It seems a little strange to have ALL the characters be force users together. Seems like there should be a good reason to tie them all together. What are some starting backstories GMs have used?

Here's a couple ideas I have:

Dark Matter: Everyone wakes up on a ship and doesn't know why they are there. Either they must escape, or its abandoned, or the captain is coming back.

Prisoners: They were being collected by a Sith to be trained in the dark side.

Legend Seekers: Tasked by the Rebellion to seek out lost knowledge of the Jedi.

What else?

Companions in Persecution: Each of you have been hounded your entire lives as nascent and emerging force users, having to stay one step ahead of the Empire and bounty hunters after the lucrative rewards for captured force sensitives. You have inevitably run into others similar to yourselves, and banded together for mutual survival.

Touch of Destiny: You have all had a vision to seek out each other, your destinies are intertwined together.

Touch of Destiny: You have all had a vision to seek out each other, your destinies are intertwined together.

Comparatively, the characters follow the Force to the same location (a nexus, or a ruined Jedi temple).

Mentor: all the characters were approached by the same mentor figure or friend in some fashion, and come together because of that shared background. The beginner game uses this concept.

Force Restorers: The PC's all have some experience with the Force and the Jedi, and wish to see both restored past the Empire's tyranny. They have spent at least the past few years (likely more, if they're old enough) trying to reach this goal, and have discovered that there are few others willing to take on such a task--those willing, however, have banded together to combine their abilities (hence the party).

ive always been on the idea that force users find each other due to the nature of the force. if in a natural nexus of power like a temple or just attracting each others attention

Maybe they were raised and taught to use their abilities in secret by an old Jedi master wounded in the Clone Wars.

Maybe they were raised and taught to use their abilities in secret by an old Jedi master wounded in the Clone Wars.

just....**** thats a sexy photo. everything about it is just perfect

Maybe they were raised and taught to use their abilities in secret by an old Jedi master wounded in the Clone Wars.

just....**** thats a sexy photo. everything about it is just perfect

Except Gambit there should pass out from skin contact with Rogue!

Maybe they were raised and taught to use their abilities in secret by an old Jedi master wounded in the Clone Wars.

just....**** thats a sexy photo. everything about it is just perfect

Except Gambit there should pass out from skin contact with Rogue!

starwars xmen mix, powers and rules are changed

10/10 would play that adventure.

It seems a little strange to have ALL the characters be force users together. Seems like there should be a good reason to tie them all together. What are some starting backstories GMs have used?

Here's a couple ideas I have:

Dark Matter: Everyone wakes up on a ship and doesn't know why they are there. Either they must escape, or its abandoned, or the captain is coming back.

Prisoners: They were being collected by a Sith to be trained in the dark side.

Legend Seekers: Tasked by the Rebellion to seek out lost knowledge of the Jedi.

What else?

Well in my campaign I have a 60 year old clone trooper as part of the team and the clone trooper has only 2's in every stat, but he acts as if he has a 3 in every stat. Currently the clone owes a life debt to the leader of the team because the empire was going to terminate the clone.

Read the beginning game adventure and you could get a clue how some might come together.

A Mentor is probably one of the best ways to tie a group together, something the Beginner Box adventure makes use of.

Even if the party doesn't go the Mentor option, there's a number of ways that you could explain why a group of Force-sensitives came together. The Force does work in mysterious ways after all, and once they know the rest of the group are Force-sensitive, they may well stick together out of a sense of mutual protection.

Or, they could simply have a common point of contact, such as an employer. For my current FaD campaign, I had the PCs start out as employees of a small independent archaeological firm working directly with the lead (re: only) professional archaeologist on the company's payroll. They've since parted company with the company (and not on the best of terms either), so it'll be interesting see how they react to the repercussions of their actions.

Or perhaps they all signed on board as crewmates of a ship, not unlike how an EotE group might start out, either looking for passage to some place else or as hired hands before something happened to create a bond between the group.

It's quite possible a character has no idea they are force sensitive and therefore the rest of the Party don't know either.

You could have a mix where some PC's were looking for lost knowledge and came to an ancient place, other PC's happened to fly them there, and yet more are locals exploring the place out of curiosity. Yet they all end up there at the same time, in front of the same Holocron.

All the PC's being outcasts and ending in a place like Maz Kanata's Castle would be fun, with a Force Sensitive Mentor identifying them and recognising it as the will of The Force. Perhaps the Mentor has a lead for them to start them on their first adventure.

Starting in the middle of an action scene is always fun. They are all prisoners to an Inquisitor onboard transport to his base for torture and eventual turn to the Dark Side. While in transit a rebel faction attacks, led by the groups eventual Mentor. There would be a great opportunity to open with a Villain Monologue, ending in an explosion and escape. The PC's then know full well the Inquisitor survived and will be coming after them.

Another idea would be for the group to be members of a non-Jedi force tradition.

It would be fun to run the Killian Rangers setting. Especially since the shield gauntlet is in Keeping the Peace now.

I find that X-Men StarcWars mash up poster kind of ironic. Our campaign is pretty much a group of gifted youngsters hiding out at the school of a failed Padawan.

It's quite possible a character has no idea they are force sensitive and therefore the rest of the Party don't know either.

Yeah, I've roleplayed my character slowly gaining awareness of his power. Basically the first 5-6 sessions after I got my actual power I just played it as my character doing stuff off of instinct and not immediately noticing.

"That stormtrooper I was fighting dropped dead, I must have winged him though I don't remember the shot exactly" "That wound I took must not have been as bad as I initially thought..."

Jedi Knight Promotion day, also the same day Order 66 is executed. First session is going to be a quickie escape from a Jedi temple on some planet or another, gets the basic mechanics down light saber this to death, force powers that out of the way. This justifies my giving everyone 2 ranks in light saber, starting at Knight Level play, plus the fact I'm going to try and steer them into picking the light saber class from their career prior to picking a defferent class. Second session will be more role playing plus learning about their ship, possessions, etc.

Big trade off will be if those sabers are used the Empire will know about it and send Inquisition/intelligence forces after the party. Additional backstory will be akin to roaming the galaxy doing kind things for random people to make enough to support their ship till they get to planet X (I'll let them choose) then start the main bit of the story.

While I know that the game is set around the time frame of the original trilogy, there is nothing preventing one from running a Clone Wars/early Rise of the empire setting. I've been considering one set in the time of the Old Republic (KOTOR & SWTOR computer games). It takes a bit more work, but it's worth it for a whole party of Force users.

My party is bent on rebuilding the order after the beginning of the dark times (2 BBY), answering a call of conclave in the aftermath of order 66.

Also just to make sure you know, Force & Destiny doesn't have to be all force sensitive, not knowing they are, or even Jedi.

My group are a bunch of Padawons rushed through their trials to fight in the Clone Wars. They will slowly build up a cast of support characters, badass named clones, assault craft and a Jedi Cruser...

And then, once day late in the war, they will be on the bridge of their cruiser when a call comes in from the Chanceler, all points bulletin.

Order 66. Roll Inititive.

The F&D group I am about to start GMing for will all be padawans under a single Altesian Jedi Master. Of course, the Altesians are legend only so take that with a grain of salt but I figure, who only use Cannon when my characters aren't even cannon