Hi all,

Me and some friends just played through half of the beginner game yesterday and LOVED it. We're probably going to be getting the core rulebook when we've finished all this stuff material and....you know....have some money.

Anyway I'm a tad confused because I could have sworn Age of Rebellion was set a fair while after Edge of Empire - namely during the events of Empire Strikes back. I'm certain I read this somewhere....but of course I can't find any illusions to this now - anything I find just says they both occur "after the destruction of the death star"

I know this is a pretty trivial point but me and some friends were just discussing future adventures and, if this is set post Empire then basically.....we've got a year left before pesky Luke and Vader go and kill the emperor and ruin everyone else's fun. If it's just after the battle of Yavin then we have a more respectable 4 years of adventuring.

Anyone got any info to shed light on my pointless pedantic musings?

Cheers!

The games can be set at any point really. Stuff always needs stealin' and people always need shootin'.

Our GM seems to be running AoR between New Hope and Empire Strikes Back. Lots of time to get stuff done before the arc of the films start to effect us and though Empire's still a massive problem recruitment is easier because it's been proven they aren't invulnerable.

All three games are set during the time of the original trilogy. People have felt that each book relates to each movie in the OT. EotE with Star Wars, AoR with The Empire Strikes Back, and F&D with The Return of the Jedi. That may where you are getting your impression.

Why does it matter if it's 'canon' anyway?

NPCs won't 'ruin everyone else's fun' unless you let them. You don't have an in-game time deadline unless you want to.

If you want to set a game in another era, its' easily done.

If you want to alter the events of the films, that's easily done.

We started out with Palpatine and Vader dead, Han retired, Luke never joins the Alliance and the Death Star isn't destroyed... and took it from there.

It's an RPG. Make of it what you want.

I love to respect canon as much as I can, but remember that a roleplaygame itself its off-canon. Also, if do you only consider canon info, will be almost impossible to play an open game session.

In other words, feel free to create at your will

As pro-canon, I suggest that create awesome stories around the main story, and focus on your players story instead on Han, Leia or Luke's way. You can also make cameos, sometimes are great but focus on the players.

SW universe let you imagine and create tons of resources. Even the NPC's on the books can be easily adapted to other scenarios, not just SW (Star Trek, Lord of the Rings...) or other eras inside SW (Old, New or just Republic).

So feel free to adapt it where do you want.

The whole "each book relating to a different movie" theory was one we passed around during the beta for AoR, when the EotE beta took place between III and IV but the final product took place between IV and V. This isn't supported by the books, which universally assume you're starting just after the events of IV.

As has been said elsewhere (in this very thread, even) you don't have to stick to that. Just about everything in the CRB is archetypal: there are commandos and heavy blaster rifles in the Old Republic, the Clone Wars, or the Legacy era. You can move the timeline around at will, alter it however you like, and all you need to change is the fluff. The game remains the same.

Anyone got any info to shed light on my pointless pedantic musings?

Glad you liked it Just make sure you follow up with the free PDF extended adventure (available on the product support page), it's well worth it.

Oh, and as everybody said...make it your own game. You can have the setting anywhere and anytime you like.

Have you thought about retroactively setting around the same time as Star Wars Rebels?

Now if you did that you could mine those episodes for ideas like the Holonet announcement regarding the TIE Fighter they stole even adapt it so your group helped them break inside that prison by drawing off whatever ship should have been in orbit when they made their approach to that Stygian Prison?

Just because these books are set out following A New Hope doesn't mean you have to.

I prefer the original trilogy over the Prequels but its YOUR game what would YOU like to do and go from there by the way don't forget to have fun whilst you're doing that!

Even if you "only" had a year, that's still plenty of time to do cool stuff.

Time only goes as fast as the GM dictates and the group completes adventures.

And even after the second Death Star was destroyed, its not like the Empire is going to crumble overnight. Both the EU, and the new movies apparently, given the copious shots of stormtroopers we've seen leaked, had the Empire lasting long after the death of Palpatine and Vader. The various Moffs took charge.

The New Republic would still need soldiers and would still be heavily outnumbered by the Empire, so they'd still be using the same tactics.

My campaign started an ambiguous number of years before ANH. I never wanted to say it's Year X and have time keeping players tell me that it's time for canon event A, B, C. That way, I can have as much or as little happen before the players hear about the destruction of Alderaan and the Death Star, advancing the campaign down the timeline as I see fit.

My campaign started an ambiguous number of years before ANH.

Yeah, for the first arc, I had it begin "several months" before Yavin. When my players asked how long that was exactly, I said, "Exactly how long it takes for you guys to finish this first episode."

The biggest advantage to canon is that it helps to keep a group on the same page, setting-wise.

I find that if a group feels like they "know where they are" they think and act more comfortably and have more fun.

That said, there a many other ways to achieve the same effect.

do what you want. There is no reason you need to be "Set" for a certain time. AoR would work ever for the clone wars.. or after RotJ, or even during some Galactic scale balkanization war after RotJ where everyone is grabbing up pieces of the galaxy after the Emporer's death

It is just the really interesting stuff happens after ANH.. IMHO