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Post by roxolid on Feb 25, 2012 15:51:38 GMT -5
licensed settings rarely do it for me as well. MERP (Middle Earth Role Playing) was much better once we ditched the biggest millstone around our necks - Middle Earth itself.
I think the Star Wars D6 rules (or D6 space - its free to download these days) with your own setting would be better than Star Wars anyway. It makes a great thing to look at and enjoy (ESB nigh on the *best* thing to look at. Love that film.) but the whole thing feels like someone elses story. When GMing, I like me and the players to make our own story, so usually steer away from license settings if poss, or use them to dip in and out of, without following them as if on a railroad. Have enough of railroads at work, don't wanna play RPGs on one too! (I drive trains...)
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Post by Brainstem on Feb 25, 2012 16:13:02 GMT -5
Star Wars was always kind of fun to play in and just pretend the films didn't happen or make them irrelevant to the players. Keep the general mythos established with regards to the Jedi, Sith, alien species, etc. etc. but let the players do all the fun stuff. If you really want the films going on, then let them go on but also allow the players to directly impact/change their events. It's really the only licensed setting I can dig running in, although I do agree that it tends to become "generic space opera." Not that that's a bad thing.
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Post by WildKnight on Feb 25, 2012 16:18:20 GMT -5
I've actually never had that problem. I've run long term "space opera" games and I can honestly say that the Star Wars setting remains special each and every time I run it. Playing in it... really depends on the GM. I've had great GMs and crap GMs.
I also found that younger gamers can't seem to figure out the difference between Star Wars and Halo, so I avoid even trying Star Wars with them.
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Post by takewithfood on Feb 25, 2012 16:28:52 GMT -5
The Star Wars universe feels so enormous. The original trilogy does such a good job of showing all sorts of unique and puzzling stuff going on, yet the characters in the film treat it all as being so mundane that they don't even bother to have expository dialogue for 95% of it. That really gives you the sense that there is a LOT going on in that world, and I love it.
It says something that I can't quite recall when or where our game was set, but I remember a good amount about our actual adventures. There were two Jedi, so I think it took place a few generations after Luke Skywalker began teaching Jedi. I think we also had a droid pilot and a Wookie diplomat or something; the Jedi were his escorts on the mission, and my gambler/smuggler was serving as something of a guide as we wound up having to travel under cover to avoid assassination attempts.
Something like that. Nothing really had anything to do with the canon storyline, and we loved it.
~TWF
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Post by WildKnight on Feb 25, 2012 16:42:13 GMT -5
Something like that. Nothing really had anything to do with the canon storyline, and we loved it. ~TWF IMO, this tends to be the secret and, as you've said, the Star Wars Galaxy is so big, and so much is just "normal" within it, to allow for it. The Prequels and EU have somewhat diminished my interest in the Star Wars Galaxy as a setting for RPGs, but in recent years I've decided to just scrap everything but the OT as "canon", and I've run two really successful campaigns doing so.
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Post by takewithfood on Feb 25, 2012 17:50:36 GMT -5
Oh, and one thing I should have added is that another advantage of that whole "everything is normal" feeling is that it's really easy for GMs to improv/add weird new things into the setting without it seeming jarringly out of place. Like, I don't think we ever found out too much about them, but the assassins who were after us (or maybe it was their employers) were some sort of cult from some weird planet that had only recently joined the Republic (or whatever it was at the time) and very little was known about them. We didn't know what they wanted or if the Wookies had pissed them off or what, but I think they were kind of a mix between insects and slugs. And none of that seemed weird at all. A new planet, new aliens, and some shadowy plot involving a quasi-mystic cult. Shrug, works for me! None of it felt out of place. The assassins who chased us were often hooded and we had blaster fights in dark alleys and chase scenes and escape-in-our-ship-omg-hyperdrive-why-u-so-slow scenes and it rocked. Oldschool Star Wars is a damn fun place to be. ~TWF
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Post by takewithfood on Feb 27, 2012 17:34:41 GMT -5
Just came across this "What if Star Wars Episode I was GOOD" video. That really would have made a damn good movie.
I wonder if George Lucas can one day be tempted into remaking the Prequels. I mean, he DOES love to re-re-re-release things...
~TWF
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Post by roxolid on Feb 27, 2012 20:27:36 GMT -5
I probably missed a few bits, but the points I think the review guy makes that are good:
1) Main character (Obi wan or whoever, not everyone) 2) No Jar Jar or poop jokes 3) Anakin plays a smaller role. It's sort of freaky as to why he ages 12+ years between films and Padme... doesn't 4) Darth Maul should live, turn up through the second film, clash/die in third 5) Love triangle between obi wan/padme/anakin would give a reason for Anakin to be p!ssed off and turn to the dark side to kill obi wan. Chopping up all the kiddies is drastically out of character because 1 minute, Anakin good guy, next scene, subservient dark side drone goes chopping up little kids
I'd add:
6) Make naboo some place important to the galaxy. Fuel, midi chlorians (or not mention them at all) only source of chocolate bars in the galaxy, whatever 7) Find someone to be Anakins father. The whole immaculate conception thing is embarrassing and never explained. Heck, make it a jedi, or a sith, and they wobbly hand mind wiped his mother 8) trade federation - see point 6. They should be focussed on the fuel. midi chlorians or chocolate bars and george lucas can send some veiled message out about fighting wars over oil or something, if he likes that sort of thing 9) mandalorians. Did they ever show up in any of the films? Who are they? What do they do? They should be a nasty and growing threat and start offing jedi, building to a big scene in number 2 10) get a decent writer for the dialogue so the actors can't phone it in from their dressing room or don't look as bored whilst grinding it out.
But *shrug* it is what it is. Hardly set the world alight with the 3D release, so unsure if the others will come out in 3D. If they didn't get re-released it'd be a blessing in my opinion.
How about spend the money on a 'what happens after the empire falls' movie instead, set generations after, with Luke as a fat old short jedi master, introduce a whole new bunch of characters, make more money. Except it would need a decent writer and GL not to be involved, save to supply money, then rake it in.
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Post by WildKnight on Feb 27, 2012 20:31:57 GMT -5
Darth Maul was the first clue that the prequels were going to suck. Why would anyone want to see more of him? He is pretty much a walking embodiment of everything that was wrong with those moves.
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Post by roxolid on Feb 27, 2012 20:58:18 GMT -5
A badass fighter who killed Obi Wans mentor and would have been a constant thorn in the Jedis side would have been a better character. Instead, his role read: mumble to palpatine, fight qui gon in desert, fight qui gon and obi wan, kill qui gon, die. The end.
As written, he did suck.
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Post by takewithfood on Feb 27, 2012 21:31:51 GMT -5
In a choice between Darth Maul and General Grievous, I'd take Grievous. At least he speaks, though I still found him a little too comical in appearance and behaviour to really take him seriously as the Dragon. Maul just looks like he's trying too hard, though. Vader didn't have to try so hard, and was anything but comical. He was imposing, but everything else he did was understated, which gave the impression of almost god-like power. The Force-choke scenes only reinforced it. In contrast, Grievous was clearly a coward and skittered away from pretty much every fight, and Maul had to show off a lot and do all sorts of crazy flips and whatever, plus his appearance was a little on-the-nose. Hell, I'd rather have Asajj Ventress. A female antagonist would be a welcome change of pace anyway. I also like the hint of a love triangle between Obi Wan, Padme, and Anakin. I really would have liked to see the second movie tell the story of Obi Wan fully maturing as a Jedi - learning to put his feelings for Padme aside, to come to terms with the fact that Anakin is a Jedi with far more power and potential than he, and to even show some patience in his quest to hunt down whoever killed his master. Because ultimately, that's the route that Luke took that Anakin did not until the last moments of Return. I would have liked a little more camaraderie scenes between OW and Anakin in the first film. The main reason why the ending to Revenge was funny instead of tragic is that it was utterly inconsequential. Anakin fell from nowhere - he was not a particularly respected Jedi, he was not Obi Wan's friend, and he went from Jedi to Vader in like 30 seconds. Then murdered a bunch of kids. Frankly, after murdering a bunch of kids, nothing he did shocked me. The third movie can focus on Obi Wan's struggle and failure to keep Anakin from falling off the path. I can imagine Padme settling for Anakin, and Anakin sensing it but going along with it for as long as he can stand it. He has to see OW as his rival - their first scene together in A New Hope reeks of one-sided jealousy and envy. Anakin is savouring the seemingly huge gap in their powers, but Obi Wan gives him no satisfaction in his defeat. I can imagine that jealousy and envy building after discovering that Obi Wan has come to terms with being the lesser Jedi (at least in terms of power). Again, there is no satisfying "IN YOUR FACE" moment, etc. Ah, what if. ~TWF
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Post by takewithfood on Mar 4, 2012 9:59:08 GMT -5
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Post by WildKnight on Mar 4, 2012 11:14:03 GMT -5
... the prequels finally killed Ralph
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Post by roxolid on Mar 4, 2012 18:15:20 GMT -5
Bloody hell. Maybe we should stop talking about people...
RIP, your vision brought joy to millions Ralph.
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Post by WildKnight on Mar 4, 2012 18:21:46 GMT -5
Bloody hell. Maybe we should stop talking about people... RIP, your vision brought joy to millions Ralph. Oh no, WE killed Ralph McQuarrie!
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