19th Level

Welcome to the penultimate entry in this journey that has lasted a lot longer than I'd anticipated. I'm one of those Star Wars fans who were there at the beginning, seeing it for the first time at the age of five in a Brooklyn movie theatre - a big one, one with balconies. In the mid 1980s, Star Wars entered a lull. I still loved it but popular interest in it had waned. At Quassy Amusement Park, where I worked in high school, we had a few gazillion Snowtrooper figures redeemable with tickets from Whack-a-Mole and Skee-Ball. But it began picking up steam slowly. I remember being overjoyed at the first Star Wars Encyclopedia  that I picked up from a Stop & Shop that had a small book section. And in 1987 I remember seeing advertisements for a new Star Wars RPG. I was overjoyed. I'd tried my hand at adapting AD&D for Star Wars but it wasn't right. I'd had better luck with the Marvel Superheroes RPG oddly enough. The West End Games Star Wars RPG is my f...

As I mentioned in my last post, I'm teaching my younger daughter how to game using Fantasy Flight Games' incarnation of Star Wars. I'm thinking of doing a few posts where I do a bit of an examination for their incarnation of the RPG. To begin, FFG does not have one Star Wars RPG but rather three. They are Edge of the Empire , Age of Rebellion , and Force and Destiny . Each is focused on a specific lens of Star Wars gaming. Edge of the Empire deals with "civilians" - smugglers, bounty hunters, colonists, mercenaries, nobles, etc. If one wanted to run a game like the Firefly  TV show or all about characters like Boba Fett, this is the game to use. Age of Rebellion  on the other hand, is focused on the Rebel Alliance's battle against the Evil Galactic Empire. Finally , Force and Destiny deals with Force-sensitive characters. All the games provide for potential Force-users, but in Edge of the Empire and Age of Rebellion  you are dealing with very basic Force...

Watching season one of Stranger Things , I was thrilled to see the kids playing D&D. As I've said before, I was the same age as the kids - in fall of 1983 I was 12 years old, in the 7th grade. I'd been playing D&D since the end of the 4th grade in one form or another. I probably wasn't all that good at it when I started. Heck I'm still learning. My younger daughter is in the 7th grade. She's the geeky one of the two girls. Both my daughters are awesome, but when it comes to Stephen King, Star Wars, Doctor Who, and superheroes, she's the one. Quick aside - older daughter and I also share a lot as well. It was she who actually introduced me to Stranger Things , we both love New York City (and subway trains), Disney, and while little sister loves comics and superhero movies, big sister is the fan of the Arrow-verse shows. Anyways, while younger one was in the hospital recently, we were talking about Star Wars - and she expressed an interest in tryi...

On August 11, when describing the Dead Game I'd Most Like to Return  I nominated the original D6 Star Wars. Yesterday, just five days later, while waiting for a subway train I received an email from a player in our gaming group sharing with me the news that Fantasy Flight Games had just announced a limited edition reprint of the original D6 Star Wars game and its first sourcebook. I'm going to live with the illusion that someone at Fantasy Flight Games read my post and made the arrangements in record time. In all seriousness, I'm quite happy with this news. I've played D6 Star Wars recently and it has aged remarkably well. 

There is still a Star Wars RPG   being published - three actually, by Fantasy Flight Games. I ran a campaign with Edge of the Empire and found it to be a perfectly enjoyable game. But for my money the incarnation I've the fondest memories of is the D6-based RPG put out by West End Games in the 1980s and 1990s. I literally played my first game of it the day I got it. It was so easy to play and so easy to GM - and it felt like Star Wars. The system wasn't perfect - I can see areas where a 3rd edition might have cleaned some things up. The Force rules worked well for wanna be Jedi type characters like Rey and Luke prior to being trained by Yoda. It required a bit too much dice rolling in combat. I found the stats for major film characters to be a bit over the top. But I played a game a few years back and it still played just fine. I know sometimes licensees get permission to republish old versions of products that they didn't make. For example, Marvel has republished St...

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away.... Star Wars: Tales of Rebellion Episode IV: Operation Shadowstrike The Rebel operative code-named Prodigal One has crashed in his Y-Wing on the planet NCW-781. This agent had been gathering intelligence information about double-agents embedded within the Rebel Alliance. Gaven Stark, Marcus Doha, and R2-C4 have been dispatched on a U-Wing fighter to NCW-781 to retrieve Prodigal One's information and, if possible, the agent as well. While the Alliance has managed to distract an imperial Strike cruiser into leaving the system, elite Imperial Deathtroopers are searching for Prodigal One. To evade detection as long as possible, the team must risk a high-altitude drop and fly to the surface in stealth-enhanced combat paragliders... Cast of Characters: R2-C4 - Rogue Imperial assassin droid Gaven Stark - Idealistic former Imperial army officer Marcus Doha - Veteran Clone Trooper who has lived an active life since the Clone W...

I've had the opportunity to use every official Star Wars RPG out there. I've played all three incarnations of the West End Games Star Wars RPG, all three of the Wizards of the Coast, and an Edge of the Empire Game that borrowed material from Age of Rebellion and Force and Destiny . I've had fun with all of them and if I were in another group that proposed any of those games I'd be fine playing any of them. It was a bit unusual for me to take a stab at going my own way with a home-brew Star Wars game. I'd thought about using Savage Worlds in the past and did a one-off Wush u Star Wars game once but Fate was a bit out there for me given my earlier experiences with it were a bit so-so - I liked it but I was unable to really grok it. What I wound up doing was deliberately avoid other adaptations of Star Wars for Fate. Now that I've been playing it for a while I've gotten more comfortable checking out what others had done but I wanted to start as minima...

One request I've received for our Fate Accelerated Star Wars game is the inclusion of some space battles. I've shied away from them as I got my handle on Fate in general. As I consider this, my inclination is to stay true to Fate Accelerated and keep things simple. Probably the most important factor in Star Wars vehicle battles is the pilot. Han Solo takes a freighter through an asteroid field that destroys smaller and presumably more agile TIE fighters pursuing him. Anakin Skywalker manages to "land" a battleship that is literally falling apart. With this in mind, I want to stay clear of giving a vehicle full stats. Rather, I will focus on aspects. If a freighter is clunky, that can be realized via aspects. Consider this possible realization of the Millennium Falcon : Fastest hunk of junk in the galaxy Prone to breakdowns Armed with twin quad lasers and antipersonnel guns Smuggling compartments This series of aspects would allow the crew to realize m...

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away.... Star Wars: Tales of Rebellion Episode II: Gallisport Recruitment Having captured the Clone Wars-era shipyard of Admiral Bayran, the Rebellion is searching for a worthy person to convert the Separatist yard to production of Rebel craft. Reviewing intelligence data with their sponsor Bail Organa on Alderaan, our freedom fighters discover that the woman they want may be in the system they just departed - in the city of Gallisport on Shesharile 5. There, Rayne Toruna, an aging Twi'lek engineer, leads a swoop gang known as the Mynocks. During the Clone Wars, Toruna was one of Kuat Drive Yards lead engineers, having created the Delta-7 and A-Wing fighters. She left KDY after seeing what the Empire was using her creations for. If Toruna could be persuaded to join the Rebellion, the Separatist Shipyard could soon be producing fighters for the Rebellion against the Evil Galactic Empire... Cast of Characters: R2-C4 - Rogue Imp...

I thought it might be interesting to post some stats for our Fate Accelerated Star Wars characters. The game is set in the time leading up to Rogue One and A New Hope , with our heroes working for Bail Organa. These stats are before any milestones are accounted for. Gaven Stark Refresh: 3 Fate Points: 3 High Concept: The old ways are gone and it's up to me to bring them back. Trouble: It may not earn me a medal but it will sure to get me noticed Other Aspects: I know my way around a blaster [two more aspects open] Approaches Careful: Mediocre (+0) Clever: Average (+1) Flashy: Good (+3) Forceful: Fair (+2) Quick: Fair (+2) Sneaky: Average (+1) Stunts Chest full of medals: +2 Flashy attack with a blaster Two more available without reducing refresh Background Growing up at the end of the Clone Wars, Stark had an idealized vision of the Old Republic and believed the Empire was a noble continuation of it. He served many years in the Imperial Arm...

[ Part 1 ] Cast of Characters: R2-C4 - Rogue Imperial assassin droid Gaven Stark - Idealistic former Imperial army officer Marcus Doha - Veteran Clone Trooper who has lived an active life since the Clone Wars Scene 3: The "Rescue" Admiral Bayran had a small treetop estate that was under assault from a small force from the Imperial Sentinel  landing craft - an AT-ST, a small squad of stormtroopers, ISB Agent Kerrin Malloch, and Malloch's prisoner, the Twi'lek criminal Tel Akuna. The three managed to distract the Imperials with a combination of explosions, fire, and blaster fire. R2-C4 used its rockets to fly up to the estate and "retrieve" Bayran - the aging Rodian was not enthusiastic to be rescued, but a blaster (set for stun) helped convinced him. There was a bit of chaos as Doha's granddaughter, bored with waiting in the ship, was checking out the battle and was nearly in the line of fire, but she was retrieved without injury. Most of ...

Back in January I wrote  about how in the Star Wars universe, hyperspace travel seems more akin to an airplane trip than a trip by ship. You are typically not talking a journey of days - several hours most likely, with a worst-case trip being akin to a trip from say New York City to Tokyo. A direct flight would be around 14 hours, something with connecting flights would be perhaps a day and a half. What does this mean for starships in a galaxy far, far away? If you look at deck plans of such starships you will often see a lot of crew accommodations. In many cases, I'd argue they are unnecessary or, at the very least. more than is required. If you are, for example, a light freighter captain, you are something akin to a truck driver. A bunk or two is reasonable - you might have an overnight trip or you might find yourself in a very crowded spaceport or you might just need to save a few credits. But a large portion of your ship dedicated to crew accommodations cuts into your car...

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away.... Star Wars: Tales of Rebellion Episode I:The Hunt for Admiral Bayran It is a dark time for the galaxy. The evil Emperor Palpatine has destroyed the OLD REPUBLIC  and the Jedi Knights, guardians of peace and justice in the galaxy. In the Republic's place is the EVIL GALACTIC EMPIRE. In this darkness, Senator Bail Organa secretly works against the Emperor, supporting the REBEL ALLIANCE. He has dispatched a team of Rebel Agents to Shesharile 5 in the Minor Cluster to meet with a rebel spy to see what help the Rebellion can give to that impoverished world. Unknown to these agents, word has spread that the Admiral Bayran, a war criminal of the Clone Wars, has been hiding on the nearby forest world of Yelsain. The admiral's hidden shipyard was never found after the Clone Wars. If he could be persuaded to work with the Alliance, that shipyard could be used in the service of the Alliance.... Cast of Characters: R2-C4 - Rog...

One of the challenges I've seen people have with RPG settings like Star Wars  is how to make the player characters have an important role. After all, it was Luke Skywalker who blew up the Death Star and redeemed Darth Vader. Won't the players always be in the shadow of that. Personally, it's not a problem I've had - it's a big galaxy with a lot of opportunity for heroism. One of my longer campaigns spanned the timeline of the entire original trilogy, ending with the characters being commandos infiltrating the second Death Star. Unbeknownst to the movie audience, the Emperor had a deflector shield within the Death Star designed to protect the core. This assault team had to disable the shield in order to allow the Rebel ships to reach the core. Of course they ran into their arch-nemesis, High Inquisitor Tremayne, guarding the internal shield generator, allowing for a climactic battle. The characters got to join the dancing Ewoks when all was done. The animated...

I don't believe Marvel still does it, but I remember at least as late as the 1980s Marvel would give out No-Prizes. A No-Prize was an envelope indicating it contained a No-Prize, mailed to the winner. It was an empty envelope... How could you get a No-Prize? It was given for finding an error in a comic but then explaining how it wasn't really an error. In this week's Star Wars game the characters spent time on the forest world of Yelsain in the Minos Cluster. I've presented Yelsain as a Libertarian paradise - no real laws, though everyone is real polite and well-armed. I explained in the game how they fought for freedom from the Republic on the side of the Separatists during the Clone Wars. Made sense. Then I went over my notes from the previous campaign which had been set in the Minos Cluster: During the Clone Wars Yelsain remained loyal to the Republic, despite the bulk of the sector breaking away. The Separatists “conquered” Yelsain numerous times, each ...

Last night we had our first experience at using Fate Accelerated Edition (FAE) to run a Star Wars game. This was my third attempt at running a game using some variant of Fate. An Atomic Robo  game went ok while an attempt at a homebrew urban fantasy game using FAE didn't really work out. It will require a few more game sessions before I declare absolute victory but this session definitely did go far better than previous attempts. The session itself was a little rough on the technical side - one player was having sound issues (times like this I miss having an in-person group) so had to drop out and another had to leave a bit early. Real world stinks. I'll do a writeup of the session itself at a later point, this is more focused on my experiences running the game. The game is a pre-Episode IV Star Wars game, set a vague amount of time prior to Episode IV (close to it, but we've not fully nailed down if it is a few months or years). They are Rebels going on missions f...

Assuming all goes well we'll be trying out a Star Wars game using Fate Accelerated for our next game session. This has been a rather busy two weeks - the new semester has started for my part-time pursuit of my Master's, my wife is taking an advanced course in pursuit of her professional teaching license (she currently has her initial license), I've begun a new role at work, and took my daughter to her first political protest. I had a lot less time to prep for this adventure than I normally do. So what have I learned? Fortunately, it looks like prepping a Fate Accelerated (and presumably a Fate adventure in general) doesn't seem to involve as much statting up of characters. Given stat generation is incredibly quick in Fate (making the major NPCs took maybe a minute each) what I realized is I've a bit more freedom to allow my players to run off the beaten path and adapt on the fly. What I am nervous about is getting the flow of Aspects and Fate Points right....

Rewatching the Star Wars films and animated series, one thing I'm noticing is hyperspace travel seems to be an awful lot faster than most role playing games tend to assume. For example, in Rogue One , the protagonists bounce across the galaxy in fairly small vessels without anything really in the way of comforts. The Rebels series does show a ship with crew quarters, but one still gets the impression of fairly quick travel times. My own thought is the model of considering FTL travel in Star Wars as being akin to ocean travel may be a bit off the mark - it seems closer to modern airplane travel, where one might have an overnight trip but is unlikely to need full accommodations. That said, there are still some destinations pretty far off the beaten path and we do see the suggestion of trade routes and hyperspace lanes. I'm still contemplating how, if at all, I want to make use of these thoughts in our upcoming game. What connects the worlds of a sector? What does it mean ...

After a brief Gaslight/Pulp Cthulhu game in the autumn, this winter we'll be playing a Star Wars campaign using Fate Accelerated . The game will be set some time prior to Star Wars: A New Hope , with every possibility of advancing beyond it. I'll likely post my impressions of Pulp Cthulhu actual play at a later point. My overall impression was it worked fine but I think I have a preference for a classic-era and style campaign. That said, I liked gaming in the late 19th-century and I think I'd really enjoy a non-Cthulhu adventure game set in that period. The decision to use Fate Accelerated came out of a desire to use something less complicated than Fantasy Flight Games' various Star Wars RPGs. They are great games and I enjoyed Edge of the Empire  but with my pursuing my master's degree part-time and taking on a new position at work, low prep-time is a must. We gave some thought to Star Wars D6  but decided to go for something a bit more on the narrative sid...

I'm old enough to remember quite well life before the internet - at least the internet as we know it today, When I was in college in the late 1980s and early 1990s going online was a process - the modem on my PC would connect to a BBS or to UConn's dial-up line to allow access to mainframe and Unix systems. Being poor college students. we'd often shamelessly copy installation disks to share games. I was reflecting on this with the whole Death Star plans plot of the Star War films  Rogue One and A New Hope . There's some really minor spoilers for Rogue One here so if you've not seen the film you might want to stay clear - though in all honesty, it's nothing major. In Rogue One , to obtain the Death Star plans on Scarif, the team has to reach a massive vault and retrieve the plans from that vault. They get transmitted to a Rebel starship whose crew copies them onto a data tape or disk of some sort - the same plans that Princess Leia passes on to R2-D2. At ...