In the battle between good and evil, this one counts!

Art by Jim Holloway

In the '80s, FASA produced several games based on licensed properties and did so with reasonable success (other than that one).  FASA hoped to obtain the license to produce games based on the Star Wars property; however, the license went to West End Games.  This left FASA with the basis of a space battle combat system but unable to publish that system for the intended setting.  As such, FASA came up with an original setting.  The 'Renegade Legion' background is essentially the Roman Empire in space.  While Star Wars features a rebel alliance against an evil galactic empire, Renegade Legion has an alliance of humans and aliens (the Commonwealth) against an evil galactic empire (the Terran Overlord Government).  As a result of these opposing forces, we get the rather lackluster tagline, “In the battle between good and evil, this one counts!”

The first Renegade Legion product was 1987's Interceptor, a space ship war game.  FASA produced other war games for the franchise.  In 1990, FASA published Legionnaire, a role-playing game based in the Renegade Legion setting and compatible with the prior games.  Is 1990 too recent to be considered 'old school'?  It's thirty years old, but it's just recent enough for it not to be cataloged in Lawrence Schick's Heroic Worlds.  Cherished readers with a strong opinion one way or the other are invited to comment.  Regardless, Legionnaire certainly has some 'old school' connections.

Legionnaire was designed by Tunnels & Trolls stalwarts Michael A. Stackpole and James “Bear” Peters.  It is therefore not surprising there are similarities between the two games.  Legionnaire characters have eight Primary Attributes:  Agility, Charisma, Constitution, Dexterity, Intelligence, Luck, Speed, and Strength.  There are few differences from the Prime Attributes of the contemporaneous T&T rules.  Legionnaire separates T&T Dexterity into Dexterity (aptitude with “fine motor skills”) and Agility (aptitude with “gross motor skills”).  Legionnaire also has Speed, an attribute which T&T would adopt in later editions.

The “basic value” for each Primary Attribute is determined by adding the results of 2d10.  Alternately, a player may allocate 88 points among the eight Primary Attributes.  Using the allocation method, “No attribute can have a value below 5 or above 17.”

After Primary Attribute values are determined, players select skills for their characters.  The Legionnaire skill system approximates that which Stackpole developed for T&T.  Each character has a number of skill points equal to his or her Intelligence value plus three.  Each skill requires a minimum Intelligence value; as examples, Gambling requires at least 4 Intelligence, Cryptography requires at least 15.  Some skills also require minimum values with other attributes.  For instance, Escape Artist requires a minimum value of 13 in each of Intelligence, Agility, and Dexterity.

It costs 1 skill point to purchase a skill at level 1.  Extra skill levels can be purchased at a cost, in skill points, equal to the sum of the levels up to and including that level.  i.e., level 2 costs 2 more points, for a total of 3 points.  Level 3 costs 6 points (1 + 2 + 3), 3 points more than level 2.  Level 8 costs 8 points more than level 7, or a total of 36 points.

The basic mechanic for Legionnaire is to roll a number of dice and compare the total result to a specified number.  Exceeding said number indicates failure.  The specified number is either a character's attribute (for saving rolls) or an appropriate skill level added to an appropriate attribute (for skill checks).  Difficulty is expressed by the number of dice to be rolled.  Minimum difficulty is 1d10; extreme difficulty is “6D10 or more.”

Every two skill points represents a year of time which is added to a character's base age of 17.  However, we learn that, “A good background story for a character can be rewarded by granting the character a skill or two for free.”  Such a reward “should be limited to two skill points worth of skills.”

Legionnaire offers 'career packages' from which characters can obtain a number of reasonably related skills at a discount.  For instance, the career package for a marine officer provides twelve skills for only nine points.  Only four years are added to the character's age (as opposed to six).  However, career packages require minimum attribute values.  The marine officer package requires a value of ten in each of Intelligence, Dexterity, and Agility.  The career packages in Legionnaire are limited to military or intelligence.  However, characters are not required to take a career package.  Also, rules are provided for creating original career packages.

In the next post, we will continue our exploration of the Legionnaire character generation system.

The Outworlds

Art by Jeff Dee

According to the Introduction of the Space Opera rules, “...we have been most fortunate in procuring several copies of the Interstellar Survey Service's Sector Star Atlases which are standard issue to all spacecraft entering given sectors of the galaxy.”  Actually, they're called Star Sector Atlases and are indicated as such in the product listings on the inside back cover.  Almost all of the Star Sector Atlases are numbered; for instance, the complete title of the first atlas is Star Sector Atlas 1:  The Terran Sector.  In Space Opera parlance, a sector represents a cubic volume of space 100-200 light years to a side.  The rules helpfully explain, “space is very definitely three dimensional...”  Very definitely.

The only unnumbered Star Sector Atlas is titled The Outworlds.  It is unnumbered because it “is not from the same game universe” as the default Space Opera setting.  However, even the numbered atlases can be inconsistent with one another since they are derived from different campaigns and thus reflect different interpretations of the setting.  In any event, The Outworlds sector “can be added on to an existing campaign, or be used as the starting point for a new one.”  Also, “The worlds and alien races in this sector can also be used on their own; simply ignore any references to other Outworlds.”

Supposedly, “The sector is 150 LY on a side.”  However, there are two planets that are 171 light years apart on the z-axis (or “the vertical dimension” as the rules state).  At least, that's what I gather from “–78 BISTHUM” and “+93 MANO.”  The Bisthum system is home to Outpost 8.  Outposts are defined as “Planets that are being investigated and prepared for colonization” and civilization is represented by “Generally an E StarPort, a few pre-fabricated huts, and a team of lonely researchers.”  The Mano system contains the planet Goshlookout where “semi-intelligent animals” plague the colonists.

     The first beasts were six legged dinosaur-like creatures who were heavily armored and armed.  Later types grew wings, prehensile trunks, shooting spines, and other deadly weapons.  The worst beast ability is the almost total resistance to poisons and biological weapons...Each beast will have one unusual ability, such as resistance to lasers or stunners.

The Outworlds was written by Stefan Jones, who has a variety of RPG credits that span decades, including Port o' Call.  Interestingly, his first writing credit was a (capsule) review of Space Opera in The Space Gamer #33 (November 1980).  (For Trillion Credit Squadron, he is listed as one of three people having “Useful Suggestions,” so I don't think that counts.)  Was he already working on The Outworlds (1981 copyright) when he submitted that review?  Jones also wrote the Space Opera adventures Vault of the Ni'er Queyon (1982) and
Operation Peregrine (1983).

In the atlas, information about each planet of interest is conveyed through two documents provided under the auspices of the United Federation of Planets.  (Really?  They couldn't go with the Federation of United Planets or the Combined Federation of Planets?)  The two documents are:  Form 217/DIS.8JE from the Department of Interstellar Survey and Form 550/CS.6MV from the Contacts Service.

Blank Survey Evaluation Form

Example Contacts Service Form:  Alkast

“Technological Level” appears at the top of the Contacts Service form, right next to the planet's name.  Whereas weapons and various items of equipment are assigned Tech Levels, what 'Tech Level' means with regard to a society is not expressly established.  Tech Levels range from one to ten but “Tech/7” is the standard level for galactic civilization.  Tech Levels correlate to “Type of Government.”  For instance, Anarchy results in a Tech Level range of 1 – 4; Representative Democracy offers 4 – 10.

Societal Strength also ranges from one to ten; a score of one “signifies a collapsing society” while ten “signifies a very strong society, highly resilient to sudden changes because of the sheer determination of the people and the social institutions to survive and adapt.”  Societal Strength is based on Social Organization.  A Caste Society has a 2  – 5 range; a Communist Society has a 1 – 7 range.

The Xeno-Acceptance Factor (shown as 'Xeno Acceptance Index' on the form) “is the percentage chance that a member of the culture will be prejudiced in his dealings with an 'alien' not demonstrably of his race and general cultural background and beliefs.”  Isn't that the opposite of acceptance?  Regardless, the lower the Societal Strength of a culture, the greater the chance of prejudice.

None of the Outworld planets have a listed Bureaucracy Level.  This is just as well since this concept is not defined in the rules.  Support Index refers to the portion “of the population which will support the present governmental system in a 'crunch'...”  Loyalty Index is the “chance that a given individual citizen will be loyal to the present system.”  Repression Index indicates the “percentage of the population 'repressed' by various discriminatory measures under the present social and/or political system.”  Corruption Index is the “chance that a given government official will accept a 'bribe' or 'gift' or 'token of appreciation'...”  Law Level ranges from one to twenty and is mainly concerned with weapon restrictions; the greater the level, the stronger the restrictions.

The Trade Acceptance Index is “the percentage chance that a trader will find a ready market for his goods on the planet.”  The rules inform us, “The index does not assure a sale, but it makes an attempt possible once per week that an offer comes up.”

Among the nine new alien races described in the The Outworlds there is what humans call the CULT; sometimes spelled with all capitals, sometime with only an initial capital.  An illustration of a CULT member is presented at the beginning of the post.

     The minds of the entire species are linked together by a sort of mechanical telepathy, using communicators implanted within the brain of each individual.  The CULT lives in space craft or on (or in) asteroid bases...They have five strong tentacles and a bulbous central body, all encased in a segmented exoskeleton... Cult walk on three of their tentacles at a time, leaving two free for manipulative functions.  The thick shell is usually light gray in color, the skin in [sic] dark red or purple.
     Behavior patterns of the Cult are very erratic...Trade missions sometimes dump valuable goods on the StarPort landing field and leave without collecting payment.  These abberations [sic] are thought to be due to malfunctions in the computer and communications equipment of the Cult mass-mind network.

Another Outworld race is referred to by humans as Greenstar Demons (or 'Green Star Demons' as the atlas also calls them).  How the Demons refer to themselves is unknown, as is their homeworld.  This race occasionally...

     ...raids the Outworlds and is believed to be the cause of many ship disappearances.  The Demons get their name from their bodily appearance, and from a mysterious force field they use that seals off systems they are raiding.  This force field has the side effect of causing the primary of the system to glow bright green...
     The Demons are xenophobic and highly intelligent monsters.  They take intelligent beings for use as food animals, slaves and other horrid purposes.  Demon ships shoot on sight, trying to disable and board any ship they come across.

Before leaving the Outworlds, we owe it to ourselves to address the spice mines of Kessex.  (That's Kessex – not Kessel – OK?  Call off the lawyers.)  In “deep underground spice caverns,” slaves gather fungoids.  “Luxury Goods (Spice Products)” are the major exports of Kessel Kessex; however, neither the value of such products nor their use is indicated.  Kessex is in the Rant system (the companion star is is Rave).  The only system within twelve parsecs is Kherm, containing the planet Agar.  The Lazkee Corporation 'owns' Agar, an ocean world where an “algae-like plant...is processed and converted into edible foodstuffs for shipment to other worlds.”  This is an important distinction; the market for inedible foodstuffs is negligible.

Psionics in Space Opera

Art by Virgil Finlay

In Space Opera, the Law of Conservation of Energy applies to psionics.  For game purposes, this means that some applications of psionics are quite difficult  – if not impossible – without the aid of Psycho-Kinetic Crystals.  In explaining the origin of these crystals, the rules supply more background information about the default setting of Space Opera :

...ForeRunners had developed a very high level Science of Mind, and one of the outgrowths of that science was the Psycho-Kinetic Crystal.  The PK Crystal or StarStone was discovered in the last days of the ForeRunner civilizations, immediately before the Final War which tore the vast interstellar empires apart and brought destruction to scores of thousands of planets.  While the exact operation of the PK Crystal is not presently understood, it is believed to be able to tap the energy fields of a parallel, high-energy universe, perhaps those of tachyon HyperSpace itself.

In physical terms, a StarStone is described as “a luminescent disk about 40mm in diameter and 10mm thick in the center, tapering at the edge to about 1mm thickness.”  In other words, it “has a characteristic lens shape.”  StarStones are inert until “keyed to the mental patterns of any living, sentient creature” of psionic capability.  Once keyed, “the PK Crystal will become starkly antithetical to any other life form which handles it when not in contact with the owner, acting as the most virulent poison possible so long as it is in contact with the uninsulated flesh of the being handling it.”  Should a keyed StarStone be separated from its owner for two to twelve months, it it is possible that it can become keyed to someone else.  This possibility is based on the Psionics characteristic of the prior owner; the higher the characteristic, the less chance there is that the StarStone can be attuned to another.  (The chance is always less than 50%.)  If the previously owned StarStone cannot be so attuned, “it will sublimate away.”

A character with a Psionics characteristic of ten or less is “psionically 'inactive' or 'dead.'”  Such characters cannot “exercise psionic talents” and possess something of a resistance to the casual use of psionics.  Characters with a Psionics score of one “have the capacity for ShuttleThought, their minds thinking on several levels at once in such a fashion that any Telepath attempting to read them receives only a confusing blur of mental images.”

A character with a Psionics characteristic of more than ten is “psionically 'open'” and is an amenable subject for psionics.  Such characters can be 'awakened' to “be able to exercise mental powers.”  Active users of psionic powers are called Adepts.

We learn that, “No character will enter the game psionically 'awakened.'”  However, three paragraphs later, it is explained that some characters “will emerge in the game with active psionic talents.”  This represents one of the annoying things about Space Opera :  misleading phrasing which ought to have been corrected with rudimentary editing.  Anyway, there are three conditions which may cause 'awakening.'  First, when an 'open' character successfully resists a mental attack, there is a chance of 'awakening' based on his or her Psionics characteristic.  Second, if an 'open' character is “exposed to an unsensitized PK Crystal,” there is a possibility of 'awakening' (again derived from the Psionics characteristic).  Failure may subject the character to a coma-inducing shock.  Third, a character with a Psionics score of 18 or 19 may be 'contacted' during his or her pre-game career.  Once per year, there is a chance (ranging from 30% to 85%) of contact.  We are told, “The reason why he was contacted, the persons who contacted him, the motive for their training him mentally -- these and many other questions remain unanswered because none of those so contacted can or will divulge the information.”  Additionally:

'Contacted' Adepts receive a PK Crystal from their mysterious mentors, unlike lower level PC's.  Also, whenever they lose their PK Crystals, a replacement seems to arrive within a reasonably short period of time, again from the same mysterious source.  It is not known why such Adepts have been singled out for such treatment, but it is believed that they have some part to play in the working out of a great plan to restore the ForeRunner levels of civilization and culture.

There are five fields of Psionic ability:  (1) Telepathy, (2) Telekinesis, (3) Teleportation, (4) Clairvoyance, and (5) Telergy (sometimes misspelled 'Telurgy') & Self-Awareness. (Only characters with a Psionics score of 19 can acquire Telergy & Self-Awareness.)  Each field has various powers associated with it; some powers appear in more than one field.  Each power (also called 'talent') is assigned a level between one and ten.  For example, among the twenty-five powers of Telekinesis there are:  Manipulation (level 1), Levitate (level 3), Cryo PSI (level 5), and Psychic Force (level 7).

The number of fields (as well as the highest level of power within a field) that an Adept can learn is based upon the Adept's Psionic characteristic.  For instance, an Adept with a score of 11 is limited to one field with a maximum power level of one; a score of 18 permits three fields with a maximum power level of nine.  Adepts with a Psionics value of 19 can learn all fields to the highest level.  To determine which fields an Adept (with a Psionics score of less than 19) can learn, a d6 is rolled for each field (other than Telergy & Self-Awareness).  The fields having the higher results are the fields the Adept can learn.

“Upon 'psionic awakening,' an Adept acquires the first talent in the appropriate list of talents for his psionic field.”  Other powers/talents must be learned as if they were skills.  (Presumably, this learning is self-taught.)  All powers of a given level must be learned before powers of a subsequent level can be learned.  'Contacted' Adepts start the game with a number of talents equal to the number of career years since the year of contact.  A 'Contacted' Adept learns new powers more quickly than other Adepts because his prior “mental training has already opened up large sections of the mind, and he has been taught how to develop his mental powers more rapidly than other psionics.”

In the vein of StarStones and ShuttleThought, several powers are named by merging two words into one (such as, FarSee, PainStop, SaneMind, and NegaField).
 
Using psionic powers drains an Adept's Stamina.  A StarStone reduces Stamina cost (as well as enhancing the effects of some powers and permitting the use of others).  The Psychic Force power allows an Adept “to tap the vast Force which can be keyed by a PK Crystal.”  Each day, an Adept with Psychic Force has a chance to increase his or her Stamina (presumably temporarily).  “At level/10,” the rules state, “the stamina boost [of 200%] becomes permanent and need not be rolled.”  (Recall that only Adepts with a Psionics score of 19 can attain tenth level powers.)  'Living Matrix' is a tenth level power available in every psionic field except Telekinesis.

Only a PC who has lived an exemplary life can attain Oneness with the Force.  This PSI status is equivalent to the levels attained by the Lensmen like Kinneson, Worsel, Trigonsee, etc., in 'Doc' Smith's Second Stage Lensmen, and simply is beyond the capacity of personalities that are not so integrated that they become Champions of Civilization and all that it stands for.

A 'Living Matrix' Adept has a beneficial modifier for mental attacks, spends less stamina when performing a successful Mental Attack (or resists a Mental Attack), and can more easily overcome mental domination.  Also, a level ten Telepath has a chance “of momentarily attaining Third Stage development.”  This means the Adept “can exercise any psionic talent he possesses without a PK Crystal but as if he had a PK Crystal.”

With Precognition (a level 5 Clairvoyance power), “The Adept receives a foreshadowing of a scene yet to come, usually up to 24 hours in the future.”  The StarMaster must “commu-nicate by notes” to relay the details of the precognitive vision to the player.  There is a cost of fifty points of Stamina and the Adept must be successful with a Shock characteristic roll “or be rendered unconscious for 1d6 hours.”  The chance of an exact prophecy (presumably rolled by the StarMaster) “is 2% × Intuition plus 1% × Clairvoyance level of the Adept.”  So, an Adept with the maximum score for Intuition and the highest level of training would have a 48% chance.  With an Intuition of 10, the minimum chance would be 25%.  Assuming the Precognition roll is successful, “the StarMaster will be bound to arrange matters in the meantime so that events will occur as prophesied.”  the   The following Designer's Note is offered:

Trying with prophecy of future events can prove difficult unless the StarMaster is prepared to think ahead to later developments in the adventure scenario.  If the StarMaster prefers, he will present 2 to 5 possible alternatives, depending on the complexity of the developing situation.  Some of the details will be vague, but the effect will be to alert the players in general to the possibility that some potentially serious or momentous events are about to transpire, and they will be able to make some preparations to meet the challenge.  Also, if no exact prophecy occurs, a very vague and probably irrelevant 'vision' will occur, or else no precognition at all.  The talent is, after all, rather erratic and undependable.

The Telergy & Self-Awareness field (available only to characters with a Psionic value of 19) allows an Adept “to develop his mind and body to their maximum potentials so that he can become fully attuned to the life principle which is the Force.”  This means that the Adept's characteristics of Strength, Constitution, Agility, Dexterity, Intelligence, Intuition, Leadership, Bravery, Empathy, and Awareness (in that order) can each be increased to the maximum value of 19.  When this course is complete, the Adept's “telergic studies are now finished [and] he is transformed into Transhuman status if he is human or humanoid.”  Also, “All Telergic Adepts will automatically acquire certain powers at a given level of their development,” among which are Heal, PainStop, SensoryBlock, and Revivify.

By the time a Telergic Adept attains maximum Awareness he or she must decide upon a moral disposition.

As he progressed in his psionic development, he came to understand there are two sides of the Force [and]...he must choose to serve the Light or Dark side of the Force, becoming a Champion of the best that Civilization has to offer or a self-serving villain who seeks personal power and self-aggrandizement at the expense of other beings.  There are no other alternatives.  A plain choice between Good and Evil must be made and, once chosen, there is no turning back from the path selected.

Light side Adepts (“like the Jedi Knights of StarWars” [sic])...

...will have before them the task of enacting the roles of almost superhuman Champions of 'humanity' and Civilization...It might be that they are the remnants of a once great Brotherhood suppressed by unscrupulous men who would enslave all races under an iron dictatorship.  Thus they become heroic revolutionaries seeking to overthrow a tyrannical empire.  Whatever the situation, they are men who stand for the Right and Just.

Dark side Adepts (“like the Black Lensmen of the Lensman series or Darth Vader of StarWars” [sic])...

...have before them the task of enacting the roles of the Enemies of 'humanity' and Civilization.  They are the power-hungry, the Destroyers and would-be Dictators, Adepts who have turned the Force to the service of their own personal ambitions.  However, that should not be interpreted to mean that they are given to cruelty for its own sake.  Rather, they are merely 'expedient' in their approach to obstacles.  Those who get in their way are neutralized or disposed of in the most efficient manner available.

An Adept who chooses the Dark side loses 3d6 from his or her Empathy characteristic value and thereafter has a maximum of 11 Empathy.  Recall that Telergic Adepts would have elevated their Empathy score to 19, so a Dark side Adept is throwing all of that effort away.  Also, “Service of the Dark side of the Force prevents the Adept from performing any curative procedures on others...”  In other words, there is a definite downside to choosing the Dark side and no benefit.

Normally, the maximum Psionics characteristic score for player characters is 16.  This means that a significant portion of the psionics rules cannot be used.  The rules state that “those players who wish to use psionics prominantly [sic] in their campaign should” use an optional rule where a roll of 96 - 100 for Psionics allows the player to convert a portion of their career characteristic allocation points to modify the Psionics value.  Specifically, “the rate of ½ profession DM per 1 point added to the psionics roll” would apply.  Humans, feline avatars (i.e., the kitty people who are not technologically inclined), and transhumans (i.e., Vulcans) can add up to fifteen points; other races can add up to ten.  Since a Psionics score of 19 requires 115 points, only humans, feline avatars, and transhumans can possibly can attain that score – and only if they roll 100 for Psionics and add the maximum number of points.  Even if the psionics enabling optional rule is adopted, there is a less than 1% chance that a character can be capable of becoming a Telergic Adept.  Perhaps there could be a psionic career that permits a Psionics modifier, allowing more of an opportunity to access the more advanced psionic abilities.

So, the Light side/Dark side Adepts are limited to characters with a Psionics value of nineteen and the mysterious 'contact' society focuses on characters with a Psionics value of eighteen or nineteen.  Given the rather finite number of people with such a score and the apparent pervasiveness of the 'contact' organization, some amount of coincidence between that organization and the Light side/Dark side Adepts would seem likely.  The rules, however, do not suggest this.

The Complete Science Fiction Role Playing Game

Art by Bob Charrette

In 1980, Fantasy Games Unlimited published Space Opera.  According to the first paragraph of the rules, “The very title of this game suggests the type of adventures that should await the players – rip-roaring, excitement filled journeys across the void in the great of tradition of Doc Smith's Lensman series and the many other 'space opera' stories of SF.”  So, Space Opera was intended to compete against Traveller.  Interestingly, according to Lawrence Schick in his Heroic Worlds, Space Opera was “successful largely due to similarity to TRAVELLER.”  Certainly there are similarities, but in promoting its difference from Traveller, the game claimed to be “complete.”  By “complete”, the publisher intended “a game that would not need the usually innumerable supplements...”  Everything needed to play was included in the two volumes of rules (the first being 92 pages and the second, 90 pages).  Of course, this didn't preclude FGU from publishing supplements for Space Opera.  In any event, this completeness resulted “complex and detailed” rules according to Schick.  The Introduction admits, “Space Opera is not an easy game” and that “the sheer number of systems can be staggering.”  In an attempt to avoid discouraging potential players, the Introduction also states that “the individual systems are actually fairly simple and quite logical” and further claims that, “For the average campaign [some of] these systems can be ignored at no detriment to the game as a whole.”  Thus, the more complex rules “are supposedly included for the 'hard core' role player who demands such detail and accuracy...”

The cover depicted above is the last of three versions.  (All versions can be seen here.)  This third version (by Bob Charrette) is based upon the second version (by Gene Day).  With the third version we lost cleavage and a goofy-looking alien, but at least we gained a kitty person, a lizard person, and a robot.  Both versions feature something which is NOT a Wookiee posed against the backdrop of a small moon.  Wait...that's no moon.  To be fair, the game's Introduction claims it was partially inspired by “Star Wars from George Lucas.”  There's even a field of psionics called the Force, having both a light side and a dark side.

Space Opera was designed by Ed Simbalist of Chivalry & Sorcery fame, with contributions from Phil McGregor and Mark Ratner.  The setting of Space Opera was derived from Ratner's Space Marines miniatures game.  While there is a default setting – what the game calls a 'future history' – it is meant “as a model for the type of background that can be painted for a role-playing or Empire-level campaign.”  The Space Opera term for Game Master is StarMaster.  It is the StarMaster who designs the galaxy in which the characters have adventures.  StarMasters are assured that the default 'future history' is not the only way Space Opera can be played.  In fact, “Any version of 'future history' is equally acceptable.”

With regard to rolling dice, Space Opera offers some useful advice:

The goal is to keep the action moving.  Dice rolls which serve only to take the StarMaster or the players 'off the hook' by replacing good role-play with a mechanical toss of the 'idiot dice' will tend to slow down the tempo.  For suspense, roll the dice and build up the tension by a lot of talk while doing so.  When the very fate of a player is at stake, dice rolls are again useful to give a 'fair' probability that the character will survive or be successful.  (In the latter case, an arbitrary ruling or even a perfectly correct ruling of the StarMaster which brings a character to disaster, can often breed bad feelings.)  The dice can act as an insulator and keeps things a bit impersonal.

The game also explains the responsibilities of the StarMaster.  Notably...

He must be fair, interpreting the spirit rather than just the letter of the rules.  He must avoid personal involvement himself – a sometimes difficult thing to do because his role as the neutral opposition to the characters can occasionally bring out his own competitive spirit.  But he must suppress this because, as referee, he holds all of the cards and can subconsciously 'rig' events to suit himself if he is not careful.  Such neutrality is essential, for one of the tasks of the StarMaster is to act as a neutral go-between when characters secretly or individually act behind the backs of their comrades or set themselves up in opposition to the very Authorities in power – NPCs whom the StarMaster controls.

The character record sheet included with Space Opera is arguably the blandest character sheet ever published.

It doesn't even display the title of the game.  Conspicuously absent is a disclaimer granting permission to make copies for personal use only.  Given how unlikely it would be that anyone would pay money for this thing, such a disclaimer was apparently deemed unnecessary.  A bland character sheet is not necessarily a bad character sheet, but the organization of the Space Opera character record sheet leaves much to be desired.  There are fourteen Personal Characteristics, including three Aptitudes:  General Technical, Mechanical, and Electronics.  On the character sheet, these Personal Characteristics are interspersed with 'Secondary' Characteristics without rhyme or reason.  Furthermore, Space Opera is a skill-based game.  Some skill-based games have character sheets that list all (or most) of the game's skills.  This is fine and well if there are less than a hundred skills and they are presented in some sort of order.  Space Opera has over a hundred skills and they are listed on the character record sheet.  These skills are sorted into five types, but there is no alphabetization within a type.  Really, you're better off with a sheet of notebook paper.

Inspiration: The Star Rebellions, 5764 AD

Yes, technically it should be “AD 5764,” assuming we're talking about anno domini ; however, there is no definitive connection between this setting and Earth.  'This setting,' by the way, comes from Freedom in the Galaxy, originally published in 1979 by SPI, then published as an Avalon Hill bookcase game in 1981.  In the game, “a small but valiant band of Rebels struggle to withstand the oppression of an empire bent on total domination.”  In other words, it's a blatant Star Wars knock-off.  Even the title of the game (hereinafter FitG ) is one thin preposition away from the last four words in the introductory scroll of the original film.  Why use a knock-off for inspiration instead of the genuine article?  It is in the differences of the knock-off in which we shall find points of interest.

FitG has three levels of complexity:  'single star system' has a rating of 4  – on Avalon Hill's scale of 1 (easy) to 10 (hard), 'province' (4 - 6 systems) has a rating of 7, and 'galactic' (all 25 systems – 51 planets) has a rating of 10 – “the ultimate in S-F realism.”  The 32-page rule book informs us, “The full Galactic Campaign Game...takes about 20 hours to play.”

Aside from the rule book, the game includes a 12 page 'Galactic Guide' including a backstory for the setting and details that are mostly 'color', but some are ancillary to the rules.  In the age of the Interstellar Concordance, the Interspecies Genetics Project combined Rhone (i.e., human) genetics with genes from other intelligent species.  The resulting hybrids “traveled to the worlds of their respective parent races” where they “tended to breed prodigiously.”  Eventually the hybrids battled against the elder races in the Galactic Extermination Wars.  Civilization collapsed and the survivors, “mostly hybrids and Rhones,” lost the secret of faster-than-light drive.  Eventually, a Rhone population developed faster-than-light transportation again and used this advantage to establish an interstellar empire.  Over several centuries, corruption festered in the Empire.  To thwart the depredations of the Empire, the Galactic Rebellion came into being.  Some of the various races in FitG include:  Yesters (bird people), Kayns (dog people), Piorads (“Space Vikings”), Segundens (“a dark-skin humanoid race”), and Saurians (lizard people).

FitG is a two-player game; one player controls the Empire and the other controls the Rebellion.  The game involves planetary loyalty scores and space combat; however, “Central to the play of Freedom in the Galaxy are the characters.”  Sabotage, Diplomacy, and Free Prisoners are examples of missions that players can assign to characters (or groups of characters).  Missions are resolved by drawing action cards.  Each action card lists events that occur depending upon the 'Environ' that the characters occupy.  Once the event is resolved, a letter code on the card indicates if the mission is successful.

Each character has six attributes:  Combat, Endurance, Intelligence, Leadership, Diplomacy, and Navigation.  Each attribute is rated from zero to six.  Some characters have a special ability.  For instance, Zina Adora (“Princess of Adare”), “Receives one bonus draw on Gather Information mission.”

Some interesting characters:

Sidir Ganang (psuedo-anagram of SPI employee Sid Ingang):  “'Sidir Ganang' and the Ganang Gang was one of the most popular stereovision shows shows on Bajukai, and Sidir Ganang posters, dolls, books, movies and grebble-gum cards made him a millionaire.  But his fortune tugged at the greed of some minor Imperial functionary, and Sidir Ganang was blacklisted from the entertainment business, and his fortune was confiscated.  Formerly, Ganang had merely portrayed galactic warriors on stereovision; now he actually became one, fighting against the Empire.”

Ly Mantok:  “An Imperial Sub-Commander is not supposed to have outside business concerns, but this is a rarely enforced policy.  Ly Mantok would no doubt have gotten away with his corrupt dealings, had not ten thousand Mantok Laser Rifles refused to function in the middle of the Battle of Banjukai.  When Mantok was...dismissed, he swore that he would go to someone who would appreciate his abilities.  The Rebels, at the time, were desperate enough to do just that.”

He starts the game with an Explorer spaceship.

Barca (because he's a dog person – get it?):  “Like all Kayns, Barca has a fierce loyalty for his friends and little mercy toward his enemies.  For 40 years, Barca has been the Grand Marshal of the Imperial Army, both on planet and in space.  His remarkable military prowess and ability to handle tactical and strategic combat situations is at the disposal of the Empire, as Barca's loyalties remain fixed to the Imperial throne and whoever sits upon it.”

Thysa Kymbo (more wordplay from the impish wits at SPI):  “Daughter of the current Emperor Coreguya, the princess has spent most of her adult life waiting for her father to die, so that she may ascend to the throne.  Because she has spent most of her life pampered in the Imperial Court, she is unaware that Redjac may have other plans for the throne that do not involve succession.  The princess became the bitter enemy of Zina Adora when she learned that Rayner Derban was more attracted to Zina than herself.”

Her voice was “as alluring as it was Imperial...”


Characters can also have companions.  One such companion is Norrocks (“The Thieves Guild constructed this bodyguard robot to protect its most important members.  Sometimes, through proper bargaining, the Guild can be persuaded to part with one of its defensive robot bodyguards.”).  Another companion is Charsot (“Resembling a little dog, the Charsot, an animal from the planet Midest, can sense thought waves and transmit its own waves of pacification and reason.  It can also sense the future to a limited extent.”).

FitG offers a plethora of creatures with which characters might interact during the course of their missions.  A sampling follows.
Derigion:  “Giant flying lizard with quick movements aided by instinctive precognition.”
Gach:  “Two-headed feline creature with two conflicting personalities.”
Hysnatons:  “Sewer snakes with hypnotic powers.”
Leonus:  “An unheard-of cross-breed a lion-like creature and a reptile, incredibly ferocious and stealthy.”  (Although unheard-of, it has a name.)
Lomrels:  “Large canines used as mounts be the local populace, who alone know the secret to their control.”
Prox:  “Large, crawling carnivorous insect that has huge, rending teeth, but is slow.”
Sandiabs:  “Feisty desert rats get off on watching travelers fall into carefully covered sand pits.  Mean no real harm, though...”
Vorozion:  “Highly evolved, hostile thought being; very impatient.”
Zop:  “Friendly, furry creature that does not attack...However, it senses good vibrations from Rebel characters, and so it gives them ancient family heirloom kept safe in cave for eons...”

Where Fantasies Are Real & Reality Is FANTASTIC

My first exposure to Message from Space was when it played on a double bill with Superman so many years ago.  To some (many? most?), Message from Space is a gaudy Star Wars rip-off.  It's certainly gaudy and it would not have been made except to capitalize on the Star Wars phenomenon but, as Lex Luthor said that very same day:

Some people can read War and Peace and come away thinking it's a simple
adventure story.  Others can read the ingredients on a chewing gum wrapper
and unlock the secrets of the universe.

While my appreciation of Message from Space falls somewhat short of unlocking secrets of the universe, the film offers more than a simple adventure story.  If we divest ourselves of the 'spaceships = science fiction' fallacy and accept the film as fantasy (as the tagline indicates), the film becomes more palatable.  Message from Space was inspired – in part – by Nansō Satomi Hakkenden, an epic of Japanese literature and one of the longest novels ever.  The influence is especially noticeable with regard to what Joseph Campbell referred to as “the call to adventure.”

Message from Space takes place twenty years after the last Space War, during “the times when earthling adventurers roamed the planets of the galaxy seeking riches in the form of resources and colonies.”  The warlike, steel-skinned Gavanas oppress the enlightened Jillucians nearly to point of extinction.  The Jillucian patriarch dispatches eight holy Liabe seeds to locate the assorted heroes who will save the Jillucians – and the universe – from the tyranny of the Gavanas.

The Liabe seeds, with the appearance of walnuts that sometimes glow, make their way to the film's protagonists who, in another context, might be player characters.  However, the meaning of the Liabe seeds (from the protagonists' viewpoint) must wait for exposition from Princess Esmeralida.

If the Liabe heroes (i.e., player characters) are destined to save the universe, then wouldn't that compromise player agency?  Well, yes it would.  As a matter of fact, in Message from Space, three of the chosen characters toss their walnuts* and a fourth declines the honor of being a hero.  This is representative of what Campbell aptly termed “refusal of the call.”  Of course, a story about characters deciding against doing something interesting isn't a worthwhile story.  Eventually, the characters that initially refused the Liabe seeds change their minds and accept their roles as heroes.  So, player agency is still thwarted.  Is that a bad thing?  Not necessarily.

Absolute agency is untenable in a role-playing game.  A player adopts a “role” for his or her character.  After all, we are talking about role-playing games, not agency-playing games.  Agency is limited in that player character knowledge should be restricted to in-game information available to the “role.”  Also, the player imbues his or her character (or role) with a personality and a psychology.  The way a character responds to stimuli – while not scripted – should be consistent with that personality and psychology.  Gygax addressed this issue by penalizing “aberrant behavior” with additional required training time/cost for level advancement (DMG, p. 86).  Of course, for Gygax, a character's “behavior” should be defined by class and alignment.

The notion of consistency should not preclude the organic development of personality and psychology (or “behavior” to employ a convenient term).  Yet, ultimately, it is a player's responsibility to play the role of his or her character with an established behavior and to interact appropriately within the setting.  Likewise, some of the GM's responsibilities include providing an intuitive (if not immersive) setting and accommodating (rather than curtailing) player agency.

Your character should refuse the Liabe seed if the character's established behavior suggests that course of action.  However, there should be circumstances wherein your character would accept the Liabe seed.  Is it an intolerable suppression of player agency if the GM arranges for those circumstances to occur?  I don't think so; I think there is a difference between 'railroading' and 'advancing the plot'.


* not a euphemism

Happy Birthday, Leigh Brackett!

Art by Allen Anderson

December 7 is, of course, a date which has lived in infamy.  Yet every date has good associations as well as bad and December 7, 2015, happens to be the centennial of Leigh Brackett's birth.

In Appendix N of the Dungeon Masters Guide, Gygax lists two kinds of authors:  “In some cases I cite specific works, in others, I simply recommend all their fantasy writing to you.”  Leigh Brackett is of the latter sort.  This is interesting in that Brackett didn't write fantasy per se ; she wrote 'science fantasy' (as well as westerns and mysteries).  Yet she certainly influenced – and was influenced by – 'traditional' fantasy.  Regardless, the quality of her work transcends genre pidgeonholes.  Among her claims to fame, she wrote the first draft of The Empire Strikes Back.  (TLDR?  Here's a summary.)

In a sort of homage to Robert E. Howard, Brackett named a character 'Conan' in Lorelei of the Red Mist (written in collaboration with Ray Bradbury).  It seems that L. Sprague de Camp despaired that he partnered with Lin Carter rather than Brackett when he excavated Howard's legacy for more Conan material.

Brackett's most famous character is Eric John Stark, who first appeared in “Queen of the Martian Catacombs,” a story from the summer 1949 issue of Planet Stories.  The cover of said issue appears above; the person in the lower left-hand corner is supposed to be Stark.  There are several things wrong with this representation.

First, just what is he wearing?  Is that Martian lederhosen ?  Second, I'm almost certain that Stark doesn't shave his armpits (although I could be wrong).  Finally and most importantly, there's the matter of Stark's skin color.  According to the story, “His skin was almost as dark as his black hair, burned indelibly by years of exposure to some terrible sun.”  (In The Ginger Star, his coloration is described as “dark purple.”)  Other than the Stark books published under Paizo's Planet Stories imprint, illustrations of Stark consistently show him with light skin.  After all, failing to pander to white male power fantasies would be a bad marketing decision (or at least was presumed to be).

Stark was presented in (A)D&D terms in the 'Giants in the Earth' feature of (The) Dragon #28 (August, 1979).  This adaptation is shown below.  The non-game text is largely correct; however, Stark's skin coloration is absent from the description of his physical features.  Also, while Stark is a mercenary, he's of a type occasionally found in the province of fiction – a 'principled' mercenary.  “He'll sell you out, he'll cut your throat, if he thinks it best for the barbarians,” a character explains in “Queen of the Martian Catacombs.”  Stark aids indigenous peoples oppressed by Terran expansionism.  I think this is a noteworthy qualifier to his mercenary status.

The description includes a random table to establish the nature of an encounter with Stark.  I suspect this is Moldvay's work.  Random determination of behavior defeats the purpose of using a detailed, complex character like Stark.

Most of the 'Giants in the Earth' personalities are definitely fantasy characters, even though they are products of their respective settings.  Inserting them into a traditional fantasy campaign poses no difficulty.  However, characters outside the typical scope of fantasy – such as Stark – require some consideration.   The character's knowledge and technology (such as Stark's “plasteel mesh armor”) can cause unintended (and perhaps drastic) consequences in a campaign.  Also, being transplanted to an alien environment will necessarily alter a (non-player) character's outlook and motivation.

Shooting First

More Art by McQuarrie


A role-playing game based on a given intellectual property ought to be able to emulate situations from the source material.  It ought to be possible for characters in the game to do the same things that characters do in the source material; perhaps not beginning characters, but the game should accommodate the possibility of these circumstances and events.

In Star Wars (not 'Episode IV,' not 'A New Hope' – just Star Wars), there is some...interaction between the characters of Han Solo and Greedo.  In this post, your humble host speculates as to how the mechanics of Fantasy Flight's Edge of the Empire - Beta roleplaying game (hereinafter EotE-B) could be used to re-enact this scene.  Specifically, even though Greedo has a blaster leveled at Solo, the Corellian manages to surreptitiously draw his own blaster and successfully shoots Greedo without Greedo being able to retaliate.  Make no mistake – Han shot first.  Poor Greedo didn't fire at all.  It should be noted that realism – or lack thereof – is not at issue; if it happened in the movie, it should be possible in the game.

Essentially, Han fires a weapon.  Firing a weapon is an 'action' which a character can perform on his or her 'turn.'  The existence of a turn requires 'structured gameplay.'  As opposed to 'narrative gameplay,' 'structured gameplay' carefully measures time in terms of rounds and turns.

Events that occasion structured gameplay (e.g., combat) are called encounters.  At the onset of an encounter, 'Initiative order' is determined.  Each participating character makes a 'simple' skill check.  ('Simple' – in this sense – means that no Difficulty dice are added to the pool.)  Characters anticipating the encounter make a 'Cool' check.  (Cool is associated with the Presence characteristic.)  Characters not expecting the encounter make a 'Vigilance' check.  (Vigilance is associated with the Willpower characteristic.)  The character with the most successes goes first, with other characters going in order of descending successes.  Characters tied at a given number of successes go in descending order of advantage results.  No instructions are provided to resolve ties at this level (which I would imagine to be fairly commonplace).  Presence is a measure of “moxie, charisma, confidence, and force of personality.”  Willpower reflects “discipline, self-control, mental fortitude, and faith.”  (Perhaps your humble host is firmly entrenched in the 'old school' paradigm, but he would enlist Cunning for 'surprise' initiative and Agility for 'prepared' initiative.)

Without a doubt, Han is a Smuggler: Scoundrel.  The Smuggler: Scoundrel talent tree offers two instances of Rapid Reaction; one at the 5 XP level and one at the 20 XP level.  For each rank in the Rapid Reaction talent, the character may suffer a point of strain and add a success to his or her initiative check.  The same talent tree offers Quick Draw at the 5 XP level.  Normally, drawing a weapon counts as a 'maneuver,' of which there are a limited number in a character's turn.  With Quick Draw, drawing a weapon becomes an 'incidental' activity; incidental activities do not constrain a character's options during a turn.

Given the verbal tête à tête upon which Han and Greedo engage, Presence sort of makes sense for determination of initiative.  It's reasonable to assume that Han has more presence than Greedo and if anybody has the 'Cool' skill, it's Han.  Given the situation, Han would undoubtedly use Rapid Reaction to garner an additional success.   So, in terms of initiative, it's not surprising that Han prevails. 

Yet can we rightfully consider the resolution of the Han-Greedo confrontation to be a mere matter of initiative?  After all, Greedo is pointing a blaster at Han.  Page 129 of EotE-B stipulates that, under certain circumstances, “a character may even be able to perform a maneuver when it is not his turn.”  Although an attack is an 'action,' which is distinct from a 'maneuver,' page 131 mentions there are “abilities allowing [characters] to perform an action as a maneuver.”  Greedo would not seem to have such an ability, but having a weapon trained on a target ought to count for something.

Let us examine the circumstances of the event.  Han and Greedo sit at a table.  Han puts a leg up onto the table, thereby concealing his holstered blaster from Greedo's view.  In Greedo's line-of-sight, Han nonchalantly picks at the cantina's stucco with his left hand, thereby distracting Greedo from what he is doing with his right hand.  Han resorts to subterfuge to counter Greedo's advantageous position.

This can be construed as an 'opposed check.'  Han assembles a dice pool based on his 'Stealth' skill (which is associated with Agility).  The Ability and Proficiency dice that would normally compose Greedo's 'Perception' skill dice pool are instead converted to Difficulty and Challenge dice (respectively) in Han's dice pool.  ('Perception' is associated with Intellect.)  Given Han's efforts at obfuscation, a Game Master might downgrade one of “Greedo's” dice, thereby lessening Han's difficulty.  Han could even chip in a Destiny Point to upgrade one of the positive dice in his pool.

Once Han has 'won' initiative and prevailed on his Stealth check, “frying poor Greedo” becomes a rather routine use of a blaster.

Character Creation in Edge of the Empire (Part III)

Art by Ralph McQuarrie (1929 - 2012)

After last week's post, I thought some more about Saun Dann and decided to change a couple of things.  Specifically, I considered forged identification because “Identification is very important.”  The only skill that I could find that might cover forgery is 'Skulduggery.'  According to page 80 of Fantasy Flight Games' Edge of the Empire (Beta) roleplaying game:

Skulduggery encompasses a broad range of skills that are crucial to performing criminal actions.  These include the abilities to perform a crime as well as the mental familiarity with different techniques.  This ranges from picking pockets and locks, breaking into and out of secure facilities, sleight of hand, disguise, setting traps, and sundry other mischievous actions.

It turns out there is a 'Forger' henchman described on page 198.  Among the Forger's listed skills, 'Skulduggery' is the skill most likely to be used for forgery.  Even if Skulduggery didn't encompass forgery, this is still the type of skill Saun Dann might have.  The skill is associated with Cunning, which is one of Saun Dann's improved characteristics.  Also, Saun Dann's Convincing Demeanor talent removes a setback die from Deceit or Skulduggery checks.

Skulduggery is not an Explorer career skill.  This makes sense, but it seems odd that one of the Trader talents would enhance the use of a non-career skill.  Perhaps I'm expecting too much in terms of integrated synergy.  Anyway, purchasing the first rank of a non-career skill costs 10XP.  At the end of last week's post, Saun Dann only had 5 XP left.  Of course, I could swap out either Streetwise or Mechanics, the free non-career skills I selected for Saun Dann by virtue of his human 'Special Ability.'  Instead, I decide to forgo one rank of the 'Wheel and Deal' talent.

As a result of this alteration, Saun Dann now has two 'first row' trader talents:  Know Somebody and Convincing Demeanor.  Know Somebody is the only first row talent that has a link to a second row talent; that talent is Wheel and Deal.  (There is an instance of Wheel and Deal on the first row and a separate instance on the second row.  Saun Dann is bypassing the first row instance.  Yes, the second row instance is twice as expensive, but it's a bottleneck talent; Saun Dann has to take it in order to get any talents on the third row or any other talents on the second row.  Saun Dann can always buy the first row instance later.)  Because he has (second row) Wheel and Deal, Saun Dann can get a rank of Grit (a second row talent).

The final version of Saun Dann appears below.  Let's recapitulate the process that brought us here.  Characters start with 500 credits, but Saun Dann took on an additional ten points of Obligation to have 2500 more credits.

Saun Dann improved his Intellect and his Cunning ratings to 3; for each characteristic so improved, there is a cost of 30 XP.  As a human, Saun Dann has 110 'starting' XP.  After improving his characteristics, he has 50 XP remaining.

In terms of skills, he gets four career skills (Astrogation, Pilot (Space), Knowledge (Outer Rim), and Charm), two bonus 'Trader' career skills (Deceit and Negotiation), and a choice of two non-career skills because of the special ability for humans (Streetwise and Mechanics).  Saun Dann opts to purchase one rank each in two career skills (Cool and Perception) at 5 XP each and one rank of a non-career skill (Skulduggery) at 10 XP.  He has 30 XP left.

Saun Dann purchases two first row talents (Know Somebody and Convincing Demeanor) from the Trader talent tree at 5 XP each.  He then buys two second row talents ('Wheel and Deal' and 'Grit') at 10 XP each.

But wait, there's more!  Investing experience points is only Step 6 in the ten steps of character creation.

Next we determine Saun Dann's 'derived attributes.'  We discussed Wound Threshold and Strain Threshold previously.  His Wound Threshold is 12 and his Strain Threshold is 13 (including the bonus from Grit).  Soak Value is equivalent to Brawn and indicates “how much incoming damage a character can shrug off before being seriously wounded.”  Defense is zero by default but can be increased by certain talents, “wearing armor, or by adopting a defensive position in combat.”

In Step 8 of the character creation process, players determine the Motivation for their characters.  A p[layer can always choose a Motivation, but the rules provide the means to determine Motivation randomly.  There are three categories of Motivation:  Ambition, Cause, and Relationship.  If rolling on the random Motivation table, it is possible to have two Motivations.  After determining a Motivation category, a player must determine a specific Motivation.  Examples of specific Motivations are 'status' and 'wanderlust' (Ambitions), 'local politics' and 'droid rights' (Causes), as well as 'childhood friend' and 'mentor' (Relationships).  Given Saun Dann's association with the Rebellion, let's just say he has adopted the 'Overthrow the Empire' Cause.

Step 9 is called 'Finishing Touches' and consists of physical description and personality.  Physical description is easy:  Art Carney circa 1978.  I guess that wearing spectacles in the Star Wars universe is kind of distinguishing.  With regard to personality, we can say that he is a kind-hearted soul who affects an ingratiating – if not bungling – aspect in order to distract from his activities on behalf of the Rebel Alliance.

The last step in the character creation process is to select a ship.  Yes, each player character party starts the game with a starship.  The text explains that the cost of the ship is subsumed into the party's Obligation.  It's a far cry from trying to cultivate mustering out benefits in Traveller.  There are three ships from which to choose.  We won't select one for Saun Dann because the rest of the party needs to be taken into account.  However, we can quote the brief descriptions of the craft from page 68:

The [GHTROC 720 Light Freighter] is primarily a cargo hauler, but reasonably modifiable.  The YT-1300 [Light Freighter] is even more modifiable, making it the most flexible option for a group.  Finally, the Firespray [System Patrol Craft] is probably the most dangerous ship, but also the least modifiable of the three.  It's also fairly limited in the tasks it can perform.

Character Creation in Edge of the Empire (Part II)

Last week, we discussed species, careers, specializations, and skills in Fantasy Flight Games' Star Wars:  Edge of the Empire Roleplaying Game (Beta) – particularly with regard to character creation.  This week, we continue with our effort to define Saun Dann in game terms.

Beginning characters have experience points (XP) to allocate among various abilities.  Although called 'experience points,' they define a background for the character.  'Beginning' experience points function just like experience points awarded for participating in adventures except in one respect.  Only during character creation can experience points be used to improve characteristics.  Because of this, we should first and foremost consider applying experience points to Saun Dann's characteristics.

Saun Dann should have greater than average Cunning.  Increasing Cunning to 3 costs 30 points.  We could spend another 40 points to increase Cunning to 4, but perhaps we should consider another characteristic.  Among the skills he currently has, three are associated with Intellect – Astrogation, Knowledge (Outer Rim), and Mechanics – so it might be wise to invest in Intellect.  Thirty points brings Saun Dann’s Intellect to 3.

Saun Dann has fifty XP left to spend.  Let's look at talents.  Each specialization's talent tree has twenty available talents; some are duplicative of one another and can be purchased multiple times.  The twenty talents are arrayed in five rows of four talents each.  Talents have a cost based upon the row in which they reside.  Each talent in the top row cost 5 XP.  Each row adds an additional 5 XP; talents in the bottom row cost 25 XP.  A character can purchase any 'top row' talent in his or her specialization, but additional talents must be 'linked' to a purchased talent.  The various links between talents make talent trees resemble flow charts and the links may be structured so that a character may need to follow a labyrinthine path to 'reach' a desired talent.  For example, the Slicer specialization of the Technician career offers two (stackable) 'Technical Aptitude' talents.  One instance is in the top row and costs 5 XP.  The other instance is on the second row and costs 10 XP; however, the most direct path to the second row instance would require the character to spend over 100 XP in purchasing the 'prerequisite' talents on that path.

Let's have Saun Dann buy three of the four top row talents on the Explorer/Trader tree.  At five points each, that's 15 XP.  These three talents are:  Know Somebody, Wheel and Deal, and Convincing Demeanor.  For every rank of 'Know Somebody,' Saun Dann can (once per adventure) reduce the rarity of “a legally available item” he attempts to purchase.  For every rank of 'Wheel and Deal,' Saun Dann obtains “10% more credits“ when “selling goods legally.“  For every rank of 'Convincing Demeanor,' Saun Dann removes a setback die from “Deceit or Skulduggery checks.“

The remaining top row talent is 'Smooth Talker' and it seems kind of bogus to me.  If Saun Dann were to obtain this talent, he would choose a skill from among Charm, Coerce, Negotiate, or Deceit.  For the sake of example, let's have him choose Deceit.  When making a Deceit check, Saun Dann may “spend“ a 'Triumph' result to gain an additional number of successes “equal to ranks in Smooth Talker.“  It seems that 'Smooth Talker' is only useful with multiple ranks.  There is one more 'Smooth Talker' talent in the Trader talent tree and it does not appear in any other trees.

Saun Dann has 35 XP left.  He could acquire one of the other two Explorer specializations for 10 XP or he could acquire a specialization from another career for 20 XP.  However, there are no other specializations which would seem to be necessary for our conception of Saun Dann.

What about some more skills?  Well, as of yesterday's update, Surveillance is no longer a skill.  This would seem to reduce the efficacy of the 'Street Smarts' talent and the good people at Fantasy Flight have not yet given a substitute career skill to the Scout specialization.  Of course, this doesn't have anything to do with Saun Dann; I'm just griping.  Oh, I don't care about the Surveillance skill, but if Fantasy Flight is going to get rid of something, they should address all of the repercussions.  So, for Saun Dann, how about a Gambling skill?  Sorry, no Gambling skill in EotE-B.  Hello, Fantasy Flight!  How did Han get the Millennium Falcon?  How did Lando get Bespin?  It seems to me that gambling has a place in the Edge of the Empire milieu.  Well, 'Perception' and 'Cool' are both career skills for Saun Dann, so purchasing one rank in each would be a total of 10 XP.

Going back to the talent tree, Saun Dann can buy an additional rank of 'Wheel and Deal' for 10 XP and obtain the 'Grit' talent for another 10 XP.  (Grit improves Strain Threshold.)

Saun Dann has 5 XP left, but he can just have them “carry over into the game“ like it says on page 64.

Character Creation in Edge of the Empire (Part I)



Art by Howard Chaykin

Contrary to the “Part I” in this post's title, last week we began to create a character for Fantasy Flight Games' Edge of the Empire (Beta) roleplaying game.  Specifically, we sought to define the beloved Saun Dann in game terms.  In our efforts, we managed to get as far as 'Obligation.'

The next step is 'Selecting a Species.'  Saun Dann is – of course – human.  Other options for player characters in EotE-B include Bothan, droid (class four), Gand, Rodian, Trandoshan, Twi'lek, and Wookiee.  The names of all species, except for droids and humans, are capitalized.  The eight species are differentiated from one another in terms of characteristics, derived attributes, starting experience, and special abilities.

EotE-B characters have six characteristics:  Agility, Brawn, Cunning, Intellect, Presence, and Willpower.  A value of 6 is the ceiling for characteristics and no characteristic can be increased beyond a value of 5 during character creation.  Not surprisingly, humans provide the standard against which other species are compared.  Humans have a default value of 2 for each characteristic.  Other species vary from this by having a value of 3 for one characteristic and a value of 1 for another; for example, Wookiees have a Brawn of 3 but a Willpower of  1.  Droids are the only exception to this pattern; they start with a value of 1 in each characteristic.  I am pleased to announce that – as of yesterday’s update – Gand now have a default Presence of 1 instead of a default Intellect of 1.  This means your humble host will forgo his planned hunger strike.

The derived attributes influenced by one's species are 'wound threshold' (ability to withstand physical injury) and 'strain threshold' (ability to withstand mental/ psychological injury).  Wound threshold equals a given species-defined number plus Brawn.  Strain threshold equals a given species-defined number plus Willpower.  For humans, wound threshold is 10 + Brawn; strain threshold is 10 + Willpower.

Humans have 110 starting experience points (XP).  Most speicies have 100 starting XP; Wookiees and Trandoshans start with 90 XP.  Droids have 175 XP but – remember – they start with low characteristics.  To appreciate the utility of starting experience, we must skip ahead to careers and specializations.

EotE-B offers six careers:  Bounty Hunter, Colonist, Explorer, Hired Gun, Smuggler, and Technician.  Each career has three specializations; for example, the Colonist career has the specialization of Doctor, Politico, and Scholar.  Players select a career and a specialization within that career for their characters.  Each career has eight 'career skills.'  Upon choosing a career, a character receives one rank in four career skills.  Each specialization has four skills that are considered career skills for a character with that specialization.  Some specialization skills might overlap with the skills offered by the career.  For instance, 'Skulduggery' is a Smuggler career skill and it is also one of the four skills associated with the Smuggler specialization of Thief.  Anyway, characters receive one rank in two specialization skills.  Also, each specialization has a 'talent tree.'

Characters can use starting experience to purchase and/or improve skills.  For career skills, a rank costs 5 XP times the rank to be attained.  Each rank must be purchased separately and no starting character may have more than two ranks in a skill.  For example, if a character possessed one rank in a given career skill and wanted to have two ranks, it would cost 10 XP; getting a third rank would cost an additional 15 XP.  Non-career skills cost 10 XP times the rank to be attained.

Characters can gain additional specializations with experience.  According to yesterday's update, purchasing a specialization within the character's career costs 5 XP times the total number of specializations the character has, including the specialization to be purchased.  Buying a specialization outside of the character's career costs 10 XP times the total number of specializations, as above.

Characteristics can also be improved with experience.  According to page 64, increasing a characteristic costs...

Ten times the purchased rating in experience.  Each rating must be purchased separately.

The catch is that experience points can only be used to improve characteristics during character creation.

Let's get back to Saun Dann.  We know he is a Trader, which happens to be a specialization of the Explorer career.  Saun Dann gets one rank in four Explorer career skills, specifically Astrogation, Pilot (Space), Knowledge (Outer Rim), and Charm.  From the Trader specialization, we choose Deceit and Negotiation.  As a special ability, humans have “one additional rank in each of two different non-career skills…”  It would likely be effective for a character to have a combat skill; however, so as to be true to Saun Dann's concept, we choose Mechanics and Streetwise.

Next week, we shall invest Saun Dann's experience points.  Until then, may the Force be with you.

Obligation in Edge of the Empire

To explore Fantasy Flight's Star Wars Edge of the Empire-Beta roleplaying game (hereinafter EotE-B), let us go through the process of creating a character.  In EotE-B, character creation is decidedly not old school in that it is (mostly) not random.  In other words, one must imagine a character concept first and foremost.  For purposes of our exercise, let us draw inspiration from that beloved Star Wars character Saun Dann.  If any fanboyz experience butthurt over my interpretation of good ol’ Saun, let me know.  Likewise, if anyone who fancies himself an EotE-B rules expert takes issue with my understanding of the rules, leave a comment.

Once concept is considered, each player character has an Obligation, a circumstance that may affect the character in a less than positive way.  Owing money to a Hutt could be considered an Obligation.  Each Obligation has a description and a numeric value.

A table provides a list of Obligation types.  Examples include obsession, bounty, and addiction.  In a concession to 'old school,' a player may make a percentile roll to determine Obligation.  With the Game Master's permission, a player may choose one of the listed Obligations or “make up his own.”  For Saun Dann, let's say he is 'dutybound' to help the Rebellion.  Not only could such a duty be inconvenient, he risks the ire of the Empire because of his association.

The 'value' of an Obligation is based on the number of player characters in the party.  For a party of two PCs, a value of 25 points* each is suggested; for a party of five (which is what we assume for our example), a value of 10 points is recommended.  Regardless of the size of the party, the starting values are designed so that the party's combined value will be between sixty and seventy points (or thereabouts).

A player character can take on additional Obligation – either five or ten points worth – and receive a benefit in terms of experience points or additional starting money.  Given that Saun Dann is a trader by profession, he needs a certain amount of 'stock' with which to trade.  We have Saun Dann assume ten more points of Obligation in order to have an additional 2,500 credits in starting funds.

Once Obligation has been determined for each character in a party, the GM creates an Obligation Check Chart.  Here is the chart for our hypothetical five-character party:

                              Obligation            Character

                              1 - 20                     Saun Dann

                              21 - 30                   Morgan Sunskimmer

                              31 - 40                   Camie

                              41 - 50                   THX-1138

                              51 - 60                   Jaxxon

Each character has ten points of Obligation except for Saun Dann, who has twenty.  In creating a party's Obligation Check Chart, the largest Obligation should be listed first with the remaining Obligations listed in order of descending size.  This is pursuant to the EotE-B update issued on September 4, 2012.  Order among characters with an equal amount of Obligation is supposedly unimportant, but see below.

At the start of any given session, the GM makes a percentile roll and compares it against the Obligation Check Chart.  If the result of the roll exceeds the total Obligation, then the party's Obligations do not affect them during that session.  If the result is equal to or less than the total Obligation, then “something related to their Obligation may introduce complications during the upcoming session.”  In terms of concrete effects, each character's 'Strain Threshold' is reduced for the session.  (Strain Threshold is a 'derived attribute' measuring the amount of “psychological and mental damage” a character is capable of enduring.)  Specifically, the character represented by the Obligation range containing the result of the percentile roll loses two strain while all other characters in the party lose one.  For instance, on a roll of 26, Morgan Sunskimmer would have two less strain than usual and everyone else would have one less.  When rolling doubles, the strain loss is doubled.  For example, with a roll of 33, Camie would be down by four strain and the other characters would be down by two each.

In a party of six or more player characters, the recommended starting Obligation is five points.  In such a situation, there would be characters who could not be the direct subject of a roll of doubles.  Even in our example, Saun Dann, who has twice the Obligation of any other character, has the same chance of being directly afflicted by a roll of doubles.  However, if Morgan Sunskimmer had the same amount of Obligation (i.e., twenty points), she would have twice Saun Dann's chance of being 'hit by doubles.' This offends my sense of fairness.

I would recommend that the double effect be applied when the percentile roll result equals the highest number of any character's 'Obligation range' on the chart.  So, with our example, the double effect would occur on a result of 20, 30, 40, 50, or 60.  In terms of the double effect, each character would have the same risk as any other character, regardless of relative Obligation.


* As of the September 25 update, 20 points each is the suggested value for two player characters.