My SW 1E Game: Setting and Canon

[Zulgyan]

These considerations about the setting and canon of my SW game (9 long gaming sessions, and 12 PCs created thus far) developed gradually as I needed to decided what was considered canon in the game and what kind of PCs and stuff were allowed to be part of the setting.

So I began with the official 1E game premise that the campaign in set in the post Battle of Yavin period. This made me decide that Star Wars (ANH) was the only real canon movie, in which both "the stuff" and the "events" seen in the movie exist and happened exactly as the movie portrayed them.

But, since the story of my campaign could alter the known course of events we see in ESB and RoTJ, I decided that only the "stuff" seen in those movies are canon, but not the "events". So you still have Cloud City, you still have Ewoks and Jabba's Palace, etc. BUT the course of events seen in ESB and RoTJ are NOT canon in my game, and things could happen differently! This gives the campaign a lot of freedom and also uncertainty about the future, just like any RPG campaign.

Regarding prequels and sequels, they are NOT canon in my game. But many players like those movies so I have to accommodate PCs inspired in prequel or sequel material; I am not closed to it, if it favors the player's enjoyment of the game. My game is inspired by the early SW Marvel comics, which looked like a kind of kitchen-sink setting in which almost anything goes! (Quixotic Jedis! Bunny faced races! really weird beasts! etc.). So I allow my players to play almost anything they like as PCs, whether it is seen in the OT, the prequels, the sequels, other SW sources or totally made up!

To sum it up, in my game:

Prequels - neither stuff nor events are canon.  Stuff may be allowed in the game (example, an alien race a PC really wants to play).

Star Wars - stuff and events are canon.

ESB - only stuff is canon, not the events.

RoTJ - only stuff is canon, not the events.

Sequels - neither stuff nor events are canon. Some stuff may be used in the game (example, a planet, a vehicle model or a droid type).

Can players make up races, weapons, droid, ships, etc.? Yes, with my approval such things can be part of the game. For example, one player of mine plays a Bounty Hunter Droid inspired by some anime. I just told the player to modify his concept to make it look more starwarsy and whoa-la! That droid is now part of my campaign's universe.

[Falconer]

I agree. I came to many of the same decisions before I found the 1E WEG SW RPG, and now that it’s my go-to ruleset, most of those decisions are basically a given. And I find the players take those assumptions in stride—at least, players my age. The alternate timeline thing is sometimes a little harder for them to swallow, but to be honest, the universe is large, and three years is a long time, so it might never really even occur to anyone that “ESB still hasn’t happened yet” (and “why is the Rebellion still headquartered at Yavin? ).

[boot]

I ran the gamut, as far as making 1E my go-to set. I started with 1E when it came out, then switched to 2E and 2E R&E when those versions came out. I've probably got the most experience with that last edition.

I put SW down for a while, but when I picked it back up a few years (going on several years, now) ago, I started looking at 1E again and realized that my 2E game had lost something--something that is "there" for me with 1E.

I switched back to 1E, and it was a great decision for me. I think 1E rocks.

[Zulgyan]

THE JEDI

Many players love playing Jedi characters, but in the OT Luke is supposed to be the only Jedi remaining. How did I solve this issue in my campaign?

Well, as I said above, only the "events" of Star Wars (ANH) are considered to be canon in my game. Stuff (planets, races, etc.) found in ESB and RotJ are canon, but not the events.

In my game, if you play a Jedi type character, you can be trained by Luke Skywalker himself! My players find that so cool and exciting! To be interacting with such a beloved character of theirs. To live what Rey in TLJ could have lived (but did not). If your character gets powerful enough, maybe it's time to search for Yoda!

Thus, in my campaign a small Jedi circle is forming around Luke Skywalker, in the context of the Rebellion Era (he has developed his powers faster than in ESB or RoTJ). Even Obi Wan Kenobi's ghost guides this minuscule pack of new Jedi. So in my campaign's story, Luke is not the only Jedi fighting against Vader and the Emperor.

But if Luke is training new Jedi... then Vader is training new Sith! Player's have not encountered any Sith yet, but there are truly in for a shocking surprise!

Anyway, the plan is to make this additional Jedi and Sith characters very very rare. Not prequel era common. No real Jedi order, just a small circle of new Jedi (PCs mainly) gathered around the figure of Luke, who passes down what he learned and continues to learn from Kenobi, and eventually Yoda. 

This might not be canon, but it is certainly better for RPG gaming purposes!

[Falconer]

Pretty much the only thing I can see myself borrowing from the Prequel Trilogy is the portrayal of the Neimoidians (WEG’s Duros). And Darth Plagueis can be invoked, indeed.

From the Sequel Trilogy, nothing, really, except I had the idea that the Imperials tow the planet Jedha into a new remote location to start building the Starkiller there (where better to build it than a Kaiburr-rich powerhouse planet?). That struck me as a fun adventuring opportunity—you want Kaiburr crystals for your lightsaber, you want to explore old Jedi Temple ruins, but the Empire has a base there so you have to be careful!

The Heir to the Empire 1E sourcebook is great, though; I can really use all kinds of stuff from there.

[Zulgyan]

I try to stick to OT stuff only when preparing my adventures. So my adventures look very OT in texture. Stuff outside the OT is mainly coming from the player's side, to accommodate players who like the prequels, the animated series, and other SW stuff and non-star wars stuff out there.

[Zulgyan]

Apr 15, 2019 23:54:15 GMT -6 boot said:

I ran the gamut, as far as making 1E my go-to set. I started with 1E when it came out, then switched to 2E and 2E R&E when those versions came out. I've probably got the most experience with that last edition.

I put SW down for a while, but when I picked it back up a few years (going on several years, now) ago, I started looking at 1E again and realized that my 2E game had lost something--something that is "there" for me with 1E.

I switched back to 1E, and it was a great decision for me. I think 1E rocks.

My preference is also 1E. Maybe that could be the subject of another thread.

[Falconer]

Re: Jedi
Again I agree, there are any number of brash pilots willing to learn the Force from any number of failed, minor, or Quixotic Jedi, or alien practitioners of the Force. And there are Luke and Yoda themselves. All rare and solitary, of course, even if they will tend to make an improbably large number of appearances in the campaign. I really think it’s the evil Force users who should be rare not only in theory but also in practice. I don’t enjoy superhero movies where they pit the good supers against the evil supers all the time. There are plenty enough challenges for a Jedi without battling Sith all the time. Pirates to trick, monsters to escape, genius generals to outguess, terrible heats and colds to endure, and TIE-fighters to blow up.

[Falconer]

Apr 16, 2019 0:06:44 GMT -6 Zulgyan said:

Stuff outside the OT is mainly coming from the player's side, to accommodate players who like the prequels, the animated series, and other SW stuff and non-star wars stuff out there.

Yeah. My campaigns have a strong OT aesthetic since that’s my primary influence, but the Players can bring in whatever it is they’re into. Pretty much. I think the most toxic outside influence is the idea of Jedi badassery which is frequently found in the PT, in comics, in cartoons, in video games. The OT is rather more restrained and enlightened about what good use of the Force looks like. It’s not over-the-top, murderous, or dominating. Yoda even says it’s for “knowledge and defense” only.

[Zulgyan]

I have not fully considered the issue of "Jedi badassery" in my game yet. The players are still too "low level" for the problem to begin to creep. I certainly prefer the OT approach to the force and the Jedi over the prequels, when we are speaking about the movies.

But in the RPG context it might be different. You see, I love Tolkien's approach to magic when reading his books, but when you play D&D you just need those fireballs, magic missiles and backpacks full of magical items because it's a game and it makes the game more enjoyable for my players. My "low magic" D&D campaigns have not worked that well and bored many of my players.

So maybe something similar might happen with the Force and the Jedi in the SW role playing game. The OT films are more sophisticated but maybe the game needs to be somewhat unrefined. It will eventually be a compromise between what players enjoy and me keeping the spirit more in the lines of the OT.

[Zulgyan]

I will certainly not apply a "if Luke couldn't do this, you can't either" kind of principle to judge the use of the force in my game.

[Falconer]

Very true, it’s not likely to get too out of hand in the game, anyway. I guess the bigger question of how heavy a hand the GM takes with assigning Dark Side points and confiscating characters with too many of them. More thoughts here (hopefully less half-baked).

[boot]

Apr 16, 2019 0:02:51 GMT -6 Falconer said:

Pretty much the only thing I can see myself borrowing from the Prequel Trilogy is the portrayal of the Neimoidians (WEG’s Duros). 

I'm not understanding the connection between Duros and the Neimoidians.





RE: Luke Is The Last Jedi

Two comments on this.

First, it is handled this way in both the EU and the new movies: Luke is the last Jedi, but the Jedi and Sith do not have a monopoly on the Force. The Force is a part of all beings, so it makes sense that non-Jedi Force users exist. In the EU, there are the Witches of Dathomir. In the new movies, there's Snoke, not a Sith and not a Jedi but a powerful Force User.

The Last Jedi doesn't mean the last Force User.



Comment Two: The D6 SW game handles the environment of the new movies well, where Force Users have been at a minimum and are starting to become unknown again, like it was pre-A New Hope. But, there are still a few out there. It's just not like the Old Republic where there were thousands of Jedi.

[Falconer]

Apr 16, 2019 7:24:27 GMT -6 boot said:

I'm not understanding the connection between Duros and the Neimoidians.

They’re both the “goggle-eyes” alien design from the Cantina scene. WEG named them Duros and fleshed them out, but then George Lucas used them for the Neimoidians called for in his TPM script. However, the Duros were by then well established in EU lore, and the WotC RPG continued to feature Duros as such. It was later established in in-world continuity (via The New Essential Guide to Alien Species, which gives the two species a single combined entry) that “Neimoidians are actually the same genetic species as Duros, having descended from ancient Duro colonists”.

Interestingly, the Vulcans and Romulans have a similar shared background; and the Neimoidians are, of course, named after Leonard Nimoy.

[Zulgyan]

Apr 16, 2019 7:24:27 GMT -6 boot said:

RE: Luke Is The Last Jedi

I know, yes. This issue might be the single most important thing in which I deviate from canon (not from ANH canon though), so as to enable jedi type  player characters (force wielding, lightsaber swinguing, code following and such).