Morality

No, this isn't a continuation of my previous religion-oriented posts (hallelujah!). Rather, it is something that I have been thinking about very directly in the past few days—specifically in regards to gaming. Moral choices are a cornerstone of gaming—it is the thing that really separates gaming from other forms of entertainment. In movies, you watch as others make choices and live with the results. In gaming, YOU get to make those choices for your character and see how things work out. Some people (like myself) tend to keep their character's choices pretty close to their own viewpoints—i.e., how THEY would react in a given situation (or at least how you hope you would). Others enjoy playing completely against type—or explore the darker or more selfish sides of their personalities. Both approaches can be very fun.

But more than just 'fun', moral choices can add depth to a campaign, making it more than just 'kill the bad guys, take their stuff'. The reason I bring this up now is because I am in the midst of playing a console game: Dragon Age: Origins. More than just about any other video RPG I've ever played, Dragon Age truly centers around this idea of 'morality'—while at the same time never forcing you down one path or another. In fact, it has no 'good' or 'evil' system in place—and the choices your character faces are often very murky. Occasionally, you'll even come upon something that really doesn't have a 'right' choice. Something bad happens either way. And what I find myself doing is actually FEELING good or bad about what choices I made and the results of those. There is no 'game mechanic'—penalty, bonus, etc.—to go along with these choices. The are there simply to get you to think and feel 'in the moment'. The best RPGs are like that. Whether you play them across the table with your friends or in the digital world of make believe. The ability to feel immersed is real thrill (for me) of gaming.

All that being said, I'm not looking to 'escape' anything through gaming. I have both feet very firmly planted in the real world. Immersion is just a way to explore situations and hardships you yourself will probably never have to in real life—and in a way, it teaches you about yourself and your moral boundaries—where you draw the line. None of us can ever really say how we'd react in a certain situation. We all hope we'd be the hero, the person who does what is right, but until you actually face a situation, you never know—but through gaming, at least, it can get you thinking. And I love that.

So yeah, I'm rambling, but I wanted to throw some words up to at least try to sort out my feelings on this stuff. And it gets me thinking about Star Wars and my upcoming gaming sessions in it. When it comes to Morality, the Star Wars universe is pretty black and white. There are usually very clear distinctions. I like that about the setting. It makes for grand, heroic roleplay. But at the same time, I think morality is still key. Afterall, the central theme of the movies was the fall and redemption of Anakin Skywalker—who's moral choices first condemned then saved him.

At higher power levels, morality becomes more and more important—because simple physical challenges aren't...well, as 'challenging' as they used to be. A lot of old-school gamers talk about the 'endgame' of the original D&D game—where high level characters begin to rule their own lands, raise armies, wage wars, all of that. I'd have to say that's pretty much the phase my Star Wars campaign is in. The characters are movers and shakers on a large scale. Their actions have far-reaching impact. The challenge for me now is to start hitting them where it hurts—their moral soft spots. I want to start presenting them with a few shades of grey, and see where that will take them. At the same time, I feel it is going to be a bit difficult—because I really do NOT want to make Star Wars 'gritty' and realistic. Its...well, its something for me to consider as I'm planning.

Christianity and Star Wars

My last post got me to thinking about my beliefs and upbringing—and how it does relate to many different elements in my life, including Star Wars and role playing. Again, I'm not trying to get too metaphysical or preachy here. Just pointing out some interesting things I discovered.

Now, even as a Christian, I always wince whenever some Christian organization comes out with an 'official' stance on anything remotely related to role playing or most movies. I mean, just look at all the crap that Chick Publications puts out with its "Dark Dungeons" tracts and things like that. Its uninformed hysteria and fear mongering and outright lies, designed specifically to manipulate people into thinking and acting the way certain people want them to. Likewise, the furor over the Harry Potter books being 'devil worship' or the condemning of anything that doesn't take religion 'seriously' (say for example, Family Guy or South Park) just turns my stomach. Are people seriously that insecure in their faith that they can't see past semantics (the word 'Witch' for instance) or have the ability to laugh at some of the stereotypes of their faith?

Thus, it was with trepidation that I visited a website that took a look at the Star Wars movies from a Christian viewpoint. The Website (Decent Films Guide) has a tagline that reads: Film appreciation, information and criticism informed by Christian faith. It sounds straightforward, but I couldn't help getting an 'ominous' feeling about it. As I read the article covering the Star Wars films and their Moral and Spiritual issues, however, I was actually pleasantly surprised. Here we have a self-proclaimed Christian site that takes a very objective and rational approach to discussing the movies. Even the whole 'virgin birth' of Anakin issue (a huge thing with a lot of devout Christians) was dealt with in a very fair and logical manner. I was flabbergasted. I had expected the worse (despite my optimism) and was rewarded with something good.

Lets just say it was a nice surprise. I'm not certain of the site is as even handed about other films and issues, but I am glad it was about this, and if anyone is interested, please check out the following link. Yes, it is 'slanted' to a Christian point of view, but that's the point—that's the target audience. And I would give kudos to any devout family that actually took the time to do research and make their own decisions before blindly labeling something they know nothing about as 'bad'. God gave us minds and I'm pretty sure he wants us to use them. Faith is odd, it's believing in something you can't see, but at the same time, it shouldn't be 'blind'. That's a difficult thing to reconcile.

And...I'm getting metaphysical and preachy. So I'll stop. I will end by posting the final conclusion that the author of the Decent Films article made:

"For those who are adults and who are secure in their faith, there is little in the films that would stop one from using critical thinking to spot and bracket the problematic elements, while enjoying the other aspects of George Lucas's outer-space fantasies."

You'll note the whole "who are secure in their faith" and "using critical thinking". Got to love the fact that someone believes the two things are not mutually exclusive.

I am an optimist

Maybe that's why the Star Wars setting is so appealing to me. Yes, there is suffering and loss and dark times and seemingly insurmountable odds. But in the end, the good guys win. In the end, there is a 'happily ever after'—even if it isn't always long-lived. I think that this is where I differ in outlook from a lot of gamers. The thought of a cruel and uncaring world where the best you can hope for is mere survival for another day is...well, depressing. As is the thought that the world is inexorably falling towards doom and there is nothing you can do about it.

In a post over at Grognardia, James M. discusses his love of the Fall season and all its philosophical and emotional implications. For the most part, I agree with him. I love Fall. I love the idea of the end of 'easy' times—of preparation for a time of trial and difficulty. The idea of an 'end' to the way things were and a harsh reality to face is great (yeah, I have central heating/cooling and live in Florida, but like I said, this is all philosophical). However, I would not have the same feeling about Fall if I knew that Winter truly was 'the end'.

I love stories that begin in the "Fall", where things appear to be okay, but seem to be turning for the worse. The Dragonlance Chronicles, for instance, begin in the Autumn—where the heroes gradually discover that things are going from bad to worse. The second book in the series (Winter Night) details some of the darkest days of the story, through a bitter winter full of defeats and loss. The third book in the series (Spring Dawning), shows things starting to turn for the better until, through great struggle and sacrifice, victory is finally achieved.

In many ways, the Star Wars saga follows the same path. The second movie (beginning in Winter/Hoth) is very much the lowest point for the heroes of the saga. The third movie (with the verdant greens of Endor) is very much the dawning of a new day—the 'spring' of a new Galaxy free of tyranny.

If either of these sagas had just 'stopped' in the Fall or Winter, I know I would not have liked them nearly as much. Why? Because I AM an optimist. Don't get me wrong, I know that bad things happen (and will continue to happen) in the real world—and that for a truly dramatic story to be told, 'bad things' have to happen in fantasy worlds as well. But my personal preference is to always cast a ray hope for the future. Something that is worth all the effort that heroes are putting into achieving it—something more than just 'survival'.

The video game Fallout 3 serves as something of a showcase for these thoughts and emotions. The game is very immersive. The graphics are incredible. The options and breadth of the game are interesting. And yet, I simply stopped playing it. Why? Because it was so unrelentingly, hopelessly depressing. There were NO signs that things would ever get better. And in many of the quests, the best you could hope for would be "at least things didn't get worse". But evidently, that's what most people enjoy. The videos I see posted on You Tube are all about how much fun it is to blow up random people and sell children into slavery. I guess I'm just not part of that crowd.

I guess that's another reason I never got into the C'thulu game or game style. There, it is pre-determined that you will fail. Perhaps not right away, but eventually, you will fail and the world will fall inexorably into chaos and ruin. I appreciate the pathos of it—the heroism of people who KNOW they are fighting a losing battle. But at the same time, it isn't the kind of world I want to play in. Nor is it the kind of world I want to live in.

I've never considered myself devoutly religious. I was baptized in the Episcopalian faith and grew up going to a small protestant congregational church in South Dakota. I enjoyed my time in church—the fellowship and indeed fun I had there. But that hasn't stopped me from having questions about faith—from trying to reconcile my rational view of the universe with the existence of a supreme being. I'll admit that my faith wavers from time to time. And yet I always return to it. I do believe there is good in mankind—and that it IS the reflection of something greater than ourselves. I believe it IS important to aspire to that kind of behavior, even in the midst of this often harsh 'real life'. I don't expect god to 'come in and make everything good', but I do think that people can and do rise above their animal instincts to become that something better.

I don't mean to get all metaphysical here. Or to preach my beliefs being better than anyone else. This is just the way I feel, and one of the reasons I AM optimistic in how I look at life and one of the reasons I like to see optimism in my fantasy.

So now, perhaps, you can see why I don't enjoy a lot of the apocalyptic and 'gritty' Star Wars story lines in the Expanded universe. As I've stated before in other posts, I think that the Star Wars galaxy and the heroes of the Rebellion deserve a happily ever after (or at least one that lasts longer than what's presented in the novels).

So here's to a glorious Fall season—and I'm looking forward to Spring.

Star Wars In Concert

I recently (last night) got the chance to attend the Star Wars In Concert show when it came to Jacksonville. My company had a few extra seats in its luxury suite (yee haw!) and I got one of them. Let me just say that it was an INCREDIBLE show—from the moment the THX sound-bite came blaring out of the speakers to the final, tumultuous notes of the Imperial March (played as an Encore by the Symphony). The melding of movie visuals (played on a gigantic screen), laser lights, pyrotechnics and a full orchestra and chorus was awesome. And Anthony Daniels was a GREAT host, providing the storytelling bridges between the different musical set-pieces. He even did a couple humorous bits—one lavishly extolling the virtues of C-3PO and another excitedly detailing the chances of successfully navigating an asteroid field! (during the latter, his otherwise reserved, black jacket parted, revealing a shiney, metallic gold vest underneath). Good good stuff. I was amazed, though, at how much impact those movies still have on me. Of course, the live music helped a lot—there is alway something more visceral and satisfying about live performances of music. I left the show feeling pumped up about Star Wars. Man, I'm wanting to play again. If you're a Star Wars fan, and this show comes anywhere close to where you live, go to it. It will not disappoint.

Review: The Politics of Contraband

The Politics of Contraband represents what I consider the 'third generation' of West End Games products. The first generation would be the saddle-stitched modules. The second would be the perfect bound modules and the third would be these perfect bound adventure compilations—and in this case, branded with 'The New Republic' logo on the top. In many ways, this really did represent a 'new era' in the gaming. Whereas everything before seemed to focus on the time period shown in the original trilogy, the Politics of Contraband was specifically set in the period AFTER—during the rise of the New Republic. Also, this is the point at which 'self-contained' modules seemed to fall by the wayside, replaced by books detailing many smaller adventures. I'll go through each adventure in turn:

THE POLITICS OF CONTRABAND

There are five different adventures included in the Politics of Contraband—in fact, the book title is the title of the first of these adventures. Here, it is assumed the players are a tramp freighter crew, caught between a corrupt planetary governor and a devious (but well meaning) New Republic ambassador. Through a series of misadventures, it is possible that the players will actually help the planet throw off its dictator and join the New Republic.

While all of this seems interesting enough, the actual adventure is more than a little railroady. As written, it makes a lot of assumptions about what the players will and won't do. It also requires that the players take a lot of abuse by local government and criminal factions—something most player groups would not take lightly. In fact, I imagine that in many campaigns, the adventure would end rather abruptly, with the players just trying to steal their ship back (after it gets impounded) or just blast their way through all the subterfuge. With a little modification, however, the adventure is workable. I even was able to alter it for use with New Republic agents—by having them pose as a tramp freighter crew to help the Republic expose the governor's corruption. Overall, though, I have to say that the idea for this adventure was a lot better than the execution.

THE ART OF BETRAYAL

This is another of those 'caught in the middle' adventures—and another where the intented party is a tramp freighter crew. In this case, the PCs are blackmailed into attending an illegal, black-market auction on a luxury starliner. Up for bids is a fabulous new personal shielding technology. The party will have to deal with various treacherous parties to have their chance at the prize.

As with the above mini-adventure, The Art of Betrayal was written in a very linear fashion, and seems to take for granted what the characters will do in any specific situation. It also seems to be a bit of a Kobayashi Maru scenario, because as written, there is no chance of recovering the prize intact. In short, this is what I would term a 'bad' Story Adventure, where the players are mainly just along for the ride. That having been said, with a bit of tweaking and an open minded GM, this can be a great adventure. It was in my campaign. Just be willing to let the situation resolve itself rather than guide it down one particular path to failure. My own characters, through their ingenuity, actually came out of this adventure VERY well. If you're interested in the details, please check out this link (scroll down to the 'Art of the Deal').

FREE TIME

This is one of the more amusing and interesting adventure ideas in this compilation. The PCs (once again a Tramp freighter crew) are in the middle of a job. They've dropped off passengers and have some time to kill before said passengers return (hence the adventure title 'Free Time'). Within this time, they get a short job offer and rapidly find themselves caught between the forces of the underworld, Empire and New Republic. The big twist in the adventure is that the 'cargo' the characters are carrying during their free time is actually an Imperial spy. Thus, it is quite possible that if the character's succeed at their job, they'll actually be helping the Empire. If they fail, or get suspicious and bail out, then they may actually help the New Republic by foiling the spy's escape attempt. In either case, the final twist to the adventure is that the PC's original employer (whom they were waiting to return) are actually the New Republic agents assigned to capture the Imperial spy.

Though the plot is twisted, and maybe a bit tricky to run, the adventure was written in a pretty wide-open style, with major consequences one way or the other depending upon the PC's actions. The fact that the author considered the different paths the story might take makes for a dynamic adventure that is in no way pre-determined. My only criticism is a personal one—there is a chance that the PCs might actually get into a shooting match with the 'good guys' (New Republic types) and if they actually kill any of them, it would cast a shadow over an otherwise lighthearted adventure. If you wish to avoid this, then you will have to make some adjustments to this encounter.

THE RIGHT PLACE...

In this adventure, the PCs are duped (and/or greeded) into hauling a cargo that turns out to be of intense interest to the Empire. After facing a number of challenges in getting off the planet alive, the PCs arrive at their destination only to find that their employer set them up and has no intentions of paying up. Now it's time to either fight, flee or surrender.

Again, this adventure is written in a wide open style, giving hints and suggestions based upon what different PC groups might do in any given situation. And again, I would point to this as the RIGHT way to do a story adventure where the players are engaged and the actions of their characters have impact.

As a funny side note, this adventure contained what is perhaps my favorite bit of Imperial monologue ever. A group of Stormtroopers confront the party and give them the following ultimatum:

"You are under arrest! You and your companions will throw down your weapons and you will be terminated painlessly. Resist and you will suffer. Decide now!"

Well, at least they were honest about it, right? None of that "you vill be treated viss charity unt kindnezz" nonsense. It made me and my players giggle when I busted that line out on them.

EASY MONEY

The final adventure in this compilation has much in common with the others—another 'smuggler/tramp freighter' style adventure that puts the PCs in the middle of a conflict between the Empire, New Republic and the underworld. In this case, they're delivering a seemingly innocuous cargo for a known crimelord and everyone else seems to want it. Depending on who they deal with and how, the PCs could get rich (while sacrificing their morals), dead (for defying the Empire) or put in the good graces of the good guys (by helping out the Republic).

As with the two preceeding adventures, Easy Money has a lot of room built into it to account for character actions. It also has some interesting atmosphere, taking place in a swampy version of Mos Eisley, complete with giant crocodile monsters, Swamp-hopper landspeeders, native rebels, seedy cantinas, etc. etc.

OVERALL

By the time this compilatin came out, my own campaign had progressed into the New Republic Era. Unfortunately, my characters were not only very experienced, they were also closely aligned with the New Republic (working as agents for it). The primary focus of these adventures was the tramp freighter/smuggler crew, however. Thus, I had a difficult time fitting the adventures into my own campaign. Also, at the power-level my PCs were, the threats and bullying used in many of these adventures just didn't hold as much weight. If pushed around as much as some of these adventures show, my PCs would have pushed back—hard.

In all honesty, this book is really suited best for a Smuggler campaign—and indeed the early stages of that campaign, where the PCs are low-power enough to have to really consider who they can afford piss off and just what challenges they can reasonably hope to survive.

Despite the 'New Republic' setting, this compilation could very easily fit into a classic era campaign, prior to the birth of the New Republic. Only the very first adventure would be difficult to modify into this era.

Force Stuff

In reading other blogs/forums, I have come across a lot of people who really dislike having Force users in their Star Wars adventuring parties. From a certain viewpoint, I really can sympathize. I have already spoken at length about the difficulties of Jedi in a campaign, and how I handled them, but there is one aspect I haven't yet touched on that I want to explore here.

It stems from my own personal likes and dislikes and from some gaming situations I've been in. First of all, I've never been fond of Magic Users (and come on, that's essentially what Jedi are). A great deal of this had to do with the increased complexity of running them—at least in combat situations (whether this complexity was real or imagined is up for debate). Simply put, it was a lot easier and more 'rewarding' for me to have to deal with folks swinging swords or shooting arrows than it was to have to pause and look up spell effects—which were often a bit vague as to their exact functioning.

As a player in several games that had magic-users, I was also frustrated by how long it took for them to actually DO something. In Shadowrun and Mythus, for example, we always had to pause for someone to look up something then try to decipher just what would do what. Yes, part of that is the GM's 'fault' for not knowing the system (though honestly, who CAN remember all the myriad of details from system to system). But it did seem to be a 'truth' in most of the games I played.

The Star Was D6 Force system was no less 'vague' in a lot of areas. Taken literally, for instance, it would be possible for a Force user to use telekinesis to move items that were on another planet or even another star system (if you took the Proximity modifiers at face value). I have spoken about the inconsistencies of WEG rules before—and the force system is one of those areas where this is showcased. Some powers would be affected by proximity, others would not, seemingly without any rhyme or reason. And unfortunately, this did cause several instances in my own game where I had to halt the proceedings to think things through. And once again, everyone else was waiting for the 'magic user' to do his thing.

Still, it was never /too/ bad. We got to know the various Force powers and what they could do. We came up with house rules to iron out the wrinkles (a time-honored gaming tradition). But things got complex again as gaming supplements began to introduce new powers—some of which could be VERY unbalancing to a campaign if used as-written.

So for my own sanity, I've been compiling a master list of Force powers. I've been weeding out the ones that don't work and trying to solidify the ones that do. And honestly, I'm trying to keep Force powers 'limited' to what we see in the movies (and perhaps some variations on that). I do not like the trend towards more and more fantastical powers that I've seen in some of the novels (i.e. Luke constructing a castle for himself using his mind). The Jedi may be a magic user, but he isn't a freaking wizard and I don't want him to become one.

Some day, I'll post this revised powers list—but I still have one major hurdle to overcome: Telekinesis. This is the most vaguely defined yet often used Force power of them all. If used 'as-written' it could be a game-breaking power. Afterall, why use a lightsaber when you can hit someone with 10 metric tons of telekinetic force? Why not just pluck the weapons out of the hands of all your enemies? As written, it wouldn't be difficult for a powerful jedi to do. And yet that isn't what we see in the movies—and for me that is a major guideline for play. In 'limiting' the powers to that, I have taken some flak in the past (from online gamers, that is), but I still feel it is necessary. After all, I want to play STAR WARS not ALL POWERFUL WIZARDS WITH LASER SWORDS!

Secret Backgrounds

As much as I love the idea of a 'nobody' rising up to become a galactic hero—say for instance a farm boy from Tatooine who becomes the last and first of the Jedi—I have to admit that I'm a sucker for the 'secret background'. Yeah, it's cool that a farm boy can become a great hero, but its COOLER when he finds out he's actually the son of one of the main bad guys in the galaxy. Outside of the movies, the other shining example of this is in the Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic game. I loved the game when I first started playing, figuring my hero was just some schmoe who was going to become a hero. I loved the game even MORE when I found out he was actually the main villain of the story who suffered from injuries that caused him amnesia.

Outside of Star Wars, a great example (and personal hero of mine) is Strider from the Lord of the Rings. I thought he was awesome as a Ranger—but the whole 'lost king of Gondor' thing blew me away.

I imagine a lot of people feel the same way. I mean, who wouldn't love to suddenly discover that they're the long-lost heir to some forgotten kingdom or the descendent of some great historical figure? Well...maybe as long as that figure wasn't like... Hitler or Stalin or Carrot Top, but you get my point, I think.

I've used this tactic before in games. For instance, in my Star Wars campaign, Adren discovered that she was the long lost grand daughter of Lady Santhe (a corporate/industrial magnate). In another campaign, my friend Philip's character (Mason) discovered he was the long lost heir of a noble house in the Tapani Cluster. Both of these incidents played out very dramatically and added a lot of fun to the game (for me and the characters). It makes me wish I had tried it earlier in my gaming career.

I imagine that I didn't incorporate secret backgrounds because I was still kind of locked into the 'simple hero' mold of most D&D games—where characters start out as little more than adventurous peasants and have to build from there. Not that there's anything at all wrong with this approach. In fact, the 'average guy done good' is a great concept—most of my Star Wars PCs fall into this category. Oman was a simple bounty-hunter who rose to become Mandalore. Hugganut was a street punk who now owns a luxury gambling resort world. Arianne was the child of a couple of essentially homeless rebel activists who rose to be a high-ranking officer and Jedi. So you see, Secret backgrounds aren't NECESSARY, but that doesn't keep them from being fun.

But, as with all things, you need to be careful about overusing the device. I mean, if EVERYONE was a long lost heir, it would lower the impact. Anyway, this was just a random thought I wanted to explore.