[HQ:SW] Moments and Delusions of Grandeur.

[Kaare Berg]

As a part of my mental prep for tonights HQ:SW Game: Broken Silence,
and spurred on by the Lightsaber thread in the HQ forum,  I figured I was going to share some of the moments from our last SW game, Tranquil Desperation.

This is going to be pretty free form so bear with me. (here is the previous actual play post)

The entire session revolved around sabotage of the Space Station Tranquility and a prison break that nearly escalated into outright war.
Early on the five jedi present split up and we switched back and forth between conflicts all night long. Here are those that still stand out in my memory.

Problem Prisoners

Responding to an emergency call from the Cell blocks two jedi responded, one ran to check on the terrorist from the Corrob Code episode,the other was left to face a prison fully of unruly prisoners, the worst scum of the galaxy, who suddenly faced the prospect of freedom. Playing jedi character to the hilt som judicious use of the Jedi mind trick and he clamped down the brewing riot.
It was wonderful to see how the HQ system facilitated this and the ease of with which it handled what would have been twenty or so die rolls in another system, with a simple contest.

Diplomatic Destruction

It soon became apperant that the attackers, the infamous Corrob Liberation Force, where planning to destroy key sections of the station with Thermal Mass Bombs. One jedi went to intercept the CLF terrorists who were heading to the diplomatic wing. He easily defeated the rear guard but failed to get past the terrorist setting up one of two bombs. One of the prison jedi arrived on scene and promptly dispatched one of the bomb teams. The other one kept being repulsed by massed blaster fire, before he finally vaulted to the bomb and stopped it seconds before detonation.
Again the flow of this scene was facilitated by simple contests and we got a vivid scene in our SIS for our efforts.

Beating the Bang

Two jedi headed to the Command and Control center. Forcing a turbo lift to take them there (pun not intended).
While dealing with an irate civillian administrator and a frustrated base commander the jedi was faced with an ethical dilemma. The same turbo lift they brought arrived with a TMB in it. The time on the counter allowed only two options detonate it in the CnC Center crippling the entire station or send it to a hab section, killing 700 innocent families.
Jon, the player, chose option three and after a harrowing extended conflict defusing the bomb using minute applications of the force.

Spaceport Shutdown

With half of the spaceport shut down due to damage and the other half in the CLFs hands the jedi mustered and launched three seperate attacks. All handeled as extended conflicts. Again we were pleasantly suprised by the flow of the conflict and the ease in with which the system facilitated this.
The battle of the grain barges beeing quickly decided by a charge downthe middle, the magfield controls being retaken by bombardment of powercells telekinetically launched into the terrorists and the fate of flight control being decided by the jedi breaking through the terrorist defenses like a storm.

Battling Behemots

Lead by a darkside witch the CLF had siezed control of a Coalition Cruiser and launched brutal broadsides into the crippeled Tranquility Station. A shooting match between the two began, and led by the bomb dismantling jedi the Leviathan class cruiser was driven off.
Again, an extended conflict and again pleasant systemic support. It was actually amazing how we could jump from the intense personal mental conflict mentioned above (the bomb defusal) to a battle between two metal behemots with no systemic change at all. Two extended conflicts, two exiting moments.

Summary:
My players, some major SW fan boys and some SW what?, all quickly grasped the HQ system, and found that it supported their expectations. Once we got into it the rest just exploded. I was actually feeling out of breath after the intense rollercoaster ride of this session.

I think the reason for this was:
a. Constant bombardments of Bangs, one of the conflicts my players seem to want is the one where they have to balance their need to succede with the Lure of the Dark Side.
b. The switching between simple and extended conflicts and the fluid nature of said conflicts. Simple for conflicts where speed was of essence, expanding and extending them when drama requiered it.
c. Key words. Can not profess my love for these strongly enough. I mean with traits like Flashy Clothes or Graceful Acrobatics who can not love this.

[Ron Edwards]

Wow! This is great to read.

I am curious about the extended contests, and most especially any usage of APs which were not just bidding. Did anyone give points to anyone else right in the middle of the crisis? Did anyone spend points to shift themselves "forward in line"? That sort of thing.

Best,
Ron

[Kaare Berg]

We used the Careful, Normal, Determined and Desperate Bid to judge our actions. I asked the players to narrate their actions and how much AP they would bid.

Since all conflicts were seperate events there was no lending or giving of points back and forth. I used the followers are worth X AP, when you loose X AP that is a follower gone for the big battles and this really lendt itself to easy narration. Since they are Jedi (with all the emotional baggage this entails) the loss of followers was more deeply felt and thus points became significant.

Again suprising.

Another little bit that popped up was the way that stepping away from Sim anf towards Nar freed me from considering time as a constraint. This allowed me to keep my breakneck pace and to pop players in and out of situations as the narrative demanded it.
Like the Prison Jedi entering in time to solve the dilemma facing the ambadossarian jedi, which ambassordial wing to save?

This game was so much fun I am dreading tonight because of high expectations.