I hadn't noticed the articles by Bryan Young on blending X-wing and Age of Rebellion before today, but I really enjoyed the read this morning. My main reason for choosing to play IA over Age of Rebellion or the other FFG RPGs was that I'd never been a GM before and the sheer amount of game prep seemed crushing. Keeping all those NPC's and objectives straight made my head spin. Yet I can't help but be intrigued by what Bryan has laid out here and wonder if there are similar things that could be applied to Imperial Assault.

Has anyone had any experience with blending IA and Age of Rebellion, Force and Destiny, or Edge of the Empire? Any tips for those who might be interested in it?

I don't know for sure how many people have done this, but I know it's pretty common for Imperial players to bring in more RPG or storyline elements to Imperial Assault. IA is a fantastic game, but it works best as a sort of base system that's actually pretty modifiable. I think it would certainly be doable to have a combination of one of the RPGs, IA, and X-Wing. Armada is a little larger scale, but it might be possible to bring it in, too.

That's one thing I really want eventually- a modular campaign book using all of the FFG Star Wars product line, in which a gamer is able to utilize exactly the components that they have. So, for instance, it would be possible to play as a very storyline heavy Imperial Assault campaign with some minor RPG stuff for space battles and politics- or, the space battles could be played out in X-Wing/Armada, provided players own them. I think that is what the app really should be.

When I first started playing IA I was very rigid within the rules and it was more about winning than the experience. Over time I've relaxed a lot and focused more on taking each mission to the final turn instead of who actually wins. I've found focusing on this has made the experience much more enjoyable for both sides. During this process I've also started modifying rules and events on the fly to keep the mission fun. For example, the first time my group played Fly Solo it was horrible, the second time with me modifying things ahead of time and being able to adjust those modifications on the fly (as I've learned being a GM is all about) they said it was hands down the most fun mission they've played to date. If I see a mission start to tilt I will either hold back on bonuses I am offered or if that is not enough, change things up to keep it interesting. I've enjoyed this so much so that I've started looking into the RPG's. I picked up the Force and Destiny beginner game on sale like a year ago, been looking for a chance to bust it out for my group. Every now and then I take it off the shelf and read through some of the components and think "how can I mix this in with IA."

I think IA would mix better with EoTE or AoR than FaD.. and I've heard that combining all three is a lot of work. My group has never played a RPG, but I know they would enjoy it. It'd be nice to brainstorm some ideas for bridging the two games. OR possibly easier would be just using the IA components inside of the RPG. For example, building some tile maps ahead of time and having them pre bagged or pre assembled on card board as the story progresses. Using the IA minis to get as close as possible of a match to your players characters.. what else?

I tend to make my campaigns more story based as the imperial player. i like how there is an embedded narrative with the game rules and some of the flavour text, and the general rules of the mission. I then add some emergent narrative from gameplay decisions and actions taken by the players. this can create re-emerging characters, Villians or enemy types.

Inbetween each mission i let them go to a trader on the planet, and buy there weapons and items. he has a little voice and some character to him. when they pick their side missions, they are usually in their ship, (which they can name, you can use a X-wing Mini for their ship if you want something physical) or they are in the rebel base. When i Draw the side missions, i look at them first and then create a story beat for where they can go. (works really well on personal side missions.)

Example of Emergent Narrative in games:

the heroes spent a few side missions doing very scum oriented missions, the enemies were more scum, and i would pick more scum units as my open groups, as i prefer theme and storytelling over winning the games. during this mission, they uncovered a gang of rodians (hired guns) dealing with Red spice (or a cool space drug name) i described the characters have red planet patches on their outfits. so whenever they encountered some rodians again, i might describe them as having familiar patches or gang affiliations. and on later missions having bounty hunters turn up, (either earned, or nemesis deck) that are there to deal with rebels for disrupting spice operations.

I even did a sneaky thing where i brought in Vinto Hreeda (skirmish) card as the red spice gang leader, gave him a different name. (paid the threat for him, though technically illegal for the game rules.) the hero players had a blast, after they beat the leader, they didnt deal with anymore scum open groups as the threat was gone. (maybe i threw in a few extra credits here and there for there actions.)

Another example:

a smaller version of story was during the core set New threat story mission, I used the Nexu's to create a small emergent story. they heroes killed the alpha ( elite nexu) that was hanging around the lower part of the map terminal. then later down that part of the map, they encountered the Female nexu. they thought that was the end of it.

as they opened the lower map door. I used the trigger to spawn a nexu in the building, describing it as an infant (regular nexu) and that there were imperial bodies strewn about in the room. it seemed the baby nexu got trapped in the room as the imperials were running from the family of nexu's, and the parents were waiting outside the room as they knew their infant was in there.

@Pollux85 You just have to jump in with both feet on the RPG thing.

Just say something like "Hey guy, tonight I thought we'd try this out and see how it goes." Have some pre-generated characters/archetypes for them to run. Treat it as a "one-shot". It's new to all of you, so blending it with IA might be something you can do a couple of games down the line.

If it flops, you always have IA to fall back on!

16 hours ago, Spidey NZ said:

the heroes spent a few side missions doing very scum oriented missions, the enemies were more scum, and i would pick more scum units as my open groups, as i prefer theme and storytelling over winning the games. during this mission, they uncovered a gang of rodians (hired guns) dealing with Red spice (or a cool space drug name) i described the characters have red planet patches on their outfits. so whenever they encountered some rodians again, i might describe them as having familiar patches or gang affiliations. and on later missions having bounty hunters turn up, (either earned, or nemesis deck) that are there to deal with rebels for disrupting spice operations.

I even did a sneaky thing where i brought in Vinto Hreeda (skirmish) card as the red spice gang leader, gave him a different name. (paid the threat for him, though technically illegal for the game rules.) the hero players had a blast, after they beat the leader, they didnt deal with anymore scum open groups as the threat was gone. (maybe i through in a few extra credits here and there for there actions.)

I love stuff like this.

I'm considering a way to bring in X-Wing, as I've just started going down that rabbit hole. I'm thinking that at 4 threat the Empire can purchase a mission during any purchase phase called Moving the Plans. It would center around the Rebels discovering that the Imperial unique officer (So, Weiss, Somos, Sorin, Blaise, or Terro, depending on Campaign) is working on developing a secret weapon for the Empire, and is currently working on transporting the plans for said weapon.

Rebels would get 1 A-Wing, 1 B-Wing, 1 X-Wing, and 1 Y-Wing, each with a generic pilot- the ship card is placed on the Rebel hero sheets, to identify who is in what ship. The Empire would get an equivalent (or close enough) amount in pts of TIEs and Interceptors. Rebels could also bring in a hero ship (for instance, Han in the Millennium Falcon), provided that they earned that hero previously in the campaign. Of course, the Empire could then deploy that many more TIEs. The Empire also gets a Lamda shuttle for free, but all it can do is move and pick up evades.

The Rebel's objective is either to destroy the Lamda shuttle, or take it in with a tractor beam. Destroying the shuttle yields some credits, capturing it yields some more credits and causes a deficit of 1 Threat and 1 XP for the Empire (either they lose it immediately if they have it, or have to pay into that deficit before earning again). This is why bringing along a hero like the Falcon is well worth it, unlike sometimes in campaign where allies are simply not worth bringing along.

The Empire is trying to eliminate all 4 Rebel fighters before that can be done. Each Rebel that is shot down starts the next mission with 2 Strain and 2 Damage, due to the crash they recently experienced. If all Rebels are shot down, the Empire is reimbursed all threat they spent on the mission (4).

Obviously, I'll have to work to balance this, but I like the idea of each Rebel having their own starfighter, and maybe even having 2 or even 3 space missions throughout the campaign (I may have to nerf rewards a bit, then). I'm toying around with the idea of getting a U-Wing and having a mission where Rebels have to escort a U-Wing across the map- if successful, they can bring along a group of Rebel Saboteurs for free (or something like that).

One think that I may want to do for some of these- Read the mission card's description before the space battle, then read whatever space battle flavor text I make. Then, after the space battle, move to the ground flavor text. This way, the space and ground theaters all constitute what seems more like a single mission.

Edit: Another option I'm considering is that the Rebels and Empire can bring ANY hero ship, as long as it is owned. Then, on the next ground mission (provided that hero ship survived the space battle) the hero appears. If only the Rebels bring an ally on the ground, Empire gets threat equal to it. If only Empire brings a hero, Rebels get an optional deployment of generic allies equal to up to the threat of the Imp hero. If both bring an ally, take the difference- then, apply the remaining threat as if only that faction brought a hero (So, for instance, if the Inquisitor and Chewbacca are both brought, take Chewie's 15 minus Inquisitor's 9. Field both allies, and the Empire gets an additional 6 threat). Think this could be a fun way to bring in more Allies/Villains, and could serve as "rewards" without causing significant balance issues in campaign.

For the Star Wars RPG they have those great beginner boxes, even the RPG vets say they are a great bargain and are very well done for beginners. It comes with a set of die, a folded map that has the major encounter areas on it (4 or 5 different areas), tokens to represent characters on the map, a great learn to play style mission guide, a condensed advanced rules guide and 4 pre generated character sheets that walk your players through the process of upgrading and playing them. You can also download 2 more characters online for free as well as an additional adventure to carry on from the one included in the core set. The first adventure is meant to be played in 1 or 2 sessions, with the second being a multi session adventure so more like 2-3. So in theory you should be able to get 2-5 sessions out of just the beginner box. Then your group could decide if they want to continue using the core rule book and make their own characters, or perhaps try one of the other sections like EoTE or AoR.

I like roleplaying and I like Imperial Assault, but mixing them would not work for me. I thoroughly enjoy the tactical element in IA, but I strongly dislike miniatures in roleplaying games. I can see how it would be interesting if into a genre of roleplaying games that already use miniatures, though.

I do try to create a sense of theme and atmosphere when running IA, to some degree inspired from a life-time of roleplaying and that is about it.

About the intro boxes for the FFG Star Wars roleplaying games. The games themselves have something interesting going for them, but I think the intros in those beginner boxes are a bit mixed. I was very disappointed with the one linked to Force & Destiny, but I've heard better of the previous two. Either way, they are still so dirt cheap you might as well buy one, if you plan to get into the game at large, regardless of whether you want to use the intro session or not.

13 minutes ago, Cremate said:

I like roleplaying and I like Imperial Assault, but mixing them would not work for me. I thoroughly enjoy the tactical element in IA, but I strongly dislike miniatures in roleplaying games. I can see how it would be interesting if into a genre of roleplaying games that already use miniatures, though.

I do try to create a sense of theme and atmosphere when running IA, to some degree inspired from a life-time of roleplaying and that is about it.

About the intro boxes for the FFG Star Wars roleplaying games. The games themselves have something interesting going for them, but I think the intros in those beginner boxes are a bit mixed. I was very disappointed with the one linked to Force & Destiny, but I've heard better of the previous two. Either way, they are still so dirt cheap you might as well buy one, if you plan to get into the game at large, regardless of whether you want to use the intro session or not.

What don't you like about minis in RPG's?

For my part, because I feel it makes it less abstract. It detracts from the imagination and immersion of those involved, and makes the story less fluid. It risks the danger of making it more of a tactical game with focus on roll-playing rather than role-playing - and I would rather turn to IA for that.

Disclaimer: there is absolutely nothing wrong with mini-based roleplaying games. They are probably the oldest and most wide-spread version of the roleplaying hobby. It's purely a matter of preferences - and I prefer something else.

1 hour ago, Cremate said:

For my part, because I feel it makes it less abstract. It detracts from the imagination and immersion of those involved, and makes the story less fluid. It risks the danger of making it more of a tactical game with focus on roll-playing rather than role-playing - and I would rather turn to IA for that.

Disclaimer: there is absolutely nothing wrong with mini-based roleplaying games. They are probably the oldest and most wide-spread version of the roleplaying hobby. It's purely a matter of preferences - and I prefer something else.

Oh yeah. No judgment. I've just honestly never met someone who was against it and wondered what I was missing.

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I'm toying around with the idea of getting a U-Wing and having a mission where Rebels have to escort a U-Wing across the map

i was also thinking, for a one shot mission having a IA game and an Xwing game played simultaneously on two different tables. the things that happen in Xwing effect the things that happen in IA. you could shout across the table ''The shields are down start uploading the data''. and if you incorporate a U-wing into the game, that could be the rebels extraction ship for the mission in IA. I think there are a few hold out until round X missions for the rebels.

you could sync up the rounds too.

or , inbetween side or story missions,you could play an Xwing mission including a U-wing (or any sort of dropship) that shows thematically dropping the heroes on the planet side. maybe a rebel bonus if they land successfully, maybe a imperial bonus if they destroy the U-wing and force a crash landing

10 minutes ago, Spidey NZ said:

or , inbetween side or story missions,you could play an Xwing mission including a U-wing (or any sort of dropship) that shows thematically dropping the heroes on the planet side. maybe a rebel bonus if they land successfully, maybe a imperial bonus if they destroy the U-wing and force a crash landing

That's probably the best way to handle it- that way, you don't have to try to sync up rounds, and definitely don't have things happening in "real time", which could get confusing. Sounds like it could be a ton of fun, though!

4 minutes ago, subtrendy said:

That's probably the best way to handle it- that way, you don't have to try to sync up rounds, and definitely don't have things happening in "real time", which could get confusing. Sounds like it could be a ton of fun, though!

ill give an inbetween mission a try. not sure of rewards. either threat boost or damage and strain to heroes for the imperials. maybe some items from supply crates to heroes.

37 minutes ago, Spidey NZ said:

ill give an inbetween mission a try. not sure of rewards. either threat boost or damage and strain to heroes for the imperials. maybe some items from supply crates to heroes.

Yeah, balancing that should be tough. That's why I'm thinking that, if possible, somehow offering allies/villains as rewards might be the way to go. They tend to be a fun addition to the game without really breaking anything (since you'll have to pay for each use, anyway, via threat).

Another possibility for the Rebels might be "looting" the debris- drawing three random items from the tier below the current Item draws and letting them choose one to keep for free. That way, it's a nice reward (that, worst case scenario, can be hacked for half credits) but doesn't offer a game breaking amount of ability or credits.

When i started in the AD&D world of the mid 80s I never used miniatures. Personally if found them to be less immersive, but I fully accept it could be me. Once I started using miniatures and running games I found minis indispensable. Not only does it aid with position, and helps to alleviate arguments about what a player could or could not do base on that placement, I think it helped everyone involved to have sense of scale. I would spend hours with graph paper in my room working out elaborate dungeon plans, or maps of a fictional kingdom. I got out of D&D when I was about 18 and then got back into tabletop role playing in my 20s, and I prefer it. I'm like the guys above. I like to be the Imperial Player because I like to facilitate and experience, not just beat up on the players.

On 4/4/2017 at 5:04 PM, FrogTrigger said:

For the Star Wars RPG they have those great beginner boxes, even the RPG vets say they are a great bargain and are very well done for beginners.

The Age of Rebellion beginner box, combined with the online expansion, is the best value for money I've gotten in my 30+ years of playing RPGs.

The adventure in the box itself was just OK, and slightly marred by the climax being a chase through the jungle that would have worked a lot better if they had used the Chase rules from the main RPG. But Operation: Shadowpoint, which has the PCs work to strike deals with locals, raid Imperial armories, go hunting on the Demon Moon of Dxun, and a whole bunch of other stuff in order to keep the base operational and stay under the Imperial radar... that's amazing.

Have you looked into "Heroes of the Aturi Cluster" fan made campaign? I would give each of your heroes pilot skills and special abilities that would mirror their IA abilities and then let them pick a basic starfighter. Ie Jyn would have the "Snap Shot" ability in X-wing. Gaarkhan would add to range 1 damage in some way ect.

Then when they have XP from an IA mission, they could also get xp for their pilot skills in X-wing