The Path Towards Destiny

“You must unlearn what you have learned.”
   –Master Yoda

Often you have looked towards the horizon, wondering what strange lands and marvels might lie beyond. You’ve always sensed that you were bound to a great destiny and imagined the day when your destiny would begin to unfold. You’ve hungered for something to sweep you away on an adventure that would change your life and introduce you to a larger world. 

The Star Wars®: Force and Destiny™ roleplaying game opens up the larger world you’ve been dreaming of and places the path towards destiny right at your feet. Today’s preview answers some basic questions about the system and the Core Rulebook, offering you a broad map for your upcoming adventures in the Star Wars universe.

What is the setting and theme of Force and Destiny?

Force and Destiny takes place almost two decades after the end of the Clone Wars. Since the Jedi Order was outlawed, agents of the Galactic Empire mercilessly persecute Force users, seeking to either bring them under Imperial control or eradicate them entirely. Yet very recently, the Death Star was destroyed in the Battle of Yavin. While the event demonstrated the great strength of the Rebellion, Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi was slain on that Death Star, stifling hope that the Jedi Order might be reborn. 

Amid this galaxy-wide upheval, Force and Destiny focuses on those select few who can sense and use the Force, whether they have spent years in hiding or only just discovered their powers. It explores the scattered ruins of the outlawed Jedi Order and plunges deep into the timeless conflict between good and evil. Your adventures in Force and Destiny may lead you to join the Rebellion, launch you on a quest to find other Force-sensitives, or drive you deep into the abyss of the Dark Side.

What sort of characters can I play and what sorts of things am I likely to do?

The playable characters of Force and Destiny hail from disparate worlds and pursue a range of  careers, but are all Force-senstitive. You might play a Twi’lek who protects the downtrodden in the cruel streets of Nar Shaddaa, a Togruta politician whose uses the Force to guide her decisions, or a fearless human fighter accustomed to making a living with his fists. The Core Rulebook offers eight species, six careers, and eighteen specializations to choose from.

No matter what career you choose, you and your companions are about to embark on an epic and challenging journey. You might be on the run from Imperial officers, your ship might crash land on a planet filled with hostile wildlife. You may find yourself exchanging lightsaber blows with the servants of the dark side, or trying to save a city from criminals and corruption.  At every turn you’ll have to rely on your skills, talents, and developing Force powers to heal the galaxy’s wounds – and often, just to survive. 

What kind of dice mechanic does this system use?

Force and Destiny uses a custom dice system designed to make results easy to interpret and help players further the narrative from the dice results. The core mechanic is a skill check resolved by rolling a pool of dice. Easy-to-read symbols on the dice faces not only indicate whether an action succeeds or fails, but also if it has positive or negative side effects. Instead of tracking series of numerical modifiers, Game Masters can simply add and subtract dice from a player’s pool. The system makes everything from using the Force to starship combat fast, manageable, and intuitive.

How does the Force work in Force and Destiny?

Each character possesses certain Force powers such as the ability to move an object with her mind, sense another creatures’ emotions, or perform incredible athletic feats. As your character advances, you can increase the strength of your Force powers or acquire new ones. Using the Force involves nothing more than the roll of a die. Depending on your strength with the Force, you’ll roll one or more white Force dice that display light and dark Force results. If you’re on the light side, using dark side Force results takes extra strain and may create conflicts within you. If you descend too far towards darkness, you can more easily use the dark side than the light.

What is Morality and how does it work?

The Star Wars universe has many shades of moral relativism, but is primarily a place of good and evil. In Force and Destiny, Morality measures how good or evil characters are. This is particularly important for Force users, since they are often at risk of falling towards the dark side. Morality intertwines with a character’s personality. It may shift over the course of a campaign, and  even affect how you use the Force. Torture, murder, theft, or failing to prevent another’s cruelty may decrease your morality. If you succumb too much to the dark side, you may have a difficult time returning to the light.

During character creation you’ll determine your character’s Morality, key emotional strength, and key weakness. A deeply compassionate character may be drawn to the dark side by profound hatred for those who harm others. A character defined by their bravery may easily succumb to anger, or an ambitious character might struggle to keep his ambition from turning into greed.

How is Force and Destiny related to Edge of the Empire™ and Age of Rebellion™?

Force and Destiny is a complete and independent roleplaying system on its own, but it is also fully cross-compatible with Edge of the Empire™ and Age of Rebellion™. The three games use the exact same dice mechanics. Character creation follows nearly the same rules, with the main difference that Morality is central in Force and Destiny, while Duty guides characters in Age of Rebellion, and Obligation binds them in Edge of the Empire. 

Characters created using the Force and Destiny system play well with characters from the other two systems. A Force-using Guardian of a certain XP will have roughly the same amount of skills and talents as a Smuggler or an Ace of that XP, even with their Force powers factored in. You can combine specializations to make a Force-sensitive Diplomat or a Sentinel who used to be a Performer. Similarly, characters from one system can embark on adventures designed for another. A Scout and a Medic might accompany Force-sensitives on the upcoming Chronicles of the Gatekeeper adventure. A Pathfinder and Seer might join up with some Smugglers for a heist in The Jewel of Yavin.

What content is included in the Core Rulebook?

The 448-page Force and Destiny Core Rulebook contains all the information you need to create characters and participate in action-filled adventures. Entire chapters are dedicated to combat, gear and weapons, vehicles and starships, the Force, the Star Wars galaxy, Game Mastering, and more. The Core Rulebook concludes with a complete adventure, Lessons from the Past, that you can use to launch your Force and Destiny campaign.

What if I’ve never played a roleplaying game before?

If you’re interested in the Star Wars setting and the chance to experience using the Force, but have never played an RPG before, don’t worry. provides a gateway to this system and roleplaying games in general. It features four pre-generated characters, a set of custom dice, and a complete adventure that gradually teaches players the mechanics of the system. For Game Masters, it has plenty of useful tips and tools to guide you through running the game. After the Beginner Game you can easily progress on to the Core Rulebook.

How is the Core Rulebook related to the Beginner Game?

The Beginner Game is an entry point: it introduces you to the setting, characters, and basic mechanics of Force and Destiny. The Core Rulebook puts an entire realm of possibilities at your fingertips. Its rules for character creation allow players to devise multifaceted characters suiting their individual tastes. Talent and Force power trees allow you to develop your character over the course of a campaign. Game Masters will find the information they need to engineer ship-to-ship combat scenarios, deploy numerous adversaries against their PCs, and create custom adventures. Essentially, the Core Rulebook offers a more in-depth and comprehensive roleplaying experience than the Beginner Game.

Experienced roleplayers can leap straight into the Core Rulebook, but anyone new to roleplaying or new to our Star Wars roleplaying system will likely want to play through the Beginner Game first. From there, you can continue playing the same character and even the same campaign, or begin with new characters and embark upon a completely different journey. 

What did the beta accomplish for this game, and how is this game different from the beta? 

In the words of developer Sam Stewart: 

Since two of the biggest features of Force and Destiny are the new Force-using Careers and the new Force powers, it’s unsurprising that those elements saw some of the biggest revisions during the beta process. Most specializations saw changes. In some cases, these were simple balance changes like moving a talent higher or lower in a tree.  In other cases, we removed elements that didn’t work or added in new elements people were asking for. Force powers saw changes mostly in terms of mechanics. Some needed work to make sure they functioned as intended others needed to be reigned in slightly. The Unleash power at first was not doing enough damage, then it was doing way too much damage before we found a middle ground.

One of the big differences between the beta and the Core Rulebook is that the beta was a stripped down, bare-bones version. We didn’t include any art or anything we didn’t need tested. The core book has a lot of original art pieces, background on the Force and the Jedi, additional species profiles, and a brand new adventure. 

Embark on an Epic Journey 

In Force and Destiny you will undertake epic journeys unlike any you have known. This preview offers just a glimpse of what lies ahead. Upcoming previews will delve deeper into character options, Force powers, new locations, and running the game. 

Your destiny awaits. Pre-order the Force and Destiny Core Rulebook and Game Master’s Kit today!