Star Wars: Age of Rebellion was Fantasy Flight Games' second RPG set in the galaxy far far away. Released in 2014, it came out almost exactly a year after their first foray, Edge of the Empire. Departing from lovable scoundrels and grim bounty hunters, Age of Rebellion instead focused on the ace pilots and daring revolutionaries that made up the Rebel Alliance. Both games employ the same basic mechanics and proprietary "Narrative Dice." As the name implies, Age of Rebellion allows players to play out the Rebellion's desperate struggle against the Galactic Empire.
While both games are built around the same foundations, Age of Rebellion does lack a lot of the freedom and flare offered by Edge of the Empire. Even so, this trench run proves to be a successful one.
Second Verse, Same as the First
Much like FFG's now defunct Warhammer 40,000 Roleplay, every one of their star wars game lines share the same ruleset. Thankfully they've learned well from those days in the Dark Millennium. Edge of the Empire and Age of Rebellion are truly compatible, in contrast with the constant patching over and quibbling needed to integrate the disparate 40K game lines.
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| Fantasy Flight Games |
Injury rules as written are put players out of the fight to soon, while also needlessly limiting the lethality. More frustrating, starship combat is still just as punishing and unsatisfying. Dogfights are such a key part of the Rebellion's identity that it's
unfortunate so little was done to fix it. A few of the Ace career paths add some much needed defensive talents but those require considerable investment and hardly solve the overall problem.While the lack of any real fixes is frustrating, it does at least maintain the core books' compatibility. I have to credit FFG with avoiding one of the more frustrating modern RPG trends by putting everything you need in one book. With all the repetition, it would have been easy to do a core Star Wars book and sold the individual game lines as supplements. If you're going for a complete set, having those three core books take up so much space can be frustrating at times but it ends up being cheaper and more convenient than juggling supplements like too many other systems.
I'm Doing My Part
That approach does mean those interested in the raw mechanics of the FFG Star Wars games should read my last review. I'll be focusing on what Age of Rebellion actually does differently rather than repeat myself.
I will at least provide a quick refresher on the Narrative Dice. Split between three positive and negative dice, instead of trying to hit target numbers, you try to generate at least one success. Postive dice generate Successes, negative dice generate Failures. They also generate Advantages and Disadvantages respectively. Successes and Failures cancel out, as do Advantages and Disadvantages, though those two groups are tracked separately.
That means a nominally successful action can have disastrous consequences and vice versa. It's the driving force of the entire game line, and it works just as well for plucky Rebels as it does for aspiring rogues. Game Masters and players might fumble if they can't think of anything on the spot, especially as characters become more skilled.
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| Fantasy Flight Games |
While Age of Rebellion has nearly identical core mechanics to its predecessor, there is a noticeable disparity in writing quality. I suspect it's partially because of how much broader Edge of the Empire's premise is but Age of Rebellion just doesn't quite hook me the same way. In the case of the character creation section, I'd say it's just not nearly as well written. Age of Rebellion does an adequate job conveying crucial information and establishing expectations but it's hardly the knockout, tone setting pitch Edge of the Empire's character generation section gave.
Age of Rebellion does convey that there are more kinds of Rebels than just "ace flyer" and "loyal soldier." The book emphasizes the Empire has no qualms with guilt by association, so those who find themselves in league with the Rebels aren't necessarily dedicated to a cause beyond fighting the Empire. While that emphasis sacrifices a more political and ideal driven vision of the Rebellion, it helps establish that being the member of a semi-formal military organization won't be too restrictive for players.
Unfortunate comparisons to Edge of the Empire aren't helped by how Age of Rebellion substitutes the character building Obligation system with the far more sterile Duty system. Representing a player characters' specific responsibilities to the Rebellion, when their duty activates randomly at the start of a session, it's a chance to prove their worth. Or invite high command's displeasure.
Unlike Obligation, player characters want their Duty to go up. Each time it hits hits 100, you revert back to zero and the player is rewarded with a boost in rank or a more material bonus.
In concept, it's a sound mechanic and a good way to convey a sense of military hierarchy. Unfortunately, the Duty list is very poorly done. Whereas Obligation comes in the form of deeply personal subplots woven into the characters' back story, Duty is represented by broad, tactical objectives. They're also more likely to conflict with a character's role than Obligations. In my experience, players and GMs alike are going to be stumped if they commit to a Diplomat with the "Air Superiority" Duty.
It's unfortunate that Duty has such a botched execution, though it's hardly unsalvgeable. I think it would work fine if the standard list was substituted with a more characterful one.
A Few Good Sentients
Otherwise, character creation is solid. The Age of Rebellion careers are obviously military themed, though there's support for characters beyond footsoldiers. That being said, most of the careers are what you'd expect: Ace, Soldier, Commander, Spy, Engineer, and the aforementioned Diplomat.
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| Fantasy Flight Games |
A new universal specialization is also introduced, Recruit. This a general smattering of useful combat and military skills, meant to augment less combat oriented careers for the rigors of combat. Though not explicitly stated, it can also be used to help bring a Edge of the Empire character into the Rebellion's fold.
Age of Rebellion ends up filling some much needed gaps with their characters. While the tactically oriented Commander trees are a little unwieldy, it fills an important niche. Especially when mass combat rules were later added, though perhaps they would have been better placed here. The Diplomat is my personal favorite, as I always appreciate an RPG that gives the players mechanical support for options beyond "Well, shoot them."
Evil Empire
Even if the mechanics are nearly identical, Age of Rebellion still offers a Rebels Vs Empire experience. Most of the iconic Imperial and Rebellion vehicles make a showing. A few Expanded Universe treats pop up as well, namely the TIE-Defenders and Interdictor.
Similarly, the range of NPCs on offer reflects the swithced focus. Age of Rebellion ensures that GMs have more to throw at their players than just Stormtroopers. Some personal favorites of mine are also pulled, namely the underused Imperial Army as well as Dark Forces' imposing Dark Troopers. Some inventive picks are seeded in there and once again, I must compliment Fantasy Flight Games on hitting the sweet spot with their NPCs.
Entries are broad enough to suit a GM's basic needs for a Star Wars campaign, but have just enough flavor that they feel like more than numbers on a page. Some are obvious stand ins for iconic characters, ranging from Lobot to Obi-Wan. That's offset by additions like pirates, corporate drones, and informants, who's inclusion helps give a sense of where you can bring a campaign, even if there aren't that many explicit adventure seeds.
Besides the well executed array of NPCs, the book's background sections break down the essential information on the Galactic Civil War. And then some.
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| Fantasy Flight Games |
Age of Rebellion draws heavily from the Legends continuity and makes no attempt of hiding it. That FFG has barely any additions of their own draws attention to that. Much of the non-film material, particularly the structure of the Rebellion and Empire, is drawn from West End Games excellent Star Wars RPG. FFG even chose to draw from some of the more controversial works. Notably, The Force Unleashed's absurd, more than a little contrived origin story for the Rebellion is awkwardly merged with the original one. Similarly, the clone filled events of Dark Empire and it's nightmare wonderland setting Byss takes up much of the Deep Core section of the Galaxy Guide.
Even as a die hard Legends fan, I was a little wary of these inclusions. Thankfully, the whole idea behind RPGs is that you're telling the story you want to. So inexplicable, resurrecting Palpatine clones don't need to show up, no matter which canon you draw from.
Use the Force
There's still support for force users in Age of Rebellion, though it raises some prickly narrative questions. At the very least, the universal career Force-Sensitive Emergent plays more naturally than its Edge of the Empire equivalent, Force Exile. Even if only because their relative weakness compared to what we see in the movies makes more sense. Two new powers are introduced, Enhance and Foresee, along with the ubiquitous Move. It's roughly equal to the amount of content offered last time, though once again much of it is a repeat.
The issue raised by Force-Sensitive Emergent is more narrative than anything else. Fans often complained about the seemingly huge throng of Jedi that survived Order 66. It diminished Luke's importance considerably, especially with Yoda declaring him to be "The last of the Jedi" in his final breaths. That problem is magnified when you're playing another aspiring Jedi lending their preternatural abilities to the Rebellion.
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At the end of the day, it's good they gave players the options but I've always felt it was one of the more headache inducing parts of the game. At least for those overly dedicated to the sanctity of Star Wars' narrative arc, like myself.
Let's Blow This Thing and Go Home
Once again, it's hard to say anything that wasn't already covered in my Edge of the Empire review. There's more similar between the two books than different, at least mechanically. Even the sample adventures are equally unappealing. There's more new art in Age of Rebellion, consistent with FFG's typically strong body of work, if a little uninspired in places.
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| Fantasy Flight Games |
Whether or not you pick up Age of Rebellion comes down to your dedication to FFG's take on Star Wars and your love of the setting itself. Die hard fans will find it easy to rationalize getting both, as well as completionists. My big picture, deep pull campaigns have definitely benefited from owning both books. However, if you forced to pick between the two, I'd have to give it to Edge of the Empire. Age of the Rebellion makes a valiant effort but the varied, underworld focus of its predecessor makes for stiff competition.
Even so, Age of Rebellion is superb for telling war stories, underdog tales of revolutionaries whose advantage is more ideological than material.
Nice review!
ReplyDeleteThank you!
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