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TheCountAlucard
2008-12-19, 01:34 PM
I'm playing in a Star Wars game with some friends. My character is Tykoga, a male Twi'lek noble/scoundrel who gets most of his funds from some rather shady activities, primarily that of Twi'lek slave trade. Everyone else in the party is either ignorant of what I do, or is smart enough to look the other way...

Anyway, our group managed to survive Order 66 and, in a small jump from continuity, saved Aayla Secura from the demise we see in Episode III. Not that she's showing me any gratitude for it, but still...

So, here's where the character knowledge and the player knowledge seperate. I'm trying not to think of this stuff when I'm determining my character's actions, but it's hard, since the GM and player made no effort to keep it private...

You see, last session took place about two months after Order 66 went down in-game, and one of the other players, having retired his Kel Dor Jedi, introduced his new character, a Bothan Scout.

His character arrives on the secret base we're on, and asks Aayla Secura if there's anything he can help her with, and specifically mentions the phrase "Twi'lek slavers" amongst his three examples. Aayla describes me to him, and says, "See what you can do."
Anyway, I'm just sitting in my quarters, having recently gotten back from a rather lucrative "bit of business," when Mell, the Duros who runs the base, calls our group together for a meeting.

Mell explains our latest mission to us, involving a derelict Techno Union banker ship that he was particularly interested in. I notice this Bothan nearby, who is apparently going on the mission with us, and introduce myself to him. He looks at me furtively and says, "Oh, so you're the slaver..."

At this point, Tykoga is feeling somewhat suspicious. The other Twi'lek on the base make no effort to disguise their hatred of me, and now this Bothan appears out of nowhere and says, "Oh, so you're the slaver..." So, yeah, I'm watching him, and I've also pointed him out to the Mandalorian in the party, who occasionally profits off of my character's dealings, and told him, "I've got a bad feeling about this guy. Keep an eye out for him."

Now, my little rant about this...

I am feeling like he has screwed me over here. He has introduced his character in such a way that there will be a confrontation between his character and mine, and I am feeling that it is entirely unlikely that it will be resolved peacefully.

Any suggestions for what I should do, both in-character and out-of-character?

allonym
2008-12-19, 01:46 PM
Well, if you don't like confrontation or think it will lead to bad things out of character, you should probably talk to them about it out of character. The 'shady activities', by their nature, should have repercussions, but repercussions in the form of a new player character are a bad thing.

It's entirely possible the player you think is gunning for you will try to redeem you or something else non-violent, and looks upon it as a cool and unique way of introducing his new player character.

But if he's going for the confrontation and you have no real problem with intraparty combat, get your mandalorian friend and arrange an accident for him. Or plan for the fight, then kick his ass. If he wanted conflict and he got it, his reaction to losing will show whether he was just looking for some interesting roleplay (if he takes it good-naturedly) or whether he wanted to be an ass about it (if he starts kicking off).

Another_Poet
2008-12-19, 01:54 PM
Agreed, talk to him out of character.

Also, remember that playing a slaver is generally asking for trouble, and it's within this guy's rights to make a character who opposes it - most characters should oppose it. A non-violent solution might well requie you to curb your activities, or pretend to curb them, or buy the guy off. He's not the only one who should have to compromise.

daggaz
2008-12-19, 01:57 PM
Subdue him, and sell him into slavery. Its what you do, right? Besides, what better way for a slaver to take care of his problems.

TheCountAlucard
2008-12-19, 02:24 PM
My current plan, in-character, is to:

1) Buy up some Rycrit farms.

2) Explain to the Bothan and the various Twi'leks on the base that I've dropped the whole business and am now earning my fortune legitimately through some rather lucrative Rycrit farming. I can be a very good liar, but it's probably still a good idea to have the Mandalorian around while I'm doing this.

3) Continue the slaving business. If the Bothan or the Twi'leks investigate, arrange for them to have an accident.

My current plan, out-of-character, is to:

1) Talk to the player and make sure he means me no ill will.

2) Explain to the GM that Tykoga intends to continue his practices, but now is going to be much more secretive about it.

3) Consider taking the Crime Lord prestige class.

NEO|Phyte
2008-12-19, 03:05 PM
3) Consider taking the Crime Lord prestige class.

I'd say go for it, it's got some nice talents for you to take. Main downside is that it doesn't stack with noble levels for Wealth, assuming you have that talent.

KillianHawkeye
2008-12-19, 06:35 PM
Main downside is that it doesn't stack with noble levels for Wealth, assuming you have that talent.

This has been changed in the latest errata. All talents that reference your level in a particular class have been changed to refer to your unnamed 'class level'. The term 'class level' now refers to all levels in ANY classes that gain access to the talent or talent tree.

NEO|Phyte
2008-12-19, 06:56 PM
This has been changed in the latest errata. All talents that reference your level in a particular class have been changed to refer to your unnamed 'class level'. The term 'class level' now refers to all levels in ANY classes that gain access to the talent or talent tree.

Crime Lord doesn't have access to that talent tree. For some retarded reason.

UserClone
2008-12-19, 07:29 PM
That is rather asinine, what with wealth being one of a crime lord's greatest weapons.:smallyuk:

Doomsy
2008-12-19, 07:47 PM
Just out of curiosity, how would the ignorant members of the party react to finding out you're a slaver? I'm guessing this a pretty gray or neutral group, but if things get violent it might be something to think about.

Kiero
2008-12-19, 08:01 PM
This is why you don't mix heroic and un-heroic types in the same party. Star Wars isn't about backstabbing and intra-party sniping.

ericgrau
2008-12-19, 08:05 PM
Sounds like a great RP opportunity to settle in game, not out. I like how you're whispering about it to the Mandalorian already. But if it makes you too uncomfortable in real life and you don't like it just tell your DM so. Maybe he can ease up.

ZeroNumerous
2008-12-19, 08:19 PM
This is why you don't mix heroic and un-heroic types in the same party. Star Wars isn't about backstabbing and intra-party sniping.

Oh sure, because Han Solo and Obi-Wan Kenobi weren't in the same 'party'. And surely Chewbacca wasn't in the same party as Luke Skywalker. Certainly can't have those heroic types rubbing elbows with the rest of us unwashed masses! :smallamused:

No, this is a perfect example of "How the heck does an NPC know that?". How would Aayla Secura know your character well enough to describe him? Seems the DM is just interested in screwing you or creating intra-party conflict for no reason.

Kiero
2008-12-19, 08:21 PM
Oh sure, because Han Solo and Obi-Wan Kenobi weren't in the same 'party'. And surely Chewbacca wasn't in the same party as Luke Skywalker. Certainly can't have those heroic types rubbing elbows with the rest of us unwashed masses! :smallamused:

The original trilogy especially is pretty black and white. Han and Chewie chose their side (hint: it wasn't the un-heroic). Whereas other "neutrals" like Boba Fett chose theirs. By the way, I'm talking about motivations here, in case you missed that.

Doomsy
2008-12-19, 08:25 PM
He mentioned earlier than his group rescued Aayla. She presumably saw him then.
The better question is why a Jedi Knight who has knowledge of him being a slaver apparently decided it was better to send a Bothan on a suicide quest than go have a friendly little chat with someone of her own species selling her own species into slavery. Even if she just suspects it, that is not something a Jedi would just send a first helpful face to investigate - especially one that blatantly bad at the game.

Way to go, hero(ine).

ZeroNumerous
2008-12-19, 08:33 PM
The original trilogy especially is pretty black and white. Han and Chewie chose their side (hint: it wasn't the un-heroic). Whereas other "neutrals" like Boba Fett chose theirs. By the way, I'm talking about motivations here, in case you missed that.

Han and Chewie were still unheroic characters whose motivations involved money and fame. Ask the question: "Lets kill this slaver" and you get the response: "What's he done to me?"


The better question is why a Jedi Knight who has knowledge of him being a slaver apparently decided it was better to send a Bothan on a suicide quest than go have a friendly little chat with someone of her own species selling her own species into slavery.

That doesn't answer the question of how she knew he was a slaver to begin with.

Kiero
2008-12-19, 08:37 PM
Han and Chewie were still unheroic characters whose motivations involved money and fame. Ask the question: "Lets kill this slaver" and you get the response: "What's he done to me?"

So "un-heroic", that Han (and Chewie) came back to save Luke's behind at the end of the first film (after he'd been paid), and still stuck around through the second. Oh, right...

Tsotha-lanti
2008-12-19, 11:48 PM
Can I assume the rest of the party is mostly good?

Seems like the obvious thing to do is RP an intense change of heart and repentment. I mean, why else are you playing a character whose activities most of the rest of the party would presumably object to anyway?

Da'Shain
2008-12-20, 02:26 AM
Han and Chewie were still unheroic characters whose motivations involved money and fame. Ask the question: "Lets kill this slaver" and you get the response: "What's he done to me?"While I agree with you that Star Wars is as good a setting as any for parties of mixed heroes and, for lack of a better term, villains ...

Slavery in particular is one of those things that both Han and Chewie hate with a passion. The reason Chewie owes a life debt to Han is because Han saved him from Imperial slavery. And one of Han Solo's earliest adventures involved falling in love with a woman who was duped into slavery.

So while they were certainly mostly in it to look out for themselves, they did have a few decidedly heroic qualities.

Nerd-o-rama
2008-12-20, 02:36 AM
He mentioned earlier than his group rescued Aayla. She presumably saw him then.
The better question is why a Jedi Knight who has knowledge of him being a slaver apparently decided it was better to send a Bothan on a suicide quest than go have a friendly little chat with someone of her own species selling her own species into slavery. Even if she just suspects it, that is not something a Jedi would just send a first helpful face to investigate - especially one that blatantly bad at the game.

Way to go, hero(ine).Yeah, I have to agree with this. NPC-Aayla's wandering off the general Jedi milieu by not trying to talk this out first and resorting immediately to a hired assassin of all things. In fact, this is so un-Jedi it'd make my paranoid little mind a little suspicious about "Aayla". But really, it's probably just the GM giving you some conflict to resolve in a hamfisted way.

I support your plans, Alucard, in and out of character. Although switching to a less outright evil set of crimes than slavery may be a good backup plan.

TheCountAlucard
2008-12-20, 09:08 AM
That doesn't answer the question of how she knew he was a slaver to begin with.

Yeah, I found that kinda funny, too...


Yeah, I have to agree with this. NPC-Aayla's wandering off the general Jedi milieu by not trying to talk this out first and resorting immediately to a hired assassin of all things. In fact, this is so un-Jedi it'd make my paranoid little mind a little suspicious about "Aayla".

Either way, my character wouldn't know that... at least, not yet. After all, he wasn't there for it.

Kiero
2008-12-20, 09:25 AM
While I agree with you that Star Wars is as good a setting as any for parties of mixed heroes and, for lack of a better term, villains ...

Slavery in particular is one of those things that both Han and Chewie hate with a passion. The reason Chewie owes a life debt to Han is because Han saved him from Imperial slavery. And one of Han Solo's earliest adventures involved falling in love with a woman who was duped into slavery.

So while they were certainly mostly in it to look out for themselves, they did have a few decidedly heroic qualities.

Yet it's always a case that even those who start out "neutral" eventually make a choice as to whether they're heroes or villains.

And slaving is an unashamedly villanous activity, along with drug-dealing in Star Wars.

hamishspence
2008-12-20, 10:20 AM
Which is one of the reason why Han is more Neutral, as Complete Scoundrel points out, than good. He may occasionally be a slave-freeer, but he's also a drug-runner

(Glitterstim from The Spice Mines of Kessel is highly addictive, and both Boba Fett and Corran Horn have commented on the Moral Dissonance of this in jutaxposition with Han The Hero)

Sstoopidtallkid
2008-12-20, 10:33 AM
(Glitterstim from The Spice Mines of Kessel is highly addictive, and both Boba Fett and Corran Horn have commented on the Moral Dissonance of this in jutaxposition with Han The Hero)It's only moral dissonance if you think drugs are evil. I don't, but I was very amused when the heroic Rebel Alliance enlisted the help of a species of murderous cannibals and unleashed them on the storm troopers to slaughter each other.

hamishspence
2008-12-20, 11:02 AM
When was the time we heard of an Emok eating another Ewok?

Though in Star Wars Tales we do see suggestings that Ewoks are very very ruthless (and sneaky as well)

glitterstim seems to combine all the worst aspects of drugs "Spice Paranoia (the victim gets paranoid) Spice Frenzy (the victim acts like a berzerker) blindness when overused, and addiction. the books stressing this were perhaps a little Anvilicius, though.

Reverent-One
2008-12-20, 11:04 AM
Though in Star Wars Tales we do see suggestings that Ewoks are very very ruthless (and sneaky as well)

If they weren't, they'd be dead. Have you seen some of the other critters those little teddy bears have to deal with?

Sstoopidtallkid
2008-12-20, 11:06 AM
When was the time we heard of an Emok eating another Ewok?

Though in Star Wars Tales we do see suggestings that Ewoks are very very ruthless (and sneaky as well)I view anyone eating a sapient being as cannibalism. Actual species is less relevant to me than the fact that the Ewoks were willing to kill someone for food.
glitterstim seems to combine all the worst aspects of drugs "Spice Paranoia (the victim gets paranoid) Spice Frenzy (the victim acts like a berzerker) blindness when overused, and addiction. the books stressing this were perhaps a little Anvilicius, though.None of which changes the morality of drugs. If someone wants to melt their brain, they should have the option.

hamishspence
2008-12-20, 11:11 AM
the example in I, Jedi was said person abusing people around them as well. When the hero gives a bit of a rant on how he's faced the Hard Choices before he knew about being force sensitive:

it concerned domestic violence from a "glitbiting husband" and also, bribes from spicelords. He didn't succumb to temptation to be violent to the sleeping husband, or take the bribe.

point to be made is- its not just the users who get hurt. Even in the absence of evil conected only to a substance's being illegal. Add in that The Spice enables user to invade the privacy of others with spice-granted telepathy, and you can see whhy Corran's view of Han is a bit coloured.

Sstoopidtallkid
2008-12-20, 11:15 AM
the example in I, Jedi was said person abusing people around them as well. When the hero gives a bit of a rant on how he's faced the Hard Choices before he knew about being force sensitive:

it concerned domestic violence from a "glitbiting husband" and also, bribes from spicelords. He didn't succumb to temptation to be violent to the sleeping husband, or take the bribe.I'm not saying that abusing the people around you isn't evil, what I'm saying is that even under the influence, all actions are the responsibility of the person who takes them, and not a chemical.

hamishspence
2008-12-20, 11:21 AM
sure, its not like a Detect Evil spell would show it up. But the point of the industry was to make money- and the direct result involved a lot of misery, and Han is a willing participant, even if he dislikes it.

and "addictive, mind-altering + dangerous to health" is pretty nasty combination.

Sstoopidtallkid
2008-12-20, 11:25 AM
sure, its not like a Detect Evil spell would show it up. But the point of the industry was to make money- and the direct result involved a lot of misery, and Han is a willing participant, even if he dislikes it.See, I find it similar to a weapons company. Yes, there is misery due to their business, but it's the fault of the customers, not the company.

Tsotha-lanti
2008-12-20, 11:26 AM
and "addictive, mind-altering + dangerous to health" is pretty nasty combination.

Are you talking about alcohol or tobacco or fat foods or...

Oh, drugs? And just the illegal ones, not the ones that are huge industries (i.e. alcohol and tobacco)?

Yeah, they're not evil, and which drugs are outlawed is purely a matter of money (and doesn't work out any better than the Prohibition).

Drug-dealing, however, tends to involve murder and the like, which is pretty evil.

Edit: You know, now that I think on that, that's got to be one of the dumbest things in the game universe. What, are there Republic-wide anti-drug laws observed on all planets? Surely there'd be enough planets that allow the sale of any particular drug to take up the entire supply of it.

hamishspence
2008-12-20, 11:30 AM
In one of the short stories from "Tales from" (possibly "Tales from Jabba's Palace" or "Tales from the Bounty Hunters" Jabba has lent Leia as a present to Boba, and he, being very honorable in his own way, doesn't touch her, but does explain why he thinks the rebellion is immoral and Han a corrupt guy for taking part in the drug-smuggling business. The facct that his employer is the biggest of the lot doesn't get mentioned.

and Palpatine, from what I remember, made it a government monopoly, hence the galaxy-wide laws. the ability to mind-read- in the hands of anybody- what government wouldn't restrict it heavily?

xPANCAKEx
2008-12-20, 12:19 PM
Drug-dealing, however, tends to involve murder and the like, which is pretty evil.


only illigal drugs... or the streets around the coffee shops of amsterdam would be littered with bodies

if you're dealing with an illigal product, you can't always rely on competitors to resort to legal means to increase their market share

Da'Shain
2008-12-20, 01:32 PM
Edit: You know, now that I think on that, that's got to be one of the dumbest things in the game universe. What, are there Republic-wide anti-drug laws observed on all planets? Surely there'd be enough planets that allow the sale of any particular drug to take up the entire supply of it.
I'm pretty sure that the Republic's anti-drug laws are indeed observed on every Republic planet (although enforced with varying levels of care). But they can make a lot more money selling drugs in illegal places, simply because the risk forces the price to skyrocket.

Also, the Empire outlawed it except through legal means, and the legal means jacked the prices up to astronomical levels that only the elite of the elite in the Empire could afford.

TheCountAlucard
2008-12-20, 03:17 PM
By the way, is the Cybernetic Surgery feat any good at all? I took the feat a few levels back, and I haven't gotten any use out of it. The GM's willing to let me pick a different feat instead. From what I read in the book, it seems to be utter suck.

So, you get a replacement for one of your limbs, but it functions exactly the same as the original, except now you're vulnerable to ion grenades as a droid, and you're not as good at using the Force.

However, I can't even find any rules for losing limbs in the first place.

Hawriel
2008-12-20, 03:46 PM
He mentioned earlier than his group rescued Aayla. She presumably saw him then.
The better question is why a Jedi Knight who has knowledge of him being a slaver apparently decided it was better to send a Bothan on a suicide quest than go have a friendly little chat with someone of her own species selling her own species into slavery. Even if she just suspects it, that is not something a Jedi would just send a first helpful face to investigate - especially one that blatantly bad at the game.

Way to go, hero(ine).

These are twiliks, that conversation would go somthing like this.

Aayla. meets fellow twilik.
Aayla: Hay fellow twilik there is this other fellow twilik who sells fellow twiliks into slavery!
Fellow Twilik: You just figured this out now jedi?

Ryloth is in Hut Space. They are heavily into the criminal element in the galaxy. Most of the peaple who profit from twilik slaves are twiliks.

To OP

Ok most peaple play in a very forced disney way when dealing with other players. they call it being a team or not causing problems. So they make rules about no interparty conflict. Thats why you get a bunch of paladins who should tecnicly fall because the rogue really is an evil bastard, but doesnt because they dont want to RP the interactions. Dont be a timid RPer. You are playing an evil bastard so be one. Aayla is your first target. She is a direct threat to your well being. Turn her in Im sure there is a big reward. The next is the bothan scout. Screw him in a way that removes him as a threat. Get the mando to kill him. You kill him. Sell him into slavery. Turn him into the republic/empire. This is within your characters personality. This is what ROLL PLAYING is all about. Character should be free to make choicess. Part of that is how they interact with each other. There is no rule that sais you need to hold hand and cooperate. You just need to not take that conflict personaly.

Doomsy
2008-12-20, 05:40 PM
Many of the other Twi'leks also despise both the slave trade and the slave traders - especially the free ones. Also, as a Jedi Knight, Aayla is kind of supposed to stop them from doing that kind of thing when she can. In the extended fluff even a lot of the black market people have a marked distaste for slave trading. This is mostly because a good number of them started out as slaves themselves, but the point still stands.

Secondly, Hutt Space effectively has no laws. Slavery is possibly quasi-legal there but recognition of ownership does not seem to apply to Republic space. In other words, in Hutt Space, you can bust into a slave training complex that is perfectly legit, slaughter everyone there not a slave, free all the slaves, and walk out again back into Republic space legally free and clear. It's one of the prices you pay for being ruled by insanely corrupt slugs. You're only as safe as the influence and power you can buy, no real legal defenses.

Thirdly, we've drifted a bit off topic. Ethics in Star Wars would be a nice new thread title and a good break from BREAKING THE PALLIE threads, no?

Yahzi
2008-12-20, 07:13 PM
See, I find it similar to a weapons company. Yes, there is misery due to their business, but it's the fault of the customers, not the company.
Well, there are morally legitimate uses for weapons. It's hard to make that argument for illicit drugs, since drugs that have legitimate uses are supposed to be called medicines.

If Han Solo is running blockades with medicines that happen to be illegal for political/economic reasons, then drug-smuggling makes him Good. :smallbiggrin:

Paramour Pink
2008-12-20, 07:33 PM
Wait, how do you know he's a hired assassin? From everything the first post says, there's no real proof of that at all. It might be semi-suggested by the cliche used, but there is such a thing as just paranoia. :smallconfused: :smalleek:

Anyway, your in character responce is good, in my opinion. Also, Alaya may have known your identity because word of a someone enslaving his own race can't be that much of a secret. I can understand it not being well-known what your name is, but you have to have gained a certain infamy that makes it harder not to know of yourself.

The Glyphstone
2008-12-20, 07:34 PM
Many of the other Twi'leks also despise both the slave trade and the slave traders - especially the free ones. Also, as a Jedi Knight, Aayla is kind of supposed to stop them from doing that kind of thing when she can. In the extended fluff even a lot of the black market people have a marked distaste for slave trading. This is mostly because a good number of them started out as slaves themselves, but the point still stands.

Secondly, Hutt Space effectively has no laws. Slavery is possibly quasi-legal there but recognition of ownership does not seem to apply to Republic space. In other words, in Hutt Space, you can bust into a slave training complex that is perfectly legit, slaughter everyone there not a slave, free all the slaves, and walk out again back into Republic space legally free and clear. It's one of the prices you pay for being ruled by insanely corrupt slugs. You're only as safe as the influence and power you can buy, no real legal defenses.

Thirdly, we've drifted a bit off topic. Ethics in Star Wars would be a nice new thread title and a good break from BREAKING THE PALLIE threads, no?

New thread idea: How to make a Paladin Jedi fall...

Doomsy
2008-12-20, 08:09 PM
By the way, is the Cybernetic Surgery feat any good at all? I took the feat a few levels back, and I haven't gotten any use out of it. The GM's willing to let me pick a different feat instead. From what I read in the book, it seems to be utter suck.

So, you get a replacement for one of your limbs, but it functions exactly the same as the original, except now you're vulnerable to ion grenades as a droid, and you're not as good at using the Force.

However, I can't even find any rules for losing limbs in the first place.

It's in the non-saga corebook rules or the SE corebook rules. I can't check right now, but it was extraordinarily insane - you basically roll a d6 to determine what limb you just got hacked off after taking a certain amount of damage over a threshold. It is pretty hilariously insane.

And from what I can tell that feat is not actually worth much unless you have someone planning on being Darth Vader or want to save money - some of those prosthetics are pretty expensive.

TheCountAlucard
2008-12-20, 08:38 PM
And from what I can tell that feat is not actually worth much unless you have someone planning on being Darth Vader or want to save money - some of those prosthetics are pretty expensive.

So, what feat would you suggest instead?

Doomsy
2008-12-21, 07:27 PM
So, what feat would you suggest instead?

Depends. What is your build and what are you going for?

TheCountAlucard
2008-12-21, 08:21 PM
Well, I don't have the character sheet on hand, so this is entirely from memory... Tykoga's a Noble 5/Scoundrel 4. The GM let me take a couple of talents from the Force Unleashed book, but other than that, my stuff is straight from the core book.

Tykoga is a charismatic "face." He is especially skilled in deception and persuasion (a +20 skill modifier, if I recall correctly).* One of the talents I got from Force Unleashed allows him to, once per day, take twenty on a single deception check. Tykoga took Wealth as his first talent. One of his other talents allows him to use his Charisma modifier instead of his Wisdom modifier for Will Defenses.

I'm taking my next level in Scoundrel, for the Force Unleashed talent that allows me to make a free melee (or ranged, if I have the Quick Draw feat, which I do) attack in the event that I fail a Deception check.

Tykoga keeps a few pistols on his person, in case his attempts at diplomacy don't work. He has the Point Blank Shot, Rapid Shot, Double Attack, and Deadeye feats, as well as Skill Focus twice (once for Persuasion, once for Deception).


I'm looking to make him a little more able to take care of himself in a fight, while still possessing crazy-good social skills.


*In fact, flipping now to the back of the book and looking at him, Tykoga is currently an even better liar than Palpatine. Hmm... :smallamused:

Istari
2008-12-21, 08:54 PM
^That's a very scary thought

Doomsy
2008-12-21, 09:00 PM
Off the top of my head after glancing at the feats?

Crossfire, Savage Attack,Running Attack all seem solid and a good way to keep falling back or getting into cover while providing some punch. Crossfire is good if you tend to deal with small quarters often from the looks of it, Savage Attack adds some more damage in, and running attack lets you keep on the bounce.

TheCountAlucard
2008-12-21, 10:19 PM
Off the top of my head after glancing at the feats?

Crossfire, Savage Attack,Running Attack all seem solid and a good way to keep falling back or getting into cover while providing some punch. Crossfire is good if you tend to deal with small quarters often from the looks of it, Savage Attack adds some more damage in, and running attack lets you keep on the bounce.

Hmm... I only have the Core book on my person. I take it that Savage Attack and Crossfire are in Force Unleashed?

By the way, forgot to mention... Tykoga owns a Maka-Eekai L4000 Transport (http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Maka-Eekai_L4000_Transport). Hasn't gotten much use, but thought I'd mention it.

Doomsy
2008-12-21, 11:58 PM
You got it. And that is really pretty interesting for a cargo ship. Guessing he uses it for shipping slaves?

TheCountAlucard
2008-12-22, 12:07 AM
You got it. And that is really pretty interesting for a cargo ship. Guessing he uses it for shipping slaves?

Among other things, of course. :smallbiggrin: Although, like I said, it hasn't gotten much use. For our last adventure, Mell let us use a Corellian Corvette (!!!).

graymachine
2008-12-22, 10:48 AM
Well, you need to deal with the Bothan first, I think, as he seems more likely to take direct action between him and the Jedi. If at all possible, you should arrange for the Jedi to kill him, or at least be around him when he dies with no witnesses (that you don't control.) This will allow you to frame her with the murder, or at least muddy the waters. She already seems to be acting un-Jedi like, which will aid in spurring suspicion, unless the party/DM are 2 dimensional meta-gamers. Furthermore, in the current age of paranoia concerning Jedi that you find yourself in, even if the murder charge doesn't stick it'll draw all sorts of attention that she can't really afford. Either way, she'll get the message about minding her own business, assuming she has the brains for it. Best of all, you can keep your hands completely clean by working through proxies, given the connections you must have accumulated as a slaver. Just keep in mind to always have an alibi, preferably a very public one.

TheCountAlucard
2008-12-22, 01:19 PM
Keep in mind, it's not my group that I'm worrying about scrutiny from; it's Mell, the leader of the hidden base we're living on. And apparently Mell knows Aayla Secura very well.

Also, I am working through proxies. I don't just show up on Ryloth and start stuffing women in sacks... that sort of grunt work is beneath me. :smallamused:

Anyway, I think if I can decieve Aayla and the others into thinking I'm no longer a slaver, I might be able to get them off my back about it all.

graymachine
2008-12-22, 01:51 PM
Keep in mind, it's not my group that I'm worrying about scrutiny from; it's Mell, the leader of the hidden base we're living on. And apparently Mell knows Aayla Secura very well.

Also, I am working through proxies. I don't just show up on Ryloth and start stuffing women in sacks... that sort of grunt work is beneath me. :smallamused:

Anyway, I think if I can decieve Aayla and the others into thinking I'm no longer a slaver, I might be able to get them off my back about it all.

Well, it seems, then, that you have some experience with this sort of thing. The problem, though, is that simply deceiving the rest of the party is probably too passive of a solution at this juncture. This Mell knowing Aayla complicates things further... What is the nature of the relationship they have? Professional? Friendship? Mutual respect?

My point would be that deception doesn't neutralize the threat; it simply makes you have to work twice as hard for no tangible gain. Furthermore, word of this getting back to your criminal allies with cause them to either consider you weak or will give them a tool to use against you.

TheCountAlucard
2008-12-22, 06:42 PM
My point would be that deception doesn't neutralize the threat; it simply makes you have to work twice as hard for no tangible gain. Furthermore, word of this getting back to your criminal allies with cause them to either consider you weak or will give them a tool to use against you.

The deception is just to keep me from waking up strapped to a torpedo. Once I have some breathing room, I'll take care of the situation in a more proper manner...

Doomsy
2008-12-22, 07:51 PM
I think this is all still a little fishy. It sounds like someone might be crossing OOC/IC for the purpose of either trying IC drama (Well Intentioned Thespian) or they got a dislike issue going on. Or your GM is setting something up. You know 'em best so you probably would be better aware of it.

I'd still want to kill the Bothan just for lacking common sense, though. Actually saying that to the person you're investigating is about as stupid as saying 'Eat me' to a Hutt.

TheCountAlucard
2008-12-22, 09:15 PM
I think this is all still a little fishy. It sounds like someone might be crossing OOC/IC for the purpose of either trying IC drama (Well Intentioned Thespian) or they got a dislike issue going on. Or your GM is setting something up. You know 'em best so you probably would be better aware of it.

That's all too likely. Truth be told, I don't know the Bothan's player that well, one more reason why I should talk to him about this.

graymachine
2008-12-23, 09:37 AM
I think this is all still a little fishy. It sounds like someone might be crossing OOC/IC for the purpose of either trying IC drama (Well Intentioned Thespian) or they got a dislike issue going on. Or your GM is setting something up. You know 'em best so you probably would be better aware of it.

I'd still want to kill the Bothan just for lacking common sense, though. Actually saying that to the person you're investigating is about as stupid as saying 'Eat me' to a Hutt.

Hm...

I had assumed there was metagaming going on behind the scenes, given what has been said. Part of the reason that I was in favor of a rapid solution.

TheCountAlucard
2008-12-23, 12:00 PM
I had assumed there was metagaming going on behind the scenes, given what has been said.

I likewise suspected the same, the Bothan having mentioned "Twi'lek slavers" amongst the things he might be able to help Aayla out with. The second I mentioned it to the player, however, he went on about how "it would make sense if you took his backstory into context" or somesuch.

graymachine
2008-12-29, 10:59 AM
So, any update?

TheCountAlucard
2008-12-29, 04:53 PM
Not yet - been stuck at my parents' house. I was supposed to go back tonight, but my sister made other plans... (curses my inability to drive)

I'm hoping to settle all this when I get back to the college in a few days.

TheCountAlucard
2009-01-07, 06:31 AM
I'm hoping to settle all this when I get back to the college in a few days.

Goodness gracious, that took TOO LONG.

Anyway, a bit of an update: just had a game session, and the situation is at least semi-resolved. The Bothan approached Tykoga privately and had a bit of a heart-to-heart with him, explaining how the group needed to trust one another, and that such unpleasantness on my part could and would make me very untrustworthy. Tykoga, of course, nodded and submitted to his superior logic, informing him that he would cease his dark dealings posthaste, and was going to look into rycrit farming to provide wealth.

Also, the GM has hinted that he may create a situation in which my having taken the Cybernetic Surgery feat might be useful.

TheCountAlucard
2009-01-14, 06:31 AM
Time for another UPDATE!

I left something out of last session's summary: we went on a trip to Sullust to help protect some Sullustans from the Empire, and we encountered a Dark Jedi while we were there. Luckily, we managed to drive her away long enough for us to escape the planet and report back to Mell.

The Empire had been producing a pheremone that drove the local nightwings on Sullust into a blood-frenzy; we managed to find the base of operations where the pheremone was being produced. This session, Mell asked us to head to said base and destroy the pheremone, as well as their research and whatnot.

We brought a Corellian gunship to the space station, but as we approached, we got a distress signal. Apparently something had been wiping out the space station's crew, and the survivors were desperate for help. We sent them back a message that help was on the way, and then we docked.

After a bit of scouting from our droid, we determined that it was safe enough to go inside. Tykoga ended up finding a room full of humans in stasis. Simple observation and a check with the computer revealed that the humans each have numerous enhanced prosthetics, and they are part of a "Dark Project." Meanwhile, Sa'jet found the remaining three crew members, a soldier and three lab technicians, one of which is on the verge of dying.

We ended up learning that they had stolen an "artifact" for their research, and whatever is hunting the crew down can't be seen on sensors and moves very fast. We persuaded the crew to tell us where the artifact was, and while Sa'jet and V went down and got it, the rest of us led the crew members to the ship.

Sa'jet reported back shortly after, saying that the container that was supposed to contain the artifact was smashed open, the artifact gone. We called Sa'jet back to the ship, having wiped the pheremone data from the space station's computers during the wait.

It was at that point that a Victory-class Star Destroyer showed up. As if that wasn't bad enough, Massen, who had gotten a Bad Feeling when we encountered the Dark Jedi before, got the Bad Feeling again. We're told by the Star Destroyer that we're to be boarded, and it starts pumping out TIE fighters.

We quickly devised a plan, and after too many Persuasion and Deception checks to readily count, Tykoga managed to stall them long enough for our ship to make the jump to hyperspace, where we proceeded to attempt to lose them.

During the several days that we were taking to make sure we had shaken them off, Tykoga began to grow suspicious of the Bothan again. Perhaps it was paranoia, but to Tykoga, it seemed as if the Bothan was avoiding eye contact with him, not speaking to Tykoga, and spending an inordinate amount of time practicing with his new rifle. Tykoga quickly alerted Sa'jet to this strange behavior, and the two resolved to kill him before it could become too problematic.

However, before any inter-party violence could occur, our party heard blaster fire. We found the soldier from the space station murdered, with the evidence pointing to Mezgraf, who was with the corpse when the rest of us discovered them. We then saw the female lab technician run from her room, shouting that the Togorian hadn't killed him, and that the artifact was on our ship. However, before we could get the whole story from her, someone in her room killed her with a blaster bolt. We find that the remaining lab technician killed her, believing her to have placed a homing beacon on our ship that would lead the Empire straight to us. That, however, didn't stop the Sa'jet from beating him senseless, since if she had placed a homing beacon, we would have been able to question her to find out its location and remove it, were she alive.

Sa'jet checked him for the artifact, and found what turned out to be a Sith holocron, one with the soul of a Sith Lord inside. It possessed Sa'jet, who had come into direct contact with it, and threatened to kill him if we did anything to harm it, or even attempt to seperate the two. We sealed the Mandalorian in the room with the holocron and began the search for the homing beacon. During this search period, Tykoga and Snake Doc agreed that the holocron was the pressing matter at hand, and that any plotting would have to be put on the back burner until the situation was dealt with. We didn't find the homing beacon, but Tykoga hypothesized that perhaps the Dark Jedi was able to sense the holocron's presence and use it to track us.

Realizing this, our party decided that heading back to Mell's base would be a bad idea, so we contacted him remotely between jumps and explained the situation, and worked out a plan with Mell, and that's when the session ended.

Basically, our plan for next session is to keep jumping so as to keep the Empire off our tails until we can meet with Mell in a remote location far from the base. He will have brought along Aayla Secura and Barriss Offee, and they will attempt to sever the Sith Lord's connection to the Force long enough to destroy the holocron.

Tl;dr? I don't blame you. Here, let me sum it up: my closest ally is currently being held hostage by a Sith holocron, and we're being chased by a Star Destroyer with a Dark Jedi on it.

archmage45
2009-01-14, 07:13 AM
This sounds like such an awesome game!

Keep us posted!

Tichrondrius
2009-01-14, 07:16 AM
Great story.

Greymane
2009-01-14, 07:22 AM
... Wow. This sounds like everything a Star Wars d20 game should be like. I am envious of you.

I fully endorse ending the Bothan, by the way. Not making eye contact always gets you in trouble. Duh. I only hope that everyone is cool with a little PvP.

Darth Stabber
2009-01-14, 11:15 AM
That Reminds me of a Wookie character I once played. When he was a young'n on Kashyyk he was captured by a slaver, and sold into slavery in the empire, He was freed when the empire fell and the new republic came upon his planet. He later found the Officer who captured him and sold him into slavery to the hutts. Later took a lvl in jedi, took 2 sessions to fall. DM didn't let me maintain control, so rolled up a Wookie that was a jedi from the start(actually first lvl was scout for the skill points and evasion), Stayed lightside.

Avilan the Grey
2009-01-14, 11:42 AM
This all seems very well played, with good players and a good GM.

I only have one question, that tends to pop up in situations like this sooner or later: How would you react if the rest of the party did find out? How would you play it out? It is likely it would end in either permanently split party, which is boring for everyone, or more likely with you having to reroll a character.
How would you react if a party member did find out, and opted to say dispose of you instead of the "throwing the issue open for everyone" and the interparty brawl?

(I can see me, in this situation, if playing a neutral character, which I usually do, simply push your character down a mine shaft etc at an opportune point, rather than let you know I know before hand)

What I mean is that I respect your roleplaying skills, and your well-thought out character, but I don't think I would take the chance investing so much time in a character I would loose if I was forced to reveal my hand.

TheCountAlucard
2009-01-14, 06:38 PM
How would you react if the rest of the party did find out?

Well, it seems that everyone in the party probably already knows for some reason or another. Sa'jet (the Mandalorian) knows because he assisted Tykoga once. Snake Doc (the Bothan) knows because Aayla told him. V (the droid) knows because Mell gave it every party member's profile. Lon (the Duros) knows because he's Mell's cousin. Massen (the Jedi) knows because it's been mentioned to him before. Also, not all of the players seem to be too keen on the whole "player knowledge/character knowledge" separation. Really, the only one that might not immediately know is Mezgraf, the Togorian, since he's new to the group.

Out of those who know, the only one I can see doing anything more than talking to me about it is the Bothan, since everyone else has their reasons not to harm me.


(I can see me, in this situation, if playing a neutral character, which I usually do, simply push your character down a mine shaft etc at an opportune point, rather than let you know I know before hand)

Mmm-hmm, understandable. I realize that my character's actions are reprehensible, but one thing that some people don't seem to realize is that he is also very sociable. Assuming that your character was about the same level as mine, and had a moderate Will Defense, Tykoga could easily talk him down from being hostile. And he'd probably do it when he first met your character. And he probably wouldn't stop there, either.

I realize that PC status grants a character immunity to Diplomancy (Persuadomancy? :smallconfused:), but I think the charisma of a character should nonetheless be kept in mind when interacting with them.

Triaxx
2009-01-14, 06:57 PM
Order the droid to rig the room to vent oxygen from the Mandalorian's room. Now you can safely enter and annihilate the holocron. And the player gets a shiny new character.

Tacoma
2009-01-14, 07:15 PM
Step 1: Arrange for the group to go undercover for something. All of you have to use disguise weapons, not your normal gear. No exceptions. While the dude leaves his stuff at base, have a henchman tinker with them so upon hearing a certain transmission they fail. The gun doesn't fire anymore, the armor de-energizes, whatever. Add a second circuit that, upon hearing the self-destruct transmission, will blow up the equipment in question. Replace the equipment just how you found it.

Step 2: Carry a portable transmitter that cannot be blocked or decrypted without excessive concerted effort. The transmitter disables the dude's equipment.

Repeat the above steps with other "friends" whom you distrust. Same transmitter signal.

Step 3: Similarly rig every piece of equipment in the base that he could just pick up and use against you, such as backup public weapons.

Step 4: If he attacks you, or if you suspect he might be about to attack you, hit the transmitter. You aren't attacking him, just disarming him. And if he complains that you were fussing around with his character, mention that you only enabled the lock on his equipment when he was going to try to kill YOUR character. Tell him right there that he can turn his back on you and walk away to his ship, and leave forever. But if he doesn't turn his back on his next action you will blow him away.

And if he doesn't comply, blow him away, starting with all his equipment at once.

Avilan the Grey
2009-01-15, 02:41 AM
Well, it seems that everyone in the party probably already knows for some reason or another. The Mandalorian knows because he assisted Tykoga once. Wolf Doc (the Bothan) knows because Aayla told him. V (the droid) knows because Mell gave it every party member's profile. Lon (the Duros) knows because he's Mell's cousin. Maffen (the Jedi) knows because it's been mentioned to him before. Also, not all of the players seem to be too keen on the whole "player knowledge/character knowledge" separation. Really, the only one that might not immediately know is the Togorian, since he's new to the group.

Out of those who know, the only one I can see doing anything more than talking to me about it is the Bothan, since everyone else has their reasons not to harm me.

Well then it's not a problem, at least not for now.
But I still feel that setting up a party with large differences between characters moral compass (regardless of setting or game, almost) usually seems interesting, and are usually very fun in the beginning but unfortunately it tend to end in the disruption of the campaign.
(Your group seems to handle it very well, and even if the Bothan would take you out, I think you are mature enough to not just roll a new character that just, for no reason, happen to hate all Bothans and will kill him or ruin his plans "just because" to get even. (Yes I know, but a lot of people become very childish very quickly))



Mmm-hmm, understandable. I realize that my character's actions are reprehensible, but one thing that some people don't seem to realize is that he is also very sociable. Assuming that your character was about the same level as mine, and had a moderate Will Defense, Tykoga could easily talk him down from being hostile. And he'd probably do it when he first met your character. And he probably wouldn't stop there, either.

I realize that PC status grants a character immunity to Diplomancy (Persuadomancy? :smallconfused:), but I think the charisma of a character should nonetheless be kept in mind when interacting with them.

I see your point, and my example was very specific (you don't know that i know, and I hate you for what you are doing) and would probably render your social skills unusable (basically a true backstabbing, you didn't see it coming). But let's not play the "my gun is bigger than your gun" thing :smallbiggrin:

TheCountAlucard
2009-01-16, 01:11 AM
A few things:

1) I talked to the Bothan's player, and surprisingly, he has no intention of inter-party violence. None at all. Wow, huh?

2) Is the Attract Minion talent as written even close to being worth taking? My gut (and my GM) are telling me "no." In fact, the GM proposed a "fix" for it, in which the minion doesn't have to be nonheroic and doesn't take a share of the XP. How's that?

3) I plan on taking seven levels of Crime Lord, so I can grab Inspire Fear I through III, as well as Impel Ally I and II, the "fixed" Attract Minion, and Wealth of Allies (if the GM will allow Scum and Villainy). How does that sound?

4) Would Officer be a good prestige class for my remaining three levels, or should I just keep taking Crime Lord? Initially I wanted to grab it to patch up the gaping hole in my Base Attack Bonus from so much multiclassing 3/4 BAB classes, but I'm starting to realize that at this point, it's not even going to matter, and at 20, I'd still be a point behind compared to having gone straight Noble. But still, Cover Fire and Assault Tactics look nice... I dunno, what do you guys think?

Colmarr
2009-01-16, 01:22 AM
Maffen (the Jedi) knows because it's been mentioned to him before...

Out of those who know, the only one I can see doing anything more than talking to me about it is the Bothan, since everyone else has their reasons not to harm me.

It's a while since I've checked in on the thread, but the party contains a Jedi who knows you're a slaver and they aren't doing (and won't do) anything about it? Wow.

The_Snark
2009-01-16, 03:36 AM
2) Is the Attract Minion talent as written even close to being worth taking? My gut (and my GM) are telling me "no." In fact, the GM proposed a "fix" for it, in which the minion doesn't have to be nonheroic and doesn't take a share of the XP. How's that?

I don't think the point of the minion is to be an impressive force in combat. I've always seen it as a way for crime lords to retain specialists: an expert pilot (who might even equal PC ace pilots, solely by virtue of not worrying about effectiveness out of the ship), a slicer, a medic, or maybe a thuggish enforcer if you have a cool build that only requires feats.

That said, I would support making it so that the minion doesn't take a share of the XP (because that's simply irritating to everyone), and making it so you can locate replacements if the minion dies. As-written, if the minion dies you just wasted a talent. Which may be the reason crime lords get so many, but that's a rather stupid dynamic, especially since a conservative crime lord will use those extras to get talents that won't vanish.

Anyway... I'd advise against making the minion a heroic character; letting you select feats and talents gives you essentially a second character, one who can be focused entirely on combat. Like Leadership from D&D, it'd be really powerful. Maybe let the minion start as a nonheroic and multiclass into a heroic class after a few levels, just to keep them from being useless at the higher levels, but they shouldn't be the equal of a PC.

If, like me, you like the idea of having skill specialist minions, see the following...


3) I plan on taking seven levels of Crime Lord, so I can grab Inspire Fear I through III, as well as Impel Ally I and II, the "fixed" Attract Minion, and Wealth of Allies (if the GM will allow Scum and Villainy). How does that sound?

Impel Ally is a good tree, Inspire Fear is fairly decent if you commonly face soldiers rather than single opponents (and if it would actually be appropriate for your very name to strike fear into everyone you meet. That kind of reputation might get you into trouble with your party).

If you don't have it already, the Influential Friends talent seems like it'd fit your character well; it's a noble talent, not a crime lord talent (because crime lords inexplicably lack access to the Lineage tree), but maybe worth taking another level or two of noble. It's in the Force Unleashed book, and lets you contact sources in a region/organization once a day to make a skill check for you, automatically giving you a result of 25+ 1/2 your level.

Of course, it takes them a few hours to get back to you, so obviously this will not work for your Stealth and Perception checks. It is, however, good for getting information (either Knowledge or Gather Info), forged documents, having your ship repaired or your wounded companion treated... many uses for the criminally minded, in other words. It does require Connections, but that seems like something you might have already.

Dervag
2009-01-16, 03:53 AM
It's a while since I've checked in on the thread, but the party contains a Jedi who knows you're a slaver and they aren't doing (and won't do) anything about it? Wow.Light Side doesn't always mean "interventionist champion of the oppressed."

Slavery is de facto accepted in large parts of the galaxy, if perhaps not on the core worlds of the Republic. I'd be surprised if every Jedi would consistently oppose slavers when it interfered with some other goal. Jedi can be surprisingly... pragmatic about some things, when seen "from a certain point of view."

TheCountAlucard
2009-01-16, 10:39 AM
I don't think the point of the minion is to be an impressive force in combat.

Neither do I. I was actually intending on using the minion to make things easier for myself by picking up some of the useful skills and talents that I wanted, but missed. For example, having a minion with the Connections talent would make obtaining items of questionable legality a lot easier.


...and making it so you can locate replacements if the minion dies. As-written, if the minion dies you just wasted a talent.

That's why I was going to pick up the Wealth of Allies talent from Scum and Villainy, provided the GM will allow it...


Anyway... I'd advise against making the minion a heroic character; letting you select feats and talents gives you essentially a second character, one who can be focused entirely on combat. Like Leadership from D&D, it'd be really powerful. Maybe let the minion start as a nonheroic and multiclass into a heroic class after a few levels, just to keep them from being useless at the higher levels, but they shouldn't be the equal of a PC.

I agree that a minion shouldn't equal a PC in power; that's why I'm going for the useful-but-not-for-combat stuff.


It does require Connections, but that seems like something you might have already.

Surprisingly, I don't.

TheCountAlucard
2009-01-21, 03:32 AM
So, another update...

Our group finally arrives at the rendezvous point. Lon opens up the room where the Mandalorian is sealed, and to our surprise, V is able to tear free the holocron from the Mandalorian's hand, at the expense of a couple of broken fingers, before the Jedi even arrive. Since V is a droid and thus has no mind to influence, it seems we have temporarily defeated the Gatekeeper.

After that, Mell lets us know that he'd managed to collect a lead on the holocron. He tells us about a shadow port, and then introduces us to a contact, a seedy woman named Karen who seems to be addicted to alcoholic beverages and death sticks.

We decide to pose as a crime lord (ha-ha) and his entourage of toadies, and then make our way to the planet on which the shadow port is rumored to be.

However, before much can happen, our characters are detained by security. Turns out that they're convinced that the star yacht we're flying (hey, gotta travel in style, right?) is stolen property. After mentally taking note to throttle Lon, who was supposed to take care of wiping all these numbers, Tykoga calmly attempts to weasel his way out, but the guards insist that such matters must be discussed with the higher-ups.

A restraining bolt is put on V, and we are escorted to jail to wait for said higher-up to deal with us (with Lon almost getting shot over his refusal to stop making typing motions with his hands; luckily, he stopped before he got plugged full of holes). What the security team doesn't know is that V is an independant droid, and thus the restraining bolt might as well be a pickle, for all the effect it will have. Not knowing this, they just stick V in a corner.

After about a day or so, a man (the only thing I can recall about him at the moment was that he had ranks and a Romanesque nose) appears to talk to us, and he makes it clear from the beginning that he did not like Tykoga, or any of the other non-humans in our group, for that matter.

One of the few things that really makes playing my character harder than it should be is that an eighteen Intelligence and a twenty-two Charisma are really hard to roleplay. I am simply not capable of being as smooth as my Twi'lek is. Even on a 1, Tykoga is probably going to improve your attitude toward him, provided you don't currently have your blaster out and intend to shoot him in the face.

Because of my irl deficiency in tact, I accidentally mention the Maka-Eekai L4000, which is currently linked to some worse crimes than theft (again, throttle Lon for not having taken care of that by now). The man informs Tykoga that he's fairly certain now that my character is behind some shady dealings. Nonetheless, Tykoga tosses down enough bribe money that the party doesn't need to worry about getting in trouble again without pulling off some serious shenannigans, provided that we're off the planet in three days' time.

archmage45
2009-01-21, 07:36 AM
Vicariously role-playing through you... Love this game, please keep posting!

TheCountAlucard
2009-01-27, 06:33 PM
Due to ice storms and a city-wide power outage happening last night, tonight's session is cancelled. :smallfrown:

Just thought I'd let you know.

TheCountAlucard
2009-01-29, 04:28 PM
Another development: I talked to the GM about statting out my minion, and he said that he'd be the one to actually build said minion, although I could give him an idea of the type of minion I'd like.

So, I'm thinking a Clawdite, sneaky-type, trained in Perception, Deception, and Stealth, capable of impersonating other people to make my own Deceptions that much easier...

What do you guys think?

TheCountAlucard
2009-02-04, 04:32 AM
So, we finally had our session last night, and it was FUN.

We made our way to the casino/hotel that hides the black market, except for the Bothan, since his player wasn't there yet, so we assumed that he was off gathering some information for us.

Tykoga gave Massen (who was posing as his minion) a thousand credits to gamble with, which turned out to be a very good investment. While Tykoga, his "bodyguards" (Sa'jet and V), and his tech specialist (Lon) went into the back area, the Jedi turned that thousand credits into twenty thousand.

In the back area, Tykoga met with a Zabrak woman who dealt in starship weapons. After a bit of bribery, she informed Tykoga about the Vice-Governess, who handled the sale of the holocron.

Making mental notes to meet with the Mistress (as she called herself), the group decided to see what wonders the black market held. Tykoga negotiated the price on a .5-class hyperdrive (which he had Lon double-check to make sure he wasn't being swindled), while V became very interested in some Jawas buying a mass of droids from some Geonosians, and Sa'jet seeks out a flamethrower he can mount on his gauntlet a la Jango Fett.

While this business is going on, the Togorian is playing the slots in the casino, although he's barely even breaking even. He punches the machine and causes a few casino tokens to accidentally fall out. The Gamorrean next to him notices this and punches his own machine, which breaks and starts spewing out tokens. Of course, casino security takes notice and moves to haul the Gamorrean off, but the Togorian convinces them that it was an accident on the Gammorean's part, allowing him to escape unscathed. They leave the casino together, at which point the Gammorean breaks into and steals a high-quality speeder in the parking lot. The Togorian decides to go along with the Gammorean, who intends on taking him to a cantina. It turns out, however, that the Gammorean was a very bad pilot, mowing down twenty-eight pedestrians, and not all of them accidentally. The Togorian attempts to force the speeder to stop, and causes it to spin out of control, forcibly ejecting the Gammorean before slamming into a wall. Somewhat injured from the impact, the Togorian then decides that the Gammorean (who is on the ground, but concious) is more trouble than he's worth, and knocks him out with a right hook.

All the commotion from the above event catches the attention of the Bothan (whose player had just arrived), who happened to be nearby. He helps the Togorian escape, and then meets up with Lon and Massen, who had left the casino.

Tykoga, Sa'jet, and V make their way to the "livestock" area, where some toughs have their "wares" caged (one cage has three Wookiees, another has a female Twi'lek, and the third has a Corellian sand panther). Tykoga speaks to one privately, and convinces him to sell Tykoga the Wookiees at a very reasonable price. Tykoga also learns that the Aqualish selling the Twi'lek is a personal enemy of the other slaver, and that the Aqualish intends on selling her to the Mistress. Tykoga buys the Twi'lek from the Aqualish and then frees her right in front of him. Tykoga then leaves, having made an enemy of the Aqualish. Once he gets back to the star yacht, he frees the Wookiees as well.

While Tykoga went to bed, V and Snake Doc hatched a plan to steal the droids purchased by the Jawas, and they decided to accomplish this by flooding the Jawas' ship with knockout gas and then taking them while the Jawas were unconcious. They go to the slavers to buy the knockout gas, figuring that they'd have some on hand. The same slaver that Tykoga had spoken with became very excited when V explained that the end result of their plan would be an entire ship full of unconcious Jawas (V was only interested in the droids, after all), and gave them the gas free, provided that they'd leave him the coordinates of the ship afterward.

Unfortunately, while the slaver was off gathering the knockout gas, the droid provoked the Corellian sand panther into breaking free from its cage, and by the time it was finally knocked out, many of the other toughs were somewhat upset at them for it, and a fight broke out when V refused to compensate the owner for the injuries the Corellian sand panther had taken. Snake Doc drops a couple of smoke grenades, allowing him and V to escape and meet the slaver in a different place to get the gas.

So, yeah, looks like I won't be the only one with some Dark Side points this time. :smallamused:

Also, I'm starting to get better at this crime lord stuff. :smallsmile:

...I wonder how much of the ninety thousand credits I spent this session I can write off to Mell as "business expenses." :smallamused:

TheCountAlucard
2009-02-11, 03:21 PM
Last night's session...

So, watching the Holonet after all the stuff that went down last session, we discover that the planet's administration is cracking down on the black market, their hands being forced by the antics of V and Snake Doc. The Mistress' name, however, remains as unstained as ever.

Tykoga, Snake Doc, and Massen go to meet with the Mistress, while V and Sa'jet leave to "liberate the droid slaves," and Lon and Mezgraf stayed behind with the ship.

Tykoga, Snake Doc, and Massen
So, we reapply our disguises, and plan for our meeting with the Vice-Governess to discuss the Sith holocron. Tykoga elects to bring along the Twi'lek ex-slave with him, dyeing her skin red to make her appear like a Lethan Twi'lek, to make her appear more exotic, and thus impress the Mistress. As we enter, Massen senses a disturbance in the Force, feeling a powerful, but foreign presence.

After a fifteen-minute description from the GM of just how expensive everything in the room is, we talk shop with the Mistress about our "Lethan," (though we don't sell her) and then as an, "oh, by the way," kind of thing, inquire very subtly about the Sith holocron, never referring to it by name. We even go so far as to show her a hologram of it, but still feign ignorance about what it actually is. We manage to convince her that we are interested in it as an art object, and she gives us some numbers to contact her with at a later date, and then advises us to be off-planet within two hours. Tykoga thanks her in Huttese and leaves the room. On a side note, we noticed the man with the Romanesque nose from before (still can't remember his name) at her side when we entered the room, but thanks to my awesome deception skills, he failed to recognize us.


V and Sa'jet
Still not sure about what happened, except that it was a success, someone shouted "Ootini!", and Sa'jet may now be sterile, thanks to radiation exposure.

Lon and Mezgraf
Not certain about what happened here, either, but what I think happened...

1) Lon got poisoned somehow, and

2) Mezgraf botched his attempt to provide medical attention, and accidentally injected him with brake fluid.

Tykoga, Snake Doc, and Massen make it back to the ship and discover Lon unconcious in the medbay. With the new Medisensor that Tykoga had retroactively bought, he discovers the presence of the brake fluid. Not having the time to treat Lon (remember, we're supposed to leave the planet!), Tykoga radios the Corellian Corvette and requests them to meet him so that Lon can be properly treated.

Not wanting to leave V's fighter behind, Snake Doc pilots it, heading to where V and Sa'jet had told him the Jawa ship would be, while Tykoga and Massen fly the star yacht to the Corellian Corvette.

Unfortunately, I wasn't paranoid enough yet to suspect sabotage, so when we made the microjump to get out of the system, our hyperdrive breaks down, causing us to only get halfway there. As we run diagnostics, we soon discover that pretty much the whole back half of the ship is messed up fairly badly. We send a distress signal to the Corvette, letting them know that we need assistance.

At the same time, V, Sa'jet, and Snake Doc are having some problems of their own...

Tykoga, Mezgraf, Lon (unconcious), and Massen
The Corvette finds us easily enough, but before anything can be done, our sensors pick up on a heavily-armed freighter making its way toward us. The Corvette fires on it while trying to move between it and our damaged ship. However, the freighter is far too maneuverable, and makes its way around the Corvette, firing on and destroying the star yacht. Out of all the players, Tykoga is the only one to make it to the escape pods. Nonetheless, Mezgraf, Massen, and the ex-slaves manage to hunker down in the medbay, sealing off breaches and securing enough life support to keep them alive for an hour.

However, Lon has started to die. Massen tries desperately to revive him. Lon's player is reluctant to let his character return to life, though. He spends fifteen minutes trying to decide whether he wants to continue playing Lon. Eventually, he decides that he wants Lon to live, so Massen manages to stabilize Lon's condition.

Meanwhile, the Corvette gets a lucky shot, heavily damaging the freighter. We then notice a fighter fly in and begin shooting at the freighter. Massen recognizes the same presence he had felt before, as the fighter and the Corvette destroy the freighter with their combined fire.

Snake Doc, Sa'jet, and VAs Snake Doc makes his way to the Jawa ship, he finds that the fighter he's in is being tailed by two other fighters, who begin firing on him. Sa'jet and V soften them up significantly with some missiles. However, the pair of fighters still manage to heavily damage the fighter Snake Doc is piloting. Snake Doc dons a (lead-lined) flight suit and abandons the fighter, aiming himself at the Jawa's ship, seconds before the fighters shoot again, destroying the fighter. With the last of their missiles, V and Sa'jet manage to destroy the enemy fighters, and then help Snake Doc onto the ship.

TheCountAlucard
2009-02-18, 03:54 PM
Just in case anyone still reads this...

Last night's session leave my character with much to do. V and Sa'jet took someone up on a deal to kill Jar-Jar Binks, while the rest of us just headed back to home base. Mell told us about an incident on Mon Calamari that is "starting to look like Sullust all over again." However, he wants to wait a bit and see how things develop before sending us out again, giving us some spare time.

Tykoga asked Lon to beef up the security system on his spacer's chest, so that it would be harder to break into, both physically and electronically.

V wants to go to Nar Shadaa to buy some upgrades. Tykoga's considering going with V.

...and that's about it. Seriously. The whole "Jar-Jar Binks Assassination" thing took up about three-quarters of the session, and those of us who weren't Sa'jet and V basically waited outside and played/watched others play Left 4 Dead.

Triaxx
2009-02-19, 06:56 AM
Hey, nothing is as entertaining as trying to Kill Jar-Jar. Especially because he's shown himself to be quite adept at success by failure.

archmage45
2009-02-19, 07:20 AM
I'm still reading! It's good stuff!

And who doesn't want to kill Jar-Jar?

Leon
2009-02-19, 07:59 AM
Just in case anyone still reads this...


I still check it from time to time.
Enjoying it

Lycan 01
2009-02-19, 03:34 PM
This stuff is freaking epic, dude. I'll have to suggest a game or two of Star Wars Saga to my college RPG group, although 3 of the 4 players are new to RPGs, with their only experience being the Call of Cthulhu scenario we ran last week over 3 sessions. So I'll run them through another Call of Cthulhu scenario, and then I may try to break them into Star Wars...

Unless they're just rabid to get down into inter-stellar space opera awesomeness. :smallbiggrin:


Oh, and my advice on the Bothan...

If you ever get into a situation where's it just you, him, and the Mando... let that sucker die. From what you've described, all the players go to seperate rooms when the characters split up. So technically, there won't be any witnesses if he dies, since the Mando is on your side. So if you guys get into a life-or-death situation, like... running from some stormies, you and the Mando can close a blast door in front of him, looking him on the other side with the stormies. Or just ice him yourself, and blame a Nat 1 on a grenade roll or something... The point is, if opportunity knocks, and you think the results may be in your favor...... open the door, my friend. :smallamused:

TheCountAlucard
2009-02-25, 03:01 AM
Glad to see that this thread still gets looked at! :smallbiggrin:

We had another short session this time, but next week will probably be a longer session. We also got a new player; he's playing a Wookiee, looks like the piloting type.

Tykoga bought some stuff on Nar Shadaa, as well as started keeping an eye out for a potential minion.

One thing I didn't mention before, largely because I'm reluctant to talk about it when my character doesn't know about it: when V and Sa'jet raided the Jawa ship, they managed to find a geniune human replica droid, much like Guri. This one was apparently the possession of a star system's administrator, salvaged after he died of old age. They're getting Lon to program it to serve Sa'jet, and they don't want anyone else to know it's a droid.

So, we're at the home base, and Mell gets all the surviving Jedi together, and they manage to sever the Sith Lord in the holocron from his connection to the Force. This proves to be disastrous, however; Sa'jet starts seeing the Sith Lord, who speaks to him, while for everyone else, the world starts turning all bluish-gray and evil, and then suddenly we see what looks like a tiny nebula through one of the viewscreens. Emerging from it like it was a portal is a steady stream of strange-looking fighters. Mell and Lon immediately start powering up the ship to get the heck out of there, while Tykoga scans the fighters.

Now, for some strange reason, we find that we haven't yet blasted off into hyperspace, and even our sublight engines are acting like we're wading through a sea of molasses. The fighters begin to fire on us, and their shots seem to slip right through our shields as though they weren't even there. An attempt to hail them ends up with all of our speakers screeching and clicking as though metal was grinding against metal while someone with a computer mouse went insane. Attempts by the ship's processors to translate it show that the only language it has anything common with is that of the Verpines, and that's only a 3% similarity.

Well, we finally manage to get out of there, and as we escape into hyperspace, things start returning to normal. Sa'jet shares with us some of what the Sith Lord told him - apparently, the Sith Lord was the only thing holding back these extragalactic beings, and severing him from the Force unleashed them. He goes on to explain that while they don't have hyperdrive technology, they are still dangerous nonetheless. However, their species apparently has a hive-mind, controlled by a queen, and if we can kill the queen, we might stop their advance.

Tykoga's decision to scan the fighters came in handy; it led the party to find out that the ships were a feat of biotechnology. The most similar biotechnology known of at the time is that of the Gungans. :smallconfused:

Well, we're starting to make plans on how we're going to handle this all next session...

1) Tykoga, Sa'jet, and our new Wookiee are going to Ryloth, so I can finish the deal on that hyperdrive. I have a feeling we'll be needing it... We'll be meeting with the sellers on the night side, during a swoop race. To make things interesting for everybody, Sa'jet and the Wookiee will be entered in the race.

2) Snake Doc is going to do something Bothan-y.

3) Lon's gonna be pretty busy - he'll be working with Mell to integrate some sort of stealth crystal into one of our ships, programming the human replica droid, and doing a variety of other things.

4) Once Tykoga, Sa'jet, and the Wookiee get back from Ryloth, some of us will be headed to Naboo's moon to speak to some Gungans and see if we can get a little more information about biotechnological ships.

TheCountAlucard
2009-03-11, 05:07 AM
Last week we didn't have our game because the GM had work issues.

However, this week's session was quite excellent.

We ended up reworking our plan; we went to Naboo's moon first, talked to the Gungans about biotechnology, and then went to speak to some Verpines to get an idea of how hive-minds worked. We then went in our Corellian Corvette to capture one of the enemy fighters. Thanks to some adjustments, we managed to wipe out a good number of the fighters, so that we could isolate one with our tractor beam and whatnot. Mezgraf ended up fighting the creature manning the fighter one-on-one. We then got in contact with Mell again; he and his entourage started studying the fighter.

After that, Tykoga takes the party to the night side of Ryloth "to celebrate his birthday." He had arranged for a swoop race some time in advance, even ponying up twenty thousand credits for the winner. Along with fourteen other racers, Sa'jet, V, one of our Y-wing pilots, Lon, Massen, and our new Wookiee all decided to enter in the race. Deciding to have some fun with it, Tykoga did some very careful rumor-mongering. When he was finished, many of the spectators were firmly convinced that there was no way that any of his disguised associates stood a chance at winning the race. Tykoga then bet ten thousand each on the Wookiee, the Y-wing pilot, Massen, and Lon to win (his deception had tipped the odds so drastically that any one of them winning would earn him over a hundred thousand credits).

After getting wind of what Tykoga was doing, V bet one hundred thousand credits on our Twi'lek Y-wing pilot winning the race.

There would be five races, the first four to determine who would participate in the fifth. Thus, each of the first four races would have five different racers, and the fifth would be run by the four winners. V and our Y-wing pilot were in the first race, Sa'jet and Lon were in the second, Massen was in the third, and the Wookie was in the fourth.

Since most of us were very close to levelling, a great number of Force Points were spent.

V made sure that the Y-wing pilot won the first race, even going as far as to slow down and backhand a Rodian into the canyon wall. A bit of a malfunction caused the Y-wing pilot's swoop bike to catch fire, but she manages to win anyway.

Sa'jet and Lon spent five Force Points apiece in the second race. Lon won, advancing to the fifth race.

Massen and the Wookiee weren't as close to levelling, so they didn't spend any Force Points in their respective races, but they nonetheless managed to win.

So, we're on the final race, and Tykoga is feeling fairly comfortable; after all, no matter who wins, Tykoga stands to earn a hefty sum of credits in the process. The Y-wing pilot does fairly well starting out, remaining way out in front for the first third of the race. About halfway through, Lon, Massen, and the Wookiee were clustered fairly close together as they sped through the canyon. The Wookiee, knowing that he's likely to lose anyway, decides to rage, and then try and grab Lon's swoop bike. Massen ends up having to dodge the Wookiee's abandoned swoop bike, while Lon tries to shake the Wookiee off. Burning his Force Points left and right, Lon finally shakes the Wookiee off of his swoop bike, leaving him bruised and battered on the canyon floor. The Twi'lek managed to stay a little bit ahead for most of the race. However, with only forty meters or so left, Lon tosses off a Destiny Point to act out of turn. We end up with a photo finish, in which the Twi'lek wins by half a meter. When your swoops are going at six hundred kilometers per hour, that's a very close finish.

So, yeah, the crowd goes wild, Tykoga gets a fair chunk of change, the Y-wing pilot is excited at having won a swoop race, and V is suddenly a millionaire. All in all, a lot of fun. :smallsmile:

Triaxx
2009-03-11, 12:51 PM
Sounds like great fun was had by all.

TheCountAlucard
2009-03-11, 02:01 PM
It was tons of fun; I did very little that session, but I enjoyed the hell out of that race.

Oh, and Tykoga now has his first level in Crime Lord. I'm supposed to get my minion next session. Tykoga also asked Mell to create a protocol droid for him, basing its looks and personality after his deceased little sister.

Triaxx
2009-03-11, 05:10 PM
Yeah, that's not at all creepy. (Creepy rating: 7)

TheCountAlucard
2009-03-25, 05:25 PM
Sorry about not posting in so long! It seems the GM wants to split the group up, as 8 players is a tad much for him. So now we're two groups of four, half of which will be playing on Tuesday nights, and the other half of which will be playing on Thursday nights.

Snake Doc, Sa'jet, V, and Lon will be having their adventures on Tuesday nights.

Tykoga, Massen, Mezgraf, and the Wookiee will be having their adventures on Thursday nights.

TheCountAlucard
2009-04-03, 01:57 PM
Turns out that we're also going back just a little, to before the whole "holocron that holds back the extragalactic critters is severed from the Force" thing. In fact, that part's just not gonna happen, as the GM had only devised it as a way to challenge our massive party. With our group split up into something more managable, he has other things planned.

My Clawdite minion arrives, taking on the form of a very tall, Nordic-looking human. Since I haven't let on to the others that he's a Clawdite, Tykoga is calling his disguise "Browson." The Clawdite's actual name means something along the lines of "Gift" in one of the more obscure languages; I thought that was vaguely interesting.

Likewise, Mell finishes work on "Kari," my protocol droid. Mell asks us to go to Dantooine, to find the Jedi Enclave; he wants more data about the holocron, and figured that it would be a good place to look. He's also sending along Baris Offee and Aayla Secura.

Oh, and since the Wookiee's player had an unexpected schedule change, we ended up not bringing him along, instead bringing along Karen, that woman from our black market adventure. Also, Mezgraf, our resident Togorian, decides to bring along his mount, a large flying reptilian creature he calls "Jasmine."

Anyway, we arrive on Dantooine, and decide to explore some sort of ruined structure, with lots of fallen marble-esque pillars. Mezgraf notices that the floor is composed of blocks of the same material as the pillars, and is supported by a metal framework. He decides to pry one of the blocks loose, and with help from Massen, discovers that underneath is a crawl space big enough for Massen to explore.

Massen does so, noting that he feels a breeze while he is down there. He crawls about for a bit, and discovers a half-buried droid blocking the path. He hauls it out for us to look at, and returns to investigating the crawlspace. Tykoga and Karen figure out that the droid is easily six hundred years old.

Tykoga begins working on the droid when it suddenly switches on, a red light beginning to blink on its chest. "All subjects found," the droid says. Tykoga continues to fiddle with it, getting better access to the droid's systems, and begins downloading information from the droid.

Meanwhile, Massen discovers that the tunnel ends at the nearby river. He also notes that the breeze from before has stopped. He brings his glowrod a little closer to get a better look... and notices that something (a friend later suggested it might've been a Hssiss) is in the water, looking at him. It is so massive that it can only get its head through.

Massen mentions this to us over the comlink, and Mezgraf responds, barreling toward the river. He leaps into the water, landing on the beast's back. It pulls its head out of the tunnel to try and deal with Mezgraf, while he rakes at it with his claws.

Well, with the beast distracted, Massen decides to use the Force to telekinetically hurl the gargantuan creature out of the water, first stretching out his feelings to find it, and then tossing this multi-ton creature straight out of the water and crashing it into a tree.

Mezgraf whistles for Jasmine to attack, and she flies down and begins scratching and biting at the creature, while Mezgraf likewise rakes at it. However, a hit from the monster devastates Jasmine, so Mezgraf tells her to retreat while he finishes it off. He then proceeds to brutalize the creature, tearing it several new hypothetical orifices with his claws until it lies dead on the ground.

Of course, Tykoga had managed to ignore all of this, working nonchalantly on the droid as though nothing was happening. While Mezgraf calls in the medic from our Corellian Corvette to patch up Jasmine, Tykoga unintentionally causes the droid to begin self-testing to see if it is operational, which includes firing off its powerful lasers in random directions. Luckily, no one was hurt by it, but the droid's display was rather impressive, so Tykoga orders it to take itself to the Corvette, hole up in one of the cargo holds, and shut itself off. It suddenly begins blinking green instead of red, and says, "TRANSMITTING ORDERS." Several more of them (eight, to be specific) stand up from out of nowhere, and begin shuffling off in the direction of our ship.

Mezgraf begins skinning the dead creature, while Karen and Aayla explore one of the other sites. They find an entrance to the Jedi Enclave and call us over. We arrive and enter as a group, taking note of a grimy, dusty fountain and fallen lighting panels.

When Mezgraf opens the door on the far side of the room, he is attacked by a creature that the GM describes as, "Kinda like it has the body of a lion, but it's got less of a mane and has the head of a dog." Tykoga is the first to act, and puts a couple of blaster bolts into the creature, after which Aayla Secura and Mezgraf put rancors to shame in the game of quick dispatching.

Mezgraf takes its ear as a prize and we explore a little further, finding a ruined training area. While Tykoga attempts to slice a nearby console, Mezgraf wanders ahead into the kitchen, where he discovers "what looks to be a rat, only bigger than a Jawa," and that's where the session ended.

WeeFreeMen
2009-04-03, 06:52 PM
Subdue him, and sell him into slavery. Its what you do, right? Besides, what better way for a slaver to take care of his problems.

Yeah but by doing that he sets himself up for cliche number 1.

The slave/orphan will come back to exact revenge and kill him ;)

TheCountAlucard
2009-04-03, 09:34 PM
Yeah but by doing that he sets himself up for cliche number 1.

The slave/orphan will come back to exact revenge and kill him ;)

Luckily, I don't think it's a problem for me anymore; we're not in the same game anymore.

TheCountAlucard
2009-04-10, 06:13 AM
Well, I guess it's time to talk about the session again, so that the few of you who pay attention to this sort of thing can get your fill of my adventures in the Star Wars universe...

So, last session ended with Mezgraf finding a giant rat in the ancient Jedi Enclave on Dantooine. In our group was Tykoga (me), Massen, Karen, Mezgraf, "Browson," Aayla Secura, Bariss Offee, and Kari. However, since Mezgraf's player was ill and Karen's player was running late, we retroactively sent Mezgraf and Karen off to the Corvette to ensure that everything went down okay with the droids Tykoga had sliced, while Massen easily dealt with the rat. We proceeded deeper to find another dog-lion, and since Mezgraf wasn't there, Tykoga made a joke about taking a trophy from it, taking one of the ears. The party heads down a hallway to discover a lightsaber workshop, and signs that it had been used recently. Massen even discovers a half-built saber with a crystal. Massen pocketed the crystal, while Tykoga set up a hidden camera to watch for whoever had been using the area, in case he or she decided to return.

We make our way further along to find a large amphitheater/garden/meditation chamber, where six pickup truck-sized lizards are sunbathing under the light shining through a hole in the ceiling. Massen attempts to sneak through, only to get spotted by a pair of them. He makes the mistake of running for it, since it turned out that these critters had "Jurassic Park T-Rex vision" (i.e., it can't see you if you don't move), and he is attacked several times in the process. Tykoga cracks off a shot against one of the ones attacking Massen from inside the hallway, prompting two of the other lizards to attack us (the remaining four going after Massen).

Now, the GM admitted that he was using the stats for the Rancor, since he didn't have Threats of the Galaxy on him. Massen barely gets out of their way long enough to Force Thrust the critters, surprisingly knocking them down and preventing them from brutalizing him that round.

Meanwhile, Bariss Offee and Aayla Secura are simply standing at the door while Tykoga fires off a couple of shots at the reptiles heading in their direction. Why they didn't move to assist their fellow Jedi, or at least move into a better position, escapes me.

Now, lemme interrupt my little narrative to tell you guys something... to be honest, I haven't liked Karen's player for a long time. The guy swears like he got them on sale somewhere, and does it loudly enough to make truck horns jealous. He's one of the worst kinds of rules-lawyers, where he is willing to look up any rule that will give him an advantage, only to conveniently forget about those that are problematic (or at least try and word them in a way as to totally twist the intents). Not to mention the fact that he's spent a good portion of the session on his laptop, looking at humorous pictures on the Internet...

Karen's player starts loudly berating us for our choice of actions. He then starts making Massen's player's decisions for him, telling Massen's player and the GM exactly what Massen was going to do... which was essentially using his Surge and retreating. Bariss and Aayla close the door after him. Tykoga begins thinking of a way of getting past them, and notes that the hole in the ceiling had been high enough off of the ground to make it impossible for the reptiles to reach them, and that the ceiling had more than its share of vines. Likewise, Massen (back under the control of his player) suggested taking some sort of platform, such as a table, and using the Force to levitate it over the creatures. Either way, we'd need to go back to the Corvette, so we did so.

When we get back, Karen loudly berates us for our choice of actions, and says that Tykoga was probably too busy "looking at his nails" to contribute. Karen essentially proposes that we use a ton of thermal detonators and the hole in the ceiling to solve our lizard problem, and does so, leaving the garden a giant crater.

With the reptiles out of the way, we proceed deeper, until we walk into the Enclave's library, likely our sought-out destination. Standing at the far end is a Jedi... and someone familiar.

That's right! Remember the Dark Jedi that we encountered on Sullust? She's baaaack. Of course, because of the way we're positioned, she only sees Massen (to whom she bears a personal grudge), and thinking it's an easy sight, she surges and jumps all the way there. Things start going badly for her during the fight, so the Dark Jedi begins throwing around Destiny Points, making her two Force Lightnings (one normal, one quickened) crit. Massen surprisingly rolls highly enough to Rebuke the first one (although it would've been impossible for him to send it back at her), and then spends a Destiny Point to dodge the second blast at the last second. The Dark Jedi then blows her last three Destiny Points to act out of turn to attack Massen again, and then crit both times. Massen manages to block the first one, but has to take the second one. However, the Dark Jedi is looking a lot worse off than we are, and is now out of Destiny Points.

Once again I feel I must break narrative.

I'm never letting Karen's player into any of the games I'm GMing. I made that mistake once with the last half of one of my games last year, and I still regret it.

I declare to the GM that Tykoga will attempt to get her to back down with a Persuasion check. IMMEDIATELY Karen's player calls foul, declaring that there's no way in the rules I could do such a thing. When I point-by-point prove him wrong, he counters with, "But it's (censored) STAR WARS. It's not about (censored) TALKING. You (censored) SHOOT things or slice its (censored) off with a (censored) lightsaber. If you built a (censored) character for (censored) TALKING to people, YOU'RE DOING IT WRONG."

That REALLY ticked me off. EVEN if he was right about the power of persuasion having no place in the Star Wars universe (which he wasn't, IMO :smallannoyed:), he was entirely in the wrong for saying that to me.

Keeping my temper, I countered with, "So, Luke saying that he still believed there was good in Vader had no impact on Vader's later actions in Return of the Jedi?" Karen's player continues to swear and complain about how you shouldn't be able to use social skill checks in combat (although if you really shouldn't be able to, then why does the book bother telling you what kind of action the check is?).

Luckily, the GM agreed with me, and when Tykoga levelled his blaster pistol at the Dark Jedi and told her to get steppin' (and his Persuasion check beat her Will Defense by a whopping 20 points), she beat a hasty retreat.

So, with Karen's player still grumbling, we talk to the Jedi, who tells us about how he survived Order 66, and chose to hide in the Enclave in order to protect the information in the archives, where we now stand. Of course, given how we saved his life, he's more than willing to give us the information we desire. We contact Mell, and basically transfer the entirety of the archives to him.

All in all, a fun session, although Karen's player's actions left a very sour taste in my mouth.

archmage45
2009-04-10, 11:53 AM
That sounds... unpleasant. At least your DM seems to have a good grasp of things!

TheCountAlucard
2009-04-10, 02:16 PM
Exactly. He's a good GM, and he at least attempts to listen to both sides of an argument before making a decision (although it can be hard when the other person is making his "argument" loudly enough to rupture something inside your head).

And, y'know, thinking about it, I just can't find myself agreeing with Karen's player... social skills are very much a part of Star Wars, even in combat, and can be used to devastating effect (those of you who have read Jabba the Hutt: the Art of the Deal would probably agree with me).

TheCountAlucard
2009-04-17, 01:51 AM
So the session got a little weird today.

So, the Jedi found a faraway cave that they believed they'd find lightsaber crystals in. We plumbed deep into the cave, and found a little hill full of massive crystals. We start harvesting crystals, only for the hill to suddenly stand up beneath us. We're basically standing on a giant Tarrasque with crystal spikes coming from its shell, and crystals embedded in the mound of dirt on its back, and crystals lodged in between its plates, et cetera. Turns out, though, that it regards us as little more than flies, getting up and walking around. So, we're basically tickbirds on a rhino, picking crystals off its hide as it wanders around aimlessly.

We decide to head back to the Corellian Corvette, and notice something. All the life signs from a mine shaft seem to have disappeared. We decide, why not, we investigate. It's full of mining equipment and bulldozers and cranes, all up and running, but not a single living thing in the mine.

Humorously enough, we find one Gonk droid shambling about aimlessly. We keep going deeper, until we find a 90%-buried Dreadnaught-class ship. Tykoga decides to sit outside, while the others shuffle inside and try and get to the bridge. Strangely enough, however, no matter how many routes the party tries, they keep ending up in Engineering, even when going in exactly the opposite direction.

Eventually Tykoga suggests that their senses might be fooling them. He recommends via scouter that Mezgraf close his eyes, get on all fours, hug the wall, and walk around until he gets to the bridge. Aayla Secura rides on his back, and Massen walks behind, holding Mezgraf's tail. Bariss Offee decides to explore Engineering, and Tykoga waits outside the ship.

...Did I mention that a wall of rock bisects Engineering in twain? Yeah. When the party gets to the bridge, it is likewise only half-available. Massen digs in with his lightsaber, and continues until he reaches the outer hull. It's as though it had somehow phased inside.

Well, while Karen finds out that the ship was one of the original Katana fleet, but was diverted to some other project (can't remember the name, sounded rather like "Kaleidoscope").

Anyway, summing stuff up, turns out that Bariss Offee somehow got hypnotized by the hyperdrive, and that's where the miners ended up. After a bit, we shut down the hyperdrive, but everyone's still standing there and staring like zombies, so we have our various droids come and haul them off of the ship.

That's when our session stopped for the night, since my ride home had to go.

Drakefall
2009-04-17, 02:31 AM
Your group has the most awesome sessions, you know that?:smallbiggrin: Makes me want to try getting my group to try SAGA edition after our current campaign... if I can actually find it and someone to DM it this silly country:smallsigh:.

Question: What race and class is Mezgraf? I'm sure you mentioned it before but I'm far to lazy to go digging through old posts:smalltongue:.

Triaxx
2009-04-17, 07:55 AM
Sounds like it's time for a stealth kill. Cool sessions. Maybe I can talk my group into Star Wars next.

TheCountAlucard
2009-04-17, 03:24 PM
Question: What race and class is Mezgraf? I'm sure you mentioned it before but I'm far to lazy to go digging through old posts.

Mezgraf is a Togorian Soldier/Jedi. He's a few levels behind the party, because the GM houseruled that new players start a level behind, and that in a couple of sessions where he wasn't there, we gained enough experience to level.

Also, now Karen's player is complaining about how my "Impel Ally I" doesn't list a range in its description. While I reluctantly agree that being able to spend a swift action to get an ally who's halfway across the Galaxy from you with no means of communication to move his speed sounds a little crazy, I do wish he'd shut up about it.

TheCountAlucard
2009-05-01, 03:00 AM
Don't worry, friends! Alucard is still alive! :smallbiggrin:

He just hasn't gotten to play Star Wars. :smallfrown:

It started last week with the GM being unprepared, so Mezgraf's player offered to run D&D (3.5ed) that night. He only allowed PHB + DMG (for prestige classes, he had meant, but our Star Wars GM managed to finangle him into letting him play a werewolf paladin), and declared that it was an extremely low-magic world; he told us that there were an estimated 50 arcane casters on the planet. Humorously enough, each of the seventh-level characters we created was at least a partial caster of some kind: elven wizard (me), human sorceror (Massen's player), gnome assassin (V's player), werewolf paladin (SW GM), human druid (Sa'jet's player), a human cleric of Pelor (Karen's player), and a human ranger (new player).

Perhaps it's the sudden break from our Star Wars game, perhaps it's Mezgraf's player's DMing style, perhaps it's that I'm in another game with Karen's player... but I haven't really enjoyed the game so far. Most of my time playing has been me sitting around while the DM spends half the session focusing on one or two characters, or me getting creative with Prestidigitation (i.e., "I make the cleric smell and taste like warm bacon" while out of combat), or me getting complained at by Karen's player for my having decided to play a Diviner banning Enchantment.

Decided to make the last ten minutes of this last session fun, though.

See, my wizard, the sorcerer, and the druid (both of the latter were temporarily in "he's over there" NPC limbo, due to the players not being there) were staying with the wagon, while the ranger tried to lead some mooks away from the adventuring site, and the cleric and assassin snuck into their campsite (thank you, silence!) to spike their water with knockout poison. Unfortunately, one of the guards happened to roll fairly high on his Spot check, noticed them sneaking around, and soon a fight (or hilarity) ensued.

Of course, since I was "over there, with the wagon," the DM was pretty much ignoring me. The fight was going pretty well for the cleric, thanks to divine power and fire shield and the like, but the assassin really couldn't do much with five warriors in melee with him. After the assassin got knocked into single-digit HP, I decided, "Y'know what? I'm gonna do something." Wrote up a note card, passed it to the DM with my battle plan: buff myself up a bit so that my AC is actually decent, fly, mirror image, make my way over there, and rain down death.

Yeah, I went nova. Evard's black tentacles, lightning bolt, grease hilarity on the archers, and a scorching ray or two. Would've polymorphed the assassin into a troll for the fun of it, but what I had already cast seemed to be sufficient; the remaining mooks either dropped into fetal positions or ran.