The Rancor Pit Forum Index
Welcome to The Rancor Pit forums!

The Rancor Pit Forum Index
FAQ   ::   Search   ::   Memberlist   ::   Usergroups   ::   Register   ::   Profile   ::   Log in to check your private messages   ::   Log in

What's your Star Wars Universe?
Post new topic   Reply to topic    The Rancor Pit Forum Index -> Gamemasters -> What's your Star Wars Universe? Goto page Previous  1, 2, 3 ... , 17, 18, 19  Next
View previous topic :: View next topic  
Author Message
Whill
Dark Lord of the Jedi (Owner/Admin)


Joined: 14 Apr 2008
Posts: 10286
Location: Columbus, Ohio, USA, Earth, The Solar System, The Milky Way Galaxy

PostPosted: Fri Jan 23, 2015 11:53 pm    Post subject: Re: Barrataria's SWU Reply with quote

The first quoted post is from this thread back in 2010. The next two posts are recent from another thread...

Barrataria wrote:
I could read this site for days... esp. Whill's post above. You are an interesting bunch.

I have been scribbling some thoughts over the past few days, after a fresh watching of the films. I already had resigned myself to hand-waving some of the WEG era stuff...

I prefer 10 ABY or so; I can hand wave most of EpI-III as well, although most of it isn't inconsistent with anything I'm doing.

I like my galaxy pretty gray: the New Republic has discovered in a variety of ways that there are ugly choices to be made when running a galactic government (a more benevolent, but far less competent organization than the Alliance in Firefly/Serenity). It expanded too fast, so the depth of their rule is mighty shallow on more than one world (especially where the NR Governor happens to be the former Sector Moff or Imperial Governor).

Pellaeon leads a fairly strong pocket Empire, "headless". Others believe the Emperor lives, a few are just busy lining their pockets, and one or two are of the "black hero" variety. The Empire (which each pocket uses to refer to itself) still doesn't suffer female officers, or obvious aliens (although I do think Thrawn is cool, no unifying leader has yet appeared. There's a gang of Imperial Guard sneaking around trying to find Emperor clones or clonable material, but they aren't specifically aligned with any faction (and haven't had any success).

There are a few independent powers... the Aqualish and Bothans have their own autonomous regions; there's a large pirate presence around Yag'dhul, and the Hutts and Corporate Sector live on.

For various reasons, none of these can mount much in the way of large starship/fleet construction. What power is exerted at a distance is often several battlecruisers retrofitted/cannibalized to carry starfighters. None can really afford extended wars, but border skirmishes (and privateering) are pretty common.

I'm still figuring out what happened when Vader finished off the Emperor... I've been thinking that the nascent powers of two dark-aligned force users swelled when the current Sith died. I think one was semi-trained and knew enough to start hunting for artifacts, holocrons, etc. when he could. That is Zett Jucassa, who after being rescued from the platform at the Jedi Temple by Jar Jar went into hiding and turned to the Dark Side. The other is unnamed and is probably a pirate or other nasty type mostly unaware of his source of power.

Lando is running a casino on Bespin, which is neutral ground between a pocket empire around Elrood and Minos and the NR colony of New Alderaan on Endor. Like a cross between Port Royal in the 1600s and Lisbon during WWII. Spies, pirates, exiled nobles.

Luke, since he is a Jedi, is not romantically involved nor is he breeding. He is running a small Jedi Academy on Yavin with a few apprentices.

Leia (with Han, Chewbacca, and the droids and a couple of kids) travels around on a Corellian Frigate with a couple of starfighter squadrons (and the Falcon, of course) trying to keep NR systems in some kind of order. She has some basic training from Luke sufficient to find force users, and does that stealthily as they travel.

So, those are the broad strokes, if I ever get around to running a regular game. Mostly I just like doodling out ships and planets and whatnot.


Barrataria wrote:
In my post-Endor Alliance setting, the Alliance has played out its only sources of the [unobtainium] (still looking for a good name) and therefore has lost the ability to build or use hyperdrive capable starfighters. Lone Scouts and shuttles and freighters can be retrofitted with more conventional hyperdrives, but the Alliance starfighters are just too small.

Barrataria wrote:
The Alliance of Independent Worlds in my SWU has almost nothing to do with the "New Republic". It's a bureaucratic, meritocratic tangle not unlike the Alliance in Firefly/Serenity. It's a confederacy, not a democracy, just like the Rebellion. And I have never seen the "logic" of millions and millions of Imperial soldiers and ships that can destroy whole planets instantly disappearing after Endor and worlds blithely joining up with the New Republic living happily ever after. Some of that NR era EU literature was very hand-wavy about the diplomacy (and quite possibly gunboat diplomacy) required to build any sort of republic, let alone one of millions of worlds, without merely repeating the mistakes of the Old Republic. Colonialism in the 50s didn't end with a tea party at the UN, there were decades of cold and hot wars all over the world.

I played MegaTraveller before I played Star Wars, and the "Hard Times" setting was its best book. The description in Hard Times is very detailed, but the idea is that interstellar war is expensive and difficult to sustain even for galactic empires. Warlords have no choice but to adopt a salted-earth strategy, raiding for resources, then denying competitors infrastructure. It's impossible to hold conquered territory, but pretty easy to destroy it, so the strategy self-perpetuates. Trade becomes more sporadic and travel and communication become perilous.

Eventually (in my SWU and for a short time in the MegaTraveller U) things settle around spheres of control, where Alliance pockets (4 major spheres) and Imperial warlord pockets (each with their own ideology and theory of what they're doing) only control what they can control with their fleets. There are also some neutral places (Bespin) that are valuable to all sides as freeports.

I am pretty satisfied with the logic, and so are my players. I am all about running an interesting game universe, not harmonizing the EU, and the NR is pretty boring to me. Which is why in the EU authors have to invent multiple ravenous alien races from the deeps of space to challenge it, or the Emperor's Nth clone arriving with yet another batch of stormtroopers from the depths of secret Imperial installations. I like quixotic Imperial warlords and venial Alliance bureaucrats trying to cobble together coalitions via diplomacy, threat and whatever else it takes with whatever resources they can get their hands on, and watching the players build stories therefrom. (Eventually in my SWU the Thrawn Trilogy would occur in some form; I'm hopeful I can keep some of this even after Ep. VII-IX).

...

1. What Empire? I thought it died at the end of Ep. VI. So did my Imperial warlords (although one believes the Emperor lives, one is continuing to carry out his last orders, others swear allegiance to the role of Emperor until another assumes the throne...)

2. Yes, the Alliance of Independent Worlds faces many strategic challenges from scarcity, challenges which can often only be met by small bands of brave adventurers performing bold deeds.

3. There are not two sides in this campaign. It's a bouncy-house, not a teeter-totter. Bouncy-houses are a lot more fun.

Barrataria, I think your Star Wars Universe and Shattered Empire campaign are fascinating! Some of this is similar to some ideas I've had about the chaotic and complex post-RotJ era in my SWU. I also really love your website: https://farfargalaxy.wordpress.com/five-years-after-the-emperor/

Anything else you want to share about your SWU? Thanks in advance.
_________________
*
Site Map
Forum Guidelines
Registration/Log-In Help
The Rancor Pit Library
Star Wars D6 Damage
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website
Barrataria
Commander
Commander


Joined: 28 Dec 2005
Posts: 295
Location: Republic of California

PostPosted: Sat Jan 24, 2015 1:50 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Hmmm... I thought I had bored you with this! Smile

As you can see over the five (!) years some of these things have crystallized. And in the meantime I ended up running an Ancient Republic game too, so although those details didn't influence the post-Endor period too directly. And one of your recent posts on the Clone Wars helped me clarify what I thought happened during that period. That wordpress site was really just a way to type up my sloppy campaign notes and try to organize them somewhat. Thanks for reading it!

This is my galaxy... a little blurry, but I didn't want to blow up the board with something too big. It's crude, really just for my reference purposes, so I haven't posted it anywhere. I do have it in CC3 and linked to the submaps that originally were made to go with this map (which IIRC is Modi's map before he did the Atlas). Alliance areas are in red, Imperial warlords in white, pirates are in grey (amateurishly marked with skulls). Independents (Zabraks, Iotrans, Bothans, Hapans, Hutts, Mandalorians, Tiss'Sharl, Corporate Sector) are in whatever colors I gave them, again not well-planned, just easy to see on the blue background. There are a couple of areas (Brak Sector, Kashyyk/Trandosha) that are just chaotic war zones.

http://i59.tinypic.com/w0dad.jpg

There are a few important independent/nonaligned areas, notably Bespin and Ithor. There's another thread around where I discussed my ideas for a herdship campaign; the Ithorians are careful to keep themselves valuable to all sides, so their herdships can float from one zone to another.

All this balkanization means communications are limited too. The HoloNet is a non-entity, except in one of the Imperial spheres. There is some intersystem communication, but most data goes on formal couriers or is beamed via tramp freighters as they reach a system (a la Traveller X-boats, but without regular schedules outside spheres). The major hyperspace routes are still travelled, but often in shorter jumps through the "wilderness" regions.

I really haven't gone into gory detail on the Alliance spheres. They control Coruscant and the Core, of course. The "Calamari" sphere is one of those anomalies, because the Mon Cal withdrew from the Alliance, with their shipyards. The Alliance still has some Mon Cal ships but relies on captured Imperial stuff in large part, some of which has been cannibalized or retrofitted (like they did with Bulk Cruisers before). General Madine is the Governor-General of the Sullust sphere; it and the Maridun Sphere are under martial law (light martial law, if there is such a thing). Ackbar was Governor-General of the Calamari sphere, but the Alliance appointed a replacement to the post (even though, again, it's now a misnomer).

One metagame point: I set up the Imperial areas in part to be able to re-use old WEG materials. Elrood and the Minos Cluster are in Imperial regions, so the stuff from the Planets Collection and the Tramp Freighter book can be used as needed. I have some of the Lords of the Expanse stuff, so the old Tapani Sector stuff could be used too. Even with Rebels; presumably there are Alliance agents hard at work deep inside. Oh, and of course spinning off the CSA again means that fans of the Han novels could go back to the future and adventure in that setting.

ENDOR

I have spent quite a bit of time pencilling out Endor as that's where I've started post-RotJ campaigns (which is why I haven't posted too much on the wordpress site about it, so players could discover it during play). Endor was selected to become New Alderaan, out of political pressure from Old Republic elements and a desire to memorialize the ultimate battle site. So, Alderaanian nobles who had been offworld when their planet was destroyed (and, you know, people that could pass for same) flocked in and negotiated "treaties" with the Ewoks, swapping them for fizzyglug (which inebriates ewoks something fierce). Queen Leia of New Alderaan is the regent of the planet and Governor of the sector but unfortunately her duties keep her away so much she's not much more than a name. It's far from the Core, and she had enough Ewok stew to last her a lifetime.

Anyway, I generated a worldmap for Endor and came up with one continent, mostly forested (to stick with what everyone remembers). The administrative center of the world is Alderhaven, it's built on a small island and is the Alliance presence on the world. There's a scout base and a small military installation and government buildings for the sector. Lots of "civilized" ewoks provide menial labor, but the population is mostly human, and it's a modern settlement of recent stellar-class construction.

Brightshore is a sunny, temperate coastal enclave of villas full of New Alderaanian nobles. Many other noble families dispossessed by the Empire came too. The nobles have their own private security force, and it's locked down, no admittance without clearance. There are many more "civilized" ewok servants here, working as gardeners and whatnot. Han and Leia have a villa but are virtually never here.

There's a logging industry (with derivative products like paper and decorative woods), and there are several rough boomtowns in the woods not too far from Brightshore. Not too many ewoks work here, they either clean up and work in the fancy towns or stay rustic in the trees.

The biggest settlement by far is Ports Aldera. It's the location of the down spaceport (a Traveller concept, as opposed to an orbital spaceport) and the major commercial center on the planet. The population here is largely Alderaanian commoners, but there is also a substantial proportion of drifters/military deserters or veterans/grifters/whatever here. One infamous location in Ports Aldera is the Blackcore Cantina, a wretched hive built in a hollowed-out tree (kinda like this) run by a Herglic gambler that rents out dumpy cabins in the back in four hour blocks.

And many, many tourists. The Alliance has made a nice little tourist circuit around Bespin, Sullust, and Endor, with the site of the planet shield battle and a Potemkin "ewok village" as the crown jewel. They even installed a maglev train to move tourists the 20 clicks or so from Ports Aldera to the tourist center.

As for the ewoks, as noted there is a decent sized population that has learned some of the ways of the tall folks and moved to town to get jobs. Most of them still live in tree villages as they have, but in some cases they have been displaced by lumbering or other commercial enterprises (although eco-drama is not a big part of the action). Finally, there are dark rumors of isolated beast and blood cults in the woods, complete with human sacrifices and kidnappings. As a general matter, the woods are not open to unauthorized personnel, and the train keeps the tourists out of trouble (mostly, often ewoks of one sort or another take shots at the train, futz with the tracks, rob it of fizzyglug, etc.). There are also a fair number of brazen fizzyglug smugglers that brave the woods and the New Alderaan/Alliance interdiction to get the ewoks hopped up on carbonation for big bucks. Most of the fizzyglug seems to originate on Bespin, so it's thought that the gangster behind the operations is there.

OK, well, wall of text! More than you wanted to hear maybe, but enough for tonight.
_________________
"A special effect without a story is a pretty boring thing"- George Lucas
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail
CRMcNeill
Director of Engineering
Director of Engineering


Joined: 05 Apr 2010
Posts: 16163
Location: Redding System, California Sector, on the I-5 Hyperspace Route.

PostPosted: Sat Jan 24, 2015 2:16 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I like this. You've gone to a lot of effort and detail here, and I get the feeling were just scratching the surface.
_________________
"No set of rules can cover every situation. It's expected that you will make up new rules to suit the needs of your game." - The Star Wars Roleplaying Game, 2R&E, pg. 69, WEG, 1996.

The CRMcNeill Stat/Rule Index
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail Visit poster's website
griff
Captain
Captain


Joined: 16 Jan 2014
Posts: 507
Location: Tacoma, WA

PostPosted: Mon Jan 26, 2015 10:48 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Ewoks drunk from fizzyglug. Ha, I love it. The rest of it is great too.
_________________
"EXECUTE ORDER 67. Wait a minute, that doesn't sound like order 67..... No, wait. Yes, yes it does. EXECUTE ORDER 68" Palpatine's last moments - robot chicken.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail
Raven Redstar
Rear Admiral
Rear Admiral


Joined: 10 Mar 2009
Posts: 2648
Location: Salem, OR

PostPosted: Mon Jan 26, 2015 2:22 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I see a lot of parallels with the Alliance's treatment of Ewoks to how the American Government/Military dealt with the Native American population during the expanse westward.

A very interesting setting concept. I like that it's teeming with conflict. One thing that I like about operating in the New Republic is the hidden threats lurking out there. As soon as they start to feel safe, something comes along and messes everything up. But, I think that the universe fractured makes for good drama.

I do feel kind of sad when I look at how split everyone has become since the Rebel Alliance's proper name is: The Alliance to Restore the Republic. I guess they ended up failing in that mission...
_________________
RR
________________________________________________________________
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Whill
Dark Lord of the Jedi (Owner/Admin)


Joined: 14 Apr 2008
Posts: 10286
Location: Columbus, Ohio, USA, Earth, The Solar System, The Milky Way Galaxy

PostPosted: Mon Jan 26, 2015 7:49 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Raven Redstar wrote:
I see a lot of parallels with the Alliance's treatment of Ewoks to how the American Government/Military dealt with the Native American population during the expanse westward.

A very interesting setting concept. I like that it's teeming with conflict. One thing that I like about operating in the New Republic is the hidden threats lurking out there. As soon as they start to feel safe, something comes along and messes everything up. But, I think that the universe fractured makes for good drama.

I do feel kind of sad when I look at how split everyone has become since the Rebel Alliance's proper name is: The Alliance to Restore the Republic. I guess they ended up failing in that mission...

I think Barrataria's post-Endor setting is much more interesting than the EU's.
_________________
*
Site Map
Forum Guidelines
Registration/Log-In Help
The Rancor Pit Library
Star Wars D6 Damage
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website
Barrataria
Commander
Commander


Joined: 28 Dec 2005
Posts: 295
Location: Republic of California

PostPosted: Tue Jan 27, 2015 1:29 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Whill wrote:
I think Barrataria's post-Endor setting is much more interesting than the EU's.


Thanks! I just hope Ep 7-9 stay FAR, FAR AWAY from Endor! Smile
_________________
"A special effect without a story is a pretty boring thing"- George Lucas
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail
Barrataria
Commander
Commander


Joined: 28 Dec 2005
Posts: 295
Location: Republic of California

PostPosted: Tue Jan 27, 2015 2:41 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

griff wrote:
Ewoks drunk from fizzyglug. Ha, I love it. The rest of it is great too.


They don't "like" fizzyglug, they LOVE it. It's like catnip beer with crack dissolved in it. There are some ruins in the forest here and there interdicted by New Alderaan security where... bad things happened. In fact, one of those was the original "New Alderaan" colony that was torn up not too long after founding, leading to the ban on fizzyglug transport and the walled-off design of Brightshore and the spaceport/admin center.

Raven Redstar wrote:
I see a lot of parallels with the Alliance's treatment of Ewoks to how the American Government/Military dealt with the Native American population during the expanse westward.


Kinda, but I was thinking more about Pacific Islands in particular. Plenty of shame to mine in many countries Sad And at least the Alliance was trying to create a homeworld for the Alderaanians, rather than just grow sugar or dump prisoners. And there really seems to be a lot of room on Endor. Best laid plans of mice and Bothans...

Anyway, that's where the parallel ends; other than that plot point the ewoks are their own thing and not noble savage Native Americans/"na'vi". I like to use them as goon villains, pirates, and annoying sidekicks. Rebel/Alliance soldiers that spent any time on Endor called them "leg-humpers" for one annoying habit they have... not really "noble savages" Laughing Even sober they're really pretty infuriating.


Raven Redstar wrote:
But, I think that the universe fractured makes for good drama.
It's funny, but I actually really hated that idea for the Traveller universe, it's the one thing of MegaTraveller I never used for that game. But after reading some EU stuff, especially Jedi Academy, I really didn't want to use their setting.

Raven Redstar wrote:
the Rebel Alliance's proper name is: The Alliance to Restore the Republic. I guess they ended up failing in that mission...


True, but remember that name was officially retired after Endor. I had been thinking about the Firefly "Alliance" and ran across the "Declaration of the Alliance of Free Planets" in the Bakura sourcebook (or maybe I was reading the novel at the time, I try to forget it).

There's a footnote there:

Quote:
The Declaration of a New Republic was released to the galaxy only four weeks after this document was distributed. While now little more than a historical footnote, the Declaration of the Alliance of Free Planets illustrates an important step in the evolution from Rebel Alliance to New Republic.


Except, of course, the little detail that it's not a democratic step. It was their Articles of Confederation, but what if they didn't do like the US but like so many other countries that try, and end up with a failed constitutional convention? S&1% happens in the universe, and those four weeks maybe stretch to a few months. And after a few years of that, missed meetings, failed quorums, etc... it's still the Alliance of Free Planets. It's a unilateral declaration of 9 people, based on whatever authority each was invested by their world (um....Alderaan?). Over the next few years, new "members" would assent to the Alliance declaration. Then they'd be part of whatever sphere they were in (although of course there are random worlds in uncontrolled space that signed on, but those are rarer and rarer as war drags on forever. Signing up is all downside for people outside Alliance space, unless they effectively want to declare war on the local Imperial goon/crimelord/whatever).

If they could ever get effective communication and control of all their spheres at the same time, maybe they could get a constitutional convention together, with legitimate representatives from each world. But by now the Alliance has all its own interest groups that don't really want that, for whatever reason. And, really, a true constitutional convention is a difficult thing to sell to people, and a dangerous enterprise. And that's in our world, just imagine trying with a million billion worlds or whatever the Old Republic was supposed to have been. Not enough people with blasters and starfighter carriers (!) and merchant fleets want all those little floaty chairs we saw in the OT get filled up with politicians again. Everyone pledges allegiance to the ideal, but there are too many "emergencies" to quite ever leave enough room for that final step, which the EU plopped down a month after Endor, to be taken.
_________________
"A special effect without a story is a pretty boring thing"- George Lucas
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail
Ray
Commodore
Commodore


Joined: 31 Oct 2003
Posts: 1743
Location: Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, North America, Western Hemisphere, Earth, Sol, Western Arm, Milky Way

PostPosted: Mon Nov 27, 2017 1:21 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I started my game, and let my group know that things were the same up until the Battle Of Hoth, therein I did one small change. One that would let them be the protagonists rather than the "Second Stringer Folks" while the movie protagonists get all the glory.

They didn't realize just how far a single change could make until...

Luke Skywalker appears on the holo-braodcast, wearing a black flightsuit with a open set of dark brown robes over it, munching casually on some green berry-like foodstuff. He finishes the last one, and carefully puts the bag away and nods his head as if to start recording when it already had.

“I am Luke Skywalker, Jedi Knight. Over the past six months, numerous truths were brought forward to me and associates of mine that will help explain the situation of Known Space as it is. The first, and foremost of these is the simple fact that the Emperor, Palpatine, is a Sith Master who is more properly named Darth Sidious.

“Few people in the galaxy remember truly what the Sith are, but they stand for all that is dark and corrupt in the universe. In fact, utilizing Sith Sorcery, extensive drugs, and cybernetic manipulation, he has made one of his more fearsome weapons from that of my father, Clone Wars hero and one of the few surviving members of the Jedi Council, Anakin Skywalker. He moulded a public figure for this horribly trapped Jedi Master and corrupted him into a force known to the universe, wrongly, as Darth Vader.

“However, with extensive work, I have been able to remove many of those aspects away from him, returning Jedi Master Anakin Skywalker to himself, and once more the Jedi Council is starting to attempt to bring about the Jedi role of being guardians of peace when the universe is once again able to stabilize into the stability of the Republic, which the Empire has failed to do since its creation over two decades ago.

“As such, we are declaring the creation of the Jedi Protectorate.

“We now claim the area previously known as Hutt Space as Protectorate space. Where we will bring about responsible government that is not in the hands of the Hutt Cartels and their corrupt ways. We renounce any form of slavery in that area, and, with the assistance of our Mandalorian allies, we will free all slaves. This will include the slavery that the Republic instituted in its last days with the creation of the Clonetroopers that made up The Grand Army And Navy Of The Republic.”

The camera zooms back, showing a trio of Mandalorians in their traditional armor, dripping in a variety of weapons ranging from primitive knives of raw steel all the way to the latest in longarm blaster technology. One, without a rangefinder on her helmet but with a bulky rocket pack on her back is in orange armor. The middle is wearing heavily worn and scratched red accented armor on a dark green base, and has more weapons than the others attached to his armor. The last has a hefty, but snub nosed repeating blaster in his arms, and is wearing predominantly black armor with gold accents. Each also wears upon their belt a lightsaber. The scene is obviously now at some ancient temple, whose massive doors are slowly grinding up and down on heavily abused machinery.

Luke Skywalker continues as a blue glow starts to come forth from the entranceway, “For those beings living in the Protectorate in honest, honorable ways, you are welcome to stay, and enjoy the new prosperity that a proper government will bring.

“For those members that have corrupted the governments and subjected the mass populous to terror, theft, and worse…”

Luke Skywalker stands aside, and motions to the form inside the building as the entrance finally opens fully. Clad in mostly black, but with some obviously modified and unpainted equipment added onto his suit, Darth Vader, Dark Lord Of The Sith, or more correctly Jedi Councilmember Anakin Skywalker steps forward, an ignited blue lightsaber in his hand, and he speaks in his massive baritone voice, “Justice comes for you.”

With that, Master Skywalker’s free hand comes from behind his back, and the levitating disembodied head of Jabba The Hutt hovers into view of the holo-recording.

Luke Skywalker once again takes center stage, “The Light Side of the Force is once more being returned to the people of the galaxy. The Protectorate will support the common peoples of the worlds. There will be peace in our time, and the Jedi with their allies and friends will bring it about.”

The holo ends.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail Visit poster's website
MrNexx
Rear Admiral
Rear Admiral


Joined: 25 Mar 2016
Posts: 2248
Location: San Antonio

PostPosted: Mon Nov 27, 2017 1:52 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I ran a game a number of years ago based on an alternate version of The Phantom Menace that was online at betterstarwars.com.

Nowadays, I'd probably use a lot of the Clone Wars as part of my canon.
_________________
"I've Seen Your Daily Routine. You Are Not Busy!"
“We're going to win this war, not by fighting what we hate, but saving what we love.”
http://rpgcrank.blogspot.com/
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website
Whill
Dark Lord of the Jedi (Owner/Admin)


Joined: 14 Apr 2008
Posts: 10286
Location: Columbus, Ohio, USA, Earth, The Solar System, The Milky Way Galaxy

PostPosted: Mon Sep 03, 2018 8:24 pm    Post subject: Re: What's YOUR Star Wars Universe? Reply with quote

This is a great thread if you have the time to read it.

Rerun941 wrote:
The subject has come up on another forum I frequent that there is in fact a Star Wars Multiverse out there.

1) The canon universe that George Lucas has created with the films and other comments he made about it.
2) The EU published material. Books, computer games, rpgs, comics, etc. Some of which has been overridden by #1 above.
3) Each fan's version in their own head.

So, what's #3 for you?

Of course it's a little different now. The original film canon universe has been expanded into the current Canon, and the EU is now Legends, but the original question still remains. What's YOUR Star Wars Universe?
_________________
*
Site Map
Forum Guidelines
Registration/Log-In Help
The Rancor Pit Library
Star Wars D6 Damage
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website
TauntaunScout
Line Captain
Line Captain


Joined: 20 Apr 2015
Posts: 970

PostPosted: Tue Sep 25, 2018 10:58 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

This has gotten very thorny over the years. Dialogue from the OT has been contradicted by later films, so what is a fan to do? Plus the EU has gotten like the collectibles. No one can buy every item of merchandise, there's too much to even put a dent in. Likewise you can't hope to keep track of the whole EU anymore. Anyways, my game-universe canon consists of:

Movies:
Rogue One
A New Hope
The Empire Strikes Back
Return of the Jedi

The events of the above happened and are "real" history.

Televison:
Droids These are the memories on C-3PO and/or R2-D2's hard drive(s) and may or may not be real.
Ewok Adventures These are legends told by Ewoks around fires and may or may not be real.

Novels:
The technology and races are real if WEG published stats for them. The events are mostly not worried about. It doesn't really matter what Han does after Endor if the games are set around ESB, etc.

Comics:
1977-1987 Marvel comics. The alien races, the settings, etc. are real, the events are mostly not.

The WEG books are presumably all "real" in the sense that those are stats for a Rodian or whatever... but I'm not going to look kindly on some rules lawyer whipping out an obscure adventure module to prove that there's a system that has XYZ nearby, or that something is the wrong modifier, or whatever. In Star Wars, things should be moving faster than that allows for. It even says so in the rules...(!?)
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Ashikaider
Ensign
Ensign


Joined: 24 Jul 2018
Posts: 30

PostPosted: Sat Oct 06, 2018 5:29 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I really haven't put together what my personal Star Wars continuity is, but I probably would include elements from the following

The Star Wars (Dark Horse comic adaption of one of Lucas' earlier scripts) wookies in X-Wings, material dealing with cyborgs

The War in Space (1977 Toho studios SF movie that may have been rushed to theatres after Star Wars came out) features a spaceship that launches fighters from what appeared to be a revolver barrel. (Said ship was a 70s upgrade of an older ship called Super Atragon. It was called 'Tengoh' in the movie, which was also the name of of ship used in Godzilla Final Wars), and a horned wookie with a long-handled battle axe.

Message From Space (1978 Japanese SF movie also made in response to Star Wars, essentially Seven Samurai with an international cast.)

Crusher Joe (long running Japanese multimedia project started as novels in response to Star Wars, later had short-run manga, and a 1982 animated movie and a few 50 minute direct to video shows) stories that show the ups and downs of a four member 'Crusher' squad that get involved in some dangerous situations. The movie also was the first animated appearance of...

The Dirty Pair (another series from the creator of Crusher Joe, this dealing with a pair of agents for the Worlds Work Welfare association, who are a sort of combo police/spy organisation. The protagonists have a 100% job completion rating, but typically everything in the vicinity of the case gets obliterated. There were some original English Language comics from Dark Horse that came out in the 90s and early 00s, and featured some pretty theoretical SF in later series. My current sphere of interest are the anime of this series that came out in the 80's

Marvel's Star Wars comics. While there were some hiccups with the early comics the material written by Roy Thomas was entertaining, even if it did get a little strange at times.

There's definitely more out there, but this has what's caught (or held) my interest this decade.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
BentonGrey
Cadet
Cadet


Joined: 02 Oct 2018
Posts: 22

PostPosted: Sat Oct 06, 2018 1:36 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Interesting question, one made all the more-so by the recent movies and their *ahem* rocky reception.

For me, it's pretty simple. I loved Star Wars growing up, spent endless hours pouring over books (including a lot of the WEG books) and comics, and filling my imagination with the universe they painted. It seemed to me a much more interesting and epic place than that which we were given with the Prequels and also much more consistent (by the time I got to it) and archetypal than that seen in the new films.

So, I'll stick with those materials. For me, Star Wars is the original three movies (I'm solidly in the 'there are only three movies' camp), and the bulk of the good EU stuff from before the Prequels. For me, the Clone Wars were what was hinted at in those materials, a series of conflicts involving clones that tore apart and weakened the Old Republic, which always seemed a much more interesting story than the one we got (though, admittedly, I haven't watched the Clone Wars cartoon, which I've heard is good. It's just too much in the shadow of the Prequels for me).

The campaign I'm starting is coming from that background, and I've told my players "we've got no midichlorian, Gungans, or any other such nonsense."

That's one of the reasons I'm excited about this system. It's full of "more elegant" materials "from a more civilized age", giant green space-rabbits not withstanding. Wink (Hey, nothing's perfect!)
_________________
God bless,

Benton Grey
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Whill
Dark Lord of the Jedi (Owner/Admin)


Joined: 14 Apr 2008
Posts: 10286
Location: Columbus, Ohio, USA, Earth, The Solar System, The Milky Way Galaxy

PostPosted: Mon Jul 06, 2020 8:41 pm    Post subject: What's your Star Wars Universe? Reply with quote

Barrataria wrote:
Whill wrote:
I think Barrataria's post-Endor setting is much more interesting than the EU's.


Thanks! I just hope Ep 7-9 stay FAR, FAR AWAY from Endor! Smile

Unfortunately Barrataria has been MIA since 2015. The heroes in Ep 9 did return to the same star system for Death Star wreckage on another moon, and later in the movie there was a Death Star in the sky of the forest moon that had been Holdo-maneuvered, with no explanation for why there was a star destroyer there and who crashed into it. Wicket and his son watched it happen. Other than that, the DT stayed away from Endor.

But you are free to have that in your SWU or not, so the DT is powerless to effect your SWU if you don't want it to. Now I have a very specific vision of Endor after RotJ and First Order star destroyers and Holdo Maneuvers are no part of it.

StarPadre wrote:
CRMcNeill wrote:
There was a guy who suggested an interesting, darker post-RotJ timeline, where the Emperor was killed at Endor, but the Alliance wasn't strong enough to reform the Republic, and the whole galaxy effectively Balkanized into warring factions of Imperials, the Alliance, the Hutts and any of the other races / entities with enough leverage to carve out their own little chunk. I may have to look that up; I think it was Barrataria...

EDIT: Damn, I'm good.

Wow! That's almost exactly as I imagined my campaign universe. Except, the New Republic was formed, in intention and name, and had some authority over a good number of systems, but that there were so many other factions, Imperial and otherwise, and the New Republic was so ill-equipped to deal with them, that it was more of an ideal and a goal. In practice, it was more akin to just another faction, although one of the most powerful.

This thread was linked and these replies were applicable to this thread, so I moved over here from the Multiverse thread to reply.

Chaos in the galaxy is how my post-RotJ setting is too. There are many post-Palpatine Imperial factions fighting each other. Moffs, admirals, Imperial advisors, Sith apprentices, Palpatine's family members, etc. all vying for control over as much as they can. The New Republic or its predecessor alliance is small at first. This is pretty much how the warlordism was in the EU too, but the EU didn't tell too many stories set in the this time period. The New Republic growing to be a major galactic power took some years.

The difference in my SWU is just that it takes even longer for the chaos to settle down, perhaps a whole generation, and when it does there are four major factions: a New Republic and three Empires. For me, the very premise of the game is the Empire(s). If there are no big evil Empires, I'm not really interesting in having a campaign. And the thought of there never eventually being a New Republic just seems too depressing for me, a slap in the face to what Alliance accomplished in the classic trilogy. In 1980 Lucas decided to chronologically end his saga with RotJ, so he moved Palpatine from the third trilogy to RotJ and killed off Palpatine and Vader. We never got to see the final destruction of the Empire, so I've always had to believe that the efforts the Alliance made to restore the Republic would eventually result in a new galactic Republic. Until that point, any of my RPG campaigns taking place in that timeframe will still in some way be related to the struggle against the Empire, or its successor Empires.

The canon universe's post-RotJ went completely the other direction I did from the EU. There was some warlordism but the bulk of the Empire stayed intact and was completely defeated by the New Republic a mere one year after RotJ. That just seems silly to me, because the Empire doesn't seem that much of an enemy if it could be almost erased from the galaxy a year later.
_________________
*
Site Map
Forum Guidelines
Registration/Log-In Help
The Rancor Pit Library
Star Wars D6 Damage
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website
Display posts from previous:   
Post new topic   Reply to topic    The Rancor Pit Forum Index -> Gamemasters All times are GMT - 4 Hours
Goto page Previous  1, 2, 3 ... , 17, 18, 19  Next
Page 18 of 19

 
Jump to:  
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum


Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group


v2.0