Star Wars Alterations

[Crothian]

In the prequals and the estabalished history of the orginal trilogy (I put that in there for those that ignore the prequals) the Jedis are eventually hunted down and dealt with. But In the age of the Republic the Jedi are shown it seems as trustworthy and generally popular.

I think the newly formed Empire would have trouble with the public of many planets if as in the movies the Jedi are just killed off with only a few lame excuses. The movies really didn't go into this aspect at all as that was not their focus.

What if the Jedi are seen by the public like the Psi Corp are seen in Babylon 5? The jedi and psi corp are not that different. Both groups have powers the general public does not, can be fearful of, and don't really understand. The Jedi with their well known Jedi Mind Trick can literally remove your free will for a bit. They tell you something, wave their hand, and you do it no matter if you want to or not. They look like everyone else except if they happen to wear the Jedi garb. And they use Light Sabers, a very deadly weapon that they all seem to be experts at combat with. And to top it off if a child is seen as being strong in the force they get removed from the family and raised and "brainwashed" by the Jedis.

So, do you think this would work, would this be fun and would you be willing to play in a Star Wars game set up like this? And of course why?? The Jedi can still be good and the Paladins of the Universe, it just doesn't mean they will be percieved as such by everyone.

 

[Dagger75]

Well I had the Jedi hated. I mean they DID steal babies away from families and never let them go back. Look how cold and heartless they are, they LEFT Anakin's mom in slavery. Obi-Wan could have gone there and rescued her like 2 months after Qui-gon's death. A few little news reports and stories for the decade leading up to the end of Clone War and bam, Jedi aren't really liked. Plus most of the people in the outter rim WHERE sepratists and fought against Clones wgo were lead by Jedi.

Not to mention you have a little dispute with your neighbor next thing you know a Jedi is getting his nose involved digging up all sorts of dirt on both sides and always acting all high and mighty. Bah, I hate the Jedi.

 

[Peterson]

Back when Star Wars was only available in the d6 version, I once ran a campaign slightly similar to this.

It occured about the same time Luke was running the Jedi Academy (out of Yavin 4), and there was a small system of near-humans that treated Force Users (and the Jedi that came to recruit them) as a large-scale cult.

Long story short, it had a lot of elements that you described (children with Force potiental removed from their families, lightsabers being viewed as "Brady's View on Assault Weapons", "scary" unnatural powers, etc) - and it went off pretty well, this twist on how the Jedi were viewed.

The thing that was probably most interesting is that two of the players played wanna-be Jedi Instructors (from Yavin 4), trying to impress Skywalker - while the other two played natives from this system (with one of the PCs being Force-sensitive). The Force Sensitive one felt cursed, but tried to explain that the Jedi wasn't a large-scale brain-washing cult....the system used "proof" from the early stages of the Jedi Purge to "prove" that it was a mass cult.

All in all, quite fun - especially if you run it more than a little dark in nature (I had a "dark apprentice" causing all kinds of havoc and trouble for the characters).

Just my experiences.

Peterson

 

[Crothian]

Nice to see I am not alone in these thoughts. So, what type of things would happen in a Universe like this? News stations that run anti Jedi programming. An under ground railroad that gets force sensitive people to safety (Sith would take advantage of this). Laws that are passed to hinder Jedi indirectly, can't be directly becasue the Senate does support and make direct laws illegal. Locals would be unco operative.

 

[Rodrigo Istalindir]

That's pretty much how I ran my d6 campaign way back when. The Jedi just before the fall of the Republic were distrusted by the common folk. They were aloof, judgemental, possessed of supernatural powers, and answered to no one. They constantly meddled where they weren't welcome. Because they were so few in number, almost no one ever actually met a Jedi, but everyone knew someone who knew someone that had suffered at their hands or witnessed their evil behavior.

There were a few who remembered to old days, who remembered when Jedi championed the oppressed. But anyone who showed the slightest bit of Force sensitivity had to be careful to hide it from all but the most trusted of allies. (In retrospect, my Star Wars campaign was a lot like Midnight.)

The Senate was purged of most of the loyalists, and oversight of actual Imperial operations on the remote systems was non-existant as the regional governors took over more and more. Hunting down the last Jedi was pretty easy. There was lots of propaganda, both overt and masked as entertainment.

 

[Peterson]

Nice to see I am not alone in these thoughts. So, what type of things would happen in a Universe like this? News stations that run anti Jedi programming. An under ground railroad that gets force sensitive people to safety (Sith would take advantage of this). Laws that are passed to hinder Jedi indirectly, can't be directly becasue the Senate does support and make direct laws illegal. Locals would be unco operative.

I guess the question is: Is your game going to be completely anti-Jedi, or just the beginnings of the anti-Jedi movement?

This distinction can really flavor your entire campaign, especially if you do it in a small, near-constant manner.

i.e. "Completely anti-Jedi" - Be sure to have the occasional "Only you can keep us safe" holo-poster/commerical running, with such messages as "Only you can report suspected Jedi cult members" and "Only you can say no to brain-washing. Report any self-proclaimed Jedi to your local law enforcement."

Another thing I did regularly was use the "overheard conversation" tool. i.e. "Remember Dack?" "Dack? You mean, old Jhim's boy?" "Yeah, him. Heard Jhim had to sell his house to get Dack outta debt with some scoundrels. 'Course, Dack claims to be a Jedi." "Dack's mixed up into that bantha dung?" and so on.

Especially at first, you'll need to keep subtley reminding the players that Jedi are considered quacks at best, and infarious cult leaders at worst - especially since its such a 180 from what the RPG "teaches" us.

Just some thoughts.

Peterson

 

[meme4tunef]

Hmmmmm,

This is kinda similar to the way I have always viewed the Space Marines, Imperial Inquisition, and of course - the Emperor himself (in Warhammer 40k).

I like your take on the Jedi... it sounds like it could make a really interesting game.

 

[sw3333]

Nice to see I am not alone in these thoughts. So, what type of things would happen in a Universe like this? News stations that run anti Jedi programming. An under ground railroad that gets force sensitive people to safety (Sith would take advantage of this). Laws that are passed to hinder Jedi indirectly, can't be directly becasue the Senate does support and make direct laws illegal. Locals would be unco operative.

I just started a campaign set about six hours after Episode III. Anakin and Obi-Wan are presumed dead, and just a few Jedi know there are some who survived. I'm toying with ideas of how this respected order is completely torn apart as far as image goes.

In the first game, the PCs were nearly arrested as traitors to the Republic, but a local Prime Minister (for lack of a better term) allowed them to leave based on the reputation of the Jedi. However, as the game goes on, less and less people will have that view of Jedi.

They will find less and less safe havens, and have to keep their identities more and more hidden.

 

[Crothian]

On thing I will be doing is using the Galactic media to really eventually turn the public agaist the Jedi. Once Episode 3 is completed I'd have much of the media bullied, blackmailed, or taken over and start spinning on how the Jedi tried to over throw the Rebublic and that they are all now wanted for treason.

 

[possum]

In the prequals and the estabalished history of the orginal trilogy (I put that in there for those that ignore the prequals) the Jedis are eventually hunted down and dealt with. But In the age of the Republic the Jedi are shown it seems as trustworthy and generally popular.

I think the newly formed Empire would have trouble with the public of many planets if as in the movies the Jedi are just killed off with only a few lame excuses. The movies really didn't go into this aspect at all as that was not their focus.

That's where the EU comes in handy. In a more recent issue of Insider (#87, in fact.) There's an article detailing casualties of the Purge so far. It lists who they are and how they were killed by either Stormtroopers, Darth Vader, or each other... It also lists the reason for their death that the public will be given in a HoloNet newscast.

Here are a few examples

Aayla Secura and Barriss Offee were killed by their troops in the act of poisoning Felucia's water supply.

Zett Jukassa (the padawan that almost makes it out of the Temple) was actually killed while attempting to assassinate Bail Organa, not trying to be rescued by the Senator.

Two OCs of mine were attempting to plant bombs in the capital city of a Republic world, instead of being betrayed by their troops. (Obviously not in the article, but added to their backstory after I was inspired by it.)