SWURPG

Knights of the Old Republic RPG

There has never been a standalone Knights of the Old Republic tabletop RPG — but you can run an Old Republic campaign tonight, and the rules to do it are closer to KOTOR's than you might think. KOTOR was built on the d20 Star Wars Roleplaying Game, the same rules line that became Saga Edition — and SWURPG is its closest living tabletop cousin, free and playable in your browser.

A note on canon: the KOTOR games and their characters are part of Star Wars Legends today. The Old Republic era endures in current storytelling, but the specific KOTOR plot is Legends — which, for a home campaign, just means the era is yours to run however you like.

The Old Republic era, in one breath

Set roughly 4,000 years before the films, the Old Republic is the galaxy at its most sprawling and dangerous: thousands of Jedi, a Sith empire rather than a hidden pair, and open war across worlds the saga era barely remembers — Taris, Dantooine, Korriban, Manaan. The Mandalorian Wars bleed into the Jedi Civil War; heroes fall and are redeemed; assassin droids crack wise while you bleed out. It is the perfect sandbox for a tabletop campaign: grand stakes, ancient mysteries, and a galaxy loose enough to make your own.

Crucially, the technology plays the same. Lightsabers, blasters, starships, droids, armor — the Old Republic's gear maps almost one-to-one onto the saga era, so SWURPG's whole catalog drops straight into a KOTOR-style game without conversion.

Why SWURPG is the closest tabletop cousin to KOTOR

This isn't just a vibe — it's a real lineage. KOTOR's mechanics were a video-game adaptation of the d20 Star Wars Roleplaying Game (Wizards of the Coast, 2000). That d20 line evolved into Star Wars Saga Edition (2007), the last official WotC Star Wars RPG — and Saga Edition is half of SWURPG's DNA. SWURPG blends Saga's depth with D&D 5e's friendlier action economy, so playing it feels like playing the rules that powered KOTOR, modernized.

If you came up on Saga Edition or the d20 books, the SWURPG vs Saga Edition comparison walks through exactly what carried over and what got streamlined.

Build your Old Republic party

Every archetype the KOTOR games leaned on has a home in SWURPG's classes and species:

  • The Jedi (or fallen Jedi). Start as a Jedi Padawan and branch into Guardian, Sentinel, or Consular — or play the redemption arc straight, sliding toward and back from the dark side.
  • The Sith and wild Force users. The Force Adept (Force Warrior / Force Mystic) covers untrained, self-taught, or dark-side Force users who never wore Jedi robes — the backbone of an Old Republic Sith.
  • Mandalorians and mercs. The Soldier (Vanguard, Commando, Marksman) is your Canderous — armored, blaster-disciplined, terrifying in a corridor.
  • Smugglers and scoundrels. The Scoundrel covers the fast-talking, gun-slinging rogue at the heart of the original game.
  • Droids. Build an HK-47-style assassin droid or a T3-style utility unit as a full droid character, with their own droid upgrades.

Roll the whole party up in the Character Builder — species, class, abilities, skills, Force powers, and gear, with the stat block updating live as you go.

KOTOR's best systems are already in SWURPG

The part of KOTOR people miss most isn't the plot — it's the tinkering. SWURPG rebuilds those loops almost beat for beat:

  • Lightsaber crystals & upgrade slots. Crystal, Emitter, Lens, Power Cell, and Grip slots — with the legendary crystals pulled straight from the source (Adegan, Bondar, Firkrann, the light-side-only Solari, and more). Forge a blade in the weapon & lightsaber upgrades catalog.
  • Weapon mods.Ion cells to shred droids, beam splitters for piercing shots, scopes and targeting systems — the “make your gun yours” itch, on the tabletop. Browse the upgrades hub.
  • Implants. KOTOR's implant slots live on as bio-implants for organic characters.

For the full story on how much of KOTOR went into SWURPG — and where the remake and Fate of the Old Republic actually stand — read the KOTOR breakdown on the blog.

Frequently asked questions

▸Is there an official Knights of the Old Republic tabletop RPG?

Not as a standalone product. KOTOR (2003) was a BioWare video game, but its rules were a real-time adaptation of the d20 Star Wars Roleplaying Game (Wizards of the Coast). To run the Old Republic at the table you adapt a Star Wars TTRPG — and SWURPG is purpose-built for it, since its rules descend from the same d20 → Saga Edition lineage KOTOR was built on.

▸What rules system was KOTOR based on?

The original Knights of the Old Republic used a video-game adaptation of the d20 Star Wars Roleplaying Game (2000–2002). That same d20 line later evolved into Star Wars Saga Edition (2007), the last official Wizards of the Coast Star Wars RPG. SWURPG blends Saga Edition's depth with D&D 5e's friendlier action economy — so it's the closest living tabletop cousin to KOTOR's own rules.

▸Can I build Revan, a KOTOR-era Jedi, or a Sith in SWURPG?

Yes. Build a fallen-and-redeemed Force user with the Jedi Padawan or Force Adept classes, a dark-side warlord as a Force Warrior, a Mandalorian merc as a Soldier, a Twi'lek slicer as a Scoundrel, or an HK-47-style assassin droid as a droid character. The Character Builder handles all of it free in your browser.

▸Is Knights of the Old Republic still canon?

KOTOR and its characters (Revan, Malak, Bastila, HK-47) are part of Star Wars Legends today, after the 2014 canon reset — though the broad Old Republic era endures in current storytelling and Revan himself has been nodded back into canon. For a tabletop campaign none of that matters: you're free to run the era exactly as you remember it, or remix it.

▸How is the Old Republic era different from the movies?

It's set roughly 4,000 years before the films, in an age when there were thousands of Jedi and the Sith were a whole empire rather than a hidden pair. Open Jedi-versus-Sith war, ancient Sith worlds like Korriban, and a rougher, more frontier galaxy define the tone — but the tech (lightsabers, blasters, starships, droids) plays almost identically, so SWURPG's catalog drops right in.

Start your Old Republic story