Knights of the Old Republic

A padawan of the Unified Force Academy, Rade Gasa is a natural diplomat and negotiator. Read the rest of this entry »

Schedules change. Kids are born. People move. And it all means that my gaming group’s finds itself looking for another player or two.

The Blackrazor Guild Gaming Group (as we’re informally known) is based in the Lehigh Valley, Pa. and our current campaign is a Star Wars: Saga Edition-powered one set in the Knights of the Old Republic era. Read the rest on Nuketown and drop me an email at nuketown@gmail.com if you’re interested.

This article has been moved to the campaign’s wiki.

After taking a few weeks off to play Arkham Horror, White Plume Mountain (D&D 3.5) and paragon-level Planetorn one-shot (D&D 4E), we’re returning to our Star Wars campaign this week. As a result, you can expect updates to the Bonus Feats index and some additional campaign write-ups as I reboot my brain into a science fiction frame of mind.

• Real World Date: 3/13/2009
• In-Game Date: 21 Kelona, 3,971 BBY

Trouble beneath the waves! The Quarren allies of the would-be warlord Tolvis Maltern have seized an undersea mining facility on the frontier world of Maltern’s Folly, trapping Jedi Master Qillion Kree in one of the facility’s barracks. While Kree’s padawans have managed to defeat Tolvis and his Obsidian Way followers in his cliff stronghold of Uplift, the Quarrens are now in control of not just the planetary mines, but also Hardrock, the planet’s major city and only starport.

My review of the Star Wars: Legacy Era Campaign Guide is up at GameCryer.com. As I mentioned in the review, the Legacy Era is a real hodgepodge of Star Wars tropes, species, technology and heroes. I was skeptical about it at first — did we need yet another Sith Empire? Did the Jedi need to be extinguished again? But as I’ve read through the graphic novels and reviewed this campaign guide, I came to the conclusion that the answer is a “yes”.

Legacy is a great time period for a sandbox-style game where you want to be able to draw on an entire galaxy’s worth of stuff. It’s perfect for those who find themselves unable to commit to any one era when running a game, as well as those who don’t want to muck about with continuity. Check out the review or buy the book on Amazon.com.

There’s finally a new issue of Jedi Counseling online; #114 looks at variant healing rules for Star Wars: Saga Edition that bring it into line with the healing surge mechanic in D&D 4E (though personally, I like Star Wars style healing just fine. It should take you a little while to recover from a tough fight).

My review of The Clone Wars Campaign Guide for Star Wars: Saga Edition is up on GameCryer.com.

What I liked best about The Clone Wars Campaign Guide are its combat options, specifically its new squad, mass combat and follower subsystems. As I mention in the review, The Clone Wars mass combat system is the first d20 rule set that I felt really worked at the character and army level.

We’ve tried a bunch of options, from D&D 2nd Edition’s Battle System to Malhavoc’s Cry Havoc to a home-brew mass combat system, and none of them did a good job of really integrating heroes into combat. This did.

• Real World Date: 3/6/2009
• In-Game Date: 21 Kelona, 3,971 BBY

Betrayal on the Frontier! Jedi Master Qillion Kree has led a contingent of padawans to the recently rediscovered ocean world of Maltern’s Folly to settle a trade dispute. While most on the planet welcomed the return of galactic civilization, and the prosperity that came with it, a number chose to cling to their old ways.

The Obsidian Way, a warrior cult led by Tolvis Maltern, the grandson of the colony’s founder, demanded that all offworlders leave, returning the planet to its previous isolation. They attacked several offworld Quarren deepsea miners, and causing the Quarrens to go on strike until the danger was negated.

Yet all is not as it seemed. When the padawns travelled to the village of Cliffside to negotiate with Tolvis, they found themselves escorted to his throne room … and then attacked! Meanwhile, Master Kree received a similar welcome from the Quarren in the offshore mines. While the padawans and the Jedi Master were able to subdue their respective threats, many questions remain.

Worse, the Quarren sabatogued the submarine transports leading back to the friendly settlement of Hardrock, cutting of Kree from his students, and leaving them to puzzle out the mysteries of Maltern’s Folly on their own…

• Real World Date: 2/20/09
• In-Game Date: 20-21 Kelona, 3,971 BBY

Conflict on the water world of Maltern’s Folly! The near-human natives on the planet have reneged on their deal with entrepreneur Lozek Otmorr to allow him and his Quarren allies to mine the Lowlands, an underwater plain filled with metal-rich nodules.

The natives are threatening to destroy Lozek’s equipment and drive his entire expedition back into space. They’ve already attacked several of his Quarren workers, sparking a strike among the sea-dwellers who refuse to work until Otmorr can guarantee their safety.

The Otmorr family, long supporters of the Unified Force Academy, have asked the Jedi to negotiate a peaceful settlement to the stand off.  The Jedi have agreed, dispatching the Gand Jedi Master Qillon Kree and a team of padawans on the Aeon Harrier on a diplomatic mission to the world. Read the rest of this entry »