I'm about to start GMing an EDGE OF THE EMPIRE game for my online group. (Notes on the group at the end, for those who are concerned.) I've been lurking on Reddit and the FFG Forums for a while, to assess the collective wisdom on House Rules, and I've come up with a set of my own, particular to the needs of this campaign.
Would some experienced FFG GMs be willing to give me some constructive feedback on these? Thank you in advance!
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Character Creation and House Rules:
Use the Edge of the Empire Core Rulebook for general character creation, though you may access Careers, Specializations, Gear, Species, and so on from any other source that you prefer. An excellent (and growing) resource is the “FFG Star Wars RPG Index” found here: http://swrpg.viluppo.net/
Characteristics and Derived Attributes:
During character creation, and only at this time, you may lower characteristics below their normal starting value for your chosen species. When you do this, you gain starting XP equivalent to one half of the cost to reverse the process. For example, to lower a starting characteristic from 2 to 1, you would gain 10 XP (as it would cost 20 XP to raise the same characteristic from 1 to 2).
Soak is equal to a character’s Brawn or Cunning rating, and this choice must be made at character creation.
Choosing a starting ship:
This expanded list of starting ships combines all of the standard starting vehicles, with additions from the supplements. If the party chooses a ship worth less than 120,000 credits, you may spend the difference on modifications or additional vehicles (like speeder bikes or walkers).
- Coreillian Engineering YT-1300 Light Freighter (Edge of the Empire Core Rulebook pg. 264)
- Coreillian Engineering YT-2400 Light Freighter (Edge of the Empire Core Rulebook pg. 265)
- Coreillian Engineering YV-560 Light Freighter (Enter the Unknown pg. 66)
- Coreillian Engineering HT-2200 Medium Freighter (Far Horizons pg. 56)
- Firespray System Patrol Craft (Edge of the Empire Core Rulebook pg. 255)
- Gallofree Yards YKL-37r Nova Courier (Fly Casual pg. 56)
- Ghtroc Industries 720 Freighter (Enter the Unknown pg. 62)
- Lantillian Shipwrights GX-1 Short Hauler (Fly Casual pg. 56)
- Wayfarer Medium Transport (Edge of the Empire Core Rulebook pg. 263)
Obligation:
Given the variable party size for this campaign, players all start with a Rating 10 Obligation of his/her choice (pages 38-43 of the Edge of the Empire Core Rulebook).
In addition, all players must take a Rating 5 Obligation (of any kind) that connects to your employer (Diving Belle’s Lightering, Portage, Ship-chandlers, Cargo, and Salvage). In exchange, you gain +1,000 starting credits that must be spent on goods related to your job at Diving Belle’s Salvage, or else are lost. You may still take on extra Obligation at character creation, for credits or XP, following the normal rules.
Combat:
If a weapon’s range is listed as “Extreme”, it suffers an additional difficulty die if fired at short range.
Experience:
XP is ordinarily earned at a rate of 3XP per (real life) hour of gaming.
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Notes:
I am a long-time GM (20 years since first running WEG Star Wars RPG), but my players range in experience from 2 decades to 2 months. We play on Roll20/Hangouts on three different continents and have a constantly rotating group based on who is available any given week. For the purposes of this campaign, the PCs are intra-galactic salvage workers (at least in name). Whoever can make it on a given week will play that session ("go out on the job"), and each "episode" of play will last literally as long as we play for. When time runs out in Real Life, the session (narratively) ends as well. ("Just as the drill breaks through the vault door, the alarms flare and your R2 droid alerts you to the immanent arrival of a massive Imperial security force. Time to flee!")