Lit Fantasy Flight Games and the Star Wars TCG

https://www.fantasyflightgames.com/en/news/2017/10/9/imperial-living/



As the first sourcebook of its kind, and one focused on a different point in time than presented in the core rulebooks, Dawn of Rebellion is all about context. This context informs what connections the player characters will have to each other and their galaxy, and this is reflected in a heap of new options that are inspired by many of the iconic characters introduced in Star Wars Rebels™ and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story™.
While these works are primarily focused on the military aspects of the Star Wars™ saga and would take place in a Star Wars: Age of Rebellion™ setting, considering the individual stories of these characters should give ample inspiration to be housed in Edge of the Empire™ or Force and Destiny™. Jyn Erso was little more than a criminal after being abandoned and then rescued by the Rebellion. Chirrut Imwe’s path of devotion to the Force may have taken him far from the temple on Jedha had events unfolded differently. Hondo Ohnaka (probably) doesn’t spend all of his time swindling Rebel cells into helping him acquire plunder and then escape to plunder another day. The adventurous lives of characters we see on the screen for only a short time can point towards campaigns in Edge of the Empire or Force and Destiny, or even finding where the intersections of those themes create some of the most memorable and beloved Star Wars stories!
As such, the Dawn of Rebellion sourcebook contains an unprecedented six universal specializations designed to bolster any character’s abilities while also providing a strong narrative link to that character’s backstory and future. Four new species choices, each with unique traits and histories describing their place in the galaxy, also contribute to a richer game setting for players and gamemasters to explore.
Kamino's Best

The Retired Clone Trooper talent tree is as reliable and robust as a clone trooper is expected to be. After the rise of the Empire, the ranks of Republic clones were replaced with more conventional beings instead of vat-grown duplicates, and so these clones have dispersed throughout the galaxy. Disposable soldiers who served their purpose, many surviving clones grapple with guilt over their betrayal of their Jedi generals at the execution of Order 66 and the coronation of a tyrannical Emperor. But rather than wallow in remorse, some of these clones find their way back into the warrior life in the name of the Rebellion, perhaps seeking atonement for the sins of their brothers.
Featuring an unusually high six new career skills, the talents for the Retired Clone Trooper are focused on all-around consistency and character improvement. Eighteen of the twenty talents in the tree are passive, meaning they simply add an ongoing benefit to various stats and abilities such as wound and strain thresholds and explosive damage. One of the activated talents at the end of the tree is Comrades in Arms, themed around the formidable battle prowess of squads of clone troopers. Once per encounter, the character may make a Discipline check to grant themselves and allies bonus defense until the fight is finished.
No Such Thing as "Snow Wookiees"

Perhaps owing to the harsh wintery conditions of their native planet of Gigor that requires cooperation and community to survive, Gigorans are often accurately referred to as ‘gentle giants.’ Gigorans stand over two meters tall with long and powerful arms and torsos, but their imposing figures are belied by their friendliness and almost joyful curiosity. Unfortunately for them, these traits have proven to make them easy prey for the galactic slave trade that puts a high profit margin on powerful-yet-easy-to-control laborers. When first discovered and exploited, their stature and shaggy white fur led slavers to market them as “Snow Wookiees,” which was a very useful fiction. Now, nearly every Gigoran encountered off their homeworld is either in slavery or has escaped it. Such a traumatic experience has different effects on individuals with some aligning themselves to the noble cause of freedom for all beings while others become so twisted and corrupted that they find that causing pain to others is the only way they can protect themselves from worse.
Gigoran player characters benefit greatly from their natural Brawn and free rank in the Brawl skill, while their pragmatic hunter-gatherer society has inhibited their Intellectual growth, as well as imposing and automatic upgraded difficulty on Mechanics checks related to advanced technology. One can safely expect not to find too many Gigoran scholars or engineers, but escaped slaves have been able to find ample opportunity as mercenaries, bounty hunters, and soldiers.
Stay alert for more information on how gamemasters will be provided more insight into crafting vibrant and thrilling campaigns set during the height of Imperial power, and be ready to pick up your copy of Dawn of Rebellion (SWR10) when it launches in Q4 of 2017!

 

It dawned on me today that thanks to what we see in TLJ trailer, Armada should have enough Sequel Trilogy ships now to sustain a solid few waves. Large base, medium, and small, plus fighters & bombers.

--Adm. Nick

 

Meh. Give me a Dreadnaught, Lancer, Carrack, Mediator and Vicount any day.

 

Yeah I would imagine more ST ships start to find their way into starship battles now. I could see an ST themed big box set (like Return to Hoth or Jabba's Palace) for Imperial Assault, and Legion might get some ST. The RPG won't likely get much, maybe a TLJ beginner's game. I don't follow the CCG or Destiny so can't speak there.

 

Well, X-wing already has a few, so I fully expect Armada next waves to be ST focused. The next wave would come out around April 2018, so that would be enough time to launch the ST ships, especially if the pre-work is already being done.

--Adm. Nick

 

I believe Destiny is pretty much a free-for-all, with everything from all the eras mixed in - and they've already released a few things from TLJ. I'm not sure they've done any capital ships though.

Absolutely. I've only just started with Armada and I'd love them to release ships for the new era (separate from the GCW factions). I'm a big fan of the Finalizer type Star Destroyer too, so any excuse to get a nice model of it...

 

yeah because there's no overarching narrative constraints they can go hog wild with the minis (IA, Legion, XW, Armada). It just means we have to wait until Jan 2020 at the earliest for a "Dawn of Rebellion" style ST book for the RPG.

 

Sadly, that's probably true. While I do like FFG's system far more than the D6 or D20 or Saga versions, it is somewhat frustrating that they've largely been checked in place with Era constraints due to the reboot.

It's possible we'll get a post-Endor era book though that takes place between RotJ and Jakku.

 

i doubt it. I really like their approach, but I'm a sucker for this entire system. It's the best SWRPG I've played, including WEG. But the idea of a post-Endor means you're doing development for years in between and realistically there's nothing in their style of books that would be unique to a post-Endor, pre-TFA book that wouldn't already be covered in a ST era book.

 

That's fair I suppose. I guess part of me is hoping that with Aftermath (my personal qualms with the trilogy notwithstanding) and some of the material from Battlefront II that they would be able to have enough material to work with for another Era sourcebook.

Totally agree that FFG has the best SWRPG system to date. Truly innovative and a total blast to play.

 

Well so far they've either done career based splatbooks; published adventures (including ones that go missing on the boat, like Ghosts of Dathomir), or themed worldbooks like Lords of Nal Hutta.

Obviously Dawn of Rebellion mixes this up a bit and provides a blueprint for approaches to a book for the "Journey to the Sequel Trilogy" stuff to get legs, but it would have to be after Episode IX.

Having something themed around the battle of Jakku would be sensible as a way to include the tech and personalities/organisations.

 

I'd rather see something like a Clone Wars RPG line.

 

aside from the violent illness that statement brings, it wouldn't work IMO. The power levels for force users would mean everyone would be starting at a minimum of Knight Level or higher, maybe 250 earned XP.

 

Hahaha

 

The 'new' post-ROTJ era looks dull as dishwater to play in and I doubt that StoryGroup will allow even a 'non-canon' RPG 'create' any details about the ST. Handling 'power levels' shouldn't be that difficult, especially since a basic starting level should be the default in any of the existing FFG SW settings. I'm leery about 'high-level starting PCs' in any system, regardless.

The best creatively would be for FFG to create their own post-ROTJ era, but we all know that would never be allowed - anyways, that's what 'unofficial' netbooks are for.

 

That's sorta not where I was going.

To replicate a padawan, you need Knight Level Play. That's why they introduced it.

 

Maul, Ashoka and Palpatine figures are available for Imperial Assault now.

GrandAdmiralJello

 

Do you have to play Star Wars: Destiny with heroes versus villains or can you match a pair of heroes versus another pair of heroes (or vice versa, villains versus villains)? I assume in tournament play this happens a lot ( Kylo pairing versus another Kylo pairing). I'm going to buy the starter decks with Rey and Kylo, but after I get some booster packs, I know my wife and daughter will always want to be the "good guys" when they play against each other.

Also, where do most people buy their booster packs? Are these at Target and Walmart or do you go to your LCS or local game store?

 

Yeah, until the Sequel Trilogy is wrapped up, I don't see there being any adventure books or guides set during the ST-era or the New Republic-era between ROTJ and TFA. Which is understandable. Afterall, even our beloved WEG didn't touch the Original Trilogy era until after the movies, when there was a defined time period that couldn't contradict their storytelling.

As Ender said, the minis aren't affected by this, but the nature of their games. Furthermore, in the case of X-wing and Armada, we've seen ships from the OT movies still in use by the ST, so mixing designs from both eras actually has a precedent in canon, even if FFG isn't producing canon material. I'm interested to know if there are sales figures that prove how well both games are doing, though I suppose the fact that waves keep coming out is evidence enough that there is a market for these types of games.

--Adm. Nick

 

To be fair, though, WEG didn't even get the license until after ROTJ anyways. Most licensees didn't know what an RPG was until Dungeons & Dragons rose in prominence and most RPG companies couldn't afford to license big properties. The earliest included Flash Gordon, HPL's Cthulhu Mythos, Michael Moorcock's Elric series, and - oddly enough - the TV show Dallas.

FASA managed to get the license for Star Trek in 1982, five years prior to WEG's Star Wars license - in both case, you'll note, there wasn't much else going on with the respective licenses. FASA managed to create their own detailed ST universe (not as much as the EU, but they didn't have much time), but Paramount became hyper-aware of all licenses after ST:TNG started up, crippling the RPG by saddling them with trying to keep up with an ongoing show without being given any details and unable to create their own despite being 'non-canon' - until Paramount abruptly declined to renew their license.
On the other side of things, I'm sure you remember WOTC's false start with their own SW RPG, where they attempted to focus as much as possible on the PT era when they only had the Phantom Menace out.

I suspect that FFG started on a rulebook for the ST and then decided better & put out the "Beginner's" box set instead. While I can see them returning once the ST is finished (possibly - it all depends on what Disney/LFL's plans are post-ST), I can't see a NR era equivalent really ever being a thing - the war's over in a year, and I think most roleplayers would rather be interested in more exciting eras of play... another reason why I felt WOTC's initial focus on the pre-Clone Wars era to be a misstep. Apart from the novelty of playing Jedi during their heyday, there were much more opportunities for exciting adventures in other eras of plays.

 

no, the TFA beginner's box was basically an exercise to get people into the RPG who discovered Star Wars via that film. The entire purpose was to sell people on the idea you can roleplay in the Star Wars universe.

Remember, at the time of the TFA box, there were three games only and no crossover. We talk about "the" SWRPG but there are technically three SWRPGs - Edge of the Empire, Age of Rebellion, and Force & Destiny.

Dawn of Rebellion would have been in planning stages, but only because the three core books would have been reaching their natural lifespans in the development phase. They don't do sourcebooks as much as splatbooks for specific careers (think: classes), bespoke adventures (Beyond the Rim, Jewel of Yavin, Onslaught at Arda, Friends Like These etc) or game and class specific location books (i.e Lords of Nal Hutta is intended to support EotE games primarily, though it can inform AoR or FaD games too). The first sourcebook really is "Dawn of Rebellion", and given they're covering stuff from Rebels and Rogue One, it will be pretty limited in scope (though not lacking depth).

A sequel trilogy book works really well with the extant lines. EotE? Well, the beginner adventure for TFA Box was all fingers, Rey was one, we of course saw Han at work, and there was Maz' castle. AoR? The war between resistance and First Order rages large in the background. FaD? What is Rey if not an emergent buying into an FaD specialisation?

To do that properly, you need all three films to be at least made. They can start after TLJ and work off Ep9's script, but it won't come out til well after the final film.

 

... that happen to use the same rules and the same setting.

I'm not blaming them for their business model, but you can't honestly have a "Heroes of Yavin" style party without all three core rulebooks.

I'll agree that FFG knows how pointless it is to make a NT RPG until after the three movies (and I sincerely doubt they have the slightest access to material like movie scripts ahead of time) - but that's eons in the future, in RPG industry terms.

Dawn of Rebellion is indeed something new (although honestly Lords of Nal Hutta and Suns of Fortune were regional sourcebooks, and distinct from the 'assortment of thematically-appropriate planets from all over the galaxy' they did for AOR and FAD), and I'll be keen to see if it turns out well or whether it's a good jumping-off point for purchasing further books.

 

the easiest approach they can have is really to build Dawn of Rebellion as a line and release a specialised adventure to utilise that book. The only career book left to announce is a Warrior one from FAD, and they're done for careers. So they get the Warrior book out, get Dawn of Rebellion out, give the Spy book (Ciphers and Masks) some breathing space along side DoR and then release TLJ beginner's box and the campaign adventure for DOR. By that time, a Sequel Trilogy book can be announced as in development.

I think FFG will also start moving effort to Genesys too, which might slow the pace of release. But FFG are probably going to eclipse WOTC in terms of output (I'm thinking the minis game, too) very soon (and by that I mean; output and $ value of units sold) so the licence should be safe.

 

WOTC is a terrible benchmark, though - they dropped the ball on the license initially (putting out only two books worth a damn), and then abandoned SAGA for the miniatures game.

Ultimately I'm not buying any of the NT material, regardless of the form it comes in, so any comments I make on the subject are purely academic.