This is a very interesting essay there and it reminds me of a similar conversation I’ve been having on a totally different thread wherein a somewhat vaguely defined game universe has been expanded to the point where we’re having arguments about which edition was better and where we’re supposed to go to fill in all the gaps… instead of what we used to do in the old days, which was to just make up whatever we wanted to fill them.
It makes sense why a company would milk a franchise like Star Wars for all it was worth and why fans of past material (or as a writing crutch) would dip into game material to sell more product to fans eager for more explanations and lore (not realizing it would possibly limit the appeal).
Since this is a work of the imagination, there’s nothing stopping the individual from just making it up and drawing their own conclusions.
Because now you have something like this:
Wow, great movies, everyone, excellent choice. So what did you think?
I think Han Solo, after the movies, settled down with Leia and raised a happy family. Luke starting training new Jedi and the Rebels restored the Republic.
No, I think they got divorced after their kid turned to the dark side and went back to their old lives. The Empire was too big and was never truly defeated, and so they fought it for the next several decades until an even bigger threat came along…
Well, actually… in this official encyclopedia here it says…
Actually, before you read that, let me correct you with this new updated official encyclopedia that defines that one as no longer canon…
Well actually, I am George Lucas and I always intended that the Empire and the Sith would just keep returning.
Well actually I’m Kathleen Kennedy and you sold it to me fair and square, so yes that happened but not quite like you remember it…
Well actually I’m Disney and you all do what I say, so let me think about this… probably some from over here, and a little from here and maybe a bit more over here…
I imagine playing the Star Wars RPG (the original one) and sitting down with some friends. How cool would it be to just make stuff up (as the gamemaster) without being beholden to anything other than the original films themselves? I can guarantee when it came time for someone else’s turn, even if they agreed to the premise, they would start subtly or not so subtly introducing things from the various continuities that they happened to like…
I actually bought the vintage books not too long ago (RPG, original source book, plus Rebel and Imperial source books), to get a glimpse of that “early EU” even before the Zahn novels, but haven’t actually played it yet with anyone. I also heard it was based on the Ghostbusters RPG, and that now what we used to think of the Star Wars RPG (the second one?) is now a generic sci-fi game system anybody can use for free (is that true?).