Regarding running a Star Wars tabletop without using the movie characters… considering I hate almost every character from every movie now (do enough canon research and you’ll realize just how awful the Rebels are), yes, it’s very possible. There’s a whole slew of possibilities in regards to just Clones alone, available via extended canon and/or imagination. I’ve done chat-roleplay with a friend where I played a human albino translator, because even though droids can do the job, there’s nothing quite like the human touch… and my friend played a Clone. For other game ideas, consider KOTOR and the options you have there that have nothing to do with established characters from other Star Wars serieses. Do your own thing, and to heck with established characters.

As to Skyrim characters not having any real definition beyond dialogue trees and quest plotlines… my warrior-mage is a psychotic wh*re. O.o I actually really like silent protagonist games because I get to decide who my character is. I played Riddick in Fallout 3, and one of my original characters in Hellgate London (an Asian sniper assassin with a penchant for crossdressing, the latter part of which is sadly not an option in that game… though it is in Saints Row 2.)

I find it funny that I’m basically telling you guys to “use your imagination more.” I was actually rather shocked to hear some of the things in this episode regarding that, but eh, to each their own, ne? Maybe the Star Wars thing has more to do with you wanting the movie characters in the game than anything else… orrr maybe you should take up the challenge and set up a Star Wars game based on pure imagination and whatever canon research you want to do for background. Best of luck if you do, Clone canon especially is actually quite amusing.

All very fair points!

Regarding Star Wars, if I were to operate from just the movies, I’d have to invent so much on my own that I might as well write a homebrew. But as you noted, the expanded universe offers a lot of established setting material that still leaves room to tell your own stories. I’ve both run and played in several Star Wars games that have little to do with material from the movies.

But keep in mind that the context of our answers was a game that’s supposed to present you with false dilemmas and then reveal the factors that made you tip one way or the other. Can I use my imagination (or the expanded universe) and tell a story in Star Wars? Absolutely! But I felt the Star Trek setting more readily invites that kind of intrusion, since at least TOS didn’t focus on a single track of universe-guiding events, enacted by a handful of protagonists/antagonists.

To put it another way, the reasons given were never meant to be entirely true or defensible, but simply the passing impressions that led us to pick another option. It’s sort of like ordering in a restaurant and then being asked why you chose the items you did. It probably says more about your current mood or passing fancies than any objective reality about the items on the menu.

And ultimately, that’s the point of the game: to reveal something deeper about the people playing.