Do you allow players the opportunity to alter history?

[beaumont sebos]

My PCs never altered the SW universe* becasue I ran a campaign set 25 years after Endor. They did rarely interact with the movie characters, but there was no worry on my part of altering the universe.

I ran that campaign for 9 years and now we are doing something different. The new campaign is set 3 years before ANH. One PC is actually playing the father of his PC in the future. So there's lots of potential to screw things up.

However, several years ago, I introduced the idea of the time travel and the multiverse in my SW campaign (hey, after several years of the same campaign, you tend to impletment some pretty crazy ideas) so it's simple for me to explain away any problems.

* NOTE: Only the SW movies are canon for my universe.
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Beaumont Sebos

"Saving the multiverse, one Gamorrean Ale at a time."

[Jedi Skyler]

That's cool. I recently created the father of MY favorite PC. I'm just waiting for the right era game to run him in.

[KageRyu]

It seems like I answered a thread just like this at length not so long agao...wow.
In a word, yes. This is the meat and potatoes of role playing, allowing players the chance to alter the story. I believe this has come to be know as an Infinities style campaign. If I could remember what the other thread was, I'd link to it.

*Edit*
Ah, yes, here it is, a good read:
http://www.rancorpit.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=610&start=15
Wait, that's not the one I thought...Though that is still a good read on alternate views of the SW Universe.
This was what I was thinking of:
http://www.rancorpit.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=629&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=15
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"There's a set way to gain new Force Points and it represents a very nice system, where you're rewarded for heroism, not for being a poor conductor to electricity." ~Jachra

[KageRyu]

[garhkal]

[KageRyu]

[Jedi Skyler]

[garhkal]

Fare enough....
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Confucious sayeth, don't wash cat while drunk!

[Jedi Skyler]

I kinda also think that Sensing is done somewhat unconsciously by those who've done it for awhile. That would be how Obi-Wan doubled over when Alderaan was destroyed, or the Jedi students on Yavin 4 were all hit hard when Carida was destroyed after Kyp Durron having caused its sun to go nova. They weren't necessarily even actively sensing, but were affected by disturbances in the Force. These people just become so attuned to the Force that they don't have to be actually searching to sense certain things.

[KageRyu]

[Jedi Skyler]

Good point, Kage. And the Force-sensitives or users don't even have to be very skilled to sense major disturbances. Like I said, when Kyp vaped the Caridan sun, ALL the students on Yavin 4 were doubled over in agony- including Tionne, arguably the least-skilled one of the bunch. From the get-go it was made clear that she had very little potential for strength in the Force, and yet she felt it as keenly as the rest of them.

[Tahlorn]

With regards back to playing out scenes from the movies, or affecting the history;

My group and myself would be unable to enjoy being run in a scene from the movies. We as players already know what will happen, and thus lack motivation to do anything. We avoid using out of game knowledge, but when you know every piece of the story, every event that will occur and thus not be a surprise, it is impossible to not let it affect your actions. The main GM had been run in the battle of Endor down on the planet surface, and all the characters just sat back and did nothing, because they as players knew that they were not needed to seal victory, and thus lacked any sort of motivation. Why go risk your characters life when thier actions are pointless to the outcome?

And for altering history / story line, that would get very complicated very quickly. We tend to time jump, playing one mission after the fall of the empire, another at its peak, and yet another when the republic rules strong. Keeping track of all the changes would be difficult. We use the movies as a backdrop, a way for us to know the tech level and the political workings, but not as a basis for our missions / campaigns.

Then again, we enjoy the movies but are not obsessed over it, and thus may not feel the need to be part of it as much as others may.

[Jedi Skyler]

I don't think I'd call it obsession, personally. I don't see it as any different than playing any of the video games, really. Like in X-wing, you end up helping see the Death Star plans safely to Leia's ship. Or in Dark Forces, you actually nab them as Kyle Katarn. It's cool to have parts like that in the grand scheme of things.

But I also think it's fun to explore different possibilities by altering events in the timeline... It's interesting to see how differently things could have turned out.

[Vartax]

It's kind of like a history that happens in the background. So far none of the gm's that we've had have done a rebel campaign. Granted that might be changing soon, but the story happens around them. It's all about when they start timeline wise in the universe.

[Jedi Skyler]

Pretty much. You can have a whole range of events to center your campaign around if you want to, or your GM can simply list certain events to let you know the approximate time your campaign takes place in.