Star Wars: Eclipse Squadron (Learn to Play Star Wars RPG)

Creating your character

Character Creation will be handled by the standard rules in Age of Rebellion, which will serve as the Core Rulebook for this Game. However, careers from Edge of the Empire & Force and Destiny, the sister lines of Age of Rebellion, are also available, as the GM has nearly all supplements published for this system. Force Sensitive Characters are explicitly permitted & encouraged by the GM. If you are joining after Session 0, the GM will dedicate a special session to creating and introducing your character to the story. You will be a special Rebel asset to be extracted and debriefed, and will later be assigned to join Eclipse Squadron. You can join this game at any session - 1, 10, 100+ - and we will get you into the game and up to speed with the existing player characters.

Preparing for the session

All players should message the GM with their best Email for a Pre-Game Survey. This survey is required to implement certain safety tools and is mandatory to be completed before your application to join the table will be approved. If possible, I will try to coordinate a brief One-on-One Interview with the player prior to joining the game, mostly to go over the Safety Tools I use and to get an idea of what interests you about the setting. I use Zoom to run the game sessions as our Voice/Visual feed. I recommend downloading the Zoom Client so you aren't joining from your browser. I really love it when my players join me on camera, as I like seeing your smiling faces. That said, a Webcam is Optional. We use a private Discord Server for between session coordination and roleplaying. An invitation to join will be extended after the GM receives your survey. The game itself is run on Foundry, and a free Foundry account is required to join. The process of setting up a Foundry account is the work of a few minutes, and I will need your Foundry ID to add you to the game. Optional but strongly recommended is the use of the OggDude Character Tracking Software, which has a Foundry Integration. The GM will be using it to track all XP and Equipment Purchases.

What Overlord Jim brings to the table

I have been a fan of Star Wars since I was first introduced to it. Luke was my hero, and I wanted to be a Jedi, and I was terribly disappointed to discover neither Lightsabers nor the Force were real. Fortunately, there are roleplaying games, which enable me to make them real - for a little while at least - and send my own characters into the Star Wars Universe, and bring yours along too! That said, I tend to avoid "Canon" characters and events, save in passing. We know the stories of Han, Luke, and Leia. We're out here to discover new characters, new places, and new stories, and the Star Wars Universe is vast and growing every day. Let's see what else it out there! As a GM, I have embraced the Rule of Cool long before it got its name - I've been running games for over two decades now - and while my Learn To Play Games tend to hew closer to Rules as Written, if a PC comes up with a wild but plausible idea that would be cool as hell to see happen, I will find a way to make the rules give it a fighting chance. In my games, all my players are the Big Damn Heroes, and I set up my worlds expecting you're going to be just that. If evil exists, whether it's big or small, I expect you to do something to stop it. If people are in misery, I hope you'll help them out. If someone needs rescuing, I'm sure you're up to the job. I want you to do big, heroic things, and I will give you every opportunity to prove you are the Heroes I expect you to be. I have a confession to make: I love combat. I'm an absolute action junkie who loves nothing more than throwing your precious player characters into danger, and Star Wars gives me lots of excuses to do that - I mean, it's right there in the name! Don't expect my Stormtroopers to miss as badly as they do in the movies, my TIE Pilots can and will light your ships on fire, and my Inquisitors . . . well, let's just say that I love a good lightsaber duel and leave it at that. While I do love combat, it must be said that I'm more of a "Theater of the Mind" than a "Tactical Grid" kind of GM. The best part of the game for me is watching you dive into your characters. When you get fully immersed in your roles, speaking in your character's unique voice and allowing the character's choices to direct your roleplay more than your meta knowledge, that's my favorite thing, and I love it especially when your character makes a choice whose integrity I can taste - especially if it leads to plot complications later. I expect written backstories and devour them for background characters and plot hooks. I love that so many of my players are great writers in their own right and I look forward to reading your work. Be aware that I am the King of the Fifty Page Backstory and have yet to encounter a player who can write more than I'm willing - and eager - to read. Complete backstories also lead to GM Goodie baskets full of XP and Gear . . . Let's cast the best Star Wars Movie yet - I can't wait to meet your Heroes!

Homebrew rules

All Force Users gain a Morality Track, and I have tweaked the Morality rules extensively, awarding both Conflict and Heroism for Deeds Fair and Foul. Do not expect to coast to Light Side Mastery, but to earn it by actually embracing the Light Side of the Force. I allow Destiny Pool to do more than just change rolls, please remember to use it to introduce elements of awesome to the story. Star Wars is infamous for convenient plot devices - use Destiny Pool to create them and use them as much as possible!

How Overlord Jim creates a safe table

I run all my games and my server as a safe space for everyone. Pronouns and identities are to be respected, and we do not take offense when people make mistakes trying to honor those choices. I do not tolerate people making my clients - who often become my friends - feel unsafe and uncomfortable. This is an expected baseline for everyone in my games and on my server. I use a Pre-Game Survey to implement Lines & Veils. Once compiled, the Lines & Veils document will be posted on the Discord Server and reviewed as necessary, such as when new players join and their Lines & Veils are added. We will discuss them in Session 0. We use the X, N, and O Cards, and you can use them visually or submit X N & O Cards by PM, but the visual usually gets my attention faster. It is my usual practice to do a mid-game break, and we can do breaks as needed after intense scenes. I encourage high quality roleplaying and thus am prepared to deal with Bleed as it occurs. I often forget to do my Stars & Wishes, please remind me so I get better about that. I am always open to constructive criticism, it's how I improve as a GM, and I'm always trying to run a better game than the last one. All that said, this is a Star Wars game so I try to keep it PG-13, though some episodes may veer closer to R territory, it's not my intention to run a dark and gritty game here. Some blasters will pew pew, some lightsabers will ignite, and the bad guys will come to bad ends. It's Star Wars - lets not overcomplicate things.