I keep playing the devil's advocate here so take my remarks lightly, but if you look at the upcoming movie and any of the CRB thus far then it simply doesn't tie in anywhere. There is not a part of the EotE book that could be used or has a lot of room for new additions for instance.

Basic gameplay? Same.

Character options? Numerous new alien species, plenty of new career options.

Vehicles? A lot of new ones.

Weapons? So far we have seen a lot in the trailers and behind the scenes footage.

The Galaxy? New planets, etc.

History and setting? New.

NPC's? Plenty of new ones I am sure.

Also, the theme of all out war between two equal parties (if that rumour in fact is correct) seems something unexplored as well since AoR is more of an underdog against a mighty empire, Samson v Golliath type of game.

If, and that is a big if, they did a Force Awakens centric core book, it could be a good thing. While Edge of the empire and age of rebellion COULD work, we frankly don't know the state of the galaxy enough to know how force users fare. Force and Destiny might not fit all that well.

A new core line, that actually has updated canon info might be welcome. I would settle for a series of softcover supplements that laid out the proper canon info as well as a timeline.

A restart of sorts with the actual canon info would be good for NEW fans as well. New players keep the hobby alive, and while many will say you font need canon, of "I prefer the old continuity," it would be nice to have the books that mesh and match up with the new media produced. Having the info the same for the movies, comics, books and shows gives the new audience a sense of cohesivenes. While I love the first two game lines, there is a lot that is contradictory with the new lore. That is something that is not easily rectified.

I propose a forest moon-based core rulebook where everyone is an ewok on the forest moon.

Yub yub Commander!

I fixed that for you

Once all 6 career supplements are out for all 3 lines, I'd like to see a collected book that's basically just all 108 specilization trees, plus Signature abilities (and maybe even Force Powers if there's room). Just a nice single-book reference for everything.

They made a chaos book for 40k….I think an Imperial point of view core book with supporting books sells. It is backwards useful for EotE GM's as source material. There are thousands of adventures for Imperial agents/double agents, detectives, naval officers, pilots..its all new ground and its all good. Plus every adventure is possibly done by Age of Rebellion spy type characters impersonating imperial agents.

Eventhough I'd buy an Imperial book right off the bat I am not sure this would make it past Disney's desks...

How about a series of beginner box sets based around one of the movies?

So able to play from a select group of pre-generated characters set say around the Episode 7 movie something dealing with events during that movie can involve one or more of the scenes from the movie so they can feel they were involved.

Could do this with ALL of the movies so you could do more with the invasion of Naboo in the Phantom Menace version, Geonosis for the second explaining how the Jedi got inside the arena, the Third set on Coruscant dealing with the attack on the Jedi Temple and the Separatist attack that captured Palpatine for the start of the ROTS movie.

Fourth one deals with Tatooine or maybe the search on Dantooine after Leia tried to save Alderaan?

The fifth could deal with Hoth and the imperial attack whilst the sixth deals with either the insertion on Endor or how they got that shuttle and codes to make the insertion in the first place?

Either way each box could cover various careers from say a mix of the systems or just favour one of the 3 core rules for a couple of new movie beginner box sets.

What do you think doable?

Throw in downloadable characters using one of the 3 core rulebooks depending on the preference of whoever's running it would that interest you?

I agree with you to a large extent but, well... It's not really NECESSARY to have a core book beyond EotE. Given how much redundant information there is shared between all the cores, you could easily release AoR as one supplement covering the same material or two books covering the Imperials and the Rebels. I haven't tried FaD yet, but it seems likely that same information could be condensed into a supplement book about playing jedi. But you've gotten me thinking now. The OT was about a rag-tag team consisting of a rebel, a jedi, a couple of smugglers, and a couple of droids. Replicating that formula would require a group to have all three cores (and a lot of the careers in AoR and EotE are largely interchangeable). It actually strikes me as pretty sensible to have a core book where a group can emulate that hodge-podge dynamic from out the gates. You can include six careers just like the other cores (two each for outlaws, rebels, and jedi) that condense the sometimes overstretched career options that are in the existing cores. Put in the obligations/duty/morality mechanics and include a section in the GM chapter about playing those off of each other and tying together characters with potentially crossed motives. I think it would actually be an incredibly wise move.

That said, all the stuff you mentioned is tops. I would buy almanacs and such just to have all that information condensed in one place, and a book about Imperial policy would be a first-day buy. As a first-time GM, that lack of information is the biggest impediment to building a story for me.

Oh, don't get me wrong. I am a completionist and tend to spend far too much money on games.

While I may personally feel that something is or isn't really necessary, I still wind up with them on my shelf.

I do agree with you that a lower price point core for the people with less cash flow would help. The biggest obstacle to the game at my FLGS is the sky high pricing.

Once again my personal opinion is that there are too many splat books already when compared to GM resources . There has barely been time to really explore the core book Career/Specializations and there are already dozens more with and endless number on the way.

And yet there are hardly any real sources for a GM to design adventures from. And before someone brings it up. I can and do make up my own. But it would be nice to have some kind of outlines available so that I'm not forced into a complete rewrite of parts of my campaign when they suddenly release a book.

Just sayin

I don't really think there's much difference between "splatbooks" and "GM references". Every career book so far has had plenty of stuff for the GM to insert into any campaign, and I'm not just talking about equipment and ships here. Fly Casual, for example, had rules for quickdraw duels, gambling, smuggling runs and much more. A minimum of 1/3 of each career book has been pure GM candy, as far as I'm concerned.

I don't really think there's much difference between "splatbooks" and "GM references". Every career book so far has had plenty of stuff for the GM to insert into any campaign, and I'm not just talking about equipment and ships here. Fly Casual, for example, had rules for quickdraw duels, gambling, smuggling runs and much more. A minimum of 1/3 of each career book has been pure GM candy, as far as I'm concerned.

This. Plot hooks, modular encounters, how to engage PC's motivations/obligations/duties, plus every new toy that your players get means a potential new toy for your NPCs, too

I don't really think there's much difference between "splatbooks" and "GM references". Every career book so far has had plenty of stuff for the GM to insert into any campaign, and I'm not just talking about equipment and ships here. Fly Casual, for example, had rules for quickdraw duels, gambling, smuggling runs and much more. A minimum of 1/3 of each career book has been pure GM candy, as far as I'm concerned.

Very very minimal. More like 1/8th is actual GM material. The rest is exactly splat, or as you might refer to is as PC options, which is MILES away from GM resources. And the material for GM's included is so generalized as to be meh. Equipment/Starship lists are just that. Lists. Not really a useable resource for a GM to create a storyline.

The entire Smuggling section adds only one concrete piece of info. Slicing a BoSS datapad.

Once again nothing on the actual Imperial Customs or BoSS counter smuggling operations. Just how many customs ships are in the average system? How are they crewed on average? What kind of support can they really expect from any Imperial Navy units in system?

You know real, detailed actual usable buy the GM to tie an actual story together "non-handwavium" information.

Most of the "It's Just Business" chapter (the GM portion) is actually vague ultra-generalized rambling with most referring you back to the Core book for hard details.

Lets see. Two payout charts, a recap of Hyperspace with tow charts listing a small handful of routes with transit times.

How about instead of a 3 paltry pages about hyperspace in a splat book.

How about an actual EotE NaviComp book. An Atlas that includes the standard travel times along ALL of the known routes between all of the major and some of the minor worlds. Guidelines for mapping systems and sectors, including calculating transit times that will be somewhat consistent with existing routes. Close in maps of the various established sectors.

A Imperial Customs source book with details on what are "standard procedures". A detailed look at a few of the more common Customs Ships with a generalized layout/deckplan so a GM doesn't have to create whole-clothe from scratch the customs frigate that the PC's are escaping.

When I was reading the smuggling part of Fly Casual 99% was "no sh*t, how about something I don't already know?" or "cool an actual transit time chart! Wait, where is the rest of them, how do I compute the rest?.......sigh...."

Anyway, rant over....

I like the game and I like the production quality of the supplements, though I'd prefer softback at $10 cheaper for the amount content. But I really hope they flip the switch and begin adding some GM crunch soon.

I don't really think there's much difference between "splatbooks" and "GM references". Every career book so far has had plenty of stuff for the GM to insert into any campaign, and I'm not just talking about equipment and ships here. Fly Casual, for example, had rules for quickdraw duels, gambling, smuggling runs and much more. A minimum of 1/3 of each career book has been pure GM candy, as far as I'm concerned.

Very very minimal. More like 1/8th is actual GM material. The rest is exactly splat, or as you might refer to is as PC options, which is MILES away from GM resources. And the material for GM's included is so generalized as to be meh. Equipment/Starship lists are just that. Lists. Not really a useable resource for a GM to create a storyline.

Like awayputurwpn said, every PC option is also an NPC option, which makes it a GM option. And it's a little odd that you're so dismissive of "lists" of starships and weapons when you a couple of paragraphs later demand a huge list of Astrogation times and difficulties...

Once again nothing on the actual Imperial Customs or BoSS counter smuggling operations. Just how many customs ships are in the average system? How are they crewed on average? What kind of support can they really expect from any Imperial Navy units in system?

As many/as much as your adventure needs there to be.

How about an actual EotE NaviComp book. An Atlas that includes the standard travel times along ALL of the known routes between all of the major and some of the minor worlds. Guidelines for mapping systems and sectors, including calculating transit times that will be somewhat consistent with existing routes. Close in maps of the various established sectors.

Are you kidding me? There are, no exaggeration, several hundred named systems in the Star Wars universe. A book detailing travel time and Astrogation difficulty between all of those would be a massive tome of nothing but excel spreadsheets. Oh, and it would be about as interesting as reading a train schedule. The distance between any two points in space are "as far as you, the GM, want it to be". If you're still desperate for details I can recommend the Star Wars galaxy atlas, which you can buy from any Amazon site.

A Imperial Customs source book with details on what are "standard procedures". A detailed look at a few of the more common Customs Ships with a generalized layout/deckplan so a GM doesn't have to create whole-clothe from scratch the customs frigate that the PC's are escaping.

That sounds like something most groups would need once or maybe twice. Unless you plan on having your players escape from the same type of ship very often. If you can't think of a way to stage an escape without a specific deckplan there are several fan sites online that have deckplans for a whole lot of ships. And "standard procedures" for customs shouldn't be too hard to figure out, given a dose of common sense and some real-world experience with customs checkpoints when crossing real-world borders. Basically, pick a vessel at more-or-less random, look at how nervous the people onboard it look when they're talking to a customs agent, and then search it with a thoroughness directly proportional to the amount of sweat on the pilot's brow.

I like the game and I like the production quality of the supplements, though I'd prefer softback at $10 cheaper for the amount content. But I really hope they flip the switch and begin adding some GM crunch soon.

Personally I find the amount of "GM crunch" perfectly fine. I don't expect FFG to make up my entire adventure/campaign for me - that's what adventure modules are for. Likewise I wouldn't want to rely on published materials to decide every aspect of an adventure for me. How difficult is it to break through this lock? Check a sourcebook. How many TIE fighters in this particular system? Check a sourcebook. What's the Astrogation difficulty from here to there? Check a sourcebook. What model blaster rifle does the Imperial Army garrison on this planet use? Check a sourcebook.

You might be better off with one of the more detail-oriented Star Wars settings, like the D20 system. It sounds to me at least like that's more like what you're expecting from FFG, and I don't think that what they're going to provide us with in the future.

Could use more spaceship deckplans.

Lord knows a Gonatzi or whatever that imperial transport used in Star Wars Rebels would be an interesting addition, I know we have the stats but so far only a Yt freighter has deckplans made available it would be nice to have more to call upon when you just want to make it clear that freighter is WAY too small to carry 3 R-22 starfighters!

I've made some simple floorplans in the past, I think I posted them about a year ago?

Ah, found them .

I did the CEC HWK-1000 recently as well.

If they did a All Mechanics, No Fluff core rules, I'd probably pick it up - eventually. If they did a full on core rule book with mechanics and fluff for The Empire, for Episode 7, for Rebels, whatever - I would be super pissed. I've already bought the rules three* times now**, I don't really need to buy them again just for some Star Destroyer stats in a book that will probably sit on my shelf mostly unused.

Don't get me wrong - if they did sourcebooks for those topics, I'd be all over it. I just don't need 60% old material in a massive tome at a high price-point.

* Technically five times, since I picked up AoR and F&D betas, too.

**Well as soon as I pick up F&D. You know what I mean

I don't need the level of crunch Ssand is asking for, but some of it would be nice. Blueprints for ships and bases in particular seem like great ideas. The suggestions for customs rules seem on point, as it's something I could use some help with in my game. Give an Imperial book that's largely setting flavor rather than rules crunch. Flesh out the departments that make up the Imperial bureaucracy and the branches of the Imperial military. Provide details on how Imperial politics function. Provide detailed setting information on the Imperial core worlds. New gear, ships, and stat blocks for adversaries. While I find the idea of an Empire CBR unnecessary (and VERY unlikely to ever happen), I'd be keen on a new specialization for each of the AoR careers.

That said, I wouldn't hold out hope for FFG putting out a Big Book of the Empire any time soon. I wouldn't at all be surprised to find out an Imperial-focused setting book is in the pipeline though. Something detailing the Imperial core worlds seems like a perfect complement to Strongholds of Resistance.

I can't help but think that there's a pretty good chance that at some point next year (or later) there will be a new core book dealing with the Force Awakened setting. It's going to sell to us hardcore fans in here who will, most of us at least, buy it for the information on how things have turned out in the galaxy since RotJ. And there's bound to be a few people with no previous exposure to Star Wars who'll see the new movie(s) and want to get in on the action. Thinking cynically it would be a bit of a missed opportunity to require them to get a game set in a setting that doesn't match the stuff they just watched on the big screen; not everyone who sees TFA is going to have seen the earlier movies.

I don't necessarily think they'll go full product line with career books and so on, but it's more likely it'll be a core book so that newcomers won't have to pick up one of the earlier three core books as well as some setting-specific splatbook. It would possibly contain some stats for new gear and ships, extensive sections on what the galaxy looks like in this setting, and maybe 2 careers from each of the previous three settings.

I've made some simple floorplans in the past, I think I posted them about a year ago?

Ah, found them .

I did the CEC HWK-1000 recently as well.

Any chance you can post that HWK-1000?

I wouldn't at all be surprised to find out an Imperial-focused setting book is in the pipeline though. Something detailing the Imperial core worlds seems like a perfect complement to Strongholds of Resistance.

I'd buy that. Let's call it Bastions of Tyranny . Still from the Alliance's perspective, though.

I wouldn't at all be surprised to find out an Imperial-focused setting book is in the pipeline though. Something detailing the Imperial core worlds seems like a perfect complement to Strongholds of Resistance.

I'd buy that. Let's call it Bastions of Tyranny . Still from the Alliance's perspective, though.

I agree. I'm just not sure where you'd go with AoR supplements beyond that. Granted, I don't know a whole lot about the EU, but it seems like Strongholds is pretty well covering all the bases with resistance outposts that would be recognizable by fans of the movies.

Caught in Between: A book about neutral territories

In the Shadow of the Empire: Imperial Vassal states

For the Love of Credits: Mercenary, Privateer and Outlaw organizations active in the Galactic Civil War.

Give me Independence: CIS holdouts in the Galactic Cvil War era

They could also do books on particularly hot sectors and regions.

Any chance you can post that HWK-1000?

Here you go . Sorry on the slow reply, was at GenCon. A few liberties (in that it can carry 7 total people instead of 6, and it has a turret). It was made faster than the others, so some bits are a bit copied over (like the cockpit area. The cockpit also has the opening to go down into the hold which is underneath it.)

Thank you!

I fancied picking up a mini of the HWK got put off when it became clear it was smaller than I thought, its a lot more than I thought was out there!