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[1E] Falconer’s Newbie Questions
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DB 2.0
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PostPosted: Wed Apr 15, 2015 2:53 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Some folks like "New Republic" (a few years after ep VI) where the good guys have won and they run around stopping agents from the imperial remnant.

Others like "Rise of the New Republic" (just after ep VI) where the Empire is collapsing and every mission they complete is a grate step forward to a better tomorrow.

the 1e default campaign is around the time of the orignal trilogy, at the hight of the rebellion.

I recommend not using Clone Wars (Ep's I-III) as Jedi of this time are Superheroes and throwing enough Dice at everyone to let the Jedi have their Force Powers kind of takes the challenge out of the game.

I've known people to do a Pre ep IV game about ineffective local Rebels and Business folks on the edge of legality trying to keep one step ahead of an ever increasing intrusive Empire, a very Firefly or Rebels kind game.

then there is Tails of the Jedi, set around 5000 years ago.
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KageRyu
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PostPosted: Wed Apr 15, 2015 4:17 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Falconer wrote:
What timeframe do you set your games in? The rulebook suggests post Ep.IV, which I like, but I’m curious what is popular.

And what is your approach to canon? Do you try to fit within the established timeline? Do you pick your starting point and create a divergent timeline from thenceforth? Is it just “your” Star Wars and it doesn’t have to agree in ANY details with any canon source?

I have used a variety of time frames to be honest. Stretching from before the fall of the republic (and before there were Prequels) to the Post Empire period. I ran a great many campaigns during what I generally refer to as "The Movie Era" - which for me was the time frame of the initial trilogy (Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back, and Return of the Jedi). I would often have cameos of characters, and even events from the classic trilogy appear in my campaigns. I used Admiral Ackbar in a supporting role more than once, had the players meet the new owner of the Bespin Mining Stations prior to the incident with Han - even had a Secretive Jedi Player Character get tracked, and captured by Boba Fette. Ah... good times.

I even had Lord Vader make more than one official cameo in campaigns.

Edit
Also, I would note, that in the 1E rules it suggests relegating the player character actions and activities to less than heroic feats in the scope of the Galaxy because Luke, Han, Leia, and Chewie are the heroes of Star Wars. I have never liked this philosophy in the D6 edition. it is perhaps my one bone of contention. Infinity Campaigns aside, there is still plenty of grandstand style heroics that a player character could engage in to place them on par with the figures in the movies.

I like to create grand adventures - and some of the things I have used as ideas include:
• Liberating a world from an imperial interdiction.
• Rescue of a vital Rebel Agent (Admiral Ackbar)
• Fighting a bio-plague being used against rebel sympathetic worlds
• The theft of a Super Star Destroyer from the shipyards it was being constructed at (which turned up again in a later campaign at the Battle of the Mon Cal Homeworld when the resurrected emperor on board the Sovereign was seeking vengeance against the rebels)

At one point, a player group had stumbled into a firefight between what turned out to be a rebel agent and imperials and were given a Data Crystal and told to get it to the vessel Tantive IV... that turned into a fun series of adventures... especially when my player group finally realized what they had been carrying.
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Falconer
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PostPosted: Wed Apr 15, 2015 1:40 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thanks for the thoughts, as always.

DB 2.0 wrote:
I recommend not using Clone Wars (Ep's I-III) as Jedi of this time are Superheroes and throwing enough Dice at everyone to let the Jedi have their Force Powers kind of takes the challenge out of the game.

Oh, don’t worry about that. When it comes to the prequels, I’m in the “pretend they don’t exist” camp. Hope that’s not considered inflammatory around here (is it?).

KageRyu wrote:
Also, I would note, that in the 1E rules it suggests relegating the player character actions and activities to less than heroic feats in the scope of the Galaxy because Luke, Han, Leia, and Chewie are the heroes of Star Wars. I have never liked this philosophy in the D6 edition. it is perhaps my one bone of contention.

Yeah, the way I see it, any PC is a potential Luke/Han/etc. They start humble, but, over time, their legend grows, and with it the sense of destiny.
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PostPosted: Wed Apr 15, 2015 10:21 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Clone Wars (both the Series more than the Prequels movies) are good, just the setting doesn't jive with the D6 system.

Tails of the Jedi is a good setting but the Jedi to Non ratio is reversed, also the Book the reference for a collected force powers list.
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cynanbloodbane
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PostPosted: Wed Apr 15, 2015 10:53 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I am currently running a campaign that began 1 day prior to order 66 in ROS. If the players keep it going it will end at the battle of Endor.
My only story restriction is that I will not let them change the events of episodes 4-6. A couple weeks of game time in and they are already planning a "The Rim Will Rise Again" resistance to restore the CIS.

The only full fledged Jedi Knight was an NPC that died to save them in the first adventure.

As far as his lowly Padawan is concerned, the Jedi Order is gone.
They all know better than to act on info their characters don't have.
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evilnerf
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PostPosted: Thu Apr 16, 2015 6:50 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Well, I'm running a premade adventure, so it' hews pretty closely to EU since it's already set that 'Someone' already did all this stuff already.

The key here though is that it doesn't really matter what the players do since they have virtually no chance of changing galactic scale events.

If the players happen to team up with the bad guy? The biggest impact they could have is in one out of the way sector that doesn't really matter in the grand scheme of things.

Make them worry about saving their own hides and worry less about them changing history, I always say.
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Falconer
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PostPosted: Sat May 02, 2015 12:21 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Can races from Galaxy Guide 12: Aliens: Enemies and Allies be used seamlessly in First Edition, or are there edition differences which will require conversion? Interested in Snivvians and Nimbanese.
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KageRyu
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PostPosted: Sat May 02, 2015 2:27 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Falconer wrote:
Can races from Galaxy Guide 12: Aliens: Enemies and Allies be used seamlessly in First Edition, or are there edition differences which will require conversion? Interested in Snivvians and Nimbanese.

I never had a problem with using them. Though as I said, my games were a bit of 1E+ with the rules I liked from 2nd Edition R&E added, but much of it still 1st edition at heart.
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Falconer
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PostPosted: Sun May 10, 2015 11:28 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Usually in my AD&D campaigns I have a large number of players but don’t expect the full group at any given session. It works fine in AD&D under the session=expedition formula: each session starts and ends in town and only involves whatever players are present.

How can I make this work in a SW campaign? I have some ideas, but I want to hear from your experience.
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griff
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PostPosted: Mon May 11, 2015 1:11 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

This AD&D formula does work well for fantasy rpgs, it would also could work well with star wars. Instead of beginning and ending at the inn's tavern, you start and end at the rebel base's mess hall, or the local space port's cantina. Absent players only usually became a problem when there is a major campaign.

A long time ago I was watching an interview with the creator of the X-Files. He said that he writes two different kinds of episodes. The first was the large overall story arc that brought the audience deeper into the mythology of the show's reality. The other kind of episode was the one and done cases the the agents wrapped up in an episode.

When not all players are present a "one-off" adventure might be the best thing.

If all your players are never at the table at the same time, playing out different parts of the campaign at different times will have to be thought out in advance. Much like Empire Strikes Back. Only play the parts of the adventure that the present players have parts to play.
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cynanbloodbane
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PostPosted: Mon May 11, 2015 1:24 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Easy answer is that they stay on the ship if they don't show.
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PostPosted: Mon May 11, 2015 1:32 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Or they could be off running into bounty hunters on Ord Mantel. But with them staying behind on the ship, it makes it easy to have them show up at just the right time if needed.
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jawa1138
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PostPosted: Mon May 11, 2015 10:02 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Falconer wrote:
Usually in my AD&D campaigns I have a large number of players but don’t expect the full group at any given session. It works fine in AD&D under the session=expedition formula: each session starts and ends in town and only involves whatever players are present.

How can I make this work in a SW campaign? I have some ideas, but I want to hear from your experience.


This was the key reason we started a Star Wars campaign. My primary gaming group has been playing a D&D campaign for about a year but we are in a part of the campaign that does not allow us to easily explain away absent characters. Nor do I like to npc player characters. So we decided to play a game that allows us to have a more episodic approach.

Think Firefly or Star Trek when designing adventures. Part of the crew will remain behind to guard the ship and/or provide a hasty get away if need be. Firefly really gives a great framework for how a good smuggler campaign might work, even with occasionally absent characters.
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Falconer
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PostPosted: Mon May 11, 2015 10:22 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

That’s very encouraging, thanks, guys.

My thought was that some players would be rebel scouts, and some would be smuggler scoundrels. That they would potentially have access to a mix of ships—one or two small cargo ships owned by scoundrels, and the rebels would be issued a 1-man fighter each or a small transport or a mix of the two depending on their need. (That’s how I imagine it, but a lot would depend on what the players go for.)

This would mean that, if at the end of a session one group was left at one planet, a bit of time might need to be spent at the beginning of the next session for other players to potentially join them. Sure, it would be a lot of “coincidence,” and a bit of a hassle, but also kind of epic in its own way.
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PostPosted: Mon May 11, 2015 10:41 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

When we first started trying out d6 the party had three ships. The problem is that it spread them thin and left them feeling they had to maximize space combat skills to be effective. The next practice session was ground combat and adventures and they were at a loss because they put too much into starship skills.

I recommend if you give them single pilot fighters that perhaps you make them something without hyperdrive and dependent on a freighter to transport them. This will let the character work as a team in the big ship and let a couple hot shots take the fighters out during bigger space battles. Others may have different ideas, and you might as well, just a suggestion.
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