Black Sands of Socorro = Worst Supplement Ever

[Pholus]

I know, my rant is only 15 years overdue but I just started playing again (the kiddos are finally old enough and have interested friends and dads) so I picked up this book again. I really enjoyed Patricia Jackson's stories in SWAJ but I remember never buying this until it was clear WEG was done for and never publishing again and even then after a casual read it went to the bottom of the WEG book stack. There was a reason and it was more that the in-joke of Socorro, New Mexico being too in your face to take seriously. The entire world was just basically Tatooine rehashed but "better" which makes it poke-to-the-eyeball annoying!

Seriously, Socorro is like the Lake Wobegon of the WEG universe. EVERYONE is above average at everything. Han was supposedly so good at blaster quick draw with his heavy blaster pistol specialization of 10D that the fastest draw in the galaxy Gallandro (Heavy Blaster specialization of 14D+1) took notice of him. I guess that's because Gallandro was just too scared to travel to Socorro because there are six people there with weapon skills between 9D and 12D and they're not specialization wussies either. The book describes the local crime syndicate Bounty Hunter, Fenn Rizaar as having a Blaster of 6D+1. I can't help but see everyone treating the poor guy like Barney Fife because even the generic outlaw techs working the shop down the street have 7D in blaster as does the local burnout smuggler. Who the heck could this guy take down? Oh the Jawa and the street orphan I suppose...

In terms of number of dice spent on characters Karl Ancher seems to be the single most experienced character in the entire Star Wars universe at rougly 200 dice above base attributes. He is more improved than Calrissian (at 95 dice), the Emperor (100 dice but 42 in Force skills), Xixor (130 dice), Solo (155 dice) or even Vader (160 dice, 34 in force skills). Those are rough counts, rounding pips, but seriously didn't the editor take notice when the guy ranked 8D+ in just about everything? Even wide eyed newbie Drake Paulsen is as experienced as Calrissian who is decades older. Those stats don't even reconcile with the fiction written about them. Ugh.

As an example using the GM's screen, let's translate into words the stats of Aquato Boliscon (improved 175 dice) who is a senior member of the "Black Bha'lir" (Black baller, get it?):

This one guy is simultaneously:

Among the best on the planet at: Dodge, Sensors, Forgery,
Among the best in the nearest several systems at: Communications, Con
Among the best in the sector at: Blaster, Languages, Gambling
Among the best in the nearest several sectors at: Streetwise, Astrogration, Space Transports, Bargain, Search, Sneak, and Space Transports Repair.
Among the best in the galaxy at Alien Species, Planetary Systems, starship Value, Persuasion

How do these stats even support the capsule that he is a "legitimate businessman renowned for locating and appropriating quality vessels at reasonable prices and reselling them at a profit" who was once "a noteworthy smuggler himself" like pretty much everyone in the book. That description simply doesn't track the living legend the stats imply!

Overall the maps were too crude to use seriously in the game and the social structure is too closed for the characters to ever substantially make an inroads -- especially given the relatively poor adventure hooks that are available. That being said, there are not enough details presented to even hint to the characters that this rich world of detail exists under a rather bland surface.

So my question after all that, has ANYONE ever managed to work this clunker into their games? I feel like it might be possible, but only a massive stat rescale...

[vanir]

I dunno, I was just having a look over it for the first time and it seems to me the high powered NPCs you're describing are the planetary leaders (ie. Major Bosses in PC gameworld terms, as opposed to Bosses and Villains in descending order of combat value) and the heads of major organisations, criminal and semi-legitimate, in a location ostensibly one of the roughest little frontier worlds one is likely to find. And business has been good, the economy can afford an Imperial class starport, these aren't your run of the mill random bad guys for PCs to easily interact with, they're clearly the Han Solos and Darth Vaders of the galaxy and a headsup that Han himself isn't the be all and end all or else he'd run the whole galaxy's underworld.

The NPCs which players are likely to interact with consistently have their skills in the 5D-7D range, which is respectable but about that of a medium level adventuring party, our current PCs are in this range. And PCs are always a cut above anyway because they've actually played out accumulating special equipment and knicks knacks that add greatly to their combat value.

The PCs aren't likely to interact with the high powered NPCs directly, if they do it will naturally be at a disadvantage. What I think the author has done is a simple device I sometimes use because I have experienced gamers that can be a little uncontrolled sometimes, and if you put a Major Boss in front of them who only has say 6D-8D range skills the instant they realise this, or if they get a chance to test it out, they'll simply kill him off hand and take his organisation apart for loot. You wouldn't want to try that with these guys, they really are Major Bosses.

It's all people like the planetary leader, the leader of this and that major criminal organisation, the head of a city-state security force, etc. They have Blaster skill in the 10D range sure, but they are Han Solos at minimum. And by the same token it sort of shows just how powerful Han Solo really is as an NPC, he's an independent but compared to these guys he's roughly the skill dice to start and lead his own major organisation himself if he went that way, and keep it in line with his own Blaster skill.

These NPCs in the Sourcebook seem to be that class of character, clearly when they have a serious organisational problem, they strap up and go take care of it with their own Blaster skill. Not to be trifled with, not individuals you really want to meet.

[Pholus]

If they were meant used as you indicate, the number of available force pts/character points are far too low. For being a hands-on boss, Ancher has 2 force points and 10 character points -- in other words, comparable to what any beginning force sensitive PC has. I say you can't escape the conclusion there was little thought put into these stats.

Despite being the smuggler's smuggler and by stat breakdown a legend who has 28 skills in excess of 7 dice and many of them over 10D the guy apparently failed "How to survive in the D6 Universe school." Look it took him more than 2500 character points to reach these skill levels not even counting many character points burned in getting out of scrapes on the way. Any player knows that you keep as large a CP pool as you can so why wouldn't he? I see the Ancher capsule as representing an overstuffed turkey full of needless auxiliary skills you'd normally hire in your underlings as part of your organization and high ratings to convince you the character is cool rather than any actual need. Communications 9D? Where does it say he studied at Kuat Polytechnic or did a stint as an elite troubleshooter for a telecommunications firm or even has a ham subspace radio in the back room that he works on every night?

Anyway, my point is despite these awesome, overdone skills, he's not even good in a standup fight either. With his Blaster/Dodge this guy lasts against even a novice character PC group perhaps...well 2 force points, so 3-4 rounds in a standup fight. No support structure of any significance is described so after those 3-4 rounds this face-to-face guy turns into a lootable treasure pile.

Finally, in the short stories Ancher is cautious, careful and thoughtful after years in the business. Guys with 9D+2 in blaster and 7D+1 in dodge really don't need to be. It just seems like too much of a disconnect -- you're not going to see a player with 9D+2 blaster avoid a firefight unless other factors intervene to make blasters impractical.

Having similar players to yours, I've gotten by designing my major bosses in accordance with the skills that should be expected from their capsule description with at most one or two hidden passions and certainly in line with the skill description rarity. The exception is dodge since it represents not only ninja moves but just your sheer luck in a firefight. I play all of my major bosses like they grew up with a copy of the Evil Overlord List because after all they couldn't be in charge of their organization unless they were smart, devious and well connected as well as being people persons, organizers and survivors. They are also experienced like my players, so they will have a pool of character and force points commensurate with that role. My Boss always has an escape plan, extra reserve trooops and never risks confrontation face-to-face unless the odds are several times in his favor. He approaches situations with exactly the same caution the players should because like the players he wants to grown in power and survive.

As a result of all of those factors, he doesn't need legendary levels in blaster unless its a story factor. In any case, he certainly can hire talent and the universe has enough strings in it that the talent can't simply blast him and take over but they are more than enough challenging proxies for the PCs. In the end, it is the organization that the PC's cannot beat even if they manage to knock my boss off. He has reinforcements and typically connections with the local law as well as allies and subordinates. All of them hear any commotion and move in quickly -- they wouldn't be allies if they didn't work together. Typically, my PC's have a few minutes perhaps to try to grab some stuff, but they've never had the luxury of looting a major organization. Not to mention, they have to be careful with what they try to fence or they get a whole new group of enemies.

No, the skills do not match the intent in the text...

[JT Swift]

Our rule of thumb whenever we found contradictions in WEG material was that Flavor Text supersede Stats. And Stats superseded art and schematics.

So if you feel the skills are too high just put a -2D modifier on the whole planet.

Now you criticized the social structure of the planet, indicating it was very hard to get PCs involved in any stories there. I've never played the scenario but I'm curious to hear other people's reactions.
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- J.T. Swift

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[Bren]

Thanks Pholus. The Black Sands is one of the sourcebooks I never got. You have made me less sad about that.

The 2E and 2E R&E rules contain the following chart.

[Raven Redstar]

I actually like the concept of the planet. I haven't worked the world into my games, but overinflated stats don't worry me. My player has very advanced skills of her own, and even if the pre-made stuff concerned me, I don't have any problems ignoring the stats in a book and coming up with something on the fly. Even if I did use the planet, I would probably end up using it for a "dungeon crawl" or hideout way out in the desert, I wouldn't go traipsing around with the pre-written material. I just don't run my games that way. I found that the creatures in the book were an interesting touch. The sand wasps and other bits.

But, I have used the other planet listed in the book, Neftali. I've used Exovar's Emporium from Wretched Hives in one or two of my games, which takes place on a planet which is covered more in depth in Black Sands. Exovar's stats seem to reflect his writeup:

"Luskin Exovar is a living legend..."

And he has some high skills. But, he's not really the type to get into a fight with PCs, unless your players pick the fight.

Honestly, if the only thing upsetting you about the planet is the skill sets of the inhabitants, then just re-stat them, or make your own new ones. Stick your own settlement on the planet and fill it with whatever and whoever you want. That's the beautiful thing about being GM. You get your gamemaster's wand. The most powerful creative & destructive tool in your universe.

I think the world is useful if you're running any kind of spacer type game which has already visited most of the standard planets, and the players have gotten enough skill to go into the unknown. For some players, it may be a refreshing, challenging experience. It also has more in depth rules for running swoop races/chases with new obstacles and maneuvers that can be used, or used to challenge your swoop jockey player.
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RR
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[Pholus]

it was a rare disappointment in my sourcebook fixes from WEG. I see this planet as having some interest, but again I did ask you all if anyone has actually used it and I don't see any affirmatives yet. I just don't think it is that usable as is. An outsider has a hard time breaking in and the adventure hooks really don't help a group of non-native characters move in the inner circles (and if they aren't interacting with the inner circle, then this is not really an adventure worthy locale).