AU & The campaign

[Kilgore]

This post risks stepping on a lot of toes but here we go

Let me start by saying that I am a pretty conservative Star Wars fan if I shall say so myself.

I have only read a few of the Star Wars novels taking place after Return of the Jedi (I have read the Thrawn trilogy) and almost nothing of the stories taking place before The Phantom Menace (a couple of Tales of the Jedi comics).

The reason is that I think most of what I have heard taking place after ROTJ sucks big time for lack of a better description and it is not Star Wars as I like it.

The Emperor comming back, weird alliens invading the galaxy, Everyone being cloned, everyone seems to be able to come back as a Force Ghost and nobody really dies. Whats up with that?

I can accept the fact that Boba survived seing how he never really was killed, that he is a tough as nails etc., but the fact that the Emperor survived takes away the fact that Anakin is the Chosen One bringing ballance to the Force.

I could propably go on, but I would like to know if anyone else agrees a little with what I am saying or at least if they understand what I mean?

[Gry Sarth]

Anywhere else on the net, a thread like this one would spark a bloody EU bashers vs. gushers all-out war. But here on the Rancor Pit, I'm confident we can peacefully hear some opinions.

I agree that a lot of the EU is bollocks. With so much material being produced, a sizeable portion of it is bound to be poodoo. Nevertheless, I've read pretty much all the books, expect for the New Jedi Order. And my campaign is chock-full of EU references. Actually, my campaign is fully EU-based.

My group worked for Booster and Mirax Terrik, aboard the Errant Venture (from the X-Wing books and others), they were part of the resistance when the Empire retook Coruscant in the wake of Palpatine's return (Dark Empire) and fled to Pinnace Base, they barely missed the Battle of Tangrene (in which Thrawn was defeated), one of the NPCs is Kolot, the biochemically enhanced ewok (from the Wraith Squadron books), and much more...

I feel this use of EU greatly enriches our campaign. It's specially nice when a player who hasn't read the books stumbles across some info concerning something he lived in the game.
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"He's Gry Sarth, of course he has the stats for them."

[Kilgore]

In my campaign set a number of years after ROTJ I have created my own version of the Star Wars galaxy post ROTJ.

The Empire more or less collapsed not long after Anakin fulfilled his destiny. The reason being that Palpatine seems like the sort of person who would design his Empire in a way were it is unable to function without him.

Corruscant as well as about 90% of the Empire has surendered to the New Republic and the rest has retreated to the outer rim were Captains, Admirals and so on have created their own small Empires.

The New Republic is working to create a peaceful society and has reoppened the Senate, but there stilll is a lot of suspicion towards the ability of the senate to make things work again.

I noticed in ROTJ that the Jedi Temple still stands, and I blaim this on Palpatine being the kind of person who has a desire to mock an enemy that doesn't even exist anymore. A very very small group of emerging Jedi (about 16-20) led by Luke Skywalker have retaken possesion of the Temple and use it in an attempt to rebuild a Jedi Order. These Jedi are mostly Padawans of the ones who escaped Order 66.

[Tejma_Muhog]

I pick and choose. IMSWU pretty much all the post-ROTJ EU stuff is considered to have happened, but I de-emphasize things I consider lame, like the Sun Crusher. The Young Jedi Knights series is as close as I've come to utterly disavowing something "official."

However, if Stackpole or Zahn wrote it, I tend to treat it as gospel. I have made lots and lots of use of not only the X-Wing novels but the X-Wing Rogue Squadron comics, which IMO are the best to have ever come from Star Wars.
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Train yourself to let go of everything you fear to lose.

[Gry Sarth]

The X-Wing series is the one that fits best with RPGing. It actually somewhat feels like an RPG campaign, because its focus is not the big players (Luke, Han, Leia), but the more average heroes.
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"He's Gry Sarth, of course he has the stats for them."

[hisham]

I'll have to agree with Gry and Tejma with their choices. Additionally, Brian Daley's Han Solo Adventures are good reads and very inspirational in terms of RPGing. Those books, the X-Wing books and comics, and some parts of the Zahn books don't take itself too seriously and that works great.

The books that lean heavily towards self-importance and angst makes them unmemorable and have low rereadability value, like Crystal Star, or The New Rebellion. A lot of these authors seem to have forgot that fun plays a large factor in Star Wars.

In any case, as a GM I treat the source as it is and not refer to the stories themselves... for example I might refer to Crseih Station in my games, even though I might choose to ignore the events of the Crystal Star. (Though I'm not crazy or masochistic enough to use Waru in my games.)
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The Enteague Sector | Cracken's Collection of Crackpots
In D6, of course.

[daphnebluestrat]

I'm falling into line with what most of you have said...lots of the EU sucks, but some of it is EXCELLENT. Particularly, as Tejma said, Stackpole and Zahn. Zahn in particular really does a superb job of capturing the *feel* of Star Wars, and that's what matters.

Other notably good books, in my mind, include Aaron Allston's X-Wing books, Truce At Bakura, Tales From Mos Eisley Cantina/Jabba's Palace/Bounty Hunters (the other Tales not so much, sadly), and the old Han Solo books.

And...The New Rebellion sucked. As did Darksaber (I have beef with Anderson...).

The key is, take what you want, and disregard the rest.

My characters will NEVER heard about the Darksaber, the Sun Crusher, Kyp Durron in general, the World Devestators, the Sovreign or Eclipse, the Galaxy Gun, the cloned Emperor...etc.

[Gry Sarth]

Even though I don't really like the whole "Emperor reborn" plot. I like the opportunity to have the Empire resurge when everybody thought it was just about to die. Evrything was nice and settling down in the galaxy, after the New Republic defeated Thrawn. Most thought that was the last they'd ever hear from the Empire. Then, all of a sudden, all the different Imperial remnant factions gather up and retake Coruscant, driving the NR into hiding at Pinnacle Base. They proceed to take over the core worlds, and many great battles are fought.

So, even though the Emperor cloning thing is truly idiotic, I do like the opoortunities it opens up for some good roleplaying.
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"He's Gry Sarth, of course he has the stats for them."

[hisham]

[Gry Sarth]

My group was there when the Empire first attacked Coruscant. By their actions, they managed to keep the planetary shields operational long enough for the bulk of the Government to evacuate the planet. It was a very dramatic adventure, which my players consider the best I've ever GMed.
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"He's Gry Sarth, of course he has the stats for them."

[beaumont sebos]

I'm conservative also... in fact, I'll go so far as to say the ony SW stuff I REALLY like is ANH and ESB... please don't hurt me!

However, for my campaign, I hold all six movies as canon. All the EU stuff never happened in my universe. I'll only occasionaly use a small bit here and there for ideas, but that's it.
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Beaumont Sebos

"Saving the multiverse, one Gamorrean Ale at a time."

[Kilgore]

Sounds like we agree on things concerning the Star Wars Universe. The movies are cannon and 98% of the rest goes out the window.

[hisham]

[daphnebluestrat]

[Gry Sarth]

Ditto.

For me, my character's life in the SW universe is 10 times more canon than half the books out there. And most of the Clone Wars cartoon.
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"He's Gry Sarth, of course he has the stats for them."