The game has one skill for knowledge of the Core Worlds and one skill for knowledge of the Outer Rim. However the galaxy has many regions - Deep Core, Core Worlds, Colonies, Inner Rim, Expansion Region, Mid Rim, Outer Rim, Wild Space and the Unknown Regions.

I suggest that Deep Core uses K/Core Worlds, but often at a higher difficulty.

The Core Worlds clearly use the K/Core Worlds skill.

The Colonies should use the K/Core Worlds skill.

The Inner Rim uses the K/Outer Rim skill (unless you want to better balance the number of regions that use each skill or you think that the Inner Rim is under strong enough Imperial control that K/Core Worlds makes more sense.)

The Expansion Region uses the K/Outer Rim skill.

The Mid Rim uses the K/Outer Rim skill.

The Outer Rim clearly uses the K/Outer Rim skill.

Wild Space and the Unknown Region uses the K/Outer Rim skill, but often at a higher difficulty. If an area is truly unknown than this may be an Impossible task.

Areas only partially under Imperial control, such as Hutt Space, use the K/Outer Rim skill.

Thoughts?

Sounds about right. There may be occasional instances where you might roll Core Worlds for a world that's technically in the Outer Rim (like, if it's a recently seeded colony), but your breakdown is what I use for the most part.

That's almost exactly what I did; but I put the cutoff between the Inner Rim and the Expansion Region so that each skill would cover three mapped regions and one obscure one.

Just now, Vorzakk said:

That's almost exactly what I did; but I put the cutoff between the Inner Rim and the Expansion Region so that each skill would cover three mapped regions and one obscure one.

Same here. The Inner Rim is Rim in name only. If we take the maps in the Essential Atlas as a basis (I know it's Legends, but so is the Inner Rim region and that's used in the game book, so to **** with it), half of the Inner Rim, at least in the Slice, was explored prior to 20,000 BBY and the rest by 15,000 BBY. It's only "frontier country" by the standards of the Core. Essentially, it's refined enough to get invited to the best cocktail parties, but still nouveau riche enough that the Colonies have someone to look down on, the way the Core Worlds look down on them.

When it comes to Knowledge rolls, I typically use the skills dependent on what information the player wants to check.

In our group, K/Outer and K/Inner Rim are more about the planets themselves (what kind of population centers do they have, what's the environment type, etc.) and K/Education (I believe, I don't have my book on me) and K/Underworld are more about the organizations and factions of the planets (does it have a heavy Imperial presence, are the traders friendly, will the Hutt Clan there shoot on sight, etc.)

I wish those two skills had different names because players get hung up on the Outer Rim as a fictional location, and what the Outer Rim skill is supposed to do. The Outer Rim is the area of space that is, to some degree, beyond the influence of the Republic or the Empire. It's where settlers go to be independent and it's where the aliens outnumber the Humans. Yes, Wild Space and the Unknown Regions exist beyond the Outer Rim, but, thematically, they're more like the Outer Rim than not.

The Outer Rim is the American West circa 1850 - 1900. Charted and settled with many prominent outpost but untamed. The natives - in this case of Star Wars , the Hutts, the Mon Cala, and assorted others - hold more sway in the day-to-day life than Coruscant.

Within the context of the time period in which most Star Wars stories take place, the Mid Rim through the Deep Core fall under the Knowledge: Core Worlds skill. The Mid Rim has been heavily colonized and thoroughly industrialized for well over 4000 years. It's the location for home worlds of non-Human species who have been allied with the Republic for a long, long time as well as hoity-toity Human aristocracies like the Naboo. The Empire has full control over that territory.

The question I ask myself is, "is this planet and the surrounding space under strong Imperial influence?" If "Yes," then, Knowledge: Core Worlds . If "No," then, Knowledge: Outer Rim.

I often use Knowledge (Core Worlds) partially as a skill about being cultured, which is something I otherwise find a bit missing in the rules system. If someone wants to know things about dresscodes, fine dining, expensive or otherwise 'fine' goods, or even gravball teams, it's a Core Worlds check.

On 2018-04-28 at 2:24 PM, Natsymir said:

I often use Knowledge (Core Worlds) partially as a skill about being cultured, which is something I otherwise find a bit missing in the rules system. If someone wants to know things about dresscodes, fine dining, expensive or otherwise 'fine' goods, or even gravball teams, it's a Core Worlds check.

Education is not the right knowledge check to see if the PC knows cultural stuff. I use education in this way for such kinda specific I even ask the player to write down such info, so next time it happens we don't have to roll it again.

On 4/28/2018 at 1:24 PM, Natsymir said:

I often use Knowledge (Core Worlds) partially as a skill about being cultured, which is something I otherwise find a bit missing in the rules system. If someone wants to know things about dresscodes, fine dining, expensive or otherwise 'fine' goods, or even gravball teams, it's a Core Worlds check.

Just don’t do Bolo-Ball as a Core Worlds check!