“In the Outer Rim, what an individual wears is as much a calling card as a blaster pistol or an Imperial insignia. The clothes on a being’s back tell a tale as eloquent as any holonet drama. They speak of his priorities, how and where he works, his state and status in life, and the ways in which he wishes to present himself to the galaxy at large. -Armored plates sewn into clothing, gun belts loaded with firepower, and bandoliers slung across torsos are the hallmarks of bounty hunters and other guns for hire. Tool belts, bulging carryall bags, and coveralls smudged with machine fluids are the mark of a technician, and a flight suit sets a pilot apart in any crowd. Those who spend their time and make their living exploring and exploiting the vast empty places in the Rim are just as easily spotted. Well-worn clothes, battered packs, and goggles scratched by the dust of a thousand worlds tell of the many countless kilometers these hardy souls have traveled.” Fantasy Flight Games: Edge of the Empire – Enter the Unknown: page 44.
Last week I laid out my research into space-archeologist gear/clothing and utilitarian clothing in the 20ABY period; this week I am showing my current ideas for the items of kit which will be assembled to depict such an impression.
Continue reading “NRAC: synthesis of kit design”
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.
One of the largest stumbling blocks to getting a real-world-functional GFFA kit is the lack of references to everyday material culture in the Galaxy. We have little evidence, for example, of the kinds of containers your average galactic citizen has around the house—do the citizens of Bespin have Tupperware? And as someone with an interest in creating a realistic—but recognizably Star Wars-y—set of outdoor-adventure gear, this is a wall I have often run into. When we have so few resources to draw on, we instead have to get creative in our solutions. In this case, since we have little gear to draw aesthetic inspiration from, why not draw inspiration from the gear that influenced the aesthetic we aspire to?
Living History in the Star Wars Galaxy 