Rogue One and Star Wars RPGs



As expected, recently seeing Rogue One: A Star Wars Story channeled that GM ADD fully into thinking about Star Wars games. Our Call of Cthulhu heroes are still alive for the time being, albeit trapped in a dimension with mutant dinosaurs...

[Note - discussion of Rogue One in this post will stay clear of spoiler territory.]

Rogue One takes us away from the dramas of the Skywalkers. While it's possible one or more of the heroes might be Force sensitive, if they are, they aren't aware of it. This is a story of fairly ordinary people doing rather extraordinary things - obtaining the plans to the Death Star.

The Empire we see in Rogue One is not the Empire that gets defeated by Ewoks. The Death Star is not a plot device to be destroyed but a terrifying weapon that has the potential to end all thoughts of resistance to the Empire.

Our heroes are not as pure or as certain as they ae in the main films. They're not bad people, but many of them are compromised and have done some bad things in pursuit of praiseworthy goals. It's a very different tone than we are used to - but also one that fits in better with many gaming styles.

Rogue One gives an interesting glimpse of the period shortly before A New Hope. The Rebel Alliance definitely has more of a rag-tag feel to it and can be seen to have different factions. The Imperial Senate is still in existence - while clearly a weak entity, it is still one that cannot be totally ignored by the Empire. Senators make for great potential patrons - patrons who can be taken away when the Emperor dissolves the Senate. We're giving some thought to being based from Alderaan and going on missions on behalf of Senator Bail Organa. Alderaan is a peaceful world, the Empire would never do anything to it...

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