Millennia of engineering has built the entire galactic civilization. Without it, beings would toil and strive on their native worlds, oblivious to all those oblivious to them in turn. And without their thousands upon thousands of Engineers, the Rebel Alliance would never be able to oppose the Galactic Empire’s brutal dominance. Engineers develop, build, and maintain every physical tool of the Alliance’s struggle, from the humble datapad to the impressive Home One.

Fully Operational, the next sourcebook arriving for Star Wars™: Age of Rebellion™, brings with it a host of new species, talent specializations, equipment, and game systems to help build out the critical role of the Engineer.

Engineering Life

Hailing from the oceanic world of Kamino, Kaminoans occupy a unique and crucial space in galactic history. Their society revolves around widespread and commonplace genetic manipulation to create ideal individuals, and this cultural expertise resulted in their being commissioned to create the massive clone army for the Republic in its final days. The ensuing Clone Wars led to the subversion of the Republic Senate and the Emperor assuming supreme power.

Kaminoans are exceptionally tall and slender, with their thin arms and legs matching a narrow neck that supports their small, oblong heads. Standing noticeably taller than a human, the Kaminoans’ physical form is likely as much a result of generations of genetic engineering as it is natural selection.

Intellectual pursuits come easily to Kaminoan characters, while physical confrontation is generally less desirable. All Kaminoans display at least a passing knowledge of Medicine, even if that is not the focus of their chosen careers as they venture into the galaxy. Additionally, their naturally aloof demeanor can put others off-balance in social situations, with some of those skill checks resulting in a small penalty for the Kaminoan and anyone trying to directly interact with them.

A boosted Intelligence score makes Kaminoans adept Engineers in Age of Rebellion, but some may find their free rank in Medicine to be useful as a Medic in service of a squad of Rebels. Similarly, a Kaminoan who finds their way to the Outer Rim could easily find work as a Doctor or Technician in an Edge of the Empire™ campaign. And a Force-sensitive Kaminoan would feel right at home picking the Guardian career, pursuing the Armorer or Protector specializations, or as a Consular Healer.

Spaceworthy Talent

Shipwrights are Engineers who focus on keeping the Rebellion’s fleet flying and formidable. Working from improvised shipyards often short on supplies, labor, and time, Shipwrights must work creatively and quickly to maintain and build the starships needed to protect freedom in the stars. Some Shipwrights even find their way into the service of a mobile group of Rebel operatives where their expertise can be focused on one or two specific ships the team uses to complete their missions.

The Shipwright’s talent tree is one dedicated to the construction, maintenance, and performance of vehicles and starships. The traditional combination of Fine Tuning and Solid Repairs is present to keep a ship flying effectively. During exciting encounters that require deft maneuvers and speed, the on-board Shipwright has access to a couple effective support talents. Push the Specs allows the ship or vehicle to increase its speed, perfect for evading pursuit or for making surprise appearances. While larger ships like Cruisers and Frigates are not generally known for their impressive maneuverability, Shipwrights may make use of the Smart Handling talent which can give a ship of silhouette 4 or higher a burst of surprising handling perfect for getting into or out of a bad situation.

An interesting twist on the Shipwright is that many of their active talents require Knowledge (Education) skill checks instead of Mechanics, representing a more academic than strictly practical approach to technology.

Build It Better

Fully Operational expands the crafting opportunities available to players and gamemasters by introducing a robust and flexible vehicle and ship construction system. Expanding on the rules introduced in Keeping the Peace and Special Modifications, Fully Operational contains guidance and statistics for constructing anything ranging from a personal speeder bike requiring a couple days of work to an orbital space station—a project that could require a year or more to complete!

Working on such a massive scale requires multiple steps. First, each of the primary components and systems must be selected and built, each requiring their own investment in time and credits, as well as a skill check. Then the components are combined with a final assembly skill check to produce the vessel. Quick starfighters, sturdy freighters, and cataclysmic destroyers are all eager to be launched in the struggle against the Empire.

Of course, the Rebellion isn’t the only organization interested in building starships. The templates and rules presented in Fully Operational provide a perfect foundation for a group of fringers whose ambitions may be as gentle as producing the quickest custom speeder bikes in the Outer Rim, or as malicious as a pirate operation keen to build a fleet so formidable that no police force or Hutt cartel in space could stop them!