Star Wars 2020: Session 3

We got together a third session of my Star Wars/Cyberpunk 2020 mashup on short notice, due to half of our gaming group being in town. The other half joined via skype, leaving us with a full 6 player characters- not bad for our group. Let's go over the lineup:

• Pigman- a Gammorian beater/scavenger/heavy machine user/starship pilot(Avraham)
• Art- Ithorian tech Rock gardener, healing(Avi)
• Lucky- a Gran with many natural talents, good at dodging, explosives, stock market, interstellar navigation, leadership, pharmaceuticals(Lauren)
• The Wookie- a wookie turret gunner, butt kicker(Joshua)
• Deeberjay- Nephew of Ilay who party agrees to transport at end of session(Art)
• Candy- a pretty Mon Calamari princess who swings a mean plasteel sword(BC)
• Roy- NPC scavenger from Nocto II(NPC)
• Snortbert- Gammorian who swore fealty to The Wookie(NPC)

You may recall that in session 2 the party accepted two missions to the Squib Home System of Squab. One was to deliver a shipment of refined metals, the other to deliver Deeberjar, the nephew of Ilay. This session they accomplished that mission, and made some credits to boot, but let's not get ahead of ourselves.

Candy, the Calamari Princess

Aiquin 4

As the party came out of the gravity well of Aiquin 4 and prepared to enter hyperspace, an Ugor Corvette came out of it's hiding place behind one of the system's moons. It made straight for them but they made the jump to hyperspace.

Eliraad System

The party reached Eliraad System where they found a deep space platform with a small Eriadu just leaving. They hailed the Eriadu, but the Human pilot didn't like having his time wasted by a "bunch of stupid aliens". He cut-off communication and made the jump to hyperspace.

The party was debating following him when the Ugor Corvette came out of hyperspace. The platform scrambled it's two fighters and the party decided it was time to move on to the Blair Cluster.

Airam Sector

Blair Cluster

The Blair Cluster is a huge asteroid belt. The party passed through it thanks to their skilled pilot. They spent some time searching it for signs of life, but to no success. They weren't sure if the Eriadu ship was hiding or had jumped elsewhere.

Swellen System

A deep space repair yard and 3 large Calamari Cruisers coming for repairs.

Deeberjay tried to use his Princely rank to gain cheap repairs. They didn't trust him as an Ilay Squib. Ilay sided with the Empire half a century back, while the rest of the Squib joined the rebellion. There's still some bad blood.

The cruisers aluded to a mission related to the First Order trouble in Hosnian System. Candy spoke to them and they offered to let the party land their shuttle in the flag ship's docking bay where the party would be given a mission. The party decided to decline and continued on to Undil.

Undil System

A large Squib world with another Calamari Cruiser in orbit and 3 Ugor Cruisers hanging out on the far edge of the star system. The party decided to move on to Bes.

Bes System

An Ice Planet with a major squib salvage operation, aftermath of Imperial battles half a century back. Lucky used her handy navigation skills and detected 3 corvette-sized ships hiding in an asteroid field. The party debated joining the salvage mission, attacking the corvettes. They finally decided to make the long jump to Squab.

Squab System

The party made it to squab and saw some heavy Squib Cruiser traffic. Squab contains the Squib homeworld of Skor II. The party made 10000 credits and dropped Deeberjay at his destination. He used his connections to find them cheap docking facilities and invited them to visit him in his office. He has a plan to make an Ilay alliance with the Ugor, but then double-cross them, hopefully helping ease some of the bad blood with the rest of the Squib. The party debated selling their military shuttle for a civilian freighter. They finally decided to stick with the shuttle and hopefully capture a larger ship by boarding it.

There wasn't any fighting this session, but there was some great space exploration, strategy, and general wheeling and dealing. The party completed two missions and made some respectable cash. They also managed to agree on a longer term goal for bettering their fortunes. They have proven particularly adept at avoiding ship maintenance fees.

The game really reminded me of playing Wing Commander Privateer back in my youth, exploring known space looking for missions, running from the big baddies and just making the hyper-jump in time!

Star Wars 2020: Session 2 Summary

So we finally got together for a second session. Last time the party escaped their Ugor task masters in the Nocto system in an old imperial shuttle with just a backup hyperdrive. This session began with a slightly modified character lineup.

Blank Shuttle Sheet

• Pigman- a Gammorian beater/scavenger/heavy machine user/starship pilot(Avraham)
• Art- Ithorian tech Rock gardener, healing(Avi)
• Lucky- a Gran with many natural talents, good at dodging, explosives, stock market, interstellar navigation, leadership, pharmaceuticals(Lauren)
• The Wookie- a wookie turret gunner, butt kicker(Joshua)
• Roy- NPC scavenger from Nocto II
• Snortbert-NPC Gammorian who swears fealty to the Wookie at end of session
• Deeberjay- NPC Nephew of Ilay who party agrees to transport at end of session

Then we moved on to filling out the shuttle Ship Sheet(modified from Traveller). The party set the goals of:

1. Getting a proper hyperdrive
2. Charging their fuel cells
3. Fixing the hull damage
4. Getting an Astromech droid for repairs

Shuttle Sheet at End of Session

Klaatu System

The party arrived in Klaatu system. They opened communications with the Space Station, which directed them to the customs platform. They eventually got clearance to land on the station. While there they:

• Took a delivery mission from Station AI to Squab system, 10000 credits on delivery
• Fueled up at station's expense
• Art fixed the ship, hover vehicles, installed parts, haggled for a broken hyperdrive
• Pigman, Lucky, and the Wookie hitchhiked back and forth from the moon colony
• While there they sold and bought stuff

Ambush

While taking a cab between the colony and the Rift, the party's cab was told to pull over by a heavily armed stretch limo hovercar. An Ugor, two Mandalorian Bounty Hunters, and two Gammorian Guards ordered them to surrender. After a hectic battle, the Ugor was captured, a defeated Gammorian had sworn fealty to The Wookie, and the others were dead. The party was pretty banged-up too, but they had gained a good deal of booty!

The Jouney Begins

The party began their trip to Squab with the short jump to Aiquin 4. They requested permission to land, claiming to have salvaged their ship from Klaatu system(little do they know that the Squib on Aiquin 4 claim exclusive salvage rights to the surrounding star systems). They landed only to find themselves facing a full contingent of Squib marines. In the interrogation that followed, the true story came out and the Squib were happy to hear that the ship was stolen directly from an Ugor salvage mission.

Updated Map

• The party was allowed to register their shuttle on Aiquin 4 for 1000 credits
• The Clan Leader of Aiquin 4, Ilay, requested to meet them. She asked them to do her a favor and transport hernephew to the Polyanarcharial Palace in the Squib homeworld in Squab system
• They sold some more items at somewhat poor prices, the squibs being expert negotiators
• Lucky accessed the planetary network and researched the various systems in Airam Sector, resulting in an updated sector map

At this point, we decided to call it a night...

Welcome to Klaatu

Here's another system description for Star Wars 2020.

Klaatu is a star system in Airam Sector. Most of the planet's activity is around Klaatu III and it's moon.

Klaatu III's moon is the location of a Nharwaak mining colony. The primary locations in this system are:

1. Customs Platform- a platform orbiting Klaatu III. Visiting ships must check in at the customs office.
2. Low-Grav Refinery- a space station orbiting Klaatu III. It's a low-gravity metal refinery where mined ores are processed.
3. Deep Core Bore- a deep bore mine near the moon's core. Mines heavy metals.
4. The Rift- metal mine in seismic crack in the moon's surface
5. Nharwaak Colony- small space port, residential, commercial area
6. Garrison Camp- Nharwaak garrison's camp

A mining colony of the Nharwaaks. The Nharwaaks are from the Myloc system, also in Airam Sector, but are of Zygerrian ancestry.

Star Wars 2020 Point Buy

As per request, here is how to create your star wars 2020 character via point-buy rather than random generator.

1. Ability Scores

1. Distribute 48 points between the ability scores Int, Ref, Tech, Cool, Emp, Luck, Body, Force (maximum 10, minimum 2)
2. MA=8
3. Run=MA*3
4. Leap=Run/4
5. Lift(Kg)=40*BODY
6. Save=Body
7. BTM=IF(BODY<=2,0,IF(BODY<=4,-1,IF(BODY<=7,-2,IF(BODY<=9,-3,-4)))) 

2. Species

1. Pick a species
2. Apply the ability modifiers for your species

Races	INT	BODY	REF	EMP	MA
Human
Wookie	-1	1		1	-1
Ewok	-1	-2	1	1	-2
Gammorian	-2	2		-1
Twi'lek			-1	1
Ithorian	1		-1		-1
Mon Calamari
Gran

3. Skills

1. You get 40+INT+REF skill points
2. Assign them to skills(max 10)

BODY	COOL	EMP	INT	REF	TECH	FORCE
Endurance	Interrogate	Sentient Perception	Accounting	Archery	Hover Tech	Force Jump
Strength Feat	Intimidate	Interview	Xenoanthropology	Athletics	Basic Tech	Mind Trick
Swimming	Oratory	Leadership	Awareness/Notice	Brawling	Computer Tech	Phase
	Resist Torture/Drugs	Perform	Biology	Dance	Demolitions	Telekinesis
	Streetwise	Persuasion/Fast Talk	Botany	Dodge/Escape	Disguise	Read Mind
		Riding(Bantha)	Chemistry	Fencing	Droid Tech	Force Healing
		Riding(Bolotaur)	Composition	Handgun	Electronics	Reflex Boost
		Riding(Keffi)	Diagnose Illness	Heavy Weapons	First Aid/Medical
		Riding(Tauntaun)	Education & Gen. Knowlege	Martial Arts	Hacking
		Riding(Eopie)	Gamble	Melee	Paint/Draw
		Riding(Dewback)	Geology	Operate Heavy Machinery	Pharmaceuticals
		Seduction	Hide/Evade	Pilot(StarFighter)	Photography
		Social	History	Drive(Hoverbike)	Pick Lock
			Language(by species/native world)	Drive(Hovercar)	Pick Pocket
			Language(Basic)	Pilot(Starship)	Play Instrument(pick one)
			Library Search	Rifle	Hyperdrive Tech
			Mathematics	Stealth	Weaponsmith
			Navigation(Interstellar)	Turret Gunner	Starship Engine Tech
			Physics	Climbing	Energy Weapon Tech
			Shadow/Track	Diving	Communications Tech
			Stock Market
			Teaching
			Wilderness Survival
			Zoology

4. Equipment

1. You get 1d10 Galactic Credits
2. cloth shoes(worn out), dusty poncho, sand mask
3. 4 items from this list

Anti-Grav Sledge

Bantha

Blaster pistol

Blaster rifle

Bolotaur

Brass bracelets

Camera

Cutting torch

Dancing shoes

Dewback

Diving aparatus

Eopie

Hand weapon(choose)

Heavy Plasteel Knife 1d6

Hip Flask

Infrared binoculars

Keffi

Light spear gun 1d6+1

Lockpicks

Longbow 50m, 12 Arrows 2d6+1

Medikitx5

Metal Detector

Motorized climbing rig

Musical Instrument(as per skill)

Old Hoverbike

Old Hovercar

Pack of Sabacc Cards

Pain killers

pick item of Native dress

Plasteel Sword 2d6+2, sheath

Portable Chemical Analyzer

Portable excavator

Portable Gene Sequencer

Sketchpad, Pencils

Small computer terminal

Small Electronics Kit

Small hacker's terminal

Small tool kit

Salvaged Droid(choose Astromech, Medical, or Protocol)

Tatoo

Tauntaun

Thermal Detonator 7/9d6

Uppers

Water Bottle

Wearable light

Force Combat for Star Wars 2020

After the first session of Star Wars 2020, a Cyberpunk 2020 Star Wars mod, I wanted to add an improved combat skill to the list of force skills. The existing list of skills(below) reflect common force abilities, but there wasn't anything that paralleled Luke's use of the force in combat.

• Force Jump
• Mind Trick
• Phase
• Telekinesis
• Read Mind
• Force Healing

I wanted something that gives a significant bonus, yet doesn't make force users too overpowered. Since Cyberpunk 2020 combat relies mostly on the Reflex ability score, I decided to create an ability that boost's that attribute. Here is the result:

Force Reflex Boost

The force-user concentrates, connecting to the Force. This gives them a boosted reflex ability score.

Skill Check

The force-user must make a skill check to concentrate and connect to the force. The target number depends on how distracted they are.

standard CP2020 difficulties

Effect

The ability is boosted by the character's force ability score, for a maximum of 11. (The player is allowed to make one Spinal Tap joke per session. Additional jokes cause the ability to fail.)

Concentration

If the character is injured or otherwise distracted, they must again make a skill check to maintain concentration. This doesn't use up their action for the turn.

Duration

The effect lasts as long as the character is busy with the current task. Once they start doing something else, the effect is lost. If they want to maintain the effect, they must make a concentration skill check.

Some Art from the Vault

My Mother passed away a few weeks ago. She'd had one of the nastier brands of cancer for a while, the type you don't get better from. The type where every treatment raises the question of whether the effects of the treatment are better or worse than those of the disease.

My sister was going through some of her things and found this, an old scratchboard drawing I did back in high school. A DnD scene with an White Dragon, an adventuring party entering it's cave in the background. Reminded me I used to be halfway decent at drawing.

Mom was always very supportive of her kids' artistic endeavors, sending us to all the after-school classes we wanted. I should probably draw more. Maybe once life gets a little less crazy...

Science Fiction Review: Ancillary Justice

Ann Leckie's 2013 science fiction novel Ancillary Justice is categorized as Space Opera. That's fair enough, I suppose. It has aliens, interstellar travel via jump gates, and intergalactic Empires vying for power. That said, tonally and thematically, it is closer to Post-Cyberpunk.

Cyberpunks

The main theme of the book is it's exploration of new paradigms of conscious experience, such as AI and technologically modified humans. This is a very cyberpunk theme, but while William Gibson tries to alienate us with uncomfortable marriages of technology and biology, Leckie humanizes this new paradigm, offering us an intimate view into these characters' lives. Ancillary Justice introduces us to three types of technological character:

1. AIs and their Ancillaries- the protagonist, Justice of Toren/Breq is such a being, with modified human bodies networked with one another and slaved to a ship AI. All of the parts share a single collective experience and think of themselves as a single person, albeit one comprised of many bodies and many brains.
2. Networked Clones- Anaander Mianaai, ruler of the Radch empire, continuously produces clones of herself. The clones are networked to one another(while within the same star system) and they all think of themselves as a single person. Her many clones travel the Galaxy, allowing her to rule over a highly-diffuse realm(basically James Patrick Kelly's Solstice, cranked up to 11). 
3. Post-Humans- the backwater system Breq describes in chapter 17 is populated with "heavily modified people--not human, by Radchaai standards, people with six or eight limbs(and no guarantee any of them would be legs), vacuum-adapted skin and lungs, brains so meshed and crosshatched with implants and wiring it was an open question whether they were anything but conscious machines with a biological interface." We just get a sketch of them and their brand of utilitarian altruism "I found out later that a four-meter, tentacled eel of a person had paid the balance of my fare without telling me, because, she had told the captain, I didn't belong there and would be healthier elsewhere." pp.255-6

Cyberpunks in Crisis

Leckie explores each of these characters' sense of self, to various degrees.

She gives us a first person view of Breq's existential crises, first when her individual units lose their network connection, then when she is ordered to kill her favorite captain, then once again when Justice of Toren is destroyed leaving only a single surviving Ancillary.

"I spent six months trying to understand how to do anything--not just how to get my message to the Lord of the Radch, but how to walk and breathe and sleep and eat as myself." p.256

We are also offered a second person view of Anaander Mianaai's own long-running crisis as her clones develop differences of opinion. This rift within herself results in subtle intrigues and ultimately in armed conflict between the various factions of self.

We're also offered Breq's third-person view of the Post-Humans and their more individualistic culture, which nevertheless includes an ethic of helping others to find their own place in the system.

All Things Shining

This is sort of the opposite of the other book I'm reading, Hubert Dreyfus and Sean Dorrance Kelly's All Things Shining. A major theme of All Things Shining is the vast, untranslatable cultural gap between previous epochs and our own Modern Age. The authors explore many examples of this, but one such case is their claim that our existential crises today are utterly alien to our forbears. That, without the broad array of choices that our modern situation offers us, these questions of self-definition simply don't arise.

"It is not just that in earlier epochs one knew on what basis one's most fundamental existential choices were made: it is that the existential questions didn't even make sense." p.13.

In the same vein, Dreyfus and Kelly also explore examples of past practices that seem utterly alien to us Moderns, yet which made complete made sense according to the world view of people at the time. For example, Helen recounts her affair with Paris in front of her Husband and polite company and is praised for "An excellent tale, my dear, and most becoming."(Homer's Odyssey) The authors argue that this lack of embarrassment can best be understood by the Greek belief that a person's ultimate fulfillment is to become attuned to the gods(in this case Aphrodite).

This is what Leckie is doing in Ancillary Justice--presenting us with a glimpse into a future society, whose own existential questions are be inherently alien to our own experience. What is it like to be a collective self? What sort of unique crises of identity does such a person face? Intellectually, we can only imagine the answers in terms of metaphors, but Leckie does better, taking a more impressionistic approach in her descriptions. Ancillary Justice is a book whose tones of stoic melancholy and irreparable loss stimulate our imagination to fill in the blanks where rational reflection hits a wall of inscrutability.

To sum up, Ancillary Justice is high-concept Science Fiction at it's best and is sure to become, itself, a Modern Classic.