Who are the pregen characters in terms of classes and specs? I understand they come from all three lines right?

Actually, FFG only used EotE and AoR to construct the pre-gens.

For the careers, they used a sort of hodge-podge of the associated specs to create a simplified talent tree for the characters that don't match up to the talent trees published in the core books.

Who are the pregen characters in terms of classes and specs? I understand they come from all three lines right?

Actually, FFG only used EotE and AoR to construct the pre-gens.

For the careers, they used a sort of hodge-podge of the associated specs to create a simplified talent tree for the characters that don't match up to the talent trees published in the core books.

A Colonist and Explorer from Edge and an Ace and Soldier from Age. Now they usually release two more character online. Possibly in this case they could draw on careers in F&D. Keep in mind you can also draw on character portfolios from the other Beginner sets too.

A Call for Heroes a bonus adventure for this Beginners box is out as well.

Looks like the FFG Star Wars RPG team are followers of the AngryGM! The recap section in a Call for Heroes could have been taken straight from here: http://theangrygm.com/the-art-of-the-recap/

There were no trees on Illum though right?!

Also since the ilum system has other rocky planets (without atmosphere though) and many moons it is possible that the base was built on a different planet/moon to keep ilum as a source of useful crystals. I wouldn't hold my breath on that though.

As for the TFA pregens it makes sense they are from Edge and Age careers as there isn't yet a foce sensistive training instiution. So i guess that the downloadable pregens will have Force careers.

I hate all of you.

I wasn't going to get this but after this thread - and Dono mentioned on the d20radio forums that there's rathtar stats - I went out and bought this yesterday.

In Star Wars: The Old Republic, Ilum had no trees, only certain plants evolved to survive the harsh ice.

However the only canonical info on Ilum comes from The Clone Wars TV show, where you only see the outside of the Jedi temple. We don't have anything in canon stating what the rest of the planet was like.

Seems as there will be no additional PCs this time - as there are no character-tokens for them

Seems as there will be no additional PCs this time - as there are no character-tokens for them

Yeah, you're right. Just took a look at the tokens (which I usually gloss over as I tend not to use maps or tokens in most of my games), and there's only four tokens that are suited for PCs.

Which is a real shame, although if I run this and have a player that would like to be a Force user, I've got options to pick from courtesy of the FaD Beginner Box.

So here's a question...

Did anybody else get two copies of the rulebook? Because I did.

I think that means someone, somewhere, got zero copies of the Rulebook.

That really sucks for them.

Yeah, sometimes mix-ups happen. For example my Age of Rebellion Beginner Game came with two white Force dice but only a single yellow Proficiency die.

I already had three dice sets so whatever. . . But someone out there got three yellow dice, lucky bastard.

So here's a question...

Did anybody else get two copies of the rulebook? Because I did.

Diid you get everything else? If not drop customer service a line

How is the adventure? In terms of playability is it easy or otherwise and what is the goal of the adventure?

Is there anything about the New Republic?

Short synopsis of adventure. PCs are hired to help/protect nomad clan, who have a base at derelict ship (crashed to Jakku at Battle of Jakku) they found recently. There are rumours there is something important/valuable in hidden in ship, and PCs need to find out and protect nomads, while local criminal gang tries to conquer the derelict. After these events adventure can easily be connected to EotE or AoR campaign. IMO, adventure is quite a solid, and can easily be modified to EotE / AoR timeline, with some cosmetic changes.

Generally I estimate that adventure difficulty is normal beginner box difficulty. Not too hard, but can challenge players especially if they are new to gaming.

And one potential spoiler about NPCs:

Summary: I liked it. It doesn't try to replica Force awakens events, but places PC at same planet, and to situation which can be connected to movie if GM/PCs want.

Just ran this last night for a pair of my regular players.

Caveat: they're strong roleplayers AND roll-players, so I let them make characters at starting XP+20, with an extra 500 credits to spend (which still meant they were weaker than any of the pre-gens).

My immediate, non-spoiler reactions:

- This is the second-most-railroad-y of the Beginner Games, after F&D. The PCs' goals are more or less set throughout, and there are multiple encounters that begin, more or less, with "Whatever the PCs were planning to do, ambush them with this plot twist now."

- That said, the plot diverges about 2/3rds of the way through, where the PCs can make choices that scoot them past/around one entire map. My players found it easy to do this, in fact (though they also rolled amazingly well), and we avoided encountering the aforementioned NPC who is a character from THE FORCE AWAKENS. I personally considered this sudden opening up of the game to be really exciting to GM, but I also let my players know right before that we might be done playing in 20 minutes or we might be going for 2 more hours.

- The plot's setup is also the most morally-limiting one of all the Beginner Games. The PCs are doing Good Deeds from the outset, regardless of their backgrounds or interior motivations.

- It starts with combat, a la the Beginner Game for EotE, and shares that BG's propensity for compelling social encounters.

- The SECOND fight, though, is a real beast. There are no notes for scaling it to match the size of of the party, and we see the return of the "minion groups with high-powered rifles" trend from the first two Beginner Games. My PCs made it out alive, but both of them were dropped below 0 Wounds at various points, and that's with me giving the NPCs bad tactics and with my PCs being capable min-maxers.

- There are a lot of encounters involving vehicles, but no rules or stats for those vehicles. This made me cry on the inside. It's obviously an intentional choice to limit complexity, but man I wanted stats for the cool new FORCE AWAKENS ships.

- The authors have done a nice job of providing a ton of options to account for varied player choices, but again it's worth mentioning that those choices are presumed to be based in selflessness.

TL;DR: This is the FFG adventure that most resembles the opening module of a Pathfinder Adventure Path. I personally LOVED that feeling, in the end.

Yeah, sometimes mix-ups happen. For example my Age of Rebellion Beginner Game came with two white Force dice but only a single yellow Proficiency die.

I already had three dice sets so whatever. . . But someone out there got three yellow dice, lucky bastard.

I bought a set of dice, and instead of the setback dice, it had two black dice from Imperial Assault. I didn't notice until I grabbed and rolled one - I was very confused.

I contacted FFG, and they sent me replacements.

And now that I've purchased Imperial Assault, I have two extra black defense dice.

At this point I really hope they don't come out and say specifically: "Starkiller Base was a partially-terraformed Ilum." That way it's left to each GM how to run it. I, personally, think having the planet relatively intact is more interesting that it being a giant ball of flaming particles.

I was already not a fan of how the Empire wiped out the population of the Geonosisian homeworld in the comics. Mostly because I didn't want to see a trend of "All of the prequel races were genocided by the Empire, because Prequels, LOL"

Well i think they were genocided (if that remains canon) because: 1 they were among the main suppliers of the droid armies and could be tehcnological powerbase for any rebellion, and 2 because they invented the Death Star so they must be silenced forever. Prequels have nothing to do with that.

Don't forget the Clone Wars arc with the zombie Geonosisian queens, that were infecting the entire planet.

Well i think they were genocided (if that remains canon) because: 1 they were among the main suppliers of the droid armies and could be tehcnological powerbase for any rebellion, and 2 because they invented the Death Star so they must be silenced forever. Prequels have nothing to do with that.

They do have something to do with that, since the prequels introduced both of those points.

However, the genocide of Geonosis was also a plot point in Rebels as it was in Darth Vader , so I'd say it's canon.

Well in Rebels it's hinted but not confirmed, as the episode was about something else. So i'd say we're still uncertain about it.

Just went out and bought a copy at lunch. I <3 my local gaming store (which is a 5 minute walk from my office).

I have nothing useful to say on the matter of its contents, but I feel the need to gush.

Well i think they were genocided (if that remains canon) because: 1 they were among the main suppliers of the droid armies and could be tehcnological powerbase for any rebellion, and 2 because they invented the Death Star so they must be silenced forever. Prequels have nothing to do with that.

Yup the only trend is that those who have fulfilled their obligations and now outlived their usefulness to Sideous meet with an untimely demise.

Some other points... If your mantra was "Prequels, LOL" why on earth would you:

1) Bring Jimmy Smits back for Rogue One?

2) Even more outrageous... bring back the actress who played Mon Mothma in a CUT SCENE from Revenge of the Sith? Mind you this character NEVER appeared on screen, but you went out of your way to get the same actress.

3) Finally, one of the key characters from Rogue One, Saw Gerrera, is taken directly from the pen of George Lucas (he created this character specifically for Clone Wars, and the never finished spinoff "Underworld" series)

So lets see... canon... canon... canon... Hmm guess Disney considers the Prequels, and TCW canon.

But seriously, when this story through line is complete I figure what we will learn is the Death Star station itself was built by the Geonosians, and as a special "thank you" Sideous had them wiped out. Then, on to phase two... the super laser which is of course all tied into the Kyber Crystals... the unfinished Crystal Crisis on Utapau arc deals with the Separatists trying to get their hands on one such large crystal, and a giant crystal is featured in the Rebels episode "Breaking Ranks". My guess is Jyn Erso's father is the one who develops the means to attune the crystals to create a super laser capable of destroying planets.

Yancy

Comparing old maps to this new one, I now understand why Ilum is not available as a source of lightsaber crystals — the First Order turned Ilum into Starkiller Base.

Wait. Wait. Wait. Wait.

What?

So...all the fan theories are true?

FFS

Does this mean I can't find a magenta crystal like Mace Windu???

Comparing old maps to this new one, I now understand why Ilum is not available as a source of lightsaber crystals — the First Order turned Ilum into Starkiller Base.

Wait. Wait. Wait. Wait.

What?

So...all the fan theories are true?

FFS

Does this mean I can't find a magenta crystal like Mace Windu???

Not necessarily. His first saber (also purple) used a crystal that wasn't from Ilum (it was from Hurikane), and it isn't clear where his second saber's crystal was from. Ilum was not the only source of crystals -- just one of the most common ones.