I kicked off 2016 the right way: I showed my young sister-in-law Return of the Jedi for the first time, completing her viewing of the Original Trilogy in time to take her to see The Force Awakens this weekend. As I was watching it, some thoughts rattled around in my head, so I decided I would talk about them.
The Star Wars movies make really great use of Jump Points. Not quite perfect, I’d say, since everyone always winds up scattered and dealing with things sequentially rather than simultaneously. While I admit that simultaneity of crises isn’t necessary for a good Jump Point, I would imagine it works better than “So you two show up at the crime lord’s palace… and okay, so later, you two walk in… and okay, so finally you show up.” But, I digress.
Star Wars has really awesome Jump Points! “Your Military Personality Leia stands before Jabba… Hey, Industrial Explorer Chewie, what con are you two running to get close to the Scoundrel Starfarer Han? Oh, she’s posing as a bounty hunter and you as her prisoner? Rad… And hey, Leia why is Jabba about to take you seriously? Oh shit, you have a LIVE GRENADE in your hand? Hell yeah, okay, let’s go from there…” That is so rad! It goes off great, with a perfect 10+ and Chewie is in the palace waiting for the breakout, and then it all goes downhill with a really bad miss while defrosting Han.
This is just such a fun way to start off a session, especially if the GM keeps a good pace and keeps things moving — this part in the movie runs for something like 15 or 20 minutes before the whole band is back together and about to get eaten by the Sarlacc. There’s definitely something to learn here: be like George Lucas… don’t leave any players sitting around doing nothing for very long; round ’em up, and throw them all into danger fast as you can.
Second thought, and probably the more interesting thought: oh man I frickin’ loved that lightsaber duel with Vader at the end. Jeez. And as I watched it, I processed stuff that I totally knew before, but that I was seeing differently now that I have Uncharted Worlds in my brain. Like, scope this out: obviously Vader is dangerous, sure, so he’s a Threat (Agenda: “Push Luke to the Dark Side” I figure). But if Luke makes his roll, then the fights over, right? No way! Vader as a person isn’t the only threat here!
Remember, after all, that Anakin Skywalker was a master swordsman! His form and superior swordsmanship (because, honestly, Vader is the better duelist of the pair — Luke only beats him by giving in to Dark Side) are a Threat in and of themselves! Can your Mystic Explorer (or whatever you want to call Luke) work through Vader’s [Superior Defense] (its agenda is to “Protect Vader” probably) to even land a blow? Hell, if you wanted to, you could even throw [Dread] on top as its own Threat! Luke obviously didn’t want to do this, didn’t want to fight his father, especially not being egged on by the Emperor as he was! I think [Dread] is a perfect Threat, and its Agenda is probably “Weaken Resolve.” So that’s Three Threats right? But in a Star Wars game, The Dark Side is probably a constant, ubiquitous Threat… and then there’s Palpatine with his Control of the Imperial Machine, Force Lightning, Lightsaber Skills, and whatever else you can imagine…
Return of the Jedi showed me that THIS is how you make one-on-one fights in Space Opera resonate mechanically. You, as the MC, still need to bring the pathos, the scene building, the stake-setting and all that to the table… but if you feel like a one-and-done roll deflates the drama? Remember that Threats come in all shapes and sizes! They’re not all Slugs on sailbarges getting choked out (uh, THAT was a one-and-done roll to kill a Threat!). Some of your Threats have impossible levels of training that must be overcome, reputations that cripple their enemies’ spirits, and all manner of advantages even before the PCs can take an honest swing at the Bad Guy behind the mask! Think beyond the dude being thrashed on by your PC when you want to make the fight feel mechanically heavy — think about the reasons why this dude is so dangerous, or why this situation is so threatening and important… I bet you’ll find what you’re looking for.
And hey, this is my first post under the hashtag #UnchartedMedia (or #MediaMonday , take your pick) where I hope to ramble about how the sci-fi goodness we consume can influence the games we run! I’m going to try and do a few of these each week, and I would love it if the community got involved in responding or making their own #UnchartedMedia posts!