The Star Wars movies have primarily been PG, G with an M thrown in there. Think Episode 3 was rated as M. Now as a kid watching these movies I kne wthe bad guys were bad though the concepts of what makes them so bad wasnt really there for me to see. Storm Troopers looked bad so they must be bad, right?

Now in my 40's we seem to play games sitting more in the M to R rated space. The NPCs dont just talk the talk in terms of their badness, their actions are explained and shown for players to see how bad they are. We have been playing a bit of Game of Thrones role playing and that is a narrative game as well. Has some similarities with EotE. Though there the people and the setting is quite R rated as the ruthlesness of people is well known base don the books and TV series. Yet Star Wars is not like that however its supposed to imply that. Any government that expels minorities and has a general racist attitude has to be inherently bad. Thou we dont see that visualy.

So this game system being a narrative system, how much do you do from that point to bring the rating up on your game or do you do that at all?

I am starting to put an adventure together and I guess I am transfering across my Game of Thrones ruthlessness so am creating these NPC nemesis characters that are walking psychopaths and wont easily mince words, also this Edge of the Empire should be ruthless in my opinion considering everyone is trying to look after No.1 and its survival of the fittest.

So would you insert this level of R rated ruthlesness in your games or have you and how are you finding that at this stage considering this narrative style game?

RotS was rated PG-13. Beyond that, they are all rated PG ( SOme internet sources seem to indicate the OT was re-released with a G rating, but for this argument, who cares?)

As far as the rating for EotE… I feel like it all depends on the tone/atmosphere you want to set and your audience.

I run most of my games at an R-ish level, meaning profanity, blood and gore as appropriate, reasonable sexuality, etc. THis is across several systems (D&D 3.5, D&D 4, Saga, EotE,, HERO), and I haven't really found a need modify anything to accomodate that narrative style.

Now, that being said, I think EotE is one of the easiest of these to create dramatic situations, since you can HURT and debilitate the players and NPCs without putting them immeadiately near death. The multi-dimensional outcomes from the narrative dice also let you manipulate the scene more than other games' one dimensional outcomes.

So, to sum up: In my experience, this game works great for darker and/or more mature role-playing style with little to no modification and less creativity than is typically needed in other systems.

Had to go and check my blu-rays. Was sure I wasnt going crazy. Lo and behold Return of the Sith is rated M on the disc. Now that maybe due to the fact I am in Australia and our Film Rating Board gave it an M rating due to some scenes and themes in that movie. And here I thought the US was conservative.

Thanks for the POV, appreciate that. Have been playing nigh on twenty years though it was only when we abandoned DnD 4th ed (just couldnt stomach the system) when we started playing with the setting itself being mature. Before that it was what I call "Lollipop gaming" as DnD wasnt really a lot about the narrative. It is, in my opinion, a collection game. So the narrative didnt matter, it wasnt at the forefornt.

Then we jumped to Savage Worlds and Hellfrost and recently to Game of Thrones where the narrative is very important and NPCs have more of a life due to their idiosyncracies and they are not just something that you have to defeat through combat. Through narrative you can have a different outcome and also the players themselves were not bound to any particular allignment as you would be in DnD. Your moral compass was your own as how you envisage your character and sometimes you may shift that to suit the situation.

As GM I really enjoyed that as I felt that I was actually more part of the game rather than someone that prepares the NPC process line of destruction for the players to have in their evening session. What does a GM walk away with?

So have the Begginers box set and have been reading, listening to podcasts, and watching whatever I can find on this system. I find lots of similarities with Game of Thrones narrative focuse and really enjoy that. Looking forward to having my group bite into this though I do want to keep it dirty and gritty. Defeat may not mean death but so many other consequences can occur. Liek you said, maiming. These NPCs in turn then create a real feeling of hatred by the players rather than something forced on them because the NPC is only a means to an end. Much more depth that way.

So I see the narrative system they have cretaed here should help that and being at the edge of the empire where all the scum really are, then why not really ramp it up for the players so they feel a real sense of anxiety in any scene.

We played Saga for a couple of years, really enjoyed that, though the NPC's the players nemesis did feel contrived rather than showing how really evil they are. Maybe our fault as we came straight out of DnD and into that so brought our "Lollipop" mentality along.

Looking forward to our first session. I have some good ideas for the types of nemesis I want to throw in and the real world is providing me with all I need. Think Al Capone, Ted Bundy, Pol Pot (as some imperial Moth assigned to the outer rim), and other notorious real life figures that plagued our world. Great templates for the players to sweat it out a bit with any encounter.

I can't say I set out my adventures with a rating in mind. I just try to make the experience as realistic as possible, so I guess.. R at times, G or PG at others. It varies, but if it logically fits the environment or suits the mood, it'll be there.

I have described some pretty dark things, now that I think of it… :/

Looking back it I still find it odd that the original films were U (Uk rating, meaning Universal). The first film has a guys arm being cut off, and then you see the skeletal scorched remains of the main protaganists aunt and uncle. The latter particularly puzzles me it being a U.

Also, if you think about it, in Return of the Jedi the "cuddly" ewoks were going to cook and eat many of the major characters before they were convinced otherwise.

I have to say, the Star Wars game I am running (d6, not FFG) is not as straight cut as the films. The PCs are largely minor crooks, and I went out of my way to explain why some people genuinely see the empire as the best alternative. Possibly a bit too much, seeing as the characters are now much more happy with the empire than they might be with the rebels, so I have had to throw some random brutality just to reinforce the image.

the MPAA rating system sucks. the whole movie industry is afrraid of getting a R rating on some films for fear it will not become a blockbuster. There needs to be more variety in the rating system betwean PG-13, and MA

*gets off soapbox*

With adults, there is not much stopping an RPG games from reaching an R-rating. Gore, innuendo, violence, language. my D&D game I would be hesitent to even inclue a woman into the game because it becomes rather crude and raunchy at times

In so far as the American ratings for the films, under the newer standards the most of Original Trilogy would have rated as PG-13 (which didn't exist at the time the OT was made), especially A New Hope with Han shooting first (and thus part of the reason for the infamous change in the theatrical release of the Special Editions).

As for the games I run, I tend to aim for a PG-13 mood. I'm certainly not adverse to the language getting salty or the PCs being a bit murderous, but I also prefer to steer away from Tarantino-levels of gorn. And the dancing girls (when they do show up) are usually bikini-clad rather than sky-clad.

It depends on my audience. I've been playing the Beginner set with my wife and kids, so it's pretty tame, but full of bodily humor jokes. When they had to sneak into the control station to access the computers, the Wookiee charged in the side door, pretending to have a panic attack, howling and urinating everywhere. The Twi-lek followed after him, yelling, "No, Billy, NO! Find your happy place!! while the droid casually walked in through the confusion and accessed the computer in about three seconds.

Now if I can get a grownup group together, it should get unpleasant. I've always wanted to have an Imperial Inquisitor squad that uses people as Force bloodhounds. Basically people sensitive to the Force, captured by the Empire, mutilated, their brains rewired (badly), and trained to track down the psychic signals of other Force Sensitives. So really pitiful creatures, completely insane, their bodies warped (hook hands, eyes gouged out, that sort of thing), generally kept on some sort of leash (I dunno, shock collars or something?), but oh so dangerous.

Donovan Morningfire said:

I'm sorry, but LMAO.

I know you meant to say "gore", but reading this just mashed images Star Trek, Star Wars, and Tarantio in one beautiful explosion of WTF in my head.

LethalDose said:

No, the usage of "gorn' was quite intentional.

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Gorn

Donovan Morningfire said:

That's a new one to me. I thought it was a typo as well. Thank you for the education!

Donovan Morningfire said:

HAH! even better. I like the note in that link:

Not to be confused with the Star Trek reptilian alien race the Gorn Hegemony , or the Monty Python's Flying Circus