Read First: Character Creation Discussion

I'll add a 'gender' line for the character sheets. It will be useful to help keep everything straight, and I would hate to mix things up in the game.

Hello everyone, glad to be joining the group. I was thinking about playing a human consular/ Niman Disciple. Definitly would be very diplomatic oriented, but I’m thinking the way this character would work, would be more like a spy master. Someone who could fit in with the socialites of other societies, all the while, gaining information and building contacts for our future conquest. I’m thinking a hero like little finger from game of thrones. Just throwing it out there for feedback and thoughts.

Not that there would be a problem with having someone else with diplomatic social skills but we do sort of have one who is fairly specialized in it. However, her's come from natural talent and skill rather than any connection to the force so there would be things that the consular could do that she could not. On the other hand, we don't have any kind of dedicated force user. None of the force users in the group have a force rating higher than a 1. Consular specializations often allow the character to get very strong in the force, very quickly.

Very true Squeeks. The part that jumped out at me was
In terms of conquest, we would absolutely need that kind of function running once we're out in the world. From a smoothness of gaming, given that those activities are usually done far in advance of the conquest happening, would we be getting into a game where ccl is off doing their thing and we're in a different part of the story (almost a permanently split party feel). Unless it's more that we hit a planet at the same time, some of us doing the shock and awe game, while ccl is off being devious in social circles?

I kind of feel like we're doing a lot of all of these things at the same time. Ultimately, the only way for the Sith empire to have a chance in the coming war is to begin taking worlds for itself. I see these groups as sort of advance scouts doing things to make the main Sith force having an easier time taking control of the worlds around our homeworld. This could involve diplomacy, setting the stages for alliance or partnerships, or subterfuge, sabotaging elements of a world making it easier to turn over to the Sith. I honestly don't see us just showing up and taking a world over on our own because any planet that we could take ourselves would not likely be worth the Empire's time.

True enough. So we'd be the small group that is starting to plant those seeds and such.

The group doesn't need to split for this at all, and managing two or more separate time lines can be really complicated in PbP. The ideal of RPG's is usually this: the group can work together and has characters who excel at given tasks.

Characters can excel at multiple abilities from the start if you spend your points wisely. For example, I'm surprised how some of you filled your talent trees, rather than going for the bottom more aggressively like Dramasailor did, picking up Dedication and adding an extra dice to multiple skills is quite valuable. Or picking up another force dice for example, allowing you to be FAR more effective in using force powers.

Also, there is nothing wrong with having some overlap. In a group of six it becomes more likely, especially with social sklls (there are 5 of them: Charm, Deception, Negotiation, Coercion, and Leadership) and they all have their applications. As far as splitting up the group, I'd rather not for long periods. In social interaction, many of you could effectively participate. Lissewa with Charm. Tejanna putting in a lie. Etc. Of course you want people who can excel at certain tasks, but the group does have some overlap, which is natural.

Exactly. Squeek nailed it. Your group will be filling multiple roles as needed, depending on the situation. You will be given targets, orders at times. At times you may pick up on targets of opportunity. As part of the Sith military, however, you are not given free reign to just do what you want regarding major objectives, except for extraordinary circumstance (cut off from all communication, etc). As far as targets of opportunity, you will be expected (required really, by high command) to contact them, make your suggestion, and, if given the go ahead, proceed from there.

Regarding less large scale objectives, you'll have more freedom more often than not. If you're given the task of taking a planet, for example, without specifics, your group will be expected to do so in the way you deem best. If the plan becomes something like "let's try to secretly intimidate the planetary governor into becoming a puppet of the Sith, while we arrange for the demise of a few key politicians that would resist" you can try that. If your assessment is that the planet would best be taken by brute force, after sabotaging key defenses, do that; remember, you can coordinate with command and inform them to strike when the time is right. Long range scanners on the Space scale don't go that far, and a Sith armada of the appropriate size could be parked in a random part of the galaxy, less than a day out in hyperspace travel time.

You have a lot of options. Sometimes you will have very specific orders (for example, the beginning of the Conquest will have a specific system or planetary objective; due to the Veil and the Graveyard, the Sith aren't clueless as to the state of the galaxy, having had access to holovids, journals, and especially the data mined from the many explorers who ended up there, updated maps of the galaxy. Sometimes, you'll be more part of making the plan. Sometimes, based upon your assessment, you'll be able to make suggestions to high command. Like any military operation, it will depend. What you are not expected to do, again, is just go on your own and break things, so to speak. High command will want to be prepared for occupation and coordinate their forces.

Something I've been wondering long term. Eventually, the Sith Empire would reach a point where they may be able to stand toe to toe with the other factions. At that point, we can expect that large scale engagements between the factions would occur. Would we at any point be able to play a part in those sorts of engagements. Obviously, small scale skirmishes and covert operations would probably still be our forte but those big fights is sort of a staple of the Star Wars mythos that would be fun to take part in a few times.

With this in mind, if those opportunities open up, would you consider opening up some of the AoR specializations, considering those tend to be more militaristic in nature. (To be honest, I'm still not sure why you would prefer EotE over AoR considering the military nature of the campaign.)

Since you made it sound so amazing, I rearranged my starting XP expenditures to get me some Dedication (RIP Improved Reflect and Force Leap).

I am curious how much XP you're going to be rewarding us, though. I've never played a FFG Star Wars campaign before, so I have no idea how much XP per session/month/story arc/etc is 'normal', nor, say, whether 20 XP is considered to be a signifigant chunk of XP, or just a minor amount of it.

Also, as far as splitting the group I won't forbid it. Just keep in mind that time tables will become problematic the longer the group is separate. What will be happening is that two scenes (or more) will be happening at once. They also have to be able to come back together, which requires time management (and, from a gaming perspective, needs to be believable). This will make things more complicated for me as well, given that the more plot threads I'm juggling at once, the harder it becomes to keep up. Consider the maximum possibility there: everyone in the group goes their own way, and I'm managing six scenes from a movie, so to speak, at once. Also, there's only so much time in the day, and more scenes requires more typing, and I don't want to dump quality to keep up.

Examples below of Timeline Issues and Splitting Up Below:

A Short(est) Term group separation:
You parked your ship in jungle clearing, just past range of hills that you're certain are outside the Republic base's sensor range, but it'll be a 1 or two day trek to get to the base. As you make your way through the jungle, one of your stealthier characters volunteers to be ahead of the group, to make sure you don't bumble into a problem. (This is so slightly separated that I really don't consider it as such really, just the most extreme example I could think of for Short Term; in this case the group would be close enough behind that, in this situation, you really aren't separate, but it could be an issue). Distance between group members, almost identical timeline's depending on distance.

Your group is in a cantina, and some of you are talking to spaceport security, as they're suspicious of you. Tejanna whispers to one you that she is going to slink out the back door (Stealth to not be noticed, depending) and hot wire a speeder (Skullduggery). Basically she's separating briefly to have an escape ready. In separate areas, very close to the same or an identical timeline.

Medium Term Separation:
The group splits up to infiltrate a Imperial base, thinking it's a good idea for whatever reason. This can get messy, and potentially either have other players waiting to post/play at some point, or deviate to something less than a believable timeline.

Long Term Separation:
One of the players decides to accept the invitation of a Hutt Crimelord and attend a meeting about some event. The rest of the group decides to scour the underbelly of NarShaddaa looking for someone sat the same time. Here, things can really get thrown off. One of those timelines will be socially oriented (the meeting) the other one will have the characters beating the pavement, so to speak, traveling over distances that force the two timelines to separate, likely in a drastic way. The meeting might take an hour whereas the search could take hours, perhaps the entire day.

So, if you do decide to split up, as appealing as it might seem, keep in mind the technical ramifications on the game.

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The back and forth has definitely give me a greater insight as to the style of the game, but also how best to employ him. Even though he will be more of a diplomat as a Nina disciple he will be a capable warrior for any dirty business the group will have to Handel.

I don't have AoR. If this game keeps up, I will. I simply haven't picked it up yet. I would like to integrate Duty into the game, but don't have the rules and haven't been able to find them on the net (if anyone can direct me to a full explanation of the rules, we most certainly would integrate them).

Trust me, AoR appeals to me. I just happened to skip over it and go straight for F&D.

Ah, that makes sense. I've been trying to maintain legitimacy with my FFG roleplaying as well since I actually like the series and am willing to pay for the books. There's just a lot of em and it takes time to save money to make purchases of the books. I unfortunately started with Force and Destiny and then could not find a single group out there anywhere that wanted to play Force and Destiny (didn't want no Jedi in their game..psh)

EDIT: I can get you the full explanation of the rules of Duty if you would like it.

Uh, what's your opinion of unlicenced PDF scans? 'Cause if that's not something you object to, I'm sure I could find a download link floating around online.

If that's not your thing, I could also type out the rules for Duty manually, but it'll probably take me a couple hours of mostly uninterrupted time for me to get that done.

Smart choice. Being capable in more than one thing allows you to:

(1) Bring something valuable to the group, in multiple situations.
(2) Enjoy the game more fully, in multiple situations.

At the same time, I would say that outside of social interactions, overlapping in the group isn't so useful, but can still happen. Consider a military outfit, a squad similar to yours in size. Typically the goal is to have one expert for each skill set needed. Sniper. Demolitions. Computers. Scout. I mean, when you're disarming an alarm or a bomb, do you want the expert or the guy who is above average to do it? At the same time, someone else begin capable of disarming the bomb isn't a bad thing. What if the expert is dead? Actual special forces train this way, with a 'back up' expert per squad. Perhaps not as good as the primary guy, but capable.

In social interactions there are more variables. Failing a Charm roll is less likely to get you blown up. It can still be extremely important, depending, but has more variability.

Anyone who can facilitate a full explanation of the Duty rules, it would me much appreciated. I'm not opposed to unlicensed scans, but I would prefer legit. The easier the access, the better as well.

If we can incorporate Duty, Obligation, and Morality, that would be ideal. I think this could only enhance the depth of the characters.

It really is a good idea though to have multiple people with social skills. For one thing, where a Charm may not work to convince a person to do something for you for free, a Negotiation might work to get them to do it for a fair exchange or Coercion might scare them into doing it. It can be difficult for a single person to cover all the bases so having more than one focus on other social skills can help give the party many options.

Plus, having one person fail a check can kind of push them quickly out of a social encounter (much like death pushes you out of a combat encounter). Another person with a deception skill could help save a poor lie from someone else.

There's no such thing as legit scans, unfortunately (unless you try to argue that it's a "backup copy for personal use only", which is perfectly legit in most copyright systems, but not really conducive to sharing it over the internet). I'll send you some links via PM, which should work until one of us can get a more legitimate explanation of the Duty rules up.

I'll send you a PM later with the full rules so you can choose to post them wherever you wish. Based on what I've seen, it functions almost identically to Obligation (to a point). It's essentially the thing(s) that you are expected to do in service to your cause, in the case of the normal rules, the Rebellion, but for us it could easily work for the Empire. These duties could be as simple as winning victories against the enemy or things like sabotage, intelligence, personnel, tech procurement, etc. The main difference between Duty and Obligation is that Obligation is something you want to reduce while Duty is something you want to increase.

The GM still does the roll at the beginning to see which character's Duty/Obligation will come into effect in the story. By accomplishing Obligation, you are fulfilling the obligation so your rating goes down and it is unlikely to come into effect again quickly. By fulfilling your duty, the rating goes up, showing that you are an individual who is contributing greatly to the cause. If Obligation goes up to 100 for a group, it often means that the obligations take a front seat in the character's minds and the story often can't move forward without them addressing it. If duty goes up to 100 for the group, then this often leads to a reward from their cause and an increase in 'contribution rank.' Higher contribution rank also increases your notoriety with your group and your enemies.

EDIT: And like how they seem opposites, they work opposite in character creation as well. You can take additional obligation for extra XP or starting credits while you can lower your starting Duty for extra XP and credits.