Edge of the Empire Book

Alternate and Optional Rules

In EDGE OF THE EMPIRE, there are some rules that are

Inot integral to gameplay. Though the players and CM

should not need to use these rules (and for this rea-

son, they are not presented with the rest of the game),

these rules might help in some specific situations.

All of these rules are not part of the EDGE OF THE

EMPIRE rules set. They are alternate rules, and should

not be used unless two conditions are met:

• The GM must decide to use the rules.


• The GM must discuss them with the group, and
  the group must agree to use the rules as well.
  Groups can use any number of these rules; as one
  does not require the others be used, groups can mix
  and match as they choose.

MAKING PASSIVE CHECKS

Not all checks are of vital importance to the story.

Sometimes, a GM just needs to know if the character

knows some useful information, or has the necessary

skills to overcome a simple problem. In this case, the

GM can call for a passive check.

Once the GM determines the difficulty of the check,

the PC can spend a maneuver to make the check. The

PC simply compares the ranks he has in the relevant

skill to the difficulty of the check. If his ranks exceed the

number of 4} added to the pool, he passes the check,

with a number of successes equal to the difference be-

tween the two. If his ranks do not exceed the number

of padded to the pool, he fails. He can, however, try to

make the check as an action later.

The passive check exists to reduce the need for assem-

bling and rolling dice pools. Making a check in EDGE OF

THE EMPIRE is a relatively important event. Any check can

generate <§> and O. and many can generate <$) and ^.

These need to be resolved, and may result in effects of

great import and excitement for players during a game.

However, there may be some situations in the game

where the events going on are relatively mundane, and

the GM wants to maintain that. (This might occur during

narrative downtime, for example). Passive checks remove

the check from the occasion, meaning that player char-

acters won't gain i> or but also won't have to con-

tend with <§) or ^ Essentially, they exist to determine the

success of mundane tasks that a player character should

already know how to perform (since they must have one

or more ranks in a skill to succeed on a passive check).

However, the GM should keep some aspects of this op-

tional rule in mind when implementing it. This rule can

penalize players whose characters have lower skills and

higher characteristics, as opposed to players who chose

to invest in higher skills and lower characteristics for their

characters. Also, if they do employ the rule, they should

remember that even if a PC fails a passive check, he can

always try again using a regular check.

ALTERNATE RULES

FOR INITIATIVE

The following are two alternative rules for determining ini-

tiative in encounters. Its intention is to speed up the time

it takes to begin an encounter by reducing bookkeeping at

the beginning of an encounter. These rules are presented

for groups who prefer to transfer quickly from narrative to

encounter gameplay, without any "lag" as the GM sets up

the encounter and determines the initiative order.

THE PASSIVE CHECK VARIANT

The first rule uses a variant on the passive check con-

cept from the prior section to determine initiative.

At the beginning of the encounter, each PC or NPC

determines whether they would use Cool or Vigilance

depending on the circumstances. Then, instead of

making a check, each simply compares skill ranks.

The highest rank determines the highest initiative slot,

and so-forth. Ties always go to PCs.

The benefit of this system is that it moves quickly

and still rewards players who invest in the Cool or Vigi-

lance skills. However, there are some aspects of this

rule players should be aware of. First, like with other

passive checks, this system is less useful for charac-

ters who have a high Willpower or Presence and low

Cool or Vigilance. Second, early in games when most

players have 0-2 ranks in a skill, there are likely to be

a lot of ties with NPCs, meaning PCs will usually go

before NPCs. This can skew encounters, and should

be something a GM considers when building them.

THE CHECKING ONCE

PER SESSION VARIANT

The second rule requires PCs to check initiative, but

does so at the beginning of a session, instead of dur-

ing the beginning of each encounter.

During the setup for a session, the GM has each play-

er character make one Cool and one Vigilance initiative

check. He records the results, then does the same thing

for any potential adversaries the PCs might encoun-

ter during that session. During the session, instead of

checking initiative at the beginning of an encounter, the

GM uses the pre-generated results from the beginning

of the session. He does this for any and all encounters

the PCs get involved with during the session.

THE GAME MASTER

EDGE OF THE EMPIRE