(TL;DR at the bottom)

I never got to play Star Wars Galaxies in its heyday. By "heyday" I mean the times before SOE started dismantling what they had created in order to appeal to a dwindling audience. I happened to jump into the game later on in its life, experiencing only the last year-or-so before Sony pulled the plug.

However, I did come across the Star Wars Galaxies Emulator (SWGEmu), and have been greatly enjoying my time in the original open-ended Star Wars experience. If anybody has ever been curious about SWG, you should check out SWGEmu.

I had the notion of combining SWGEmu with Edge of the Empire to supplement the experience a bit. I play EotE mostly over the internet with my friends from back home using voice chat. I would love to get them to install SWGEmu so we could use our avatars to help aid the story visually. There are lots of different locales in SWG that could represent a wide variety of locations in our game. Cantinas, starports, jungles, big cities, small towns, deserts, and so much more. Look up some screenshots if you are unfamiliar with the game, specifically screenshots of Mos Eisley, Corellia, and Theed. Also, the game has an incredibly deep character creation system that lets you make avatars that are extremely customizable. There are also thousands of items that players can buy in-game to further flesh out their character. I am not saying go in with your avatars and try and act out every little thing. Just having digitized representations of the characters in a visually stimulating environment would be cool for immersion.

There are possible drawbacks, though. Players could get distracted by the game, which isn't bad if it encourages role-play. Travel times between locations might be lengthy, but they could make for some decent role-playing. Also, there is the issue of getting my players to actually install it, which is a more involved process than it is for most modern MMOs.

Anyway, just wanted to share an idea with some fellow gamers. And if you do play the SWGEmu, add Quicko to your friends list. I am not on very often, but say hello if you see me.

(TL;DR) Using Star Wars Galaxies to visually represent players and locations for Edge of the Empire would be cool, in my book.

I was pretty young and dependent on parental income when it was out, so I never got to play SWG. I might check this out. Assuming I can nab a cheap copy some where.

My best memory of SWG was not the combat, but just living and working in a Star Wars world. I had a group of online friends that played. We ended up having homes in the same neighborhood of a new growing town (before Tatooine became plagued by urban blight). I spent lots of time in my little home perfecting my weapon making art and setting up a shop in the front room complete with displays of my wares on the walls for visitors to take a look at before purchasing them from my protocol droid. That and making sure I looked cool in my desert long coat, leather racing hat, and goggles when I took a ride in my landspeeder.

The combat was funky to me. It needed some help. I would love for the basic concept to be redone with more of a shooter feel then a click on target and mash buttons interface.

I played back before the urban blight and the rise of the force-users. I tried again later when starships were released, but they had already begun to nerf and change things so much I didn't like it as much.

Honestly I would like to play SWGEmu but only if it isn't the pre starship version. Not including the starships in the original release was IMO one of the biggest mistakes made in the history of Star Wars Galaxies and the main reason I didn't play it when it first came out. Unfortunately by the time they added the ships my family's financial situation had changed for the worst so I only ever got to play the free trials because by the time I could afford it The Old Republic was on the way.

Also doesn't SWGEmu require that you have the original game?

I loved SWG back in the day. I started at launch and played it constantly for a couple of years.

It actually reintroduced me to the concept of roleplaying, which I hadn't done for years before that. I fell in with a community of folks who were generally more focused on in-character roleplay than on grinding and leveling.

I played a Mon Calamari gangster pimp who has actually made a cameo appearance as an NPC in our playthrough of Long Arm of the Hutt. Here he is with a few entertainers on his Sorosuub:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/progressions/11482674235/in/photolist-i7s6KB-i6dBbA-iuFGZZ

I haven't considered using SWG in any capacity for EOTE but I'd say go for it! Could be fun.

Sounds like a lot of fun, Tyrotron!

Shared experiences can really heighten roleplaying. After all, there is a reason we're all playing STAR WARS in the first place...we love the setting, and want more of it.

I managed to get access to the beta for SWG and was super excited. There I was, on Tatooine, in Mos Eisley no less, walking around with my E-11 as a Stormtrooper.

Then a wookiee came up to me and said: "Dude, u got ne gold?"

I never went back.

I played a Mon Calamari gangster pimp who has actually made a cameo appearance as an NPC in our playthrough of Long Arm of the Hutt. Here he is with a few entertainers on his Sorosuub:

Haha I have had my SWG characters make appearances too. I actually had my PCs go on a mission that they pulled straight from a mission terminal to make money. I put them on Dathomir one time as well and chased them around with a Nightsister clan.

Honestly I would like to play SWGEmu but only if it isn't the pre starship version. Not including the starships in the original release was IMO one of the biggest mistakes made in the history of Star Wars Galaxies and the main reason I didn't play it when it first came out. Unfortunately by the time they added the ships my family's financial situation had changed for the worst so I only ever got to play the free trials because by the time I could afford it The Old Republic was on the way.

Also doesn't SWGEmu require that you have the original game?

The developers are working on implementing the Jump to Lightspeed expansion. That is the expansion that added starships to the game. SWGEmu does require a copy of the game. There are numerous ways you can get the game . I am still able to download SWG from Steam for some reason.

LOL Tyrotron, as long as the PCs don't get power hammers and Nightsister blades and just stand around on Dathomir swinging their weapons in circles as rancor bodies pile up around them

Interesting I'll have to check Steam.

Edit: I checked and couldn't find it

Interesting I'll have to check Steam.

Edit: I checked and couldn't find it

That's probably because he bought it back when it was up and running, so it is still in his library.

Too bad.

The immersion can be great, but the downsides are - how much control do you have over the story? You're limited to a handful of planets, especially if they're new characters. Combat can't be effectively modeled in-game for the results of dice. Rebel or Imperial forward bases might disappear under your feet, and travel is slow.

My advice? Take a bunch of really good screenshots, and just display them on a nearby monitor/tv to give folks the visual you're looking for. That base on Dantooine could just as easily be Noquivzor, Bothawui, or any other grassland planet, and overlay filters a la Photoshop can morph it into any planet or station you want/need.

As far as Galaxies goes - SWGEmu has been a fantastic project to watch from its first faltering server build to the playable experience it is now. I came into the game about a month before Jump to Lightspeed dropped, and played until a month after the Combat Upgrade. The biggest things for me, like those above, were that I was having my adventure in Star Wars. I had goals to work towards, I had a net of people who'd been playing a while and brought my late teens self up to speed in a game that was not very forgiving to new people. What we have now in Emu is pretty close to the experience I remember (including the grinding, always the grinding) and I think bodes well. Once they get the server coding complete, I think they're even working on tools to build up your own planets, creatures, etc using the assets in-game - that stage might be perfect for a home LAN setup, to build the base/ station/ outpost you will be running the group through.

I've taken a bunch of screenshots in The Old Republic, flying around Nar Shadaa or Coruscant. I haven't used them yet but always thought they could be really evocative for players.

The immersion can be great, but the downsides are - how much control do you have over the story? You're limited to a handful of planets, especially if they're new characters. Combat can't be effectively modeled in-game for the results of dice. Rebel or Imperial forward bases might disappear under your feet, and travel is slow.

You make good points. It would just be about having the characters in settings that roughly represent their situations in the RPG. We are not going to try and represent every little nuance of the scenarios they find themselves in. Talking to a group of smugglers to try and get a job? Go chill with the NPCs behind the cantina in Mos Eisley. Fighting a group of Stormtroopers at an Imperial checkpoint? Hang around some Stormtroopers near the numerous checkpoints in-game. It's just about giving a representation. As far as the limited planets, there are enough varied locales in-game to represent just about anything. We would probably limit travel time by staying in one place and using it as much as we can.

I think the main appeal would be having the avatars to represent the characters. Even when we played at home, we would have miniatures nearby to represent the characters. We rarely ever used them to accurately represent positioning for combat encounters and such. It was more just to set the scene.

LOL Tyrotron, as long as the PCs don't get power hammers and Nightsister blades and just stand around on Dathomir swinging their weapons in circles as rancor bodies pile up around them

HAHA no power hammers here. I could see my players sprinting off through the trees yelling "PEACE PEACE PEACE" as a group of rancors chases after them.

Interesting I'll have to check Steam.

Edit: I checked and couldn't find it

That's probably because he bought it back when it was up and running, so it is still in his library.

That is exactly the case, I believe.

I've done the same thing on PSN, downloading DLCs I owned on my first PS3 that was removed from the store later before I got my second. Still sucks that you can't buy Galaxies there anymore.

Working on getting this game now!

looked through the wiki, and didn't see any mechanic things for classes...how hard would it be to make an Outlaw Tech? I want to create my EotE character

Also, is there much of an RP community?

I wouldn't want to try to get my players to create characters and/or be in SWG while playing, it would just be a distraction and probably a fatal one for the session.

But I am interested in using it to create screenshot "photos" of different locations that I can pull out for flavor when the PCs go to a new place.

Are there any legitimate ways to obtain SWG now?

I'm not going to link what I do in the game...once I ever get it working..it would be more of an "alternate timeline" closely based on my EotE campaign.

If you want to get it legit, you could always try eBay.

http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2050601.m570.l1311.R3.TR11.TRC1.A0.H1.Xstar+wars+gal.TRS0&_nkw=star+wars+galaxies&_sacat=0

Else you might have to search for resale stores.

May the force be with you if you go that route.

I wouldn't want to try to get my players to create characters and/or be in SWG while playing, it would just be a distraction and probably a fatal one for the session.

But I am interested in using it to create screenshot "photos" of different locations that I can pull out for flavor when the PCs go to a new place.

Are there any legitimate ways to obtain SWG now?

Ebay tends to have copies of the game client crop up for anywhere from $10-$30. Thrift stores might be worth checking, but old (but worth playing) video games don't frequently sit for long. Maybe try a consignment or nerdy type media reseller in your area?

Man, I loved that game in the first couple years. And if you sought out some real roleplayers, you could have a good in-character time.

The demoralizing thing for me was that, as an Entertainer, you were treated as an afterthought by everyone - players and developers alike. The developers did nothing to solve the AFK situation, and the players... you'd try to roleplay in a friendly manner, and they'd be like, "buff me, ****!"

[EDIT: that word rhymes with 'Hutt', and starts with a 'sl']

I've got 4 copies of Star Wars: Galaxies - reason being, you were only allowed one character per account back in the original days, before the dark times... before World of Warcraft.

Then they ruined it by trying to become a Star Wars: WoW - with hot keys and skill trees.

I had a smuggler (with her own 'transportation specialists' warehouse), my technician (who built every speeder imaginable - and then every ship they came out with), a twi'lek dancer (who later became a jedi - funny, all I had to do was max out master entertainer = Jedi Powers) and I had a martial artist (collected melee weapons from her defeated foes)

The guild I was in was the first guild to drop it's town hall on the Eclipse server. It was a large guild and we were all able to pull resources to help each other. The day shipwrights and ships dropped, everyone was dropping off materials so I could continue the grind to Master Shipwright. I did that in a day.

We used to go on Kimo and Krayt hunts as a group of 30. Sometimes the whole guild would have to come together to hunt a Krayt, since our town just so happened to be in a random spawning point of either Krayt dragons or those ridiculously crazy Tusken Chieftains and Lieutenants.

The last fun thing I did on Star Wars: Galaxies was the push to get Master Pilot for my smuggler. I had a group with me when we took out the gunship. Out of 6 people, we only lost one. That cemented my Master Pilot and my newfound ability to fly her YT-1300 - a craft my Ship Wright character made with the best materials he had saved, just for such a ship.

That was the last good guild I was in.

Working on getting this game now!

looked through the wiki, and didn't see any mechanic things for classes...how hard would it be to make an Outlaw Tech? I want to create my EotE character

Also, is there much of an RP community?

You could build you template in the direction of smuggler. Smugglers can craft spice and can slice gear to upgrade their stats.

As far as a roleplaying community, you should look at the SWGEmu forums. There is a whole forum dedicated to role-players.