Gamers

This isn't directly Star Wars related, but since I was just at a 'con', I'd like to talk for a moment about gamers. Now, I've known for about as long as I've played that the hobby attracts a certain kind of person. And for the most part, those people are just average guys (and a few gals)—a lot like I consider myself to be. But then there are the stereotypes that the general public associates with the game. I could protest as much as I wanted that they aren't true for the majority, but I can't deny that your stereotypical gamers do exist. In fact, I met several at 'Vermincon' (a convention in Vermillion, SD) last weekend.

On the one hand, it is actually pretty good for my self-esteem. I mean, I'm nothing special. I could lose a few pounds. But you know? I have a house, and a job and (as of tuesday) a new car. I've never lived in my mom's basement. I'm not doing too bad. I don't know, maybe the guy with the gut, walking around wearing a snuggie as a robe all day is secretly a millionaire playboy, but...I kind of doubt it. Then there are the guys with the weird pimp hats and/or cloaks (though, in their 'defense' they were LARPers.. no gamers). Yeaaaahhhh. Oh, and the guy who just came up to Steve2 and I, out of the blue, asking if he could 'run a weapon by us'. Whatever THAT means. He starts by referencing a TV show I didn't know, then makes some long-winded and oblique references to a sling-shot and spurs. After five minutes of 'conversation' with no end in sight, Steve and I managed to excuse ourselves...and ran. Yeah.

On the other hand, its people like the aforementioned—who do indeed seem to be in the minority—that seem to draw all the attention and reinforce the stereotypes that make me keep my gaming habits pretty much 'in the closet'. It probably sounds terrible of me for saying this, but damn it, it would be nice to just be able to do something I enjoy without being labelled a 'freak' just because of Snuggie guy or Sling-shot-spur-guy. I mean, there are PLENTY of other (personal) reasons I could be labelled a frea- err.. but, I digress.

Oh, and then there are the anecdotes. Okay...let me go over this for any gamers who might be listening. Anecdotes are best when they're short and punchy. Quick set up, punch line, then 'g'night' everybody!'. I do not need a complete history of the character you were playing at the time, or a treatise in the gaming universe they lived in. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE swapping gaming stories. Love, love love it. But going into too much detail is...well, too much. Thankfully, my immediate buddies seem to realize this, and tell some really great anecdotes (aside to buddies: *flaps hand open and closed* "Shut your whore mouth!").

Suffice it to say that the situations above both amuse and frustrate me.

Now, beyond the previous superficial stuff, I encountered a few other things that were both humorous and a bit irritating. The first of these was the d20 discussion—primarily regarding D&D 4th edition. It is no secret that the d20 system is not my preference. But if other people like it? Well. More power to them. What I do NOT like is people condemning a game system as a whole because of their personal preferences. There were a few discussions on this, most of which I side-stepped as much as possible. But the attitude was still prevalent in some.

I guess what I found most irritating (and funny) was the attitude and advice given to me by another gamer. I have nothing against the guy. He runs Star Wars d20. He uses the ALL the source material in the Expanded universe as Canon. That's his preference. Fine. But while swapping stories with him, I began to detect a bit of an 'attitude'. To me, it seemed he was rather disapproving of my campaign, or at least the details in it. See, someone at WotC (in what I deem to be their attempt to D&Dize Star Wars) decided that Tusken (and several other races) just could not be Jedi. As far as d20 goes, Tusken are essentially Orcs. Mindless, brutal opponents. Thus, the fact that we have a Tusken in our party, and he is a Jedi, rubs this gamer the wrong way.

Now, in the D6 sourcebooks, they have this lovely little short story about a young Moisture farmer getting trapped out in the desert at night and accidently stumbling upon a Tusken singing over the corpse of its dead bantha—giving it a burial tribute. It was just a snippet of information, but added a great deal of depth to the Tusken as a whole. It made them more than 2-dimensional bad guys. Yes, they were barbarians, and occasionally brutal, but they weren't evil (at least not all of them). So sue me if I prefer this version to the d20.

At another point, this gamer (after watching a bit of our session), actually took me aside to point out that the NPCs my guys were fighting were actually much less powerful than the PCs. I knew full well that was the case. In fact, that was kind of the point. At the power level of my campaign, not every NPC or challenge is going to be at an equal level to the PCs. If I did so, then the game would be a constant (and frustrating) escalation where the players powers would ALWAYS be at parity with their opponents. They would never get the chance to 'cut loose'.

The NPCs that the group were fighting were very good for NPCs, with 7D skills and training in combined fire. And my players, even as they defeated them, noticed that their opponents were well above average, even if they did beat them handily. And that was kind of the point of the encounter. To introduce the fact that they have an enemy/rival out there with access to some really good people. My players are smart enough to realize that these NPCs DO present a very real threat to the 'average' guys that make up the rest of the Republic and its allies.

So, yes. I had a reason for introducing less-powerful people. But that goes against what is evidently a d20ism: The Challenge Rating. This is something that is supposed to ensure that players always fight things roughly equal to their ability to face them. I am not a fan of this system. In fact, having encountered it in RPGs before, I find it very frustrating. Take 'The Force Unleashed' (please!). As your guy gets more and more badass powers, he finds himself facing more and more people who are partly (if not entirely) immune to them. To this, I say—what is the freaking point? It is much more realistic (and satisfying) to have the players encounter challenges below AND above their abilities. It is more dramatic and dynamic that way. And I DO occasionally throw stuff at my PCs that is too much for them to handle, whether it is sheer numbers or incredibly skilled opponents. The key is—they (usually) know, In character, when to cut and run and when to stand and fight.

Honestly, and I don't want to sound 'pompous' or anything here (too late!), but I think there are stages that most gamers (and GMs in particular) go through. Like the gamer in question here, there was a time where I took any rule doled out by West End Games (the maker of the SW D6 Game) as LAW. But as I matured as a GM, I began to realize that not everything works as written, at least not to my liking. I also realized that with experience, I probably knew as much about the game as its designers did. I felt more comfortable to branch out on my own, as it were—both in the rules and the setting itself.

So in short, thanks for the advice, but I think I'm doing okay.

Ahhh, Gamers. Gotta love 'em. From a distance, of course.

Some Funny Anecdotes

As always seems to happen with a gaming group, much of the table talk revolves around humorous observations and side-tracks to what is going on in the game. This was certainly the case with my recent gaming in South Dakota. But apart from the hugely funny table-talk, there was quite a bit of in-game humor as well—and from some rather unexpected sources.

Out of Character, Horatio's explorations into just how cool his character was were just cracking me up. Everyone kept chiming in throughout the game for the titles of his imaginary memoirs. Chapter 22: Awesome. Chapter 23: Still Awesome. Chapter 24: The battle of Tatooine (and I'm still awesome).

Then there was the running gag of "This is /not/ ideal."—a reference by Steve2 and me to an episode of Man vs. Wild where the dude is suddenly confronted by sheer cliffs on all sides and the river he was following flows under them, into a cave. His understated response to this is: "This is NOT ideal." No. Not ideal at all. And many instances in the adventure were not 'ideal' either.

In-Character, Oman had 'upgraded' his Basilisk War Droids with increased intelligence and personality modules. This resulted in some very prideful and downright argumentative droids (though they remain quite useful). Oman is still in the process of trying to win the 'respect' of his droid. And judging from their exchanges, this could take a while. A good example of their current 'relationship' is the way they refer to each other. Wrex, being about 4,000 years old, considers himself a 'veteran' and is proud of the fact he knew the last "Real" (as he puts it) Mandalore (Canderous Ordo) all those years ago. When referring to Oman as Mandalore, he takes great pains to inflect the word so that you can just hear the "finger quotes" around it. For his part, Oman calls Wrex "Old Man", in response to his advanced age (though honestly, he has no room to speak!)

And when confronted with possible biological contamination during the adventure, Wrex thought it was appropriate to tell Oman all sorts of horror stories about 'organics' suffering from such diseases—"are you sure the seals on your suit are tight?" "you know, I once saw a guy hit with the genebian plague... bled right out of his suit. Was a real mess..." Yeah. Wrex is proving to be a real smart ass.

Then there was the time where Bob the Tusken was trying to explain the interaction between a ship's hyperdrive and it's cloaking device—utilizing the analogy of pouring water between two buckets of water. This received blank stares from the rest of the group, who had no idea what he was trying to get at. This also led to a time later in the adventure where bob is once again philosophizing in-character, trying to help the Nagai discover "culture". From the cargo bay of the ship, Wrex (who had been listening in) shouts wryly. "Hey, Bob, why don't you use the bucket of water analogy again. That worked so well the last time..."

Oh, and as far as funny goes—see the above. A Tusken raider lecturing someone on culture.

Ah yes, and one more from Bob—while speaking with the Nagai, he is trying to describe several different ideas and makes reference to Horatio's girlfriend Reen as: "One who Horatio banging." Guess he forgot to turn up the gain on his translator box for that one...

There were a lot more laughs all around, but those are the only ones I remember at the moment...and I thought I'd hurry and write them down before I forgot!

Fun in Dakota

Well, I'm back. And I had a great trip to South Dakota—and an awesome time gaming. I guess you could officially say that I went to a 'gaming convention', but in all honesty, I was just there to play and hang out with the 'old gang'. And just like last year, it turned into one heck of a gaming experience.

We played again with our original characters in a campaign that is now about 19 years old. And as you'd expect, 19-year old characters are pretty damn experienced by this point. Thus it was a challenge for me to try to come up with challenges that didn't just flex the 'stat muscles' of the characters, but rather got them to do a lot of thinking and decision-making.

In my last post, I threw out a lot of the ideas I had bouncing around for an adventure to run. And miraculously I was able to work in just about all of them. Yeah, I was really pushing to do so, but my players seemed to enjoy it and I had a whole hell of a lot of fun.

Since this is my blog, and thus my place to ramble, I'll give an account now of just what happened, starting with a quick recap of where things left off last year:

It is now roughly 13 years after the battle of Yavin. As far as 'canon' goes, I incorporated the Heir to the Empire Novels, the Dark Empire comic series (but not Dark Empire II) and the Jedi Academy Novels. After that? No. I am not going by any of the written novels, mainly because I feel they are, to put it nicely, rubbish.

The New Republic is approximately 9 years old and has weathered various crises and come out the stronger for it. About 6 months prior to the current timeline, the Galaxy was on the verge of peace, with the Imperial Remnant and the Corporate sector (chief rivals of the NR) both meeting on Coruscant to sign a treaty that would essentially end the civil war. Unfortunately, a new menace chose this moment to strike—attacking the conference itself and sewing chaos and confusion in thousands of other systems around the galaxy via a well-planned undercover destabilization effort. Following close on the heels of this, the enemy made itself known via a full-scale invasion. The Nagai (detailed here and here) swept through Republic, Imperial and Corporate space alike, with advanced technology and numbers that caught the Galaxy by surprise. Through the efforts of a great many heroes (some of whom were my PCs) the onslaught was finally halted when 2/3rds of the Nagai fleet was re-routed to another dimension (Otherspace). Having gained some breathing room, the Republic has recovered and begun to strike back, all the while holding together the fragile Empire/Corporate alliance versus a common foe.

The adventure began with the individual stories of the main PC's involved:

Rick Oman (aka Fenn) is back home with his people, struggling with the various issues of a suddenly reunited Mandalorian 'nation'. There are frictions between the clans, governmental issues, societal issues, political issues. And all of it falls on the shoulders of Oman—who must also deal with the fact that the war against the Nagai is RIGHT on his front doorstep. There was some great RP here (on the car trip from Denver to South Dakota)—from the laying down of new laws and societal restructuring to a very humorous news interview in which Oman tried to describe (without compromising any top secret information) the rumors behind his time-traveling accident. This prelude culminated in a huge battle, with Oman leading his Mandalorians in a boarding action on one of the Nagai 'worldships' that leads to its destruction. It is here he makes an odd discovery as well—a Nagai shipyard 'growing' new ships from a destroyed planet seems to be producing inferior craft.

Bob the Tusken is also home with his people. Having seen the scope of Galactic warfare, he has decided that the Tusken must do their part for the greater good as well (oh, and gain some 'loot' while they're at it). Thus it was that he sought to prove himself as a "Khan" and unite the various tribes in a manner that had not been done in centuries. To do this, he set out to find and defeat a Krayt dragon. And defeat it he did, in single battle. Bringing the bloody head (and some holo-recordings of him fighting it) back to his tribe as proof of his worthiness, he began the process of creating the great horde (and also began talks with the Republic for a way to transport them to where they would be needed).

Arianne is assigned to a desk job with New Republic Intelligence (giving her time to be with her family). But even as she works at this, she finds that not all is right within the NR. There are subtle signs of manipulation from within. Mysterious orders are routing and re-routing personnel and seem to be trying to shift Jedi NRI Agents AWAY from the front. Signs point to a traitor within the ranks, but the lone agent uncovered manages to escape.

Horatio Flynn has returned to his independent roots, hiring out as a scout for the hard-pressed New Republic fleet. He spends his days onboard his ship, deep within Nagai space. While sitting dead and masked in space, his sensors monitor enemy activity—giving Horatio time to work on his memoirs (never mind the fact he's only in his mid-twenties...and is far from famous). But what is otherwise a dull routine is soon interrupted by signs of trouble within the Nagai fleet. First they destroy one of their ships as it begins to behave erratically, and then he sees another fleet completely abandon a planet—mere hours after picking up an odd energy signature in orbit.

It is at this abandoned planet that the four heroes finally cross paths again. Arianne, Bob and Oman are assigned as Intel support for a full-scale assault on the planet, and as the fleet and troops move in, Horatio (having been watching in deep space) joins them. (At this point, the GM breathes a sigh of relief as he finally has all his people in one place). With the Nagai fleet having suddenly abandoned the planet, the assault on the surface goes well—that is, until the NR forces on the ground discover signs of biological warfare. The Nagai and their ground-troops are found to have been almost entirely exterminated by contagion, while a good 10-percent of the population seems likewise infected. After a brief quarantine, however, it is found that the disease must have already run its course, as no NR soldiers come down with it, even though 1 in 10 of the civilians that had been showing signs die from it.

While the plague is being studied, the team is sent on another mission—a Nagai has asked to be 'taken in' and try to work out some kind of peace treaty. She says she represents a 'fifth column' among the Nagai and could help in stopping the war. Her retrieval on Ord Mantel is a bit bumpy, with the Empire attempting to butt in and a Nagai assassin attempting to silence the traitor. As the team prepares to leave with its 'guest', however, a new wrinkle is thrown into the works. Evidently, the Nagai recognizes Horatio—he bears an uncanny resemblance to one of the greatest Nagai leaders of all time. And what's more, the Nagai traitor insinuates that she was, in fact, the lover of this great leader and she believes Horatio to be a great ancestor of the man she knew, who was lost thousands of years ago while attempting to cross the galactic barrier. Horatio responds with a combination of abject terror (at the thought that he may soon have a lot of unwanted responsibility) and his usual self-centeredness (he always knew he was great, now its official).

Even as they turn the Nagai over to NRI for debriefing, the team is put back on the case of the biological warfare incident—discovering that the disease in question bears the trademarks of an Imperial Scientist who had been imprisoned for years prior. This prompts a visit to the prison, only to find that the Scientist in question is missing—having been 'transferred' in response to a mysterious order. The group also finds that another dangerous prisoner (Rina Nothos) is also in the process of being transferred. This leads to a battle with an imposter team of NR soldiers in the hangar bay. They are defeated and Rina is put back into prison. Questioning shows that the soldiers are actually ex-rebel agents—highly experienced and loyal to the Republic, but unwilling to talk about their mission here.

Seizing the opportunity, the team board's the shuttle that the fake guards were going to move the prisoner in. They rendezvous in deep space with another Republic vessel and discover that it's captain, too, is in cahoots with the conspirators. The team takes control of THAT ship (after a tense stand-off with its captain) and continues down the trail of clues, trying to follow them deeper into what is becoming a very large problem. It is as this point that a high-tech Stealth corvette disables the PCs new ship and invites the team onboard to 'talk'. Though allowed to keep their weapons, the team is very tense as they meet with the captain of the Stealth ship—a highly decorated Republic officer by the name of Kerri Lessev (an NPC I stole from Cracken's Rebel Operatives).

The group travels onboard this ship to a secret base where they meet a shadowy figure who identifies himself as Corewatch—the name of a highly skilled operative who worked for the Rebellion throughout the war, but was presumed dead around the time of Endor. Through his holographic proxy, Corewatch informs the PCs of his plan. He intends to resurrect the philosophy of the mythical 'Genoharadan' organization—a shadowy group of bounty-hunters and assassins who claimed to once 'control the course of galactic history', from behind the scenes. In this case, Corewatch's goals are noble—to stop the Nagai threat and finally return the Galaxy to peace after so many years of conflict. To do this, however, he feels that he cannot operate within the ideological restraints of the New Republic he claims to love. In short, he is going to save and maintain the Republic by doing the things it will not officially allow. All he wants is for the PCs to step aside, or better yet join him—but he knows from their records that this is unlikely. He gives the players a tour of his facility, revealing to them that this new Genoharadan have access to many of the Galaxy's most lethal superweapons—the anti-Nagai biological agent being just one of many.

The ideological debate this sparked between Corewatch and the players—and indeed between the characters themselves—was at the heart of the situation. How far would they be willing to go to stop this. What are acceptable losses? Ultimately, the PCs decide to take Corewatch down, and even manage to plant a seed of doubt in another of his top agents (the former-Imperial Noghri assassin, Ruhk). Through the Force, the Jedi of the group manage to contact the outside world—summoning help in the form of Luke Skywalker and a squadron of Jedi Knights. But corewatch strikes first, attacking them in their 'guest chambers'. Someone mysterious aids the PCs, though, allowing them to escape the Asteroid even as Luke and the NR hit it from outside. Utilizing a teleportation device, the group makes it back to coruscant and files a full report.

In the absence of the PCs, the Nagai traitor has given some very useful information that backs up things that Oman had seen much earlier in his battle with the Nagai. The ores found in this galaxy are evidently not of the right composition to build their starships. The ships growing now are much less effective than the originals—which have actually been taking heavy losses in the war thus far. The Nagai further intimates that her people are searching the galaxy now for planets with the right elemental makeup. And now they have set their sights on the seemingly unstrategic world of Tatooine. Though the ore on this world has proven sub-standard for use in Galactic technology, its unstable nature is evidently just what the Nagai need.

Realizing that Horatio could be a great asset when dealing with the Nagai, it is decided to allow him to undergo a Nagai ritual that will 'activate' the dormant genes of his body—or kill him if it proves he is NOT an ancestor of their great leader. Horatio survives. And as such, finds himself suddenly in the position to being the long lost heir to the Nagai throne—sort of. To make matters more complicated, Horatio finds himself torn between his love of his Jedi girlfriend, Reen, and the jealous attentions of his new Nagai friend, who wishes to rekindle a romance with her 'reborn' lover.

With all the ships at the front, the Republic is left to scramble to scrape up enough ships and men to respond to the threat to Tatooine. The PCs are sent ahead to the system to help prepare and assemble the piecemeal fleet and army responding to the call. Bob the Tusken returns to his gathering horde—who's mettle will have to be tested not abroad, but right here on their own world. Meanwhile, Arianne and Oman strategize and organize the fleet, preparing this time to Capture it's flag 'worldship'. Central to this plan is the attempt to smuggle Horatio onboard the Worldship to link up with Nagai trators already onboard—and hopefully turn others to his cause.

The Nagai fleet arrives and attacks Tatooine, seemingly without resistance—striking just where the Traitor said they would. A giant crystalline drill is fired into the planet, striking part of the mostly deserted city of Mos Espa. Thousands of ground troops are sent in to make a perimeter around it to defend from ground attack. The fleet in orbit spreads out to defend itself as the NR fleet emerges from behind the planet's moon to engage them. The battle is soon joined on both fronts as the Tusken horde emerges from hiding in the wastes outside of Mos Espa and charges in to do battle (flanked and supported by NR troops). The battle is costly on all sides, with the second-like Republic vessels taking the brunt of the damage. Oman, Arianne, Horatio and the Nagai trator fly through the chaos of battle and onto the world-ship, making their way towards it's control node while the main boarding force battles its way via another route.

On the ground, the unexpected Bantha cavalry charge proves devastating to the Nagai ground troops, breaking their ranks. Bob leads a republic demolitions team into the drill to shut it down. Above, Horatio and the team link up with more of the fifth column and battle their way to the control node to confront the commander of this task force. There, Horatio does the unexpected, heroically (using a force point and some great RP) commanding the Nagai to lay down his arms and swear loyalty to his true ruler. Surprisingly, the Nagai does just that. Now in control of the World ship, Horatio uses its firepower to get the attention of the rest of the alien fleet. He gives them the ultimatum of joining him—or dying. Some join. Some flee. Some die. In the end, the Republic wins the day—though once again at great cost.

And so, the Galaxy continues to balance on the brink. The outcome of the war is still in question—especially considering the possibility that the Nagai fleet may yet find a way to return from their extra-dimensional prison and rejoin the battle. And the matter of Corewatch has yet to be resolved. Though the New Republic believes it has severely hampered his operations, he is still out there. And what of the Horatio's precarious position as 'true leader' of the Nagai? Will he live up to the responsibility? Or is he merely a tool for his supposed allies. We'll have to see what happens... next year.

OVERRIDING THEMES

So, as you can tell, we had a VERY busy 2-3 days of playing to cover all that ground. At times, I felt like I was rushing (and I was), but overall I am very pleased—especially with the roleplay of my players. They were all very much 'on' and my summary of the adventure truly does them little justice. What stood out for me with this adventure were the following:

Epic Scale

More than ever before, the PCs were operating at a very 'strategic' level. They were in the thick of things, but they were also responsible for very large operations and quite a few troops. The stakes were likewise very high—entire fleets, planets and even races were affected by their actions and decisions.

Roleplay Heavy

Hand-in-hand with the epic scale of the adventure came the fact that role play and decision making was a LOT more important than combat in this adventure. Indeed, apart from a few sharp, short encounters, much of the game involved strategy, ideology and social interaction. Bargain, Con, Command, Persuasion, Tactics and even Philosophy skills actually got used—a lot. And everyone really had their moments to shine. Arianne had some great ideological debates with both Corewatch and one of his underlings (Ruhk). Bob had a very poignant and meaningful conversation with the Nagai traitor about how to find an 'identity' as a people. Oman had a truly awesome interview with Galactic news in which he came off as a rather good statesmen on the one hand an a kook on the other. And Horatio? Well, the smart-ass was a smart ass. The running joke after he found out about his Nagai heritage was the chapter titles in his memoirs: "Chapter 25: Still Awesome." etc. But more than this, he really stepped up to the plate when it came to his new position as 'heir to the throne'. Its really funny to see how he reacts—and will react—to this kind of responsibility and pressure.

Once again, it was a truly awesome time. I will probably have a ton of posts about it in the future. But for now, I'll stop rambling. Hope you enjoy.

Coming up for air

Between work, a frustrating insurance company, allergies and planning for my trip to South Dakota, I haven't had a lot of time for the 'ol blog. This is actually a bit ironic, because I actually have all kinds of things to talk about now—most of them revolving around the ideas I've come up with while brainstorming for my upcoming game in South Dakota. Since some of my players read this site, I can't really go into any detail about these ideas...yet. I am in an amusingly frustrating position, actually. I think I have TOO MANY ideas to fit into one weekend's worth of gaming. Oh sure, maybe if we pulled a couple all-nighters, but honestly? I think all of my crew is just too old to do so anymore (heh). So now I am left with the unenviable task of editing down the epic scope of my ideas into something we can realistically hope to accomplish.

Whatever we /do/ manage to accomplish, however, I'll be sure to post here. In fact, I'm going to throw out a few snippets right now. Teasers if you will:

...a rogue covert operations team?

...the death of a planet?

...dragons?

...a secret heritage is revealed.

...a fifth-column in the heart of the enemy?

...biological warfare.

...the capture of a world-ship?

...the enemy's secret.

As you can see, there are a lot of different threads opening up. That's the good and the bad of a campaign you only get to play a couple days a year. Lots of fresh ideas. Not enough time to do them all. Better than the alternative, I suppose. In any case, I'm looking forward to refining the ideas and to reporting what happens when my players come into contact with them! Should be exciting! Stay posted.

Oh. And p.s., I have been working on the revised YT-1300 in those few spare moments I do have. Drawing for fun is a great stress reliever for me. I'll post the results soon, but I have to say that I am very pleased so far.

Speaking of player character ships...

Mine was just destroyed. Or nearly so. My car got crunched by a redneck in his F-150. Poor Sadie the Saturn. Between that and work, my posts have been—and are probably going to be—light for a few days.

Revised YT-1300

The YT-1300

For those who aren't as big a geek as I am, the YT-1300 is the fictional model number of space-ships like the Millennium Falcon—i.e. it encompasses ships that have the saucer-shaped body with the two bow-mandible dealies and the cockpit (usually) set off to the side. I have always been a big fan of the design because it is such an oddball looking thing. Prior to Star Wars most space ships were either flying saucers or long, sleek rocket-looking things with fins—or at the very least, they were symmetrical. The first time I saw the Millennium falcon, I remember actually being confused by it—how the heck was it even oriented? And it looked so old and junky and...very very cool.

In the Star Wars roleplaying game, the YT-1300 was described as being one of the most common freighter designs—and indeed it turned out to be in my campaign. One odd thing, however, was the lack of information regarding the internal layout of the craft. In the Star Wars sourcebook (put out in 1988) there was a deck-plan for the Falcon. But some parts of it didn't QUITE jive with what was seen in the movies. Since that time, quite a few alternate deck-plans have surfaced, many of them with widely different details. As far as gaming is concerned, this can all be explained away by the ubiquitous nature of the craft—it was made to be modified, thus it makes sense there would be a lot of different configurations. I'm okay with that, I guess.

But what I've slowly come to realize over the years is that the YT-1300, while cool looking, seems to be a horribly inefficient freighter design. The YT was designed to be a 'light transport', so it was never supposed to carry huge cargos or anything like that... but in pretty much every iteration I've seen of the deck plans of the Falcon or other craft of this type, the cargo capacity seems extremely limited when compared to the size of the rest of the ship and its systems. I mean, when you look at a Semi-tractor-trailer as an analogy you see that the cargo capacity is at LEAST twice the size of the equipment used to drive it. A more 'realistic' (I hesitate to use the word in this regard) analogy might be small(ish) cargo planes, like the DC-3. Even there, when you factor in wings/control-surfaces and engines, it looks like at least HALF the size of the craft is dedicated to cargo.

In it's most 'stripped down' version, the YT can maybe claim this 50% cargo to 50% machinery, but even then, the cargo is divided among 3-5 small bays, and very few provisions seem to be made for any cargo larger than your hand-carried crate. Carrying a landspeeder onboard, for instance, seems to be an impossibility. Even if one of the bays could fit it, there is no ramp or hatch large enough (or well enough positioned) to get it in and out of the craft. It's just a.. peeve of mine, I suppose, that none of the deckplans put forth so far—even the ones that are supposedly dedicated to cargo hauling—really answer this glaring problem. Thus, as with many things, I am left to my own devices—tinkering and trying to figure this out.

I have also come across a slight size discrepancy. The stated length of the YT-1300 (in the RPG) is approximately 26+ meters—which would give the saucer-part of its frame roughly a 20m diameter. Considering the rather 'sleek' profile of the ship, this just doesn't seem to mesh with the ceiling heights we see in the movie—nor the machinery 'depths' that seem to exist beneath the main deck. If you increase the saucer size to 26+ meters, and the overall length to about 34 or so, however, you get something more in tune with the size of the craft as shown in the movies.

And finally, there is the issue of escape pods. In the initial version of the YT-1300 (from the SW Sourcebook) the large, circular port-and-starboard hull protrusions were identified as Escape pods. But in later iterations, they were supposedly cargo loading ports. The movies seem to suggest the latter, in that the Imperials note 'several of the escape pods have been jettisoned' from the Falcon. Since we see the two large 'pods' both still in place, it would seem to suggest that the escape pods are located elsewhere.

But does any of this discrepancy really bother me that much? Nope. Not really. Still love the design and still have the gumption to 'make it work' on my own terms.