I think we've all seen the various and strong parallels between the wonderful show Firefly and Edge of the Empire (a few writers were obviously Browncoats!). Being a Browncoat myself, as are some of my players, I wanted to draw on some of the themes and tropes of Firefly for my Edge of the Empire campaign. I've already introduced some inherent aspects, like the wealth level (looking for jobs just to keep the ship flying), and sparingly using the soundtrack along some other in my playlists (like the Bastion OST, which meshes really well), but I wanted to go the extra mile to give a more firefly feel, I think the atmosphere could really benefit from that.

How would you make your Star Wars more shiny, without falling intro the cross fanfic trap? Did some of you have the same ambition? Do you have specific adventures to suggest?

let the doc find out his sister is being used in some kind of govt. experiment lol

seriously, I think its all on the kind of missions you give them

I'm not sure on specific adventures, but you can definitely give quite a firefly pull with Star Wars. Oddly enough, we had the opposite issue with EotE - our group had to work on keeping from becoming to Firefly, and maintain more Star Wars feel. Here are my thoughts, for what they're worth.

1) Ship Choice : Don't give them the Falcon YT-1300. Something a little larger, with less handling will feel a lot more like Serenity, even more so if it's unarmed. Consider giving them something silhouette 5 if you want to generate more of the 'semi-helpless transport' than 'potential gunboat'. The Wayfarer or the HT-22 could be good for this. The large cargo bay also helps reinforce 'space trucker' over 'blockade smuggler'

2) Outer Rim: Keep to the outer parts of outer rim. One of the theme parts of Firefly was it's old-west feeling, and that can be achieved out in the outer rim without much issue. Everything you need is out there, and if your players are wanted, they may not want to head much deeper.

3) Empire : Strengthen the Empire, weaken the rebellion. Firefly takes place in a world where the civil war was fought and lost. Make it clear you don't fight against the Empire. Stormtroopers will kick your ass, and when an ISD tells you to stand by to be boarded, you don't run.

4) Episodes : Reskin a firefly episode, perhaps with a twist. We played a game that was basically "Shindig", though we were smuggling steaks rather than live animals.

Also, River is clearly the party Force Exile.

I don't think you necessarily have to weaken the rebellion, you could move it into the era of Rebels before the battle of Yavin, and have the crew having once fought on the side of the Separatists in the Clone Wars. Just because a lot of the Separatist forces were droids doesn't necessarily mean they all were. There's also lots of stories of the Empire's outer-rim conquests during the rise of the Empire, and that took a few years to play out, they could also be veterans from that...

I agree with sticking to the Outer Rim, or even less savory areas, but the Serenity wasn't above pulling into an Alliance port... there's no reason why the couldn't find themselves with a job on Corellia or Coruscant.

For 'feel', I think you're looking for more of a tone between 'Leverage' and Shadowrun. Firefly was at its best when they were striking a blow (however small or large) against an overpowering authority. So lots of raids against powerful but evil organizations, smuggling goods from places that didn't need them to places that did, despite laws and tariffs to the contrary. Throw in the occasional 'distasteful' job that's needed to pay the bills, and complications arising from crewmembers' Obligations and you have Firefly.

I don't think you necessarily have to weaken the rebellion, you could move it into the era of Rebels before the battle of Yavin, and have the crew having once fought on the side of the Separatists in the Clone Wars. Just because a lot of the Separatist forces were droids doesn't necessarily mean they all were. There's also lots of stories of the Empire's outer-rim conquests during the rise of the Empire, and that took a few years to play out, they could also be veterans from that...

I agree with sticking to the Outer Rim, or even less savory areas, but the Serenity wasn't above pulling into an Alliance port... there's no reason why the couldn't find themselves with a job on Corellia or Coruscant.

Weakened rebellion, moving time to when the rebellion was weaker, same difference. The idea of using defeated separatists is a good one though, get's that part of the fealing.

In our game, the Empire is losing the Galactic Civil War, and it still feels more like Firefly than Star Wars...

We use themes and motifs rather than events, our games tend to be more character-orientated than action/adventure. Plus we have a bunch of classic Western references, that always helps.

I can't quite see how you can even play EoE and not have it feel like Firefly to some degree.

EotE lends itself to Firefly-style play very easily. I think the biggest thing is what you're already doing: wealth level. Keep the players hungry (there's even a sidebar about in the Core Rulebook) and it starts feeling like Firefly already. Keep everyone on one ship (the default) and you're moving closer. And someone, in the resource thread I think , posted a reskinned "Train Job" already.

If you're on the wrong side of the law, and most EotE characters are likely to be, then the Empire forces are to be avoided. For people used to being independent, an Imperial world will be pretty oppressive. False papers will only go so far, you can't use them a lot for example, and they may be far more expensive then the credit-strapped players can afford.

All that is practically straight out of the Firefly 'verse.

Or maybe realize that Joss Whedon recreated the star wars universe and called it his own. Then told a story of some adventurers in that universe.

1: Don't worry about your ship being armed. Yeah the Serenity was unarmed in Firefly but IMO flying around in an unarmed ship in Star Wars, where virtually every civilian ship has at least some armament, especially in the Outer Rim, makes no sense. But a medium transport would make a lot more sense then a Light Freighter. A GR-75 would be almost perfect.

2: Former Separatist soldiers left over after the Clone Wars ended 15 to 10 BBY would work well, or former soldiers from the defense force of a planet which fought the coming of the Empire. Want to be really nasty and stick with the Firefly vibe? Have the homeworld of one of the PCs, or the group if most of them share a homeworld be Base Delta Zeroed. (In Firefly the Alliance bombed Mal's homeworld to the point that it was rendered uninhabitable near the end of the Unification War.)

Wow thank you all for your answers!

The ship idea was clearly interesting. Sadly my group has already chosen a YT-2400 (didn't want yet another YT-1300 at my table, a bit too mainstream at this point), although I must say that I still like the feel it has: cramped, with a lot more room for cargo than for people, a piece of junk without any upgrades, and falling apart.

Keeping to the Outer Rim is also a clear choice. In my campaign universe we are five years before the Battle of Yavin, the rebellion is not quite organised yet, but an aspect is really Firefly (it's funny because it's a coincidence, I worked on that part of the setting before even watching the show): after the establishment of the New Order, the Galactic Empire launched a massive military campaign to reclaim the Outer Rim, where the Separatists influence was the greatest and where the different criminal cartels had creeped in to take direct control the most. It lasted more than 10 years and it's not quite over yet, but the imperial influence is slowly growing in the Outer Rim. One of my players is actually a veteran from the Clone Wars and from the Outer Rim War, and sicken by the violence of the repression now hates the Empire. Pretty much all my players are in the same boat: problem with authority, or simply opposed to the Empire. I don't expect them to join the Rebel Alliance (none of my players like the Rebel scum), but I suspect they'll eventually launch their own rebellion, on whatever scale. Naturally, without working toward that goal, my players made characters in a Firefly feel (which as Maelora said, is only natural for Edge of the Empire).

For now they've been a lot in Hutt Space but that is soon bound to change. After that, they'll find themselves in the Outer Rim, where they're gonna feel the imperial presence. I would love to create that scene of the ship suddenly jumping into real space because a patrolling Star Destroyer is making routine search. While they carry illegal cargo. This should give them the right idea!

Admiral Terghon: I'm gonna go look in the adventure section of the Ressources right away, I would love to recreate the Train Job!

The ship idea was clearly interesting. Sadly my group has already chosen a YT-2400 (didn't want yet another YT-1300 at my table, a bit too mainstream at this point), although I must say that I still like the feel it has: cramped, with a lot more room for cargo than for people, a piece of junk without any upgrades, and falling apart.

Depending on which deck plans you use, the YT-2400 doesn’t have much space for anything — cargo or people. And some of the deck plans I’ve seen for the YT-2400 just don’t make any sense at all. Certainly cramped, regardless of which deck plans you use.

With regards to upgrades, out-of-the-box it’s got some of the best weapons of any medium freighter anywhere close to the same price — those dual medium laser cannons are pretty heavy duty. One shot from just one of those laser cannons can wipe out almost any fighter, and the YT-2400 has a turreted pair on both dorsal and ventral (i.e., on top and bottom). To those, you can add proton torpedoes, which are the best weapons you can get short of a Turbolaser, and you can’t mount a Turbolaser on a Sil 4 ship. There’s almost as many hard points to add more weapons (and other things) as the YT-1300 has, which is a lot. So, you’ve got available hard points to upgrade the Hyperspace jump engines, the realspace sublight engines, the shields, and more. And if you’ve got the right crew with the right talents, you can add more hard points and with the Ace/Rigger specialization from AoR, you can really seriously hot-rod that sucker out the wazoo!

Now, as for falling apart, I guess it kind of depends on which one you get and just how badly it has been treated over time. But that would just give the players more opportunity to fix it up and make it more theirs, right? I mean, as GM, you need for them to have a never-ending money pit, right?

Exactly Bradknowles, I'm actually happy they chose the YT-2400 as it is a great platform for various upgrades, which should keep the crew hungry and wanting. Already they're talking about a medical center and a repair station, which I decided would be respectively 17 000 and 4000 credits. This should work well as a money pit for a while, and we're not even talking of maintenance!

Keep in mind that, as they spend more and more credits on the ship and upgrade it with more and more specific functions, they'll be more and more attached to it. So please don't spontaneously blow it up with a turbolaser volley or proton torpedoes dropped from Tie Bombers while they're away from the ship. I had that happen to a ship of mine in one of my campaigns and we were not happy campers. The worst part isn't the monetary loss, it's the time investment that is lost without any opportunity to mitigate it.

There is a "heist" generator that can help provide a Firefly feel on-the-fly. It also could just provide some inspiration for ideas for jobs for the crew.

Leveragin' the Black Situation Generator

Shiny! This is great Sautille thank you!

I finally watched one chapter of Firefly. I liked it a lot!

I would like that Disney would pull out something for Star Wars, that for once, it is not aimed to kids. The Clone Wars and Star Wars Rebels are ok for kids (or if you have kids) I guess, but for me, as an adult, it leaves much to be desired.

As a fan of the SW setting, I would really love a TV series of SW aimed to a more mature audience, to those of us who were kids or teenagers when the first movies came out. We can not be few!

As a fan of the SW setting, I would really love a TV series of SW aimed to a more mature audience, to those of us who were kids or teenagers when the first movies came out. We can not be few!

There was a live action series planned at one time that would center on the fringe element of Star Wars. But I think it was either moth-balled or cancelled what with the sale to Disney. You never know, though, ideas sometimes make back if not in the same form as originally intended.

Keep in mind that, as they spend more and more credits on the ship and upgrade it with more and more specific functions, they'll be more and more attached to it. So please don't spontaneously blow it up with a turbolaser volley or proton torpedoes dropped from Tie Bombers while they're away from the ship. I had that happen to a ship of mine in one of my campaigns and we were not happy campers. The worst part isn't the monetary loss, it's the time investment that is lost without any opportunity to mitigate it.

Even so, OOC understanding can cover a lot of that. At one point I went to my (rather successful) group, and said "I have a game that connects with some of our history, but if I run it, there's a good chance you could lose "company assets." (party stuff)" Up until that point, we were basically just runnig moduels reskinned to fit our party.

My group talked about it for a bit, but decided that yea, they could afford to risk it.

Enter my former PC (a stunner armed bothan bounty hunter with a silver tounge), Trax (who the PCs faced multiple times in the Long Arm of the Hutt but ended up with "never saw the body" every time) the Kubaaz (who I turned into a professional slier and skipjacker) and a gammorian "findsman" force user that, while not seen by the PCs before, fit in with our groups headcannon on Trax.

the former PC invited the PCs to talk, Trax made "an offer you cant refuse" The PCs tried to get out of it only to discover their ship was aready being stolen. They had to fight their own droid NPCs (2 high brawn load lifters, an R2, and 48 vex- they managed not to kill any of them) and retake their ship with 4 nemisis characters fighting them. When the party starts to gain the upper hand, Trax namedrops the wookiee's obligation and the nemisis party escapes.

The "offer" had an interesting mix of party motivations and obligations, and it was the only lead on tracking down Trax.

This lead to a second adventure with no combat at all, with Trax leading the PCs around Kuat by the nose as he frames them for the theft of an Inquisition Frigate. (or at least, the inquisition was claiming it now- the original commissioner was Teemo before Jabba stopped him from making payments.) One of the PCs actually ended up captured by Trax, the others escaped in Trax's own ship after their ship was put in lockdown by Kuat athorities. The captured PC got to run the next few games to rescue his PC- and eventually sort out the blame about the frigate (which Trax did steal, and did frame the PC he captured) and get their main ship back.