Edge of the Empire General Discussion Thread

[Fumble Jack]

Also have a follow-up Question. With the coming of Force Awakens, without giving spoilers to any whom haven't seen it, has this altered anybody's games or plans for them?

As for my own game, I'm currently at a time frame, just 4 years after the destruction of the 2nd Death Star. It's been a fun run & discovered some talents that needed balance *cough, cough* Pressure Point to name at least one.

My next game as per request of my players, they want to play as younglings coming into their own as Padawans. So pre-Clone Wars ish. I would like to ask any advice for running such a game? Regarding starting stats, credits?

[Rakaydos]

Also have a follow-up Question. With the coming of Force Awakens, without giving spoilers to any whom haven't seen it, has this altered anybody's games or plans for them?

As for my own game, I'm currently at a time frame, just 4 years after the destruction of the 2nd Death Star. It's been a fun run & discovered some talents that needed balance *cough, cough* Pressure Point to name at least one.

My next game as per request of my players, they want to play as younglings coming into their own as Padawans. So pre-Clone Wars ish. I would like to ask any advice for running such a game? Regarding starting stats, credits?

I've been starting up a couple campains with the premice of "padawons rushed through trials because Battle of Geonosis" where you start Knight level, but are required to have a bunch oof stuff that brings you back to about starting character levels of actul usable points.
Force rating 2
at least 1 rank of Parry -or- Reflect
At least 1 rank -each- of Lore -and- Discipline
Basic powers for Move, Sence, Influence and Enhance

[RickAllison]

Me and my group all have experience with this game, and a topic of conversation that has persisted during our last few meetings is playing a campaign in this system where all the PCs are playing as Imperial Stormtroopers. For various reasons, we have come to the conclusion I should write and run this campaign, which I find an interesting prospect, but seeing how official material for doing such a thing is non-existent, I figured I'd come here.

I'd like to hear any suggestions or ideas anyone has for how to run this, and my established ideas are as follows: I'd be using the Age of Rebellion classes. The campaign begins a shy five months after the events of Revenge of the Sith, so the Empire has just come into being, is still using mostly clone soldiers and equipment and enjoys an immense amount of public support. The PCs are one of the first Stormtrooper teams deployed, as part of a cleanup campaign to scrap the droid army (seizing deactivated war material and direct combat in a few place where short range, substitute control signals have reactivated them), reassert control and presence on seceded planets, fight against criminal elements, crush fledgling rebellions (they responded enthusiastically to a proposed deployment against a Gungan revolt) and test Imperial prototypes. The force sensitive class is something I will allow, but taking it will eventually draw the attention of the Inquisition, which is a gamble. I'm overall drawing inspiration the most from the TIE Fighter flight simulator.

I know I'm a little late for this, but I view the three books as archetypes for their style of play. So AoR would be be most useful for Imperial forces in the same way they are used for the Rebel Alliance, or even for corporations. With Duty and everything, the party would function as a similar unit to if they were in the Rebel Alliance (or a corporation, or any other long-term commitment to a structured organization). All you have to do is change the fluff around them, and you achieve the same sorts of characters. By that same logic, you can create Inquisitor-type characters through FaD, or... Come to think of it, EotE doesn't really change if you work for the Empire . My last EotE group actually captured Han Solo, sold him to Jabba and then killed off his court, then sold him to the Alliance and killed Chewie instead, then sold him to the Empire (we took out Vader and the Emperor later on); the dynamics for criminals don't really change for different employers!

I am currently considering modifying Tomb of Horrors to fit this setting. I have never run that particular module before, but I would love some feedback on my future attempts, as well as any suggestions.

[houlio]

I am currently considering modifying Tomb of Horrors to fit this setting. I have never run that particular module before, but I would love some feedback on my future attempts, as well as any suggestions.

How Many Bothan Spies Died

[Jigawatts]

I am currently considering modifying Tomb of Horrors to fit this setting. I have never run that particular module before, but I would love some feedback on my future attempts, as well as any suggestions.

Sith Holocron of Annihilation in the statues mouth, never gets old.

[RickAllison]

Sith Holocron of Annihilation in the statues mouth, never gets old.

You're evil. I like it, how would you handle that? A Discipline check (for it being Force) and/or Resilience (for disintegration)?

[TheTeaMustFlow]

You're evil. I like it, how would you handle that? A Discipline check (for it being Force) and/or Resilience (for disintegration)?

It's Tomb of Horrors. You handle that by handing them a new character sheet.

[AstralFire]

I'm not doing a game set in the default setting (it's an AU with this hook) and one of my players would like to have a character that's a washed-up former Jedi with lightsaber skills. That fits the setting I'm using, but I worry about letting her start with a lightsaber. Would there be some sort of "broken" or "training" saber she could reasonably have that wouldn't break things?

[RickAllison]

I've got just the thing from Force and Destiny. With its rules, the hilt is only worth like 200 credits, and it is the crystal that is so expensive and powerful, so Training Saber! If he wants a regular lightsaber model, it has the same damage and hard points, but can't inflict criticals and inflicts stun damage. It also loses Breach and Sunder qualities. Note that if he wanted to use a fancier saber, all (s)he has to do is makes these changes but keep other qualities like Linked and Defensive. It takes the price down from 9,300 credits to 400 credits.

Another option is the Ancient/Cortosis/Vibrosword. Ancient Sword is balanced to function like a lightsaber (so it uses the Lightsaber skill) and costs 350 credits at 8 rarity, Cortosis Sword is 1,350 credits at 7 rarity and uses cortosis, and Vibrosword costs 750 credits at 5 rarity with Pierce and Vicious.

The training lightsaber is your best option if she wants to have it be a memento, the ancient sword is best if she wants to use the skill without drawing attention to herself, and the vibrosword is best if she has a high Brawn and doesn't care about using Melee over the Lightsaber skill. Cortosis wouldn't really make sense for any possibilities (unless she was hunting Inquisitors or some such).

[AstralFire]

Whoops. Somehow the both of us completely missed the training saber rules. Thanks.

[RickAllison]

Happy to help!

[The J Pizzel]

Just thought I'd jump in and say how much I like this game. My group has played WEG, d20, SAGA and now this.

Definitely love the interactive story telling of how the dice work and the constant ebb and flow of the dice. I made a sabateur engineer then jumped over to gadgeteer bounty hunter. Threw a grenade at some storm troopers, missed but got 2 advantages and a triumph. GM looked at me and said "a triumph is an encounter altering event, go..." So I said, OK my grenade throw missed and landed with a "dink" next to the building they were all hiding around. It goes off and half the wall falls on them. Cheers from the table. And that was the first turn of the first round of the first combat of our first time playing this game.

[Fumble Jack]

Just thought I'd jump in and say how much I like this game. My group has played WEG, d20, SAGA and now this.

Definitely love the interactive story telling of how the dice work and the constant ebb and flow of the dice. I made a sabateur engineer then jumped over to gadgeteer bounty hunter. Threw a grenade at some storm troopers, missed but got 2 advantages and a triumph. GM looked at me and said "a triumph is an encounter altering event, go..." So I said, OK my grenade throw missed and landed with a "dink" next to the building they were all hiding around. It goes off and half the wall falls on them. Cheers from the table. And that was the first turn of the first round of the first combat of our first time playing this game.

That is awesome. I've been having a lot of fun running this system & so have my players whom started with saga & revised.

[Fumble Jack]

I've read through Chronicles of the Gatekeeper, I was pleasantly surprised as to how much I liked the module & would recommend it for anyone running an F& D or Force focused game.

[SarcasticDom]

Hey I have a question about the whole Force Rating system. I'm (hopefully) going to be running a Force and Destiny campaign at some point, and was wondering if there was any way for a character to increase their force rating other than buying it as a talent in the non-lightsaber talent trees

[RickAllison]

Hey I have a question about the whole Force Rating system. I'm (hopefully) going to be running a Force and Destiny campaign at some point, and was wondering if there was any way for a character to increase their force rating other than buying it as a talent in the non-lightsaber talent trees

The only way to increase Force Rating in the books is to take those talents. However, the Galaxy Master is free to make up special events for the players that do provide them the increase in awareness of the Force. My last FFG GM had our party attempt to complete Jedi trials through a deserted temple. He presented several challenges to all of the players who wished to try (we had four try, one of whom failed near the beginning) and let their actions decide how they gained knowledge in the force. Our Trandoshan axe-wielder found it through aggression (Force Rating 1, dark side), our pilot found it through meditation (or was it booze... Force Rating 1, light side), and our Force-Sensitive Exile found it through balance (Force Rating 2, both sides). So as a GM, you have the right to create challenges for your players that reveal the secrets of the Force to increase their rating, there just isn't a place in the book that details how to do so.

[SarcasticDom]

The only way to increase Force Rating in the books is to take those talents. However, the Galaxy Master is free to make up special events for the players that do provide them the increase in awareness of the Force. My last FFG GM had our party attempt to complete Jedi trials through a deserted temple. He presented several challenges to all of the players who wished to try (we had four try, one of whom failed near the beginning) and let their actions decide how they gained knowledge in the force. Our Trandoshan axe-wielder found it through aggression (Force Rating 1, dark side), our pilot found it through meditation (or was it booze... Force Rating 1, light side), and our Force-Sensitive Exile found it through balance (Force Rating 2, both sides). So as a GM, you have the right to create challenges for your players that reveal the secrets of the Force to increase their rating, there just isn't a place in the book that details how to do so.

Ok cool thanks, makes a lot of sense. I'll probably do something similar with my group when we play it.

[Jigawatts]

Hey I have a question about the whole Force Rating system. I'm (hopefully) going to be running a Force and Destiny campaign at some point, and was wondering if there was any way for a character to increase their force rating other than buying it as a talent in the non-lightsaber talent trees

In addition to RickAllison's excellent post, I would like to point out that there is one lightsaber talent tree that does provide a force rating increase, the Niman Disciple specialization of the Consular career has one at the bottom of the tree.

[Jigawatts]

Just curious, now that the whole of the core game is out, does FFG have any plans to do a full adventure path (perhaps that crosses over all 3 product lines), something in the vein of Rise of the Runelords or Dawn of Defiance?

[Fumble Jack]

Not sure if this may help anyone but info for food in a galaxy far, far away if it helps as backdrop for anyone's game or characters : http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Category:Food Hope it helps.

[RickAllison]

One of the PCs in my game was inspired to travel the galaxy because of his fury over Ewok jerky

[This be Richard]

So I can't seem to find any official rules concerning how to determine what languages characters know. So now I'm wondering about how people have ruled on this. How do you guys resolve whether or not characters understand Binary, Wookiee, Huttese, or whatever else?

[Rakaydos]

So I can't seem to find any official rules concerning how to determine what languages characters know. So now I'm wondering about how people have ruled on this. How do you guys resolve whether or not characters understand Binary, Wookiee, Huttese, or whatever else?

The official rule is on page 44 of EoE.
The short version is that unless lack of comprehension is a big plot point, either people understand each other or there's a faceless protocal droid standing by who conveys your charm and coercion checks perfectly.

[This be Richard]

The official rule is on page 44 of EoE.
The short version is that unless lack of comprehension is a big plot point, either people understand each other or there's a faceless protocal droid standing by who conveys your charm and coercion checks perfectly.

Oh. Well this is embarrassing.
Thank you, though!

[RickAllison]

So I have a funny story to tell. I am running a composite campaign and I let one of the Jedi have a vision of the future where he saw himself dying. He had already succeeded on a Discipline to check to determine whether the vision was reality or not, and then he asked for a check I had not remotely planned for: ascending to be a Force Ghost. On a whim, I let him take the check at 5 Challenge, 5 Difficulty, anticipating he would fail. Nope. Succeeded with 3 Despairs worth of Threat, but he did succeed. I ruled that the Despairs indicated that he would not fully ascend, and that his body would remain and the doctor would have three chances to revive him. He failed all of them. I had to drastically change the next encounter because suddenly the best fighter in the group was lying dead in the pilot seat of their shuttle (and all of his equipment had been stolen by the doctor...).

[Jigawatts]

The official rule is on page 44 of EoE.
The short version is that unless lack of comprehension is a big plot point, either people understand each other or there's a faceless protocal droid standing by who conveys your charm and coercion checks perfectly.

Another example of why I prefer simulationist games to narrative ones.

[Rakaydos]

Another example of why I prefer simulationist games to narrative ones.

Why? Are you trying to suprise your gm with knowing a language he didnt plan for?

[Jigawatts]

Why? Are you trying to suprise your gm with knowing a language he didnt plan for?

Not likely considering I'm usually the GM for Star Wars.

I'm just a fan of structure, specificity, and internal consistency.

[Rakaydos]

Not likely considering I'm usually the GM for Star Wars.

I'm just a fan of structure, specificity, and internal consistency.

It seems like that's on your head as GM- not something to blame the system for. According to the book, it's exatly as consistant as you make it.

[Jigawatts]

It seems like that's on your head as GM- not something to blame the system for. According to the book, it's exatly as consistant as you make it.

Lol, you seem overly defensive about this for some silly reason, perhaps you're just not understanding that RPGs are typically designed to be either narrative in nature or simulationist in nature. Fantasy Flight Star Wars is heavily on the narrative side of the scale, whereas my preference is for games of a simulationist nature. So, rather, it actually is the system that doesn't suit my gaming needs. Obviously its scratching your itch, which hey, more power to ya and whatnot.