I've been listening to the Order 66 podcast and several times one of the guys has brought up his Alt. Universe campaigns.

One day, I'll have the time to run a game again and I think this could be fun. What key event form the movies could you tweak, to create an interesting alternate SW universe.

1- Han was in the refresher when Luke and Obi-Wan were looking for a ride. They ask the PC's instead.

Alternative/infinities universes are a lot of fun to run, especially if your players happen to know a lot about star wars lore. You aren't bound by the cannon events. For example, the expressions on my players faces was perfect when they found out that Yoda died in the confrontation with Poppa Palpy during the clone wars.

I really like "what if" scenarios, and though I did not spend much time thinking about this concept in combination with Star Wars, I do remember one comic that explored this thought:

The basic premise was that Luke botched his skill check when using the Force to guide the proton torpedoes into the Death Star's reactor shaft. The station remains unharmed, and seconds later the Death Star destroys the Yavin base. Only a handful of Rebels made it off-world in a bunch of transports but are immediately intercepted by Imperial forces. With the Alliance High Command out of the game, only a handful of fighters and the Millennium Falcon manage to escape. A deadly blow to the Rebel Alliance.

Shortly after, Han and Luke meet up, get in a fist-fight over Leia's apparent death due to Luke's silly stunt with the disabled targeting computer, but are separated again by the Force-ghost of Obi-Wan who tells Luke he must go to Dagobah. Han drops him off and leaves, with Luke eventually meeting Yoda and continuing his Jedi training as we have seen in TESB, including the cave scene - with one particular difference, for when he lobs off Vader's head it is not his face that stares back at him, but that of ...

Ultimately, five years have passed, and the Alliance to Restore the Republic is all but eliminated from the galactic playing field. Facing no other widely organised resistance, the Emperor's grip on the galaxy is absolute. The Imperial Senate is reinstated and the Death Star rechristened, I kid ye not, the Justice Star. The Empire is as oppressive as ever, though the use of euphemisms in propaganda has been turned up to eleven.

Creepy stuff.

Turns out Vader pulled a Bespin encounter on Leia some time after her transport was captured by naval forces, except that with no way to run she eventually caved in. Doesn't look too bad as a Sith, though.

Things come to a head when Luke and Yoda go out of hiding and have Han bring them to Coruscant, directly into the lion's den. In a twisted reflection of RotJ, Han has "a good feeling" as they approach the Imperial fleet orbiting the capital world together with the Death Star. Yoda goes to board the latter whilst Han and Luke land on Coruscant and infiltrate the Imperial Palace. After killing some guards they are confronted by the Emperor, Vader and Leia. 3PO pulls a gun on Han (!) and Leia engages Luke in a lightsaber duel very reminiscent of RotJ. Luke reveals his relationship to Leia, which lets Vader realise what is going on. The Emperor, sensing trouble, decides to put an end to the spectacle and starts to electrocute Luke and Leia. Vader attacks him, but since they are on Coruscant and not on the Death Star, there's no hole to throw him into! The Emperor overpowers him, whilst Luke and Leia flee. Meanwhile, Yoda has effectively mindcontrolled the Death Star's command crew and moved the entire battlestation closer to Coruscant.

Much closer.

And that's basically it.

I really liked how, even though just a single detail from ANH was different, the story kept "touching" on events from both TESB and RotJ.

I realise this isn't really a suggestion for an alternate universe campaign, but perhaps it can serve as an example of what could be done with such an approach.

[edit]Added some spoiler tags for improved thread visibility and dramatic revelations!

The New Hope What If comic always pissed me off so bad. Yoda would never EVER kill a planet just to eliminate one man. Billions of lives for one? That would make him as monstrous and dark side as Palpatine.

Billions of lives for one? That would make him as monstrous and dark side as Palpatine.

I think that may have been intentional. The Empire had won - there was no struggle still going on like with a bunch of valiant Rebels still making a stand, and I don't consider anyone, including Yoda, entirely resistant to the psychological effects of such a defeat. Especially if you consider that it'd essentially be the second time, and he may well have blamed himself for running, back when the Clone Wars ended, considering what happened afterwards. So, yeah, I think the Yoda in this alternate universe was "darker" than the one from the movies, and more concerned with taking out Palpatine than sticking to earlier morals that only increased the galaxy's suffering.

And with the Emperor having overpowered Vader, Luke and Leia on the run, and Imperial forces about to restore control over the Death Star - it was a "now or never" kind of choice to make.

If you think about it, a billion lives are nothing for the galaxy if it means restoring balance to the Force. That's part of the Jedi way, and what differentiates them from the goody-two-shoes that people often confuse them with. These are religious warriors who think that stealing children from their families, and interrupting romantic attachments between its members, is the right thing to do for the cause.

If one life must be sacrificed to save thousands, then maybe billions must be sacrificed to save trillions. A very Vulcan way of thinking, wouldn't you agree?

think that may have been intentional. The Empire had won - there was no struggle still going on like with a bunch of valiant Rebels still making a stand, and I don't consider anyone, including Yoda, entirely resistant to the psychological effects of such a defeat. Especially if you consider that it'd essentially be the second time, and he may well have blamed himself for running, back when the Clone Wars ended, considering what happened afterwards. So, yeah, I think the Yoda in this alternate universe was "darker" than the one from the movies, and more concerned with taking out Palpatine than sticking to earlier morals that only increased the galaxy's suffering.

The problem is - and mind you, it's been years since I read that arc - but he didnt strike me as a substantially different character. He wasn't darker, he wasn't morose, he was just - well, Yoda doing his yodaness.

So if thats where they going with the character, they failed.

Of course I'm not down with the dark and gritty heroes in general. I prefer my heroes to take a third option. Hopeless situation? The Doctor would have found a way. Superman would have found a way. Yoda should have found a way other than murdering an entire planet to kill the Emperor.

If you think about it, a billion lives are nothing for the galaxy if it means restoring balance to the Force. That's part of the Jedi way, and what differentiates them from the goody-two-shoes that people often confuse them with. These are religious warriors who think that stealing children from their families, and interrupting romantic attachments between its members, is the right thing to do for the cause.

The hole in your thesis? The Jedi Order was clearly broken and disfunctional, ineffectual and out of touch with the galaxy. Using their rightsness and devoition to the cause as a benchmark of morality - well, the Jedi morality meter needs calibrating badly.

If one life must be sacrificed to save thousands, then maybe billions must be sacrificed to save trillions. A very Vulcan way of thinking, wouldn't you agree?

Star Trek III would disagree with you.

So there was also one for ESB and RotJ what if's though for the life of me I can't remember the arcs on them.

Here is my what if idea that I will run one day (Even if I have to drag players kicking and screaming).

What if it were the players that recieved the Death Star Plans and not the Tantive IV.

It actually starts out with a different what if that I wish that Dark Horse could of addressed with the prequels.

I will not reveal it though because I don't know how to do spoilers. Also my players may actually frequent this page.

I've toyed with the idea of starting a game immediately following a Battle of Endor that was a pyrrhic victory for the Alliance. The Death Star is destroyed with the Emperor, Vader, and Luke aboard, but the Rebel Fleet gets savaged by the Imperial Navy, and Ackbar's flagship Home One is the first target of the Death Star. The members of Solo's team die as the wreckage of the Death Star rains down on the Forest Moon.

This leaves a battered Alliance and a wounded Empire with the major roles empty for PCs and original NPCs to fill. I wrote more on this in another thread, but this post covers the basics.

So there was also one for ESB and RotJ what if's though for the life of me I can't remember the arcs on them.

The only thing I remember from the Jedi one was that Vader didn't die when he returned to the light. Mind you, he kept the armor, with a white paint job. This was only slightly less stupid than Yoda murdering a billion people in one go - Vader is the most identifiable person in the galaxy. Changing from black to white wont exactly absolve him of war crimes or the scores of bereaved people now out to murder him. It's like Hitler surviving WWII and adopting a handlebar mustache as a disguise (despite still wearing his swastikas and nazi gear)..

My one regret of the Star Wars What-Ifs - what would have been cool would be to follow the story beyond the 4 issues. Take the whole new universe and explore what happened in an ongoing series. Nope - gotta cram all this story into four issues. . . .

I always thought a campaign set in the aftermath of the A New Hope Infinity Lynata mentioned might be interesting. And on the old AOR Beta board I did a post detailing the alternate ROTS and post ROTS setting my group has done multiple campaign in.

Oh and we startrd one set in the ESB Infinty-verse but the GM had to move due to job issues so it ended during the setting's Battle of Hoth..

[spoiler]Spoilers Go Here[/spoiler]

Ahh I'm used to <spoiler> Spoilers go here </spoiler> Thanks.

Here is a synopsis of the Infinities storylines.

I have gone even further than that. I have run a Cthulhu Horror one off, and am now in the middle of "Firestarter-esque" Goverment agents chasing teenagers with Physic powers campaign.

Furthermore I am about to start a western one shot

I have gone even further than that. I have run a Cthulhu Horror one off, and am now in the middle of "Firestarter-esque" Goverment agents chasing teenagers with Physic powers campaign.

Furthermore I am about to start a western one shot

I'm guessing you mean Psychic powers, not Physic?

I am toying with an idea of F&D campaign set in an alternate SW universe. As I really do not see dozens of force-users running around the galaxy during the IV-VI trilogy, the only obvious choices are the Clone Wars, post-Thrawn era or Yuuzhan Vong. Clone Wars is really asking itself for an alternative ending. So what could happen? I have read some ideas on different forums.

Anyone who is going to play with me, please stop reading. If you do not know whether you play with me or not, use the force!

Here is my idea. During the battle over Coruscant in Episode III, after the duel with Dooku, the capital ship on which Obi, Anakin and Palpi colides with another damaged capital ship. Chancellors dies, Obi is still unconscious, Anakin is horribly wounded, burned (yesss), he calls for help and a jedi master overseeing the battle sends the PCs to save them (they are flying there?). The PCs save Obi and Anakin. Now the players should have no idea what is going to happen next.

Death of chancellor and Dooku throws both sides of conflict into chaos. The first adventures should focus on CIS threats on Coruscant, where Grevious is sending assassins, to paralyze the senate. The first season should ended with PCs having an indirect influence through their actions over electing a new chancellor. War focused chancellor or peace-minded? Mon Mothma as the peace-minded one and still cant think of someone focused on war. Could Tarkin be elected? I think not as he was military.

Finally Republic elects the new chancellor and the war goes on. Meanwhile Confederacy lead by the Council, Senate and Grevious push forward. Grevious raids Dookus palace and finds evidence about the Sideous conspiracy. Then he is approached by Maul who offers his service, but he really just want to take over CIS. So the second episode would be about securing count Dooku secret places, information that could help the Republic. As PCs go from place to place, encounter Grevious, at the end of the season they meet Maul.

So what happens with Anakin? He got burned, bad, but not that bad. He is still more a human than a machine, but requires cybernetics, supporting equipment built-into his body, but not suit. His face is stilly pretty like in the CW series . And he has nightmares, yes, they are not gone. Why? Cause Palp is not dead, just like explained in the Dark Empire, he has died not once. So he transfers his body to a clone, but that takes time due to the distance to travel to his secret base, and obviously he is not ready yet. Since his plan collapsed, he needs to improvise. Put the galaxy into chaos, then return as someone else perhaps as he planned in the Empire´s End comic.
Meanwhile Anakin is angry that his mentor died, his nightmares are driving him crazy, the council puts him aside due to his wounds, there is no one to "hug him" like Palp did before, he is changing. Oh and remember, Ashoka is gone becuase of the Jedi council.....dark side is calling. Meanwhile the senate quarrels, lack of Palp is obvious. War goes slower and not so good for the Republic due to the governmental chaos and lack of one its best Jedi.

In Season 2 the PCs uncovered some web of conspiracy and the Jedi council becomes suspicious about the senate and the navy/army. Military becomes angry about the senate. Anakin comes back and takes over a command of some task force where PCs are placed. Season 3 could be about some new superweapon constructed by CIS that they have to destroy. During the mission there are quarrels between military & Anakin and the new chancelor, there are hard decisions to make (like Anakin Solo did when fired superweapon at Yuuzhan Vong fleet). In the final episode the superweapon or super-danger is destroyed/avoided, but the PCs should understand that military becomes impatient about the senate, Anakin is darker.....and more cheered by the clones.

The only problem here is that the PCs will obviously metagame what is going to happen....it would be better to kill Anakin at the beginning and create another villain from existing Jedi, but most of them were not like Anakin.

Now let me think about Season 4....

Any comments appreciated.

I think it would be interesting to run a campaign based off the ideas from only Episode 4-6, before all the extended universe stuff was ever written.

In Episodes 4-6 there is no mention of the Sith as an evil mirror-organization to the Jedi for example. There is no mention of them at all. In that universe the dark side isn't something that you can use, it's something that possesses you if you give in to hate and anger. For example, the emperor thinks Luke will become his apprentice if he witnesses the death of the Rebel alliance and kills his father, but why would that be an effective plan? Creating a dark sider who really hates you doesn't make them your apprentice. This really only makes sense if dark siders lose their agency and simply become servants of evil.

Darth Vader is also a name in Episodes 4-6, not a title. It only became a title once people started writing extended universe and insisted on creating Vader analogues for every story, which then had to all wield red lightsabers, dress in black and be called Darth something. The reason why Vader uses a lightsaber is also implied to be that he used to be a Jedi. The lightsaber is introduced as specifically a Jedi weapon, not a general tool for force users of all kinds. The emperor doesn't use a lightsaber. In fact, when he confiscates Luke's saber on the death star he gives off the impression that he finds it a quaint and useless weapon. The idea that two force users who battle each other purely with their powers will stalemate each other, hence why they rely on lightsabers, wasn't introduced until more stories were written that sought to recreate the lightsaber duels from the movies.

Force lightning isn't a common power in that universe. It's pretty much treated as the ultimate power. Utterly impossible to defend against, and so steeped in the dark side that Vader who still has good in him can't use it. It's also heavily implied that Vader has never tried to rebell against the Emperor because he knows he can't possibly win against force lighting in a 1on1 fight. Of course in the extended universe shooting lightning is pretty common for Sith, and you can defend against it by just blocking it with a lightsaber.

The Jedi are never established as a monolithic organization either in that universe. They were peace keepers and had various fantastic powers and fight with lightsabers, but there is no mention of them maintaining a strict hierarchy, or a temple, or even official position in the Republic. For all we know Jedi Knights just roamed around the Galaxy working at their own discretion. The characters in the movie also act like if you simply don't teach someone how to use the force they can't fall to the dark side, so without training being Force sensitive means nothing.

Jabba was a powerful crime boss on Tatooine, but the Hutts hadn't been established as an entire race of fat slimy crime bosses yet either. Once again, people writing extended universe who were looking to recreate the exact same dynamics from the movies made analogue after analogue until a single character spun into the archetype for entire organizations and species. In the original three movies we never get to meet another Hutt, we don't know if they are friendly or not, we just know Jabba isn't.

Basically the entire Star Wars universe as it exists right now in canon was spun out of taking just what the first three movies showed and spinning it into an entire Galaxy that has been retreading those exact same themes for thousands of years. What if everything you see in those movies really was unique though, and the rest of the universe doesn't imitate it?

Not really alternate universe, but I did run a campaign that is the origin of the Jedi (Je'daii) and takes place on the planet Tython 25,000 years before the movies. The setting was steampunk but instead of steam, the tech is Force Crystal based. There are no sabers, just Force Forged blades and slug throwers. The styles of the world were Neo west, Eastern martial arts, and victorian. My players could only choose classes from FnD.

Our group played in an infinities game a while back that we enjoyed immensely. The basic idea started when we asked what would have happened if Obi-wan had fallen to the dark side after Qui-gon's death? Well, we decided that due to the dark side clouding the jedi's perceptions, Obi-wan was able to hide his dark side affiliation from the council (but oddly not from mace who basically becomes anakin's conscience and secret mentor) and still took anakin as his apprentice. They traveled the galaxy between missions for the Jedi council secretly visiting area steeped in the dark side (ziost, korriban, dxun, etc...).

By the time the clone wars broke out, they were working as moles for the separatists. Dooku had convinced Obi-wan that qui-gon would have joined him because of the corruption he perceived in the Jedi council. The majority of episode 2 and 3 played out as in the movies but with anakin developing a fierce rivalry with Dooku. The scene in episode 3 aboard the Invisible Hand occurred as the result of a power struggle between Obi-wan and palpatine. Dooku had collaborated with Obi-wan to kill palps but it backfired when Dooku accidentally knocked out Obi-wan instead of anakin (who had been kept in the dark about this whole plan). Anakin defeats Dooku and rescues Obi-wan and palps. The rest of the movie played out mostly the same except Obi-wan and anakin go with mace to confront palpatine. Long story short, mace escapes, Obi-wan becomes the emperor, anakin duels mace on mustafar, Obi-wan causes padme to die and anakin takes his two children into hiding after being defeated by Obi-wan.

That was all set up for the actual game. The players decided to play leia (FSE/pilot), luc (FSE/hotshot/enforcer), and a carbon frozen clone from our old clone wars game. Anakin (now going by the name Ben Lars) had sworn off the force, blaming it for padme' s death (he never has been one for taking responsibility for his actions has he, lol) and the twins grew up quite differently on tattooine. Luc was trying to become a low-level enforcer in the local crime syndicate (ran by greedo) and leia ran watto's old shop. Luc's hopes were dashed when he refused to throw a race and lose to the favorite (guri) and caused greedo to lose a lot of money. The next day, Doctor evazan and ponda boba (low level leg breakers greedo employed) arrive at 'Ben's Junkyard' to teach luc a lesson. Luc and leia intimidate them into leaving.

To get away and let the heat die down, luc and leia go stay with their aunt beru and uncle Owen. While helping them fix their moisture vaporators, luc gets ambushed by the good doctor and his partner. While looking for him, leia sees part of the battle between the star destroyer gorgon and the tantive iv. Luc if found by 'Ben' who proceeds to trounce the doc while luc beats down ponda. Anyway, leia gets the droids (R2 played by Wall.e, and 3p0 played by sonny from I, Robot) and the empire attacks the Lars farm, killing Owen and beru. Anakin sacrifices himself (killed by darth malice, asajj ventress) to give his kids the chance to get away.

The twins escape on Padmes old h-type Nubian yacht that anakin had hidden all these years. The yacht was captured by the empire after they used the r2 unit to help them make the jump to hyperspace (r2 ignored their destination in favor of alderaan). Having been captured, hilarity ensues and the twins rescue bail organa (help me Ben Lars, you're my only hope) chewbacca (who now has a life debt to leia), and a clone frozen in carbonite with the help of Hannah Solo (who had been held at blaster point. Escaping the sabotaged Death Star, Luc and leia join the fledgling rebellion to get revenge for the death of their father. The battle of yavin ends the same except leia made the Death Star run while luc kept the enemy ships off her back.

We then played Beyond the Rim, with plans to start Mask of the Pirate Queen next but due to RL complications, we haven't been able to play it out anymore. After we had finished mask of the pirate queen, we had planned to start empire strikes back (though we were going to run onslaught on arda 1 and jewel of yavin in its place).

I normally don't like playing a character from the movies (making my own character is usually more enjoyable), but my wife and I had a blast putting our own spin on luc and leia respectively. She played leia as a cross between lando and wedge, card shark and ace pilot and mechanic. I played luc as a cross between leg breaking enforcer and a street racer. All in all, this infinities game was quite enjoyable.

Basically the entire Star Wars universe as it exists right now in canon was spun out of taking just what the first three movies showed and spinning it into an entire Galaxy that has been retreading those exact same themes for thousands of years. What if everything you see in those movies really was unique though, and the rest of the universe doesn't imitate it?

Yes, I must admit - as someone who doesn't like too much to be explained, I preferred it when we didn't know what 'Dark Lord of the Sith' or 'the Clone Wars' were (neither did Lucas at that point!) The stuff in my head was far cooler than any official definition.

I think one of the things I liked about the early EU was that very few things were defined and everything was up for grabs, when it still felt like ours instead of theirs. I think the EU became ruined by hundreds of different writers, all with their own concepts and all playing escalation with their own Mary Sue characters and superweapons. Yes, Disney tidied things up, but they're also pitching things to a much younger audience than would ever interest me. I see why, but it's just not for us.

And the 'Planet of Hats' trope for all the alien species is wearying after a while. For the MarcyVerse, I gave serious consideration to making the Hutts a peaceful, nature-loving race who cultivated their swampy planets and grew fungus food for the rest of the galaxy... and were extremely embarrassed by the antics of the late Jabba being such an infamous scumbag.

Anyway, its' always fun to read how other people are changing things for their games.

This is a little tangential, but i've been thinking about using the as is RAW rules to run a high magic but otherwise traditional fantasy game. For example lightsabers would be in for as an order of palidins that replaces jedi (using jedi specs). Blasters may be out but bow casters and the energy bows stay with the use of scrolls instead of reloads to recharge them. Beast riding would be a big thing and I would introduce airships as a party ship. I might allow the air ships to open portals to alternate planes as a replacement for hyperdrive. The themes would be a star wars fantasy hybrid, for example an evil empire that spans multiple planes is trying to conquer everything, I might even reuse star wars names for the characters, e.g. have Palpatine be the name of the magic using emperor. Droid = "warforged" or clockwork automotons