seem low for a collectible card game booster pack, but each unit will also include a corresponding premium die.

The CCG’s announcement marks also the eve of release for Fantasy Flight’s Star Wars tabletop RPG, The Force Awakens Beginner Game, which is due out next week. The tabletop puts you in the shoes of one of four characters with various skillsets and from a variety of different backgrounds (pilot, colonist, soldier or explorer, all different races) to roleplay during the events of Episode VII, although how the game’s narrative may intersect with the events of the film is unclear.

Like any D&D-style RPG worth its salt, each character is balanced with strengths and weaknesses, so any given scenario may or may not work in your favor. For example, pilots are good at ship repair, but probably weaker at scavenging for parts. Regardless, a dice roll will determine the success or failure of most actions, like a traditional RPG.

The Beginner Game cleverly uses the same systems as Fantasy Flight’s other Star Wars RPGs, so new players can use it as a jumping-off point for more advanced games in the future. Fans going to Gen Con can pick up the game, or try out the CCG at the show next week.