Hi All

I'm about to embark on my own EotE campaign and I caught myself thinking of all the good times I had many years ago when I used to play Star Wars WEG and how different people like different things.

Now, I understand that some people are very strict about following Canon-only plot lines and such, but I feel that this allows too much metagaming by some players. I for one would like to kill Luke off at the Battle of Yavin, or maybe have him never leave Tatooine just to make things a little more interesting for the players. It's one thing to be in the final attack run on the Death Star, but another entirely when you're allowed to make the shot that blows it up without someone shouting "Hey, you can't do that cos Luke does it!"

And so to the point of my post:

To all those GM's who changed major parts of cannon, and to all those players who played in such games, I'd love for you to share what it was that you changed and what actually happened in your games! The version of the game doesn't matter... WEG, d20, SAGA, EotE, just go for it!

Came across this the other day. Thought it was an interesting thought exercise.

just a small note - CANON is a reference to existing source material, cannon is an explosive projectile weapon

as for your question...I don't mess with canon. Not deliberately. I absolutely LOATHE some of the expanded universe material - some of it is good and interesting, but much of it seems different but awful, and some of it is just unforgivably self-serving, pandering AND stupid...

but, I *have* deviated from canon when the canon didn't exist, and it did make for dramatically different, and exciting adventures.

Best example - before attack of the clones came out, but AFTER phantom menace, I ran a campaign that was intended to lead from the early days of the rise of the empire into the galactic civil war (basically, the time period that Force Unleashed basically turned into pile of crap), and at the time, I thought the clone wars was A WAR AGAINST CLONES...not a war fought *by* clones

which, of course, meant that I had a remnant army of clones, that the players would encounter WHILE they were also fleeing from the new empire - also meant I had a great cloned version battle with Darth Maule...

I would check with your players first and see what their sentiment is. Some may hate it if you start changing major plot points in the Star Wars universe. Once you veer of the major plot rails so far, you will end up not really playing Star Wars anymore, just something inspired by Star Wars. That's something to consider. Also, once so many major plot points are changed it could become a mess for you to keep track of the state of your personal Star Wars universe with the butterfly effect of all the changes.

I would personally suggest not letting major plot points change. There are still tons of things for your players to do that connect them to what is going on in canon without causing major headaches for you. If you must include the EU to appease your players, there are still lots of holes to fill in. You apparently don't mind dropping the EU, so if that's the case you are going to have a shitload of stuff to do that connects them directly to the movies without changing major plot points. Examples from past campaigns of mine include players discovering the ruins on Yavin and telling the Rebels about it, being involved in a raid to download the Death Star plans (violation of EU canon, not movie canon), being present on Dantooine during a Rebel evacuation, and participating in a raid that delivered the plans and first prototypes of the X-Wing to the Rebels. Fun stuff without messing up any major timelines.

Best example - before attack of the clones came out, but AFTER phantom menace, I ran a campaign that was intended to lead from the early days of the rise of the empire into the galactic civil war (basically, the time period that Force Unleashed basically turned into pile of crap), and at the time, I thought the clone wars was A WAR AGAINST CLONES...not a war fought *by* clones

which, of course, meant that I had a remnant army of clones, that the players would encounter WHILE they were also fleeing from the new empire - also meant I had a great cloned version battle with Darth Maule...

I ran a campaign using Traveller rules once back before even WEG came along. It was after Return of the Jedi, around 1985ish. My campaign was set around 30-40 years after Return of the Jedi if I recall correctly. I was young. The New Republic was in charge, but there was still a remnant of the Empire to contend with. This was strangely close to what Timothy Zahn did, but I can't for the life of me recall who was in charge of the remnants. I can only recall an evil militaristic Sith running around on the last Super Star Destroyer. I think he was supposed to be a descendant of the Emperor, but I don't really recall for sure now. Leia was in charge of the Republic, but Luke had gone missing decades ago. The campaign centered on battling remnants of the Empire with direct orders coming from the Republic with cameos from the canon heroes. PCs included a set of twins, because I had assumed wrongly all force users had a tendency to have twin offspring based on the single family we knew about. My force-users did not begin knowing they had such powers until they ended up stranded on an unknown, unpopulated planet. Looking for parts to fix their damaged ship, they found an old crash site of an X-Wing. This led them to a hermit's cave and an aging Luke Skywalker who had developed some mental quirks due to years of isolation. After receiving training from Luke, the players would later set up a school to train other Jedi for the Republic. Again, some similarities to what the EU would do, but I don't recall if the school was called the, "Jedi Academy", or not.

I humbly apologize for three posts in a row. But, there was one other campaign I ran using Traveller. Please be kind to the idiocy, I was in junior high and only had two movies to go by.

Set after Empire the Strikes back came out. Soon after in the campaign and in the real-world if I recall correctly. I had one PC.

The PC was related to the extended Skywalker/Vader family. I had a family tree including Darth Vader, Luke, Leia, and Ben Kenobi. I took, "Uncle Ben" to literally mean Obi-Wan was the uncle of Luke and Leia, brother of their mother.

I too thought the Clone Wars involved Jedi Knights fighting off an army of super clones with Mandalorian armor. Boba Fett was one of the rare survivors of this war that the Jedi won. The Jedi were also decimated by this war, explaining lack of many Jedi since Order 66 didn't exist in canon yet.

My single player began as an officer in the Imperial Navy (Traveller rules system, he rolled a Navy character and became an officer). He had "noble" social status per Traveller. He had force abilities (Psionics system of Traveller with adjustments) and was related to Darth Vader in that big family tree I had drawn up.

Here is a funny part. With just two movies to go by, my interpretation of what, "Sith", meant was completely wrong. Now it obviously translates as Evil Jedi. At the time this was not apparent and I didn't have a source of internent discussion or past scripts of Lucas to set me straight. Vader was a, "Dark Lord of the Sith". The Sith became a star system/planet. There were several noble, "Lords of the Sith", who ruled this star system. The PC, a noble, was thus part of the royal family of this star system, a lesser Lord of the Sith. It had nothing to do with having force powers. So Darth Vader was a noble of the Sith star system who left to fight for the Old Republic at a young age and learned Jedi powers.

The PC started as an agent of Darth Vader (something like a Hand in hindsight). I recall him riding around on a Star Destroyer from mission to mission. During a boarding action against Rebel scum, the lightsaber yielding player wearing an Imperial officer uniform in shock ran into a rebel with a lightsaber. He was shocked even more when the rebel was his identical twin. The PC ended up joining his seperated at birth twin and joining the Rebels.

That moment may have actually killed the campaign. It wasn't as fun for my player to be the rebel. I think summer ended also. I don't recall many more adventures after that pivotal moment.

Like I said, be kind, I was in junior high, had only 2 source movies, and no internet.

I'd also recommend checking out publishing campaigns in places like Obsidian Portal. I always liked the Order 65 campaign (which was ran using SAGA edition IIRC) Star Wars: Order 65 | Obsidian Portal

Came across this the other day. Thought it was an interesting thought exercise.

Interesting stuff.

I have always like alternate history stuff. My current EotE group aren't really big Star Wars fans so I feel I have a lot of leeway to change SW canon. We will see how the campaign unfolds.

Star Wars Infinities.

Look it up. Dark Horse series of comics that had what if's based on key points in the movie. Most cannon, non-canon you'll likely find.

Came across this the other day. Thought it was an interesting thought exercise.

Thanks Merc, I'll take a look!

just a small note - CANON is a reference to existing source material, cannon is an explosive projectile weapon

as for your question...I don't mess with canon. Not deliberately. I absolutely LOATHE some of the expanded universe material - some of it is good and interesting, but much of it seems different but awful, and some of it is just unforgivably self-serving, pandering AND stupid...

but, I *have* deviated from canon when the canon didn't exist, and it did make for dramatically different, and exciting adventures.

Best example - before attack of the clones came out, but AFTER phantom menace, I ran a campaign that was intended to lead from the early days of the rise of the empire into the galactic civil war (basically, the time period that Force Unleashed basically turned into pile of crap), and at the time, I thought the clone wars was A WAR AGAINST CLONES...not a war fought *by* clones

which, of course, meant that I had a remnant army of clones, that the players would encounter WHILE they were also fleeing from the new empire - also meant I had a great cloned version battle with Darth Maule...

Just a small note... Maul is spelt without the e Just kidding.

I would check with your players first and see what their sentiment is. Some may hate it if you start changing major plot points in the Star Wars universe. Once you veer of the major plot rails so far, you will end up not really playing Star Wars anymore, just something inspired by Star Wars. That's something to consider. Also, once so many major plot points are changed it could become a mess for you to keep track of the state of your personal Star Wars universe with the butterfly effect of all the changes.

I would personally suggest not letting major plot points change. There are still tons of things for your players to do that connect them to what is going on in canon without causing major headaches for you. If you must include the EU to appease your players, there are still lots of holes to fill in. You apparently don't mind dropping the EU, so if that's the case you are going to have a shitload of stuff to do that connects them directly to the movies without changing major plot points. Examples from past campaigns of mine include players discovering the ruins on Yavin and telling the Rebels about it, being involved in a raid to download the Death Star plans (violation of EU canon, not movie canon), being present on Dantooine during a Rebel evacuation, and participating in a raid that delivered the plans and first prototypes of the X-Wing to the Rebels. Fun stuff without messing up any major timelines.

In reply to both Kermit and Sturn's posts, I have absolutely no issue in disregarding canon of any sort no matter it's origin. I could run a WW2 RPG where the Germans won, or a Lord of the Rings game where Bilbo lost the ring before it got to Frodo. It's not as if there haven't been stories/movies/blah blah based on these "what if" scenarios in the past. Not a problem with me at all. I'm not sure how changing something like who blew up the Death Star will cause the game to not feel like Star Wars... you still have all the ships, the Storm Troopers, the Jedi, the Aliens and Planets used in the films, and the Force among other things. If anything I'd say it would feel even more Star Wars if the PC's were allowed to take part in some of the major points in the film without anyone saying "Whats the point, we all know Han/Luke/R2 is gonna come and save the day anyhoo".

Sadly, this wasn't the point of my original post. I was merely asking those who have strayed from canon if they wouldn't mind sharing their experiences, but thanks for your replies nonetheless

One of the first SW games I played in (using the WEG rules) did this. Here is a link to the forum post I made describing the single change and its consequences.

One of the first SW games I played in (using the WEG rules) did this. Here is a link to the forum post I made describing the single change and its consequences.

Some VERY interesting posts in that thread of yours Paladin. They're giving me some wicked ideas!

Thanks!

I don't like being beholden to canon in games, but some of the value of running a game in an established setting is that the players come to the table already knowing certain things, and when I start messing with canon I find myself wondering which change will be the one that renders the setting different enough from the players' expectations that you lose that value.

I'd say check with your players, and at the very least let them know that you might be taking a liberty or two with the established canon, particularly if it's stuff from the EU if it makes for a better story.

Most gamers will be okay with this, as the number of die-hard EU junkies that can't accept deviations are (from my experience) blessedly rare creatures, most of whom I wouldn't invite to game at my table in the first place.

So far as the movie canon goes, you've got a three year window between ANH and ESB where you as the GM can pretty much do as you will, particularly if you don't have the movie characters show up at all beyond maybe a very brief cameo appearance.

I'd say check with your players, and at the very least let them know that you might be taking a liberty or two with the established canon, particularly if it's stuff from the EU if it makes for a better story.

Most gamers will be okay with this, as the number of die-hard EU junkies that can't accept deviations are (from my experience) blessedly rare creatures, most of whom I wouldn't invite to game at my table in the first place.

So far as the movie canon goes, you've got a three year window between ANH and ESB where you as the GM can pretty much do as you will, particularly if you don't have the movie characters show up at all beyond maybe a very brief cameo appearance.

Oh, I'm pretty sure my players won''t care less about me changing canon. They wouldn't even know what EU was. Jeez, I didn't know until I began buying Star Wars roleplaying books. All they know is the movies and some video games, none have read any of the books, comics, graphic novels and such.

As I understand it, it's also 1 year between ESB and RotJ, is this correct?

The 3 years between ANH and ESB is something I find quite interesting. Many people complain that Luke "shouldn't be that good/shouldn't have that skill/force ability/etc" but if he were a PC in this game he'd have 3 years worth of XP earned. He's a Lieutentant Commander in the Rebel Alliance and an almost self-taught Jedi apprentice. If I had to stat him using the current EotE rules I'd say he was pretty darn good!