Dramatis Personae: The Search for Shiv

As always, I have links to Wookieepedia and TV Tropes as judged appropriate.

Time for new characters! Always a fun time! After I displayed dismay at only having a few races to choose from in the core rulebook, our GM opened up the Ultimate Alien Anthology to our group. 180 new species to choose from! Well, 177. Our GM banned 3 races. Bartokk were removed when several players expressed an interest in them. As they gain ability bonuses for the number of Bartok allies nearby, adding 5 Bartokk would break things. Kushiban were tossed out as a previous player's action convinced the GM the race is unbalanced. I really wanted to play a Givin, but that was vetoed since several members were around for an infamous Givin character that died in spectacular fashion. I must reiterate, thermal detonators in mass quantities is a bad idea.

Our character deaths occurred the week before Thanksgiving. Since I had a large essay to due the following week, I missed the next session. Having three weeks to flesh out a character was nice! The GM imposed a harsh restriction: though we were level 8 characters, we would be starting with the same amount of credits as a level 1 character! Instead of starting with 20,000 credits, I had a mere 100! On the up side, you will see he was very lenient on that when we put together our backstories. All characters were required to have worked with Yossa before. How could Yossa trust someone he didn't know?

Yossa: A Gungan war hero, Yossa's survival is the only reason we still have a campaign. Shiv has something very important to him and Yossa will stop at nothing to get it back.

Drev (player's former character was Baniss): An ace pilot and blockade runner, Drev is the owner of the Rodent's Bane. The Rodent's Bane is a Firespray Patrol Craft. Drev is in his thirties, nearly middle age for a Xexto. He mostly takes humanitarian jobs delivering medical supplies and food. He refers to Imperials and other oppressors as "rodents," hence the name of his vessel. He was the wheel-man for an operation with Yossa and four other soldiers in the Corporate Sector. Should he gain more cash, he has the ability to quad-wield blasters. A combination of discounted runs for the Rebels and a droid purchase has left him searching for a big score.

Sparky (player's former character was Bishop): Medic, surgeon, and repair droid, Sparky is a 2-1B medical droid owned by Drev. The Xexto recently picked him up at an auction though the details are a bit murky. The fiercely loyal aids Drev in combat repairs and provides medical attention to passengers when need. Sparky is obsessed with upgrades: both to himself and his patients. He is an expert at building and installing cybernetics. Broken and abandoned droids are raided for parts. He's trying to acquire an ion pistol, but has had no luck so far. Useless droids are rare. Why not make some of your own The group needed a nickname quickly since the character was still being finalized in his first session and "Sparky" was the first we thought of. Signature phrase: "I'm afraid that will have to come off."

Val (player's former character was Ith): Val is a Tiss'shar sharpshooter. whose mother is a legend amongst our group: the medical ninja. Val is not on good terms with her mother. This mother used to be one of Shiv's co-workers. Don't get on her bad side.

Zin (player's former character was the ASP droid): Zin is a Tiss'shar infiltration and explosives expert. Since she frequently remains unseen, she is also referred to as "Val's Imaginary Friend." So far, the only party members to see her are Val and Yossa. Enemies' signature phrase: "[censored]"

Tai Sho (player's former character was Neela): She is a Nagai soldier. Like most Nagai, she is driven by honor. Observant readers might recall that this is set sometime during Empire Strikes Back. Star Wars fans might be saying, "Wait, a Nagai? I thought they invaded the galaxy! And wasn't that after Empire Strikes Back?" Yes they did and yes it was. She may be an advance scout. She once fought a Tusken Raider with only a knife. She kept his gaderffi as a trophy. Her connection to Yossa is unknown. Sparring with her is how beings earn respect and honor in her eyes. Signature phrase: "Honorable combat?"

Shiv: Remember him? He's the Bothan computer and droid expert. Oh yeah, he's also the BBEG of this campaign.

Join us next time as we begin Star Wars: The Search for Shiv!

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Re: Geek's Dream Girl's Geektastic Music

I read Geek's Dream Girl frequently. Dating advice + geekery = awesome! Over there, C did a post called Geek-tastic Music: Nine Must-Listen Geek Songs and I have a few to add. And finishing off the quarter at school deserves some extra content to celebrate! C is also one of the co-founders of 4 Winds Fantasy Gaming.

I'm limiting myself to one by each artist.

My list includes only material that is not on her list:

1. Let's start off with an easy pick: "White and Nerdy" by Weird Al Yankovic has to make the list. 59,107,756 youtube viewers agree that it's an instant geek classic.

2. "Re: Your Brains" by Jonathan Coulton. Zombies? Yes, please. Fan video by spiffworld. Colton's done a lot of other great work as well.

3. "I Had a Shoggoth" by Tom Smith (live at MarCon 2008). An excellent "kids' song" written for the FuMP by the world's fastest filker that manages to cover most things geeky. Smith is another artist where it's hard to pick just one song.

4. "I'll See Your Six" by Joe Bethancourt. If someone ever tries to mug me, I hope the woman in this song is around.

5. "No Such Thing" by Kathy Mar (originally by Zander Nyrond). An excellent science fiction piece. The play buttons on the individual tracks have issues. Click on the top and arrow over to number six. (Again, a submission from my brother.)

6. "Dawson's Christian," originally by Duane Elms, is an excellent ghost story set in space. Here's a cover from Vixy and Tony performed at Coonflikt I.

7. Philosophical Christian rockers Brave Saint Saturn check in with "Space Robot Five." Fronted by a man with a science degree and part of a trilogy of albums written about a fictitious space voyage, it definitely has the proper geek-cred to make the list. In their other works, BS2 has not shied away from the occasional controversy.

8. University of Oregon's a capella group On the Rocks Rick Rolls the audience at the 2008 West Coast A Capella Showcase.

9. By now, you've probably heard "Still Alive" from the game Portal. Yes, it was written by Jonathan Coulton, but I'll shoe-horn it in since he wasn't the original performer. It's been reworked multiple times as everything from a dance remix to a punk cover and has even popped up in Minecraft. Want an instant sing-along at a convention? Play this. This is the only entry with an entire playlist.

Bonus:
On the subject of RPGs, I'd like to add d20 Love by Kimmy Snyder.

Want more? I've got a short playlist of nerdy music set up on youtube.

Yes, tonight's introduction of the new characters will go on as planned. Enjoy your extra fun today!

Loose Ends and Lessons Learned

Loose ends:

The message Baniss sent was to his parents. I knew I would have to do something with my computer use skill and couldn't think of anything helpful. I thought this fit jittery character's cowardice. The message said, "I didn't do it." Baniss took all his levels in Scoundrel.

Ith was force sensitive. In the week I was absent between our escape and reaching the safehouse, Ith used the force to heal Yossa. Our GM joked that the Emperor was sitting on the toilet reading the newspaper at the time. "Huh? What was that?" Ith multi-classed as a Force Adept/Noble.

Bishop never got the chance to properly shine. He was built on the idea of using one blaster set to stun and another on the normal setting. Unfortunately, both the GM and player misread the rules on stun before the first battle and ran with what the GM said there. They'd sorted things out for future fights, but opportunity to use this tactic never materialized. Stunning an opponent with one shot and killing them when they're immobilized fit the "not a nice man" theme the player was going for. Bishop took levels in Soldier before entering the Elite Trooper prestige class.

Neela had some depth we never touched on. I don't have her player's e-mail, but the GM filled me in: "Neela had an odd backstory of parents who were Rebel Sympathizers that died in a smuggling run gone wrong. She was sold into slavery, hence her aversion to binders. She escaped from said slavery and became a bounty hunter with a heart of gold. She would only take bounties that were honorable and didn't conflict with her own moral code... Unless she was desperate and she was reaaaaally hungry. All in all, a very odd duck." Neela was a Scout.

More from the GM regarding our final battle: "They didn't trace you from the credit chip. The "safe" contact that gave you the safe-house also sold you out to the Hutts, who in turn gave your position to the Imperials as a gesture of goodwill. They might have exaggerated how much ordinance you had at the safe-house, leading to the siege formation. Your [computer] message did not make it to your parents as the cache that sends the message was in the same building and hadn't dumped to the main server yet. The Imps never had the chance to look it over. The cache was destroyed in the explosion."

The unnamed ASP droid is still out there. According to the player, the droid has found some new friends. Maybe he'll show up in another campaign. He has not disclosed what levels the character has.

Lessons learned:

1. When reacting to detention by the authorities, it's helpful if the whole party acts together.

2. As cliche as it is, starting in a tavern/cantina can be fun.

3. Write down your backstory and take a hard copy with you. This should lessen potential confusion.

4. If your boss is a crime lord, never tell them you're quitting.

5. If you can't be there, make sure someone has a copy of your character sheet.

6. Delusional characters are entertaining, but can takeover the session.

7. Constitution is not a dump stat. (Compare Baniss being hit by small arms fire to Bishop taking several heavy weapon blasts to the face.)

8. Playing a droid has serious drawbacks. Especially against [spoiler redacted].

9. If you are bitten by an insect, don't wait to get it treated.

10. If you want to make a campaign journal, update it consistently.

I'm working on a piece for the end of the week that will introduce my new character and then we're on to more adventure!

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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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D&D on Community

I'm sick, have a mid-term, and an essay. The timing is good since NBC just had an episode of their show Community centered around Advanced Dungeons and Dragons. Here it is embedded on Purple Pawn's website. Enjoy.

Note: I had not seen the show before now. It's on during my RPG group's normal meeting time.

Shootout at the OK Hiding Spot has been pushed back to next week.
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Safehouse

I missed a session due to illness. I've combined what I heard about that session and a couple the following ones as well as they fit a similar theme. Okay, it's really because I want to catch up to where we are now.

In the session I missed, Ith reunited with the party. Our droid wandered off during that session. The player was frustrated with the whole hacking incident and decided he was done. One of the party members found a safehouse to let Yossa, Baniss, and Neela recuperate from their injuries. During this time, the bite Yossa received from the sand tick began to cause him some issues. Ith tried to discretely use the force to heal a party member. No one in the party noticed.

When I returned the next week, three days had passed. Baniss and Neela spent the whole session unconscious last week due to their injuries. They ended up doing the same this week. Ith tended to them as well as the feverish and delusion Gungan. Our GM had Yossa's player make wisdom checks to comprehend what other characters were saying.

Yossa awoke. He looked around, not recognizing any of the characters due to his delusional state. Ith was the first to notice.

"Lie down, you've been shot," she said.

Yossa misunderstands you. Lie down or I'll shoot you? What's going on?

"Weapons?" he asked.

"In the corner," Ith replies.

Yossa's player looks to our GM after failing his wisdom check. "I think she means the galactic core, don't I."

The GM chuckles. "No, you think she means the core rulebook."

"What?"

"Yossa's having an existential moment."

Ith's player speaks up. "A Deadpool moment?"

"Maybe."

Back in character, Yossa says, "Give me weapons!"

The reply he hears: "When you can stay straight and tell me who you me and arm specifically ons."

Loudly and slowly, he tries to repeat what he said before, "Give. Me. My. Wans!"

She replies slowly, "Tomorrow. Go leap." (She said sleep.)

He staggers to his feet. Ith pushes him back onto the bedle.

"I'll tie you down if I need to!"

He stands again and punches her.

Bishop yells, "Don't you dare!" and raises his gun. "Get out of the way, Ith! It's set!" (He added "for stun" on the end, but Yossa misses that.)

"I don't care!" Ith won't budge.

"Fine. Have your fun."

Yossa stumbles toward, but trips and hits his head.

The next day, Yossa remembers nothing. The Rodian is up but only barely. She tries to aid in restraining Yossa. He punches her hard and she goes down again. Ith sedates him. Again, Bishop spends most of the day cleaning his weapons and inspecting them to make sure they are in working order.

The next day, he's tied down. "Fever. Delirious. Rest," is all Ith says to him.

All Yossa remembers from the previous day is aggression.

"What do I see?" Yossa's player asks.

"You think you're in Gungan Valhalla," the GM replies.

"What's that like?"

"You're surrounded by Gungans. Gungans with beards."

"I'm died?" asks Yossa.

"Rest," says Ith.

The next day, Baniss awakens. His first action is to insure his bed is moved away from the delusional Gungan. We end the session there. The GM tells us to level up our characters for next session.

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At the beginning of the next session, Ith brings him up to speed. She tells him of Shiv's betrayal, conveniently leaving out that he has planted information indicating she planned the explosions used as a distraction during the prison break. The Imperials suspect Rebel terrorists. Baniss doesn't believe her.

Baniss begins to panic. Did the Imperials tamper with his gear? Did they put tracers in his comlink or his datapad? Did Ith and Bishop pay for the safehouse in hard credits or did they use credit chips linked to their personal accounts? "I bet they will be tracing my comlink!" he exclaims. He intends to find someone on the streets to sell it to.

"I can take care of that," Bishop says. He grabs the comlink from Baniss, lays it on the table, and shoots it with the ion pistol. The comlink explodes. "Oops. I thought that would disable it."

We have a brief debate with the GM. Most of us understood that ion weapons disabled electronics. Turns out, the comlink took too much damage.

Our GM loves to have our group make paranoia checks because of the results they bring. I'd prefer to roleplay my characters reactions instead of the dice making my guys act out of character, but the checks sure makes things interesting. Due to the result, Baniss is now certain that, not only did Shiv not betray us, but Ith is also a serial killer.

Baniss decides it's best not to annoy the maniac. We skip over the next two days the characters spend recovering. By this point, Yossa has recovered from his illness. As Baniss gets directions from Bishop to a place where he can buy a datapad under the table and trade in his current one, Yossa leaves on an errand. The directions take some time and Baniss can't write them down. That's what a datapad is typically used for.

As Yossa rounds a corner, an Imperial squad car rushes down the street. He doesn't see it. By the time Baniss starts to leave on his errand, a stormtrooper has set up an E-web blaster across the courtyard from the safehouse. The Empire has found them and they've brought the big guns!

Next time: Shootout at the OK Hiding Spot.

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Jailbreak, part 2

A lone Kel Dor waited at the docking platform.

That could have gone better, Ith thought. He said the others would be here soon. I think they will want to hear who framed Baniss.



As Neela, Yossa, and Baniss reached the bottom of the stairs, Neela gasped, grabbing her chest and falling to the floor.

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House rule: If you don't have your character sheet, your character is stricken with a sudden medical condition rendering them unconcious until the sheet is produced. If a reasonable amount of time has past and you still can't find it, the character dies of a heart attack. In this case, Neela's player couldn't be there and had not ensured her sheet was there.
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Six stormtroopers had just re-entered the complex. A U-shaped reception desk stands just in front of our heroes. Yossa and Baniss sprint to cover behind the desk as the stormtroopers duck behind nearby stone benches. Baniss pops up and fires off a shot, drawing a hail of return fire.

"Stay down!" said Yossa.

Before Baniss could react, a blaster bolt catches him in the shoulder. He was down for the count. Yossa swears and remains behind cover. After several moments, he hears the clatter of stormtrooper armor approaching. Yossa jump ups and lets two energy balls fly with his atlatl. One finds its mark. Four more troopers reach Yossa. Wielding his atlatl like a club, Yossa smacks one across the helmet. Two fire into that melee. Yossa makes a radial attack. A blaster misfires and a trooper goes down. Another loses his grip on his rifle and it slips from his fingers. (Game mechanics note: fumbles are awesome!) Yossa is now in melee with two troopers and three more stand within firing range. Blaster fire strikes Yossa as two troopers charge at him. Cue ASP-707. He lets loose a blast with a flamethrower. The trooper's armor looks crispy, but he's still on his feet. Yossa thumps a trooper on the head, dropping him. The droid takes a swing at another trooper. He's down! Only one left! The last one fires point blank at Yossa, scoring a hit. The mighty Yossa lapses into unconciousness. A final strike from the droid is all it takes. The ASP droid retrieves the final trooper's blaster rifle, and fires into the man's head. He then does the same to the other stormtroopers. He then pulls his black cloak out of the collection he looted from the evidence room and puts it on.

He scoops up the three bodies and carries them outside. Bishop spots him and pulls up. "Throw them in the back!"

After the droid does so, he slides into the front seat. "Drive," a metallic voice under the hood says.

A few kilometers out, sirens sound behind them. Three patrol aircars in pursuit. The ASP flips a switch and the roof of the speeder tumbles into the never-ending depths below. He takes his rifle and fires off a barrage at their pursuers.

Just then, the radio crackles to life. It's Shiv! "I do believe you have outlived your usefulness." With that the radio shuts off. So does the engine.

Bishop miraculously puts the craft down as gently as a crash landing from several stories can be.

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[Extra remarkable because Bishop has but a single skill point in pilot. He rolled a natural 20! Baniss is now one hit point away from death. He needs to make a fortitude save to survive. He is awful at those, so I mentally prepare myself to bring in a new character. Everyone else does the same. I need a 15 or better on my d20. And we have an.... 18! An 18! We're all still alive!]
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The crowds descend upon the crashed speeder as soon as the bodies are dragged from the wreckage. All the patrol cars passing over them see is the usual mass of people found at that level on Coruscant.

The droid points at a nearby store. "Fix them and I'll get info," he says and walks into the crowd.

Bishop ignores the orders, deciding instead to keep an eye on his comrades. Dragging three unconscious bodies around while shopping looks suspicious.



No one has shown up yet. An impatient Ith is leaning against the wall. Suddenly, she hears steps coming down the hallway toward her. Metallic boots. And lots of them. This is not good. Maybe I need to check a computer. She walks off in the other direction in search of the nearest terminal.

What she finds there shocks her. Out the window, she sees a plume of smoke. I need to get out of here! A rebel attack! And they're calling me the mastermind? Shiv, you Sithspawn!
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