Review: Otherspace

>>> MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS <<<

I am an unabashed fan of the movie Aliens. In fact, it remains at the top of my top-ten favorite movies of all time. Right above Star Wars and Empire Strikes back. Blasphemy, you say! This is a Star Warsish forum! But hey, that's just the way things are. 

Why do I bring up Aliens? Well, because the Otherspace series has a lot in common with it. As I discussed in my previous post, that's one of the greatest things about the Star Wars setting. You can include an 'Alienesque' adventure and it can still feel like Star Wars.

To set the tone for the adventure to follow, the whole thing kicks off with the characters being stranded in a strange place—their ship in need of repairs. This is a classic horror technique—remove the characters from any chance of outside help and place them in a position where they HAVE to go into the spooky places they'd rather not, or they'll never be able to leave.

The pacing continues in line with the best horror movies. You start slow, with hints and glimpses of the horrors you might be facing. In this case, the players have to investigate another ship—the one they were trying to find in the first place. Something horrible has happened to the crew, but at this point, you only get bits and pieces and unsettling clues.

Once you're onboard the Alien's ship (in this case, the aliens are an arachnid race known as the Charon), the characters begin to encounter more and more of them, and of their disgusting bio-technology—slowly coming to the realization that the entire ship is basically 'undead' (there is one memorable encounter where the characters have to cross a room that is  basically the ship's 'stomach'—complete with all kinds of gooey and oozey challenges). 

And through it all, the characters must continue to search for the parts to fix their disabled ship. Though it isn't explicitly pointed out in the adventure, I always liked to present the Charon as 'testing' the heroes through all of this, looking for the strengths and weaknesses of their particular 'strain' of life. I felt it added an extra-creepy atmosphere to make the Charon observing just as much as they are attacking—leaving the players to wonder why they don't just swarm them (and giving a plausible reason why the Charon don't do exactly that). 

Adding flavor to this mix of horror are the NPCs, in the form of escaped prisoners from a Rebel prison transport. These include a crafty Imperial Moff, trying to 'cut a deal' with the aliens, an Imperial ship captain with a personal grudge against the players, an assassin droid, an insane space-pirate and finally, a femme fatale—in fact, the same femme fatale from Tatooine Manhunt. Some of these villains remain villains. Others are would-be allies. It was this aspect of the adventure that really captured my imagination and lead to my trying to keep villains alive for more than one adventure. It is fun to have recurring villains—it gives the PCs and the NPCs a 'history' and a real reason for personal animosity.

The Charon themselves captured my imagination as a wonderful alien menace, even if I did wind up adapting them just a bit from how they were presented. Physically, they were tough and creepy looking. They had strange and gross bio-tech abilities and could even create hybrid 'zombie' type constructs. They were part of a 'hive' mentality, meaning that they would and could sacrifice themselves in appalling numbers if they had to. They were implacable foes, determined to destroy or 'adapt' all life forms but their own. And finally, they had this strange link to the Dark Side of the force, through the black obelisk they worshipped. What's not to like?

You throw all of these things into the mix, build slowly to a climax battle versus the big-bad leader of the bugs and end with a breakneck escape—and the lingering threat that the Charon are still there, waiting. All in all, a superb adventure that takes star wars into the realm of horror. The 'Cut Away' framing devices were perfect for this as well, setting the mood for the players, even if their characters were blissfully unaware. 

My only criticisms of this adventure are as follows: First of all, the scope of the Alien threat seems a bit weak if you take the module strictly at face value. A 300m long ship... houses an entire race who wiped out an entire galaxy. Hmmm. Wimpy galaxy. In order to pose any kind of a threat to the Star Wars galaxy, the Charon would have to have thousands of ships and billions of warriors.

Secondly, the number of encounters on the Charon mothership could be a bit excessive—especially if the players are thorough in exploring each level. It could seriously mess with the pacing of the story to have to play out each and every one of these encounters. I would recommend crafting a few different routes, hitting the high-points of the encounters, then confining the characters to whichever route they choose. It would make IC sense, too, in that the Charon could be channeling them down a particular route to see how they perform. Especially in the case of horror, it is sometimes okay to 'force' the players into something. Taking away a bit of control of their own destiny can be unsettling, which is just the point. 

All in all, I loved Otherspace, and I was so inspired by Otherspace II: Invasion, that I wrote my own sequel to the series—Otherspace III (original name, I know, but probably better then Otherspaces or Otherspace-cubed). I'll get around to reviewing the rest some other time. 

All Inclusive Star Wars

One of the things I like the most about Star Wars is just how BIG the galaxy is. Within its bounds, it can include any number of different settings—above and beyond the myriad of those already shown in the films. Though I haven't always taken advantage of it as a game master, I've always liked the fact that I can incorporate just about any setting or characters into the Star Wars world, just by putting a little twist on them. 

The first time I did this was in the Vermillion campaign, where the characters were exploring the Minos Cluster setting. There, they found the planet of Eliad, populated by various exiled noble houses and guarded by an Imperial ship manned mostly by mercenary soldiers. It got me thinking. Noble houses. Mercenaries? I had always had a fondness for the Battletech game setting. Hmmm. Why not?

And so the noble houses on Eliad became those from Battletech: The noble Davions, the proud Kuritas, the stern Steiners, the reluctant Mariks and the treacherous Liaos. And those mercenaries in orbit? They were commanded by Jamie Wolf and Natasha Kerensky. Only one of my players (Todd) recognized the names at the time, but even then, it wasn't a detriment to play. In fact, it was a good hook for me to give the various nobles personalities that were 'ready made' and a lot deeper than I could have otherwise come up with on the fly.

I'm not certain how many other times I incorporated other settings into the campaign, but I know that I was always stealing from movies and books, including the often-maligned Marvel comics Star Wars series. I remember one time I had the players go to a planet that was essentially 'Transylvania' and battle a frankenstein-like sith-created beast. And again, it didn't seem out of place to have an 'old-world' type gothic setting. After all, it was just another planet, and that's just the way they lived. I tried to capture a lot of the 'Aliens' feel with the Otherspace adventures (but of course, they already had a lot of that). 

Incorporating other game modules into Star Wars was quite easy, too. Star Frontiers modules translate with just a few tweaks. Even some D&D stuff can work, when modified: The 'Slavers' series is a good example, though again, it takes some finagling. 

Ironically enough, it was only after everyone went their separate ways—and in fact only in the past few years—that I've really been brainstorming this stuff. You think of just about any science-fiction or action adventure movie and you can see ways it can be translated into Star Wars:

The Mummy? Hell yeah! A desert planet. A sail barge battle. A sith mummy. 

Under Siege? (Bad movie, interesting concept) Terrorists take over a Star Destroyer of Mon Cal cruiser?

Planet of the Apes? Throw out the time travel aspect and its a perfectly good 'escape' romp.

The Black Hole? A Crazy scientist traps your group on a ship run by cyborg slaves?

King Kong! Why not? A remote world with a deadly ecosystem and lots of giant beasts! (Okay, maybe skip over the sad parts so SOME people don't cry too much...)

The list goes on and on. And though each of these ideas are 'derivative', WHO CARES, as long as they're fun! 

In a different vein, I've often amused myself by trying to figure out how characters from other settings could work into the Star Wars setting. Imagine encountering the crew of the Farscape? Or the Serenity? Or even the Enterprise? As long as you ground those characters in the Star Wars universe, why not? I can see Kirk as a 'take charge' Rebel fleet captain. And then there are all the superheroes! Man, wouldn't it be fun to have the X-Men, only they're variant aliens and force-users instead of 'mutants'. The possibilities are intriguing...and fun to think about, even if I never do use them.

Yeah, just imagine: Wolverine: "May the force be with you, bub."

Random Thoughts: Plot vs. Dungeon

It occurs to me, in my more geeky moments, that the distinction between plot-based adventures and your typical sandbox 'dungeon', may not be as stark as you might think. A well-designed 'dungeon' includes multiple routes and areas—places for the players to choose to explore or not. They can bypass some and thoroughly delve into others. They have the choice as to which path they take and, depending on that path, they will face different challenges.

A well-designed plot-based adventure should have multiple paths and tangents—ideas for the players to choose to explore or not. They can bypass some and thoroughly delve into others. They have the choice of which plot-threads to follow and, depending on that choice, they will face different challenges.

Sounds similar to me.

Plot-based adventures don't seem to be very popular with a lot of old-school gamers, and in looking at a lot of them, I can see why. If a plot is strictly linear, then its like having a dungeon with just one passageway. But even these can be saved  by a GM who is willing to sit down and plan out some side-routes to the story. A good GM will also have to be ready to take a tangent he/she might never have thought of. 

In any case, it was just a random thought I had. Welcome to my brain.

The Technological Plateau of Star Wars

First off, this isn't going to be a terribly long blog post. It is just something I've always been curious/confused about/with in the Star Wars universe. What I'm talking about is the fact that in Star Wars, the technology in the universe seems to have been at about the same level for at least 4,000 years—but there are hints that star travel and even hyperspace has been around for as long as 10,000 years. I don't particularly feel like delving into the various timelines presented by various sources, so just work with me on these numbers.

It is very difficult for a person living in our own modern world to imagine technology remaining at a standstill for any length of time. I mean, look at the change in our culture in the last 100 years—hell, in the last TEN years even. Its really incredible when you stop to think about it, and to me at least it seems 'normal' that within my generation technology will just keep progressing at the same rate.

Not so the Star Wars universe. My first introduction to the 'Ancient History' of the Star Wars universe was the 'Tales of the Jedi' comic book series (set 4,000 years prior to Star Wars). The art style in these books seemed to show a more 'raw' and 'barbaric' look to everything, and yet the technology presented really wasn't much different than what we'd seen in the movies. The Knights of the Old Republic series (also set about 4,000 years prior to Star Wars) again seemed to show that things were indeed pretty much the same. Lightsabers, Blasters, Starships, all of it. They maybe hinted that less of the Galaxy was explored at the time (Kashyyyk was only just being 'developed'), but for the most part, it was all status quo. 

On one hand, this kind of offends my modern sensibilities, but on the other, I've tried to rationalize it away. If you look at the length of Human civilization on our own planet, you will see that there have been times when technology has hit a plateau, and remained basically the same for very long periods of time. I mean, a sword is a sword, right? Horse-drawn wagons are horse-drawn wagons. Sailing ships are sailing ships. From the time of ancient Egypt even into the middle-ages (a span of thousands of years) there were advances to be sure, but everyday life for the average person couldn't have been too much different. So I guess its kind of the same for the Star Wars universe. There have been refinements and minor changes throughout the history of the Galaxy, but for at least 4,000 years there has been a plateau.

Sound rational to you? Well...I'll keep trying to convince myself. In any case, if technology DID advance even half as fast in the Star Wars universe as in our own world, I'm sure all life in the Star Wars galaxy would have evolved into pure energy by the time of the movies—and where is the fun in that?

Review: Tatooine Manhunt

>>> SPOILERS FOLLOW IF YOU HAVEN'T PLAYED THE MODULE <<<

Tatooine Manhunt was the first module to come out for the Star Wars RPG, back in 1988. For me, it set the tone for the entire game from then on. It set the bar for what I considered a 'good' adventure, and it set it pretty high. I'll admit that part of my fondness for this adventures stems from my own sentimentality (my friend Sharon will vouch for the fact that I'm a sentimental goob). I 'grew up' with this adventure, reading it in high school. It was the first adventure I ever ran at a game day. It was the adventure that kicked off the Vermillion campaign. So, yeah. I'm biased. But just because I'm biased doesn't mean the module doesn't have its merits.

The first of these merits was the classic 'Cut Away' sequences that are the hallmark of the original Star Wars adventures. This was a novel idea where the GM acts out scenes ('Cuts away to them') with the villains or other NPCs in the adventure—scenes that the player character's themselves don't have any in-character knowledge of, but which set the mood for the upcoming episode. With this device, you not only capture the cinematic feel of the movies, you also get a chance to develop the personalities of NPCs who otherwise might not get much interaction with the PCs (other than being shot and killed). In the case of this adventure, one of the main villains, the Imperial Captain Parlan, doesn't ever directly confront the PCs, and yet you still get a look at his scheming and his eventual downfall (Darth Vader: "Apology accepted, Captain Parlan."

The second merit was the usage of iconic character archetypes—without using the actual feature characters they were based upon. Jodo Kast, the Mandalorian bounty hunter, makes a great poor-man's-Boba-Fett, offering challenge to beginning level characters without completely overshadowing them (as Fett would have). Likewise, IG-72 was a good IG-88 stand-in. But not all of the characters were direct rip-offs, others just /looked/ the part, Like Jungen and Shrike—actually good guys, but they resembled Bossk and Zuckuss. There were Gamorreans and Jawas and Tusken raiders, a space-pirate with a vibro-blade hand, a Hammerhead Crime Boss, a Snaggletooth henchman with a penchant for explosives, a femme-fatale bounty hunter, a grizzled desert scout and ultimately a long-lost hero of the Old Republic. Wow. Even though they weren't feature characters, they all just captured the 'feel' of the movies- and in particular the feel of the first Star Wars. 

Setting the adventure on Tatooine further cemented the Star Wars feel. It was like getting to run around in the 'back yard' of the original trilogy—set right after Luke and Han blasted out of Mos Eisley. You get to brush up against Jabba's organization (though the Big Guy doesn't make a direct appearance). You get to battle womp-rats, face-down a Bantha stampede and maybe even tangle with  Krayt Dragon. But most of all, you got to visit the Mos Eisley Cantina! Complete with the band! It got me so psyched up that I even threw in my own touches—like a chance to actually purchase Luke Skywalker's landspeeder (you know, the one he sold to get off Tatooine?). 

The plot is another great aspect to this adventure—finding a long-lost Clone Wars era hero, Admiral Adar Tallon, who evidently faked his death when the Empire came to power. The characters have to follow a series of clues to track the man down and convince him to join the Alliance, all the while dodging bounty hunters out to capture Tallon for the Empire. There are numerous classic set pieces that, again, capture the Star Wars feel: The gunfight in the Cantina, the magnetically sealed death-trap in the water silo, the (afore mentioned) Bantha stampede, the showdown at Fort Tusken, and the final harrowing escape from the ISD Relentless and its TIE fighters.

There are plenty of quirky and original ideas in the adventure, too, most notably the introduction of the 'Dim-U', a sect of Bantha-Worshipping kooks, preaching the 'Wisdom of the Bantha' on street corners and living in a desert commune called Oasis. I had a lot of fun with them. This module, and West End Game's previous and subsequent products were really part of the beginning of the 'Expanded Universe', and these entirely new and creative ideas really add a lot to the setting as a whole. 

The only real criticism I have of Tatooine Manhunt is that there may be just a few too many combats in it as written. For a beginning party, these combats, strung back-to-back, might prove to be too much of a challenge. Star Wars isn't supposed to be lethal, so GMs may have to tone some of this down. 

All in all, I think its plain to see that I enjoyed this adventure. Tatooine Manhunt holds a special place in my overly-sentimental heart, and I highly recommend it to anyone running a star wars campaign.

My Heroes: Wedge Antilles

Okay, so maybe I do have strange taste in heroes. But I distinctly remember the character of Wedge from the original Star Wars movie—even though I was only seven at the time. I didn't really come to idolize the character until the Empire Strikes Back came out—and you get to see Wedge really show off his skills. My admiration for the character only grew as he appeared yet again in the finale of Return of the Jedi and became a recurring character in the various Star Wars books and comics that followed.

Why do I like Wedge? There are a lot of reasons, most of which I only realized after the movies came out. I guess the main reason is the fact that he is such an unassuming hero. He's one of the 'background' characters in the stories, but one who proves to be exceedingly competent. He may not have the flash of Luke or Han, but he's the guy you can count on to always be there. In Star Wars, he bailed Luke out of a jam by (quite dramatically) taking out the TIE fighter that was on the fledgling Jedi's tail. In Empire, he was the ONLY pilot to successfully take down an AT-AT Walker with the tow cable maneuver ("Good shot, Janson!"). In Return of the Jedi, he accompanied Lando into the second Death Star, helping take out its main generator. That is an awful lot of coolness for a background character. 

For me, it says a lot about the writing of a movie when it allows even the supporting characters to have their moments. It adds depth to the setting—giving an inclination that the main characters are in a world populated by lots of other people with their own stories to tell. That's kind of a gripe that I have with a lot of movies: Background characters seem to exist only to A) die, B) make the main characters look good or C) die to make the main characters look good. Star Trek is one of the worst examples of this. It seems as though anyone NOT on the Enterprise is inept, usually suicidally so.

Along the lines of Luke, Wedge is that 'uncool' kind of hero, the one you just don't realize is a hero until you look back on all he's managed to accomplish. I mean...he's the only guy in the Rebel Alliance with TWO Death-Star Kill markers on the side of his fighter. 

As far as Wedge's appearances go in the novels? To me, they seem just a bit lackluster. He doesn't even get top billing in the 'Rogue Squadron' series, even though he's the squadron's CO. No, it isn't until the superb Rogue Squadron Comics (by Dark Horse) that Wedge truly comes into his own, backed up with several other 'secondary' characters from the movies: Janson and Hobbie. I guess the reason these comics connect with me most is that they portray the character much as I thought of him. Soft spoken, professional and yet personable—with a strong sense of duty and concern about the pilots under his command. The comraderie the pilots share, their interactions and personalities is exactly what I'd hoped the novels would be like—and the art has been very good through the series. As a Wedge fan? I couldn't ask for more.

Of course, its geeky to add this (wow, this whole blog already is, so...does that really need mentioning?), but those times where I have been able to play Wedge and his squadron online stand out as some of the best and most enjoyable RP I've had. But then, that's kind of the joy of being a GM: inhabiting the bodies of your favorite NPCs, presenting them just how you always thought—fleshing them out and letting them interact with your player's characters—bringing them to life.

So in closing, I am a very big fan of Wedge "Veggies" Antilles, and I hope Lucas and the other cronies who are picking apart the franchise will just leave him alone (or turn him over to someone who really cares).

The Jedi as Villains

Growing up with the Star Wars movies, I had always considered the Jedi Knights as heroes, with Luke Skywalker and Ben Kenobi as the prime examples of that. My first inkling that the Jedi might be somewhat fallible was in the Empire Strikes Back, with the hesitation of Yoda in taking Luke on. And then again, in Return of the Jedi, when Yoda and Ben are revealed to have been keeping secrets from Luke. In essence, they were manipulating him to do what they wanted, afraid that if he knew the truth, he might not 'do the right thing'. In the end, everything turned out alright, but it did impress upon me the fact that the Jedi were not entirely the bastions of light and goodness that I was initially led to believe. 

My next interaction with the Jedi was when the prequel trilogy was launched in 1999. Once again, the Jedi are presented as heroes, but especially here, you can see the cracks appearing in that facade. For all their might and power, things are happening behind the scenes that they are unaware of. And when Anakin is discovered, the Jedi are both dismissive and (seemingly) frightened of the prospect of this prophecy. For all their philosophizing and wisdom, rules and codes, they seem to be reacting with very 'human' emotions. 

All of these perceptions only deepened as the prequel movies continued—and especially in Attack of the Clones. Here, we hear Yoda talking about how the Jedi have grown to proud and many of them are 'losing touch' with the force. We see arrogant Jedi librarians believing that anything not in their records does not exist. We see equally arrogant Jedi warriors, bursting into the Geonosian arena without immediate backup, and falling into a deathtrap. We see them following along blindly in accepting that someone (apparently one of their own) just built this Clone army that just happened to be handy the moment they needed them (hmm, convenient). And we see them not understanding, or wanting to understand, just what this prophecy of "Bringing Balance to the Force" means.

And then, even before Revenge of the Sith came out, the Knights of the Old Republic video game series arrived on the scene. In the narrative of both of these games, the Jedi come off as somewhat troublesome allies. Some are noble and forthright, but others are outright bitter and even hostile. As with the movies, it shows the Jedi in a period of decline and turmoil, and in the final game of the series came the big revelation to me: The Jedi were essentially the bad guys. They had become so caught up in their own teachings that they could not understand how someone (the Jedi Exile) could function—could succeed—without the using the Force as they knew it. In fact, the Jedi actually try to KILL the hero of the game because they don't understand what that hero has become. 

And finally, in Revenge of the Sith, we see the ultimate fall of the Jedi. They allowed themselves to be led along, sure in their own abilities. They allow themselves to be spread too thin—and put in front of an entire army of troopers who's too-convenient existence they had never questioned. Too late they try to understand the prophecy of "balance"...and this ultimately turns out to mean almost literally what it says: At the end of the trilogy there are two main sith and two main surviving Jedi. Yep. That's balance for you. 

In the movies and the KotOR series, it seems to be a classic case of power corrupting. The Jedi bought into their own infallibility, and that is why they fell. The KotOR series central theme (to me at least) was this: Jedi have to remember and even embrace the fact that they are still people. Yes, its best to try to act on rational thought, to not let your emotions cloud your judgement—especially in combat or high-stress situations. But (in my opinion at least) it is the positive emotions (love, friendship, hope, compassion) that are the true source of power—for Jedi or anyone. By divorcing yourself from those kind of emotions, you remove yourself from the world around you and you begin to lose touch. I think that this is exactly what was shown in the movies and the KotOR series—in both cases, it was emotion that ultimately carried the day. Simple, positive emotion.

And so, the Jedi as Villains really got me thinking (as you can tell from the above). The whole idea of it really adds depth to the usually black-and-white universe of Star Wars.