Star Wars Saga Edition to ICRPG Conversion

[Gerald.Lock]

I've used a bunch of different rule systems over the years. Being fairly heavily-weightd to the Story & World corners of the WoA Triangle, I've always taken a 'minimal rules' approach to my games.
Index Card RPG is really starting to have some solid appeal for me as THE system for running all my games. Simple yet elegant.

I recently found this handy conversion guide for 5e:
https://olddungeonmaster.com/2022/01/06/dd-5e-icrpg-conversion-guide/

I'm now looking at doing a similar conversion guide for Star Wars Saga Edition (SWSE), a WoTC revision of the original d20 Star Wars RPG rule set from c. 2000 for those unfamiliar. As far as I can tell, SWSE was fairly solidly based on D&D 4e mechanics, which I'm not really familiar with TBH.
My main sticking point is the relationship/conversion of Skills, Feats and Talents in D&D to ICRPG Abilities, Milestone Abilities and Mastery. Any commentary on the best approach would be greatly appreciated.

 

[ExileInParadise]

I got the bundle of holding set for Index Card RPG back at the end of February.

I haven't gotten far into it - but my initial skim was very positive - it reminds me a lot of the Year Zero Engine in the approach to keeping things straightforward.

For Skills, Feats, and Talents, one tip that comes to mind is the note about "Effort in Non-Combat Tasks" (p71 core)
Add a damage-like mechanic and then you've got a rollable test.

For me the cutting edge of skills, feats, and talents is whether they are "inherent" or "learned".
Inherent seem more like Abilities, whereas learned are more like maybe the Milestone Abilities or Mastery.

If its something you just "are" or "have" but did not have to train or work for?

Just a starting thought - hopefully others have additions

 

[Gerald.Lock]

Thanks @ExileInParadise - that's helpful.

The main challenge is in the sheer volume of choice in SWd20 vs more limited choices implied in ICRPG. A 'pairing down' exercise is inevitable I suspect.
In ICRPG, all heroes begin with just one ABILITY, whereas SWd20 characters start (level 1) with 3x Feats, 1 Talent and from 2-6 trained (Class) Skills. Every odd level SWd20 heroes also gain an additional Talent and every other level they gain a bonus Feat.

Applying the 'inherent' vs 'learned' test seems to fall predominantly on the 'learned' result when considering the various lists of Skills, Feats and Talents. This squares fairly well with a typically longer list of available MILESTONE ABILITIES seen in ICRPG.

MASTERY could be drawn from those Feats, Talents & Skills that have Prerequesites.

So then I guess 'Inherent' (starting) ABILITIES could just be chosen from the list of 2-6 starting Class Skills, 3x starting Feats of the selected Class (ICRPG = TYPE)

I'll list these out for each Class and see where I get to...