First a few words about myself. I do not own many games, in fact the Star Wars game from Fantasy Flight Games will be the first thing I buy from them. I like Star Wars. I have tried (3 times) to play the d20 version. I do not know everything about it however I do know one thing about it, I want to play/gm it.

I tried the d20 version and did not like it. I have not played, read, or bought the beta of Edge of the Empire (eote) but I have learned that there will not be any Jedi/Sith at least in the first book. This does not bother me however, the people I game with are down right refusing to even try it because of this. I find the fact that they are refusing to give it a try to be laughable due to them banning Jedi's from play due to how powerful they are. Does anyone know why there will be no Jedi at the get go? Please do not respond, "Because in 2015 they will release the book on Jedi".

My thought is the time in years when the setting is taking place. Just my guess. If someone would kindly enlighten me, with as much information as possible as to why, I would appreciate it. Perhaps then I can better persuade my group to try the game.

Thanks,

J

Uoooo! The Groundhog Day .

I recommend you to start reading this , and this , and this before stirring the bees nest again!

I am also no fan of the D20 system, have you tried the Star Wars West End Games rpg? Is an old game but very very good, I played it for many years and I had lots of fun.

Cheers,

Yepes

Okay great! Did not mean to stir up a nest. Just wondered why no Jedi and seeing as how it is set during movie 4, that makes sense since only 'Old Ben' & 'Yoda' were around. Makes perfect sense. Wish me luck in tricking [Hand wave: This is the Star Wars game you want to play] I mean letting the players know this is the game they want to play.

On a side note, having never played West End Games Star Wars or EotE beginner box should I try and find West End Games or just wait and get EotE in July?

Legaly finding anything from the old Star Wars WEG can be a challenge nowadays, your best shot will be Amazon I guess. In that case I would say your best option is to wait for EotE.

On the other hand, if you are good in cyber-skulduggery you can find many things online of the old Star Wars WEG.

So far I cannot still decide. I loved Star Wars WEG although I had to houserule things like lethality which was very low for my taste, but the new Star Wars EotE feels a very solid game too, my only concern beign the PCs sarting a bit too proficient for my taste.

I am sorry, this is a very personal decision, I am afraid you will have to get your own experience.

Cheers,

Yepes

Well i picked up the Beginner box, and my group had a blast playing it. All in all everyone seems to have really enjoyed it based on the reactions to people here on the fourm. It is rather linear, and straight forward seeing as how it is meant to gradually introduce players to the core mechanics if the game. However FFG release a follow up adventure that is more robust as a free download supplement called Long Arm of the Hutt.

So far I find it a great system, very easy to pick and learn, and with a fun dice system that really allows for some great rp moments. However if your group of players aren't able to get over the idea of not being able to run around with glowsticks, then perhaps this isn't the rpg for them. There is a force exile class, but they have rudimentary force skills. Nor would they be able to build their own lightsabers as they have no masters and as such aren't even considered on par with padawan.

All in all EotE is Star Wars without such a heavy focus on jedi/sith, which i find quite refreshing. If your players can get past this concept and embrace the game, I am sure you will find EotE to be a great experience!

Sorry I should not of said class, more like a talent tree you can purchase that grants you access to force powers.

While there aren't "official" Jedi in EotE, several people have tackled houserule versions of the Jedi.

Both on the FFG forums: http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_foros_discusion.asp?efid=345&efcid=46&efidt=815157

And on the Gaming Security Agency site (which also has a link to the above, incidentally): http://gsa.thegamernation.org/2013/05/13/career-builder-the-jedi/

Cheers!

Being one of the folks to try their hand at broadening the rules in regards to the Force, I have to say that I really do like FFG's stance of not including Jedi or Sith in the initial rulebook. Not everyone feels that way, as the threads that Yepesnopes linked to illustrate, but it does make for a nice change of pace in contrast to the Force-heavy approach that WotC took (mostly due to the Jedi-heavy slant of the Prequels and Clone Wars material),

That said, if your players really do want to be able to play Jedi, or you want to run a game in a setting other than EotE's default (late Dark Times to early Rebellion Era) where Jedi are more prevlant, I'd have to say that Phil's work on the GSA is by far the best that I've seen in regards to creating a full-blown Jedi Career, particularly as it's not reliant on a slew of homebrew talents.

My stuff, particularly the Jedi Initiate specialization, is geared more towards EotE's default time frame, though it too could be incorporated into other eras of play, especially the Dark Side Acolyte and the Force Mystic, both of which are fairly "setting neutral," as opposed to the Jedi Initiate who is intended for eras where there isn't a strong Jedi presence.

My suggestion, and what I did with my 3 ^rd group, is let them play jedi. Let them find out what it’s like to be a jedi in this time period, in this part of the world.
Use pre-made player characters. Make up some full on Jedi powers, or use one of the posts on these boards. Use the first game session, or two, to create the setting. After that, have the players make their own characters and start the real campaign.

When I set the party, I made two full on Jedi – a counselor and a knight. I also had a “doc”, a bounty hunter, and a gun.

Things started out well enough, on an outer rim planet, un-charted, named Draxlor. It is populated, etc… This stuff wasn’t important to the game, it was just background for me to get the atmosphere going. The crap hit the fan the second they got into combat, the doc got pickpocked by a local gang member and cought the guy doing it. The rest of the gang showed up and the situtation escalated. Fight broke out , gangers pulled knifes, the jedi knight pulled the saber… that drew attention, he further force pushed a dude during that combat, and launched the baddie a good 20 ft.

That let the population know he was a “force type”, presumably a jedi. Then it was “on”.

First the general population believes the jedi were the reason the empire exists, because that’s what they are/were told…. "The jedi were traitors". It's Imperial TV, it's been drilled into everyone's head for the last 20 years. The lack of education in the outter rims leads to more ignorance, and that leads to further belief in what's told, and so on… (This is all in the movies, and supporting media), you're not inventing anything that isn't there, you're just being accurate).

From there, the locals started either actively attempting to kill/capture the jedi characters or they were on informing the empire as to the wearabouts of the "force users" for the reward monies (The wanted posters everywhere with the rewards listed---half million for the body, 50K for information leading to the capture/kil of a jedil).

When people live in the ghetto that kind of cash is a pretty strong motivation.

The party started getting ambushed by street gangs, local bounty hunters, etc… After a time the Empire would have sent troopers to detain the characters, but the jedi didn’t live long enough for them to get there.

The non-jedi in the party started realizing what a hassle it was to have the jedi/force users with them and started to try to ditch them when they had “things” to do.

All said and done, by the end of the first adventure, the bounty hunter (other player character), found out how much the bounty was on the jedi (all jedi, not just they players), she, the politico, and the doc were the ones that actually killed one of them, and were directly responsible for the death of the second one by luring them into an ambush with local law enforcement. (Remember the jedi are legally wanted) That means nowhere to hide, the cops want them for “crimes” and everyone else wants them for financial reasons.

Once you set the atmosphere, the game should manage itself as far as characters are concerned. I had two die hard jedi players and neither play a jedi, or even a force user. The characters they did make are trying to help the few jedi that are left by finding hiding planets and establishing an “underground railroad” type thing, linke an early version of the rangers, however they are not jedi, nor do they wish to be.

Don’t force the game, let it play naturally. If it goes on long enough and the rest of the party doesn’t turn on them (at some point) then the empire does show up eventually. Have a detachment of storm troopers show up and start razing the city looking for them, start killing civilians in town, because they are "hiding the jedi". Jedi shouldn't stay in hiding when innocents are being murdered for their protection. That's an automatic darkside. Feel free to kill all the players in the group, as they are “known associates”.

To play an actual jedi in this time period one would have to be away from everyone else, basically isolated, and that’s a pretty boring game to play. Once the players realize this, they tend to avoid them.

NOTE: Due to the obligation system the characters (jedi), are already standing on questionable grounds mororals of the jedi code are not in line with what crime lords want from their indentured servents. In my game it didn’t take long for the counselor to start slipping to the dark side, not that he was committing the crime (wet work), but he didn’t stop it when the other characters did, not that he even could have if he intended to. It’s a no win situation, and the jedi will eventually fall to the darkside completely. My whole point was to make the characters realize that it was a “no win situation” a foregone conclusion, but I didn’t come out and say such, I just let the story play out and let the players draw their own conclusions.

Anyway, that’s how I did it. And I didn’t have to tell the characters “no”, and stayed completely in agreed upon canon. In fact the games were a great deal of fun and that group is still going strong after 3 months.

Hope it helps,

Sham

Something else to remind them of. Even maxing out your additional Obligation isn't enough to get you a lightsaber. And that Obligation will be "Wanted Dead by the Empire".

Open Force use between Order 66 and the fall of the Empire is pretty much a death sentence. You might get away with taking out the first squad of stormtroopers sent after you, but if you do that, you're going to get an Inquisitor, backed up by a significant detatchment of elite troops. The Empire doesn't mess around when it comes to hunting down the Jedi. Heck, if you're *exceptionally* lucky you might even get to see Vader long enough for him to drop you like a sack of bricks.

All of that said, the lack of a 'Jedi' career and specialization set doesn't mean you *can't* play a Jedi on the run (if you're willing to put up with the costs outlined above). You're just going to have to put your XP into the Force Exile specialization, and Force Power trees. If you burn enough XP on those, you can do virtually everything you see in the original trilogy.