Endless Bag of Games

After the dust settled at the jungle outpost, our heroes went back to the village to explain that imperials were not aware of them yet. The village was about to move, but as a token of gratitude, the heroes accepted the Scout offered by the Chieftain and made their way to the prison facility. Dorn considered a direct frontal assault but others were not convinced they could take out the guards and lightsaber open the doors before the AT-ST hit them while they were out in the open. They opted for the secret way in.

Once inside, the party went past the medical bay and almost immediately the battle kicked off when Kiril (our Rodian gunslinger) was noticed by a puzzled stormtrooper. The actual battle did not leave combat rounds until the Adventure was basically over. Tayth (our twi’lek techie) quickly jammed the main blast doors in order to keep them undisturbed. The researcher in the medical bay left the Felucian experiments to guard the door and hid. Because the wounds the party received during the first rounds, they left the medical bay untouched and did not investigate it further. Avan (our Jedi) and Dorn (our Soldier) took the turbolift upstairs with fragmentation grenades ready while Tayth and Kiril rushed inside to the detention block.

The battle upstairs was fierce; the heroes hurled their grenades as soon as the turbolift’s doors opened. The first grenade took down the officer and one of the Felucian experiments and the other did some havoc in the room as well by breaking majority of the communication equipment. The already wounded Avan took a cruel wound from the Felucian and it was up to Dorn to deal with the rest. The soldier managed to live up to his reputation. Meanwhile downstairs, the explosions in the upstairs had malfunctioned the prison cells and were opened to their surprise. As soon as they had admiral safely with them, they left the jailer droids and the prisoners to deal with themselves. The troopers outside were already trying to get in through the blast doors, and just when the turbolift took admiral, Kiril and Tayth upstairs, they broke in.When upstairs, Kiril planted the explosives to the elevator and closed the doors. As soon as the doors opened downstairs to the amazement of several stormtroopers rushing inside, BOOOOOOMM!!! The sheer force of the explosion blasted even the elevator’s doors upstairs and knocked Kiril and Tayth to the ground. One of the most enjoyable moments in the session.

They quickly got a request out to evac and the Banshee picked them up off the roof. As they fled the ship’s guns critically damaged the AT-ST and the exploding facility finished it off. The group met the Captain of the Defiance and conversed with Varth at some length. Dorn and Kiril enjoyed their first free night in ages, with the music at the cantina and heavy drinking. The next day, they did not feel so good when the briefing of their next mission was announced; Off to Cato Neimoidia, the heroes drawn into world of vice and violence to deal with the secrets of the vile crime lord: Darga the Hutt. I also gave a little sneak peak in form of discussion with admiral Varth and Avan about the mysterious jedi whom our heroes experienced in Avan’s vision: The one in the beginning of the campaign.

Few words about the session: I enjoyed the battle at the facility, it was great. Everyone was doing their best efforts to take advantage of cover and tactically defeat each new enemy. I also enjoyed the “night off” period of the session which gave a little more feel of the heroes what are they like in person. I mean, when they have time for themselves from all that heroism. During the next sessions you will experienced more of that “life in the galaxy” feel that I’m trying to infuse in the game. In addition, you might also be experiencing some strange individuals. Who knows… *evil laugh

Sorry for the delay, but here is the recap from our previous Star Wars session. We were a bit short on time, but session was still worth every minute. Well, that is my opinion, but here is what happened:

It started when our jedi padawan Avan Virai first made provisions to make Switch’s delivery of ale. After they were done, the group was ready to head towards Felucia. Lamek D’em himself came to say his farewells and share his last minute intel that he had to help our heroes’ mission; retrieval of Admiral Varth.

Upon boarding the Banshee and heading for Felucia the party sat down to do their own things while the Captain Okeefe, Crash and Dorn stayed in the cockpit discussing about bit of this and that. The journey was quiet until they came out of hyperspace and were chased down by a Star Destroyer. They were reliefed that Captain Okeefe managed to get them safely to the ground, even though they were bit dazzled about the journey they now should do through the moist and bizarre jungle.

Our rodian bounty hunter had the skills to traverse the forests of Felucia and they made very good time. Although there were few occasions where the natural hazards of the planet came very familiar to the group. Group’s rigger girl got a bad wound from a razor fungi and Dorn got his temperature cloak ruined in the corrosive acids. Midway through the journey the Felucian Scouts attacked them. The scouts surprised them, and landed few heavy hits on our heroes with their skullblades. The group still made very quick work of them with excellent rolls to the point, but our jedi padawan was knocked unconscious.

Then a man came running interrupting the scene. Vazus Mandrake stopped them from killing the Scouts and explained the misunderstanding what had happened. While the jedi was recovering, the heroes quickly befriended the locals after they had learned how things were in the village. While their mission was to save Admiral Varth, everyone was a little concerned with the disappearing Felucians. The heroes were also delighted when they acquired the explosive from Vazus.

When the heroes found themselves spotted by a Scout Trooper they quickly hopped on the Kybucks and gave chase. Most traversed the obstacles with little difficulty. I was impressed with the scene on the whole. When they emerged from the dense fungi, the battle at the Jungle Watch Outpost started out immediately. It was a quick ranged combat, although our jedi demonstrated his moves by rushing in with stunning speed. Just when he was about to finish the terrified trooper, our bounty hunter stole the kill with a head shot. The battle ended with minor or no wounds for most of the heroes.

Next time we continue straight from the jungle outpost and that is 27.9.2009

Our Star Wars campaign kicked off this Sunday with classic Star Wars action. Now it is time for recap of the session for those who’re interested. I tried something new, since it was once again opportunity to GM that first session of the campaign. Few weeks ago, I took a look about the preview of the new 4th edition Dungeon Master’s Guide 2 and I liked what I saw. So I decided to give a try for this Group Storytelling concept and see how it goes. Since our players had already seen the opening crawl, I explained the situation how we were supposed to start. The beginning scene was going to be played without the dice and each player was given a character that he was and I clarified what were their characters motivations and intentions. This way, I managed to implement something not known to our actual player characters, but also brought some deepening to what is yet to come.

The scene was about Jedi-master Jacinto Sarn, Mysterious jedi Jinar Aurinar, Admiral Varth and his lieutenant Callista Star and how they me in secret at Octurion Cantina under the Imperial Blockade in Mon Calamari. Jinar had arranged a meeting with the Admiral and his lieutenant in order to discuss about finding shelter for the fugitive jedi and to agree with future actions yet to come. When we began the session, I could see the unsure looks on my players faces silently screaming what the hell is this, wut?!? fuuuuu etc. Luckily, after the biggest shocker was gone, everything went quite smoothly. The rest was just pure storytelling.

The scene ended when a starship crashed suddenly inside the cantina. Callista Star had betrayed his Admiral for the good of the Empire; Inquisitor ________ and other Jedi with red lightsabers had arrived. Jinar Aurinar took action to his own hands and send Callista Star flying across the cantina and instantly he cinematically stunted himself away through the window. Admiral was yelling in pain as the Imperial troops quickly shot him down. Then it was only the Inquisitor, other warriors wielding red lightsabers and Jacito Sarn. Jacinto fought valiantly, Jacinto Sarn fought honorably, Jacinto Sarn fought against many enemies and Jacinto Sarn died…

So it began, when our jedi-padawan Avan Virai woke up screaming in pain about the vision he had seen. His master was dead, they were without money and food and arriving shortly to the Zel Sonn station just outside the core world of Brentaal. Our heroes took some time to familiarize themselves with the station and its promenade and shops. Our twi’lek rigger girl was eager to take a look about the droids offered in Mechanical Allies, a shop run by shady twi’lek man. Soon after I lead Maya encounter them. Maya was a Alderaanian security agent badly wounded as she stumbled upon the heroes, hurt and asking for our heroes help. Two imperial loyalists and two stormtrooper recruits was quickly on to them. “Step away from that woman!” they commanded. Soon it was a promenade shootout. Battle went extremely quickly since our Kel Dor soldier let his gun sing. That autofire works like a charm!! The heroes were smart enough to flee without any prodding and Maya took them to her hidden apartment. The discussion that followed went fairly well. Maya offered the heroes 1000 credits to secure the cargo he was supposed to acquire from his contact Switch.

Tayth (our twi’lek girl) went to a public access terminal to see more information about Storage Bat V14. She also checked that had been identified on the Promenade and was pleased to learn that they were not. After few skillful Use Computer checks Tayth was in control of the security cameras near V14. It seemed that only two gamorrean guards were guarding the entrance. In addition our rigger saw that there had been no maintenance calls in the area for a year now and still the area was set to be under maintenance. Gathering more information about the area from local residents they also learned that the maintenance chief in the area was taking bribes to keep the area outside of visitors. The one who was delivering the bribes was no other, than the shady twi’lek our heroes met already in the droid shop. After they had learned some vital information how to get past the gamorrean guards, there was intriguing discussion which ended up the owner giving enough information for the heroes. Ready, they moved on to Storage Bay V14.

Switch was a droid whose memory had been intact for a long time and he had been working as a small crime lord within the station. The discussion went well after the heroes explained the situation and soon they had an agreement. Suddenly Ganga Lor, a rival crime lord, arrived with his goons. Taking our heroes Switch’s men, buzzing of energy filled the storage bay. The battle went poorly for Ganga Lor since our jedi mind tricked him and immediately he fled in terror. Only our rigger girl was seriously hurt in the encounter. Dorn Dol (our Kel Dor soldier) shone as he shot down almost every attacking thug. One of the thugs almost got away, but our jedi soon caught him with his abilities. He brought him back and gave him to Switch. Begging for help, begging for mercy Avan gave the thug to Switch who immediately had the Ganga Lor’s man killed. Knowing this would happen, Avan let it happen thus a dark side point was rewarded. In gratitude, Switch gave the party access to free bacta treatments through his medical connections and offered the Heroes a job to ship his ale to Alderaan. The party agreed.

Switch told the heroes that the cargo was at Blue Deck in the station just under the Imperial troops. The heroes located the hangar and opened up the climactic fight. The Jedi rushed in and soon the trooper controlling the repulsor-sled was fleeing as fast as he could. Others attacked the stormtroopers. The imperial officer was shot down first and the troopers did not survive long enough to alarm anyone. Our heroes grabbed the cargo and were ready to take off. Contacting Maya, she arranged a starship to the Deck just before squad of stormtroopers arrived, they escaped blasters flying.

The rest of the session was spent healing and flying to Alderaan where Senator Organa’s good associate, caamasi Lamek D’em met them. Lamek was acting as a substitute for Senator Organa who had been travelling outside Alderaan recently in several occasions and was not present for the time being. Trusting their competence and being grateful for all the help they had been receiving, Lamek offered our heroes another mission: Aid them in the retrieval of Admiral Varth from a prison compound at Felucia. The meeting with the Senator’s substitute went smoothly enough when they asked enough questions to understand their key objectives. The heroes took their time, sold their useless equipment with outrageous price to a toydarian merchant (lot’s of laughs since we used Watto’s voice in the scene) and were now ready to set off…

Some of you may have noticed that the session was almost directly taken from the Dawn Of Defiance adventure path. That said, I have something to say for my players: If you dont want to ruin your gaming experience, leave that material alone. For others, maybe you can get ideas and see how the campaign actually differs from DoD when the time comes I can promise you, it will…

Let’s discuss a bit about the upcoming campaign. We’re going to start our Star Wars SAGA edition campaign at Sunday 30.8.2009, the same place and time as we have agreed.

In the previous post I asked you about what do you guys like to see in the campaign. When I put all of those comments together, it was clear what is needed from the campaign. That is struggle against the evil empire which will include the elements what you guys want to see. Now we know what is coming, the main storyline thus will include that struggle. This means, that you’re NOT allowed to create a character who is not interested in the matter. This way we can get more about the main storyline and we can avoid unnecessary hassle around the characters. Of course, I will bring personal things to the plot, but that is a different matter.

About character creation. In general, there are no restrictions about creating a character, but we have the rule, that if your Dark Side score increases enough, the character will become NPC. Create your character starting at level 1. You’ll find everything necessary from the main book. Including the amount of money and gear etc. What I would like you guys to remember, that when you create your characters remember that the character should get along and wants to travel with other characters. Every book is allowed, so be creative. In addition, I need the 10-minute background before next wednesday, so I have time to put everything together.

Now without further ado, here is the beginning of our campaign: