After completing Tyranny of Dragons, I’m starting now to prepare for a new campaign.

I normally start with 2 pieces of information, genre and system. It has been a long time since I’ve run a Star Wars campaign, so genre is taken care of.

(OK – there are a lot more decisions, but more on that later.)

After some consideration, I’m going to go with Savage Worlds. Other systems I considered included Fantasy Flight, Saga Edition, and Esper Genesis. Fantasy Flight is appealing with it’s dice mechanic, but is a departure in rules and investment in resources that I’m not sure the group is willing to make. Saga Edition is something that the group is familiar with (it was used for our last long-running campaign), but has some drawbacks I’ll mention below. Esper Genesis is a SciFi setting for 5e, but would require a fair bit of work on my part to use with Star Wars.

Fantasy Flight and Saga Edition both require the most prep work for NPCs. They are also the most rules intensive/simulationist (if that could be a thing for Star Wars). Time is my most precious commodity, so whatever saves me time is best. This also goes for Esper Genesis. If I have to spend more time out of game, that lessons my enjoyment.

Savage Worlds (SWADE version) is easy to prep, and the most flexible (my opinion). If Jedi powers are not used in the game, it would also require the least amount of setup. This makes it the best choice for me. I’m also hoping to use it to help prep for my upcoming GenCon game, The Magnificent Utinni (The Magnificent Seven with Jawas).

The last thing I need to cover is genre. Just saying Star Wars is not enough. It is such a rich environment that the specifics of the setting can drive rules, options, and even races available.

Options that I’m going to present to the group:

• Smugglers between Ep 3 and 4
• Clone Troopers during the Clone Wars
• Rebels – pick a timeframe

None of these include Jedi. If the group wants that, it can be added “fairly” easily.