I looked around but wasn't able to find anything about it.

Am I correct that FFG is not planning to release an RPG for the Imperium?

Most people I know would really like to take the side of the elected government (and with the cool uniforms) and defend the citizens against the rebel scum.

I think instead of doing a third one for the jedi they should have just added them a source for AoR and given us the Imps as third faction to play.

This subject again?

From the perspective of FFG, Lucasarts, Disney etc we are 'playing the good guys'. That much is made clear from reading any of the books or suppliments. By canon, by the movies and games, the Empire is exceptionally evil, destroying planets and scourging worlds pretty much 'for the evulz' (see Suns of Fortune).

The game doesn't need playable Imperials. However, if you must do so, it's easy to extrapolate doing so as none of the careers or specialities are tied to the Alliance anyway. There's no statistical difference between an Imperial or Alliance pilot or commander. All the stats for vehicles and gear are in the books in any case. If you want the fluff, you already have it from other sources.

I don't see it as a bad thing that a game like this is about a certain type of play anyway. 'One Ring' doesn't let you play orcs, nor does WHFRP3 let you play skaven or demons. There are plenty of other games that let you play 'evil' right out of the box, such as any of the 40K games (with the possible exception of Rogue Trader).

My own concern would be that playing the 'overdog' would be far too easy in some ways, and too difficult in others. As I've said before, PCs in an Imperial game should be much more afraid of their peers and superiors than their adversaries. This is a faction that expects success rather than rewards it, and harshly penalises even the mildest failure.

My guess is that we MIGHT see an 'Imperial sourcebook' at some point, but it won't be geared to Imperial PCs.

My own concern would be that playing the 'overdog' would be far too easy in some ways, and too difficult in others. As I've said before, PCs in an Imperial game should be much more afraid of their peers and superiors than their adversaries. This is a faction that expects success rather than rewards it, and harshly penalises even the mildest failure.

This is pretty much my approach. My players are perfectly free to play Imps if they want, I'll write the module. But goes like this:

"You do realise that all that cool, wacky (illegal) and plain old FUN stuff you've been pulling out on the fringe would never in a million years be tolerated by the Empire don't you? If your C.O. tasked you to takeover a secret Rebel base in order to use it's tracking array to spy on local systems (for random example), and you during the course of that mission you commandeer a heavy vehicle, trash half the base and let the enemy commander escape, you're probably going to be reprimanded with extreme prejudice. At the least."

Seems to do the trick

But it's a reasonable desire to want to play the Empire, and we have all the tools to do so if we wish. But it would, and definitely should be a very different game in its flavour.

Yeah, with the fan made imperial duty sheet someone made you're covered mechanically. Its just up to the gm to iron out the rest and decide if he's up to the challenge. Handing the players a Neb-b and a battalion of stormtroopers is viable, but not every gm is prepared to tackle that one.

We already had that.

http://community.fantasyflightgames.com/index.php?/topic/96989-eote-aor-fad-what-about-the-empire/

I still think we could use a separate forum for people who want to play Imperials.

Maybe we could use a separate forum just for you...

"And Lo, Erik came again to spoil everybody's day."

If we were to get a seperate forum for imperial players, they could chat all day about how awesome the Empire is with no interruptions...

AoR can be played as a pro-imperial game, no problem. Pick a motivation that has something to do with the Empire (for example, "Order," "Glory," "I Heart Palpatine") and a Duty that makes sense, and you've got yourself a Soontir Fel, a Mara Jade, a Hand of Judgement, etc.

Prove your worth to the Empire and to your immediate superiors, and you will be given more privilege (Contribution).

Is this not an easy jump to make?

THis is a space opera,

In a space opera there is an antagonist, the image visage and demanor of the imperium is this antagonist.

Forget all the BS behind the scenes citizenz of the imperium who live on imperial worlds, in the end, they are the defned antagonist.

The rebels/Fringers are the good guys in the drama, they have less of everything and are showcased against the imperiums overwhelming force in an attempt to over come the imposible. THis is where heroes come from...

I still think we could use a separate forum for people who want to play Imperials.

Maybe we could use a separate forum just for you...

What? And miss out on all those incredible insights? Why? Whay would you suggest such a thing? We need those uber-Jedi leaping tall Death Stars in a single bound, tossing Star Destroyers with ease, and twirling their impervious saber of death.

A space opera works great as a 90-120 minutes movie.

It sucks balls as a several-years-lasting RPG game. At least my groups last for years usually.

Pulp and the assorted clichés work great for a short time but taste awful after some time.

That's why I still thank Mr. Zahn for creating Imperials that are humans and not the usual megalomanical, insane, unstable, evil-for-evil's sake dumb bullies without real agendas.

But that is my playstyle and sense of taste. And definitly not working with what i take as the 'fantastic realism' of the setting.

If you and your friends are happy with the clichés and pulp all year round go have fun and knock yourself out.

....tossing Star Destroyers with ease...

You call moving my dual thumbsticks back and forth for over 2 minutes "easy" ??!!!!!

The Mouse is never going to allow something that was based off the Nazis, and he-who-shall-not-be-named-on-the-internet, to be portrayed in anything except a negative light and something no one should aspire to. Doesn't mean people can't tweak the existing material to suit their needs, it's just not reasonable on this planet to expect product support from Disney for space Nazis.

A separate forum would in my estimation quickly turn into a haven for a rancid blend of rationalization, far too many poorly educated pseudo-historical arguments, and the endless posts of video clips of late teen early 20s boys with Lightsabers.....

Well, the 40k RPGs got a 'bad guy' Corebook (Black Crusade) after the originally planned game line of three ended, so I don't think it's a stretch to say there's a possibility of Star Wars getting one, especially when it's probably pulling in a greater profit.

40k is niche. Star Wars is not. 40k is a game. Star Wars is a brand label.

You could also play Imperial characters who are in the middle.

They think the Empire is an overall good but has some very unfortunate "excesses".

The players have to walk that fine line of supporting the aspects of the Empire they like and hedging in those aspects they don't like.

Maybe it will lead to uneasy and temporary alliance with the Rebellion.

Maybe it will lead to conflict with others in the Imperial governing structure.

Maybe you start out the campaign as Imperials ordered to put down pirates plaguing an outlying sector of the Empire - putting the players in the role of good guys (working for an evil empire) doing good things far away from the center of Imperial power.

The point of the game is not to glorify or excuse evil empires but to play in the struggle to make something good happen in difficult circumstances. And depending on how heroic you want the game to get you could have the players lead to reform in the Empire leading to outright conflict (with their new supporters) between the players and the Emperor/Vader/etc - a kind of second Rebellion.

A New Hope mentions that the Senate has been dissolved and control of systems has reverted to local governors - with fear of the (now destroyed) Death Star intended to keep them in line. With the Death Star destroyed the players may be able to gather support within the Empire for "reform" from local governors.

You could also play Imperial characters who are in the middle.

They think the Empire is an overall good but has some very unfortunate "excesses".

Not by canon, not very well. The movies don't show any reasonable Imperials, and Lucas wasn't going for 'shades of grey' in any case. It's called the 'Death Star', not the 'Fluffy Star' or the 'Nice, Cuddly Star', for a reason.

But hey, this is an RPG and you can do what you want. Our game has a beleaguered Empire torn apart by a four-way civil war (including a 'reasonable' faction like you mentioned), a non 'rebel' Alliance comprised mostly of non-humans (with a tiny terrorist splinter faction), and a Jedi/Sith/Seperatist faction trying to restore the Old Republic and are arguably worse than the Imperials. Add to that a very strong Fringe faction and a tiny but influential Force tradition led by Lucas Lars (think a 38 year old Mark Hamill playing Jesus, with Bruce Lee's fighting skills and practical philosophy).

So yeah, you can do it and it could well be fun. But don't expect FFG to make it their baseline. The game is meant to reflect the movies and their classic Space Opera feel.

You could also set the game a little before the Empire falls to the Rebellion - setting up the players to be part of an Imperial remnant that forms after the Empire falls.

You could also play Imperial characters who are in the middle.

They think the Empire is an overall good but has some very unfortunate "excesses".

Not by canon, not very well. The movies don't show any reasonable Imperials, and Lucas wasn't going for 'shades of grey' in any case. It's called the 'Death Star', not the 'Fluffy Star' or the 'Nice, Cuddly Star', for a reason.

But hey, this is an RPG and you can do what you want. Our game has a beleaguered Empire torn apart by a four-way civil war (including a 'reasonable' faction like you mentioned), a non 'rebel' Alliance comprised mostly of non-humans (with a tiny terrorist splinter faction), and a Jedi/Sith/Seperatist faction trying to restore the Old Republic and are arguably worse than the Imperials. Add to that a very strong Fringe faction and a tiny but influential Force tradition led by Lucas Lars (think a 38 year old Mark Hamill playing Jesus, with Bruce Lee's fighting skills and practical philosophy).

So yeah, you can do it and it could well be fun. But don't expect FFG to make it their baseline. The game is meant to reflect the movies and their classic Space Opera feel.

I wasn't suggesting that it would fit canon or be supported by FFG as the baseline. I was just throwing ideas out there of how one could still play "good guys" and be part of the Empire (assuming players don't want to play evil characters).

I tend to throw canon out the window in my games - or at the very least don't try to hold the story or the players to canon.

You could also play Imperial characters who are in the middle.

They think the Empire is an overall good but has some very unfortunate "excesses".

Not by canon, not very well. The movies don't show any reasonable Imperials, and Lucas wasn't going for 'shades of grey' in any case. It's called the 'Death Star', not the 'Fluffy Star' or the 'Nice, Cuddly Star', for a reason.

But hey, this is an RPG and you can do what you want. Our game has a beleaguered Empire torn apart by a four-way civil war (including a 'reasonable' faction like you mentioned), a non 'rebel' Alliance comprised mostly of non-humans (with a tiny terrorist splinter faction), and a Jedi/Sith/Seperatist faction trying to restore the Old Republic and are arguably worse than the Imperials. Add to that a very strong Fringe faction and a tiny but influential Force tradition led by Lucas Lars (think a 38 year old Mark Hamill playing Jesus, with Bruce Lee's fighting skills and practical philosophy).

So yeah, you can do it and it could well be fun. But don't expect FFG to make it their baseline. The game is meant to reflect the movies and their classic Space Opera feel.

I agree it's highly unlikely with 20 years of Palpatine and his iron grip of power there would be dissension in the ranks. While the destruction of Alderaan certainly would be a high water mark for butchery, I doubt it was the first act of genocide committed by the regime. Now in RPG terms it would be fine if someone wanted to roll an Imperial character disgusted and deserting, but in term of the Empire itself, it is organizationally rotten to the core.

The Mouse is never going to allow something that was based off the Nazis, and he-who-shall-not-be-named-on-the-internet, to be portrayed in anything except a negative light and something no one should aspire to. Doesn't mean people can't tweak the existing material to suit their needs, it's just not reasonable on this planet to expect product support from Disney for space Nazis.

in Star Wars, your best bet is to focus on his role as a resouceful and dedicated defender of personal freedoms who wears camouflage and play him as a Rebel Alliance commando.

Save his aspects of being a high tech enforcer for the worlds most powerful nation for another time and setting.

Sorry what was that? I couldn't hear you over the sound of how awesome I am in all this armor...

So we're doing this? Works for me.

Edit: On topic, the novel Allegiance by Timothy Zahn is an excellent example of how a "Good Guy Imperial" campaign could be run.

We're unlikely to get official resources for an Imperial campaign for several years, if ever, for reasons amply stated above.

That being said, there's plenty of material to do it with little or no modification. Age of Rebellion provides military-oriented careers and specializations. Dark Force-Users simply reverse the color of Force Pips they use.

I'd recommend reversing the effect of the "Incite Rebellion" talent on the Agitator tree to something along the lines of "Inspire Loyalty", which in my experience makes the Agitator a good COMPNOR observer or "commissar". Also, if you're playing truly evil Imperials, rather than just "cogs in the machine", you may want to reverse the effects of Destiny Points for thematic purposes.

The rules are there, needing only insignificant tweaks. The setting contains plenty of threats that can challenge an Imperial party, as well as cast them in a positive or negative light as the story dictates. Most of these are even statted out already; pirates and slavers, hideous alien beasts, Force wraiths, corrupt officials, Rebels, etc.

The real challenge is framing the adventure in such a way that it is an adventure, which really comes down to your group's interests and your GM's talents. If you're interested in more detailed plot advice, I'd be happy to share it.

EDIT:

Edit: On topic, the novel Allegiance by Timothy Zahn is an excellent example of how a "Good Guy Imperial" campaign could be run.

Yes, yes it is. I swear, all of his works read like RPG campaigns. I normally GM, but I'd love to be a player at his table!