Part of what went wrong with modern Star Wars is the de-canonization of everything we loved. The audience said, " Okay, let's see what you got?" We gave them a fair chance. A few movies in, and the writing was on the wall. They did not have any new ideas, any good ones, and what they came up with relied on borrowing from the past; they kept farming what they threw out for nostalgia. They rewrote the past to create alternate-timeline shows. They brought back the dead as pet characters and created movie and television series around them.
They had nothing new, and it showed.
They did not have a story or a plan.
They made it up as they went along.
How you could spend billions of dollars without a plan is beyond me. Disney Star Wars is the Death Star, big, useless, slow, and a constant target for criticism. The hopes and dreams of an "empire" were pinned on this as the savior, yet we ended up with something nobody wanted, a tool of a corporate bureaucracy, and the entire project never did what it said it would deliver.
And the weaknesses of the entire effort were right there, open, and built into the design.
It is not hard to see why they failed. If George Lucas left a character dead, leave them dead. Move forward. Create new things. The universe is an amazing and wonderful place. Why do we need to keep returning to the past? Can we not have vision and purpose? Storytelling? Breaking free of the familiar and showing us something new and fun?
"Do. Or do not. There is no try." - Yoda
Resurrecting Ashoka, Palpatine, and Yoda (through Grogu) were the three greatest mistakes of modern Star Wars. We are now firmly stuck in a cycle of repeating the past, leaning on legacy characters to carry us through, and we will never break free from the black hole of nostalgia and its inescapable gravitational pull. And muppet baby Jar-Jar can't be too far away.
The Mandalorian is just a discounted Boba Fett. Remember when Boba Fett was new, and there weren't a hundred of them? Why can't we have every bounty hunter being cool and unique, and not the same ones run through the photocopier? The original magic of Star Wars, and part of the marketing, was to show us things we never saw before - and then we all bought the toys. Why are we stuck in a permanent recycling loop? All these nostalgia-bait drops are not cool; they are cringe.
To be honest, this is a part of the D&D problem, too. D&D will never break away from its mind flayers, spelljammers, tieflings, owlbears, and all the product identity IP. The copyrighted parts of that game will always define the adventures and experiences. In a way, Baldur's Gate 3 was the ultimate D&D experience, and that will never be topped. They are also stuck in a permanent cycle of recycling everything rather than showing us anything new.
But, real Star Wars is still out here with us. It is in our games and, surprisingly enough, in the AI Star Wars videos on YouTube that discuss lore and fill in gaps in canon. The creator community is "our only hope" at this point. Those who create their own Star Wars stories and preach the lessons of "the force" are, at this point, those who know and can recite Legacy canon, the "Jedi masters" of this movement.
We are in an era in which a single fan represents the resistance and a corporation represents the Empire.
How can you be a part? Join the Legacy community, play the games, and tell your stories. Buy the licensed game and support it before the inevitable corporate shuffle happens, and then make your own games to tell stories in this universe. Supporting a classic game that supports the lore we love sends a message. Telling stories in the classic universe counts, and adds your voice to one of millions who keep the hope alive through dreams and stories.
Every drop adds up to become an ocean, which cannot be denied.
The formula is easy. George Lucas would take some of the old, mix it with a lot of the new, and make a movie like that.
That is the way to make a good Star Wars story!
It is a simple formula.
Do that. You can't lose.
But the best way to focus on the past is to try to recreate the feelings of seeing something new and unusual, being taken out of your comfort zone, and experiencing something amazing and fresh again, but using the games and tools we are given.
Spend each day making it amazing.
Open your eyes wider with each new story and discovery.
And going back and reading the Legacy lore and books is just a font of awesome, inspiration, and good feelings. I get none of that from the new stuff. The old stuff? Oh yes, this thrills me like the OSR and classic dungeon-crawling. Lore-crawling is a thing in classic Star Wars, and you can get lost down here and burn through all your torches and rations.
Like Yoda allowing Luke to find himself, for good or bad, every Jedi must walk that path. This is your progression as a Star Wars storyteller. Find yourself, good or bad, but please, walk that path. Don't let others do it for you, or your feelings for the "state of the franchise" dissuade you. Who cares? Play!
"If one sits and does nothing, then nothing they shall be." - GM Yoda
I will happily let the new creators do as they wish. My memories of what I grew up with are mine, and they can't be tarnished by whatever the YouTube complainers are up in arms about today, nor by how horrible things are at the box office. This is not to excuse the poor state of today's films and TV shows; I have just given up on them, and even the griping about them has become a given.
I would rather create my own stories and memories from here on out. Like the famous line in the Twilight: 2000 game, "You're on your own now." Only in Star Wars, it is, "May the force be with you." And take that line to heart and understand what it means. The force is with you. It is not on YouTube. It is not on Disney+. It is not with the latest disappointment at the metroplex.
The force, the power to create and change the galaxy, to imagine, create, write, and feel the magic and wonder of this universe again, is in you.
And here, back in the old-school lore with my games and stories, is where I will be my happiest. Give me my Legends books and comics, and I can take it from here. If Hollywood can't give me what I want, I will just make it myself. I am beginning to feel "this is the way" for most modern franchises.
The fans will just have to create their own stories using the tools we have. If this weren't an official Star Wars game, it would be something BX that I hacked together to make it all work, the Genesys game, or even GURPS. However you will tell the story is up to you; just tell it.
I only have so much time and energy for listening to complaints. I would rather be making new, positive, and fun memories with my time.
These memories of this universe are mine.
No one will ruin them.
Part of why I still love the Star Wars RPG line is that it is a complete game. The company managing it does reprints, and I am happy with that. As long as there's interest, the game will remain in print and receive reprints for those who want them. And this is our last, great Star Wars RPG. Unlike the d20 version, this one stays relatively balanced at a higher play level, and combat does not break at a certain level.
And if I never want to see a legacy character, I can never use them; if I want to, I can kill them all off. This is an alternate universe where fate changed everything, and nobody can lean on the old favorites anymore. The GMNPCs are all gone; it is up to you, players, to pick up the torch and carry on. Yes, these games lean on the legacy characters and feature them in art, but nothing says you have to use them.
The universe is a huge place.
While they were important to one story, they are not at all important to every story, and they can't be. Even in the original movies and books, we met new characters! The PCs in this game are the new characters, and these are the stories we will tell.
Or I can lore dive and use those characters. I am free to change the lore to whatever I want. Maybe a character doesn't die and turns to the dark side? None of this lore is official or canon these days, so I am free to have fun and let YouTube complain about how things don't work in the lore anymore.
It is all mine, and I am happy with that.
In fact, this is the best thing ever.
There is nothing modern about this game; it ends around the time of the first sequel movie and focuses entirely on the Legacy timeline and characters. That is not a bad thing at all.
If you wanted to, you could tell stories from the new movies, but you don't have to. You will tell the stories that matter to you. Would I like to see sourcebooks for the new movies? Why not? I am a collector. They aren't needed, and I don't want anyone to feel they have to make things we already have versions of. If most of the new movies are just reskins of stormtroopers, TIE fighters, and star destroyers - why do we need a new book when we can use the older stats and have something close enough?
The current movies and shows recycle so much that nobody will notice.
Star Wars and Edge of the Empire are games close to my heart. When my brother was recovering from a stroke, we played this together, along with D&D 4, and he learned to write again by making his character sheets. He had to pick up the dice himself and roll them. He moved the tokens around the maps, even though his hand was shaking. He rehabbed with this game, with me running adventures with him. These were good times. The force of this game helped heal his body and mind, and gave him hope to fight an impossible battle for a little longer.
This is why I have so many pictures of this game.
These were the actual games we played together.
And here I am years later, he a force ghost, and I soldiering on and fighting the dark side (of the hobby). Am I letting the latest box-office disaster take any of this away? Will I let a bunch of know-nothings take history's best science fiction lore and universe away from me? Is anyone going to tell me that the Legends universe is not canon? Do I feel Star Wars is tarnished and "less of a special place" now? Will I listen to the clickbait complainers who say "Star Wars is dead?"
No.
This is a part of me that is non-negotiable. I know what Star Wars means to me.
Hope.
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