Lightsabre RPG Introduction

By Jonathan Hicks

This little section of the site is something I have wanted to do for a long time. Since my first tentative steps playing the Dungeons and Dragons® role-playing game back in the mid 1980’s to today, playing a dozen different systems such as Warhammer®, Call of Cthulhu® and Prime Directive® that pretty much satisfy my need for spontaneous creativity. Always, though, I come back to Star Wars.

What makes me want to role-play? Well, if you’ve gone to the trouble to read this then you may know why but can’t explain. I suppose it stems from those games when we were kids, ‘lets pretend’ games that allowed you to be the cops and robbers or, as it was with my childhood, Rebels and Imperials. The chance to continue doing that kind of stuff but in a more controlled environment was my cue for fun.

My main role during the Star Wars role-playing years (1988 - present) was that of Gamesmaster, the ultimate controller of the game and the man in charge of making sure the players had a good time.

This is what I will try to communicate to you, the electronic player, as I build this part of the site.

It’s been a long time since I have run a game for the original group which was responsible for the expansion of the Setnin Sector - the original setting (before the games) was just a few planets but when the role-playing started everyone wanted to create new and wondrous places for the players to visit, hence the overwhelming amount of planets, characters and locations.

The bulk of games spanned nearly eight full years and included over a dozen players, all injecting their own little snippets of creation into the mould. I played with several different groups, both as a Gamesmaster and a character, and watched how different personalities banded together to run through a story. Some of it was difficult, some easy, some fun, some boring. Some people would play as many characters as possible and not settle into a role, making the games unpredictable and difficult to manage, some would stick to only one character and no one else, making the games stale and difficult to make original. Some would be brave, some cowards, some would get stuck in, some would have ‘not gotten involved’, some would live, some die. The players and their characters came and went but the one theme throughout the entire time stayed true - this was the Setnin Sector. And, as far as we were concerned, it was Star Wars.

I’m not even going to try and document the role-playing stats and details of the entire sector - I’d need an entire domain of my own just to get the planets in, but what I will do is define a location or a character when writing material for the players to use. The guidebook on this site is more than enough for the prospective Gamesmaster to use and create stats for the entries provided.

The purpose of this part of the site is not just to detail what happens in and around the Setnin Sector - I will try to make the scenarios I write and the material I create as generic as possible. Inevitably, most of it will still be rooted in the Setnin Sector because that was where most of it was created.

I have many opinions and ideas on how to run a role-playing game and, even though my viewpoint may not be your idea of how it should be done, I have tried to be as broadminded as possible. Please, send me you’re own ideas and opinions and I’ll try to include as many as I can. I would love to see any original material as far as scenarios and settings go. I may include some of it in the site.

All of the material I write about on this site is unofficial, sanctioned by none of the companies or games mentioned and is solely the intellectual property of myself and those I game with. The use of logos, trademarks and material are for non-profit purposes. The material that my friends and I have created is our intellectual property, and although we don’t mind people using it for their own games and campaigns it is prohibited to be used in an official capacity.

So take this material and do what you will, but I will demand you do one thing - have fun!

Jonathan Hicks

Lightsabre RPG Editor