Casting The Campaign

 I'm very pleased with the modest response I've gotten from interested players online. Posting my flyer to the WEG D6 Star Wars discussion group on Facebook has drawn some interested players, as has my posting to the Rancor Pit forums. In preparation for the game, I'm posting my notes here on templates available for starting (and replacement) characters in the game. I'll also be adding this to the first part of my house rule postings to codify it. Below is a breakdown of character templates book-by-book, including books released by the good folks in the various D6 SWRPG communities.

Droid Characters: If a player wants to play a character based on a droid in any of the books (other than the Protocol Droid template in the 2nd edition R&E rulebook), they need to discuss it with the GM.

Star Wars RPG 2e R&E/2e R&E GM Screen - As this is a Rebellion era campaign, all templates from these books are open for players. There are two exceptions to this, however. The Rookie New Republic Pilot will just be a Rookie Rebel Pilot with the appropriate background and gear changes (the character's sibling died at Scarif or Yavin and the New Republic uniform is swapped out for a Rebel uniform). The New Republic Bureaucrat template is not allowed.

Classic Heroes - The templates in this book require GM approval before being allowed, especially the Clone Wars Veteran template; I need to work out how to stat up clone troopers more consistently based on the material presented.

The Dark Times - As with Classic Heroes, the templates in this book require GM approval, especially the Renegade Clone template.

Death in the Undercity - The Quarren Miner and Quarren Deep-Hunter are off the table.

Galaxy Guide 6: Tramp Freighters - No problems with the Tramp Freighter Captain template.

Galaxy Guide 8: Scouts - The only templates I'll allow as starting characters are the Scout Droid and the Ex-Imperial Scout. The Prospector template is probably best used as a mid- or late-campaign cast replacement. The Corporate Scout is off the table.

Galaxy Guide 10: Bounty Hunters - All three templates in this book are off the table.

Galaxy Guide 14: The Dark Side - All templates in this book are off the table.

Heroes & Rogues - All Imperial templates are off the table except for the Space Rescue Corps Officer and Wealthy Physician. These require some changes to their background to fit in with the group. Independent templates need GM approval for use. All of the Rebel templates are allowed, but the New Republic templates are off the table.

Lords of the Expanse/Player's Guide to Tapani - The COMPNOR Military Liaison, ISB Agent, JAN Operative, and Mining Guild Recruiter are off the table. The Corporate Slicer, Freeworlds Artist, Freeworlds Trader, Herglic Archaeologist, and HoloVid Gossip Columnist might work as mid- or late-campaign cast replacements, but that remains to be seen.

Pirates and Privateers - The Veteran Spacer template would work well as a tramp freighter crewmember. The other three templates (Privateer Captain, Alliance Observer, and Boarder) would probably be best as cast replacements later in the campaign if necessary.

Platt's Smugglers Guide - Most of the templates in this book are allowed. The spaceport-related templates (Sludir Crate-Buster, Pack Tracker, and Comm Slicker) are not really a good fit, however.

Rules of Engagement: The Rebel SpecForce Handbook - Most of the templates in the back of the book are fine. SpecForce Infiltrators, Pathfinders, and Heavy Weapon Specialists might be hard to justify as part of an MSU's personnel, but stranger things have happened (Max Klinger actually became a good company clerk, made sergeant, and stopped wearing dresses by the end of MASH, after all).

Star Wars Adventure Journal - There are some articles which have variations of templates in other books (such as the Outlaw Tech and privateer templates), as well as new templates (the swoop gang templates come to mind). Some templates, like the Naive Youth and Merc Combat Medic, are actually used for NPCs. If you want to use any of those templates, let me know so we can discuss it..

Tales of the Jedi Companion - The templates in this sourcebook are allowed, but will need some tweaking to bring them up to Rebellion-era standards.

Most - if not all - of the templates can be found here as well as some variants and new templates. Please ask me about the new templates (like the Jedi Consular and Guardian templates, for example) if you want to run one of them. Also, per the guidelines given in the first edition rulebook, if you want to change something about a template - swap some dice codes around, change Force powers (the TotJ Jedi templates have powers listed on them), etc., let me know and we'll work it out.

A Change in the Force

I have long wanted to run what I consider a "traditional" Star Wars RPG campaign. Unfortunately, my vision of  such a campaign would be a long-term campaign. As such, I'm sticking to the philosophy I took up several years ago - life is hard, run short. I picked up that idea years ago and and used it to successfully run a short Call of Cthulhu campaign ("The Great (Old Ones in the) Outdoors").

As such, I saw two options, both equally valid. The first was to run a short campaign similar to the kind of story told in the series Andor - a more military/serious campaign that steered parallel to, if not away from, the hero's journey. The other option was to run something more out of the ordinary.

Being a fan of medical dramas (including MASH and Emergency!) and having somewhat of an interest in non-combat tech in Star Wars, I had always wanted to read through the Medstar duology. The idea was further fueled by "Right Hand Man," a short story penned by Dr. Lydia Kang, who works at Nebraska Medicine, where I work in the records department. "Right Hand Man" portrays the end scene from The Empire Strikes Back from the point of view of 2-1B, the medical droid who treats Luke both on Hoth and on the medical frigate after his fateful duel on Cloud City.

There are other reasons and ideas fueling the second concept, but I won't reveal them in order to avoid spoiling it for interested players. Needless to say, the sum of those reasons and ideas create a greater motivation to run with the second concept than the nostalgia fueling the first concept. That's not to say the first concept won't see the light of day; it's just not the concept I'm running with for this game.

Medstar-4 is a different kind of campaign. It can trace its roots to a variety of sources including the Medstar duology and the shows MASH and China Beach. As the heroes are on the more desperate side of the fight, they will not only be scrounging for supplies, but also fighting the shadow of the Empire's various genocidal pogroms.

I've found the background research for the game to be a very pleasant distraction. I even went as far as getting the Latin translation of "First do no harm" (Primum nihil nocebit) for the unit insignia I designed for the game. The heroes aren't going to be all cut from the same cloth. Some may be more martial while others may be civilians drawn into the fray by events beyond their control. I don't even know if there will be Jedi in the group.

At this point, I'm not sure how long the campaign will run. I know it's not going to be a "standard season" of 26 episodes like in the old days of TV. One thing I am trying for the first time is putting a time limit for people to sign up. This is because I've grown tired of posting game pitches online only to be met with a flurry of "Likes" and the occasional interested players who later ghost me on the day of the game. If nobody signs up for the game by November 23, I'll pull the ads and move on to something else.

I sincerely hope someone does sign up, as this game is going to be an interesting ride.

The campaign flyer as posted online.