Evil Thoughts - Part 3

Dropped out of hyperspace again, feels like a tractor beam has us. No sounds of panic or conflict from the crew (as if I'd know) so I guess this is part of the plan...

I heard and felt the docking clamps, and now there are different voices. Sounds of armor and steps in unison. Four black clad troopers, two with weapons and two holding a pole with one of those reptiles. Guess it's time to leave my current hosts.

The armor gives it away, I've seen those emblems before. This is Blackholes ship.

Evil Thoughts - Part 2

My connection to the force is still gone, but at least now I know why. Some kind of reptile is blocking me, or more likely canceling anyones connection to the force within a certain area. There seems to be an endless supply of these things. Everywhere I'm taken there's another one. Not that there are very many places to go - the bounty hunters ship is small. Besides my cell, I've only seen the undersized bridge and the passageway between. They draged me up there and placed me infront of a vid link.

I got a glimpse of something dark.

I've got a bad feeling about this...

Evil Thoughts - Part 1

Two beautiful women. It took two beautiful women to kidnap me. Tied up, gagged, blindfolded, at least it's not raining. Small solace, but it did take two beautiful women.

I try and meditate, try and feel the force flowing through me, but the results are the same as before, emptiness. Using what's left to me, hearing and smell, I try and explore my surroundings.

The familiar sounds of a ship in hyperspace can be heard. Probably a small frieghter which makes sense based on where I was taken from.

More importantly, I can smell another presence in the room. I can't place the smell. No recognizable personal odor, food, mechanical, droid. It may be tied to the gentle whisper I hear occasionally - like very dry skin on paper. Whatever it is, and I think it's alive because sometimes I think I hear a gentle breathing, it doesn't want to talk. If it is an animal, it must be specially bred for silence and lack of motion.

They have been very careful to be silent near me. They haven't fed me, and provided only the barest amount of water. I've counted two hyperspace jumps since I've been awake, no way of telling how many while I was unconscious.

I feel the ship leave hyperspace, and after a few minutes the door slides open.

GenCon 2005

Information Post

I had a nother great time at GenCon - this makes 5 years straight. Kent, Ed, and Ted (Ed's son - age 8) came along, and we all seemed to go our own ways, and meet up occasionally. I gamed, Kent DM'd, and Ed and Ted demoed and pulled in a monster sized pile of swagg.

For me the high points were advancing in the DnD Open for the first time, and demoing Iron Heroes and Serenity. It was also great fun to play Living Forca all day Friday, but my group picked up a "character" for rounds 2 & 3, who was a little annoying. OK, very annoying in round 3. Kudos to Rob our judge for round 3, he kept us going, and gave me an extra force point for my speach to the little fury aliens (we were made members of the tribe).

I had fun playing True Dungean, but not enough to cover the cost, and the tavern and magic trading really wasn't my thing. Imagine that a tavern not my thing. Just goes to show that beer cant make all better all the time.

I also had another great time meeting up with Matt and Connie - they made sure we all survived the open someting only about 10% of the people/groups did.

Anyway, I'll be back next year. My impression was very positive this year. It seemed that most vendors were doing well, and the dealers hall was pcked as always. My only complaint was that GenCon seems to have filled all the available space that Indy has to offer, and some of the gaming areas were pretty noisy. I think the contract with Indy is up either next year or the year after, so GenCon could potentially move again. Hopefully it will make it's way to the Twin Cities!

Well a guy could hope.

Game Night 6/15 - Part Deux

Our heroes started the night off in a bad way - Beaker with a gun to the back of his neck and Grarwarr unconcious - both in the Magellan (Enterprise). Taloe and R2 in the Y-wing, and Mater Dee, Joruss, and Bar Bar all stacked onto the Swoop.

"Complying" with the orders from the female holding the gun to his neck, Beaker started off towards the Jedi Temple. Bar Bar dutifully started the mayhem by force moving Mater Dee to the airlock of the Enterprise, and suspending him in mid-air. Mater Dee took advantage of the situation to enter the ship. He was greeted by Grarwarr's unconscious body.

Beaker and his assailant both noticed the airlock door open. The assailent acted first by trying to stun Beaker with her Blaster. Beaker shrugged of the stun attacks, and decided the situation would better suit the party if gravity to the ship was off, the ship was upside down, and the cargo bay doors were open. All these things were accomplished, to the dismay of his stun weapon challenged "co-pilot", and everyone else on the ship.

Not to be outdone in the creative flying department, Taloe had R2 bring the Y-wing over to the cargo bay, and she used her grappling gun to secure a cable and lept in.

And certainly not to be outdone, Bar Bar used the force to move the swoop bike completely into the cargo bay, past Taloe.

Seeing that now everyone was aboard, Beaker righted the ship, and the search for the intruder was on.

The heroes divided into small groups (parties of one) and started searching the ship. Through the use of the force by Bar Bar, and the alien Ssirrukk sensor detector by Mater Dee, a being was located in the ships sick bay. When party members converged they found a manacled and unconscious McQueen. However, after using the sensors in the sickbay to scan the being, they found that it was an alien, not McQueen. She was immediately bound - again - and Grarwarr stood guard over her.

While this search was proceeding, the ship suffered multiple missle stikes while nearing the Jedi Temple, and the party decided being in orbit was the better part of valor.

As soon as they reached orbit, a comm signal from the planet was received. Once again efforts to negotiate a swap of McQueen for the holocron ensued, however the party was in a much more favorable position, and decidedly more cautious.

The agreement as it stands now, is for all of Blackholes personnel to leave the jedi temple. The only person remaining will be McQueen. The party has agreed to leave behind the holocron (or some facsimile - exploding or not). Blackholes representative has asked only that the party wait for 24 hours, to give them time to set up a suitable base to keep them safe from the elements.

Until next time....

Game Night 6/8 - Body Snatchers

Returning to the Magellan after the battle in the city, the group received some healing from Mater Dee and then divided up to accomplish some different tasks.

Bar Bar and Joruss continued to heal Taloe.

Grarwarr started looking at the files from the computer and comm system.

Beaker and Mater Dee made their way to the bridge to scan the system and planet for more bad guys that may be coming after them.

Grarwarr cracked open files that showed numbers and locations of the troopers and droids on the planet. The mission goals of the troopers - get the holocron, kill the party - except for the Jedi. He also found that two personnel files were deleted.

While Grarwarr was hacking and Taloe was being healed, Mater Dee and Beaker stopped an electronic infiltration of the ship. The only thing left behind was a message, asking the party to set their comm system to the following frequency for a message. After alerting the rest of the crew and having them gather on the bridge, they set the comm system and responded.

It turns out that the bad guys wanted to trade McQueen for the Jedi Holocron. After fierce and painful negotiations, a time and place was agreed upon, and then the real planning began. The Bad guys stay confined to the temple, and deposit a stasis capsule with McQueen at the designated coordinates about 5 km away. They also agree to stay clear of the exchange site. The party will come to the site, confirm it's McQueen, and leave the Holocron

After more discussion, the parties real plan is to:

Make a fake Holocron loaded with explosives and a 1 hour timer to leave at the exchange site.

Fly down to the exchange site at the appointed time with the Magellan and the Y-wing.

Have the Y-wing fly over to the Comm relay site, and destroy it.

Stop at the exchange site, and deploy a swoop with Bar Bar and Joruss to fly cover, while Mater Dee and Grarwarr collect McQueen and leave the 'Holocron'.

Continue on to the Temple, and teach the Bad Guys the errors of their ways.

Things were going as planned, (comm relay destroyed, swoop deployed) until Mater Dee and Grarwarr tried to bring McQueen out of Stasis. Mater Dee visually identified McQueen, and then immediatly scanned the stasis chamber for explosives. Finding none, he started the process to awaken McQueen. Most of the way through the process, a group of Snow Wookies surprised the group on the ground, and attacked. The Snow Wookies were being ridden by evil little dark side ewoks. In the ensuing battle, Mater Dee tossed the exploding Holocron, seriously damaging two wookies, mildly damaging Grarwarr and himself, and outright killing two evil ewoks. Beaker tried dropping the ship on one of the wookies, and succeeded in slowing it down, but it joined the battle after a short delay. Bar Bar saved the stasis chamber by moving it with the force into the ships airlock. After the first few rounds, the cavalry arrived in the form of Joruss and Taloe with blasters. In the next few moments Mater Dee was able to jump onto Bar Bar's swoop. Taloe and Joruss, using a variety of hand held and ship weapons were able to kill most of the remaining wookies and ewoks, and Bar Bar moved Grarwarr (who was near to expiring from his injuries) with the force into the ship allowing Beaker to take off.

However, just as Beaker is getting ready to orient the Magellan to allow Bar Bar to pilot the swoop into the cargo bay, he feels the muzzle of a weapon on the back of his neck, and a womans voice says, "take this ship to the temple - now." He glimpses a slender, green hand as it pushes the button to close the cargo bay doors, leaving Bar Bar, Joruss and Mater Dee on their own.

Meanwhile in a Dark and Evil Place - Part 2

The far away hum of engines is the only audible sound in the chamber as a dark robed figure gazes into a large ebony crystal. But, the troopers that guard the turbolifts in this chamber talk about another noise, one that is only heard when their master is deep in concentration. They disagree about the words, each trooper has his own interpretation of the words. But they agree on the feeling, a deep bass growl that can loosen your joints, and various other parts of your anatomy. Just a few minutes of that noise means the loss of at least one nights sleep, and probably more.

Blackhole turns his gaze on the nearest trooper, "Bring the Hand to me, now."

The trooper turns and moves quickly for the lift, relief at being able to leave the chamber hidden by his black armored helmet. He is surprised by another robed figure waiting for him as the turbolift reaches its destination level.

"He has requested your presence." The trooper manages to stammer and get out of the way as the figure moves purposefully to take his place in the turbolift.

"I hear and obey my Master," he mutters as he pushes the buttons that will take him to the chamber. "His voice never leaves my thoughts."

The trooper leans against a bulkhead and contemplates that there are worse things than standing guard duty in Blackhole’s chamber.

Hey, You Have a Shuttle

Looks like I forgot to crunch out the stats for your shuttle.

So here you go:

Class: Starfighter
Size: Tiny 3.5m
Hyperdrive: none
Passengers: 6
Cargo Capacity: 200 kg
Consumables: 2 weeks
Crew: 2 (pilot, co-pilot)
Initiative: +8 (size)
Maneuver: +8 (size)
Defense: 18 (+8 size)
Shield Points: none
Hull Points: (DR 5)

Cost:

Maximum Speed in Space: Docking (2 squares/action)
Atmospheric Speed: 240 km/h (4 sq/action)

Weapons: none

Game Night 6/1 - Winter Wonderland

As the party approached the surface of Ilum in their shuttle and the Y-wing, they were rudely greeted by a surface to air missile. With the help of a timely warning and some nice flying from Taloe, the missile missed the Y-wing, and was destroyed by a shot from the ion canon manned by Jorrus. The next missile missed the shuttle, and was again destroyed by the Y-wing, this time by Taloe with the laser cannons. After an alert from Mater Dee on their foes possible location, the two ships landed about 100m from the only 'building' in the city, and were promptly attacked by both Stormtroopers and Droids. A dire battle ensued, with many wounds, and expenditures of thermal detonators. During the battle, Mater Dee reported transmissions to and from the city to an unknown source in the foothills. At the end, two droids were down, along with four troopers. One trooper managed to escape, and the trooper that appeared to be in charge almost escaped, but was blasted out of the sky by Taloe and the Y-wing.

An inspection of the building found two rooms. The first was bare, and had paintings on the walls that showed a mountain range with a building and two tall white towers on the front. It was immediately recognizable as the dream vision experienced by the force using characters. The second room contained bunks for the troopers, and more importantly a communication set, and computer. Grarrwarr was able to hack into the computer and find that there were more people in the group they had encountered, and two more groups on the planet of similar size.

After successfully stopping someone from remotely deleting files - Bar Bar destroyed the dish antenna - the decision was made to take the equipment to the ship for further investigation. A short battle was fought with two more droids on the way, and the party has now blasted into orbit to rendezvous with the Magellan.

Dissipate Energy - New House Rule

I've been doing a little looking at this and I think this is how I want to House Rule it. This is not final yet, so please let me know what you think, or what doesn't make sense.

Dissipate Energy is as stated in the book with the inclusion of the Errata and the following clarification:

Works against all Energy damage.
You may dissipate attacks that affect both Vitality and Wounds but only Energy attacks, not Physical.

You gain no Vitality back from dissipating damage that would have caused Vitality damage, only attacks that would have caused Wound Point damage.
Vitality is still only returned from attacks that would have caused Wound Point Damage.

The Fort Save DC is 10 + the damage
If the attack does 10 points of damage, the save would be DC 20.

Using Dissipate Energy is a Reaction, the same as a Jedi's 'Deflect' class ability.
Dissipate Energy can be used at anytime during the round, but costs the character a Move Action on their next turn. Multiple uses of Dissipate Energy still only cost the character the single Move Action.
(This is actually in the feat, I just missed it.)

You must declare before the attack that you want to Dissipate Energy.
You cannot wait until you know whether the attack hit, or how much damage. If the attack misses, you are not penalized the Move Action. If you fail the save, you are still penalized the Move Action.

Example:

Obi-Wan is fighting a droid. He currently has 5 VP and 15 WP. He decides to use Dissipate energy both to stop damage, and possibly restore vitality. Amazingly the droid hits him for 12 points of energy damage from a blaster. Obi-Wan's Fort save is DC 22, he rolls well and makes his save. If the attack had hit he would have taken 5 VP and 7 WP. Because he made his save he takes no damage, and gains back 3 VP points. He now has 8 VP and 15 WP, and seeing the next Droid lining up an attack keeps Dissipate Energy 'up'. The droid takes aim and hits him for only 7 points of energy damage. Obi-Wan is still using Dissipate Energy, and makes his save of DC 17. However, he gains no VP back, because the attack would have done no Wound points of damage, based on his new VP and WP stats. On his next turn, Obi-Wan has only one action, either Move or Attack, because he sacrificed a Move Action to use Dissipate Energy. He also cannot take a Full Round action (I'm still checking on this).

Meanwhile in a Dark and Evil Place - Part 1

The group of robed figures huddle in an alcove as their master approaches. Fear radiates from them as they bow and scrape while he passes. The bravest and most foolish approaches the black, shadowy figure as he gazes into a large dark crystal.

"Master Blackhole," the Zabrak whispers, "the visions grow stronger. The Council of Seers seeks guidance."

"You fear the visions, you fear what you cannot understand." The words rumble from the being cloaked in darkness. "More than that, you are now afraid for yourselves and your position."

"But Master, the visions show destruction, we fear only for your safety," the Zabrak whispers, more confident with this line of discussion. "How can the Council help avoid this tragedy?"

"Your fear has made you weak." He closes his fist as the Zabrack slumps lifeless to the deck. He turns to face the remaining members of the council who cower and shift amongst themselves to avoid his gaze. "Everything is proceding according to my plan."

Reaching out with the force, Blackhole turns back to his crystal and lets his senses reach out and read the hyperspace transmissions.

"The Council needs a new leader," Blackhole says as troopers in black armor remove the corpse.

"Choose wisely."

Here comes the Crunch

Stat blocks of things that happened last game day, plus a surprise!

Surprise first - thanks the the swrpg network site - the Electrostaff from Ep III

Weapon Type: Melee Weapon
Proficiency Group: Exotic Weapon Proficiency (electrostaff)
Cost: 1,500
Damage: 2d6/2d6, or 3d6/3d6 vs. droids.
Critical: 20
Weight: 3.5 kg
Type: Bludgeoning/Electrical
Fort DC: -
Size: Large
Hardness: 5
WP: 5
Break DC: 17
Availability: Uncommon, restricted
Notes: An electrostaff is a double weapon. You can fight with it as if fighting with two weapons, but if you do you incur all the normal attack penalties associated with fighting with two weapons as if you were using a one-handed weapon and a light weapon. The electrostaff must be wielded in two hands. Any character damaged by an electrostaff suffers a -2 penalty to all attack rolls and Strength and Dexterity-based skill checks for one round. Electrostaff attacks ignore shields. Lightsabers do not ignore the hardness of an electrostaff.

Please notice the Exotic Weapon Group - you need to burn a feat to use this well.

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Next up, Your new Ship - The Magellen (or whatever)

Class: Transport
Size: Small (65m)
Hyperdrive: x1.5 (backup x10)
Passengers: 10
Cargo Capacity: 50 tons
Consumables: 6 months
Crew: 6
Initiative: +1 (size)
Maneuver: +1 (size)
Defense: 21 (+1 size, +10 Armor)
Shield Points: 60 (DR 10)
Hull Points: 150 (DR 10)

Cost: 150,000cr new, 80,000cr used

Maximum Speed in Space: Attack (7 squares/action)
Atmospheric Speed: 800 km/h (13 squares/action)

Weapons:
Quad Laser Cannons (2) Fire Arc: Turret; Attack Bonus* +5 (+1 size, +4 fire control); Damage: 6d10x2; Range Modifier: PB/S +0, M/L na

Concussion Missile Launchers (2 fire linked, 6 missles each); Fire Arc: Front; Damage: 9d10x2; Missle Quality: Good (+15)

Quirks you have found so far:
Variable Identifier Beacon - useful for changing the ships identity on the fly
Shields can be set to Triple facings (double is standard)

Weapons are in need of service at least, beacause they are prone to burnout when used
Hyperdrive has some instability that causes a variable speed affect - could be good or bad.



*Does not include any modifiers from crew
-------------------------------------

And finally some stats for the Swoop Bikes. These are standard stats from a Source book, look for possible tweaks after I study the cards in the player folders.

Modified Mobquet Flare-S Swoop
Class:Airspeeder
Size: Large 2.5m long
Passengers: 1
Cargo Capacity: 20 kg
Crew: 1
Initiative**: -1 (size)
Maneuver**: -1 (size)
Defense*: 14 (-1 size, +5 armor)
Shield Points: 0
Hull Points: 15 (DR5)
Atmospheric Speed: 480 km/h (8 squares/action)
Altitude: Low

Cost:10,000cr new, 4,000cr used
*provides no cover to pilot, partial cover (+2) to passenger.
** does not include PC adjustment

To Ilum You Must Go - Game Night 5/25

This is the first Game Day entry into the Blog. Probably too many words for what happened, but atleast I wont lose it, or accidentaly delete it from my PC.
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The party started the day with a request to Manga for information, which brought a Mr Vega from Station Traffic Control offices to the ship with a data chip. After Bar Bar rudely snatched it from his hand with his tongue, the recording was reviewed by the party. It showed the shuttle that brought them to the White Star (Manga's ship), and moments later the Ion Bomb exploding. The explosion was centered in the shuttle landing bay, and radiated out through the ship. Less than a minute after that, a small black craft approached the White Star, and attached itself to the "floor" of Manga's audience chamber. After about 30 seconds, it departed, and made a jump into hyperspace.

Mr. Vega was then asked to provide security camera info on the two shuttles from the past 48 hours, he agreed but needed a few hours to collect the data. "It's not my department - so will take some time" he told the party. In the meantime, Bar Bar tried using the Force to locate McQueen. The only useful information came from using Farseeing:

"Meesa see McQueen...heesa lying in a gray metal roomma. Black Troopers...muyey muyey bombad troopers. Meesa also see pretty Human female - sheesa have red hair likesa Mater Dee say. The force issa dark hear, muyey bombad darkness"

Based on this the party determined that McQueen had been taken by agents of Black Hole.

This prompted the party to pay another call on Manga, who was enjoying his lunch in the stations more upscale restaurant while his ship is being repaired.

Manga didn't have any pertinent information to add, except his obvious dismay that it was agents of Black Hole that had a part, if not the whole part in the attack on his ship. He did offer the party all he knew about Black Hole, which is that he is a paranoid force using head of the Emperors intelligence service. He also monitors the Hyperspace channels, travels in his own black Star Destroyer, and his troopers are prone to wear black armor. Manga did not seem anxious to mess with Black Hole, and you overheard his preparations to leave the area when you left the restaurant.

On the way back to the ship, Mr. Vega appeared, and promptly handed the security data over to Bar Bar (to avoid unwanted tongue action), and after some discussion the party parted ways with the station heading for the Ithorian Herdship and its rag tag fleet (but not before leaving a false trail for any persuers).

The party was greeted as heroes for completing the transaction with Manga, and General Adama asked that you be the ones to pickup the cargo. The loss of McQueen was treated as grave news, but a long lost comrade Grarwarr(sp) appeared, having tracked the party to the Ithorian fleet. After giving the coordinates for the pickup to the General, just incase they don’t come back (come on, what could happen), the party took off to track the ship that kidnapped McQueen.

Many jumps and no conclusive results later, the party returned to the fleet, and made the rendezvous with the shipment of weapons and armor for the Rebellion. There, they sold the Glenfidditch (their old ship) to Manga, docked the Y-wing in one of the two shuttle bays of their new ship, and returned the armor and weapons to the Rebellion, before heading to what became their final destination - Ilum. The party was delayed for a short time as they searched the ship for bugs or problams, and discussed decorationg alternatives for the various cabins.

All the time while they were pursuing the craft that took McQueen and traveling to pickup weapons, the force sensitive members of the party were plagued by dreams of a snow covered, storm ridden planet. Joruss received the most detailed visions of tall white spires (now destroyed), attached to some natural formation, and a cave with a light inside. However, the visions have now turned to darkness as if something is blocking them. The last piece of information was a voice, like the voice from the holocron, saying, "to Ilum you must go."

So now the party finds itself in orbit around the planet Ilum with their new ship. Your sensor sweep has picked up an uninhabited city, and you are making preparations to take the shuttle and the Y-wing down to the surface.

Please add comments, ask for clarifications, or point out false statements.

Into the Dark - Introduction

I'm going to try and use this Blog as an accompanying narative to the current Star Wars campaign. With some luck, I'll be posting between adventures, and you (or your character - please specify) will be able to post comments/clarifications. This will hopefully have the added benefit of disseminating the same information to everyone during the campaign, and serve as a more permanent record of just what the heck went on.

Here's the blurb I sent out in the email last week.

-----
At the end of the last session, the party had arranged
with Manga the Hutt to purchase a large amount of
blaster rifles, armor, and power packs. Because you
'saved' him from an invasion of Bounty Hunters, he
agreed to excellent terms, including giving you the
ship that the weapons and armor are transported on.

Unfortunately, during the battle McQueen was kidnapped
by unknown persons - two women, one of them with red
hair. Manga has promissed to investigate McQueens
kidnapping and send along any information with the
goods.

Currently the party is at the space station, being
treated very well by Manga and his minions.

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I will send out an email to the group when I post an update.