Sorry about yet another short hiatus. Travel, deadlines, cons, work...more or less the usual culprits. Last week was KC Game Fair, which I while I did get out some news about what I'd be running, I didn't get it posted here. Unlike past years, I had very little to do with convention planning this time, but I did sign up to run games almost every slot. Just one of those years I didn't want to leave anything out.
I ran two different Star Wars RPG scenarios.
One was Rescue at Glare Peak Rebellion Day adventure for Age of Rebellion. It's been a lot of fun to run that one multiple times because there are so many options for the players, they always do something different. Sometimes very different. I had one table realize that a contact that is expected to be utilized later (if at all) could be called upon at the very beginning, changing the first section of the adventure a fair bit. The last group had a Darth Vader sighting just as they escaped, so that was entertaining.
Also, I managed to keep things rolling and fit it mostly into four hours. Usually that meant speeding up the middle section, or glossing over some of the more mundane bits of the final encounters and focusing briefly on the highlights. I'd ask the players for input at critical moments and the occasional die roll so it wasn't just me pushing their characters along on autopilot. In convention games, putting your best scenes at the beginning and ending makes for a great way to kick off the game and play a great ending. It is best to use adaptable scenes in the middle section, especially with encounters that can be dropped or skimmed through narratively if things run long.
So, I think I'll be using the Glare Peak adventure as a go-to when I don't have time to prepare something else.
The other Star Wars RPG event was a Force and Destiny Beta adventure of my own devising. Character creation time was a big issue, so I ended up reusing the FFG GenCon characters, mostly. The Force and Destiny game was very different, which was on purpose. All Force using characters. I featured an encounter that tapped into every character's Emotional Weakness. I didn't use Fear checks, but I meant to do so. The scenario needs refinement. The players had fun, but I wasn't hitting all the nuances I'm hoping to use in Force and Destiny adventures. The final scene played out ok, but needs some work to better tie it into the rest of the adventure. Next time, I hope to create characters specific to the adventure, which would also help.
My games each featured adventures I wrote and write for, except one. I finally ran a table of Numenera, and none of the players had played before, either. It was a great time. I took the Beale of Boregal adventure in the core rulebook and adapted it for a four hour game. I focused on the main events, and dispensed with most of the early encounters. 've discovered I'm definitely going to skew heavily more towards the sci-fi aspects of the game, and I played that up whenever I could. It's a weird setting, but a lot of fun and open to a lot of creativity. The day I ran it, MCG started an unexpected, all new Numenera kickstarter for a box...set. I'm probably not going for this one, but people who don't have the game yet might find it interesting.
The Last Parsec in action at KC Game Fair. Alas, the Star Wars table pic suffered from camera shake. I ran Pranac Pursuit, my adventure for The Last Parsec kickstarter for the Savage World RPG. It was definitely not set up for a 4 hour game and I knew that going in. It's an exploration adventure, so parts could take as long or as little time as the PCs wanted. Again, I had a middle section I could take care of narratively. The adventure isn't out yet, so I was running off my manuscript and my sketch maps. A little behind the scenes info.
As if all that weren't enough, I also ran my D&D Adventurers League Expeditions Tyranny of Dragons adventure, Drums in the Marsh. I realized I hadn't run a living-style convention game since.......Living Verge for WotC's Alternity sci-fi RPG. Anyway, it was fun to see it in action. At least two other tables ran over the course of the weekend, so again, I got to hear a bit about the different ways the players took on the various challenges. They had to keep adding D&D Adventurers League tables whenever they could recruit judges. It was good to see.
Now, back to Star Wars:
Star Wars The Force Awakens short trailer debuts this weekend. There is a theatre list here. There's one in my town for a change, but I won't make it over to see it.
For those without cable or Disney XD, Starwars.com is hosting the first five episodes of Rebels on their site for a while.
Somewhere along the way, FFG announced Fly Casual, a sourcebook for Smugglers for Edge of the Empire, to be released in early 2015.
BTW, for those wondering where the latests products stand in the production process, FFG has a page devoted to reporting what stage each product is in. Here is the RPG page.
And...just moments ago (I know, I'm writing on Tuesday evening, not late Wednesday for a change!), starwars.com activated their landing page for Star Wars Celebration Anaheim early next year. I'm all set up to go again, my third in a row. Hard to top last time in terms of personal experiences, but here's hoping.
Star Wars Celebration 2015 Trailer on Disney Video