No background on Snoke or the Knights of Ren yet.

Basically at the start of the movie the Republic controls most of the galaxy with a small region controlled by the First Order. There is a band of neutral worlds between the two. The two sides have signed a peace treaty that the FO violates on a regular basis. The republic ignores these violations to keep the peace treaty. The resistance is a splinter group of the republic military that is secretly supported by elements of the republic. The resistance's mission is the oppose the first order until the republic realizes the threat and takes official action.

No background on Snoke or the Knights of Ren yet.

Basically at the start of the movie the Republic controls most of the galaxy with a small region controlled by the First Order. There is a band of neutral worlds between the two. The two sides have signed a peace treaty that the FO violates on a regular basis. The republic ignores these violations to keep the peace treaty. The resistance is a splinter group of the republic military that is secretly supported by elements of the republic. The resistance's mission is the oppose the first order until the republic realizes the threat and takes official action.

Do we know what parts are controlled by who?

No background on Snoke or the Knights of Ren yet.

Basically at the start of the movie the Republic controls most of the galaxy with a small region controlled by the First Order. There is a band of neutral worlds between the two. The two sides have signed a peace treaty that the FO violates on a regular basis. The republic ignores these violations to keep the peace treaty. The resistance is a splinter group of the republic military that is secretly supported by elements of the republic. The resistance's mission is the oppose the first order until the republic realizes the threat and takes official action.

Do we know what parts are controlled by who?

All I have seen so far is the the republic controls the core and large swaths into the outer rim. Not much on specific areas.

I look forward to exploring the galaxy three decades after Endor and it would be my preference to play during the time period (perhaps immediately prior to the events of TFA?).

I look forward to exploring the galaxy three decades after Endor and it would be my preference to play during the time period (perhaps immediately prior to the events of TFA?).

Yes I think it would be interesting. A Cold War with lots of covert ops.

My players want a lightsaber like kylo ren and i would like to create a npc like him. can you help me/should I post this somewhere else,thanks.

I can name three important changes I would have to consider in GMing my games.

#1. We see the Millennium Falcon make a jump to hyperspace from the interior of a ship.

#2 We see the Falcon exit hyperspace inside the atmosphere of a planet. When the lore we grew up on told us that a hyperdrive would yank you out automatically as soon as you drew too close to a mass shadow in hyperspace.

#3. The Falcon plowing through a forest of trees and seeming to take very little damage.

Along with ships docking/traveling together in the same stream (?) of hyperspace that we've seen in Rebels, I think there's been a significant change to Star Wars physics lore in the past year.

My campaign as of now is and will remain unchanged, we sorta threw canon out the window when I introduced Rex as a Sheriff protecting a small town made of starship hulks on an outer rim / wild space world and was killed only to have the clone in the groups party assume his identity as per Rex's dying wish. Then he appeared in Rebels...from that moment I took that as licence to simply have fun with the canon. So far they have killed Mara Jade, and will soon most likely kill Tyber Zann.

I am ending that campaign this month and starting up two new ones in coming year. A squadron campaign taking place at the same time as Episode IV or at least within the same general timeline, and the other is a EU Yuuzhan Vong war campaign which will remain unaffected by the new canon, however characters from the film may be re imagined by yours truly and integrated into the plot of the EU storyline.

Along with ships docking/traveling together in the same stream (?) of hyperspace that we've seen in Rebels, I think there's been a significant change to Star Wars physics lore in the past year.

There's also how Poe and his X-Wings were in a hyperspace holding pattern right above the planet. Once given the go, they could exit hyperspace and be fighting within seconds. But, I don't see this as much of a change in SW physics but simply as the movie creators not taking WEG's assumptions (such as how you could only fly through hyperspace in a straight line) seriously.

The only real impact this might have is how the Interdictor actually works. There was a scene in one of the episodes of the Clone Wars where they exit hyperspace in the atmosphere of a planet and crash, almost exactly like what happened in TFA. So the whole "mass shadow" explanation doesn't really work anymore.

There are several bits of FA regarding hyperspace that I'll be ignoring in my games.

The science in the UC Timeline of Mobile Suit Gundam is consistent and based on real world knowledge!

*ducks head as he runs for cover*

Gundam is based on Star Wars! Don't blast me!

UC Timeline only, The Seed/Wing/00/AGE stuff plays it fairly loose and is meant for a younger audience.

Along with ships docking/traveling together in the same stream (?) of hyperspace that we've seen in Rebels, I think there's been a significant change to Star Wars physics lore in the past year.

There's also how Poe and his X-Wings were in a hyperspace holding pattern right above the planet. Once given the go, they could exit hyperspace and be fighting within seconds. But, I don't see this as much of a change in SW physics but simply as the movie creators not taking WEG's assumptions (such as how you could only fly through hyperspace in a straight line) seriously.

The only real impact this might have is how the Interdictor actually works. There was a scene in one of the episodes of the Clone Wars where they exit hyperspace in the atmosphere of a planet and crash, almost exactly like what happened in TFA. So the whole "mass shadow" explanation doesn't really work anymore.

Yet in Star Wars Rebels (Canon per Disney) there is an episode with an Interdictor cruisers class ship they have to destroy.

There was a long discussion linked to this but basically the reason ships come out of hyper when they get too close to a mass shadow is a safety system so if that safety were disabled or deactivated a ship could jump into gravity wells but doing so would be very risky.

I think my disappointment stems from the fact that this new era offers little over the classic period of the original trilogy. The First Order offers nothing that you can't do with the Empire, the Resistance is just a coat of paint on the Rebellion, and it's still a period where Force-users--particularly Jedi--are quite rare. With that in mind, why would I bother to go with the Awakens era? At least the future shown in Legends offered some differences that made for interesting changes in the setting (and if you didn't like them, there were plenty of other time periods to play in). Sorry, but Awakens is just another brand of vanilla. It's not that I don't like vanilla, but how many 'varieties' of one flavor are necessary?

I can name three important changes I would have to consider in GMing my games.

#1. We see the Millennium Falcon make a jump to hyperspace from the interior of a ship.

#2 We see the Falcon exit hyperspace inside the atmosphere of a planet. When the lore we grew up on told us that a hyperdrive would yank you out automatically as soon as you drew too close to a mass shadow in hyperspace.

#3. The Falcon plowing through a forest of trees and seeming to take very little damage.

Along with ships docking/traveling together in the same stream (?) of hyperspace that we've seen in Rebels, I think there's been a significant change to Star Wars physics lore in the past year.

Agreed. These are the main concerns for me. As my game is set prior to Death Star v1 the plot doesn't impact my game. But things like that theoretically do. On your list my answer to #1 is that Old Han can pull this off, but it's going to be an upgraded Formidable check so good luck with that everyone else. For #2 I'm just going to close my eyes and go "La-la-la." . #3 did also occur to me whilst watching but I reckon I'm okay with that. The Falcon can take a hit from actual weapons like lasers and survive the odd asteroid bashing into it. I'm going to assume that Star Wars level technology can produce weapons that are more destructive than a tree being thrown at you and by inference, that if the Falcon can survive these other things, it can survive the trees. It's a bit hand-wavy, but not by much.

Of greater concern might be Ben Solo's upgraded Force powers. I was okay with it a little at first as I thought this character must be some super-powerful Force user. But when it was revealed he was just Han's son with a modicum of training by Luke, it started to jar with me that he was pulling off greater-than-yoda style effects. I mean mechanically suspending the bolt in mid air isn't really much more than Protect, but visually in the film, freezing it, walking around and having a conversation whilst just keeping it there... That makes Vader's little deflection of Han's shot or Yoda's catch the Force Lightning stuff look pretty weak. Ditto for lifting people up and freezing their limbs compared to Yoda or Qui Gon force-pushing people backwards.

I could really hear Abram's voice as I watched the film saying: "yeah, but this one goes up to eleven!"

It's not "directly" affecting my game (mainly 'cause i'm not playing at the moment x_x )

But FTA's viewing, aside from Rebels' and Clone Wars', convinced me the WEG d6 system i use for my 15-20 years long campaign is becoming too old and inadequate. So i'm guessing if it's worth to adopt some FFG material on them, or probably converting them.

And, of course, conversion is never a smooth things, and probably i'll end up losing some of my players

At the moment, i'm pushing forward to play a short term four-to-six months mini campaign arc, just to test the game, and hopefully let them embrace it

so, it's not directly affecting "the game" but i hope will affect my "probability to play the game"

There was a long discussion linked to this but basically the reason ships come out of hyper when they get too close to a mass shadow is a safety system so if that safety were disabled or deactivated a ship could jump into gravity wells but doing so would be very risky.

I've heard about this safety system before but it just doesn't make sense. If you could just switch off your safety then an Interdictor couldn't work. The Interdictor has to work through some other way. [Hyperspace dampening field forex]. Besides, this safety system and the whole idea about gravity wells affecting hyperspace contradicts Han's concern in Ep4 about "flying right through a star". So all the WEG-generated BS about gravity and hyperspace needs to be discarded.

As I've said before, going into and out of hyperspace in the atmosphere of a planet happens on multiple occasions in the Clone Wars cartoon. As does a situation where a ship engages its hyperdrive while docked to another ship. There's nothing new about hyperspace travel in TFA. The movie is just reconfirming previously established canon.

The First Order offers nothing that you can't do with the Empire, the Resistance is just a coat of paint on the Rebellion, and it's still a period where Force-users--particularly Jedi--are quite rare. With that in mind, why would I bother to go with the Awakens era?

I disagree. Firstly, the SW galaxy at the time of TFA has planets and regions under the control of the Republic. Something the Rebellion never really had. In the OT era, the rebels were constantly hiding. But in the TFA era, not only can you have missions where you, the Resistance, can operate openly and the Resistance (with the aid of the Republic) can even defeat First Order troops and maintain control of the planet. Something not possible in the pre-RotJ era.

But, most importantly, you now are in a situation where your players don't actually know what's going to happen. Nobody knows. You aren't forced, as you would be in the previous eras, to only play sideline characters whose actions contribute nothing to the success of the Rebellion/Clone Wars. The players can be the Heroes and save the galaxy. That's something that hasn't been possible since 1983.

It doesn't change much. However I will address some of the Concerns that were offered and tell you how I see them:

• The Hyperspace Things: Han is just crazy enough to modify his ship to ignore the safety Hyperdrive Deactivation when he wants to. Rey and Finn both say to him when he tries these insane stunts: "That's impossible" but this is Han Solo who still says that his Ship made the Kessel run in less than 12 Parsec, which is a distance. In the legends canon this was described as Hand having actually flown through a set of Black holes in the maw and somehow making it in less distance. Perhaps the black holes bended time and space, but it proves that Han Solo is mynockshit insane enough to even try this. And this is consistent with his character almost everywhere. Rey has heard of him as the legendary smuggler, not the alliance general. So yeah I wouldn't allow these stunts for my players, but I consider them okay for Star Wars in general. Perhaps some people tried them before Han, but they probably crashed their ships. Han Solo has two things going for him there: He's Han Solo the truly best Pilot of the galaxy altogether and he flies the Millenium Falcon, the only ship to have a class 0.5 Hyperdrive (Yeah that is another thing which I don't allow in my campaign. Only the Falcon may have that. They may have one up to 0.75 class though)
• The suspended Blasterbolt: I have to say this one doesn't bother me much. He did that to show off, the same way Grandpappy did it in ESB. Vader could have instantaneously snatched the Blaster from Han, but he didn't. Kylo uses his expertise to hold this in place on the bolt. Ruleswise it IS protect, but it doesn't make him anymore powerful than Vader.
• The use of Lightsabers in combat by untrained people: This Problem I don't get, it was always possible... you could use a lightsaber even if untrained when you had high-brawn. And Finn used the Lightsaber exactly like that, I don't see any reason to switch the skill to Melee. 4 dice in brawn and no ranks in lightsaber can still wield some impressive results. And Finn lost pretty quickly against a trained but wounded opponent. Soooooo why is this an issue, again? Oh and Rey can technically use the enhance force power to help her further with that. She seems to have some prior training which she forgot imo.

Now I want to talk about some things the movie will do for my game:

• Maz Kanata. That lady WILL be in my campaigns. I like that character.
• The Sequel Era seems like a better playground for playing emerging force sensitives. I am speculating that by the end of Ep IX the Jedi order will be back and Rey will have some part in that. That would make it an interesting place to start with Jedi Characters, even more so than the Legends Academy. I look forward to this! And we have to wait only 1 1/2 years this time to get more answers. So I guess I'll start my first ever true Force and Destiny campaign in 2018 or 2020.
• I will describe wounds appropriately, that were made by lightsabers.

There was a long discussion linked to this but basically the reason ships come out of hyper when they get too close to a mass shadow is a safety system so if that safety were disabled or deactivated a ship could jump into gravity wells but doing so would be very risky.

I've heard about this safety system before but it just doesn't make sense. If you could just switch off your safety then an Interdictor couldn't work. The Interdictor has to work through some other way. [Hyperspace dampening field forex]. Besides, this safety system and the whole idea about gravity wells affecting hyperspace contradicts Han's concern in Ep4 about "flying right through a star". So all the WEG-generated BS about gravity and hyperspace needs to be discarded.

As I've said before, going into and out of hyperspace in the atmosphere of a planet happens on multiple occasions in the Clone Wars cartoon. As does a situation where a ship engages its hyperdrive while docked to another ship. There's nothing new about hyperspace travel in TFA. The movie is just reconfirming previously established canon.

I agree with you there, though it invalidates a pretty nifty pirate trick from the legends canon: Pirates would pull a large enough Asteroid near a known Hyperspace route to kick ships outta hyperspace.

• The use of Lightsabers in combat by untrained people: This Problem I don't get, it was always possible... you could use a lightsaber even if untrained when you had high-brawn. And Finn used the Lightsaber exactly like that, I don't see any reason to switch the skill to Melee. 4 dice in brawn and no ranks in lightsaber can still wield some impressive results. And Finn lost pretty quickly against a trained but wounded opponent. Soooooo why is this an issue, again?

The point isn't whether or not someone with a high Brawn can fight with a lightsaber effectively, but whether or not someone will training in melee weapons (as it appears all Stormtroopers have) could use that training to be better at fighting with a lightsaber.

No change. I'd be hesitant to include anything until they flesh out the background and history more. I'm not really concerned personally with anything in regards to mechanical aspects of the rules.

When you want your character to be good in melee you level up his brawn. High brawn some efficiency with Lightsabers. If you look how Finn uses it it is not as effective as Kylo Rens style.

I actually do some medieval and renaissance sword fighting myself, mostly Bidenhänder or Claymore and Basket-Hilted Broadsword. The weight of the blade factors in tremendously.

I tried it with a light wooden stick to represent the near weightlessness of a lightsaber. It's really unfamiliar, so no I wouldn't change it. High brawn is enough to represent it being somewhat good at it, because for a melee fighter you need high brawn to be effeicient.

EDIT: And before someone jumps in and talks about Bokken, a Bokken is a wooden sword, yes and it is used in the same way as it's metal relative, the Katana, but the difference here is, my stick was even lighter than a broom handle. A Bokken IS the same weight as a Katana, BECAUSE it was used to train people in it.

It doesn't really affect our game. The only EU stuff I've included has been Thrawn and the Black Sun, though I do plan to introduce Mara Jade. So far, the existence of those characters is not contradicted by the new material. If we ever get far enough along in the timeline (right now we are still between ANH and ESB) to where the actions of those characters may come into conflict with canon, I'll make a decision then. Chances are that their storylines will be altered to let them exist with their EU personalities but without being too disruptive to the new canon.

Sabine's friend in a recent episode of Rebels said she was working for the Black Sun, and isn't Rebels canon?

Also, wasn't Shadows of the Empire canon by George Lucas's approval? Prince Xizor and the Black Sun were in that. I know the Force Unleashed games were semi canonical. Maybe I'm confusing the two or they're both canon at the time or whatever.

I don't watch Rebels so I wasn't aware of that. SotE was canon before Disney took over. Now like the rest of the EU it is not until they specifically choose to include it. If they have included the Black Sun in Rebels I guess it is safe to say that the organization is canon again but that does not mean that the rest of the Shadows of the Empire storyline will also be canon.

I'm not too hung up over it though, my campaign pretty much uses the original trilogy plus WEG lore. Disney can make whatever they want to be canon but since I haven't seen any of the post-Lucas material other than Force Awakens it has zero chance of affecting my game right now.

There are several bits of FA regarding hyperspace that I'll be ignoring in my games.

My group brought this up specifically. I told them that as far as they are concerned, what they saw in the movies represents advancements in hyperspace technology that have not yet been developed, so no hyperspace landings for them.