SolkaTruesilver
2010-01-08, 08:14 PM
I am trying to find a way to play Star Wars in a World of Darkness ruleset.
So far, it hasn't been very difficult. Seriously, WoD is awesomely flexible!
However, I have a problem. I am sure you can all see it:
1- Lightsabers
2- Jedi Power
To begin, I don't like the whole "Dark Side is Evil" some of the video games are trying to make us swallow. So I decided to play the Force in a different aspect that still make sense in the cadre of most Sith and Jedi we are seeing around:
The Force is a power that you can Feel, and that you can Power around. When you Feel the Force, you can predict ennemy blastershots. You can see the future, you get insights about what to do. You know how to act to make someone act the way you want.
When you Power the Force around you, you can push things. You can stop blaster shots with your hand, you can throw lightnings. You can crush someone's mind with your sheer willpower.
But Feeling and Powering requires two completely different states of mind. Feeling needs a quasi-Buddah philosophy, where you have to be at peace. Powering needs to delve into your inner emotions and let them out, so the more you WANT something, the more it happens.
You can see how the two philosophy are directly contradictorian, and why it is so hard to master both. Also why the Power side seems to be more tempting. But there is something even more inscidious to the Force sensitives: the more they get attuned to using one philosophy of the Force, the more they easily fall into the mindset. It means that Feeling-users become more and more distant.. Recluse.. insentive to the rest of the Galaxy. It means that Power-users become like spoiled childs, doing what they want when they want, because WANTING something is the source of their power.
A Jedi is primarly a Feeler-disciple, but the Power side is crucially useful to him, at least to a minimum. Which is why the Jedi masters train their apprentice to use Power while they are in complete meditative state, to be able to project their willpower without falling to emotions.
The same for the Sith. Even if they have incredibly control over whatever around them, they still need a basic of Feeling, or they will be blind to what happens around them. It explains why so many still spend some time in meditation.
Okay. Now you know the philosophy I want to use for my Force powers. As you see, it doesn't make Jedi good guys, or Sith bad guys. It is just that, seeing the kind of philosophy the Powering side embrace, they are naturaly harder to fit in a society than Jedi. But a Sith could be a romantic passionate (Jedi are not allowed to feel love!!!)
So... I remember the Werewolf (Forsaken)'s ruleset of having points spent into some kinds of.. ... damn, I forgot. It was some philosophy points that would allow you to use Werewolf superpowers (gifts). There were 5 philosophies, and the highest amount you had in Philosophy X gave you the maximum level of gifts linked to that philosophy you were allowed to take.
Also, these philosophy were linked into your behavior in the game. They gave bonus dice to use the gifts (so a low-level gift became more powerful if your increased your related philosophy stat). I think it fits nicely for Jedi and their powers. But then, I would need an list of the Jedi powers we know of, and I would like to know on which side of the Feeler/Power they fall.
And.. Lightsabers. Man I just don't know. I guess you could be allowed to parry blaster shots at you (with a bonus to your dice pool equal to your Feeler Force power). But what about damage? What is required to send a shot back to the ennemy? What kind of power would that be? (I was thinking, maybe, of a Feel 3 - level Force power that gave you +4 dice bonus to parry, but these counted only for the damage caused by sending the blaster bolt back. If you don't roll any success with your other dice, the power is useless)
Remember, in WoD, the power levels grow as such:
1- Weakling
2- Below average
3- Average
4- Very good
5- Master
I would be thinking that the equivalence would be:
1- Trainee
2- Padawan
3- Jedi Knight
4- Jedi Master
5- Senior Jedi Master
But then again, it's open to interpretation. Also, here is my personnal guess about some of the character's force masteries:
Palpatine: Power 5, Feel 3
Vader: Power 6, Feel 1 (you couldn't detect your old master, your son and the droid your built? You couldn't feel that the woman you tortured was your daughter?)
Obi-Wan: Feel 4, Power 2
Yoda: Feel 5, Power 3
Mace Windu: Feel 4, Power 4 (he was reknowned as the best dark-side Jedi user, if I remember right).
Now, remember, in the way I see the rules, you don't automatically get Force Powers as your gain the appropriate Force level. You have to spend hard-earned experience points to get them.
Please, add your salt as you see fit.
So far, it hasn't been very difficult. Seriously, WoD is awesomely flexible!
However, I have a problem. I am sure you can all see it:
1- Lightsabers
2- Jedi Power
To begin, I don't like the whole "Dark Side is Evil" some of the video games are trying to make us swallow. So I decided to play the Force in a different aspect that still make sense in the cadre of most Sith and Jedi we are seeing around:
The Force is a power that you can Feel, and that you can Power around. When you Feel the Force, you can predict ennemy blastershots. You can see the future, you get insights about what to do. You know how to act to make someone act the way you want.
When you Power the Force around you, you can push things. You can stop blaster shots with your hand, you can throw lightnings. You can crush someone's mind with your sheer willpower.
But Feeling and Powering requires two completely different states of mind. Feeling needs a quasi-Buddah philosophy, where you have to be at peace. Powering needs to delve into your inner emotions and let them out, so the more you WANT something, the more it happens.
You can see how the two philosophy are directly contradictorian, and why it is so hard to master both. Also why the Power side seems to be more tempting. But there is something even more inscidious to the Force sensitives: the more they get attuned to using one philosophy of the Force, the more they easily fall into the mindset. It means that Feeling-users become more and more distant.. Recluse.. insentive to the rest of the Galaxy. It means that Power-users become like spoiled childs, doing what they want when they want, because WANTING something is the source of their power.
A Jedi is primarly a Feeler-disciple, but the Power side is crucially useful to him, at least to a minimum. Which is why the Jedi masters train their apprentice to use Power while they are in complete meditative state, to be able to project their willpower without falling to emotions.
The same for the Sith. Even if they have incredibly control over whatever around them, they still need a basic of Feeling, or they will be blind to what happens around them. It explains why so many still spend some time in meditation.
Okay. Now you know the philosophy I want to use for my Force powers. As you see, it doesn't make Jedi good guys, or Sith bad guys. It is just that, seeing the kind of philosophy the Powering side embrace, they are naturaly harder to fit in a society than Jedi. But a Sith could be a romantic passionate (Jedi are not allowed to feel love!!!)
So... I remember the Werewolf (Forsaken)'s ruleset of having points spent into some kinds of.. ... damn, I forgot. It was some philosophy points that would allow you to use Werewolf superpowers (gifts). There were 5 philosophies, and the highest amount you had in Philosophy X gave you the maximum level of gifts linked to that philosophy you were allowed to take.
Also, these philosophy were linked into your behavior in the game. They gave bonus dice to use the gifts (so a low-level gift became more powerful if your increased your related philosophy stat). I think it fits nicely for Jedi and their powers. But then, I would need an list of the Jedi powers we know of, and I would like to know on which side of the Feeler/Power they fall.
And.. Lightsabers. Man I just don't know. I guess you could be allowed to parry blaster shots at you (with a bonus to your dice pool equal to your Feeler Force power). But what about damage? What is required to send a shot back to the ennemy? What kind of power would that be? (I was thinking, maybe, of a Feel 3 - level Force power that gave you +4 dice bonus to parry, but these counted only for the damage caused by sending the blaster bolt back. If you don't roll any success with your other dice, the power is useless)
Remember, in WoD, the power levels grow as such:
1- Weakling
2- Below average
3- Average
4- Very good
5- Master
I would be thinking that the equivalence would be:
1- Trainee
2- Padawan
3- Jedi Knight
4- Jedi Master
5- Senior Jedi Master
But then again, it's open to interpretation. Also, here is my personnal guess about some of the character's force masteries:
Palpatine: Power 5, Feel 3
Vader: Power 6, Feel 1 (you couldn't detect your old master, your son and the droid your built? You couldn't feel that the woman you tortured was your daughter?)
Obi-Wan: Feel 4, Power 2
Yoda: Feel 5, Power 3
Mace Windu: Feel 4, Power 4 (he was reknowned as the best dark-side Jedi user, if I remember right).
Now, remember, in the way I see the rules, you don't automatically get Force Powers as your gain the appropriate Force level. You have to spend hard-earned experience points to get them.
Please, add your salt as you see fit.