Introduction

The Star Wars 5th Edition roleplaying game is about storytelling in worlds of lightsabers and the Force. It shares elements with childhood games of make-believe. Like those games, SW5e is driven by imagination. It's about picturing the towering AT-AT beneath the stormy night sky and imagining how a squad of rebel troops might overcome the challenges that scene presents.

This book is designed to add another significant layer to your SW5e experience. The rules are designed to work alongside the traditional SW5e ruleset, and so an experienced player should have no trouble jumping right into the book. For the less experienced-or more curious-player, this Introduction discusses the basics.

Game Master (GM): As your ship exits hyperspace above the moon of Nar Shaddaa, you see a series of snubfighters move to approach your freighter in an offensive formation. Several other craft go about their business in the vicinity, paying no attention to your potential predicament.

Rickey (playing Vinto): I want to hail them and see what their intentions are.

Drew (playing Dash): I'm going to go man the dorsal gun, just in case.

Erik (playing Kodo): ...

Unlike a game of make-believe, D&D gives structure to the stories, a way of determining the consequences of the adventurers' actions. Players roll dice to resolve whether their attacks hit or miss or whether their starship can scale a skim the surface of a star destroyer, break the lock on a concussion missile, or pull off some other dangerous task. Anything is possible, but the dice make some outcomes more probable than others.

Game Master (GM): OK, one at a time. Rickey, you're hailing the newcomers?

Rickey: Yeah. Do they respond?

GM: Make a Charisma check.

Rickey: Does my Persuasion skill apply?

GM: Sure!

Rickey (rolling a d20): ... Four.

GM: You can hear the click of static, but no voice responds to you. And Drew, Dash is manning the dorsal gun?

Drew: Yup!

GM: Okay. Eric, what's Kodo doing?

Eric: ...

In the Star Wars Dungeons and Dragons game, each player creates an adventurer (also called a character) and teams up with other adventurers (played by friends). Working together, the group might obtain a freighter and take to the stars, expanding the scope and potential of their game. They might become pirates, the scourge of the Outer Rim, or they may accept missions from a leading faction. They may become smugglers, taking jobs as they see fit, or become bounty hunters in the employee of a powerful hutt.

One player, however, takes on the role of the Game Master (GM), the game's lead storyteller and referee. The GM creates adventures for the characters, who navigate its hazards and decide which paths to explore. The GM might describe an ongoing naval battle, and the players decide what they want their adventurers to do. Will they choose a side and join in the combat? Will they attempt to mediate a truce? Or will they simply choose a new destination?

Then the GM determines the results of the adventurers' actions and narrates what they experience. Because the GM can improvise to react to anything the players attempt, D&D is infinitely flexible, and each adventure can be exciting and unexpected.

The game has no real end; when one story or quest wraps up, another one can begin, creating an ongoing story called a campaign. Many people who play the game keep their campaigns going for months or years, meeting with their friends every week or so to pick up the story where they left off. The adventurers grow in might as the campaign continues. Each force defeated, each adventure completed, and each relic recovered not only adds to the continuing story, but also earns the adventurers new capabilities. This increase in power is reflected by an adventurer's level and deployment rank, as well as their starship's tier.

There's no winning and losing in the Star Wars Dungeons and Dragons game—at least, not the way those terms are usually understood. Together, the GM and the players create an exciting story of bold adventurers who confront deadly perils. Sometimes an adventurer might come to a grisly end, dispatched by a Sith lord. The party itself might meet its demise should it bite off more than it can chew in a starship encounter. Even so, the other adventurers can beseech a powerful Jedi to revive their fallen comrade, or the players might choose (or be forced) to create new characters to carry on. The group might fail to complete an adventure successfully, but if everyone had a good time and created a memorable story, they all win.