Firstly, happy Star Wars Day to my fellow Star Wars geeks.
Setting this up ahead of time to post, as my own plans to celebrate the day consist of a Star Wars movie marathon several friends at the recently finished home theater of one of our cadre, with pizza, popcorn, and soda a plenty. Which in retrospect will mean having to face the Revenge of the Fifth, but it'll be worth it.
Since we'll be kicking off said mini-marathon with Rogue One and ending with The Force Awakens, I got the notion to post a collection of heroes that combine elements of those two movies. Built using FFG's Age of Rebellion (as well as including elements from Edge of the Empire), these characters are akin to the crew of Rogue One in that they are a special ops type of group comprised of a variety of different character types. However, rather than fighting the tyranny of the Galactic Empire, they instead are members of the Resistance, working against the First Order in an effort to prevent the galaxy from once again being engulfed in the flames of war, mostly following leads on trying to uncover what the First Order's plans are.
For each of these characters, I built them with an additional +25XP as well as an extra 1500 credits. I've come to find that having that extra XP lets me better fine-tune a character concept while still keeping them at the lower end of the power level, and the extra credits means that these characters are sure to have the bare minimum of the various toys they'd need to fit their concept. I also deliberately tried out different species, career, and specialization combinations that I otherwise would probably have never considered playing. I had used a few of these characters as alternate pre-gens for the Discovery on Jakku, the introductory adventure from The Force Awakens Beginner Box. And for the most part, they worked out pretty good, most of them able to accomplish their intended roles, though sadly some poor dice luck at the worst possible time ruined a couple moments that would have otherwise allowed certain characters to shine. There were a couple tweaks needed here and there, but overall I think each of these characters is a solid build and as a group would work great for either a one-shot, be it a published module or an off-the-cuff adventure, or as the basis of a campaign; even with the extra starting XP and credits, there's still plenty of room for each of these characters to grow and develop. And while their respective Duty and Motivations make reference to the Resistance and the First Order, it'd be a trivial matter to swap those to the Alliance and the Empire and drop one or all of these characters into the midst of Galactic Civil War.
So without further ado, here are a quintet of Heroes of the Resistance...
https://www.dropbox.com/s/4hzodqoat62f24u/Heroes%20of%20the%20Resistance.zip?dl=0
Cyrin Ulyette, Mirialian Ace/Hotshot
By far the youngest member of the group, Cyrin is the team pilot and mechanic, able to put most any starship through its paces and pull off hi-speed maneuvers that leave other pilots in her wake.
Dewwarra, Wookiee Soldier/Trailblazer
Still considered to be an inexperienced youth among his people, Dewwarra has quite a lot of first-hand experience in surviving a number of inhospitable places, and making sure that his allies survive them as well.
Inder Skirata, Mandalorian Spy/Infiltrator
Certainly not fighting the typical image of an armor-clad Mando warrior, Inder is something of an outcast from Clan Skirata, reliant more upon stealth to win the day, though he's not adverse to using brutal methods if that's what's called for.
Jhyo Bendaki, Twi'lek Commander/Figurehead
The nephew of a Rebel Alliance agent from the days of the Galactic Civil War, Jhyo has put his own spin on being in charge of this rag-tag little group, employing a mix of charm, confidence, playful insincerity, and bold words to keep his team motivated and ensure success.
RA-F1T5, Droid Diplomat/Analyst
Referred to as "Fitz" given the droid's reaction to some of the more out there antics of the other team members, this RA-7 protocol droid might be ill-suited to "aggressive task resolution" but he is quite adept at slicing data networks, and though not as fluent in multiple forms of communications as other protocol droids, his databanks are packed with a variety of information that can prove useful in most any situation.
As the group's starting resource for when I ran them through Discovery on Jakku, I gave them an extensively modified HWK-290 freighter, dubbed the Sly Flourish, which is also included. She's a fast ship, quite maneuverable and packs a decent bit of firepower. While she won't last very long in a straight-up fight, as a reconnaissance vessel the Sly Flourish does it's job very well, and is generally able to survive long enough to outrun most threats.
Showing posts with label The Force Awakens. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The Force Awakens. Show all posts
November 6, 2016
Achievement Unlocked - Kyber Crystal Acquired!
Wow, so much for that string of updates I talked about back in September.
To be honest, I largely lost interest in trying to hash together Villains for 7th Seas, due in no small part to the very fun Star Wars campaign that my buddy Eric "Oghen" Brenders has been running for our Friday Night Skype group.
As I understand it, said campaign was really only meant to be a one-shot set shortly after the events of The Force Awakens, but the three of us had such fun playing our characters that Eric was able to branch it out into a running campaign. Since that first session where a former Rebellion field medic, a runaway Tapani lady, and a street rat found themselves scrambling to rescue the orphans of a remote world from being "recruited" into the ranks of the First Order's stormtrooper legions, our characters have come a fair distance, and even picked up a Gungan mercenary as a fourth party member.
It's an odd and interesting group, with my friend Linda playing Jade Morningfire and myself playing Valin Starsmore. We tweaked our character's respective backgrounds (and I tweaked Valin's build) to account for the 30 year time gap, and for the most part our characters work quite well in this setting.
With Valin, the biggest changes came from doing research on the new post-RotJ time frame, and from everything I could gather, the destruction of Luke's new Jedi training center/temple only took place about five years prior to the events of TFA. Which meant that rather than learning snippets of lore about the Jedi and the Force, Valin could well have been one of Luke's students at the temple about the time the Knights of Ren came in and tore it all down. Yeah, it's a bit of a cliche that Valin is now a survivor of an extinct Jedi Order (albeit one that hadn't quite gotten off the ground), but it worked, and it allowed for me to provide Valin with a training lightsaber, one that he had built himself as part of his limited training There's still a lot he doesn't know, and it's kind of funny that with Jade being even more clueless about the Force (she initially had no no idea that her empathy and persuasiveness were linked to the Force) she looks to Valin as a source of answers, many of which he simply doesn't have. Granted, he's been adhering to the old Jedi tradition of "certain point of view" and generally neglecting to mention to Jade (or anyone) that he had undergone training as a Jedi. In terms of the character's mindset, I figured it was less a case of needing to hide as one might do during the Empire's reign, but more that by this time frame the Jedi were seen as nigh-legendary figures by those who believed, and Valin really didn't want to disappoint the believers with how badly his nascent abilities didn't match up to the stories.
Now the campaign itself is set within a remote section of Outer Rim Territories, and our group has become embroiled in the plot of a mercenary company seeking to gain power in the region by spreading a fairly nasty manufactured bio-toxin. Doctor Kane Dyson (the former Rebel field medic) has been making some pretty solid progress on countering this bio-toxin, having thus far devised a vaccine but still working on a proper cure. We got asked/hired by the medical facility of the ice planet Boreas to make a supply gathering run to a more upscale planet in the sector, one that could be best described as a corporate police state (FYI, GM is Canadian so anything political you might read into that was not intended), only to find out that a lot of what we were looking for had been stolen in previous weeks by "smugglers" that we guessed were actually agents of the mercenary company. While lounging around in a really glitzy cantina (think Los Vegas nightclub), we were met by a friend (a rather attractive if tipsy/aloof Human woman) of one of the Doc's medical contacts, who let us know that what we were after was missing but that she had a means to help us gather some of what we needed by heading out of the spaceport and into a "restricted area." Valin piped up that we'd be glad to help with gathering the supplies, earning a sly remark from the woman if he was trying to impress someone (either hero or Jade, though Valin denied that insinuation pretty quickly).
Now, worth mentioning is that through all this, Valin has been having visions revolving around the actions of an older human male in tattered robes, with the very real sense that I've been following this man's path in reverse, starting where he ended and gradually heading to the beginning. Well, en route to the latest planet, Valin (and somehow Jade who got dragged along for the visionquest) saw the man's start of darkness as he used his lightsaber to butcher an entire settlement of sick people, with the older man's lightsaber starting to turn red and his eyes going Sith yellow in the aftermath of the slaughter. And sure enough, the restricted area we were going to was the remains of the village where the events of the vision took place, and a subsequent use of the Foresee power confirmed there was indeed something in the center of the ruins, something important.
We get there, successfully avoiding detection, and under a section of cobblestone that looked very out of place, Valin started digging (unaware he was doing so at first), uncovering a small box. However, before he could fully dig it out, a bunch of seriously archaic combat droids showed up, with the ever observant Gungan being anything but and thus the droids catching us by surprise. Sensing that this was the moment that Valin had to choose between embracing who he really was or continuing to hide, he calmly stood and instead of reaching for his blaster, withdrew and ignited his training lightsaber, with the intent to simply draw fire from the combat droids in the hopes of protecting his comrades. Granted, this wound up drawing the attention of the leader droid, who was similar to a MagnaGuard (but not as deadly according to the GM). What followed was a pretty cool combat encounter, with Valin getting to make use of his Improved Reflect at least once while going toe-to-toe with the commander droid, with both Valin and the Gungan slowly whittling the droid down. Now, in hindsight I think both myself and the GM overlooked that Valin's training lightsaber only did strain damage, and the Eric was treating it as wounds; I certainly could be mistaken on that count, but either way it was still a tense encounter, with Valin proving the victor after a freaking awesome combat check (six successes from a dice pool of 2Y1G1B1R1P1S) and taking the droid leader down after it had rather non-chalantly beaned the Gungan with its combat staff. We were all banged up to some degree, though I think Valin came out the least worst for wear thanks to those two ranks in Parry and Reflect he'd bought along the way (he did take a critical injury during the fight, but not a horrible one), but we know the Gungan got the worst of it due to being knocked out and suffering a couple of critical injuries.
A few times during this fight, Valin felt a strong pull to whatever was in that buried box, sensing/knowing that the contents would help him to easily win this fight. It's debatable if it was willfulness on Valin's part, but he refuse the promise of "easy power" in the belief that he if couldn't protect his friends without that added power, then he didn't deserve it. Thinking on it, it's not unlike Karrin Murphy in the Dresden Files short story Aftermath (found in the Side Jobs collection) where she didn't go running to collect Fidelachius out of the belief that she had to prove that she didn't need the power of the sword if she was going to be truly worthy of it. Well, with our foes defeated, Valin was able to finish unearthing that box, opening it to find an ancient lightsaber hilt that was covered in the blood of the slain. Because Valin had remained true to the light and not succumbed to the lure of power, the hilt disintegrated into the wind, leaving behind a kyber crystal.
Now, I've played Star Wars RPGs for a great many years, and of all the different ways that my Jedi PCs (and I've played a lot of them) have obtained the proper elements to construct a lightsaber, this was probably one of the coolest. And yes, there was a very real temptation on my part to have Valin go the quick and easy path and rip open that box. Not sure what the result would have been, but seeing as how the kid knew enough about the dark side to know it was a bad thing, even going so far as to caution Jade about being wary of the dark side, I felt that he wouldn't succumb; in a way, it would have been better for him to have relied upon his own strength and failed than become reliant on the dark side and won. So it wasn't just Valin obtaining a kyber crystal so that he can now build a proper lightsaber, but also an important step in his character growth, embracing that while he may not be a Knight, he is a Jedi, and that hiding away isn't going to do him or anyone else any good. And that was where the session ended.
Now, I've had some time to weigh what type of focusing crystal I'd like Valin's newly procured kyber crystal to be, and ultimately settled on the Etaan crystal from Endless Vigil. It's not got as much raw damage potential, but since he's a Shien Expet it wouldn't take much XP for him to get to Falling Avalanche so that he can get a damage boost when needed, sheer raw damage isn't really needed. Plus, that extra rank of Parry and Reflect are mighty nice, though I'll have to hopefully succeed on modding the crystal to get those; the rank of Reflect I could do without since I plan on going into Sentry, but that rank of Parry will be mighty nice to have. Have to say, if I can get that thing fully modded, it'll be a pretty sweet lightsaber, especially as I start adding in attachments like the curved hilt (though narratively it won't be curved, just a specially customized grip) and the overcharged power cell (a bit dicey since GM can spend threat to reduce the damage, but worth the chance), with the superior hilt customization likely being an end-game objective due to cost.
I did wind up buying a non-career rank of Mechanics, both as he's been picking up things in helping the Doc keep the beater of a starship the group travels around in up and running (no small feat) as well as remembering lessons he'd forgotten from when Valin built his training lightsaber during his time at Luke's Jedi academy. Which if Eric permits, that yellow die will hopefully prove a boon when using the lightsaber hilt construction rules in Endless Vigil. You know, it's kind of funny that prior to playing the Sentinel version of Valin, none of the other career sourcebooks for FFG's Star Wars line were ever of the "dude, this book has so much awesome stuff for my character!" Hopefully my dice will continue their uncommonly good fortune and I can get some sweet bonuses for Valin's lightsaber hilt. Seriously, I think the fact that I've used my dice in games in which FFG notables like Jay Little, Sam Stewart, Andy Fischer, and Katrina Ostrander may have had something to do with it.
Anyway, that's the long version of a very cool story of how one of my Top 10 favorite RPG characters has earned his (proper) lightsaber.
I've also been playing in a 7th Sea second edition campaign, playing Estevan Santiago de Montaya, and that campaign has also been a lot of fun. Thus far, the GM has run us through a tweaked version of "Music of the Spheres" and part of "Lady's Favor" of the Erebus Cross series. And much like his 1e incarnation, Estevan has been both fun to play and quite awesome in what he does, with my d10s rolling above the curve and netting him one or two raises above what his dice pools would indicate as the norm; giving flavor-filled descriptions of how he's tackling a given Risk probably helps since it's gotten him an extra die at times when it'd really be helpful. I'll type up a post about that campaign later on in the week, probably sometime around the weekend.
Until next time, may the dice odds be ever in your favor.
To be honest, I largely lost interest in trying to hash together Villains for 7th Seas, due in no small part to the very fun Star Wars campaign that my buddy Eric "Oghen" Brenders has been running for our Friday Night Skype group.
As I understand it, said campaign was really only meant to be a one-shot set shortly after the events of The Force Awakens, but the three of us had such fun playing our characters that Eric was able to branch it out into a running campaign. Since that first session where a former Rebellion field medic, a runaway Tapani lady, and a street rat found themselves scrambling to rescue the orphans of a remote world from being "recruited" into the ranks of the First Order's stormtrooper legions, our characters have come a fair distance, and even picked up a Gungan mercenary as a fourth party member.
It's an odd and interesting group, with my friend Linda playing Jade Morningfire and myself playing Valin Starsmore. We tweaked our character's respective backgrounds (and I tweaked Valin's build) to account for the 30 year time gap, and for the most part our characters work quite well in this setting.
With Valin, the biggest changes came from doing research on the new post-RotJ time frame, and from everything I could gather, the destruction of Luke's new Jedi training center/temple only took place about five years prior to the events of TFA. Which meant that rather than learning snippets of lore about the Jedi and the Force, Valin could well have been one of Luke's students at the temple about the time the Knights of Ren came in and tore it all down. Yeah, it's a bit of a cliche that Valin is now a survivor of an extinct Jedi Order (albeit one that hadn't quite gotten off the ground), but it worked, and it allowed for me to provide Valin with a training lightsaber, one that he had built himself as part of his limited training There's still a lot he doesn't know, and it's kind of funny that with Jade being even more clueless about the Force (she initially had no no idea that her empathy and persuasiveness were linked to the Force) she looks to Valin as a source of answers, many of which he simply doesn't have. Granted, he's been adhering to the old Jedi tradition of "certain point of view" and generally neglecting to mention to Jade (or anyone) that he had undergone training as a Jedi. In terms of the character's mindset, I figured it was less a case of needing to hide as one might do during the Empire's reign, but more that by this time frame the Jedi were seen as nigh-legendary figures by those who believed, and Valin really didn't want to disappoint the believers with how badly his nascent abilities didn't match up to the stories.
Now the campaign itself is set within a remote section of Outer Rim Territories, and our group has become embroiled in the plot of a mercenary company seeking to gain power in the region by spreading a fairly nasty manufactured bio-toxin. Doctor Kane Dyson (the former Rebel field medic) has been making some pretty solid progress on countering this bio-toxin, having thus far devised a vaccine but still working on a proper cure. We got asked/hired by the medical facility of the ice planet Boreas to make a supply gathering run to a more upscale planet in the sector, one that could be best described as a corporate police state (FYI, GM is Canadian so anything political you might read into that was not intended), only to find out that a lot of what we were looking for had been stolen in previous weeks by "smugglers" that we guessed were actually agents of the mercenary company. While lounging around in a really glitzy cantina (think Los Vegas nightclub), we were met by a friend (a rather attractive if tipsy/aloof Human woman) of one of the Doc's medical contacts, who let us know that what we were after was missing but that she had a means to help us gather some of what we needed by heading out of the spaceport and into a "restricted area." Valin piped up that we'd be glad to help with gathering the supplies, earning a sly remark from the woman if he was trying to impress someone (either hero or Jade, though Valin denied that insinuation pretty quickly).
Now, worth mentioning is that through all this, Valin has been having visions revolving around the actions of an older human male in tattered robes, with the very real sense that I've been following this man's path in reverse, starting where he ended and gradually heading to the beginning. Well, en route to the latest planet, Valin (and somehow Jade who got dragged along for the visionquest) saw the man's start of darkness as he used his lightsaber to butcher an entire settlement of sick people, with the older man's lightsaber starting to turn red and his eyes going Sith yellow in the aftermath of the slaughter. And sure enough, the restricted area we were going to was the remains of the village where the events of the vision took place, and a subsequent use of the Foresee power confirmed there was indeed something in the center of the ruins, something important.
We get there, successfully avoiding detection, and under a section of cobblestone that looked very out of place, Valin started digging (unaware he was doing so at first), uncovering a small box. However, before he could fully dig it out, a bunch of seriously archaic combat droids showed up, with the ever observant Gungan being anything but and thus the droids catching us by surprise. Sensing that this was the moment that Valin had to choose between embracing who he really was or continuing to hide, he calmly stood and instead of reaching for his blaster, withdrew and ignited his training lightsaber, with the intent to simply draw fire from the combat droids in the hopes of protecting his comrades. Granted, this wound up drawing the attention of the leader droid, who was similar to a MagnaGuard (but not as deadly according to the GM). What followed was a pretty cool combat encounter, with Valin getting to make use of his Improved Reflect at least once while going toe-to-toe with the commander droid, with both Valin and the Gungan slowly whittling the droid down. Now, in hindsight I think both myself and the GM overlooked that Valin's training lightsaber only did strain damage, and the Eric was treating it as wounds; I certainly could be mistaken on that count, but either way it was still a tense encounter, with Valin proving the victor after a freaking awesome combat check (six successes from a dice pool of 2Y1G1B1R1P1S) and taking the droid leader down after it had rather non-chalantly beaned the Gungan with its combat staff. We were all banged up to some degree, though I think Valin came out the least worst for wear thanks to those two ranks in Parry and Reflect he'd bought along the way (he did take a critical injury during the fight, but not a horrible one), but we know the Gungan got the worst of it due to being knocked out and suffering a couple of critical injuries.
A few times during this fight, Valin felt a strong pull to whatever was in that buried box, sensing/knowing that the contents would help him to easily win this fight. It's debatable if it was willfulness on Valin's part, but he refuse the promise of "easy power" in the belief that he if couldn't protect his friends without that added power, then he didn't deserve it. Thinking on it, it's not unlike Karrin Murphy in the Dresden Files short story Aftermath (found in the Side Jobs collection) where she didn't go running to collect Fidelachius out of the belief that she had to prove that she didn't need the power of the sword if she was going to be truly worthy of it. Well, with our foes defeated, Valin was able to finish unearthing that box, opening it to find an ancient lightsaber hilt that was covered in the blood of the slain. Because Valin had remained true to the light and not succumbed to the lure of power, the hilt disintegrated into the wind, leaving behind a kyber crystal.
Now, I've played Star Wars RPGs for a great many years, and of all the different ways that my Jedi PCs (and I've played a lot of them) have obtained the proper elements to construct a lightsaber, this was probably one of the coolest. And yes, there was a very real temptation on my part to have Valin go the quick and easy path and rip open that box. Not sure what the result would have been, but seeing as how the kid knew enough about the dark side to know it was a bad thing, even going so far as to caution Jade about being wary of the dark side, I felt that he wouldn't succumb; in a way, it would have been better for him to have relied upon his own strength and failed than become reliant on the dark side and won. So it wasn't just Valin obtaining a kyber crystal so that he can now build a proper lightsaber, but also an important step in his character growth, embracing that while he may not be a Knight, he is a Jedi, and that hiding away isn't going to do him or anyone else any good. And that was where the session ended.
Now, I've had some time to weigh what type of focusing crystal I'd like Valin's newly procured kyber crystal to be, and ultimately settled on the Etaan crystal from Endless Vigil. It's not got as much raw damage potential, but since he's a Shien Expet it wouldn't take much XP for him to get to Falling Avalanche so that he can get a damage boost when needed, sheer raw damage isn't really needed. Plus, that extra rank of Parry and Reflect are mighty nice, though I'll have to hopefully succeed on modding the crystal to get those; the rank of Reflect I could do without since I plan on going into Sentry, but that rank of Parry will be mighty nice to have. Have to say, if I can get that thing fully modded, it'll be a pretty sweet lightsaber, especially as I start adding in attachments like the curved hilt (though narratively it won't be curved, just a specially customized grip) and the overcharged power cell (a bit dicey since GM can spend threat to reduce the damage, but worth the chance), with the superior hilt customization likely being an end-game objective due to cost.
I did wind up buying a non-career rank of Mechanics, both as he's been picking up things in helping the Doc keep the beater of a starship the group travels around in up and running (no small feat) as well as remembering lessons he'd forgotten from when Valin built his training lightsaber during his time at Luke's Jedi academy. Which if Eric permits, that yellow die will hopefully prove a boon when using the lightsaber hilt construction rules in Endless Vigil. You know, it's kind of funny that prior to playing the Sentinel version of Valin, none of the other career sourcebooks for FFG's Star Wars line were ever of the "dude, this book has so much awesome stuff for my character!" Hopefully my dice will continue their uncommonly good fortune and I can get some sweet bonuses for Valin's lightsaber hilt. Seriously, I think the fact that I've used my dice in games in which FFG notables like Jay Little, Sam Stewart, Andy Fischer, and Katrina Ostrander may have had something to do with it.
Anyway, that's the long version of a very cool story of how one of my Top 10 favorite RPG characters has earned his (proper) lightsaber.
I've also been playing in a 7th Sea second edition campaign, playing Estevan Santiago de Montaya, and that campaign has also been a lot of fun. Thus far, the GM has run us through a tweaked version of "Music of the Spheres" and part of "Lady's Favor" of the Erebus Cross series. And much like his 1e incarnation, Estevan has been both fun to play and quite awesome in what he does, with my d10s rolling above the curve and netting him one or two raises above what his dice pools would indicate as the norm; giving flavor-filled descriptions of how he's tackling a given Risk probably helps since it's gotten him an extra die at times when it'd really be helpful. I'll type up a post about that campaign later on in the week, probably sometime around the weekend.
Until next time, may the dice odds be ever in your favor.
December 30, 2015
My take on The Force Awakens (Spoilers!)
Okay, having seen the film enough times in the theater I think (3 at the moment), I think I'm as ready as I will be to discuss the film.
First off, I very much enjoyed it. I'm not sure it's the greatest or best Star Wars film ever, but it's certainly a lot of fun, and the most fun that a cinematic Star Wars film has delivered in a very long time.
I'm not the biggest fan of the prequels, but I don't hate them either. If anything, I mourn all the potential that was in that story, potential that a capable director would have been able to bring out. For as amazing of an idea guy that George Lucas is, he really hadn't grown as a director since filming the original Star Wars, and in the prequels it showed. On top of the problem of not having anybody that would tell him "No George, that's a bad idea" during that time frame.
Now, to The Force Awakens, let's get one particular elephant ushered out of the room right now. Yes, the basic plot structure was beat-for-beat almost identical to that of Episode 4. The decorations were different, particularly in terms of the main cast, but the core plot structure was very similar. In spite of what some internet trolls might tell you, this does NOT constitute a "remake" or a "reboot" of the franchise. And honestly, I liked that TFA took its nods from the Star Wars films that the fans generally consider to be the better half of the franchise. You didn't get overburdened with background elements, being given enough basic background info to set the stage, and then into the story we go.
The Force Awakens is ultimately the foundation for Disney's stewardship of the franchise, one that they paid a very princely sum to acquire. Sure, they could have taken more risks with the film, but for the first outing, especially given the general loathing of the prequels and The Phantom Menace in particular, they opted to hedge their bets and go for what the masses had claimed "felt like Star Wars."
That's not to say Disney and Abrams didn't take risks in the story presented to us. Killing off the fan-favorite Han Solo was certainly a risk, and it certainly did strike an emotional chord with the adults in the audience that had grown up with this character, even if a lot of them saw it coming. Like GM Phil of the Order 66 podcast said, the moment Han stepped onto that bridge, you knew he wasn't coming out of that alive.
Another big risk, especially for a multi-million dollar action movie (which truthfully is what The Force Awakens is), was having a female being the lead protagonist for this new trilogy. It's kind of telling that in spite of the rampant success that Marvel Studios has had with their films we've yet to see a Black Widow movie, and the closest they've got to something headlined by a female lead is the very good Agent Carter series. It's a sad shame that where action movies are concerned, a female leading character is seen as too big of a risk for major film studios. So the fact that Rey winds up being the hero, especially after making folks think it was going to be Finn in the various previews, was a pretty big risk... and it paid off big time, as audiences really liked the character, with Daisy Ridley's performance being no slouch. As I heard it said somewhere on Facebook, we got more actual acting out of Daisy in 10 minutes than we got out of Hayden in the entirety of both AotC and RotS.
That's not to say the rest of the cast was bad, because they weren't. Harrison Ford was great (as he usually is) in portraying the crusty, worn-down Han Solo, while I likened Carrie Fisher's performance to a Leia that is equally worn-down and simply tired and more than a little frustrated of having to go through all this nonsense that she did when part of the Rebellion; doubtless Leia heard stories from her adopted father about Senators of the Old Republic turning a blind eye towards the dangers of then-Chancellor Palpatine's rise to power, and saw parallels with how the New Republic was turning a blind eye to the dangers of the First Order. General Leia was someone that had lived a rough 30 years since the Battle of Endor, losing her family and seeing all that she'd fought and struggled for about to go down the drain.
John Boyega I thought did a tremendous job as Finn, and I cheered when he dropped the "cowardly" part of the "cowardly lion" act that had defined him through much of the movie. Finn proved he could be brave when it called for it, but the moment he took up Anakin's old lightsaber to square off against Kylo Ren, overmatched though he may be, simply to protect the unconscious Rey... even if Finn isn't Force-sensitive, that still took a lot of balls. Even more so perhaps since as a former member of the First Order, he's probably heard stories about Kylo Ren and just how unhinged the guy can be. And having one of the principal leads and potential main hero be a black male in a franchise where the main hero has been white was also a risk, one that I also felt was worth it.
Poe was... well, Poe. As GM Chris said, Poe was the kind of guy that you could go have a beer with, and he'd be glad to do so. I personally felt Poe was a bit one-dimensional (ace pilot, incredibly loyal while easy to make friends with), but it was a good dimension, and I suspect/hope that he'll get much more character development.
I did like that the essence of Luke's character in the original trilogy was split in to the three leads, with shades of Han and Leia thrown in as well. Poe as the hotshot ace pilot, but one that's not sensitive to the Force and is steadfastly-loyal to the Resistance, Finn is the idealist, albeit one that's a defector from the bad guys and mostly just wants to avoid the fight until the girl he's crushing on is put into grave peril. And Rey as the Force-sensitive desert dweller and heir to a great legacy, albeit a female that scraps by on her own and was abandoned by her family at a very young age. My guess is that Rey is actually the daughter of Luke Skywalker, and that's why Anakin's old lightsaber called out to her in Maz's Palace, and perhaps why it didn't respond to Kylo's attempts to claim it during the film's climax.
As for Kylo Ren, while he's certainly not the greatest villain in cinematic history, I do like that he's simply a pale reflection of Darth Vader. I saw earlier today on Facebook that Kylo's cross-guard lightsaber was very much a reflection of Kylo's psyche, and I think it's a very apt comparison. I think having a villain that can grow and develop just as the heroine grows and develops can lead to some wonderful parallels between Kylo and Rey. One of my favorite animated series, Avatar: The Last Airbende did this as well with the parallels between Aang (the hero) and Zuko (initially the villain before developing into something far more complicated and interesting). I do have to give props to Kylo for taking as much of a beating as he did, and was still able to keep going; even after Rey had disarmed him and scarred his face, Kylo was still trying to get back up and continue fighting.
I've seen a lot of complaining about how TFA left us with more questions than answers in terms to the state of affairs 30 years after the events of RotJ. And I'm okay with that, because I knew from the outset, from when the film was announced as part one of a new trilogy of films, that we weren't going to get all the answers right away. After all, they need stuff for the sequel. And the only reason that ANH was as self-contained as it was is because Lucas was convinced that it wasn't going to do well enough to merit a sequel, so that was going to be his one shot. I suspect that if he knew full well that he'd have the chance to make additional movies, he'd have left a few more threads hanging to be handled in ESB and RotJ, such as perhaps introducing a bit more mystery into the nature of Luke's father.
So yeah, while there were a number of similarities between the original films and TFA, I honestly felt that instead of detracting from the new film, it instead enhanced it while getting new members of the fanbase up-to-speed on the basics of "what is Star Wars?" I'm hopeful that now that the foundation has been laid that further films in the new trilogy will take a few more risks in terms of the story; after all, we've already had the "greatest hits of the original trilogy" film to get everybody on the same page in terms of the Star Wars experience. But time will tell, and given the monstrous success of TFA it might be that Disney takes this as a sign to not stray to far from the tried and true. I do expect we'll see more nods and parallels in Episode 8 to ESB, and will be astonished if that film doesn't end with the First Order in a very strong position and the Resistance/Republic in a very rough one by the time the credits roll.
So overall, yes I very much liked The Force Awakens (that I went to see it three times in the theater in the opening week should be testament enough to that). Was it perfect? No, but then none of the Star Wars films were without their flaws. But it was a very enjoyable rider, one where the pacing was quick enough that things kept moving but never so fast that you had no idea what was going on, provided you were willing to pay a modicum of attention to the movie. I'm very much eager for this to come out on Blu-Ray, if only so that I can watch it meticulously for all the little background elements I did miss. I did catch the 501st banner at Maz's palace as well as at least two (I think) appearances of R2-KT in the film, but I'm sure there are other tidbits that I missed simply because I was having too good of a time being entertained by a film that well and truly felt like Star Wars.
First off, I very much enjoyed it. I'm not sure it's the greatest or best Star Wars film ever, but it's certainly a lot of fun, and the most fun that a cinematic Star Wars film has delivered in a very long time.
I'm not the biggest fan of the prequels, but I don't hate them either. If anything, I mourn all the potential that was in that story, potential that a capable director would have been able to bring out. For as amazing of an idea guy that George Lucas is, he really hadn't grown as a director since filming the original Star Wars, and in the prequels it showed. On top of the problem of not having anybody that would tell him "No George, that's a bad idea" during that time frame.
Now, to The Force Awakens, let's get one particular elephant ushered out of the room right now. Yes, the basic plot structure was beat-for-beat almost identical to that of Episode 4. The decorations were different, particularly in terms of the main cast, but the core plot structure was very similar. In spite of what some internet trolls might tell you, this does NOT constitute a "remake" or a "reboot" of the franchise. And honestly, I liked that TFA took its nods from the Star Wars films that the fans generally consider to be the better half of the franchise. You didn't get overburdened with background elements, being given enough basic background info to set the stage, and then into the story we go.
The Force Awakens is ultimately the foundation for Disney's stewardship of the franchise, one that they paid a very princely sum to acquire. Sure, they could have taken more risks with the film, but for the first outing, especially given the general loathing of the prequels and The Phantom Menace in particular, they opted to hedge their bets and go for what the masses had claimed "felt like Star Wars."
That's not to say Disney and Abrams didn't take risks in the story presented to us. Killing off the fan-favorite Han Solo was certainly a risk, and it certainly did strike an emotional chord with the adults in the audience that had grown up with this character, even if a lot of them saw it coming. Like GM Phil of the Order 66 podcast said, the moment Han stepped onto that bridge, you knew he wasn't coming out of that alive.
Another big risk, especially for a multi-million dollar action movie (which truthfully is what The Force Awakens is), was having a female being the lead protagonist for this new trilogy. It's kind of telling that in spite of the rampant success that Marvel Studios has had with their films we've yet to see a Black Widow movie, and the closest they've got to something headlined by a female lead is the very good Agent Carter series. It's a sad shame that where action movies are concerned, a female leading character is seen as too big of a risk for major film studios. So the fact that Rey winds up being the hero, especially after making folks think it was going to be Finn in the various previews, was a pretty big risk... and it paid off big time, as audiences really liked the character, with Daisy Ridley's performance being no slouch. As I heard it said somewhere on Facebook, we got more actual acting out of Daisy in 10 minutes than we got out of Hayden in the entirety of both AotC and RotS.
That's not to say the rest of the cast was bad, because they weren't. Harrison Ford was great (as he usually is) in portraying the crusty, worn-down Han Solo, while I likened Carrie Fisher's performance to a Leia that is equally worn-down and simply tired and more than a little frustrated of having to go through all this nonsense that she did when part of the Rebellion; doubtless Leia heard stories from her adopted father about Senators of the Old Republic turning a blind eye towards the dangers of then-Chancellor Palpatine's rise to power, and saw parallels with how the New Republic was turning a blind eye to the dangers of the First Order. General Leia was someone that had lived a rough 30 years since the Battle of Endor, losing her family and seeing all that she'd fought and struggled for about to go down the drain.
John Boyega I thought did a tremendous job as Finn, and I cheered when he dropped the "cowardly" part of the "cowardly lion" act that had defined him through much of the movie. Finn proved he could be brave when it called for it, but the moment he took up Anakin's old lightsaber to square off against Kylo Ren, overmatched though he may be, simply to protect the unconscious Rey... even if Finn isn't Force-sensitive, that still took a lot of balls. Even more so perhaps since as a former member of the First Order, he's probably heard stories about Kylo Ren and just how unhinged the guy can be. And having one of the principal leads and potential main hero be a black male in a franchise where the main hero has been white was also a risk, one that I also felt was worth it.
Poe was... well, Poe. As GM Chris said, Poe was the kind of guy that you could go have a beer with, and he'd be glad to do so. I personally felt Poe was a bit one-dimensional (ace pilot, incredibly loyal while easy to make friends with), but it was a good dimension, and I suspect/hope that he'll get much more character development.
I did like that the essence of Luke's character in the original trilogy was split in to the three leads, with shades of Han and Leia thrown in as well. Poe as the hotshot ace pilot, but one that's not sensitive to the Force and is steadfastly-loyal to the Resistance, Finn is the idealist, albeit one that's a defector from the bad guys and mostly just wants to avoid the fight until the girl he's crushing on is put into grave peril. And Rey as the Force-sensitive desert dweller and heir to a great legacy, albeit a female that scraps by on her own and was abandoned by her family at a very young age. My guess is that Rey is actually the daughter of Luke Skywalker, and that's why Anakin's old lightsaber called out to her in Maz's Palace, and perhaps why it didn't respond to Kylo's attempts to claim it during the film's climax.
As for Kylo Ren, while he's certainly not the greatest villain in cinematic history, I do like that he's simply a pale reflection of Darth Vader. I saw earlier today on Facebook that Kylo's cross-guard lightsaber was very much a reflection of Kylo's psyche, and I think it's a very apt comparison. I think having a villain that can grow and develop just as the heroine grows and develops can lead to some wonderful parallels between Kylo and Rey. One of my favorite animated series, Avatar: The Last Airbende did this as well with the parallels between Aang (the hero) and Zuko (initially the villain before developing into something far more complicated and interesting). I do have to give props to Kylo for taking as much of a beating as he did, and was still able to keep going; even after Rey had disarmed him and scarred his face, Kylo was still trying to get back up and continue fighting.
I've seen a lot of complaining about how TFA left us with more questions than answers in terms to the state of affairs 30 years after the events of RotJ. And I'm okay with that, because I knew from the outset, from when the film was announced as part one of a new trilogy of films, that we weren't going to get all the answers right away. After all, they need stuff for the sequel. And the only reason that ANH was as self-contained as it was is because Lucas was convinced that it wasn't going to do well enough to merit a sequel, so that was going to be his one shot. I suspect that if he knew full well that he'd have the chance to make additional movies, he'd have left a few more threads hanging to be handled in ESB and RotJ, such as perhaps introducing a bit more mystery into the nature of Luke's father.
So yeah, while there were a number of similarities between the original films and TFA, I honestly felt that instead of detracting from the new film, it instead enhanced it while getting new members of the fanbase up-to-speed on the basics of "what is Star Wars?" I'm hopeful that now that the foundation has been laid that further films in the new trilogy will take a few more risks in terms of the story; after all, we've already had the "greatest hits of the original trilogy" film to get everybody on the same page in terms of the Star Wars experience. But time will tell, and given the monstrous success of TFA it might be that Disney takes this as a sign to not stray to far from the tried and true. I do expect we'll see more nods and parallels in Episode 8 to ESB, and will be astonished if that film doesn't end with the First Order in a very strong position and the Resistance/Republic in a very rough one by the time the credits roll.
So overall, yes I very much liked The Force Awakens (that I went to see it three times in the theater in the opening week should be testament enough to that). Was it perfect? No, but then none of the Star Wars films were without their flaws. But it was a very enjoyable rider, one where the pacing was quick enough that things kept moving but never so fast that you had no idea what was going on, provided you were willing to pay a modicum of attention to the movie. I'm very much eager for this to come out on Blu-Ray, if only so that I can watch it meticulously for all the little background elements I did miss. I did catch the 501st banner at Maz's palace as well as at least two (I think) appearances of R2-KT in the film, but I'm sure there are other tidbits that I missed simply because I was having too good of a time being entertained by a film that well and truly felt like Star Wars.
November 30, 2014
Star Wars - The Force Awakens: My thoughts thus far
If you weren't aware of the release of the teaser trailer for Star Wars: The Force Awakens, then I'm pretty surprised you're reading this blog post.
I won't bother linking directly to the trailer itself, since social media has pretty much been bombarded with links aplenty.
There's also been a lot of folks giving their two bullet's worth* on the trailer and dissecting it like a frog in a high school biology class.
Frankly, though he was a bit salty language-wise about it, I think that Kevin Smith generally has the right idea in regards to the teaser trailer: Shut the F*&$ up and rejoice at the fact we're getting brand new Star Wars movies!
I remember seeing the teaser trailer for The Phantom Menace, and when it ended with the iconic Vader breath I was pretty darn excited. Granted, said movie had it's flaws (overuse of Jar Jar Binks and Jake Lloyd's horrific acting**), but I thought that for the most part, it delivered the goods, particularly the big lightsaber battle at the end. Which, with be being a major league fan of most things Jedi, should surprise nobody. I was the guy in a Star Wars RPG group that typically played a Force user, getting to the point that with one group, anytime we started up a new WEG campaign I was the guy designated to be the token Jedi given how well I knew the rules on the Force (sometimes even better than the GM did). My first PC in each new Star Wars RPG had been a Jedi, with FFG's system only bucking that trend due to not having Jedi rules; wound up playing a Force Exile though.
I've seen some folks whine and kavitch about the cross-hilt lightaber we see in the trailer, and how "it's not realistic!" or "it's not practical!" First, realism in Star Wars is at best a happy accident; those movies break the laws of physics faster than I can rip into a bag of gummy bears (and I freaking love gummy bears, especially the ones made in Germany with actual fruit juice instead of fruit flavoring). Secondly, there were similar complaints when the trailers spoiled the fact that Darth Maul had a double-bladed lightsaber, and about the one point that most fans agree upon is that the battle sequence of Maul vs. Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan was the highlight of the film, particularly the Obi-Wan vs. Maul sequence after Qui-Gon is mortally injured. I've got a clip of just that whole fight sequence that I ripped from YouTube, and have watched it plenty of times.
The rolling ball droid doesn't bother me on bit, nor does the blocky speeder design that one girl is riding. And maybe there was a bit of lens flare while the Falcon is flying about, but it wasn't horrific (not nearly as bad as it got in the New!Trek films at least), and frankly that last sequence was what made the trailer for me.
So in short, I enjoyed the teaser trailer, and if there'd been a theater in my area showing it, I may well have gone to that theater to see it on the big screen. I'd probably also stay for the movie, as given the price of movie tickets if I'm going to shell out that much cash then I'm going to stay for the entire freaking movie.
Now, the question that really needs addressing is: Can December 2015 get here fast enough?
Oh, a few of fan-made parody trailers that I've come across and enjoyed...
Disney Version:
http://youtu.be/cwe90O7tktM
George Lucas "Revised" Version:
http://youtu.be/qjrPTCnZwB4
George Lucas Special Edition Version:
http://youtu.be/v93Jh6JNBng
LEGO Version:
http://youtu.be/6BKHhP8sUR8
*I blame the old Deadlands Mailing List for that one, since that's where I picked it up.
**Yes, I know he was a kid but there are child actors around his age that can actually freaking act. I don't know whose grandkid he was, but he makes Hayden's turn as Anakin in Episode II almost tolerable by comparison.
I won't bother linking directly to the trailer itself, since social media has pretty much been bombarded with links aplenty.
There's also been a lot of folks giving their two bullet's worth* on the trailer and dissecting it like a frog in a high school biology class.
Frankly, though he was a bit salty language-wise about it, I think that Kevin Smith generally has the right idea in regards to the teaser trailer: Shut the F*&$ up and rejoice at the fact we're getting brand new Star Wars movies!
I remember seeing the teaser trailer for The Phantom Menace, and when it ended with the iconic Vader breath I was pretty darn excited. Granted, said movie had it's flaws (overuse of Jar Jar Binks and Jake Lloyd's horrific acting**), but I thought that for the most part, it delivered the goods, particularly the big lightsaber battle at the end. Which, with be being a major league fan of most things Jedi, should surprise nobody. I was the guy in a Star Wars RPG group that typically played a Force user, getting to the point that with one group, anytime we started up a new WEG campaign I was the guy designated to be the token Jedi given how well I knew the rules on the Force (sometimes even better than the GM did). My first PC in each new Star Wars RPG had been a Jedi, with FFG's system only bucking that trend due to not having Jedi rules; wound up playing a Force Exile though.
I've seen some folks whine and kavitch about the cross-hilt lightaber we see in the trailer, and how "it's not realistic!" or "it's not practical!" First, realism in Star Wars is at best a happy accident; those movies break the laws of physics faster than I can rip into a bag of gummy bears (and I freaking love gummy bears, especially the ones made in Germany with actual fruit juice instead of fruit flavoring). Secondly, there were similar complaints when the trailers spoiled the fact that Darth Maul had a double-bladed lightsaber, and about the one point that most fans agree upon is that the battle sequence of Maul vs. Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan was the highlight of the film, particularly the Obi-Wan vs. Maul sequence after Qui-Gon is mortally injured. I've got a clip of just that whole fight sequence that I ripped from YouTube, and have watched it plenty of times.
The rolling ball droid doesn't bother me on bit, nor does the blocky speeder design that one girl is riding. And maybe there was a bit of lens flare while the Falcon is flying about, but it wasn't horrific (not nearly as bad as it got in the New!Trek films at least), and frankly that last sequence was what made the trailer for me.
So in short, I enjoyed the teaser trailer, and if there'd been a theater in my area showing it, I may well have gone to that theater to see it on the big screen. I'd probably also stay for the movie, as given the price of movie tickets if I'm going to shell out that much cash then I'm going to stay for the entire freaking movie.
Now, the question that really needs addressing is: Can December 2015 get here fast enough?
Oh, a few of fan-made parody trailers that I've come across and enjoyed...
Disney Version:
http://youtu.be/cwe90O7tktM
George Lucas "Revised" Version:
http://youtu.be/qjrPTCnZwB4
George Lucas Special Edition Version:
http://youtu.be/v93Jh6JNBng
LEGO Version:
http://youtu.be/6BKHhP8sUR8
*I blame the old Deadlands Mailing List for that one, since that's where I picked it up.
**Yes, I know he was a kid but there are child actors around his age that can actually freaking act. I don't know whose grandkid he was, but he makes Hayden's turn as Anakin in Episode II almost tolerable by comparison.
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