Living Star Wars Saga edition?

[garyh]

The Haon Sector? (Noah backwards)

 

[fireinthedust]

Haon system sounds good. Nolan is still good, maybe as a planet or the next system over (that no one ever goes to?).


If we can cobble together just enough for a game, someone (maybe me?) could run it and get this sucker started. Then we can see if people want to keep going.

 

[Insight]

Wouldn't the Jedi Temple be on Yavin IV? (or are we changing this for the living campaign) I believe the Jedi tend to have one temple at a time, and even if they were to have more than one (eventually), I'd think Luke would keep it centrally located somewhere for a time.

In 11 ABY, Jedi Master Luke Skywalker chose Yavin 4 as the site for the Jedi Praxeum and the headquarters of his New Jedi Order after receiving permission from the New Republic. During his travels, he had discovered a number of Force-sensitives and finally felt ready to begin to train new Jedi. This first class consisted of twelve pupils with Luke as their teacher. Some of those twelve were Kam and Tionne Solusar, Kirana Ti, Madurrin, Kyle Katarn, Dorsk 81, Brakiss, Corran Horn, Streen, and Gantoris. Other Jedi to join soon after were Kyp Durron, Cilghal, Mara Jade, and Dal Konur.

Note that the above is not "canon" and therefore, we can change any or all of it as it suits us. I would recommend that, at a minimum, we replace the students' names with those of our Jedi PCs.

I'm not sure we need to have the Jedi Temple anywhere near our system. There are spaceships, you know

I kinda like the idea of having the other initial masters be multiclassed Jedi (other heroes of the Rebellion, reformed gangsters, etc). I also like the idea of the Jedi PCs being the same, but younger and less experienced. If the Jedi order is 10 years old, none of our PCs will have grown up in the Jedi order. I don't think Luke would care about that requirement, especially considering he didn't grow up in the order.

So, the Haon system could be located on the fringes of the Imperial Remnant and our initial missions might be to secure planets in Haon from Imperial and Hutt incursions and influence (and see below). Later, our PCs can head into the Imperial Remnant and Hutt Space (map of Hutt Space) to deal with the sources of these threats.

*** This site has a nice "unofficial" map of the SW galaxy. ***

On the Imperial Remnant:

There was no official starting point for the Remnant, nor an official ending point for the Empire. It seems, rather, that as the functioning government of the Empire fell into disarray, it slowly evolved into the modern confederated government. Evidence of the start of this evolutionary process point to five dates:

4 ABY—following the first death of Palpatine at the Battle of Endor.
11 ABY—following the final death of Palpatine.
11 ABY—several months after that, following the death of the last Galactic Emperor, Xandel Carivus.

I chose to stop the list here because we have Luke starting the Jedi Praexeum at ABY 11 (we could start the campaign there and use all of that EU material).

On Hutt Space (specifically, the Hutt Sector):

During the rule of the Galactic Empire, Hutt Space was reduced in size to what was called the Hutt Sector; it was governed by Moff Sarn Shild, and later by Moff Yref Orgege, though their authority was weak at best. The heart of the region contained the Bootana Hutta, the "Garden of Hutts", an area containing the various kajidic throneworlds. Even in the Empire's days, this area remained secretive to outsiders, who knew it only through rumors.

From the fragmentation of the Empire to the Yuuzhan Vong War, Hutt Space seemed to have remain largely autonomous, and was sometimes still referred to as the Hutt Empire even during this period.

Clearly from this information, Hutt Space would be on the rise once again. In fact, Haon might be a former Hutt Space system that fell out of the Hutts' control during the days of the Empire. That would explain why the Hutts would be interfering.

The Imperial Remnant is headquartered on Bastion in the Outer Rim. Hutt Space is located between the Mid Rim and Outer Rim, and so Haon could be located between them.

EDIT 1: After looking at a pretty good map (I don't own the new Star Wars Atlas), it seems that Bastion and Hutt Space are fairly far apart. If we want to include both the Imperial Remnant and the Hutts, we'll need to find a reason for one or both of them to want to meddle in Haon affairs besides a territory war. Haon could still be part of former Hutt Space OR located on the fringes of the Imperial Remnant, but it can't be both.

EDIT 2: Yavin is located between the Imperial Remnant and Hutt Space, approximately where we *could* place Haon. Perhaps the Yavin and Haon systems are adjacent to one another. That might give the Jedi Praexeum a reason to send Jedi there to adjudicate the peace.

 

[OnlytheStrong]

I........ actually like all of that.

 

[fireinthedust]

I don't want to use Expanded Universe events wholesale. If we use them, we might as well use everything. 11aby is great, sure, but I don't want to use things that are more obscure and might confuse newer players, or more casual fans of Star Wars.


Moving the Jedi Temple to Yavin 4 is cool enough. I was thinking more like having a Jedi outpost somewhere in the system, someplace unique... like a local Degoba where the PCs can get trained.
I was thinking the Jedi Moon could be a desert with caves beneath the surface filled with crystals useful in making holocrons. As well it is strong with the Force, allowing Force ghosts to talk to anyone who visits them, for guidance and training. It won't be *the* temple, just a local place to meet between adventures, not too far from the Cantina. That way, if there is local trouble, the PCs are the Jedi on call to deal with it.

I don't know where the planet should be. Certainly not in the Core per se, but fully outer rim I'm not sure about.

I think a war between the Hutts and the Empire will confuse from the more important battle between the Alliance and the Empire. The Hutts can act as go-betweens and brokers, as smugglers and criminals: a loose cannon, free agents.

 

[Insight]

The New Republic also has other interests on Yavin IV. In fact, New Republic Intelligence is located on Yavin IV prior to Luke establishing the Jedi Praexeum there. Definitely makes sense that our characters (or certainly the Jedi characters) would be sent from Yavin to do missions.

I think the Jedi as well as New Republic Intelligence would be interested in what the remaining Imperials are doing. Perhaps there's something in neighboring Haon of interest to both the Imperial Remnant and the Hutts, and perhaps the New Republic and the Jedi want to stop them from obtaining it. Perhaps it's the Hutts who have possession of (whatever this is) and the Republic and Empire are competing to wrest it from the Hutts.

 

[fireinthedust]

Okay, so Yavin 4 is the base of the Rebellion proper, and the Jedi in particular; it's also in the movies, so I think we're good. However, in the EU I know they had the Jedi school moved to a refitted Star Destroyer... which is also wicked cool. The emphasis is that we can do whatever we want, outside the massive, cumbersome EU.


I still think we should have local headquarters for all major groups, though. It's just practical for the Home System idea. Heck, for a cohesive Living Setting, I think we need to keep that stuff in mind: what are we in need of for the game, rather than to keep in line with stuff that would make the game less effective.
I'm not against Yavin 4, I just don't think it's necessary for Jedi PCs to scoot back there between adventures when everyone else can just go to the Cantina.
Also, not all missions will be for the Jedi or the Rebellion, unless that's a theme of the Setting; but Bounty Hunters will need payment for service, so those PCs would get bonus cash for just showing up, and that's not fair in the long run; so if we don't have a local Jedi hideout it doesn't make sense that the same Jedi would go back to the same system over and over for every game.

If there's a reason for being in the system it should be big. Like, there's a lot of mining and resources here. Or the route is on a Hyperspace route, and good for re-supplying. There should be a Jedi outpost, or Jedi who have been told to hang out with a particular long-term group, like House Organa. This should be over and above a one-mission or even one campaign, because we're talking about potentially dozens of players in many groups all going about totally different adventures (albeit likely all over the galaxy).

 

[OnlytheStrong]

Hhmmm... Who would of thought it would be so hard to find a suitable starting point? lol Doesn't Yavin IV have an old jedi temple on it? It's easy enough to have Luke start an attempt to re-establish it. The star destroyer is pretty cool, but hard to explain how one group can find it easily without the others knowing where it is.

I'm not sure what you mean by local headquarters. Do you mean like ... a starting point for everyone or a main area for say, scoundrels. I don't like the idea of having each class have a different local headquarter, since that seems to say "start here or else."

Bounty hunters... are new, thus not famous. Most would probably be eager to get paid, hence no money up front. No name = no downpayment.

I vote that you pick a town near the jedi temple (or even have the rebel base be more or less built onto the jedi temple), and name the cantina in it. That's an easy yet effective starting point.

 

[Insight]

I believe that using the Extended Universe (EU) up to 11 ABY is the easiest way to find a starting point. It is the path of least resistance and allows players and GMs who want to research background material some source of information that we don't have to provide.

In fact, I propose that we spend as little time as possible on setting and throw our efforts into adventures and the overall campaign plot. We already have these great setting resources at our disposal. Why not make use of them?

Going from that point (11 ABY), we establish that everything else is changeable. Thus, things that happen in Living SWSE trump anything else in EU post whatever we decide is the exact starting point (Luke creating the Praexeum, perhaps?). We could also make exceptions to the EU from ROTJ to 11 ABY if it suits the campaign (but these need to be explicitly spelled out in the campaign documents).

The obvious exception to "not working on setting" would be the Haon system itself. We do need to come up with the basics of the system: its planets, its other astronomical features, its species (if any), and its power groups (the New Republic, the Imperial Remnant, the Hutts, others). Another important point - I mentioned in a prior post that there's "something" in the Haon system important enough to warrant Republic, Imperial, and Hutt attention. We don't necessarily have to decide right now what that is, but I think it will come up down the road as we build the campaign.

 

[fireinthedust]

I'm not sure what you mean by local headquarters. Do you mean like ... a starting point for everyone or a main area for say, scoundrels. I don't like the idea of having each class have a different local headquarter, since that seems to say "start here or else."

Not exactly, I'm thinking more like particular organizations. Interests in-system that allow us to go to them for information or adventures related to that group.

Jedi HQ: Go there for information on the Force, to stay if you're new in town, to heal the Jedi way, to repair your lightsabre.

Cantina/Space port: Go there to find a wretched hive of scum and villainy, to sell or pawn stolen/found goods, to talk to the Bothan info-dealer who runs the Cantina, borrow cash from the Hutt who owns the casino, and hire bounty hunters to pick off the PC of the GM from your last adventure

Impiral HQ: Go there when Leia is kidnapped and you need to rescue her, or if you have a death wish for any other reason.

House Organa HQ: go there when you're on the run and need to get something back to the Alliance (not necessarily the Jedi).

Think of it like Casablanca, or some other small city with Embassies curing the Cold War (or even a hot one): lots of potential for adventure hooks because there are lots of groups always there for whatever reason.

Bounty hunters... are new, thus not famous. Most would probably be eager to get paid, hence no money up front. No name = no downpayment.

Yes, but they're getting paid above what the other PCs are getting paid; the ones who are ordered by the Jedi or the Alliance. BH's need to cover costs, but they also want profit. Jedi don't work for profit (and Force Training costs a feat), so the Bounty Hunters and/or Scoundrels who are unaffiliated with any group get more cash than anyone else. When you can buy a ship or bigger guns at any level, that'll add up. Ie: we the Judges will have to deal with it at some point.

I vote that you pick a town near the jedi temple (or even have the rebel base be more or less built onto the jedi temple), and name the cantina in it. That's an easy yet effective starting point.

I like the Yavin IV idea, though. Just... there's one higher level Jedi who acts locally and all other Jedi answer to him/her, who then calls back to Luke on Yavin or Coruscant. It'd be like meeting back at Obiwann's home on Tattooine: it's not the Jedi Temple, it's just the local place from which the Jedi can act. That's what I mean, not two temples.

Insight: I like what you're saying. I'd like to have us jump 10/11 years ahead from ROTJ, I'm just worried that... well, other than the Zahn novels, and some Vong books, I'm lost in the EU. That's why I prefer the Movies/clone wars/Droids cartoon sources: I know them. Other things I read, like the cuddly bunny version of Yoda they found on Yavin, I'm not such a big fan of; and I don't know how good this stuff would be for the game, y'know? If we have the movies as core, it means anyone can be up to speed in, like, a day (well, with some modifications, obviously).
Could we pick what events in those 11 years post-endor we want to keep for the setting?

I think we should make a Wiki at some point. We should have it for Haon-setting stuff, and for Larger-setting stuff (anything beyond Haon).