Banthas in the Vineyard

[Eric Provost]

Real nice, Charles.  Good stuff.

I'm not sure about 1b right now.  The prejudice bit... I'm just not sure how one could impliment it.  See now, it seems to me that one of the important things about the manifestations (the 'b's) is that they're there for the players to see what's going on.  A player can see injustice, violence, the Dark Side (assuming that Jedi can 'sense' such things), and can certainly see Dark Dominion.  How would one see prejudice?  I'm inclined to believe that there may be a better manifestation for Fear that we haven't hit upon yet.

One more thing:

Unlike in Dogs, Dark Jedi cults don't exist; the closest anyone comes is a Dark Order, such as the Sith.

Is this bit coming from knowlege of the official setting?  I mean, I haven't read any of the books, or delved into the deep background stuff, so I'm curious.  Mostly because I think it's a limitation that would put an unnecessary flat tire in the game.

In fact, I propose that the best possible setting for 'Banthas' would be in a time where the Dark Side is waxing.  Dark Jedi, Dark Orders, and general bad vibes are just popping up everywhere.

But then, the rarity of the baddies really dosen't matter, does it?  I mean, following the Dogs template means that whenever we play a session, the PCs are 100% certain to find -something- wrong.  And I think I'd enjoy a series of games just as well if everyone who ever got mad about anything insisted that you call them Darth and started wearing black all the time.  

...

And wore capes.  

No self-respecting villian can do without a cape.

...

Anyhow, good stuff.  I don't think that we'd need too much more detail before being able to run this, and run it well.

-Eric

[charlesperez]

Sorry for the time lag. Life happens.

First, I would amend 4b) to mean accepting help from the Dark Side, either through accepting a Dark Jedi's help or through becoming a Dark Jedi oneself. If Dark Jedi are scarce, the same ones can turn up over and over again (could it be ... Darth Siiiidious?). Merely to be seduced by the Dark Side doesn't require acceptance of anything, only Hatred in one's heart. 5) I would amend by saying that, even when a Dark Jedi is in control of a community, that a fresh power grab requires a fresh crisis. A New Hope, for example, tells the story of an Imperial power grab (disbanding the Senate and relying on the Death Star) going sour in a big way.

Now, on to the issues.

Think of prejudice as behavior, not motivation. In fact, you cannot be said to have prejudged anyone until you say or do something. So, prejudice is as evident as anything else someone might do or say. Words and deeds may in fact be hidden, but they are nonetheless there for player characters to discover.

As for motivations for prejudice, what can make someone jump the gun in judging someone else faster than being afraid?

My comment on (the lack of) Dark Jedi cults is not from extensive book reading, but from interpretation of the movies, though I haven't heard or read anything about such cults. I may have sounded more certain than I was. In any case, the idea that a Dark Jedi is not empowered by a cult seems like a good creative constraint to me, and fits the way Jedi actually fall, as cinematically portrayed. Luke Skywalker's temptation had nothing whatsoever to do with being empowered by a cult, or even receiving the Dark Side's favor for spreading a heresy. It was intensely personal, starting with that tree on Dagobah.

As for the scarcity of Dark Jedi, they don't have to be scarce. They can be abundant, scarce, whatever the Dark Side needs. Even if they are scarce, well, the movies only show four of them (Darth Sidious aka Palpatine, Darth Maul, Count Dooku and Darth Vader) and the stories are all about coming to grips with them. Why should BitV be any less exciting? All I say is that the Dark Side is indifferent to whether the Dark Jedi are many or few. It wants to rule, through however many Dark Jedi it takes.

Regards,
Charles