Why can't you play the game in an era other than the Rebellion Era? Will there be supplements and expansions for exploring these time periods?

Well, I doubt there will be a rule that will stop you playing outside the Rebellion Era. You can freely play whatever you would like. It will just be that the support for it will presume players are playing in the Rebellion Era… which is also the only era, as far as I am concerned… ok, Heir to the Empire passes as well.

I would be extremely surprised if you couldn't use the rules as written to explore any time-frame. Think of WEG: that was written in its bare form to be a Rebellion Era game, but a vast number of people began throwing the system into other periods even prior to the release of the expansion modules.

If you're a fan of the Rebellion Era - which, I think, most Star Wars followers are - then the decision for the core books to focus upon one period instead of all of them is a blessing: it allows them the opportunity to provide much greater focus on one time period, rather than using up pages covering others.

Yeah, really you can play in any era. I mean who really cares… just take a ship from the book… YT-1300 and rename it Dynamic-class freighter (Ebon Hawk)… DONE. You are now the Old Republic Era.

WOOKIEEPEDIA is your friend. You can cobble together anything from there. Believe me, I have been doing it in my D6 campaign.

Apart from the fact of what most have said allready about being the master of your own campaign and chosen Era. I would be surprised if FFG doesnt add Era books as source material, if not seperate games (after the 3 year shedule).

BrashFink said:

Not only is wookieepedia your friend, it also has the best damn name of any wiki, ever.

Brence said:

There are ALOT of things to cover in the Rebellion Era alone. Also, since Lucas has final approval, he might have made a requirement for the initial stuff to be in the Rebellion Era. I expect that you only really need some supplements, though, for stuff not in the Rebellion Era. All in all, I would expect that we get the three core books, and then supplements for using those core books in various eras. With the system being split the way it is, you do not need to do a supplement that covers everything in each individual era. You could do a Jedi Supplement that covers the Tales of the Jedi, KOTOR, NJO, and Legacy eras, and, only have to do one or two supplements to cover the Jedi in those eras, since it is only for the Jedi section of the RPG.  Same with the Edge of the Empire and Military books. Get the core for each solidly done, and then the "Eras book" is just extra stuff for all the various Eras through the lens of the Sub-RPG they are done for.

 I agree, the old WEG was set in the Rebellion era, I would prefer a more balanced system that allows me to play in any SW era, with sorcebooks covering each one in detail. Personally, I think the Clone Wars era would've been a better place to start. 

But to many people the Rebellion Era is what Star Wars is really about. It is the most iconic of all the periods.

I am not sure what you mean by "a more balanced system".

Looking at the book, the only real "named" stuff are starships. Most everything else is generically named (heavy blaster pistol, heavy blaster rifle, etc.). Starships are named, but easily could represent fairly broad designations (heck, I've heard from some sources that designs like the YT-1300 have been around for thousands of years and could very well be present in the Old Republic setting).

Given that, I see little that actually stops players from picking a setting. The real "limiting" factor is that it really is written with the intent that the PCs are frigners (the obligation system mainly).

I'd imagine that it'd be very easy to play in any time period, provided you have all three books (and, even then, only if you wanted to be able to include everything). :)

I wonder if Fantasy Flight's license includes the right to publish material for the Old Republic setting. I don't know if the Dark Horse comics and Bioware games technically count as part of the core Star Wars license. I hope so, because both WEG and WotC did stuff with it and it's a great setting to play in.

I wonder… does the book include stats for things like stormtrooper armour?

Yes, but it is initially referred to plainly as Laminate armour, with the description saying it is used as stormtrooper armour.

Glad to hear that it's included. :) Is it a good set, or pretty poor by armour standards? I remember the stormtrooper armour from D20 being kind of crappy. :S

I'm still reading through the rules, so I am only seeing simple numbers.

It possesses the same "soak" value as padded clothing (it is also the highest soak score any of the armour sets can have). It lacks a defense value, but most armour does not provide defense (except for personal shields, heavy armour, and "armoured clothing").. Its main draw is the amount of modifications it can accept, which is far greater than most for its price range/availability/legality.

Still, it would be a stretch for a PC to have at start of play.