Randomized Maps

Do you need to populate a M is for Map with a random assortment of spaces? Sure you do! While one can easily pick and choose from the list provided in that section of Edge of the Empire Alphabet; a randomized, weighted table can be used instead. Using random tables can often make the game feel a bit magical and grow the design of your heist organically.

To randomly determine a slew of rooms; roll once on a Force Die and once on a d10, consulting the charts below, for each room. The results should produce a haphazard array of contained sites featuring a high density of the commonplace and a low density of the most rare and esoteric of venues.

d10		.		..
1		Fitness		Observatory
2		Galley		Armory
3		Storage Hold		Security Command
4		Crew Quarters		Magnetic Dynamo
5		Troop Barracks		Interstellar Communications
6		Security Checkpoint		Prototype Lab
7		Power Coupling		Decontamination Bay
8		Repair & Maintenance		Research Lab
9		Droid Storage		War Room / Briefing Room
10		Service Tunnel		Command Center

d10		OO		O
1		Cantina		Labyrinthine Corridors
2		Officer’s Quarters		Vault
3		Missile Bay		Chasm
4		Ion Drive		Grand Hall
5		Hyperdrive		Arena
6		Turbolaser Control		Brig/Prison
7		Medical Bay		Throne Room
8		Communications		Meditation Chamber
9		Library		Inner Sanctum
10		Flight Deck		Temple; see Z is for Zealot

M is for Maps

Using vivid language to engage your audience in the theater of the mind can be an exquisite journey using the beauty of prose. However, ethereal descriptions can easily lend themselves to confusing and conflicting information when shared among your roleplaying gaming group. Mapping a scene in your roleplaying game can take an unwieldy, cumbersome narrative and provide a definitive view that is instantly grasped by all interested parties. As they say, a picture is worth 1,000 words.

The two most important goals of your own maps should be to provide both spatial relationships in the scene and to open up interesting decision points for the Crew. Your map does not have to be a work of art. In fact, oftentimes a less detailed map with purposeful vagaries will prove to be more beneficial as the unknown, nebulous details can be filled in on-the-fly to align with the imaginations and expectations of the Crew.  Clarity and purpose are the driving forces here. When drawing your maps, ask yourself,

“What pieces are involved here? Where are the decision points? What parts of this environment can be used in creative ways? How does this space relate to the other regions in this Heist?”

L is for Location

image by Ralph McQuarrie

A Location serves as a unique backdrop to your Star Wars adventures. Most commonly used to set details on a H is for Heist, these fantastical locations routinely come into play time and again as Galaxy Masters scramble together destinations for the Crew to voyage to, whispered locales to be sought after, and feared domains to be avoided.

Well designed sites are one of the handful of great memories from roleplaying game sessions that can stick with players for years to come. They remember “that village full of telepaths”, “the temple ruins full of rats in the walls”, and “the star system of shattered moons”.

H is for Heists (v2.0)

This post expounds upon the original;  adding far more nuance, detail and complexity to what is arguably the most useful and most used part of an Edge of the Empire campaign.

Heists are the backbone of the Edge of the Empire game, an ‘adventure’ in Dungeons & Dragons parlance. While highly complex and nuanced plots can be easily lost on players at the table, a Heist that is too straightforward, linear, and predictable is boring and might not challenge the players creativity enough for their liking.

B is for Beasts

Fantastic creatures of all kinds populate the Star Wars universe. Tauntauns, mynocks, the rancor, the sarlacc, the creature in the death star trash compactor; all these monstrous beings occupy a unique niche in their respective stories, serving as both adversaries and allies. These beasts also serve to connect the story back to the primal world, the essence of life from which flows the Force, in stark contrast to the tyrannical Empire of the core worlds and the bleakness of empty space. The inhuman, in this way, remind us of our humanity.

No beast-like creature has ever appeared in two different Star Wars movies, and so you too, while designing your heists, should strive for variety and novelty. Open up your imagination and create the unexpected.

K is for Knowledge v2.0

Previously on Triumph & Despair, I had taken a stab at an aspect of the Star Wars Edge of the Empire rules that I found a bit lacking. Namely, the overall utility of the knowledge skills. I wanted to elevate them, give more reasons to consider spending the XP on Knowledge (Underworld) and not on something a little more crude and obvious, such as the combat skills. I think I succeeded there, and am happy with what I did. However, as both my face-to-face and play-by-plus campaigns begin to really gear up, I find that I’ve created a mountain out of a molehill and have something a little too cumbersome and unwieldy to really use properly. So, back to the drawing board!

“It’s alright, I know a guy.”

Cause & Effect 06 – Vandals

“A stylized image of the Emperor is stenciled on a nearby wall. The word ‘obey’ reads below in basic. Imperial advertizing or social commentary?“

Welcome back to Cause & Effect. We’re going to change things up today. Instead of rolling randomly on the table presented in V is for Vignettes, I will consult the table based on the above caption. My goal is to show that you can easily take a few sentences and turn that into an interesting encounter. These are my results:

Instigator Poor citizen

Action Harasses

Target A cantina or nearby building

Escalation Has unavoidable Imperial entanglements

Escalation The same subject as a Crew members Motivation is involved (Overthrow the Empire/Support the Empire)

Does the Crew stop the vandal? Offer words of encouragement? Defend them from the inevitable Imperial patrol that rounds the corner at the most inopportune time?

StarControl

StarControl 2 was a video game series from the early 90’s that holds a dear place in my heart. For me, it epitomizes the niche gaming genre of space exploration and sandbox design. It was a true space fantasy universe  Naturally, about this time last year I went about designing a tabletop roleplaying game based off of the original. Though not specific to Star Wars, the themes and ideas that went into this opus resonate with any space fantasy game setting, and so I will be sharing them with you here.

You can also jump to our abandoned Obsidian Portal page here, created for the short-lived campaign. I’ll be refraining from posting very many detailed mechanics to the game, as the core of the game used a pretty obscure basis. Drop a Comment if you want to see more of something specific that I glossed over.

EotE Alphabet Quick Reference

On several occasions now, I have been kindly asked to provide a PDF of all of the Edge of the Empire Alphabet entries. While the interest in my work is very flattering, and I am overjoyed that so many find it to be useful, a painful truth is that this is simply impossible. My plan for the Edge of the Empire Alphabet is that it will never truly end. The Edge of the Empire Alphabet will always be growing and evolving, adding and changing entries. It will never be complete because there is no true end.

I intend to address all 26 letters of the Roman Alphabet first, to create a satisfying sense of completeness. Skipping difficult letters (I’m looking at you, Y) is far too easy a path, the cheap way out, one that leads to the Dark Side of laziness and a post that does not live up to the quality I am capable of delivering. After that, however, letters will begin to double, triple, and quadruple up. I’m sure many readers have already noticed the subtle hints, as several random tables already have begun referencing these entries; A is for Artifacts, N is for No disintegrations, etc.

Taking this all into account, I recognize the utility of a handy, all-in-one reference sheet. Last week, it dawned on me that I would like one of these hypothetical reference guides as well. And so, it was created. Not for you, the reader, but for my own use. In a perfect reflection of this blog as a whole, the new reference guide is simply my shared thoughts and ideas as I create them for my own use.

BEHOLD!

Click this link here to be taken to Galaxy Master Ross’ personal Edge of the Empire Alphabet Quick Reference PDF file. It contains an abbreviated listing of all the random tables presented, as well as the complete 2000+ names of star systems, and a few bonus surprises in the form of early release material of future Alphabet entries. For brevity at the gaming table, all random table instructions and explanations have been removed or truncated; creating a no-frills, utilitarian document. Galaxy Masters will only find this document useful when they are already comfortable applying its principles and concepts. I will be periodically updating this file as more Alphabet entries are released and a permanent link has been placed on the Edge of the Empire Alphabet page.

Cause & Effect 05 – Bothan Led Crew Steals Cargo

“Quickly now, quickly. I want to get that cargo and get out of here before anyone notices that we are here.“

Illustrated by UDON

Welcome back to Cause & Effect. In my last post, we dealt with a heavy topic (child slavery). Today’s topic potentially features a parade. That’s happy right? What’s the catch? The Crew has to have a strong enough moral compass to do the right thing.

Because my improv-fu is strong, I rolled randomly on the table presented in V is for Vignettes. These are the results:

Instigator Smuggler

Action Steals from

Target a Fellow Smuggler

Escalation Has an encrypted code that leads to a reward

Escalation In the middle of a wild parade

If the Crew witnessed a crime go down, would they do anything about it?