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Star Wars: Age of Rebellion
Age of Rebellion Roleplaying Game Core Rulebook
Take on the sinister Galactic Empire as a member of the Rebel Alliance. Wage guerilla warfare across the Star Wars galaxy as a solider, or provide crucial intelligence to the Rebels as a cunning spy. Face down legions of stormtroopers, steal secret plans and restricted codes, and stay on target in the fight against the ultimate power in the universe. No matter what role in the Rebellion you take, the fate of the galaxy rests in your hands.
The 464-page Star Wars®: Age of Rebellion™ Core Rulebook provides everything players and GMs need to begin their adventures in the Star Wars universe, including:
Concise rules for character generation and advancement
Clear descriptions of the game’s skills and talents
Convenient charts of weapons, gear, devices, starships, and vehicles
Rules for conflict, combat, and Force Sensitive Emergents in an Age of Rebellion campaign
Extensive background information on the Star Wars universe, including a history of the Rebel Alliance and its tactics, as well as pertinent information on the powerful Empire
A wealth of advice for GMs on how to create and run an Age of Rebellion campaign
A complete, introductory adventure to launch players into action!
The 464-page Star Wars®: Age of Rebellion™ Core Rulebook provides everything players and GMs need to begin their adventures in the Star Wars universe, including:
Concise rules for character generation and advancement
Clear descriptions of the game’s skills and talents
Convenient charts of weapons, gear, devices, starships, and vehicles
Rules for conflict, combat, and Force Sensitive Emergents in an Age of Rebellion campaign
Extensive background information on the Star Wars universe, including a history of the Rebel Alliance and its tactics, as well as pertinent information on the powerful Empire
A wealth of advice for GMs on how to create and run an Age of Rebellion campaign
A complete, introductory adventure to launch players into action!
464 pages, Hardcover
First published July 3, 2014
8 people are currently reading
79 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
February 26, 2019
As with Edge of the Empire, I'm a big fan of the dice system, and it definitely seems like your mileage with this game will depend on how that system works for you. I find that dice results largely allow for a narrative solution to problems to emerge, which puts more pressure on the players and GM to get creative but allows for a greater payoff in terms of creating cinematic action. AoR moves the focus of characters and campaign towards the Rebellion and their fight against the Empire. A character's individual duty to the Rebellion, and what role they will play in the bigger picture is now a question that each player should consider as the scale and scope of the campaign expands. I think that having and Edge of the Empire campaign slowly evolve into an Age of Rebellion one over time is a great way to approach a campaign - there is still room for low level adventures within AoR, but I feel that with 'higher-stakes' adventures are a better fit here.
July 22, 2015
Simply awesome. As a longtime D&D-fan I'm truly impressed. Even the adventure at the end looks very thrilling.
March 13, 2020
It is easy to see how this game would be appealing to many people. Despite the fact that it is missing my favorite player race (Devaronian, as my classic character is a Devaronian logistics ship pilot when I play Star Wars related games), there is still a lot to enjoy here. Those who want to take their roleplaying to a level that includes a lot of complexity regarding rolls and play within the Star Wars universe will have much to enjoy here. Indeed, the rolls in this game are particularly complex and appear to be designed to allow the GM to be fierce in the way that one can set up problems and complications for characters. Not only does one roll for success or failure, for example, but one also rolls for setbacks, difficulties, or challenges on top of mere success or failure that can greatly complicate the results that one receives in the game. Those who want a simple and straightforward experience of playing characters will likely find this to be at least a bit concerning, but all the same there is a lot to offer for those who want their experience in playing to mirror the ups and downs of the good Star Wars films.
This book is sizable and well-illustrated one at about 450 pages or so. The book begins with an introduction and then discusses playing the game and the dice rolls that are necessary (1). After that comes a look at character creation and the usual choice of racees, careers (classes), and specialization (2), all of which offers the reader the chance to be a part of a balanced and strong party. This leads to the choice of skills in several categories like general, combat, and knowledge (3) as well as talents (4) and gear (5). A chapter about conflict and combat (6) as well as starships and vehicles follows (7). The book then deals with the force (8), the role of the game master (9), and then provides a detailed discussion of the universe in which the game is set (10). The book then contains a discussion of the rebellion and how it started and is organized (11) while also discussing some of the adversaries of the rebellion in the Galactic Empire, the underworld, as well as among the Alliance itself, core world dwellers, and fringe dwellers (12). A sample scenario involving the Perlemian Haul over three episodes closes the book (13) before the index.
Like many games, it is easy to see that the appeal of playing in Star Wars for most people will be to play a heroic character on the side of the alliance and be a part of destroying an evil empire. This particular game is full of underdog appeal, and has some intriguing designs in classes to help create a well-rounded party that is capable of handling a lot of challenges. The wide variety of classes and skills available and the immense scope of the world of Star Wars can allow for many different missions, such as smuggling missions, combat against the Empire, or scouting and establishing a base in a remote system to provide a safe place for the Alliance to build its strength. With such varied options for gameplay, even support characters like pilots and mechanics get to shine by helping the party travel faster, repair droids and ships, and overcome the technologies that the empire possesses through ingenuity and creativity. If one is looking for an enjoyable self-insert into the world of Star Wars and appreciate complexity that allows the GM to create complications for dramatic effect, this is worth checking out.
This book is sizable and well-illustrated one at about 450 pages or so. The book begins with an introduction and then discusses playing the game and the dice rolls that are necessary (1). After that comes a look at character creation and the usual choice of racees, careers (classes), and specialization (2), all of which offers the reader the chance to be a part of a balanced and strong party. This leads to the choice of skills in several categories like general, combat, and knowledge (3) as well as talents (4) and gear (5). A chapter about conflict and combat (6) as well as starships and vehicles follows (7). The book then deals with the force (8), the role of the game master (9), and then provides a detailed discussion of the universe in which the game is set (10). The book then contains a discussion of the rebellion and how it started and is organized (11) while also discussing some of the adversaries of the rebellion in the Galactic Empire, the underworld, as well as among the Alliance itself, core world dwellers, and fringe dwellers (12). A sample scenario involving the Perlemian Haul over three episodes closes the book (13) before the index.
Like many games, it is easy to see that the appeal of playing in Star Wars for most people will be to play a heroic character on the side of the alliance and be a part of destroying an evil empire. This particular game is full of underdog appeal, and has some intriguing designs in classes to help create a well-rounded party that is capable of handling a lot of challenges. The wide variety of classes and skills available and the immense scope of the world of Star Wars can allow for many different missions, such as smuggling missions, combat against the Empire, or scouting and establishing a base in a remote system to provide a safe place for the Alliance to build its strength. With such varied options for gameplay, even support characters like pilots and mechanics get to shine by helping the party travel faster, repair droids and ships, and overcome the technologies that the empire possesses through ingenuity and creativity. If one is looking for an enjoyable self-insert into the world of Star Wars and appreciate complexity that allows the GM to create complications for dramatic effect, this is worth checking out.
May 11, 2020
I liked this one just fine, but I was under the impression that it reuses more text in between chapters than Edge of the Empire did. There's a fair amount of repetition, and the writing - especially in the GM and Rebellion chapters - tends to be pretty broad and uninspired. Those chapters feel like another editing pass would've helped to trim down the text and make it more specific rather than rehashing the same or very similar information over and over.
And even after all that fluff, the game doesn't take a clear stance on what the intended balance is for the roles of the PCs. That would be fine - this is an RPG after all - if they bothered to also include some concrete tips or guidelines for working with both groups that are less entrenched in the Alliance structures, and those that work as rank-and-file soldiers... but it's all a bit wishy-washy, "do whatever you want" and "GM has final say". If there's anything that generally bugs me about AoR and EotE both is that pretty old-schooly approach that "the GM is always right". I find it a bit surprising given how fluid the system itself can be, but maybe I'm just reading too much into it.
In general, while Edge of the Empire felt like it knew exactly what it wanted to do, this one seems somewhat less focused in its intentions and more concerned about giving people the background lore (but not too much!) and a framework for playing a military-focused campaign... while sweeping some questions regarding player agency in such a mode of play under the rug and telling people to figure it out themselves.
And even after all that fluff, the game doesn't take a clear stance on what the intended balance is for the roles of the PCs. That would be fine - this is an RPG after all - if they bothered to also include some concrete tips or guidelines for working with both groups that are less entrenched in the Alliance structures, and those that work as rank-and-file soldiers... but it's all a bit wishy-washy, "do whatever you want" and "GM has final say". If there's anything that generally bugs me about AoR and EotE both is that pretty old-schooly approach that "the GM is always right". I find it a bit surprising given how fluid the system itself can be, but maybe I'm just reading too much into it.
In general, while Edge of the Empire felt like it knew exactly what it wanted to do, this one seems somewhat less focused in its intentions and more concerned about giving people the background lore (but not too much!) and a framework for playing a military-focused campaign... while sweeping some questions regarding player agency in such a mode of play under the rug and telling people to figure it out themselves.
April 14, 2019
I've tried out pretty much every version of Star Wars RPG that has come out - the various incarnations of d6 back with West End, the d20 spree, and even the Buy-Our-Expensive-Unique-Dice version from Fantasy Flight.
Each had their advantages and drawbacks.
d6 had one of the hardest/longest/slowest Jedi paths, which felt right and its lack of levels made it seem more natural (the first level-less system I played). However, it has lots of fiddliness with modifiers and the amount of adding everyone does every roll can bog gameplay down pretty quick.
d20 had some neat stuff - usually gorgeous art (especially Saga), great layout, simple rules - but suffered from my growing dislike of level-based systems. The split of Wounds/Vitality from HP was a great step that I think was a huge and missed opportunity for later versions of D&D.
Fantasy Flight had the literally mixed bag of dice - the system was cool and innovative, but slow, clunky, and often challenging for the GM. The way character's bought advances was cool, but it took me hours trying to design a future theoretical Jedi that could do even half the stuff we see in the movies and it would take a year of playing to get there.
If I were to play Star Wars again, I'd probably drift indie towards Impulse Drive or Scum and Villainy.
Each had their advantages and drawbacks.
d6 had one of the hardest/longest/slowest Jedi paths, which felt right and its lack of levels made it seem more natural (the first level-less system I played). However, it has lots of fiddliness with modifiers and the amount of adding everyone does every roll can bog gameplay down pretty quick.
d20 had some neat stuff - usually gorgeous art (especially Saga), great layout, simple rules - but suffered from my growing dislike of level-based systems. The split of Wounds/Vitality from HP was a great step that I think was a huge and missed opportunity for later versions of D&D.
Fantasy Flight had the literally mixed bag of dice - the system was cool and innovative, but slow, clunky, and often challenging for the GM. The way character's bought advances was cool, but it took me hours trying to design a future theoretical Jedi that could do even half the stuff we see in the movies and it would take a year of playing to get there.
If I were to play Star Wars again, I'd probably drift indie towards Impulse Drive or Scum and Villainy.
October 11, 2015
Fantasy Flight has done a really good job at creating a roleplaying system that replicates the cinematic nature of the Star Wars universe. The unique dice mechanic leads to some great storytelling opportunities. Of the three core rulebooks for this system, this is my favorite because it captures the feel of the original trilogy the best. The only reason that I give this four stars instead of five stars is that Fantasy flight has reproduced the basic core rules in all three of their core rulebooks, so if you have bought one of the other core books, you're getting a lot of the same content. If you were going to get only one of the core rulebooks for this system, this is the one I would recommend.
December 7, 2016
I have no real experience playing RPGs, but after reading this rulebook, I think if I were, this would be the one I would play. The narrative focus of the game appeals to me, and is very different than the focus on the minutiae of some older systems. Plus, it's Star Wars, which is of course a favorite of mine. If you are interested in roleplaying, I don't think you can go wrong here.
January 5, 2016
It's a good book, but I already have the Edge of the Empire Core Rule book and then later bought the Force and Destiny one. This book had little new information. But it is a great core rule book....just in my opinion it was the weakest of the three.
February 5, 2017
Ridiculously complex dice system lies at the root of this. Way too complicated for my gaming needs.
Background material is okay, not brilliant.
And the introductory adventure is one of the worst introductory adventures I've ever seen.
Background material is okay, not brilliant.
And the introductory adventure is one of the worst introductory adventures I've ever seen.
February 19, 2016
Once you get over reading the funky dice, this book delivers pure Star Wars gaming. Can't recommend enough.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews