This is the second half of our Back to Basics miniseries, a primer on the whats, hows, and whys of living history in the Galaxy Far, Far Away setting.
Like cosplay, reenacting is fairly straightforward; it generally does not go beyond ‘looking good’ through the creation of an ‘outer persona’. Since contemporary life is noticeably lacking in FTL spacecraft, energy weapons, antigravity vehicles, etc., true Star Wars reenacting is well out of reach.
On the other hand, living history—while requiring more diligent research—is actually much more achievable for the galactic setting. Because it usually involves educational interactions with the pubic, you should try to build your persona as accurately as possible, and whether you’re pursuing First-, Second-, or Third-Person interpretation, you’ll want to have at least a decent understanding of life in the Galaxy, as well as being familiar with your specific subject, trade, or activity.
So today, I want you to ask yourself two questions:
What am I good at? and What can I use those Skills to interpret or teach others?
‘Wow!’ I thought, ‘that would be amazing to display!’ Unfortunately, I was also living in a very small apartment at the time, and there was no way I had the space to store an almost-2-meter-tall figure I might use for a handful of events each year (if I was lucky!). Also, in terms of realism, what are the odds that my archeologist persona would have a complete B1 droid?
As the main body of Star Wars material for popular consumption generally (and stubbornly) revolves around a cast of high-level generals, politicians, pilots, soldiers, and warrior-monks, ‘occupational’ characters like archeologists are not to be easily found. As I have frequently found in my efforts documented here, when ‘common’ background details are scarce, one can usually turn to role-playing game materials to flesh things out, and this case is no exception.
Living History in the Star Wars Galaxy 