Looking for GM for a Saga game

[archangel.arcanis]

@Lord  I don't believe we have a pilot, though I could take the Starship Designer feat if everybody things I should.

I certainly wouldn't mind you taking the feat, i'm just not sure how much starship combat there is in DoD. I don't want you to take it if we will only have 1 or 2 starship combats, some possibly before you get the feat. That would be a wasted feat IMO if you only got use out of it for 1 or 2 fights.

I know I plan on being trained in pilot just in case we need to take vehicles somewhere, and I may get in V.combat feat as well. I plan on getting a talent that is for starship combat but would need advice from the GM if I would be getting it too late to make a difference in the game at level 14+.

Oh yeah are we doing destinies for this?

[Melblen_Cairn]

I could see where it could be abused. I don't think it will be too terribly powerful in conjunction with Dark Rage. Though if we are finding the party is being thrown out of balance after the first few combats then we may have to make some compromises on it. Possibilities could be once a day use without dark side, or perhaps spending a force point to avoid the dark side descriptor. Like I said lets see how it goes as written and if the rest of the group is being overshadowed then we will look into an added ruling. Unless everyone is against it's use like that then we can start looking for alternatives right away.

Same could be said of Skill Focus:UTF. I am hesitant to limit this one and not the other skill focuses. Most level one characters, unless they are human will only be able to take skill focus and not much else. Though I can see an in game reasoning behind SF:UTF being at a level limit. Most level one Jedi are still learning much about the force and wouldn't be that specialized yet. Still, if someone wants to take it at level one we will see where it takes us.

The original DoD was maybe 20% space/vehicular combat. With side treks and the revisions I have made it would be much more perilous not to round out the party with a good amount of vehicular type feats. As I said before a well rounded character usually fares better overall than a specialized on in SWSE. There are also down times built into DoD in which you could retrain if you find something isn't working out.

Mcpoyo, we do have an open spot with Arch's friend vacating his. I was waiting for a definite confirmation before we opened it up. Since we now have the confirmation, and you expressed interest, welcome aboard.

[Melblen_Cairn]

Ammo for the GM

I really liked this when Jace used it for his games. So I now use it for all my F2F games and I ask the same of you guys too. Fill this out and I will give the player's character a bonus 259 exp. Just PM me with what you come up with. I always approach this almost like I was interviewing the character in my mind. Asking questions and writing down how I believe the character would respond. Some of these things build off each other. So say the character goes to a certain restaurant often in daily routines. Then down in familiar faces there might be a person/droid or two they see there often enough to be familiar with.

Daily Routine:

This outlines the characters daily routine on normal days during down times. This could be in between adventures or during travel in hyperspace. When coming up with questions to ask your character think about your own life and what day to day activities your involved with is a good place to start. Some questions I ask are; Do you rise early in the morning or are you prone to sleeping in? Do you have any routines or rituals throughout the day? Do you have a normal job to go to? What foods do you eat often? When and where do you take your meals? When do you get to bed? Do you normally sleep well or is it fitful? Do you spend any time watching holo-vids or holonet news feeds?

Media Bias:

This one is a tough category to answer without getting the creative juices going a bit. Use a similar question as the holonet sources above as a spring board into it. Do you follow the galaxy wide sources like GNN or stick with more local feeds from your home system? If you follow any particular sporting events what news agencies cover these events? Feel free to come up with these on your own or ask me and I can.

Familiar Faces:

These are some of the people/droids with whom you may have frequent contact throughout he day but are not your friends or family. Look to the questions you have asked previous and ask what beings you interact with during the course of doing those activities. Just put down a name, Species/Droid type, and a quick one line description goes a long way.

Friends/Family:

Were you an only child, or do/did you have siblings? Who are your parents, and do they still live? Who raised you? Did you have any special teachers or mentors growing up and what happened to them? Who are your friends? Are you still in contact with them? How did you meet? Where are they?

Foes/Rivals:

Have any rivals? Particular beings you don't get along with or compete against? Is a certain Sector Ranger or Bounty Hunter on your trail? Do you have a death mark on your head placed by a gangster? Did you cheat or steal from someone?  Do you owe someone money?

Dreams/Fears:

An important part of character development that I think is probably the most often missed. Everyone has a vision of where they want to be in the future. What do you aspire to? Do you want to free your people? Do you want to be wealthy? Do you want to own the fastest ship in the galaxy? Fear can be another powerful motivator.  What do you fear? Do you fear for someone else's well being? Do you fear the dark side or it's influences on you? Do you fear losing your wealth or a favorite possession?
 
Goals/Drives:

These may seem closely related to Dreams but might encompass more immediate things. Do you want off this station as soon as possible? Do you need to pay back that Hutt gangster? Avoiding pursuit or staying alive. Get that new blaster or speeder. Become a better Sabah player. Travel to one planet or another. Things that basically keep your character going.

Likes/Dislikes:

Do you like Myralorian seafood and hate Blue Milk? Do you have an aversion to Shock boxing? Do you enjoy Mon Cal ballet? A few of each of these help round out a person.

Hobbies/Interests:

What do you spend your free time doing? Do you build things or tinker with stuff? Play any games? Follow sports? Endless hours travelling through hyperspace have to be spent doing something other than sleeping and eating, what do you do?

 
It works wonders. Ask these questions of your characters and they might take on a life of their own. You might better grasp how they might respond to a situation differently than you might. Plus it gives me tons of side info to work with down the road and you gain bonus exp for filling it out.

 

[Melblen_Cairn]

Yes we are doing destinies. Let me know if you have one in mind and simply work it into your character's story. Otherwise once I have your backstory I can choose one for you.

Also, I hope you guys don't feel like I am neglecting you throughout the day. My usual post times will be later in the evening during the week. If my F2F group meets on any Thursday I may not post that evening but you will likely see more posting from me on Friday nights. During the weekend I will post between 1 to 3 times a day. So with the exception of Thursday game nights and if I go out of town on vacation, I will make every attempt at posting once per day. When we get our own thread space I will keep you updated on the news and updates one so there are no surprises.

If you're going to be out of town and not able to post once we get going, just let me know and either myself or one of the other players can take over playing for you while your away. Otherwise I am thinking a minimum of posting every other day is fair, though I am sure you all will be more like one a day or so. If there is an unannounced absence, I am willing to take over the character for a 7 days after we notice the absence. At that time we will look for ways to write the character out. Upon your return if we have not filled the spot, then you can jump back in (I don't usually kill off characters when this happens, but if it does happen you may need to roll up anew). If these items do not sound fair, lets discuss some other solutions. I have found though that many games fall apart when you wait too long for one or two players/GM's to come back.

With that I am off to work on more stuff for our game.

[Nanshork]

Melblen, what is your opinion on my character gaining the ability to design spaceships at some point in time?  Would there be a point?

[Melblen_Cairn]

Potentially, if you find yourself with a feat to spare, a ship to mod, and creds to spend on it  . Chances are good the party will have a ship at some point, likely within the first 3 or 4 adventures, depending on how the rest of the party spends their money. Last time I ran this the party had a noble with the wealth talent and they had a ship rather quickly. Granted it was an ancient and used ship, but once they spent the money to upgrade it, it was pretty cool.

The question is does it fit with your saboteur plan and your characters story. If it does we will try to keep it fun for you if you take it.

[McPoyo]

So, just making sure I have this correct: We have 2 force users, a techie ranged, and a ranged soldier? I'm thinking about bringing in a support noble, I will probably grab pilot as well, if Nanshork doesn't want to burn a trained skill on pilot. Not like I'll have a shortage of skills.

Question: Define "droid abuse"? If you mean having an army of droids gun everything down through assisting or the like, might I recommend we use the protocol system from Scavenger's?

Also, is there any backstory or intro to the DoD module? I've never looked at it.

[archangel.arcanis]

The back story is EP 1-3 it is supposed to take place between them and Ep 4. They left it kinda vague so GMs could put it specifically where they wanted it. You just have to explain how you got to the station we start on.

I think the droid abuse was the fact that a droid noble can make the best warrior by constantly reprogramming and buying new upgrades.


For my guy I'm looking at actually going strait jedi into force adept so I won't even be part of the jedi order, plus I can start with a LS that way rather than starting as a ranged character. I don't expect my ref to be good enough to make evasion that useful. Worst case I have to soak a lot of damage, but should have the HP for it.

[VennDygrem]

So, archangel, does that mean you'll be focusing on force-use? What sorts of powers were you thinking of focusing on? Or were you going to try and round it out? For instance, I was hoping to adapt my last character, a jedi whose main specialty was TK powers. It was fun, but I don't want to step on your toes so I could go another route.

[Melblen_Cairn]

I have read about players taking a protocol or battle droid initially and then downloading themselves after death into another droid type like labor or something. Not sure if the problem was remedied in rules or not. Just putting it out there.

Having an army of droid fodder like you mention is a similar problem to having an undead army at you disposal in a fantasy setting. It's usually not very fun for the other players after a while since most of the risk is gone. So if that becomes a problem we can limit it then.

To answer the question of an intro to DoD. Dawn of Defiance takes place a few short months after the end of the Clone Wars. Order 66 was issued. The Jedi purge is in full swing. The New Order and the Tarkin Doctrine is pushing anti alien sentiment to all new heights. The Holonet is becoming more biased with Imperial propaganda. Systems are slowly brought back under the sway of the Empire or are wiped out. Rule through fear is the policy and it is working on most of the galaxy.

Examples of this are the subjugation of the planets Kashyyyk and Dac, the releasing of an engineered virus on Gibad, and the garrisoning of numerous worlds. If the Empire wants something they usually find a way to take it from you. If your a Jedi or other Force Sensitive, the Inquisitorious hunts you relentlessly to either turn you or destroy you. Using any force power is a risk as any witnesses might just turn you in.

Your characters all somehow are on Sel Zonn Station orbiting the planet of Brentaal, I leave the hows and whys of your being there to you though.

[Nanshork]

My character is mostly going to be based on building things and taking things apart.  I'll probably be going the Turret route of Saboteur, so Starship Design is a feat that I could see my character legitimately taking.

@McPoyo: I will have no piloting abilities at all.  In fact, unless we have a big ship I probably won't even be able to be a gunner given my lack of combat feats and whatnot.  I'm more of a ship's engineer.

[LordBlades]

About the Dark Rage thing: it's already limited. It requires a Force Point to last for the whole encounter, so until level 8 (I think) when you can pick up force point recovery, you won't be able to have it up every encounter. Also, unless you have Imp. Dark Rage (which also requires level 8), you can't use other Force powers in Dark Rage.

I've got my char background pretty much sorted, all I need now is to decide on the specific build. So far I'm trying to decide between 2 variants:

-Autofire focused Scoundrel/Soldier with Burst Fire and etc.(something like Canderous Ordo from KOTOR) Will have weapon prof heavy (so he can shoot vehicle guns) but depending on the exact specific of DoD, a big guy carrying around a Repeating Blaster might not be very appropriate, although I could use a subrepeating blaster or blaster carbine when needed.
- CT damage (if Melblen_Cairn is cool with it) focused Scoundrel/Scout/Soldier using a blaster rifle. Will be somewhat stealthier and less conspicuous, but won't be able to shoot Vehicle guns.

What do you guys think?

[VennDygrem]

As for piloting, I could probably take the Force Pilot talent initially, though that sets me back. I could instead take it later, if it would be useful. I can see my character having it though, especially if he was in training during the Clone Wars.

[McPoyo]

I have no problems grabbing pilot, so looks like we're covered there for a primary pilot.

[Melblen_Cairn]

Having multiple pilots in the party is viable. One as a pilot and the other co-pilot assisting the pilot. You may even find it helpful to be able to pilot a couple vehicles at once at certain points of the game.

I agree Lord, that's the reason I did not want to limit it further until we saw it in action more.

I had a Heavy Weapons guy in each of my runs of DoD. Both had started out with a light repeating blaster and carried it around in a duffel type gear bag with the rest of his stuff. When combat began he simply dropped the bag and pull the weapon out. I didn't really penalize him for pulling the weapon like that. If you don't have it licensed though you may run into issues in major ports. On most outer rim worlds you wouldnt have a problem.

[archangel.arcanis]

So, archangel, does that mean you'll be focusing on force-use? What sorts of powers were you thinking of focusing on? Or were you going to try and round it out? For instance, I was hoping to adapt my last character, a jedi whose main specialty was TK powers. It was fun, but I don't want to step on your toes so I could go another route.

No I actually plan on doing mainly melee. I was going to get dark rage, move object, and likely a few other utility ones like surge and vital transfer.

[LordBlades]

Altough it's not on the list, would you allow some feats out of the Legacy Era sourcebook? I'm looking mainly at Autofire Sweep and Autofire Assault.

[Shadowhunter]

So, just making sure I have this correct: We have 2 force users, a techie ranged, and a ranged soldier? I'm thinking about bringing in a support noble, I will probably grab pilot as well, if Nanshork doesn't want to burn a trained skill on pilot. Not like I'll have a shortage of skills.

Question: Define "droid abuse"? If you mean having an army of droids gun everything down through assisting or the like, might I recommend we use the protocol system from Scavenger's?

Also, is there any backstory or intro to the DoD module? I've never looked at it.

If you're going a support Noble and can dig the concept, the Pau'an race is very good at it. They're from a web enhancement, but the original link is down. HOWEVER. Web enhancements were free to download without any legal ramifications. With that in mind, here's a link:
http://www.4shared.com/get/8KKT-Gln/Web_Enhancement_-_Star_Wars_-_.html

[archangel.arcanis]

I think I'll skip out on training in Pilot since we will have multiple. I'm going to go mostly offensive in style, thus leaving myself pretty open. Trying to get a single big hit each round consistently if possible.  I'm trying to determine what will likely be my level 7 talent from Jedi, kinda tossing around deflect or spacial integrity. I hope we have some healer in the group, I'll be picking up Vital transfer at level 3 to help, because I think I'll take a lot of HP damage.

I'm considering destinies now and can see either destruction or rescue being possible for this character being a hunter of slavers.

I'm also going to play up the fact that the Aing-Tii have organic ships and tech. Does anyone know of a way to make an organic lightsaber? I'd like to try and have as little of my gear as possible being non-organic. Likely preferring to use telepathy from UTF rather than a communicator when he can, cloth rather than synthetic armors, etc... I'm just wondering on the rules for such and how flavoring would need to work.

[VennDygrem]

I'm going to try to limit my planning as little as possible due to the DM's requests, though there are a few things I can figure on right now. I'll probably drop piloting if we've already got two people interested. I was thinking of going Jedi Sentinel, which fits my character's background and recent history better, but I could also focus more on Consular which would give some support ability instead of anti-dark side/defense. Would still prefer Sentinel, which I think could help a good deal, though as I don't know the campaign I couldn't say if one tree would be more useful than the other.