OK, let me be blunt. I didn't care for Epidoses I-III and I can't stand the Clone Wars series. Frankly, I think it does much to damage what I loved from the original Trilogy. That said, I have a few ideas on reconstructing the SW background for my game. I'm putting it here for others to comment on, knowing full well how negative such things usually get.

The Jedi Order: The Jedi Order was ancient and mysterious. The Jedi were not publicly seen as servants of the Galactic Republic - they were clansdestine servants of the Force. While the Jedi did have temples on various worlds, these were not publicly accessible nor was the general membership of the Order a matter of public knowledge. Jedi were thus a secret society within the Galactic Republic with no official role in politics or war. However, many powerful individuals were inducted into the Jedi Order, including planetary nobles (such as Count Dooku) and military leaders (such as Generals Kenobi and Skywalker), but few of these powerful figures revealed that they were members of the Jedi Order. The Jedi Order used these members to guide and influence the Republic into following the Will of the Force, but the public knew nothing of this. To the public, the Jedi Order was just a 'crazy religion' way before the Clone Wars would begin.

Next topic: The Clone Wars

That's actually fairly consistent with the way the Jedi were viewed by the Galaxy at large even during the Prequels.

During the few times in Phantom Menace Shmi Skywalker and Anakin don't seem to understand that much about Jedi at all.

And during Attack of the Clones when Anakin's new step-dad is telling Anakin to give up on his mother, his tone is that getting her back is hopeless and there is nothing they can do. Clearly he has no idea that Anakin is capable of butchering the entire Sand People clan by himself.

And during the Emperor "reveals" that the Jedi have betrayed the Republic most of the Senators accept what he says at face value despite the fact that the Jedi have a 25,000 year history of being the guardians of the Republic.

The main reason why you never see this is because the story is centered around the Jedi. With the exception of Padme and he who shall not be named, all of the "good guys" are Jedi.

That's actually fairly consistent with the way the Jedi were viewed by the Galaxy at large even during the Prequels.

During the few times in Phantom Menace Shmi Skywalker and Anakin don't seem to understand that much about Jedi at all.

And during Attack of the Clones when Anakin's new step-dad is telling Anakin to give up on his mother, his tone is that getting her back is hopeless and there is nothing they can do. Clearly he has no idea that Anakin is capable of butchering the entire Sand People clan by himself.

And during the Emperor "reveals" that the Jedi have betrayed the Republic most of the Senators accept what he says at face value despite the fact that the Jedi have a 25,000 year history of being the guardians of the Republic.

The main reason why you never see this is because the story is centered around the Jedi. With the exception of Padme and he who shall not be named, all of the "good guys" are Jedi.

Well, I'm diverging from canon in that I don't believe that the Supreme Chancellor would be having meetings with the Jedi Order. That's not to say that he wouldn't meet with advisors that might happen to be Jedi. Likewise the Jedi were not given command over the Grand Army of the Republic, but there were certainly military leaders that were Jedi (even if that was not public knowledge). More on this latter bit when I get to the Clone Wars.

An... interesting interpretation no doubt, but not one that I would ever sign up for. I consider this kind of outlook the equivalent of people who insist that there are only 151 pokemon still.

Sounds neat. I like alternate versions of the SW history.

I hope your Clone Wars involved cloned Jedi, because there was a time when there were definitely implications that that was the case (and really helped explain how things got where they ended up in A New Hope)

I hope your Clone Wars involved cloned Jedi, because there was a time when there were definitely implications that that was the case (and really helped explain how things got where they ended up in A New Hope)

They do indeed. They also involve Palpatine being a clueless clone of Darth Sidious. The Supreme Chancellor was a puppet that was killed by Mace Windu.

An... interesting interpretation no doubt, but not one that I would ever sign up for. I consider this kind of outlook the equivalent of people who insist that there are only 151 pokemon still.

I am in agreement. Also changing so much of the Jedi canon throws much of the EU and video games right out the window. Seems like cutting off ones nose to spite their face.

An... interesting interpretation no doubt, but not one that I would ever sign up for. I consider this kind of outlook the equivalent of people who insist that there are only 151 pokemon still.

I am in agreement. Also changing so much of the Jedi canon throws much of the EU and video games right out the window. Seems like cutting off ones nose to spite their face.

I see throwing that crap out as a feature rather than a bug. I'm looking to make an alterante history for a RPG. None of those other things you mention really have any effect on the game unless you try to make them matter.

OK, let me be blunt. I didn't care for Epidoses I-III and I can't stand the Clone Wars series. Frankly, I think it does much to damage what I loved from the original Trilogy. That said, I have a few ideas on reconstructing the SW background for my game. I'm putting it here for others to comment on, knowing full well how negative such things usually get.

The Jedi Order: The Jedi Order was ancient and mysterious. The Jedi were not publicly seen as servants of the Galactic Republic - they were clansdestine servants of the Force. While the Jedi did have temples on various worlds, these were not publicly accessible nor was the general membership of the Order a matter of public knowledge. Jedi were thus a secret society within the Galactic Republic with no official role in politics or war. However, many powerful individuals were inducted into the Jedi Order, including planetary nobles (such as Count Dooku) and military leaders (such as Generals Kenobi and Skywalker), but few of these powerful figures revealed that they were members of the Jedi Order. The Jedi Order used these members to guide and influence the Republic into following the Will of the Force, but the public knew nothing of this. To the public, the Jedi Order was just a 'crazy religion' way before the Clone Wars would begin.

Next topic: The Clone Wars

You are the wind beneath my wings.

Personally, I have not and a lot of the EU. The comics have been both expensive and hard to come by where I live, and the writing of the novels ranges from excruciating to passable. As for the prequels (including the Clone Wars movie) they had some good bits, but also a lot of drek. I haven't seen the Clone Wars TV show, but I remember the Ewok/Droids show....

I don't see any issue at all with re-writing Star Wars "history" to suit ones own tastes. Edge of the Empire is a role playing game, a hobby that is meant to be creative. Look to Star Wars as inspiration, not a creative straight jacket.

And, yes, this does mean if the EU is what inspires you then you should use that as the background for your game.

I've been watching Star Wars since I was a kid. Before the prequels came out, I had done a lot of imagining of what that timeline was like.

I'm not a prequels hater, but what we got was vastly different than what I imagined (I'm not saying that's bad or good, it was just different). The ultimate point here is that no matter what the prequels turned out to be, they weren't going to satisfy everyone's vision of what that time period was like.

But it's fun to imagine. I had always taken Obi-wan's words in ep 4 at absolute face value. That Owen and Anakin were brothers...Owen, Anakin, and Obi-wan had all known each other for a while. Jedi were a publicly known (but not necessarily understood) entity, but Owen was pissed at Anakin and Obi-wan for joining the military. I also figured that Luke's mother survived and ran away with Leia to Alderaan and, possibly reluctantly, gave up luke to Obiwan and Owen when the fodder hit the fan.

I believe the backstory was always that Obi-wan fought Anakin in a lava pit, so ep 3 got it pretty accurate on that one. The clone wars I always figured that the war was over whether cloning was legal or not (similar to the American civil war and the use of slaves).

I would absolutely read books that revolved around the "alternate history" of star wars. I bet there could be some fantastically imaginitive stories to come out of that.

First, I'll say I have zero qualms about people making Star Wars the way they want it for their game. I think that's fantastic.

I am wondering if your stated goal is just make your own history and you're picking elements from the prequels to use or are you trying to "erase" the prequels from your alternate history?

As someone who saw Star Wars in '77 at the age of six when it was just called "Star Wars", there is a lot of elements in your history that were actually introduced through the prequels. The very idea of temples for the Jedi, Count Dooku, a "Chancellor" for the Republic, Darth Sidious, the details of Palpatine's rise to power, how "Darth" is used (before the prequels all we had was Darth Vader and only knew that Darth was a shortening of "Dark Lord of the Sith".)

Your mileage may vary but if I were writing an alternate history, I'd take it a step further and purposely avoid anything from the prequels that wasn't already established before they existed (like General Kenobi and Skywalker - established right in "Star Wars".)

I always thought Darth was his first name.

I always thought Darth was his first name.

Same here. I remember when Darth Maul was first announced, around 1997 or so and was blown away by the idea that Darth was a "title". Took me a while to get used to it. That's why we have all these EU references to Sith Lords just by name (and not Darth "X"). Exar Kun, Naga Sadow, and whatever else.

Interesting.

The Jedi, even at their height, were always more in the background. And especially on the Fringe were considered myth. I agree that they had temples here and there, but I was not impressed with the huge tower on Coruscent.

Personally I always viewed the Clone Wars as the rise of the Emperor using his Clone army. The Jedi tried and failed to stop him and were all but oblterated. The Clone Army was created by the Emperor so he could have his own controllable human army, being that he thought only humans should rule and other alien races should serve them. Obviously not all humans were going to agree so he created an army that would. The Jedi tried to stop him, but were outnumbered. Not only that but they didn't realize that they were up against a Sith Lord as well. Between the Clone Army, which at the time seemed endless, and Sith agents, the jedi were all but decimated, many going into hiding. Once he had control less clones were used and more humans were integrated, albeit ones that could be conditioned to serve.

Anyways, just my contribution.

I always thought Darth was his first name.

Same here. I remember when Darth Maul was first announced, around 1997 or so and was blown away by the idea that Darth was a "title". Took me a while to get used to it. That's why we have all these EU references to Sith Lords just by name (and not Darth "X"). Exar Kun, Naga Sadow, and whatever else.

"Darth Vader" ominously means "absent father" ("Dearth" means lacking, "Vader" being Dutch for father).

In contrast, "Darth Maul" means "my personality consists of face-paint and a saber-staff."

Actually the derivation of Darth Vader comes from "Dark Water". The resemblance to the Dutch for "father" is coincidence.

I also think we shouldn't have seen force lightning until ROTJ. Dooku using it was underwhelming. However, if Palpatine was going to fight Yoda, he couldn't NOT use force lightning I guess.

Actually the derivation of Darth Vader comes from "Dark Water". The resemblance to the Dutch for "father" is coincidence.

If coincidence, what an amazing coincidence it was. "Dark Father" describes him perfectly, in hind sight.

@HappyDaze I like your OP, it's a refreshing big-picture view. I also like strongarm85's inclusive spin, since I did enjoy the prequels (mostly) and really like TCW (with caveats). Aside from minor details like "what does Darth mean" I think it would be pretty easy to incorporate that flavour...in fact, I plan to.

An... interesting interpretation no doubt, but not one that I would ever sign up for. I consider this kind of outlook the equivalent of people who insist that there are only 151 pokemon still.

I am in agreement. Also changing so much of the Jedi canon throws much of the EU and video games right out the window. Seems like cutting off ones nose to spite their face.

The prequels made the Jedi into an incompetent group of policemen with moronic rules that lead to creating one of their greatest enemies from within. Almost every character from the Original Trilogy that was awkwardly bludgeoned into the narrative lost something for it.

Some cool stuff has come out of the decisions made in the Prequels, but for the EU that actually matters for for Edge of the Empire? Ignoring the Prequels doesn't really do anything.

You know you could have said the less inflamitory statement, "I am going to base my story purely on the original trilogy"

I think maybe the actual point of the original post is getting lost in the thread here. I think the OP just was seeking opinions and discourse on their "alternate" modifications. They didn't necessarily say the weren't using the prequels as clearly the history they are choosing to craft includes elements from the prequels. The OP just prefers not to use the full narrative as canon. And that's totally fine no matter what your bent is.

I ran an entire campaign that was an alternate history that made my players the heroes of the galaxy. It was called "Splintered Force" and Leia was killed by Vader during their fight on Mimban at the climax of Splinter of the Minds Eye. Luke barely escaped, became an embittered rogue bent on destroying Vader and eventually was easy to turn to the Dark Side. He eventually rose in power, Vader and Luke killed the Emperor, then Luke offed Vader and became THE villain for my players.

Alternate timelines, rewriting "canon" can be TONS of fun. Don't take offense at somebody's preference if its not yours. Entertain the idea and join the discussion. What-ifs can be a lot of fun.

Actually the derivation of Darth Vader comes from "Dark Water". The resemblance to the Dutch for "father" is coincidence.

If coincidence, what an amazing coincidence it was. "Dark Father" describes him perfectly, in hind sight.

It certainly does suit. The Star Wars: Identities museum exhibit is what have the derivation, it dates back to "The Star Wars", along with a female "Luke". We could have a very different Star Wars history for the game...