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Post by Brainstem on Feb 14, 2012 21:35:10 GMT -5
I feel like this is necessary. How do we go so many years on this board and not have a single thread dedicated to Star Wars.
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scrimshank
New Mutant
THE TESLA COILS!!!
Posts: 63
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Post by scrimshank on Feb 15, 2012 0:51:09 GMT -5
I would like to play a star wars rpg, but do the MURPG rules really lend themselves to star wars well?
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Post by Brainstem on Feb 15, 2012 3:19:13 GMT -5
The MURPG rules lend themselves well enough to Star Wars as well as they do to anything else which is to say not well, but in PbP it's kind of better than nothing.
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scrimshank
New Mutant
THE TESLA COILS!!!
Posts: 63
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Post by scrimshank on Feb 15, 2012 3:31:59 GMT -5
True, and I'm interested, but how would character creation work for Jedi? As a mastery or are the powers seperate?
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Post by Brainstem on Feb 15, 2012 3:55:57 GMT -5
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Post by roxolid on Feb 15, 2012 4:39:20 GMT -5
The problem I found after years of GMing Star Wars 1e was we were basically rehashing the films (because the films and the comics, plus the bedspreads and lunchboxes and so on were all there was). Nowadays the expanded universe gives more scope so that you don't have to play in times of rebellion, the video games (particularly Force Unleashed) show Stormtroopers can be badass, and that a game can feel like Star Wars without going anywhere near the established planets.
What are peoples thoughts on the Expanded Universe? Good, bad, rubbish? Which storylines from it are worth pursuing (reading, playing maybe worth a film or animated feature if you had a wish list that George would listen to?)
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Post by Jet on Feb 15, 2012 16:05:20 GMT -5
Expanded universe is a mixed bag. And yet people still claim that everything other then original trilogy is a piece of sh!t, so I wont argue. Im not a big fan of SW in general, but enjoyed the heck out of Dark Forces games and KOTOR.
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Post by WildKnight on Feb 15, 2012 16:17:44 GMT -5
The KotOR games were fun, but they're ridiculously over the top in terms of how they used The Force, and there is literally no way to synch them with the movie canon, or even with other established elements of the EU.
IMO, they're at best a fun little "what if?" (As in; What if Star Wars was a super hero comic book instead of a space opera?)
I also honestly feel like they fall into the same trap as much of the EU; they're far too Jedi-centric. One of the things that made Star Wars special was that the Jedi were cool if you're into mystic space monks, but they weren't the be-all, end-all. Han Solo and Boba Fett were each dangeorus in their own right. Non-Force Users have no place in the universe presented in KotOR (or most of the EU)
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Post by roxolid on Feb 15, 2012 17:21:51 GMT -5
Force Unleashed was OTT as well. If I recall you 'force grab' a Star Destroyer and ram it into the floor...
"Size matters not. Judge me by my size do you?" said someone or other. Well... ok. But come on.. IT'S A STAR DESTROYER!!!
Force Points should have a different pool than standard energy. Someone like Yoda, Vader, Palpatine, Samuel L Jackson (whoever he played) would have high teens or into the 20s. At the beginning of ep iv, Luke would have had 3. By the end of ROTJ, probably around 18.
e.g.
Force Telekinesis Range: Line of sight Duration: Concentration, pay for size of object then 1/panel Effect: lift and move an object
The Force user can picture a giant invisible hand and pick things up with it, even move them around. Force stones are spent on the weight of an object, then allocate stones to determine how far you wish to move it. If no Force points are spent on moving it, the object can be levitated 2-3m. Smaller objects can be moved (up to a total weight of Force Points spent, so 3 Force Points = 3 stones of weight, up to 1,000lbs). The maximum object size/weight depends on how many force points are available to spend, and the Jedis' rank. Padawan=2 (R2 Unit) Jedi in training=5 (Landspeeder) Jedi Knight=10 (AT-ST walker) Jedi Master=15+ (AT-AT walker, Corellian Corvette, Star Destroyer?)
Thats off the top of my head so it probably won't stand up to playtesting. I just think that buying individual ranks or an overall mastery wouldn't work like a normal MURPG character. Instead you have a rank of jedi training (or sith) and the number of force points you have determines how well you do stuff. For instance you could have character really powerful in the force with Force Points in the teens but only trained to Padawan level. No matter what, they can only spend 2 stones at a time on whatever they attempt (though I guess you could add extra stones at a cost of 2, 3, 4, 5 per extra stone, getting more expensive)
I'll shut up now. Got loads to do. Haven't finished my house ruled MURPG document either. Busy, busy...
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Post by takewithfood on Feb 15, 2012 19:29:43 GMT -5
The KotOR games were fun, but they're ridiculously over the top in terms of how they used The Force, and there is literally no way to synch them with the movie canon, or even with other established elements of the EU. IMO, they're at best a fun little "what if?" (As in; What if Star Wars was a super hero comic book instead of a space opera?) I also honestly feel like they fall into the same trap as much of the EU; they're far too Jedi-centric. One of the things that made Star Wars special was that the Jedi were cool if you're into mystic space monks, but they weren't the be-all, end-all. Han Solo and Boba Fett were each dangeorus in their own right. Non-Force Users have no place in the universe presented in KotOR (or most of the EU) This is sort of where I lost interest in Star Wars. More precisely, it was somewhere during the Phantom Menace, when I started to actually get bored during the lightsaber fights. At first I thought it was just the movies, but the games and cartoons kept trying to one-up each other with cool force power stuff that it all became utterly unrecognizable beside the original trilogy. It became clear to me that Jedi were no longer anything like Yoda or Obi Wan - Jedi were basically the same as Sith, now, only better looking. They raise armies and solve their problems by stabbing people and blowing things up, too, because that's what's "cool". I guess I'm glad that people are enjoying what passes for Star Wars stuff now, but the franchise has long since gone down a road that I don't really care to follow. ~TWF
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Post by WildKnight on Feb 15, 2012 19:40:04 GMT -5
I would argue that Jedi have always "raised armies and stabbed people" (or whatever you said). The mere fact that they have an iconic weapon and are referenced very early on as having fought in the Clone Wars suggests that they were always warriors, as does the term "Jedi Knights"... not "Jedi Monks" or "Jedi Hippies"
The mere fact that Obi-Wan specifically tells Luke that the purpose of his becoming a Jedi will be to defeat the Empire says that the Jedi were always warriors.
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Post by roxolid on Feb 15, 2012 19:56:38 GMT -5
The prequel Jedis are all boring cardboard cutouts. Liam Neeson does a reasonable job with what GL gave him, but I keep expecting Sam L Jackson to shout "MUTHAF*CKA!" and chop people up. As for Yoda leaping about like a squirrel on drugs, well... whatever. Alec Guiness' Obi Wan was clearly a more likeable character than the prequel Jedis combined. I didn't bat an eyelid with Samuel L Jedi died. So for me its more about the crappy material that reasonable actors are given in the prequels, vs a top notch actor in the first films paving the way.
Another thing - if Obi Wan wore those robes all the time did he have to jedi mind trick everyone when he went down to the shops for food and stuff? "These aren't the jedi robes everyone is looking for" with a hand wave...
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Post by WildKnight on Feb 15, 2012 20:07:47 GMT -5
On the robes issue; I've always believed that robes are just a fairly common thing for people to wear in the Star Wars Galaxy (we see them all the time, not just on Jedi), and the "Jedi Robes" aren't specific to Jedi... they're simply "common robes", since we see Cleig Lars and others wearing them. It's the galactic equivalent of jeans and a t-shirt or something.
Never once in the movies, ever, does anyone remark on the "Jedi robes" as being something that only Jedi would wear. Anakin tells Qui-Gon he knew he was a jedi because he saw his "laser sword"... no mention at all of Qui-Gon's clothing.
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Post by roxolid on Feb 15, 2012 21:05:48 GMT -5
Well I kinda thought that until I saw the prequels and they are all wearing brown robes and beige slacks. And I don't see anyone else wearing brown robes or beige slacks (though Luke in ep iv wears a variant of beige. Must be that summers 'in' fashion). I won't get into an argument about brown robes though. I thought that was the jedi uniform, seeing as most (all?) the jedi wear the same thing.
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Post by takewithfood on Feb 15, 2012 21:14:40 GMT -5
We've talked a little about the Jedi robes elsewhere (I think the SWOTR thread?) and I don't think a single person agreed with me. But I'm pretty sure that the Jedi robes thing is just a misunderstanding. Obi Wan was hiding out on Tatooine, and so dressed like the people there. Their clothes make a certain amount of sense for people who live on a desert planet. Unfortunately, Obi Wan and Luke were the only Jedi that we see in the first movie (not counting Vader, of course), and the whole image stuck. Obi Wan became the archetype for all Jedi to come - even down to his local Tatooine clothing. And sure, you could argue that their simplicity also makes them appropriate for the ascetic, monastic Jedi - but these robes aren't just similar, they're identical. Give me a break. I would argue that Jedi have always "raised armies and stabbed people" (or whatever you said). The mere fact that they have an iconic weapon and are referenced very early on as having fought in the Clone Wars suggests that they were always warriors, as does the term "Jedi Knights"... not "Jedi Monks" or "Jedi Hippies" The mere fact that Obi-Wan specifically tells Luke that the purpose of his becoming a Jedi will be to defeat the Empire says that the Jedi were always warriors. Obi Wan describes the Jedi Knights as having been the "guardians of peace", and mentions nothing about sending clone troopers on suicide missions, nor leaping about on battlefields cutting down sith and blasting people through mountains with the power of the force. I just never got the impression that Obi Wan was talking about the sort of stuff that goes on in SWOTR. I'm not trying to imply that they were pacifists; but at the same time, the word "Knight" does not exactly conjure images of guerrilla warfare and the use of clones as cannon fodder. ~TWF
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