Developing Minor Crossovers
Developing Minor Crossovers[edit]
by Ryan Matheny
Ever watch a movie or television show and think to yourself how interesting it would be to incorporate some of the ideas into your SWRPG campaigns? Unforunately, much of the time it is hard to implement some of these ideas in such a way as to keep the original Star Wars feel in the game. However, it is possible to cross over almost anything in an enjoyable and effective manner if one simply knows the proper way.
Perhaps the most common form of crossovers that we see is the inclusion of starships and other technology from another genre into the Star Wars universe. Depending on how you want the story to turn out, this could prove to be either a simple task or a dreadfully tedious one. For simplicity's sake, we'll use a starship as an example. When throwing in these "borrowed" starships you basically have two choices, the easy way or the hard way.
The easy way to incorporate a borrowed starship is not to give it any specific ties that link it to its true origin other than perhaps a name (ie. the Starfury from Babylon 5). Taking this route eliminates any major plot developments that a Game Master would have to introduce. If you decide to do it this way then all you really have to do is either take an existing company or create your own new company which will serve as the designer and manufacturer of this craft. If you have a vessel which has similar traits to any existing Star Wars vessels, then its safe to go ahead and let it be designed by the same company. Then just write up a description which includes a detailed history and explains why the ship was not seen in the movies, novels, sourcebooks, etc. and you should be good to go.
Now, if you choose to go the other way and want to incorporate important story factors from the vessel's originating source, like the angry alien race that uses them, you might find it a bit more difficult. You are going to find yourself attempting to incorporate a lot more concepts into the Star Wars galaxy, sometimes it just is not plausible to do so and keep the original feel of the game. Especially try to avoid taking this route with anything relating back to Earth or Terrans, as Earth does not exist in the Star Wars galaxy - hence "A long time ago in a galaxy *far* *far* away..." Always be sure to explain why none of this is mentioned in any published source.
There are several cheap and generic ways to easily crossover most realms. One simple way to incorporate inter-galactic time-spanning travel is a wormhole - good for crossing over such titles as Star Trek, Babylon 5, Battlestar Galactica, etc. Now if you want to cross over less space-oriented titles then you could just alter Star Wars history slightly. Use Highlander as an example of this; immortals have always existed in the galaxy in sparse numbers and in secrecy. Simple enough.
Basically when writing crossovers, you have to be imaginative and knowledgable about both Star Wars and the subject of which you are crossing over. The most important thing to remember is that Star Wars RPG is not the same without that special Star Wars feel. If you cannot adequately cross something over without losing this feel, then forget about it all together because your game will be better without it.
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