Poll: Heavily Non-Canon Star Wars

[Faolyn]

Oh, I understand the appeal of alternates, as any game I run turns into an alternate the moment the dice hit the table; I just don't see the appeal of setting it so far down the road.

It just sounds like more work on setting than just blank slating it from the get go.

I think it can be a lot easier because you have a base starting point and expectations. Even if you're going in a very different direction, you know that Star Wars has lots of aliens and for the most part, aliens and humans work and live together, a general idea of how the technology works and what its capable of, and the Force and a general idea of how it works. If you have an idea of where your AU's starting and end points are, it's even easier.

 

[Longspeak]

It just sounds like more work on setting than just blank slating it from the get go.

One main difference here, from a GMing perspective, is that its very little work to create. I began with a pretty simple premise, and the history and setting I hope to run now grew from that premise.

My main worry in all this was wondering if all that history was putting too much on players, especially since it's not written out in a nice books to read. I have about 4 or 5 pages summarizing three years or play, and a few notes on NPCs I've altered a bit to emphasized similarities and differences from the canon version. But even most of the canon character from the OT are around to help.

The idea is a few years back I had PCs take up the job, and I thought I'd do it again, but building on instead of replacing. I could just pick a different alternate, but wondered if this would have more depths and offer more to chew on.

 

[Umbran]

I understand the sentences, but still don't see much benefit, save for the Force.

Then again, I'm into deep lore settings...

Well, that's the thing, isn't it?

We can answer the question, "Why might somebody do X?" And that's basically what you asked.

Those of us who are not deeply familiar with you, personally, cannot answer the question, "Why should aramis erak do X?"

It just sounds like more work on setting than just blank slating it from the get go.

Some people are good with blue sky, start with a blank setting. Other folks work better with some framework. For the latter, riffing off an standing work, even extensively, is a lot easier than building something entirely new.

 

[Belen]

Oh, I understand the appeal of alternates, as any game I run turns into an alternate the moment the dice hit the table; I just don't see the appeal of setting it so far down the road.

It just sounds like more work on setting than just blank slating it from the get go.

I use the canon star wars because doing so saves me time and effort. It provides baselines my players know, and lets me not worry about setting building...

a 1000 year jump ahead disconnects it from 90% of what I use the Star Wars setting for. Either by being essentially writing a new setting almost from scratch, or by ignoring that no culture is stagnant for more than a few decades, and through that oversight, obliterating any verisimilitude.

The Star Wars setting tends to be culturally stagnate. The Old Republic era for instance uses many of the same things and styles as OT.

Adapting SW as a setting but doing your own timeline is very easy. Sure, you do not have major NPCs built into the mix but most games use your own NPC anyway. It would be fairly rare to run into major NPCs in a campaign.

For me, the baggage of the PT, OT, or ST eras would restrict me in having major events. It why I hate Forgotten Realms as a campaign setting. Why have a world event when someone like Elminster is around.

By setting my campaign a thousand years in the future, I can bring in the lore, use past events, use all the planets and locations along with built in assumptions like hyperdrive, blasters, lightsabers, force traditions.

The major work is done so I just have to do story, NPCs, and short histories of current events or what may have changed. In this way, the players get to be the setting-focused characters rather than Darth Vader, Leia, or Luke.

 

[aramis erak]

It would be fairly rare to run into major NPCs in a campaign.

Never has been rare in my games. Neither in Star Wars nor Star Trek. Nor in games run by friends of mine.

Then again, FASA STRPG 1e (1983) suggested playing the main cast characters, and provided full stats. That was the first licensed game I ever ran (1984). My players never asked to play main cast characters in Trek, nor, for that matter, in BTVS nor Firefly.

The only games I've had players ask to play the main characters have been the various Marvel games.
The only games where i've strongly suggested playing the statted out main characters from the other media are Marvel and Mouse Guard.