Take a look at a thumbnail premise for a Star Wars campaign

[billd91]

One thing, though: you mentioned that the majority of the Empire's citizens are happy with the status quo and doing well.

I don't know that I'd buy that interpretation at all. There's no reason to believe that what Leia says about systems slipping though Imperial fingers is untrue. If everyone was doing well and the Empire's control was solid, they wouldn't need the terror weapon that is the Death Star or worry about keeping systems in line. Even out on the fringe, discontent is clearly there and a motivating factor for punks like Luke Skywalker and Biggs Darklighter.

That's why I never really caught on to the canon: Lucas failed to establish the evil nature of the Empire beyond background music.

!! They blew up a planet of millions/billions of people. If that doesn't establish the evil nature of the Empire for you, nothing's going to do so.

 

[Ovinomancer]

I wanted feedback; this exchange has clarified a lot of what I am looking for.

One thing, though: you mentioned that the majority of the Empire's citizens are happy with the status quo and doing well.

That raises the question of what the Rebels are fighting for; it would seem that they are in direct opposition to the majority of citizens, and violently trying to impose their political ambitions on an unwilling populace.

Add in Luke Skywalker killing two million people because the voices in his head said to, and the entire mortal underpinning of the Rebellion is in serious question.

That's why I never really caught on to the canon: Lucas failed to establish the evil nature of the Empire beyond background music.

Huh? That's an... interesting take, I suppose. If you missed the anti-human slavery, willingness to destroy entire planets for testing purposes, and the leaders using murder to solve disagreement/failure, okay. That average joe, who's still working the same job and doing okay under the Empire just like under the Republic, these things aren't visible. That average Joe doesn't see them doesn't mean that the Empire isn't evil, it's just not stupidly evil -- it provides for it's base of support while being evil to anything that threatens it. I'm not sure what you're looking for, here, mustache twirling? Abuse of all citizens? The worst evil is the evil that most don't even notice.

 

[Ovinomancer]

I don't know that I'd buy that interpretation at all. There's no reason to believe that what Leia says about systems slipping though Imperial fingers is untrue. If everyone was doing well and the Empire's control was solid, they wouldn't need the terror weapon that is the Death Star or worry about keeping systems in line. Even out on the fringe, discontent is clearly there and a motivating factor for punks like Luke Skywalker and Biggs Darklighter.



!! They blew up a planet of millions/billions of people. If that doesn't establish the evil nature of the Empire for you, nothing's going to do so.

The core worlds are happy with the Empire. Most of the population of the Empire lives in the Core. The worlds slipping though are the outer worlds, which can be populous, but not on the order of the ecumenopolises of the Core. Most of those worlds were the ones that weren't human.

And Luke wanted to go to the Imperial Academy (where Han did go)? I know the original edit had Biggs as an agitator, but that was cut and isn't cannon.

 

[Jd Smith1]

!! They blew up a planet of millions/billions of people. If that doesn't establish the evil nature of the Empire for you, nothing's going to do so.

Every major and most minor powers here on Earth have conducted large-scale killing of non-combatants, most repeatedly. And stood by and ignored ethnic cleansing/genocide on vast scales. And the effects of starvation and disease.

Nowadays they call it 'collateral damage'.

 

[Jd Smith1]

Huh? That's an... interesting take, I suppose. If you missed the anti-human slavery, willingness to destroy entire planets for testing purposes, and the leaders using murder to solve disagreement/failure, okay. That average joe, who's still working the same job and doing okay under the Empire just like under the Republic, these things aren't visible. That average Joe doesn't see them doesn't mean that the Empire isn't evil, it's just not stupidly evil -- it provides for it's base of support while being evil to anything that threatens it. I'm not sure what you're looking for, here, mustache twirling? Abuse of all citizens? The worst evil is the evil that most don't even notice.

Well, the US deliberately incinerated around a million civilians in WW2, which is still considered a 'good' war. Our drone strike program openly hits targets in neutral nations, kills scores of bystanders every week, and so forth. DoD estimates 250,000 collateral damage deaths in 2003-2006 in Iraq alone.

That doesn't make me think that we are evil. You're apparently not in the hills seeking to overthrow the government by violence, either.

Every major nation has a blood-drenched history. Great Britain pillaged, raped, and occupied its way across the seven seas and every continent for centuries, and they's still considered good guys.

All the Empire displays is scale based on technology. The British carved out an Empire upon which the sun never set with muzzle-loaders and early breech-loaders.

I didn't see any slavery in the first three movies.

So again, which did the Empire do that was more than just technology amping up the scale? If firebombing a city in concentric rings so the civilians cannot escape is legitimate, than the Death Star is just more efficient.

As to leaders resorting to murder, take a look at the Clinton's past...

 

[Umbran]

Several weeks after the battle Rebel Intelligence discovers that Darth Bane is not only alive, but the Master of

My one suggestion is to strike the idea that Rebel Intelligence knows a damned thing about what's going on with Darth Bane, or even who he is. It has been a thousand years - if you weren't a Jedi in the Temple Library on Coruscant, you don't know from "Darth Bane".

Let all of that new stuff be discovered over the course of play, not something handed to the players before play begins.

Setting them up with, "if you thought the Emperor was bad in the movies, I'm introducing an even bigger bad guy who makes the Emperor his b*tch, and now you have to deal with both of them," is going to sound like a bit much...

 

[Eltab]

I didn't see any slavery in the first three movies.

I recommend you re-watch the movies; also read the novelizations of them, which provide bits of background info that cannot be conveyed via camera. Since you are ruling out most of the Star Wars cosmos, you should refresh yourself on the parts you do want to use.

 

[Jd Smith1]

My one suggestion is to strike the idea that Rebel Intelligence knows a damned thing about what's going on with Darth Bane, or even who he is. It has been a thousand years - if you weren't a Jedi in the Temple Library on Coruscant, you don't know from "Darth Bane".

Let all of that new stuff be discovered over the course of play, not something handed to the players before play begins.

Setting them up with, "if you thought the Emperor was bad in the movies, I'm introducing an even bigger bad guy who makes the Emperor his b*tch, and now you have to deal with both of them," is going to sound like a bit much...

Solid.