We dropped out of hyperspace somewhere near the edge of the outer rim. I was looking at the scanner, so I was the first to see the freighter. It was inside the Ghost Nebula, and appeared to be disabled.
The comm crackled to life. Between bursts of static, we heard “…distress … oxygen … please help…”
Our mechanic wanted to help the ship. I was convinced it was a trap. Before we could come to blows about it, the captain ordered me to run another scan, which confirmed that the ship was, indeed, venting oxygen into space.
“I’m a droid,” I reminded them, “I don’t care about oxygen the way you meat sacks do. Pull up close to the ship and I’ll go investigate.”
Cap pulled us up alongside the freighter. We attempted to raise them on the comm, but they were silent. A quick scan showed weak life signs. “If anyone is alive in there, they won’t be much longer,” the medic said. The captain decided that we’d connect our airlocks, so we could evac the survivors more quickly. I volunteered to go first into the ship. I’m big, I don’t need to breathe, and I’m built to kill, so if it was a trap, I wanted to be first in, to protect my crewmates.
The airlock attached and I cycled through. The ship was dark inside, except for flickering lights.
“IG, what do you see?” The captain asked me.
“It looks empty, at least on this deck,” I replied.
“What’s the oh-two situation?”
“Irrelevant to my existence,” I said. I sometimes make jokes. I’m not very good at it and my timing is usually bad, they tell me.
“Just check the level, Iggy,” he said. That’s not my name. My designation is IG-426. They call me Iggy. Biologicals are curious that way.
I looked at a scanner. “It’s … one hundred percent. The ship is perfectly pressurized,” I said. Before the captain could reply, a group of humanoids revealed themselves, blasters drawn.
In under a second, I scanned them all and identified their leader. In the next second, I raised my disruptor rifle. Before the third second had ticked by, I fired.
+++
Last night, I started a Star Wars RPG campaign with some friends. We are playing as a small rebel cell, five years before the events of Rogue One. My character is a reprogrammed imperial assassin droid (yes, because I think K-2SO is cool) who was given to this cell by a mysterious Rebel agent, which allowed me to drop into the campaign three sessions after it began, and fits into my real life situation of knowing one of the players very well, and being barely acquainted (until now) with the rest of the players.
I haven’t been a PC in a campaign in years, and I’ve never played a Star Wars RPG until now, and I’m already looking forward to playing next week, because it was so much fun. We’re using the Edge of the Empire and Age of Rebellion rule books. Our GM has us focused on narrative, instead of tactical minis combat, which is my favorite way to play any RPG, because it’s about the collaborative storytelling experience, rather than the boardgame experience.
It’s a really fun system, and there’s a ton of material that I’m looking forward to reading and incorporating into my character. I shouldn’t like the primary dice mechanic, because it requires proprietary dice, but it’s so well-designed, I don’t mind. Check it out:
The core mechanic of the Age of Rebellion is the skill check. At times, the GM will have the characters roll pools of dice to determine whether their actions succeed or fail. Whenever you roll a skill check, you compare a pool of “positive dice” and their results against the results of a pool of “negative dice.” Positive dice help your character accomplish a task or achieve beneficial side effects. These dice may reflect his innate talents or abilities, special training, superior resources, or other advantages that he can apply to the specific task. Negative dice represent the forces that would hinder or disrupt him, such as the inherent difficulty of the task, obstacles, additional risks, or another character’s efforts to thwart the task.
If your character’s successes (
) outnumber his failures (
), the action succeeds. However, the situations of Age of Rebellion are rarely simple, and the game’s custom dice do more than determine whether an action succeeds or fails. Even as the dice indicate whether an action succeeds or fails, they determine if the character gains any Advantage (
) or suffers any Threat (
) as the result of the attempt. The sheer number of possibilities provides opportunities to narrate truly memorable action sequences and scenes. Nearly anything can happen in the heat of the moment; even a single shot fired at an Imperial Star Destroyer might hit some critical component that results in its destruction. Players and GMs alike are encouraged to take these opportunities to think about how the symbols can help move the story along and add details and special effects that create action-packed sessions.
Even for someone like me, who has the legendary ability to roll dice in a statistically improbable and terrible way, the dice don’t get in the way of the fun, and instead of simply deciding if you succeed or fail, they sort of land you on a spot that’s in a spectrum between total success and rolling two 19s in a row doesn’t get you out of the acid pit for some reason not that I’m saying Chris Perkins deliberately murdered Aeofel because he is a monster.
cough
I really owe a lot to Rogue One, because it reawakened a love of Star Wars that I’d forgotten I had, after the disappointment from the prequels and the cluttered mess of the EU that never managed to land on me in a meaningful way. But after seeing Rogue One twice, The Force Awakens twice, and playing in this game last night, I have this desire to not just watch the original Star Wars films again (get the despecialized editions if you can because they are amazing), but to also dig into Rebels.
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You won’t be disappointed by Rebels. Yes, it has some clunker episodes but what animated series doesn’t. I’ve argued for a long time that Rebels is the best Star Wars (outside of Rogue One) out there.
if you have the time, I would love to read about your exploits in the game.
It is indeed a lot of fun. I ran a one-off of Edge of the Empire a couple of weeks ago and it was a lot of fun. A crew working for Jabba’s cartel had to retrieve a stolen cargo of glitterstim which they managed, just about. The dice took a while to get used to, or rather sorting out what gets cancelled by what but everybody loved what you mention above, that there can be a range of success and failure. It really aids narrative play as intended and makes players and GM alike think a lot more about their environment.
I hope I’ll get my campaign off the ground within the next month or so which is going to be played online.
I am so happy for you. This is my favorite SW system by far. The narrative nature of the dice system (fail with a good result, or succeed but wiht complications, etc.) means that even combat is telling a story.
#AeofelDidNothingWrong
Besides running the game for my regular group, I also ran a 10-episode campaign (a complete season so to speak) over a couple of years for my then-11 year old son. Very, very enjoyable! Link to the play reports attached.
Very nice! My wife and friends did a Edge of Empire adventure last year. We enjoyed it so I actually wrote a standalone adventure that went over pretty well. It’s a fun system, and the sourcebooks are worth the price just for browsing through them. Granted I’m a sucker for RPG sourcebooks, but these are REALLY well put together.
The dice system does take some getting used to if you’ve always been a straight d20 guy, but it does allow a good GM to really embellish a story with fun prompts.
Sounds like a very interesting game, I will have to look into it. Thanks!
I’m having a blast GMing a Force Awakens campaign (started with the beginner game for TFA, and I’m using the main rulebooks to continue it). I really like the system and the stories it allows the group to tell.
Wil, This is my favorite game! I love Star Wars and I love to RPG- FFG knocked it out of the park with these 3 systems in one game. I have just finihed my 2nd campaign and we start a 3rd next Saturday. I am glad you found this game because there is so much detail for a fan of Star Wars…. When I watched Rogue One all I could think sometimes was “Wow- Triple Triumph with a Double Despair” You might like to listen to The Order 66 podcast on d20Radio. They have the game designers, editors and artist on as guest from time to time. I listen to it at work when I am doing stuff on the computer. The FFG guys are great people and love to talk about their work.
My 6 year old daughter and I watch Rebels- she is hooked. We play EotE as well together- great story telling with some dice.
My gosh, Wil, when I read your post, I hear it in my head in YOUR voice! How fantastic is that!!!
Rebels is pretty decent, and gosh I wish I knew how to game*/had people to game with.
*I know I could figure it out, but without experienced gamers, it’s hard to learn new games a lot of the time. I’ve tried, and it’s…intimidating.
One day.
You’re just not gonna let that one go, are you Wil? “His name … was Aeofel.”
I miss being in a good RPG. Feels like it’s been forever; but only about 15 years. Which to be honest IS forever! K-2SO is now my third favorite droid…right behind R2D2 who is behind BB8 but just barely.
I love the EOTE/AOR/FAD dice system! I also hesitated at first, due to proprietary dice (“they’re just doing this to sell merchandise!”) but it only took a handful of sessions before I fell totally in love with it. The fact that every die roll has this almost limitless potential for storytelling opportunities makes every check just feel that much more impactful. And lemme tell ya, there’s nothing quite like the dreaded “Triumphant Despair” dice result to really get your storytelling muscles running into overdrive.
I’m coming up on my fourth year as a GM using this system, and don’t see an end in sight.
At our house, New Year’s Eve is Star Wars day. We have a movie marathon every starting in the afternoon and running until midnight. Force Awakens is in the rotation this year. Rogue One will be added next year.
No prequel trilogies allowed.
Rogue one was the first Star Wars movie that made me want to watch the original Star Wars movies.
It seems 2016 is going out with a dumpster fire. I woke up sick today and lost my voice superrrrrrrrrrr
My favorite review of Rogue One was from a friend who said “It was just like a group from an RPG set in the Star Wars Universe got together and had their game made into a film.” However much one enjoyed the film, it IS very Dirty Dozen/Seven Samurai-ish. Glad you’re enjoying your game.
Wonderful to hear you are enjoying this!
After a hit and miss first season, I’ve found Rebels to be one of my favourite Star Wars things. A recent season 3 episode succeeded gloriously in making a single start destroyer really feel like it was vast and terrifying again.
but… but… Chris Perkins also let you crawl up a demon’s ***hole…
So glad you’re playing Edge of the Empire, it’s one of my favourite RPG systems – I’m running a campaign for my friends and we are having a blast.
Couldn’t agree with you more on how Rogue One has reignited a love for Star Wars.
I recommend Star Wars Rebels, it’s really great.
Awesome to read, Wil! I had a similar experience playing the new SWRPG when it came out – especially the dice. I really despised it because of the proprietary’ness of the dice, but once I actually saw it played with someone who understood the dice – the game system quickly became one of my favorites. That original group is on to other games now (7th Sea, in fact) but I am part of another group that fell in love with it so hard we started an actual-play podcast around our games! (www.redemptionpodcast.com)
I think if I had to be a picky bastard, I would only state that having three main sourcebooks where 40% of each book is the same exact rules is somewhat annoying but the other 60% is great to have.
You should serialize the campaign as a podcast! The game lends very well to a radio show, due to its narative basis.
I watched all of the animated Clone Wars with my daughter starting when she was 6 and have continued through with Rebels. It became a Saturday night tradition to eat dinner on the couch and watch several at time. Along with The Force Awakens and Rogue One, those shows have really reinvigorated my love for Star Wars.
The Clone Wars righted so many of the wrongs of the prequels, to the point where I actually cared about Anakin. Rebels feels like a show by Star Wars fans for Star Wars fans and I’m really excited about how it will tie in with the events of Rogue One. And also, Ahsoka. She is one of the best characters in all of Star Wars (although I’ll admit I’m a little biased). My now 8 year old daughter runs around in the backyard pretending to be her while I play the dual role of Anakin and Obi Wan.
So yeah, you should check out Rebels and Clone Wars too if you haven’t seen those either (or at least several of the good episode arcs). I have both shows to thank for introducing my daughter to that world and for allowing me to share something with her that I loved as a child. It’s hard to adequately describe the joy those moments have brought me.
My girlfriend’s daughters got to play in a game of Edge of the Empire, in which they kidnapped Chewbacca so they could cuddle him, because that’s what geeky tweens like to do. I really want to run a Force and Destiny game (because I love Force mysticism and weirdness and because it’s a lot like running WUXIA IN SPAAAAAAAACE!!) (And this might be weird, but I took my niece to see Moana on Christmas and that made me want to run a mythic Star Wars game something fierce.)
I sort of want to hate the dice, too, but I feel like it nails the way things in Star Wars can totally be going the heroes’ way and then suddenly, WHOOPS! THINGS HAVE GONE PEAR-SHAPED BECAUSE SOMETIMES THE HYPERDRIVE SUDDENLY FAILS AND SOMETIMES YOU SCREW UP THE EASY THING YOU WERE TRYING TO DO.
I LOVE your story! I also really like the bot’s POV and humor.
Get rid of every was- “was looking”= looked – and you’re good to go!
So…. A number of years I played as a IG-101 battle droid in my start ears group…. He’s name was also iggey…. After all he was IG-101G
Edge of the Empire is a LOT of fun, I played in an ongoing campaign over a year. Ran a Rodian Bounty Hunter (Assassin) who picked up every talent in his tree, and was able to do cromulent amounts of damage every turn. His name was Brick, as in “Brick killed a guy!” from Anchorman.
You can start new catchphrases: That’s a triumph. Does a triumph work for you?
Or you could make Iggy suddenly glitch, and start quoting Aeofel’s Oath of Emnity when he shoots people. 🙂
Thanks for posting this, Wil! I hope you continue to write about your gaming experiences as the joy of it truly comes through in your writing.
As you have recently shared your struggles with 2016, it was comforting to see it in the digital world, that others were in the same emotional boat. Your page has become a community and I just wanted to share that, although you don’t know me, I truly appreciate your voice in this cyber space. Thanks for your books, your blog and allowing us 40-somethings to continue to embrace our inner geek fandoms for life.
Happy 2017.
I had a similar reaction to Rogue One plus Age of Rebellion. I also had the third leg of “Battlefront: Twilight Company” by Alexander Freed. I feel like it perfectly fit the AoR approach to Star Wars.
Now there’s a game I’d like to see a ‘how to play’ of. I play D&D and Titansgrave (that game you once ran), but the die system of the SW RPG eludes me.
Check out this episode and the next of this webcomic. I actually print this out and hand it out to people at convention games because it’s seriously the best description I’ve seen as to how they work.
http://www.uptofourplayers.com/comic/edge-empire-rulez-pt-1/
Thanks! We’ve tried. (Next system we’ll be doing is Savage Worlds, in the near future). You can also download the whole thing as a PDF, it’s easier to print:
http://www.uptofourplayers.com/wp-content/uploads/SW%20EotE%20Rules%20by%20Up%20to%20Four%20Players.pdf
Download, print, and distribute to your party or when teaching the game in conventions. We only ask you to take a picture of your group trying out some dice rolls, and then send it to us, so we can post them on our FB page and the like. Try to capture that look of “waaaiiit, I can interpret this however I waaaaannt”
Fantasy Flight is a really good system. Hope you keep enjoying it.
I hate those dice so much… HATE THEM.
Oh man, I’d LOVE to play this game with you guys. I’m thinking of running my first ever game with this system. Anyone have any thoughts on if this is a good beginner GM game?
Get one of the beginner boxes. They’ll take you step by step.
Rebels is definitely worth the time to watch. Important events happening in that series that touch the Skywalker saga without being all about it. If you have the time, some novels like Tarkin and Ahsoka are great.