I thought we were down to just naming my wife's character in our upcoming campaign and finishing out some minor details. She wants to be an Archaeologist, so that's great. Knowing movies she likes and things she has done, I can definitely work with this. Then last night she threw a wrench in the plans with a simple little question.

"Can I be a Jedi too?"

Technically, I know the answer is yes. I can add in other trees and she will just have to spend experience. But then I got to wondering about Obligation and Morality. I obviously have a lot invested in how her Obligation plays out... and I have woven her brother's bad behavior into it. That doesn't mean I feel that I have to keep it. Starting off with Morality on the Edge of the Outer Rim though doesn't seem quite right either. She will be doing moral things and I expect her to fall to the light side, but I don't have all the mechanics yet to inform an opinion on how to build that in (though I hope to have Force and Destiny soon).

Then I got to thinking that I might could go with both Obligation and Morality. It would be realistic. It would pull all kinds of ways at her character. It would be what they would do in the movies. The story arcs for both extend very far into the future in my current vision.

Are there any guidelines for this (combining Obligation with Duty or Morality)? Are there reasons not to do it? Other thoughts?

Obligation, Morality and Duty can all be run together with no particlar problem; since they are all designed to be ran independantly of eachother and don't interefer with one another as such (it's possible to suffer strain through Obligation, but recieve extra wounds through Duty. If you paragon or fall, those bonus's would also serve to compliment either machanic) Though at first I would probably hold off on using Morality until the particlar rules are published on that.

The only thing I would say is that if you intend on using Morality or to have force senstives period you really have to ask yourself what kind of campiagn your going for? If this is a edge of the empire campiagn then a lot of hard choices would have to be offered; for example, if your a smuggling group then what your smuggling may not always be humanine (weapons of various types, drugs, occationally slaves. All sealed within a box that you can't look into until you reach your destination) along with more legitmate ventures (art, outlawed history.).

Another thing to consider that in an edge campiagn you might not always deal with the right characters either; they might be pleasent enough people who deal with less then pleasent cercumstances that your party will have to take jobs for. Would your wife be fine with going along with the job? Because then if your forcing a person aiming to be a lightside paragon in the edge of the empire, there might be a conflict of interest unless the party is flexable and accomidating. e.g. The classic example of a Paladin and a Rogue in the same party, a conflict between the two extremes can be determintal to one or the other involved unless managed carefully in a give and take relationship (sometimes the rogue has it's way, sometimes the paladin has it's way, or both work together for the greater good despite fundimental differences)

If you can answer those two fundimental issues; then it should be fine.

As the campaign won't start until after Force and Destiny releases (pretty sure, unless we are looking at Christmas for some odd reason), I can certainly hold off on it until I can read in detail how it would affect the campaign. Ooo.... actually, the mechanic I am using for her Obligation could transform into her reason for Morality as well...

The party is small currently and I don't have any smugglers in it (or bounty hunters). Lots of the Obligation will be triggered initially against the Hutts. It will take them some time to resolve all of that as each will have specific agendas at different locations to take care of. One will be a recurring problem (which now I think I can turn into a nemesis... muwhahaa... nothing like family to cause you pain and sorrow). With the way I have these setup, once the Obligation toward the Hutts is removed or alleviated, Obligation toward other people will naturally occur and they can always be threatened.

Adding in Morality should go fairly well as it is a much more personal attribute. Training may split the party a bit to cause added tension. According to what I'm being told, no one should be taking a dark path and will be headed toward heroic cinematic moments. I don't think there will be as much conflict as there could be. At some point they might even be forced to choose to help the rebels or aid the empire with their apathy. That is a long way away from this day though.

I'm assuming the plan is to start Archee and add exile/emergent and eventually a saber form.

Mix and matching is doable, or....

Pick one and go with it. If she's going to behave herself anyway then I'd say go with Obligation, but that's just me.

Start wit Ob as the character begins in a non-force aware mode (for sensitive and force aware aren't the same, just to be clear) and later add Morality as the character develops into a more Jedi-like character and the light/dark angle becomes more relevant.

She will start Explorer (Archaeologist). I will also load her up with Obligation (additional 15). She will not know anything of the Force or anyone that does.

I will pour over the Force and Destiny book when it arrives and work out when she will become a Force user. Most likely after she relieves the primary load of her Obligation (freeing her brother, the gambler, from the clutches of the Hutt and decides what to do with him). I would imagine a vision would be a good way to lead her into it and I'll have to have a meta conversation with her to pick her weakness and strength (but that's about all I know of Morality... and that's all thanks to the News). She will be in constant conflict with her brother as he gives in to his weaknesses all too easily. As it is Star Wars, obviously her parents have been killed and he is her only remaining family. His turning to the dark side after his powers also emerge will be very problematic for her in both Obligation and Morality. Eventually she'll have to pick one and let the other go... I expect it to be traumatic... because I'm evil like that. Thank goodness she doesn't read forums!

The more I think about it, the more I think I am glad she asked that question.

Grayfax, your wife is a very lucky gal. Do you cook for her, too?

As it is Star Wars, obviously her parents have been killed and he is her only remaining family.

Pretty par for the course these days...

image: Animated Gif of Disney logo.

Grayfax, your wife is a very lucky gal. Do you cook for her, too?

Very frequently. Though she has grown in that department over the last 20 years. I was a waiter/general manager at a restaurant in college and had to learn a lot about food prep and cooking before we got married.

I have two force-sensitive players. The first rolled an Mechanic/Exile when only EotE was an option. I have allowed her to respec to a Jedi Consular from F&D.

I allow all my players to respec. This is a learning process and we want to tell the story we want to tell. Sometimes people make poor choices with XP when they don't have all the understanding of the system.

The latter is a smuggler. He did a partial respec for Ace when Stay on Target came out. He's now buying Ataru and doing slice of life RP on the website to build his light saber. They both have very different approaches to what it means to be a force user.

Both have obligation and morality. It is jazz.

I have two force-sensitive players. The first rolled an Mechanic/Exile when only EotE was an option. I have allowed her to respec to a Jedi Consular from F&D.

<humor>That must be annoying, do your players do that thing with the dice that Qui Gon Jinn did with the chance cube in episode 1, I mean how would you know unless they're waving their hands around? Do you find yourself making calls in their favor that you wouldn't for other players and not being able to explain why later?</humor>

Are there any guidelines for this (combining Obligation with Duty or Morality)? Are there reasons not to do it? Other thoughts?

The last errata for the Force and Destiny Beta addressed this issue. This should be well resolved by the time the official F&D CRB drops.

Thanks for pointing that out, bradknowles! I did not have the Beta for any of this, so I never thought to check the Errata!

https://images-cdn.fantasyflightgames.com/ffg_content/StarWarsRPG/force-and-destiny/support/Beta%20Errata%2010.pdf

Pages 8 and 9 were very good reading for dealing with what I am thinking on! Looks like I'm on target and she will start off with Obligation and carry it for a time, until paying off a large chunk of that debt (through the story) will trigger visions and some strange activity on the ship...

After half a campaign we switched to Duty but some remained with some Obligation.

Only disadvantage is that on the rolling for the session's obligation and duty, if Obligation comes up the players get bummed (something is sticking sticks in their wheels) and when Duty comes up, its a good opportunity to step up the ladder

Of curse I never give them the satisfaction, and all roads are bad and good at the same time... but this is the genral feeling of the players in regards what comes up in the opening roll of the session.

Hopefully i'm staying in the Duty Free zone for now. I'm going to get the books, because Star Wars without the War is not really true, but I'm not really thinking anyone is wanting to go with a Rebel anytime soon. Mostly I'll use it for background and NPC characters they interact with. Later on, if they become too powerful though, they may have to make a choice and then it will affect them with all three axis. Then we'll start to have a tug of war in priorities... but for now, things are peaceful for my ragtag bunch of renegades...

Peaceful meaning they only have a handful of blasters in their faces. Easily dealt with. Easily put behind. Someday they will wish for this kind of peaceful day...

I have 3 force users who also took one spec each from AoR or EoE so they all use morality, obligation, and duty but I actually don't have th knowing running totals