I am planning to run a campaign, but would like to use all the characters, and all the expansions, but has it go in sequence. So start with the core - twin suns - hoth - etc.

I want to offer each player a choice of any of the characters, and have things contentiously carry over until we are through all the expansions. Is this possible, or would the game be unbalanced?

The game would be extremely unbalanced if you carried over characters in between campaigns.

It would absolutely unbalance the game as is. Remember, you'd be dropping fully developed Heroes into introductory missions every time you start a new campaign.

Of course, there's nothing stopping you from house ruling to try to balance it yourself, but you're trying to stretch 11 missions worth of balance to 15, 26, 30, or 41 missions depending how many of the expansions you go though, so there likely won't be much hero progression of long periods of the game. That might get a little boring.

As others have said, everything resets after each campaign. Consider even that the upcoming expansion arguably occurs earlier in the timeline before any existing campaign.

However, there are some things you can do- here are some of my favorites that I've heard:

- If a hero has earned their reward from a mission in a previous campaign (such as Diala getting her lightsaber in Temptation) they can instead spend XP or credits to get it in future campaigns. Generally, 3XP seems to be the agreed upon amount.

- If a hero is wounded (or withdraws, whatever is decided on) in a campaign's finale, they cannot be chosen for subsequent campaigns and that player must choose a new hero.

- Alternatively, if all heroes are wounded or otherwise lose the finale, play Captured with the former hero group before beginning the next campaign. Whatever heroes manage to escape can then be used- otherwise, Rebels must pick new ones. May need some mission tweaking. Wanted or Impounded might be better alternatives, from a gameplay stance at least, but captured really plays to the theme.

- Allies or villains earned in previous campaigns can carry over to new ones

- Another thing some people have suggested is using the skirmish cards of killed heroes as open groups. Obviously, this won't work for all heroes. For instance, Gaarkhan would work, but Murne wouldn't because her abilities involve command cards. Anyway, the idea would be that the hero betrayed the Rebels and joined the Empire after their defeat.

This is semi-similar to what I did with my last group. Which was also my first group. We went in order with Core Box, and extended Twin Shadows campaign, and RtH. Here are some things that I recommend.

1. Don't give them access to every character right up front. For the purposes of this post, I'm going to say limit them to picking from eight heroes, and make the others rewards that have to be unlocked like allies. For instance, instead of just having a rebel token be the captured figure during Imperial Entanglements, make it Verena. Then, if they win the mission the players can use her in future missions. Another example might be that they can't use Saska until they've freed her during Impounded.

2. Watering down the progression of the Rebels will lead to slow progression and will get boring for them. So will using the same characters over and over again. Solve both problems by installing an XP cap on their heroes and create narrative explanations or disincentives against bringing in overpowered characters. A character with 20 XP is far too powerful to make the game fun, even on the hardest missions. If the Rebels won every mission on a campaign, they'd end up with 14-16 XP, depending on the campaign you are playing, so make that the cap. If they bring in a high-end hero to a mission with a low Threat Level, then make sure they know that the hero will not get any XP since the mission is "beneath their skills", and bump up the threat level a bit to give yourself a chance. This will keep them from using the same heroes over and over again. Or you could say (as another example), that the Core Campaign and TS take place at the same time, but the Rebels are separated, so you cannot bring over a Core Campaign hero into Twin Shadows because they are on different worlds.

3. To continue the concept in my last point, create "crossover" missions. Add in narrative elements so the two groups can cross paths. Finales are great places to have Rebels meet up and have the two groups mix and match. Maybe the Star Destroyer the heroes have to escape from in Drawn In is the same one the Rebels are trying to blow up in Fire in the Sky, (what luck these missions have the same threat level, so you are likely to mix the groups and still keep balance), so it's okay to have the two groups mix heroes at the start of this mission.

4. Keep a detailed log of the items and credits each group has. Just because the Rebels in Twin Shadows bought a blaster doesn't mean the Rebels in RtH should get that blaster. They may have to draw it again.

5. If the Rebels are withdrawn, they are still usable, but may lose some or all of their XP. Or perhaps they are unusable until they are freed in some other mission like Captured, as others above have said.

6. Don't forget to allow yourself to use multiple Imperial Class decks and adapt accordingly.

7. Creating a single Agenda deck is going to be way more hassle then it is worth. Just pick whatever Agenda cards you want, and if you start to really hammer the Rebels then lighten up on them.

8. FFG is really throwing a wrench in your plans with the new expansion, which is intentionally vague about when exactly it takes place in the timeline, but is likely before the Core Box.