Star Wars RPG & Genesys: narrative dice guide

Fantasy Flight Games’ Star Wars roleplaying line (Edge of the Empire, Age of Rebellion and Force and Destiny) and its generic cousin Genesys share one unmistakable feature: a set of custom narrative dice marked with symbols instead of numbers. Every roll answers two questions at once — did you succeed, and what else happened?

What dice these games use

Instead of pips, the faces show symbols. The dice split into a positive side and a negative side:

A seventh die, the white Force die (a d12 marked with light- and dark-side pips), powers Force abilities and some Genesys options. The symbols themselves are Success and Failure, Advantage and Threat, and the rare Triumph and Despair.

How a roll resolves

You build a pool by task difficulty. Your characteristic and skill set how many Ability and Proficiency dice you roll; the GM sets the opposition with Difficulty and Challenge dice, adding Boost or Setback dice for circumstances. Roll them all together, then cancel opposites: each Success cancels a Failure, each Advantage cancels a Threat.

Read what is left:

• Net Success (at least one Success remaining) means the task works. Net Failure means it doesn’t.
• Advantage and Threat are separate from success. You can succeed with Threat (you did it, but something went wrong) or fail with Advantage (you botched it, but gained a small silver lining). Spend Advantage on side-benefits — recovering strain, aiding an ally, a lucky break — and the GM spends your Threat against you.
• Triumph (from Proficiency dice) counts as a Success and adds a spectacular bonus; Despair (from Challenge dice) counts as a Failure and adds a serious setback. These land even if the overall roll goes the other way.

The result is that a single throw produces a mini-scene: not just pass or fail, but a texture of complications and opportunities to narrate.

Effective strategy

Always spend your Advantage. Leftover Advantage is the game’s currency of clever play. Even on a failed roll, two Advantage might let you spot an exit, remove a Setback from the next ally, or recover strain. Never let it evaporate unused.

Set up allies with Boost dice. The Assist and preparation actions hand out blue Boost dice. Aiming, taking cover and coordinating all tilt the pool in your favour before you commit to the important roll.

Manage strain, not just wounds. Strain is your pool of effort and composure; many of the best Advantage-spends and manoeuvres cost strain. Running out drops you out of the fight as surely as wounds do, so watch both tracks.

Chase Triumph on the rolls that matter. Because only Proficiency (yellow) dice can show Triumph, upgrading Ability dice to Proficiency — not just adding more — is what unlocks those game-changing results.

These symbol dice have no everyday substitute, but you can still roll standard dice in your browser for the damage, initiative and percentile rolls that sit alongside them.

Beginner tips & common mistakes

• Success and Advantage are independent. The most common confusion is thinking Advantage helps you succeed — it doesn’t. Count success first, then handle Advantage and Threat separately.
• Cancel before you read. Match Success against Failure and Advantage against Threat first; only the surplus counts.
• More dice isn’t always upgrading. “Upgrade” turns green into yellow (adding Triumph chances); “add” just tosses in another die. They are different instructions.
• Triumph and Despair always trigger. They resolve regardless of the net result — a triumphant success can still carry a Despair.
• Don’t forget to narrate. The dice hand you raw material; the fun is in describing what the Advantage or Threat actually looks like in the scene.

Prefer a system where two dice carry the drama? Read our Daggerheart dice & strategy guide.