Review: Graveyard of Alderaan

This is another of the book-format adventures that came out during the early 90's—and as with its contemporaries (Isis Coordinates, Domain of Evil, Death in the Undercity) it has some interesting new ideas, but also some flaws. I will explore both in this review.

In Graveyard of Alderaan, the characters (while taking some R&R) stumble upon a startling news (delivered by a dying messenger) that a miraculous discovery has been in the asteroid ruins of the planet Alderaan: the Royal Palace has been found—and with it survivors. The characters head to Alderaan to investigate—only to run afoul of an unscrupulous band of salvagers. Eventually, the remains of the palace are found. The rumors are true—but unfortunately (as Admiral Akbar would say) "It's a trap!" From there, the heroes have to brave both the dangers of the palace and relentless Imperial pursuit in order to find out just what secrets the palace holds...

As you see, this is a pretty straight-up plot line and the adventure actually does a great job of providing a lot of different RP opportunities, combats and problem solving scenarios. But then, these are the kinds of things I expect from a Star Wars adventure, so it isn't really extraordinary. One of the first things that DOES stand out is (oddly enough) rather tangental to the plot. The character's begin the game on an Ithorian 'Herd Ship' (a spaceborne city/starport). Full maps and short but colorful location descriptions are provided for the ship—presenting a setting that can be re-used throughout the campaign. Though it plays only a small part in this adventure, it is a great 'mini-sandbox' (much like the Kuari princess in Riders of the Maelstrom), filled with shopping and entertainment diversions that help players develop character.

Another stand-out feature of Graveyard of Alderaan is the 'Cut Away' device. Used in practically all Star Wars adventures, these are essentially paragraph-or-two 'scenes' (read by the GM at appropriate moments throughout the adventure) that show what is happening elsewhere in an adventure, outside of the characters' direct knowledge. What makes Graveyard's use of this device unique is the fact that many of the Cut Aways deal with the main Heroes of the Star Wars Saga. We learn that Leia, Luke, Han and Chewie have ALSO learned of the possibility of survivors in the Alderaanian palace—and are actually on their way. So essentially, by 'springing the trap' first, the character's have a chance to save the the feature characters! To make matters more interesting, it is even possible for the Empire to mistake the PCs as the 'Heroes of Yavin" themselves. This worked great in my campaign, as we had a female, a smuggler, a Wookiee, and even a starship similar to the Falcon—close enough to cause some confusion.

This Feature Character angle is played up through the whole adventure. Culminating in the final scene when "Lord Vader" arrives on the scene at the same time as Leia, Luke and the others. Everyone (hopefully) escapes, however—and back at base, the characters get a chance to share dinner and conversation with Princess Leia (who is sadly curious about what the PCs found in Alderaan). I've said it before, and I'll say it again I LOVE it when adventures tie back in to the movies and include brushes with the FCs. In fact, this is one of those scenes that directly backs up my own 'policy' on using FCs. It was hilarious in my own campaign when the players realized they were suddenly face to face with Vader's flagship. As the group escaped, Arianne was leaning in to the comm to speak her usual 'ego signature' taunt ("Love and kisses!") when most of the table (and their characters) leaped forward to stop her—"We do NOT taunt the dark lord of the Sith!"

Another great hook of this adventure is the surprise 'prize' the Character's can rescue at the end—in the form of an ancient Alderaanian War  Frigate—packed with military equipment. The story is that this ship was sent into hiding years ago, when Alderaan adopted its pacifistic stance—on the off chance that such weaponry would ever be needed again. Though it is only one ship, the equipment would still be a great help to the Rebellion. At the time I ran this adventure (in the early 90's), there was little information on the 'pre-history' of the Star Wars Galaxy, so I was kind of vague as to what 'ancient' military equipment looked like. If I ever ran this adventure again, I could think of all kinds of neat 'artifacts' for folks to find. From 'KotOR' era stuff to Clone Wars gear. Could be darn fun—even if the players themselves didn't end up with the gear, it would be cool to have a team of rebels armed with 'ancient' stuff show up later to help the PCs out of a tight spot (a squadron of KotOR era 'swoops' or the like). In fact, I kind of expanded on this very idea in my recent session with Steve2 (Rick Oman). He managed to find an ancient warship and weapons cache hidden by Canderous Ordo of KotOR fame.

So, with all this goodness, you may be wondering what my negative criticisms are. I'll start with one that is more annoying than anything else—the 'Players Lose their Ship' cliche. So many adventures have the PC's ship crashing or getting captured or being otherwise lost. Ugh. I wanted my players to get attached to their ship, not have to get a new one every time they get out. In this case, played according to 'plot' the players would likely have to abandon their ship once they become trapped in the Alderaanian Palace. Sure, they may be able to come back for it later, but its an annoying little side note that I dislike. I can't remember how I got around this one in my campaign, actually. Drawing a blank. If I had to do it again, though, I'd likely have the players get assigned a 'disposable' for some reason prior to going on this adventure.

But this criticism pales in comparison to my main problem with the adventure—namely the holographic 'ghosts' the Empire planted in the palace to 'break the will' of Princess Leia. In essence, part of the Imperial plan was to have these 'ghosts' appear and lament the fact that Leia was the reason they all died. While I see what the author was going for, it just doesn't work. My players instantly smelled a rat the first time they saw these 'ghosts' and began looking for holo-projectors. Once they found them, the impact of 'mental torture' was defused. Sure, it may have hurt Leia to see these things (if she had fallen into the trap first), but I'm pretty sure she woul d have figured it out, too. Having Force sensitive people in the party only hastened the exposure of this trick, since they couldn't pick up any 'life sense' information on the spirits at all. I remember trying to help the illusion a bit by having the palace still be tinged with ACTUAL spiritual energy—afterall, billions of people were killed on Alderaan. The whole place was like a 'scar' in the Force. In retrospect, it may have been more interesting to actually include a few REAL ghosts just to mix things up. Perhaps even have them intervene against the Empire.

Another area where the adventure may be lacking is its lack of any really memorable NPCs—though this may just be in my own mind—since the inclusion of the Feature Characters kind of makes everyone else fade in significance.

In looking back at the adventure as a whole, I find that I like it quite a bit—despite its faults. In fact, this one helped make up for the shakiness of 'The Isis Coordinates' (which was the first adventure to make me question just how good Star Wars adventure modules really were...)

Balancing Attributes

Helping to run an active Star Wars MUSH (online RP game), I was introduced to a lot of the best and worst tendencies of gamers. As mentioned in previous posts, one of my biggest pet peeves were the min/maxers who based their choice of Race mainly on what kind of 'super-stats' they could get. When you combined those people with the given stat maxima of several 'mega' races...well, you got trouble. I'm thinking here of races like Barabel and Coynite and Togorian and a host of others. Twinks would invariably go for one of these races then pump up their Strength and Dexterity attributes as high as they could go. So in some cases, you had things with 5D strength and 4D dexterity. Huge, fast killing machines.

From a game balance point of view, this irked me. But it also bothered me from a sense of realism. You had to look no further than Chewbacca for an example of 'realistic' attributes. Chewie was big and strong, but he was also just a bit 'lumbering' in his movements. There seemed to be a trade-off and balance there that worked with the physics of his size. He was strong, yes, but not as fast as his companions.

So, in the interest of both game balance and my own subjective sense of 'realism', I implemented the following rule:

A character of ANY race may not have more than 8D Total divided among their Dexterity and Strength Attributes. Thus, you could have a 4D Strength and 4D Dexterity (being pretty strong and pretty quick) or a 5D Strength and 3D Dexterity (very strong and moderately quick) or a 6D Strength and 2D Dexterity (extremely strong, but kind of slow). 

There was grumbling about this, of course. But I've held firm. It works for me—and it makes sense. I mean, you've got a body-builder with a 5D strength (like Ahhnold), he just is NOT going to be able to move like a small quick guy with a 5D dexterity (like Jackie Chan). Given the at lot of alien races share similar physiology to humans... and ALL share the same physics...well, like I said, its subjective, but if feels right to me.

Oh, and P.S. In my game, I've actually changed with the main six attributes are—so in the above example in my campaign, it would be Agility instead of Dexterity (in my campaign, Dexterity is separate from Agility). See this post if you're interested.

Oh, the humanity!

I've heard other people talk about the human-centric nature of the Star Wars galaxy before. Some seem to dislike it, most seem to accept it. I fall into the latter camp. I imagine there are a couple explanations as to why the main characters in the movie were all human. First of all, special effects at the time the first movies came out just weren't up to the challenge of creating a LOT of different races in a 'realistic' manner. A quick cut to one here and there was fine, but just looking at the scene in the cantina will very quickly point out that most aliens just couldn't stand more than a second or two of scrutiny. Chewie was the exception to this. He never felt fake to me. Yoda? Well.. he was a very well DONE muppet, but he was still a muppet. And the Ewoks? Well, Wickett was believable enough, but you could see the zippers and seams in some of the others.

But limits in costuming/special effects technology was likely not the main reason for the main characters being human. Simply put—people can relate to other people a lot better than they can to something that isn't human. At least, that's my belief. By having humans as the main characters, you can project yourself into their place and understand the things they're going through—and Imagine what it would be like if you had to. I feel that a lot of that would be lost if, say, Han Solo had been a lizard-guy (it's always some kind of big lizard!). 

Strangely enough, in my own campaign this turned out to be true as well. Without any guidance from me, almost all of my players chose to play human (or at the very least near-human) characters. Ruukhan the wookiee was the exception to this, but after a while, his player DID switch to a human character (Horatio). In the case of Bob the Tusken, I sat down with him prior to the game and we both worked out essentially what Tusken's were—humans (or near-humans) who wore elaborate desert garb. That's it. No tusks or scales or anything else. Just humans who evolved to live in the harsh desert of Tatooine. 

Now, I'm not sure if this human-centric thing was because of the way I ran my game or not. Maybe I was secretly prejudiced against aliens, but I don't think so. I tried to keep things interesting for ALL my characters. What it seemed like to me is that folks enjoyed playing them for a while, but maybe couldn't relate as strongly to them as they did to human characters? I don't know. Just my best guess. Todd, if you're reading, I'd be curious to know.

In any case, it is this relatability factor that keeps humanity on the top of my list of favorite Star Wars races. That's not to say I don't enjoy playing lots of Alien NPCs—they make for great contrast and add a lot of character to the game—but they don't quite hit home as directly a plain, boring humans.

Oh, and p.s. — one of my biggest pet peeves in Star Wars gaming (and I really only ran into this online) was the tendency for 'twinks' to choose races based solely upon stats and special abilities, and no real desire to play as an alien. I can't tell you how many goobers wanted to play a Barabel or Defel or Noghri or Esoomian or Togorian or even Gamorrean simply because they thought it would be a 'super character'. But like I said, thankfully, that never happened in my tabletop game.

My Geek Runneth Over

For all my fans out there (you know who you are)—if you're interested in delving into the non-Star Wars side of my brain, please check out my other blog. Here, you'll find all the other crap that I think of that isn't in the slightest related to Star Wars. I began with exploring one of my current projects: My fantasy world. But I'll probably be blabbing about a lot of other stuff, too. Enjoy.

Mass Effect and... KotOR?

Mass Effect is the best computer/console RPG I have ever played—and this includes the incredibly well done Knights of the Old Republic series (though it was close with KotoR I)

In the game, you take the role of Commander Shepard, the first human agent for a galactic power known as the Citadel Council. Your mission is to track down a rogue former agent—but you very quickly discover a much larger threat looming behind the scenes. Accompanied by your rag-tag crew, you set out to save the galaxy—despite the odds and the fact that your own superiors don't believe the threat.

Mass Effect is a product of BioWare—the people who also created KotOR and Jade Empire. I am constantly amazed at just how good their products have turned out to be. They seem to hit the aspect I enjoy most about RPGs—the RP part of it. Where as most RPGs are more centered around killing stuff to gain experience to build up your character to kill more stuff to gain more experience, BioWare focuses instead on character interaction and moral choices—and the impacts of those choices on the world around your character. I feel that the people who complain about the combat being not as 'cool' as first person shooters or that the equipment you get isn't as varied as they would like are missing the point. BioWare games focus on story and character more than stuff. And if some of the side-missions are clunky or all the guns look the same, I don't particularly care. But then, that's just my preference.

As with KotOR I very quickly got the feeling that I was 'inside a movie'. It gave me goosebumps. Games don't usually do that. The absolutely awesome character graphics and voice acting certainly helped in this regard. The game pulled me in—kept me chomping at the bit to play again. Indeed, I spent more than one night staying up till the wee hours of the morning playing. There were even scenes in the movie that had me cheering out loud—especially towards the climax of the game (the scene where Captain Anderson punches Ambassador Udina springs to mind here). Yes, I was cheering at a video game. Geeky, yes, but true.

How does any of this relate to Star Wars? Well it really doesn't, except to make me sad. Why sad? Because it makes me think of what COULD have been done with KotOR II (if BioWare had been given a more realistic schedule for production) and what MIGHT have been done with KotOR III if BioWare hadn't suddenly switched their emphasis to an MMO.

Sigh. 

I feel like a grumbly old man for saying this, but...I just do NOT get the appeal of MMOs. Maybe KotOR will be different than others, but somehow I doubt it. In any case, it will never be as immersive as one of BioWare's other RPGs. I mean, the first time you battle alongside 'Brewski_LeBurp' the Jedi and he totally PWNs some NOOB the fourth wall will probably come crashing down hard.

I guess what really bothers me the most is that KotOR I was so awesome and KotOR II was so awesome (up until the last few hours of the game) that I was left wanting more. Plus, they 'ended' the series on a cliffhanger—with the heroes of BOTH games heading off into the unknown regions to battle a threat to the galaxy that was even greater than that posed by the Sith or the Mandalorians.

THAT is what I'd like to see. Not only does it sound cool, but it would provide some closure for the story arc that I grew to love. When I see how they're doing things with Mass Effect 2, it makes the fact that KotOR III is not on the horizon all the more disheartening to me.

Enhanced Coordination

The release of the Heir to the Empire Star Wars novel trilogy in 1991 was the first 'big thing' to happen to the Star Wars universe since Return of the Jedi in 1983. Luckily, it turned out to actually be okay (I won't go so far as to say it was great, but... well when you compare it to the other schlock that followed, maybe it WAS great). With the novels came the release of sourcebooks for the D6 Star Wars RPG—and with the sourcebooks came stats and information on all kinds of new and interesting things. Among them were some new force powers that the author of the books (Timothy Zahn) had made up. One power in particular stands out in my mind, both because it was so pivotal to the plot of the books and because it made a sudden and very large impact on my campaign—so much so that I had to ban its use.

This power was called "Enhanced Coordination", and this is the description given of it in the rulebook:

"The use of this power allows a Force user to coordinate the activities of a group in order to increase their effectiveness at a given task. This power was often used by the Emperor to increase the fighting ability of his troops, mentally driving them on and supplementing their will to fight. This power may only be used on individuals who are in agreement with the intent of the Force user, and it in no way grants the user mental control over the troops affected. Rather, it links the troops on a subconscious level, allowing them to fight more proficiently and with better organization. If this power is successfully called upon, the Force user picks three specific skills. The skills must be the same for the entire group. For every 3D (rounded down) in those skills that the troops have, they receive a bonus of +1D. The Force user may keep this power up, although he must make a new power roll whenever new troops are added to the power, or skills are to be changed. This power affects only Dexterity, Technical or Strength skills."

The difficulty numbers required to activate Enhanced Coordination are as follows:

Control Difficulty: 

    Moderate, modified by proximity

Sense Difficulty:

    Difficult

Alter Difficulty: 

    Very easy for 1-10 troops

    Easy for 11-100 troops

    Moderate for 101-500 troops

    Difficult for 501-5,000 troops

    Very Difficult for 5,001-50,000 troops

    Heroic for 51,000-500,000 troops

At first glance this may seem to be only a moderately useful power—good at bolstering minor NPC troops. That was essentially what it was intended to do. But in my campaign, it didn't take long before one of the Jedi (Jared) thought to use it on our party. His Force skills were plenty high enough to 'Coordinate' the 6-8 people in our party, and by that time most of the group had skills in the 7D to 8D range. When you use this power with characters like that, you wind up with people with Blaster, Dodge and Lightsaber skills around 9D to 10D. A whole party of people like that. I very quickly saw just how unbalancing that would be to the game and had to disallow its use.

It wasn't until recent years, as I was working up my own 'Jedi Handbook', that I revisited this power and looked for a way to salvage it. Finally, I think I did just that—creating something that is useful in the spirit to which it was intended without being unbalancing.

How the power now works in my game is this: "it links the troops on a subconscious level". This means that everyone in a coordinated group has complete, subconscious 'situational awareness' of the rest of his team—as if they had a low-level telepathic connection. Thus, everyone in a team knows where the others are, what condition they're in. If a scout notices an ambush on the trail ahead, he doesn't even have to say anything to the rest of the party, or even use hand-signals. They just know. Likewise, if presented with a situation where there are multiple enemy targets, members of the coordinated team will automatically know which targets their team-mates are zeroing in on, so nobody will needlessly 'double up'. 

From a purely 'gamey' side of view, this power essentially allows players to 'legally' offer hints and suggestions to each other via table-talk—explaining it away in-game as that subconscious link. I don't allow incredibly complex messages or conversations to be held—just a few words here and there.

And finally, in those situations where troop morale might become an issue, Enhanced Coordination helps to offset fear and dismay—mostly just by letting the troops know, on a very solid level, that they are not alone in the midst of the terror and chaos of combat. 

You'll notice that this revised power does not have any skill or attribute bonuses to it (though I might consider giving a D or two to willpower if I ever had to check for morale). But despite this, I feel (and so do the few characters who have use it) that he power is still very useful. Plus? It does just what Zahn described in his novels—bolstering the coordination and will of his troops to fight.

In my book, this power also takes the place of the 'Battle Meditation' power, which evidently did almost the same thing anyway.

Where Are They Now: The Rebels

As with my previous 'where are they now' post, this is just a snapshot of some of the major Rebel PCs and where they are now in my campaign, some 13 years after the destruction of the first Death Star.

Mon Mothma

One of the founders of the Rebel Alliance, this elder stateswoman lived to see it's victory and the rebirth of democratic rule of the galaxy via the New Republic. But the years of constant turmoil took their toll—as did an Imperial plot to poison her. Though unsuccessful in killing her, the attack caused serious health problems. This as much as anything else was a catalyst for her stepping down from the Chancellorship—and turning it over to her Vice Chancellor at the time—Leia Organa-Solo. Though still available as an advisor to the new Chancellor, Mon Mothma enjoyed her well-earned retirement and has recuperated much of her former vigor. Though it isn't a very public thing, there are also rumors of a deepening of the relationship between Mon Mothma and Garm Bel Iblis—her former Senatorial rival. Since the Nagai attack, she has once again stepped into public life, this time volunteering her formidable talents to the efforts to relocate refugees displaced in the war.

Admiral Akbar

This now legendary Mon Calamari warrior has resisted all efforts to draw him into the civilian government of the New Republic—either as a representative of his people or the Minister of Defense. Rather, he has stayed where he feels he serves best—now in complete command of the New Republic Navy, serving as its Grand Admiral. A truly masterful tactician, Akbar's experience has been rounded by both victory and defeat—and he has taken each lesson to heart. As the true scope of the Nagai invasion began to set in, the admiral once again found himself in a difficult spot. Yet despite the initial setbacks, he was able to rally the fleet to fight a nearly galaxy-wide conflict. He took personal command of the fleet at the pivotal battle of Arkanis, commanding its capital warships in a delaying action that gave the heroes of my gaming group time to set up a trap for the Nagai.

General Madine

General Madine is now Grand Marshal Madine, in command of the New Republic Army. Much like his counterpart, Admiral Akbar, Madine has decided that this is where he may best serve the new government. Also like Akbar, he is one of the younger former Rebel leaders, and as such is very vigorous in his command style. On a strangely diplomatic note, he has done will in convincing some Imperial 'Warlords' to come back into the fold of the New Republic—simply by showing that a former Imperial like himself can serve with honor.

Garm Bel Iblis

Though he was one of the founders of the Rebel Alliance (alongside Mon Mothma, Bail Organa and others), this maverick Corellian Senator broke ranks with his fellow conspirators shortly after the formation of that Alliance. His brash command style just didn't fit well with Mon Mothma's more careful and measured approach—and from this clash of personalities, mistrust grew (Iblis began to feel that Mon Mothma was using the Alliance to further her own ambitions). He established his own rebel force, but it never had the following or impact that the Alliance did. Eventually, in helping the New Republic battle Grand Admiral Thrawn, Iblis was won back into service—finally getting over his problems with Mon Mothma (in fact, the two of them are rumored to be in a relationship now). He currently serves as Vice-Chancellor to Leia Organa-Solo and in that role he has re-written the book on how this office works. Iblis is a tireless watchdog of the Galactic Senate—unafraid to call things as he sees them, helping to ensure that 'politics' never get in the way of government (as much as possible, that is). He also serves as a kind of troubleshooter—often making personal appearances at major galactic events to ensure both public attention and top-performance by the various New Republic Agencies.

Borsk Fey'lya

This ambitious Bothan came to power after the establishment of the New Republic, serving on its provisional council. An expert political manipulator, his machinations contributed greatly to the difficulties suffered by the New Republic during the Thrawn crisis. Due to the clever intervention of Leia and her unlikely ally, Talon Karrde, Fey'lya's corruption came to light in a particularly public fashion. Politically, it nearly ruined him. But in the end, it may have been a good thing—as it highlighted clearly that eternal vigilance for this kind of corruption would have to be maintained or the New Republic would likely fare no better than the Old. A humbled Fey'lya eventually returned to service, however—offered by Leia a cabinet post as the Minister of State. Some (such as Garm Iblis) questioned the wisdom of this, but Leia was adamant in her belief that everyone deserves a second chance. Thus far, Fey'lya seems to be making the most of this chance—working hard with the Republic's many Independent partners to ensure alliances and support in the midst of the Nagai invasion.

General Dodonna

A veteran of the Clone Wars and the Rebellion, General Jan Dodonna finally retired from active service after the defeat of the forces of the Clone Emperor (during the Dark Empire crisis). He has since taken the role of Commandant at the New Republic Naval Military Academy, Coruscant. Thus, this 'old warhorse' is now responsible for training a new generation of naval officers—combining years of experience and tactical knowledge with the keen creative insights he was famous for during the Rebellion.

General Rieekan

Though perhaps best known for his 'defeat' at the Battle of Hoth, those who study military matters realize that the tactical skill of this man was the only thing that kept this defeat from being a crushing rout. By a skillful channeling of the Imperial assault towards the shield generators—and and away from the evacuation ships—Rieekan ensured the escape of the majority of the Base's personnel. But the cost was grave. Even years later, the faces of the soldiers lost in this battle, and dozens more through the course of the war, still haunt the General. Though he has considered retirement on several occasions, Rieekan's sense of duty and dogged determination have not allowed him to. He now serves as one of the New Republic Army's most experienced Generals, in command of several sectors holding out against the Nagai onslaught. Though faced with an enemy unlike any he's had to deal with before, Rieekan has been able to adapt his tactics quickly to meet the threat and his forces have the highest success rate of any front-line Republic force in the war to date.

Wedge Antilles

This one...requires a post all of his own. Suffice it to say that Wedge has turned down various promotions in order to remain where he feels he does the most good: behind the controls of a starfighter, backed up by the legendary Rogue Squadron. He's come a long way from the skinny kid who followed Luke Skywalker into the Trench of the first Death Star and is now considered to be one of the best fighter pilots and squadron commanders in the Galaxy—rivaled only by the Empire's Baron Fel (more on him later, too). 

So there you have it, just a few snap-shots of some major NPCs in my campaign. Hope you enjoy.

p.s. Oh.. and is it just me? or was young Mon Mothma kind of hot?