Edge of the Empire General Discussion Thread

[Jigawatts]

Its a rather fun system. I have gotten to peak at the Force and Destiny beta material and it looks pretty fun and interesting. Jedis are powerful, but not OP (as has been the tendency in other systems), although if you are looking to play Obi-Wan circa Episode 3, it will take quite a while to get there.

[Rakaydos]

Rakaydos,

You seem like you're pretty familiar with the system. Are you able to make a fairly viable tech/slicer,gadget,mechanic type of character and still be viable in combat or are there certain things you'll have to take to be good in combat regardless of class?

The Mechanics skill covers modding equipment, so that covers the gageteer.mechanic type (assuming you dont go for a specialization that has specific gear talents, like the Tech/Outlaw Tech or Bounty Hunter/Gageteer. And Computers uses the same stat s MEchanics, so you can easilly be an expert at both (again, assuming you arnt so focused that you go for Tech/Slicer for the slicer talents) with a good untrained Medicine skill and knowleges as a nice bonus.

There's no way to permanatly add your int to combat checks, but a decent Agility and a few points in Range (light or heavy) combat (or a decent Brawn and a few ranks in wrench Melee or Brawl if that's more your speed- better soak that way, too) makes you viable in a fight for very few build resources.

[Rakaydos]

Its a rather fun system. I have gotten to peak at the Force and Destiny beta material and it looks pretty fun and interesting. Jedis are powerful, but not OP (as has been the tendency in other systems), although if you are looking to play Obi-Wan circa Episode 3, it will take quite a while to get there.

The game is intended to stat at A New Hope Luke/Han/Leia/R2D2 power levels on the low end, though Force and Destiny has a sidebar showing how to start at Phantom Menace Obiwan/Quigon power levels, if you're careful how you build. and assume they rolled well in the movies.

[Invader]

Is my understanding correct that specialization decks are basically just prestige classes for the core classes? If that's the case is there a better method for getting them than paying 8 bucks a pop with what amounts to one class? If that's what it equates to it seems pretty steep in comparison to a traditional book where you'd get 200 pages of info for $30. Can the talents and stuff be used regardless of what class you're playing, do you have run the whole way through a tree to get lower talents or as long as you have enough Xp can you just skip ahead to higher lvl talents?

Sorry, I know it's a lot of questions but I'm trying to get a real feel for the game before I start investing a bunch of money into yet another rpg lol.

[Rakaydos]

I never bought a specialization deck- I thought it was the equivilant of a 4E Power deck for the talent tree posted in the book.

Has anyone actually opened the pack and found out?

[Rakaydos]

Here's a bit of movie=table imagery for you all:

whafrog, on 26 Sept 2014 - 4:46 PM, said:

If I had any quibble, it's that apparently every Jedi in the movies and TCW dipped into Shien Expert to get Improved Reflect...it's the only tree that has this, and it's the only way to redirect blaster fire back at the shooter, which they all seem to be able to do. I would think Improved Reflect should be available in at least one other place.

Reflecting bolts at B1s and storm troopers doesnt count- that's just threat being strain that turns into wounds. (because minions)

As for reflecting at the Droidikas... that was the players saying "Threat! I reflect blaster bolts" and the GM going, "These ones are rivals. They take strain as your reflected bolts are absorbed by their shields." and the players going "Crap! Run!"

[Jigawatts]

Here's a bit of movie=table imagery for you all:

That just feels like stretching to me. I like when game mechanics emulate source material precisely. Saga had its issues, but its handling of deflect and redirect was pretty much spot on from an immersion and verisimilitude standpoint.

[Rakaydos]

Edge -emulates- the movies just fine... what it doesnt do is -simulate- them. Being a narrative system, you can explain how the droids took strain any way you want, it's just that Jedi tend toward explaining it as reflected bolts, because they think the're badasses.

[Invader]

I never bought a specialization deck- I thought it was the equivilant of a 4E Power deck for the talent tree posted in the book.

Has anyone actually opened the pack and found out?

Ah excellent, I was under the impression that the decks provided new material not just the same stuff in the book. In that case they do seem fairly unnecessary.

Advesary decks don't seem as bad unless they as well only cover what's already in the book.

[Rakaydos]

Even if they only cover the book, I;ve found myself making my own "adversary cards" on 3x5 cards to speed up combat. Particularly space combat, where ships are in one section and pilots in a different one- personal combat, flipping around isnt quite as bad.

[Fumble Jack]

I have to thank you Rakaydos, I've been actually having a lot of fun with the system as I've done a few one shots to familiarize my play group with the dice and system and their rather enjoying it.

[shadow_archmagi]

I've just signed up for a campaign and I'm interested in making a Malcolm Reynolds type character- Points split evenly between combat and social skills, basically.

What should I know for character building? What should I use as a baseline for being good at things? Are skills more important, or stats?

[Rakaydos]

If you have 3 in a stat, you've got a decent chance to do an aveerage task untrained. If you've got a 4, you've got a decent chance to do a hard task untrained.
The more points you have in a skill, the more chances you have to critical, as well as improving your odds by, oh, about half/three quarters of a die per upgrade.

I'd say stats are more importaant at character creation, because they affect more things, and you can only buy them up at character creation- afterward, you have to get to the bottom of a talent tree to get a "+1 to a stat" talent to improve, or get a 10,000c peice of cybergear, or be force sensitive and go down the Enhance force tree...

...With that said, if your concept calls for certian talents, and you can get them at the cost of stats you dont need, go for it. Your free skills at charater creation will hold you over for a few sessions.

[shadow_archmagi]

So, further investigation yields something interesting about the StarwarsRPG system:

There are a lot of social skills, and they're spread out between different mental stats, or at least between presence and cunning and willpower. This makes it harder to say "I rolled a Bard with max Cha, so I can lie, charm, or intimidate really well." Instead, your scoundrel has to pick one, since he can't pump all three stats.

So for my Scoundrel I opted to buy 4 cunning and 3 agility; he'll be more of a Badger than a Jayne. I had 10 points left over, so I bought an extra rank of Ranged (Light).

I think we'll have fun together, although I doubt he'll shine before he manages to pick up that talent that lets you shoot flatfooted dudes really hard.

[Rakaydos]

The party I'm in has a "Press Relations Droid" with 4s in Cunning and Presence. So he CAN lie, charm, and bluff everyone he just cant scare them.

[shadow_archmagi]

The party I'm in has a "Press Relations Droid" with 4s in Cunning and Presence. So he CAN lie, charm, and bluff everyone he just cant scare them.

Sure, but at the price of two 4s, he probably can't do a whole lot else. Doubling the number of stats you need to social successfully puts it more on par with combat.

[Invader]

Going over the limited rules in the beginners set. Can destiny points only be used to affect starting dice pools and those specific talents that mention them? That seems to be the only two things mention that I can see.

[Hopeless]

Going over the limited rules in the beginners set. Can destiny points only be used to affect starting dice pools and those specific talents that mention them? That seems to be the only two things mention that I can see.

Its my understanding from listening to the early Order 66 podcasts that destiny points can be used to claim you have some vacc suits on hand when up to that point no one even knew they would come in useful.

I believe if they help forward the story you can use them to explain stuff like they showed in the Leverage tv series where they show a flashback revealing something they prepared in advance but wasn't mentioned until then... but that requires your gm to be willing to go along its possible they may not be so willing to go along so better check with them in advance!

[Invader]

Its my understanding from listening to the early Order 66 podcasts that destiny points can be used to claim you have some vacc suits on hand when up to that point no one even knew they would come in useful.

I believe if they help forward the story you can use them to explain stuff like they showed in the Leverage tv series where they show a flashback revealing something they prepared in advance but wasn't mentioned until then... but that requires your gm to be willing to go along its possible they may not be so willing to go along so better check with them in advance!

Well I im going to be the dm in question lol. I just want to make everyone is getting the most out of them.

[EvilAnagram]

Going over the limited rules in the beginners set. Can destiny points only be used to affect starting dice pools and those specific talents that mention them? That seems to be the only two things mention that I can see.

You can use destiny points to add boost dice to your pool. Conversely, the GM can use them to add setback dice to your pool. To spend them, players flip a Light Side destiny point over to Dark Side, and GM's flip a Dark Side over to Light Side. You can use them for other purposes at your GM's discretion.

[Rakaydos]

You can use destiny points to add boost dice to your pool. Conversely, the GM can use them to add setback dice to your pool. To spend them, players flip a Light Side destiny point over to Dark Side, and GM's flip a Dark Side over to Light Side. You can use them for other purposes at your GM's discretion.

Upgrades are better than boost dice. they turn greens into yellows, with the chance to crit.... or purples into reds, with the chance to fumble.

[EvilAnagram]

Upgrades are better than boost dice. they turn greens into yellows, with the chance to crit.... or purples into reds, with the chance to fumble.

They are, but I was under the impression that the rules specifies the boost and setback dice.

[Rakaydos]

EoE pg 27 "A helping hand", Pg 28 "Raising the Stakes"
Also F&D(b) pg 26. and AoR Pg 35, if those are the books you are using.

[Invader]

I figured it might have been fleshed out a little more in the full rule nooks, another drawback of basing everything I know off the starter set lol.

[Fumble Jack]

Raising the Stakes: Eoe pg 28 - A single player may spend one Light side destiny point to upgrade the difficulty of an Npc's skill check. - As Gm you can spend Dark Side Destiny points in this manner to up the challenge for Pc's. Either Rayakdos or Evil Anagram may have already stated this prior.

[Dizlag]

I've been playing this system for over a year now and I can truly say it is my favorite rpg system. As far as character creation, Rakaydos hit it on the head with spending your starting xp on your ability scores (Brawn, Agility, Intelligence, Cunning, Willpower, and Presense) is the best thing to do. Think of your character concept first, then I would pick a primary stat and make it a 4, then make a secondary stat a 3.

For instance, I wanted to create a slicer/hacker who relies on his Intellect rather than Brawn, so I put a 4 in Intellect and bumped my Agility to 3. Intelligence is the linked stat for Computers, Astrogation, Mechanics, Medical, and all Knowledge skills (Core Worlds, Education, Lore, Underworld, Xenology, etc). Agility is the linked stat for Piloting (Space and Planetary), Stealth, and Ranged (Light) -- throwing stun grenades and shooting blaster pistols. =)

So, I was thinking he will be able to slice open locked doors and hijack computer systems, but still needed to be a little stealthy too. If he couldn't use the environment around him to help his buddies in a fire fight by closing doors remotely or overloading steam vents or turning off the lights to give us the advantage, then he could always use his blaster ... only as a last resort.

Let's just say, I've been playing this guy for well over 6 months and he just fired his first blaster bolt 2 sessions ago. He's developed force sensitivity after going through a radioactive waterfall after getting a brain implant (Int up to a 5), got his first dedication talent to get his Int up to a 6, has 4 ranks in Computers, and hacked a droid pilot during a Boonta Eve podrace to run interference for the pilot we had our money on. He just made his lightsaber last session and selected the Soresu Defender tree/talent that will allow him to apply his 6 Int to his new Lightsaber skill.

Quite the change he's gone through over the months, but still at his core is the slicer I created months ago. It's been VERY VERY fun ... even rolling 3 despairs in a row. Just makes the game that much sweeter.

Again, think about what you want your character to be able to do or discuss the roles of the characters in the party and go from there. Make sure you buy up as many abilities as you can to start because it will be awhile before that 3 in Brawn or Agility will become a 4 ... at minimum 75 XPs mostly 100 XPs.

Changing gears about destiny points. The active player gets to choose whether to flip a destiny point first, this can "Upgrade" their skill check (i.e. Makes a green die a yellow die ... chance for a Triumph). Then, if the DM chooses, he can "Upgrade" the difficulty of the skill check (i.e. Makes a purple die a red die ... chance for Despair).

A couple things about the dice pool now. "Increasing the difficulty of a skill check" will add more purple dice to the base ... making an easy check (1 purple) average (2 purple) or an average check hard (3 purples). The boost dice (blue) and setback dice (black) are dice that get added to the dice pool based on the environment around the players and baddies. Dim light ... add 1 setback die. Having cover behind some crates ... add 1 setback die. Aiming your attack (ranged or melee) ... add 1 boost die. Getting help from your buddy ... add 1 boost die.

It only took a few "building of the dice pool" to get the hang of it. Now, reading the dice and how the roll adds to the narrative is another thing entirely. And it is the hardest thing about the system, this old D&D grognard had to get used to. In D&D, the dice roll gives the you a final result ... either you hit or miss. "You hit, what's the damage?"

In this system, the dice roll helps you figure out that final result. "You might have missed the bad guy, but it generated some advantage. What do you want to do with it? Remove the setback die on the next attack? Or heal up some strain? Ok, so you hit the control panel next to him making him move out of cover for a moment. The next one to shoot this guy will not have the setback for him being in cover."

And yes, I know a good DM will have a narrative for this exchange at a D&D table, but the dice roll in this system helps that narrative along allowing the players to contribute to the narrative.

Ok, that was long. Hope you enjoyed it! =)

Dizlag

[Invader]

I've been playing this system for over a year now and I can truly say it is my favorite rpg system. As far as character creation, Rakaydos hit it on the head with spending your starting xp on your ability scores (Brawn, Agility, Intelligence, Cunning, Willpower, and Presense) is the best thing to do. Think of your character concept first, then I would pick a primary stat and make it a 4, then make a secondary stat a 3.

For instance, I wanted to create a slicer/hacker who relies on his Intellect rather than Brawn, so I put a 4 in Intellect and bumped my Agility to 3. Intelligence is the linked stat for Computers, Astrogation, Mechanics, Medical, and all Knowledge skills (Core Worlds, Education, Lore, Underworld, Xenology, etc). Agility is the linked stat for Piloting (Space and Planetary), Stealth, and Ranged (Light) -- throwing stun grenades and shooting blaster pistols. =)

So, I was thinking he will be able to slice open locked doors and hijack computer systems, but still needed to be a little stealthy too. If he couldn't use the environment around him to help his buddies in a fire fight by closing doors remotely or overloading steam vents or turning off the lights to give us the advantage, then he could always use his blaster ... only as a last resort.

Let's just say, I've been playing this guy for well over 6 months and he just fired his first blaster bolt 2 sessions ago. He's developed force sensitivity after going through a radioactive waterfall after getting a brain implant (Int up to a 5), got his first dedication talent to get his Int up to a 6, has 4 ranks in Computers, and hacked a droid pilot during a Boonta Eve podrace to run interference for the pilot we had our money on. He just made his lightsaber last session and selected the Soresu Defender tree/talent that will allow him to apply his 6 Int to his new Lightsaber skill.

Quite the change he's gone through over the months, but still at his core is the slicer I created months ago. It's been VERY VERY fun ... even rolling 3 despairs in a row. Just makes the game that much sweeter.

Again, think about what you want your character to be able to do or discuss the roles of the characters in the party and go from there. Make sure you buy up as many abilities as you can to start because it will be awhile before that 3 in Brawn or Agility will become a 4 ... at minimum 75 XPs mostly 100 XPs.

Changing gears about destiny points. The active player gets to choose whether to flip a destiny point first, this can "Upgrade" their skill check (i.e. Makes a green die a yellow die ... chance for a Triumph). Then, if the DM chooses, he can "Upgrade" the difficulty of the skill check (i.e. Makes a purple die a red die ... chance for Despair).

A couple things about the dice pool now. "Increasing the difficulty of a skill check" will add more purple dice to the base ... making an easy check (1 purple) average (2 purple) or an average check hard (3 purples). The boost dice (blue) and setback dice (black) are dice that get added to the dice pool based on the environment around the players and baddies. Dim light ... add 1 setback die. Having cover behind some crates ... add 1 setback die. Aiming your attack (ranged or melee) ... add 1 boost die. Getting help from your buddy ... add 1 boost die.

It only took a few "building of the dice pool" to get the hang of it. Now, reading the dice and how the roll adds to the narrative is another thing entirely. And it is the hardest thing about the system, this old D&D grognard had to get used to. In D&D, the dice roll gives the you a final result ... either you hit or miss. "You hit, what's the damage?"

In this system, the dice roll helps you figure out that final result. "You might have missed the bad guy, but it generated some advantage. What do you want to do with it? Remove the setback die on the next attack? Or heal up some strain? Ok, so you hit the control panel next to him making him move out of cover for a moment. The next one to shoot this guy will not have the setback for him being in cover."

And yes, I know a good DM will have a narrative for this exchange at a D&D table, but the dice roll in this system helps that narrative along allowing the players to contribute to the narrative.

Ok, that was long. Hope you enjoyed it! =)

Dizlag

No that was a great explanation. I'm glad to see so many people like this system so much. We're finally diving into the starter adventure tomorrow so we'll see how everything goes but I know I'm personally pretty excited to try it out.

[shadow_archmagi]

Starting game was today

LIKED: It was really quick to add up the dice, and the advantage/disadvantage thing worked out nicely. It's definitely easier to match and discard opposite dice (Two successes on this green die means these two purple that rolled one failure go away and now all that's left on the table is... three advantage and a success!) that to add modifiers up.

DISLIKED: I suspect our GM might be kinda bad. He frequently told players what their advantage did, as though it was his resource to spend rather than ours, (I wouldn't have known except for my obsessive pre-research, from the way he ran it) and effects tended to be boring. Lots of blue dice. At one point a player wanted to inspect our new ship to make sure everything was in working order, and he rolled a double triumph, but also four failures (I'm not sure that 'inspect the ship' should've been two purple anyway) and the GM ruled that he discovered what was broken by breaking it, which doesn't seem much like a triumph.

He also said he was going to award XP based on how many things we had killed at the end of the mission, and during chargen wouldn't let me split my obligation between two sources (I wanted to have debts and a family) not because he was against me taking that much obligation, but because it was 'a headache' in his words, as though it was really strenuous to have an obligation chart with five entries instead of four.

/rant

I'll give it a couple more sessions, but the system itself seemed fun. I'll have to start prodding other potential GMs.

[Invader]

We got started today and I have to say, so far, I love how the game plays. My players got to the Krayt Fang and there was a lot of figuring out the basic rules but I can see this being a very good system. Combat seemed like it was fairly fluid and once I get a strong handle on boosts and threats and advantages, triumps and despairs I think things will cruise along really nicely.

Now I'm excited to get the entire core book and really be able to dive into character creation and all the extras.

[Invader]

One definite question we had was about modifiers with engaged opponents. We understand its two difficulty dice if you're in melee with someone, but suppose you're firing a light blaster from medium range at an opponent that is engaged with an ally. Is it still only difficulty dice or would it be three or a two with a setback or is it just GMs call? In the beginner set it never specifies but it seems like it would make sense.