Shootout at the OK Hiding Spot

When we last left our heroes, Baniss had just spotted a stormtrooper with an e-web blaster across the courtyard.

There's four benches in the courtyard that serve as the endpoints of an X. In the middle of that X is a reflecting pool.

Bishop leans out the door and opens up with his repeater. All three shots miss.

One of the e-web's return blasts strikes Bishop. Somehow he remains on his feet. Two stormtroopers dash out from the courtyard's entrance.

Baniss pokes his head out and scores a hit on one.

"Nice shot," says Bishop.

"Thank you!" says Baniss.

"Can you do it again?" he asks grimly.

Neela shoots and misses.

Bishop again opts for volume in place of accuracy. He doesn't hit anything.

Two more stormtroopers run out from behind the e-web.

The round continues with nobody scoring hits. The benches and doorway provide excellent cover.

On the next round, the e-web scores a hit on Bishop. He stumbles back to Ith. "Medpac!"

As she tends to his wounds, he points out that we're not making any headway. We can't overpower them and the current setting is not working to our advantage. There's now four stormtroopers behind each bench plus the e-web. Seventeen stormtroopers is more than one squad, but less than two so there must be a few more out of sight.

Baniss grabs his datapad and begins typing furiously.

"I thought you said they were tracking you!" Neela reminds him.

"That really doesn't matter now! Buy me some time!"

Ith sighs.

I scrawl something on a scrap piece of paper and hand it to the GM. He chuckles. "That's what you're doing?"

After much debate, we decide our best option is to fire across the doorway at the walls opposite us. Two characters on each side. Baniss gets a little out of control and singes Ith. After what feels like forever, we hear the clang of boot steps approaching the open door.

A small round object flies in. Stun grenade! With a scream and a thrump, Ith and Neela both fall. The GM looks at us and says, "What do you do?" We can't think of anything.

We hear the stormtrooper speaking into his comlink. "Confirmed detonation on two targets." Pause. "Yes, sir."

Another stun grenade; only Bishop remains.

"Confirmed detonation on one target." Pause. "Yes, sir." Now he addresses Bishop. "I have been authorized to used deadly force... with this!" The trooper's arm reaches through the doorway, holding a thermal detonator.

Bishop's player looks at the GM. "My gun's illegal, right?"

"Yes."

"So I'll plant it on Neela before I surrender."

"Make a move silently check."

Suffice it to say, he did not roll well.

"You were warned!" the stormtrooper yells. The grenade lands in the middle of the room and the door closes.

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"Well, I saw that going better," says the GM. "I guess that's the end of the campaign."

"No! Yossa's still alive!" Bishop's former player says.

"That's right!" He looks at Yossa's player.

"Oh I'm going after Shiv! He's still got something of mine."

"Alright, everyone roll up new characters. They need to be someone Yossa would count on."

"Remember, Yossa's not so cool with shady business."

I rolled well. We'll discuss my new guy soon, but we need to wrap up some loose ends next time.
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Storytime: Why I am no longer allowed to use explosives

I've gotten caught up in schoolwork again. Luckily, I have something on a related topic I wrote in order to share with a friend about a year ago. This is my first experience with an RPG and took place when I was in junior high. Both my brother (the GM in this story) and the other player in this game are in the current Star Wars campaign I am writing about in this blog.

We were playing the old West End Games Star Wars RPG. My brother was GMing for the first time and making most of it up on the spot. My friend and I were playing bounty hunters. We met our contact, got the assignment, and decided we needed more firepower. So, we of course went shopping.

The shop had pretty much everything we could ever want... except they were selling something the Imperials deemed illegal... and someone tipped the local authorities off. A group of 6 stormtroopers burst in and the shopkeeper opens fire. The attackers were little too strong. The shopkeeper and my friend were hit early and lay on the ground dying. My character jumped through the door way into the storage room and used the doorway for cover. As to what happened next...

me: "Do they look injured at all?"

GM: "You can't tell. They've got armor."


me: "Is there any kind of grenade back here? Like a thermal detonator? Or maybe a whole crate of them?"

GM (happy to have an out): "Yes! There's a box right next to you!"

me: "Cool! I pick up the box and throw it at them!"

GM (after a brief pause): "You what?"

me: "I throw it at them. Did I kill the stormtroopers?"

GM: "The box?"

me: "Yes, the box! Did I kill the stormtroopers?"

GM: "Did you arm any of them?"

me: "No."

GM: "No, you did not kill the stormtroopers."

GM (on my next turn): "Well, the box didn't work. What do you do now?"

me: "I shoot the box!"

GM (pauses and blinks a couple of times): "You... shoot... the box?"

me: "Yeah! I shoot the box! That should make the grenades go off! Did I kill the stormtroopers?"

GM: "You need to roll to hit."

me (after I roll): "Did I hit it? Did it kill the stormtroopers?"

GM: "Yes, you hit it."

me: "Woohoo! Did I kill the stormtroopers?"

GM: "Yes, you killed the stormtroopers..." (I start celebrating) "... and the shopkeeper..."

me: "Huh?"

GM: "... and Ryan and yourself."

me: "What? How?"

GM: "That was a box. A box of THERMAL DETONATORS! You leveled the whole building!"
me: "Is there any chance I survive?"

GM: "YOU TOOK OUT SEVERAL BLOCKS!"

"Oh... oops."

Since then, the only destruction I've caused in a city is accidentally lighting a building on fire with a flaming arrow in my first D&D campaign. I doubt that character would be warmly received should he revisit that city.