Fellowship of the Dice

My vision of the Dark Times, would be the weeks/months following Order 66. I don't believe all Jedi (except Yoda/Obi-Wan) were initially killed by Clones. With thousands of Jedi, there had to be a few not near the front-lines (or at Jedi Temple). The Jedi Service Corps (who some became Generals and died during Clone Wars/Order 66, but not every JSC jedi) would be the best candidate for any groups of surviving Jedi. We know Anakin/Darth Vader, 501st, and Inquisitors hunted the Jedi. We also know that the Emperor sought out these Jedi in hopes to turn them into Inquisitors or Dark Acolytes. They were wiped out by the time of the OT (A New Hope), but I figure a few might have survived for years on the run. Kanan Jarrus (Rebels cartoon) is a good example of that - on the run, surviving the Empire's initial years, but ultimately dying off before OT started. I feel that if we start at/around Order 66, we could be in-canon for at least a few IC years.

My vision of The High Republic is basically as written "The Golden Age of the Jedi." There were tens of thousands of Jedi. The Republic was growing and adding new planets into the coalition as they spread into the Outer Rim. There was no big-bad-evil-sith/Empire to deal with, so they were many and well educated/trained. They walked in open, helped others, etc. - everything a Jedi was said to have done.

I ran a similar game a few years ago with some friends set in the Dark Times, and it went rather well. Setup was a survivor of the purge who later collected some force sensitive people to train them in secret. I based them on Toprawa, a Legends planet where the DS plans were routed through (basically Scarif before Rogue One was made). The survivor was an NPC, of course, and I eventually killed her off (along with their base of operations) after the Empire found out and razed most of the cities. The whole thing was also a "What If" scenario wherein Luke, Leia, Han, etc., weren't in the picture.

Hmm. I do want to see Dark Side Force users appear as a regular or mounting threat. I always want there to be a potential in my characters to be tempted or incited toward a Dark-Side-minded deed that would sow doubt and cause an imbalance within. Maybe The Dark Times is the better option for these.

For High Republic, there is a "dark side" (possibly Sith) cult that I was going to slowly introduce. The pirates and such might just be a front/hired mercs. So there would be some Dark Side, but it wouldn't be immediately obvious. It would play out much like the novels (or prequels), where the bad guys are several layers abstracted from the day-to-day activities, but are there once you get there.

I see the bigger difference is:

Dark Times - You are the hunted
High Republic - You are the hunter

Both time periods sound interesting and I am fine with either.

Alright, either is fine to me. Whichever you favor more, I'm sure I'll be able to work my character in. I was already going to write him in as a brainwashed Light-Side padawan raised in the Coruscant academy.

Poll created at viewtopic.php?f=314&t=9464

after browsing the 5e homebrew site, I'm starting to wonder what they were thinking. Some of the vibroweapons are head-and-shoulders above some sabers and most sabers don't have as high damage dice as you think they should. The only difference between them is the damage type, and those don't do anything special, they just have their own corresponding DRs. There's no bolt deflection, either. I have a more solid grasp on the character I want to make, but I'm thinking it would be a big regret to dive into the 5e with Star Wars without making our own changes to it.

I would much prefer Saga or that d6 system Vardaen ran his New Republic game with before it had to drop. I tried FFG once on a blue moon and it just defied logic to me, but I will suck it up if that's the system that most people want to use. The 5e one looks poorly thought out, though.

The biggest difference for me is that the FFG system is very much a "narrative" system rather than binary (success/fail, hit/miss). You can have both success and failures at the same time with the same dice rolls.

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Since it's looking like Dark Times. I'll go ahead and create a forum tomorrow (or tonight) when I get some more free time.

If you have a concept in place (even one sentence) let me know, so I can start planning out the initial threads/storylines. I hope to run 1 or 2 people per initial chapter, so we can get some momentum going. Eventually, they will merge into a single thread (possibly, in chapter 2 or chapter 3).

For now, remember if you are a Jedi, then you have gotten caught up in the Clone Wars. Even the Jedi Service Corps were being used as military officers, in some capacity. (Even if just commander/general of resupply ships/logistics, etc.). We'll start before Order 66 (and you won't know when it will happen in your thread), but it should start somewhere in chapter 1 (or 2).

My choice of what I'll want to play will depend on which system we use.