I personally am not keen on the gung-ho geared up look of those guys. The Rebels shouldn't look like that. They should evoke the armed civilian of WW2 more than "SPEC OPS BADASSES, HO YEAH!" The light infantry, stripped down look of the actual rebel trooper you have there is fine, as is the Hoth trooper style (neither are bad portrayals of what a uniform could look like... aside from the strange helmets... I don't know what they are meant to be). I don't think the look your presenting would make the rebels "cooler". What the Empire has is cooler officers' uniforms and capital ships. Fighters go hands down to the rebels, and while the rebel pilot's uniforms are dated and ugly, you can't exactly say the tie fighter pilot uniform are any different in that regard, just that they are black with really dorky helmets, rather than orange with dorky helmets.

And what they heck is up with that animation... why does it not surprise me that something done in a Japanese style is made up to make the Empire look good? The Japanese have an odd approach to WW2 Germany as well. Also, totally wrong. Tie Fighter surviving a hit from a laser cannon? Should have blown up when someone looked at it wrong. Those things are made of paper. And the extremely manoeuvrable Tie bomber, evading all that rebel fighter firepower? Erm... Nay chance. And the X-Wings blowing up at the slightest glance of the tiefighter weaponry? They have shields for a reason guys... Sure, the Star Destroyers should have picked those frigates apart with no problem, but the fighter battle should go to the Rebels, numbers aside (did we see a single Imperial casualty in that video?).

I personally am not keen on the gung-ho geared up look of those guys. The Rebels shouldn't look like that. They should evoke the armed civilian of WW2 more than "SPEC OPS BADASSES, HO YEAH!".

Everyone we see take up arms for the Rebellion in the movies is wearing a uniform.

(Which is good, because I think getting people who have been playing Call of Duty: Modern Warfare for the last decade to willingly play a peasant militia taking on a high tech professional army is going to be a hard sell.

Not to put too fine a point on it, I think people are more likely to enthusiastically embrace rebellion if Stormtroopers are these dudes:-

and Rebel PCs are

)

Course this woman looks pretty cool. I believe she is Syrian.

I'm sorry... what's this? I'll just be over there ... signing up to join the Empire.

When I say "armed civilian" I really meant the regular armed forces of ww2, which were made of conscripted civilians, not overdone professionals (those silly goddam beards and moustaches). In uniform, yes, but as the reluctant civilian soldier due to circumstances, rather than "AMERCA **** YEAH WEZE SO HARD!" However, guerilla fighting is going to be Rebel ground forces bread and butter, so being in civilian gear would make sense.

Also, I feel that playing the valient underdog is still as cool for the modern gaming audience as it as 15 years ago.

Where is Mal Reynolds I ask you? (seriosly, Firefly could fit anywhere in the Star Wars)

Good is not nice

And necessary reading for any would-be insurgent

When I say "armed civilian" I really meant the regular armed forces of ww2, which were made of conscripted civilians ... In uniform, yes, but as the reluctant civilian soldier due to circumstances

Like these guys!

And all we really know about the Rebel Alliance from the movies is that they operate fighter squadrons out of military bases on Dantooine and Hoth, and that they have a battlefleet.

Also, I feel that playing the valient underdog is still as cool for the modern gaming audience as it as 15 years ago.

The rebels are the underdogs because they are massively outnumbered by the faceless hordes of orcs. Being for being, the good guys are better.

Good is not nice

That's the spirit! Even the most ardent Grimdarker ought to be able to find something to enjoy in fighting the Empire.

Mickey Mouse in riot gear?

Who ever did the SW space battle animation above should have been recruited by Lucasfilm a LONG time ago....(in a galaxy far, far away.) to produce full length features done this way. Just amazing.

The tactical beard was a crucial advantage for the Rebellion in the galactic civil war.

There's a great pic in the newest issue of the Dark Horse Star Wars series (2013), where Leia returns to the ruins of Alderaan. For any peace-loving citizen of the Republic, it's an important reminder of the nature of the Alliance's struggle to restore freedom and democracy to what has become a very dark time.

I'm sorry... what's this? I'll just be over there ... signing up to join the Empire.

If you like that, you're gonna love this:

Do we like Dollies? We like Star Wars so we must have some kind of affection for action figures.

I think these are a pretty good example of updating the Rebel look.

Hoth!

A big cutaway picture of Echo Base.

https://dawnofthejedi.files.wordpress.com/2010/06/echobase.jpg

--

These are recording of radio chatter from some actual air combat engagements - the 1981 and 1989 Gulf of Sidra incidents in which F-14s shot down pairs of Libyan aircraft, and one from Vietnam.

Mostly, what this shows is that when roleplaying radio communications between fighter pilots, you must talk through hands cupped over your mouth.

* Does the game engine for EotE / AoR / F&D have a name unto itself?

Looking at the cover of EotE, it appears to be called 'Star Wars Roleplaying'. Which makes sense, since WEG used both 'The Star Wars Roleplaying Game' and 'Star Wars: the Roleplaying Game', and then WotC had to take 'Star Wars Roleplaying Game' (whichever version you like), so FFG are left with 'Star Wars Roleplaying'.

Unless they go with 'the Utterly Way-Out Whiz-Bang Roleplaying Game Based on Star Wars!!', which they clearly didn't go for.

And sadly enough for all of us, they also decided not to go with 'A Star Wars Roleplaying Game.' it would have made sense to call it that, but no-oh-ho, they had to be original.

There's an entire thread here for this topic (what do we call this?) alone. The game engine for FFG's narrative Star Wars RPG is also pretty much the game system for their earlier Warhammer game, which further muddles what to call it. Go chime in with your preference, tons of us already have.

http://community.fantasyflightgames.com/index.php?/topic/88380-so-what-the-heck-are-we-calling-this-system-anyhow/

If you like that, you're gonna love this:

No wonder the Alliance won. The Imperials wore terribly impractical armor.

Somehow I'm thinking of the old D6 game's rule about -1D Dexterity for wearing stormtrooper armor, although one of the books (I believe Rules of Engagement?) had a suggestion to GMs that veteran stormtroopers could be exempted from the penalty to make them tougher opponents.

No wonder the Alliance won. The Imperials wore terribly impractical armor.

That's just the stuff we use for keeping up troop morale. Our actual stormtrooper armor is loads better than vests and bicycle helmets.

An entire legion of the empires best troops, defeated by teddy-bears.

Biggest most bad-ass battle station guarded by nothing but a few TIE fighters and turbolasers.

Second ever bigger and more bad-ass battle station with an even bigger design-flaw.

Emperor gives the rebel alliance the info about the battle station, and info that he himself will be there, and shows up getting himself killed.

Highly advanced walking tanks that withstand anti-armor lasers gets put down with a bit of rope.

Elite stormtroppers that are very precise, misses everything and dies in waves.

Well, if the Empire is as stupid and well, stupid, as portrayed in the movies, games, novels etc. it's not strange how the rebel alliance won against it. **** i don't like this simplistic Good VS Evil and Good always wins over the über-stupid bad-guys.

/Rant off

bicycle helmets.

For long time, such as during the Black Hawk Down incident, special forces dudes wore honest to god plastic skateboarding helmets rather than the heavy and uncomfortable ballistic helmets then available. They needed to move fast, and so were more concerned with bashing their heads on something than with getting shot.

The Delta snipers are wearing bike helmets in this clip here:-

No wonder the Alliance won. The Imperials wore terribly impractical armor.

That's just the stuff we use for keeping up troop morale. Our actual stormtrooper armor is loads better than vests and bicycle helmets.

Hmm ...

An entire legion of the empires best troops, defeated by teddy-bears.

Biggest most bad-ass battle station guarded by nothing but a few TIE fighters and turbolasers.

Second ever bigger and more bad-ass battle station with an even bigger design-flaw.

Emperor gives the rebel alliance the info about the battle station, and info that he himself will be there, and shows up getting himself killed.

Highly advanced walking tanks that withstand anti-armor lasers gets put down with a bit of rope.

Elite stormtroppers that are very precise, misses everything and dies in waves.

Well, if the Empire is as stupid and well, stupid, as portrayed in the movies, games, novels etc. it's not strange how the rebel alliance won against it. **** i don't like this simplistic Good VS Evil and Good always wins over the über-stupid bad-guys.

/Rant off

The Death Star's vulnerability has been long discussed in lore, but I'll just respond to the DS2 part: the second one didn't have "an even bigger design-flaw"; the whole point of the Endor attack from the Rebel perspective was that this second Death Star was still under construction (with the shield generator to block a space attack) and the whole point of the "info about the battle station, and info that he himself will be there" was specifically to bait them into a trap... c'mon, that's the source of the meme! The Emperor actually being on the Death Star was another story, but even without the "Dark Side" angle I can see a case for "no chance of risking them finding out that I'm not on the Death Star".

As for your second paragraph... blame inconsistency between writers, and look to the WEG sourcebooks for advice on how to tweak it about.

Hmm ...

Hey. Sometimes, the troops want to feel pretty. I can't fault them for that.

Re: Ewoks: Ewoks may look like teddy bears, but they're vicious predators who had home-ground advantage on the Empire. Do not let Return of the Jedi fool you: ewoks are horrific things that will kill you and eat you, and nto necessarily in that order.

They are basically what in our world would be pygmy headhunters. AND they were on the side of the heroes, which made the Empire look foolish, as they always do when up against plot armor. Frankly, I'm surprised Luke got shot down in the Battle of Hoth. But, I guess it made a good excuse for him to use a lightsaber.

Poor TH-612. He was on the john when that grenade came in. He didn't even get the benefit of a warning written on his toilet paper roll.

Well, if the Empire is as stupid and well, stupid, as portrayed in the movies, games, novels etc. it's not strange how the rebel alliance won against it. **** i don't like this simplistic Good VS Evil and Good always wins over the über-stupid bad-guys.

Well, Star Wars is fairly unapologetically a fable but it isn't a bad fable.

The Rebel Alliance is inclusive and meritocratic, while the Empire expends its effort on disposing of undesirables. As such, a Rebel starship captain is the best starship captain around, while an Imperial captain is probably the son of an imperial bigwig and chosen more for having the correct political beliefs than his ability to fight a starship.

The Rebels are honest and determined, while the Empire is corrupt and selfish. Hence, much of the Imperial military budget is syphoned off in to the pockets of bent officials, and imperials are more interested in syphoning off bribes in to their own pockets than they are in doing their jobs.

Innovation. Flexibility, Hope, Respect. Not narrow mindedness, fanaticism and Fear. Not a bad way to live your life.

As far as Ewoks go, a long time ago on the D20 Radio forums, user FULONGAMER did a brilliant thread describing Ewoks as terrifying furry little savages as opposed to the cute teddy bears we got introduced to them as in RotJ. Sadly, that thread seems to have been purged due to inactivity, but in short it treated them as pint-sized Wookiees rather than Care Bears in Space.

We probably also didn't see all of the Ewok deaths that occurred during that fight so as to allow RotJ to have a PG rating, since PG-13 didn't exist at the time (came out in 1984, a year after RotJ was in theaters), so too much violence would have lead to an R rating, which probably would have been a kiss of death given the prior two films were "kid accessible" and thus would have a non-adult audience that would want to see how the trilogy ended. Had PG-13 existed, I wonder if Lucas would have allowed for more Ewok deaths on the screen instead of just the one, making the fight a bit more even-sided in terms of body count.

Poor TH-612. He was on the john when that grenade came in. He didn't even get the benefit of a warning written on his toilet paper roll.

Talk about a crappy way to go