I'm still not sure why people keep saying that Imps would need new classes or vehicles that aren't going to be in AoR

1. Classes work either way. A heavy armor soldier is a heavy armor soldier, no matter what his allegience. An ace rebel pilot and an ace imperial pilot aren't different.

2. On the vehicles thing, obviously when we get AoR, the vehicles will be there. Of course they will be. What else are the Rebels going to be shooting at?

EotE you are playing fringers, not necessarily good or bad.

My group are currently under the services of an Imperial General, using them as a means to get himself promoted off of the crappy backwater planet he has found himself on. Currently, they have killed a Jedi in hiding, assassinated a certain Hutt with a long arm after it was determined that their business with the Hutt would harm their richer Imperial client. Not only that, but in the last session they have assisted in the capture of a rival group of Smugglers with a large shipment of Spice. Each time they become handsomely rewarded by the Imperial General who is trying to keep their involvement a secret while taking credit for sending out Imperial Squads to take out criminal activity in the Sector.

I think it's a great campaign going here. Eventually, when AoR comes out (our plan is to keep meeting up over the next 2 years if possible) they will revert to the Rebellion, most likely after I introduce an opportunity for them to double cross the Imperial General before he in turn tries to dispose of them.

Well EotE does push towards the "good spectrum" (not saying light side, mind you) through its rules system.

One of the editors on AoR has basically confirmes what I thought as well:

http://gsa.thegamernation.org/2013/08/15/first-look-star-wars-age-of-rebellion/

That is a fairly important point. AoR takes the point of view that the players are going to be, however nominally, on the side of the Rebel Alliance. Players and GMs looking to play on the Empire side are going to have some work cut out for them. To be sure, as we will see, it can be done, but it is not the natural state of the game to work from that direction. Adaptations will need to be made.

Now before people try to convince me that "it can be done" again let me state my earlier point some what clearer; I would not be surprised if after the first line up we will get source materials specifically aimed at playing imperials in the same way the 40k RPG got a Chaos marines book.

Now before people try to convince me that "it can be done" again let me state my earlier point some what clearer; I would not be surprised if after the first line up we will get source materials specifically aimed at playing imperials in the same way the 40k RPG got a Chaos marines book.

This has been asked already. What kind of information are you looking for in order to run an Imperial game? More information on the Imperials? Order of battle? Equipment? Character types? Imperial classes? How to subjugate other non-human races and crush your opponents under your heel?

It is probably classes, military info, being led by homocidal maniacs, weapons, ships, walkers, dark side forces, duty in a more imperial fashion then what is presented in AotE, etc.

Again, I am not "looking for" anything because playing bad guys is not something I enjoy.

While I wouldn't discount an Imperial book totally, I doubt we'll get one with much of that. Dark Side powers and such will, I think, be reserved for after F&D comes out, including Dark Force specs. Classes would be pretty much the same as already out, so no need for "Imperial" classes. From the sounds of things, we are getting a lot of info on equipment and vehicles. As to playing an Imperial, that comes down to more role-playing than anything else. If you need help on adapting Duty that sounds more like a a web-supplement more than anything else. If FFG doesn't do something, maybe some enterprising individual could do something and submit it to the GSA or something. So a book with military info and more obscure equipment and vehicles, possibly, but it sounds kind of thin at this point. Especially with a lot of the military info available online,

Yeah, I completely disagree with you. Not gonna bother discussing it anymore though, I'll just wait for the announcement to pst the arbitrary "told you so"

It is probably classes, military info, being led by homocidal maniacs, weapons, ships, walkers, dark side forces, duty in a more imperial fashion then what is presented in AotE, etc.

Again, I am not "looking for" anything because playing bad guys is not something I enjoy.

The careers/specializations in AoR do not sound incredibly Alliance specific, and of course we are going to get the weapons, ships, walkers, etc.

Once again: What do you think they are expecting the people playing the Alliance characters to SHOOT AT if there aren't sufficient Imperial vehicles...

I quote, again, one of the editors (also you are kind of paroting mouthymerc);

That is a fairly important point. AoR takes the point of view that the players are going to be, however nominally, on the side of the Rebel Alliance. Players and GMs looking to play on the Empire side are going to have some work cut out for them. To be sure, as we will see, it can be done, but it is not the natural state of the game to work from that direction. Adaptations will need to be made.

I quote, again, one of the editors (also you are kind of paroting mouthymerc);

That is a fairly important point. AoR takes the point of view that the players are going to be, however nominally, on the side of the Rebel Alliance. Players and GMs looking to play on the Empire side are going to have some work cut out for them. To be sure, as we will see, it can be done, but it is not the natural state of the game to work from that direction. Adaptations will need to be made.

This is merely one man's opinion without any supporting detail. Maybe he is right but without seeing the rules it is hard for me to imagine what else we would need that I don't expect to be in the book.

He is ONE OF THE EDITORS!

Also, lots of supporting detail if you had read the link I posted earlier...

Yeah I read the article (by the way, good job Fiddleback). The book will be oriented toward the Rebellion. Got that. The classes can go either way. Looking at the examples of Duty, so can they. Equipment and Vehicles, most readily identifiable are there. In depth information on the Imperial Military, some, Imperial COMPNOR and ISB, some. There will have to be information for running campaigns against them. Should be able to reverse engineer something from all that for an Imperial game. Are they going to come out with a book just to tell you that? Probably not. Other than a little more info on the Imperial Military and some more little seen or used equipment, I don't see a book on Imperial games being a high priority.

As I said they will not delve much into the Force till F&D comes out. We may see a full on Sith/Dark Force Users after that, but not before. The leading by homicidal maniacs (a little extreme), but a role-playing thing. What kind of rules do you need for that?

I'm just not seeing anything that we won't have in one form or another.

He is ONE OF THE EDITORS!

I understand that but it is still his opinion based on the beta book. He did provide detail of what in the book but no details on why it would be difficult to play imperials. As Mouthymerc pointed out everything sounds pretty generic and wasn't strongly tied to the rebellion. For example, one of the starting options is to have the players start with a squadron of Y-Wings. That could very easily be a squadron of TIEs instead.

Yes, I am one of the editors, but by no means should I be taken as the word of law. As I said in the article, much can change between what I edited, what went into the beta, and what eventually gets published in the full core book. Grains of salt all around.

However, with that in mind, it is a matter of a little work with a pencil and an eraser to get from Alliance style to Empire style. Careers and specializations wouldn't change, nor would talents or skills. What would change is the back story and flavor of the book. You get a touch of useful info here and there, but not so much that you could take on the mindset of an Imperial trooper without needing to do some mental gymnastics to get it right.

Pencil in equivalent starting equipment, ships, and so forth and you can do it in a fairly rudimentary yet effective way. Give Dono or Ross or some other writer enough time and you might even find a guide to doing so on the GSA soon enough, but really, the hardest part of playing an Imperial themed 'bad guy' campaign right now is that you lack, in the FFG books, the background material necessary to do it.

Which, of course, you can find in non-FFG resources. Like Wookieepedia, or the EU novels. It's not hard, it just isn't handed to you right now.

Even if they released a "Play as the Empire" book, I really don't see it as a fourth core book like you seem to be expecting. It seems like it could at most be a decent supplement to AoR.

Let me say that I am not against a book abou playing imperials in general, but if a whole book about it is necessary then that means they have left A LOT out of the AoR book.

If allyou need is a little more fluff to play imperials then maybe they will do a free web PDF supplement for AoR that has more fluff for playing imperials (if the demand is there). Who knows.

One thing I've noticed is that the games so far put a large focus on the pc's being the good guys. Sure the Edge is inhabited by scoundrels and smugglers but reading the book it pretty much gives me the Han Solo feel. Age of Rebellion is pretty much telling us straight out the gate the fight is taken to the Empire, making pretty clear the PC's will be the good guys again. This is not something I expect will change for book 3 either.

FFG have shown with their 40k series that they don't mind putting out books for people wanting to play the bad guys. And after visiting Star Wars Celebration in Germany 2 weeks ago and seeing so many of the 501st walk around in Storm trooper armor I would think it only a matter of time until we see a 4th book in the series allowing for Imperial play.

Any thoughts?

You should really pick up the Haynes Millennium Falcon repair guide.

Han Solo had no problem with bankrupting people. He was a criminal who belonged in jail. (How many kids did he string out with drugs he slipped past the kindly Empire? Hmm?) But he did have a soft spot for the odd underdog more than once in in his career.

Morals aren't really defined by the game, they are defined by your players. Furthermore I recommend exploring (experimenting on) that with your players. It makes for good story.

Of course that depends on your players.... I've played D&D since '79 and I've never understood why any adventure would detail the terrible things that would happen if you should, you know, eat from a cannibal's pot. Until recently a new player did exactly that. I got to roll on the 'You gonna regret that decision' table....

If you need more ideas on living on the other side watch some crime shows, pick up some comics to get ideas, or look at other RPGs like Shadowrun.

The only thing that's 'forbidden' in EOTE is Dark SIde Force. That's because it tends to be destructive to those near it. (Bad for fellow players.)

I Just read 'Agent Of the Empire' Star Wars comic, and clearly, an Empire Agent can be defined as 'good'.

After all one man's freedom fighter is another man's terrorist. Its just a matter of perspective.

Wow, either you guys are terrible readers or I suck at making myself clear. I'll drop it.

Wow, either you guys are terrible readers or I suck at making myself clear. I'll drop it.

I vote for the latter.

After all one man's freedom fighter is another man's terrorist.

Given that Disney clearly have big plans for Star Wars, I don't think they are going to want to do anything controversial with it. Hence, I suspect that there is, or soon will be, a directive in place that says 'Do not refer to the Rebel Alliance as terrorists'.

Fiddleback there says AoR is set during a period of open warfare between the Rebels and the Empire after Hoth and before Endor, which I'll bet is there to ensure the Rebels can act more like soldiers and less like insurgents.

Wow, either you guys are terrible readers or I suck at making myself clear. I'll drop it.

I vote for the latter.

It is the more obvious of the two, I'll give you that...

Wow, either you guys are terrible readers or I suck at making myself clear. I'll drop it.

I vote for the latter.

It is the more obvious of the two, I'll give you that...

I just always choose the option that makes me look better.

I'm actually reminded of how a WEG book outright said that they were showcasing NPC antagonists without provision for players to actually use them because (paraphrasing) "none of your players would be proud to be these guys."

"bad guys" or "Bad Guys"? That is the question. I don't see any problem with running an Imperial campaign. Sure, the Empire are the "bad guys" of Star Wars, but they are not all evil. The game is slanted towards having the Empire be the opposition, but this could be overcome by any group willing to do a bit of work. I would love to see an Empire Sourcebook, possibly including guidelines for playing as Imperials, or at least further detailing the opposition.

Playing "Bad Guys" on the other hand means playing drug dealers, serial murderers, terrorists, rapists, sociopaths, psychopaths, child molesters, etc. Why would anyone want to play them? And who would want to play with them? Seriously. I don't think such a campaign would be enjoyable or long lasting. At least not for mature players.