The movies show the Rebels being rag tag until RotJ. I don't think they did have significant resources until then. The crawl in IV says they've just won their first battle. The crawl in V more or less says they are on the run and in hiding. It's only when we see in RotJ that they've got an actual expeditionary full spectrum fleet. They clearly weren't waging offensive war and trying to seize ground militarily. RotJ they were waiting for the money shot and to take down the Emperor.

I'm sure they did just steal a lot of what they needed. Whether it was credits or old Clone War era military equipment.

SSand, as a former military man myself, I think you missed four key words in my "supplying off the enemy" statement above. Special forces "Engaged in guerrilla warfare". Guerrilla troops are often involved in the leading and/or training of local resistance. They often do resupply from stolen enemy items. Obviously, these have a tendency to be long term missions with broad objectives to harass, demoralize, and soften enemy forces. This is unlike special forces missions with clear objectives for sabotage, assassination, intelligence gathering, asset denial, asset extraction, etc. Being a part of a guerrilla force isn't usually a mission, its a campaign.

This is the sort of thing the CIA has sent a few special operators to go out and do throughout history, backing their freedom fighters of choice against regimes they didn't like. There are 100 anecdotal cold war stories from such operators during that era that remark on a preference for the AK-47 (the weapon of the enemy) because it allowed you to resupply ammo from the enemy, and the sound of your guns rapport was the same as the enemies, making it more difficult for conventional forces to identify friend from foe.

All that aside, the rebels were forced to be scroungers. On the galactic scale, they are a guerrilla force. They don't have the strength to hold much territory or engage in conventional warfare at all. Holding ground is required for most large-scale manufacturing, which, along with purchasing items, is the best way to supply yourself. The Rebellion had limited buying power, though, and it was illegal for businesses in the Empire to deal with them, obviously. While the shady deal here and there can happen, if a company was doing it at any sort of real scale, it'd be pretty obvious pretty quickly, and they'd become the top target for the Empire.

Because of this scrounging mentality (guys, there is a freaking DUTY called Resource Acquisition), I think it is perfectly acceptable for Rebels to loot. The big difference, however, between looting in EOTE and looting in AOR, is that you aren't looting for personal gain, or selling goods for personal enrichment. The lion's share of whatever it is goes back to the Alliance unless the PCs have immediate plans to use it in the war effort. If you are having what you perceive as a problem with this, just introduce a Rebel logistics officer NPC attached to the party, or give one of the actual PCs this role with the resource acquisition Duty. That should keep the players in line and get them in the spirit of what/why they are looting, and seeing those items make it back to the Rebellion.

I mean, already basically said here, but it def depends on the party composition. Special force engaged in guerilla warfare are going to be expected to supply and arm themselves, thats part of what makes them so effective. So in that case, theyd have a lot of access to imperial gear they loot, they'd want to, if only to make the empire replace the arms and cost them the credits. What they don't take, they'd want to break. However, the standard imperial gear isn't going to fill every need. They will need credits for some things. Rebel alliance air drops will be god sends.

Not really, you are describing a special forces trained insurgency. Actual special forces are well supplied and supported for specific missions. They may use enemy munitions as part of a preplanned mission, but they are not just dropped in the 'outback' and forgotten to fend for themselves.

A special forces team on a mission will specifically NOT resupply locally. If you resupply locally you cannot avoid leaving traces you are there. They will carefully keep to their own resources and make sure to not leave traces of their passing. They will already be armed and equipped for the mission, and there will be a extraction plan. Spec Ops personnel are far too valuable to expend as insurgents.

The ones living off the land and looting arms will not be Special Forces, they will be the home-grown insurgency.

If you are out in the boondocks on a Vietnam-esque LRRP perhaps. If you are operating inside a major metropolitan area, using anything but local fare will give you away. It's funny people think in terms of being in the woods or blowing things up. Most of the covert stuff would in reality be co opting governments and corporations, implanting computer viruses, and simply surveilling officials to make a determination of loyalty. That would mostly be done by diplomats, scholars, and hackers and typically with suitcases full of money.

I was replying to the scenario posted. Your scenario has even less of the possibility as far as a 'jus kill'in and stealing their stuff' game goes. Operating a clandestine op by special forces is even less apt to use loot or rely on contracted mercs. As far as "using anything but local fare will give you away.". That is true of a pure long range espionage game of sleeper cells and such. But it is not what Age of Rebellion is. Age of Rebellion is about the organized side of things. If the Spec Ops team gets inserted and stay longer than 1-3 weeks without accomplishing the mission, they failed. Spec Ops is NOT a long term intelligence sleeper cell. It is a highly trained team that goes in and executes a mission.

A money and loot game is not reflecting a 'organized rebellion/revolution by a single or group of governments'. Or the Rebellion of the Alliance. Age of Rebellion (IIRC) is about the active military and espionage actions conducted by the formal and established governments and military's of the members of the Alliance.

• Combat Soldiers assaulting an Imperial installation.
• Combat Pilots attacking Imperial Shipping.
• Combat Pilots attacking key Imperial installations or support facilities.
• Elite Commando's striking key Imperial installations to pave the way for the Combat Soldiers to assault other Imperial Installations.
• Elite Commando's or Espionage Operatives sabotaging key Imperial facilities.
• Espionage Operatives passing intelligence.
• Espionage Operatives locating intelligence.
• Espionage Operatives passing strike intelligence.

and so on. That is AoR.

Now the clandestine spy'ish stuff where using payed hirelings that would need to 'live off the land' is a fun game. Being hired by Alliance operative to go in and blow something up. Sure, they would need to blend in since they would not have a support structure. But it would be more of a EotE game than a AoR one.

Spec Ops on the other hand would be a "Insert @ time/day" then "proceed to X by time/day" then "destroy X" and move to be extracted by "time/day" at location "x".

You could run a game based on "Bob" the spy. But a one-on-one game with "Bob" hanging out working a local job for a few years until he gets promoted enough to start having access to 'critical information' would be a little boring.

And a game consisting of a spy team going in to sabotage X or penetrate the Imperial base to steal critical information takes us right back to an elite highly trained team that is going to remain completely off grid and self contained for their 1-3 week mission window. They won't give themselves away because they will stay buried and not go out unless absolutely needed for the mission.

You are wrong is say what we were discussing was wrong. Our conversation was about military Spec Ops. The big thing to remember is that a Spec Ops team is an extremely expensive and highly trained asset. It takes a very very long time to train one. They are not expendable and if the chain is not pretty certain of a successful extraction they will not be sent in.

A lot of what you said about "Most of the covert stuff would in reality be......" is true about a long term espionage effort including long term sleeper cells. And one day they may write the book "Cloak and Dagger: Spies of the Rebellion", but that isn't here yet. Instead we have one book about freelance adventurer/merc's on the edge and another book about the formal war.

Most of the posts on this thread are describing an irregular insurgency not directly supported by a government that has to finance and equip itself off the enemy. Great setting and fun to play, but more EotE: Dangerous Covenants than AoR.

All that said. It's a game so if your players don't mind, are able to suspend belief, can buy into the story and are having fun. Go for it.

The bottom line is if you are having fun, you are doing it right,

So just ignore the ancient cranky old fart in the corner I just get picky because many of my gaming friends are retired mil with 20-30 years of service which makes it hard to get somethings past them when it is a military type game.

The idea of the rebel alliance creating their own currency is ridiculous. Anyone using that currency would be marked as a rebel an, likely executed or at best, sent to kessel.

The rebel alliance was probably funded much by planets such as Alderaan and private citizens who join. Any additional materials, whether it be weapons, food, medical etc. Would either be procured through raids on imperial convoys or installations or from sources that were not necessarily affraid of the empire per se, such as the hutts or other criminal cartels. Legitimate supplies such as food and medicine could be 'stolen' from allies.

After worlds like Dac and Sullust join, I'm sure those planets paid for the furthering of the rebel cause.

The idea of the rebel alliance creating their own currency is ridiculous. Anyone using that currency would be marked as a rebel an, likely executed or at best, sent to kessel.

The rebel alliance was probably funded much by planets such as Alderaan and private citizens who join. Any additional materials, whether it be weapons, food, medical etc. Would either be procured through raids on imperial convoys or installations or from sources that were not necessarily affraid of the empire per se, such as the hutts or other criminal cartels. Legitimate supplies such as food and medicine could be 'stolen' from allies.

After worlds like Dac and Sullust join, I'm sure those planets paid for the furthering of the rebel cause.

Except that, in every successful historical rebellion, the new currency has predated the rebels being a stable government. It locks your creditors into a need for you to not lose.

Note that "Not lose" - it's not the same as winning. Finland and the White Army didn't win the Russian Civil War, but they certainly didn't lose, either. They couldn't reestablish the Russian Empire, couldn't even do significant harm to the Soviet Army, but they could and did hold their own long enough to be an embarrassment, and eventually the Soviets gave up trying to reannex Finland (ceasing open operations around 1922, covert around 1925).

What did the rebels have to back up their currency? You can't just print money and say it's worth something. If the rebels just showed up on the doorstep of a hutt wanting to pay for supplies with their new currency, the Hutt (or anyone) would laugh at them. The worth of republic credits was spat upon by Watto.

The rebels would probably work mostly on barter or thievery. They were running from place to place. If no one accepts your currency, it is worthless. As I said, you can't use it in imperial space. I doubt the hutts would accept it. Buying food from a farmer on a backwater world scoff at the credits.

On a galactic scale you'd have to compete with what the imperial controlled banking clan on munnilist were doing - a system that was going for millenia.

Rebel currency would probably be like bitcoin. Doomed from the start.

The idea of the rebel alliance creating their own currency is ridiculous. Anyone using that currency would be marked as a rebel an, likely executed or at best, sent to kessel.

The rebel alliance was probably funded much by planets such as Alderaan and private citizens who join. Any additional materials, whether it be weapons, food, medical etc. Would either be procured through raids on imperial convoys or installations or from sources that were not necessarily affraid of the empire per se, such as the hutts or other criminal cartels. Legitimate supplies such as food and medicine could be 'stolen' from allies.

After worlds like Dac and Sullust join, I'm sure those planets paid for the furthering of the rebel cause.

Currency: I can't say I'm an economic expert by any means, but it actually makes a lot of sense to me. It's a long game, though. Buying Rebel currency, the same as buying Rebel bonds, was a big risk with a lot of potential payoff. The Rebels would try and get this money into as many hands as possible with the idea of using it as a store of value, rather than a medium of exchange. If the Rebels lost, this currency would be worthless. If the Rebels won, it would hold it's value much better than the Imperial Credit would. For the Rebel war effort, if they began to win, and take ground, and be seen as a real viable government, demand for the Rebel Credit would increase and demand for the Imperial Credit would dramatically drop. As people sell their Imperial Credits, the value of them will go down, leading to massive inflation, leading to civil unrest, leading to a faster victory against the Empire.

None of this would help the Rebellion get that early victory. They didn't kill the Emperor on the back of the strength of the Imperial Credit. But once that happened, the Empire would find it harder and harder to fund their war machine.

You can most certainly invent a currency and claim it has value. It's up to prospective investors to decide if it actually does have that value.

The 43 Virginia Cavalry Battalion, also known as Mosby's Partisan Rangers. A successful, even though they ultimately, lost, covert war. They lived off the land, looted the enemy for supplies, and money. The group captured a payroll rail car and flooded the region in Union Cash. They bought clothing and food with the money, going behind enemy lines to make purchases.

That is the way I see much of the Rebellion working.

The idea of the rebel alliance creating their own currency is ridiculous. Anyone using that currency would be marked as a rebel an, likely executed or at best, sent to kessel.

The rebel alliance was probably funded much by planets such as Alderaan and private citizens who join. Any additional materials, whether it be weapons, food, medical etc. Would either be procured through raids on imperial convoys or installations or from sources that were not necessarily affraid of the empire per se, such as the hutts or other criminal cartels. Legitimate supplies such as food and medicine could be 'stolen' from allies.

After worlds like Dac and Sullust join, I'm sure those planets paid for the furthering of the rebel cause.

Currency: I can't say I'm an economic expert by any means, but it actually makes a lot of sense to me. It's a long game, though. Buying Rebel currency, the same as buying Rebel bonds, was a big risk with a lot of potential payoff. The Rebels would try and get this money into as many hands as possible with the idea of using it as a store of value, rather than a medium of exchange. If the Rebels lost, this currency would be worthless. If the Rebels won, it would hold it's value much better than the Imperial Credit would. For the Rebel war effort, if they began to win, and take ground, and be seen as a real viable government, demand for the Rebel Credit would increase and demand for the Imperial Credit would dramatically drop. As people sell their Imperial Credits, the value of them will go down, leading to massive inflation, leading to civil unrest, leading to a faster victory against the Empire.

None of this would help the Rebellion get that early victory. They didn't kill the Emperor on the back of the strength of the Imperial Credit. But once that happened, the Empire would find it harder and harder to fund their war machine.

You can most certainly invent a currency and claim it has value. It's up to prospective investors to decide if it actually does have that value.

Honestly it might not be as much of a risk in the long term as most think, as long as you aren't caught trying to spend it by Imperials during the war. I recall a scene in one of the X-Wing novels talking about how even if the New Republic lost the war the War bonds would eventually become collectable as war memorabilia, I would guess that the same would happen with currency eventually.

Spending the money to manufacture money that has no value is silly. Pennies are absurd, they cost the US treasury more to mint than they are worth. That's essentially the position being put forward by the Alliance printing money. It would make more sense for the Alliance to produce good counterfeit Imperial credits than mint their own currency. Just like the old counterfeiter's saying goes "the easiest way to make money, is to make money...."

Spending the money to manufacture money that has no value is silly. Pennies are absurd, they cost the US treasury more to mint than they are worth. That's essentially the position being put forward by the Alliance printing money. It would make more sense for the Alliance to produce good counterfeit Imperial credits than mint their own currency. Just like the old counterfeiter's saying goes "the easiest way to make money, is to make money...."

That entirely depends on objectives. To win a war, you are right. To become a new legitimate government afterwards, you aren't. As I said above, the creation of their own currency was an economic tactic not intended to strengthen the Rebel economy in the short run, but to weaken the Imperial economy in the long run.

The counterfeiter's saying would hold true here, again, if the objective were simply to make money.

And more than enough historical precedents for rebel or revolutionary movements making their own currencies exist that I don't honestly don't understand why some people make a big deal out of a fictional revolutionary group like the Alliance being portrayed as doing the same.

Because spending time and resources to do something like make money that holds zero value at the time would be a waste of time and resources.

Frankly counterfeiting is far more effective than making competing currencies for undermining the Empire. Creating a competing currency that no one takes seriously and holds no value does nothing for you.

1. You make money that you can use to make purchases you actually need at the time.

2. You make purchases from businesses sympathetic to the Empire, simultaneously getting what you need, while at the same time exacting a price from an enemy company.

3. You undermine the Imperial economy in general by flooding counterfeit money onto the scene and begin to erode support for the Empire.

Talking about establishing a post Empire government and economy before you've won the war is very much counting your chickens before they've hatched imo.

I'd like to know which WEG book claims the Alliance printed it's own money and sold war bonds (with page number if possible.)

That's not something I remember at all. Are we sure that's not coming from a New Republic Supp? WEG did make several of those, and that's certainly something the NR did (I recall a...thing, in Thrawn where Luke had to mediate the NR/Imp credit exchange rate...)

The Rebel Alliance does consist of various Allied Governments that exist outside of the Empire's control. Alliance credits are probably good on Mon Calamari for instance.

Talking about establishing a post Empire government and economy before you've won the war is very much counting your chickens before they've hatched imo.

Nonetheless, Mon Mothma did it. All. The. Time. She did not call herself the leader of a Rebellion. She called herself the leader of a democratic government. Semantics, sure, but I think it firmly encapsulates how this simply wasn't the way the characters were thinking in universe.

You are valuing strength now over strength later. I firmly believe that if the Alliance agreed with you, in the end, the Warlords would have won. This war was not to overthrow the Empire. I'm not sure a lot of people realize that (since it's not in the movies). The Rebellion was called the Alliance to Restore the Republic. If the Empire simply vanished one day, the Rebels wouldn't have won; their objective was more than that. Taking actions as soon as possible to ensure that, once it's back, the Republic is back for good are fully in keeping with what this Alliance was aiming to do.

I have to say I can comment on what makes sense, not EU invented in an old game line or novel. Printing money that has nothing to back its face value makes no sense. Counterfeiting or stealing money that does have face value, makes sense.

If you don't want to continue talking about it, that's fine. But I don't understand how you can say it doesn't make sense. If by "it doesn't make sense" you mean "that's not what I would do" that's fine. That would be an agree to disagree situation. But I feel I've made a case for why one would do it, then made a case for why Mon Mothma (or a person similar to her) would do it in particular. It's simply a long term venture where yours is short term.

The only one of my claims reliant on the EU is that the Rebellion wants more than to simply eliminate the Empire. But that just simply makes sense. Why would one overthrow a government and replace it with one that doesn't have the economic strength to withstand the first Rebellion against it (of which there will be many). Which they won't be able to because under your idea (of counterfeiting Imperial Credits) they are tying themselves to the economy of their enemy. Assuming they win, the Empire will crumble, its economy will crumble with it, and in the end the Imperial Credit will be the one that is simply paper with no real wealth to back it.

I just don't see how you can say it doesn't make sense to believe there will be a value in a strong economy once the Empire is gone.

What did the rebels have to back up their currency? You can't just print money and say it's worth something. If the rebels just showed up on the doorstep of a hutt wanting to pay for supplies with their new currency, the Hutt (or anyone) would laugh at them. The worth of republic credits was spat upon by Watto.

Yes, in fact, you can. The US has done so since 1777. It was only by 1805 that the actual backing was really valued to the face value. The Fins did likewise as they pulled away from Russia in 1917. The Mexicans did so when they broke from spain in the first half of the 19th C.

It helps if the primary coin is specie - gold, silver - but almost all revolutions have issued promissory notes in the form of paper money that was an unbacked promise to pay in some specie at a later point. Most of it was worthless, but was accepted out of support for the cause. Only later, after winning, did they then actually start having to redeem the notes.

And, at present, the US currency has no intrinsic value - it's a fiat currency. The only reason it has value is that, if you don't have it to pay the government your taxes with, the government takes your stuff away. That's the true backing of the US dollar: the threat of losing your stuff if you don't have any.

I'd like to know which WEG book claims the Alliance printed it's own money and sold war bonds (with page number if possible.)

That's not something I remember at all. Are we sure that's not coming from a New Republic Supp? WEG did make several of those, and that's certainly something the NR did (I recall a...thing, in Thrawn where Luke had to mediate the NR/Imp credit exchange rate...)

Rebel Alliance Source book 2nd edition. I don't remember the exact page number, and don't have my copy handy but I think it was part of the section on the duties and role of the Alliance's Minster of Fiance in the Alliance Civil Government portion of the book

I have to say I can comment on what makes sense, not EU invented in an old game line or novel. Printing money that has nothing to back its face value makes no sense. Counterfeiting or stealing money that does have face value, makes sense.

Perhaps not to you but given the historical precedents that have been listed it clearly prove that others in similar situations to that of the Alliance's leadership have felt printing money was worth it. Its not like WEG had them doing this when no rebellion in history had done it or something.

The creation of your own currency also sends a 'We are here to stay' message.

While in the beginning few planets and companies accept the Rebell credit, the more systems join them the more important the RC becomes while the IC looses value. It is a long game as others have pointed out, but an important one none the less.

If your economy depends on your enemies currency you leave yourself open to financial attacks that can bankrupt you. Such tactics would also hurt the Empire, but during the Age of Rebellion they do have the bigger purse and can take a few hits.

Edited for clarity

I will concede to the point that the rebels could make their own currency. I still think it is a dumb idea in the star wars universe.

The reasons I think this is:

If it was such a good idea why didn't the seperatists do it in the clone wars?

You site real word examples, but the sheer scope of a single country who, in a time may not have had many planet spanning trade partners. The economy of a galaxy spanning empire is currently not something any human is familiar with. The reason I mention this is if someone hands you a coin/bill from a nation you're not familiar with and says it is worth a set amount would you just take it?

How about cheques? Most businesses nowadays don't accept personal cheques.

The nations on our planet often dealt in comodities of some sort. Barter has more examples in history and a longer lasting precedent.

The rebels were relatively few in number, at least till a few worlds joined them, and even then in the grand scheme, still small. The rebels likely needed to deal with food, parts and weapons rather than printing a currency that has a limited use. They also needed to stay mobile, unless hoth was just a big minting operation.

If you insist on using a new currency when you win the war, trying to make the enemies currency worthless, you risk destabilizing countless planets across the galaxy - this may hurt your cause in the long run. There are people that like the status quo.

The imperial credit was formerly the republic credit, also known as the galactic standard credit. The tens of thousands of years this system was in place, it probably replaced countless currencies as the planets joined the republic or at least the galaxy at large. The galactic standard credit is probably most analogous to the Euro.

Another problem with scrapping the galaxy wide system is if one person does it, everyone else might. So now you could have to carry currencies for every single species that has its own currency.

The banking clan may not let you even make a new currency. They have the money, and run a galaxy spanning bank. They can simply invalidate your rebel credit and say it is worthless.

Seperatists: Because the Bank wasn't government controlled, in fact, it was Seperatist controlled. In the Galactic Empire, instead the government holds the power over the Imperial Credit and can use it as a weapon against the Rebels at their whim.

Scope of the Galaxy: Extrapolating from history may not be 100% accurate. But it is evidence nonetheless. You say no human is familiar with a galaxy spanning government. This is obviously true. But it's not an argument for or against anything. Of course we're making best guesses about fiction. I think we all know that.

Barter: I'm not sure what your point is. Barter is fine, but terribly inefficient. I would never want a government to rely on bartering. That's just a bad time.

Printing the Currency: Sure, they had other things to do. But as 2P51 and I were talking above, you have to try and balance long term concerns with short term ones. Neglecting to work towards securing your economy costs more food later than the food you could have bought now.

Destabilization: Yes, but this is a given. Destabilizing planets is going to happen anyway, it's just a question of whether the Rebel economy goes down with it. And a lack of stability isn't really a bad thing for an insurrection, is it?

History of the Credit: Yeah, the credit sure has been around a long time. So was the Republic. It didn't last either.

Setting a Trend: Yeah, this is certainly true to a point. The answer is to simply do it best. Galactic unity suffered when the Rebels ousted the Empire. More planets relied on their own military, parliament, and economic strength (and currency). I really don't think the Rebels minded too terribly. In time, the New Republic was able to reunite much of the galaxy.

Banking Clan: For all intents and purposes, the IGBC has been nationalized by the Empire. So an arm of the current government will declare the currency of a rebellion invalid? I feel like the Rebels are fine with that.

It's also worth noting that the Hutts had their own currencies - Republic Dataries (Credits) were useless on Tatooine in Ep I, or more correctly, Wotto refuses to take them calling them no good.

The Separatists may have had their own currencies, too. And apparently, many did - look at the wookiepedia article on the credit - it notes as many as 20 a day were added to the IGBC's roster during the Clone Wars.

If I can try and bring this back on topic, I still don't feel like I have an answer to my question. Everything so far has been really high level, conceptual ideas about how the Rebellion, as a socio-political organization, procures resources, not about how player character get credits to buy personal supplies and arms outside of what can be reasonably given for a mission or as a result of increasing duty.

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?

All of the activities you mention for EotE are fine ways for a group of Rebels to make money. They do it for a cause rather than for personal reasons, and they hopefully channel some of the material (or the funtds raised by selling it) back to the Rebellion. Other groups do this too, and this is where the Alliance gets the funds to pay those that don't actually bring in money for the Alliance directly (like the technicians that keep the X-wings flying).