Alright, gonna come out of lurking to at least say this.

So I'm a player in the game Bryan is referring to in this article, and he's never been adversarial as a GM. He likes to keep us on our toes and throw in twists now and then, but never anything we couldn't handle or that didn't lead to a fun play session.

As for other comments on canon vs EU, pushing the cartoon, etc, I can't say much one way or another. I think it's cool to have tie in's to current Star Wars happenings, but I get that's not for everyone and doesn't work for every campaign and game.

Anyway, just throwing it out there that, whatever your thoughts on implementation of any of the stuff discussed in the articles or threads here, find what works for you and your game. But I've definitely been enjoying the game he's been running.

Speaking of cover art, I'm pretty sure the picture of Boba Fett on No Disintigrations is the same artist who did Luke Skywalker on the cover of Endless Vigil. Said artwork of Luke is also being used in an Imperial Assault expansion and for Star Wars: Destiny. I'm not sure about the Boba picture, as I haven't followed anything to do with Star Wars: Destiny aside from what I see on the home page, but maybe FFG commissioned a bunch of new art for that, then realized it would be cheaper to just use art of established characters a few times. You know, the usual corporate corner-cutting shenanigans.

How much Asmodee has to do with that is for the conspiracy theorists and cynics to decide.

Weren't there any successful bounty hunters they could have put on the cover? Or at least given a grouping of some of the more iconic ones?

Speaking of cover art, I'm pretty sure the picture of Boba Fett on No Disintigrations is the same artist who did Luke Skywalker on the cover of Endless Vigil. Said artwork of Luke is also being used in an Imperial Assault expansion and for Star Wars: Destiny. I'm not sure about the Boba picture, as I haven't followed anything to do with Star Wars: Destiny aside from what I see on the home page, but maybe FFG commissioned a bunch of new art for that, then realized it would be cheaper to just use art of established characters a few times. You know, the usual corporate corner-cutting shenanigans.

How much Asmodee has to do with that is for the conspiracy theorists and cynics to decide.

Weren't there any successful bounty hunters they could have put on the cover? Or at least given a grouping of some of the more iconic ones?

I can at least get the logic behind putting Fett on the cover of No Disintegrations, because he is the go-to, iconic image of a bounty hunter in Star Wars. But, given the thematic elements of both the Sentinel career and what we've seen so far of Endless Vigil, Luke just seems out of place. He's definitely not Star Wars Batman.

The jokes on you all. That's really Jodo Kast on the cover.

Speaking of cover art, I'm pretty sure the picture of Boba Fett on No Disintigrations is the same artist who did Luke Skywalker on the cover of Endless Vigil. Said artwork of Luke is also being used in an Imperial Assault expansion and for Star Wars: Destiny. I'm not sure about the Boba picture, as I haven't followed anything to do with Star Wars: Destiny aside from what I see on the home page, but maybe FFG commissioned a bunch of new art for that, then realized it would be cheaper to just use art of established characters a few times. You know, the usual corporate corner-cutting shenanigans.

How much Asmodee has to do with that is for the conspiracy theorists and cynics to decide.

Weren't there any successful bounty hunters they could have put on the cover? Or at least given a grouping of some of the more iconic ones?

Cad Bane. He actually challenged experienced Jedi, as opposed to died from a blind guy hitting him in the back with a stick.

Speaking of cover art, I'm pretty sure the picture of Boba Fett on No Disintigrations is the same artist who did Luke Skywalker on the cover of Endless Vigil. Said artwork of Luke is also being used in an Imperial Assault expansion and for Star Wars: Destiny. I'm not sure about the Boba picture, as I haven't followed anything to do with Star Wars: Destiny aside from what I see on the home page, but maybe FFG commissioned a bunch of new art for that, then realized it would be cheaper to just use art of established characters a few times. You know, the usual corporate corner-cutting shenanigans.

How much Asmodee has to do with that is for the conspiracy theorists and cynics to decide.

Weren't there any successful bounty hunters they could have put on the cover? Or at least given a grouping of some of the more iconic ones?

I can at least get the logic behind putting Fett on the cover of No Disintegrations, because he is the go-to, iconic image of a bounty hunter in Star Wars. But, given the thematic elements of both the Sentinel career and what we've seen so far of Endless Vigil, Luke just seems out of place. He's definitely not Star Wars Batman.

Also Vader told "And I want them alive, no disintegrations"... given that Fett was the one that Vader said "no disintegrations" to it's perfectly natural that Fett is on the cover of "no disintegrations"... putting Luke on the cover of endless vigil I can criticize as not being entirely relevant (other than Luke being a form 5 guy, and the sentinel career having for 5 as the lightsaber form in it)

The jokes on you all. That's really Jodo Kast on the cover.

No it's Thrawn dressed s Jodo Kast.

The jokes on you all. That's really Jodo Kast on the cover.

Wouldnt be the first time:

(Mind you, I wonder what the hell they're all doing on Bespin during a Tatooine based adventure)

How do YOU use the canon characters? How are YOUR games set up? How do the PCs change things? What are YOUR best villains, and how did you run them in your campaigns or make them memorable?

I like to use such famous NPC characters as neutral or friendly NPCs whom PCs have a chance to meet. In case of Thrawn, I would use him in my Imperial campaign, a vice-admiral under which they will serve for a short season. I would not put Luke or Wedge against my TIE players, nor Thrawn against my rebel players. They are too powerful NPCs to drop them against PCs IMO, but to use them as background of the scene, supporting NPC will make the players IMO to feel better the Star Wars they know. They can meet Boba leaving Jabba´s audience chamber while they are entering it. They can meet Han Solo in Mos Eisley Cantina and play sabbac with him or meet an old grandpa in a landspeeder with a farmboy and the droids.

Once my PCs on Tatooine found information about hidden crates with blasters in a cave. The information had a visual picture of the area, but nothing more. As they did know the location, they looked for a smuggler who would know Tatooine well and they approached Solo and the Wookie. He recognized the place due to the land feature and as they lacked starship too, for "only" 50% of the cut he agreed to be their pilot for a day. They found the crates plus a despair that turned to be a young Krayt Dragon. But Han Solo was there to save their back part of the body, maybe he is a haggler, but he does not leave his clients in need. In the end everyone were happy and richer.

The jokes on you all. That's really Jodo Kast on the cover.

Wouldnt be the first time:

(Mind you, I wonder what the hell they're all doing on Bespin during a Tatooine based adventure)

If I remember rightly, wasn't that cover pure trolling from WEG?

They were all no-marks cosplaying the iconic bounty-hunters if I recall.

And Fett finally killed off his expy in the comics? (Despite being dead and sarlaac food! What a badass!)

They could put a Hutt version of Lemon Party (for god's sake Haley, don't google that) on the cover and I'd still buy the thing.

What the...!

I don't even -

That's wiggidy wack, yo.

You be salty, fam.

<snarky Marcy comments redacted. Beffies now!>

How much Asmodee has to do with that is for the conspiracy theorists and cynics to decide.

Game art isn't cheap and artists who undervalue their work don't stay artists for very long. FFG was sharing art long before Asmodee bought them and not just in the Star Wars games. See Arkham Horror, et. all.

As long as they aren't using repeated artwork in the same product line, it doesn't bother me. There's a lot of great SW board game and minis art that would be perfect for the RPG line.

I really don't see how people can speak in such terms anyway...

The FFG line is really, really high value both in artwork as well as in content and whether or not we get certain species or the inclusion of 'known'' characters in the artwork the quality of the releases has only been improving with each release... I, for one, applaud all releases thus far and have no reason to be cynical about the game and its publishers.

Well, if only I will get my Jawas that is!

How much Asmodee has to do with that is for the conspiracy theorists and cynics to decide.

Game art isn't cheap and artists who undervalue their work don't stay artists for very long. FFG was sharing art long before Asmodee bought them and not just in the Star Wars games. See Arkham Horror, et. all.

As long as they aren't using repeated artwork in the same product line, it doesn't bother me. There's a lot of great SW board game and minis art that would be perfect for the RPG line.

Actually game art isn't all expensive anymore, but I'd be willing to bet in the case of a lot of this new content it's more about the deadlines that FFG has to meet as opposed to not wanting new art. There are a lot of moving pieces, and if they need to get something out the door in a compressed time frame there might not be enough time to do the typical commission back and forth with an artist to get the piece you want. They just use what they have and put together the lay out which is what is going on in some cases I'm sure.

How do YOU use the canon characters? How are YOUR games set up? How do the PCs change things? What are YOUR best villains, and how did you run them in your campaigns or make them memorable? In the absence of anything else, and 'articles' like this one, I feel the forums could be more than they currently are. Maybe.

I agree that these forums are and continue to be a great resource, but that they could also be better if we ourselves contributed to that. So without further delay...

Q. How do I use canon characters?

A. Very, very sparingly. I don't think a single canon character has made an appearance outside a holo in 3 years.

Q. How do I set my games up?

A. I sit down and mine the neato art threads for ideas, then type them into a list. Then, I'll pick some ideas and cook them up into a list, maybe 4-5 bullet points that represent a sequence of events. Then I figure out how the PCs might interact. Once that's established, I cook up some NPCs if I don't have any already - building a corpus (a.k.a. GM Holocron) of generic NPCs and setpieces is as rewarding as it is time-consuming - and fit them to the story. Now, I do this 2-3 more times, noting where fun plot interaction happens, then try to lift the entire template and pop it over the PCs. Now, what they do feeds the story. They don't HAVE to be anywhere or HAVE to do anything. The story lives on its own, and where they choose to interact changes the framework. Since I don't have things set in stone, it's easy to tweak things as the story progresses. There's more to it after this, mostly mundane organizational work.

Q. How do my PCs change things?

A. The PCs are the center of the story, so everything they do has the potential to change things. Maybe they interact with an NPC in a scene that evolved from play - nothing planned, but if there are lasting impressions, they go in the notes, NPCs go on the Scapple board (it's like one of those FBI criminal network diagrams) and we add more fuel to the story. Ideally, I'm not doing much but taking what the PCs generate.

Q. What are my best villains and how did I run them to make them memorable?

A. I built a nemesis (okay, spoiler for my crew, who don't read these forums but IF YOU DO NOW YOU WILL TAKE 10 DAMAGE) it's actually nemeses, twin albino Trandoshan slaver/bounty hunter/big game hunters that slayed our wookiee gladiator's family and sold him into slavery. We spent the better part of 2 years chasing "him" around the galaxy. The PCs were always a step behind, usually close enough to see the dust from the nemesis fleeing. There was never a direct conflict until the finale. Every time they thought they had "him" he would somehow escape, and they have yet to figure out they were chasing 2 identical beings working in concert.

Q. What are my best villains and how did I run them to make them memorable?

A. I built a nemesis (okay, spoiler for my crew, who don't read these forums but IF YOU DO NOW YOU WILL TAKE 10 DAMAGE) it's actually nemeses, twin albino Trandoshan slaver/bounty hunter/big game hunters that slayed our wookiee gladiator's family and sold him into slavery. We spent the better part of 2 years chasing "him" around the galaxy. The PCs were always a step behind, usually close enough to see the dust from the nemesis fleeing. There was never a direct conflict until the finale. Every time they thought they had "him" he would somehow escape, and they have yet to figure out they were chasing 2 identical beings working in concert.

I am sooooo going to steal this...!

Q. What are my best villains and how did I run them to make them memorable?

A. I built a nemesis (okay, spoiler for my crew, who don't read these forums but IF YOU DO NOW YOU WILL TAKE 10 DAMAGE) it's actually nemeses, twin albino Trandoshan slaver/bounty hunter/big game hunters that slayed our wookiee gladiator's family and sold him into slavery. We spent the better part of 2 years chasing "him" around the galaxy. The PCs were always a step behind, usually close enough to see the dust from the nemesis fleeing. There was never a direct conflict until the finale. Every time they thought they had "him" he would somehow escape, and they have yet to figure out they were chasing 2 identical beings working in concert.

I am sooooo going to steal this...!

By all means, steal away! I likely lifted this from an 80's action film myself.

They actually weren't supposed to catch up to the nemesis in the season finale, it was going to be the Big Reveal™ about twins - but the dice said differently, so we did too. As has been my experience, we built something together that turned out much better than any one of us could have alone (yay for GM Gestalt!)

The best way to think like Thrawn? Get Tim Zhan to write out your game.

No, seriously.

Many, many moons ago they had Tim at a local sci-fi convention as guest. I was only able to go up on Sunday - and if you've ever been to a convention, you know that Sundays are the dead zone. Especially a Sunday morning meet and greet with a guest that's been around all weekend.

And so the room consisted of Tim, the security guy (whom I knew) and. . . . me. I got my booked signed, and then just hung out and chatted for a while. Star Wars, the writing process, favorite movies, anything and everything. Occasionally someone would drop in, say hi and then vanish - but for the most part it was just us three shooting the ****.

And then I hit upon an idea. Our game was rapidly closing in on the era his books were set in, but the universe had some very major changes to the setting, thanks to our players. And so I straight out asked him "If you were not mandated by LFL that the good guys win and the bad guys lose, if Thrawn had a sane Dark Jedi at his disposal instead of C'boath, plus resource X, Y and Z - how would he have approached the war against the New Republic?"

And for the next half hour or so, we hashed out - in broad terms - the general story arc of my campaign. Ideas I hadn't thought of, ways to spin off player hooks - all sorts of good stuff! And when it was time to execute this masterplan, it was GLORIOUS! Months to plan, weeks of real time to play out - redemption, betrayal, meaningful character deaths and development and a siege of Courscant where the Empire very well would have won if the players had not stepped up their A Game and were very, very clever. I have never had a more epic ending to a game since.

Sir. How dare you tell us this? Do you realize what this means? Do you realize what you have done to the world?

DO YOU REALIZE HOW JEALOUS I AM?????????

Edit:

Do you realize how mad I am that I can't find a meme to tell you how jealous I am?!?

Sir. How dare you tell us this? Do you realize what this means? Do you realize what you have done to the world?

DO YOU REALIZE HOW JEALOUS I AM?????????

Edit:

Do you realize how mad I am that I can't find a meme to tell you how jealous I am?!?

Well, if it makes you feel any better, I have never had a more epic and satisfying ending to a campaign since. I could game for the rest of my life on this planet and never, ever top that moment. And this makes me sad.

. . . .well, sad-ish.

Sir. How dare you tell us this? Do you realize what this means? Do you realize what you have done to the world?

DO YOU REALIZE HOW JEALOUS I AM?????????

Edit:

Do you realize how mad I am that I can't find a meme to tell you how jealous I am?!?

Well, if it makes you feel any better, I have never had a more epic and satisfying ending to a campaign since. I could game for the rest of my life on this planet and never, ever top that moment. And this makes me sad.

. . . .well, sad-ish.

Sure...sure.....

Just rub some salt in the wound, why don't you