Truth be told, I'll probably still pick up the AoR rulebook. But since my rebel plans are turning away from the Rebel Alliance, and more towards planets simply turning their back on the Empire and fighting to free neighboring systems, do I really need more than Edge of Empire to play out my ideas?

To give you some idea of what's going on, my character ( hey, I may be GM but that doesn't mean I can't get stuck in sometimes ) is best summed up as a Hired Gun. After the attack on the Jedi Temple, he finds himself fighting to help out innocents whose only crime is being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Among the innocents are the owners of a Corellian Corvette ( I want a Tantive IV model ) and they repay him by offering transportation off Coruscant.

Unfortunately, those Khan protected are wanted by the newly founded Empire and his own actions haven't gone unnoticed. While those he helped flee to their home planet, Tamati seeks to keep on the move and they're happy to contact a known smuggler. In time, Khan will lead a team of hired guns on combat missions against the Empire.

That's a rough idea, and I'm going to be working hard on both my own background and those of others. What I need for my own private rebellion, ( though some I might not use ) and hopefully some will be provided by the X-Wing miniature game, are as follows:

Corellian Corvette

YT-1300

YT-1930

YT-2000

YT-2400

CloakShape Fighters

Z-95 Headhunters

Not sure about other ships yet, but these are the one's that appeal.

Firespray

Star Vipers

These will belong to a rival group.

V-Wings

Some Republic/Empire ships would be good too.

When it comes to the characters, NPC's and adversaries there will be a lot of interesting individuals. Clone/Stormtroopers will be popular targets. I'm also planning on creating a number of creatures for the planets games will be set on. Perhaps with some deadly flora and adverse weather or geological conditions.

So while I might pick up the AoR rulebook the question is.....

.....do I need it?

Do you need it? Not at all. You can run your campaign just fine using the EotE CRB and whatever supplements you feel are relevant. There have been folks running campaigns set during the time of the Old Republic MMO or the Legacy Era without Jedi rules and last I'd heard those campaigns were doing just fine.

Would it be nice to have? Based on what was in the AoR Beta, most certainly. It provides a number of alternate career/specialization options, introduces the Knowledge (Warfare) skill, includes some new Force powers and a new Force Sensitive specialization that's not as focused on "mystic powers" as the Exile is. It's also got several new Imperial ships, from variant TIE fighters such as the Interceptor up to big league Star Destroyers, to say nothing of variant stormtroopers and other types of Imperials that your PCs might wind up squaring off against if they're going to be fighting the Empire.

Doesn't sound like it. Unless you want access to the new military classes, force powers, or a list of official rebel and imperial craft and a couple new weapons.

Though that is assuming the finished book and the beta are roughly the same. There's certainly a chance the finished book has more content we haven't seen yet.

Hmmm, more ships, more bad guys, more good guys, more classes and game mechanics? Of course you need it!

What Donovan and Ghostofman have stated; I'll add that the difference (particularly in starships) is a matter of scale -- if you only need 'generic' Imperial troops (i.e. naval/planetary troopers, and stormtroopers in standard armor) then Edge of the Empire already covers them, and several of the starships that you specified by name are already in Edge of the Empire .

Hmmm, more ships, more bad guys, more good guys, more classes and game mechanics? Of course you need it!

I can certainly understand that reaction, and how silly my thoughts might seem, but it is as Chortles said while I was typing here " several of the starships I specified by name are already in Edge of Empire ". Stormtroopers I want are basically a "typical" stormtrooper, heavy stormtrooper and an officer. Few uniformed sorts too.

Hmmm, more ships, more bad guys, more good guys, more classes and game mechanics? Of course you need it!

I can certainly understand that reaction, and how silly my thoughts might seem, but it is as Chortles said while I was typing here " several of the starships I specified by name are already in Edge of Empire ". Stormtroopers I want are basically a "typical" stormtrooper, heavy stormtrooper and an officer. Few uniformed sorts too.

I guess I'm just hungry for new information in a system that is two very small baby steps away from launch. I'd gladly welcome a Jedi sourcebook right here and now even though I have zero intent to include the Force in my games whatsoever because every stat block, every new weapon gives me a benchmark to build my own stuff from even though I may not use it.

I guess I'm just hungry for new information in a system that is two very small baby steps away from launch. I'd gladly welcome a Jedi sourcebook right here and now even though I have zero intent to include the Force in my games whatsoever because every stat block, every new weapon gives me a benchmark to build my own stuff from even though I may not use it.

If you don't get excited about something Star Wars, you can't call yourself a fan. The announcement of AoR came just as I got fed up with Games Workshop. I didn't even know about Edge of Empire until I visited the forum, so I have to admit that I too am excited just to read the book if nothing else.

Do you need it?.... maybe not. Do you want it? Oh you know you do......just do it!

Just for fun, here is the model I plan on using for the Tamati Khan character.

From Infinity, all he'll need is a mustache and he'll actually look a little like me. I'll probably give him a different weapon too.

I don't think you'll need it but it could be very helpful for the new skills and such, and odds are you'll probably want more Imperial ships than EOTE has since it looks like you want a variety of space craft though I'm kind of confused about what era it will be set in. It sounds like it will be in the early days of the Empire but the Star Vipers came out during the main Galactic Civil War era AFAIK.

I don't think you'll need it but it could be very helpful for the new skills and such, and odds are you'll probably want more Imperial ships than EOTE has since it looks like you want a variety of space craft though I'm kind of confused about what era it will be set in. It sounds like it will be in the early days of the Empire but the Star Vipers came out during the main Galactic Civil War era AFAIK.

Ah, I thought the Vipers were around a while.

My games are indeed going to be right at the start of the Empire, but will make regular jumps towards Alderaan being destroyed by the Death Star. I'd like more Rebellion Era stuff, but the story doesn't support this and I want to stick to the story. Because I've been working hard on it.

I'm not sure exactly when they entered mass production now honestly. Originally they didn't enter mass production until after Shadows of the Empire, which was between Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi but sources released later show them in service earlier though even than the earliest confirmed sighting is 1 BBY since they only appear in Galactic Battlegrounds Clone Campaigns via editor .

The core book you may not need. It has different ship focus, some cap ship action, both of which could be nice. Different talent/career/etc, as others have mentioned.

But I think the AoR supplements will still have merit. The Commander book should be interesting and the Aces book will likely give some amazing Starfighter options as AoR will have a bigger focus on Snubfighters and Cap ships rather than the 'middle weight class' freighters that EotE focuses on.

No reason to believe that AoR focused adventure/region supplements will be any less than the EotE ones. Not that anything is really 'needed' for a game to be successful.

Interesting idea.

Might be worth picking up the book if you want a more military based game since they deal with Ace pilots and other careers.

But ultimately you're the only one who can decide if you really need it.

What is your viewpoint on Jedi and the Force?

Because if that isn't a priority then you might not want to check out the Force & Destiny book either.

Now you've got me wondering what if Palpatine dissolved the Senate because certain elements of them had been discovered to have been working with the Jedi in their attempted coup?

What would have happened if Obi-Wan and Yoda had in addition to altering the Jedi Temple Beacon allowed for the details on the unprovoked attack on the Temple to be leaked let alone the galaxy wide assassination of the Jedi.

Palpatine might be able to throw off the supposed attack on him, but what if he couldn't stop the news that he personally ordered the execution of all the Jedi on the battlefield after a small group attacked him?

How would the former Republic react to the fact the Clone Troopers answer only to the newly declared Emperor whose main protector murdered children?

Sorry for dragging the thread down to that level anyway I'd assume as long as the players aren't interested in Age of Rebellion there shouldn't be any problem.

There will be at least one Jedi in hiding.

So the Force and Destiny book will come in useful as I hope to have a lightsabre showdown.

I'm toying with the idea that Tamati Khan helped save a Padawan who managed to escape while Anakin slaughtered his friends, meaning that there could be a witness to what happened.

But the main "Jedi" plot is that a Jedi by the name of Jago Marrs was fighting CIS on a planet and was close to victory when Order 66 came through. He survived, with help from the people on the planet, and settled down with a wife and had two sons. Either Darth Vader or a secret apprentice of his arrives to kill Jago Marrs and succeeds. His wife hides the two sons, and arranges for a smuggler to pick them up, but she is then captured and taken to a well defended prison planet.

Both boys take very different routes to rescue their mother:

One continues what his father taught him and becomes a Jedi who aids the local " rebellion " against the Empire. This should culminate with a big space battle when a united fleet of ships and starfighters attack the prison world to free the many innocent people who are suffering there.

The other boy becomes angry and bitter, going down the dark side route as he teams up with bounty hunters. They actually do a kidnapping mission for the Empire, but the boy plans to pursue the Lambda shuttle the Empire agents use to the prison planet ( as nobody knows where it is or if it even exists. Should have said that earlier ).

Neither boy is "evil", and none can truly be said to be a villain, but chances are the two will come to blows at some point.

So while I may not need Age of Rebellion, at least not as much as Edge of Empire, the Force and Destiny book will be a big help.

For those curious about why I'm setting my games earlier than the Rebellion Era, I've just started my character's timeline:

http://tamatikhan.blogspot.co.uk/p/60-bby-turoni-khan-father-of-tamati-and.html

Following this I'll be writing Tamati Khan's background story.

Interesting didn't Tarkin get promoted for his involvement in the Ghorman Massacre?

Looking forward to seeing where you go with this!

Interesting didn't Tarkin get promoted for his involvement in the Ghorman Massacre?

Not sure. If it said anything on Wookieepedia I must have missed that.

It's a hard task making up the history of a character, but just a few minutes before coming here I got to introduce my HWK-290, the Prime Sparrow , into the history. Over time I'll fill up the dates with events from Tamati Khan's life, some of which will mirror, in a fictional way, my own life experience. Being 31 myself, his history only goes up to age 31. In other words my games will start when I'm the same age as Tamati Khan. I'm hoping to include plenty of possible friends and foes, as well as showing links to other characters in his history.

Where the Ghorman Massacre fits in I haven't decided yet, it might just be a historical fact that Khan hears about, but if I can I'll work it in too.

Yeah Tarkin was promoted to Moff for his role in the Ghorman Massacre. Of course that was before The Clone Wars retroconned him into being an Admiral during the Clone Wars. Originally he was a Captain when the massacre took place.

Nooooooo!

Tragedy strikes! Just as I was beginning to scribble down notes ( ok type them on a blog page ) I suddenly find myself being brought to Rebellion Era!

Moments silence please.

Seems that Firesprays, one of which plays a HUGE part in my campaign, didn't exist until shortly before the Battle for Naboo. Then Jengo Fett was nice enough to destroy all but one during a prison break. Only when Boba Fett made the craft popular did Kuat Systems Engineering start making them again.

Since the Firespray Liberation 4 is to play a big part in my story and games, I may have to alter the time when my campaign will be set. Guess the Rebel Alliance wanted me to join them more than I wanted to.

" Every time I think I'm out, they pull me back in "

On a plus side, at least I can justify lot's of cool Rebellion Era stuff now. At least this is happening before I've really got stuck into the backgrounds. That could have been a major headache.

Or. . . .

"Hey, looks like Jango missed a whole warehouse full of FIresprays at the Kuat Systems Engineering off site production facility. Imagine that!"

Nooooooo!

Tragedy strikes! Just as I was beginning to scribble down notes ( ok type them on a blog page ) I suddenly find myself being brought to Rebellion Era!

Moments silence please.

Seems that Firesprays, one of which plays a HUGE part in my campaign, didn't exist until shortly before the Battle for Naboo. Then Jengo Fett was nice enough to destroy all but one during a prison break. Only when Boba Fett made the craft popular did Kuat Systems Engineering start making them again.

Since the Firespray Liberation 4 is to play a big part in my story and games, I may have to alter the time when my campaign will be set. Guess the Rebel Alliance wanted me to join them more than I wanted to.

" Every time I think I'm out, they pull me back in "

On a plus side, at least I can justify lot's of cool Rebellion Era stuff now. At least this is happening before I've really got stuck into the backgrounds. That could have been a major headache.

I'm more or less with Desslok, you can ditch that piece of fluff and the galaxy will actually be a better place for it.

The Firespray production/prototype fluff is BS written by an ignorant EU writer (actually isn't this from the video game? Still, ignorance) in a sad attempt to make Jango Fett seem even more really really cool and unique and awesome....

The story line works fine in whatever media it's presented I'm sure, but overall it makes no sense on about a dozen different levels. If he's got the only one, and he stole it at that, then he essentially can't go anywhere or he's toast. If the ship gets damaged in any way (through combat or just simple wear and tear) where is he going to find replacement parts?

Jango was supposed to be this great Soldier, so great they made an entire Army out of him. If that were the case, Jango would know darn well that as a private contractor operating on his own with virtually 0 logistical support he would need to live off the land as it were. The ship he would want would have to be the easiest to support possible, something that had virtually no critical custom components, could run off kerosene, and would blend in to all the other craft at the star port. So essentially the exact opposite of a prototype.

The irony? TCW cartoon actually supports this... In that series the Slave-I crashes on Florn, and is salvaged and rebuilt by Hondo and his pirates. Not a band of experienced outlaw techs, a bunch of thugs with ships stolen from Mars Attacks. If they got some unique snowflake of a ship, they would have cut it apart and sold it for scrap.

So... if you wanted to have the Firespray class be a ship class known for low maintenance, availability of critical parts, and the ability to run off moonshine, I think you'd be making the galaxy a better place.

Or. . . .

"Hey, looks like Jango missed a whole warehouse full of FIresprays at the Kuat Systems Engineering off site production facility. Imagine that!"

They weren't even produced at the location he stole Slave-1 from. There is no logical reason to believe that there weren't more elsewhere. The claim that Slave-1 was the only survivor makes about as much since as someone stealing a YT-1300 from a hanger full of them on Coruscant than blowing the hanger behind them and claiming they own the only YT-1300 in existence.

Tamati Khan, I'd agree with Desslok and the others.

If it were me I'd ditch the fluff about Slave I's origins or rewrite it slightly rather than revamp the whole time period of my campaign or adventure.