Fate as an Attribute

[CRMcNeill]

I'm sure we have noticed the incongruity in the films, where the Imperial forces are deadly against common opponents, yet surprisingly inept against the film's main characters. In the first film, stormtroopers board the Tantive IV as a nigh-unstoppable force, yet when facing down a small band of heroes aboard the Death Star, they seem clumsily incompetent. This is a factor throughout the films; the example that springs to mind for me is in ESB, during the escape from Cloud City, where Chewie is being shot at from behind by a stormtrooper. The trooper gets off multiple shots for zero hits, while Chewie doesn't even bother to dodge, turns in place and downs the stormie with one shot. This is just one example of poor marksmanship (as well as other ineptitude) on the villains' part in the SWU.

IMO, only so much of this can be laid at the feet of poor dice rolls under the WEG rules, and I suspect there is another force at play: fate itself. From a cinematic standpoint, certain characters (the heroes) are fated to survive circumstances that would be lethal to anyone else for the simple reason that that character's survival is integral to the long term plot of the story.

Expressed in game terms, each character, from the most minor character up to the major name characters would have a D6 rating equal to their importance in the plot. Stormtroopers and other such walking targets would have a Fate of 1D or so, while major characters like Luke, Han and Chewie would have a Fate of 4D (or more, even). The Fate attribute would be applied to things like surprise attacks from behind (like the example of Chewie and the stormtrooper above). The major character may not be aware of the attack, but because he is integral to the plot, Fate (or the Force) gives him certain advantages over other, lesser characters. He may not get a Dodge roll (since it is a surprise attack), but the attacker does have to roll against the target's 4D Fate attribute to hit.

Now, obviously, this is not a realistic rule, but then, Star Wars does not occur in an entirely realistic universe. This is just a nebulous concept at the moment, and I'm not sure of the exact manner in which it would or would not be applied, but I am interested in thoughts and opinions please.
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"No set of rules can cover every situation. It's expected that you will make up new rules to suit the needs of your game." - The Star Wars Roleplaying Game, 2R&E, pg. 69, WEG, 1996.

The CRMcNeill Stat/Rule Index

[cheshire]

[CRMcNeill]

I suppose my reasoning is that, as a GM, I have always found it easier to have a rule to fall back on. IMO, the rules are the framework that the narrative is built around, so an aspect of the in-game universe should have some sort of rule set up to define it. It's a nice concept to simply leave things up to the GM's imagination, but GMs are human too, and therefore inherently fallible. Having some sort of rule to fall back on is, IMO, just another form of pre-game prep, so that the GM is prepared as much as possible.

That being said, I agree that blanket application as you describe would not be appropriate. I'm leaning more towards a fail-safe of some kind, where a Fate attribute would be some sort of last resort. For example, in the Chewie-and-the-stormtrooper example above, suppose the trooper surprised Chewie and got off two shots for lethal damage. This seriously screws up the plot, as Chewie is a major character. However, as a last resort, Chewie can spend a FP and roll his Fate attribute, which is then added to the trooper's difficulty to hit with his Blaster skill. Suddenly, two lethal shots become two near misses as Chewie turns, aims and shoots without bothering to dodge, and the trooper goes down.

The idea here is not some overpowering new rule, but a rule to represent something seen in the films: sometimes, characters survive by pure luck, not as a result of their own actions.

I'd love to game test this idea, but my gaming options are rather limited at the moment (truck stops are not known as hotbeds of SW D6 gaming enthusiasts).
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"No set of rules can cover every situation. It's expected that you will make up new rules to suit the needs of your game." - The Star Wars Roleplaying Game, 2R&E, pg. 69, WEG, 1996.

The CRMcNeill Stat/Rule Index

[garhkal]

Agreed.. Average npcs, stormies and peons only have 3-4d in skills, with 0-3 character points and rarely a single force point. Starting pcs can have 5+ in skills (some) and 5cp/2fp... This "Fate" thing smacks too much like script imunity. If the pc is that important to the campaign, do you just ignore it if there IS a lucky shot that kills him, even with those force points, higher skills etc?
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Confucious sayeth, don't wash cat while drunk!

[CRMcNeill]

But that implies that the average PC will be the ones with a high Fate attribute. I see the high-fate stuff reserved for the major characters of the films and EU, with the average PC starting out at the lower end of the scale. Luke, Leia, Han, Vader and the Emperor may have a Fate attribute of 5D, but most PCs would be down in the 1D-2D range, as they aren't really integral to SW story itself, even though they have a part to play. Of course, a Fate attribute could be increased like any other attribute, reflecting the character's progression from nobody to galactic hero.

By that measure, yes, this would be a form of script immunity, but mostly for those NPCs who should have script immunity: the canon heroes and villains from the film.
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"No set of rules can cover every situation. It's expected that you will make up new rules to suit the needs of your game." - The Star Wars Roleplaying Game, 2R&E, pg. 69, WEG, 1996.

The CRMcNeill Stat/Rule Index

[Fallon Kell]

Down in the 1D-2D range it wouldn't really do anything... It usually wouldn't beat the initial difficulty of the shot.
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Or that excessively long "Noooooooooo" was the Whining Side of the Force leaving him. - Dustflier

Complete Starship Construction System

[CRMcNeill]

That's the point. For characters who are that low on the narrative totem pole, this rule will see more common usage getting major villains out of tight spots when the PCs get a lucky roll. Only at higher levels, when the PCs have reached the level of major heroes themselves, will they truly benefit from it.
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"No set of rules can cover every situation. It's expected that you will make up new rules to suit the needs of your game." - The Star Wars Roleplaying Game, 2R&E, pg. 69, WEG, 1996.

The CRMcNeill Stat/Rule Index

[cheshire]

We're still real foggy on how to increase from 1D to 4D other than GM fiat. We're also foggy on how/when this mechanic would be triggered. This also seems like the same rationalization for the CP and FP pools that higher characters have.

Has it been a problem that your low level NPCs are killing off your story-significant PCs?
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Before we take any of this too seriously, just remember that in the middle episode a little rubber puppet moves a spaceship with his mind.

[garhkal]

Combined with whether this attribute on its own gets rolled, say against the to hit roll/damage or whether it gets combined with dodge/parry/search etc...
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Confucious sayeth, don't wash cat while drunk!

[Fallon Kell]

[CRMcNeill]

Because the skill system is entirely set up for conscious use, yet there are certain situations in the films (such as Chewie not dodging the stormtrooper) where there is no obvious skill use involved, yet the character survives through sheer dumb luck. After all, what skill would Chewbacca have rolled in that circumstance? He certainly didn't Dodge, but the trooper missed twice at close range.
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"No set of rules can cover every situation. It's expected that you will make up new rules to suit the needs of your game." - The Star Wars Roleplaying Game, 2R&E, pg. 69, WEG, 1996.

The CRMcNeill Stat/Rule Index

[CRMcNeill]

[Bren]

[atgxtg]

EABA, a system similar to D6, has a FATE attribute. if fact, for a Star Wars game it would probablty be a FORCE attribute.

IMO the stat isn't a bad idea, but I think to get the cinematic quality of the films we could use (an alter) the Force Point mechanics a bit.

The Bond RPG used to do a great job of givng the cinematic fell of the Bond films, and some of it's rules could port over well to D6:

-One thing it did was allow players to adjust the quality rating on die rolls with hero points. 1 point would shift a QR by 1. The actual effect of a action was based on the QR with 1 being the best result and 4 being marginal success. Past 4 menat a failure. One of the cool things about this was that a PC could succeed at a extremely difficult task (like hittin the exahust port of the Death Star while flying down a teach at full throttle without a targeting computer) by spending HPs. It also worked the opposite way, but allowing a PC to turn marginal "hits" into near misses.

-The Bond RPG had a Sixth Sense skill that was rolled by the GM in secret to let the PCs notice something that they weren't really looking for. Like being amubhsed, or spotting the thermal detenator that's been stashed away in your R2. Just what information you got depending on the quality rating. Poor QRs would mean just a vague feeling on uneasyness, while a good QR might let the PC spot a clue that would give up just what was going on. Basically it gave the Pcs heroes a chance to notice something was wrong in situations where they probably wouldn have no real chance.

-Hero Points could also be spent at times to alter the enviroment or the coruse of the adventure. This was very cinematic.

[Luwingo_Spince]