The concern that I have with running a game at mid/high level in this setting is that those characters should be running epic plots not one shot back of the book encounters. It's hard to create errand type scenerios for higher level characters.

I think the Clone Wars TV show at times illustrates a way for high level errand missions or adventure that isn't an epic over arcing plot (not to say such doesn't exist).

Level 1 and 2 Heroes can be playable as heroic.  Sure, they're wannabes, but they have potential.  As a player though you have to remember that you have Force Points and Destiny Points to burn.  Levels are earned quickly at low levels; not taking many encounters.  Your Force Points refresh when you gain a level, and any remaining Force Points you had from the previous level are lost.  Destiny Points can be accumulated, sure, but if you don't use them to save your butt then you won't survive to gain another level and another Destiny Point.  So don't be stingy with your Force Points.  This is Saga Edition, not WEG where Force Points can be used to improve your character.  Survival here is what improves your character.

I would say that it depends on what Era you're playing in.  Most of the time Jedi have access to formal training since childhood in a Jedi Academy.  Then Lightsaber Deflect and Lightsaber Block were standard training for Padawans who had nothing else to do but train in the Jedi arts.  But when you get into Eras where there is no Jedi Academy (Dark Times, Rebellion Era, and early in the New Republic Era) then what you learn depends upon your instructor and how much time you have.  Notice how Obi-wan took the time to teach Luke Deflect and Block, but he didn't train him to do any other tricks with The Force.  It took him time with Yoda just to learn the basics of The Force.  Luke didn't have the benefit of a well-rounded Force training.  He was taught to be a weapon and that's all he was.  Everything after basic training and Lightsaber combat he had to learn on his own.  It took lots of time, lots of exploring, and lots more adventures.

Aha...

Well, depends on era is fair. Of course, the Sith would get them free too...and they are MUCH less era dependent!

Um, are there SWSEC games open now?

For further references Cowboy Bebop was a show full of high level characters running into less-than-heroic mostly one-shot encounters.

Firefly is another great "tramp freighter" show. Same with Farscape from a certain point of view.

Basically the key to those shows is to keep rewards out of the hands of players. Sure you give them nice weapons and armor and other equipment but their bank account must have a permanent siphoning hose on it.

So sure they make 10,000 credits but then they turn around and have to pay out a 9,500 credit bribe to an Imperial Officer to stay out of jail...that kind of thing.

Thus the carrot of "you need money to get food" is always in reach so you can lure players to less then heroic encounters.


The second way is with the "agent" perspective that they are doing a difficult task for less then retirement-level pay because of a grander plot (i.e. supporting the rebellion, freeing the nice Mr. Sobstory's family etc.) It's possible but you have to be a little less lazy from a GM perspective and a bit more understanding of GM's taking your stuff away from a player perspective.

Alright, so I've updated some things and I think we're ready to get things started!


Here are the updates:

1) For now the "official" rule is that you start at level 3, so design a level 3 character. If a GM comes forward early on and says they want to run a high level character then chosen PCs will be allowed to power level so we have a small group of level X in the repository. If enough interest in mid-to-high level games remain we can revisit allowing players to either start at low/mid/high level (3/5/8) or other modifications.

2) I have added the comment that it is the player's responsibility to provide motivation for their PC. Do not join a game as a player and then have your character drag his heels throughout the whole game. I added the rule that a GM only has to warn a player once before being allowed to boot the player from the game so players are encouraged to play ball. We, the mods, are available for arbitration and dispute resolution but ultimately the GMs are in charge of their games. We're a regulating body, not micro-managers.

3) I set point buy to 28. We'll see how that works for now as a happy middle ground. After a couple initial games we can revisit and repoll.

---

NEXT STEPS:

1. Any prospective GMs can work with me to post their ads. I'll create a template but the basic information is this:
   
   - Era of play:
   - Expected size of party:
   - Special considerations/restrictions (i.e. no jedi, all jedi)
   
   
2. Once we have a game going, players can create their characters and submit them for posting in the repository.
   
   
3. Once we start having characters for review I need a reliable mod/gm/pc to volunteer to aid in auditing character sheets. I can do them when I can but that will have a long cycle time as I can only review a couple sheets a week most likely. Someone should double check math, calculate encumbrance etc.
   
   Then we can get this community started!

Also I added tags to the threads to better sort them by their function:

[GAME] Specifically relate to community games, i.e. game adverts, Birthday XP, rule questions etc. Players & GMs NEED to keep up with those threads.

[GENERAL] Is general community or saga information. GMs & Players *should* read these.

[OTHER] Is anything else, from general star wars setting discussions to funny pictures and other "off-topic" items.

So what ever happened to the idea of us creating Dynasties?  Or is that going to wait for later?  I think it ought to wait for later if/when there are multiple games.

Errr...why are you picking level 3 as default?

I thought level 8 won the vote?

Vote was too close to call.

If you read all my posts you'll see that if a GM wants they can power level OCs up to whatever level they want but the default start will remain low level,

The reason is simple- you can ALWAYS go up, you can't go down...

Eh, there were 8 yes and 5 no, with three abstains.  Not really close at all.  But Prague's the boss and what he says goes.

8 to 5, 3 abstentions...and that's too close to call?

I demand a manual recount! Gotta be pregnant chads in there somewhere?

The vote was 8 to 5 for Level 8?  And this is too close to call?  Need I remind you that "Abstain" doesn't count as a vote.  That's just saying, "I'm here and I don't care."  Sure, our vote has a small data set.  But to call the difference of three votes out of 13 cast a statistical tie?  Do I have to pull out my old college text books and do the math to see if it really is a statistical tie?  My gut says a margin of 23% isn't a statistical tie.

I don't see the harm in allowing Level 8 games.  It's not like this is going to be forced on anyone.  First off, a GM has to choose to run one.  And players can choose not to play in it.  And if enough players choose not to play in it, they can effectively overrule the GM.

I don't know if it was too close to call but I would definately say that it was an insufficiant sampling. Less than a third of the people who have logged in this month voted. Thus Prague did the logical thing and said

He didn't say that higher level PC's were banned. Just that it wasn't where we are going to start. The posts that he has put up are just there to get people rolling.

I totally just thought 'Oh, I could GM a game!'

Then I thought 'Who are you kidding?  You have a job now!'

So yeah.  We'll see.

I counted up the votes and logs.  There were 32 logins in January, so half of all logins voted.  Of the logins, 7 either never posted for weeks (and never game back after an RTJ, we get that a lot here) or haven't posted in years.  We'd have to count Prague as a deliberate Abstain since he couldn't possibly have not known about the thread he wrote himself.  That leaves 24 people who cast 16 votes, meaning we had a 67% voter turnout, better than most nations ever manage.  As I said before, Prague's the boss and I'll support his decision, but pretending he went with the numbers is silly, he went with what he felt would work best in spite of them.

Aren't statistics fun! I simply counted 32 people logged in, 13 gave an opinion so I was only counting them as having voted. (Abstaining is the same as not voting in my opinion)

I was completely off when I said "less than a third" though. This is what I get for posting while I'm at work.

Yes, 67% is exceptionally good for a national election.  I've been a poll worker in my community for over a decade now.  (Or is it "pole worker"?  Wait, not that kind of pole worker.  Hmmmm, I wonder if that would improve voter turn out?) You're doing good if 40% vote on a Presidential election.  Maybe it's not like that elsewhere in the country.  Living in Southern California, I get the impression that presidential candidates don't want our votes as much as they want our campaign contributions.
This message was last edited by the GM at 23:29, Sat 26 Jan 2013.

Yup, the election in '12 has possibly the highest turnout in over 40 years and it still only hit about 57%.  Elections for lesser positions regularly drop into the low 40s.

The biggest problem with the votes is that nobody came forward saying they would like to RUN a high level game.

Having 30 people say they want to play in high level but nobody opting to run one doesn't mean anything. We "start" at lvl 3', if someone wants to run a higher end game they can. Like I said, you can always go up, you can't go down.

Then perhaps we need a new topic.

What makes GMs nervous about higher level games?

I can make that a topic of a week...

As explained we can allow pre-leveling to allow for higher level campaigns. If that becomes the norm where everyone creates a lvl 3 then immediately lvl 8 then we can update the standards.

Sorry but can someone give an explanatio how Legacies work? I've never played with them.