Star Wars: Knights Of The Old Republic

[Slim_McCoy]

Re: Star Wars: Knights Of The Old Republic

 

Have you played in a successful SF game, preferably a "space fantasy" like Star Wars, and preferably using Hero? If so, I'd like to hear about it, and what you think helped the game succeed and last. (I am hoping to learn something here.)

 

I've yet to play in a long-term Star Wars game... probably due to poor players, real world events, and the game being set aside for a "test run of this cool new system" which lasted 2 years in real time.

 

However, I was in a long-term Mechwarrior game that owed a great deal of its success to a strong GM who had a long-term story arc in mind before we started. Biggest pitfall of this system is making sure that the players remember that they are playing a person, not a 'mech.

 

Also was in a long-running Shadowrun campaign which succeeded because of group of players in love with the genre and some unexpected synergy between the characters.

 

First off, player interest in the (sub-)genre is absolutely vital. Space Opera, Hard Sci-Fi, Cyberpunk, Anime, etc.... find something that your players can get behind.

 

Secondary to that is a good, firm grasp of the campaign setting by GM and players alike. Nothing tanks my fun as a player faster than realizing that the character I've designed just doesn't work and that I have to start over.

 

Keep trying... it will click eventually.

[austenandrews]

Re: Star Wars: Knights Of The Old Republic

 

Just as a point of update, Lucas said this week that the Sith once ruled the galaxy until the Jedi got rid of them. Does that invalidate twenty years of EU or anything?

 

-AA

[Lupus]

Re: Star Wars: Knights Of The Old Republic

 

I'm curious whether anyone has come up with a decent way to model lightsaber duels in Hero. I know the stats for lightsabers themselves have been debated endlessly' date=' but how can you simulate the ebbs and flows of a cinematic duel [i']in which a single hit more or less ends the fighting[/i] without it devolving into a long string of misses and blocks?

 

I'm curious how people have dealt with that issue. I have my own ideas, but I'm looking for more.

 

-AA

I had a decent one for TORG, but nothing for HERO... you could possibly create some manner of 'duelling defence' that functioned as ablative combat luck, allowing peopel to be pushed onto the back foot. You could use virtual BODY, too, but that ends up looking a bit too much like hit points.

 

Alternately, you could have 'jedi defence' be just so good that DCV outstrips OCV by a huge margin. So insted of using the 'strike' maneuver, you have to use drains? That might be getting unnecessarily complex, however.

 

Hmm, I'll think on this.

[Lupus]

Re: Star Wars: Knights Of The Old Republic

 

ACtually, got one now: when jedi put themselves into a serious duelling stance, their DCV goes up. They don't wanna get hit, so they use defensive strikes, things like that. To increase chance to hit, they use either sneaky attacks or power smashes to batter the opponent's defences. Perhaps there could be a slightly different system for each method, but hey.

 

Basically, you attack, the other guy blocks (and almost certainly blocks, due to having combat levels and stuff) - but if he only barely blocks (and you would have hit normally) you start getting bonuses to attack. Next round, he goes first (because he blocked) and sees if he can do that same... if you get enough of a bonus, perhaps he doesn't go first even if he DOES block, and eventually you'll get enough of a bonus to actually land a blow, at which point it's a race to see whether the STUN or BODY does him in first.

 

But the ablative combat luck idea works, too, and is simpler. I'm usually wary of tacking on additional systems when something more elegant works more easily.

[Guest bblackmoor]

Re: Star Wars: Knights Of The Old Republic

 

Just as a point of update' date=' Lucas said this week that the Sith once ruled the galaxy until the Jedi got rid of them. Does that invalidate twenty years of EU or anything?[/quote']

 

Personally, I am inclined to look at the Star Wars continuity much the same way as I look at Highlander continuity. The first movie, before they slapped "Episode IV" on the opening credits or re-wrote the Han vs. Greedo scene, is the real thing. Anything after that is only a "suggestion". If I like it, it stays. If not, I ignore it.

 

It's bad enough when people make crappy sequels: I really resent Lucas going back and screwing up the original movie.

 

(Bitter? Yeah, a tad.)

[Nevenall]

Re: Star Wars: Knights Of The Old Republic

 

I'm curious whether anyone has come up with a decent way to model lightsaber duels in Hero. I know the stats for lightsabers themselves have been debated endlessly' date=' but how can you simulate the ebbs and flows of a cinematic duel [i']in which a single hit more or less ends the fighting[/i] without it devolving into a long string of misses and blocks?

 

I'm curious how people have dealt with that issue. I have my own ideas, but I'm looking for more.

 

-AA

 

This is a big deal for my campaign, and it's one reason I use the version of Luck that allows you modify rolls. Then when a PC is facing an enemy beyond their skills the Force can step in and help them to escape, but not to win. Plus, if you do get hit, you change a hit location from the head to hand.

[Nevenall]

Re: Star Wars: Knights Of The Old Republic

 

...before they slapped "Episode IV" on the opening credits ...

 

I thought the titles always said Episode IV because it was suppose to imitate a serial movie like the old tarzan movies.

[Guest bblackmoor]

Re: Star Wars: Knights Of The Old Republic

 

I thought the titles always said Episode IV because it was suppose to imitate a serial movie like the old tarzan movies.

 

No, that got tacked on after the movie was on the way to becoming a blockbuster, and they realized they could milk it for multiple sequels. The treatment for the first planned sequel, before they decided on the "trilogy of trilogies" idea, was released as a novel by Alan Dean Foster, "Splinter Of The Mind's Eye" (not a bad book, all things considered).

 

But Star Wars was more successful than anyone could have predicted, so they went back to the drawing board, decided to make Darth Vader into Luke Skywalker's father (tippity-tap tippity-tap tippity-tap *), and it all went downhill from there.

 

(* That's the sound of the screenwriters tapdancing to keep Obi-Wan from looking like the huge liar and pervert that he would have to be in order for Luke and Leia and Darth to have been relatives in the first movie.)