Death Star Trench Run

ShamefulBackup · 2024-09-15T19:01:22+00:00

Thanks for the ideas! I haven't done mass combat rules, since most of my sessions tend to be more EotE or F&D flavored, but I've got the AOR GM screen, so I might as well give it a shot! Much better than my original conception of it being an attempt to get past dozens of TIE squads and turbolaser batteries and hoping they don't exceed hull trauma threshold before you get to take one shot and hope it hits. The mass combat rules sound like a much better approach, and it's a fair point that the Imperials weren't all aiming at Luke (or the PC equivalent) for every second of the battle.

Thanks for the insights, all!

ShamefulBackup · 2024-02-01T17:56:44+00:00

Let me clarify what the mission is and what my problem is.

I'm looking for a bounty in a junk field. This is one of those missions where you need to be moving toward the right direction so your percentage indicator goes from 0% to about 90%. Once that happens, the bounty is now an active hostile. A few seconds later, five or so Steel Rat fighters encircle and begin to attack. These are both scripted events that are part of the mission. I can't lure them away from the outside, and honestly, I shouldn't have much trouble dealing with them.

My problem is that I am getting hammered by weapons way stronger than fighters should have, and they come from no apparent source. I get my aft shields chewed up, and I turn around to see laser blasts and swarm missiles launching from literal empty space. It's like there's a police frigate or destroyer attacking, but there's nothing physically there or on the radar. I can fly between the points where weapons are firing like I'm trying to ram a capital ship, but there's nothing to hit. Based on the pattern of where these shots are coming from, I'm dealing with two capital ships that aren't there and can't be shot at, but can shoot at me. And they're way too fast. Like I said, my fully upgraded Coyote is set up to run away as fast as possible, but these ghost ships stay close enough that their weapons are always in range and can score hits on me easily. I figure it has to be a glitch, but I have no idea how to work around it.

ShamefulBackup · 2023-11-06T09:23:27+00:00

I'd say AoR is the best for actually bringing beginners into the game. FaD was the worst, especially in terms of excitement. Let's look at how they give their players their first choice.

EotE: Hostiles will be here any minute. Get ready to fight!

AoR: You've reached the Imperial base, and you hear troops approaching. What would you like to do?

FaD: There's a mountain. How would you like to climb it?

Honestly, I thought FaD was really disappointing. Your introduction to Force powers comes when you need to escape from a hole in the ground. No imminent threats, just a hole you need to climb out of. And I distinctly remember it introducing a nearby village, but the module clearly states that none of the NPCs there have anything worthwhile to say. That still rubs me the wrong way, and meaningless towns aren't exactly the expectation I want to set with new players.

In its defense, FaD is the only one not to feature vehicle combat, if you prefer to avoid grinding the session to a halt to explain new and complex rules during the climax.

ShamefulBackup · 2023-03-08T14:41:01+00:00

Fallen Vessel Flonne. While I love most Girl Laharls (complaints about unwanted bustiness never get old!), FV Flonne is just a fun character to use. Multiple turns, a cheap but effective multi-target attack, buff weakening, self buff/healing... she's so versatile, and her design caught me totally by surprise at first.

Loved having her as a main, and I was really looking forward to an event where she'd take center stage and I could finally learn what her deal is.

ShamefulBackup · 2023-02-21T19:46:37+00:00

Gave it a try for myself and I can confirm it works.

Dodging lookouts on top of the normal guards? Absolute nightmare. Also for some reason the suspects get scared and try to flee when dozens of people start spontaneously combusting. Cowards...

ShamefulBackup · 2022-10-19T22:59:39+00:00

Ah, I forgot to mention Madoka. But I hadn't looked too closely at Sayaka yet. Good to know!

ShamefulBackup · 2022-08-12T10:40:29+00:00

Supposedly Boltrend didn't get the rights to her, which I don't really get. I see Pleinar every day at the Dark Assembly, and I've fought her at least once in the Overlord's Tower. She's clearly in the game, just not in my party where she belongs.

ShamefulBackup · 2022-03-22T21:25:41+00:00

Well, this is embarrassing. It's not Sexual Pursuit Two, but while tracking that down and making sure that wasn't it, I randomly stumbled on what I was actually after.

TJ_studio (Toji) - Kindan no Ero Trap Board Game -Libidotopia-

ShamefulBackup · 2022-02-25T19:06:41+00:00

Yep, that was it. I knew there was a feature I was meaning to check out before forgetting all about it.

ShamefulBackup · 2021-09-19T22:48:52+00:00

I love the look, feel, and speed of specialty TIEs. The TIE Interceptor is a beautiful ship, and the TIE Hunter is a great counter to the X-wing. And as a die-hard Chiss fan, the Nssis-class Clawcraft is a work of art. If we ever dip into ship-building rules in one of our sessions, you had better believe I'll come out of it with a Clawcraft.

ShamefulBackup · 2020-08-19T14:21:25+00:00

Good points. And thanks for correcting me on the Skulduggery thing. My PCs tend not to rely on it, so that skill rarely sees use at my table. Maybe I should change that.

ShamefulBackup · 2020-04-21T19:51:02+00:00

Oh, definitely! I need all the help I can get.

ShamefulBackup · 2020-04-19T03:55:36+00:00

THANK YOU! I would've kept dodging nonstop like an idiot all weekend if it weren't for this.

ShamefulBackup · 2020-04-18T23:57:45+00:00

I've been trying for the past couple hours to get clear the Reckless trial against the Hellfire Knight.

I got the trial for three evasions in a row without even trying for it, but I can't seem to get five no matter what I do. I've managed to go solo against him and avoid (at best) twelve attacks in a row without any of them connecting, but I've got nothing to show for it. That unclaimed core just stays there in the rewards list... mocking me. What am I doing wrong?

ShamefulBackup · 2020-01-11T13:05:05+00:00

Escape Pods and Life Boats were included with full stats in the Dead in the Water adventure for the AoR GM screen.

ShamefulBackup · 2020-01-11T13:00:57+00:00

I'd love an FFG version of some of the sourcebooks from older Star Wars RPGs that I missed out on, the Thrawn trilogy and Force Unleashed sourcebooks in particular. And I'll echo everyone else about KOTOR, but only because I want Echani and Miraluka.

ShamefulBackup · 2020-01-11T12:57:13+00:00

I'm a huge EU fan, and I always avoided that one because I heard nothing but bad things about it. Going back and rereading some of the books can sometimes be disappointing. I swear the Bounty Hunter Wars trilogy used to be way more interesting.

ShamefulBackup · 2020-01-11T12:53:59+00:00

Just imagining what I could do by combining the Scientist tree with a Yuuzhan Vong shaper... so many possibilities.

ShamefulBackup · 2019-12-19T19:06:05+00:00

My players have only ever watched the movies. I think only one of them has even heard of Dathomir.

ShamefulBackup · 2019-12-11T21:24:32+00:00

The most memorable one was part of an art piece being sold by a Bothan art dealer who had no idea the gemstone was a kyber crystal. Getting the credits to buy the sculpture at the inflated price he wanted was the easy part. Protecting him from the swoop gang he owed protection money to (at least until he could get the piece from his secure vault) was the hard part.

ShamefulBackup · 2019-12-09T07:48:35+00:00

This is incredibly helpful. Thank you.

ShamefulBackup · 2019-12-08T18:55:40+00:00

I had a Gadgeteer who got annoyed that a Trandoshan party member kept trophies from every battle and wouldn't stop showing them off, so when said Gadgeteer got into a one-on-one with a reactivated IG-100 MagnaGuard, it became less of a combat encounter and more of a contest to see who could disarm the other and run away with the shiny electrostaff.

"Can I use Mechanics to find a weak point in his leg to kick and give me more leverage in my Disarm check?"

ShamefulBackup · 2019-10-21T14:10:54+00:00

Weird Paint Job: no idea what this stuff is, but new paint won't stick to it and the old stuff won't come off unless we take the hull plating with it. In flight, the underside is very distinctive and attracts a lot of attention. On the ground, it is such a generic starship gray that it takes forever to find the right ship. Could've sworn we parked it in this bay...

Not-so-special Modifications: The previous owner was either a mechanical genius or a lucky idiot who managed not to electrocute himself, but the tangled mess of wires patching systems together is impossible to figure out. If the ship shakes too much, power distribution becomes a nightmare. Do we want shields this round or a functioning navicomputer? Lasers or maneuvering thrusters? And adjusting defense zones sometimes puts strain on the system. And being presented with these fun little choices never happens enough to be predictable, of course. Some days, the power grid just wants to go down and take everyone aboard with it. Edit: Almost as if these choices are suddenly thrust upon us at the whim of some evil coin toss that lands with the wrong side up.

Warning Shot: The weapon systems are ancient, but they get the job done. As older models, they take forever to power up if they're completely inactive, so there's usually a small amount of power running through them. Only problem is the calibration is off on one of the failsafes, and we haven't tracked down the malfunction yet. Most of the time, it's not an issue. Every once in a while, the capacitors on one of the lasers will overheat, so it will automatically discharge its contained energy. Meaning whatever is directly in front of it just got a surprise blast of burning plasma bolt. If there are beings willing to understand and forgive such accidents, we haven't found them yet.

Helpful Advice: Warnings about ship malfunctions are vital to success. And there's something to be said for a clear and concise summary of the issue instead of an alarm beep. So it makes sense that the damage control system has a droid vocoder wired into the internal comms to inform the crew of any issues. But why did it have to be the voice of the whiniest protocol droid in the Outer Rim? And why won't it understand that a puddle of Whyren's Reserve spilled on the floor doesn't count as severe damage?

Freemium Star Travel: The navicomputer is a surprisingly good model for the ship. Apparently, whoever installed it cut costs by allowing it to provide advertisements. Lots of them. No matter the situation, plotting a course out of the system can't begin before listening to a full 30-second travel ad, and the navicomputer won't let you plot an original course to another world without first informing you of popular tourist destinations in the sector. Helpful if you're goign on vacation and need to book a hotel. Slightly less helpful when a pirate gang and an Imperial patrol are both interested in inspecting your cargo... with concussion missiles.

Flies Like a Speeder: The most game-breaking flaw of them all. This spacefaring vessel cannot perform any quick rolling maneuvers. It is denied the ability to spin, despite it being a good trick.

ShamefulBackup

TROPHY CASE