And All the Stars, Afire

There's another Jedi Counseling column online.

This column is written by JD Wiker, one of the designers of the game, and he answers rules questions. It's useful as hell.

From the Rules questions column written by JD Wiker, one of the game designers, I bring you this. I thought it might be useful to Elli and Gregory, since they're the ones it will most often affect:

Q: If I'm the pilot of a YT-1300 freighter and I want to reroute power, can I do that from the cockpit? If not, how long does it take to get to the engines or wherever I need to go to do that?

A: I've always ruled that in a starfighter, the pilot in the cockpit has access to controls for all of the ship's "stations." That is, he can pilot the ship, operate the guns, shields, and sensors, or reroute power -- all from the cockpit. If the pilot wants to jury-rig a repair, the GM has to decide whether the pilot can do it from the cockpit based on the type of repair.

On a space transport, only the piloting controls, sensors, and shield controls are in the cockpit. If a character in the cockpit wants to operate the guns, jury-rig a repair, or reroute power, it takes him a full-round action to bolt back to the appropriate station. By the same token, it takes a full-round action to go from any of those stations to any of the other stations -- including returning to the cockpit.

The bridge of a capital ship is a different story. There is a post for every station, but in the case of gunnery, engineering, and shields, the actual work is done somewhere else aboard the ship. A character who leaves the bridge for one of these other stations, or who moves from station to station aboard the ship (again, including returning to the bridge) spends at least 5 rounds -- and on some ships, as much as a full minute -- getting there. Further, moving between posts on the bridge requires a move action; they're just not that close together, in most cases.

Gregory:

I need a character background (it doesn't have to be more than a few paragraphs -- half a page would be sufficient, though more is always welcome) before the next game. I would prefer it be emailed to me.

By the way, I thought you were making a Tech Specialist, not a Fringer/Soldier.

Please include in it IC justifications for why and where this guy learned edged weapons, and at least some information on any important skills. (This is the new procedure I'm using from now on in all games; based on MUSH Background requirements I've perfected in that realm)

Please understand that since I've not yet seen and approved the character sheet, I reserve the right to reject or request changes on it until I'm comfortable with it.

Sorry to come off as a hardass, but my days of blithely allowing players to do whatever they want without approval are over. It isn't your fault, just a decision I've made recently on my own.

NOTE: These standards will apply to ALL players/characters in the future, no matter what game, so long as I'm running it.

Matt and I were discussing Ejecting in space battle a while back. We never came up with an answer, but I have one now. Here it is:

Ejecting requires the pilot to make a Reflex save in order to eject. No fighter has auto-eject capability, and it is not possible for the Astromech droid (if present) to activate the Eject sequence.

The pilot's ability to eject before the fighter explodes is dependent upon how much damage the fighter takes in that round. If the fighter's Hull points are reduced to anwhere between 0 and -20 points, the Pilot can make a reflex save. If the damage exceeds -20 the DC increases.

Exception If the ship sustains an amount of damage equal or greater than it's Hull points in one shot, it will be completely obliterated, and no Reflex save is possible. Examples of this include taking a direct hit from a Turbo laser. The pilot in this case didn't even have a chance to react to the pounding he just took.

Droids are ejected at the same time as the pilot, however the Droid cannot initiate the ejection. This is a safety measure, believe it or not, protecting the pilot from unstable or damaged Droids.

This information is direct from the creators of the game, and answers several questions and problems I've had with the game's mechanics for Jedi:

( Problems with Mulitple attacks? )

( Dissipate Energy has a mistake in the book! )

( Why Drain Energy is a Dark Side power )

( Force Light is also broken! )

That is all.

I wish I could have shared this with you earlier, but I didn't find it until last night. Although it does reference stuff in a novel you've not read, it isn't spelled out, so I think it's spoiler free (it doesn't state what the revelation is), and it coincides with Kasche's stated opinions, anyway (Kasche does not agree with Skywalker on all things, in case you didn't notice). Just in case, though ...

( This is stuff about why 'The will of the Force' is so misunderstood in fandom and a clue as to the true nature of the Force )

Part of me wishes you guys would say "the hell with spoilers" and catch up with me in the NJO novels. There's some awesome stuff going on (especially stuff that makes the role of the Jedi, the Dark Side, and all that much more clear and interesting), and the only person I can share it with without spoiling the game is Terri, who couldn't give a damn, really.

We're halfway through the storyline, kids.

The events of these books have occurred, and you're all free to read these without spoiling anything (and you'll see what the rest of the galaxy was doing while you were busy):

Vector Prime
Dark Tide I: Onslaught
Dark Tide II: Ruin
Agents of Chaos I: Hero's Trial
Agents of Chaos II: Jedi Eclipse
Balance Point

The events of THESE are still to come, so if you read them, you'll be spoiled:

Edge of Victory I: Conquest
Edge of Victory II: Rebirth
Star By Star
Dark Journey
Enemy Lines I: Rebel Dream
Enemy Lines II: Rebel Stand
Traitor
Destiny's Way (What I'm reading now)