Tales from the Mos Eisley Cantina

[Russell Hoyle]

Tales from the Mos Eisley Cantina
edited by Kevin J. Anderson

This book was a series of short vignettes regarding background characters in the cantina from StarWars Ep IV - i thought of it immediately when people were discussing StarWars and the difficulties of fitting in with an existing story. It takes one such character and fleshes out their story - perhaps a good model for gaming in a 'set' story?

Really the set story is only touched upon as background in some of the stories - in others, they are quite integral to its progression...

Hope someone finds it useful - I cant describe much more (read it years ago, and I am supposed to be working right now).

Regards
Rusty

[Eric J.]

Well I read half of hte Star Wars book series when I was in the fifth grade so I know what you're talking about.  However, Tales from the Mos Eisley Cantina was the only one I didn't read.

Anyway-  I don't really understand your example.  In all of the other tales books, each of the character that the tales described had very close ties to the Star Wars cannon.  In the bounty hunter books, all of the characters have close ties to either Chewy or Han Solo.  

Most of thoes events happened very close to the Star Wars characters, and most of the characters that the tales describe either "retire" or are killed.  This is usually due to an effect that one of the Star Wars characters produces.

[Uncle Dark]

Hey, all.

What about games set in in-between-times in canonical settings.  For instance, in the Babylon 5 setting, we know that the Telepath War that is foreshadowed throughout B5 happens in the years between the ending of the B5 storyline and the begining of Crusade (the sequel series).  So, what about a game about the Telepath War?  All we know about it is that takes place sometime between 2263 and 2268, that the Psi Corps is disbanded afterward, and that the final battle takes place at Psi Corps HQ on Mars.  Probably, the story was to be told in flashback during Crusade, but it looks like that series is well and truly dead, so we'll probably never know more.

So there we are: a story which is integral to the overal B5 storyline, which involves an important canonical villian (Bester and the Psi Corps), and which leaves plenty of room for the players to run around and protagonize without contradicting the established continuity.

Little holes exist like that in most cannonical literature.  Other examples might include the two years Corwin was in prison during Nine Princes in Amber, the years between the end of the classic Star Trek series and the first movie, the years when the One Ring was hidden in the Shire and the Ringwraiths were abroad looking for it (from Fellowship of the Ring).

Lon

[Eric J.]

The problem with this is that when you do this it can take away the part of the setting that makes it special.  This is especially true for settings that are meant for a single major conflict and thats it.

Examples: Star Wars, The Matrix, Almost every game in the Final Fantasy series, etc...

[quozl]

Why is it that nobody wants to do the obvious?  If you want to play Star Wars, the player characters would be Luke, Han, Leia, etc.

Is it the whole obsession of "not messing with canon" or something else?

[contracycle]

IMO, it doesn't work, based on nasty experiences with DragonLance.

A good potential hook for SW is the line "Many Bothans died to bring us this information".  Who, Where, When, Why, How?

[quozl]

IMO, it doesn't work, based on nasty experiences with DragonLance.

Since I have no experience at all with DragonLance, could you tell me why it doesn't work?

[Jack Spencer Jr]

Since I have no experience at all with DragonLance, could you tell me why it doesn't work?

I have nil experience, either, but I have been told that the first couple modules for Dragonlance basically followed the book in thet you *had to* play the characters from the book and that you *had to* take the same actions they took in the book.

[contracycle]

Well... yeah, pretty much.  The characters are the characters from the story... the plot is the plot of the story.  I had read the story, how cool would this be?

Exceedingly uncool.  My expectations of the characters were dashed because the players did not interpret them the same way; the plots expectations of the characters were similarly destroyed.

Who gets to play Luke?  Imagine they play him as a lewd, crude loutish redneck.  "Hey... he's a farmboy on a backwoods planet, right"?  Sayonara Star Wars, hello The Three Stooges Go To Mos Eisley.

[quozl]

Who gets to play Luke?  Imagine they play him as a lewd, crude loutish redneck.  "Hey... he's a farmboy on a backwoods planet, right"?  Sayonara Star Wars, hello The Three Stooges Go To Mos Eisley.

I see your point.  If not all players agree on how Luke should be played, someone will be disappointed with that player's interpretation.

But your Three Stooges comment got me thinking.  What if everyone agreed on the stereotype they would use when interpreting that character?  It might turn into a parody but I've always like Weird Al Yankovic, he seemed to have a lot of respect for the songs he parodied.

[Ron Edwards]

Hi everyone,

I split the above posts from the thread Pyron's Woes, which was last posted to in October 2002.

Best,
Ron

[Bob McNamee]

Ahh...The Three Stooges go to Mos Eisley...
Featuring Moe as Ben Kenobi
Larry as Han Solo
and Curly as Luke Skywalker!
...with support from Shemp as Princess Leia and Curly Joe as Chewbacca...

See the Boys turn the tables on Tarkin and Vader, and turn the Empire's greatest Weapon into a playground of Humor!

[contracycle]

But your Three Stooges comment got me thinking.  What if everyone agreed on the stereotype they would use when interpreting that character?  It might turn into a parody but I've always like Weird Al Yankovic, he seemed to have a lot of respect for the songs he parodied.

I have considered something a bit similar, in that we nominate an actor, a real person, to be such and such a character.  Then we hand off playing the character, each player portraying the character by, in effeft, portraying the real actor playing this role - something for which they do have info.

So like, we cast NPC Joe as, umm, Christopher Walken for arguments sake.  Multiple players get to play Joe, over time, and all try to do so in the manner of Christopher Walken playing Joe.

I've never tried it, though, so I don't know if it would actually work.

[Eric J.]

A good potential hook for SW is the line "Many Bothans died to bring us this information". Who, Where, When, Why, How?

Sorry, but the "Shadows of the Empire" story goes through the entire sequence.  So you'd still be messing with Cannon.

[contracycle]

A good potential hook for SW is the line "Many Bothans died to bring us this information". Who, Where, When, Why, How?

Sorry, but the "Shadows of the Empire" story goes through the entire sequence.  So you'd still be messing with Cannon.

lol.  Fair enough, I read only two of the peripheral products and didn't like them much.  The point is, at first its a throwaway line; but its a juicy hook on which to hang and interfacing plot at right angles which is exactly wehy they used it.  And even better - now you have an example in front of you as to exactly how to do it.  From a single throwaway line for draamtic effect to a whole story.