Knights of the New Republic (Zac's Shadows)

[Andrew Martin]

For example, two weekends ago, I ran Zac's Shadows game for two other players, where the PCs were Jedi Masters or Apprentices. As the GM I said that play should be like the three Star Wars IV, V & VI movies, and with martial arts moves from the Star Wars I & II movies, and that the PCs were to save the universe just like the movies. This was the first time these players had comes across this type of game, they are regular players of ICE Rolemaster, and former players of RuneQuest II & III and AD&D. I kept emphasizing the goal, and play very quickly proceeded in the right direction, and I rarely had to say no. Instead, the players kept putting their characters into bigger and bigger "trouble'.

All I can say is, wow! Star Wars with Shadows? Any chance you could write this one up in the Actual Play forum? I'm very interested in seeing how this one went. Not only the setting, but that you got these kinds of players to do it.

Knights of the New Republic (Zac's Shadows)

Some time ago, I was feeling the urge to play in the Star Wars; I had played through my PC games Knights of the Old Republic by Bioware, and Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy by Lucas Arts. I knew that my conventional RPG (Star Wars D6 by WEG) for Star Wars wouldn't handle the entire group playing a Jedi Knight, and I desparately wanted to play. After casting about for some time and chatting with my friends in my gaming group and saying that I wanted to run either Star Wars with all the PCs being Jedi, or a 1920's pulp game set in the 1950's, but with weird, Atlantean science and Nazis ruling the world with Atlantean relics, and the PCs dashing about in weird aircraft trying to find Atlantis and save the world from Nazi tyranny, I settled on designing a Star Wars game that would allow running an all Jedi game.

After some brooding, I had the inspiration of Zac's Shadows game with it's white and black dice, which looked so appropriate for a game that involved the Light side and the Dark side of the Force. I had some false starts, where I tried "improving" the design by adding "grey" D6 for the character's preferred outcome (White D6 = Light side outcome; Black D6 = Dark side outcome), which doesn't work out because the PCs being aligned with either the Light or Dark side would make both D6 act in their favour. So I went back to Zac's original without improvements, then added in some description and choices for players to see that I was really serious about wanting players to run Jedi characters. Here's what I came up with (before and after the session):

Knights of the New Republic

A roleplaying game about Jedi in the Star Wars New Republic, a hundred years after the events in the movies: Star Wars IV, V and VI. Player characters start in the Jedi Academy on Yavin 4, the fourth moon about the gas giant, Yavin. Action in the game is like the Star Wars movies.

Characters

Choose your character's species:
Human;
Mon Calamari;
Quarren;
Rodian;
Wookie;
Ewok;
Tusken Raider;
Gamorean;
Ithorian;
Sullustan;
Twi'lek;
or name and briefly describe your character's species.

Choose the planet your character spent the most time on or grew up on:
Tattoine – the crossroads of the universe;
Coruscant – the capital of the galaxy;
Cloud City – Tibana gas mining facility;
Hoth – ice planet;
Kashyyyk – Wookie home world;
or name and briefly describe your character's home planet.

Choose your character's level of power in the Jedi order:
Novice – a new-comer to the Jedi order, like Luke in Star Wars IV;
Apprentice (or Padawan) – like Luke in Star Wars V;
Knight – a skilled and experienced Jedi, the equivalent skills and powers of Luke in Star Wars VI, or Obi Wan Kenobi in Star Wars II;
Master – equivalent to the Masters in the Jedi Council chamber in Star Wars I and II;
Grand Master – equivalent to Yoda in Star Wars II;
Force Ghost – like Obi Wan Kenobi in Star Wars V and VI.

Choose your character's weapon:
Single light saber (the most common style);
Dual light saber;
Staff or double-ended light saber;
or name and briefly describe your character's weapon.

Choose your character's Force side:
Light – opposes Dark!;
Dark – opposes Light!;
Grey – non-Jedi characters only;
None – 'droid characters only!.
Note that for a group of Jedis, all players must agree that no character is on the opposite side of the Force.

Choose your character's unique Force Power:
Premonitions;
Visions;
Post- or Pre-cognition;
Pyro- or Cryo-kinesis;
Telepathy;
Healing;
or name and briefly describe your character's unique Force Power.

Note that all Force users have these Force Powers:
Push;
Pull;
Jump (force-amplify muscles);
Magnify Senses;
Sense Force;
Lightning;
Choke/Grip;
Mind Trick.

Either describe your character's goal in life; or, describe a interesting event that has just happened which your character is forced to act in one of several ways; or accept one of the GM's prescribed missions.

Describe your character's character flaws.

Finally, name your character, and briefly describe your character's appearance and recent history.

The rest of the rules were my written version of Zac's Shadows, eliminating the "shadow", and associating the Light side of the Force (and PC desire) with a white (or blue) D6, and the Dark side with a black (or red) D6.

For the afternoon session, two players were able to turn up. Kris, who's the group's regular ICE Rolemaster GM, and Simon, our resident, self-acknowledged "powergamer". Kris wanted to play for a change and Simon wanted to play to see what it was like. I showed them the rules, and showed them some of my Star Wars books, both RPG and fan material, to help get their creative juices flowing. Kris settled on an alien Jedi Knight, who was slow of thought and deliberate intent, and thought of humans as moving like hummingbirds! Simon settled on a human Jedi Apprentice complete with an NPC doddering old Jedi Master who should have retired years ago. Simon's apprentice was born on Tattoine and found, amnesiac, by the old master amongst a pile of dead sand people all who had been lightsabered. Kris elected to have no goal for his character. I started the players off with three tokens each, because we were three players at the time.

All Jedi were Light side Jedi as we realised that Grey and None weren't represented in the mechanics. These were there from when I wrote up the rules with three dice.

So there the Jedi were in the Jedi Academy on Yavin 4. I started off with the Jedi council announcing there was a need for Jedi to investigate reports of missing persons in the settlements surrounding the academy and to investigate the report of a mysterious space vessel coming into system which refused to answer hails from the Academy space port. I emphasized that the PCs would be saving the galaxy in some way and we started play. It was a bit rough at first, until the players got the hang of the system. First problem we encountered was both players treating the Dark (black) as a failure, stopping their PC's actions. I describing how the Dark side action became more "interesting", the opposite of what the PC would want, and we carried on.

They decided to investigate the mysterious vessel, and with the use of the tokens for rerolls to get Light side or Dark side outcomes, the mysterious vessel became a cruise liner stuck on collision course with the Yavin 4, and as they boarded, the apprentice's master became captured in a cryostasis by Duros (IIRC) under the command of Dark Jedi hidden aboard the ship. After cutting through doors, and lots of chases while holding the cryo-storage box with the apprentice's master frozen inside, the PCs eventually captured the villains, disabling the Dark Jedi and allowing the crew to return to the controls and saving the academy from the hi-jacked liner from crashing.

Returning to the academy with the defrosted master, the PCs investigated a captured datapad and found (with liberal use of spending tokens to get darkside outcomes) that this ship was merely a tactic to disrupt the jedi academy organisation for the invasion the next day! A  memorable moment was Simon steadily increasing the level of threat to the galaxy, by putting in references to "The Empirer's Heir" in the datapad and decreasing the time until the invasion, and then arranging so that the Jedi council was so long in deliberation that the invasion was right now!

So the PC's got the job of taking the force sensitive children (those missing persons reports...), who were being targetted by the dark jedi away from the academy just in front of the invasion front, setting off in a old tramp freighter. An interdictor (starship that forces other starships out of hyperspace) interdicted their ship on the outskirts of the Yavin system, and tractored them in. While Kris' character held off the entire weight of the interdictor boarding crew with his dual lightsabers, Simon's character, now a Jedi Knight, walked through walls (his special force power), and managed to destroy the power supply to the tractor beam and hyperspace disruptor.

On their way to the refuge, their ship had a engine failure (engineered by Simon again) and ended up on Tattoine (the crossroads of the galaxy -- I had emphasized before the game that no Star Wars movie or game is complete without visiting Tattoine...) So the PCs were out of money for the repairs, went gambling on pod racers (back in fashion again), Simon's apprentice nearly had a flashback when he met sandpeople in Anchorhead, narrowly averted by Kris spending all his tokens at once! The Jedi's carried on to the refuge planet, when they felt a disturbance in the force, and arrived in normal space to find rubble and a small moon. They were being tractored in to The Emporer's Heir Death Star, when we ended the session because I was exhausted and the players were fatigued as well.

We had a discussion about the game system afterwards. I was amazed at how fast things happened, compared to our usual RPG game sessions, where I have been falling into a doze and don't miss much at all. I was sweating with tension! Simon enjoyed it. Kris was upset (but not angry, more puzzled) that I hadn't "prepared a plot"; he wanted the challenge of overcoming the plot line in character. I was a bit disturbed by powerful NPCs created or implied by the PC's and player's actions were easily overcome, making them seem a pushover. I noticed at the time, it would have been more in character and better story wise if the characters split up and came back together as in the movies, yet we kept to the traditional PC tactic of sticking together in a group.

I also had rules for emotions in the PCs and others allowing re-rolls of the player's own dice, but the situations didn't come up in play. I most likely didn't emphasize this part, and didn't connect it to any kickers or engaging relationships in play.

I really wanted to be a player in the game, not just the GM. On later thought, I felt that we could achieve the splitting up, and allow me to be a player as well, by having a rotating GM spot, and roleplaying the NPCs as the other PCs encountered them. That's because with the players describing both outcomes, there's very little work for the GM to do compared to a conventional RPG.

Also, I think Shadows might need a "pace" mechanic as in Trollbabe, where players (and GM) could nominate how many rolls it takes to overcome a challenge, or perhaps a mechanic where powerful NPCs could be more of a challenge. With a high Light or good roll in Shadows, not much "happens", it's more interesting in the opposite situation. This could well have been my fault by insisting that the Dark outcome is literally more "interesting". I wanted to inject some more adversity into the game, but couldn't see how.

But overall, I enjoyed the game, as did Simon, while Kris found it an interesting experience. :)

[Andrew Martin]

PS I have a PDF of the "Knights of the New Republic" available for free. Just PM me if you want a copy.

[Zak Arntson]

First off, what an amazing actual play! I am biased, but man, what a fun-sounding session.

Characters
Choose your character's species:
Choose the planet your character spent the most time on or grew up on:
Choose your character's level of power in the Jedi order:
Choose your character's weapon:

Choose your character's Force side:
Choose your character's unique Force Power:
Either describe your character's goal in life; or, describe a interesting event that has just happened which your character is forced to act in one of several ways; or accept one of the GM's prescribed missions.
Describe your character's character flaws.
Finally, name your character, and briefly describe your character's appearance and recent history.

This is a solid way to add tons of flavor. I hadn't thought of doing anything like this with Shadows. Providing lists is a great method (like how each Sorcerer setting's scores get their own list of descriptors) for quickly getting flavor and interest into the game.

First problem we encountered was both players treating the Dark (black) as a failure, stopping their PC's actions. I describing how the Dark side action became more "interesting", the opposite of what the PC would want, and we carried on.

Yes, "interesting!" There are no whiffs. This is an important part of Shadows, and I'm glad you attacked it early on. It's not success/failure, it's PC Goal/Shadow Goal, with both moving the story forward. This is why there are two endgame results in Shadows: "Win" (find the source of the noise) or "Lose" (get caught by parents). Both of these push a player to declare Good/Shadow outcomes rather than success/failure results.

They decided to investigate the mysterious vessel, and with the use of the tokens for rerolls to get Light side or Dark side outcomes, the mysterious vessel became a cruise liner stuck on collision course with the Yavin 4, and as they boarded, the apprentice's master became captured in a cryostasis by Duros (IIRC) under the command of Dark Jedi hidden aboard the ship.

What was the pattern of spending tokens? Did they tend to spend to get the Light outcomes more? Or push towards the most interesting? Were both players (note: players, not characters) cooperating? Or were they at odds?

They were being tractored in to The Emporer's Heir Death Star, when we ended the session because I was exhausted and the players were fatigued as well.

Physically or mentally fatigued?

We had a discussion about the game system afterwards. I was amazed at how fast things happened, compared to our usual RPG game sessions, where I have been falling into a doze and don't miss much at all. I was sweating with tension! Simon enjoyed it. Kris was upset (but not angry, more puzzled) that I hadn't "prepared a plot"; he wanted the challenge of overcoming the plot line in character.

It sounds like Shadows is good for Simon, but less so for Kris. Did he understand going into the game that things are largely player-driven? Or was he expecting a prepared plot from the start?

I was a bit disturbed by powerful NPCs created or implied by the PC's and player's actions were easily overcome, making them seem a pushover.

Why was this disturbing? What were you expectations for difficulty?

I really wanted to be a player in the game, not just the GM. On later thought, I felt that we could achieve the splitting up, and allow me to be a player as well, by having a rotating GM spot, and roleplaying the NPCs as the other PCs encountered them. That's because with the players describing both outcomes, there's very little work for the GM to do compared to a conventional RPG.

That's a really good idea. I'm not sure how tokens would work (does the GM keep her tokens until she's a player again? Or on a GM switch, everyone goes back to three tokens? Or what?), but the rotation concept is a strong one.

Also, I think Shadows might need a "pace" mechanic as in Trollbabe, where players (and GM) could nominate how many rolls it takes to overcome a challenge, or perhaps a mechanic where powerful NPCs could be more of a challenge. With a high Light or good roll in Shadows, not much "happens", it's more interesting in the opposite situation. This could well have been my fault by insisting that the Dark outcome is literally more "interesting". I wanted to inject some more adversity into the game, but couldn't see how.

The original game has the characters looking for the source of a noise. So even the positive outcomes are an act of exploration and creation. With a solid mission goal (i.e., get the X from the Y guarded by the Z), the group will have to push for surprises. How vague was the game set up? Did the players know where the kidnappings occur? Who was kidnapped? Who the enemy was?

As for scope, I'm inclined to leave it up to the group. Perhaps, explicitly, at the opening of each scene, the GM and players discuss the scope of a roll (with the GM having veto power) for that scene. That way you could draw out a climactic battle (each Roll is a cool move) and go quickly through Stormtrooper fire (one Roll covers the entire firefight).

How did the game flow without scope rules? Did the game flow well? Was it a little jumpy, with some outcomes unexpectedly small or large in scope?

But overall, I enjoyed the game, as did Simon, while Kris found it an interesting experience. :)

Always a good thing to hear. Thanks for your in-depth account! And I would love to see the pdf.

[Andrew Martin]

First off, what an amazing actual play! I am biased, but man, what a fun-sounding session.

Thanks, Zac!

What was the pattern of spending tokens? Did they tend to spend to get the Light outcomes more? Or push towards the most interesting? Were both players (note: players, not characters) cooperating? Or were they at odds?

They weren't quite at odds but they weren't cooperating. Kris spent to achieve Light outcomes more. Simon spent and received tokens to achieve more Dark side outcomes. Simon was indirectly controlling the flow of the game the most. Simon was more "aggressive" or active, while Kris was more "passive". I think that Kris was associating having tokens meant increased personal character effectiveness, and decreasing opposition effectiveness. Simon discovered that character effectiveness was an illusion and that player effectiveness was due to having a Light side outcome that was reasonable for the character and a Dark side outcome that ramped up the complications in a way that gained either tokens back from Kris or just made the game more interesting. At the end of the game, it was obvious to me that Simon had the most power and had no tokens! :) He would simply gain tokens whenever he wanted from the pool that Kris had.

They were being tractored in to The Emporer's Heir Death Star, when we ended the session because I was exhausted and the players were fatigued as well.

Physically or mentally fatigued?

I was sweating and had to relieve myself. Both players and I were hungry. We had had no breaks in several hours of play.

It sounds like Shadows is good for Simon, but less so for Kris. Did he understand going into the game that things are largely player-driven? Or was he expecting a prepared plot from the start?

While I did mention that the game was player driven at the start, and play revealed that, and I emphasized it early in the play, I believe that Kris didn't realise or believe it, as reflected in his play with token spending.

I was a bit disturbed by powerful NPCs created or implied by the PC's and player's actions were easily overcome, making them seem a pushover.

Why was this disturbing? What were your expectations for difficulty?

I think this might be a failing on my part as a GM based on my past experiences. I've been playing two computer games where Dark Jedi or evil force users are quite tough to defeat and my mental model of Dark Jedi in our game were based on that. The Dark Jedi in the hijacked cruise liner were created early in the game by Simon, and were defeated easily by his apprentice character, particularly when Kris spent to achieve Light side outcomes. In our game, Light side outcomes were very brief descriptions, like: "I chop off his hand!", and when the Light side dice rolled high for Simon, or Kris spent a token, that was pretty much it for the Dark Jedi.

[Andrew Martin]

And I would love to see the pdf.

I've sent it your Harlekin-Mouse account.

I really wanted to be a player in the game, not just the GM. On later thought, I felt that we could achieve the splitting up, and allow me to be a player as well, by having a rotating GM spot, and roleplaying the NPCs as the other PCs encountered them. That's because with the players describing both outcomes, there's very little work for the GM to do compared to a conventional RPG.

That's a really good idea. I'm not sure how tokens would work (does the GM keep her tokens until she's a player again? Or on a GM switch, everyone goes back to three tokens? Or what?), but the rotation concept is a strong one.

I think for simplicity at first, try to not re-arrange tokens.

How vague was the game set up? Did the players know where the kidnappings occur? Who was kidnapped? Who the enemy was?

The set up I gave the players was very vague, in the spirit of the Shadows setup: "you hear a noise". Like: "the Jedi council announcing there was a need for Jedi to investigate reports of missing persons in the settlements surrounding the academy and to investigate the report of a mysterious space vessel coming into system which refused to answer hails from the Academy space port." The kidnappings, hijacking, dark jedi, master frozen in carbonite were all created by the players. I roleplayed the NPCs and what they did in the absence of a Force roll by the players.

As for scope, I'm inclined to leave it up to the group. Perhaps, explicitly, at the opening of each scene, the GM and players discuss the scope of a roll (with the GM having veto power) for that scene. That way you could draw out a climactic battle (each Roll is a cool move) and go quickly through Stormtrooper fire (one Roll covers the entire firefight).

How did the game flow without scope rules? Did the game flow well? Was it a little jumpy, with some outcomes unexpectedly small or large in scope?

The game was very choppy and jumpy at the start, like a new driver learning to drive a car, kangaroo stopping and starting. We had to hash out scope rules when the PCs separated, as we discovered that one player making one roll and the other making several during the same time didn't seem right as it would have left one player with less to do for a while. Also in a two player game, when a player can't make rolls and has no tokens, they can only be a passive audience; the other player with all the tokens has to have Dark side outcomes which are less "bad" and more "boring" in order to keep the game going, until the first player is back in the action again.

Also, I think Shadows might need some indication on how the GM and players get narration rights for NPCs. In the early part of the game I narrated what the NPCs were doing, but this seemed to conflict with the Force dice roll outcomes, in the later part of the game, I felt that I as a GM was like a fifth wheel as I let the players determine more and more about the game through Force dice rolls; I let them have force rolls more and more frequently in the game.

[Zak Arntson]

I think that Kris was associating having tokens meant increased personal character effectiveness, and decreasing opposition effectiveness. Simon discovered that character effectiveness was an illusion and that player effectiveness was due to having a Light side outcome that was reasonable for the character and a Dark side outcome that ramped up the complications in a way that gained either tokens back from Kris or just made the game more interesting.

Bingo! Shadows is all about the tokens, but very much not in the manner of "I hold the most tokens, I have the most power!" It's a social balancing act among the players. How will I reward the other players? How can I get the other players to reward me? With "reward" being the types of outcomes that player enjoys.

Also, I think Shadows might need some indication on how the GM and players get narration rights for NPCs.

In the rules, the players get narration rights for NPCs only if it's included in an Outcome. Can you explain the the trouble you had between GM and player control of the same NPC?

[Mithras]

I'd never considered using Shadows for some other genre like this. Now my brains buzzing!

I'd also be interested on how you could prevent players from inventing then trashing NPCs without putting in much dramatic effort.

[Mithras]

I wonder if Shadows might make a useful system for an epic Greek game? Heroes on great quests or caught up in feuds and challenges, with the Good/Bad Dice becoming the Desire of the Hero versus the Meddling of the Gods. (I was considering a Patron God and a Nemesis for each die, but I think that will prove too fiddly in practice).

Tokens can represent prayers or Fate or somesuch ...

[Zak Arntson]

I'd also be interested on how you could prevent players from inventing then trashing NPCs without putting in much dramatic effort.

What's allowable in Shadows is nearly entirely driven by the social contract. The intention is that an adult plays with children and guides the play when needed.

If you were to play Shadows with a group of peers, you would need to figure out all the dynamics before play. So the invent/trash NPC issue would just have to be discussed.

I wonder if Shadows might make a useful system for an epic Greek game?

The best way to find out would be try it! Your outcomes sound perfect. If you gave each hero a patron god and a nemesis, then it's not too fiddly at all. Each player can provide a good/bad outcome in terms of their selected gods. Each player only needs to keep track of two gods.

Tokens are intentionally a player currency, and don't need to represent anything in the game. In fact, I think it would dilute the play if your tokens were somehow presented as an in-game artifact.

[Mithras]

One thing I'm toying with is replacing dice with a bag of beach stones, orange and grey (I use them for my Ice Age games - http://www.geocities.com/zozergames/totem1.html). Each player draws 3 stones for an action, and the good die/bad die is replaced with two orange or two grey stones. Re-rolls can be replicated with redrawing a grey or orange stone.

I am a Roman re-enactor and love a hands-on approach when RPing history. Props are the biz![/url]

[Andrew Martin]

Tokens are intentionally a player currency, and don't need to represent anything in the game. In fact, I think it would dilute the play if your tokens were somehow presented as an in-game artifact.

I agree with Zac. I thought about having tokens represent some aspect of The Force in Knights of the New Republic, but I all ready had the white and black D6 representing the Light and Dark side of The Force, and in play, the tokens were definitely a player mechanic/resource, not a "character" resource.

[Andrew Martin]

Also, I think Shadows might need some indication on how the GM and players get narration rights for NPCs.

In the rules, the players get narration rights for NPCs only if it's included in an Outcome. Can you explain the the trouble you had between GM and player control of the same NPC?

What I had trouble with at the time, is the NPCs are under my direction as GM, I felt extremely reluctant to inflict damage or consequences on the PCs. For example, a bunch of NPCs shoot at a PC with blasters, what happens?

On further reflection of this situation, I could have said to the player, "the NPCs blast away at you with their blasters, they could kill you. What happens?" and request a two outcomes and a roll? Or just leave gaps in my narration, letting the players jump in and request a roll?