I want to play mandalorian in my game, as I was really in love with them in KOTORs, Old Republic and recently my love was renewed thanks to The Mandalorian series. I have really good knowledge about their culture and their history from Old Republic times, but I have no idea what is the state of Mandalorians in EotE, during Empire times.

2 minutes ago, Benny89 said:

I want to play mandalorian in my game, as I was really in love with them in KOTORs, Old Republic and recently my love was renewed thanks to The Mandalorian series. I have really good knowledge about their culture and their history from Old Republic times, but I have no idea what is the state of Mandalorians in EotE, during Empire times.

Watch Star Wars Rebels , particularly Seasons three and four.

3 minutes ago, Tramp Graphics said:

Watch Star Wars Rebels , particularly Seasons three and four.

I tried to watch Rebels but I can't stand it. Too childlish for me (not that I have anything against people who like it). I loved Clone Wars but I can't stand Rebels...

Just now, Benny89 said:

I tried to watch Rebels but I can't stand it. Too childlish for me (not that I have anything against people who like it). I loved Clone Wars but I can't stand Rebels...

IF you only got through the first season, it gets more mature in later seasons. Seasons three and four are some of the best storytelling and a good portion of them deals with Mandalore.

20 minutes ago, Tramp Graphics said:

IF you only got through the first season, it gets more mature in later seasons. Seasons three and four are some of the best storytelling and a good portion of them deals with Mandalore.

Seconded. I disliked Season 1, was okay with Season 2, liked Season 3, and loved Season 4.

I'll third that

^ What they said. Start with Season 3 if you want to get into the cool stuff. You will be able to fill in the blanks. But I would suggest start at season 2, or even the last few eps of season 1.

That's Dave Filonie's story telling pattern, he tells more mature stories as his target audience ages with the show.

Rebels really only covers up to about a year prior to A New Hope, so the show's not that much help for a campaign set during the EotE time frame, which generally defaults to assuming the Battle of Yavin has already happened and that the Rebel Alliance is actually seen as credible opposition to the Empire (when prior to ANH it was viewed as a laughable exercise in futility against the monolithic Empire).

About the only thing that Rebels really provides for the time frame the OP is asking about is stage setting for Mandalore being under the Empire's control, something that can be safely presumed of most systems in that time frame. There's a growing resistance movement that (when Rebels left off) was spear-headed by Bo Katan, but you can glean most of that from Wookieepedia, but no details on the success (or failure) of that movement, and if she's even really able to rally the other clans to her banner long enough for it to matter.

It could very well be that the Empire opted to drop the hammer on the Mandalorians, leading the clans to be in the sort of deplorable state that we see of the one clan shown in The Mandalorian series, with survivors of Bo Katan's resistance scattered across the galaxy and their precious beskar seized by the Empire.

Or, you can simply not worry about the canon state of Mandalore and go with whatever works best for the campaign story you want to tell.

You can also look to the Age of Rebellion supplement "Friends Like These" for some info on what one of the groups of Mandalorians are up to. With the Death Watch, Bo Katan's resistance, and the Concord Dawn "neutrals," as well as the Imperial loyal Mandalorians, there is the definite implication that the Mandalorian tribes are in disarray without central leadership or coordinated ideals. This isn't surprising after what we saw with Sabine's arc in Rebels.

The Mandalorian implies heavily that the Beskar mines have become state controlled by the Empire (Werner Herzog's character "The Client" refers to it being good to return the Beskar to it's rightful owners, implying the Empire basically took it all), which would seriously limit free Mandalorians from accessing their ancestral iron. I would imagine that the metal was used as a commodity to ensure Mandalorian loyalty and services, since there's no better use of seized goods in an autocracy than using to buy the services of the original owners. It's important to them, less so to you, and it's basically free money to use to keep them in line and subservient.

I think there's a lot of freedom to be had with the Mandalorians, to be honest. My own Mandalorian's clan/tribe is much like the one we see in the TV show - traditional and tribal, but part of the diaspora.

I think as long as you get some central ideas down that fit in line with what we know in canon, you've got a great amount of freedom with developing your own take on your characters clan/tribe.

On 11/21/2019 at 2:10 AM, Tramp Graphics said:

IF you only got through the first season, it gets more mature in later seasons. Seasons three and four are some of the best storytelling and a good portion of them deals with Mandalore.

As someone who shares Benny's opinion, I don't think he'll like the later seasons either... I didn't.

The only one's I've talked to who likes the later seasons are the people who, at the bare minimum, put up with the first season.

Anyone who's dropped out of the first season because it's too childish has not changed their minds about the show in later seasons (That I've talked to, I mean).

Again, like Benny said, not that I have anything against people who like it. Just my opinion.

(And before you ask, I slogged through it only to keep up with the canon)

Until proven otherwise, you could always pick and choose, mix pre Karen Traviss EU mandos, Traviss' depiction, Clone Wars/Rebels... many of the descriptions in Friends Like These match up to the Traviss books..

There is also the concept of Ba'slan Shev'la (Strategic Disappearance) set your character as a member of a clan/house that decided to disappear during the last few years before the Pacifists took over.. (after the Mandalorian civil war) or whatever will benefit the character's history..

There is enough vagueness that you can do whatever you want.

^^
That's what I've been doing. I tend to mix Canon and Legends quite a bit, because most of the time, there is no particular reason why they couldn't coexist.

In my particular case; we had three mandolorian clans we met so far; one from Friends like These that preferred to live a nomadic lifestyle, a death watch styled group that served as a form of radical guys* and the Super Commandos, which were Mandolorians that fought for the Empire as an elite force. Given that the Empire actually controls distribution of Besker, that makes a lot of sense.

Key thing is that, like all fractured communities, each group of mandos you meet may well be different. They fought several civil wars, probably were slaughtered by the empire for their rebellion (and trust me, the Empire might ignore a planet like Lothal, but they certainly wouldn't ignore a faction with a history of warfare) so a lot of mando's probably simply have different opinions on *how* things should be done by this point. In this case it was divided into three camps; people who didn't really want to be involved in fighting and just lived where their helmet fell, those that cling to the old ways and fully embrace the route of just trying to be a "true mandolorian" and lastly those whom had submitted to the Empire in exchange for a stable living. I'm probably sure there's more groups in the GM's world that I am in, just those are the three distinct camps I see cropping up the most.

Beauty with the vagueness is that either one of these could be collect. Even the likes of Boba could be a Mandolorian, or at least look enough like one to pass as one. The fact that not even the galaxy really knows what a mandolorian is plays well into the vagueness that surrounds these somewhat lost people.

4 hours ago, LordBritish said:

people who didn't really want to be involved in fighting and just lived where their helmet fell

😱 You mean their helmets came off!?

2 hours ago, P-47 Thunderbolt said:

😱 You mean their helmets came off!?

There are rumors...

On ‎11‎/‎26‎/‎2019 at 4:01 PM, P-47 Thunderbolt said:

😱 You mean their helmets came off!?

Only when they retire. XD

On 11/21/2019 at 7:56 AM, Donovan Morningfire said:

Rebels really only covers up to about a year prior to A New Hope, so the show's not that much help for a campaign set during the EotE time frame, which generally defaults to assuming the Battle of Yavin has already happened and that the Rebel Alliance is actually seen as credible opposition to the Empire (when prior to ANH it was viewed as a laughable exercise in futility against the monolithic Empire).

About the only thing that Rebels really provides for the time frame the OP is asking about is stage setting for Mandalore being under the Empire's control, something that can be safely presumed of most systems in that time frame. There's a growing resistance movement that (when Rebels left off) was spear-headed by Bo Katan, but you can glean most of that from Wookieepedia, but no details on the success (or failure) of that movement, and if she's even really able to rally the other clans to her banner long enough for it to matter.

It could very well be that the Empire opted to drop the hammer on the Mandalorians, leading the clans to be in the sort of deplorable state that we see of the one clan shown in The Mandalorian series, with survivors of Bo Katan's resistance scattered across the galaxy and their precious beskar seized by the Empire.

Or, you can simply not worry about the canon state of Mandalore and go with whatever works best for the campaign story you want to tell.

The Mandalorian has a quick line in episode 3 that seems to say how that rebellion went.

35 minutes ago, Animewarsdude said:

The Mandalorian has a quick line in episode 3 that seems to say how that rebellion went.

And for those without any access to the tv show what does say that line ?

1 hour ago, WolfRider said:

And for those without any access to the tv show what does say that line ?

"Our world was shattered by the empire"

In context, though, it is hard to tell how literal this is. It could be a metaphor for the Mandalorian diaspora and not so much about actual destruction of Mandalore. Out of universe, I doubt it's about the physical destruction of Mandalore because that would be a very hard thing to squeeze into canon. "Oh, yeah, nobody mentioned Mandalore being destroyed. It must have just slipped the rebels minds when they were listing the Empire's atrocities."

3 hours ago, P-47 Thunderbolt said:

"Our world was shattered by the empire"

In context, though, it is hard to tell how literal this is. It could be a metaphor for the Mandalorian diaspora and not so much about actual destruction of Mandalore. Out of universe, I doubt it's about the physical destruction of Mandalore because that would be a very hard thing to squeeze into canon. "Oh, yeah, nobody mentioned Mandalore being destroyed. It must have just slipped the rebels minds when they were listing the Empire's atrocities."

I could see the planet not being destroyed but a orbital bombardment or the like that results in a Concord Dawn sort of situation that leaves the inhabitants having to scatter from the world.

On 11/28/2019 at 1:47 PM, P-47 Thunderbolt said:

"Our world was shattered by the empire"

Well, according to some folks around here that means their world was literally shattered into pieces. 🤣

I also feel that the alliance wouldn't have mentioned it because they don't have a representative of Mandolore on their council.

I mean, the alliance is made up of people from the Republic pooling together to make a fleet to appose the empire. They likely intend to defeat the empire so that their own planets would be free. The more they beat back the empire, the fewer planets being oppressed until you reach a critical mass where most planets aren't being repressed. That's probably why the Empire were allowed to survive the war; simply because not enough governors cared to finish them off, or those remaining planets never belonged to the republic so they didn't care once the Empire were out of their hair.

Same probably for Mandolore. As far as I am aware the Mandolorians have no representation in the Republic as a large and at best were an independent paramilitary nation, a neutral party that just so happened to have the same enemy. A planet not having a representative is the same as basically not having a voice; hence it doesn't really rate up there with Alderaan, which was the only core world destroyed by the Empire. So I could totally see them not raising a eyebrow or even mentioning that, in the same way that they never cared about slavery that happened beyond their borders.

@LordBritish I think Mandalore was part of the Republic they just chose to stay neutral during the Clone Wars. They had a Senator who betrayed the New Mandalorian government during the Sith/Deathwatch plot to seize power.