Star Wars: Edge of the Empire Roleplaying Game

[Kunoichi]

Just figured I'd check and see if anybody else has a copy of the latest Star Wars tabletop RPG. ^^ Edge of the Empire, as the title implies, is set during the Rebellion Era and has the players play characters who live on the fringes of galactic society, smugglers and bounty hunters and so on.  I just got my own copy of the game today, and so far, it's proven to be pretty fun and interesting to mess around and create characters with, though I haven't gotten any opportunities to actually playtest the system yet.

The system itself looks pretty interesting from a mechanical standpoint, though.  It's a dicepool-based system, but it uses special custom dice to handle everything with.  You basically build your pool of dice from positive dice representing your skill and/or ability scores at whatever action you're attempting, negative dice representing how difficult that action is, and smaller dice that represent any situational boosts or penalties that might apply.  It actually winds up being pretty intuitive, once you get the hang of it.

So, is there anybody else on E who has a copy of the game?

[Chris Brady]

I was in the Beta, and I've played the starter Edition.  If I have the money, I'd have the core book, right now.

I WANTS IT!

[Kunoichi]

I missed out on the Beta, myself, only looking into the game when the Beginner Game boxed set caught my eye one day. ^^; What were your experiences with the game like when you played it?

[Chris Brady]

A hell of a lot of fun!

Actually, I was there when they redid the Droid stuff (if you know anything about KoTOR, I was actually playing a HK model.  A 51, which Bioware actually made canon, as the art in the Beginner guide book of a combat droid is in fact of the famously amusing HK-47 from the Knights of The Old Republic game.)  I was in hock with another player, he was my 'master', which was a lot of fun to play.

It's pretty cinematic and lethal, mind you.  The dice system was annoying because we needed a special app at the time, but luckily we all had a tablet device of some sort within reach, and I actually bought the dice roller app myself.  Now they're selling the dice so that's covered at least.

[Kunoichi]

Ooh, nice. ^^ What career did you pick for your combat droid?  I'm guessing Bounty Hunter or Hired Gun...

[Chris Brady]

Bounty Hunter, Assassin Path of course.  ;)  He's an HK unit after all.  ;D

[RubySlippers]

Do they have anything like the tech person that can fix anything? What about other non-combat heavy careers?

[Chris Brady]

Do they have anything like the tech person that can fix anything? What about other non-combat heavy careers?

Oh don't worry about that!  Remember, this is Star Wars, so there'll be lots of people with Blasters, but you got careers such as Fringers which have three paths (All the careers do, actually) allowing you be a Doctor, a Scientist and I forget the third.  There's also Outlaw Techs which have computer hackers (AKA Slicers) and gear and vehicle specialists.  Even the Smuggler can be more of a charming rogue or just a pilot.  There are only two combat heavy archetypes in the game, Bounty Hunter and Hired Gun.

[Kunoichi]

The Colonist career can take specializations as a Doctor, Politico, or Scholar, and if you want to be a more technical-minded individual, there's always the Technician career path, with specializations as a Mechanic (the 'fix anything' path), Outlaw Tech (illegal modifications, ahoy!), or Computer Slicer (because slicing is the word they use for hacking in Star Wars).

The Smuggler gets to be a Scoundrel, Pilot, or Thief, and even the combat-oriented Bounty Hunter career at least has a Gadgeteer path for those who want to be good with machinery.

Also, in case anyone's worried about restrictive class systems, character creation does involve choosing a career and a specialization within that career, but after that it uses a point buy system, and you can buy additional specializations either within or outside of your career as well. ^^ It's really a much more flexible character creation system than might otherwise be expected.

[Chris Brady]

Which actually went through several iterations.  Unfortunately, I no longer can find my...  Wait, I think I know where it is.  I have the beta book around here somewhere...  Thanks for clarifying, Kuni.  I misplaced some of the names, apparently. :)

[Kunoichi]

You're welcome. ^^ Looking through my own copy of the core book right now, the available careers are Bounty Hunter, Colonist, Explorer, Hired Gun, Smuggler, and Technician, and each career has three listed specializations.  There's also an additional non-career specialization available to anyone, called 'Force Sensitive Exile'...

Was anyone in your group trying out the rules for using the Force, Chris?

[Chris Brady]

Yeap.  Early in the game's cycle there weren't any way of resisting Force Powers, not even other force users, so you could (at the time) literally walk up to Darth Vader and make him your buddy.  They fixed that in, I believe, update 8?  The player made a Twi'lek Marauder with the Force Sensitive overlayed on top.

I find it odd that I love Jedi.  Absolutely adore the whole lightsaber and force powers thing, and yet, I usually gravitate toward Bounty Hunters or Smugglers.  Really weird.

[HairyHeretic]

Who are the fast talkers in this one? My old character was a noble, with a bit of con artist in him.

[Chris Brady]

Scoundrel Smugglers are by default.

The game defaults into preset 'adventurer' archetypes that are common in SW.  Noble isn't seen so much as a career in the edges of SW space, but rather what you were.

[Kunoichi]

Who are the fast talkers in this one? My old character was a noble, with a bit of con artist in him.

Chris already mentioned the Scoundrel Smuggler, but the Politico Colonist and Trader Explorer could also fit in for general social skills and fast-talking, depending on what your build was.  There are plenty of options, really. ^^

[Chris Brady]

Fast talkers is pure Scoundrel.  The Politico is slightly more action driven, from what I remember, but it would be the better 'Noble'.

[Kunoichi]

Actually, looking at the Trader specialization right now, it's got access to talents like Wheel and Deal, Smooth Talker, and Convincing Demeanor right off the bat.  You could make one into a pretty capable con artist fairly easily.

The Politico also at least gets Deception as a career skill and the Plausible Deniability talent, though I will agree that things like Inspiring Rhetoric or Scathing Tirade are more for combat situations.

[Chris Brady]

Perhaps, but Trader implies (and yeah, I would totally accept a player wanting to expand his skill outside of) trade dealings mostly.  Not likely to use it for seduction and/or non-material gain.

[Kunoichi]

Eh, I think that view is a bit limiting, personally.  I prefer to look at the mechanics and simply reflavor as needed.

[Chris Brady]

You're a Trader, it's what you do.  Yes, you can expand out of trading and haggling for the best deals, but that's what you do, it's your career, so you're going to use what you know to make the most out of it.

Does it mean you're not charming?  No.  It just means you are more likely to think in terms more related to profit and what you get out of it, as opposed as to fool and lie.  Doesn't mean you can't.

[Kunoichi]

Again, I think that that's a bit of a limiting point of view to take.  Trader is just a name for the package of career skills and talents you've chosen to take.  Which specific skills and talents you pick and what you choose to do with them are your business.

[Chris Brady]

This isn't an all or nothing proposition.  I'm saying it's not the first thing a Trader would typically think of.  Doesn't mean he or she can't.  Unlike the Smuggler/Scoundrel, a Trader would more than likely think of profit and material goods because that's how they trained and focus.  Does NOT mean they can't think outside the box, but for them IT IS thinking outside the box, as opposed to the Scoundrel who wouldn't be typically thinking about money and materials.

It's why Han Solo dumped his cargo as opposed to figuring out how to bribe the Imperials.  He's a scoundrel, not a trader by career choice.

[Kunoichi]

What I'm trying to say is that you don't have to make your character a trader by profession simply because it says 'Trader' on your character sheet.  I'm arguing that being a character with the Trader specialization and doing things that go against what someone of the trader profession would do isn't thinking outside the box, because there's not actually a box there to begin with.

As for Han Solo, dumping that spice shipment was part of his debt obligation. :P Well, either that or he rolled a Despair result when trying to talk his way past that Imperial blockade.

[HairyHeretic]

Can you talk a bit about the dice mechanics. I know it uses some odd pool of dice, but I don't know specifics.

[Chris Brady]

Dice mechanics?  Yes, the game uses specialized dice, built off the basic dice shapes that we're used to, but instead of numbers, they use symbols.  The dice shapes are D6, D8 and D12.  Each die has a specific use and you can use multiples of the same time for a task.  The symbols go from 0 to 2 symbols, however, every die has both positive and negative results.

An example of play:

Let's say you're a hotshot pilot with amazing reflexes.  So your Agility is an incredible 4, and a being a decent space pilot have the skill at 2 (professional quality), unfortunately you've gotten stuck into a dogfight with someone.  Bad luck has them on YOUR tail, and you want to change that, so you're going to try a complex loop maneuver, which means rolling!  So because of the high stat you get four of the 8 siders, which are called Ability Dice.  But because of your skill, you replace two of those with the 'Proficiency' dice, which actually have a better chance of success on average, because they are D12.  That's the base.  Next are the bonus and disadvantage dice, which are called Boost and Setback dice, the GM decides how many, if any, actually apply here.  And unlike the ability and proficiency dice, you get as many of either as applicable, neither replaces the other.  You can end up with more of one than the other, like 3 Boost and 4 Setbacks (Unless you have a talent that removes or adds.).

That's the player side, the GM has a similar set of dice he/she gets to roll, the D8s are called Difficulty dice and the D12 are Challenge dice.  The set difficulty is determined by what you're trying to do.  So in this case could be, 3 Difficulty, but let's say you have the bad luck of having the system's Sun behind you, so one of those dice is 'downgraded' to a Challenge.

Once all that is determined (which is a lot faster than it reads) both sides roll off, and you count symbols.  Which leads into that:

There are two major types of symbols on the main dice (the D8s and D12s), you have Successes, Failures which cancel each other out, and Triumphs and Despairs, which also do the same.  The Triumphs and Despairs also do extra things determined by a chart and how many of each you have remaining.  Each Triumph/Despair symbol counts as a single Success or Failure as the case may be.

The Boost and Setback dice (The D6s) have their own symbols, named Advantage and Threat, but their results are 'side effects'.  For example, Han and Chewbacca meet a squad of stormtroopers in the halls of the Deathstar.  Thinking quickly, both fire their blasters, Chewie roaring and start chasing the startled squad down the hallway.  Lucky for our heroes, they got more successes than failures during their bluff check.  Unfortunately, they got more Threats than Advantages on the Boost/Setback dice, so they chase the troopers to a dead end, which force them to turn and stand their ground, which allows the to see and realize that there are only two guys chasing them, instead of the small battalion they thought they had on their heels.

If you have more Skill that Stat:  Let's say you're a godly pilot, but your agility is average, so a Skill of 4, and Agility of 2.  You actually have the same amount of dice as the original pilot.  For every skill point over your stat, you get an Ability die.  Which in this case is the same as super reflex pilot.

However, bear in mind that if both got into a gun fight, and Super Reflex has a Blaster Pistol skill of 2, he'd still get four dice (2 Ability, 2 Prof), while God Pilot whose an expert shot at a skill of 3 would only get three dice (1 Ability and 2 Proficiency.)

The Force Dice are another situation, and only apply to Force Powers.  You get lightside and darkside points whenever you need to roll.  If you need to do something with your Force power, you roll dice equivalent to power level you have, typically one.  Unfortunately, I'm hazy on the the actual rules, and I'm pretty sure they changed in the end product.

I may have made some mistakes, because my copy and memory are of the beta.  Kuni?  Anything I got wrong?  And could you cover the Force powers?

[Kunoichi]

The green Ability dice and yellow Proficiency dice both have successes and advantages on them, while the purple Difficulty dice and red Challenge dice both have failures and threats on them.  Triumph and Despair are especially potent results that are only available on, respectively, the Proficiency and Challenge dice.  The blue Boost dice and black Setback dice can add successes or failures, as well, but are more likely to add advantage or threat, respectively.

Also, the GM doesn't have to roll the negative dice.  You can just tell the players what the difficulty is and let them do all the rolling, if you want.

I haven't had time to read in-depth on the Force rules yet, unfortunately. ^^; I know that you can roll light side dots or dark side dots on the Force die, and that you can activate your force powers by spending these dots, but I don't know too much beyond that.

[Chris Brady]

OH!  There's also a Dark/Light Side pool for the adventure, the number of dice rolled is dependent on players at the table, and it doesn't matter if any of them are Force Sensitive or not.

And that pool is for when you want rerolls or the like.  However, because it's randomly rolled, you can end up with no or only Dark Side points and Dark Side are GM only.

HOWEVER, once you (as in all the players, including GM) use a Force Point, it switches to the opposite.  So Dark goes to Light, Light goes to Dark.

[Kunoichi]

Yeah, that's called the Destiny Pool. ^^ You don't really use it for rerolls, though.  Instead, players can use light side destiny points to upgrade their green dice to yellow dice, or to declare certain things for the scene.  I think the example given is one where the group goes to a mine and finds it flooded with poisonous gases, and one of the players spends a destiny point and goes 'Well, good thing you packed those rebreathers in right before we left the spaceport, eh?'.

GMs can use dark side destiny points to upgrade purple dice to red dice, as well, and when a point on one side is used it gets flipped over to the other side, like Chris said, so it makes for an interesting balancing act.

[Chris Brady]

I wanna run this game...  :-X

[Kunoichi]

And I wanna play it. ><; It's too bad you don't have the core rulebook at the moment.

[Chris Brady]

I have the beta book, and all the updates until Week 11.  Not sure what's different in the release copy.

[Kunoichi]

I don't have the beta book or any of the updates to compare, either.  Maybe we'll get lucky and more people will check out the system for themselves...

[Chris Brady]

Too bad Lucasfilms (before they got eaten by Disney) has a no PDF clause in their licenses.  I'll just have to figure out how to save up for a hardcopy.

[Kunoichi]

True, having a PDF file for sale online would make it a lot cheaper and easier to purchase.  Maybe Disney will retract that policy at some point...

[Chris Brady]

Not likely, they believe that electronic forms of media are worth a different license.  And I THINK (I could be wrong here) that they believe that it falls under the same as their video game license (which If I remember correctly use the term electronic media, which as you can see, PDFs would technically fall under.)

I could be wrong, I heard that information 3rd hand and have no way to corroborate it.

[Kunoichi]

Ah, I see.  That's too bad, then.

Thankfully, it doesn't seem to stop fan-made PDFs from coming out. ^^ For example, there's this nice little resource called the Unofficial Species Menagerie that has a number of the various Star Wars races statted up for use as PCs.  Since there are only 8 races available for play in the core rules, it's a pretty useful collection.

I had fun making a Jawa Technician recently using the listed stats, for example. ;D

[Chris Brady]

I believe there will be an official book on new races as well.  Remember they just released it.

Personally, I want a gear book.  I want to make a Boba Fett style suit for Bounty Hunters, for example.

[Kunoichi]

Well, they've got jetpacks and the armor itself already, and presumably adding on a little cortosis plating would be good for that extra durability, along with maybe some vacuum sealing and enhanced sensors...  I will agree that it's a bit lacking in integrated weaponry, though, like netguns and flamethrowers and so on.

From what I've heard of their planned expansions, the first thing we'll be getting are books for each of the individual careers, with Explorers getting the first one.  New specializations, races, ships, gear...  All Explorer-oriented, but that just means you'll get all the awesome Boba Fett-level gear you might want in the eventual Bounty Hunter book. ^^

[Chris Brady]

So I've heard. :)

[Kunoichi]

By the way, any luck digging up that beta copy?

[Chris Brady]

Yeap, it's my hands as we, uh, speak.

[Kunoichi]

Yeah, I'd say speak is a close enough verb. :P We're having a conversation, at least.

So...  Still feel like running a game? ^^;

[Chris Brady]

I always feel like running a game.  :P

[Kunoichi]

Well, I feel like playing in one, so if you want to run one...  Well, the math is clear. ^^;

[Chris Brady]

The issue is... How?  And solo game or more players?

[Kunoichi]

Well, on the boards would always be an option, though I'm willing to try other alternatives if you've got any ideas.  And I'd certainly love to try a group game for this, though I'm willing to go solo if we can't get any other people interested.

[HairyHeretic]

I'd be willing to give it a go, though I don't know the rules.

[Kunoichi]

The rules are fairly easy to pick up as you go. ^^ Character creation is a little more in-depth, but I'm willing to help out with that.

[Chris Brady]

Once I have everything, I'll put up a request post in the adult section.

[Kunoichi]

Yay. ^^

Ah, and for my character for this game, would it be okay to use one of the species from the Unofficial Species Menagerie that I linked to earlier?  I've got a Jawa Technician character already made that I think I'd very much enjoy playing. ^^;

[Chris Brady]

The issue I have most of all, right now, is how to do the die rolling.  If I'm going to be running this as a system game, I'd like to keep the handwaving at a minimum, at least to start.

As for the Jawa...  I'd rather not, but eh, I'll live not a big deal in the end.

[HairyHeretic]

We have a dice bot, but with the weird dice, it might be as easy for the GM to roll everything.

[Kunoichi]

Well, there's a table in the book for using regular dice and mapping the results to the weird dice...  But yeah, it would probably be better to find an alternate solution.

Perhaps we could use this online dice roller and rely on the honor system for the actual results?

As for the Jawa...  I'd rather not, but eh, I'll live not a big deal in the end.

Any particular reason you'd rather not? ^^; I've given some thought as to how this character might fit into various groups and types of campaigns, so I think I could probably give a decent justification for a lot of things.

[Chris Brady]

Any particular reason you'd rather not? ^^; I've given some thought as to how this character might fit into various groups and types of campaigns, so I think I could probably give a decent justification for a lot of things.

NPCs would typically treat the Jawa like a pest, and Impies are known to shoot on sight.  And most Jawas (as depicted) tend not to be all that cunning (smart, yes, but not too wise.)  So as funny as they are, I'll have to dance circles as to why the NPCs would treat a Jawa without treating it like vermin.

[Kunoichi]

Actually, from what I've been able to find, Jawas weren't really treated that badly outside of the more remote areas of Tattooine.  There were plenty of Jawas hanging around Mos Eisley in A New Hope, for example, with the EU even going so far as to say that they were given service at the local cantina, and there were a few of them seen in Jabba's Palace in Return of the Jedi, as well.

Additionally, in the Clone Wars CG cartoon, Jawas have been seen on Ryloth, Florrum, and even some of the lower levels of Coruscant, and the Jawas on Raxus Prime in The Force Unleashed were specifically transplanted there from Tattooine to work the machinery as well.

Admittedly, those who have regular contact with Jawas probably won't have a high opinion of them, since they have well-deserved reputations for being thieves and con-artists, but they're also known for having significant technical skills and being experts at salvaging used machinery, so they tend to carve out a niche for themselves in the local economy.

[Chris Brady]

You're not disputing my point, Kuni.  It's still mental gymnastics I'm going to have to do.  Still, if your dead set on playing the Jawa, I'm not going to stop you, I'll think of something.  My expertise (such as it is) has always been improving on sight.  I'm a reactionary GM, you do something I react to it.

[Kunoichi]

Actually, I am. ^^; Basically, what I'm trying to say is that most of the galaxy would regard a Jawa as a curiosity, rather than a pest, aside from the few corners of it where they've settled for longer periods of time.  People will likely know what sort of reputation Jawas have, but won't have had the experience to know whether or not that reputation is true.

Additionally, my own character will start the game having worked as a technician for a minor underworld figure for five years, so she's going to be a bit more worldly than the typical Tattooinian Jawa.  She also isn't starting the game with training in any social skills, so I'm definitely not expecting her to be handling the negotiations for whatever party she winds up with.

[Chris Brady]

That's the thing, though.  They aren't curiousities, they're considered pests.  Most who know of them consider them thieves.  And those who don't, won't care enough until a Jawa 'causes' trouble, and a Jawa will be dealt with as a problem.  In fact, given how prolific they are in the outer rim, most already know what a Jawa is and have a preconceived notion of what they are.

The other question I have is...  Do Jawas even have a gender?

Like I said, though, I'll make it work.

[Kunoichi]

Hmm.  I think there's room for other interpretations, but if that's the way you're going to run it, I won't really mind.  Like I said, the character I'll be playing will generally be more worldly than most Jawas, so she'll have overcome a lot of the little habits Jawas are known for that tend to get them in trouble.  She'll know to look at any shiny new pieces of tech she comes across and not touch, for example.  I'm also not planning to be the party face, so hopefully it shouldn't become too much of an issue. ^^;

As for the issue of Jawa genders, Wookieepedia is a pretty good source for this:

Jawas lived in separate clan families, each with distinct, separate territories for living and scavenging. Each Sandcrawler was led by a Clan-Chief, who was male. However the overall operation of the Jawa clan was overseen by a female Shaman. A female Jawa became a shaman by either possessing some kind of Force ability with which to perform magic, overcoming an illness accompanied by a hallucinatory vision or was chosen and trained as the successor to the current Shaman. The shamans were believed to possess the ability to foretell the future, and performed spells, hexes and blessings to protect the clan and ensure the well being of all clan members. This title gave them a great deal of respect throughout the clan, which was strange in the largely patriarchal Jawa society, and this allowed the shaman to assume a position where they were to be consulted upon, and asked often for their wisdom. With the important position within the society, the shaman did not travel in the sandcrawler and instead remained within the safety of the clan's fortress. Other than shamans, females were shown little respect in Jawa society.

[Chris Brady]

Well, I also have an idea of a starting point so it'll make it easier for a Jawa to pretty much roam without having to worry about others shooting at you for the fun of it, like they would in say, Nar Shadaa.

[Kunoichi]

Considering that my character will be starting the game unarmed and with no ranks in any weapon skills, I don't really plan on roaming anywhere alone, but the effort is appreciated. ^^;

Enough about my own character for the moment, though.  Since this isn't the recruitment thread for the game you're planning to run, I think it might be a little more on-topic to go over some of the basics of character creation instead.  That way, we'd be helping HairyHeretic with his own character, while at the same time staying on topic by going over more of the mechanical details of the system.

For example, did you know that, aside from some rare exceptions, you can only increase your ability scores at character generation, and not during play?  As a result, savvy PCs tend to spend the majority of their starting XP on said ability increases.  Fortunately, the game seems to have been designed with this in mind, as you get a number of free ranks in certain skills related to your career and specialization, as well, and the first couple of ranks in any skill are fairly cheap in terms of XP cost.

[HairyHeretic]

I'd be interested in hearing a bit more about options.

[Kunoichi]

Options?  Hmm.  Well, while the book itself isn't all-inclusive, it does have a rather nice set of options to choose from for creating characters.  To start off with, you get eight races to choose from:

Bothans (who are weaker yet more cunning, which is fitting for a race of spies)
Droids (this particular race starts with low stats, but gets a lot more starting XP and bonus starting skills, allowing for a great deal of customization)
Gands (who have two distinct subspecies that you can choose between, one that breathes methane and one that doesn't need to breathe at all)
Humans (who get the 'jack of all trades' treatment, as usual)
Rodians (who are more agile yet lacking in willpower, and have a cultural background as hunters)
Trandoshans (lizard people who are very tough, have sharp claws, and despise Wookiees)
Twi'leks (who get some innate social skills)
and Wookiees (who are extremely tough and well-suited to melee)

There are also six careers you get to choose from at the start of the game, with three specializations for each career that help characters further distinguish themselves from one another.

Bounty Hunters are pretty much what you'd expect from the career name.  Some fighting ability, some piloting ability, some skills that would help pursue targets, that sort of thing.

Colonists are the sort of people you wouldn't normally expect to see in the Outer Rim.  Social skills, knowledge skills, specializations for medicine or leadership or scholarly pursuits...  More of a support character, mechanically, though there's nothing stopping one from learning how to use a blaster if that's part of the character concept.

Explorers are another fairly broad career, with career skills that cover alien worlds and physiology, old legends and rumors, piloting, and just the basic necessities of survival out in the middle of space.  The three specializations place more of a focus on either social skills and street savvy, seeking out new life and new civilizations, or being a dedicated trader, depending on which one you pick.

Hired Guns are your dedicated combat career, with lots of combat skills and piloting for ground vehicles.  The Bodyguard specialization for it is pretty self-explanatory, while the Marauder is more about melee combat, and the Mercenary Soldier is a better fit for a more military-style character.

Smugglers are, of course, a noted archetype in Star Wars history.  They get career skills focused around piloting and criminal endeavors, with specializations that reinforce either the piloting or the criminal side, or that add on a little con-artistry.

Finally, Technicians will generally have the mechanical and computer side of things down.  One specialization is specifically based around repairing damaged machinery (and whacking people in the head with a wrench), another is all about getting tricked out, customized gear, and the third is more of a dedicated computer expert, built for hacking into systems or defending them from outside attempts to hack in. 

You're not locked in to just the career and specialization you've chosen for the rest of the game, either.  As you get experience, you can spend it to gain additional specializations, even from outside your chosen career, which can make for some interesting combinations overall.  Buying specializations with experience is also the only way you can access the Force Sensitive Exile specialization, which is where the system's mechanics for using the Force come into play.

How's that for options? ^^

[Chris Brady]

Actually, there are plenty of Colonist types in the Outer Rim.  Like dispossessed politicians and exiled nobles, outreach project medical specialists, archeologists.  Not to mention that the Outer Rim has it's own groupings of well established planets, desperately trying to stay neutral or rejoin the republic, not knowing why they were suddenly cut off.  Not sure why the book says otherwise.  As part of a group of Star Wars adventurers?  Yeah, I can see that.  But there are a lot less of the other classes than actual Colonist types, from what I remember.

I can actually break down the Original Trilogy characters into the Various classes available.

For example, Princess Leia would be a Colonist Politico, who buys more action oriented skills later on.  Mostly Blaster Pistol.

Luke is an Explorer Fringer, with a healthy order of Force Exile tossed in.

Han Solo is actually a Smuggler Pilot, although he does dip liberally in the Scoundrel path.

Chewbacca is one character that stays in his Hired Gun, Bodyguard class.

R2-D2 is a Technician Slicer, who also rummages around the misnamed Outlaw Tech tree.

C-3PO is a Colonist Scholar, another character that tends to stick to his little niche.

The only one not represented by the Heroes is the Bounty Hunter, but Boba Fett is almost pure Bounty Hunter Gadgeteer, if you're willing to wait for the second movie.

[Kunoichi]

I'd argue that Han is probably equal parts Scoundrel and Pilot, and definitely not a starting character by the time A New Hope rolls around, but given his overall past as an Imperial Academy dropout, starting off as a Pilot certainly makes sense.  Also, Chewie definitely spent some of his experience buying a few ranks in the Mechanic skill.

Hmm.  Actually, as far as the specific specializations go, each one also has a set of Talents attached to it, groupings of extra abilities that modify skill uses or grant new actions, which are what really help the different specializations differentiate themselves from one another.  It's recommended in the book that players photocopy them for other members of their group to use, and there's even a thread on the official Edge of the Empire forums where people have posted up printable pdf files containing all the specializations in the core rulebook.

Edit: Direct link to one of the pdf files in question removed.

[Chris Brady]

That's a fair point about Chewbacca, so Hired Gun-Bodyguard who dips into Tech-Outlaw Tech.  None of them are actually starting Characters I'd say, either that, or the GM gave them some extra XP with some guidelines on how to spend it.

And as long as Fantasy Flight Games allows it, I don't think posting links would be an issue.  Thanks Kuni.

[Avis habilis]

Is that one of the files that's posted publicly on their site? I'm not finding it on the support page. If not, it's best to err on the side of caution & not share it around.

[Kunoichi]

It's fan-made, but it's been posted on the official forums for the game for a couple of weeks without having been taken down.  Still, since it's better to be safe than sorry, I'll edit out the direct link to the document and just leave the link to the thread I found it in. ^^;

[HairyHeretic]

Well, the last character I had was the smooth talking noble, who also doubled as the partys pilot. What would fit that sort of concept best?

[Kunoichi]

Probably the Smuggler career with the Scoundrel specialization, though you might also find it worth your time to look at Explorer with the Trader specialization, as well.  Both of those specializations give you a good combination of piloting and social skills as career skills.

The Trader actually gets access to a talent called 'Smooth Talker', among other socially-oriented talents, so it might wind up being a better fit for your character concept.  The Scoundrel has some talents for fast-talking, but it also has talents focused around being a quick shot with a blaster pistol.

Edit: Also, there's nothing stopping you from starting off in one specialization, and then picking up the other later, so you could easily start off as a Scoundrel and add on the Trader specialization later, or start off as a Trader and pick up Scoundrel later.  Both options are perfectly viable in play, so which of the two you choose to start out with should probably be influenced by the character's backstory, in addition to just straight mechanical concerns.

Edit2: Actually, come to think of it, if you'd like to do a quick run through the character creation process and figure out how well the system would model your last Star Wars character, step 1 is to come up with a general character concept and background.  Said background doesn't have to be too detailed, since you might wind up coming up with more details during the rest of character creation, or even during the course of play.

Step 2 is to select an Obligation, which you can either roll randomly, or you can just select one that you think fits your character.  The link provided goes to a pdf file hosted on the official website, which was originally posted up in this article that gives a better explanation of the obligation mechanic than I ever could. ^^;

After that, step 3 is to select your species.

[Chris Brady]

Well, the last character I had was the smooth talking noble, who also doubled as the partys pilot. What would fit that sort of concept best?

What did the character start off as?  And where did the skill points go to primarily?

[HairyHeretic]

If I remember correctly he was an Arkanian offshoot (Saga edition, KOTOR sourcebook), with the skill focus in pilot. The background was that he had been created as part of a slave labor consignment, and shipped off to a corporation in the Outer Rim. The corporation had gone bankrupt just before the slaves reached their new home, and a corrupt factor saw this as a way to make a lot of personal profit. Some creative book-keeping caused the consignment to vanish, and he now had about 400 slaves to sell for his own profit. One of the pleasure line models the factor had been enjoying himself with found this out, and they managed to revolt and take over the corporation. As he was one of the revolt leaders, I went with the noble class.

I'd need to dig out my old character sheet to have an idea of where all the points went. I'm fairly sure I was using the Lineage talent tree, representing him drawing on the corporation resources. For the skills, I'd say most of my points went towards Deception, Gather Info, Knowledge, Perception, Persuasion and Pilot.

For an Obligation, I'd probably go with Responsibility to the rest of the slaves he was created with and led in revolt. For the available species, I'd probably go with human. It's close enough to what I had, and can still work with the clone / slave background.

The smuggler pilot / con artist sounds like it might be the best fit from what I see, though you know the rules better than I do.

[Kunoichi]

The Unofficial Species Menagerie that I linked to back on page 2 has fan-made stats for Arkanian Offshoots, if you don't mind using some fan-made material.  Otherwise, Human certainly isn't a bad fit for the character, since the character was a near-human species to begin with.

Unfortunately, there's not much in character generation that would mechanically fit having the resources of a small corporation to draw on.  You could start off with a higher level of Obligation than normal in exchange for getting more starting credits to buy gear with, and the starting ship the group gets would probably be supplied by the corporation, but attempts to draw on corporate resources after that would be reflected in-play, rather than in your starting character.

Edit: I think I'll avoid going into too much specifics on the differences between the  Explorer Trader and Smuggler Scoundrel careers and specializations for now.  Better safe than sorry, and so on. ^^;

[HairyHeretic]

I'm thinking probably Scoundrel then. They technically don't exist now to begin with, and slaves before that, so legimate business opportunities would be few and far between.

[Kunoichi]

Alright. ^^ I'll PM you a text-based character sheet that I came up with when I get home from work later this evening, and we can handle some of the more mechanically-specific aspects of character creation then.

[HairyHeretic]

Cool.

[Kunoichi]

Actually, between some formatting issues I ran into and the fact that a quick google search turned up a workable alternative, I recommend making use of this fan-made character sheet.  It's pretty nifty, because it's not just fillable, but it also calculates your dice pools for you.  I think it'll be pretty handy for running the game.

[Chris Brady]

The interest, recruitment thread:

https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=181939.0