As the title says, I was wondering what people's thoughts were on what the Age of Rebellion book will include. Obviously a more focused look at the Rebels and Imperials including ships and equipment, but what else?

1. What races will make it in? Humans, for sure. Bothans, twi'leks, again? Mon Calamari? Duros?

2. What careers? Soldiers, but with what kind of specializations? Pilots? Maybe playable Imperial characters? Imperial Inquisitors or Emperor's Hands?

3. More rules on Force use? New specializations? Force Adept? The above Imperial characters?

4. Maybe rules on running groups utilizing the minion rules to show large scale combats? Players could have minion groups under their control. this would include on the ground and in space.

Any thoughts?

I think it's gonna be f***ing awesome. Rebels vs the Empire is my favorite part of Star Wars, and It's rock balls to see a whole RPG system dedicated to it.

-WJL

They should have a storm trooper class for the Empire. That is what I am looking forward to. May only be one tier in a class but i'll enjoy the hell out of it

LethalDose said:

This: +1.

To mess with the thread, and related it to that other pointless discussion - you know what I mean - I think the Rebellion books should've been the first book.

I hope for more species - hopefully not re-runs of the EotE, but that is likely I guess.

Rules for capital ships - I mean, it works now with the Nebulon B - but with stardestroyers entering the scene, well, they might not be stated out the way I've done it for my own games, but some rules on including these massive behemoths of flying fortresses should be included.

I want a lot more starfighters, some more transports, and capital ships. More speeders, walkers and "vehicle" scaled stuff - I hope they introduce a third scale between starships and character (I doubt its coming for the final EotE release, despite good arguments for it).

Careers are going to overlap a bit I think, you'll get the medic - not quite the doctor, but with similar talents I guess. Grunt, marine, sniper, specforce and commandoes perhaps. At least some career and specialisations that allows for such character paths. Pilots that either focus on starfighters and dogfighting, or transports/capital ship captains - but also ground vehicles like walkers, hover tanks and the like. Officer career - of some sort. Basically military and guerilla warfare type of careers and rules for tactics, warfare and the like.

I assume there's going to be some more touches on the Force in some way or another - but minor like the beta, or on level with whatever is released with EotE (I've crossed my fingers on a bit more than what the beta had, but I'm not holding my breath).

I'm looking forward to see how they're going to use/change the obligation mechanic, or if they're replacing it with something else.

I'm looking forward to the guidelines for using EotE characters with the new game.

I'm hoping for classes that have a distinctive military feel. Combat pilots, Commandos, Officers, etc.

I want the exact same mechanics as EotE.

I want it to be 100% compatible, and add to an existing EotE character - much like Han Solo went from a smuggler to a General.

I want the game to be set up that the party is a rebel cell - linked to the rebellion, but independant, able to run anything from a fighter squad, to a infiltration team. Think Rogue/Wraith squad from the novels.

It could be interesting to introduce a new mechanic - possibly using 10 sided die that is not present in the dice set. This mechanic should be set up for commanding a fleet, or fighter squadron, from the CIC section of a capitol ship - make the heroes, captains and command staff of a ship - much like how Rogue Trader has it set up for those familiar, but not as wealthy. Perhaps the 10 siders could be a requesition mechanic, or command etc. A command loyalty, tactics, or such. At the same time, this could be done with the existing dice and talents.

Races that are intrinsic to the rebellion - such as Mon Calamari, astromech droids, etc.

Most importantly… support for playing an imperial campaign - I have fond memories of Tie Fighter from Lucas Arts.

Core mechanics are probably going to be identical to what we see in EotE.

Obligation will probably be replaced with something that has more of a military theme. Possibly same too with the Careers, though many of EotE's careers and specializations can already easily be reskinned to work in an AoE campaign without needing to completely redesign. It's a very short leap from a Hired Gun to a Soldier or from Colonist to Diplomat. Explorer and Mechanic could probably be left as is, with only Bounty Hunter and Smuggler really needing a revamp to be less Fringe-based and more military-based. A lot of the talents also work just fine regardless of campaign focus, so expect to see a lot of those cropping up in both AoR and Force & Destiny; again why reinvent the wheel?

I don't necessarily think that AoR PCs are going to be inherently more powerful than EotE PCs, but they might be qutie as strapped for credits during character creation.

I'm kinda hesitant to speculate on species, as we don't know what EotE is going to have when that comes out, but if Mon Cal aren't in the EotE core, then it's a safe bet they'll be in the AoR core.

Minions will probably be expanded to allow for large-scale combats. Maybe not full-blown Battle of Hoth (except on a very high-level view), but things like the Battle of Endor would be a safe bet.

If the theory that each core book reflects one of the Original Trilogy movies holds, then we might see a broadening of Force material, as ESB was when Luke really started to grow as a Jedi. Not full-blown Jedi Knights mind you, but some expanded options, maybe even a new Force Power or two.

The one thing we'll definitely see that's different is a lot more combat-focused vehicles, such as Rebel snowspeeders, X-Wings, B-Wings, Star Destroyers, Mon Cal crusiers, and the like. Going with the large-scale combat expansion, we'll probably see rules focusing more on multiple ship combat as opposed to EotE which seems a bit more focused on one or two PC ships (presumably based on the intention that the PCs in EotE start out with a light frieghter).

I'm also not convinced that we're going to see a Beta for AoR. I admit it'd be pretty sweet, but it feels like a large part of the rationale for having an EotE Beta was to put FFG's rather novel new dice system into the hands of players and derail a lot of the potential negative press that would have been generated in the months prior to EotE's actual release. Now that FFG has their validation that the dice pool works according to how they designed it, there's really not as much of reason to do Betas for the other two books.

Well if anything, It looks likes it will be super good and compared to the WEG style of books. While there will be no Jedi, which is understandable due to the era they picked, the game will be perfect and enough material for us to take it, make awesome stories, and re-skin it for other time periods with a little imagination. I am currently trying to re-skin the rules and house ruling so my group can play during the Clone Wars Era. I really enjoy that time period.

As far as races are concerned, obviously they'll have Mon Calamari, and I'd guess they would include Ithorian and Sullustan, as well. We already got Bothans for Edge of the Empire, otherwise I'd guess them as well.

As for careers, I would guess some kind of espionage related class, as well as diplomats.

Really looking forward to/expecting large-scale combat rules, possibly to (optionally) work in tandem with a standalone boxed game of little army pieces that they could release. Along that same line, optional rules for incorporating the X-Wing minis line would be awesome, as well.

mighty sven! said:

I'm hoping for both Rebel and Imperial PC's, but I expect stormtroopers to not be on the playable list, especially since the fluff has changed them all into clones post Ep III…

I hope the inter-book compatibility will be higher than was the case with the 40K line.

I've always played 'Rebel' campaigns as, like, a freelance freighter crew with a sideline in freedom fighting. Which is kinda EotEs turf, only they take missions from the rebels occasionally.

So I don't know. I'd like to be able to fly an X-Wing, but I've always been wary of military games with command structures and whatnot.

aramis said:

I thought that the cloning facilities were destroyed during the latter parts of the Clone Wars and that Stormtroopers were later recruited and trained from human populations (but with fairly strict regulations on conformity of height & build so that they could use the mass-produced gear).

HappyDaze said:

EU has the stormtroopers starting out as clones, but as time went one the higher-ups realized the value of having conscripts, particularly as clones could only be grown so fast without them going bonkers. and that the quicker-grown clones weren't as viable as the Kamino-grown clones.

As for Imperials of any stripe being a playable character type… probably not in the corebook, as Star Wars is generally about playing heroes and doing heroic deeds. Maybe as a follow-up supplement, sort of like how WotC did the Dark Side Sourcebook for the OCR, and still proves a useful reference for playing dark siders from at least a fluff perspective.

HappyDaze said:

Yes. By the time of the Rebellion much of the stormtrooper units were comprised of enlisted humans. And by the time of the Legacy Era there are even alien stormtroopers.

As far as having stormtrooper characters, that shouldn't be much of an issue. Depends on how much information is in the book as far as Imperials are concerned. Even so, it shouldn't be terribly difficult considering the wealth of information already out there. I imagine that we will have more Force information, so one could run an Imperial game with stormtroopers, Imperial Tie pilots, Imperial Inquisitors and Emperor's Hands.

My first idea for a character in EotE, not that I will ever get to play, was a disgraced and left for dead Imperial Sovereign Protector living in the Outer Rim. He would work well in Age of Rebellion too.

While this is not Canon at all, I've always handled Stormtroopers as Clones of a different sort - this was before the prequals, but I easily adapted it to include.

As Stormtroopers were all clones, but the original genetic material was lost, they had to start taking conscripts. This could lead to superior and inferior troops. Thus it became that the Empire, took control of the Academy of Carida and the troops that were the most capable, and likely to be conscripted as Stormtroopers underwent a cloning of another sort, that of the mind - they were taken and brainwashed to the same exact standards. A deep down loyalty was implanted towards the empire. Thus while the clones died off, a new type of 'clone' was born. That of the Stormtrooper Legion. While they did not look alike, deep down, they thought alike.

This keeps up with characters in fiction who were stormtroopers 'washing out' or more to fact resisting the brainwashing. I felt this give a grim feel to the storm trooper, and bridged the gap between prequel and EU sources.

This was a bit of a derail, I apologize, but I felt an apropriate place to share.

I just hope "Age of Rebellion will have career for both rebellion (rebel pilot, rebel soldier, spy…) and empire caracter ( stormtroopers, pilot troopers, hands of the emperor…) rather than only rebellion caracter.

I imagine they will be careers which can be used on either side. Soldier, pilot, spy, techs, nobles, etc. Plus maybe suggestions on using careers from EotE.

I'm hoping for simple skirmish rules that coincide with the rules we already have. Larger groups of the soldiers/rebels you are leading can be handled as minions perhaps? Expansions on the Leadership skill for skirmishes? As is the rules can handle larger battles (space or ground) by using minions, but I would like a chapter explading and clarifying this so we can have players leading a band of rebels into combat against a battalion of Stormtroopers or have larger naval battles instead of just a PC ship against a few enemies.

I dream with a far forgotten kingdoom whose princess will be kidnapped by the new "last toy" of the emperor… Then players, some, maybe, coming from The Edge of the Empire, will meet her and… or… wait, wait, this is A new hope…

cole said:

I don't think there's a need for faction-specific careers and/or specializations. I doubt there'd be much of a difference between the career/specialization skills & talent trees for Rebel Pilot vs. Imperial Pilot, or Rebel Soldier vs. Imperial Soldier. Likewise, spies are going to get *very* similar training to what folks on the other side are going to get, otherwise their lack of 'standard' capabilities will get them noticed. And Hand of the Emperor doesn't really seem like a specialization, rather than a specific character build (probably with quite a bit of play XP spent before you get anywhere *near* that position).

Voice said:

Emperor's Hands come in a variety of flavours. Pilots, assassins, soldiers, spies. It is more a title than anything else.

mouthymerc said:

I think we're agreeing on that. I'm just adding an assumption that it's very unlikely that a starting (~100XP) character will have managed to get the Emperor's attention in any way significant enough to be named as a Hand.

Voice said:

It'd be akin to becoming the Baron-Adminstrator of large-scale mining operation, or General/Admiral in the Rebel Alliance/Imperial Forces, or even a major-league crime lord. It's something you work towards rather than having to take specific specializations or talents to get there.

Voice said:

I completely agree with above.

There are going to be criminal organizations in EotE, so I assume Age of Rebellion will have details on Imperial and Rebel organizations.

I'm also looking forward to a new list of Obligations. We already have a scale for Crime/Infamy vs. Law/Fame in EotE. I'm assuming Age of Rebellion will have a scale with the Empire on one end and the Alliance on the other (and finally Dark Side vs. Light Side in the final book?).

Voice said:

I agree and disagree. For the vast majority of roles, like soldiers/troopers, spec ops, fighter pilots, officers, engineers, covert agents, etc, I agree that there's little need for faction-specific careers or specializations. The skills needed to represent the skill set in any faction are basically the same.

Other roles, though, I think are specific enough to warrant faction-specific universal specializations*. Examples include roles like Stormtrooper and Emporer's Hand (couldn't think of any good rebel-specific ones, sorry). This lets players tack on very specific skill sets, regardless fo where they came from.

-WJL

*Universal specializations are specializaitons without careers, like Force Exile. Originally they were described as costing an out-of-career premium unless they were purchased as the second specialization. I'm not sure if things changed between their announcement here , and the final week's Beta update, but there seems to be a conflict between the listed costs. Clarification provided for posters who may not be familiar with this concept as presented during Beta development.