The Nixon Principle, applied to Capes

[Vaxalon]

My wife is obsessed with Jedi.  She plays one in every game she sits down at, sooner or later.

So I made up a Click-and-lock for Jedi.

Powers:

Lightsaber
Telekinesis
Visions and Premonitions
Body Control
Mind Trick

Styles:
Acrobatics
Serenity
Deflecting blasters

The dark side version is only slightly different:

Lightsaber
Telekinesis
Visions and Premonitions
Body Control
Force Lightning

Styles:
Acrobatics
TK Strangulation
Deflecting blasters

[Andrew Morris]

I'd change the "Deflecting blasters" Style to just "Deflecting attacks." You can always use the "Lightsaber" Power to deflect blasters, and this way you give some versatility. I'm don't know all the Star Wars trivia, but it seems cool enough to me to let Jedi, say, deflect Force lightning or projectiles with their mind.

[TonyLB]

Personally, just for neatnesses sake, I'd like to see a Jedi template that could be used for either Dark-Side or Light-Side, by crossing out the powers that don't work for your guy.  But that's just about elegance.

My overall issue with Jedi is that I think the mindset that people like about them is that they use their powers only when forced to do so by circumstance.  Which, really, runs counter to the "Power is fun, but do you deserve it?" premise of Capes.

Like, I couldn't see Yoda using Force TK to clean up his hut faster.  I couldn't see Luke saying "Man, I love these light-saber battles!  It really gets the blood pumping."

I could just about see Obi-Wan saying "Man, it brings a sly little smile to my face to know more than everybody else, and to cut off punks's arms in sleazy space bars... Actually, I think I'll send Luke out on his own, and hope he gets into trouble, so I have an excuse to rescue him."  And I think a character that recognized that about himself would work fine in Capes.  But I think that Obi-Wan is an outlier in terms of his "These powers are made to be used" sensibility.  Plus, I may be reading way too much into Sir Alec Guinness's facial expressions.

[Vaxalon]

WRT dark-side/light-side, you're right; the problem is that there are one too many powers to fit on the sheet.  I couldn't find a way to condense them into five.

I suppose that "Body Control", as the least cinematic of the powers, could be taken out, leaving you with:

Lightsaber
Telekinesis
Visions and Premonitions
Force Lightning
Mind Trick

And if you take out "deflect attacks" as a style, you get:

Acrobatics
TK Strangulation

To which I would add:

Singleminded focus

As a dark/light ambiguous style.

WRT "Power is fun, but do you deserve it?"  I don't think that's the ONLY theme that Capes can handle.

I think there are good examples of superheroes that have a very Jedi-like sensibility.   Yoda and Professor Xavier have a very similar feel to them.

If I were running a Jedi game using Capes, I would set it after the destruction of the second Death Star, in a galaxy that is in the process of renewing itself, rather than in decadence and decay.  A bright, hopeful springtime, where there is much to do but plenty of energy to do it, would allow, I think, more enthusiastic Jedi.

[gorckat]

i believe the whole purpose in role-playing a Jedi is to find out if the character can handle the power- do they deserve it?

Jedi are always being faced with situations that forces them to decide how to use their powers- if a Jedi solves problems by 'mind-tricking' people to behave how the Jedi wants, does he deserve the power?  if he quickly decides to engage in de-limbing saber combat because the thug at the cantina entrance gave him some guff and only threatened him with harm, does he really show a Jedi's judgement in evaluating and dealing with threats?

now, on the dark side, do you deserve power is a little different, because it becomes an issue of excess- if you can;t put the smack down on every person between Coruscant and Tatooine just because you can, well then- a lot of other up and comers are going to want a piece of you because you 'don;t deserve' the power of the Sith

just my thoughts on why Jedi must earn their roles and powers :)

[TonyLB]

Gorckat:  I'm not disputing that Jedi care about whether they deserve their power.  I'm disputing that they match the other half of the Premise, "Power is fun".  I just don't think your classic Jedi thinks of their power as a wonderful, fantasy-fulfilling toy.  And I don't think that people who want to play Jedi often want to play them with the "Force is a toy" mindset.

[gorckat]

oh...

now i get it...

not much else i can say :)

[Vaxalon]

Tony, the theme of "Power is Fun" may be what you designed the game to express, but that doesn't mean it's the only theme your game CAN express.

[TonyLB]

Well... I tried to make that the only theme that the game can express.  But you're right, I might have failed.

[David Laurence]

Hmm. I don't think your classic Jedi thinks of his powers as "fun", but in my experience the classic Jedi player certainly does. I'm not sure if that's good enough, but I really do think Capes would be a great fit for a SW game.

For what it's worth, here's the power set I thought of for Jedi:

Powers:
Lightsaber, Telekinesis, Force Sense, Mind Tricks, Force Lightning

Using the Lightsaber power would have to allow deflection of blaster fire and so on, and Telekinesis would also help with acrobatics.

Styles:
Control your Emotions, Code of Honor, "Use the Force!"

(The "lock" for a Padawan would, of course, include the style "Don't control your emotions".)

[TonyLB]

Heh... I hadn't thought of it from the point of view of "Let's have fun and wild powers... and incidentally it's in the Star Wars universe."  

Maybe I've played with too many people for whom "Star Wars accuracy" will trump any other factor in a game.  Or maybe I'm one of those people.  Yeah, probably.

Anyway, if your jedi is constantly on the look-out for ways to use the Force then I think Capes is, indeed, a perfect fit.

And if they're not?  Hey... I do not know everything about the game.  I learn something new with most every session.  So if you take it and run with it, all I request is that you post about the experience, so I can enjoy it vicariously.