I would have put this in the beta area, but it is gone now.

I have a couple of questions for those of you already familiar with this game.

Question 1: I have played FFG warhammer 40k games. I must say I like the idea of a number of games that share the same mechanic in the same world, but focus on different sorts of adventures. I am excited to se FFG doing the same thing with the Star Wars Universe. The Warhamer 40K games are set at vastly different power levels, and though they are all in the same dark future, it would be very difficult to put a game together with characters built from different games (not impossible) but pretty hard. I am hoping his will not be the case with Edge of Empire and Age of Rebellion. Is it possible for example to build a smuggler from EoE and play him in AoR. I am also hoping that the different carriers and paths are compatible across games, so that a AoR book might still be able to be used as a resource even in an EoE game.

Question 2: I have an idea of running a military campaign, but I think it would be interested if the players were members of the Empire. Now I know that this would take some adjustments to the AoR game, but how much do you think?

EotE and AoR are completely compatible. The one major difference is EotE has Obligation and AoR has Duty for characters, but the Beta Updates gave several suggestions on how to work that out. I assume that advice will be reprinted in the AoR core book. There's no issue that I can see with running EotE characters in a AoR-based game, and its perfectly within the rules to have an EotE character buy specializations from the AoR book, or vice versa.

You shouldn't run into any problems crossing the systems. Eventually, I expect there is going to be a bit of "toe stepping" between the lines, because they are being written as "exclusive but compatible" systems. That said, the obligation/duty difference, already mentioned is easy enough to work around... Have the republic use the first duty to buy out the obligation, or have the player pay it back of a different accord, or don't and add the bounty hunters to the mix. There are really limitless ways to combat this.

The classes, are currently "similar", but different. For instance, take the hired gun and the soldier. In theory they are both your "tanks", so to speak... your heavy hitters. Hired gun gets a marauder tree (melee), merc soldier, and body guard, with the Heavy and another coming in the DC book. In AoR, the soldier has medic, sniper, and commando. So they cross pollinate, if you will, with the sub-classes.

To offset the more combat focus of AoR, they have a "boot camp" tree, which a character can take, that doesn't count as going out of class (so doesn't hinder the ultimate talents), where it preps the non-comms for defending themselves. Where you can teach a politico to shoot. That kinda helps ease the transition for the less combat focused EtoE toons, but it still costs XP.

Where I think you, as a GM, are going to see a ton of overlap in your players is in species, because frankly.. the new species in the AoR game are a bit underwhelming, mechanically speaking, for combat centered focus. Fluff wise, they make perfect sense, they were the alliance (especially in the early days), but for your players that care more about stats, they are gonna want to be dipping into the trando pool a bit more then the duro one.

As to playing Imps, while the game doesn't specifically deny it, and with a bit of effort it can be worked in, it certainly leaves no impression that that is what it was designed for. Do-able, and I'm more then certain that these boards will be flooded with player hacks that gear the game for just that.

IMO, playing the IMPs at this time period could get a bit boring.... you're part of the juggernaut, the rebels really hold little to no threat to you, and certainly not a sustained threat. Not enough of the systems are ticked off enough to join the alliance yet. Stormtroopers don't have an army to stand against, other then a few Ruby Ridges. The rebels were pretty much still
"guerrilla" (For lack of a better word). They'd pop out, shoot the place up, and disappear before the enemy could really mount an offense. It's gonna be like playing Hoth, 100 times over. To me, personally, that wouldn't hold much thrill after a session or two. You're better geared, better trained, better in almost every way, except you're the oppressor, and they have hope. That said, if you took it out of the time frame, and placed it around Death Star 2 time, it could be a bit more of a thrill.

IMO, playing the IMPs at this time period could get a bit boring.... you're part of the juggernaut, the rebels really hold little to no threat to you, and certainly not a sustained threat. Not enough of the systems are ticked off enough to join the alliance yet. Stormtroopers don't have an army to stand against, other then a few Ruby Ridges. The rebels were pretty much still

"guerrilla" (For lack of a better word). They'd pop out, shoot the place up, and disappear before the enemy could really mount an offense. It's gonna be like playing Hoth, 100 times over. To me, personally, that wouldn't hold much thrill after a session or two. You're better geared, better trained, better in almost every way, except you're the oppressor, and they have hope. That said, if you took it out of the time frame, and placed it around Death Star 2 time, it could be a bit more of a thrill.

Shamrock has a good point with this. If you want a good time to play an imperial. Read up on the Legacy Era (or read the Star Wars Legacy comics). It's set 130ish years since Yavin, during a 3-way war between the remnants of the Galactic republic, the Fel Empire, and the Sith Empire. You got all the awesome things that make Star Wars fun and then some.

Jedi in Hiding: They are not really part of the republic, they are mostly trying to stay alive.

Mustache Twirling Villains: The Sith have abandoned the rule of 2 and so you see Darth Maul-esque darksiders all over the place. They have booted out the old empire and run the show now.

A likeable empire: The emperor good booted by the Sith, but he's not going to roll over. The Fel empire is just biding their time.

Non-Jedi Jedi: The Fel Empire has assembled a group of force sensitive individuals that serve the emperor. They aren't afraid to do things that a typical Jedi normally wouldn't, but they also have a strong bend towards the Darkside. And they even have an oath to kill the Emperor of the Fel Empire should he ever fall to the dark side. Plus, white lightsabers.

The era also has a lot of Scum and Villainy, as well as a drugged-up skywalker.

Playing it from the Empire side and having it be a lot of fun depends greatly on the GM you have. If you have a GM that can't think beyond just running your group as Stormtroopers then yeah... bland. But playing as a ISB group or Elite strike team can be fun. My current group is playing as a group of IMP. Agents (Spies) deep undercover working to undermine the Rebels. The guy we have running it is doing a great job and we are having a lot of fun with it. It's all in what fits your groups style.

Jeez, did they have to delete ALL the beta board content? Lotta good stuff there.

Jeez, did they have to delete ALL the beta board content? Lotta good stuff there.

http://community.fantasyflightgames.com/index.php?/forum/337-star-wars-age-of-rebellion-beta/

I can't promise it'll be there tomorrow...

You definitely don't have to go so far as the Legacy Era to find an interesting Empire. The New Republic era makes the Empire actually quite likeable (Pellaeon is pretty awesome). It's a group of people watching their way of life crumble, and maybe start to be disillusioned toward just exactly what the Galactic Empire was. But they are also watching an ineffective bureaucratic monstrosity overtaking them that they have probably already put down once in their lifetime and don't understand why no one outside their Empire sees this as a bad thing (overstatement, lots of people were wary of the New Republic). And most of that is just late New Republic Era, when the Empire had already become the underdog and was just fighting to hold their ground.

Playing a political intrigue game could be a lot of fun during the OT as well, though. Off the top of my head, I think it'd be fun to play a group of higher level officers or Intelligence agents fully won-over by the political ideals of the Empire, but opposed to the Emperor's rule. So you try to remove the Emperor or sabotage his plans without being discovered and eliminated as well as ensure you don't sabotage the Imperial War Machine, as the Rebel Alliance is a collection of naive fools who must be put down to protect the people of the Empire.

Playing it from the Empire side and having it be a lot of fun depends greatly on the GM you have. If you have a GM that can't think beyond just running your group as Stormtroopers then yeah... bland. But playing as a ISB group or Elite strike team can be fun. My current group is playing as a group of IMP. Agents (Spies) deep undercover working to undermine the Rebels. The guy we have running it is doing a great job and we are having a lot of fun with it. It's all in what fits your groups style.

I didn't plan on the Rebellion being the bad guys in my Empire based game. The gad guy's will still be the empire, well some of them anyway. The drama in the game will focus around surviving within the Imperial military structure among different factions and those who don't wish the PC's well within the Empire itself. This will also be balanced with the characters being sent out on military missions with little information about why they are doing what they are doing. A good soldier just obeys orders, sort of thing.

Depending on where the PC's take the game, they may end up switching sides and join the rebellion, but that seems less interesting to me.

So in other words the adventure isn't can they defeat the Rebellion, but more your commander doesn't like you and now you are in a TIE Fighter. Good luck living until the week end.

You definitely don't have to go so far as the Legacy Era to find an interesting Empire. The New Republic era makes the Empire actually quite likeable (Pellaeon is pretty awesome). It's a group of people watching their way of life crumble, and maybe start to be disillusioned toward just exactly what the Galactic Empire was. But they are also watching an ineffective bureaucratic monstrosity overtaking them that they have probably already put down once in their lifetime and don't understand why no one outside their Empire sees this as a bad thing (overstatement, lots of people were wary of the New Republic). And most of that is just late New Republic Era, when the Empire had already become the underdog and was just fighting to hold their ground.

Playing a political intrigue game could be a lot of fun during the OT as well, though. Off the top of my head, I think it'd be fun to play a group of higher level officers or Intelligence agents fully won-over by the political ideals of the Empire, but opposed to the Emperor's rule. So you try to remove the Emperor or sabotage his plans without being discovered and eliminated as well as ensure you don't sabotage the Imperial War Machine, as the Rebel Alliance is a collection of naive fools who must be put down to protect the people of the Empire.

Early New Republic - like 5-15 ABY - is interesting and is still pre-uber Jedi and pre-Vong. Of course, its also the period most likely to be rewritten with the new movies (if that matters to you).

You definitely don't have to go so far as the Legacy Era to find an interesting Empire. The New Republic era makes the Empire actually quite likeable (Pellaeon is pretty awesome). It's a group of people watching their way of life crumble, and maybe start to be disillusioned toward just exactly what the Galactic Empire was. But they are also watching an ineffective bureaucratic monstrosity overtaking them that they have probably already put down once in their lifetime and don't understand why no one outside their Empire sees this as a bad thing (overstatement, lots of people were wary of the New Republic). And most of that is just late New Republic Era, when the Empire had already become the underdog and was just fighting to hold their ground.

Playing a political intrigue game could be a lot of fun during the OT as well, though. Off the top of my head, I think it'd be fun to play a group of higher level officers or Intelligence agents fully won-over by the political ideals of the Empire, but opposed to the Emperor's rule. So you try to remove the Emperor or sabotage his plans without being discovered and eliminated as well as ensure you don't sabotage the Imperial War Machine, as the Rebel Alliance is a collection of naive fools who must be put down to protect the people of the Empire.

Early New Republic - like 5-15 ABY - is interesting and is still pre-uber Jedi and pre-Vong. Of course, its also the period most likely to be rewritten with the new movies (if that matters to you).

They are totally cross compatible. Our group is playing EotE, but we use the Age of Rebellion book basically as a supplement/sourcebook. Everything is well balanced. I believe they have said Force and Destiny will also be the same power level/compatible, but don't quote me on that.

If you want to play an Imperial Game I think that's totally doable. You might have to make up a bit more of the source material, or find it using different sources, but it's totally workable. If you're looking for source material, pick up some old WotC or WEG books. The stats don't work, but the universe/background material is great.

Jeez, did they have to delete ALL the beta board content? Lotta good stuff there.

http://community.fantasyflightgames.com/index.php?/forum/337-star-wars-age-of-rebellion-beta/

I can't promise it'll be there tomorrow...

Well considering the EotE beta board is still in the archive, I would imagine the AoR beta board will hang around for a while too.

Playing it from the Empire side and having it be a lot of fun depends greatly on the GM you have. If you have a GM that can't think beyond just running your group as Stormtroopers then yeah... bland. But playing as a ISB group or Elite strike team can be fun. My current group is playing as a group of IMP. Agents (Spies) deep undercover working to undermine the Rebels. The guy we have running it is doing a great job and we are having a lot of fun with it. It's all in what fits your groups style.

I would say that weighs more heavily on the maturity of the PCs, and the GM too, but in one of my campaigns, I got a few younger gents that would put The Thunder Brothers to shame. They just don't have the patience to sit through spook work. They want to hit things.

I am curious though... once you identify the rebel base, the one you're infiltrating, why not just call down a glassing? It's not like the Imps view the rebels as much of a threat, and there can't be more then a few handful of bases. Heck on more then one occasion you have 3/4th of their brass in one location. BAM, game over! I understand they work in cells and all that, but just seems like poking the dead dewback. (Please don't read that as offensive, I'm not insinuating you don't have a great set up going. I'm really curious what spin you've put on it to make instant orbital bombardment a nonviable option? It's not like Vader, Tarken, The Emperor, etc... are lacking confidence, and none of them are what I would consider patient... Alderaan, Hoth, etc... they tend to have made a habit out of the blitz).

Playing it from the Empire side and having it be a lot of fun depends greatly on the GM you have. If you have a GM that can't think beyond just running your group as Stormtroopers then yeah... bland. But playing as a ISB group or Elite strike team can be fun. My current group is playing as a group of IMP. Agents (Spies) deep undercover working to undermine the Rebels. The guy we have running it is doing a great job and we are having a lot of fun with it. It's all in what fits your groups style.

I didn't plan on the Rebellion being the bad guys in my Empire based game. The gad guy's will still be the empire, well some of them anyway. The drama in the game will focus around surviving within the Imperial military structure among different factions and those who don't wish the PC's well within the Empire itself. This will also be balanced with the characters being sent out on military missions with little information about why they are doing what they are doing. A good soldier just obeys orders, sort of thing.

Depending on where the PC's take the game, they may end up switching sides and join the rebellion, but that seems less interesting to me.

So in other words the adventure isn't can they defeat the Rebellion, but more your commander doesn't like you and now you are in a TIE Fighter. Good luck living until the week end.

I'm not sure what you would expect of your characters other then to switch over... I mean, they are getting pretty much screwed at critical points (like deploying with out necessary, life prolonging, information). Someone, in a position of authority, in the military no less, that has it out for them. As a vet, I can tell you, without indisputable proof (and by that I mean flat out video of the cat admitting they want to screw you, just because you are you): rank makes right. I can't tell you how many times I witnessed that.... and we are in a "kinder, gentler" military. That's pretty much doom.

I actually started my AoE campaign with the PCs as stormtroopers. After pretty much asking them to recreate German showers on some helpless duros (kids and all), they were done. But that was my goal, and point. I wanted to impress upon them the methods of The Empire, so they would know what they were fighting for/against. It worked to a T, I've never had to provide motivation to that group for any quest against the Imps, no matter how suicidal it sounded.

I am curious though... once you identify the rebel base, the one you're infiltrating, why not just call down a glassing?

I can't speak for him, but I'd justify it by telling the players that they need to capture a HVT for intelligence/interrogation purposes. There's a wealth of information on other rebel cells that might be lost in an orbital bombardment.

As a vet,

At the risk of hijacking the topic, which branch?

Well I guess I should have told the whole story... See I ran a game of EotE last year called "Cold Storage" (This is a link to the 1st episode of that story... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oM1hsA0L-xg WARNING: If you are offended by adult language do not click on my videos) Anyway... The basics of the story was that the team had to rescue a "Special" cargo. Turned out it was a Jedi that was frozen in carbonite for years to hide her from the Empire. Her father was trying to smuggle her to a contact within the Rebellion. They succeeded and the story ended shortly afterwards. ... Now the guy running our AoR game wanted to play off of this idea and we were to play a special spy team that is embedded deep within the rebellion and supposed to work with them and gain renown (Duty) and try to draw the rebel Jedi out into the open. We are currently playing this story so I can't go into much detail but that's why the cell we are working with has not been glassed from orbit.

As a vet,

At the risk of hijacking the topic, which branch?

Was a cryptologist (division of intell- spook) in the Navy. Got injured while IA with the Army in Iraq (go figure).

If this is going to go beyond pleasantries, lets take it to PM. I have no problem talking about it, but don't want to jack the thread.

It's rather late (here), but Rob, I like it... will ask more about it tomorrow.

I've been running an AoR game since New Years that is entirely Imperial themed, called Crush The Rebellion. It has been one of the most fun, exciting, and challenging campaigns of my life! I highly recommend it to anyone.

The basis of the campaign is that the PCs are all elite agents of The a Emperor, being assigned in very episodic format to all manner of crises throughout the galaxy. They are the same stock that such legends as Mara Jade, Thrawn, Vader, and Xizor come from. They deal with all the really difficult, nasty, weird stuff that The Emperor doesn't trust Stormtroopers and TIE Fighters to be able to handle, choosing from a list of 3 possible Operations at the end of each session. Terrorists, defectors, government incompetence, military coup's, rival galactic powers, doppelgänger shape shifters, Jedi, etc.

Duty has been replaced with "Secret Agenda", a house rule I came up with to help motivate the core roleplaying dynamic: how has the Empire disappointed you? What crimes has it committed that would be so bad that you would dare defy the will of The Emperor? What spectacular, galaxy-changing event do you plan on doing at the climax of the campaign to fix these troubles?

The way I have considered running an imperial game is to have the players be assigned to an imperial gozanti class long patrol craft (the new Rebels show has concept art of a gozanti cruiser with docking clamps for 4 tie fighters on the bottom) the mission of this vessel is patrol, investigating and responding to issues that arise that dont require a star destroyer. This could go anywhere from rooting out rebels, scanning transports for smuggling, quick response to disaster relief, displays of imperial presence, propaganda distribution (everyone uses propaganda good guys and bad), escort missions involving superweapon scientists to the maw and finally gunning down bothans and planting information on them to lure the rebel fleet.

Answer to Q1: yes, the two are the same mechanics. Different classes, but same principles. Different vehicles, different opponents list.

Corollary - the differences are TOO few. There are 4 new maneuvers, 1 new skill, and obligation is replaced with Duty.

Answer to Q2: Theoretically, you could run an imperials game, but the classes and specialties won't match too well. You can fake it just as easily with Edge. Duty really isn't a good fir for the Empire IMO - Obligation really seems a better fit for most imperials.

Are you able to play force sensitives (i.e. Jedi in hiding, Jedi-to-be, Sith-who-want-to-be)??

Are you able to play force sensitives (i.e. Jedi in hiding, Jedi-to-be, Sith-who-want-to-be)??

There is a universal specialization called Force-sensitive Emergent. It's more of a Jedi-to-be versus Edge's Jedi in hiding spec. There are also two new powers, Forsee that gives you glimpses into the future, and Enhance that bolsters your physical abilities.

Are you able to play force sensitives (i.e. Jedi in hiding, Jedi-to-be, Sith-who-want-to-be)??

Any type of Jedi is a "nothing doing" as they will be getting their own book (Force & Destiny) in 2015, although odds are good there will be a Beta for F&D just as there was for AoR.

The only option for Force-sensitives if you've just got Age of Rebellion is the Force Emergent. If you've access to Edge of the Empire, the Force Exile is also available. And between those two books, you've got the bulk of the "good guy" Force powers that we've seen in the movies. Move = telekinesis (found in both books), Influence = mind trickery (EotE), Enhance = leaps and physical boosts (AoR), Foresee = seeing the future (AoR), and Sense = sensing emotions and avoiding danger (EotE). With stats for a lightsaber included, all the tools are there to play a Jedi wannabe without needing a Jedi specialization. You'd have to convince the GM to allow you to purchase a Lightsaber skill, and under most instances will have to suffer paying the non-career cost to purchase/increase said skill, but that's fairly minor.

As for anything Sith... I doubt we'll see any sort of official material on that topic, as FFG currently has their games pointing towards the PCs being, if not actual good guys, then at least decent people that wouldn't engage in the sort of atrocities that a Sith wouldn't give a second thought to.

Yeah, the two combined (FS Exile and FS Emergent) only get you to 3 Force Rating, maximum.

Which said, 3 Force Rating is "A young Jedi Knight" per table 8-1 (p. 176) of the Edge Beta. (I had it to hand, and don't recall the table being included elsewhere.)

3 force dice is also pretty impressive in a non-force using context. I had a group with no force sensitives, and a 3 force dice dark jedi was more than they really were able to safely handle. Mind you, they hit him with 8 white destiny... and when done, had 8 black destiny, and everyone in world of hurt.

So, if you have both Edge and Age, you can get to a significant power level.

For fun, here's the table (which may be deprecated now, as it's not in AoR Beta nor in Edge Final)
0 — No Affinity — Common Populace
1 — Sensitive — Jedi Initiate
2 — Tenuous — A self-taught Exile; Padawan
3 — Moderate — A young Jedi Knight.
4 — Strong —A well-trained Jedi Knight
5 — Potent — A veteran Jedi Knight
6 — Formidable — Jedi Master, Sith Lord
7 — Legendary — The most truly heroic Jedi or the most villainous Sith Lords.

Keep in mind that, if the AoR core book's Force rules are 1:1 with the beta book's, a Force Rating of 3 would also cost a lot of XP since you'd have to buy both Force specializations (FR 1) and the Force Rating talent (+1 each) in both.