From The Journal of The Whills

We are three days away from The Mandalorian's eighth and final episode of Season 1 (which airs in the United States this coming Friday) and it has been five days (or so) since the official wide spread release of the final film in the new Star Wars trilogy, Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker.

For better or worse, what a time to be a Star Wars Fan!

I have seen The Rise of Skywalker and while I had fun watching it, I also found it very disappointing over all. I don't want to discuss it in detail here but what I will say is any  negative feelings I have regarding The Rise of Skywalker are greatly offset by my love for The Mandalorian. 

All this Star Wars - The Light Side, The Dark Side, and The Bendu - has re-ignited my interest in the running a Star Wars RPG campaign. As I've mentioned in the past, nothing inspires my desire to game a particular genre or setting like seeing it done really well or really poorly. Here we have both!

The good in Star Wars - The Original Trilogy, The Clone Wars CGI Animated Series, The Rebels CGI Animated Series, and The Mandalorian - is so good to me, so deeply inspiring and meaningful, that it sparks in my heart and mind the ideas and passion to put my own Star Wars story together. 

The bad in Star Wars - The Prequel Trilogy and The Sequel Trilogy primarily - call out to me with what could have been and therefore beg to be healed, improved upon, or simply replaced with something better. 

My love of the ol' D6 Star Wars RPG by West End Games is well known. My renewed and dare I say emblazoned desire to revisit Star Wars leads me to immediately reach for that game. I have even been considering a project to reorganize all my old Star Wars D6 notes from every one of my previous campaigns into a single, enormous master sourcebook. 

While I will definitely still do that...

My thoughts today are drifting towards revisiting a concept I don't feel I gave enough attention to, namely Star Wars Traveller. 

Clearly my love for Star Wars D6 has not faded in the least, but I haven't been able to get a dedicated, long term campaign of it going for a while and that may be, in part at least, because the system doesn't quite generate the level of excitement and dedication in my players that it does in me.

Traveller on the other hand, being both simple in its base mechanics and yet detailed in it's extensive secondary rules and support products, makes for a game that my particular band of gamers can really sink their teeth into. 

Much like Star Trek games run using FASA, Last Unicorn's Icon System, and Modiphius' Star Trek Adventures systems feel very different from each other, so too does changing up the D6 system to the classic Traveller system add a level of grit and texture you might now see in the West End rules alone. 

Maybe.

I am not entirely sure I am right about this. That is to say, I am not sure I should switch to different set of mechanics when Star Wars D6 has served me so well through so many great campaigns. Changing the core of what Star Wars gaming has always been might treads into dangerous waters...like the difference between The Mandalorian and the new Sequel Trilogy.

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Barking Alien

Are We Really Doing This?

My latest project (as I mentioned at the end of my last post), and my first of the new year, maybe just the thing I've been searching for over the last few years to recapture that ol' Barking Alien magic.

I'm imagining a RPG with a familiar though flexible and expansive setting, just enough crunch to interest my somewhat more mechanically minded players (more so than me), but with a simple, direct focus on character, plot and action. From the 'It's so obvious! Why didn't I think of this before' category comes...

That's right, Star Wars Traveller!

Simple conversion right? I mean, classic Traveller is basically Star Wars to start with isn't it?

Well, after running it for the last three years, I can safely say...No. It isn't. It can be, but that's not really it's default nature. Traveller has fiddly bits a Star Wars game would not normally have, or need. Likewise there are Star Wars elements, such as Jedi and The Force, that Traveller's psionics system doesn't quite model properly.

I've modified numerous game systems over the years in order to tweak them 'just so' for the play style of my various groups, and of course my self. The classic Traveller I have been running for the last 20 years, or so isn't the 'true' version to begin with. It's a melding of elements from classic Traveller, MegaTraveller, different gaming magazine articles, and then simplified to taste. I tend to like to distill a game down to its essence. I've noted before my feeling that about 90% of the RPGs ever published are over-designed.

I want to look at, and understand the game mechanics you've written, so I can figure out which game mechanics I actually need, and will use (I'm looking at you D&D Encumbrance).

Then there are some basic things I know need to be in there, but aren't. A few careers will need to be added. I'm not sure I'm removing any careers yet, but Smuggler, Bounty Hunter, Star Pilot, and a couple others are going in.

The economic sub-systems of Traveller, which are a major factor when playing Firefly like campaigns, is pretty much unimportant in Star Wars.

I know, I know, Star Wars has money. It isn't Star Trek. At the same time, it's really only a plot device. We hardly ever actually see money. Han Solo is a Smuggler, and we know he gets paid, but it's more dialog than number crunching. The Empire, and indeed The First Order, seems to have practically limitless funding for their military forces. No one worries how much the Galactic Civil War costs in dollars, and cents.

I plan to have money, and an economy, but de-emphasize it in favor of fighting the good fight against an oppressive regime. That's what Star Wars focuses on, not penny pinching after you loot the bodies.

Over the course of this month I will be posting some of my adjustments, add-ons, and ideas regarding Star Wars Traveller. I welcome any suggestions you want to throw my way. My goal is to run a 'Pilot One-Shot' sometime soon, and see if it takes off. If it does, my Barking Alien Gaming Group may make this our new campaign instead of our originally planned 'Traveller BEYOND'.

Am I ready for this? Hell no.

Going to go for it anyway. Lock S-Foils into attack position. Let's start our run...

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Barking Alien

You're Offering Me A Job?

Careers for Star Wars Traveller are relatively the same as they are for standard, classic Traveller as noted in my previous post. Okay, actually they're the same as MegaTraveller, since that's the assortment of core Careers my group, and I use. Practically all of the Careers in Traveller are valid, fitting quite easily into the Star Wars universe, so no adjustments are needed for most of them.  

Hive of scum and villainy

 or... 

Career Day Meetup in today's challenging galactic job market?

We will not be using any advanced Careers for this, nor any advanced character generation rules.

The following MegaTraveller Careers transfer over to Star Wars Traveller as is:

• Army
• Barbarian
• Diplomat
• Doctor
• Hunter
• Law Enforcer
• Marine
• Navy
• Noble
• Pirate
• Sailor
• Scientist
• Scout

Rather then make unnecessary changes to these Careers mechanically, or even aesthetically, it is how you represent them in the setting that matters.

In other words, if you make a character with two Terms of Army, and one of Scout that could mean she is a Resistance Commando, a First Order Scout Trooper, or an independent mercenary type.

Barbarian is fun in the Star Wars universe, as it can easily be used to present any being from a primitive culture, or simply from a backwater planet like Tatooine, or perhaps Jakku. I guess I could have changed the name to Tough Native (which is what it is called in Star Wars D6), but that seems a superfluous choice.

These next ones will have a name change:

• Bureaucrat becomes Administrator
• Flyer becomes Operator
• Rogue becomes Scoundrel

 

The main reason for these is atmosphere, and feel of the milieu, but also because of what the Careers do, and who the people are who do these things in the Star Wars universe.

I know a number of people over the years who chose Flyer as a Career when what they really wanted was a Wedge Antilles, or Poe Dameron type Starfighter Pilot. Unfortunately, Flyer doesn't necessarily create great pilots, and rarely space capable ones. Flyer is a Career aimed at aircraft, not spacecraft, and more often than not hands the PC options for operating a variety of other vehicles. This is better suited for a Operator, who might 'operate' an AT-AT Walker, a Sail Barge, or fly a Snowspeeder across the icy plains of Hoth.

Now, there are also a small batch of new Careers I'll be adding to the mix. If you take a close look at the core list above, you'll notice some Careers missing.

Merchant is removed in favor of Smuggler, which is a better fit, and probably what most of us thought we were playing when we chose Merchant in the first place. Belter is removed (for now), and the Vargr (Wolf/Dog alien species in Traveller) Career of Scavenger (originally listed in the Vargr supplement) is now a mainstay. Not only is this a good fit for a character like Rey, but it also covers scavenging, and prospecting characters such as Tatooine's Jawas.

The complete list of new Careers is:

• Bounty Hunter
• Scavenger
• Smuggler
• Star Pilot
• Technician

Technician is a funny one. Most Science Fiction/Space Opera games have some sort of Engineer, or Mechanic profession since, hey, there is advanced machinery EVERYWHERE! Somehow Traveller missed this very obvious fact, and classic versions of the game do not include a dedicated tech Career. I decided to include it in Star Wars Traveller because although at first glance none of the main characters are engineers per se, many of them could be considered to have Technician as one of their two careers. Chewbacca definitely qualifies as a Technician, with perhaps a term, or two of Smuggler thrown in. Rey could easily be defined as a Scavenger/Technician.

Then there are the truly dedicated Technicians, R2-D2, BB-8, and other Astromech Droids. I've had people play droids in my Star Wars D6 games over the years, and I want the opportunity to be available here (especially since I am totally in love with BB-8. OMG it's so ADORABLE! Ahem). Of course, this brings up a whole other issue of droid Player Characters...but we'll get to that much later in the month.

Astromechs

 Don't leave your home base without them.

 

For now, I think we have the basics. I just need to give you all the tables for the new Careers, the Event table ideas, the new Mustering Out benefits, how The Force works...

Wow. There is more to this than I thought. Oh well. Let's get to work...

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Barking Alien

VISIONS Quest

After watching Star Wars: VISIONS Volume 2 I had some thoughts and ideas for Star Wars role playing that are a little different from what I've done in the past. Well, sort of. I'll clarify in the post.

The biggest revelation I had after watching the VISIONS Volume 2 is that Star Wars' canon is hurting it more than helping it.

That may be a strange conclusion to come to in the minds of many, especially given the fact that VISIONS Volume 2 - much more so than Volume 1 - features a number of episodes clearly set in the period of the Galactic Civil War. The forces of the Imperial Empire are front and center as antagonists in at least four of the nine episodes.

Still and all, only one of these, 'The Spy Dancer', directly refers to The Rebellion. None of them address Luke Skywalker, Darth Vader, the destruction of the Death Star, or the seemingly ever present desert world of Tatooine.

The creatives behind the various VISIONS installments can go virtually anywhere and do anything, adding brand new characters, worlds, species, droids, and a whole host of other elements and ideas to the increasing familiar Star Wars setting. 

Some of the most interesting episodes in the second 'season' are those not directly (or at least clearly) connected to the established canon of the Star Wars universe. You could certainly place any of the episodes somewhere in the official timeline with little difficulty but it isn't necessary. In fact, one of the things that makes episodes like 'Aau's Song' or 'Journey to The Dark Head' so great is that they can easily be taking place long before 'The Phantom Menace' or long after 'The Rise of Skywalker'.

They could also be happening somewhere outside of established Star Wars space/time. Star Wars is not, as I always attest, a traditional Science Fiction setting. It isn't a What If? exploration of our own reality. It is a Fairy Tale in Space. It's Science Fantasy. Its depictions need not keep an 'accurate' chronicle as one would for real life current events. Star Wars is for spinning adventure yarns and spreading legends of a time long ago, in a far, far away galaxy.

VISIONS tells stories that are both very Star Wars and generally separate from the events and people that make up the fictional history of its universe as we the fans know it. That flexibility and freedom, IMHO, is what Star Wars live action and gaming has been missing. Be assured first and foremost that you are telling a great story and that the story feels like Star Wars. Whether it fits into the overall timeline should be a tertiary concern.  

The VISIONS series (Volume 1 and 2) has inspired me to start working on yet another crazy side project that I definitely don't have time for. More details will be forthcoming once I have a handle on exactly what it is I'm doing but the basic idea is:

A great Star Wars RPG feels like Star Wars. If you want to create a different feel, use a different system and apply its vibe to Star Wars. For example, using Traveller to play Star Wars (as I've tried in the past) adds a level of detail,  texture, and (dare I say) realism that makes the atmosphere of the setting more Science Fiction-y. 

My thought is, 'How do I add more of a mythic, legendary quality to Star Wars?'. I want to focus on the fairy tale aspect I mentioned above. To assist with this I think I need a Fantasy RPG but one that's more interested in emulating folklore and focused on narrative than the typical War Game/Tactical Combat descended games.

What game is that? I've said numerous times in the past that most Fantasy RPGs don't feel particularly fantastic to me. D&D and its ilk, for example, come off as technical, almost scientific, most notably in their names and terminology and the 'naturalistic' way they describe monsters. Not what I'm going for. 

Hmm. I think I might have something...

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Barking Alien

Flying Solo

The latest film in the Star Wars saga and franchise has been released and as one might expect, I now have a serious case of Star Wars RPGing on the brain.

A funny thing...the very first Star Wars film, later designated Episode IV: A New Hope, came out a scant four months before I first played an RPG and a good ten years before West End Games would put out the first official game.

I absolutely adored that first film. I took it in, absorbed its universe into my imagination, and saw it as a fantastically entertaining work of movie magic. It inspired me and deepened my love of movies, outer space, and storytelling. 

Every film since has been viewed through the lens of "What does this have that I can use in my games?" Essentially, the original Star Wars was my introduction, and the rest are enjoyable research.

This newest entry is no exception. 

First, I want to say that I very much enjoyed the film. After the original trilogy, Solo: A Star Wars Story may be my favorite film in the franchise.  It wasn't a perfect movie by any means but it was very good Star Wars.

From this point on I am going to issue a SPOILER WARNING. I don't intend on revealing any big secrets, but just in case you have been warned. 

"You never heard of the Barking Alien Blog?

It's the blog that gave a SPOILER WARNING in less than 12 parsecs."

Always in motion is the future

One of the things that makes for a good Star Wars adventure, and indeed a whole campaign, is forward momentum. 

Things - people, starships, events - should always be in motion. Like any good road trip, you need to stop now and again at some truck stop or scenic site to catch your breath and reflect on the journey, but never for too long.

Once you're ready, and there is always some underlying feeling of urgency even on a site-seeing trip, you're back on the road. You have a goal, a final destination, but the twists and turns of the trip itself are half the fun.

This, to me, is Star Wars and Star Wars gaming. 

Solo does a good job of this. Again, perhaps not perfectly executed, but well enough to get the characters, and the audience, moving along toward an exciting climax - the ultimate goal of any action/adventure story. 

Your first step into a larger world 

Another element key to Star Wars films and gaming is to utilize the familiar, yet be sure to introduce the new.

Players and their PCs should see familiar species, starships, droids, and maybe even worlds (use these sparingly - see below), while at the same time encountering new creatures, devices, and planets right along side them.

  

Imperial Stormtrooper variants in Solo, A Star Wars Story

When you run Star Wars [or any IP based game for that matter] make sure you include well known elements to reward your group for choosing to play Star Wars in the first place. I mean, why choose to place your game in the Star Wars universe if your not going to use Astromechs, TIE Fighters, Rodians, or other favorite bits?

That said, if they only ever see things they already know, they're going to get bored with the setting. Maintain a balance of old and new and you will always have a reason to return to the same universe. 

Solo introduces us to new types of Stormtroopers, new TIE Fighters, and new aliens but doesn't leave out regular Stormtroopers, regular TIE Fighters, and shows a Rodian character near the end. Hurrah! That's enough to satisfy both criteria.

Make the jump to Hyperspace!

Related to both of the aforementioned factors is the notion that, unless you are running a particular type of game, my advice and preference is to travel to different planets fairly often.

 

How often? Hard to say. My recommendation is to play it by ear but for me, I don't usually like to spend more than one Star Wars session on the same planet. Yes, you read that right. No more than a single session. 

If your games run short - say, 3-5 hours - sure, you can spend a couple of sessions on one world. For my in-person Star Wars games, which usually last around 8 hours, I try to either start the game on a world or with the PCs arriving at the world and by the end of the session they should be leaving it and heading somewhere else. 

But I want to explore the planet and survey it's terrain and ecology.

That's Traveller.

But I want to learn about the native species, their art, and culture.

That's Star Trek.

This is Star Wars. You want to do a thing, get in trouble with the Empire for doing that thing, then battle your way past the Imperials on your way to do another thing on another world. 

Solo does this...well...it almost over does it. In the span of the movie's 135 minutes run time, the characters and events take place across no less than five planets. Maybe more. I am not actually certain. There is a scene or two that seem to take place on the same world but may be different world's and vice versa. Also, the final scenes - which are relatively brief - take place on a planet not previously seen in the film so I guess it's really six.

I got the chance to run a Star Wars one-shot this past Sunday and I tried my hardest to GM it based on the principles I've mentioned here. It went over really well and the players are hoping to turn it into a campaign.

In an upcoming post (perhaps several) I will detail the first session and dive more thoroughly into how the above concepts were implemented and why they worked. 

Until then, I have a good feeling about this,

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Barking Alien

You're Afraid That You Will Never Be As Strong As Darth Vader

The Force has been calling to me, drawing me back to blogging about my Star Wars Traveller project. Unfortunately, The Force doesn't pay my bills, nor does it stop me from getting a bit of a Winter bug.

I suppose I haven't truly mastered it yet.

Almost man. Not quite.

Keep at it.

One of the things I noticed about my previous entry on The Force for Star Wars Traveller is that while it wasn't my conscious intention going in, the post detailed how Skills work in my 'house' version of Traveller. In other words, my post about how The Force would work in my game also became a post about how the Skill mechanics work.

Nice. It's like killing two mynocks with one blaster bolt.

With that in mind, I've decided that since learning, and increasing Force related Skills must go hand-in-hand with explaining my Experience system, here is the my system for Character Improvement, and Advancement in Star Wars Traveller first. We'll come back to The Force in a follow up post.

***

Experience, and Character Improvement, and Advancement in Traveller (specifically classic, original Traveller), or the lack thereof, was always one of its weaker elements. MegaTraveller had a far more definitive system, but it was complex, and didn't feel exactly right. Over the years I developed my own, and it has been used successfully in my campaigns for well over twenty-five years. Your mileage may vary, but here's how it works...

 

Experience Points come in two forms - Active Training  Points (AT), and Passive Training Points (PT).

Your PC gains ATs when it actively does something involving a given Skill.

When your PC is in a firefight, you might get one in Handgun that session. If your PC drove a Grav-Car during the adventure, she will likely get an AT to Grav Vehicle.

You don't get a point every time you use the skill, so shooting a handgun five times during a battle doesn't automatically net you five ATs. Rather, you get one AT for that firefight. If you did something particularly memorable, the GM might award you two for that one combat sequence.

At the end of each session, the Gamemaster goes around to each player, and recalls the cool things their PC did that session, awarding them 1, 2, or (rarely) even 3 points for exceptionally creative use of a Skill. The Player, and his/her fellow player participants at the table, are encouraged to bring up moments of awesome the player's PC performed during the session.

Not only is this an effective means of Character Improvement (not too fast, not too slow), but to me it has a number of other benefits.

First, it makes sense in an organic, reasonable way. You get better at the things you practice, or do more often. If you haven't swung at sword, driven a vehicle, or tried to convince someone of something in a session or two, why would those things improve just because you got enough 'Experience Points'?

Second, it generates this great feeling of camaraderie among the players. What one person did doesn't take points away from you. Rather, each player's PC is awarded on it's own merits. Players stand up for each others PCs, if only so that they'll get that same treatment in return when their own PC comes up for AT assessment.

For example, Ray may remind the GM about that really great thing that Andy did when he used Recon, and then Forward Observer to find a safe way out of the battle the group was trapped in. Andy may then remember, "Yes! But I couldn't really have done it if you (Ray) hadn't hacked the computer system and deactivated the magnetic locks on the doors." The GM nods, and says, "Very good point Andy. OK, 1 AT on Recon, and 1 AT on Forward Observer for Andy, 1 AT on Computers for Ray."

As an aside, a sort of Reason 2.b of why this is awesome, is that having the players recall the session at the end makes it easier for them to remember what happened for the next session. It also shows the GM who was paying attention, and who wasn't.

[Actually, I've now adopted a similar Experience Point reward system in nearly every RPG I run. It's it not only great for the reasons I mentioned, but players seem to really enjoy it. It lets them relive their best moments, and the best moments of their cohorts. Win-win!]

It takes five (5) ATs to increase a Skill. You put little marks next to the Skill, and when you have 5 you increase the Skill by one, and go back to zero ATs.

So what's Passive Training (PT)?

When a character has the time, available materials, or an instructor, a character may train to improve a Skill like we all do in real life. Basically, practice makes perfect, and even if you are not being shot at, or chased down the highway, you can still go to the range and practice shooting, or drive a simulator to increase your abilities.

In one standard week's time (7 days of game time, 168 hours, 10,080 minutes - you get the idea), a character can gain five (5) PTs toward a Skill if training conditions are available. This means in two weeks they'd have 10 PTs, which is enough to raise a Skill by one Skill Level/Rating.


Five (5) ATs - Active Training Points - Raise a Skill one Level.
Ten (10) PTs - Passive Training Points - Raise a Skill one Level.


Note that these points are not cross-compatible. They are earned separately, and recorded separately. One does not convert, or transfer to the other.

To raise a Stat one must obtain 20 points, but more about that another time, as that situation is handled a little differently.

For now, here goes the Training System in practice:

Dalon Norbro, former First Order Special Forces TIE Fighter Pilot turned Resistance Hero, is currently locked in a heated dogfight between his unit, the Resistance's Sunburst Squadron, and a swarm of TIE Fighters launched from the First Order Star Destroyer 'Terminal'.

During the battle, Norbro takes out three standard TIEs, assists a fellow PC with a Special Forces TIE (like the one he himself pilots), and does a crazy, spinning, cork-screw maneuver to distract the enemy from firing on a NPC Freighter that needs to get vital supplies to a Resistance base in another star system.

All in all, with the exception of some damage to his beloved repainted TIE/sf, Dalon has had a pretty good session. At the end of the adventure for that day, the GM awards Dalon's player (Me I guess) 1 AT for Gunnery, and 1 for Pilot. I note that the distraction plan was pretty bold, and made me a target. Another player notes my assistance in taking out the Special Forces TIE that was on her tail. The GM thinks about it, and says I can either be awarded 1 point to Ship Tactics, or 1 point to Leader. I feel it was more tactical thinking than leadership this session, and gladly take the 1 to Ship Tactics.

Now, here is where things get really interesting, set up my next post, and further my discussion of how The Force is used in Star Wars Traveller.

Let's say you're Finn, and you find yourself acting as Gunner a lot lately. First when escaping from the First Order in a TIE/sf, and later operating the Quad-Laser Turret of none other than the Millennium Falcon! Now let's say...you don't have the Skill of Gunnery.

Ah oh.

Each time you wanted to use a spacecraft's weapon systems you would roll just like you would any task, as mentioned in my post on skills. The formula remains that same, with just two minor adjustments.

You don't add a skill (since you don't have it), and the Difficulty modifier goes up by five.

 Appropriate Stat + Skill + 2D6 Die Roll +/- Condition/Situation Modifiers = ?

becomes

Appropriate Stat + 2D6 Die Roll +/- Condition/Situation Modifiers = ?  vs. Difficulty Level +5

Now, if you try this, successfully, or not, a number of times, the GM may say, "Finn, I am going to award you 2 points towards Gunnery today. You really tried today, and even got in a couple of great shots."

Finn's player looks at his Character Sheet. He doesn't have Gunnery, but now writes it down with 2 ATs next to it. If he can get 5 ATs, he gains Gunnery-0 (zero). Gunnery-0 (or any skill at zero) in Star Wars Traveller eliminates the added Difficulty Level of +5. A task becomes as hard as a task would be, not harder because you don't know what you're doing. You sort of do. You're no pro, but you get the basics.

Gain 5 more ATs, and you now have that Skill at 1.

Anyone see where this is going?

No one starts out with Jedi Mind Trick, but a Force Sensitive individual could try it. Keep trying, and you might get the appropriate Force Skill at zero (0). Keep practicing, get training, and you might be able to tell Daniel Craig to drop his weapon.

Stay on target! A lot more to come...

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Barking Alien

Just a quick reminder to viewers:

 

This is a fan work, not an official product of any kind.

 

Star Wars Traveller, an attempt to model a Star Wars RPG using the rules of classic, and Mega-Traveller, is the creation of Adam Dickstein. It is not a product of, nor is it affiliated with the creators of Star Wars, nor the creators of Traveller.

 

This is just for fun, and free to everybody.

 

May The Force Be With You

  

Happy Birthday to the late, great Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The dream is still alive, though it fights to be heard, to be seen, to be fully realized. Be one who fights with it, not against it. Be The Resistance.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I Know Your Eyes

I Have Lived Long Enough to See The Same Eyes in Different People.

By 'Lived' I mean GMed. By 'Different People' I mean Player Characters.

So...yeah.

Maz Kanata runs a mean game of Star Wars I tell you.

A friend of mine noted just the other day that, "Star Wars characters are kind of same-y".

To which my brain instantly countered, 'As opposed to D&D characters? Let me guess, is that Elf over there aloof, and kind of snobbish? Is the Dwarf dour, and itching for a fight?' Raise your hand if you're a Rogue, or better yet an Assassin, with a dark secret from your past. C'mon, you can tell us. We're all friends here. Yeah, that's what I thought.

Characters that fit well into a given milieu often start out a tad cliché. They begin adhering fairly tightly to tropes that easily connect, and identify them with the universe, or genre they're in. I can practically feel the sneering faces of the artistes in the audience. Well, I'm here to tell you all to relax. It's OK. It's cool. In fact, it's even a good idea.

From personal experience many times over I can tell you there is nothing more annoying than a PC who doesn't fit the setting. An Iron Age anti-hero in a small group of Silver Agers is terribly jarring. Likewise I tend to generate a fair amount of ire when playing Pathfinder, as I try to use cunning, creativity, and reason instead of MMO skill tree character optimization to overcome opponents. That's just not what the game is about for most people.

The critical point I want to make here is go ahead, be cliché. Be full of tropes. Play a Human Smuggler with a big alien sidekick/companion. Owe money, or cargo to an alien crime lord? Great! How about a young woman, or young man from a backwater planet who dreams of the stars? Sure, why not. You want to be a Bounty Hunter with tricked out armor? Awesome. More power to you.

There was a very good reason the West End Games' Star Wars RPG had those types of characters as templates. They are easy to identify with, easy to see with the mind's eye. It allows a player familiar with the setting to find what they're looking for right away, and gives the unsure player a place to start.

It is really after character creation that PCs start to be differentiated from each other in these kinds of games. Just as some disparaged The Force Awakens for being too much like A New Hope, I embraced the sameness, but got really charged up over the differences. One of my favorite characters is Finn. (SPOILERS! I guess) He is a character type we've seen in comics, and other places, but never in a big screen Star Wars movie. We always wondered if a Stormtrooper could, or would defect, but here is one who does! Then, as the story goes on, we learn little snippets of what he's like, what First Order Stormtroopers are about, and what is it that makes this guy special, unique, and a hero.

Generating a character for Star Wars Traveller, like original Traveller, is kind of a mini-game in itself. I want to keep the concept of rolling to generate a character, with the trials, and tribulations that might come with not getting exactly what you want, then having to figure out what to do next.

For those less familiar, or even unfamiliar with classic Traveller, a player rolls on Career tables in a attempt to qualify his, or her PC for a given Career, advancement in that Career such as a Promotion, or Commendation, if they received a Special Duty/Assignment, and yes, whether, or not they survived their entire Term.

Ah Traveller. The RPG where you can die during Character Creation. Ludicrous, and Awesome in equal portions.

I've come to love this particular element of the game, though perhaps not for reasons Marc Miller intended. You see, in my campaigns when someone dies during character creation by failing their Survival roll (to survive their term of service), I ask them if their PC 'Really died', or 'May have lived'.

Some players opt to actually have the character die, especially if it wasn't coming out as they'd hoped, had really poor stats, or whathaveyou. On the other hand, if they really liked the character up to that point, they can roll on alternative 'Non-Death' or 'False Death' tables (I've changed the name over the years back, and forth between the two). These tables provide interesting backstory material, and occasionally special gear, or abilities. However, they also come with a catch such as a dramatic/tragic event, an enemy, and/or a handicap/disadvantage.

For Star Wars Traveller, I definitely want those story, and character elements. As noted above, I think it is really cool to play a Wookiee Co-pilot/Mechanic, a Starfighter Pilot, or a renegade Princess. The kind of tables I'm talking about can add some extra grit, and texture to those staple character types, making them the same, but different.

I don't believe the roll that gets you a cool background should have to allude to death necessarily. Instead, I am getting rid of the Survival roll, and implementing an 'Event' roll. If you fail your Event roll, a major event cut your character generation process short, but in exchange gives your PC a richer history, a deeper connection to the campaign, and maybe a nifty gadget, or power.

A quick summary of Star Wars Traveller Character Generation would go as follows:

Your initial Career entry is free. You do not have to roll to Enlist as you do in classic Traveller. There is no Enlistment roll in Star Wars Traveller, so your first Career of choice is automatic. However, you do need to roll to Re-enlist.

 

There is no need for a Survival roll either. You are assumed to live through your career. However, you do make an Event roll. If you make your Event roll, nothing special happened and you may continue on with Character Generation. If you fail at your Event roll, your character was part of a life changing incident. You must stop character creation at that point. See GM for additional details (Event tables will be consulted).

 

You can get a Promotion, and a Commendation in some Careers. See individual Career tables. (I'll address these in an upcoming post).

Careers that do not have Promotions, and Commendations may also roll for a Contact, or a Knowledge each Term, but not both. Pick one, or the other each Term.

Contacts are acquaintances your PC may call on from time to time for information, assistance, etc.. See the Contact table to randomly roll a Contact. You may also, with the GM’s permission, keep a Contact ‘unconfirmed’ until it is needed. Once it is identified and ‘confirmed’ you may not change it.

Example:

A Smuggler PC has three Contacts, one of which is unconfirmed. The Contact has not been identified. While being chased by Imperial Forces through an asteroid field, the Smuggler tells the GM he has an old friend in a nearby star system that might be able to lend the PC team a hand. The third Contact is now confirmed as a gas mining station administrator who was once a gambling buddy of the PC Smuggler.

 

Knowledge is something that character knows that is unusual. It might be that she understands Droidspeak, or Wookiee. It could be familiarity with a single, rarely visited star system, or a particular space phenomenon. It should be one thing, somewhat specific, and not easily attained using a common skill.

 

Re-enlistment is handled normally. If you fail to Re-enlist you may choose another career.

No PC may have more than two careers.

Well, that is all for now. There is a lot more on the horizon so sit back, relax, and stay tuned.

AD
Barking Alien

I Can Show You The Ways of The Force

Before I get started today, a little maintenance work is needed on the Falcon...

This should be my last post specifically dedicated to The Force for a while.

The Force is integral to the Star Wars setting, being one of the things (if not the thing) that makes Star Wars unique. and special.

To properly portray The Force and its wielders in Star Wars Traveller, I first needed to explain the ins, and outs of The Force itself, as viewed by yours truly, the guy writing up this project.

Then I needed to clarify a number of house-rule adjustments and alterations my groups and I have made over the years to classic Traveller, and MegaTraveller.

Once that was done, I had to address the actual Force related mechanics for Star Wars Traveller.

While there is still much to say on the subject, my long focus on The Force means I haven't had the chance to cover other topics I really want to discuss. Aliens, Creatures, Droids, and Starships are just some of the things I want to address.

Advice, and notes on how to run Star Wars Traveller, scenario and NPC ideas, and a host of other elements are likewise subjects I really want to talk about as well.

I hope this last entry answers any lingering questions about The Force in Star Wars Traveller, and if it doesn't, please free to leave me a comment on something, anything, that could use clarification, or that needs to be expanded upon.

Thanks.

Oh, adjust your comlinks, and home in on my signal at the end of this post for addition notes on what's coming in the future for Star Wars Traveller, and when.

Looks like Chewie got the Hyperdrive back online. Let's punch it!

***

Continuing on with how The Force is governed by the rules of Star Wars Traveller, let me tag a few [essentially] random notes that I hope will help fill in the gaps of what has already been discussed.

Close your eyes...feel it...the Light...its always been there 

How do you determine if someone is Force Sensitive?

Originally, I had a system for determining this based on a similar formula for determining if you're PC is Psionic in MegaTraveller. I decided it didn't feel right. It was too complicated, too mechanical.

I then thought, 'If someone wants to be Force Sensitive, let'em be Force Sensitive'. That doesn't really work either. It will result in a party of six Force Sensitive PCs at a table with six players.

This isn't the Prequels. The Force is a rare, special, and mysterious thing. It is largely thought to be myth, and poorly understood except by a select few in the entire galaxy.

So how do you decide who gets to be the Chosen One(s)?

I think it's really a matter of playing it by ear, and listening to your players. If someone comes up to me with an idea for a Force Sensitive character, with an interesting how, or why the Force is Strong with their PC, I am hard pressed not to want to let them explore the idea (and for me to explore it as well).

I think that's it in a nutshell. No Force for Force's sake. Give me a sign of the potential heroes journey you see, and I am happy to let you take it, and come along for the ride.

For now, that is going to be the only rule I need.

I feel it again...the pull of The Light

As noted in the comments of my previous entry, there is a way to turn back to The Light Side of The Force once your character has all but succumbed to The Dark Side. Special Thanks to seaofstarsrpg for asking about this.

If you spend a Dark Side point to do something good, we're talking truly altruistic, the Gamemaster may return the point to you at the end of the session/beginning of the next, as a Light Side point.

Or...Hmmm. It should be harder than that.

The Light Side is a more difficult path. "Quicker, easier is the Dark Side" did Yoda say. I'm thinking that perhaps instead of getting a Light Side point back for the Dark Side point you spent with good intentions, you lose the point entirely. It doesn't automatically come back as Light Side, or Dark Side.

Rather, through continued play, dialog and actions during the session, the GM must decide if you get one back at all. If the answer is yes (and the other players can weigh in with opinions, and evidence as they do when awarding ATs), then the PC is at last rewarded with a Light Side point.

The key element is make it situational, truly a case by case basis. Make it role-play driven, not solely a mechanical rule. This is more fitting to the description of the nature of The Force, and it goes a ways toward helping define it as not perfectly defined.

Depending on how the player has played his/her PC up to that moment, perhaps the difficulty should be raised when one attempts to use a Dark Side point for a positive, good intentioned action. You can't be a murderous a**hat for a stretch of time, suddenly say, "And now I feel like doing good" and just assume the universe is going to be OK with that.

Darth Vader chucking the Emperor down a reactor shaft excluded of course.

I know I slaughtered all those little Jedi kids,

but I just stopped the Emperor from killing you...

...so we're all square ,right?

One more thing, remember that this applies only to a character who still has at least one point of Light Side Force Strength left. If you are all Dark Side, there is no turning back.

The Force is strong in her

How strong is Force Strength? What is a point of it really worth?

Well basically, I have a few rules of thumb, but in many cases it will be a negotiation between the player, and the GM if the player wants their PC to pull off something truly spectacular. Bare in mind these rules are based primarily on the Original Trilogy, and The Force Awakens. No real attempt is made here to emulate the Superhero Jedi of the Prequels.

We begin with the one point you have to spend to use The Force. What can you do with that?

Basically, it represents the very least we've seen a Force user do in the original movies, and the most recent sequel.

One point of Awareness tells you that is danger nearby, or lets you find a familiar individual who is not far away.

One point of Enhancement increases a single Stat by one for one round. It can be used to Heal yourself, or any individual you can make physical contact with, for 1 Stat Damage.

One point of Influence can lift a PC's Lightsaber off the ground, and into her hand from anywhere in a roughly 10-15 foot radius. It would only take the basic Force Strength point and a Skill Roll with a Difficulty of Routine (7 or better) to retrieve it at the aforementioned distance.

Adding Force Strength points can (by way of example):

Enable the Force wielder to perceive the location of someone further from immediate area, to street (two points), 'block' (three points), village (four), town (five), small city (six), etc.
 
Heal a number of Stat Damage points on a one-for-one basis. A full Hit of Damage requires the expenditure of six Force Strength points (five damage equals one Hit, plus one for the basic use of Enhancement for healing).
 
Lift an object in size relationship to one point being necessary for a Lightsaber. This means (roughly), two points for a toolbox, three for a box, or crate, four for a large box, or small droid (like maybe BB-8), five points for a R2 unit or tripod mounted weapon, six points for a light-weight speeder bike, etc.
 
Increase the number of targets from one (which maybe one's self) to one additional per point applied. To Force Push a dozen Stormtroopers would take 13 points of Force Strength.
 
This is just off the top of my head, but based on some thinking I've been doing on the subject. I may come up with a more detailed system at a later date. I will have to test this during game play and see how well it works.

That Lightsaber belongs to me!
Come and get it!

Lightsabers. Is there any Space Adventure hand-to-hand weapon so cool? An elegant weapon, for a more civilized age.

In Star Wars Traveller, you must have Lightsaber as a Skill in order to wield one, however you can use the Default Skill of Sword at minus one. If the wielder of the Lightsaber is not Force Sensitive, he or she has a penalty Modifier of -2 to any action with it.

Lightsabers are hand-to-hand weapons that have a Penetration Rating of 12 (yes twelve!), and a Damage Rating of 6.

Note that Enhancement can be used to increase the character's accuracy, Penetration and/or Damage with a successful Enhancement Skill Roll, and application of Force Strength.

One roll is needed to add Force Strength to the Lightsaber wielder's 'To Hit' roll. Each point after the first one spent is a positive Modifier to the character's Attack roll.

A second roll is needed to apply Force Strength to the Penetration, and/or Damage of the attack. Remember that each point of Force Strength increases either the Penetration, or the Damage by one. You can spend multiple points and split the effect however.

For example:

Erri Windfire swings her Lightsaber at a Stormtrooper Commander whose unit has her friends pinned down. She rolls Enhancement to apply Force Strength to her Lightsaber skill. She spends three points - one for the Force Skill roll, two to add to her Lightsaber Skill. It's deemed Difficult (as the enemy Commander is a pretty experienced and tough customer), but she makes it.

Erri's player adds a +2 to her Lightsaber skill, needing to beat a Routine Difficulty plus one for the Stormtrooper Commander's partial cover among some vehicle debris, for a total of 8. Erri's player rolls, adds the appropriate Stat+Skill combo, adds the +2, and easily hits.

She than rolls Enhancement again with five Force Strength points added - one for the roll, two for Penetration, and 2 for Damage. The player is concerned that the armor adorning the  enemy that the GM described might be harder to breach than standard Stormtrooper armor. She beats the same difficulty of 8, and applies the Force Strength points. Her Penetration of 14 (12+2), easily cuts into the armor, and causes 8 (6+2) Damage.

The same system can be used to deflect Blaster Bolts as well, with each Force Strength point after the first creating a +1 to the Difficulty of the opponent's Attack roll (or a -1 to the total of the roll made - depending on how you want to calculate it).

Hmmm. Not sure I am completely sold on the defensive mechanics. Also, I don't like there being so much 'Rolling in order to roll/use your ability'. This is going to require a little tweaking.

Show me the power of the Darkness

It has always been implied that some Force abilities are specifically attributed to the Jedi, and their Light Side teachings, or the Sith, and their forbidden knowledge of the Dark Side. The most obvious version of this is Force Lightning, which only Sith have ever exhibited (and only two have ever been shown to possess it in Star Wars canon).

In order to use Force Lightning, one must spend Dark Side Force Strength, no question about it. In addition, you gain a replacement Dark Side point for using it, and another for the act of anger, and aggression it would take to cause its use.

I would also say it is a power that must be learned either by instruction from a Sith Lord who already knows it, or by studying Sith lore.

Not to be left out, the Light Side may have some specific abilities of their own. It is my assumption that returning to the mortal world as a Force Ghost after death is a distinctly Light Side power.

It must also be learned, or taught, and requires a final expenditure of Force Strength, Light Side only, in excess of 25 points to achieve it. I also think it would be cool if how much Force Strength you have after you spend that last burst determines how often you can come back until you permanently become one with The Force (having no more Force Strength).

***

OK, I'm sure there is more I can talk about in regards to The Force, but I desperately need to take on other topics.

May The Force Be With You,

AD
Barking Alien