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What would you do?
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Bradywan
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PostPosted: Wed Dec 30, 2015 4:00 am    Post subject: What would you do? Reply with quote

I haven't GM'd Star Wars since the 90's (lol). I'm putting together a group of Star Wars fans to play a game. They are all roleplaying newbies, but have Star Wars knowledge.

Right out of the chute, one asks if I'm allowing droids, so I say yes. They want to be an HK driod. So I ask, do you mean HK-47 from KotoR? They say yes. So I point out that KotoR is thousands of years from when we are playing (between Ep 3-4)

They point out that according to wookiepedia, there are HK droids right through the rebellion era. So should I allow it? I'm afraid that they just wanna shoot stuff and say "meat bag" alot.

Allow a newbie player to play an HK? Or encourage something else?
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shootingwomprats
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PostPosted: Wed Dec 30, 2015 4:08 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I think you are a 100% correct about the intent of your players. The bottom line is you can say no to any idea. You don't have to have a reason. You can say, "no droids". Also keep in mind that droids are tools, they are not 2nd class citizens and they are the brunt of much prejudice towards them. Much of this directly as a result of the Clone Wars. There are also stringent laws about droids at the time 19 BBY and forward. Specifically droids cannot have weapons and cannot be independent. You can throw that in for your players if you like.
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garhkal
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PostPosted: Wed Dec 30, 2015 11:10 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Say that due to the time frame, most HK and other combat droids are highly curtailed, even more so than aliens, so his 'character' would suffer a lot when going to imperial planets. And cause of his HK status, he would be the primary target by other enemies.
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cheshire
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PostPosted: Wed Dec 30, 2015 11:50 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

A lot of newbie roleplayers are some combination of themselves and their favorite characters of the genre. Whether they see some emulation of Malcom Reynolds, HK-47, or William Riker, they're going to draw on something while they get their grounding.

Why not just sit down and have a conversation about making this particular HK droid their own character, rather than an impersonation of the one in the video game? This is, of course, assuming that he wants to play AN HK droid, and not THE HK-47. HK-47 would be a non-playable NPC who would be overpowered for a beginning character. That, and it's usually bad form to try to take a known character and make them a PC.
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garhkal
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PostPosted: Thu Dec 31, 2015 1:19 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

For those of us not familar with the cartoons/games, who/what is HK-47?
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Zarn
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PostPosted: Thu Dec 31, 2015 6:18 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

HK-47 is an assassin droid with style - and some particular quirks, masquerading as a protocol droid. It tends to prefix every sentence it says with a general declaration of what kind of sentence it is - such as "Question: Why do your eyes leak when percussed in the genitalia, meatbag".

It also vastly prefers to just kill all sentients rather than waste computation cycles trying to figure out what the motivation for the sentient's actions is.

Samples from KOTOR:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vg1gTas7OAA

Sample from SWTOR:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M64K8LEx-RU

Personally, I think HK-47's approach to existence is best encapsulated by its definition of "love":

"Definition: 'Love' is making a shot to the knees of a target 120 kilometers away using an Aratech sniper rifle with a tri-light scope... Love is knowing your target, putting them in your targeting reticule, and together, achieving a singular purpose against statistically long odds."
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gahlblah
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PostPosted: Thu Dec 31, 2015 8:14 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

You can say no to anything you want, even if it is a common thing in the movies, the games, etc. You're the GM and it's your game. Not saying to be a total @$$ but you can allow or disallow anything you want.
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cheshire
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PostPosted: Thu Dec 31, 2015 9:36 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Zarn wrote:
HK-47 is an assassin droid with style - and some particular quirks, masquerading as a protocol droid. It tends to prefix every sentence it says with a general declaration of what kind of sentence it is - such as "Question: Why do your eyes leak when percussed in the genitalia, meatbag".

It also vastly prefers to just kill all sentients rather than waste computation cycles trying to figure out what the motivation for the sentient's actions is.

*snip*

Personally, I think HK-47's approach to existence is best encapsulated by its definition of "love":

"Definition: 'Love' is making a shot to the knees of a target 120 kilometers away using an Aratech sniper rifle with a tri-light scope... Love is knowing your target, putting them in your targeting reticule, and together, achieving a singular purpose against statistically long odds."


That's the great thing about him, he was fantastic comic relief. As much has he talked about the wholesale slaughter of semi-sentient meatbags, it was mostly that... talk. He never came off the rails to kill everything that moved. He was always diligent in following the desires of his master. Granted, there was quite a bit of combat in the game.

If the player wanted to play a droid -- stripped down in its programming to fit within the Rebellion Era's laws -- and would play it in a way that would be constructive to the group, then I don't see a problem with it. He'd have to play hide-and-seek with his origins, given that murder-bot assassination droids were a bit no-no in that era.

Though if he wanted to play an HK that came off the rails and had more action than talk, then I would definitely encourage the player to look at different options.
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Whill
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PostPosted: Thu Dec 31, 2015 6:31 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Being a 4th degree droid is painting a target on your back. And they are so restricted so its not like they can just wander around the galaxy freely adventuring. In my game PCs can't play 4th Degree droids, period. It's simple, fair, and for the the players' own good. Now a droid of another class not expected to have hidden combat abilities, that's something else.
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CRMcNeill
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PostPosted: Thu Dec 31, 2015 6:37 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Whill wrote:
Being a 4th degree droid is painting a target on your back. And they are so restricted so its not like they can just wander around the galaxy freely adventuring. In my game PCs can't play 4th Degree droids, period. It's simple, fair, and for the the players' own good. Now a droid of another class not expected to have hidden combat abilities, that's something else.

A GM I played under once allowed a droid character in the party to be fitted with an external stun-field. Basically, anyone who tried to touch him when it was active took 5D Stun damage. The result was usually the attacker dropping to the ground spasming while the droid said, "Oh! I'm terribly sorry about that." The droid was programmed not to attack anyone, but neither could anyone else lay hands on it violently without getting zapped.
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Whill
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PostPosted: Fri Jan 01, 2016 2:28 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

crmcneill wrote:
A GM I played under once allowed a droid character in the party to be fitted with an external stun-field. Basically, anyone who tried to touch him when it was active took 5D Stun damage. The result was usually the attacker dropping to the ground spasming while the droid said, "Oh! I'm terribly sorry about that." The droid was programmed not to attack anyone, but neither could anyone else lay hands on it violently without getting zapped.

That's a great idea. I love it!
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garhkal
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PostPosted: Fri Jan 01, 2016 4:12 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

?? How much power did that require?
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CRMcNeill
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PostPosted: Fri Jan 01, 2016 4:58 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

garhkal wrote:
?? How much power did that require?

5x10^13 Starwarses
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CRMcNeill
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PostPosted: Fri Jan 01, 2016 6:21 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Whill wrote:
That's a great idea. I love it!

Yeah, it was fun. The droid technically couldn't attack anyone, but the guy playing him had a real knack for "creative clumsiness", stumbling into the path of attacking NPCs with predictable results and playing up the "I'm programmed for etiquette and protocol, not violence!" card.
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garhkal
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PostPosted: Sat Jan 02, 2016 12:57 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Maybe, but if a simple scan of him was done, wouldn't that stun field being always on have been detected, and thus him considered 'more than an etiquette' droid?
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