Announcing the New Timeline

[Brandon Rhea]

Thanks everyone for your patience. Wanted to get to the announcement you've all been waiting for! The official date of launch for SWRP's ninth timeline is...

January 4th, 2020!​

What will the setting for the new Timeline be?

The next timeline will be set AFTER the events of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. This means that we will be jumping forward about six thousand years from our current timeline! We won’t know the exact details about the state of the galaxy until the film is released, so we don’t have specific answers to plotlines or factions yet. We don’t yet know how far forward from the movie either.

In the meantime, we are rapidly revamping many of the site’s mechanics and rules ahead of time based on your feedback, particularly in the Public Rules Proposal thread.

Why set the timeline after the movies?

This is the culmination of some of the processes and ideas we laid out over the last few months. You may recall that we had a thread here where we stated the following goal: to create a timeline that fits into the site’s canon but allows for easier access to storytelling with less reliance on new members being Star Wars experts. That has remained our goal and was a north star in making this decision.

Later, in this thread, we talked a lot making sure that SWRP fits into the spirit of the Star Wars canon and storytelling that has been re-oriented over the last few years. The site has spent a lot of time over its existence in this pre-movie Jedi vs Sith era, with only so many stories you can tell, and it’s one that’s less and less accessible to fans given that stories like Knights of the Old Republic, which originally inspired this site in the first place, were released so long ago.

With a setting after the films, not only will we be able to fully embrace the canon of our last three timelines and their legacies, but also the canon of the films and the known Star Wars timeline. We believe this will be a much more accessible story to everyone, and it provides us with the opportunity to have a blank slate. We no longer have to fit into the canon of what comes next. We can do whatever we want. Post-films means total freedom to tell whatever stories we want to tell.

What does this mean for my character's legacy?

Legacies have always been an important part of SWRP. In a lot of ways, timeline changes that go to new eras come with fresh starts and blank slates. From a site perspective, in crafting a new storyline, we generally look at the most impactful legacies and find ways to carry them into the future with us. And despite being so far into the future, we encourage you to find ways, within reason, to keep the legacies of your characters alive. Star Wars is about family, about legacy, and about honoring the past while braving into the future. We encourage you to start fresh and make new legacies, while finding ways to honor what’s come before.

What is going to happen in the span of time between December 15 and Jan 4?

Because there are no guarantees that individual legacies can organically carry over, the epilogue period will be jumping forward about twenty years to allow folks a few weeks to write their character’s aftermaths, conclude their stories, and, if you’re able, set up your futures. Keep an eye out for more details on the setting in the upcoming weeks.

What kind of tech can I write, what species, what faction, will we start with faction leaders, etc?

NONE of these are decided yet, so we ask for your patience as we work on them! We are very early in our planning and we will be posting updates periodically as things become more clear. For now, if you're making a character, we'd recommend you keep it as barebones as possible so it can adapt to the story and setting that we roll out.

 

[Algarus]

Very interesting.

 

[Insalius]

If it's that far in the future, should be a good chance for wolves. I approve.

 

[Sakie]

Oh snap, this is super exciting. Looking forward to (hopefully) coming back for this TL! ^^

 

[Rimrald]

Will characters who are deceased in this TL, be able to be "legacied" into the next TL or will they have to be alive at conclusion like in other TL's?

 

[Brandon Rhea]

Will characters who are deceased in this TL, be able to be "legacied" into the next TL or will they have to be alive at conclusion like in other TL's?

Can you expand on what you mean by "legacied"?

 

[Algarus]

I'm looking forward to seeing where this goes.

 

[Rimrald]

Will characters who are deceased in this TL, be able to be "legacied" into the next TL or will they have to be alive at conclusion like in other TL's?

Can you expand on what you mean by "legacied"?

Creating a descendant in the new TL that is related to a dead character (Read: can I make a descendant of Wyatt even though he's dead)

 

[Brandon Rhea]

Creating a descendant in the new TL that is related to a dead character (Read: can I make a descendant of Wyatt even though he's dead)

I personally have no issue with it, but I don't want to give a definitive yes or no at this point pending any rule changes. So let's chalk that up to a solid maybe.

 

[sayso]

Wasn't expecting it to be set after the rise of skywalker but it seems exciting!

 

[Minuteman75]

I confess the honest truth my jaw kinda dropped in complete yet pleasant surprise when reading over this announcement. The more I think about it, the more it all makes sense. Man just thinking of the numerous possibilities is making me feel more excited than before now. Really looking forward to this.

 

[Aecus]

I'm new to the site, and optimistic about how the new TL will go overall given how thorough everything has been so far, but I'm a bit worried since this is going into totally uncharted territory. What if tRoS ends up narrowing the scope of the Galaxy instead of expanding it? I get the desire to go wild west narratively, but what if it has a fairy tale ending and basically axes any chance of playing a force sensitive character (for example, I doubt that would happen, but basically what if the movie literally "ends" the franchise)? A lot of the other eras seemed to thrive on some kind of conflict between factions, so what would happen if those factions are basically removed from the cinematic canon? I guess the canon uncertainty has me worried about whether traditional star wars themes will be available to structure RPs on.

I'm obviously a bit biased since I joined right before the major narrative changes haha!

 

[TWD26]

Biggest question I have is: Canon ships, such as clone wars, rebellion era, first order. Will these be available as tech? I assume something like a clone wars ship would be extremely difficult to find. The one thing about being set in the past was that there was no really canon weapons.

I assume this is all going to be answered soon enough. Loving the ABY date though :)

 

[Brandon Rhea]

I'm new to the site, and optimistic about how the new TL will go overall given how thorough everything has been so far, but I'm a bit worried since this is going into totally uncharted territory. What if tRoS ends up narrowing the scope of the Galaxy instead of expanding it? I get the desire to go wild west narratively, but what if it has a fairy tale ending and basically axes any chance of playing a force sensitive character (for example, I doubt that would happen, but basically what if the movie literally "ends" the franchise)? A lot of the other eras seemed to thrive on some kind of conflict between factions, so what would happen if those factions are basically removed from the cinematic canon? I guess the canon uncertainty has me worried about whether traditional star wars themes will be available to structure RPs on.

I'm obviously a bit biased since I joined right before the major narrative changes haha!

We expect a faction like the Sith to be removed from the playing field, and anticipate needing a new dark side faction, but beyond that we're not anticipating a huge shake up. For better or for worse, while TROS may be the final battle between the Jedi and the Sith, we expect that Lucasfilm will still end the Skywalker saga in a way that will allow them to make films (if they so choose) set after TROS.

Biggest question I have is: Canon ships, such as clone wars, rebellion era, first order. Will these be available as tech? I assume something like a clone wars ship would be extremely difficult to find. The one thing about being set in the past was that there was no really canon weapons.

I assume this is all going to be answered soon enough. Loving the ABY date though :)

All TBD.

 

[Green Ranger]

can I be darth krayt

 

[Brandon Rhea]

can I be darth krayt

go away

 

[Green Ranger]

: (

 

[Taz]

I'm new to the site, and optimistic about how the new TL will go overall given how thorough everything has been so far, but I'm a bit worried since this is going into totally uncharted territory. What if tRoS ends up narrowing the scope of the Galaxy instead of expanding it? I get the desire to go wild west narratively, but what if it has a fairy tale ending and basically axes any chance of playing a force sensitive character (for example, I doubt that would happen, but basically what if the movie literally "ends" the franchise)? A lot of the other eras seemed to thrive on some kind of conflict between factions, so what would happen if those factions are basically removed from the cinematic canon? I guess the canon uncertainty has me worried about whether traditional star wars themes will be available to structure RPs on.

I'm obviously a bit biased since I joined right before the major narrative changes haha!

I read somewhere that the next movie is expected to be released in 2022, as well as another trilogy in the works but no set date on production or release.

 

[Sandshark]

I'm curious to see how things will shake out with regard to factions, but it's not going to put that much of a damper on what people want to play.

My guess is that the ending of the movie will be open-ended enough that there might be a First Order Remnant, or what have you, for the evil forces side. Not to mention the fact that Jedi: Fallen Order and Rebels have canonized groups of Jedi who are not likely to be associated with Luke's school whatsoever, so Jedi players have an alternative heritage that doesn't deal with Luke or the potentially nonexistent survivors of the NJO. People really shouldn't worry about whether something exists explicitly at the end of the movie, because player involvement and the history of the galaxy offer enough to revive anything people like... Though it would be pretty interesting to see force traditions become dominant among the players which don't originate with the historic ideologies.

 

[Green Ranger]

My guess is that the ending of the movie will be open-ended enough that there might be a First Order Remnant, or what have you, for the evil forces side.

Ooh! ooh! How about....the Second Order.