Are the three SW RPGs from FFG cross-compatible in the way that you could possibly have a rebel, a smuggler and a Jedi (and maybe a PC droid) all in the same adventuring party? You know, like the heroes from Ep4.

...or is each ruleset in-and-of-itself a different game? Seems like they all use the same dice mechanic.

What's daunting to me is the idea of having to purchase three MASSIVE rulebooks, read all of each and then remember that the rules for Don's character is in this book, but Christine's character is in that book and Steve's character is in the other book.

Thoughts?

Thanks, mtfbwy.

Are the three SW RPGs from FFG cross-compatible in the way that you could possibly have a rebel, a smuggler and a Jedi (and maybe a PC droid) all in the same adventuring party? You know, like the heroes from Ep4.

...or is each ruleset in-and-of-itself a different game? Seems like they all use the same dice mechanic.

What's daunting to me is the idea of having to purchase three MASSIVE rulebooks, read all of each and then remember that the rules for Don's character is in this book, but Christine's character is in that book and Steve's character is in the other book.

Thoughts?

Thanks, mtfbwy.

They are entirely compatible, but to prevent confusion I made an index of everything (non-beginner box, non-beta) they have released. You can find it at my blog.

Combat and dice rolling, mechanics are identical. You have three sort of RP renown systems in the books, obligation, duty, and morality, but there are options for a combined group. Then of course each has its own careers/specs.

Totes Magoats.

The book size is largely repeated rules and nonrepeated fluff. Once you've got the core rules from one book down (F&D gold is probably the best since it'll be the most up to date) the only differences will be character specialization options, gear, vehicles, some force powers, and the difference between Obligation/Duty/Morality. Everything else is either minor details, or theme specific fluff...

And don't worry about trying to remember what's where. It's not that hard, and you can legally photocopy (or just download) the talent trees. Just have everyone keep a copy of their trees with there characters and that'll reduce the book-specific referencing dramatically. Most of the other stuff you'll need to look up is pretty easy to remember since it's related theme is usually pretty obvious. (The X-wing stats are in AoR, the G9 Rigger Stats are in F&D, the YT-1300 stats are in EotE...)

The only time you're gonna have to worry about X rules for X certain character, at least with the two current (non-Beta) games, are in that character's talents, which are found in concise format in the given book and should be recorded on the player's character sheet. There are also third-party supplements on the web that allow you to print out the talent trees all nice and pretty.

Obligation, Duty, and Morality are the core player character mechanics for each respective game, and these work well with each other in any combination. There are suggestions in AoR about how to manage Duty & Obligation, and will be similar rules in FaD about how to manage all three aspects. These suggestions are more for GM sanity and player ease-of-roleplaying (for example, don't have any character with more than 2 of any Obligation, Duty, or Morality scores).

The only actual difference that you've gotta worry about is skills: Age of Rebellion has Knowledge: Warfare and Force and Destiny has Lightsabers. And even that is not really a big difference. Still 100% compatible.

...or is each ruleset in-and-of-itself a different game?

This. One is a THAC0 system, the other is 3d6 roll-under, and the final one is pure LARPing while making lightsaber noises with your mouth.

What they said, also Oggdude's character generator is very helpful.

https://community.fantasyflightgames.com/index.php?/topic/89135-another-character-generator/

...or is each ruleset in-and-of-itself a different game?

This. One is a THAC0 system, the other is 3d6 roll-under, and the final one is pure LARPing while making lightsaber noises with your mouth.

You gain +1 Conflict.

The only - well, I wouldn't say incompatibility - but the game gets kind of kludgy when doing the Conflict, the Duty and the Morality all in one go. I would probably pick one and go with that, not trying to balance 3 sets of numbers.

Otherwise, go to town. Everything is awesome!

My game is mostly EotE, but we have a few AoR and FnD characters, as well. It's been fun having Obligation, Duty, and Morality all in the same campaign .

What's daunting to me is the idea of having to purchase three MASSIVE rulebooks, read all of each and then remember that the rules for Don's character is in this book, but Christine's character is in that book and Steve's character is in the other book.

You don't really need all three when you're starting out. You can easily have your rebel, smuggler, and Jedi(*) with just the Edge of the Empire book, and buy the others as you need them. The other books only define new careers and a small sub-section of character development, but otherwise they are pretty much identical.

* - the Jedi is the only wrinkle. If you want a "full-blown" Jedi, you'll need the Force and Destiny book. But it takes a lot of XP to create one, and that will put you in the position of having to offer that XP to the other PCs as well. The problem with this is if you and your players are new to the game, they won't know how to spend that XP. Skills are pretty easy to understand, but the effectiveness of Talents isn't always apparent until after you've played for a while.

But if by Jedi you just mean "Force user", to solve this for starting characters there is a "Force Sensitive Exile" tree in the Edge book. This gives the PC a Force Rating and allows them to start buying into Force Powers. It can represent a character that was once a Padawan and is hiding after Order 66, or a character who never heard of the Jedi and happens to be Force Sensitive. They might have, say, a Pilot career, but they are able to develop their Force abilities just as well as any character that starts with a Force using career.

So if you want to start small and grow into the game, I'd suggest picking up Edge. Run a short campaign to get the feel of the rules, then expand as you like.

All the beginner boxes in order might be the best place to start to see what you would like also. Start with EotE one and maybe F&D for the Jedi flair. You don't get the character en stuff due to preroled characters but it will give you an idea of the game, dice on the cheap with an adventure in each box.

Sounds like an old cereall commercial. A prize in every box. ROFLMAO

My game is mostly EotE, but we have a few AoR and FnD characters, as well. It's been fun having Obligation, Duty, and Morality all in the same campaign .

I'd love to hear more about how you are handling all three in your game and how it is affecting the game sessions.

The campaign revolves around a group of mercenaries who work for a figure known only as the Broker. A few of them have Rebel sympathies, and even fewer are Force Sensitive. It's currently at 2 active FS characters out of 12 (we do 2 sessions of 6 players each week, with some joint 12-PC missions every now and then).

One of the FS characters repeatedly used his lightsaber in less than ideal situations (public, in view of Imperials). His character chose not to walk away from avoidable confrontations due to having his Justice Morality triggered. This gave him Obligation (Inquisitorius) in steady increments, until it finally triggered in Session 11. This was a devastating encounter that generated a lot of RP, especially when it was discovered that the Inquisitor was the FS character's childhood best friend.

Meanwhile, the team as a whole had gained group Obligation relating to an Imperial Spec ops recurring villain. Combined with the Obligation relating to the Inquisitorius and increasing Duty to the Rebellion, the mercenaries’ headquarters was attacked by the Imperials in Session 21, killing the highest level character of the campaign and forcing the crew to abandon their base.

The crew was able to get the Broker, the Rebellion, and Borga the Hutt to join forces temporarily, through both Obligation and Duty, though this has caused some friction between the Rebel sympathizers and the less than law-abiding members of the mercenary cell.

Most recently, in Session 31, one of the mercenaries sold-out a Rebel cell without anyone else realizing it was him. The mercenary with the strongest ties with the Rebellion now has a personal Obsession obligation representing his quest to find out who betrayed him.

Those are just some examples, but all throughout the campaign, Obligation, Duty, and Morality have provided really cool story hooks, especially when opposing ones have triggered.

That is really well handled by the sounds of it. Some really great examples too. Did each character start with the mechanic specific to their character type or the one central to the campaign type? Or did you setup a group value for obligation since you said it was primarily an EotE game, and then separate character values based on character type?

They all started with the mechanic native to each character's core rulebook. For RP flavor, I allowed them to also voluntarily take on points in another mechanic, though dipping into another book couldn't get them above the maximum benefit gained from a single book. Group Obligation came later as the story unfolded. At one point they had three separate group obligations re: the recurring Imperial villain, a clan of angry Rodians, and Borga the Hutt.

They all started with the mechanic native to each character's core rulebook. For RP flavor, I allowed them to also voluntarily take on points in another mechanic, though dipping into another book couldn't get them above the maximum benefit gained from a single book. Group Obligation came later as the story unfolded. At one point they had three separate group obligations re: the recurring Imperial villain, a clan of angry Rodians, and Borga the Hutt.

It is what we have done in the games I play in with the exception of force users. they all get morality no matter what book their carrier is from.

I have two EotE characters (bounty hunter, technician), two AoR characters (ace, soldier), and one F&D character (guardian). Other than the guardian also having morality, they all have obligation. I will incorporate duty later if they join the Rebellion.