So my group is starting up a new campaign and we discussed having a player's character draw from the dark side. Is the dark side harder to play than the light side? What if one or two are dark and the rest light? It looks like they will take a strain hit at some point but that could be built up in talents (grit I believe). So is the dark side harder to play? Seems like most people posting here are jedi not sith. Is this due to people wanting to be good more than evil?

So my group is starting up a new campaign and we discussed having a player's character draw from the dark side. Is the dark side harder to play than the light side?

Dark side characters just aren't intended to be the focus of the game, but they work just fine. Their abilities to activate powers just draw from a slightly different distribution of results.

Mechanically, your destiny pool is gonna get modified a bunch at the start of each session.

Flavor-wise, you have to figure out why light siders and dark siders are hanging out in a party

Meta-game, you need to make sure that some of your players aren't having their fun at the expense of the rest of the table.

See above.

Again, the system's focus is light side play. It's just a reflection of how the people that post on these forums prefer to play their RPGs.

LethalDose said it all. I'll just reiterate that some people take "Dark Side" to play "A-Holes". The two are not the same. Make sure the Darksiders define what it means to be a darksider and that the other players are okay with it.

I wrestled with the idea of a "Dark Side Hero". It would certainly be easier from the point of view you can be as brutal as you like. But in my opinion that makes for a less fun game, as playing light side forces you to think about how to overcome problems and threats without killing, maiming and generally being a badass.

Agree with Lethal and Kaosoe, the system is totally supportive of darkside play. Jedi is indeed the common standard, but there's nothing wrong with a good Sith campaign. And the system allows mixing and matching, so go for it.

Only issue is the jerkface factor.

If the players want to run grim badmule characters, you'll be fine.

If they want to sabotage the rest of the players and use "it's what my character would do" as an excuse, probably better to keep everyone on the same side of the force.

LethalDose said it all. I'll just reiterate that some people take "Dark Side" to play "A-Holes". The two are not the same. Make sure the Darksiders define what it means to be a darksider and that the other players are okay with it.

This is the biggest danger of having PCs that are dark siders.

Sadly, I've seen too many campaigns get thrown off the rails because one PC decided to "go dark" and used that for all sorts of jerkass behavior, from kicking puppies to outright murder simply for the lulz.

Another factor is that being a dark sider means that the PC is going to have an easier time activating the basic effects of their Force powers, since the dark side pips are more plentiful, and that's what they'll be using to generate Force points. And some of the dark-side based effects, like the Harm portion of the Heal/Harm power and the Bind power (which does non-soakable damage if dark side pips were used to generate the necessary Force points), although it's not as bad as prior Star Wars RPGs, where the dark side powers were incredibly powerful (Force Lightning being one of the best attack powers in Saga Edition by a country mile. The fact that more often than not they're only going to have a single Force point to work with in contrast to other PCs having two Force points (since all but one the light side facings generate two Force points) does help balance things a fair bit.

But yeah, make sure the PC that wants to play a dark sider isn't doing so simply so they have an excuse to be a jerk at the table, much as a good D&D GM would be cautious about allowing a Chaotic Evil or Chaotic Neutral PC into a group that's generally comprised of Good alignments.

I have seen cases where it can work, having a dark sider and one or more light siders in the same party, but those instances were far and few between, and involved some very good and emotionally mature role-players.

As others have said. Including both Lightsiders and Darksiders is going to require a fair amount of OOC work. Both sides are going to have to be willing to compromise and set a few limits on both types of behaviors. It will require a lot of communication between both groups and the GM. It's doable, but will require work to make sure everyone is having fun.

Well...in the EU, it's been done. Specifically, in the Fate of the Jedi series. Luke and Ben Skywalker (His son) were forced to team up with a bunch of Sith to fight Aboleth. Luke managed to keep things more or less in tact, and being Luke, almost redeemed one of the Sith (Vestara Khai, who had the hots for his son.) Sadly, he didn't quite pull that one off.

If you use something like that as a premise, it could theoretically work. Particularly a Vestara Khai type who's semi redeemable.

But, well...the movie Sith are legitimately terrible people, full stop. It's sort of asking for jackassery to allow one. Even the redeemed one (Vader) still slaughtered a temple full of children, choked his wife, casually choked subordinate officers, tortured his daughter, and sliced his son's hand off. Using that for a basis on how a Sith should behave, and, well...

Adding to everyone, it's probably a good idea to have an idea of intended character progression.

Is it the story of your characters fall to the Dark Side at which point the PC is retired?

or is it a story of redemption, of the fall from then return to the Light Side?

It could be that the PC is unaware of what they are doing, self taught, and it's through contact with more knowledgeable Force Users that they learn to control their emotions?

Are they trying to walk the fine line, using both sides of the force to achieve the greater good? This is possibly the hardest line to play in this system, as you gain none of the positives of either side.

Basically if the player is an involved story teller at the table, bringing things that enhance the enjoyment of everyone and respects the other players fun then go for it, it's a great story to tell.

I'll also point out that you can completely ruin other peoples fun by playing the perfect Light Side Paragon too, if you won't use a single DSP in this system then there will be many times where your unable to use the full potential of your powers. If that means you sit at the table and say "I'm not using a DSP so I'm not able to save you with my powers, your character dies" then your being just as big of an A-H as the Dark Sider who Force Lightnings your character for a laugh.

Thanks everyone. This resolved itself by the whole group now wanting to be dark side. Who knows how this will go but we're giving it a try. This could be fun or a huge disaster. Either way it is worth a shot