I know I'm rezzing an old thread, but I'd just like to say that "playing the good guys" is the leading reason I haven't picked up any of FFG's rpgs. The black and white dichotomy in the canon SW universe is too restrictive. Give me gray jedi and teetering Sith. The SW setting needs more moral ambiguity, and I'm hoping to see some of it leak into the new movies. Well-intentioned but mislead Stormtroopers isn't only the more compelling story; it's the one people in the US and Europe should best relate to.

Dark-side force-users get minor penalties (certain number of destiny points auto-flipped to dark side, and hit to strain threshold), but also get certain boosts (dark side points - which are more frequent than light side - become the main fuel for force points, and they get wound threshold boosts). And you can also have FaD characters that don't deal with Morality (this requires them to take Duty/Obligation instead though), thus leaving them perma-grey mechanically (though narratively you can switch them to dark side if you feel it's necessary).

Besides that, there's literally no reason you can't be the bad guy. You can be an evil Rebel who goes to far, a good guy Stormtrooper, or a smuggler that sells spice to kids. Just because the intention of the books is made for what most people are going to be - generally good people, doesn't mean you're stonewalled from doing what you like.

I know I'm rezzing an old thread, but I'd just like to say that "playing the good guys" is the leading reason I haven't picked up any of FFG's rpgs.

So what you are saying is that your apparent misconception is the reason you haven't picked up the books? Good, bad, "I'm the one with the gun!" It's all possible with this system with a little work. Sure the game may be aimed at heroic play as most people go for that, but FFG has made the game accessible to all types of play.

I know I'm rezzing an old thread, but I'd just like to say that "playing the good guys" is the leading reason I haven't picked up any of FFG's rpgs. The black and white dichotomy in the canon SW universe is too restrictive. Give me gray jedi and teetering Sith. The SW setting needs more moral ambiguity, and I'm hoping to see some of it leak into the new movies.

Say what?

For almost two years, I've run a game where the main antagonists are the Jedi, with an Empire riven by a brutal civil war and the Alliance struggling to fight a galactic conflict while trying to maintain a moral high ground. Where the Sith and Jedi are two halves of a whole, where the rights of mistreated droids and clones are becoming an issue for all sides.

FFG publishes a set of rules and cool dice. It's a rules system; a coherent one at that with nice pictures.

They went with the original movie era because that's what is most familiar to casual fans and least controversial to hardcore ones.

But you can, with a little effort, play it however you want in whatever era you wish.

Methinks he's used to WEG and WotCs "darksides bad, mkay?" Take on things.

Will be interesting when he founds out this system is totally ok with mixing things up...

I know I'm rezzing an old thread, but I'd just like to say that "playing the good guys" is the leading reason I haven't picked up any of FFG's rpgs. The black and white dichotomy in the canon SW universe is too restrictive. Give me gray jedi and teetering Sith. The SW setting needs more moral ambiguity, and I'm hoping to see some of it leak into the new movies. Well-intentioned but mislead Stormtroopers isn't only the more compelling story; it's the one people in the US and Europe should best relate to.

If this is what you're worried about, I highly recommend starting off with Edge of the Empire, rather than Age of Rebellion. The ideas of smugglers and bounty hunters lends itself to "gray area" play right off the bat, and you can slowly incorporate features from Age or F&D once you've established the tone.

FFG has been very good about presenting the Empire in a much more balanced light; the Beginner Game warns players that "Stormtroopers are competent and dangerous enemies", and much of their published material (for Edge) includes adventure seeds where the PCs are working for Imperials. The Rebel alliance are still the "good guys", but the distinction isn't as clear or strict as previous game incarnations.

As for Star Wars as a whole, there's a lot of morally ambiguous material in the expanded universe, especially in the novels. Not very many sympathetic Sith, I suppose, but plenty of "gray Jedi", and lots of decent portrayals of Imperials and such. If you want specific recommendations for different things I can certainly give you some.

In a way, the Original Trilogy timeperiod is the most "black and white" era, as the construction of the Death Stars and Imperial oppression as a whole reaches its peak around this time. It may be easier to have a "gray" campaign set either before Episode IV (what I'm doing) or after Episode VI, even when using Age or F&D rules.

In the end it's just what campaign the GM wants to run and what the players want to play, right? There are already tools available for both to do an Empire-slanted campaign. The question is then, is it enough, or would it be enhanced by a splat book? and would that splat book also benefit AoR campaigns that aren't pro-empire? That should answer whether an Imperial splat book is possible.

Now, I wouldn't mind running or participating in an Imperial campaign for AoR... because I like the idea of exploring moral choices versus devotion to duty. I think that could be an interesting setup in Star Wars because it's not a question usually addressed. I grew up with TIE Fighter, which showed us an Imperial campaign that wasn't necessarily evil, so I think it is possible to do for a game setting. If nothing else, I'd like an Imperial splatbook to pour over what the current meta of star-wars lore considers current. For example, the stats on the new Imperial Raider? That would be interesting to see.

Yeah an Imperial splatbook could help non-Imperial campaigns easily given the number of Imperial weapons, ship models, fighters, and vehicles that ended up being obtained by the Rebellion through various means. Even if the GM didn't allow Alliance characters to use gear traditionally considered Imperial it could still be used to equip the opposition.

It could also help with establishing the finer details of the background of any Imperial defector characters.

I know I'm rezzing an old thread, but I'd just like to say that "playing the good guys" is the leading reason I haven't picked up any of FFG's rpgs. The black and white dichotomy in the canon SW universe is too restrictive. Give me gray jedi and teetering Sith.

I don't know what you're talking about. Where did you get this information?

There's nothing in any of the games that would prevent you from running any kind of campaign you want.

I know I'm rezzing an old thread, but I'd just like to say that "playing the good guys" is the leading reason I haven't picked up any of FFG's rpgs. The black and white dichotomy in the canon SW universe is too restrictive. Give me gray jedi and teetering Sith.

I don't know what you're talking about. Where did you get this information?

There's nothing in any of the games that would prevent you from running any kind of campaign you want.

Yeah really the only things you would need are Imperial duty tables and other players have made those already. Aren't there links to them earlier in the topic in fact?