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Closed Star Wars Saga: Dawn of Defiance (Full for now!)

Closed - no longer seeking

Silverbird

Star
Joined
Jun 23, 2018
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Hello, everyone! I've just finished watching the first couple of episodes of Obi-Wan, and I'm feeling inspired to GM a game of Star Wars: Saga Edition here on Blue Moon. I'm specifically planning to run Dawn of Defiance, an official level 1 - 20 campaign set shortly after the end of the Clone Wars which tells the story of some of the first people to fight back against the Empire's tightening grasp. I'm looking for a group of enthusiastic and friendly roleplayers — you don't need to have any experience with this system.

Further details:

How long is this campaign?
Ten adventures total, so quite long! To be honest, I don't expect us to get through the whole thing — play-by-post games don't tend to last that long — but I figure that even if we don't make it to the end, we'll have fun along the way!

What kind of characters are you looking for?
Characters should generally be heroic and at least open to fighting the Empire, if not outright personally motivated to do so. Morally grey characters are fine, but out-and-out villains are probably not; you could play someone amoral, tempted by the dark side, or with Imperial sympathies to overcome, but a full-blown Sith Lord or Imperial Loyalist would be inappropriate for this campaign.

Characters will start at level one; they're not galactically-renown bounty hunters or Jedi Masters yet! And speaking of Jedi, this campaign is set shortly after Order 66 — most of the Jedi have been wiped out, and the survivors are being actively hunted. Force sensitive characters are welcome, including Jedi survivors, but you should take this into account when coming up with your character (and maybe keep any lightsabers hidden).

We will be using the Destiny rules. Destruction, Discovery, and Rescue are the most suited to this campaign, but I'm happy to find ways we can work others in!

Are beginners welcome?
Yes! I'm happy to help out and teach new players.

Saga Edition is a d20 system similar to Dungeons and Dragons 3.5, so if you've played any version of D&D before (including 5e), you'll probably be right at home. The system is out of print, and I don't have PDFs, but most of the rules we'll need are available on the Saga Edition wiki. (Also plot details for this campaign, so, you know, avoid those!)

What if I've played Dawn of Defiance before?
That's also ok! Every campaign ends up playing out differently, so I'm sure it'll still be a good time. I just ask that you please do not spoil plot details for fresh players.

I've actually tried to run this campaign for various folks a few times in the past, but never gotten further than the second adventure. If we make it past that point, it'll be new for me!

Where will we be playing?
In public threads here on Blue Moon. For this kind of play by post game, I find it's also useful to have a secondary OOC communication channel for things like discussing rules and checking in with folks when it's their turn, so I'll probably also set up a Discord or Skype conversation with participants; but the game itself will be here.

Posting rate?
Relaxed, but I'd like to aim for at least one post per person a week. Combat tends to slow things down, so during fights I'd like people to try and take their turn within two or three days; it's fine if you can't always do that, but please let us know so the whole game doesn't stall out!

Smut?
Possible, but it won't be the focus of the campaign; obviously Dawn of Defiance wasn't written with smut in mind! This game will mostly be focused on story and adventure, but I'm we'll find opportunities along the way; and, of course, who knows what PCs will get up to amongst themselves...

I'm personally interested in writing MxF and FxF scenes, but all orientations and genders are welcome in this game. If you have any hard limits that you'd prefer not to have be part of the game, please let us know. (This goes for non-sexual content limits, as well!)

Which Star Wars movies do you like?
All of them, but The Last Jedi is my favourite and I can complain about Rise of Skywalker for days. ;)

Seriously, though — I'm not a big stickler for Star Wars canon, and if we have a cool idea, I'm happy to bend or break things to make it work.


So! Is anyone interested?
 
I am definitely interested. I have a lot of the pdfs as well if there are any questions. I would be very happy to do this with 0 Jedi, as SWSE gives them a bit too much to work with...lightsabers alone are a bit overpowered.
 
You're both welcome, of course. :D

I would like to keep Jedi on the table, both because there are a few moments throughout the campaign which hit better with at least one Force sensitive character in the party, and because I personally love that side of Star Wars. I have seen how some of the Force powers unbalance things, particularly early on (Skill Focus + Telekinetic Slam does some pretty brutal numbers at level one), but I'm not too worried about it — I suspect an optimizer can plenty of nasty things in this system without touching the Force, anyway.

I'm not too familiar with the Zeison Sha, aside from them popping up in one of the Saga sourcebooks, but I'm happy to read up on them!
 
Zeison Sha are a cool concept, throwing a discblade around and using telekinesis. Pretty style-heavy, not a bad thing. The books have a section for them, not a lot of content, but there is some.
 
I would be interested in this, So if memory serves what l have about this campaign is it is in the Rebellion era . I have not actually gotten to play this series of adventure paths but I have heard good things.
 
I would be interested in this, So if memory serves what l have about this campaign is it is in the Rebellion era . I have not actually gotten to play this series of adventure paths but I have heard good things.
A little pre-Rebellion, actually! The first adventure kicks off during the early days of the Empire, before the Rebel Alliance has really come together as a formal group.

I want to be a Jawa. Can I be a Jawa?
Sure, that shouldn't be a problem! Typically Jawa aren't able to speak Basic, which could complicate things. How would you like to handle that? We could handwave things and say your Jawa is an exception, or give them some kind of translation device/droid; or we could just make sure one of the other party members understands the Jawa Trade Language, and let the language barrier be a thing!


Well, it sounds like we have at least 5 players, 6 if anyone is interested in MxM play with Obieblu. That sounds like a good amount for a group! I'll look at setting up some kind of communication channel for us soon, so we can start talking about characters. Does anyone have a strong preference between Skype and Discord, or a strong aversion to those?
 
A Force-Sensitive Jawa could get around that a little bit, though it is risky.

As for comms, I prefer discord.
 
Oh, I missed the part in the OP where you mentioned Skype or Discord. I don't like my Blue Moon roleplays to extend off the site. Would it be possible for me to play without using those for OOC chat?
 
Sure, we can still make that work! I find having an external chat is useful, but it's not essential. We'll still have an OOC thread here, as well as PMs if we need to reach you.

Edit: I've started setting up an OOC chat on Discord. For those who'd like to be in that, please send me your contact details!
 
So @Penny what kind of class are you thinking of for the Jawa? So far it looks like a human Jedi, a Zeison Sha (not sure on race), and a utility char of some kind.
 
So @Penny what kind of class are you thinking of for the Jawa? So far it looks like a human Jedi, a Zeison Sha (not sure on race), and a utility char of some kind.
Either a Technician or a very tech-focused Scoundrel. I'll have to dive deep into the talents and feats to see if there's anything I want that's provided by one and not the other.

Typically Jawa aren't able to speak Basic, which could complicate things. How would you like to handle that? We could handwave things and say your Jawa is an exception, or give them some kind of translation device/droid; or we could just make sure one of the other party members understands the Jawa Trade Language, and let the language barrier be a thing!
Any of these are good! I can use my starting feat to pick up Linguist, or spend my money on a translation device (I haven't looked into the equipment rules yet), or I can turn every conversation into a game of Whisper Down the Alley if anyone else wants to pick up Java Trade Language. I don't want to put demands on the other characters, so unless someone wants to have JTL for their own reasons, I'll probably go with one of the first two.
 
According to the rule book, Jawa can learn to speak Basic, and we get free languages based on INT (unless I misread). So an INT of 12+ and we're set. And if you are planning on a tech focus, I think that will be covered. That said, my char has languages to spare, don't mind devoting one to such a stereotype-breaker.

Fun fact: Jawa don't start with weapons proficiencies, but do get armor, so soldier might be a good starting class just for that, and they have mechanics and use computer as skill options.

Also, "whisper down the alley" sounds dirty. Not complaining
 
Fun fact: Jawa don't start with weapons proficiencies, but do get armor, so soldier might be a good starting class just for that, and they have mechanics and use computer as skill options.
Jawa start with armour proficiency? I don't see that on Jawa.
 
I mean that if their class has weapon and armor profs, they don't get the weapons, but do get the armor
 
Jawa don't get the weapon proficiencies provided by their class? I completely missed that! Where is that noted?
 
Primitive: Ewoks do not gain Weapon Proficiency (pistols, rifles, or heavy weapons) as starting feats at 1st level, even if their class normally grants them. That's why I found a Jawa tech specialist funny
 
I think you're looking at the wrong race, @kckolbe. Jawas don't have Primitive, at least as statted out in Scum and Villainy. The stats you've linked, @Penny, are correct.

(In fact, they get free Mechanics proficiency with an automatic reroll, so they're very good tech specialists!)

The language issue is a bit more complicated than just picking up Basic, though. It's a physical limitation; from Scum and Villainy:
Lacking the organs to form words in Basic, and confronted with the fact that other Species cannot speak Jawa, they developed a shorthand speech called the Jawa Trade Language
So a Jawa can learn Basic, but they won't be able to speak it themselves. I'm happy to ignore that if it wouldn't be fun for you, but otherwise a translation device is a fine solution!

Either a Technician or a very tech-focused Scoundrel. I'll have to dive deep into the talents and feats to see if there's anything I want that's provided by one and not the other.
The Technician class is actually homebrew, so I'd prefer we stay away from that one. It doesn't look wildly unbalanced, but there are a few decisions they've made which feel a bit off to me.
 
I was thinking of Ewok...not a proud moment. I even had to type ewok into the damn search. Still, I can learn JTL
 
The Technician class is actually homebrew, so I'd prefer we stay away from that one. It doesn't look wildly unbalanced, but there are a few decisions they've made which feel a bit off to me.
That makes the decision easy! I'll be playing a Jawa scoundrel, then.

Now that I know you get additional languages based off your intelligence, my Jawa will certainly understand Basic, but will probably still rely on devices to "speak" it. No need to ignore the lore.

I was thinking of Ewok...not a proud moment. I even had to type ewok into the damn search. Still, I can learn JTL
You can if you want, but don't feel like you have to. I don't want people to spend languages just to accommodate me.
 
You can if you want, but don't feel like you have to. I don't want people to spend languages just to accommodate me.

I'm going noble, so I'll have a lot of languages to mess with. Not an issue at all.
 
So Silverbird how would you feel about a character with ties to the Tapani Noble house Pelagia?
 
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