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Demona
Cadet
Joined: 19 Aug 2005
Posts: 16
Location: Rio Rancho, NM
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 Posted: Sat Sep 24, 2005 10:49 pm Post subject: Do you allow players the opportunity to alter history? |
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As an example..
Your players are rebel commandos on Hoth during the Imperial invasion. They find a way to take out the Imperials and they don't have to evacuate.
Or Your players find 3PO and R2 on Tatooine instead of the jawas and the droids never find their way to Luke and Ben so Leia never gets released from the Death star and Luke doesn't join the rebellion (at that time).
Do you allow players to alter the SW timeline and history and allow them to take active roles in main movie events?
Or do you keep the players out of the deeper movie plots and keep them away from any major situation where they would be able to change events?
And why?
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Jamfke
Admiral
Joined: 20 Jul 2005
Posts: 4675
Location: Tennessee
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| Posted: Sat Sep 24, 2005 11:14 pm Post subject: |
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I tend to try and keep them from altering the original storyline because, I like it. Simply that.
I like to tell a story that is affected by the original events, or that ties into it somehow. It keeps the flavor of Star Wars as it is, if I want to tell my own version of the main story, I'll play a different game altogether.
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Trusty
Commander
Joined: 16 Jul 2005
Posts: 273
Location: North Little Rock, AR
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| Posted: Sat Sep 24, 2005 11:17 pm Post subject: |
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Well, considering I threw out the canon altogether except for what I wanted...and also stated up front that there was no Luke, Han, Leia, Lando, etc...Absolutely I do allow them to alter the timeline...since I allow them to make THE timeline from the start of the campaign.
We run all the way up to Dark Empire minus the movie "heros"...things like Vader killed the Emperor for different reasons in Ep. VI, Thrawn and the reborn Emperor regained almost half the known galaxy back into their control with the aura of a "kinder-gentler" Empire  ...Little things and big things...Then I hit the fast forward button to 80 some-odd years after Endor (no other canon events happened). Divided the galaxy up 45% Republic sectors, 45% Imperial sectors, and 10% neutral or soverign government sectors...and the time in our campaign after Endor-Dark Empire eras are relative peace...
So all in all I say if you'd rather tell your own story in the SW universe and have the PC's be the hero's instead of George Lucas' characters be the heros...go right ahead. I think it is more fun doing it the "infinities" way.
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Trusty
Commander
Joined: 16 Jul 2005
Posts: 273
Location: North Little Rock, AR
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| Posted: Sat Sep 24, 2005 11:38 pm Post subject: |
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| Jamfke wrote: | I tend to try and keep them from altering the original storyline because, I like it. Simply that.
I like to tell a story that is affected by the original events, or that ties into it somehow. It keeps the flavor of Star Wars as it is, if I want to tell my own version of the main story, I'll play a different game altogether. |
I think that it is fine to do it either way. But players will be players...and sometimes you discourage them (or down right bore them) if it doesn't stay fresh and if they want their PC's to swing the biggest stick in the galaxy.
A flexible GM is likely to keep the players playing and attract new players. I have three players who've only been RPG'ing Star Wars d6 for only the three months (all of which are in their mid to late 20's) we've been gaming and they've NEVER gamed in their life on any RPG. The expeirenced players like the open format as well because it allows them to be more creative.
Let's face it. The Star Wars (especially the d6 version) is a fun "world" to play in. And while Geore Lucas may have thought the story up, I find it a bit egotistical whenever he says yada yada yada "his vision". And on the other side of the coin he authorizes EU novels and then says, "well, their okay...but not my vision" yada yada yada...which is why he can't shed the Luca$$ stigmatism.
In all honestly, Star Wars is hardly "his" anymore and I am not too sure if it ever was in the same way The Beatles can't really call all those hits "theirs" anymore...Sure they wrote the songs; but when something becomes that HUGE there is no taking it all back.
Besides, Lucas can blather all he wants to about "his vision" and what-not, but he gives it up to other people anyway. And how much was "his" to begin with? There are serials after seriels of Empires, Rebellions, mystic Forces, older films etc that he borrowed from and admits it out of one side of his mouth and the other he babbles on about "his vision" out the other. His "vision" is space fights, flashlight sticks, mysticism, good guys, bad guys, and Luke and his daddy somewhere in the mix. That is all. The Production team of concept artists, model builders, set designers, make-up artists, art departments, fashion designers, and quite a bit ot the writers of WEG books fleshed 95% or more of it out. So "his vision" my butt. Anyway, I am ranting...
But the point is that d6 SWRPG would (still) be huge if GM's opened up the timeline and let all those Star Wars fanatics, who like it well enough, but ALWAYS had a dream to do SW their way (in which they think they could do it better than GL could) have their chance to do it their way.
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Jamfke
Admiral
Joined: 20 Jul 2005
Posts: 4675
Location: Tennessee
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| Posted: Sat Sep 24, 2005 11:43 pm Post subject: |
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Again, I say I keep it the way it is because I like it. I'm not saying anyone shouldn't play the game the way they want to. Who am I anyway? Just a few typed words on a forum page! 
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Trusty
Commander
Joined: 16 Jul 2005
Posts: 273
Location: North Little Rock, AR
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| Posted: Sat Sep 24, 2005 11:48 pm Post subject: |
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| Jamfke wrote: | | Again, I say I keep it the way it is because I like it. I'm not saying anyone shouldn't play the game the way they want to. Who am I anyway? Just a few typed words on a forum page! |
No, I agree with you. Do it how you like.  I am just wondering how you could keep it fresh since they know overall how it will all unfold? And how you keep players (and there is ALWAYS at least one in every group) that do their darn best to change the timeline?
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Jamfke
Admiral
Joined: 20 Jul 2005
Posts: 4675
Location: Tennessee
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| Posted: Sat Sep 24, 2005 11:55 pm Post subject: |
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| Trusty wrote: | | No, I agree with you. Do it how you like. I am just wondering how you could keep it fresh since they know overall how it will all unfold? And how you keep players (and there is ALWAYS at least one in every group) that do their darn best to change the timeline? |
Luckily *knock on wood*, I haven't run into any players like this. Besides, in my games, I keep the characters busy with their missions, making sure they're on their toes. If they start to get bored, I simply throw in a twist or two that keeps their minds looking for the right answers.
Also, 'not bragging about my superior intelect...as I'm pretty sure it's in no way superior', the flexible, or more imaginative GM will create his own story that will fit into the mess made by Mr. Lucas and keep it fresh and enjoyable. I slip up every now and then, and some of my players get a little discouraged about the games, but I try to keep them interested as best I can.
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Grimace
Captain
Joined: 11 Oct 2004
Posts: 729
Location: Montana; Big Sky Country
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| Posted: Sun Sep 25, 2005 4:23 pm Post subject: |
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I've never had a player want to change the timeline...or at least actively search for a way to change the timeline. Sure, the thought may have been in one player's head, but he never acted on it.
The way I run it, the player characters rarely ever get a chance to do any interaction with the "main" movie characters. That interaction is NEVER during a time when the main emphasis of the movies is taking place. For example, they wouldn't be flying past the planet Yavin during the time of the first Death Star's attack run. I purposefully keep things vague as far as the time period they are playing in, so they have no idea when things are happening, until after they've already happened. They might hear a galaxywide newsnet report about a station being blown up, but they didn't know, even a moment before, that they were at THAT specific point in time, so they couldn't act to try to change history.
With that said, I've skirted the aspect of history changing in my games, each time I've included a main character from the movies. So far I've only dropped Vader and (IIRC) Boba Fett into my games. One player asked me what I would do if they had managed to kill either of the two. He wondered if I would allow it to happen or just say that those guys can't be killed. I told him honestly that if such a thing happened, I'd have to run the game under a different timeline then, as the current one would have been altered by the death of the main character. So I've always been knowingly ready that a lucky roll of the die (or unlucky on my part) could result in the entire Star Wars timeline (picked and chosen by me to avoid the "bad" parts, IMO) being thrown for a loop.
So while I haven't had to change the history timeline, I've been ready for such an event if my players got lucky enough to smoke a main character. |
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Argamoth
Lieutenant Commander
Joined: 06 Jul 2005
Posts: 234
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| Posted: Sun Sep 25, 2005 4:38 pm Post subject: |
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| I don't enev use the Star Wars story line, so I don't have to worry about a time line at all. |
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Gry Sarth
Jedi
Joined: 25 May 2004
Posts: 5304
Location: Sao Paulo - Brazil
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| Posted: Sun Sep 25, 2005 5:08 pm Post subject: |
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Well, I on the other hand try to use the Star Wars storyline as much as possible. I find that it enriches the campaign universe and gives lots of adventure possibilities. Instead of finding it restrictive, I see it as a wellspring of opportunities and situations. Plus is allow us to feel that our adventure are a real part of the Star Wars Universe. When I contemplate the exploits of Luke, Leia, Han e Co, I consider our adventures to be just as "real" as theirs, since they co-exist on the same universe and even merged at some points. My characters missed the Battle of Bilbringi by a personal choice, they helped defend Coruscant when the Empire retook it in Dark Empire, they were aboard the Errant Venture and worked for Booster Terrik, they had Nawara'Ven defend one of them in court, they visited the Alliance secret Pinnacle Base, etc.....
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Boomer
Captain
Joined: 14 Jul 2005
Posts: 688
Location: Terra Sol
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| Posted: Sun Sep 25, 2005 11:48 pm Post subject: |
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The Players in my games tend ot be flung on the other side of the galaxy, away from canon events. And they tend to only encounter the major canon events.
If they could change them, they would. So far it hasn't happened, but they are welcome to try.
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Allst Beamem
Lieutenant Commander
Joined: 09 Apr 2005
Posts: 131
Location: Memphis, TN USA
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| Posted: Sun Sep 25, 2005 11:54 pm Post subject: hay boomer |
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| I know you are a fan of the mandalorians, was woundering if you had star wars insider issue 80 with the articale mandalorian 101 in it? |
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Jedi Skyler
Moff
Joined: 07 Sep 2005
Posts: 8440
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| Posted: Mon Sep 26, 2005 12:10 pm Post subject: |
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| Gry Sarth wrote: | | Well, I on the other hand try to use the Star Wars storyline as much as possible. I find that it enriches the campaign universe and gives lots of adventure possibilities. Instead of finding it restrictive, I see it as a wellspring of opportunities and situations. Plus is allow us to feel that our adventure are a real part of the Star Wars Universe. When I contemplate the exploits of Luke, Leia, Han e Co, I consider our adventures to be just as "real" as theirs, since they co-exist on the same universe and even merged at some points. My characters missed the Battle of Bilbringi by a personal choice, they helped defend Coruscant when the Empire retook it in Dark Empire, they were aboard the Errant Venture and worked for Booster Terrik, they had Nawara'Ven defend one of them in court, they visited the Alliance secret Pinnacle Base, etc..... |
I personally like to do things this way a lot. I like to see how the events in my games parallel or even help the events in the movies. On the other hand, there are lots of things I'd like to see done differently, and things I always thought should be possible that never panned out. So depending on what the GM or players want to do, sometimes you can find a happy medium.
I used to have a GM that let me introduce new stuff (tech, Force powers, you name it) all the time because I'd either invented some of it or had just read about it in the latest novel. That was cool because it allowed us to keep pace with the rest of the SW universe, canon or not. |
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garhkal
Sovereign Protector
Joined: 17 Jul 2005
Posts: 14030
Location: Reynoldsburg, Columbus, Ohio.
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| Posted: Tue Sep 27, 2005 7:28 am Post subject: |
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For home games, i rarely let the party interact with the core 'history', but if they DID, i would let them TRY to mess it up...
Though i am not sure how i would handle it afterwars....
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Jedi Skyler
Moff
Joined: 07 Sep 2005
Posts: 8440
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| Posted: Tue Sep 27, 2005 11:34 am Post subject: |
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Well, depending on the era you're playing, sometimes you might find your players in synch with some of the authors...
Back when I was gaming a lot, at one point I'd designed a new fighter, introduced it into the campaign, and got to start using it. Then a new book comes out, and BOOM! The whole world is reading about the E-Wing fighter; granted, theirs wasn't exactly like mine, but there were similarities between the two. I felt a mix of elation and anger because hey, they'd used my idea! But on the other hand, they used my idea! I was never quite sure how to feel about that one... |
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