USH'S STAR WARS GAME- Short Story/Gameplay examples

This thread, expanding upon the examples in the main rules, contains a short story in a style similar to the games I run here, with most actions that require the intervention of rules explained in italics, in order to help players understand the operation of the rules.

We have four main players in this story, two Light and two Dark.

Jedi Knight Arin Luxor (Adventurer) is a by-the-book Jedi. Some Jedi act in the capacity of gurus, honourable warriors, maverick crusaders or even Holy Avengers. Arin sees himself as simply a professional lawkeeper, whose duty it is to use his powers to defend the Republic. He acts, in most ways, like a policeman, applying the same analytical touch to anything from kidnappings and murder investigations, to diplomatic missions, and even uncoverings of things deeply evil, like the Sith. Arin, who once nearly went Renegade as a Padawan, is very keen to teach other students about the importance of respecting Government, the Republic and its laws, and also the Jedi Code, of course. He is widely travelled in his inherited ship, The Eye of the Moon, and is an invaluable agent of the Jedi Order for his ability to handle most situations- though whilst Arin is a veteran warrior, there are others the Council would probably use on a pure combat mission.

Arin is accompanied by his padawan Marakith- keen, perhaps overly keen, talented and charismatic. Marakith at 15 has learned much from Arin, whom he hero-worships, and is developing quickly indeed- in some basic skills he actually outperforms Arin, which quietly irks Arin a little. There is certainly no problem with Marakith's skills or progress or even any worry of the temptation of the Dark Side- Arin's main concern is with Marakith's dedication to the cause. Marakith enjoys travelling, learning, even fighting evil- Arin just finds it hard to get him enthusiastic about the life of a Jedi. Arin's greatest fear is that Marakith will go renegade.

Arin's partner on this mission is Kumar (Swordsman), a young pupil of Mace Windu's. Kumar has an amazing combat instinct and a fierce dedication to the Jedi way. He adores the sabre and all things related to it, but believes that his obsessive performance with it is only safe, and only has value, if he combines its use with that fierce dedication he holds- to the cause of Peace, Justice, and the Code of the Jedi. Hence, Kumar is almost blindingly loyal and obedient and has controlled what could be dangerously violent urges in a Swordsman. Like Arin, Kumar does not like Renegades, but for a different reason- Kumar believes a Jedi who tries to find his own way rather than sticking to an independant ideal is at severe risk of Dark side temptation (Kumar would loathe Freelancers with a passion, as far as Jedi allow their emotions out at all, that is). If Kumar is sent on a mission solo, it would be to those combat missions that Arin is not sent to. Other than that, he makes an ideal partner for a Jedi in any mission in which it seems danger may be a factor. He is not a good choice for diplomatic missions and has no problem with that.

Kumar's apprentice is Gremane, who many simply refer to as Mini-Kumar, as he is turning out much the same way. Kumar has hammered in his lessons of obedience and holding to a righteous cause in order to focus and discipline your skill with the blade, and Gremane has become very skilled with the sabre very quickly. His drawbacks are easily identified- Gremane is learnign of the sabre to the expense of all his other skills- including the Force. He is also not very social. Pehraps one other worry is that Gremane is a little TOO emotional in disliking those who do not hold to an ideal- Kumar controls his emotions better.

Arin and Kumar have worked together before and work together well. Arin normally takes the lead, not out of any seniority but because Kumar is very much set on appreciating who is good at what- he lets Arin do the talking and finding out where to go next, and then he will handle things when- as they inevitably do- they get difficult.

On the other side, we start with Lorlorn (Fallen), an ex-Jedi whose fall was based around Hatred, as he developed a general contempt to just about everyone else in the Galaxy who had made it the generally horrible place that it is. His feelings slowly changed about the Order, at first thinking it was fighting a lost cause, then a lost and also POINTLESS cause, and before long he felt contempt to the Jedi as well for even trying to defend an institution as horiffic as the Republic. As a Dark Sider, Lorlorn maintains the same broad arrogance, and is even more annoyed at how, as a criminal himself, he has to deal with exactly the sort of people he hates. He dreams of a day when he can just clean out the Republic, letting its blood flow in a grand purge... in his ship, the Icemark, he helps spread his agenda, quietly. Lorlorn is quite the veteran and a skilled agent of the Dark Side- but he is not inclined to act often.

With him is Var-Ell, a Revenant, who does not talk of his past, but it is clear that is has left him with a hatred of pretty much everything- including life itself. Var-Ell has a keen and horrible intelligence, which he uses with his strength with the Force to good effect in putting Dark Sider plans into operation. Var-Ell is always thinking ten steps ahead, and is continuously infuritated that his injuries leave him liable, and how he is dependant on others for transport. He is a formidable foe.

Lorlorn and Var-Ell are not exactly friends but have a mutually beneifical understanding when working together. Var-Ell tends to take the lead purely because Lorlorn just loathes having to deal with anyone at all- Var-Ell also is very good at using the Force to affect others. It is clear that Lorlorn and Var-Ell work for someone... it is less clear who.

-

First off then, here is a re-print of the play examples of these two in the rules thread.

Jedi Knight Arin Luxor (Adventurer) and his deadly Jedi companion Kumar (Swordsman) are trying to trace the liaison between a seemingly petty deathstick smuggling operation on Corellia and funding Hutt Piracy on the Outer Rim. Arin knows the right people to talk to on Corellia but things have not gone as planned. Confronting a local dealer of some important and seven of his big friends in a seedy warehouse in an abandoned area, things have turned nasty and the thugs draw on the Jedi, whilst the dealer runs away.

After the roll, the frames pan out as follows- Kumar has 13, Arin 11, and the thugs merely 9. Due to various force powers, Kumar and Arin take exactly zero frames to draw and activate their Lightsabres so they need waste no time there. As he has the highest amount of frames, Kumar acts first.

Vaulting the table the Jedi and dealers were talking across, Kumar lands amidst three of his opponents and attacks all of them at once with his double-ended Lightsabre (he is a dangerous man). The thugs stand little chance and Kumar cuts them all down. This took three frames and leaves him acting again on Frame ten. Arin is acting on frame 11, and so goes next. He rather more calmly makes his way around the table and cuts down a single target. This again takes three frames and leaves him acting on frame 8. This means Kumar, still on ten, acts next. He tries to cut down another target but to his irritation he messes up the roll- the desperately dodging thug just manages to get out of the way. Kumar is down to frame 7. Arin is on 8, the thugs are on 9, and the three remaining thugs take their shots. Two fire at Kumar and one at Arin, but the Jedi easily deflect the clumsy blaster fire. Kumar also activates a force power at this point which allows him to take a bonus attack at the closer man who just fired at him- the thug is killed by Kumar and this bonus attack took no frames at all.

Arin takes a two frame attack on his next target- this fast attack is less effective but he wants to save time. The attack is successful and downs his target. Two frames from eight leave Arin acting again on six. Not wanting to be outdone, Kumar takes a VERY inaccurate one frame attack on the last thug. This time he gets away with it and kills him man. This one frame attack means Arin and Kumar are both on six frames.

Their target- the dealer- has almost gotten away. He is at the door, and will be out of it on frame 5. Kumar uses the Force to speed to the door- but even so, he will not make it until frame 4. Arin calmly extends a hand and uses a Force Push to activate the door control- the door slams shut in front of the dealer’s face. Opening it takes him a frame- by which point, Kumar’s saber is at his throat…

“That wasn’t very polite,” says Arin, walking over. “Why don’t you re-think my request for your help?”

His seven men dead in seconds, and Kumar looking not in the mood to be messed around with, the dealer agrees that maybe helping the Jedi is in his best interests…

Var-Ell (Revenant) and Lorlorn (Fallen) are, by ‘coincidence’ trying to break into the same operation that Arin and Kumar are investigating. Not having the freedom of a world like Corellia, they have instead gone to Kahangrorn, where they have located the Hutt liaison man. They have made the liaison a fair deal that he cannot refuse- not if he would prefer his insides kept on his inside, anyway. But, working for the Hutts, the liaison is not impressed.

“You’ll barely have time to live to regret threatening me…” says the Liaison.

“Believe me,” says Var-Ell. “One more regret won’t make any difference to me.”

The assassin hidden up behind the ceiling panels takes his shot at Lorlorn. Lorlorn sensed that person’s presence twenty minutes ago- the assassin gets no surprise, and like the Jedi, Lorlorn has his Lightsabre drawn in zero frames, and is facing the attack.

The assassin is good for a mook and has a gun skill of nine. He makes his attack, rolling a +4. Good shot! Lorlorn’s Lightsabre skill is 14, though. The assassin’s total is only 13. A miss, as Lorlorn deflects the shot to one side.

Lorlorn uses a force power to hurl his saber at the assassin. To simplify, this uses his Lightsabre skill. The assassin takes an active dodge to add 2 to his defensive score. Lorlorn rolls +2 on his attack for a total of 16. The Assassin’s modified defence score is 11. Lorlorn beat the amount he needed to hit by five. What with the Killing Power of a Lightsabre, that is a kill.

Like the dealer on Corellia, the liaison flees. This hardly impresses Var-Ell, who reaches forwards and picks up the liaison with a force grip. The Force attack score (force attacks are described in more detail in the Force section) of a Revenant is scary, and the dealer has little chance to resist. He is pinned down by Var-Ell, who only applies slight pressure for now.

“I hope you did not think that I was being metaphorical with that whole ‘keeping your insides on the insides’ thing,” says Var-Ell, as he treads towards the liaison. “Close the door, Lorlorn… the people outside won’t want to see this…”

(If the assassin had rolled two points higher, for a 15, that would have hit Lorlorn. The damage from the assassin’s gun is 10, and he would have hit by one more than he needed, for a final damage of 11. Lorlorn’s strength is 7, that is subtracted from the damage, so all in all, Lorlorn would have taken four hits.)

---

And now, we go on!

Arin and Kumar interrogate the dealer.

“You haven’t got anything on me!” he protests.

“Damn, he’s right, Arin,” says Kumar. “Oh wait! Yeah, except conspiracy to kill two Jedi! Does that count as resisting arrest as well?”

“I am not sure ordering his men to kill us counts as conspiracy,” says Arin.

“I like to keep things simple,” says Kumar. “So, where do we go from here? Not nice in Corellian prisons, I hear.”

“You’d certainly want to get out of one as soon as possible,” says Arin.

”But… look! Can’t we come to some deal on this?” asks the dealer

“Listen, smart guy,” says Arin, “we’re not the locals. You don’t bribe Jedi. We’ve got you dangling by your shorts over a Gundark nest here so you just shut your face and listen to us, yeah?”

“But I only supply people with what they want!”

“Deathsticks kill people; don’t play for my sympathy- and the ones you supply aren’t exactly made with being health-conscious in mind.”

“Ah, but they are not illegal to produce on some worlds,” says the dealer, “and if I just pass on some imported goods, then…”

“… then that is bypassing half a dozen product tax laws from the Commerce Guild, not to mention evading Trade Federation import duties. Somehow I doubt you pay your dues. I can bell you up to them if you want- frankly, I think you would get a better outcome from us.”

“Yeah, not nice, these merchants,” says Kumar. “Look what they did to Naboo…”

“Hey, you guys stopped that, though!”

“Yeah…” says Kumar. “But late in the day for a lot of people though.”

“Now look,” says Arin. “Here’s what we’ve got. We’re taking you in for the attempt to kill us and that’s not going to look good, and if it hadn’t have been so feeble we’d be REALLY cross. Then we’ll get you for possession with intent to supply, and that is sure as hell going to stick. But if I make the effort, I am pretty sure I could build a case against you for trafficking as well. They throw away the key for that one. Now, do I have to make the effort, or are you going to give me what I want?”

“I… what is it you want?”

“Who is your liaison with Dodrak the Hutt?”

“GAH! I am NOT giving you that! That’s the Hutts! I play hardball with them, I turn up dead! You can’t be serious!”

“I’m dead serious.”

“Man, it’s just deathsticks; ain’t you Jedi got bigger things to worry about?”

“Like guns, you mean?”

“Huh?” asked the dealer.

“Guns. Weaponry. Piracy. People dying. A LOT of people dying. Even more than from the junk you push in the streets.”

“Hey, I don’t have anything to do with weapons!”

“Your supplier is in turn supplied by Dodrak the Hutt. You lift up half of your profits to him and HE lifts up half of his profits from an operation spanning a quarter of the Galaxy to Dodrak, and he in turn is buying enough illegal hardware to equip a galactic fleet.”

“That’s nothing to do with me! And Hutts are always armed!”

“Not on this scale,” says Kumar. “This is serious, VERY serious, and you look like part of it to me.”

“So,” says Arin. “Let’s see what we’ve got. Assault on Jedi, supplying illegal substances, possible trafficking, breaking import, customs and tax laws, and being not an unproductive part of a major quality illegal arms dealing operation. You should be grateful that we’re still willing to be friendly after all that. Now, if you are reasonable with me, we’ll try and keep this thing in perspective and protect you from the Hutts. You have to see that this is in your best interests…”

Arin makes a Persuade roll. Although there is very much an element of stick in this, it’s not really Intimidation. Arin rolls +2, which adds to his Persuade of 11, for a total of 13. The difficulty was 10- he passes

The dealer hangs his head. “Ok,” he says.

“The name, then,” says Arin. “And the location.”

The grand hall was dark and gloomy. Adorning the darkened stone walls were various sharp implements, and the hanging remains of the unfortunate ones who had either questioned authority, or been in the wrong place at the wrong time. All around were vicious looking mercenaries and pirates. Few traders- this operation was too vicious for many of the Free Traders of the Galaxy, who turned to other Hutts.

The solid metal door opened slowly, revealing the two men Lorlorn and Var-Ell who walked inside, flanked by a dozen armed guards. They looked unconcerned at things. Standard at the far end of the room was Dodrak the Hutt- large and slimy like all Hutts, but his skin was a disgusting shade of dark grey and black.

“So,” said Dodrak in Huttese, “these are the two worthless nothings who murdered my liaison with the drug pushers.”

“We killed your man on Kahangrorn, yes,” says Var-Ell. “But he was the worthless nothing. He insulted us; we don’t take kindly to that and he paid the price.”

“That man,” says Dodrak, “was a vital part of my financial operations.”

“He can be replaced,” says Var-Ell. “You can find loud-mouths like him who can co-ordinate drug-smuggling operations anywhere in Hutt Space. He was not worth our time.”

“How DARE you presume to kill one of the great Dodrak’s men!” said a fierce-looking mercenary, resplendent in green armour, who came strolling forwards. “I say kill these morons and slice up their limbs, and display them on the doors to the great hall as a warning to others!” Var-Ell looked at the man curiously.

“Would you miss this man if we killed him also?” he asked Dodrak.

“He speaks truly- scum like you should die for presuming they have the right to kill my men. And he was more than just an organiser- he had contacts invaluable to my struggles.”

“Contacts?” asked Var-Ell. “Arms dealers, maybe?”

“These people know too much,” said the Mercenary, drawing his gun. “I shall kill them for you, Dodrak.”

“We certainly know all about that operation,” said Var-Ell. “We’re the arms dealers.”

There was a momentary silence.

“This makes no sense to me,” says Dodrak. “You are the suppliers of all those ships and guns, and yet then you kill your means of dealing with me? You think this is good business?”

“We offered him a sample to let you try,” said Var-Ell. “A fleet, with no-one asking questions about it, no production costs, and ten times cheaper than any legal procurement you could make. An edge against the other Hutts like Shareth. A taster designed to let YOU, the mighty Dodrak, know we were serious. But then when we asked to deal with you directly, he got cocky. Said we would deal with him and no-one else. I took badly to that. I dealt with the issue. Disposing of the middleman, you could call it. Now we shall deal with you directly.”

“You have no right to deal with Dodrak directly!” said the Mercenary. “You are here as prisoners! Such a privilege must be earned!”

“We shall soon sort that out,” said Lorlorn, speaking for the first time. He stepped forwards. “You and I. Let us fight for your Master’s amusement.” The mercenary grinned.

“Think you can take me, do you?”

“Indeed I do, and just to REALLY make the point, I shall be unarmed, and you may attempt to kill me first and I shall do nothing to stop you.”

“Really?”

“Really.”

“Heheheh… then this is your end, because if that was a joke it was a bad choice…”

The mercenary pointed his gun at Lorlorn, and then looked surprised when an invisible force twisted his gun arm to one side- and then he felt a clamping around his throat. All of Dodrak’s men drew their guns, whilst Lorlorn stood there smiling- it was Var-Ell who had his hand held forwards, slowly crushing the man with the Force.

The Mercenary is a super-mook with a skill of 10. But Var-Ell’s Force Attack rating of 15 made this an easy roll- he rolled evens, more than enough to make his Grip work

Lorlorn now stepped forwards and elbowed the man in the stomach. As the man bent over, Lorlorn punched the man there again, and again and again and again until the man was nosily sick all over the floor. Some gunmen walked towards him, and Lorlorn called his sabre to his hands in an instant (Force power Draw- Lorlorn spends one force point (his Dark Side discount cannot take the cost to zero) and the sabre is in his hands at once).

“Ever tried a blaster against one of these?” he asks. “Go ahead if you want; I like to practice.”

“You bastard!” said the Mercenary on the floor. “That was meant to be a fight between the two of us, not with the help of your ugly friend and his fancy powers!”

“Oh my!” said Lorlorn. “I am SO sorry. Did I cheat? My apologies. You see, I thought I was in the Great Hall of Dodrak the Hutt. The scourge of the Hutt worlds- the most feared Hutt name of the last century or more, whose enemies all are made to scream out the error of their ways before they are terminated in as much agony as possible. But INSTEAD, it appears I was in fact meant to act like I was in some sort of feeble Alderanian duelling club, with rubber swords, where I have to follow the rules! Of COURSE I cheated, you cretinous imbecile!” Other men came forward again, but they were interrupted by the long, horrible, slimy laugh of Dodrak.

“I like these men,” he said. “They are my sort of people. Very well, you may deal with me directly. What is your offer- another shipment? I should be expected to pay more this time?”

“Less,” says Var-Ell. “As a compensation for the man we killed, and the trouble you will have to take to replace him.”

“That seems… not worth your while…” said Dodrak.

“On the contrary. The start of a relationship that will benefit us all immeasurably.”

“You have more to sell me? There cannot be much more; you cannot have that much weaponry available without you having been heard of before…”

“Mighty Dodrak,” said Var-Ell, “if this relationship continues, then we can offer you one hundred further shipments of that kind… if you can pay.” There were a few gasps.

“You must think me a fool,” said Dodrak. “A fleet a hundred times the size of what you have already sold me… such a force has not been seen in the Republic in a thousand years.”

“Nonetheless, it is the offer we are making.”

“Fools. You will take my money and give me nothing.”

“That will not happen,” says Var-Ell.

“And why not? What guarantee do I have?”

“Because powerful as we are, even we would not perform such a gross insult on a being as powerful as yourself for something as petty as money. It would mean our deaths.”

This is a Lie, and Var-Ell makes a lying roll, activating the power Subterfuge as he does so. As this is not a combat situation he does not need to worry about the Force/Frame costs- in fact, very few of the social Force powers ever have to worry about costs, which are only really provided on a just-in-case basis.

Var-Ell’s lying skill is 13, and he rolls a +2. This is enough for a pass, and because he used Subterfuge, the final result is in fact double his lying skill, which comes to 26. This enormous result means that his lie is utterly convincing.

It is important to realise what this means, and what Var-Ell is lying about. He is not attempting to Lie about the amount of shipments he can make- Var-Ell’s claim is SO outrageous that no amount of Lying skill or force powers will convince Dodrak of this on the spot even if it is true- and it so happens it IS true.

The Lie is Var-Ell’s assertion that they would not dare betray Dodrak because of fear for their lives. Truth is, Var-Ell and Lorlorn would betray the big slug in an instant if it suited them and would take on any consequences, assuming it was worth the hassle. But Var-Ell’s faked show of respect for Dodrak has gone down well, and the Lie has made it seem genuine. Dodrak will deal with them, and the plan is he will believe the shipments when he sees them- as Lorlorn and Var-Ell plan to make happen.

Note that Hutts are normally strong willed and so immune to Mind Tricks; but Subterfuge is not a Mind Trick, it simply represents an understanding of the nature of Deception, effectively just making you a very good liar if you can sense your target’s mind.

“Hmmm…” said Dodrak. “How soon can you make the next shipment?”

“We had already moved it to Kahangrorn. We can return and arrange the transfer right away.”

“I will see what you have to offer…” said the Hutt. “But… I have some worries…”

“Then we shall sort them out right now,” said Var-Ell.

“I have to wonder… if you have such forces, why do you not use them yourselves? And after that, why sell them to me, who had to make such effort to get the finances, whereas some of the other Hutts would be able to pay you at once. Why the Hutts at all, and not a planetary Government, many of whom are becoming interested in purchased armies? And what do you plan to do with such riches?”

“These are good questions,” says Var-Ell. “Here are our answers, which I shall be frank about. We do not use the forces ourselves because we do not have the resources to make use of them. I am not prepared to discuss where this equipment is coming from but I represent a small private interest who cannot possibly use such things.

“We are selling to the Hutts rather than a planetary government because our material is not legally owned or produced and therefore its trade represents an enormously illegal operation., The Hutts are the people with the best combination of resources and the ability to avoid Republican entanglements during the deal.

“You instead of the others… well, it is no secret that you have had… difficulties. If we sell to a strong Hutt, we make that Hutt stronger still and it is not our intention to create a single, unstoppable Hutt overlord. We know you will have difficulty getting the finances, and to afford it you have had to use every last contact and piece of influence you have to make the best use of the remains of your drug smuggling business- and in doing so have brought unwanted Republican attention. We are only interested in dealing with people who need to make such efforts; a Hutt like Shareth could deal with use casually and that gives us no power.”

“Ahhhh…” said Dodrak. “So now we come to the truth. It is not just money you are after. What is the nature of the power you want?”

“You own several dozen major criminal concerns throughout the Galaxy. All were diminishing; now they will grow strong. We want a quarter of your business.” Dodrak’s eyes widened, as Var-Ell waited for the effect of this to die down. “Not at once; we will arrange a slow transfer of power over the next two years as we get the right people ready to accept us as their leaders. When we are done, we all go our separate ways.”

“So, you seek to take control of my business? No Hutt could accept such an offer…”

“That is your choice,” said Var-Ell, “but you only have two choices. Your war with the Hutts continues. You either deal with us, and stay with three-quarters of your business strong, or do not- and lose everything. That is the choice you have and the offer we are making you.”

---

Arin finishes loading up his ship, the Eye of the Moon. Kumar was meditating at the back with his Padawan Gremane, whilst Arin’s Padawan Marakith sat with him at the front.

“Kahangrorn,” said Arin, as he typed in the co-ordinates. “Republican world, but at the edge of Hutt space. Very dodgy; an entryway between their culture and ours.” His ship started to lift into the air.

“Have you been there before, Master?” asked Marakith.

“No, but I hear the name a lot. Even so, a bit out of the way for Dodrak the Hutt to have so much business there, but that is a result of his personal circumstances.”

“I’ve never heard of Dodrak before,” said Marakith.

“A bit before your time. He was a powerful Hutt Lord in his day, but he lost out in a turf war with some of the other big names; Shareth, Jabba… others. Which was a good thing.”

“A good thing, Master?”

“Yes. Hutts like Shareth… they are a plague on the Galaxy, rotting the Republic from within, spreading their evil more and more each day. But she works within the system, quietly, taking advantage of corruption and vested interest to get what she wants. It is horrific but it is relatively calm. Dodrak… he was just vicious. Psychotic even for a Hutt, and too violent even for his own kind to tolerate. He just killed, without mercy or even sense. If the Hutts HAVE to exist… better they are not like Dodrak.”

“So… what is all this about then, if he is a spent force?”

“Well, that’s the odd thing… suddenly Dodrak is back in the frame. Six months ago, a pirate fleet of Shareth’s was interdicted and ambushed by mysterious assailants. It was wiped out and its cargo seized. Not easy for us to investigate Hutt activity, of course, but the word is that the forces are Dodrak’s.”

“Where did he get them from?”

“That is exactly what we are trying to trace. All we know is that Dodrak has been squeezing every last drop out of his remaining operations- a big risk, enough to get us on his trail. A desperate move- perhaps the last move of a desperate Hutt. But something has gone right for him. What we don’t know is who would sell such weaponry to Dodrak, and why, and how. Since then Dodrak has been stepping up piracy operations in several Republican sectors, with his trademark cruelty and violence. It will only get worse from here.”

“So… if this Dodrak is so evil and dangerous, why do we not simply confront him personally?” Arin shook his head.

“You have much to learn about enforcing the law, Marakith. Hutt law is very loose and we have no real authority to enforce it anyway. If we go and ‘take care’ of Dodrak, all that will do is start a war between the Hutts and the Republic- because much as they dislike him, Dodrak is one of the Hutt’s own and they will see this purely as politics. It is something we have neither the authority nor the right to do, and in doing it we would create a situation worse than we are trying to prevent. Sometimes we just have to accept that we have to work around problems rather than taking them head on, my young Padawan learner.”

“Yes Master…” said Marakith. “But if that is the case, why are we talking such an interest at all? Hutts attacking other Hutts… there are ALWAYS pirates we have to fight, what has changed now?”

“Because if someone like Dodrak becomes that powerful, the rules change. It has not happened for centuries now, but in the past, some pirate clans have become so powerful that they have attacked entire planets. If Dodrak gets resources and weaponry and ships, these are the sort of clans he will back- and this sort of thing, that affects and threatens the Republic as a whole, is our job to stop.”

“So what do we do?”

“The drug smugglers are only a small part of the issue; they know nothing. So we have been working our way upwards until we find someone who DOES know. The liaison on Kahangrorn is a good lead. We shall see what he has to say.”

-

The Jedi investigate the crime scene where the liaison and his bodyguard/assassin have been rather brutally murdered. Marakith, keen to learn about such things, follows Arin around and looks at what he looks at. Kumar’s rather more martially minded Padawan absently toys with his dual sabres, in the background.

Kumar is asked to make an Observation roll. He rolls -1 for an eight- still a pass.

“Odd,” says Kumar, picking up the assassin’s rifle. He points to the blast marks in the ceiling. “Made by this rifle,” he says. “Not particularly brilliant shooting.”

Arin, looking at the assassin’s body, makes a Medicine check. He rolls evens for a nine, which is also a pass

“Hmm,” he said. “Marakith, see what you make of the mess over there, will you?” Marakith, pale at the nature of the way the liaison has been torn apart, nods and takes a tentative look. When he has moved away, Arin beckons Kumar over and shows him the body. “He’s been impaled,” said Arin, “but the wound is cauterised.”

“A Lightsabre?”

“I think so.” Kumar looked at the ceiling again.

“Those could be deflected shots,” he said. “What’ve we walked into here? Do you think…?”

“The missing Sith the Council is looking for?” asks Arin. “No… seems a bit... loud for them, as it were.”

Nonetheless, Arin’s player asks the Gamesmaster to see if he can make a Sense roll to sense anything bad. The GM reminds the player that if it was the Sith, Sense wouldn’t sense anything. The player concedes- but the GM DOES say that Arin’s Intuition is giving him a bad feeling about things… but that Intuition agrees with his logic- this is not the Sith.

“Camera records are all destroyed, Master,” reports Marakith, a few minutes later. The liaison’s body has been so badly destroyed that no-one present can make anything useful out of it.

“Someone out there must know something,” says Arin. He steps outside, and looks at the people out there- all scum and dealers.

Arin tries to use Empathy to try and work out who is more important than whom- but all he gets is a vague sense of leaderlessness- the liaison obviously ran everything here with no second in command.

“Ok,” says Arin. “I want to talk to anyone who saw anything of what happened in there. I know someone must have. And if no-one comes forwards, I will become VERY unhappy…”

Arin now uses Awe in a non-combat sense to appear more threatening to everyone, whilst Kumar sneaks around to the front doorway. He makes an Intrusion roll to go unnoticed whilst Arin distracts them. He rolls a -3 for a total of six- sneaky, but not sneaky enough.

Having made his declaration, Arin now activates Scan to try and sense a large amount of fear from anyone, which would indicate that person does indeed know something. He rolls -1 for an 11- enough for him to pick out the Rodian in the background.

Arin looked at the Rodian, and Kumar spots the target- but due to his poor roll, the Rodian spotted Kumar coming, and dived out a window. Kumar burst out the door to give chase…

The Rodian has a head start, in the crowded streets outside. Kumar blurs forwards as he follows.

Kumar activates speed, but running through crowds is dangerous. Kumar must make a Force roll to co-ordinate himself. He rolls -2 for an 8- enough to stay afoot but not enough to catch the runner before he turns the corner

Around the corner, the street was packed, and the small Rodian picked his way through the crowds more easily than Kumar, despite his yells for people to get out of the way. Kumar cannot possibly speed through these crowds. The Rodian, feeling smart, caught an elevator down to the walkway below, and keeps on running. Kumar smiled, and simply jumped off the side of his walkway.

Kumar blows his entire Force pool into the power Master Fall, negating any possible damage from this fall He makes a Lightsabre roll as a means of acrobatics (ALL fighting values can be used for acrobatics) to land well- he rolls +4 for an 18, VERY smooth…

Kumar landed smartly next to the Rodian, who swings a punch at Kumar…

For this brief fight, there is no need to start a combat sequence. The Rodian with a skill of eight punches at Kumar- who deliberately does not draw his sabre, not wanting to kill the target. Kumar, just to make sure, takes a dodge, increasing his dodge value (based on his Combat skill of 14, rather than his Lightsabre skill as he has not drawn) to 16. The Rodian rolls +3, giving him a total of 11. Nice try, but nowhere near enough.

Kumar then uses his combat pool to active the Combat Trick Grapple, which you use if someone just missed you. He immediately attacks back, rolling a +1 for a 15, which the Rodian has no chance against. As according to that Combat Trick, the Rodian is now held fast in a grip.

Kumar grabs the clumsy punch and twists the Rodian around into a nigh-on unbreakable hold, enough to convince him to surrender. Kumar then notices all the people looking at him.

“Jedi business,” he said. “Want to make something of it?”

---

Lorlorn’s slimline ship, the Icemark, hurled through hyperspace towards Kahangrorn. Lorlorn was at the controls whilst Var-Ell was on the comms unit out back.

“What is the situation?” demanded a female voice, distorted electronically as to be unrecognisable.

“Dodrak has agreed to the deal,” said Var-Ell. “Everything can go into operation as soon as we present him with evidence that the next shipment is ready at once.”

“What happened to the samples of that shipment you took from the main stock on Kahangrorn for that purpose?”

“Still on Kahangrorn, in the storehouse of the Hutt liaison we eliminated. The sample was too awkward to ship into Hutt space, but we just need to show it to one of Dodrak’s reliable agents he is sending out here. As soon as they see that they will pay up, and the main shipment is only hours away from the city.”

“This has taken too long. The security of the operation is at continual risk,” the feminine voice declared.

“We’ve done the hard part,” said Var-Ell. “Now it is just a matter of shifting some goods from A to B.”

“Make sure it stays that simple.”

“Yes, Mistress.” The link cut out. Var-Ell walked forward to the cockpit, unsteadily. His old wounds were aching again. “You still miserable?” he asked Lorlorn.

“Peasants,” said Lorlorn, dismissively. “We are dealing with peasants and thieves and scum of the lowest order.” He wiped at this sleeve as he spotted another speck of blood from the man he had beaten up in front of Dodrak, as if it was somehow infectious.

“Violence and an attitude are the only types of things a Hutt like that understands,” said Var-Ell. “The only way we had to impress him.”

“If I wanted to act like a thug I would have stayed on the streets,” said Lorlorn. “I prefer to negotiate with some… decorum.”

“Well, if this works out then in two or three years we’ll have power enough to act any way we like!”

“And until then we must associate with filth? Well, I…” Lorlorn was interrupted by a beeping from the comm. Unit. Var-Ell headed back to answer the message.

A short but angry conversation followed.

“Bugger and blast!” said Var-Ell as he headed back forwards. “Can this thing go any faster?”

“What’s the problem?”

“Problem? We’ve only got the damned Jedi sticking their noses into things!” Lorlorn shrugged.

“That was always a risk, I guess,” he said. “What’ve they got?”

“They’ve got the warehouse, so they have the sample. It can only be a matter of time before they find the main shipment. We will have to stop them.”

“Is that wise?” asked Lorlorn.

“What, you think we should just let those bastards ruin everything?”

“What can they ruin? Even if they confiscate the entire shipment, we can get another one moved in, in less than a month, and I dare say we could slip it past whatever security they set up.”

“If I did not know better, I would say you are afraid,” said Var-Ell. Lorlorn turned in his seat to fix the Revenant’s glare.

“Do not assume so much superiority,” said Lorlorn. “You know you need me to face the Jedi, lest they humble you, with your injuries.”

“My power is in the Force, and it is STRONG!”

“So your plan is to face them down personally?” asked Lorlorn. Var-Ell did not reply. “No… and let me tell you this. Irrelevant of fear, it is logically unwise to confront the Jedi unless it is absolutely essential to our plans. We do not know how many or how dangerous they are. I say, let them have their little victory- it will mean nothing. They will move on, and then we can move back in.”

“No!” said Var-Ell. “We MUST face them! We must keep our position of strength with Dodrak; if he thinks us weak the deal might collapse. And if the Jedi work out where those ships are coming from, do you think they will let it slide?”

“I suppose that could be awkward,” said Lorlorn.

“Well?”

“Very well,” he said. “But I will not make any heroic last stand on this- if it gets too hot I am pulling out. Nor will I get myself killed trying to save you.”

“Just turn up the power,” said Var-Ell. Lorlorn did so, burning up more fuel to reach Kahangrorn all the faster…

The interrogation had revealed much- the Rodian had seen the execution through the keyhole. So, two men, both force users and obviously on the Dark Side- selling weapons and after power.

“Why go to all this trouble just to muscle in on Hutt business?” asks Marakith.

“It’s what they need,” says Arin. “Your typical Dark Sider, if there is such a thing, is very dangerous, especially when cornered, but since the end of the Sith they don’t really amount to anything- Hutts are far more dangerous to the galaxy as a whole!”

“Really? Even if they are as skilled as a Jedi?”

“Absolutely. After all, what are we without the Order? Just people with simple tricks and lightsabres. We represent something larger; an ideal just as vital to our being as the Force itself. A Dark Sider has none of that, so whilst they are dangerous in person… they have no real power as such. But if they could break into a Hutt’s criminal empire and gain control of some of it… then their threat grows in magnitude by many, many times. The stakes just got higher.”

“Why do all this messing around with arms sales? If they are so dangerous why do they not just force the issue?”

“It’s not that simple. Force can get you a long way but they cannot take power simply by killing everyone who disagrees with them. They would make enemies of all, and no-one can survive that- not even the Jedi. They could kill the heads of some organisations, but does that mean they then take it over? No, the people of that organisation will not work for them. They will find new leaders; continue to fight, and it goes on.”

“They have the Force on their side. They don’t have to be violent.”

“The Force is a powerful ally but it won’t deliver them everything they need. It needs to be combined with intelligence and planning. So if they make this deal, and get ‘in’ with Dodrak, inside his organisation, THEN with the power of the Force, and being so personally dangerous… given time, they could find allies and work deals and gain very great power indeed. A dangerous threat… more dangerous than we had feared.”

“Does this sort of thing happen often?”

“My word no! Dark Siders are incredibly rare in the first place- less than a few dozen in a Galaxy of trillions. And those who exist might realise how they could gain power… but lack the means. The difference here is that these people have an entryway- all these ships. How they achieved this… we don’t know.”

“So now?”

“We find the arms shipment,” interposed Kumar, “we track these Dark Siders, and we take care of them. It would be nice if they surrender but I doubt that. If they don’t, there is no choice with dealing with these people. They cannot be allowed to continue- hundreds of thousands, or more, will suffer if we do not stop them.”

“And we shall, Master!” said Gremane. Kumar frowned slightly.

“Let myself and Arin handle them if we meet them, Gremane,” he said. Gremane looked crestfallen.

“That goes for both of you,” said Arin, looking at the Padawans. “Neither of you are ready for something like this yet.”

-

Through the Rodian, the Jedi track the warehouse where the samples of the new shipment are kept- a dozen fighters, a gunship, and over three hundred sidearms.

Kumar and Gremane are at a bit of a loss here- Kumar has many useful skills but is not really an investigator. Arin handles that side of things.

The ships are smooth, silvery and sleek- and a complete mystery.

“Not a type I’ve seen before,” said Arin, strolling around between the fighters, pausing to look at the larger gunship. “They look old; somewhat primitive.”

“How old?” asked Marakith.

“I would say centuries or more… except they look unused.”

“What use would centuries old craft be?”

“You would be surprised,” said Arin. “Most ships used during the Sith Wars would be perfectly serviceable today.

“I suppose so,” said Marakith. “Sometimes I think the Republic is moving backwards. Even so, there is better stuff than this around, isn’t there?”

“Pirates nearly always use scavenged and second hand gear, old models, improvised material. If this was meant to be part of a modern planetary navy, then it would be pretty rubbish. Sienar Fleet Systems and the Corellians turn out stuff far more sophisticated than this,” continued Arin, opening up the gunship and striding inside, “but in outlying reaches of space, this stuff would serve you well enough. Certainly enough to surprise and destroy a Hutt-backed pirate fleet.”

“But good news then? If it is only primitive ships they are getting? Far less a threat to the Republic.”

“We have to act to protect the more primitive Republican worlds as well as the ones that could handle these ships,” says Arin. “Besides which, our elusive Dark Siders will benefit just as much if the deal is made. And it also worries me… how can these ships be so unused?”

Arin makes an Observation roll to see if he recognises anything about the technology that might help identify the ships. He rolls a -2 for a 7- nothing.

“I cannot help thinking I have seen this design somewhere before,” says Arin, “but it must have been somewhere obscure; in a file somewhere; schematics perhaps.

Arin now makes a Savoir-Faire roll, to see if there is anything about the aesthetics and design of the ships that would help identify the culture that designed them. He rolls +4 for a total of 15- a good result! But… nothing!

“Strange,” he says. “These ships cannot have just come from nowhere.”

“Now what?” asks Kumar.

“We go into more detail,” says Arin. “I’ll get some equipment from my ship.”

-

30 minutes later, and Arin was gathering results from his analytical equipment.

“Hmm,” he says.

“Something?” asked Kumar, who was getting a little edgy with what he saw as lost time.

“Nothing helpful… just these ships are unusually designed.”

“How so?”

“Very precisely calibrated. Not even the slightest difference between each one I can detect- unusual in ships that have been mass produced to this scale; most facilities would not bother being so tiresomely precise due to cost. Very efficiently designed also- almost seamless. Must have been state of the art when it was built.

“No-one builds ships like that today,” said Kumar. “No call for them.”

“Indeed,” said Arin.

“Any idea HOW old?”

“Older than I thought. More than a thousand years. Radiation decay shows that. Mind you, that is something else that is odd- very high levels of stellar radiation.”

“Meaning?”

“Well, they were certainly built in orbit, not planetside. And around a planet with a dangerously active star. Or maybe in orbit around the star? No point in that though- more awkward for materials. Unless…”

Arin now makes a Jedi Lore roll. His final total is 12- enough to make him suspicious of something…

“Check everything,” says Arin. “Every clue we can possibly find. Strip these ships to pieces if we have to.”

The Jedi do indeed start stripping the ships for clues. The important one they can find is on the gunship- but both Kumar and Arin fail their Observation rolls there. But Marakith makes one also, and his Observation is a respectable 9. He rolls +3, for a 12- a pass!

“Master,” says Marakith, “the computer systems on this ship... I was looking at the logs.”

“Wiped, like all the others.”

“Yes,” says Marakith, “but there is some special encoding on the messaging system that has not deleted correctly.” Arin stops, comes back over, and looks at the screen, curiously. His eyes widen.

“You’re right! I’m an idiot!” he exclaims.

“It's my fault, Master,” said Marakith. “You were busy; I should have spotted it sooner.”

“No no, you…” began Arin, before he felt the wave of smugness coming from Marakith. “Yeah… well done. Can you uncode it?”

“I’ll give it a go, Master.” Arin could do it also, but he thinks it is worth letting Marakith have this one now he started.

Fifteen minutes later, the message is decoded, and all the Jedi are staring at it.

“Well,” says Arin, “that is the proof I was looking for…”

Malak

The Jedi counterattack in the Kasei sector must be repulsed. With luck, I shall return from my meeting with Demnos inside three weeks. I leave things in your charge until then- do not fail me.

Revan

“A meeting between Revan and Demnos?” asked Kumar. “I don’t remember ever learning about that.”

“It’s never been heard of,” said Arin. “Luckily it must have failed. If Demnos and Revan had joined forces… there would not have been much left of the Galaxy afterwards.” There was a gasp from Marakith.

“The Star Forge, Master!”

“That’s right,” says Arin. “Revan’s secret weapon that constructed his entire starforce and armed his military. These ships didn’t absorb stellar radiation- they were made from stellar material!”

“But…” says Gremane. “How? How can they have the Star Forge? It was destroyed, surely? Are you saying that was fake? Or maybe there is another?” Arin laughed.

“Calm yourself, Padawan. We don’t know anything like that. Like I said, these ships are very old. The Star Forge produced enough material to fight a Galactic war; there could easily be enough left over from that time to produce this lot. In fact… I think I have it.”

“Master?” asked Marakith.

“A gift,” says Arin. “Revan sought an Alliance with Demnos. A combination of the powers of the Star Forge and the Mausoleum that would surely destroy the Galaxy. So he offers Demnos a gift- a fleet. An entire fleet, made from the endless resources of the Star Forge. Good way to start negotiations.”

“But it didn’t work,” stated Kumar.

“No, well… different people. Revan was an ex-Jedi, very professional, a great strategist. Demnos… he was a cult leader. His followers worshipped him as a God. Very intelligent, very powerful with the Force. Virtually the opposite ethos of the Force to each other. That was never going to be easy. So… the gift is never taken, and the fleet remains unused. Somewhere a very long way out- Demnos operated on the fringes of known space.”

“And these unconnected Dark Siders have found it when the Jedi never did in the last four thousand years?” asked Kumar.

“Hmm,” said Arin. “Unlikely, I agree. Something more as to how they came across this than we know.”

“Very interesting,” said Kumar, “but if it doesn’t help us trace the main shipment, how does it help?”

“It might yet…” said Arin. “These old fleets worked on a more primitive communications net- that gives us options.” He dashed over to the gunship’s communications system and turned it on. “I’m going to ping the mothership,” he says. “And…” there was a beeping noise. “We have a response! And now…”

Arin makes a Fix-it roll, rolling evens. That is a 9- enough for this important roll

“… I can trace where the receiving signal is.”

-

Between the cities on Kahangrorn there were only icy wastes. Deep beneath the western tundra there was a complex of underground bases, once used by a smuggling empire, now extinct for over three thousand years. Here is where the Dark Siders had hidden the shipment of weaponry and ships for fast transfer to Dodrak’s people, for when the deal was agreed.

The outer hatchways, hidden under the snow, were locked, but against the combined efforts of four Lightsabres, they soon gave way, clattering to the metal walkway below, their edges red with molten heat, but steaming as the surrounding ice and snow melted onto it. The Jedi leapt down a few moments later.

“Shouldn’t the local authorities know about this?” asked Marakith.

“I’ve informed them but they aren’t very helpful,” said Arin. “Under the thumb of the Hutts, most likely. They won’t come out unless we find something definite for them.”

“That’s outrageous! You cannot let them ignore your requests like that!”

“If they don’t want to work with us it’s not possible to force the issue no matter how much authority we have. I can log a complaint in my report but nothing will come of it; just another piece in a very large jigsaw of problems we have had working with some Republican worlds.”

“Locals are more trouble than they are worth anyway,” said Kumar. “Normally just mean more dead bodies at the end of things. Best we handle situations like this on our own. And talking of handling things…” finished Kumar, as his danger sense went off.

The Jedi had emerged into the main hangar, a cylinder that went down for a mile or so, in which the next portion of the fleet was being kept- small ships, cruisers, and one mothership. The lights came on as they entered- and auto-sentry turrets were popping up from the floors and ceilings of the multiple walkways that led down, and dozens of armed men, goons of Dodrak, were flooding into the area.

“I’ll head down to the controls and shut off those auto-defences,” said Arin. “Cover me from those guys!”

“No trouble…” said Kumar. There was a collection of sharp snaps as the Jedi activated their lightsabres. Arin and Marakith drew theirs from their belt and assumed a ‘hasso’ guard in the traditional Jedi way, both moving in perfect unison. Kumar unhooked his double-bladed sabre and twirled it expertly as he activated both sides at once. Gremane reached to his back, where he kept his two sabres, and activated them at the same time as he grabs them and brought them back over his shoulders to face forwards.

Details of the fight that follows coming soon...

seems good 🙂

WOW! When's it due for publishing?

nice..nice....one question, though....
how come the dark siders didn't feel the rodian looking through the key hole....if they sensed the assasin.
my only explanation is that the assasin was a direct threat to them..more easily sensed...that's probably it..

Indeed- the Rodian wasn't actually going to kill them, so their danger sense didn't go off, and they were not being terminal about making sure there were no witnesses- everyone in that building KNEW they had killed the two of them, which is how they wanted it. He only closed the door to stop anyone coming in, really.

If any of them had made an effort to check if anyone was watching, a Sense roll would have done the job.

yeah...

and is this made up by you...or was it played by you guyz...(or both)

Oh, I made it up for the benefit of you guys.

hmmm..nice....quite an entangled plot for a spontaneous writing

It's to help people get the gist of how things might actually work in-game. Glad you like it, Baylin, but it's not exactly publication material...

maybe with fine tuning

Looks good Ush...

Possibly related to future things?

Originally posted by Ushgarak
Glad you like it, Baylin, but it's not exactly publication material...

I dont know, I've read a lot worse stuff thats been published!

Ah, but written in a very 'explanatory to players' fashion...

And now, the fight!

---

Obviously enough, this is now a combat situation. First off, then, I as the GM make a speed roll, for the benefit of everyone. I roll a 5. Everyone adds their initiative to that to find out what frame number they start acting on. Your initiative is equal to your speed, plus any other modifiers (which are few). Marakith and Arin are both speed 7, which adds to the roll I made to make a starting frame score of 12. Kumar and Gremane are both speed 8- and as Warriors (a special ability that applies to the type C templates (Swordsman, Freelancer, Blackguard and Corsair)) they get +1 to their initiative. Therefore they add 9 to that roll I made, so they start on 14. The goons of Dodrak are speed 6, and so they act first on 11- as do the gun turrets.

Automated defences are a pain for Jedi, especially if they are out of reach (i.e. built into the ceiling not next to any walkway), as is the case of many of them here. Certainly not impossible- Jedi can reflect shots, use Force attacks, throw their sabres, use any guns they are carrying or even just perform long leaps at them and slash as they go past. But all this involves far more effort than is involved than with cutting down mooks. Hence, even though the gun turrets are more dangerous targets (they certainly do more damage), the players of Arin and Kumar quickly decide that the most efficient way to proceed is for Kumar to take out the gunmen and Arin to quickly fight his way down to the controls and deal with the turrets at source- Kumar is very good at mass fighting, and Arin has the technical skills to perform the shut down- and their Padawans deputise well at the relevant tasks also.

Kumar and Gremane face off against a dozen opponents on the upper level, and four gun turrets. They are fighting on circular walkways the skirt the outside of each level- in the middle there is only a sheer drop down to the control rooms below.

Kumar leaps into the air, somersaulting, and lands at the far side of the walkway amidst three opponents. With a spin and a twirl of his blade, the three of them lie dead.

Kumar used the Force power ‘Flying Charge’. He performs a jump into a huddle of opponents and has the option to attack as many opponents as the jump took him past.

First of all, Kumar has to pass an acrobatics roll to land safely in the midst of enemies, else he loses his attack. The difficulty is ten. Like all acrobatics rolls, Kumar’s skill is his highest combat value, which for him is either Lightsabre or Combat, both at 14. Kumar rolls -2, but that is still a 12- a pass.

Kumar then decides he will attack all three opponents he landed next to (he did not pass any on the way- he was flying over the gap in the centre of the level). Attacking three opponents puts him at -3 to hit. However, Kumar has two levels of the Blade Trick Multiple Attack that discounts this, so the penalty is only -1.

The fighting value of these mooks is 16. Kumar’s Lightsabre skill is 14. He rolls -3 on his attack roll. He gets another -1 from the above mentioned penalty for attacking multiple targets. This gives him a total of 10. He therefore hits all 3 mooks by 3- this is called having an ‘Outcome’ of 3.

As noted in the rules, you have to hit a Mook by 5 (more technically, to get an Outcome of 5) in order to kill him, else the amount you hit him by simply makes it easier to kill them next time you hit. But the Lightsabre is a dangerous weapon, and has a Mook Killing Power of +2- meaning it needs two points less of Outcome it kill a Mook. 3 and 2 is five- therefore this is a killing blow. All three mooks lie dead.

Whilst the leap probably only took one or two frames, because a Flying Charge always involves an attack, its minimum frame cost is 3. Therefore this action took 3 frames for Kumar to perform. He started on frame 14, so now he will act on frame 11.

Gremane, meanwhile, charges forwards to attack the nearest mook. Holding his left sabre clear, he makes a fast slash with his right that hacks through the weapon of the surprised mook, and cuts him down.

Gremane actually has three levels of Carnival of Carnage, which actually allows him to attack mooks very quickly, but he cannot discount the single frame it took him to run from A to B. This attack therefore takes him two frames, leaving him ready to act again on frame 12.

Gremane’s sabre skill is 12. He rolls evens on his attack. Against the difficulty to hit of 7, that is an Outcome of 5. We know that this will kill the Mook outright. In fact, Gremane only needs an Outcome of 2 to kill mooks- he has a Killing Power of +2 from the Lightsabre, and an additional +1 from his Carnival of Carnage. Not this does not actually do extra ‘damage’ to the mook- if Gremane got an Outcome of one, that would only reduce the mooks’ chances of living next time by one, his killing power would not increase the damage to 4. Killing power merely reduces the amount of Outcome you need to kill the Mook, as opposed to doing extra Outcome damage.

Regardless, this mook is very dead. The cutting through the gun bit was simply added for style.

Kumar acts again on frame 12, taking a step forwards (no frames needed for small moves like that) to hack down another mook, which he does with ease.

Gremane takes but a single frame to kill this mook, due to Carnival of Carnage- he is in his element

Now, everyone up top is on frame 11- Kumar, Gremane, all the mooks and the gun turrets. Kumar spins and with another twirl, decapitates another two foes.

Due to ‘player privilege’, Kumar has the option to move before anyone else. He wants to attack another three mooks, but the GM rules there are only two immediately next to him, as he only just killed three in the same spot a moment before. Kumar therefore attacks the two of them, but to speed things up, he ‘snaps’ the attack. This makes the attack take only two frames instead of three, but gives him -2 to hit. Attacking two opponents gives Kumar no penalty, due to his two levels of Multiple Attack. He rolls +1 on his Lightsabre roll, with a penalty of -2 that is a result of 13. An Outcome of 6… well, we know by now that is enough to slaughter the mooks, and Kumar’s player feels like a decapitation is appropriate. His two frame snapped action means he next acts on frame 9.

Gremane then strikes again, stepping forwards- but a slight mistime of his strike means that he does no more than singe the mooks’ sleeve- much to Gremane’s irritation!

Gremane is not a player and so received no privilege, but in ties, the person with the highest speed goes first, and Gremane has the edge. But his attack roll is -4- a total of 8, and an Outcome of only 1! He’s failed to kill the Mook, and he is very peeved… However, now that Mooks has had an Outcome 1 hit scored against him, he now only needs an Outcome of 4 to be killed. Gremane only needs to touch him!

Note the contrasting tactics of the two Jedi. Gremane uses Carnival of Carnage to perform a series of very quick attacks- three times faster than normal- dropping one mook at a time. Kumar uses Multiple Attack for attacks of normal speed, but which kill more than one mook at once! Kumar is better, of course, as he is a full Jedi, but both tactics have merit.

Because it also makes Mooks easier to kill, Carnival of Carnage is probably the better choice here. Also, Multiple Attack is limited by the amount of mooks next to you at any one time. Furthermore, even if you totally mess up a Carnival of Carnage attack, you have not actually wasted much time, as the attacks are so fast. However, Carnival of Carnage is only EVER any good against Mooks, whereas Multiple Attack can be used in other circumstances. Both come highly recommended, and you almost certainly want someone with Carnival of Carnage in your team.

Remember you can only use one blade trick at a time, so you could not use both Carnival of Carnage and Multiple Attack to make quick attacks on multiple mooks at no penalty- unless you also have the trick Mind of the Warrior, and use it to combine the other two for simultaneous use. Scary…

The Jedi are doing well- but now the Mooks unleash a hail of fire in reply!

You may be wandering- why did the mooks just stand there for a while and let the Jedi hack them to pieces? Do the higher speeds of Kumar and Gremane mean that they are acting whilst the mooks are somehow paralyzed?

The point is not that the mooks were literally incapable of action, but that they were not doing anything useful. The Jedi have reacted so fast that the mooks are dumbfounded. They might even be shooting back, but so uselessly that no roll is made. Not until this frame number is reached do they actually perform any USEFUL action- the trick is to think cinematically rather than realistically- the Jedi are wielding ‘laser swords’, after all… Also bear in mind that whilst all that might look like a lot, no more than five seconds have passed since Kumar drew his sabre.