I'm trying to get a new game started in which I will be the GM. Can you guys help me brainstorm some other alternate realities that would make for good EoE settings? In particular I'm looking for a setting that no single faction has too much power or control.

In the Beta EoE game in which I was a player was set in dark times a few years after the Emperor had come to power. I really enjoyed this setting as systems were losing their freedom to the Empire as it started to clamp down.

Ones I've thought of so far are...

1) Emperor, Darth Vader & Luke all die at Endor. Palpatine is dead for good and does not transfer his life essence. Grand Admiral Thrawn takes command of the remnant forces and manages a stalemate with New Republic after 7 years...it turns into a cold war with divided territories. The Hutts grabbed large swaths of more territory during these years.

2) Luke joins his father Darth Vader at Bespin and they plan an attack on the Emperor but fail. An Imperial civil war starts and the galaxy is in chaos. The divided empire's attention is quite distracted so this game would be Jedi friendly.

3) A one-armed Mace Windu convinces Grand Admiral Thrawn to defect to the nearly defeated Rebel ALliance after the Deathstar destroys Yavin, Kashyyyk and Dac. The Katana Fleet manages to cripple the Deathstar in an epic fleet battle but not completely destroy it.

Happier ending to Episode IV, Obi Wan slays Vader and also escapes. When Luke blows the death star for some reason Palpatine was there. Now the setting is still an empire in turmoil but it's jump starting the rebuilding era (but bypasses most of AOR and skips to FD).

Anakin sides with Mace Windu in the crucial encounter with Palpatine. The two are tried, along with most of the Jedi Council, with the assassination, and are found guilty due to a lack of any admissible evidence of what Palpatine was doing. (All they have is Anikin's word, but he's known to be rash and impetuous, and wasn't it his former Padawan that was accused of bombing the Jedi temple?)

Without the Supreme Chancelor himself feeding information to the Separatists, they suddenly falter, but without a strong leader the Republic Senate once again falls victim to infighting and petty squabbles. The war drags on. The Geonosians, now without a patron to finish paying for the Death Star's construction, officially scrap the project, but an unscrupulous minor lord sells the location of the ostensibly functional, but untested main laser array and reactors to a crime lord for a large fortune.

Wow, great idea Voice. I was trying to think of some way to play that scene with Palpatine, Anakin & Windu but couldnt come up with anything. I really like your idea!

Starkiller truly did defeat Palps in the final confrontation in the end of "The Force Unleashed"?

Luke Skywalker expected trouble when he volunteered to follow Princess Leia on her mission to Circarpous to enlist their Rebel underground in the battle against the Empire. But the farmboy from Tatooine hadn't counted on an unscheduled landing in the swamplands of Mimban...hadn't counted on any of the things they would find on that strange planet.

Hidden on this planet was the Kaiburr crystal, a mysterious gem that would give the one who possessed it such powers over the Force that he would be all but invincible. In the wrong hands, the crystal could be deadly. So Luke had to find this treasure and find it fast.

Unbeknownst to Luke, Imperial spies had finally identified him as the pilot who destroyed the Death Star over Yavin. Armed with this information, Lord Darth Vader was informed of Luke's presence on Mimban and of the Kaiburr crystal.

Luke and Leia, accompanied by the droids and their new allies, Halla and two Yuzzem named Hin and Kee, reached the Temple of Pomojema ahead of Vader. Just as they found the Kaiburr crystal embedded in the statue of Pomojema, the group was attacked by an extremely large, carnivorous lizard. Luke saved them by bringing down the ceiling on the lizard but in doing so, he himself was trapped beneath a large stone block, too heavy for Luke to move off of his leg...

Leia called out to him, "Luke! Where are you?!"

"Over here...I'm OK...just can't get loose," he said struggling to move the stone, "Get Hin and Kee...they can lift this block easily."

A new voice replied to Luke. A voice with ominous, rasping breathing behind it. "Unfortunately, young Skywalker. Your friends are dead."

Luke and Leia both shot their gaze to the entrance of the temple. Standing atop a pile of rubble stood the black figure of Darth Vader, Lord of the Sith. The Dark Lord continued, "My spies tell me it was you, Skywalker, who destroyed the Death Star. And you, Princess, in some ways you are more responsible for my setbacks than this boy."

As Vader spoke, Leia slowly reached down, placing her hand on the hilt of Luke's lightsaber lying on the ground.

Vader was still talking, "You shall both atone for your actions this day. You shall feel the wrath of a Dark Lord before you die."

Remembering her torture at Vader's hands, Leia snapped. "Monster!" she yelled as she sprung over Luke and ignited his lightsaber, swinging the blade towards Vader's head. In an instant, Vader ignited his lightsaber and his red blade easily deflected Leia's blow to one side, her momentum carrying her past the Dark Lord and onto the ground.

"So the female chooses to fight. Good. That will make things interesting," Vader taunted Leia, turning to face her.

Leia sprang up and attacked again. Vader parried the attack, sidestepping off the pile of rubble to level ground. Using one hand, he parried blow after blow Leia threw at him. She finally stopped, visibly breathing hard and took a few steps away from Vader.

The Dark Lord's reach was greater than she thought. She barely blocked his attack before it connected. The two lightsabers were locked. Vader's strength was pressing her against a wall, and he still only fought one-handed.

"Where is your traitor's determination?" Vader taunted.

Leia gritted her teeth and using the wall as a brace, kicked outward, connecting with Vader's chest. Vader stumbled back a few paces spinning around from the blow. Sensing an opportunity, Leia stepped forward and swung at Darth Vader's back. With speed she never thought Vader possible of, he spun, black cape flowing and red blade twirling. Leia's attack never even came close as Luke's lightsaber flew from her grip, landing across the room. She stared at her wrist where her right hand was now missing. Clutching her wrist, she fell to her knees.

"Leia!" Luke screamed and futilely tried to move the stone off of him.

"Surely a few burns cannot hurt so much?" Vader gloated over Leia.He swung his lightsaber with trained precision, scarring her cheek and shoulder. "Come little Princess, where's your fighting spirit?" Darth Vader side-kicked Leia, sending her slamming into the wall behind her. She slumped to the ground, barely conscious.

"Arrrgghhh", Luke grunted as he tried to wrench his leg free. Suddenly, the stone was lifted, he rolled to the side before the stone was dropped again. Rising and trying to shut out the pain from his injured leg, Luke saw who freed him. It was Hin. The Yuzzem collapsed on the stone, dead, he used the last of his strength to free Luke.

Sensing the Force flow through him, Luke instinctively reached his hand out and his father's lightsaber flew to him. He caught it and activated the blue blade. This drew Vader's attention. "I'm going to kill you, Vader."

"You are strong in the Force. But not that strong." Darth Vader replied as he left Leia and started to move towards Luke.

"I'm not alone. Ben Kenobi is with me." Luke knew this to be true as he let the Force flow through him like it did above Yavin.

"Kenobi is dead. I killed him myself. You are simple boy who will never be Obi-Wan's equal."

Luke met Vader and the two lightsaber blades clashed. Red and blue light spraying the interior of the ruined temple.

As Luke and Vader clashed, the old woman, Halla worked on prying the crystal free from the statue. She knew if Luke couldn't defeat Vader, she would need the Force augmenting properties of the crystal to even give her a chance to escape Darth Vader.

Vader sent Luke onto his back with a particularly powerful attack. "The Force is indeed strong in you, Skywalker. Join me and together we can rule the galaxy. I will show you power you never imagined."

"Never!" Luke shouted as he rolled left and got to his feet a good distance away from Vader. "I'll never join you!"

"I feel the anger flowing through you. Release it and strike me down!"

A soft moan escaped Leia's lips, she was trying to tell Luke to run away.

"Ah. The Princess. You love her? Yes, I can see it. You will turn, young Skywalker."

Luke stood there shaking his head, undecided what to do. Looking up to his right, he saw that Halla had the crystal free and was making her way down from the statue. He couldn't leave the crystal. He couldn't leave Leia.

"I sense the turmoil in you, boy. You cannot win. Lay down your lightsaber and join me."

Luke had no choice. He activated his lightsaber once again and charged.

An invisible grip seemed to emanate from Vader's hand and wrapped around Luke. It crushed him and seemed to penetrate him. Luke fell to the ground, writhing in spastic shock as the energy flowed through his body. Vader cut the assault off.

"You will learn, Skywalker. You will embrace your destiny." Luke looked up to see Vader turn his armored mask towards Leia. He raised his left hand, palm upwards and Leia floated from the ground in response to the gesture. Vader then looked at Luke's lightsaber lying on the ground. It, too lifted from the ground, and flew towards Leia. The blue blade activated just before penetrating her through the chest. Her eyes went wide and then her neck hung limply.

"LEIA!!!!" Luke screamed in despair.

Vader lowered his arm and Leia's body slumped to the temple floor.

Just then Halla shouted from above the scene, perched precariously on the statue, "Hey Vader, you want this?" She held up the Kaiburr crystal. "Well, go get it." She heaved it over Vader's head and into a seemingly bottomless pit in the temple floor.

Vader watched the crystal aim for the hole and he stopped it in mid flight with the Force. "Foolish woman," Vader admonished. But it was all the distraction that Luke needed to barrel into Vader and send him tumbling into the same pit. The Dark Lord plummeted into the depths, the red glow of his lightsaber growing dimmer as Luke watched from the edge.

"The crystal, boy! Grab it! I can't hold it forever." Halla urged Luke. She struggled with her limited Force ability to stop the crystal from following Vader down the hole.

Luke reached out and snagged the crystal into his hands. With it, he ran to Leia, ignoring his own injuries. She lay there, the lightsaber lying at her side, her open eyes staring into nothingness. Luke knelt beside her and gathered her into his lap, tears flowing down his cheeks. He picked up the crystal and tried to focus the Force through it, willing Leia to heal. Nothing happened. He tried harder. Tears clouded his vision.

Halla's soft, compassionate voice came from behind him, "She's gone, son. Not even the Force can bring her back."

Luke let the crystal roll out of his hand as he hugged Leia tight to him, refusing to let go. "I love you, Leia." he whispered through sobs of pain. He lifted his head to the ceiling and let out a wail, "Ben! Ben! How could you let this happen, Ben?" There was no answer. Halla moved closer and put a comforting hand on Luke's shoulder. Luke instantly recoiled from the touch, standing up, he took in the scene before him. "Leave me alone!" he shouted at Halla. Luke then scooped up the crystal and his lightsaber and ran from the temple, unable to bear the pain of losing yet another person he loved.

Halla knelt down and gently closed Leia's eyelids.

In a small, simple, mud hut elsewhere in the galaxy, a diminutive creature with pointy ears, green skin and a shock of thin, white hair suddenly stopped cooking his stew. He looked at the floor and closed his eyes, concentrating on unseen events. Once again, opening his eyes, the wizened, little creature sighed and shook his head in sadness.

"The boy is in great pain," a regal, sounding voice resounded through the hut, "All may be lost."

The creature's ears perked forward, "So certain are you, Obi-Wan? Great pain, indeed for young Skywalker, great pain, indeed." He replied to the disembodied voice in his gravelly tone.

"I fear he may be lost to the Dark Side like his father," Obi-Wan explained.

"Not yet. No, not yet. Perished, the female Skywalker has, but go to him you must, Obi-Wan. To me you will bring him for the training. Yes, the training must begin."

"Then Luke is our only hope."

"No. There is another."

I do apologize for the long posts, but that short story is what set off The Splintered Force campaign in which our heroes (my players) became the heroes of the galaxy instead of our movie characters we all know and love. The heroes start as simple adventurers who perhaps are tasked with finding Luke. Hired hands so rebel cells aren't diverted from their very important war duties.

This keeps the characters squarely in the Edge of the Empire but yet gives them ties to lead them into Age of Rebellion. Yoda's last line there hints at a PC force sensitive who will garner a larger role into Force of Destiny. There's the search for Luke (maybe a Saving Private Ryan sub-campaign), the McGuffin of the Kaiburr Crystal, and the Empire still to deal with. In my campaign, Vader ended up capturing Luke and he was easily turned with the idea he would learn from Vader just enough to destroy him and the Emperor. Noble causes in his own mind but he was lost to the dark before long and Luke became the main villain.

Luke Skywalker stays on Tatooine for one last season after that damned R2 unit ran off. He enlists in the Imperial Academy and becomes an Ace TIE Fighter pilot. He is quickly assigned to Vader's personal squadron. Eventually, Vader reveals the truth to Luke: He is his father. The two bond. One day, Luke offhandedly mentions a crazy old wizard he knew of back on Tatooine. Vader recognizes the name Kenobi.

The two take the already well traveled Death Star (it has destroyed at least Alderaan, Dantooine, and Yavin IV at this point) to Tatooine and totally blow it up. The two have not yet decided to take on the Emperor. They are too busy seeking out Luke's twin sister. Once the three of them are united, nothing will stop their coup agains Palpatine.

I had a different take on the idea of Luke going MIA... basically he couldn't cope with what he'd done at the Death Star, descended into a spiral of alcohol or drug abuse and promiscuity, went AWOL for months on end while the war rages on without him...

Well before what would have been Hoth, at a high-profile gala at Imperial Palace, Palpatine and Darth Vader greet and commend an Imperial junior officer only for their lightsabers to suddenly ignite and run them through... then as the officer catches the falling Vader, his face "dissolves" into that of Luke Skywalker, and after a few shared words (and a "longer" telepathic conversation) between the dying pair, he publicly proclaims himself Luke Skywalker, Jedi -- before taking off through and out the nearest window (after knocking out a certain redheaded dancer who made to pursue him and breaking his way through Royal Guardsmen), plummeting all the way down Imperial Palace to a safe landing on the street below (by doing some particular spins and movements before impact to bleed off kinetic energy), then causing a "mass" illusion of the crowd around him so that for a moment they all look like him, before that illusion dissipates only for him to appear to no longer be within said crowd.. .

The catch? The "Jedi Master" who completed his training is the now-late Asajj Ventress .

What do you think? The premise for such a campaign would be a "suddenly decapitated Empire" not too long after Yavin -- well before the Alliance was in a position to "fill the vacuum" -- and Luke's "Jedi" training having gone in a rather different direction than in the movies.

. They are too busy seeking out Luke's twin sister.

If Luke never went to save her then Darth already has her on the death star.

First off, if you haven't read the Infinities branch of comics/graphic novels, you should. They are each based off of a "What if X Happened Instead?" during each of the original trilogy. Well worth the read, if only for idea fodder.

With other ideas, it all depends on how far back in the history of the galaxy do you want to go, and how many changes you want to make. In my experience, just making one single change is often enough to change the entire timeline.

For example:

Did the Rakata empire continue to grow and thrive? If so, did it fall at a later time, or at all?

What if the Yuuzhan Vong came into the known galaxy earlier, such as during the one of the major Jedi/Sith wars?

How about if the Sith Empire actually won and the Jedi were completely obliterated?

What if the Jedi Council was killed during the Clone Wars prior to the fight against Palpatine and the backlash that followed?

How would things have been different if Qui-Gon Jin hadn't been slain by Darth Maul, and he was the one to train Anakin?

What if: Han remained as an Imperial Pilot? Leia realized her Jedi potential sooner? Luke remained on Tatooine?

For a late movie approach, what if Luke was slain or captured by Mara Jade during hid attempted rescue of his friends?

Think of your favourite underdog race. What would have happened if they had some way to become more advanced than the original setting shows, and they were able to grow and expand to become a power in their own right?

Again, for me, it's more of a "what one thing can change" and I extrapolate ideas from there. I hope that helps!

. They are too busy seeking out Luke's twin sister.

If Luke never went to save her then Darth already has her on the death star.

This is a good point... Hmm... I wonder what happens to her then. She would definitely never join up with Darth...Tortured to death eventually, I think.

. They are too busy seeking out Luke's twin sister.

If Luke never went to save her then Darth already has her on the death star.

This is a good point... Hmm... I wonder what happens to her then. She would definitely never join up with Darth...Tortured to death eventually, I think.

She was already scheduled for execution when R2 found her.