Star Wars

Just finished reading The Secret History of Star Wars by Michael Kaminski. Fairly well-written and exhaustively researched, the book does a good job of addressing a few issues relating to the history of the writing of the Star Wars Saga; or as George Lucas now calls it, The Tragedy of Darth Vader.

The intent of the book is to address the claims by George Lucas that he had both trilogies written out before-hand in some form or another, and that what transpires in the films is pretty much what he intended from the very beginning. While most long-time fans can (and have) stood up to refute these mostly ridiculous claims, Kaminski's book collects, for the first time, all available info addressing the argument. Most specifically, Kaminski targets the specific claim that Darth Vader was always written as Anakin Skywalker, the father of Luke and Leia. Second to that issue, the book also directly addresses the claim that Leia was always written as Luke's twin sister. The final, compelling conclusion is that until Lucas took on the re-writes of the script for The Empire Strikes Back (following Leigh Brackett's death from cancer), Vader was always written and thought of as a separate character from "Father Skywalker." Likewise, the reveal of Leia as Luke's sister was used to close a thread tossed out in Empire that was added when Lucas was still planning a sequel trilogy as well as a prequel trilogy.

Beyond including references to actual rough drafts, scripts and notes, Kaminski quotes Lucas himself on dozens of occasions contradicting his current claims. Thankfully, the author also includes a ton of insight into George Lucas himself, and does an admirable job of answering, if indirectly, the third-most famous question regarding the origins of the Star Wars tales: What happened?

What most people mean by that question is, "What happened to George between Empire and Jedi? What happened in the interval between Jedi and Menace? Why is the new trilogy so bad?

First, a couple of house-cleaning issues. I present the following as, hopefully, objective statements that all fans can at least attempt to agree with:

1) Star Wars was intended as a light action-adventure in space.

2) It's phenomenal success was derived partly from how new and different the movie was from recent theater fare.

3) There was no way Empire and Jedi could have lived up to fan expectations.

4) Like many sequels, these two movies appeal more strongly to Star Wars fans than casual viewers.

5) The prequel trilogy probably could not have lived up to fan expectations under any circumstances.

6) The prequel trilogy was very successful financially. Critically it was reviewed similarly to the original trilogy at the time.


With that out of the way, the rest of my comments will primarily be addressed to those fans of the original trilogy who feel as if Lucas has given them a wedgie.

The first bit of fundamental knowledge that one needs to know is that George Lucas, by his own admission, is a poor writer. In addition, he doesn't really care about characters and dialogue; he feels they are largely unimportant to the stories he is telling. Or at least less important. Most readers are probably saying, "No duh!" right about now, but these things are important to remember.

Something that may make a lot of long-time fans feel a bit better is that George Lucas really is the foundation of the Star Wars story. No, he didn't write the whole thing back in 1973 and then just film it, but he did write all of it; the good and the bad. I think he does deserve a lot of credit for his story-creating ability, if not his story-telling ability.

One of the most important things to know about the writing of the Star Wars movies is how much of the final product of each Lucas wrote himself. For Star Wars, Lucas wrote each draft, but each copy was extensively reviewed and criticized by Lucas' circle of friends at the time, including Francis Ford Coppola, Steven Spielberg, John Milius, and others. George's wife Marcia also provided significant input on characterization and dialogue, and before shooting George had his friends Gloria Katz and Willard Huyck specifically work over the dialogue in the shooting script. The final script was therefore the product of a collaborative effort involving some of the best filmmakers of the era.

The writing of Star Wars 2 is quite notorious and interesting. While Star Wars was still being made, after he had negotiated rights involving potential sequels with Twentieth Century Fox, Lucas met with noted author of fantasy and sci-fi Alan Dean Foster to write two sequels. Fox was willing to commit to two low-budget sequels for Star Wars, and Lucas wanted the novels ready to go. Lucas and Foster worked out the story for the first sequel, which was eventually published as Splinter of the Mind's Eye. The book was well-received, but discarded as the basis for a sequel when Star Wars broke box-office records.

As best as can be verified, Lucas began writing what would become The Empire Strikes Back with Leigh Brackett during a story conference. Lucas wasn't satisfied with her rough draft, but learned of her death when he tried to contact her to discuss revisions. Lucas decided to undertake the writing of the subsequent draft himself; it was at this point that he (as he himself said at the time) hit on the idea of combining Luke's father with Darth Vader. Following the completion of the first draft, Lucas, producer Gary Kurtz, screenwriter Lawrence Kasden and director Irvin Kershner collaborated on subsequent drafts all the way to the shooting script. The actual shoot of Empire is legendary among Star Wars fans: Kershner slowly and methodically created a slower, deeper, more character driven movie than Lucas had in mind. Gary Kurtz is seen by some as enabling this creation by running interference between Lucas and Kershner, almost always siding with director Kershner over executive producer Lucas. The result is one of the few motion picture sequels frequently cited as better than it's progenitor; a movie that, like Star Trek's The Wrath of Kahn, is even considered one of the best sci-fi movies ever created. Even today, Lucas claims Empire is his least favorite Star Wars film, and has commented to many over the years that the Star Wars sequel was "better than it needed to be"; it would have made just as much money with less effort and a smaller budget (budgeted for $15 million, Kurtz and Kershner eventually spent $33 million...all of which was borrowed personally by Lucas. You can understand his consternation, if not his story telling vision.) In fact, Lucas hated the final product so much that he frantically tried to re-edit the movie into a faster-paced, less-talky film. In the end, Kurtz talked him down and persuaded Lucas to let Kershner to another cut. The rest is history. Kurtz and Lucas parted ways, Empire eventually became the most beloved of the original trilogy (not initially, though) and George Lucas apparently still dislikes this movie. On a side note, contrary to popular belief, Irvin Kershner was actually invited back for Jedi...most likely before Lucas saw the finished movie. Kershner turned the offer down, though.

After the blowout success of Star Wars, Lucas had conceptualized doing either twelve episodes of serialized Star Wars as a New Wave project for directors; or more commonly a nine movie series consisting of the current trilogy (which did not yet have an ending), a prequel trilogy based on young Obi-wan Kenobi, and a sequel trilogy that would conclude the Rebellion versus Empire story. A line was even added to Empire to possibly point to the sequel trilogy. Following his ordeal with Empire, Lucas resolved to finish the current trilogy, then quit. He also resolved to work with a producer and director who would follow his wishes. Again, Lucas wrote the rough draft then collaborated with producer Howard Kazanjian, director Richard Marquand and Lawrence Kasdan for the Jedi scripts. An interesting observation is that while Empire's shooting script was changed during filming by director Irvin Kershner; the last notes and edits of Jedi's script were made by Lucas. Although the rough draft was written after Lucas had decided to end the series, during the writing process Lucas and the others found many storylines that needed to be closed, mostly because of the changes made in Empire. After reading the rough drafts, my advice to Star Wars fans is to be thankful for what you got in Return of the Jedi...the original plans were much, much worse. Kasdan seems to be most directly responsible for the final story, although as usual Lucas provided many of the more loved and loathed details.

When Lucas decided to make the prequel trilogy following the Star Wars renaissance of the early-nineties, he made two important decisions: he would direct the movies himself and he would write the movies himself. Of the original movies, Lucas directed the first only; and all of the screenplays were collaborative. Although Lucas would plan to have another screenwriter do a "polish" of his final drafts, he eventually only does this for the second movie. Ironically, Lucas' rough, revised rough and first drafts are, more or less, the story that many Star Wars fans had been expecting. However, the second draft would introduce the film as it was eventually filmed. The first draft is very similar to the filmed plot, actually...just replace Qui-gon Jin with Obi-wan; Obi-wan with nothing; characterize Obi-wan somewhere between the final Qui-gon and Obi-wan; elevate Anakin's age a few years; don't include midichlorians...see where I'm going here? Qui-gon does appear in this draft as Jedi Knight Kenobi's friend and mentor (not master) who accompanies the return trip to Naboo. He is killed by Darth Maul as usual, which is one of the two reasons Lucas went back and added him to the rest of the movie: to build some sympathy for the character. Unfortunately, Obi-wan is clumsily pushed aside by this addition, leaving no screentime for he and Anakin to bond. The midichlorians are added because Lucas felt that the Jedi Council would not agree to allow Anakin to be trained based on the recommendations of Qui-gon and Obi-wan; they needed a more compelling reason. However, I felt the rough-draft version of this scene played perfectly with the council washing their hands of the boy, Yoda specifically recommending against training, but leaving the final decision up to Obi-wan.

Lucas handed off his first draft for Episode 2 to Jonathan Hales, who would create the second, third and fourth drafts. Lucas would edit the fourth draft, and then change and add several scenes during and after filming. While the editing and SFX of the second movie does make it fun to watch (some of it, anyway); I think the dialogue and story speak for themselves.

Lucas completed the first draft of Sith after pre-production for the movie was complete. Lucas would complete several more drafts before filming, but would significantly alter the script several times during filming. After the film was completed, Lucas re-wrote the script, filmed additional scenes, re-looped several audio tracks, and re-edited the film into something almost completely different. I would love to see what it looked like before. The pivotal change was Lucas' decision to soften Anakin's fall in order to make him more likable and tragic.

What's pretty clear is that, especially with the prequels, what you see on screen is what Lucas wanted you to see. His dialogue is almost universally terrible, and without any form of peer review or collaboration he tends to override his own best ideas. His visual sense is quite keen, and he is a good editor, but Lucas just doesn't have the story-telling ability that he thinks he does. Or that a lot of fans thought he did. In making the prequels, Lucas became more and more focused on the visuals above all else. The flow from movie to movie was hampered by story decisions he made in the first movie not being compatible with the original trilogy. The post-production rewrite of the third movie made Attack of the Clones even more nonsensical than it already was.

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It should be noted that people frequently complain about George Lucas "juvenilizing" Jedi and the prequels, but I personally don't see any compelling evidence. Lucas has been consistent in stating that the movies were targeted at kids, and beyond the Ewoks and Jar-jar, there's a lot of violence and adult content in the new movies. I won't spend time defending either, I'm just saying that nothing I've read so far indicates that anything in particular was added to the movies that Lucas was most responsible for because that addition would appeal to kids or sell more toys.

As far as the "dumbing down" of the movies that some people complain about, I think it's perfectly clear that when left to his own devices, that's just how George Lucas writes.

I strongly recommend picking up The Secret History of Star Wars and Star Wars: The Annotated Screenplays. Between those two books (and The Jedi Masters' Quiz Book), just about any question you might have about Star Wars can be answered.

No, not what you think. With few exceptions, the "holidays" aspect of the Fall and Winter is a stress-reliever for me. What I'm referring to is that my financial year usually starts in March, April or May; and ends in December. I start getting some income in December. So, the period from November to the end of the year is filled with making every dollar count. Plus, you never "really" know how good a job you did during the year until this final huge, expensive effort.

The amount of work that goes into a harvest and all of the stress mentioned above means, as I posted last year, that I don't really have a lot of time for posting...and when I do, I don't feel like it. I don't want to just do more re-posting from other blogs. I like to try to keep blog mentions confined to other bloggers' original work rather than contributing to another round of viral videos. OTOH, Wonderduck comes up with some of the more unique and entertaining examples I've seen, there are currently two good videos on his front page.

So, just to force myself, I'll just run through some randomness.

Recently found the Let's Play Archive. This particular LP got me wanting to play KotOR 2 again...he made the game sound pretty good. As I tweeted recently; though, I actually think the writing is WORSE in 2 than in one. Different, yes. The story certainly has the basis for something MUCH deeper and more complex than KotOR. Unfortunately, the writer(s) didn't know what they were talking about half the time. Obviously, somebody made it through the first chapter of the Pop Guide to Chaos Theory and a Psychology 101 primer, but missed out on War Strategy and Tactics That Anyone Can Understand and Principles of Leadership: A Common Sense Approach. Then there are the "moral choices." Bioware games and western RPG's in general have become well-known for their "black and white" moral choices. KotOR 2 was made by Obsidian rather than Bioware, and a lot of players felt that Obsidian did a better job of making those choices more like "multiple shades of gray." I don't see it, myself. Most of the choices are still "Save/Eat Puppy", they just word them differently. Most of the "gray" choices are actually railroading by the plot...which is to say, rather than "Save/Eat Puppy" you get to choose "Eat Puppy Now/Eat Puppy Later." See, the writer(s) don't really give you a lot of freedom in "defining" your character. Sure, you can level and play your Jedi as Light/Dark Side, Neutral or Insane; but KotOR 2 goes well beyond KotOR's "this is who you are and what you did, now what are you going to do?" KotOR 2 says, "this is who you are, what you did, why you did it, who you did it with and for, and what you thought of them. Now what are you going to do? Oh, and you're still mad about this, so you should probably choose A, and even though we've made it perfectly clear to you repeatedly, and you have high intelligence and wisdom, you don't really understand B, so we'll just fill in "duuuuuuuuuuuh" for that answer.

And so on.

End the end, it still comes down to "side with/kill bad guy". But there's so much arrogance and ignorance in the story, and the frequent Character Development railroading make the game less enjoyable than KotOR...at least to a certain degree. On the other hand, the story IS more complex...not better, just deeper. The game is bigger, the mechanics are a little better, the crafting system is much improved, and the animations and graphics are much better. On the third hand, the rushed development time means that something like 20% of the game got cut before release, and you see a lot of the resultant broken bits still in the game. I don't bear any hard feelings about that, though...13 months is not enough time to develop a game like this.

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I'm just about tired of my iPhone. Getting sick of what I can't do with it. It's a decent multimedia phone, but it just can't compare to a full smartphone with better desktop integration. Add to that the number of ways that Apple WON'T service the phone, and the dreaded iTunes. Think I'll switch to THIS.

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Thought about playing Dwarf Fortress. Got over it.

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Can't think of anything else, right now. Although this is good:

It’s that time of year again...

Started stripping (harvesting, to those of you not from 'round here) yesterday. That means I'll be getting in late and be bone tired when I do. So don't be surprised if you don't see me online or hear from me for a bit; although I'll still try my best. I still have to post my third Guild Wars character, in addition to having plenty to do in Guild Wars anyway...we just bought our Guild Hall, which pretty much bankrupted the three members of our Guild.

The weekly Star Wars game is back on hold because I couldn't figure out how to connect the "intro" section with the main game section (the intro section was getting interesting, but I had never planned it out past a few events, and I felt like we were heading into a blind alley). We replaced it with a Call of C'thulu game, which has only made it one session so far, but was fun.

And now it's already time to get the kids to school.

First, I did a major upgrade to my computer, involving several new hard drives (including a raid array for storage, the old system drive, a new slightly faster system drive, and a dedicated page drive); two new gigabytes of RAM, a new video card (their are only a couple of "current" generation AGP cards, so I'm runnin' about as fast as my graphics well ever get, now), a new power supply and a new keyboard. Still need a new mouse.

The ONE THING I forgot to back up was all my gaming stuff. It pretty muchly killed the Star Wars game for time being. Since I was a bit burned out anyway, I handed off GM'ing to my wife; we started a d20 Call of C'thulu game last Wednesday. Also, based on the review by Shamus Young over at TwentySidedTale, I ordered the Guild Wars- Prophesies (the original chapter) GOTY edition from Newegg. This title includes the Eye of the North expansion. Man, I was hooked immediately. I gave the ten-hour trial code to my wife; she installed my discs and put in the trial code. She was hooked too; we ordered ANOTHER GOTY edition from Newegg, and sent THAT trial code to my best friend from high school and college who games with us. He downloaded the client, put in the install code, and a day later was asking where we had bought our copies. I'm not sure which version he bought, but I think he currently has Prophesies, Eye of the North, and Factions.

Anyway, Wife and I have already decided we're going to use a small windfall we just received to go ahead and purchase two copies of Factions and two copies of Nightfall. That'll give us four more trial codes to hand out. Anyone want some crack?

I wrote an entry detailing everything that happened from the last entry until our current game, then got logged out when I tried to post it and lost the whole thing. But, it was a lot more stuff than I had remembered, so maybe I'll just come back later and post more stuff straight from the logs.

Star Wars Game Log - Continued
2008-07-20 17:30
Regor, the Zabrak Scout and Ellona, the Miralukan Tech Specialist quickly made their way to the Elrood Sector chief world, Elrood, and capital city, Elrooden. I have posted the actual game session below:

[21:37] Friend Gamemaster: You exit hyperspace and a medium-sized world appears before you.
[21:38] Friend Gamemaster: Elrood is home primarily to the mining industry, but sports many self-sufficient and high-tech cities and towns scattered across it's two major landmasses.
[21:40] Friend Gamemaster: Elrood was colonized relatively recently, but it's vast wealth of ores, minerals and chemicals has spurred rapid development. The Elrood Sector was admitted into the Republic only a few decades ago, but already forms one end of the famous Hadrian Way Trade Route that spans the galaxy.
[21:41] Friend Gamemaster: The planet (and the sector) was named after the Republic Senator who pushed through the funds and resources necessary to colonize the plantet.
[21:42] Friend Gamemaster: As you approach the planet, your comms console flashes to let you know there is an incoming priority message.
[21:43] David: Who wants to talk?
[21:43] Mari: I will. probably less scary to the recipients....
[21:43] Friend Gamemaster: The Message ID is from Elrood Space Central.
[21:44] Mari: Elrood SC, this is the Regor's Revenge, Ellona manning the coms. Can I help you?
[21:44] Friend Gamemaster: A pre-recorded message plays:
[21:45] Friend Gamemaster: Elrood system, star: Elrad, yellow sun. Six planets in system -- third planet, Elrood, can support life. Others can support artificial colonies. Elrood is the main system planet........
[21:46] Friend Gamemaster: Elrood is the capital of Elrood Sector. Heavy ship traffic ahead. Please turn ship's comm to channel XTX984, local planetary spaceport control channel, for landing instructions.....
[21:46] Friend Gamemaster: ATTENTION TRAVELLERS: This is Elrood Space Central. Welcome to Elrood. Please turn to channel XTX984 for instructions.
[21:46] Friend Gamemaster: Message repeats.....and so on.
[21:47] Mari: Good god, welcome to the bureaucracy.
[21:47] David: Lovely
[21:47] Mari: I flip to channel XTX984 just for kicks and giggles.
[21:47] Friend Gamemaster: There is a brief burst of static, then a voice speaking Basic:
[21:48] Friend Gamemaster: "This is Elrood Starport Command. Incoming vessel, please identify yourself, and your intentions. Use standard protocol, please."
[21:50] Mari: Elrood SC, this is Ellona manning the comms of Regor's Revenge. Request permission to land and quick access to Republic law enforcement officials. We have some handy info for you guys about your pirate problem.
[21:51] Friend Gamemaster: There is a brief pause.....then "Urmmmm, what?"
[21:51] Mari: Got your attention at least. Permission to land?
[21:52] Friend Gamemaster: ESC: "Uh, what was that about pirates?"
[21:52] Mari: We're refugees from one of the ships that got jacked by pirates. Thought you guys might like a heads up on where they're based so maybe you can get control of your spaceways back.
[21:54] Friend Gamemaster: ESC: "Oh, Uhhhh, REGOR'S REVENGE, please hold on for a moment...." The line goes silent, but is still open.
[21:54] David: I have a bad feeling about this
[21:54] Friend Gamemaster: LOL
[21:54] Mari: you and me both.
[21:55] David: (had to get that in at some point)
[21:55] Mari: can't think of a much better point than now...
[21:55] Friend Gamemaster: A moment later, another voice comes on the line:
[21:56] Friend Gamemaster: ESC: This is Captain Otall, what's going on here?
[21:59] Mari: As I was telling your junior, we just managed to escape a charming band of pirates that hijacked the freighter we were coming in on. The rest of the passengers we're shunted to a smaller craft headed away from Elrood. Just thought we might give you guys some information so maybe you can go round up the sods and clean up the hyper-ways a little bit.
[22:02] Friend Gamemaster: ESC: Our scanners indicate you are in a light freighter under it's own power and control. Your story isn't making a lot of sense, but I'll give you one more chance before having you interdicted. What freighter were you on, and what happened to it? How did you get here?
[22:03] Friend Gamemaster: OOC Gamemaster suggestion?
[22:03] Friend Gamemaster: Recite your story, and make some kind of diplomacy roll.
[22:03] Friend Gamemaster: As in, just SAY you recite the story.
[22:05] Mari: I recite the story again (diplomacy 13) and add that we are aboard a light freighter with no weapons and have no hostile intentions
[22:08] Friend Gamemaster: ESC: OK, here's what I want you do. Head to Elrooden Space Port in Elrooden. Land in Docking Bay AA23. When you land, please stay on the ship. Someone will be there to meet you. ESC Out.
[22:08] Mari: Roger, ESC. Thanks.
[22:09] Friend Gamemaster: ESC uploads the necessary map and headings to the ships computer.
[22:09] Friend Gamemaster: And let's break there for 5 minutes.
[22:09] David: Ok
[22:16] Friend Gamemaster: Everybody check in when you're back.
[22:16] Mari: back
[22:16] David: here
[22:17] David: Did we ever search the ship when we got under way?
[22:17] Friend Gamemaster: Not that I know of.
[22:17] Mari: I don't believe we did.
[22:17] Mari: which is suddenly a scary thought...
[22:18] David: Uh, yeah
[22:18] Friend Gamemaster: The question is, do you want to take time out from meeting the beaurocratic authorities to search the ship?
[22:19] Mari: errr...no, not exactly.
[22:19] David: Guess we'll have to grin and bear it
[22:20] Mari: suppose we will. I'm suddenly very nervous, though.
[22:20] Friend Gamemaster: You now have the directions to Elrooden (the principle city of Elrood, and center of most government and industrial activities) Spaceport.
[22:21] Friend Gamemaster: I take you both want to go ahead and land?
[22:21] David: Might as well get this over with
[22:21] Mari: indeed
[22:24] Friend Gamemaster: Approaching Elrooden, you see a large, sprawling, immaculately clean city. The spaceport, incredibly, blends in with the surroundings. You descend into a large, walled, spotless docking bay. Waiting by the doors are a squad of armed men in perfectly clean and ordered uniforms, accompanied by a droid and woman a no-nonsense business-oriented jumpsuit.
[22:24] David: Away put our weapons?
[22:25] Mari: visible but out of reach is my vote
[22:25] David: deal
[22:26] Friend Gamemaster: One of the men in the squad of guards talks through a hand-held comlink, and his voice comes through the cockpit, amplified:
[22:27] Friend Gamemaster: All passengers of the REGOR'S REVENGE, please disembark now. Stop at the foot of the ramp. If you have any armaments, make sure they are secured to your person. Any hostile action will result in immediate arrest.
[22:28] Mari: yeah, you try securing a staff to your person. think I'll just leave it aboard.
[22:28] * Mari commences disembarking
[22:29] David: Ok, my blaster is secure in it's holster that I'v had ALL ALONG
[22:29] David: time to disembark
[22:30] Mari: ROFL
[22:30] Friend Gamemaster: Standard Zabrak jumpsuit always has a built-in holster, right?
[22:30] David: roger
[22:30] Friend Gamemaster: RD-88: Should I come with you, sirs?
[22:31] Mari: Please do, Arty. We may wind up needing some of your...unique skills.
[22:32] Friend Gamemaster: RD-88: Yes, sir. RD-88 straps his blaster to one leg.
[22:32] Mari: with the handy-dandy droid-o-matic holster
[22:33] Friend Gamemaster: After you disembark, the squad of guard approaches. The one who talked to you a moment ago, stands forward. The woman remains off to the side, while the droid step up next to the apparent leader.
[22:33] Friend Gamemaster: Nah, with a zip-tie.
[22:34] Friend Gamemaster: RD-88 couldn't place the blaster in his storage compartment, as you were all ordered to display your weapons.
[22:35] Friend Gamemaster: The guard captain: ESC sent us a message to escort you inside for questioning. I would appreciate it if you would surrender your weapons for the moment.
[22:36] David: If we must, but I want a receipt
[22:36] Friend Gamemaster: GC: Of course, sir.
[22:36] Mari: I left mine aboard the ship. it's a little difficult to secure safely to my person. I expect it to still be aboard the ship and functional upon our return
[22:38] Friend Gamemaster: GC: I'll have someone take it to the security office here. Weapons are prohibited within Elrooden, but if you leave the city you can reclaim them before you leave. They will also be available there when you leave Elrood.
[22:39] Friend Gamemaster: GC: Now, if you will stand still for a few moments, the medical droid will scan you, and provide you with any necessary innoculants.
[22:40] Friend Gamemaster: @David One of the guards holds out his hand for your blaster, a friendly smile on his face.
[22:40] David: I smile as I slowly hand it to him.
[22:40] Friend Gamemaster: The droid approaches the three of you, and begins some sort of scan.
[22:42] Friend Gamemaster: @David His smile wavers a bit, but he takes the weapon, scans it with a small recorder, and then prints out a small piece of paper, that he hands to you. "Your receipt, sir."
[22:42] David: Thanks
[22:42] Friend Gamemaster: The guard does the same for RD-88, then enters the ship, returning moments later with Elonna's staff. He hands Elonna a receipt, as well.
[22:44] Friend Gamemaster: The medical droid finishes it's scan, and says, "A couple of minor boosters are recommended." The GC tells the droid to proceed.
[22:45] Friend Gamemaster: The medical droid injects some form of medication into Regor and Elonna. The shot is painless, and you feel no effects. The droid then retreats. The GC indicates the woman who has been waiting to the side:
[22:47] Friend Gamemaster: GC: This is V'rono Korku, a Republic Investigator attached to the Elrood Space Control Investigative Division. She has been working on our pirate problem, and will be questioning you about your experience. If you will come with us, please?
[22:48] Friend Gamemaster: The guards split into two groups, and it is clear you are meant to follow the GC and Korku, while the guards follow YOU.
[22:48] Mari: I fall in behind the GC and Korku
[22:49] David: Likewise
[22:49] Mari: Come on, Arty.
[22:52] Friend Gamemaster: You enter a long circular hallway that apparently connects all of the landing bays. You travel down this hall a short way, before intersecting another, wide hallway that continues to the spaceport interior. After a short walk, you enter another, massive ringed hallway that is filled with offices and customs desks. Before reaching the main plaza of this hallway, you are shown to a room marked "Security".
[22:53] Friend Gamemaster: Inside this large room are several desks, all neatly arranged and, like everything else here, spotless. The room is currently empty except for yourselves, the guards and Korku. Korku takes a seat at one of the desks, and motions for you to sit down across from her.
[22:54] Mari: I sit
[22:54] David: after taking a moment I sit as well
[22:55] Friend Gamemaster: Korku: Captain Otall called me and said you claimed to have escaped from pirates. He was somewhat doubtfull, but I would like to hear your story. She smiles, and waits.
[22:56] Mari: I recite the tale again, starting with the captain exiting the rec room hurriedly and ending with landing the escape pod in the middle of a junk heap.
[22:58] Friend Gamemaster: Korku nods. "I've heard of pirate behavior like that from another survivor, but he was discovered in a state of shock, and near death, so no one knew what to make of it. Just a few more questions...."
[22:58] Mari: Fire away. We're here to help, after all.
[22:58] Friend Gamemaster: Korku: How did you come across a ship named after yourself on a deserted planet?
[22:59] Mari: We restored it to working order ourselves and thus named it after Reg. (bluff was 20)
[23:00] Friend Gamemaster: OOC: Natural 20?
[23:00] Mari: yep
[23:01] David: nice
[23:01] Friend Gamemaster: OOC: lucky.
[23:01] Mari: OOC: because I ROCK!
[23:01] Mari: OOC: quietly begins humming "We Are the Champions"
[23:02] Friend Gamemaster: Korku: I see. Not impossible, on Korad. Extremely lucky, though. We know there are some Ugnaught raiders on Korad that routinely cart off junk, and some Jawa scavengers; we don't know where they came from.
[23:03] Friend Gamemaster: Korku: You say one of the pirates told you they were based on Korad, as well?
[23:04] Mari: That's what he said although we opted not to test out that information. It seemed more useful to ourselves and the Republic to get the information here quickly instead.
[23:05] Friend Gamemaster: Korku: We appreciate that. I'm going to have to report this information, and decide what to do about it. I'm afraid that we'll need you to stay here until a decision has been made, though.
[23:06] Mari: I hope this isn't the sort of thing that's going to have to move through several committees. Still, we'll cooperate in any way we can.
[23:08] Friend Gamemaster: Korku: Well, it won't be several committees, but I can't act autonomously. We'll put you up in one of the spaceport's hotels for the time being, at the Republic's expense. Now, I have to get going; the hotel is down the main corrider to your left, not very far. I'll let you know what we decide. Thank you. She smalls at both of you, and leaves.
[23:08] Friend Gamemaster: The GC steps forward and says, "Thank you for your cooperation. You're free to go. You can claim your weapons, when appropriate, at the administration office next door.
[23:08] Mari: Thanks.
[23:09] Mari: I turn to Reg and say, "Well, we've done our civic duty. Now how about a drink on me?"
[23:09] David: Let's roll, er go

We finally reached a point a few sessions ago when I felt the players really hit their stride. (I'll post some info from the games in a bit). As a result, we spent quite a bit of time a couple of weeks ago deciding where we were going and what we wanted to do. The campaign I have been running is an introductory campaign; one of my players is an experienced roleplayer, but had no experience with Star Wars gaming, and isn't historically a big Star Wars fan. The other is a big-time Star Wars fan, but hasn't played pen-and-paper games at all except for a brief time playing West End Games original D6 Star Wars.

I've been working on a longer campaign, but I had always assumed I would be able to segue into that story from this one. And I think I will, but I had my doubts for a few weeks. To be fair, I gave the players the option to break the introductory game right then, and jump to a new game, with new characters if they wanted. They decided to continue with what they're doing. In addition, we agreed on a few rule changes and adaptions.

1)I will no longer award XP per encounter. XP will be awarded to the group for story completion and excellent playing. Individual XP will be rewarded for truly excellent roleplaying and gaming. There will be some luck involved as well, as a lucky roll that allows you to save the day in an heroic way will get you a little extra XP.

2)In exchange, we're using an aspect from many skill-oriented games (we spend most of each session using skills when we roll). Good use of a skill wins you free skill points. Now, if we were playing by the D20 RCR rules, this would unbalance the game. But we're not playing by the rules, and in addition, level-ups will be a bit more manually tweaked.

3)Feats, Force Skills, Force Powers and Abilities remain largely the same. Every one is looked at individually, though (maybe I'll write them all down some day) and are analyzed for how well they will work in our game. We're trying to make everything as fluid and simple as possible, while recreating the feel and flow of the movies and some derivative properties. We try to avoid anything limited to once-per-day or once-per-encounter; these are usually re-written to once-per-level-per-day, etc. We try to eliminate the spending of vitality points whenever possible, unless that is the mechanic that makes the most sense. Many Force Powers and Skills have attendant difficulty and situational modifiers; we either use those exclusively or occasionally make them more difficult.

Feats, Force Skills, Force Powers and Abilities can be awarded situationally, as well.


Now, I'm working on a new Character Sheet that allows me to do all of that.

AND, we're still looking for at least one more player.

GAME INFORMATION

We are using Star Wars D20 Revised rules as a base, but I'm not sticking explicitly to the rules.

This game is heavy on skill use and roleplaying; there is quite a bit of fighting, but I'm trying to keep it clever and interesting.

The players started out at first level; at the end of the section outlined below, they are third level.

The droid, RD-88, was created using the Droid tab in Star Wars Heroforge, then started as a level one Fringer.

All NPCs and bad guys are generated as PCs with their own levels, classes and skills.

The current setting is Elrood Sector. The information for Elrood is taken primarily from West End Games Planets Collection. I then roll the era back 4000 years, to when Elrood just joined the Republic and was largely unexplored, and much rougher around the edges than it is at the time of the Rebellion and the New Republic.

The game is played over IM.


This record is a summary of several game sessions, from the beginning of April to the end of May.

Players - Elonna, a female Miralukan Tech Specialist Medic and Regor, a male Zabrak Scout

Booked Freight Passage from Derilyn to Elrood. Between Merisee and Coyn, ship was attacked by pirates.

Players fought their way up to the ships computer room, and learned their enemies number. They also learned the layout of the ship. They learned that the engineering room was lightly guarded.

They go to engineering, stunning several more pirates on the way. When the Pirate Leader, Burz announces that the lifeboat is about to be launched, the players reveal themselves over comlinks won in battle.

The Pirates lock them into engineering, but some quick combined computer work breaks through the lock. In the rec room, they encounter two groggy, naked pirates they had stunned previously, on the way to engineering. They are also pursued by two pirates, whom they had encountered soon after the pirates attacked. The players quickly stun all four, then question Digo, a young pirate who is in over his head. They discover that the pirates are actually stealing the ship, and sparing the passengers and crew so that the Republic won't take more than a passing interest in their activities.

The Players are convinced by Digo to take an escape pod rather than continue their fight. This they do, and land on the nearby world of Korad, a burgeoning junk planet, and coincidentally home to the pirates. It is also home to a colony of Jawas, and a group of Ugnaught raiders. The players manage to augment their weapons using some well scavanged junk: Regor customizes his stock blaster pistol for more damage and a larger range, while Elonna is able to craft a double-ended stun baton staff.

After fending off a group of Ugnaught raiders, the players encountered a small band of Jawas, long separated from their native Tatooine. The players agreed to trade some of their extra stun batons to the Jawas in exchange for transport to a ship, and the purchase of a labor droid recently acquired by the Jawas. RD-88 appears to have had a colorful past, as his primary function, as programmed by his last master, was the duplication and creation of official documents, usually with small changes. He is also talented at computer use, hiding and searching, and is rather naive about the utility of his functions.

After a terrible meal and a night spent on the desert outside the Jawa home colony, the Jawa spokesman explained that a ship would come to trade with the Jawas in about two weeks. The Ugnaughts had a couple of spaceworthy ships at their own camp, and the pirates always had several ships. There were no known settled areas on Korad. Elonna and Regor elected to raid the Ugnaughts for one of their ships. The Jawas agreed to transport them to near the Ugnaught camp.

After a suprisingly lengthy battle against three Ugnaughts; Elonna, Regor and RD-88 managed to steal a small freighter, and escape the planet. Regor narrowly avoided the junk circling the planet during a short but harrowing trip into space. The players decided to head to the sector capital of Elrood in order to report what they knew about the pirate group. They also decided to reprogram the ships transponder, and renamed the small freighter "Regor's Revenge."

After schedules and who knows what fell out, the Star Wars game has two players eagerly waiting for AT LEAST ONE MORE PERSON for the game to start. Anyone who's been keeping up has probably noticed that we actually had many people stick with us for at least character creation, but it was a three week process to catch everyone. But, we're down to two, now. However, we've talked about moving the game to a different night, and hopefully this will grab at least one more player. We're going to try Thursday nights instead of Fridays; if I haven't contacted you and you read this, email me or comment to let me know if Thursday will work for you.

ALSO, I have at least two people keenly interested in getting a D&D game going, as well. I'm working on planning a D&D campaign, and I'll release info on the preliminaries soon. If you're interested in a D&D game (3.5 rules, haven't determined a setting yet), let me know (comment or email).

{{Miraluka}} Mercenary (Soldier Class)
{{Miraluka}} Tech Specialist -- COMPLETE
Human Scoundrel -- COMPLETE
{{Zabrak}} Scout -- COMPLETE
Human Noble -- COMPLETE
{{Ithorian}} Fringer -- COMPLETE

Four characters complete, and one of the other interested parties is planning to create their character this week.

MULTICLASSING -- Multiclassing is an important tool in the d20 system. This is the method by which you create a truly unique character. However, it is not NECESSARY that you plan on multiclassing your character. You can play any character straight, and you get benefits from doing that. Taking your scoundrel to 10th level, as opposed to creating a 5th level scoundrel/5th level tech specialist gives you a base attack bonus of +7/+2, vs. a +6/+1. The 10th level scoundrel gets slightly better saving throws, and the scoundrel's class skill max ranks continue to increase.

If you want to multiclass your character, let me know, and we can discuss the direction to want to take things.

On the same note, this campaign will not necessarily handle prestige classes strictly by the book. A good example has already been mentioned; at this point in history a non - Kel Dor can be trained as a Baran Do Sage. All force-using classes except the Force Adept will be handled as a Prestige Class in this game. Some may use or resemble existing Prestige Classes, but most, if not all, will be custom classes.

I would like to handle Prestige Classes in the following manner: Think about what you want your character to be at level 10, and/or at level 20. Figure out what you want your character to be like, and we'll work together to figure out a good Prestige Class.

I think that's all for now...I will be posting the setting for the first scene either tonight (Sunday) or early this week, so that everyone can work it into their backgrounds, if they want. Oh, and I'll be posting a basic equipment package with credits, and customization notes.

Two hundred years have passed since the last remnants of the Sith Empire, the Dark Lords Nihilus, Sion and Traya, were destroyed by the forgotten Jedi Exile. The Exile, after destroying the Trayas Acadamy and reuniting the few scattered Jedi Masters left in the galaxy, followed in the Jedi Revan's footsteps and disappeared into the unknown regions of space.

The Republic has rebuilt itself well; but it will never come near its former majesty again. The worlds of the Republic have taken greater independence on themselves, and have little faith that the Senate can effectively govern its thousand worlds. Petty despots and crime lords are the rising power in the galaxy. Many worlds on the rim are run more competently, if more ruthlessly, by their black market masters than the Republic has for over a thousand years.

The Jedi Order, though rebuilt, and growing, has little control over this shift in galactic politics. No longer trusted by many, including most Senators on Coruscant, for the conflict that some still call the "Jedi Cival War", the Order has heavily censored it's own actions. The Jedi do not interfere where they are not wanted; they are given scornful, but fearful respect only for what they once were.

However, not all force users are Jedi...or Sith. The Kel Dor sages, known as Baran Do, are becoming respected advisors throughout the galaxy. There have even been Baron Do Sages seen who were not Kel Dor; something unheard of throughout Dorin's history, and a sign of the popularity of this group. A new group of force adept martial artists calling themselves Matukai, are said to be excellent educators of all who are sensitive to the force. And there is a rumor of an order of former Jedi apprentices appearing like lightning on the worlds of the outer rim, fighting to overthrow the stifling rule of dictators and thugs, while philosophically opposed to the Jedi Order...