I'm sorry, but I still feel like my question isn't being answered. I'm not looking for a high level description on how the socio-political entity known as the Rebel alloance goes about acquiring equipment, ships, and the resources necessary to operate. What I'm looking for is advice on how Rebel Commando Tom gets a telescopic sight for his blaster when the Rebellion doesn't have one to give him. Please read that statement very carefully. Having the party smuggle arms through an Imperial blockade is a great idea for an adventure, but that doesn't explain to me where Tom get the credits to buy his sight. Neither does taking the wallets of fallen Stormtroopers, since that would only give them money for drinks.

Please step back and try to fill in the blanks. In a typical D&D game, the party gets money and goods by _____. In a typical Shadowrun game, the party gets money and goods by _____. In a typical Edge of the Empire game, the party gets money and goods by _____. In a typical Age of Rebellion game, the party gets money and goods by _____. I can answer the first three with at least one or two options. Without handwaving things or just saying the players have the money from no seeming source, I can't answer that last one.

The key here is that I'm looking for specific ideas that I can run with, not high level acquisition or metagame handwaving. The question is where do Tom's credits come from. I've heard great answers and a lot if ideas on how the Rebellion operates, but nothing that helps Tom buy his telescopic sight.

Tom takes it from a dead enemy,or an imperial supply stockpile if he gets the chance. Tom's money either comes from the rebellion, or from loot taken from Imperials by Tom or his unit

The Rebellion (depending on who you ask) doesn't have much cash as you noticed.

So here's a few options for you.

1) Requisition - If Tom is at an Alliance Base, or on board an Alliance ship, or whatever, he should have a Quartermaster or Supply Sgt. or something. This person's whole purpose is to try and connect equipment to the troopers that need it. This is separate from the duty mechanic, which represents the unit or senior mission commander's decision to allocate additional resources to the Solider, beyond those that come from the basic supply chain. Soooo If Tom needs a scope, he can go to his supply Sgt. and request one. If the mission requires a scope, and one is available, and the supply Sgt. likes Tom, Tom will get a scope. But... if a later mission doesn't require it, and another team needs it, and the Tom didn't save the Supply Sgt. a plate on cheesecake night in the mess hall, Tom may have to turn the scope back in.

In play this could work roughly the same way as purchasing, with the players rolling negotiate, rarity modifiers, and if the GM thinks the gear is needed and the price tag doesn't get to high, the play gets what he wants.

2) Rewards - The Alliance is largely a guerrilla force, and the players probably move around a lot. Each location has a possibility of allowing the players to be gifted something for some reason. Say the players spend an adventure teaching a bunch of college kids how to be better resistance fighters. At the end, the kids might decide to all chip in and spend daddies money to buy a parting gift for Tom. Likewise if the group gets shot up, but still manages to pull off the mission, their direct commander might arrange for them to get a piece of gear that they needed "so that doesn't' happen again."

3) Theft - Pretty obvious... But seriously, the Alliance steals a lot of stuff, if the players need to ransack Big Bungie's House of Blasters to complete a mission, what to say Tom can't grab a little something extra on his way out the door?

4) Favor/Trade - Kinda like 1, but a little different. Maybe another unit has something the players need, or the Supply Sgt. has a real problem he needs fixed. A simple one or two encounter side quest to fix that problem, or get something to trade might do.

There is also the option that many Alliance operatives might be doing freelance "Edge" type work to cover their costs. They might be more selective about what jobs they take (Alliance morality issues and such), but many of them won't be doing Alliance-issued jobs 24/5. A percentage (10-20% seems reasonable) of what they make gets covertly sent back to the Alliance. In this way, every job supports the Alliance, even if some do it indirectly.

The "high level description on how the socio-political entity known as the Rebel Alliance goes about acquiring equipment, ships, and the resources necessary to operate" isn't directed at answering the question. It's a separate, though related, discussion. Your question has been answered repeatedly. What Ghostofman and HappyDaze said above me has been said already.

When the book comes out, it will have a recommendation on how to deal with the economics of your party. Until then, the question is simply too broad to give a single answer to. So, the answer becomes "however you want." If you absolutely must have a single answer, then give your players a top-down operating budget and be done with it.

When the book comes out, it will have a recommendation on how to deal with the economics of your party.

You sure? Inside info? I just think the end product is not going to have much if anything new that wasn't from the Beta or the errata they put out for the Beta.

The Rebellion steals from Imperial depots, they are gifted by rich benefactors and supporters, they scrounge, they make do. To obtain money for supplies they raid Imperial commerce, they Rob banks, they get involved in smuggling or other underworld activities.

For any specific Rebel cell the methods used to obtain equipment and supplies are going to vary according to situation.

When the book comes out, it will have a recommendation on how to deal with the economics of your party.

You sure? Inside info? I just think the end product is not going to have much if anything new that wasn't from the Beta or the errata they put out for the Beta.

EOTE core has ~200 pages on the EOTE beta, I'm hoping the same is the case for AOR.

When the book comes out, it will have a recommendation on how to deal with the economics of your party.

You sure? Inside info? I just think the end product is not going to have much if anything new that wasn't from the Beta or the errata they put out for the Beta.

You caught me. I think this was the third time I had said something like that, and eventually the speculative language fell out. But the economy was well explored in the Edge core book. I would be utterly shocked if there wasn't some economic guidance in Age of Rebellion. As TarlSS said, Edge gained 200 or so pages. Age of Rebellion is already confirmed to be gaining 220. You don't think any of that will be in the gear chapter explaining how to handle acquisitions and income?

So how does Tom get the money to buy those telescopic sights?

Okay the Rebel Alliance has its supporters and if they're being staged at any base they must have some means of getting supplies and materials to keep them in operation.

Now some might have to rely on smugglers or even smuggling to make ends meet or find those telescopic sights someone's been whining over but ultimately any money he's carrying should come from some legitimate work or source in case they get picked up and questioned.

It would make things difficult if Tom's caught carrying a bag full of credits or credit chips that he can't explain or access since like in the book Scoundrels he needs a slicer to hack them.

So my example was that they're part of an existing business so have both personal and a corporate account with the capability to have several secret caches for those times when the Empire or some other foe gets their financial resources locked down.

They still need to look for work because no matter how hard they try those resources only go so far and you never know Tom might lose those sights he just procured and I doubt the nearby Imperial Garrison will look on kindly if they discover Tom walking off with their gear...

I am sure the Rebellion has set up dummy corporations to launder money.

I am sure the Rebellion has set up dummy corporations to launder money.

Dummy corporations?

Think planets. Alderaan did the bulk of the laundering before it blew up. I'm sure they moved the rest to other worlds like Mon Calamari, Sullust or Chandrilla.

Yes, there are corporations in the Star Wars universe. Laundering credits would work much like it does IRL.

Allied planets are great but they have one major drawback in that they can be blown up, or at least blockaded and invaded. Corporate accounts could be harder to trace than knowing what planets are Rebel sympathizers.

Yes, there are corporations in the Star Wars universe. Laundering credits would work much like it does IRL.

I meant to say that dummy corporations are small potatoes in terms of the Rebellion's economic capacity,

How do player characters get credits? In EoE, they get them from robbing, looting, taking jobs and bounties, and any number of other "self employed" means. A team of rebels simply isn't going to have those options and isn't likely to be on the payroll. So how to they get stuff?

A rag-tag band of freelancers working for the Rebel Alliance can make the occasional cargo run in their ship.

Otherwise, most of what the Alliance gains that is of value is likely "liberated" from the Empire in one form or another.

a group that spent the first two movies hiding under a temple and then a glacier doesn't have the resources, time, or logistical infrastructure to distribute currency.

Of course we only see a small fraction of the Rebel Alliance in the movies. We see the centralized command structure (Alliance High Command), not the much, much larger collection of individual rebel (small "r") groups fighting their local wars against the Empire. It truly is an Alliance of like-minded beings, linked together to more efficiently oppose Emperor Palpatine and his New Order.

High Command is on the run and in hiding, but that doesn't stop members of the vast galaxy-spanning Alliance from working on the funding issue full time. Procurement of supplies and money is likely the main job of most rebels everywhere, all the time.

Printing and distributing a formal currency for use in a quickly growing number of friendly areas (particularly after the object lesson of Alderaan) doesn't sound like a stupid idea to me. Mon Mothma and Admiral Ackbar aren't running the printing press, you know.

Yeah there's even a possibility that no rebel personnel are manning it ther than droids either designed for the role, or perhaps just no longer fit for other roles.

a group that spent the first two movies hiding under a temple and then a glacier doesn't have the resources, time, or logistical infrastructure to distribute currency.

Of course we only see a small fraction of the Rebel Alliance in the movies. We see the centralized command structure (Alliance High Command), not the much, much larger collection of individual rebel (small "r") groups fighting their local wars against the Empire. It truly is an Alliance of like-minded beings, linked together to more efficiently oppose Emperor Palpatine and his New Order.

High Command is on the run and in hiding, but that doesn't stop members of the vast galaxy-spanning Alliance from working on the funding issue full time. Procurement of supplies and money is likely the main job of most rebels everywhere, all the time.

Printing and distributing a formal currency for use in a quickly growing number of friendly areas (particularly after the object lesson of Alderaan) doesn't sound like a stupid idea to me. Mon Mothma and Admiral Ackbar aren't running the printing press, you know.

EU drivel not represented by a single fact in the movies, which are canon, and the EU is not.

I'm really over the canon/not canon arguments. What is canon or not isn't really as important as what's used table to table. I'll gladly ignore something from the movies if something from the EU works better for my game.

a group that spent the first two movies hiding under a temple and then a glacier doesn't have the resources, time, or logistical infrastructure to distribute currency.

Of course we only see a small fraction of the Rebel Alliance in the movies. We see the centralized command structure (Alliance High Command), not the much, much larger collection of individual rebel (small "r") groups fighting their local wars against the Empire. It truly is an Alliance of like-minded beings, linked together to more efficiently oppose Emperor Palpatine and his New Order.

High Command is on the run and in hiding, but that doesn't stop members of the vast galaxy-spanning Alliance from working on the funding issue full time. Procurement of supplies and money is likely the main job of most rebels everywhere, all the time.

Printing and distributing a formal currency for use in a quickly growing number of friendly areas (particularly after the object lesson of Alderaan) doesn't sound like a stupid idea to me. Mon Mothma and Admiral Ackbar aren't running the printing press, you know.

EU drivel not represented by a single fact in the movies, which are canon, and the EU is not.

Yeah because the movies went into such great detail on how the rebellion was funded. Oh wait the movies never discussed the matter at all did they?

I love the OT but the fact is it was more the story of a small group within the rebellion than the story of the Rebel Alliance. Because of that there are many things about the rebellion that are mostly ignored including where they get their hardware and money. So when you need details relating to such matters your choices are go with what the EU says, or just make something up completely on your own because the movies had no need to answer those questions, and so they didn't take the time to answer them.

The old WEG sourcebook talks some about Alliance logistics and economy. The Alliance did print its own money, though the value varied greatly. In Imp friendly areas you would probably get shot or arrested for trying to spend it, Alliance supporters would take it at face value, and the standard Black Market exchange rate was 20 Alliance Credits to 1 Imperial Credit. The Alliance also sold War bonds, often with very high interest, though Investment advisers who didn't report people to the Empire for asking advice on buying them felt they were a high risk investment for obvious reasons

*blinks*

This has switched my annoyed indifference of WEG to loathing.

Why? there are different parts of the alliance. and clearly in the movies we see a far more formal presence. Which would need to be paid. Rather like during the american revolution we paid our soldiers in american scrip not british pounds sterling.

So back to my question...

How would you handle this?

Me personally makes me wonder if the Rebels use a version of their new currency as a red herring specifically designed to draw Imperial attention away from their true fund raising.

After all it sounds like they need a way to launder money into various forms of currency and valuable items to remain operational, so why not?

Supply sections with this currency when they suspect collusion with the Empire so they can trace it back to whoever's leaking the information.

If they can capture the Imperial equivalent of their IRS Auditor then they could turn them so they can start using the Imperial currency against them.

I recall a Buck Rogers game where a novelisation had Rogers use his AI sidekick to order a group of new fighters which was delivered to a location where he could pick them up for his fellow Rebels... there's another thread here where they're talking about whether a slicer could pull off something this big (at least!) so why not?

Have a group session with your players and ask them how would they deal with this and use that as a subplot for your game?!

Still haven't read that bit from the WEG Sourcebook but if you're having problems with that, then either ignore it or try something else out instead.

EU drivel not represented by a single fact in the movies, which are canon, and the EU is not.

I am curious as to why you are on a forum discussing a Star Wars RPG if you consider the movies so sacred?

For me, part of the joy of the Star Wars universe is the expansion of its ideas and concepts waaaaay beyond a mere few hours of film shot in the 1970s.

I think you are wrong about your simplistic view of canon, as well. You can, of course, define the word any way you wish for your own personal use, but Lucasfilm's marketing division has a much messier definition (the Holocron).

If you want to bore yourself by reading this whole back and forth it really isn't about the movies being sacred it's about not accepting something as a good idea just because it has Star Wars slapped on it. The whole argument began over how silly the notion of the Rebel Alliance printing money is. I like some of the EU, but there are those that hold all things Star Wars named as sacred and can't see past their hopeless faboiness.

There's also the point that something shouldn't be rejected just because it's part of the EU. As an example, the Black Sun are entirely EU yet they are pretty heavily tied into the Edge of the Empire product line.