Star Wars "homebrew"

[Desdichado]

OK, I hadn't really thought to run this (but everyone wanted to play it, so someone had to step up to the plate and volunteer to get behind the screen) but in part due to all the fun we've been having playing Knights of the Old Republic on our xboxes, we're in the mood to actually, finally play the Star Wars game we've all had for a while (actually, this is just what I need to motivate me to go pick up the revised book.)

Here's my problem(s): I don't want to set the game during the movies; the story's already been told, and the characters would have to be a sideline at best to the "real" action. Part of the "feel" of Star Wars is the characters being icons of destiny and epic greatness (eventually) so I want the PCs to tell the big story of the age, not some NPCs (i.e., Luke, Han, Leia, etc.) Also, although I've read a half dozen or so novels, I'm not really familiar with the other "ages" of play all that much, but neither are the other players. So I've got a blank slate to work with; I'm passingly familiar with the concepts of the Sith Empires of the past (see above about the xbox game) and the concept of the New Jedi Order. But I'm not concerned with "officialness;" I'd go with a homebrew era easily enough, as long as it felt like Star Wars.

Here's what I'm thinking of doing, and where I need some potential help.

• Luke's now a very old Jedi Master. He's established a New Jedi Order, and there's still a fledgeling New Republic that's struggling to gain ground across the Galaxy. Lots of hostile territory, though -- holdovers from the Empire, other opportunistic governments, etc. Jedi still are also struggling to find their place in this new order.
• What's some of the stuff going on in NJO in this period? Like I said, I'm not necessarily looking to make an "official" game, but I'm all for stealing ideas that I think work.
• Sith are too cool a villain idea to have them all gone with the demise Vader and the Emperor. So I need to come up with some way to reintroduce them.
• Here's my thought -- I know there was supposedly once a sith race. I'm going to assume that they actually still exist -- lacking any better info, they're a human-like race with markings like Darth Maul's (hence his motivation to apply the tattoos in the first place) and they've been quietly building an empire in parts of the galaxy that are unknown to either the Republic or the Empire. They are the progenitors of the Sith Cult that later claimed many fallen Jedi.
• In addition to the Sith, I want a more complex political scene; perhaps other fallen Jedi that are establishing their own empires. Without a strong Jedi tradition to build upon, I imagine a much more loosely organized and individualistic Jedi Order than the one we see in the old republic in movies I and II.

Any comments? Ideas? Helpful tips? I'm not looking for new books to read, though -- we'll probably start playing before I get a chance to worry about that anyway.

 

[blackshirt5]

I like it; in fact, it's scarily close to what I'm planning for my Star Wars game.

In the books, several Dark Jedi with sith knowledge escaped destruction; one of the Emperor's Hands, the Dark Lady Lumiya, comes to mind. Also, Sith Holocrons and Dark Side Spirits could be responsible for the rise of the Sith.

I'd make the New Republic not completely trust the Jedi; they've seen what a rogue Jedi can do, and it's pretty frightening, frankly(Vader, Kyp Durron, etc.), so I'd imagine that between that and the memories of old Imperial dogma, the Force wielders might not be trusted.

 

[WayneLigon]

One thing to remember: without the 'strong Jedi tradition', you don't get Jedi, you get Dark Jedi

Some ideas to steal:

Bounty hunter organizations. THere are many more power centers to work for, now.

Rogue Imperial fleets that are entirely space-based, raiding now-free worlds for parts, food and crew. Shanghaing becomes a new fear

The Hutt. The Hutt are master criminals, and will extend their influence as far and as fast as they can. Really, they'd make a great new 'villain focus' for a campaign. The Empire kept them bottled up because of superior ships and weapons, but now...

Another Dark Jedi Order to rival the Sith, made up of people that fail out of Luke's training program. (There are some strong hints that in the Old Republic, failure in Jedi training is not an option...)

The Emperor can, in fact, switch bodies. He could still turn up, in a young strong body not corrupted by the Dark Side. Maybe a clone of Luke's body...

Establish new power centers. The Mining Guild or the Tech Guild could see this as an opportunity to really expand their power. Some worlds might try to become a New Empire, especially the Core Worlds that have been mostly shielded from the hideous abuses in the Outer Rim and still think of the Emperor as a good man who brought order to a war-torn galaxy.

Alien empire builders. A thread from the NJO is that some alien species, long supressed under the Empire, want some payback now. Some races may advocate a porgram against humans.

You might want to check out some of the comic series from Dark Horse . Several issues are in bound collections, and they are invaluable as a source of ideas and imagery. The comics cover all the eras, and there is even an 'Elseworlds' type, called Star Wars Infinities that explores the 'What If...?' ideas.

Upcoming: Star Wars: Clone Wars Volume 2: Victories and Sacrifices TPB

From one of the swamp moons of Naboo, to the war-torn cityscapes of Brentaal IV, the battles of the Clone Wars have thrown the galaxy into turmoil. New Separatist threats, ranging from deadly biological weapons, to dark Jedi, to unkillable alien bounty hunters, have the loyalist Jedi and their clone troops pushed to their limits.

This graphic novel collection contains three separate, yet linked stories of heroism and sacrifice set during the time between Episode II and Episode III!

 

[thundershot]

Heh.

Nothing wrong with homebrewing things like that.

I've only seen the movies, and I like to use the RPG books as fodder for MY ideas, and then twist them into something I feel comfortable using. The Star Wars universe is so full of life, it's easy to pull out everything you like and go from there...

Of course, my Exiles group will surely be shocked when they arrive in a universe where Star Wars & Transformers are mixed... While the Autobots battle the Decepticons, there is a lot going on behind the scenes. Deep within Cybertron, a group of Maximals have harnassed the power of the Force, and have been training for years. Of course, when the TRUE power of the Decepticons comes to be, the Autobots and the Maximals will come face to face with.... DARTH MEGATRON..

Still a lot of details to iron out before the group arrives in this dimension, but I want to freak out the players AND the characters. I'm tempted to combine Unicron & the Death Star, but that's a bit too much for 5th level characters. (Of course, the PC's won't get to see Darth Megatron either, so I just have a lot of back story..)

 

[TreChriron]

Collaboration in order?

I am also doing something in the NJO but rewriting the timeline because I do not like the NJO timeline.. I posted my idea here in another topic; here it is for your perusal.

http://enworld.cyberstreet.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=60473

My post is at the end. I would be glad to share my ideas, maps, NPC’s, etc. Maybe create something over at SWRPGnet or a Yahoo group. I’m open to ideas.

I like the idea of having the essence of the Emperor escape his demise at Endor and inhabit some semi-sentient creature and then hatching a long plot to rebuild the empire and take over the galaxy again. Maybe something huge and demonic looking normally known as a predator but this one seems to exhibit more intelligent ruthless behavior… Then he uses the force to summon someone to the planet (or a ship crashes or maybe tourists visit Endor now as the site of the greatest victory of the New Republic...), escapes after many years and he is now just starting to get his nefarious plan rolling (training a new Sith disciple or maybe several now, even seeking out other Sith force spirits and forming a Sith council...)

Sound like something you would like to collaborate on?

 

[garyh]

Heh.

Nothing wrong with homebrewing things like that.

I've only seen the movies, and I like to use the RPG books as fodder for MY ideas, and then twist them into something I feel comfortable using. The Star Wars universe is so full of life, it's easy to pull out everything you like and go from there...

Of course, my Exiles group will surely be shocked when they arrive in a universe where Star Wars & Transformers are mixed... While the Autobots battle the Decepticons, there is a lot going on behind the scenes. Deep within Cybertron, a group of Maximals have harnassed the power of the Force, and have been training for years. Of course, when the TRUE power of the Decepticons comes to be, the Autobots and the Maximals will come face to face with.... DARTH MEGATRON..

Still a lot of details to iron out before the group arrives in this dimension, but I want to freak out the players AND the characters. I'm tempted to combine Unicron & the Death Star, but that's a bit too much for 5th level characters. (Of course, the PC's won't get to see Darth Megatron either, so I just have a lot of back story..)

My god, that sounds awesome! Big TF fan here.

 

[Desdichado]

Thanks for the ideas, guys -- I'm kinda on the run today, but I'll try and check in later today and see if I can drop some more detail (assuming I have it.)

 

[Darrin Drader]

Darth Maul is a zabrak, as is one of the jedi from episode II, so I would come up with another race. I would probably come up with something original. Maybe even reptillian.

My other piece of advice is toss the entirety of the New Jedi Order. I was stoked when it started, but there's just oo many problems with it, in my opinion, to make for a truly interesting Star Wars setting.

 

[d4]

My other piece of advice is toss the entirety of the New Jedi Order. I was stoked when it started, but there's just oo many problems with it, in my opinion, to make for a truly interesting Star Wars setting.

i agree. although the Vong on their own are fairly interesting baddies, there's just too much about them that screams, "Hi, we don't really belong in a Star Wars story."

for my SW campaigns, i say only the movies are canon. anything beyond that, i pick and choose the few things that i like and throw away the rest. i tend to ignore the EU for the most part.

 

[Desdichado]

Darth Maul is a zabrak, as is one of the jedi from episode II, so I would come up with another race. I would probably come up with something original. Maybe even reptillian.

Yeah, but Darth Maul is a zabrak that has some kind of weird-ass tattoos that have some kind of Sith significance. Normally zabraks look more like the other one in the movies (also shown in the Revised book) One interpretation of this is that the original Sith race were a humanoid race with markings like that of Darth Maul's, and he's such a Sith fanatic that he wanted to look like the original Sith race. Somewhat, anyway.