Living Star Wars Saga edition?

I'm wondering what would be involved in a Living Saga edition sub-forum in the Living Worlds thread. So, I asked and I got a pretty good check list:

(re: Stonegod)
Lots of interest in the Play-by-post forum, a group of dedicated folks to volunteer to be judges (adjudicate characters, games, and the forum rules), and a DM & player base. I'd suggest starting a post over there in the Talking the Talk forum to see if there is enough interest and go from there.

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1) enough interest in the pbp forums

2) a group of dedicated judges

3) a GM & Player base

I'll add in:

4) an interesting setting (ie: do we go for a particular time period, or do we re-imagine the standard setting in some way to allow for the realities of a living rpg association? (ie: the Empire plus the Jedi Order plus Sith running around, etc.)

any thoughts?

I'd be interested. I have enough time for *ONE* game nowadays (not the four I was playing plus running one), and this is of interest to me. I could run or play.

In terms of the time frame, this is definitely the main concern, given that Jedi are going to be the most popular character and the time period will determine how prevalent Jedi can be. I guess the question should be how many Jedi do we want in the campaign? If you want more of a balance (less Jedi), I would choose the Rebellion era. If you want to have a bunch of Jedi, I would go with the KOTOR era.

Also, consider how familiar you want the average player to be with the setting. Placing the campaign in the "New Trilogy" or "Old Trilogy" eras ensures that nearly all players would have some familiarity with what's going on. Far less people read the books and the other EU stuff than watch the movies. On the flip side, and especially in the "New Trilogy" era, Jedi existence and storyline is VERY restrictive and maybe not something you'd want in a Living-style game.

EDIT: Another possibility is to allow adventures in ANY time period. This is obviously far less restrictive, but I believe this would require players to maintain characters for each time period.

Also, I wanted to provide a link to Wookieepedia, a great resource for this potential Living campaign, as well as Star Wars fans in general.

I'd be interested in playing, But I doubt I could GM any games

yeah, the restrictiveness of a timeline is a big thing is SW.

would making up our own version of events better suite the game, I'm wondering: ie, allow for an RPGA-style setting the same way L4W's Daunton allows for adventurers?

Insight said:

EDIT: Another possibility is to allow adventures in ANY time period. This is obviously far less restrictive, but I believe this would require players to maintain characters for each time period.

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Which would also mean more than one continuity. Keep in mind that players are going to affect the course of the timeline in *some* way. One could attack Jabba and, if we're fair to them, explode him during the Clone Wars. That would mean that the Rebellion team dealing with him would have to explain why they did that three adventures ago, when he was exploded years in the past!
I think some sort of compromise would be important, with less obsessive attention to historical reinactment, and more attention to what the players need to have a "real" Star Wars game.

This is just personal opinion, tho, so feel free to disagree or agree. I'm asking the wider community, not "claiming this land for Spain", if that makes sense (I can always run my own game, which runs into fewer complications, but I'm curious about the process and what the community could come up with)

What is essential to Star Wars for a wider Roleplayer audience in pbp? Especially as ENworld isn't a Star Wars site but caters to everyone?


As an aside, did anyone actually play the original Living Force campaign? I bought the gazetteer, and I've always wondered what happened there.


The good things about this idea:

1) The system seems to be a good one (core so far, but others also).

2) The Judges could pick & choose from the awesome history/info on Wookiepedia (thanks for that!) for what would be useable in-game

3) Every game could be in the GM's madeup system for that adventure (as allowed by the GMs during adventure design), which could be added to, say, a wiki for the use of other GMs. This means I could use major worlds, or go crazy and ignore major events in my own made-up setting (blow up a planet, etc.)

A lot of stuff to go over here.

fireinthedust said:

Which would also mean more than one continuity. Keep in mind that players are going to affect the course of the timeline in *some* way. One could attack Jabba and, if we're fair to them, explode him during the Clone Wars. That would mean that the Rebellion team dealing with him would have to explain why they did that three adventures ago, when he was exploded years in the past!

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One of the inherent dangers in running a Star Wars game (or any license game) is that your characters could theoretically destroy canon. The best way to avoid this is to make it nigh-impossible that the characters will come into direct conflict with a major canonical character. They could, for example, meet Jabba, but only in Jabba's palace where the gangster has dozens of guards.

I think some sort of compromise would be important, with less obsessive attention to historical reinactment, and more attention to what the players need to have a "real" Star Wars game.

This is just personal opinion, tho, so feel free to disagree or agree. I'm asking the wider community, not "claiming this land for Spain", if that makes sense (I can always run my own game, which runs into fewer complications, but I'm curious about the process and what the community could come up with)

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I've run successful Star Wars campaigns without involving a great deal of canon material. It all depends on what you want. References to canon material can be plentiful without exposing the game to trouble with future storylines.

What is essential to Star Wars for a wider Roleplayer audience in pbp? Especially as ENworld isn't a Star Wars site but caters to everyone?

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This is fodder for future debate. I think you can have a game that feels like Star Wars in a lot of different ways.

As an aside, did anyone actually play the original Living Force campaign? I bought the gazetteer, and I've always wondered what happened there.

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I played in the majority of it and it was all right. The main problems I had with the campaign is that it wasn't "Star Wars"-y enough for my tastes. No droids, little interplanetary travel, and no personal spaceships (and no space combats). It felt pretty static for what was supposed to be a "Living" campaign.

The good things about this idea:

1) The system seems to be a good one (core so far, but others also).

2) The Judges could pick & choose from the awesome history/info on Wookiepedia (thanks for that!) for what would be useable in-game

3) Every game could be in the GM's madeup system for that adventure (as allowed by the GMs during adventure design), which could be added to, say, a wiki for the use of other GMs. This means I could use major worlds, or go crazy and ignore major events in my own made-up setting (blow up a planet, etc.)

Click to expand...

I think we'd either have to decide on one time period or offer a selection of time periods and develop adventures for each.

In that case, we have some options to consider. A range of eras might work, but it wouldn't be "Living". It would, rather, be "mimicking", and while we could do it, on a massive scale of relative continuity it might be hard to do.

Of all the eras, which ones would work best? Also, what are we trying to get out of play?


I'd say we need Jedi. There's no point to not having access to them *at all* for a Living Star Wars game.

Rebellion Era: might work in that we'd have players who're longer term "earn" the status of Jedi by being around a few levels. (or the first few people to join can make a Jedi on the run; early incentive program, that sort of thing)
The problem is that we'd have to ignore the Movies with "the last of the Jedi" Luke, or else PCs would all have to die. Also, we'd need someone to train them (holocrons, Yoda and other hidden Masters, etc.), likely someone affiliated with the Rebellion; PCs who'd run enough missions with the Rebellion to earn their trust could be told of this source, and sent to the hidden temple for training.
The issue here is more that we don't have the Clone Wars stuff, which is wicked-cool and on TV. Also, there would only be so many Sith (another popular Star-Trope), and a good lightsabre fight is essential to a SW Jedi plot line.

Clone Wars: easy enough here for Jedi, but the issue is getting non-Jedi something to do. Also, who are the players going to be? What's their role in this setting? Are they given missions against the separatists?
Pretty much I can see this setting as all Jedi, some clones and droids and a noble *maybe*. No reckless smugglers or bounty hunters on a regular basis in a rigid military hierarchy, though.

KotOR: I hear good things about this period, and theoretically it allows for lots of SW tropes and avoids the movies. This is also the major drawback and why it won't work... maybe.
However, there are lots of Jedi and Sith. That's all I personally know without wookiepedia research.

Legacy: likely the same as kotor, but without the Jedi and Sith. I'm under the impression that it's basically Firefly/Serenity, but with lightsabres for some reason, and aliens. Meh.


New Jedi Order: some potential, as it's after the movies so we don't have to follow them. I've enjoyed the books I've read, but I think the Vong... well, they're not "my" SW. I like the Empire, I like the Clone Wars, all that stuff. I don't know if they finished this period off, but I get the feeling there should still be Jedi. Maybe some Sith? I dunno. More info needed.
The other issue is that it's not around the movies or video games, and there's a lot of stuff about this out there. I've read some of the books, and even I would have to jump around trying to figure out what's going on.

Homebrew: fan-based generation of a SW setting with elements custom-tailored to allow all sorts of adventures in a Living setting. We decide what the galaxy is like (hopefull at War of some sort, with a Good side and a Bad side).
The good part is we can ignore what we don't like and keep what we do. I'd be interested to see what people stick with: what do we like?

That about covers it for me. Personally I see the most potential in a Rebellion-era game that allows for more Jedi and Sith. That or Clone Wars, if we can allow more room for Non-Jedi.

Maybe also a limit on the number of Jedi PCs a character can make? Like, if that Jedi dies, they have to start on a non-Jedi; or they don't get another till the first one's retired.

I'm not entirely sure you need to limit the jedi class. Yes most people will have a jedi, but I doubt everyone would. Besides, you can "adjust" them enough to fit alot of situations. And the problem of a ton of jedi could be self correcting when there aren't enough games for them to play and they are sitting around a cantina all the time.

As far as the setting... I would think alittle bit ahead of the New Order would work. It's far enough ahead to have a varied future while not screwing up the "classic" Star Wars stuff.

You can change how the New Order is forming... maybe bring the Sith back in force or something. You could even "replay" parts of the past... maybe have a planet where the Geonsians still have droids from the Clone Wars or something similar.

I think that the main issue is where the Sith class would fall. People will more than likely want to play a Sith. It would be kinda bad for the party to have Sith and Jedi in the same area lol.

Because of the relative strictness of the canon... what about using the rules and classes (even the Force), but using a new background?

Are we keen on SW (next question: which period?) or the rules system and a SciFi setting (I like Star*Drive, BTW)?