Shooting Womp Rats D6 Podcast

[cheshire]

I was just listening to Episode 33, and I wanted to chime in on the "cybernetics disconnecting you from the Force" thing. You commented that you could not find a reference to cybernetics disconnecting Anakin from the Force, and that the idea is stupid.

I must say that you're half right. Lucas did make comment on that in the ANH audio commentary (I'll make a time reference when I next listen to the commentary). But even if Lucas said that, it's still stupid. It's retconning at its worse to explain visual differences in the films.
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Before we take any of this too seriously, just remember that in the middle episode a little rubber puppet moves a spaceship with his mind.

[CRMcNeill]

It is also mentioned in the novel adaptation for Revenge of the Sith. Near the end of the book, there is a short section describing Anakin awaking in the Vader suit that specifically mentions his diminished ability to use the Force.

As a suggestion for future episodes, it occurred to me that you could contact topic authors or originators in private to let them know that you are planning to include their topic in the next podcast and include some questions that might provide answers or additional material to fill out your discussions. Just a thought...
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"No set of rules can cover every situation. It's expected that you will make up new rules to suit the needs of your game." - The Star Wars Roleplaying Game, 2R&E, pg. 69, WEG, 1996.

The CRMcNeill Stat/Rule Index

[shootingwomprats]

http://d6holocron.com/shootingwomprats/2014/07/01/shooting-womp-rats-34/
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Don Diestler
Host, Shooting Womp Rats
The D6 Podcast
http://d6holocron.com/shootingwomprats
@swd6podcast, Twitter

[Mojomoe]

I'd love to comment onthe space combat aspect!

The group I've run for 18 years has always avoided space combat, or at least it happened in the loosest narrative terms.

However, I've since come up with a great reinvigoration of space combat, and now we use it every game. I can't believe what I was missing!

What I came up with was a blend of D6 basics with rules adapted from the FFG minis game, but since those are so damn expensive, I've adapted the Pocketmodel minis, which can be had for song on eBay! For example, at last count I had 40 A-Wings. FORTY. And the system is simple enough that all 40 could be used in simultaneous combat, possibly against my 35 TIEs or 60 XWings.

[shootingwomprats]

Daniel here.

I love it, Mojomoe! I'm now scrambling to get on ebay for some of these models!
_________________
Don Diestler
Host, Shooting Womp Rats
The D6 Podcast
http://d6holocron.com/shootingwomprats
@swd6podcast, Twitter

[DougRed4]

Very cool, Mojomoe! Hopefully if we ever get a Rancor Pit get-together scheduled, you could bring some and show us your system.
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Currently Running: Villains & Vigilantes (a 32-year-old campaign with multiple groups) and D6 Star Wars; mostly on hiatus are Adventures in Middle-earth and Delta Green

[Mojomoe]

I hope so!

Actually, one thing we've never been able to do in our group, but that I'm madly interested in, is easy epic scale battles, integrated into the campaign or adventure.

Think something like the Battle of Endor in space. You've got intimate battles with the player'a ships (the Falcon), medium-scale battles between individual NPC fighters (the other X-Wings and TIEs), then fleet- and squadron-scale fights - entire wings of TIEs and A-Wings and B-Wings, as well as ISDs, Mon Cals and CR90s. We're talking 100s of ships, thousands of people.

I dunno, I've been toying with a way to simulate this easily, but I don't know if it's something people would be interested in.

[CRMcNeill]

Start a topic on it. I've played around with some ideas but never found one that I truly liked.
_________________
"No set of rules can cover every situation. It's expected that you will make up new rules to suit the needs of your game." - The Star Wars Roleplaying Game, 2R&E, pg. 69, WEG, 1996.

The CRMcNeill Stat/Rule Index

[aegisflashfire]

The original SW Rules companion had some cap-ship rules but nothing too robust. Your best bet may be be adapting the X-Wing Alliance video game ironically. I was sorely tempted to do so for some cutscenes.
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http://swfallingstar.podbean.com
GM of Falling Star: D6 Star Wars Campaign Podcast

[shootingwomprats]

What do you mean by "ironically?"

Also, we recorded an interview Monday, and are prepping for a huge announcement for episode 36!
_________________
Don Diestler
Host, Shooting Womp Rats
The D6 Podcast
http://d6holocron.com/shootingwomprats
@swd6podcast, Twitter

[aegisflashfire]

Just that for all the crunchy rules you can come up with, you'll probably get the most realistic and satisfying combat out of letting a video game play mostly by itself.

Lets face it, space battles are visually enticing. they're a roller coaster of rolls & dips, brilliant multicolored lights flashing across pretty space backdrops or weaving through complex patterns of asteroid movements. Its a visual art form. Its very hard to capture it in a text/paper/mini game. All the brilliant description in the world doesn't light up the senses like THX Sound and Ultra-HD or 3Dfx.

Emotion, pathos, drama --those can exist just fine in an RP setting, the space battles, sadly cannot be duplicated as well.
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http://swfallingstar.podbean.com
GM of Falling Star: D6 Star Wars Campaign Podcast

[shootingwomprats]

A good idea to put into development would be a "battle recorder" of sorts - something to input movements and results that would output a scene.
_________________
Don Diestler
Host, Shooting Womp Rats
The D6 Podcast
http://d6holocron.com/shootingwomprats
@swd6podcast, Twitter

[aegisflashfire]

you can sort of do this with X-Wing alliance. I just haven't had the 12 or so hours I would need to play out a scene I want.
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http://swfallingstar.podbean.com
GM of Falling Star: D6 Star Wars Campaign Podcast

[shootingwomprats]

The only issue I could see with that would be with players who have ships that aren't in the game. I don't like cookie-cutters very much.

Take, for example, my players. They have a ZH-25 Questor handed over to them by New Republic Intelligence. I don't think that's in the game, and just having something else in there to take its place doesn't do the imagery justice, to me.

Thus an updated program, one that isn't a game, that can accept a series of commands then play them out. I can think of ways to implement it(kickstart the funding for a program that does it for "D6 Space" and add in a free "fan-made" conversion for Star Wars).
_________________
Don Diestler
Host, Shooting Womp Rats
The D6 Podcast
http://d6holocron.com/shootingwomprats
@swd6podcast, Twitter

[Mojomoe]

Actually the system that I've been toying with does away with a lot of the crunch and boils the battle down to abstracts so it could be easily run.

Ideally, it would reduce all the dice codes and combat statistics of the fighters, squadrons, and capital ships to a series of advantage modifiers that lets the battle play out in shorthand.

For example, a showdown between a squadron of 24 TIEs and 15 A-Wings might come down to a single dice roll with modifiers applied, during which 8 TIEs and 5 A-Wings are destroyed.

It would be a system for relegating the detail of the battle where it needs to be, depending on the proximity of the PCs to the action.