Anyway, a little background on the RPG: It is based on the Storyteller system from White Wolf Games. I've always liked that system because I felt it better lent itself to the fast-paced, story driven action of Star Wars. Basically, the entire rules system focused more on getting things done and moving on with the story then adding together a million different modifiers just to see if you can tie your shoes. The changes made in the newest incarnation of the Storyteller system make the whole thing even better.
Couple this with the fact that the World of Darkness Rulebook is where you find all the basic rules, and the other settings (Vampire, Werewolf, etc.) just build off of that and define their own systems where needed. So what I’m doing is writing this game based on the same idea, and you’ll need the World of Darkness Rulebook to play, while what I’m writing defines a few changes to the system where applicable and gives all the background information for the setting. If you’re familiar with the World of Darkness setting, don’t worry about the angst factor… I’ve stripped that out for the Star Wars conversion. It’s just the mechanics that I think are elegant... not the Morality system.
Making sense? Of course it isn’t. Look at it kind of like the way D&D runs their settings: you buy the Players Guide and the Dungeon Master’s Guide (or whatever the hell they call them now), so you’ll know how to play the game. Anything else, take Forgotten Realms for example, just defines the setting in detail, since the rules themselves have already been covered.
I’m doing this because, quite frankly, the D20 system that the current incarnation of the Star Wars RPG uses is clunky and involves more rules then I think Star Wars ever needed.
Oh, crap... you asked how far along I am, didn’t you… um… well, the rules for the game are damn near completed as of now. I even have a character sheet designed and ready, so in about another week the game should technically be playable, though a little sparse on setting details (meaning you’ll have to wing it for things like adversaries and a lot of ship stats and what have you).