Self Preservation

Just to round off the Star Wars last week, I can report on the successful repatriation of ambassador Bol to the Rebel Alliance. I knew you would all be relieved. Discovered quite safe in his Carbonite casing he was released in time for the end of the one off adventure.

Next week should see the start of DnD, Changing Breeds and Feng Shui.

Carbonite casing was originally designed for gas transportation as the material can absorb vast amounts of volatile atmospheric substances whilst locking them in an unreactive and stable form. The chambers themselves can also stack efficiently and operate in built repulsors for mobility.

 

It also happens to be an ideal form of transport for captives as the molecular integration process has a stasis effect on organic material. Painful though.

However, do not confuse Carbonite with Samsonite, another transportation and packaging material that is also used for moving bodies around.

Star Wars Plus

A while ago I mentioned my interest in running a Star Wars game, and also noted how the oppressive weight of that franchise's canon has more or less scared me off. I had considered the Knights of the Old Republic era as a more friendly gaming environment, but I have since managed to read the relevant campaign supplement for Wizards of the Coast's version of the game, and it didn't strike me as particularly evocative, presenting the setting as that same old sprawling, intimidating expanded universe, only with the dates cranked back a few thousand years.

I realised that I was after something with the energy of the first film and the old Marvel comics, and then the solution to my problem became apparent.

So Star Wars Plus then. The general idea is that only the first film is canon, and then everything else is fair game. So Darth Vader killed Luke Skywalker's father, Luke and Leia needn't feel bad about liking each other in that way, and Han shot first. I have not yet decided if Jabba the Hutt is a fat bloke in a fur coat.

This approach should eliminate a lot of the setting's accumulated cruft while retaining an essential familiarity, allowing for a bit more freedom of play while still being Star Wars; if the players kill Luke Skywalker -- accidentally of otherwise -- it's not going to affect the events on Cloud City or Endor, because those events may not necessarily happen.

So that's the idea. I'm still a long way off having this ready for play -- I don't even have a system for it yet, although Savage Worlds is a frontrunner -- but at least I now have a solid core idea from which to work.