One-shot

[Falconer]

I have it in mind to run a one-shot next week, sort of an over-the-top grand adventure. I want it to be as Star Warsey as possible. I listed some of my expectations in a recent thread—space travel, space battles, space princesses, space warriors, big things blowing up, people and aliens getting blasted, chases, outsmartings, ancient relics, faceless armies, gigantic creatures, palaces, pits, wastes, moons, cloaking devices, weird science, cloning, carbonite freezing, fantastic lasers, androids and cyborgs, psionics, nebulae, grandeur, suspense, capes. Of course it can’t include all this in a 4-hour time slot, but I list it to hopefully give the impression that I’m not going for a “beginner” adventure of ordinary grunts doing ordinary things, but rather grand space opera. Can anyone recommend an excellent scenario?

[Falconer]

Some recommendations I’ve found from another thread on another site:

Strike Force: Shantipole
Scavenger Hunt
Starfall

Anything you could tell me about these, especially their suitability as a one-shot, would be greatly appreciated!

[Whill]

[Falconer]

Thanks, Whill.

[Falconer]

Update: I went with Starfall. I like how high-concept it is. I think it will suit our needs. If we don’t finish it, that’s actually okay, as long as we have fun along the way. Another factor is that I could find a hardcopy that I could very affordably get overnighted. 8)

[Whill]

[Falconer]

So, I ran Starfall on Friday night. It was a blast!

I should explain that I run an annual birthday “D&D drinking game,” which is always a raucous good time. So, for this game, we printed out characters from the GGs and wrote out some of their quotes. The idea is that any time someone drops a movie quote in a way that is appropriate and hilarious, everyone “has to” take a drink. Most of us start with a shot or two of vodka and then switch to beer.

One of my friends arrived early and cooked my favorite birthday dinner (Greek salad, Greek potatoes, spanakopita, and moussaka). We all ate, and everyone selected characters. It was Obi-Wan, Chewbacca, Mon Mothma, Lando, Han, and Leia. The guy who made dinner played Yoda, but he had to leave early on.

Rules: The Star Wars Roleplaying Game 1e rulebook was all I needed, with the sole addition of the difficulty numbers from the “Rules Upgrade” (handily printed on the GM screen from the Campaign Pack). I’m not sure how this mechanic works in 1e pre-upgrade, but, this is clearly what the module was using, so, it is what I went with. Obviously the characters are powerful, so, I always went with the highest number of a given difficulty grade.

I *really* enjoyed how the rules worked. Really light, fast, cinematic. I never had to write down any numbers. Rolls were almost always dramatic and didn’t feel like total fire drills.

Adventure: I dropped the “script,” the “cutaways,” the “backstory,” and the NPC who is supposed to follow you around the whole time, along with his entire plot. It simply began: You are in a holding cell on a star destroyer. Then I read the bits about hearing and feeling the explosions and klaxons, and the power going out. And so it proceeded…

Well, it proceeded mostly how it’s supposed to, though dropping the NPC I think gave the players more room for ingenuity and a better sense of free agency. I think the adventure could have done a bit of a better job in giving you tools for when the players go “off the rails.” Next time I run this (whenever that may be), I’ll be sure to have more complete schematics of a star destroyer (can anyone suggest where to find these)? The other thing that I thought was weak in the module were the captain’s “taunts” that come over the shipwide com. Next time I will rewrite them, or just wing it.

Otherwise, how awesome! The dark and dead detention block, the climb down the turbolift shaft, the burning catwalk, the shootout at the power core? Excellent![/img]

[Bren]

Given the dinner theme shouldn't you have started with ouzo instead of vodka?