Hello guys 'n dolls

Me and a couple of my chums are thinking about giving this game a go and knowing the group I will likely be the GM. But before I start putting down money (likely on the started set first) I would like to pick a few brains.

1. From what I understand all 3 core books are the same system just with different races/ classes and focus, but are there any rules that are exclusive to any version?

2. Do the core books include a GM section or do I have to get that separately and while talking GM, as a GM of other systems (mostly D&D) is it easy to use general knowledge and experience from my other games or do I need to rethink stuff from the ground up for this system?

3. Is this a grid based system or theater of the mind, or both?

4. Would you reccomend all 3 core books or getting 1 core book and it's supplements before moving on to the next?


And just a few things out of curiosity about your games in particular.

5. I know this is focused on the Civil War but do you guys play other time eras such as Clone Wars, Old republic etc?

6. When you play do you guys try to stay to cannon or are you willing to have things go ball to the wall crazy and have things like the group killing the Emperor and taking over the galaxy?

1. The three have PC motivational rules called Obligation, Duty, and Morality, but the functional mechanics of the game are the same.

2. There are GM sections in each.

3. Theater of the mind, do not get hung up on numerical distances and 'making sense'.

4. I'd recommend deciding what flavor background your campaign is going to have and then asking again based on what your PCs want to be, or just buy all the **** books.

5. No, but it's easily doable.

6. Canon personally, but it's all whatever's good imo.

Just to clarify there are a few things to bear in mind, edge of the empire.and age of rebellion each have only a few force powers and only 1 force sensitve specialisation each(named force sensitive exile or emergent) this specialisation can be bolted on to your character and is the only path to force sensitivity in the game for either of these books.

Force and Destiny is the opposite , as it is not possible to choose a starting character without it being force sensitive unless you somehow get the info for the careers and specialisations from the other books, and owning this info without the books is technically violation of copyright. So the level of player force sensitivity you want in your campaign is important to know so that you can make an informed decision on which core to choose.

If you want access to a wider range of force powers then its Force & Destiny, however this means the players are 100% force sensitve.

If you want there to be rare force sesnitivity then either of the other two will be fine, but you only get a small grouping of force powers in each.

If you want a military specced campaign Age of Rebellion is your bag, as Edge careers do not get access as easy to fighting skills (only about 40-50% if that get a career weapon skill)

All this being said Edge careers and specs are my favorites.

1. The three have PC motivational rules called Obligation, Duty, and Morality, but the functional mechanics of the game are the same.

One could argue that the different takes on the force as new mechanics - but yeah.

5. I know this is focused on the Civil War but do you guys play other time eras such as Clone Wars, Old republic etc?

Me and my group just finished up a KotOR era game set during the Sith Cold War without skipping a beat. You could easily take the mechanics and put them in Legacy, in the Old Republic, Star Wars Classic. Hell, people have stripped the Star Wars out and done Fantasy games with this engine.

To add what 2P51 and Desslok said:

1. No special rules beyond the Obligation/Duty/Morality thing, but these are really only backgrounds and I discarded the mechanical aspects of them, and that didn't affect how it plays in the slightest. Each book has a different version of a Force-user character, but F&D goes into more details, because that's the focus of that game.

2. All have a GM section. You don't necessarily need to 'rethink from the ground up', but if you're used to playing games like D&D/Pathfinder, you might need to approach it with an open mind. The funny dice give a variety of results that are not just pass/fail, and there's a certain skill in reading the dice. Luckily, it's not difficult and you should get used to it quickly. Also, the dice results and the game in general is strongly narrative - it's really meant to be a story-telling game, rather than an MMO type game where things like 'builds' and 'DPS' are all-important. The game is best when it emulates a Star Wars movie, with cinematic action that goes beyond just combat.

3. Purely 'theatre of the mind' - in fact, it uses an abstract system to describe distances. It came easily to me after a few plays.

4. I like them all, but you're fine with just one if you wish. It's the same game with different flavours, depending on whether you like Han Solo/Boba Fett stuff (EoE), classic Empire vs Alliance (AoR), or Force-users (F&D). The game plays fine alone or with all three mixed - unlike the Warhammer 40K RPG, it's wholly compatible and surprisingly well-balanced. I find it's one of the few Star Wars games where 'Jedi' is not automatically the go-to character for everything. Non-combat roles like Diplomats, Mechanics, Pilots, Gamblers, even Colonists, are all viable options.

5. Default is the original movies, because that's so familiar to everyone. It's easily converted to another era with very little effort. Some of us made our own campaign from scratch, or reskinned it to Firefly or Fantasy or whatever.

6. I enjoy the movies but find they make for a poor RPG setting, where I feel that the PCs should be the stars. It's easy to change canon as you wish, and the book suggests you talk it through with the players and get them on board either way. My own game opened with the execution of Palapatine, the failure of Order 66, and took off from there. If you want your players to be the ones to kill Vader or blow up the Death Star, go for it.

Also, this is one of the friendlier RPG communities, and the regulars are always happy to discuss the game and answer questions.

P.S. ProTip: buy one of the excellent Beginner Sets. They really do give you a feel for the game and help you learn and teach the rules.

1. From what I understand all 3 core books are the same system just with different races/ classes and focus, but are there any rules that are exclusive to any version?

Essentially all the mechanics are identical. There's only a few rules that only appear in one or two of the cores and not all three, and they aren't exactly vital.

5. I know this is focused on the Civil War but do you guys play other time eras such as Clone Wars, Old republic etc?

You can, just understand:

A) The provided stats are for Civil War stuff first. There's a few Clone Wars items peppered in the various books, but no Old republic stuff. So if you want to play in that era, be ready to do a lot of your own statting.

B) Jedi and the Force, while good and well balanced, are also handling fairly conservatively. You can still do what they do in the films, using the rules for advanced play, but it's very much what you see and nothing more. There's been a lot of debate that should be easy to find on what constitutes a Jedi, so I won't go into it here, just wanted you to have a heads up about that... issue...

Yeah, what the others have said. Pick a flavor, and buy that core book. Also, this is not a tactical combat game. Forget about grids and miniatures! The range bands are all about the "about". LITERALLY! Short range is "about 3 meters to 8 meters'. Or something like that. I'm not quoting the book the CRB as I don't have it in front of me, I am just using the quotes to show the expression.

A lot of people can really get hung up on these range bands, and it can really bug them. Also, Rounds can be weird. First, their are no Combat Rounds, just Rounds. Second, they are not a set and specified amount of time. Yep, they are "ABOUT" again... They can "last up to a minute, and should be long enough for everyone to move, and perform an important action". that is from the CRB. They are "NOT a minute long" though, as some people mistakenly like to say.

This game is about emulating the movies and giving you that cinematic action feeling, not that miniature wargaming, life is dragging on forever feeling. Hey, I liked my D20 minis and I made a ton of paper models for them! But those days are sadly gone now. This game doesn't require maps, or grids, and the few times I did use maps and minis, it really made the game drag. It made people get back into that mind set of looking at the board with that tactile eye, line of sight, should I move here or here, where would I get better cover... So yeah, I say don't use them. Stick with a white board and dry erase markers. Blue for the good guys are red for the baddies.

Initiative is a little quirky the first couple of times. It's fluid, and it can change. It's a Team Initiative pool. So if Player A rolled the best, it doesn't mean he has to go first, he could give player B that slot. The next round though, Player A could now take that first Initiative slot if he wanted. The "slots" or positions don't change, but the characters can fill them how they want and change them from round to round.

So I went outside of your questions a little, as they have already been answered. No sense repeating great advice. So I went and gave you some advice to some questions that I thought you might have next. Welcome to the forum and good luck with your gaming adventures!

5. I have three face-to-Face games going on at the moment, and one of them is in the SW:TOR era. Mainly just fluff changes and the such.

4. Would you reccomend all 3 core books or getting 1 core book and it's supplements before moving on to the next?

Actually, I would recommend a beginner box. The adventure in the box is a bit of a railroad, but good for learning the rules. The PDF followup adventures are more freeform, just MHO but the EotE one is good, but the AoR one is excellent. Plus you get a set of dice, and you'll want more than one anyway.

The Force rules take centre stage in Force and Destiny (obviously), but the Force Sensitive Exile/Emergent are available in EotE and AoR, along with some nice powers

I recommend the adversary Decks. Easily the most well spent money I have invested as they get more use than any of the books and I would happily pay for a Starship deck and creature deck to help round them out.

I'm rather new to this game as well, coming from a strong D&D background all the way back to 1980's. So going from someone with that background I'd say this game is great.

I bought the basic Edge game at first to see if my friends liked it, and played that module 4 times just to get used to it. Since then I've bought all basic and core books. It was disappointing for the price that there is alot repeated in them but I think the good from each book outweighed that (I have very limited income so some was bought as presents).

You will want more than 1 set of dice (I have 5).

I am starting to invest in the extra books and I have to say that the quality just blows me away.

The game is fun (but from a D&D background you'll need to learn to not rely on grids unless you want) and the hardest part for my group is remembering how to use the dice (plus my players need help when it comes to using Triumph)

Last thing download Oggdudes char program, it is indispensable and great for making the character creation less daunting.

A) The provided stats are for Civil War stuff first. There's a few Clone Wars items peppered in the various books, but no Old republic stuff. So if you want to play in that era, be ready to do a lot of your own statting.

Addendum - you can just reskin the characters as necessary. That's not a TIE fighter, that's a Confederacy Fighter. Stormtrooper? Nope, its now a battledroid or a Clone Trooper.

IIRC, Stay on Target had some stats for a CW era rifle

I can't say that other people's opinions are wrong, or that they themselves are wrong, they certainly have thier right to their views and that is great, and I'm not trying to be negative and bash on anyone, so that is not my intent here.

As to the Beginners Box Sets. I'm not a big fan of them. Sure, you get a set of dice! Whoop Whoop!! In my opinion (and that all it is) that is about the only thing worth it in that big box. Sure you get some pretty maps. Wow. You get to use them for one adventure! You get some great looking pre generated character sheets, that you might use for that one adventure... Wow... And a bunch of little tokens that you punch out of card stock and loose in the coming years.

In my opinion, again, nothing more than an old dudes thoughts, this was a great way for FFG to introduce the game a few years back when Saga was still fresh in everyone's mind. We were all still used to using grid maps and mins in the Star Wars RPG adventures thanks to the D20 RCR and Saga lines. So the Beginers Box Set had just enough of that to make us feel comfortable, and yet, introduce us with enough of the new concepts and rules. Oh, speaking of the rules, you also get a watered down version of the rules, so you will still need to buy the Core books for sure to get the full effect. I thing the box sets are good for those that have never played an RPG before though, and is a great to introduce people to the genre. I am willing to bet that the vast majority of the box sets old to people don't lead them to buying more of the RPG line though. I think it is often bought by people thinking it is more of a board game.

So, on Amazon right now:
EotE Begingers Box Set: $60
AoR BBS $29.99/23.29 Prime Price
FaD BBS $29.99/23.25
EotE $59.99/$46.81
AoR $59.95/$52.41
FaD $59.99/$49.99
FFG Star War RPG Dice $14.99/$14.25

So for about $15 more, you get one set of dice, and some maps and cardboard tokens that you might use once, and some watered down rules. You still have to buy the core books anyways. Again, if you think the maps are worth the around 15 bucks, cool. You can google the images of the box sets and see for your self. I do have the EotE box set and never used anything except the dice. I'm not knocking on FFG here, so please don't take this as me just bashing on them. I think the box sets are great for people that have never gamed before. I don't think they are a good investment for those that are really looking to get into the game though. I do own literally 98% of all the FFG Star Wars RPG books including the Beta rule books. I just don't buy the box sets anymore. So I do throw them my money!!! But hey, for those that buy the box sets, that is great, and Spartan Dude, if you decide that you think it would be a good investment for you, cool. I just don't think they are worth the money, but other people do, and their is nothing wrong with that.
Wait, I'm sorry, this is the interwebz, you are all wrong expect me, you all have to agree with me, everyone is wrong expect me, this game is so stupid, it is so derivative and such a cheap copy of Fate, I can't believe you people play at it, Star Wars has been ruined 4 ever! Only Episode 4 and the Karen Traviss novels are the true Star Wars!!!
LOL . Or as some have said, BUY IT ALL.
Let us be thankful we have commerce. Buy more. Buy more now. Buy more and be happy.

A) The provided stats are for Civil War stuff first. There's a few Clone Wars items peppered in the various books, but no Old republic stuff. So if you want to play in that era, be ready to do a lot of your own statting.

Addendum - you can just reskin the characters as necessary. That's not a TIE fighter, that's a Confederacy Fighter. Stormtrooper? Nope, its now a battledroid or a Clone Trooper.

Yes, but it does depend on what you're talking about. B1 Battledroids are in the EotE Core, Stormtroopers and Clonetroopers aren't really any different from a raw mechanics perspective. Likewise ToR era stuff will mostly convert with either reskinning or only minor tweaks.

Some stuff will need some work though. The ARC-170 isn't statted anywhere to my knowledge. Nor the LAAT or Hailfire droid, ect.

I mean none of these are that hard to stat as you can generally take an existing statblock and adjust it to match, but that's still some work to do, and were I a new GM I'd like to see coming.

Sure you get some pretty maps. Wow. You get to use them for one adventure!

Lets see, I've only used the F&D map the one time, but Mos Chuta and Teemo's Palace? That got used several times as the players went back to the city after the game (or I needed a town on Tatooine that wasn't Mos Eisley). I intend on using Whisper Base as the main facility of our Rebel game (before eventually using it in Onslaught on Arda).

So, yeah - not necessarily.

I mean none of these are that hard to stat as you can generally take an existing statblock and adjust it to match, but that's still some work to do, and were I a new GM I'd like to see coming.

Fair enough. I was just pointing out that you could cut some corners and not lose anything from the game.

I can't say that other people's opinions are wrong, or that they themselves are wrong, they certainly have thier right to their views and that is great, and I'm not trying to be negative and bash on anyone, so that is not my intent here.

As to the Beginners Box Sets. I'm not a big fan of them. Sure, you get a set of dice! Whoop Whoop!! In my opinion (and that all it is) that is about the only thing worth it in that big box. Sure you get some pretty maps. Wow. You get to use them for one adventure! You get some great looking pre generated character sheets, that you might use for that one adventure... Wow... And a bunch of little tokens that you punch out of card stock and loose in the coming years.

R2builder's starting disclaimer also applies here. No intention to be rude or say anyone is wrong.

I bought EotE beginner game before core book. And I think it was good. Beginner game rulebook gave me an easy way to the basic rules, so getting inside the core rule book (CRB) and advanced rules was easy. Also, I liked the beginner game box trinkets. Maps are good quality and dice are usefull. Of course, your (OP) mileage may vary. Anyway I think you should at least consider Beginner game. Of course depending on its price on your local gaming shop. I got it fairly cheap (half the price of core rule book), so it was good value to me. Before this I wasn't big friend of beginner game boxes, but this one convinced me because its high production values. But as said YMMV.

Beginner game adventure is very railroaded, but it teaches the basic rules fairly well. And I've heard its successor (The Long Arm of Hutt, free adventure on FFG site) is more open.

For me the Beginner's Box sets would be a must unless I'm joining an experienced group. It has been thirty years since I've played an RPG and am fairly sure I wasn't "doing it right" for a number of reasons. I most certainly would be in need of some "hand holding."

1. From what I understand all 3 core books are the same system just with different races/ classes and focus, but are there any rules that are exclusive to any version?

Not really. The basic mechanics are the same across all 3 game lines. That was on purpose, so that any group of players could pick up any core book, and be able to play, without needing to have a 2nd or 3rd book to fully understand what's going on.

2. Do the core books include a GM section or do I have to get that separately and while talking GM, as a GM of other systems (mostly D&D) is it easy to use general knowledge and experience from my other games or do I need to rethink stuff from the ground up for this system?

They have GM sections, but you can also buy the GM Kits for like $20, and they've got some nice little goodies in them. GM screen, another set of dice (always handy), a module (if you need one). So while not mandatory to get, they're certainly useful

3. Is this a grid based system or theater of the mind, or both?

You can use it both ways technically. I know several GM's, especially GM's Chris and Phil from the Order 66 Podcast, like using maps for general distance measuring. But they do it in broad terms, not specific grid points. I run it purely theater of the mind, but some like to see stuff in front of them. Either is viable. If you do use a map though, be sure to generalize distances. "Ok, so basically here to here is short range, here to here is medium.." etc etc. And then let them move wherever they want within that appropriate range band. Don't count squares or anything.

4. Would you reccomend all 3 core books or getting 1 core book and it's supplements before moving on to the next?

I would recommend it yes, but it's far from necessary. It depends on your group. If everyone wants to play similar characters (Force users, members of the rebellion, etc), you can get away with just getting one book. But if you have a group of players that all want to be something vastly different, like ooooh...one wants to be a smuggler with a bounty on his head, the other wants to be a politician with ties to the rebellion, and the other wants to be a Jedi....sounds familiar, then yeah, you might need all 3 books to give them the widest options. But it's not 100% necessary.

And just a few things out of curiosity about your games in particular.

5. I know this is focused on the Civil War but do you guys play other time eras such as Clone Wars, Old republic etc?
Yep, I'm currently running a game rooted in the Old Republic time period (during the Sith War 5000 years before Yavin) The rules work just fine, as nothing has really changed with Star Wars no matter when you are looking at. Sith still have red sabers, Jedi still have green/blue. Soldiers still all look like storm troopers. Ships look the same, droids are the same, yadda yadda, you get the idea. The only thing different is the names of the various factions. Rules work 100% fine in any setting.

6. When you play do you guys try to stay to cannon or are you willing to have things go ball to the wall crazy and have things like the group killing the Emperor and taking over the galaxy?

Depends on your players really, and what story you want to tell. Some players are totally fine with letting canon stay canon, and they go off and do something else while Luke and the others are saving the galaxy. Other players, want to be the Big **** Heroes of the Galaxy themselves. You need to talk to your players, and tell them what kind of game you were considering running, and ask them if they had any feelings on it. If they all want to play scoundrel types, living life on the edge of the galaxy, and screw the Rebellion, then it's probably not a good idea to run a campaign centered on a group of Rebellion soldiers trying to save the day. And vice versa.

2. Do the core books include a GM section or do I have to get that separately and while talking GM, as a GM of other systems (mostly D&D) is it easy to use general knowledge and experience from my other games or do I need to rethink stuff from the ground up for this system? They have GM sections, but you can also buy the GM Kits for like $20, and they've got some nice little goodies in them. GM screen, another set of dice (always handy), a module (if you need one). So while not mandatory to get, they're certainly useful

Minor correction: While the Beginner Game box sets do come with a set of dice, the GM Kits do not. (It would be nice to get the screen, module, and a $14.99 set of dice for the $19.99 price point, but, alas, we don't.

2. Do the core books include a GM section or do I have to get that separately and while talking GM, as a GM of other systems (mostly D&D) is it easy to use general knowledge and experience from my other games or do I need to rethink stuff from the ground up for this system? They have GM sections, but you can also buy the GM Kits for like $20, and they've got some nice little goodies in them. GM screen, another set of dice (always handy), a module (if you need one). So while not mandatory to get, they're certainly useful

Minor correction: While the Beginner Game box sets do come with a set of dice, the GM Kits do not. (It would be nice to get the screen, module, and a $14.99 set of dice for the $19.99 price point, but, alas, we don't.

*blinks*....what is the name of the F&D beginner module then? Because I know I got a set of dice with some packet.

2. Do the core books include a GM section or do I have to get that separately and while talking GM, as a GM of other systems (mostly D&D) is it easy to use general knowledge and experience from my other games or do I need to rethink stuff from the ground up for this system? They have GM sections, but you can also buy the GM Kits for like $20, and they've got some nice little goodies in them. GM screen, another set of dice (always handy), a module (if you need one). So while not mandatory to get, they're certainly useful

Minor correction: While the Beginner Game box sets do come with a set of dice, the GM Kits do not. (It would be nice to get the screen, module, and a $14.99 set of dice for the $19.99 price point, but, alas, we don't.

*blinks*....what is the name of the F&D beginner module then? Because I know I got a set of dice with some packet.

The cover of the BG adventure book just says "Force and Destiny Beginner Game Adventure Book," but the page with the "opening crawl" has "Mountaintop Rescue" in the title slot. The F&D GM Kit adventure module is Hidden Depths.

2. Do the core books include a GM section or do I have to get that separately and while talking GM, as a GM of other systems (mostly D&D) is it easy to use general knowledge and experience from my other games or do I need to rethink stuff from the ground up for this system? They have GM sections, but you can also buy the GM Kits for like $20, and they've got some nice little goodies in them. GM screen, another set of dice (always handy), a module (if you need one). So while not mandatory to get, they're certainly useful

Minor correction: While the Beginner Game box sets do come with a set of dice, the GM Kits do not. (It would be nice to get the screen, module, and a $14.99 set of dice for the $19.99 price point, but, alas, we don't.

*blinks*....what is the name of the F&D beginner module then? Because I know I got a set of dice with some packet.

The cover of the BG adventure book just says "Force and Destiny Beginner Game Adventure Book," but the page with the "opening crawl" has "Mountaintop Rescue" in the title slot. The F&D GM Kit adventure module is Hidden Depths.

Huh, then I have no idea where I got my set of dice. Because I don't have that kit. Maybe I just bought them individually....huh. *shrugs*

2. Do the core books include a GM section or do I have to get that separately and while talking GM, as a GM of other systems (mostly D&D) is it easy to use general knowledge and experience from my other games or do I need to rethink stuff from the ground up for this system? They have GM sections, but you can also buy the GM Kits for like $20, and they've got some nice little goodies in them. GM screen, another set of dice (always handy), a module (if you need one). So while not mandatory to get, they're certainly useful

Minor correction: While the Beginner Game box sets do come with a set of dice, the GM Kits do not. (It would be nice to get the screen, module, and a $14.99 set of dice for the $19.99 price point, but, alas, we don't.

*blinks*....what is the name of the F&D beginner module then? Because I know I got a set of dice with some packet.

The cover of the BG adventure book just says "Force and Destiny Beginner Game Adventure Book," but the page with the "opening crawl" has "Mountaintop Rescue" in the title slot. The F&D GM Kit adventure module is Hidden Depths.

Huh, then I have no idea where I got my set of dice. Because I don't have that kit. Maybe I just bought them individually....huh. *shrugs*

No biggie. I just didn't want the OP to start hitting up game stores for the GM Kits and getting mad at them for "removing" the dice.