Why can't you play the game in an era other than the Rebellion Era? Will there be supplements and expansions for exploring these time periods?

Well, I doubt there will be a rule that will stop you playing outside the Rebellion Era. You can freely play whatever you would like. It will just be that the support for it will presume players are playing in the Rebellion Era… which is also the only era, as far as I am concerned… ok, Heir to the Empire passes as well.

I would be extremely surprised if you couldn't use the rules as written to explore any time-frame. Think of WEG: that was written in its bare form to be a Rebellion Era game, but a vast number of people began throwing the system into other periods even prior to the release of the expansion modules.

If you're a fan of the Rebellion Era - which, I think, most Star Wars followers are - then the decision for the core books to focus upon one period instead of all of them is a blessing: it allows them the opportunity to provide much greater focus on one time period, rather than using up pages covering others.

Yeah, really you can play in any era. I mean who really cares… just take a ship from the book… YT-1300 and rename it Dynamic-class freighter (Ebon Hawk)… DONE. You are now the Old Republic Era.

WOOKIEEPEDIA is your friend. You can cobble together anything from there. Believe me, I have been doing it in my D6 campaign.

Apart from the fact of what most have said allready about being the master of your own campaign and chosen Era. I would be surprised if FFG doesnt add Era books as source material, if not seperate games (after the 3 year shedule).

BrashFink said:

Not only is wookieepedia your friend, it also has the best **** name of any wiki, ever.

Brence said:

There are ALOT of things to cover in the Rebellion Era alone. Also, since Lucas has final approval, he might have made a requirement for the initial stuff to be in the Rebellion Era. I expect that you only really need some supplements, though, for stuff not in the Rebellion Era. All in all, I would expect that we get the three core books, and then supplements for using those core books in various eras. With the system being split the way it is, you do not need to do a supplement that covers everything in each individual era. You could do a Jedi Supplement that covers the Tales of the Jedi, KOTOR, NJO, and Legacy eras, and, only have to do one or two supplements to cover the Jedi in those eras, since it is only for the Jedi section of the RPG. Same with the Edge of the Empire and Military books. Get the core for each solidly done, and then the "Eras book" is just extra stuff for all the various Eras through the lens of the Sub-RPG they are done for.

I agree, the old WEG was set in the Rebellion era, I would prefer a more balanced system that allows me to play in any SW era, with sorcebooks covering each one in detail. Personally, I think the Clone Wars era would've been a better place to start.

But to many people the Rebellion Era is what Star Wars is really about. It is the most iconic of all the periods.

I am not sure what you mean by "a more balanced system".

Looking at the book, the only real "named" stuff are starships. Most everything else is generically named (heavy blaster pistol, heavy blaster rifle, etc.). Starships are named, but easily could represent fairly broad designations (heck, I've heard from some sources that designs like the YT-1300 have been around for thousands of years and could very well be present in the Old Republic setting).

Given that, I see little that actually stops players from picking a setting. The real "limiting" factor is that it really is written with the intent that the PCs are frigners (the obligation system mainly).

I'd imagine that it'd be very easy to play in any time period, provided you have all three books (and, even then, only if you wanted to be able to include everything ).

I wonder if Fantasy Flight's license includes the right to publish material for the Old Republic setting. I don't know if the Dark Horse comics and Bioware games technically count as part of the core Star Wars license. I hope so, because both WEG and WotC did stuff with it and it's a great setting to play in.

I wonder… does the book include stats for things like stormtrooper armour?

Yes, but it is initially referred to plainly as Laminate armour, with the description saying it is used as stormtrooper armour.

Glad to hear that it's included. Is it a good set, or pretty poor by armour standards? I remember the stormtrooper armour from D20 being kind of crappy. :S

I'm still reading through the rules, so I am only seeing simple numbers.

It possesses the same "soak" value as padded clothing (it is also the highest soak score any of the armour sets can have). It lacks a defense value, but most armour does not provide defense (except for personal shields, heavy armour, and "armoured clothing").. Its main draw is the amount of modifications it can accept, which is far greater than most for its price range/availability/legality.

Still, it would be a stretch for a PC to have at start of play.

Okay. Thanks for getting back to me.

grahamdbailey said:

I do recall there being a Sith Empire in the past of the star wars Universe. There is also an Empire in the Legacy Era - Two sets of Imperials I believe. Each one of these empires will have an 'Edge'.

I personally love the fact that this is set in the 'Classic Era'. The whole feel of this game seems right to me. Dealing with the fringe elements of the star wars universe. It's a place that you can put whatever you want in, and brings to mind games such as Dark Forces. Many other people have said that the release of the books is to mimic the growth of Luke Skywalker as a character. Starting as a Tatooine Farmboy, joining the rebellion and becoming a soldier and leader, eventually becoming a Jedi.

This is the Era that many of the Developers were raised on. I grew up with three movies (not including the ewok ones) and cartoons Droids! and Ewoks! Droids is a perfect example of the characters that you can play. I'm super excited about that. Also, pre-Jedi Kyle Katarn.

I'm wondering, if that while the classic era is the developers era - and close to their hearts and memories, there wasn't a slight thought to tying in this game to Star Wars 1313 - a new game coming out that seems to deal with the dark underbelly of coruscant, with the main character being a bounty hunter. From what I've seen. No Jedi will be present in that.

We'll see how things go. They've only announced 3 books. Personally, I hope they do a huge 300 page book that is nothing but races. Gimme the Duros, the Gran, the Shistavanan, the Ithorian, the Devaronian, the Bith - everything you've seen in the movies and books. I want many bothans to die to bring me this information.

That Blasted Samophlange said:

Something else to remember as well. Cranky uncle George tends to have his hands in any Star Wars pie that is out there. This new SW1313 game has been constantly billed as darker, more adult. I wonder if this isn't a push by the SW franchise to appeal to their older audiences. For so long now they have been focused on making things for little kids, and as not-to-bad as the Clone Wars TV show is, it is lacking in any real depth. I for one am excited to see that they finally remembered the real SW universe, and stopped messing around with all that other prequel crap.

Actually. License wise… the full version of this should be landing in 2013, and isn't that when the new Star Wars Live Action TV series hits? And it supposedly focuses on the same sort of thing, the Scum and Villainy out on the fringe. This Focus for Edge would make a LOT more sense yet if it lands at the same time as the series as a Tie in.

Dulahan said:

It was announced years ago that the Live Action series would be release in 2012 I believe, but that has fallen a bit by the wayside as Lucas is essentialy wanting to put out a weekly product with production values that rival all 6 movies…. But that's expensive, and until they can find a way to shot the show and bring production costs down it is still a ways off.

Interesting to note though with the upcoming release of Star Wars 1313, there's some speculation that an announcement about the Live Action show is going to be announced on the final day of Celebration VI (there's a rumor that Lucasfilm has a major announcement scheduled for today that will be unveiled at the closing).

Yancy

I thought the live action sw tv-series was postponed indefinitely… due to cost… at least that's the last news I have heard.

The 1313 game sounds fun, although I hope FFG won't do the WotC blunder and create a specific book for that game… like WotC did with Force Unleashed.

Jegergryte said:

Same, here.

Personally I like staring in the rebellion era, one of the main problems I had with the d20 is that the base book tried to include to much from every era and of enough from any one. That being said I do want to play during the clone wars and old republic at some time and don't mind buying the books for them separate. I still have mixed ideas about how the books are being split. I hope the different eras aren't base books including the same classes but with equipment from the era and have class spasific changes or ablitys from that era.

Jegergryte said:

The Force Unleashed book had a lot of other stuff in it though. Like info on the dark times comic, and the dark forces video games. A better name would have been The Dark Times campaign guide, as that would have more accurately portrayed the timeline, but wizards had to cash in on the new game.