This seems very geared towards the Rebellion (duh, it's called Age of Rebellion). I just hope that there is plenty of material for those on the Empire side. Some of my best games were played where the PCs started out Empire and then later defected!

Wait... What if they make an Empire supplement! It would make a lot of sense! I often forget that FFG is really good about their add ons. Enter the Unknown for example. I trust them which is why I am happy they have the license.

I could be wrong, but I don't know that Obligation and Duty could be combined into a single chart, since they seem to have different impact on the game and the players. For example, since Duty seems to be something to aspire to, my guess would be that there's NOT a rule about 100+ cumulative Duty not allowing the PCs to spend XP.

Also, putting the two things in the same table would prevent the delicious combinations of Player #1's Obligation directly clashing with Player #2's duty -- or with Player #3 having to deal with both Obligation AND Duty in the same session.

With respect to the implementation, I am expecting that an active Duty roll means less "You need to do this for us" and more "Revel in the fruits of your labor from past missions." The GM might also be encouraged to give the PC an added opportunity fulfill their Duty (perhaps as a side goal).

Thing is, with Obligation, the game designers take pains to balance "This random roll can have serious impact on your day" with "But we don't want to mess up the story you're trying to tell." I expect that Duty will be implemented in a similar way.

I view Obligation (and theoretically Duty) as "story seasoning." It's actually kind of fun for the GM because it gives US something to react to other than the players. For example, in my current game, I have four PCs. Jake has a bounty on his head (Obligation), whereas Sakar is the leader of guerrilla organization dedicated to stamping out slavery (Duty). Even if a particular session has absolutely nothing to do with either of those character arcs, a random roll can color the tone of the session.

Assuming I don't want to add an encounter or anything substantial, if Jake's Obligation comes up, perhaps the PCs learn that Jake the bounty on Jake has been raised, or maybe a mutual friend notifies him that Tonbo (one of the scariest bounty hunters in our campaign, a cyborg Toydarian gunslinger) has started asking questions.

Alternately, if Sakar's Duty pops up, perhaps his organization, Freedom's Hammer, has just had a major success and Sakar is in good spirits, perhaps even having been sent some resources. In either case, the session's main story continues, but whether we set the tone with a new threat to Jake or a new success for Sakar could lead to some very different variations.

Duty isn't punitive though. When it comes up you increase your wound threshold. I see AoR being more streamlined than EotE in chargen with players being rewarded with Duty as a secondary character advancement mechanic. I also fully expect characters to have both obligation AND duty if hey choose to with the gimmick of obligation being the credits/xp.

I've been thinking a bit about Duty... hehe.. duty. Ahem. Sorry.

I'm thinking that it will be set up that you buy a Duty reward threshold. What I mean is, while obligation gives you rewards right away such as experience or redits, duty will be a long term investment, in that when your Duty reaches a set threshold, say 10 for a character, they get a bonus for accomplishing goals towards this Duty. Say, you have a Duty to Avenge Alderaan - if you do a mission, where, upon successfully recruiting a group of Alderaanians, you get 1 duty point. To get more experience/greater awards down they way you purchase a higher Duty Tier, such as 20 or whatever depending on the number of players.

This would keep people motivated, such as what Obligation does, and force the players to be a bit more proactive (some players have a we'll wait and see attitude when it comes to adventuring). Also, creates a pseudo-conflict if different PC's have different Duty types, but depending on how a mission is completed you only get to chose 1 type.

Just ideas. It could be something completely different.

I wonder could this mean you can spend Duty to obtain gear, equipment or resources normally not available or you have an access level at some points of Duty where these become available?

The gain extra wound points or strain make little sense unless the result of spending Duty to obtain that temporary increase?

I will be not going to Gen Con this year so I can't get it.

You can order it on this website when the time comes. That is how I got my EotE Beta!

Same here. I have the money ready... all I need is their link saying "Give us your Credits right here," and I am sending them my credits for this game.

I could be wrong, but I don't know that Obligation and Duty could be combined into a single chart, since they seem to have different impact on the game and the players. For example, since Duty seems to be something to aspire to, my guess would be that there's NOT a rule about 100+ cumulative Duty not allowing the PCs to spend XP.

Also, putting the two things in the same table would prevent the delicious combinations of Player #1's Obligation directly clashing with Player #2's duty -- or with Player #3 having to deal with both Obligation AND Duty in the same session.

With respect to the implementation, I am expecting that an active Duty roll means less "You need to do this for us" and more "Revel in the fruits of your labor from past missions." The GM might also be encouraged to give the PC an added opportunity fulfill their Duty (perhaps as a side goal).

Thing is, with Obligation, the game designers take pains to balance "This random roll can have serious impact on your day" with "But we don't want to mess up the story you're trying to tell." I expect that Duty will be implemented in a similar way.

I view Obligation (and theoretically Duty) as "story seasoning." It's actually kind of fun for the GM because it gives US something to react to other than the players. For example, in my current game, I have four PCs. Jake has a bounty on his head (Obligation), whereas Sakar is the leader of guerrilla organization dedicated to stamping out slavery (Duty). Even if a particular session has absolutely nothing to do with either of those character arcs, a random roll can color the tone of the session.

Assuming I don't want to add an encounter or anything substantial, if Jake's Obligation comes up, perhaps the PCs learn that Jake the bounty on Jake has been raised, or maybe a mutual friend notifies him that Tonbo (one of the scariest bounty hunters in our campaign, a cyborg Toydarian gunslinger) has started asking questions.

Alternately, if Sakar's Duty pops up, perhaps his organization, Freedom's Hammer, has just had a major success and Sakar is in good spirits, perhaps even having been sent some resources. In either case, the session's main story continues, but whether we set the tone with a new threat to Jake or a new success for Sakar could lead to some very different variations.

Duty isn't punitive though. When it comes up you increase your wound threshold. I see AoR being more streamlined than EotE in chargen with players being rewarded with Duty as a secondary character advancement mechanic. I also fully expect characters to have both obligation AND duty if hey choose to with the gimmick of obligation being the credits/xp.

The point of my post was that, indeed, Duty isn't punitive, so it won't be completely comparable to Obligation. (However, both seem designed as narrative tools, so both will, I'm assuming, flavor the story).

I'm curious how you see chargen being more streamlined in AoR. Although we're not seeing the full section for Duty, what we do see very much mirrors (pretty much paragraph-by-paragraph) Obligation. If Obligation is added as an optional way to increase XPs (which seems very reasonable), I would think that would actually complicate chargen by a step.

I'll be interested in the implementation of Duty rather than the chargen aspect. The mention that it increases Wound threshold rather than reducing Strain threshold would seem to indicate that there is a random roll component. Presumably, this will be a die roll (using the precedent of Obligation). But since it's something for PCs to aspire to and earn, will there be additional ways to benefit? A threshold at which you can "turn it in" for other bonuses?

Duty, along with the new careers/specializations, are the main reasons I'll be getting the Beta.

I haven't seen it mentioned, but the name of this pic seems to confirm the soldier career.

http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/ffg_content/StarWarsRPG/age-of-rebellion/beta/career-soldier.png

Unless they make up names for pictures randomly or just based on what it depicts, I'd say we're getting a soldier career

If they want the DUTY system to work like the Obligation system... maybe it will work like this...

You start with 10 points of Duty at character creation.
When you succesfully complete missions for the Alliance, you might gain some Duty points.
Duty gives you access to more potent gear and ressources (contacts, spies, etc.)
If you fail to execute your Duty when it triggers, you loose points in Duty.
If you have no Duty points, you can't spend XP.

So like Obligations which can be used to gain gear, High Duty gives you gear.
Like Obligations, it will pop at the start of a game, meaning you have to do a small side quest for the Alliance.
If you fail, you loose your Duty points, if you succeed, you may gain more Duty points.

Unless they make up names for pictures randomly or just based on what it depicts, I'd say we're getting a soldier career

Nice.

I'm interested in seeing the Espionage focused career. I could see options for the classic Spy, an Assassin type specialization and a Faceman (someone very good at speaking and conning others and impersonation), or perhaps a Saboteur (someone good at just infiltration and sabotaging and stealing information and things).

Nice catch on the virtual confirmation of soldier.

For "spy," if I were breaking out specs, I would probably go with:

• Operative: Like James Bond or Jahan Cross, a jack-of-all-trades
• Infiltrator: Stealth with some tech skills, and possibly light combat/assassination skills
• Slicer-type: Adept at infiltrating systems rather than buildings

I will be not going to Gen Con this year so I can't get it.

You are supposed to be able to order it from the FFG website soon, likely after Gencon.

I will be not going to Gen Con this year so I can't get it.

You are supposed to be able to order it from the FFG website soon, likely after Gencon.

IIRC last year it was available the very same day they made the announcement on the website. I know because I order one ASAP and a friend that was at GenCon also bought me one copy and I ended up with 2 betas (and they basically arrive at the same time since my friend expended a couple of extra days on Indi).

I will be not going to Gen Con this year so I can't get it.

You are supposed to be able to order it from the FFG website soon, likely after Gencon.

IIRC last year it was available the very same day they made the announcement on the website. I know because I order one ASAP and a friend that was at GenCon also bought me one copy and I ended up with 2 betas (and they basically arrive at the same time since my friend expended a couple of extra days on Indi).

Yeah as soon as they announced it at GenCon last year it was up on the website. It was like magic.

Perhaps Duty gives you X amount of credits that can be used to requisition items to be used to accomplish your mission, perhaps it will include military personal as well as military hardware. I would assume that after the mission it all goes away.

Seems that it might be tough to balance those missions vs a standard EoTE mission, I guess that is why they need a BETA.

Nice catch on the virtual confirmation of soldier.

I'll be watching any art they put up closely from now on.

Glad to help. I guarantee the discussion will get MUCH more interesting once the whole thing is out.

Definitely so, I'd say. I'm looking forward to getting hold of the Beta!

Hi, all!

In regards to the Age of Rebellion Beta book, I have just received the following reply from Tony Mills of the FFG Customer Service Team:

We will have that available some time during this quarter. Please watch the Upcoming page for information as it comes.

Well, it looks like the book is a definite for Q3!

I think class/specializiation breakdown will be something like...

Soldier

• Infantryman
• Marksman/Sniper
• Officer

Ace Pilot

• Starfighter Pilot
• Speeder (vehicle) Pilot
• Capital Ship / Gunnery Pilot

Spy

• Infiltrator
• Saboteur
• Intelligence Officer

Leader

• Tactician
• Negotiator
• Ambassador

Force Sensitive Emergent

Hi, all!

In regards to the Age of Rebellion Beta book, I have just received the following reply from Tony Mills of the FFG Customer Service Team:

We will have that available some time during this quarter. Please watch the Upcoming page for information as it comes.

Well, it looks like the book is a definite for Q3!

I would have thought that was obvious, since the deadline for beta playtesting submissions is in October.

My ideas and guesses and desires of Careers and specializations (wild speculation right now)

Soldier Career -

- Commando (I love me the Old republic )

- Vanguard

- Medic/Ace Pilot

Spy Career -

- Infiltrator

- Saboteur

- Broker (information specialist)

Okay, that's all I have so far but its a work in progress.

I am sure there is going to be some duplication of Specializations with those in EotE... I could very well see the military having Careers that focus on Planetary Scouting and Information Specialists and dealing with people and finding good places to hide bases and the game will probably have rules for how to create small cells in hostile territory and things like that.

I just can't think of any good Specialization and Career names for all those.

Hi, all!

In regards to the Age of Rebellion Beta book, I have just received the following reply from Tony Mills of the FFG Customer Service Team:

We will have that available some time during this quarter. Please watch the Upcoming page for information as it comes.

Well, it looks like the book is a definite for Q3!

I would have thought that was obvious, since the deadline for beta playtesting submissions is in October.

And if its like EotE than we will have at least 8 weeks of Beta testing.

Hi, all!

In regards to the Age of Rebellion Beta book, I have just received the following reply from Tony Mills of the FFG Customer Service Team:

We will have that available some time during this quarter. Please watch the Upcoming page for information as it comes.

Well, it looks like the book is a definite for Q3!

I would have thought that was obvious, since the deadline for beta playtesting submissions is in October.

And if its like EotE than we will have at least 8 weeks of Beta testing.

Might be 6, if they aren't testing the main rules, just the new stuff added in AoR.

Here is what I wanna know since I missed out on the EotE Beta. Is there gonna be a limited print run for this beta and secondly, like their 40k stuff, to play a character from EotE with those from AoR, do the EotE need some advances under their belt like it is with Dark Heresy mixed with Rogue Trader?

Thanks