Oh My God Its Full of Stars!

So I'm going to see Star Trek tonight, and I'm very excited, given the ridiculous amount of hype the movie has been receiving. I've never been much of a Star Trek fan, though I always enjoyed TNG when I had the opportunity to watch it. Regardless of what I think of the setting, I already know what this movie is going to kindle in my mind:

I'm going to want to run some form of SF/Futuristic RPG.


Now, most of my gaming group here in Geneseo loves Star Wars, and I'm certain they would be enthusiastic about playing the Star Wars RPG (which I have). The problem that arises here is that, though none of them GM, they are all WAY bigger Star Wars nerds than I am. Which means the first time I get the name of a Jedi lightsaber form wrong or place Kashykk far to close to Coruscant the whole game falls apart.

I still love the flavor of Star Wars though, so what I'm basically thinking is that I'll try to keep the general Star Wars setting, but just change all the content and history to suit my own needs. I think the best way to accomplish this is to set it back in truly ancient history of the universe. I'll probably use the Saga Edition rules set, as its definitely the best of the lot.

What I'm trying to figure out now is a general premise - Should the players all be Jedi? Should I allow Jedi at all? How will Jedi fit into the setting?

I'm leaning towards everyone playing a "Jedi," or at least a "Force Adept" on some level, unless they really don't want to. There's plenty of variation within the concept of Jedi, so the key is to make the organization of them interesting enough that having an entire party of people who are members of said organization be varied enough to make for a good campaign.

ONE HOUR LATER:

Okay, so here are my thoughts thus far -

The galaxy is largely a feudal state, with each system or planet being controlled by independent governments. These states have drastically different cultures and attitudes, and fight amongst each other politically and physically. Culturally somewhere between medieval and renaissance Eurasia, with the Outer Rim thrown in as the "New World."

The Jedi as an order are more mystical than political, warrior-priests who seek to understand the Force and oppose the truly evil. They are politically neutral as an organization (though some of their members might not be - a graduating Knight is not obligated to remain a part of the Jedi Order following, but few return to their previous lives), but will seek to oppose and destroy anything they think will increase suffering and pain. So they do interfere with politics from time to time. Wandering members of the order operate as trouble-shooters and, basically, the galactic Red Cross. In most, but certainly not all, territories, Jedi are treated with deference and respect, and a little fear.

The player characters are all going to start as first-level Jedi, padawans at an Academy in some urban location. I think that I might actually start things off where lightsaber's do not exist, and Jedi fight with cortesis-weave blades. The PC's will be the ones who actually first find the crystals and one of them invents lightsabers, or something like that.

So yeah, further thoughts?