I'm Baaack + Class Based Dystopias

Let's see...

The PhD thesis is in.

4 years, 289 pages x 6 copies. Just printing and assembling it took a day.

Next up, work put me on a sabbatical till April. I've signed an NDA and am happy to close that chapter of my life.

If any of you are thinking of doing a PhD, let me say this:

Think again.

Especially if you are married. That supportive spouse will come to resent the time you spend away, and hate how absent minded and unhelpful around the house you've become.

Super especially if you are working to pay your way through. Your job performance will suffer, coworkers and supervisors will hold your feet to the fire more than workers not doing a PhD. If you can, keep it on the QT.

So anyway, back hopefully to blogging, gaming, and generally enjoying life more than I have in recent memory.

Here's my inaugural post as a free man and doctor of philospohy. Very in keeping with my thesis on discourse:



Class Based Dystopias

Ever wonder why there are still kings and queens in the D&D world. If player characters are so powerful, why don’t members of the 4 classes rule every nation?

(PS: I know many D&D products have PC classed NPCs as rulers, this is just a thought exercise with delicious implications).

The answer is that the power corrupts and makes their society inherently unstable. Any nation ruled by a player character class is a dystopia that ultimately comes to a bad end.

Each of these societies has characteristics which can be divided into the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.

Here’s how it breaks down:

Ruler: Cleric.

Government: Theocracy.

The Good: Priests cast a level higher! Pray sincerely and miracles happen!

The Bad: You’re either with us or against us. Priests of other gods cast as one level lower, save at - 1 vs holy magic of our god.

The Ugly: Inquisitions, burnings, holy wars. This type of nation usually ends when the witch trials and inquisitions get out of hand and people leave the cities, where they are retaken by vegetation in a few years. Or else, they pick an illogical religious war with neighbors, who band together to wipe the floor with them and place a secular or at least non-fundamental regime in their place.

Examples: Berserk by Kentaro Miura

Ruler: Fighter.

Government: Dictatorship.

The Good: Can levy double army size. Arms and armor can be had at rock bottom prices.

The Bad: Violence is always the answer. Everyone is armed or guarded and ready to thrown down at any moment.

The Ugly: To the victor go the spoils, to the loser go pillaging, rape, mass mutilations or beheadings. This type of nation usually ends when the great leader is bumped off by another, or when neighbors band together to send an army or a group of murder hobos to take out the dictator and replace them with a non-PC class figurehead.

Examples: Game of Thrones (? dunno, haven’t seen TV since I started the degree…)

Ruler: Thief.

Government: Kleptocracy.

The Good: Anything can be bought, for the right price.

The Bad: Watch your purse every second.

The Ugly: Assassination is the solution to every problem. Usually such a nation ultimately devolves into a nation of beggars living in the ruins of once nobles cities as thieving skills are not passed or as teachers are strangled or poisoned off.

Examples: Nadsokor (Elric series), Thief Town (Adventure Time)

Ruler: Mage.

Government: Anarchy.

The Good: Potion shops, wand & staff ateliers, flying castles, it is all here, and at rock bottom prices compared to other places.

The Bad: Mundane, non-magical folk become the underclass. Killing them isn’t even a crime.

The Ugly: Monsters, monsters everywhere. Chaotic creatures are drawn to this place, and welcomed with open arms. Eventually the Tarrasque will show up and eat the place whole, or demons will infiltrate the ruling structure and turn it into a hellmouth or warp the kingdom to some shadow plane. Within a generation it is a myth or legend become cautionary tale.

Examples: The Shadow Plane (Elric), Sigil (Planescape), Wizard Town (Adventure Time)

Stop Thinking Hit Points Are Just Health

Hit Points aren’t health. They never were. Or if they were intended to model health in the beginning, they quickly mutated into something else through play. Intentions aside, they are probably the most important invention or convention in gaming, and are used in everything from FRPGs to puzzle games to date sims.

But they don’t make much sense, logically.

A blacksmith has less hit points than a wizard who hangs around dank dungeons. Really?

A wizard can be killed by a cat. Really?

A newbie fighter can be killed with one good blow, but a veteran can take a dozen cuts but soldier on. Really?

The problem with questioning the game mechanics in this way is that D&D isn’t a reality simulation. Ceci n’est pas la verite. Since OD&D, people have tried to add pain calculations, health statuses, and other accoutrements to make Hit Points make logical sense.

These additions miss the point. Hit Points and D&D itself make sense intuitively, not logically. Part of the joy and challenge of roleplaying in general and D&D in particular is wrapping your mind around what story those esoteric character sheets, rulebooks, and dice rolls tell you.

Hit points are how important your character is to the story. If you’re a 1^st level mook with a sword or a light spell, you don’t matter. If you’re the diva of the thieves’ guild, you can shrug off a battle-axe.

Intentionally or not, this reflects the literature that inspired the original fantasy game creators. Think of Beowulf. As a young warrior, he and his mates are nearly decimated by a troll and its mother. For a low level fighter, those Claw/Claw/Bites mean death.

As a seasoned fighter, Beowulf takes a dragon on by himself after his servants abandon him. He is taking damage and ultimately perishes, but saving against Breath Weapon and trading blows makes taking the dragon down with him much easier.

This is why D&D and retroclones have been used to emulate everything, from science fiction (White Star, Terminal Space, X-plorers), to superheroes (Mystery Men), to Oriental adventure (Ruins & Ronin, Shinobi & Samurai), and Westerns (Go Fer Yer Gun, Blood & Bullets). Hit points make great narrative, intuitive sense.

D&D is not realistic or logical. But it has a real feeling that we intuitively acquire, a verisimilitude that draws us in. DMs should capitalize on this, not let a mistaken desire for ‘reality’ to mar the immersion of fantasy that is the magic of roleplaying.

So stop describing combat as hit or miss. A sword stroke may cleave an armored novice priest in twain, but the same roll and damage is barely a scratch to a high priest wearing nothing but robes. A fireball wipes out a party of murder hobos, leaving ashen silhouettes on the ground, but rolls over the Defenders of the Realm, who grit their teeth and hunker down under their shields before returning fire.

So DMs, don’t fight the concept of Hit Points with your head. Accept them with your heart and let them tell their story through you.

One could also free Hit Points from the tyranny of damage, alleviating the whittle down effect of combat. How about burning HP for a reroll, letting them stand in for Luck or Hero Points? Hit Points thus become a pool of narrative ‘bennies’ that can be burned to let players get what they want, but at the risk that their story may end prematurely.

In the next game I run, Hit Points will go unchained. No plan survives contact with the enemy, as they say, so I’ll let you know how it goes. If you take this idea and run with it, tell me where it worked and didn’t.

(PS Blogging ice age is coming to an end, as is gaming life and social life. Feels good)

If You're Running A Japanese Horror Campaign or Game...

THESE should all be encounters, and shown to players.

Broken by 2014

So anyway, 2014 broke me.

Between the PhD deadlines (which I failed and now have till May to pass), the four hour daily commute to a job I desperately tried to get out of (and failed - here's looking at you year two at Peach Pit U), and the black hole of mutual loathing that my marriage has become, I don't know how I am still breathing, let alone sane.

The first causality of this real life implosion was, of course, the gaming and blogging that is my escape hatch and release valve.

2015 has been much kinder. I've had a relaxing trip to an onsen spa, my little boy is the love and light that keeps me going, the wife is treating me human again, the job wraps up in ten days so I can concentrate on getting the degree done, and I played a game of the new Star Wars miniature rules.

I have a backlog of posts that will have to wait until the degree is done and I am off the academic hazing hamster wheel. This is first priority. Expect regular blogging to resume after that, along with gaming, hopefully.

Hope you all are having as much good fortune in the new year as I have enjoyed thus far.

PS* I tried to read 5E but the prose is pretty languid and pedantic. Days like these I miss High Gygaxian or Mumbly Mearls.

Roguelike Lessons

Over at Kill Ten Rats, there is a somewhat deprecating response to Roguelike games.

As for myself, I simply LOVE Roguelikes, especially this Nethack in which you'll find many of my ghosts littered about. The biggest criticism KTR makes is that Roguelikes have no balance in terms of scaling encounters, and he uses the term ‘difficulty cliff’ to differentiate from the ‘difficulty curve’ of games like Destiny or RPGs like D&D 4E.

I think he has misunderstood the appeal of Roguelikes, at any rate ones like the one I play. There is no difficulty curve, nor is there a cliff. There is just pure chaos. You are just as likely to find a Wand of Death as to run into a goblin holding one. You WILL die at some point. I am not a ‘get off my lawn’ grognard, nor a masochist. I just don’t have time for a difficulty curve that strings me along forever – I WANT the game to end badly.

The idea of a difficulty curve is anathema to me. If you like having the game adjust for you, which I found both boring and somewhat patronizing in the few 4E games I played, then have at it. Some people play Monopoly, others obscure Teutonic boardgames, others poker, none is better, each suits a different taste or lifestyle.

Playing Roguelikes suits my life right now, but they also have valuable lessons for tabletop DMing.

1 Dungeons Should Be Breakable – Although there was a lot of posts about Jacquaying dungeons a few years back, i.e. allowing multiple entrance and egress points and thus avoiding topographic railroads, Roguelikes blow this out of the water. In Nethack, pick up a pick axe or mattock and you can make your own damn entrances and exits, even between levels. Or dig a pit, stand on the far side and let monsters tumble in, slay them and take their stuff. The pick axe is the ultimate tool of agency. However, the time and energy spent digging also tires the character and draws attention, which brings us to the next lesson…

2 You should know what you’re getting into – Anyone complaining about dying in a game of D&D, unless they are dealing with a dick DM and their complaint is about them and not the game, seems to have misunderstood the game and its setting. You are a murder hobo in a world red in tooth and claw and out to get you. Dying is not a question of ‘if’ it is a matter of ‘when’ unless you retire the character or switch to another game. Which brings us to….

3 If you don’t like it, there are other games – This sounds so trollish on the interwebs, but make no mistake I am not trying to troll KTR. If Roguelikes seem broken or unfun to you, find something that does work and is fun for you. I cannot stand poker – it just bores and confuses me. Everyone at my workplace loves it and has poker nights, which I skip. Unfriendly? Maybe, but better than me starting to resent some wonderful coworkers just because our tastes differ. And speaking of social effects of gaming…

4 Alignment should have social effects – Alignment in D&D is often a stick to keep character’s actions in line with some ideal. Too often there is little ‘carrot’ to balance this out. In Nethack, creatures of a similar alignment do not attack one another automatically. You may want to strip a pick axe off a dwarf in the mine level, but if you’re a lawful Valkyrie, you’ll have to find a store selling one. If you decide to ignore your alignment and kill a dwarf, you’ll be asked if you really want to, and your dwarficide will worsen relations with your god, who can uncurse objects and may even bestow legendary items on you if you sacrifice to them. This is a wonderful mechanic, and one that I would add to my own D&D games. Speaking of house rules…

5 Games should be hackable – Like Dwarf Fortress but on a smaller scale, Nethack allows players to use the elements of the system and setting in ways that have unforeseen consequences. If you plan on stealing from a shop, digging a circle of pits around the shopkeeper will keep them from chasing you (but you’ll have to sneak your pick axe into the store in a sack first or be denied entrance). If you cast a spell while drunk or confused, it may have altered effects, and I have inadvertently created rustproof armor and weapons this way. Tabletop RPGs should allow for even more unforeseen flexibility than Nethack with its limited programmed elements, and a DM not taking advantage (or letting players take advantage) of this flexibility is missing out on the greatest feature of the game itself.

So, go out there and play a Roguelike today. You may not like the overall experience, but you will learn something, whether to do or to avoid, that will improve your DMing and make your game suit your style and needs more.

The Other, OTHER Monster Manual & Whatever Happened to Tedankhamen?

Found another great monster manual tonight, Eric Carle’s Dragons Dragons. That’s right, Eric Carle, the author of The Very Hungry Caterpillar, wrote a monster guidebook. I don’t know for certain whether Carle ever played RPGs, but the title certainly evokes the old Tunnels & Trolls book Monsters Monsters.

If you have kids (what, gamers procreate?!?), this book is a must tool of indoctrination for future polyhedral rollers. It was a big hit with my one year old munchkin.

The book is a beautiful hardcover with Carle’s characteristically colorful paintings of monsters drawn from the familiar Eurocentric myths but also some outliers from South America, Africa and Japan. Each image is accompanied by a poem, mostly from authors I’d never heard of except biggies like William Blake. The book ends with a neat little section explaining the mythical origins of the creatures featured.

The list of monsters has interesting implications for a gameworld based on it. They are as follows:

Dragon (fire breathing green on the cover)

Drake (inside cover)

Dragon

Roc

The Yeti

Minotaur

Basilisk/Cockatrice

Leviathan

Amphisbaena

White Buffalo Woman

Rainbow Crow

The Phoenix

The Griffin

The Unicorn

Pan

Kappa

The Centaurs

Mermaid/Undersea

Chinese Dragon (big pull out splash centerpage)

Ganesha, Ganesh

Sphinx

Pegasus

Bunyip

Garuda

Quetzalcoatl

Kraken

Cerberus

Chimera

The Hippocamp

Anansi the Spider

Okolo the Leopard Warrior

The Manticore

Dragon

Any fantasy campaign run with this book as its monster manual would feature a lack of lootable evil demihumans and a load of heavy hitting monsters and demigods, thus would probably feel like Shadow of Colossus, with PCs running from most encounters or trembling in abject terror. The book’s selection makes it more of a mix of Monster Manual and Deities & Demigods than straightforward monster book.

Anyway, great mind and eye candy for little ones of all ages.

As to where I have been, the answer is trapped under the burning timbers of my phd thesis. My plan back in September of providing an antidote to the tsunami of D&D 5E posts fell through, but on the good side I have one chapter deadline to go this month, a final edit next month, then freedom.

Wish me luck, and expect posts infrequently until December when I’ll be diving into blog and gaming therapy for my stress and exhaustion.

Tedankhamen

Guest Post - Star Wars Session Recap

WHO PLAYED WHO Joseph playing the game master.
Ryan playing a human Force sensitive con artist/medic Max.
Gio playing force using Twilek (jedi?), Nami.
Christopher playing human engineer Jia.
Tedankhamen playing Trandoshan bounty hunter Peebles.

Session 11 Recap:　（written by Ryan Jason Kishida）

As Jia, Max, and Nami wait for their daring mission for the Rebellion to start, Nami decides to try and look up some information covertly. She tries to get access to a terminal without anyone knowing, but she spots a rebel member always tailing her. Eventually Nami decides that tail isn’t being too obnoxious about it and checks the coordinates she memorized. They turn out to be for the planet Wayland. She finds surprisingly little data, almost as if the data has been deliberately obscured. She also tries to look up information about the planet Despayre but is similarly frustrated. Jia wants to improve the cyber-feet she created for Max. However, the base doesn’t have adequate medical/cybernetic facilities for the job. Apparently, a ship, the Raptor, will be arriving soon and it should have the resources needed.
The group is called to a meeting with Mon Mothma. She says that the Empire has hit one of the Rebellion’s supply depots and the stock of Tibana gas has been heavily reduced. She says that it will take 1 to 2 months for them to get the gas the group needs. While the group eventually agrees to wait, Max is able to get some generous concessions from the Rebellion. As negotiations are concluding, Kyle Katarn bursts in and says that he doesn’t want any outside help on his mission. The group stays out of the argument and Mon Mothma is eventually able to get Katarn to agree with her idea.

As the meeting is finally wrapping up, a message come through the base comm system. Imperial forces have exited hyperspace above the planet! A security force rushes in to evacuate the Rebel leader. The comm system advises all base personnel to prepare for evacuation and combat. The group wants to try and help but they are being led to their quarters. Nami uses the Force to persuade the guard to lead them to their weapons. Unfortunately, her use of the Dark Side implants the idea that she and the guard will duel once she is armed.
Fortunately, alarm klaxons go off at this point and the guard snaps out of the trance. He tells the group to get on a shuttle, presses the key for the weapons into Nami’s hand, and then races off. The group recovers their weapons and then heads to the hangar bay.

Focus on a ship traveling through hyperspace. The ship is a system patrol craft designed for combat and built for speed. However, this is not a military craft. No unit markings are on this ship. No military insignia identify it. It is decidedly somewhat scruffy looking. This is a bounty hunter’s ship. Said bounty hunter is in the cockpit returning from his latest job. Unlike most bounty hunters, this Trandoshan, Peebles by name, works mainly for the Rebel Alliance. He hunts down high-value Imperial targets and captures them. His latest quarry, an Imperial Navy lieutenant, is unconscious in the holding cells. Peebles is somewhat worried. He owes the Rebellion. While he has been helping, has he been doing enough? At what point can he say the debt has been paid off? If he keeps capturing Imperial targets, at what point will the Empire cancel his license? These questions weigh heavily on his mind as he prepares to exit hyperspace.

He is completely unready for what greets him above Kothliss. An Imperial Naval force is in orbit above the planet. At first Peebles wonders if they are waiting for him, but the force is too large to send after one bounty hunter. The Imps are doubtless here to wipe out the previously secret rebel base on planet. The base where he has to deliver his prisoner. The Imps open fire without hailing and Peebles’ ship takes heavy damage. It barely manages to survive the trip through the planet’s atmosphere. Peebles directs the craft toward the Rebel base, but he cannot control the ship and it crashes practically into the base causing alarms to blare throughout the base.

As Peebles exits his ship, he grabs his equipment and his prisoner. At the entrance to the base, he identifies himself and is directed to the hangar bay for evacuation. In the corridor he meets Jia, Max, and Nami. While the group cannot help but notice the large Trandoshan with an Imperial office slung over his shoulder, they avoid comment until they are on the shuttle.
On board, everyone introduces themselves. Max also checks the officer and says the Imp should be out for a while. While the officer might have a concussion, there is nothing life threatening about his condition. Jia, Max, and Nami notice Peebles agitation at this point, and it begins to affect them also. The tension everyone feels it not helped by the shuttle ride. At several points the group contemplates offering help. However by the time they finally decide to offer, the shuttle docks with the Raptor.

The Raptor waits for a few more shuttles to dock and then rapidly retreats into hyperspace. The group asks to meet with the ship’s captain so they can check on the status of their mission. The Raptor is going to Port Tuuga to deliver droids to the Rebellion. And it turns out the ship isn’t directly part of the Rebellion and the group is sent to a liaison officer. The officer turns out to be the guard from the base, Pash Cracken. While Pash is quite cheerful at seeing the group again, Peebles reveals his impatient side. The Trandoshan wants payment for his bounty and picks up Pash by the neck until he cooperates. Pash then informs the group that their mission has probably been canceled since Katarn can’t wait for the group to rendezvous. However, Pash promises to check after the ship exits hyperspace. The group heads to the medbay, so that Jia can work on Max’s feet and Peebles can have his prisoner checked on.

At the medbay, Jia has the equipment and facilities to work on Max’s feet. She does an incredible job getting rid of the previous defect and improving the overall performance of the attachment giving Max increased agility. Peebles drops off his quarry, the medical officers say there is nothing they can do right now but monitor his condition. They also ask if it would be ok to put the officer into the brig after he recovers consciousness. Peebles doesn’t really care anymore since he has delivered the target, and gives permission.
Before anyone can exit the medbay, a shudder rocks the ship. There can only be one explanation, the ship has exited hyperspace. However, they should not have reached their destination yet. Max fearing interception by an Imperial blockade or a navigational error contacts the bridge and mutters something about having a bad feeling. The captain replies saying that droids have taken over the ship and disabled it. He also reports that the droids are trying to break into the bridge. As if the situation was not bad enough, the captain also says that the ship is slowly being dragged into a black hole and unless control of the ship can be regained quickly the ship will be sucked in.

The doors in the medbay have been locked down and sealed, but Nami is quickly able to slice the doors open. Max loans his ion blaster to Nami since she is the best shot in the group. Since the ion blaster was designed to quickly disable droids, Nami should be able to make short work of any droids they encounter. The group decides to secure the bridge and heads in that direction. However, they soon meet a group of patrolling protocol droids. As the group readies themselves for combat, they begin to labor for breath. The droids must have shut down life support!

Nami moves into range and lets loose with the ion blaster. She is able to shut down one droid and badly damage another. The droids return fire targeting Nami and one shorts out due to a malfunction. Max, rather surprisingly, activates his lightsaber and tries to attack. The droids are able to evade his attacks but the close proximity to the lightsaber’s energy field ionizes their weapons temporarily disabling them. Peebles unloads a withering volley of bolts from his heavy blaster rifle and downs 3 of the droids. Jia shoots her ion blaster but isn’t able to connect. The remaining droids try to shoot Nami but miss.

Nami shoots again with the ion blaster and shuts down one droid and temporarily disables another. The droids reveal hidden flame projectors and roast Peebles. Jia is also hit and scorched. Max is barely able to sidestep in time to avoid the gouts of flame that erupt from the droids. Peebles is enraged and charges the droids with his vibro-ax. However, he only flails ineffectively. The shock and pain of being burned prevent him from landing any serious blows. Max, however, is able to take down the last 3 droids with his lightsaber. The group pauses to try and regain their breath but the flame projectors consumed quite a bit of the oxygen in the corridor.

Nami tries to activate the turbolift system, but she can’t get around the security the droids have put in place. Gravity however fails at this point. Max ties everyone together using some of the rope from the climbing gear he carries and suggest that they can quickly glide down the turbolift shaft to their destination.

Though it is somewhat awkward for the group to move in zero g, they manage to make their way to the bridge corridor. There they confront the droids that are trying to break into the bridge. Nami throws a frag grenade at the droids hoping that the blast will catch them. However, the grenade doesn’t quite go in the right direction because of zero g. The explosion from the grenade catches one droid but no serious damage is done to the other droids. Peebles shoots and heavily damages one of the astromechs. The droids open fire at Peebles. They miss but Peebles is put into a disorienting spin as he tries to avoid the bolts. Jia shoots the damaged astromech droid with her ion blaster and shuts it down. More droids try shoot Nami but miss. Another astromech droid ejected a couple of anti-personnel mines that floated slowly toward the group. Max tried to Force push the mines away but he could only grab one and push it toward the droids.

Nami shoots one of the astromech droids disabling it however inertia still carried the droid on its collision course with Max. Max tried to Force push the droid away but the stress and confusion of the battle prevent from focusing enough and he has to maneuver out of the droids way. The droids shoot one of the mines and the explosion catches Jia. Peebles following the droids example shoots the mine close to them destroying the last of the protocol droids. The remaining astromechs flee up the turbolift shaft.

Not knowing what to expect on the bridge, the group prepares weapons and charges in. They find the bridge crew, strapped in at their stations either weakly gasping for breath or unconscious. They find the captain in his ready room. He labors as he explains all the tasks that can help the ship and gives the group a datapad with the information. As Jia and Nami encrypt the ship’s navicore which contains data and coordinates related to the Rebellion, Peebles secures the bridge. Max has had an idea at the back of his head trying to work its way forward, and when Peebles moves past a large cabinet, he suddenly remembers what it is. Most large starships have emergency breathers stowed on the bridge in case of a sudden loss of atmosphere. Since the bridge crew was trying to react to their sudden exit from hyperspace, they didn’t notice the slowly decreasing oxygen levels. By the time they noticed, they couldn’t undo the restraints quickly enough to reach the equipment. Max opens the cabinet and passes the breathers to the group. With everyone breathing easily, they are able to put aside their fears of suffocation. There are also enough breathers for the captain and the bridge crew to share. Max gives the extras to the captain so he can sort that out. Though the fear of asphyxiation is gone, now the proximity to the black hole is a cause for terror.

Against conventional wisdom, the group decides to split up. With time running out and a huge number of critical systems to restore and situations to respond to, it seems the wisest course. Max and Nami will stay at the front of the ship. They will first re-activate life support and then head up to the primary and secondary communications stations. Nami’s computer skills should be critical in these areas and Max will try and keep the droids busy long enough for Nami to do what she needs. Jia and Peebles will secure the fore and aft hangars and then most importantly reactivate the ship’s engines. Jia’s engineering skills will save everyone and Peebles’ combat prowess will keep Jia safe.

Nami and Max race to life support. They find a couple of deactivated droids (an astromech and medical droid) and several unconscious humans. Nami decides to activate the medical droid to help re-activate the systems. Max fearing that all droids have been subverted prepares to cut the droid down if needed. Max’s fears are confirmed as the droid tries to attack Nami once it is done powering up. He quickly cuts the droid in two. Nami is quickly able to reactivate life support however there are some atmosphere scrubbers that need to be taken care of for full system functionality. Max wakes up one of the techs and gives his breather to him so the techs can start the process. Max and Nami will have to share a breather from this point.

Jia and Peebles make their way to the fore hangar bay. The doors are sealed but Jia opens them slowly. Once they are open enough for him to squeeze through, Peebles quietly enters the hangar. There are lots of droids in the hangar bay. Some are trying to gain access to shuttles, others are guarding a door, and others are disabling starfighters. Jia tries to activate the fire control system to provide a distraction for Peebles but she can’t gain access. Instead she is able to shut off the lights in the hangar bay. Peebles sneaks his way to a pilot who appears to still be conscious, though barely. Peebles learns that there are Rebel soldiers in the pilots’ ready room and they have breathers. As Peebles moves into position, Jia contacts the soldiers and tells them to prepare to exit the room. After checking that Jia is ready, Peebles opens fire on the guards. He misses them but one of hit bolts hits a gantry which falls and crushes several of the droids guarding the door. Shortly after Peebles opens fire, Jia opens the doors to the ready room and the soldiers come out blasters blazing. As Jia and Peebles climb into one of the Y-wings, the pilot tells them the activation code. Peebles gets into the gunners station and activates the weapons systems. He tries to blast some of the droids with the ion cannon, but it is difficult to target man-sized droids with systems designed to shoot at other spacecraft. Jia gets into the pilot seat, powers up the craft, tells the bridge the fore hangar is secure, and she needs them to activate the hangar doors. The Raptor shudders as the gravity of the black hole tugs at the ship. Jia and Peebles have to overcome their fear that they will be consumed the black hole. Jia maintains her composure, but Peebles starts to shake a little from the terror. As the Y-wing exits the hangar, the Rebel soldier mop up the last of the remaining droids.

Max and Nami dash up to the primary communications array. They need to stop the droids there from calling for Imperial reinforcements or failing that call in for Rebel reinforcements. On the way, they stop by a small intelligence section the Rebellion has temporarily set up on the ship. According to the captain’s notes, there should be intelligence operatives there who can help restore the ship. There are droids here trying to access the data and keep the operatives under wraps. Nami is able to shock the astromech droids trying to access the computers and open the door holding the operatives. Max tries to use the Force to throw his lightsaber and cut some of the droids down before they can react to the operatives. While he is able to use the Force to control his throw, his lightsaber shuts off mid-flight and harmlessly hits one of the droids in the back of the head with a loud “thunk.” The droids turn to react but before then can do anything, the operatives blast them from behind. Nami snorts at Max’s prowess with a lightsaber. Max gives the operatives a copy of the objectives list and tells them to hurry before he and Nami dash off to primary communications.

As the Y-wing exits the hangar, Jia and Peebles are confronted with the Black Hole and its terrifying proximity. They are briefly tempted to just get the hell away from it but Jia’s loyalty prompts her to keep on task. As they near the aft hangar bay, they can see two Victory class Star Destroyers exiting hyperspace and moving close to the Raptor. As the Y-wing enters the hangar, Jia and Peebles see a chaotic scene. Rebel soldiers are fighting droids for control of the hangar bay. Some of the droids are trying to gain access to the shuttles in an attempt to escape the ship. Peebles fire the ion cannons the shuttles and disables most of them. One of the load/lifter droids charges the Y-wing as Jia brings it in to land and severs the left engine from the ship. Jia barely manages to keep control of the craft and safely bringing the craft to a stop though the craft does crash into several droids. As Jia pops the cockpit, she shouts for the Rebels to follow her to engineering. Some Rebels do follow her but some droids pursue as well.

In the primary communications array, Max and Jia find that the droids have control. Some droids are guarding the communications personnel, a couple of astromech droids are accessing the computers, and a medical droid is interrogating an officer strapped to a chair. Nami stealthily accesses one of the computers and shocks the astromech droids. As she does that, Max tries to free the personnel and charges the droids swinging his ligthsaber. Max’s wild swings actually result in him flinging his lightsaber away. In an uncanny stroke of luck, the lightsaber impales the medical droid. With the guards distracted by Max, the communications personnel rise against their captors quickly disabling the droids. Max and Nami rally the personnel and everyone charges to the secondary communications array quickly securing it. Once both stations are secure, they send a message to the Alliance for reinforcements. Nami makes a withering comment about Max really needing to learn how to use a lightsaber. Max is unable to disagree with the assessment.

In engineering, Jia, Peebles, and their Rebel reinforcements must confront the tactical droid that has been masterminding this operation. The tac droid shoots Jia scoring a solid hit. Peebles shoots back in response blasting away at the droid doing serious damage. A rebel trooper also follow suit and fires his blaster rifle at the tac droid. He does some damage to the already weakened droid. The droids that chased the Rebels fire at Jia assuming her to be the leader. They score several devastating hits and Jia is overwhelmed and knocked unconscious. A rebel engineer tries to re-activate the engines but the stress of combat proves too much and he can’t remember the correct sequence. The remaining droids shoot at Peebles scoring some minor hits on the tough Trandoshan.

With only seconds left until the Raptor enters the event horizon of the black hole, the ship shudders yet again and everyone can feel the tug of the black hole’s gravity on them. The stress proves too much for Peebles and he falls unconscious. The tactical droid flees engineering trying to find a way off the ship before it enters the black hole. The rebel engineer makes one last desperate attempt to restart the engines and performs the reactivation sequence perfectly. In fact, he does so well that he manages to hot start the ship’s engines giving them full power virtually instantly. The soldier pulls the other activation switch and the engineer comms the bridge telling them to get the ship the hell away from the black hole. As both Rebels slump down with relief, they realize that because of their heroic actions today they will probably be promoted and might even become named NPCs as a result of their heroics.

What awaits our intrepid adventurers next?
Will they help Katarn steal the plans for the Death Star?
Will they seek their missing navicore?
How will they get the tibana gas they need?
Will Nami teach Max how to use a lightsaber?
Will Peebles stick around this competent yet crazy bunch?
Will Max remain a danger to himself in combat?
Will Jia take a greater leadership role or has she learned her lesson?
Will those heroic NPCs get names and become recurring characters?
All this and more in our next exciting episode!