I am getting ready for my group to transition from EotE to Force & Destiny within about a month or two, and I am running into a couple of issues but one main one regarding money in the new game. I don't see any GM forum for F&D so I figure I can use this as my sounding board for the time being to hopefully get some help.

We are ending a year long campaign in about a month, thus bringing an end to our very first RPG as a group. We have enjoyed learning how to play this type of game and how to roleplay, but now that F&D is here my group really wants to move forward to a new adventure with lightsabers and Force skills.

The main issues came up during the creation of our new characters and the question regarding how the new PC's will be able to afford anything when they aren't going to be pulling heists and taking jobs to get big cash payouts like they did in EotE. Since Jedi are not known for being wealthy, my group doesn't want to struggle and just scrape by, they want a ship (like they had in EotE) and hopefully a small fortune to draw from if they need anything so they don't have to run missions for money. I understand where they are coming from because they want to expand their characters more through roleplaying and get more XP to gain more Force powers, but at the same time they are basically saying they want it easy so they can fly where they want, when they want, and buy some upgrades here and there.

They are trying to come up with some way that the EotE group somehow leaves part of their fortune and/or their old ship to this new F&D group because one of the member of the EotE group is a Jedi sympathizer. I don't want to be the big bad GM that squashes they hopes and dreams of living as Jedi with no cares in the world...but I know that isn't the best way to start a campaign. I was thinking maybe they could find a small cache of money and a dilapidated ship or something to help ($50k max) but not $500k-1m like some of them want.

Does anyone have any advice as to how we can compromise, or should I just squash this right away because it's a new game and with it comes new challenges?

Are they really Jedi if they crave worldly possessions? I'd question their integrity as followers of the light side from go.

If they're Force users in the OT time frame they shouldn't be drawing attention to themselves at all. They should work for menial pay and take unglamorous jobs on tramp freighters to move from point to point. Travel as refugees aboard public transport.

They sound like they want to keep playing as devil may care EoE PCs with the difference being lightsabers and the Force.

Giving them a ship isn't a bad thing, and there's several options to keep that from getting out of hand.

A) The ship doesn't belong to the PCs, it's owned and operated by an NPC, possibly a NPCized version of the PC owner...

B) The ship the A PCs leave the B PCs is in lockup/storage/stolen and recovered/ect. Between the time it's left and the time it's picked up someone loots it, stripping off upgrades and key components.

C) The players start with travel vouchers for StarTours allowing them 5 free trips to any planet StarTours services.

As for money... the players will likely find a source of saber crystals fairly early...Illum crystals go for a staring price of 2,500c on the black market. Just require the to-sell streetwise roll to go up if they try and sell more then a couple crystals at a time. Boom problem solved, regular source of income, some risk, and easily controlled "You arrive back on the planet Dinglehouser to go mine some more crystals for some quick credits... as you approach the mine, you feel something off... something cold... as you come over the last hill you see there's several armored transports parked outside the mine, and stormtroopers taking large yellow crate into the mine under the supervision of an odd looking fellow dressed in black."

What kind of adventures are they going to be doing?

Do the players actually want to do these kinds of adventures? Knowing what kind of shenanigans they want to get themselves into, will give us an idea.

You could also allow party obligation to provide them with "starting equipment". Then you'd use the Obligation mechanic in concert with the Morality mechanic. It'd also give you new avenues to explore with respect to work. Their patron could ask them to go on smuggling runs for them, pick up goods, ferry important people/messages around, and make himself a PITA with respect to their Jedi-ing around the Galaxy.

It would set up the struggles of trying to be a Jedi who also honors their obligations to those of dubious character...

2P51 makes a really good point. Perhaps the characters of your original campaign can become shady NPC contacts with occasional job offers for the new F&D characters. That way, the party can indulge in a bit of nostalgia as they do work with more of an Edge (heh). I wouldn't do this too often. I'd also avoid the "I bequeath my ill-gotten gains to you, morally upright citizen, because we share the same player." That just feels too much like MMO Max Level character -> Twink Loot Extravangaza shenanigans .

Giving them a ship isn't a bad thing, and there's several options to keep that from getting out of hand.

A) The ship doesn't belong to the PCs, it's owned and operated by an NPC, possibly a NPCized version of the PC owner...

B) The ship the A PCs leave the B PCs is in lockup/storage/stolen and recovered/ect. Between the time it's left and the time it's picked up someone loots it, stripping off upgrades and key components.

C) The players start with travel vouchers for StarTours allowing them 5 free trips to any planet StarTours services.

As for money... the players will likely find a source of saber crystals fairly early...Illum crystals go for a staring price of 2,500c on the black market. Just require the to-sell streetwise roll to go up if they try and sell more then a couple crystals at a time. Boom problem solved, regular source of income, some risk, and easily controlled "You arrive back on the planet Dinglehouser to go mine some more crystals for some quick credits... as you approach the mine, you feel something off... something cold... as you come over the last hill you see there's several armored transports parked outside the mine, and stormtroopers taking large yellow crate into the mine under the supervision of an odd looking fellow dressed in black."

I don't have an issue with a ship, although I typically don't give anyone a ship right off. It's too easy a session 1ish-2ish focus and a way of getting them their first 30 or 40 xp easy.

If they're asking for 500k-1million credits I question how much they intend to actually be Jedi like. The specs don't have to be played goody two shoes in F&D by any means, but if they want that much cash I have my doubts about how much they intend to lay low and not draw attention to themselves.

Great question. My group and I wondered the same thing when looking at F&D.

There's nice gear in the F&D core rulebook that we'd want for our F&D characters, but how do we go about earning credits to purchase the cool stuff?

As a GM, it also seemed disingenuous to me that F&D characters would loot their enemies' dead or unconscious bodies for valuables they could sell for credits. I don't feel like Jedi would resort to that behavior, so I wouldn't like that occurring in my game. So... solutions?

One idea was to have Jedi sympathizers donate modest funds, or arrange logistics, for hiding Jedi. For example, in 'Lessons from the Past' (the F&D adventure in the F&D core rulebook) there is an ally NPC named Ashur Sungazer. I plan on having Ashur pay for the PC's ship transportation by hiring a trusted smuggler. This accomplishes a couple things; the PC's have transportation via a NPC smuggler, the PC's don't have access to money to waste it on silly stuff, and the GM controls the NPC smuggler, and thus, where the ship and PC's travel. Maybe the smuggler contact can be your EotE PC's?

Are you planning on running any F&D printed adventures? If so, I took a look at them and decided to try to run them in this order.

I like the idea of my F&D PC's constructing their own lightsabers, instead of starting with them for free.

1. Lessons from the Past (F&D Core rulebook)

2. Hidden Depths (F&D GM Kit)

3. Mountaintop Rescue (F&D Beginner's Box Set)

4. Lure of The Lost (F&D downloadable adventure)

5. Chronicles of the Gatekeeper (F&D adventure book)

The PC's could always find some nice gear in the temples in these adventures too, thus requiring them to not purchase anything.

Note, doing this the PC's would also have a mentor (from Mountaintop Rescue) who could help them out a little.

This way, money became less of an issue in our F&D games.

And the focus stayed a lot more on mastering the Force.

Semper Fi

I hate to say this, but take a look at Rebels for this.

There's a bonafied jedi in that and they're still stealing stuff from the empire and selling it to arms dealers and stuff.

The "I own nothing" type jedi were back in the day when jedi were a "sect" with influence and holdings. Where their members didn't have to go starving and alwaysh ad access to ships and anything else they could need.

A force sensetive (or jedi, if you will) in EotE will have to get money for themselves. They'll have to do shady things.
But they don't have to do evil things.
That's the difference.

Stealing from a corrupt and evil organization to sell to someone in need (at a greatly discounted price, of course) is not exactly a bad thing to do.
And since they're stealing the stuff, it's all 100% profit. So it doesn't matter if they sell it cheap.

I hate to say this, but take a look at Rebels for this.

There's a bonafied jedi in that and they're still stealing stuff from the empire and selling it to arms dealers and stuff.

The "I own nothing" type jedi were back in the day when jedi were a "sect" with influence and holdings. Where their members didn't have to go starving and alwaysh ad access to ships and anything else they could need.

A force sensetive (or jedi, if you will) in EotE will have to get money for themselves. They'll have to do shady things.

But they don't have to do evil things.

That's the difference.

Stealing from a corrupt and evil organization to sell to someone in need (at a greatly discounted price, of course) is not exactly a bad thing to do.

And since they're stealing the stuff, it's all 100% profit. So it doesn't matter if they sell it cheap.

They aren't sitting on a million credits in Rebels....

They could work with the Rebel Alliance, not have to worry about money as much there. Maybe not all the time, but if they ever need some gear, they could do a job for the Rebels in exchange for the gear.

Equipment and gear isn't nearly as important to Force users as it is to regular Edge characters. But it can make things easier, especially if you want to move the plot along and handwave some of the transportation. If they want a group ship, give them Obligation (with more story hooks) and let them pick out a baseline model. If they want dogfighters, give them Duty (and missions) and let them pick out what each one gets and if they are in the same squadrons or if they are going to be split up sometimes.

To me, this is the beauty of the Rule of 3... 3 Books to rule them all in their storied tomes. You can use one of the rulesets, or you can mix and match it up. If you really want characters you can leverage, give them all three.

Mostly we're trying to stay out of the Empire's radar, so we mostly leverage Obligation as a path to necessary gear. I also give them items as we close out arcs... and though I don't always state an obligation, they usually come with someone asking for help or as a reward for helping someone else out. Sometimes they try to Qui-gon Jinn their way into wealth, but that has always been a bit dicey and has cost them some setbacks so they are less likely to try that anymore.

In my opinion nothing worth having as a PC in an F&D campaign should be purchasable. The rest you can make available as needed (a ship etc.) found or bought with Cr. found/rewarded during the course of adventures. Searching for an Ancient Holocron before the baddie gets it and stumble across a few thousand Cr. worth of gems. or an old but serviceable Superior Laminate breastplate. Save a town from evil marauders be rewarded with parts to upgrade to your lightsabre, or free repairs and an upgrade to your ship.

Money is available to find, or earn, but the focus should be on the work and let the Force provide.

I hate to say this, but take a look at Rebels for this.

There's a bonafied jedi in that and they're still stealing stuff from the empire and selling it to arms dealers and stuff.

The "I own nothing" type jedi were back in the day when jedi were a "sect" with influence and holdings. Where their members didn't have to go starving and alwaysh ad access to ships and anything else they could need.

A force sensetive (or jedi, if you will) in EotE will have to get money for themselves. They'll have to do shady things.

But they don't have to do evil things.

That's the difference.

Stealing from a corrupt and evil organization to sell to someone in need (at a greatly discounted price, of course) is not exactly a bad thing to do.

And since they're stealing the stuff, it's all 100% profit. So it doesn't matter if they sell it cheap.

They aren't sitting on a million credits in Rebels....

But they're not dirt poor either... they have a ship, they have equipment and theyhave food.

There's a minor difference between that and having a million credits.

There's a minor difference between that and having a million credits.

Sure, but my point was that they didn't have to be frugal monks with nothing but a robe to their name just because they're jedi.

If you are looking at Star Wars Rebels as a source of some of this... make sure you are including the history that isn't in the TV Show. You need to include "A New Dawn" in how you are dealing with their equipment. Hera has a ship, and a bit of an association on how she has it and the rest comes together after that. In that, she is kind of like Malcolm Reynolds. Has the ship, but needs crew to do jobs to keep the ship and the mission going.

Pathfinders and Hunters can take side work as wilderness guides and scouts for expeditions or evaluations, or hunters looking for particularly dangerous nuisance animals. Advisors, Sages and Seers can take consultant jobs for individuals and small groups. Peacekeepers, Protectors and Aggressors can all do work for mercenaries or law enforcement. A Healer can do feelance medical work. Sentinels can work as private investigators. The whole group, if they have a ship, can do 'free trader' work, not quite smugglers, but courier/delivery work or small civilian transport.

All of that can lay groundwork for a variety of adventures. If the campaign is F&D RAW, a recurring theme is keeping under the nose of the Empire -- balancing the use of their powers to just subsist and keeping their powers hidden from the Inquisitors. And a lot of it can be used as a front or an excuse for more Force centered quests. The group finds the coordinants to an old Jedi temple, they think, so they use work as scouts or researchers to try and find it, while making a little credits just to keep fed.

You can also play up the morality of those jobs, of course. If playing a light sider or paragon, a Guardian or Warrior working for the same private military a Hired Gun would might be more uneasy about doing certain things as part of thet group, for example.

Are they really Jedi if they crave worldly possessions? I'd question their integrity as followers of the light side from go.

If they're Force users in the OT time frame they shouldn't be drawing attention to themselves at all. They should work for menial pay and take unglamorous jobs on tramp freighters to move from point to point. Travel as refugees aboard public transport.

They sound like they want to keep playing as devil may care EoE PCs with the difference being lightsabers and the Force.

2P51 I do agree with this in a sense...I don't want my PC's to be too worried about money because I want them to be able to roleplay and expand their force skills more than worry where their next meal is going to come from. They do plan on being a lot more low key than in our previous campaign, but they need enough to get around and have some spending money so they aren't always limited to just the basics.

What kind of adventures are they going to be doing?

Do the players actually want to do these kinds of adventures? Knowing what kind of shenanigans they want to get themselves into, will give us an idea.

They main goal they want to accomplish is to reestablish the Jedi Order, but do so in a secretive way. They want a mentor to help guide them and a place to teach (which they will have to investigate to find someplace hospitable enough). The first part of this campaign will be finding those things and then moving towards reaching out to find new people to get to join their teacher/mentor to become Jedi.

You could also allow party obligation to provide them with "starting equipment". Then you'd use the Obligation mechanic in concert with the Morality mechanic. It'd also give you new avenues to explore with respect to work. Their patron could ask them to go on smuggling runs for them, pick up goods, ferry important people/messages around, and make himself a PITA with respect to their Jedi-ing around the Galaxy.

It would set up the struggles of trying to be a Jedi who also honors their obligations to those of dubious character...

I might utilize this if they have their heart set on having their own mode of transportation, thanks for that!

2P51 makes a really good point. Perhaps the characters of your original campaign can become shady NPC contacts with occasional job offers for the new F&D characters. That way, the party can indulge in a bit of nostalgia as they do work with more of an Edge (heh). I wouldn't do this too often. I'd also avoid the "I bequeath my ill-gotten gains to you, morally upright citizen, because we share the same player." That just feels too much like MMO Max Level character -> Twink Loot Extravangaza shenanigans .

I am thinking of making the Jedi Sympathizer PC an NPC contact that may help them with jobs when starting out, as well as funnel them some petty cash for transportation if I don't end up giving them a ship.

Great question. My group and I wondered the same thing when looking at F&D.

There's nice gear in the F&D core rulebook that we'd want for our F&D characters, but how do we go about earning credits to purchase the cool stuff?

As a GM, it also seemed disingenuous to me that F&D characters would loot their enemies' dead or unconscious bodies for valuables they could sell for credits. I don't feel like Jedi would resort to that behavior, so I wouldn't like that occurring in my game. So... solutions?

One idea was to have Jedi sympathizers donate modest funds, or arrange logistics, for hiding Jedi. For example, in 'Lessons from the Past' (the F&D adventure in the F&D core rulebook) there is an ally NPC named Ashur Sungazer. I plan on having Ashur pay for the PC's ship transportation by hiring a trusted smuggler. This accomplishes a couple things; the PC's have transportation via a NPC smuggler, the PC's don't have access to money to waste it on silly stuff, and the GM controls the NPC smuggler, and thus, where the ship and PC's travel. Maybe the smuggler contact can be your EotE PC's?

Are you planning on running any F&D printed adventures? If so, I took a look at them and decided to try to run them in this order.

I like the idea of my F&D PC's constructing their own lightsabers, instead of starting with them for free.

1. Lessons from the Past (F&D Core rulebook)

2. Hidden Depths (F&D GM Kit)

3. Mountaintop Rescue (F&D Beginner's Box Set)

4. Lure of The Lost (F&D downloadable adventure)

5. Chronicles of the Gatekeeper (F&D adventure book)

The PC's could always find some nice gear in the temples in these adventures too, thus requiring them to not purchase anything.

Note, doing this the PC's would also have a mentor (from Mountaintop Rescue) who could help them out a little.

This way, money became less of an issue in our F&D games.

And the focus stayed a lot more on mastering the Force.

Semper Fi

My crew wants to start at Knight level with lightsabers right away (basic anyways)...I am debating on squashing the aspect that they automatically have lightsabers because I think part of the path to become a Jedi is creating your own and if we leave that out of the campaign then it jumps into everything a bit too quick.

There's a minor difference between that and having a million credits.

True, I won't be giving them that amount, if any at all, I just wanted to let everyone know what they were suggesting.

There's a minor difference between that and having a million credits.

Sure, but my point was that they didn't have to be frugal monks with nothing but a robe to their name just because they're jedi.

And my point was PCs sitting on a million credits in a galaxy of need are not Jedi.

My crew wants to start at Knight level with lightsabers right away (basic anyways)...I am debating on squashing the aspect that they automatically have lightsabers because I think part of the path to become a Jedi is creating your own and if we leave that out of the campaign then it jumps into everything a bit too quick.

Absolutely! That is one of the defining things about being a Jedi, so lightsabers should be the result of quests and blood, sweat, and tears, not something to be given lightly right out of the starting block.

If you persuade them to go through the game to get their lightsaber's, you can probably just start as normal, and not at Knight Level. I don't know how much XP you give out per session, but by the time they get them, they'll be at or around Knight Level, which is just acquiring 150+ XP anyway.

There's a minor difference between that and having a million credits.

Sure, but my point was that they didn't have to be frugal monks with nothing but a robe to their name just because they're jedi.

And my point was PCs sitting on a million credits in a galaxy of need are not Jedi.

But they could be force users, still.

Within the context of the entire Galaxy, one million credits is nothing. Quite literally, nothing. It's great for that one person and their friends, and maybe a pet cause or two (regional, not planetary), but it has absolutely no impact on the Galaxy at large. One would need to hit billions before it became noticeable.

That said, a smart party can do a -lot- with a million credits, using it as a nest egg from which they grow their Galaxy-altering wealth and power.

I hate to say this, but take a look at Rebels for this.

There's a bonafied jedi in that and they're still stealing stuff from the empire and selling it to arms dealers and stuff.

The "I own nothing" type jedi were back in the day when jedi were a "sect" with influence and holdings. Where their members didn't have to go starving and alwaysh ad access to ships and anything else they could need.

A force sensetive (or jedi, if you will) in EotE will have to get money for themselves. They'll have to do shady things.

But they don't have to do evil things.

That's the difference.

Stealing from a corrupt and evil organization to sell to someone in need (at a greatly discounted price, of course) is not exactly a bad thing to do.

And since they're stealing the stuff, it's all 100% profit. So it doesn't matter if they sell it cheap.

They aren't sitting on a million credits in Rebels....

I think that was part of his point, hence the "greatly discounted" line. You're stealing from the Empire/crime syndicates and giving it cheaply to those in need for whatever meager credits you can get for gas and food. As the GM, I'd always have whatever those poor refugees offer be just enough cash to cover expenses, and maybe partially paid in barter goods that the PCs then have to go sell in the NEXT system over, and...well, you get the idea.

I don't really see anywhere that he said they should have a million credits, just that they should be allowed to have the means (a ship, some supplies) to go out and earn their small income stream. In fact, I'm really unsure where the disagreement is if you both agree that Rebels is a good model for Jedi not being completely poor, just MOSTLY poor.