While Dawn of Rebellion gave us a slightly different time from the classic heart of the GCW, the upcoming product focusing on the Clone Wars, Rise of the Separatists, is going to have some more significant differences. Sure, much of that will be focused on the Jedi, the GAR, and the Separatists, but what about the fringe elements? This is Edge of the Empire, and that means that criminal and non-military stories are the heart of this line. How will playing in other eras change the feel of this game?

While the new product is going to focus on the Late Republic/early Clone Wars, I'm also interested to hear how the themes of Edge of the Empire, might change in other eras, such as Legacy or Old Republic. Both of these periods, much like the Clone Wars, feature two (or more) powerful governments battling for supremacy, so all are going to offer a differ fringe perspective from the monolithic Imperial threat present during the GCW.

Basically look at Hondo in TCW. Profiteering from both sides, plenty of work available from desperate factions willing to jack up prices for loyalty ect...

War means profit for the scum of the galaxy, and being busy with all that war stuff means that the galactic law enforcement aren't quite as vigilant as usual. Meaning you can push your luck until you're a big enough nuisance to draw attention from either side's military, getting a visit from Mr High Ground, or General Tuberculosis...

A few more specific questions: So how does each side (Republic and Seps) enforce customs (and other) laws? What relationship does each side have with the Bounty Hunters Guild? What about Restricted gear--do both sides restrict the same things? How do the various crime syndicates of the time get along with one another and how do they interact with the Republic and Seps? Looking at the Clone Wars map from the Atlas, there appear to be large areas of the galaxy that are neither Republic nor Sep (nor Hutt, as they are shown to be a major power during this time too), so how does this change things?

3 hours ago, ALFRED1182 said:

War means profit for the scum of the galaxy, and being busy with all that war stuff means that the galactic law enforcement aren't quite as vigilant as usual. Meaning you can push your luck until you're a big enough nuisance to draw attention from either side's military, getting a visit from Mr High Ground, or General Tuberculosis... 

That's General Skeevus, TYVM.

17 hours ago, HappyDaze said:

While Dawn of Rebellion gave us a slightly different time from the classic heart of the GCW, the upcoming product focusing on the Clone Wars, Rise of the Separatists, is going to have some more significant differences. Sure, much of that will be focused on the Jedi, the GAR, and the Separatists, but what about the fringe elements? This is Edge of the Empire, and that means that criminal and non-military stories are the heart of this line. How will playing in other eras change the feel of this game?

While the new product is going to focus on the Late Republic/early Clone Wars, I'm also interested to hear how the themes of Edge of the Empire, might change in other eras, such as Legacy or Old Republic. Both of these periods, much like the Clone Wars, feature two (or more) powerful governments battling for supremacy, so all are going to offer a differ fringe perspective from the monolithic Imperial threat present during the GCW.

I suspect the book will give us hints, but my speculation:

Pirates may have a little more freedom (and risk) as they can operate with less fear of defense force patrols, though will also have to contend with military patrols and convoy tactics. Similarly both sides would likely be down for issuing Letters of Marque and providing supplies and advisors.

Merc outfits would get all kinds of business. The CIS would hire command staff to oversee droid units. Republic leaders might bring them on as low profile security details for personnel and facilities that can't use/don't warrant Clone security. Corporations and other non-governmental operations would hire them on as security as well, though they might even get more involved by having them execute shadowrunesque deniable and credited missions committing things like sabotage and industrial espionage.

Bounty Hunters (which is a title almost synonymous with Mercenary) would also see a spike in high risk opportunities. On the level with resources dedicated to the way, law enforcement may have trouble resourcing manhunts and retrievals in addition to more conventional operations. Kicking out those as bounty heads and for-hire to accredited hunters would resolve that. Additionally more nasty jobs like assassinations and kidnappings would be a thing that would be totally legit and legal.

Smugglers would see their job spike too. While there would be increased risk for high profile runs (imagine pulling a cigarette boat run through a dedicated, properly planned and resourced military blockade... yoiks) the war would be absorbing so much resources that you could "smuggle" totally legal stuff and turn a black-market profit. Everything from weapons to meat would see an increase in value.

Colonists would find their jobs shift to a war footing. Doc's would be in high demand as usual. Politicos would have a lot of options trying to get people in and out of the war for various reasons. Merchants would see both challenges and benefits of war profiteering finding, dealing and move materiel. If knowledge is power, Scholars and Archies might find themselves in demand as well. Yeah that professor who specializes in the third Reconciliation of the Vuldroni might be of little value in peace time (unless you need to know about ancient gods and cataclysm) but during a war he might be the only one that can figure out the secret hyper route Gul the Eviscerator used to get from Chak IV to Loppo without being detected.

Explorers would have ample opportunities as well. Fringers are known for ending up anywhere doing anything. Scouts can both work for the military of either side, or go corporate or independent, looking for new (or long lost) sources of materiel. Traders would find there's always something to move. Blasters today, butter tomorrow, raw tibanna the day after.

Thieves would find themselves roped in as well. War Materiel is valuable to both sides, so boosting it from one to sell to the other is a smooth, if risky move. Meanwhile scoundrels and other confidence men would find an influx people and droids to run jobs on, separating many a fool from their money. Even when things go sideways you can bounce back and forth across the lines, taking advantage of the reduced capacity of the law to chase you down.

Techs would find their services in demand in all locations. Taking on a Droid repair contract with the CIS might be lucrative, if you survive. Or you can work the backwaters, keeping things running with even fewer resources than usual, but enjoying the fact that no one is looking too closely at that pre-regulation destroyer-class solid-fuel recoil booster you're installing instead of a normal ion afterburner. And the Slicer would find himself useful to a lot of people assuming they can avoid getting caught between sides.

Organized Crime would become insane. Hutt smuggling routes would become valuable to all sides. Pyke spice supplies were valuable before the war, now more so. Remember how the Republic cleaned the Black Sun out of the docks at Cordone V (and how nice it was you didn't have to pay protection anymore)? Well, after a string of sabotage incidents the Republic decided that reinstalling the Black Sun was the best security. Yeah they shake down the merchants, but NOBODY goes to work at the docks without the Black Sun knowing exactly who they are and what their loyalties are.

14 hours ago, HappyDaze said:

So how does each side (Republic and Seps) enforce customs (and other) laws?

Same ways as everyone else, there's law-enforcement groups that attempt to prevent crime and apprehend criminals. Additionally it seems the military of both sides does have arrest authority. Of course how much resources they can commit to hunting down smugglers vs. fighting the war will be different.

14 hours ago, HappyDaze said:

What relationship does each side have with the Bounty Hunters Guild?

Well in canon the guild seems to have been reduced to a mention over it's former glory (no complaints from me TBH) and hunters tend to be more independent. You could propose that the bounty boards you see in TCW and mention of bondsmen are the guild, with most individual hunters not being active "members" as much as "subcontractors with benefits."

Anyway, in that way the guild would seem to be Republic aligned, though there's likely another organization that does the same thing for the CIS.

14 hours ago, HappyDaze said:

What about Restricted gear--do both sides restrict the same things?

To an extent I'm sure, neither side wants just anyone running around with thermal detonators. But not across the board, and with both sides cranking out weapons and materiel as fast as possible I suspect Rarities might be more malleable as various things "fall off a speeder."

Also much like the IPKC can allow you to skirt rules sometimes, running various jobs for different factions might see access to military hardware.

14 hours ago, HappyDaze said:

How do the various crime syndicates of the time get along with one another and how do they interact with the Republic and Seps?

That's a big complicated one that you can interpret in A LOT of different ways.

That said, TCW do show the republic relating and attempting to relate to the Hutts, and Pykes at various points in the series. But proving the crime organizations have their own goals and ideals and weaknesses there was also that whole "Mandalore" incident. And at some point toward the end you might see Red Dawn coagulate.

14 hours ago, HappyDaze said:

Looking at the Clone Wars map from the Atlas, there appear to be large areas of the galaxy that are neither Republic nor Sep (nor Hutt, as they are shown to be a major power during this time too), so how does this change things?

We'll see. If nothing else it might be a good place to take a vacation when you want to try and sit out of the war for a while. Of course it also might be one of those crazy middle grounds where both sides are running black unrestricted ops. Or maybe you've got a Casablanca thing going on?

The thing to remember is that the Clone Wars were really a Civil War. If anything, what is called the Galactic Civil War was more of a small scale insurrection that managed an assassination and a military coup. The Clone Wars were a real Civil War.

Since the Republic was a relatively loose organization, the ‘unaligned’ areas of the galaxy would be mostly area that were part of the Republic, but had not picked a side in the Civil War. Sort of like how Delaware, Kentucky, Missouri, Maryland, and West Virginia were neutral states in the American Civil War.

4 hours ago, BadMotivator said:

Since the Republic was a relatively loose organization, the ‘unaligned’ areas of the galaxy would be mostly area that were part of the Republic, but had not picked a side in the Civil War. Sort of like how Delaware, Kentucky, Missouri, Maryland, and West Virginia were neutral states in the American Civil War.

Why would you equate them to neutral member states of the US rather than as foreign nations? Are you suggesting that, prior to the Clone Wars, the Republic claimed dominion everywhere?

I should have added that some would be truly independent systems, but most would be part of the Republic. The Republic was still the vast majority of the galaxy. Evidence is Padme being surprised at slavery still existing. She was under the impression that the republic was everywhere. As a head of state, she was an educated person. So this mistake could only reasonably be made if the republic controlled nearly all the galaxy.