Rambling Preamble
So we've gotten Episode Seven, and as I predicted, I have been consumed again by my love of the Star Wars Universe. And still I desire to make a functioning Star Wars game based on characters and sweet RP, making up for the short-lived games prior. After evaluating the issues with my last game - A New Age - I've opted to return to simpler gameplay with minimal stats and a more focused narrative. While I still uphold the value of the player's freedom, I feel like having the playerbase more centered together allows for a better environment for interaction, RP, and a cohesive narrative.
Premise
Thus my idea is as follows: our setting is the Great Galactic War (3,681 Before the Battle of Yavin), a massive war pitting the Old Republic against the resurgent Sith Empire who has attacked from the shadows after plotting its return for nearly three centuries. Surprised and severely outmatched, the Old Republic has received defeat after defeat, throwing galactic order into chaos. First emerging in the Outer Rime, the Sith Empire would crush Republic fleets in the Tingel Arm and Aparo Sector, while also securing a blockade over the Rimma Trade Route, seize Korriban, and inflict a great strategic strike by destroying the Sluis Van shipyards.
Although the rest of the war is written out, this is around where we would begin our tale, in 3,680 BBY, a year into the Sith incursion, and a year into the Sith occupation of the planet we will all begin on - Boztrok. One of the constituent planets of the Aparo System, this region quickly collapsed to the Sith warmachine, and it's governments chose collaboration over resistance, thus limiting destruction. Boztrok itself is fairly...vague in what I can find online on Wookiepedia. And that's why I've decided to use it; it gives the players some sort of context based on (legacy) canon and geography, and I get to flesh out a world to suit our needs, with no pesky cumbersome backstory.
Of course, that means I need to tell you what Boztrok is like. When the actual game rolls around, I'll give it a full description, replete with a complete history, terrain, and what not, but for the purposes of this thread, I'll keep it simple. A center of commerce, both legitimate and not, Boztrok is a lively planet whose main focal point is the capital - Thokisl. Expansive, Thokisl is at once the cultural and political hearth of the upper elite and aristocracy, and also the seedy underbelly where Hutts and other miscreants dwell. There is no dominant species (healthy amount of co-mingling before the war), but some major demographics include Humans, Hutts, Advoszec, Klatooinians, and Nimbanels, most of whom migrated to reap the riches of intergalactic trade.
Once upon a time, Boztrok was a monarchy, but in the past few centuries, a republic had arisen, comprised mainly of intellectuals, planetary big-wigs, and the local aristocracy, with a fair amount of corruption. But all that changed when the Sith Empire came. Defecting, the High Council was allowed to exist, but in reality, military occupation was the true regime of Boztrok. However, recently a Sith - Lord Bromlin - has arrived, proclaimed planetary governor by the powers-that-be, bringing with him a war camp of Sith apprentices. One of his first acts was to seize all the force-sensitive natives and bring them under his wing, what he calls his "children" are little more than minions, students of the way of hatred and power.
Character Stuff
Enough of the exposition, let's get on to YOU. As in my games before, I encourage you, the player, to create a character anyway you choose, only limited by the fact that you have to BE ON BOZTROK. You could be a collaborating lordling, an oppressed shop keep, a scheming Hutt, a Sith soldier, some alien trader who has no idea what is even happening...and yes, you can be a force-sensitive in this game (a first for me). If you are force-sensitive, there is one stipulation - you must begin untrained, and under the wing of Lord Bromlin's ad-hoc academy. That is not to say you must be a willing participant, nor must you embrace the Dark Side. After all, many of his "children" were taken, either as slaves or mandatory service.
To balance the scales between being a force-sensitive and being a "normal" being, I am continuing the use of "assets". Anyone who is NOT a force-sensitive may include an important "asset" in their character sheet, giving them some sort of concrete boon. This is very vague on purpose. Maybe you have a ship that do the Kessel Run in 12 Par-Secs, maybe you are a genius at robotics, who knows. This is something you'll need to o.k with me when character creation comes, but I'll be lenient, especially since unlike my last game, there's no inherent adversarial aspect of this game, and it's more about the story than "winning the Rebellion" or what have you.
I will take the time to encourage players to collaborate with your fellows in making your characters. By making connections and having pre-existing relations that can change throughout the game, I feel we'll get a much more organic world at game start, random than a planet full of strangers. This however is not mandatory, but just something to think about.
Mechanics
Mechanics will be minimal as I feel it really bogged down my previous game, both as players and as GMs. However, I will allow players to send me orders if they desire to do something in a more concrete or sneaky fashion. Still, I will STRESS that IC will be taken into consideration and counted as action just the same, since it will be the primary part of our experience. Orders are completely optional, IC is preferable.
Conclusion
So how does this sound to people? Good? Bad? Ugly? Give me your suggestions, admirations, hate letters, or worship!
So we've gotten Episode Seven, and as I predicted, I have been consumed again by my love of the Star Wars Universe. And still I desire to make a functioning Star Wars game based on characters and sweet RP, making up for the short-lived games prior. After evaluating the issues with my last game - A New Age - I've opted to return to simpler gameplay with minimal stats and a more focused narrative. While I still uphold the value of the player's freedom, I feel like having the playerbase more centered together allows for a better environment for interaction, RP, and a cohesive narrative.
Premise
Thus my idea is as follows: our setting is the Great Galactic War (3,681 Before the Battle of Yavin), a massive war pitting the Old Republic against the resurgent Sith Empire who has attacked from the shadows after plotting its return for nearly three centuries. Surprised and severely outmatched, the Old Republic has received defeat after defeat, throwing galactic order into chaos. First emerging in the Outer Rime, the Sith Empire would crush Republic fleets in the Tingel Arm and Aparo Sector, while also securing a blockade over the Rimma Trade Route, seize Korriban, and inflict a great strategic strike by destroying the Sluis Van shipyards.
Although the rest of the war is written out, this is around where we would begin our tale, in 3,680 BBY, a year into the Sith incursion, and a year into the Sith occupation of the planet we will all begin on - Boztrok. One of the constituent planets of the Aparo System, this region quickly collapsed to the Sith warmachine, and it's governments chose collaboration over resistance, thus limiting destruction. Boztrok itself is fairly...vague in what I can find online on Wookiepedia. And that's why I've decided to use it; it gives the players some sort of context based on (legacy) canon and geography, and I get to flesh out a world to suit our needs, with no pesky cumbersome backstory.
Of course, that means I need to tell you what Boztrok is like. When the actual game rolls around, I'll give it a full description, replete with a complete history, terrain, and what not, but for the purposes of this thread, I'll keep it simple. A center of commerce, both legitimate and not, Boztrok is a lively planet whose main focal point is the capital - Thokisl. Expansive, Thokisl is at once the cultural and political hearth of the upper elite and aristocracy, and also the seedy underbelly where Hutts and other miscreants dwell. There is no dominant species (healthy amount of co-mingling before the war), but some major demographics include Humans, Hutts, Advoszec, Klatooinians, and Nimbanels, most of whom migrated to reap the riches of intergalactic trade.
Once upon a time, Boztrok was a monarchy, but in the past few centuries, a republic had arisen, comprised mainly of intellectuals, planetary big-wigs, and the local aristocracy, with a fair amount of corruption. But all that changed when the Sith Empire came. Defecting, the High Council was allowed to exist, but in reality, military occupation was the true regime of Boztrok. However, recently a Sith - Lord Bromlin - has arrived, proclaimed planetary governor by the powers-that-be, bringing with him a war camp of Sith apprentices. One of his first acts was to seize all the force-sensitive natives and bring them under his wing, what he calls his "children" are little more than minions, students of the way of hatred and power.
Character Stuff
Enough of the exposition, let's get on to YOU. As in my games before, I encourage you, the player, to create a character anyway you choose, only limited by the fact that you have to BE ON BOZTROK. You could be a collaborating lordling, an oppressed shop keep, a scheming Hutt, a Sith soldier, some alien trader who has no idea what is even happening...and yes, you can be a force-sensitive in this game (a first for me). If you are force-sensitive, there is one stipulation - you must begin untrained, and under the wing of Lord Bromlin's ad-hoc academy. That is not to say you must be a willing participant, nor must you embrace the Dark Side. After all, many of his "children" were taken, either as slaves or mandatory service.
To balance the scales between being a force-sensitive and being a "normal" being, I am continuing the use of "assets". Anyone who is NOT a force-sensitive may include an important "asset" in their character sheet, giving them some sort of concrete boon. This is very vague on purpose. Maybe you have a ship that do the Kessel Run in 12 Par-Secs, maybe you are a genius at robotics, who knows. This is something you'll need to o.k with me when character creation comes, but I'll be lenient, especially since unlike my last game, there's no inherent adversarial aspect of this game, and it's more about the story than "winning the Rebellion" or what have you.
I will take the time to encourage players to collaborate with your fellows in making your characters. By making connections and having pre-existing relations that can change throughout the game, I feel we'll get a much more organic world at game start, random than a planet full of strangers. This however is not mandatory, but just something to think about.
Mechanics
Mechanics will be minimal as I feel it really bogged down my previous game, both as players and as GMs. However, I will allow players to send me orders if they desire to do something in a more concrete or sneaky fashion. Still, I will STRESS that IC will be taken into consideration and counted as action just the same, since it will be the primary part of our experience. Orders are completely optional, IC is preferable.
Conclusion
So how does this sound to people? Good? Bad? Ugly? Give me your suggestions, admirations, hate letters, or worship!
