Already, you have experienced the grim realities of life at the Edge of the Empire™. Now, it’s time to go even further into the most dangerous reaches of the galaxy. It’s time to Enter the Unknown.

This first rules supplement for Edge of the Empire expands the Explorer career with specializations, new talents, and more. All players will find new character, vehicle, and equipment options, which will aid in their experiences at the Edge of the Empire. GMs will gain new tools to use in crafting exciting and memorable adventures.

Developer Andrew Fischer gives an introduction of what is to come when you Enter the Unknown.

A Word From the Developer

The galaxy is rife with opportunity for those who are willing to seek it out. From the hostile wilderness of uninhabited worlds to the dangerous shadows of unexplored hyperspace lanes, chances for adventure and profit can be found everywhere.

Enter the Unknown is the first rules supplement for Edge of the Empire, featuring new content for the Explorer career, as well as hosts of new options for any player or game master. It provides tools for making stronger, deeper, and more diversified characters. New gear, droids, and vehicle options will enhance play for any group. Meanwhile, GMs can find advice on incorporating the themes of exploration, trade, and hunting into their campaigns.

Enter the Unknown covers the Explorer career, and gives it some exciting new options. Because of Edge of the Empire’s flexible character advancement system, these options are useful for nearly any character. First and foremost, the career gains three new specializations: the Archeologist, Big Game Hunter, and Driver. Each of these specializations gives new or existing Explorer characters additional choices including several brand-new talents. On top of that, this book adds new options for backgrounds, Obligations, and Motivations, all based on the themes of exploration, hunting, and trade.

Additionally, Enter the Unknown introduces new, powerful advancement opportunities for characters in the form of signature abilities. Signature abilities are career-specific, elite talents only available to experienced characters. They permit tremendous feats that are only made possible with the skill and ability gained over a long and successful career. Signature abilities add new talents to the bottom of one of the character’s existing talent trees, granting further advancement deeper into that character’s area of expertise.

In addition to these character options, this book contains new equipment and vehicles necessary for any character braving the wilder parts of the galaxy. Vehicles such as the the KV swoop help characters journey into the unexplored, while weapons such as the E-11s sniper rifle and the huntsman vibrospear help them survive it. Along with this, a whole suite of gear for any situation makes Enter the Unknown an extremely useful part of any adventurer's collection.

Lastly, Enter the Unknown gives Game Masters a powerful tool to craft exciting and engaging adventures for their players. Whether they are looking to work with themes of exploration in their adventures, better involve Explorer characters in their narrative, or run an entire campaign around the themes of exploration, this book gives them to the tools to do so.

Thanks Andrew!

You’ll soon be able to follow new routes that lead far from the established hyperlanes! Enter the Unknown is scheduled to arrive in the fourth quarter of 2013, but make sure to check back for updates and further announcements.

“The Sa Nalaor is infamous for disappearing. Well, and the way it disappeared.”     –Grinner, ex-smuggler and infochant

The Star Wars galaxy is vast and rife with opportunities for adventure. It’s not hard to find them; you just have to keep your eyes and ears open…

Beyond the Rim is the first full-length adventure for the Star Wars®: Edge of the Empire™ Roleplaying Game. When you overhear the rumors of a long-lost, Separatist treasure ship, the Sa Nalaor, you and your companions can take your shot at the adventure of a lifetime!

Written by veteran Star Wars adventure writer Sterling Hershey, Beyond the Rim leads characters from the corridors of the seedy hub-and-spoke space station known as the Wheel all the way to the very edge of Wild Space. There, you and your companions will explore distant planets, encounter fearsome jungle predators, and delve into mysteries that have remained unsolved for decades. Along the way, if you’re careful–and a little lucky–you’ll even find fame and fortune, as well as an opportunity to pay back old debts.

Today, Sterling talks with us about the opportunities for adventure in Beyond the Rim and what makes it a true Star Wars adventure.

Sterling Hershey on Beyond the Rim

FFG: You’ve done a lot of work with Star Wars roleplaying games through the years. What do you feel distinguishes an adventure that truly feels like Star Wars from an adventure that just happens to be set within the Star Wars universe?

SH: The best Star Wars adventures engage with central elements in the universe. They might highlight such thematic elements as the light and dark side of the Force, or they might engage the universe in a more tangible fashion by featuring a specific species or locale. With Beyond the Rim, we're using iconic locations and creatures, layered with events inspired by the Clone Wars and the current "classic era" state of the galaxy.

FFG: As the Player Characters of Beyond the Rim explore more and more of the mystery of the Sa Nalaor, they encounter adversaries and information drawn from both the Clone Wars era and the Rebellion era. How did you approach the challenge of bridging those two eras?

SH: Using Clone Wars elements within the story was my idea. Some of the interaction that I wanted to include between the PCs and other characters in the adventure limited how long ago the Sa Nalaor could’ve disappeared. The time frame fit well with end of the Clone Wars, and I was able to work out some ideas to tie those events into the mystery of the Sa Nalaor.

FFG: Beyond the Rim fleshes out a number of smaller, remote locations at the edge of Wild Space. What do you feel is the best part of being able to contribute such details to the Star Wars galaxy?

SH: It is a lot of fun to get the chance to create new elements in Star Wars. Sometimes, it’s like working with a big jigsaw puzzle of continuity, but other times, you have more free reign. Sometimes, some worlds or other elements don't have very much detail, which gives you some more leeway. It still has to fit and feel like Star Wars, though.

FFG: Edge of the Empire places a heavy emphasis on narrative, even within its ruleset. As a storyteller, what do you feel are the system’s greatest strengths, and how much did they shape your work on Beyond the Rim?

SH: The narrative dice are definitely one of the system's biggest strengths. One of my challenges, then, was to find ways to allow the Game Master as much freedom as possible to work with the dice results. Providing interesting suggestions for dice results was another. Because exploration is such a big theme in the adventure, it helped me look at ways to use dice results to give the characters the freedom to pursue different approaches.

FFG: It’s interesting to note that the first full-length adventure for Star Wars: Edge of the Empire isn’t a tale of smugglers or bounty hunters, but a mystery filled with epic exploration at the very edge of the galaxy. While you were writing, how conscientious were you about giving each type of character the chance to shine, and how much were you just writing toward the commonalities shared by all characters in Edge of the Empire?

SH: Tim Huckelbery and FFG came up with the name, Beyond the Rim, decided it would be an exploration adventure, and decided to place it at the outer reaches of the galaxy. Tim and I traded ideas and hammered out a rough outline based on some partially developed material from an earlier idea. I picked out the time frame and scoured Star Wars: The Essential Atlas for new adventure locations that fit some of those ideas. Cholganna was great for our purposes: a minimally known location that featured a very well-known Star Wars creature, with lots of wilderness and little existing lore. We could have made up our own world, but it’s nice to use and add to existing material when it works out.

As for designing for various character types, the adventure definitely gives different careers and specializations the opportunity to do what they do best. It was a deliberate effort to do so. Working to establish this variety also inspired the use of different types of encounters and locations.

FFG: Is there anything that you would like to share with the world about your work on Beyond the Rim?

SH: Beyond the Rim takes a really layered approach to its story, and a Game Master can add even more levels of intrigue. The adventure includes a lot of ideas and suggestions for incorporating the Player Characters’ Obligation and Motivations into the story. There are opportunities for the GM to adapt the adventure if the players want a deeper or more personal connection to the story, to its locations, or even to the Non-Player Characters. However, the adventure doesn’t rely on those deeper connections, so GMs and players who don't want to customize their characters to the adventure aren't losing out.

We also included a lot of information about every major location in Beyond the Rim, so GMs and PCs can visit them again in future adventures. Depending on the the turn of events, the players might have reason to return to any of the adventure’s locations to pursue new adventures, to tie up loose ends in a longer campaign, to profit from their activities, or even to establish a base of operations.

Thanks, Sterling!

When you finally discover to the Sa Nalaor, will you take your money and run? Or will you look for additional intrigues and the chance to establish a new base in the remote corner of the galaxy detailed in Beyond the Rim?

Pre-Order Your Copy Today

This epic tale of exploration and mystery is on its way, so start packing your stim packs, your scanners, and your weapons. Then, head to your local retailer to pre-order your copy today!

Fantasy Flight Games is pleased to announce career-specific Specialization Decks for Star Wars®: Edge of the Empire™, available via Print on Demand. Now, you can keep the details of your talents at your fingertips, leaving you free to focus on your adventures, while art for each talent immerses you further into the Star Wars universe.

Keep the Game Moving

Edge of the Empire Specialization Decks provide GMs and players with an easy way to manage character and NPC talents at the gaming table. New and experienced players alike will appreciate these handy reference cards, and GMs will love being able to keep the action moving.

The nineteen career specialization talent trees available in the Edge of the Empire Core Rulebook are each represented by a deck of cards. No matter what your background, your character’s talents are vital as you and your crew deal with whatever surprises come your way. Keep your focus on the action with the help of the Star Wars®: Edge of the Empire™ Specialization Decks! 

Each Specialization Deck comes with a reference card (shown at right), which details how to use the twenty included talent cards. With a description of each talent, along with the icons for dice needed to make any relevant checks on each card, Specialization Decks ensure you’ll have all the information you need to keep your head in the game. Our Edge of the Empire Specialization Decks don’t replace the talent trees found in the Core Rulebook, but are instead an excellent optional tool, which help you stay focused on the game!

Since each of the Edge of the Empire Core Rulebook’s nineteen specialization trees are represented by a unique deck of cards, you’ll find decks perfect for your character. The first six Specialization Decks for the Scout, Fringer, Trader, Mercenary Soldier, Bodyguard, and Marauder specializations will be available soon! In the meantime, keep checking back for more news, and continue exploring all the galaxy has to offer.

It is a dark time for the galaxy. The city of Coruscant, once the glittering pearl of the Republic, now languishes under the shadow of the Galactic Empire. A bustling black market flourishes in the underworld, controlled by the notorious crime syndicate Black Sun. Hired to infiltrate a Black Sun outpost and retrieve vital data on a bounty hunter who betrayed the Pyke crime family, a small group of enterprising individuals works rapidly to access the heavily encrypted Black Sun network as things take a turn for the worse...     –Under a Black Sun

Enjoy a ready-made Star Wars®: Edge of the Empire™ adventure in Coruscant! Under a Black Sun, the adventure that debuted at Free RPG Day 2013, is now available for download (pdf, 3.6 MB) on our support page.

A dangerous bounty hunter is hiding amongst the populace of Coruscant, the capitol of the Empire. Over the gripping three-part adventure in Under a Black Sun, the Player Characters will gather information on their target, track him through the streets of a bustling city, and (with luck and skill) face off against him in a final, deadly confrontation. But when faced with such a dangerous and highly trained target, will you remain the hunter...or become the prey?

The Tools You Need

This free adventure for Star Wars: Edge of the Empire includes four pre-generated characters and a set of basic rules to help players and Game Masters become familiar with game’s core mechanics. What's more, we're pleased to offer two bonus characters, downloadable via the links below or through our support page!

Free RPG Day 2013 Character: CH-1 (high-res pdf, 2.9 MB) Free RPG Day 2013 Character: CH-1 (low-res pdf, 406 KB) Free RPG Day 2013 Character: Grabow (high-res pdf, 2.7 MB) Free RPG Day 2013 Character: Grabow (low-res pdf, 332 KB) Free RPG Day 2013 Character: Jovel (high-res pdf, 3 MB) Free RPG Day 2013 Character: Jovel (low-res pdf, 401 KB) Free RPG Day 2013 Character: Matwe (high-res pdf, 2.7 MB) Free RPG Day 2013 Character: Matwe (low-res pdf, 324 KB) Free RPG Day 2013 Character: Sinoca (high-res pdf, 3.9 MB) Free RPG Day 2013 Character: Sinoca (low-res pdf, 446 KB) Free RPG Day 2013 Character: Trey Essek (high-res pdf, 3.6 MB) Free RPG Day 2013 Character: Trey Essek (low-res pdf, 373 KB)

Your adversary is clever, well armed, and has a head start in the Empire’s largest city. But you and your team have been tasked with bringing him in, dead or alive. Do you have what it takes? Find out by downloading Under a Black Sun now!

“The Sa Nalaor? Well, now that’s going back a bit. There was a time when every treasure hunter in the Outer Rim was out there looking for that long-lost Separatist flying vault.”   –Grinner’s Tales of Treasure Hunting

Pack your bags, and grab your blasters. It’s time to embark upon an epic adventure at the furthest edge of the galaxy…

Beyond the Rim, the first full-length adventure for the Star Wars®: Edge of the Empire™ roleplaying game is now available at your local retailer!

A Long-Lost Treasure Ship

When you overhear the rumors of a long-lost, Separatist treasure ship, the Sa Nalaor, you and your companions can take your shot at the adventure of a lifetime!

Over the course of its ninety-six pages, Beyond the Rim leads you from the corridors of the seedy hub-and-spoke space station known as the Wheel all the way to the very edge of Wild Space. There, you and your companions will explore distant planets, encounter fearsome jungle predators, and delve into mysteries that have remained unsolved for decades. Along the way, if you’re careful–and a little lucky–you’ll even find fame and fortune, as well as an opportunity to pay back old debts.

Layers of Intrigue

Written by veteran Star Wars adventure writer Sterling Hershey, Beyond the Rim takes a layered approach to its story as it engages with multiple Star Wars elements to weave a tale of mystery and exploration that truly feels like a Star Wars experience.

Over the course of their adventure, characters journey to the true edge of the Empire: the fringes of Known Space. They’ll be among the first to explore the dense jungles of Cholganna, and come face-to-face with the deadly nexu in its natural habitat. If you can get past the Imperial shipyards and TIE fighter patrols, you’ll have a chance to explore the junkyard planet and Outer Rim haven, Raxus Prime.

As you delve into the mystery of the Sa Nalaor, you’ll find elements from the Clone Wars era sharing scenes with others from the time of the New Republic. You may even witness B1 battle droids pitted against scout troopers or Imperial Security Bureau agents pursuing Separatist traitors.

Craft Your Own Adventures at the Edge of Wild Space

Beyond the Rim is also a highly customizable adventure. Storytelling is woven deep into the mechanics and heart of the Star Wars: Edge of the Empire roleplaying game, and Beyond the Rim was deliberately crafted to allow the GM as much freedom as possible to work with the players’ dice results. GMs will also find compelling suggestions for how they may use dice results at critical junctures to advance the adventure’s theme of exploration.

Additionally, GMs will find ideas and suggestions that can help them adapt the adventure for players who want a deeper or more personal connection to the story. There are plenty of opportunities to spotlight characters of all types throughout the adventure, and beyond! The extensive detail provided for each of the adventure’s locations makes Beyond the Rim an excellent setting sourcebook for future adventures within the region. Depending on the turn of events, players might wish to return to any of the adventure’s locations to pursue new adventures, to tie up loose ends in a longer campaign, to profit from their activities, or even to establish a base of operations.

Begin Your Adventures Today

Head to your local retailer today to pick up your copy of Beyond the Rim. Then prepare for adventure as you work to discover the true fate of the Sa Nalaor!

“I’ve outrun Imperial starships, not the local bulk-cruisers mind you. I’m talking about the big Corellian ships now.”     –Han Solo

Fantasy Flight Games is proud to announce the upcoming release of Suns of Fortune, a sourcebook for the Corellian Sector that allows you and your friends to explore the fantastic opportunities and dangers found in the birthplace of Han Solo and Wedge Antilles. Discover three new species, exotic weapons, dozens of vehicles, nine modular encounters that Game Masters can use in any Edge of the Empire campaign, and more!

Fast Ships, Fast Pilots, and Fortunes to Be Made

Suns of Fortune is your ticket to a Core World full of action, adventure, and opportunity. Known as the home of fast ships and the daredevils who pilot them, Corellia has long maintained a reputation as the birthplace of the most talented smugglers, scoundrels, and jockeys ever to fly a snubfighter or ride a tricked-out swoop.

While this reputation may be slightly—but only slightly—exaggerated, Corellia is nonetheless bursting with opportunities for excitement and adventure. Despite being located among the ancient worlds and civilizations of the galactic Core, Corellia is neither stuffy nor overly constrained with laws and regulations. Instead, its spirit of adventure thrives, drawing thrill-seekers from all over the galaxy.

Moreover, throughout the 144 pages of Suns of Fortune, GMs will find extensive details on the Corellian Sector that can help establish a rich and vibrant setting for their Edge of the Empire campaigns. Give your players the chance to win it big on Treasure Ship Row, make a fortune smuggling to Selonia, purchase one of Nubia’s amazing ships, or even pull off the art heist of the century on Aurea. The Corellion Sector is full of opportunities for your heroes to prove themselves.

You’ll also find nine modular encounters, each of which can either serve as part of nearly any adventure. These are the kinds of scenes and challenges that can crop up almost at any time, while you’re trying your hand at a game of Sabacc or stopping for a drink at the local cantina. Players may even trigger them with the specific choices they make, and they give the GM an effective response to an unplanned turn of events.

The Fastest Ships in the Galaxy

If there’s one thing associated with Corellia, it’s speed. When it comes to starships, it’s a well-known rule that if you’re looking for speed, you go Corellian.

From the mom-and-pop outfits who customize light freighters to the galactic renowned Corellian Engineering Corporation, Corellian shipbuilders count thrust, acceleration, and hyperspace velocity as three of their primary concerns, and Suns of Fortune brings many of these starships to your gaming table.

All told, Suns of Fortune offers you the chance to enjoy hours of spectacular space battles and dramatic speeder chases with nearly two dozen new Corellian vehicles and starships, including landspeeders, airspeeders, starfighters, freighters, and more!

A Whole Sector Full of Character Options

In addition to its detailed overview of the Corellia Sector, nine modular encounters, and fast new starships and vehicles, Suns of Fortune also introduces a wealth of options for character creation and gear.

First and foremost, players can choose from three new species options when they make their characters:

• The hyper-intellectual Drall are renowned throughout the galaxy as thinkers and make natural scholars and scientists. Averaging roughly one meter in height, they are covered in fur ranging from a ruddy brown to shades of grey and black. Though most Drall prefer to avoid adventure, their incredible intellect proves advantageous in many sticky situations.
• Nothing is more important to the dour and dangerous Selonians than the protection and preservation of their species, and they will go to any lengths to defend their homeworld and their kin. These carnivorous, mammalian bipeds are covered in short, sleek brown or black fur, with elongated heads bristling with whiskers.
• Corellian-born humans are said to have rocket fuel for blood, and their penchant for speed drives many of them to earn notoriety as being among the best pilots in the galaxy. This species allows a strong, early focus on Piloting and serves as a variation on humans found in the Edge of the Empire Core Rulebook.

Additionally, Suns of Fortune profiles exotic weapons, armor, and gear from Corellia and the other planets in the Sector. From the Coronet Arms dueling pistol to the Nomad Greatcoat, players will find plenty of interesting toys that they can insert into their game to give it a Corellian flavor.

Welcome to Corellia

On Corellia, the best chance for success is to take a fast ship, a faster pilot, and hit the hyperlanes. It’s demanding, but Corellians are equal to the demands. It’s frightening, but Corellians have no fear. It’s risky, but Corellians never shy away from risk. After all, the only things that outweigh risks are the fortunes to be made...

Suns of Fortune is your chance to explore the intrigues and dangers in the heart of the Star Wars galaxy. This setting sourcebook for Edge of the Empire is scheduled to arrive in the fourth quarter of 2013. Until then, keep your eyes open for more announcements, previews, and other news about the Star Wars roleplaying game!

Recently, we announcedEnter the Unknown, a supplement for Star Wars®: Edge of the Empire™. Enter the Unknown expands the Explorer career found in Edge of the Empire, and provides new options for players and GMs alike.

In today’s designer diary, developer Andy Fischer explores the new mechanical options available in the upcoming Enter the Unknown.

A Word From the Developer

Our main focus with Enter the Unknown was expanding the options players have at their disposal for creating and advancing their Edge of the Empire character. We not only wanted to create more varied and unique choices, but we wanted to create ways in which players could get a deeper experience out of a focused character concept. While we did this narratively by adding new options to each step of character creation from Obligations to Motivation, today I want to talk about the mechanical options we introduced in Enter the Unknown, and how they will help players expand and focus their characters.

Expanding Your Character

The element that adds the most significant mechanical variety to characters is the addition of three new specializations for the Explorer career. These specializations were chosen and designed for this career based on a two step process. First, we looked at the Explorer career, and outlined the mechanical abilities (skills and talents) we still wanted to include as possibilities for the Explorer for it to feel complete. Once we had done that, we made a list of the types of characters players who choose Explorer would want to create. We then looked at the overlap between these two lists to create three new specializations that both stood on their own as strong, independent character concepts, but also expanded on the existing Explorer specializations in an interesting and complementary way.

However, these specializations are not only appealing to Explorer characters. The wonderfully flexible advancement system in Edge of the Empire means that these specializations are available to any player who wants to spend a bit of additional experience to diversify his or her character. When designing each of these new specializations, we also considered how they would complement characters from other careers. A Bounty Hunter may want to invest in the Big Game Hunter specialization to hunt a particularly dangerous mark, a Colonist may want to pick up the Archeologist specialization to acquire abilities relevant to working in the field, or a Smuggler may want to acquire the Driver specialization to help in some under-the-table transportation jobs through a sprawling metropolis. Whatever a character’s focus, working on the edge can often require some of the expertise of an Explorer.

In addition to these new specializations, new mechanical diversity comes in the form of three new species introduced in Enter the Unknown. Each of these new species fits in with the themes of the Explorer career in different ways, but can also make excellent characters from any of the five other careers. These species include the solitary and mysterious Chiss, the inquisitive and inventive Duros, and the gregarious Toyradians.

Focusing Your Character

In addition to adding more options for characters to diversify their skill sets, we also wanted characters to be able to focus their advancement if they choose, mastering a certain area of expertise instead of spreading out their ability. For this reason, the new specializations included in this book use many of the same talents found in the Core Rulebook, especially ranked talents. This allows characters who want to focus their advancement to find interesting combinations of specializations to make their character a true master of their craft.

Additionally, for players with a singular vision for their character that falls squarely into their chosen career, the new Signature Abilities added in Enter the Unknown allow them to focus their character’s advancement to gain powerful and flavorful abilities. By adding these abilities that “attach” to the bottom of in-career talent trees, we reward characters that commit to a specialization of their chosen career, creating an interesting choice between diversifying a character’s abilities or focusing them on a singular goal. These abilities also add a twist to how the game plays later in a campaign, adding fresh mechanics to the play experience that make the characters feel powerful while moving along the GM’s story in a meaningful way.

Thanks, Andy! Enter the Unknown will be available soon, so pre-order it today at your local retailer. In the meantime, check back here for more news and previews!

At the Edge of the Empire™, you can find yourself pitted against an array of deadly enemies bent on your destruction. When negotiations fail, make sure you’re prepared to shoot first with Dangerous Covenants!

This upcoming rules supplement for Star Wars®: Edge of the Empire™ expands the Hired Gun career with specializations, new talents, and more. All players will find new character, vehicle, and equipment options, aiding in their experiences on the fringe. GMs can also find new tools helping them craft memorable and exciting combat encounters.

Let’s hear from lead developer Sam Stewart on what Dangerous Covenants will be delivering to your gaming table.

A Word From the Developer

In the Star Wars universe, you should always be prepared for violence. From cantinas full of scum to hungry wampas looking for a snack, plenty of things in the galaxy are spoiling for a fight. Sometimes, the only thing you can do is fight back.

Dangerous Covenants is a rules supplement for Edge of the Empire that focuses on helping you fight. New specializations, talents, guns, armor, and vehicles provide a host of new options for players, while GMs are bound to find the advice on themes of cinematic combat and how to organize exciting combat-focused encounters and adventures very useful.

This book features new content for the Hired Gun career, including new Hired Gun centric Motivations, Obligations, and backgrounds. Just because a character is a fighter doesn’t mean he can’t have a deep and interesting backstory, and this book helps players create that for their characters. Meanwhile, Hired Gun characters (or any character, actually) can pick up one of three new specializations. Enforcers, Demolitionists, and Heavies offer three new choices that add a lot of variety to the Hired Gun career.

In addition, Dangerous Covenants also introduces two new, high level advancement opportunities in the form of the Hired Gun’s signature abilities. These abilities are career specific talents that a character can only access once they’ve spent a lot of time and experience investing in a specialization. In return, however, they offer Hired Guns some really potent abilities that can change the course of an entire battle.

Of course, no Hired Gun is going to head into battle without a trusty weapon of some sort. Whether you want to deal out destruction with a heavy weapon like a flechette launcher or a plasma missile, or if you’d prefer to dominate a back alley brawl with a pair of vibro-knucklers, Dangerous Covenants has you covered. In addition, the book introduces some new ships, ranging from small, single-seat starfighters to full-sized cruisers.

When it comes to GM advice and guidance, Dangerous Covenants has a whole range of suggestions. These range from practical details (if a Hired Gun is actually working as a Hired Gun, how much are jobs like protection, mercenary work, and sabotage going to pay?) to overarching campaign guidance, and everything in between.

Thanks, Sam! Dangerous Covenants will be available in the first quarter of 2014! In the meantime, keep checking back here for more news and previews regarding Dangerous Covenants and Edge of the Empire!

“When you ask for trouble, you should not be surprised when it finds you.”     –Plo Koon

In September, we announced the upcoming release of Suns of Fortune, an Edge of the Empire™ sourcebook for the Corellian Sector that introduces many of the fantastic characters, starships, weapons, and local hotspots that you might find in and around the birthplace of such notable space jockeys as Han Solo and Wedge Antilles.

Moreover, even as it provides players a host of new options and presents Game Masters with the details they need to flesh out their Core World adventures, Suns of Fortune introduces a new set of resources that Game Masters (GMs) can use and players can enjoy: modular encounters.

What Is a Modular Encounter?

There are adventures, and there are campaigns. Frequently, a GM runs one or two adventures in succession, and if everyone is having a great time and wants to keep going, the adventures develop into a campaign. Other times, a GM may begin with plans for a full campaign, and each adventure plays into a long story arc that may run for months.

Some GMs rely on adventures written for the setting, while others craft their own stories; these are often strongly influenced by the characters’ backgrounds, Obligations, and decisions throughout the course of their adventures.

Modular encounters are meant to supplement the work that the GM does to build adventures or campaigns, serving as “set pieces” that the GM can draw upon to spice up an adventure with new forms of challenges, local flavor, vibrant adversaries, or dramatic scenarios. They are the kinds of scenes and challenges that can crop up almost at any time. They can fill in some downtime during the ongoing tale of a campaign, or they can be triggered by specific choices the players make, giving the GM an effective response to an unplanned turn of events.

Suns of Fortune introduces nine modular encounters, ranging in length and scope. All of them are set within specific regions of the Correllian Sector, but with a little work, the GM can easily modify them to fit in nearly any campaign.

For more information about these handy new GM resources, we turn to lead developer Sam Stewart.

Sam Stewart on Modular Encounters

The whole idea of modular encounters originated from the experiences that the Star Wars roleplaying game’s design team has shared as Game Masters. Like most people who have run a game, we have at points taken published adventures and gleefully pulled them apart. We pull out some encounters, shuffle them around, and build entirely new adventures around them to fit our own groups and play styles.

So when we were designing Suns of Fortune, we had an idea: What if, instead of putting a single adventure into the book, we put in nine miniature adventures? We could create a bunch of individual encounters, each designed to run an hour or two, and all designed to fit neatly into an ongoing adventure. Instead of forcing the GM to figure out how to remove an encounter from the context of a wider adventure, we’d do the work beforehand.

The decision to create modular encounters also let us touch upon a wide range of the different elements and events one can find in the Corellian Sector. Whereas a single adventure would focus on one element to the detriment of the rest, the introduction of modular encounters allowed us to write about smuggling goods across the Corellian system, then skip to the other side of the Sector and present an exciting encounter with corporate agents and an angry ronto on Nubia.

Taming the Dragon is a great example of our modular encounters. In it, the PCs have a chance at earning a few extra credits by participating in an illicit, underground swoop race. Of course, the only way swoop racing could be more Corellian is if you were to hold your race in a swamp full of razor sharp crystals!

Like all modular encounters, Taming the Dragon contains a short lead-in that offers a few different ways the PCs could become involved, then jumps straight into the race itself! The encounter ends when the race does, providing the GM with some guidance for distributing potential rewards, as well as suggesting some future complications with the gang leader the PCs raced against. The whole event can wrap in an hour’s worth of play, or the GM can flesh it out into a longer, more involved adventure and turn one-time adversaries into recurring NPCs. All the tools are there; it’s up to the GM to decide how they get used.

More Adventures. More Worlds. More Action.

Whether the modular encounters of Suns of Fortune find their way into your campaign as fleshed-out set pieces or as the seeds of adventures that merit greater expansion, they offer a wide range of exciting new challenges and experiences.

Combined with the detailed information about the different worlds and key locations in the Corellian Sector, the nine modular encounters in Suns of Fortune not only add new turns and twists for your Edge of the Empire campaign, they help you establish it firmly in locations full of life and local flavor.

Add these modular encounters to your campaign, bring the Core Worlds of the Corellian Sector to life, and expand your player options with a host of new starships, weapons, and playable races. Pre-order your copy of Suns of Fortune from your local retailer today!

Enter the Unknown, the first rules supplement for Star Wars®: Edge of the Empire ™ is now available at your local retailer and on our webstore. Already, you have experienced the grim realities of life at the Edge of the Empire. Now, it’s time to go even further into the most dangerous reaches of the galaxy. It’s time to Enter the Unknown. This first rules supplement for Edge of the Empire expands the Explorer career with specializations, new talents, and more. All players will find new character, vehicle, and equipment options, which will aid in their experiences at the Edge of the Empire. GMs will gain new tools to use in crafting exciting and memorable adventures. Enter the Unknown covers the Explorer career, and gives it some exciting new options. Because of Edge of the Empire’s flexible character advancement system, these options are useful for nearly any character. First and foremost, the career gains three new specializations: the Archeologist, Big Game Hunter, and Driver. Each of these specializations gives new or existing Explorer characters additional choices including several brand-new talents. On top of that, this book adds new options for backgrounds, Obligations, and Motivations, all based on the themes of exploration, hunting, and trade.

Enter the Unknown also contains new equipment and vehicles necessary for any character braving the wilder parts of the galaxy. Vehicles such as the the KV swoop help characters journey into the unexplored, while weapons such as the E-11s sniper rifle and the huntsman vibrospear help them survive it. Along with this, a whole suite of gear for any situation makes Enter the Unknown an extremely useful part of any adventurer's collection.

Purchase Enter the Unknown from your local retailer or our webstore today, and prepare to discover more of what lies at the edges of the Empire. The time has come to Enter the Unknown.

“You truly belong here with us among the clouds.” - Lando Calrissian

Scrape together a crew and prepare for the heist of a lifetime in The Jewel of Yavin, an extended adventure supplement for Star Wars®: Edge of the Empire™.

Set in Bespin’s Cloud City, The Jewel of Yavin includes plenty of opportunities for all characters to shine as they work to steal the priceless corusca gem.

Developer Katrina Ostrander gives some insight on the adventures ahead in The Jewel of Yavin.

A Word from the Developer

The Jewel of Yavin was slated from the beginning to be a thrilling, action-packed jewel heist, a sort of “Ocean’s 11 meets Star Wars”. What better place to set the stage for a high-stakes caper than the Cloud City on Bespin?

During the adventure, the Player Characters are hired by a local Pantoran crime boss to steal the “unstealable” Jewel of Yavin, a brilliant corusca gem—not once, but twice. Corusca gems are mined deep in the gas layers of Yavin Prime and are used throughout the galaxy in decorations and heavy industry. Legends say they can also serve as the focusing crystal in lightsabers. Either way, they are worth more than enough to help a down-on-their-luck crew pay down some Obligation or purchase a brand new starship.

In addition to showcasing the skills and talents possessed by Scoundrels, Slicers, and Thieves, we wanted to provide rich social intrigue opportunities, as well as chances for piloting- and combat-focused characters to shine. If your party is missing a crucial role or skill-set, we’ve included half a dozen unique NPCs who can help fill out a crew.

Early on, you’ll have the chance to enter into the Cloud City Grand Prix, a cloud car race that takes you above Bespin’s clouds, with all the fancy flying, vehicle modification, and sabotage that that entails. Later, you’ll need to navigate Cloud City’s upper social strata to manipulate bidders and drive the auction sky-high before slicing in to divert the winning bid to your own accounts. Of course, if complications arise (as they always seem to in the Outer Rim), you’ll be glad you brought along some muscle.

Game Masters will find the Cloud City gazetteer section especially useful, both for running The Jewel of Yavin adventure and for basing their own Edge of the Empire campaigns on the floating city. The section features over a dozen pages of material detailing locations in the plaza district, Port Town, and the industrial levels. Lobot and Lando appear, of course, as do the famous Bespin Wing Guard. Player Characters will have a chance to interact with all of these iconic characters over the course of the adventure, for better or worse!

Thanks Katrina! Jewel of Yavin will hit retail shelves in the first quarter of 2014. In the meantime, keep checking back for more news and previews as you prepare for the high-stakes heist of a lifetime.