The Star Wars Mega-thread

[seneschal]

This is the place to discuss all things Star Wars in a BRP context.  Who are your favorite characters and why?  By all means give us a write-up in your preferred BRP family rules system.  How would you model Force power X?  Using which rules variant?  Give us your stats for vehicles, weapons and other cool gear.  Ditto one or more of the weird critters from the film series.  As long as it has to do with Star Wars and BRP it is all good!

[ORtrail]

My go to BRP Star Wars would be that fan supplement, Runequest Star Wars done by Design Mechanism.  Sadly not available anymore, but most of the heavy lifting was done for you in converting the races, equipment, vehicles, force powers, and a few creatures.

[seneschal]

I still have it in my electronic files but haven't yet had players who are interested.  Hard on an old nerd who stood in long lines that wrapped around the theater to see the original trilogy.  Later, as the mania was slowly starting to tamp down, my mother (not a sci-fi or fantasy fan) finally consented to see the movie.  She said, "THAT was what all the excitement was about????"  Sigh.  But, hey, she did allow me to bring up to 12 high school friends into her dining room at night to play Traveller even though she doesn't get the concept of role-playing or even tactical wargaming to this day.  So that's something.  😃

[seneschal]

The RuneQuest 6 guys may have beaten me to the punch but here's an initial write-up to get this thread started:

Jawas

Stats -- Use the template for Halflings or Ducks.  Jawas are (as far as we can tell beneath those thick, all-covering brown robes) a short, petite humanoid race native to the arid planet Tatooine located on the edge of the Galactic Empire.

Skills -- Bargain, Repair (Electronic and Mechanical), Hide, Stealth, Spot, Conceal, Fine Manipulation. Jawas are consummate scroungers and handymen.  They make their living digging through other people's trash and castoffs, repairing or cobbling something together from the junk, and then reselling it.

Etc. -- Because Jawas share a planet with larger, more aggressive species such as humans and Sandpeople they tend to be somewhat shy and skittish.  They roam their barren world desert in giant armored vehicles called Sandcrawlers which serve as mobile home, workshop, and retail showroom:  Despite their habitual caution, Jawas are certainly bold enough when it comes time to conduct business.  They are frequently found in markets. and trading centers and are sharp negotiators.

Biology -- Although there is probably a Star Wars Encyclopedia someplace that describes Jawas in gory detail, we never learn much about them from the movies themselves.  They have huge yellow eyes that glow from beneath those deep hoods even in the daytime.  Their tiny humanoid hands are always covered by tight black work gloves.  I read somewhere that Jawas are allergic to liquid water and tend to smell foul to human nostrils.  But no character in any film ever complains about the supposed Jawa stench.

Edited October 23, 2019 by seneschal

[Qizilbashwoman]

5 hours ago, seneschal said:

Jawas

Jawas and Sandpeople are the descendants of the ancientmost human settlers of Tattoine before the later settlers like one million years later turned it into a megadesert from a lush world. The wrappings on both protect them from drying out.

[seneschal]

Thanks.  I wouldn't have known based only seeing the films.  I always thought the Jawas were intriguing as an.alien but somewhat understandable species.  Everybody's gotta earn a living, right?  The Jawas are the ultimate Antique Road Show folks.😉

So when do we get to enjoy your righteous Rey write-up? (Say that five times fast!!)

[Qizilbashwoman]

1 hour ago, seneschal said:

So when do we get to enjoy your righteous Rey write-up? (Say that five times fast!!)

I have a policy of not defending Star Wars films (except everyone hates the second trilogy) because I don't need to defend them. People can like or hate them. There's no need for people to scream about it into the internet. Let people enjoy things or not. I won't increase the anger-y fight about it because Star Wars isn't about putting bad vibes into the world.

If I were to play Star Wars I'd... use the dedicated system by FFG. No offense to Chaosium but it's brilliant and does Force powers supernally well. The alternative would be using HeroQuest, because Star Wars is 100% not about rolling to see what body part you hit.

[seneschal]

Awwwww!  I had no intention of fussing at you about movies.  Just wanted to see what you could come up with.  What?  No love for WEG's D6 iteration?  It is back in print.  If it is too much, Mini Six is a free download and has a not-Star Wars setting ready to roll with.

But you are correct:  Star Wars had become yet another religion way back in the 1970s.  Don't want to rile up the faithful.  (Pssssst!  Star Trek TOS!). 😆

[seneschal]

Sand People

Sand People, the notorious Tusken Raiders, are the scary desert tribesmen of Tatooine.   They are equivalent of Comanches or Mongols on Earth, caring for their own and considering everyone else a hated enemy.  Re previous discussion, they may be descended from humans who settled the planet a loooooooong time ago.  Since they never go outside without heavy robes, head wrappings and protective goggles we don't really know what they look like.  Their preferred transportation are banthas, large elephantine quadrupeds with thick fleece and ram-like horns.

Stats -- STR 2d6+8, CON 2d6+8.  Their harsh desert existence has made Sand People hardy and strong but they aren't superhuman.

Skills -- Heavy Club, Riding, Survival, Tracking, Stealth, Spot, Listen, Hide, Animal Husbandry

 

Edited October 23, 2019 by seneschal

[Qizilbashwoman]

21 minutes ago, seneschal said:

They are equivalent of Comanches or Mongols on Earth, caring for their own and considering everyone else a hated enemy.

this is not a good description of either Comanches or Mongols. I've known both in my time, particularly Mongols. 

And Back in the Day, Comanches happily incorporated outsiders into their society in the thousands and thousands, and the Mongols were multi-ethnic states who wrote using a Syriac script inspired by the liturgical Syriac of the Church of the East; Genghis' primary wife was a Christian, like the rest of her ordo, and they sent polite formal letters to the Pope in Latin, Italian and Syriac before invading Europe, asking him to mediate European surrenders to avoid bloodshed.

Meanwhile, the Pope had barely heard of Asia and did not know any Syriac.

In short, maybe don't uh use ethnic shorthand, it comes off badly.

[seneschal]

Political correctness strikes again.  Can't we agree to not be offended by one another and just enjoy talking about role-playing for a change?  Please, with organic honey on top?  I started this whole thread for your enjoyment because you were so enthusiastic about Rey in an earlier discussion, and you've still managed to turn it into a finger-wagging lecture.  Enough already.

Edited October 23, 2019 by seneschal

[Ian Absentia]

Know how you can tell someone is being politically incorrect?  They use the term "politically correct".  The only people who bother using it are the ones claiming the right to flout it.  But, yeah, just try to avoid ethnic shorthand -- it invariably falls apart under even casual inspection.

!i!

[Edit: Of course Star Wars, from the outset, is full of ethnic stereotypes, so this digression into cultural sensitivity is entirely on-topic.  Ha.]

Edited October 23, 2019 by Ian Absentia

[Baragei]

Helpful tip for the survival of this forum: a hand offered will lead to dismembered limbs very quickly.  

[seneschal]

I mean, we should able to discuss freakin' Star Wars without it escalating into World War 87.  Right, guys?  A safe, innocent topic ... unless the other poster is a Trekkie or a Battlestar Galactica fan.  😳

[Bill the barbarian]

1 hour ago, Baragei said:

Helpful tip for the survival of this forum: a hand offered will lead to dismembered limbs very quickly.  

yeah, it would be nice if we could disagree a little better, eh?

[Qizilbashwoman]

It's not out of hand to suggest politely that ethnic stereotypes are perhaps not the best idea. I wasn't even rude about it.

[Ian Absentia]

53 minutes ago, seneschal said:

I mean, we should able to discuss freakin' Star Wars without it escalating into World War 87. 

Depends on which trilogy cycle you're talking about.  You have been on the Internet over the last 20 years, yeah?

And, of course, don't lean into ethnic shorthand.

!i!

Edited October 23, 2019 by Ian Absentia

[seneschal]

2 hours ago, Baragei said:

Helpful tip for the survival of this forum: a hand offered will lead to dismembered limbs very quickly.  

That's the thing.  I've been posting here for almost nine years and it hadn't been like that until a couple of months ago.

Let's redirect our concerns about and discussion of ethnic shorthand to Skull Inn.  This thread is supposed to be about Star Wars.

[Ian Absentia]

Great.  During which time we'll agree to refrain from using ethnic shorthand.

So, how 'bout that Trade Federation from The Phantom Menace?

!i!

[rsanford]

I saw a meme where Gene Wilder supposedly said of Blazing Saddles that he didn’t like it that we were now worried about offending people and that he liked it better when we offended everybody. I agree with the meme so I’m making no commitments on language.

[Ian Absentia]

6 minutes ago, rsanford said:

I saw a meme where Gene Wilder supposedly said of Blazing Saddles that he didn’t like it that we were now worried about offending people and that he liked it better when we offended everybody.

Yeah, but people used to like putting hydrogen in blimps, too, and that was a bad idea.

!i!

[seneschal]

I thought the Trade Federation giant doughnut ships were cool looking, and their robot army was perfect cannon fodder for the good guys to clobber without committing murder.  However, I never understood their motives for attacking Naboo.  Maybe the movie explained but if so I must have missed it.

Edited October 24, 2019 by seneschal
Correct spelling. Oops!

[ChrisTooley]

The Verse is a shiny place. Even out at the rim, deep in the black. You cant take the sky from me! 😀

[rsanford]

3 minutes ago, ChrisTooley said:

The Verse is a shiny place. Even out at the rim, deep in the black. You cant take the sky from me! 😀

Hey Chris! Been a while since I saw you online. I miss the old days when we all talked Magic World!

[seneschal]

For an interesting take on the Star Wars universe, check out reprints of the Marvel Comics series (I think Dark Horse publishes omnibus volumes.). These stories were being written before and during the production of the second and third movies, and nothing but the original film was locked into canon.  The writers were free to make stuff up.  The feel is much more Star Trek-y than we've become accustomed to.  Yeah, the Empire is huge but the galaxy is even bigger.  There are plenty of blank spots on the map where both the good guys and the bad guys could encounter almost anything.  Darth Vader, Luke and Leia are not relatives.  Jabba the Hutt, who had been mentioned but never shown, is depicted as a funky-headed humanoid somewhat in the Greedo mold.  Despite being a dangerous gangster,  he is also a source of humor, being put in embarrassing situations by Our Heroes.  
 

Vader, now free from the restraint of Grand Moff Tarkin, remains the primary villain.  But he's much more subtle and scheming than the callous killer we see on screen.  The Empire, you see, is still trying to win hearts and minds, and Princess Leia wields too much political influence and public goodwill for the bad guys to just seize her.  So Vader plays mind games and diplomatic tricks to get her to discredit herself.  He is very Lex Luthorish in that regard.

But it is not all Vader all the time.  The good guys are threated by mad scientists,  corrupt officials, ambitious military commanders, greedy tycoons.  You can see how the disorganized rebels might win.  The ruthless people running the Empire -- civilian or military --  are seething with selfish ambition and contradictory plans for their own exaltation.  Vader is just one of the pack but he is single-minded enough to put the Empire's best interests at least on par with his own.

Edited October 24, 2019 by seneschal
Finish paragraph