Allies and Adversaries

By Mandalore of the Rings, in Star Wars: Edge of the Empire RPG

Got A&A in the mail a couple days ago. I like it, but I thought it was going to include every playable species! Really wished it had contained all the official species players can use to create their characters. Cool that it had four new ones but bit disappointing. Also, lots of fun allies and adversaries as the title would suggest, but I personally would have skipped a number of those (like Stormtroopers?? Do we need another write up about them? Or Transit Authorities or whatever... kinda dull.)

The other two seem like big lists of all the Stuff you can get (Gear and Gadgets?) and all the Stuff you can fly (the ships one)... so too bad this didn't have a list of all the playable species... with a little picture of each one next to it.

25 minutes ago, Mandalore of the Rings said:

... so too bad this didn't have a list of all the playable species... with a little picture of each one next to it.

I agree, and there should be more species, followed by another book with all new species. So at least two books.

1 hour ago, Eoen said:

and there should be more species,

Yeah, it's one of my kids favorite things about SW roleplaying... They like LotR too but you don't have near as many choices with character species/race/culture whatever. They aren't interested in starships in the least, or space battles (neither am I, tbh) but they love them some cool aliens!

1 hour ago, GM_Needs_A_Xanex said:

I know its not ideal,

Yeah, I've printed out that, and it's cool, thanks. I was just hoping A&A would have had a little picture and description by each one (sort of like compiling how they are done in the splatbooks. Maybe 1 or 2 pages on each. I know my older kid would have poured over it and learned all the obscure knowledge about each species and then tried to impress me with it later... Anyway, I still like the A&A, just not what I thought it was going to be...

1 hour ago, Mandalore of the Rings said:

Got A&A in the mail a couple days ago. I like it, but I thought it was going to include every playable species! Really wished it had contained all the official species players can use to create their characters. Cool that it had four new ones but bit disappointing. Also, lots of fun allies and adversaries as the title would suggest, but I personally would have skipped a number of those (like Stormtroopers?? Do we need another write up about them? Or Transit Authorities or whatever... kinda dull.)

The other two seem like big lists of all the Stuff you can get (Gear and Gadgets?) and all the Stuff you can fly (the ships one)... so too bad this didn't have a list of all the playable species... with a little picture of each one next to it.

I wouldn't expect PC options in a book titled Allies & Adversaries. That's not what the title promises, and not how it was promoted.

2 minutes ago, Mandalore of the Rings said:

Yeah, I've printed out that, and it's cool, thanks. I was just hoping A&A would have had a little picture and description by each one (sort of like compiling how they are done in the splatbooks. Maybe 1 or 2 pages on each. I know my older kid would have poured over it and learned all the obscure knowledge about each species and then tried to impress me with it later... Anyway, I still like the A&A, just not what I thought it was going to be...

I have thought about making my own species sourcebook and putting it in the official FFG book template, but honestly I don't have the time. Now that it looks like there aren't going to be anymore books I'm totally ok with someone taking my document and making an unofficial species sourcebook.

2 hours ago, Mandalore of the Rings said:

Got A&A in the mail a couple days ago. I like it, but I thought it was going to include every playable species! Really wished it had contained all the official species players can use to create their characters. Cool that it had four new ones but bit disappointing. Also, lots of fun allies and adversaries as the title would suggest, but I personally would have skipped a number of those (like Stormtroopers?? Do we need another write up about them? Or Transit Authorities or whatever... kinda dull.)

The other two seem like big lists of all the Stuff you can get (Gear and Gadgets?) and all the Stuff you can fly (the ships one)... so too bad this didn't have a list of all the playable species... with a little picture of each one next to it.

It was never sold as a PC option book. It was a we are going to compile a bunch of stat blocks together so that the GM doesnt have to look through 20 books to find the right stat.

You can also put them in a spreadsheet, a notes program, or in Oggdudes generator.

I have all the species info including pictures from starwars.com on my cloud account, but it’s not fair use to share it with the general public.

Edited by Eoen
2 hours ago, Daeglan said:

It was never sold as a PC option book. It was a we are going to compile a bunch of stat blocks together so that the GM doesnt have to look through 20 books to find the right stat.

Yea, to me, it's just the equivalent of the Monster Manual.

22 hours ago, Daeglan said:

It was never sold as a PC option book. It was a we are going to compile a bunch of stat blocks together

Yeah, I get that now. I assumed wrong and we all know what that does. Anyway, I am happy with it and it's a useful book... I just was looking for more a long the lines of what is in there for Jawa, Tusken Raider, Lasat etc.

20 hours ago, Tailball said:

equivalent of the Monster Manual

Yup. That's exactly what it is! Good comparison.

Anyhoo. Good book, great game.

hope there not getting ready to introduce a Star Wars 2nd edition of the core books. And such. If anything they find ways to condense a core book and make a reference guide for finding crafting, bounties, making strongholds, etc.

1 hour ago, Zuldan said:

hope there not getting ready to introduce a Star Wars 2nd edition of the core books. And such. If anything they find ways to condense a core book and make a reference guide for finding crafting, bounties, making strongholds, etc.

that seems unlikely. You dont lay off your RPG staff if you were going to do that...

Personally I would have preferred to not have had the names NPC's and had more generic stat blocks.

3 hours ago, eldath said:

Personally I would have preferred to not have had the names NPC's and had more generic stat blocks.

If they were gonna do the named ones this was where it should be done. So I am fine with it

4 hours ago, Daeglan said:

If they were gonna do the named ones this was where it should be done. So I am fine with it

I agree. If anything wished the did less generic and added more named.

To me, it's fine as is! Good combination of both named and unnamed friends & foes.
And the obscure ones that aren't named are easily created by yourself by just using other stats and slightly adjusting them to your needs.
It's a decent source book.

16 hours ago, eldath said:

Personally I would have preferred to not have had the names NPC's and had more generic stat blocks.

You can always "reskin" the Named Characters stat blocks (use the stat block as an NPC in your game and not as the named character).

15 minutes ago, Jedi Ronin said:

You can always "reskin" the Named Characters stat blocks (use the stat block as an NPC in your game and not as the named character).

This is in fact one of the best ways to use them as odds are you wont run into named characters that often. but if you reskin you can use the stats more often...

On 3/2/2020 at 7:41 PM, Tailball said:

Yea, to me, it's just the equivalent of the Monster Manual.

the reason i bought it.. althought 9(?) full repeated stat blocks for stormies was my only gripe

1 hour ago, DidntFallAsleep66 said:

the reason i bought it.. althought 9(?) full repeated stat blocks for stormies was my only gripe

well if you are gonna consolidate them to get them all in one place it makes sense to do so. Plus it added new types

5 hours ago, Daeglan said:

Plus it added new types

Like "cave trooper"?? Hmm.

22 hours ago, Daeglan said:

well if you are gonna consolidate them to get them all in one place it makes sense to do so. Plus it added new types

My gripe was the repeated stat block,,,, there was enough space for 1 stat block in the top left of a page and then fill a page with talents,skills and splat...my only gripe..

17 hours ago, Mandalore of the Rings said:

Like "cave trooper"?? Hmm.

There's ALWAYS room for cave troopers :D

On 3/6/2020 at 3:22 AM, DidntFallAsleep66 said:

There's ALWAYS room for cave troopers

Indeed, although surprisingly, no Dust Troopers (for those especially dusty encounters--- totally not the same as Sand Troopers) and no Grass Troopers (for when there is a lot of grass in the conflict). Also no Breeze Troopers (some planets have a predominantly breezy environment and the Empire needs troopers for that specific area too) and no Hail Troopers (it's smart to have extra protection for troopers that have to work somewhere where there may be hail). They do have Swamp Troopers though, on page 63! Also they have Sand Troopers and Shore Troopers (but not the Mud Troopers from the planet Mimban, in Solo-- which I suppose would be a mix of Sand and Shore, and closely related to Swamp. Why would you ever want regular old boring Storm Troopers and why aren't they even equipped to deal with Stormy environments?!