When running an AoR game, how does one allow suitable character diversity? EotE assumes a ragtag group of lowlives and FaD assumes people brought together by fate, both of which lend themselves to parties composed of widely different careers and specs. But in a military setting I'm struggling to think of a justification for such a strange grouping in a long-term campaign.
Bentley King
Your players could be a SpecOps team, drawn from disparate branches of the Alliance to allow for greater independence.
Or maybe the crew of a transport involved in logistics, where you're all dedicated soldiers but have different backgrounds and specialties in addition to having roles aboard the freighter.
Charles Clark
just got myself a quadjumper. how do people like to run the far guy himself? just intel agent and tractor array for a cheap blocker/control?
Kevin Lewis
I'm tired of everyone wanting to play a sexy twi'lek
Can I play a Jawa?
Cameron Lee
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Jack Phillips
Yes, but it has to be sexy.
Chase Clark
I'm okay with my wife embracing that concept, cliche as it may be.
Matthew Peterson
Keep in mind that Rogue One is essentially an Age of Rebellion campaign, and it ended up with a broad mix of character types.
Remember the Rebellion is throwing together whatever it has available, a lot of the time, which tends to create mishmashes.
Nicholas Hill
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Elijah Wood
Man, Encumbrance rules are kind of a pain. A Wookiee carrying his bowcaster shouldn't account for 5/8ths of his total carrying capacity.
I guess blaster rifles in the galaxy far away are just heavy as shit.
Connor Allen
Out of curiosity, what would an average imperial strike force look? Number of ships, fighters, troops, heavy armour, etc?
Angel White
Also Imperial art dumping I guess
Daniel Carter
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Aiden Garcia
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Evan Nguyen
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Levi Sanders
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Carter Wood
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Henry Rogers
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Brody Peterson
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Asher James
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Mason Sanders
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Luke Edwards
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Ryan Cook
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Andrew White
>In 2BBY, a crack commando unit was sent to prison by a military court for a crime they didn't commit. These men promptly escaped from a maximum security stockade to the Coruscant underworld. Today, still wanted by the Imperial government, they survive as soldiers of fortune. If you have a problem, if no one else can help, and if you can find them, maybe you can hire... the Aurek Team.
Daniel Robinson
Imperialis themed Theta Shuttle I did entirely in permanent marker.
Either fly up and tractor things or just get in the way to block with unkar.
Logan Robinson
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Noah Nguyen
I may be playing in my first AoR game soon. I think we'll have around 4 players. I think I want to play a Mon Calamari, what are they good at?
Jonathan Foster
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Ethan White
Fairly smart, not particularly cunning so they don't make very good skulduggery thief types but being amphibious is actually pretty good.
Nicholas Edwards
Our GM handled it by mashing up AoR with EotE. I am a Hired Gun for example, former Partisan who became a gun for hire after the whole Jedha thing went tits up. The Rebs are happy to pay me to blow shit up for them, but be damned if they'll have anything to do with a legit revolutionary.
Works for me, I always though Mon Mothma and Leia etc were a bit soft for a bunch of resistance fighters.
I'm thinking a smarts guy, your absent-minded professor with a romantic notion of adventure. "Lab work is well and good, but the real research happens in the field!" Does not do well with traps.
The other option I'm thinking is more of a combat character, can't decide between pilot or soldier. Basic backstory is this kid and his extended family/clan was openly resistant to the Empire and they crack down hard, killing his mother/father. The remaining parent sells out his family to protect my character, getting himself a token position in the Empire, a gilded cage of sorts, and an Academy opening for my character. My character doesn't understand, thinks his parent is a traitor, never speaks to them again, and joins the Rebellion. Since he's so angry, he also doesn't do well with traps.
Thoughts?
Brody James
Mon Cal make pretty good Commanders and Engineers. The boost to Intellect makes it appear at first like they could also do some other non-combat party face stuff, but the Cunning drop (affecting Deception, Streetwise and Perception) is something to be very aware of, since it makes them not ideal for that. Physically though, they are standard, which means they favour in some of the gadget focused combat classes if you wanted to play something a bit more frontline, or some of the force leader archetypes if not.
What I will say though is that the FFG system isn't overly punishing for playing against type, provided that you set out your stats properly at character generation.
Example: I'm currently playing a Mon Cal Commander(Tactician), and having a blast - starting with a 2/3/4/1/2/3 spread means I can act as Mr Exposition for the party (which is great considering I am the group's Fulcrum contact) whilst also being able to hand out lots of blue dice and pop off a shot if needed. Thinking of speccing into something that will give me some good medicine talents later on to improve on that support role niche.
Jackson Cox
starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Navy_Order_of_Battle This should help It's for navy though. Ground forces I suppose use the order of battle for the Battle of Hoth as a guide. Pic related has a good idea of a post-Endor ground force used by Executor Sedrris.
Ian Rodriguez
Meant to pic; uploader fucked up
Cooper Powell
I just love how shoretroopers look
Luke Cruz
There is nothing wrong with a couple of cynics in a movement. Remember, no one has a crystal ball that tells the Empire will fall.
Think about this for a second, you are a fleeting force of dissidents who oppose a military rule with no scruples to how they handle the operation. It was a miracle that Yavin was a victory. To put context, for every Battle Yavin there were 5 Battle of Scarifs and 10 Battle of Hoths.
It is bound to create men like Eneb Ray, people who believe the only way to fight the empire is to use the empire's own techniques against them because failure isn't just death, it will be examples made using them to remind people the price of opposing them. Have a rebel trainer who makes no pretense only one of them will make it back from an operation, that the better tomorrow is so far away that you can only live for today.
Use that as the creed for the rebels, not the blind optimism Leia and Mothma had
Josiah Cook
Yub yub, Commander.
Jaxon Murphy
A pigman and a horseman in Wraith Squadron and Wedge has a nerve to complain about a Yub Yub
Camden Campbell
Wedge didn't think Piggy was real, either, until he walked in. And are you really going to say no to The Pig Show?
Alexander Baker
What are some fun spec combos for FFG? I was looking at making a scientist/droid tech or an Skip tracer/Marshal
Isaac Nguyen
They started with the Ewok to make him more receptive to Piggy etc.
Joshua Murphy
Neither of those sound that fun. I would recommend gadgeteer/outlaw tech and executioner/Niman disciple
I know the combos sound weird but trust me they are legit. Gadgeteer and outlaw tech together can turn a normal heavy blaster rifle into a killing machine with jury rigged auto fire and damage mods. While executioner has a feature where they can add their force rating as extra damage to attacks and guess what Niman Disciple has a lot of force rating upgrades makeing it a powerful force class.
Henry Howard
He's calling you a minmaxing fuck.
Luis Sullivan
Do these stats look alright? I'm working on a really simple dogfight system for a SW quest I plan to run on /qst/.
Defense would be Hit points (with blue squares being shields), Attack would be the damage the craft can dish out and Mobility would be used to maneuver/evade. I still don't know how the ISDs/bigger ships will work.
Cameron Morris
Min maxing what do you mean exactly? I am new to ttrpgs Stars Wars is my first and I only played because I love Stars Wars and rpging turned out to be fun!
Nicholas Hall
For bigger ships you could give sections a health/shield rating their own?
Like for an ISD, 'Command Tower', 'Engine block', 'Port/Starboard batteries', shit like that.
Take out x number and the ship is toast. Taking out the batteries could lower the attack, taking out engines could lower mob, etc. Taking out the bridge could lower everything by a little.
Mason Morgan
He's suggesting that you're deliberately trying to make an OP character, which is commonly frowned upon (unless it's in a game where the GM has said your character should be optimized).
Sebastian Torres
Wait you shouldn't be trying to make strong characters?
Kevin Baker
Your character should be strong enough not to be useless but they probably shouldn't outshine the rest of the party; however, the line between "making a good character" and "minmaxing/powergaming" is a poorly defined one.
Jaxon Martinez
Min/Maxing specifically is when you go out of your way to pool points into specific things to make yourself really powerful or broken, and leave your other skills behind. Cross-career specialization buying and buying a lot of talents can do that if you leave your other areas exposed, but usually you don't care because you can just use your really powerful broken things to fix everything.
Otherwise yeah, you can build a strong character - but deliberately going out of your way to make a potent build which might not always make sense (Executioner/Niman, for instance) will get most experienced GMs to give you the side eye.
Justin Bell
Oh I didn't know guess I have to find balance Why would executioner and Niman disciple not pair well together?
Logan Baker
It depends on the group. Most RPGs have, by virtue of the large variety of options, a steep optimality curve. This means that while some options are good, there will always be a few absurdly good ones (you identified FFGs main offender - Gadgeteer/Outlaw Tech is well ahead of the power curve on similar characters with regards to XP efficiency vs combat output, so good work on crunching the numbers).
Some RPG groups run a very adversarial relationship between the GM and the players - where he's trying to kill them, and they're trying to 'beat' him. If everyone is on the same page, and everyone is also trying to optimise their character as much as possible, that can be fun.
But part of playing RPGs is also being responsible for the fun of the other people at the table. This can split down into a few scenarios: 1) Some groups might run a less combat-focused game, and there the build might not be optimal - if you're politicking in Coruscant, rather than murdering your way through a Hutt's hit list, Gadgeteer/Outlaw Tech becomes less useful.
2) If a character is significantly above the power curve in comparison to the rest of the group, this can cause friction from group members who feel like they aren't having fun, or from the GM, who has to struggle more with balancing the campaign. To take a silly, extreme example, if one character in the party can one-shot a rancor, then the GM has to include things that are a combat challenge to that player. However, if everyone in the party is not capable of doing that, there is a good chance another character might be killed, which can take away the fun from that player.
3) Some players might not want to play something that is optimal, but instead play to a particular character archetype in their head. Perhaps even one that isn't that strong - like an Ithorian pilot. Keep them in mind.
4) Basically, the golden rule is communication - make sure everyone in the group is on the same page and you should be fine.
Gabriel Jones
>DMing AoR One of my players is a Hired Gun Marauder with the Obligation "High Risk" which basically says "I'm a daredevil who lives on the edge and constantly takes the biggest risks possible to show what a badass I am." Obviously, taking and pulling off high-risk activity should decrease Obligation, but how does it manifest? Does she have a secret mercenary that makes crazy bets on one-upping each other. I could see them betting ridiculous amounts of money they don't have that could work towards trading Obligation for favors and hardware. I wanted to hear what /swg/ thought.
On the first session, she signed up to compete in an underground battle arena with another PC. They went up against two Nemesis-grade opponents. She lost a leg to a vibroax and kept goading her opponent. A claw attack against her scored a triumph. I ruled that whatever armor she has on gets yanked off. She reminds me she doesn't wear armor. ...all that's left is her top. >I swear officer, I'm not magic-realming with blood-soaked zabrak titties They win the battle and take the dude's ship. Other PCs are in a shootout withISB.She rappels from the ship into the combat zone, topless and one-legged, saving all but one of the PCs. Her starting Obligation was 20. What is it now?
Chase Walker
Niman is sometimes known as the "diplomat's form" or "moderation" form, and was practiced by a lot of Jedi as a balanced form which didn't require a lot of dedication - and this is reflected in the fact that it adds Leadership and Negotiation. Executioner is about making people dead with very large guns.
Isaiah Adams
*secret mercenary club I really need to proofread.
Ryder Jones
I'd say about 16 she lost 1/5th of it along with the leg. 4 Obligation per major bodypart is about correct, right?
Tyler Sanchez
Thanks that was really helpful information I guess I should tone my character down since once I acquire a heavy blaster rifle with some luck I could probably win encounters by myself. Really? I thought executioner was all about melee.
Jordan Phillips
> since once I acquire a heavy blaster rifle with some luck I could probably win encounters by myself.
unless the rest of the party are OK with taking on combined arms encounters with Dark Troopers, walkers and air support i'd say tone it down a bit
Zachary Gutierrez
Maybe the thing to do is to intentionally gimp yourself a bit.
Perhaps a gadgeteer/outlaw tech who grew up watching too many shitty holodramas and has a hardon for dual wielding blaster pistols.
Or just something silly like that.
Also props for taking advice and explanation in stride and in a perfectly reasonable manner. More newbies should be like you
Caleb Cruz
Yeah, if you're not using a full auto heavily modded rifle it's fine. The base full auto rules are already fairly OP, jury rig, mods, and attachments only make it worse.
(Now a smaller FA weapon like either of the se14 pistols could be acceptable)
Chase Morgan
It has both Melee and Ranged (Heavy) as skills, but a lot of it's talents work equally well or better from a long way off. Hunter's Quarry is up to Long range for instance, and Terrifying Kill works at short range of the target, not of you. You can just walk up and hit people but the fact that you have ranged heavy means it's not always the best thing to do.
But also hopefully you also get the philosophical difference between the "Moderation Form" and a spec whose signature talent is "Terrifying Kill".
Andrew Morales
Where were you when FFG killed their only collectible game?
Oh great a tfa hater. Let me guess you also like the prequels?
Elijah Thomas
Killed? Bro, this is how they keep collectible games going. You are driven to buy a shitload of those packs because they're gonna be gone soon - or you don't care because they're just gonna release some new shit again later. Either way, buy, buy, buy or you won't have that stupid legendary card you really needed to make your build work.
Jacob Foster
Not the OP but TFA was bad So were the prequels. Even the OT wasn't great
Star wars has always been the books, the comics, the games. Everything the boss hasn't been in charge of writing. People just making great stories in a really cool world
Blake Edwards
>Killed >Displaying new merchandise Are the contents of these new packs particularly game-breaking or something? I didn't like TFA, either, but you're a fool if you think nucanon merchandise isn't going to sell like hotcakes.
Elijah Perry
Question time- What would you do?
You are at an X-wing event, likely a regional. Your opponent next round appears to be flying a YV-666, and 2 Fang Fighters. All of his ships are painted to look like they are rusty with red stripes, and have mods that make them look like they are covered in scrap metal and spikes.
He gives you a list, which says he has a Party Bossk and 2 PS5 Fang Fighters. However, all of his cards appear to be custom prints that don't have matching names. (E.g, Autothrusters is named 'Supa-Thrustaz' And has different art, Bossk's card reads 'Kaptin Bluddflagg' and has a 40k Ork on it. However, the rule text is the same) He doesn't appear to have the actual FFG cards either. Do you call a judge?
What do you do Veeky Forums?
Jacob Anderson
Isn't it in the rules that if you use custom cards you need to have the original on hand, so if he doesn't have the originals, he'd have to forfeit the match?
Caleb Wood
>Do you call a judge?
Yes
If it were a friendly game at the LGS I wouldn't care, but at a tournament it's different. Especially because one of the rules is to have the original cards.
Liam Peterson
So was the Inquisiter redeemed somehow? Is that why he's a Guardian now?
Thomas Foster
I'm playing a noir style skip/marshal and I'm having a lot of fun doing it. There are not enough detectives imo.
Connor Ortiz
Perhaps. Remember, what we saw was a Force-vision, intended to teach Kanan a lesson. It may have chosen to use the face of a recent enemy to illicit a reaction that another person would not have triggered.
Elijah Walker
If you call a judge, he produces most of the cards that he has made reprints of, although he is missing 2 copies of Autothrusters. He asks if he needs to go borrow the 2 copies from his friends.
Justin Rivera
If he doesn't have them at the table when you call the judge, he shouldn't be able to use them. He's already locked in.
Asher Fisher
So I'm on season 2 of Rebels and I'm not a huge fan. I'm not digging the kid-friendly vibe and I'm wanting more Clone Wars-level storytelling. Should I stick with it?
Lucas Wright
Why would you ask this question then? If he has the original cards then he can use custom.
Daniel Bailey
Of note, gadgeteer has a rarely used, but fairly decent brawl focus. One of my players is running a gadgeteer with a tinkerer/jury rigged boosted stun glove and the results are pretty good.
Executioner is thematically the FnD equivalent to the bounty hunter's assassin tree. It's all about strike first, strike last, with an additional focus on using your willpower and force dice. Niman is the generalist tree of lightsaber specs with a focus on willpower and force dice. Thematically it's the mediator/pacifist of the lightsaber specs.
When you combine the two mechanically you hit like a truck at range and in melee, have good force rating, and have passable defenses, but your character becomes very difficult to explain narratively.
Joshua Fisher
Yes you call the judge. However the judge does have to give him a chance to get the official cards, and many TOs will have their collection with them and lend them out as needed.
Not technically correct. As above, players are given a chance to get the correct cards. If he can produce them in a timely manner he's fine.
James Turner
You sure? That's not the case in Armada.
Although I'm assuming "borrow from his friends" means "at the other table over" or something, not a 15 minute drive away.
Henry Diaz
Not sure. Seems like it's incorrect, apparently. But it sure seems like a good way for people to enter tournaments without making the investment everyone else did, and just borrowing someone else's cards when they get caught.
Jason Howard
>But it sure seems like a good way for people to enter tournaments without making the investment everyone else did, and just borrowing someone else's cards when they get caught.
Are you saying you shouldn't be able to show up to a tournament with borrowed cards?
What makes this guy an asshole is that he didn't do it in advance, thereby delaying the game, etc.
Julian Campbell
He has the cards though, just with different names. Does his investment really need to be that large? He has $70 of ships already, is that not enough? You kinda seem like you are fishing for any way to get a free win.
Blake Brooks
>it's unfair that I have to play by the rules
Like I said, a friendly game I wouldn't care if his cards had fucking Teletubbies on them, but if you go into a tourney you're agreeing to follow the tourney rules.
Caleb Bell
This is accurate.
Kayden Ramirez
Keep it up my man, these are amazing.
John Turner
Does that rule really matter though? the rules printed on the cards are the same.
Ayden Mitchell
This isn't a friendly game of "throw the ball" in the park man, this is a tournament. There are prizes involved, and if Regionals including the overall winner getting a bye in Nationals. When you sign up, you follow the rules.
Fly Casual is one thing, but that's especially about keeping relaxed while playing. If this guy can't take the game seriously enough to prep that's on him. Luckily I'm pretty sure most TOs will cut you slack if you actually have the cards or need to borrow copies and most people will lend them to you - but if you can't scrounge them up they yeah, you have an illegal list.
Chase Flores
Looks good to me I agree with though, bigger ships should have sections and destroying them with smaller ships should be like butchering a cow.
Suggestions: >shield generators-(external) destruction destroys the shields to all other sections >Engines-(External) destruction destroys tactical maneuvering (Only really mechanically useful on larger scale, giving your friendly larger ships the ability to exploit) >Weapons systems-(External) destruction reduces the offensive effectiveness of the ship. >Bridge-(External) most heavily shielded section, destruction doubles or triples the time it takes for the ship to execute actions. >Damage control systems- (External) destruction means that the ship can no longer take repair actions >Reactor- (Internal) Heaviest hull value, only exposed when the ship is heavily damaged (2/5 external sections destroyed) destruction causes the ship to explode catatrophically destroying all other remaining sections instantly.
Isaac Robinson
My point is that the rule doesn't really matter though, and if anything, this guy put in more effort to do the reprints and custom cards. It doesn't affect anyone's ability to play the game, since it said that the guy also has a printed list with regular names.
Gavin Carter
I agree with the compartmentalism idea but you still have to be real carefull. The idea with an ISD would be disable not destroy. most rebel cells wont be able to fight one especially well since they are so large and well armed, about 1 and 1/2 to 2 times larger than venators which were real ass kickers back in the day. Sure a couple dozen proton torps to an unshielded isd will knock it around, so rouge squadron could all dump about 3 torps each and expect a "kill" but without serious muscle the rebellion wouldnt be able to hurt an ISD.
Nathaniel Morris
As long has he has the original cards as well so I don't get confused, I commend his paint job and make Ork noises.
Logan Allen
That picture doesnt make a lot of sense... I thought the stardestroyer's shape is pointed and blade like to allow angled cannon for all batteries to be fired foreward at a target. Why wouldnt the destroyers face/point at the planet? That way they can bring all available batteries to fire.