Star Wars - Some setting exploration

[Desdichado]

It amazes me that Knights of the Old Republic, even though it's set some 4,000 years before the movies, still feels remarkably like Star Wars. With a time gap that big, it gave the game developers a lot of wiggle-room to go their own direction with things, though.

I'm thinking about maybe doing something similar; but going forward in time. 500 years after Jedi is enough time I can wipe the slate clean from any E.U. stuff I don't like, and it gives me some room to strike out in a bold new direction while still maintaining the essential Star Wars-ness of the setting.

But I'm looking for some ideas for fleshing the setting at Jedi + 500 years out a bit, and that's what this thread is for.

I'll post some of the ideas I have a bit later.

 

[Turanil]

Please avoid any Yuzan-Wong stuff (or whatever they are called).

Maybe the whole galactic civilization has waned and dwindled. The Republic and all belong to a mythic golden age. Nowadays the heroes are lucky to manage to get a starship that could get them out of their planet. Begins a game of exploration and rediscovering old things of legend that have been nearly forgotten. Like a kind of post-apocalyptic star-wars.

 

[Desdichado]

Some of those ideas aren't too far from what I was thinking, actually. Rather than have a big sprawling New Rebupic, or Galactic Alliance or whatever, I was thinking the galaxy would more likely have splintered into a number of smaller empires/kingdoms/republics/corporations/theocracies/etc. I also have little interest in the Yuuzhan Vong (sic? Who cares?) but from what I understand from Wookiepedia, it looks like I don't have to mess with established Star Warsiana to remove them, since they went extremely underground if not essentially disappeared following the New Jedi Order series of books.

So, I'm thinking there will be a New Republic or Galactic Alliance. The heir to Leia's efforts to establish a new government post-Endor and all that. There will have to be some entity that's a descendent of the Imperial Remnant as well. I think a New Mandalorian Empire would be interesting as well, as well as a number of multi-system corporations, alliances and federations of all kinds.

I think Luke's Jedi Order would not necessarily resemble the Old Republic's version of the Jedi Order; Luke was successful in many ways because he didn't follow their doctrine. He didn't avoid attachment and focus on dispassion; he got married, hung out with his sister and her family, and let compassion be his guide. Without it, he would never have been able to effect the redemption of his father either. So, I imagine the Jedi Order is a bit more activist, and probably a bit more divided, as multiple opinions about what it's purpose are are voiced. In fact, I can imagine more than one order that either utilizes Jedi like teachings, or even claims to be the "true" Jedi. Probably the one most closely aligned with the spirit of what Luke tried to found is essentially an arm of the Galactic Alliance. There are probably others that feel political entanglements are the wrong way to go, and work as solos, or "rogues." Jedi ronin, if you will. I can imagine a more fundamentalist approach too; a Jedi theocracy that tries to recreate the Old Jedi Order, and administers an entire state. I can imagine that followers of Sith traditions probably exist (although the "rule of two" has probably been long-abandoned seeing as how disastrous it proved to be when Darth Vader killed his master and then didn't ascend into his place) as well as other dark Force traditions or camps.

Anyway, at the moment, I'm thinking more of keeping it fairly open-ended, with lots of potential things to do rather than having a single, obvious antagonist. That certainly makes it more attractive as a setting for gaming, anyway.

 

[Desdichado]

A post-Apocalyptic Star Wars though; eh, no thanks. Like Knights of the Old Republic I want this to feel like Star Wars, even though many of the details will differ due to the time scale. Post-Apocalyptic, lucky if anyone can even leave the planet they're born on grittiniess; yeah, I'd like that in another setting, but that ain't Star Wars.

 

[Wystan]

I would play. Make it a D20 (not D20 Star Wars) SRD-able game and I would ove to play.

 

[diaglo]

history repeats itself.

some dissatisfied jedi begin to think that there must be a better way. a faster more efficeint way. they start meeting. and discover ancient text about an older order. bit by bit they recover more info.

until they have enough to start manifesting the powers of this older order.


these are the new PCs.

these are the new Sith....

 

[Desdichado]

I would play. Make it a D20 (not D20 Star Wars) SRD-able game and I would ove to play.

?! confused

What do you mean? Why would I use some other d20 variant when I've already got a perfectly good one tailored to the Star Wars setting on my shelf? Heck, I've got two of them tailored to the Star Wars setting sitting on my shelf, since I picked up the Revised book too.

 

[Wystan]

A lot of people don't have them...

I bought a copy for one of the GM's in my group and he refuses to run it...

 

[Desdichado]

Well, I bought a copy for myself and haven't had an opportunity to run it, partly because one of the guys in my group refuses to play it.

Still, how many copies of the books do you need in a group? I've done plenty of games in the past with largish groups of gamers and only one copy of the rules to go around. It's certainly doable. No, I'm really not entertaining any options other than using the Star Wars d20 ruleset for this.

 

[der_kluge]

I'll try to avoid reading the other threads so they don't influence me.

I admit I know little of the post-RotJ universe, other than what I've learned from friends who read some of the comics and novels set where Luke sets up the New Republic, yadda yadda yadda.

Seems to me like you could practically go just about any possible direction you want to with it. It's possible that it could be remarkably like "The Phantom Menace" where the Jedi are in control of the galactic senate, and have a place of honor among the masses.

It's also possible that Jedi take a much less active role in the affairs of the universe, seeking to help out on an individual basis.

I guess to some degree it's up to Luke and his students to decide the ultimate fate of the universe. What is obvious it that the force comes in two flavors - light and dark, and that much will never change.

It also seems likely that government organizations would seek to ally themselves with jedi as a matter of course, given how powerful a single jedi can be, and how much a battle can be turned if there are jedi on one side of it.

It also strikes me as a bit odd that jedi would allow themselves to get sucked into political situations as much as they were in tPM. I would tend to see the Jedi as having sort of a "neutral" stance WRT to the affairs of the galaxy.

But I could definitely see them as defenders of the weak and helpless. The ultimate paladins.

As for dark jedi, they would remain largely unchanged, I think. Out for their own profit and power, just like always.