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Every so often I ruminate and explore the possible future of the Star Wars game, which has been quite solid for a long time now. Still, with the final Star Wars film approaching, some points do need to be considered.

First of all, the new Episode will start in the New Year. This will firmly establish the new Campaign as successful. I hope to have that Episode finished by the time ROTS comes out in May. The end of that Episode will see the Dark Siders setup in their new position and the conclusion of the current Jedi plotline.

The next episode will start during the grip of SW fever at the point of the Episode III release (that Episode will also, coincidentally, be Episode III of this campaign). It will be set two years after (my) Episode II, and so four years after the original campaign. It will consist of a prologue section for both sides, which the Light Siders will find highly satisfying and the Dark Siders will find... intriguing. The main Campaign plot will kick off around this time.

After that, of course, things become hazy. A series of episodes seperated by years is planned. The finale of the campaign, its Mausoleum of Demnos equivalent... whatever that might be.. is planned to take place at the same time as the Battle of Geonosis- day one of the Clone Wars. It will explain why the Light Siders are not on Geonosis that day- they are required elsewhere on matters of equal importance. Yup, big things are planned.

This will form the end of this Star Wars story as such; the era these games is set in effectively ends there. As well as the standard risks involved in RPing, there is also the possiblity that the Dark Siders will get slaughtered.

However, this is not obligatory, and much depends on play. At this point, any plans to force the death of any of the players, Light or Dark, have been withdrawn. Even beyond the scope of the campaign, we do not see the need to force this, even if this conflicts with Yoda's ROTJ line. Quite what this might mean for the Jedi.. we don't know. The Dark Siders may be able to flee the Galaxy before the Empire catches them.

Now, it will take a long time to reach that point. SW fever will die down after ROTS, never to be so big again. Still, if the tv series comes, interest will always be there, and SW has quite a fan base anyway. Aside form that, I like to think we have a nice community here that will be interested in continual play for another three years- having already played three years- even as you guys grow up and gets jobs etc. So if we do reach that point, we have several options:

1. A Clone Wars campaign. This has no fixed plot as of yet but is possible. The mood will be very different- as I say, the Era really shuts down once the Clone Wars start. However... this would be Light Side only. Plot developments will rule out the Dark Side by this point.

2. An Original Trilogy era campaign. This IS plotted. The players play either Rebels or Imperials ten years after Episode III (and so ten years before the Battle of Yavin). However, this game acts more than just more SW playing in a different era- it is actually a quasi-sequel to the current game, and may even tie up some points remaining from the old days. The intention, btw, is that the Dark Side players play the Imperials- that's not obligatory, but when you see the plot you'll know why. The Campaign would play through until the Battle of Yavin and will see the Rebels grow from a slight annoyance to a genuine threat- in mood, the total opposite of the current campaign, with things starting crappy for the good guys but getting better and better as time goes on.

3. A pre-prequel era campaign. Whilst not plotted, elements exist for a game set thousands of years before the current game, to act as a prequel. Set in the time of Knights of the Old Republic, and most likely happily using that game as the base plotline minus the more absurd bits, the game would involve genuine Jedi versus Sith battles in the classic days- with the Sith villain of the piece being Darth Demnos himself, with Dark Siders getting a chance to work for him, and Jedi seeing what being on the wrong side of him was like. Entirely possible that Zeiton and the Mausoleum will appear- and you may even get the full deal on what was there...

Err, it's all vague right now. But in general. Christmas being a time for reflection and all, I just wanted to keep people up to speed with current potential plans. Please feel free to discuss or comment!

Hmm...not sure if I like the bit that we'll find 'intriguing'...is that intriguing in a good way or intriguing in a bad way?

And when is there NOT a possibility of us getting slaughtered? Like all the time spent so far getting our asses kicked by those damn pigs?

I think the OT and KOTOR era games sound interesting....of course, I probably should get around to eventually playing KOTOR....hey, I think I know what to buy with all those giftcards I got...hehehe.

Nice,
I like it, and I REALLY wanna do the pre-prequal one.
What about the non-jedi, Imperial/rebel one you had outlines a while ago, that one sounded fun

Yeah! Option number 3!

That would be the second one, genius

Damn... I'd like to keep playing with these characters... But I guess that would be a bit too stupid.

Couldn't we all just flee past the Rim - or the Dark-siders flee and the Jedi pursue, into a new galaxy?

*whistles*
Yea... I knew that......

Not within the confines of any game I would run, I am afraid! Feel free to write your own epilogues.

It's a long way off, so if people are REALLY wedded to their characters, we shall see what developments might come, but as it stands, those are the options.

Id be inclined to do the OT story, but then I think you probably already knew that Ush.

Hmm...pre-prequel...

In all those games, the Dark Siders obviously lose!

(checks)

Yup... that's SW I am afraid. But the Cult of Demnos actually still existed right the way up until the final Sith Wars so the Dark Side can't lose THAT badly.

Very true.

Maybe it can be Galder's great-great-great-great-grandfather...or however many greats I need...

Might need a different personality to work with Demnos. He was a different kind of leader.

I opt Pre-prequel.

So long as I get to be a dark sider...heh.

Amen to that.

To answer earlier questions-

The reason the Dark Side is at risk of total wipe out is because you play for larger stakes. As Doon has told you, you cannot just survive any more, you have to thrive, which means you are going to start messing around in very dangerous areas- and defeat can mean it blowing up in your face. Worst comes to the worst, the Jedi can always flee to Coruscant and say "HEEEEEEEEEEEEELLLLLLLLP!" to the Council. For the Dark Siders, yourselves are all you have, and if you fail that's it.

As for intriguing... well, good or bad might be relative. But the end of the Prologue you will find intriguing in a "What the bloody hell is this??" kind of way.

yeah..the end of the mausoleum campaign was intriguing in that way
must say..i'm curious on the plot development.

out of those options....the 3rd one, kotor time-line, sounds most appealing

2 or 3 would be great. But I'd like to play this trough till the end (when all the light siders die)

but they dont..as ush says

Well everyone either dies or goes into hiding, thats just what happens, we allready know that.

Now that I think of it, Clone Wars would be interesting, even if the Dark Jedi are gone.

Run around hacking up droids...

Yea...

Clone Wars also gives a direct opportunity to carry on with the game's plotline. The other ideas are all plots related to this game but the Clone Wars woulld directly be more OF this game.

YEa, makes sence, and sounds reall cool...

well if Marcus is still around at the end of the campaign (when everyone else goes into hiding or whatever) I'd like to go out in a blaze of glory ush

yep..i guess clone wars sounds nice also.
but the old trilogy option......i don't like it

Don't like not being a jedi? or dark jedi or whatever.

I wanna do that one, so I can bull and ackbar slash on someone.

Xeth would also go out in a blaze of glory, Marcus, so you are not alone in that.

We could do it George Lucas style: hit the Clone Wars then the OT, then go back and do the pre-prequel...

Jelena would most likely hide.

Unless I go off in some dramatic direction with love stories and following the target of my affection to the grave...

Blaze o' glory is the only way to go when you're evil...

Ush, could I have Tanic going insane, if we have to kill him off? Like, Chion insane?

Roan Might Follow Xeth and Marcus, That could be a cool ending thing, all of them going out in a blaze of glory together.

If anyone goes crazy, it's me...boy crazy that is!

Damn straight, my friend

For Galder, either it is going to be a blaze of glory fighting Jedi and clonetroopers and such, or going toe-to-toe with Vader...

or...maybe the pigs will get us.
but...pigs are nice....right?..right?

No, they aren't.

Unless they've been made into bacon. THEN they're okay.

Pigs are mad dangerous...

You do know what pigs we're talking about, yes?

And I think that kind of bacon would taste nasty, Alana...

Efcours I do... Nasty Little Rotten pigs... Who come up to you and poop on you!

Then no, you don't know what pigs we're talking about...

Guinea Pigs??

OSOKANS.

HOLY HELL!!

OSOKANS!!!

RX, t'is a breed from the Far East, only recently discovered on a silk caravan... They were knawing at the Silk and recognising a potential investment, the slave master kept them, along with the sipment of muskets...

Galder has been evil enough to earn himself a 200 GB computer that runs 1/3 faster than the one I'm using, with a 19" screen and wireless internet...

I want a computer like that.........

Hell, I want the internet on MY computer already!

I want my own computer... Even if it doesn't have net access.

question

In the OT would we not have force powers?

Of course not! You would be using the Hero and Imperial templates.

Certainly not. We couldn't be Force-users, unless Ush did a Force adept type template where we could do minor things like Lift or Draw or something like that. We'd be lightsaber-less or Vader would come hunt us down...

Indeedy. I already have all the templates, in fact. I posted the Imperial template names a little while back (they are used right now for the Bureau).

I can't remember where you posted them, and I'm sure Helkin's template is there.

Cool....
I can't wait,
I allready figured out most of my character...
A Mon Calamari General...

I would most definitely want to be some sort of elite stormtrooper, or a high-ranking officer.

You would....

No Stormtroopers! Clones suck.

One of the templates was Imperial General, and his schtick is that he controls an entire assault division, with battalions of stromtroopers, supported by AT-STs and AT-ATs.

Smuggler for me! And he'd still be Geonasian!

way to be different BB.......

I'll be an Imperial General!

Named
JudoSau'k!
He'll be those species with thick tubes instead of hair, and which can breathe in water... In the little Clone Wars miniepisodes, animated, you know the guy who went under the sea and stuff...

I am afraid the Empire is into racial purity; all Imperial characters are Human.

No need to stop at General; other templates included the Admiral, who controls a Star Destroyer, and the Flight Leader, who controls an entire attack wing of TIE Fighters and Bombers. Then there is the Administrator, a personal aide of the Emperor himself...

K... I'm either a Flight Leader or an Administrater

I would be interested in Administrator...

And Red X, that alien is a Nautolan. My character now is one of those.

Nautolan's are kewl!

Ahhh... Too bad I picked VLad as a human... Should've picked him as a Nautolan...Damn!

Templates and quotes were as follows:

-

Imperial Captain

Moderate fighting ability. Low Tricks. High fortune. Commands Star Destroyer. Ties to Imperial Command.

Our first catch of the day

-

Imperial general

Good fighting ability. Moderate Tricks. Commands attack division- troops, speeders, AT-ATs. Ties to Imperial Command.

The shield will be down in moments. You may start your landing

-

Imperial Squadron Leader

Moderate fighting ability. High Pilot. Moderate Tricks. Command wing- TIE Fighters and Bombers. Ties to Imperial Command.

I'm on the leader

-

Imperial Administrator

Low fighting ability. Low Tricks. High Fortune. Has Ties to the Emperor himself and 'Political Terror' special ability.

You may fire when ready

---

There is also a Provacateur (secret agent) Imperial class but it is kinda fuzzy right now. As for template inspirations, the Squadron leader is a generic inspiration, the Captain based on... any number of vharacters, the General is Veers (the only ground-based guy that seemed to be any good in the films), and the Administrator is Tarkin.

I WANNA BE Imperial Squadron Leader!!

I'm sure they have Rebel counterparts?

Rebels use the Heroes and Scoundrels Templates (those above are the Officers and Gentlemen templates, the Bounty Hunters etc. use the Scum and Villainy templaytes, whilst you use the Jedi Knights, Dark Jedi, Renegades or Marauder templates).

H&S templates are named in play reference for use with Allies.

No duhh! Who else would I command my fellow wings of TIE Fighters to evaporate into dust in space?

And then I could come out with a Rebel blockade runner and blow it to bits!

So what path shall you choose BC? Will it be the ADministrator? Capitan? General? Perhaps the Squadron Leader?

Fat chance of that, the Rebels will be lucky to have a cargo freighter in that game.

MUHAHAHA!!


"TIE FIGHTERS!!! RAID THAT FREIGHTER!!"

Muahahhhhaahahha!

* About ten Tie Fighters destroys the Cargo Freighter to bits*

Make it twenty TIE.

FOOTBALL TIME! *drags away the California RPG group*

Muhahahahahah!

"Tie Fighters! Bring Luke Skywalker too me and put him in the Steam Room Toture Dungeon!"

Bit cruel even for the Empire; he'll only be about ten years old.

Who cares! Steam ROmm Dungeon!

MWAHAHAHAHAHAHHA!!!!

I want a Star Destroyer...

(is anyone surprised by this coming from me? Hehe!!!)

I want a Death Star!

I dont care! Your pitful Death Star was freaken destroyed by a sissy jedi However, My wing of Tie Fighters can take down a sisssy Jedi on a little Fighter...

Surprise surprise....

Actually, being a bounty hunter sounds like it could be fun.....

I wanna pull an acbar slash on someone...

*gets bunkered by Tie Fighters*

Not on me you don't!

An Ackbar Slash? What the hell is that?

Bunkered? How the hell do starships become bunkers?

As it stands there is no room for Bounty Hunters in that game.

Aww....darn.

Damn...those might have been kinda fun!

However, being a bounty hunter or flying your own personal weapon of mass destruction?

The opening story is a planetary war, so it is really an Empire vs. Rebels affair.

I'd be a Rebel. They do win, in the end. I'd rather win.

I'll prolly play a rebel, after getting my Emporers hand suggestion turned down.

Emperor's Hand would not be fair to the Rebels. They'd be easily slaughtered.

You'll find out if you ever fight me and my mighty....

tiny little borrowed ships OF DOOM!

If I can't be a bounty hunter, then I want a Star Destroyer. Heeheehee....

It's certainly a game where the Imperials can enjoy blowing the crap out of things for a long time. The first episode will tell the story of an Imperial invasion of a planet with a view to genocide, to which the Rebels are trying to send aid to.

so it's settled?...empire era game?

no sith wars? *sobs*

Heh! Nothing is settled.

Personally, while Imperials would be fun, I would DEFINITELY want to see the Clone Wars, and THEN the Sith Wars...

Sith wars first.

EVERYONE wants to be able to play a sith right?

I would go with Clone Wars first. As a continuation of this, even if Galder is dead or in hiding by that time.

Remember at this time we have no Dark Side plotline for that time. Of course, it is all a long way off.

Clone Wars you mean?

Yup.

In any case, no matter what happens, I want Galder to go into hiding...

i'd rather do Sith wars.

Assuming he survives- some serious hassle is going to have gone down by then.

Actually I think our group could take control of the Serpent, but it would likely spoil Ushgarak`plot.

I wouldn`t mind my character dying in battle against Lord Vader during Jedi purge. But in EU Emperor had many Dark Siders on his side, I assume you wouldn`t accept this as canon?

Knowing Ush, he probably wouldn't.

In that respect, absolutely not- the films are very clear on how many people the Sith will accept in their number.

In other respects I am flexible with EU; I'll judge case by case. For example, ysalamiri and cortosis are out, Darth Bane is accepted as the last of the great Sith Lords but the his plot given in the EU does not tally with GL's words on the Sith so I glaze over that bit, the plot of Knights of the Old Republic I am broadly happy to accept fully.

So no Dark Side followers of the Sith( like Mara Jade)? It is logical, actually.

By the way, is there any real diffrence between Sith and random Dark Siders, like diffrent aproach to the Force? It seems like any sufficiently strong Dark Sider could use this title.

Nope! At the very best, like evil moo-moo in the Clone Wars, they might use one in a deliberate sacrifice.

The Clone Wars would be an awesome RPG....Jedi killing droids....droids killing Jedi....

Therein is part of the problem, Arc- decent story ideas run dry quick, it being just one fight after another. It will take some work.

True. But wouldn't it be the same with an OT-time RPG? And a Sith War one? Just fight after fight after fight?

Nope! Can't be fight after fight in an OT game; the Rebels would always lose. And a game in the time of the Sith Wars would be more like the first campaign here, just with more even sides.

I would love to play in KOTOR aftermath, when both Jedi and Sith Orders are decimated and in total chaos, it would allow for much freedom and not being too much restricted by canon plot.

Ushgarak, have you ever wondered what would happen if Sith have managed to win one of those ancient wars?

I have always seen a system based on Houses/Clans totally engaged in both external and internal strife on a galactic scale, who has read anything about Drow society( it is Dungeons and Dragons fiction)?

Yea, the rebels have to be all sneaky...

Ah, point taken Ush.
BTW, I've asked REX.

Any Sith-related game would follow this game's take on the times of the Sith, Melkor, which means most likely something to do with Darth Demnos, who was no friend of Revan.

Poor b@$t@rd probably didn't have any friends at all growing up....

Ill be from the Empire!

The EVIL Empire?
That's how it's stressed in the OT....

Hmm, can somebody tell me what is the outcome of KOTOR 2?

I wouldn't know...

But Demnos era would be excellent.

I know about Naga Sadow, Malak, Revan, Darth Bane, but who is this Demnos, a character from Kotor 2?

No, mythical Sith Lord from the previous Campaign of Ush's RPGs. Kuylen and his lackies (Takuan, Rah, and I are all that remain of them...) thought we could raid his tomb on a distant world (with a population of one billion Force-using frogs) for Sith secrets, but a Jedi had rid the world of Sith stuff 800 years before we attempted taking over.

The Sith fail again!

Yea, it was the funniest thing ever when they got int there and it said, baicly,"sorry, sucks to be you...."

That's not what it said! Shut up!

close enough...

I wrote this...

http://www.killermovies.com/forums/f7/t292165.html

last year, Melkor, to help acclimatise people to the style and rules (though some of those rules are obsolete).

It talks a little of the game's backstory; other than that to get the details of Demnos you would have to read through the plot of the previous campaign...

... which you can!

http://www.killermovies.com/forums/f7/t291133.html

So....

Hmm?

Nice kill, by the way, ARC. First shot ever and you've bagged one!

I knew I'd be good....
Oh wait - I'm a Light Sider!

Does everyone who want to play Demnos era a dark sider? Playing the Sith is going to be different to playing the dark side in the current game.

If you are one of the Dudley Do-Right light side players, things are pretty much the same. Which some of you might not find that interesting.

One begins to suspect you have an equal contempt for both sides...

so playing the demons era sith is comparable to playing the light side?....
i feel discouraged.

I suspect he meant that playing the Light Side would be the same, whereas there is a worthwhile difference with the Dark Side.

of the current game?

Its a healthy attitude.

For the Jedi, the stories might just be the same as before just set several millennia earlier. If people have just played lots of prequel stories on the same subject it could seem a bit dull.

The Sith is different - but this means people shouldn't think the Sith stories are going to be anything like the current dark side stories but just with added Force Lightning.

Of course, if people really like light side games being a Jedi won't matter...

And playing the Sith will be nothing like playing the light side Jedi.

well..i'md efintiely convinced...sith it is.
if that's the game available for playing, that is

It is as available and ready as the second Matrix game and the magic rules for LotR.

In other words, not at all?

Sith would be cool...

(honestly...could anyone see me actually playing a light side character?)

well''you couldn't do much worse that some current light siders


as for those magic rules...there were some promisses involved..of them actually being ready

Harsh... all these things exist in an abstract sense.

Actually, in a sense it is more ready as the rules are pretty much the same. I think all that would need doing is to have some Force Lightning rules and probably some slightly different templates.

This is not to say that the Imperial v Rebel story isn't any good. And in fact, is halfway written.