Mephistopheles
First Post
Forked from: The Luke Skywalker Paradox
Ktulu's thread got me thinking about how this would have played out at the game table.
Luke's player was metagaming. He saw that the rest of the party was in trouble and wanted to be the hero and save the day instead of finishing his training - even after the GM had made an exception by allowing him to be the only PC allowed to train as a Jedi, classic spotlight hog - so he made up some story about having a Force vision where he saw that his friends were in trouble. The GM tried to discourage Luke's player from metagaming by having Yoda be very insistent that Luke should stay and complete the training - the DM knew that the party had decent odds of escaping Vader in Cloud City because Lando was going to help them, a handy way to have Lando transition from NPC to PC for the new player that had joined the group - but Luke's player would have none of it.
When Luke arrives at Cloud City his player metagames again. He knows where Leia and company are being escorted by Storm Troopers so he moves to meet up with them to attempt a rescue. By this point the GM is getting tired of Luke's player using knowledge Luke doesn't have so he rules that the troopers spot Luke and pin him with blaster fire. Han's player knows that Luke is not up to facing Vader and that the chances of Han being rescued are better if Luke rejoins the party so he tells Leia's player to have Leia warn Luke that it's a trap, as Luke's player was in the bathroom when when Lando explained that Vader was really after Skywalker.
When Lando's rescue succeeds and the GM introduces Lando as a new PC in the group Chewie's player pounces. After Lando hands the blasters over to Leia and uncuffs Chewie the player of the wookie figures Lando will be some quick and easy XP and justifies his attack by calling it revenge for imprisoning Han in carbonite. The GM is getting frustrated so he advises the players that Lando may know of a way to save Han but time is short. Han's player convinces Chewie's player that saving Han is more important and that they can deal with Lando later. Chewie's player is reluctant to go along with it and has Chewie continue to strangle Lando for a few more rounds before giving in - a delay that will prove costly. The GM gives Han's player a hint that he should probably pipe down a bit as his character is stuck in carbonite so Han's player heads into the kitchen to get a drink.
Luke's player figures that the rest of the party can handle Boba Fett and save Han so he presses on to find Vader. R2's player thinks it's suicide and that Luke's player is getting annoying so he allows himself to get separated from Luke and heads off to hook up with the rest of the party. The GM cuts R2's player a break and allows him to find the rest of the party quickly - mainly because Luke has found and engaged Vader and the GM doesn't want to run three separate groups - and they arrive on the landing platform a few rounds too late to save Han from Boba Fett. Han's player tells everyone he's got an early start the next morning and heads off for the night.
Meanwhile Luke's player is having second thoughts about going after Vader when he finds himself outmatched. He's almost encased in carbonite but gets a lucky result on a jump check and then manages to get a crit on Vader. The GM, trying to give Luke a chance to flee from a fight he can't win, rules that Vader is knocked off the platform. Luke's player reads this wrong and thinks he's in with a shot and pursues Vader rather than cutting and running to rejoin the party. When Luke finds Vader and engages him again the GM unleashes some of Vader's force powers. Luke is really taking a pounding so the GM cuts him another break by having one of the hurled objects break a window in the background and rules that the pressurization difference sucks Luke out of the room, but allowing him to catch a railing below the window as he falls - another attempt to allow Luke to escape.
Back with the rest of the party, they're on the run from Imperial forces and trying to get to the Falcon. When Lando tries to open a door and finds the security codes have been changed the GM tries to get Lando's player involved by advising him he can try to bypass the security. Threepio's player - a know-it-all who likes to tell everyone how to play their characters but is largely ignored by the group - speaks up, however, and tells R2's player to patch into the computer instead. R2's player is a good friend of Threepio's player so he complies, while the GM again tries to involve Lando's player by suggesting he issue a warning to the citizens of Cloud City to flee. Lando's player improvises a pretty good warning and seems to be getting into the swing of the game. As a reward to R2's player for encouraging Threepio's player to tell other people what to do the GM rules that it was a power socket and not a computer interface, causing some minor damage to R2. Threepio's player laughs at R2's misfortune.
At the next door R2 finds a computer interface and patches in. The GM passes a secret note to R2's player advising him that the hyperdrive on the Falcon is not operational. R2's player advises the group that he's found some information about the repair status of the Falcon but is shut down by Threepio's player who tells him to get on with opening the door as Imperial reinforcements are arriving round after round. R2 gets the door open and the party makes a run for the Falcon. The GM advises Chewie's player that rushing up the loading ramp of the Falcon with Threepio strapped to his back will be difficult, Chewie's player responds by risking a few rounds of Storm Trooper blaster fire - knowing that the GM tends to roll really poorly whenever Storm Troopers are shooting - to make a few failed attempts at rushing into the Falcon and inflicting some minor head wounds to Threepio. Threepio's player protests and is ignored. Leia and Lando make their fighting withdrawl up the loading ramp of the Falcon while Chewie's player dumps Threepio - roughly, causing more minor damage - and moves into the cockpit to get the ship moving. Threepio's player quietly complains to R2's player about Chewie's player, who went to the bathroom after successfully getting the ship off the platform.
Back in the bowels of Cloud City, Luke's player has finally cottoned on to the fact that he is hopelessly outmatched and begins considering trying to get away. However, he just watched the rest of the party play out their escape so he thinks he may be screwed unless he can get back to his own ship. The GM figures he's given Luke enough chances so he has Vader waiting in ambush, but Vader rolls a one on his attack in the surprise round and whiffs. Luke's luck runs out quickly after that as Vader forces him into a corner. The GM gives him one last chance by having Vader demand surrender, thinking that the rest of the party can attempt a rescue as the transition into a stealth mission onto Vader's Super Star Destroyer that he has been planning.
Luke's player opts to fight on, Luke scores another lucky crit on Vader and Luke's player whoops annoyingly. The GM pulls out the stops and has Vader go for a called shot on Luke's hand to disarm him and leave him no option but to surrender - the GM has, regretfully, invested a large portion of the campaign plot in Luke and doesn't want to throw it out if he can avoid it. Luke's player is not totally oblivious to the fact that he's been given quite a few potential outs during his fight with Vader and so he gambles on Luke having substantial enough plot immunity that he can get out of the situation without surrendering. When Vader reveals that he is Luke's father Luke's player's hunch that he has plot immunity is confirmed and he opts to simply jump and fall with the assumption that the GM will figure out a way to save his character. The GM sighs and does save Luke from a messy death, but then thinks worse of it and decides he's done with Luke. He leaves him hanging at the bottom of the city with death an eventual certainty.
With that development the group begins debating how to proceed. They want to try to help Luke but think it's too contrived to simply turn around and pick him up. Luke's player asks the GM if he can use the Force to contact Leia and ask for help. The GM says yes but assigns a difficulty to the task that leaves only a very slim chance of success. Once again Luke's player pulls off the roll and whoops annoyingly. The GM smiles thinly and then pretends to read a rulebook for a moment to conceal the twitching of his left eye.
Knowing that the hyperdrive on the Falcon is still out of order, and seeing that R2's player seems to have forgotten the information about it that he retrieved from the Cloud City computer system, the GM sends some Imperial fighters after the party. If he can disable the ship and capture the party he can adapt the Star Destroyer mission into a stealth escape mission. Chewie, Leia and Lando get everything ready to jump to light speed only to find it doesn't work. While Lando's player gets defensive about it and says that Lando's history with the ship should allow him to fix it quickly Chewie's player curses himself for not killing Lando when he had the chance and tells Lando to stay put in the cockpit while Chewie sorts it out.
While Chewie works on the hyperdrive in vain - he keeps failing his checks when trying to diagnose the problem - the GM begins foreshadowing the capture of the party by having Vader talk to Luke using the Force. R2's player says he tried to tell the group about the hyperdrive problem and nobody listened before but Threepio's player shuts him down again, saying that Chewie can fix the hyperdrive and R2 should finish getting Threepio's legs reattached. R2's player has had enough of Threepio's player and asks the GM how much information R2 got from the Cloud City computer about the hyperdrive problem. The GM sets R2 an almost impossible computer check. R2's player pulls off the roll and Luke's player whoops annoyingly. While Threepio's player whines about Threepio still having one leg not yet attached R2 proceeds to fix the hyperdrive and the party escapes. The GM calls the game to a close for the night.
During the week all of the players - except for Han's player, who spent the whole night doing nothing as Han was encased in carbonite at the end of the session the week before - praise the GM for running the best adventure yet. The GM considers the pile of notes he had ready for a detailed adventure aboard Vader's Star Destroyer that are now void and advises the group he is thinking about taking a break from GMing. As it happens an old group member returns to town and offers to pick up GMing the game as he has some great ideas for an adventure on a small moon inhabited by a cool new race of feral furry halflings he's designed.
(Okay, so I got a little carried away...)
Ktulu said:
Ktulu's thread got me thinking about how this would have played out at the game table.
Luke's player was metagaming. He saw that the rest of the party was in trouble and wanted to be the hero and save the day instead of finishing his training - even after the GM had made an exception by allowing him to be the only PC allowed to train as a Jedi, classic spotlight hog - so he made up some story about having a Force vision where he saw that his friends were in trouble. The GM tried to discourage Luke's player from metagaming by having Yoda be very insistent that Luke should stay and complete the training - the DM knew that the party had decent odds of escaping Vader in Cloud City because Lando was going to help them, a handy way to have Lando transition from NPC to PC for the new player that had joined the group - but Luke's player would have none of it.
When Luke arrives at Cloud City his player metagames again. He knows where Leia and company are being escorted by Storm Troopers so he moves to meet up with them to attempt a rescue. By this point the GM is getting tired of Luke's player using knowledge Luke doesn't have so he rules that the troopers spot Luke and pin him with blaster fire. Han's player knows that Luke is not up to facing Vader and that the chances of Han being rescued are better if Luke rejoins the party so he tells Leia's player to have Leia warn Luke that it's a trap, as Luke's player was in the bathroom when when Lando explained that Vader was really after Skywalker.
When Lando's rescue succeeds and the GM introduces Lando as a new PC in the group Chewie's player pounces. After Lando hands the blasters over to Leia and uncuffs Chewie the player of the wookie figures Lando will be some quick and easy XP and justifies his attack by calling it revenge for imprisoning Han in carbonite. The GM is getting frustrated so he advises the players that Lando may know of a way to save Han but time is short. Han's player convinces Chewie's player that saving Han is more important and that they can deal with Lando later. Chewie's player is reluctant to go along with it and has Chewie continue to strangle Lando for a few more rounds before giving in - a delay that will prove costly. The GM gives Han's player a hint that he should probably pipe down a bit as his character is stuck in carbonite so Han's player heads into the kitchen to get a drink.
Luke's player figures that the rest of the party can handle Boba Fett and save Han so he presses on to find Vader. R2's player thinks it's suicide and that Luke's player is getting annoying so he allows himself to get separated from Luke and heads off to hook up with the rest of the party. The GM cuts R2's player a break and allows him to find the rest of the party quickly - mainly because Luke has found and engaged Vader and the GM doesn't want to run three separate groups - and they arrive on the landing platform a few rounds too late to save Han from Boba Fett. Han's player tells everyone he's got an early start the next morning and heads off for the night.
Meanwhile Luke's player is having second thoughts about going after Vader when he finds himself outmatched. He's almost encased in carbonite but gets a lucky result on a jump check and then manages to get a crit on Vader. The GM, trying to give Luke a chance to flee from a fight he can't win, rules that Vader is knocked off the platform. Luke's player reads this wrong and thinks he's in with a shot and pursues Vader rather than cutting and running to rejoin the party. When Luke finds Vader and engages him again the GM unleashes some of Vader's force powers. Luke is really taking a pounding so the GM cuts him another break by having one of the hurled objects break a window in the background and rules that the pressurization difference sucks Luke out of the room, but allowing him to catch a railing below the window as he falls - another attempt to allow Luke to escape.
Back with the rest of the party, they're on the run from Imperial forces and trying to get to the Falcon. When Lando tries to open a door and finds the security codes have been changed the GM tries to get Lando's player involved by advising him he can try to bypass the security. Threepio's player - a know-it-all who likes to tell everyone how to play their characters but is largely ignored by the group - speaks up, however, and tells R2's player to patch into the computer instead. R2's player is a good friend of Threepio's player so he complies, while the GM again tries to involve Lando's player by suggesting he issue a warning to the citizens of Cloud City to flee. Lando's player improvises a pretty good warning and seems to be getting into the swing of the game. As a reward to R2's player for encouraging Threepio's player to tell other people what to do the GM rules that it was a power socket and not a computer interface, causing some minor damage to R2. Threepio's player laughs at R2's misfortune.
At the next door R2 finds a computer interface and patches in. The GM passes a secret note to R2's player advising him that the hyperdrive on the Falcon is not operational. R2's player advises the group that he's found some information about the repair status of the Falcon but is shut down by Threepio's player who tells him to get on with opening the door as Imperial reinforcements are arriving round after round. R2 gets the door open and the party makes a run for the Falcon. The GM advises Chewie's player that rushing up the loading ramp of the Falcon with Threepio strapped to his back will be difficult, Chewie's player responds by risking a few rounds of Storm Trooper blaster fire - knowing that the GM tends to roll really poorly whenever Storm Troopers are shooting - to make a few failed attempts at rushing into the Falcon and inflicting some minor head wounds to Threepio. Threepio's player protests and is ignored. Leia and Lando make their fighting withdrawl up the loading ramp of the Falcon while Chewie's player dumps Threepio - roughly, causing more minor damage - and moves into the cockpit to get the ship moving. Threepio's player quietly complains to R2's player about Chewie's player, who went to the bathroom after successfully getting the ship off the platform.
Back in the bowels of Cloud City, Luke's player has finally cottoned on to the fact that he is hopelessly outmatched and begins considering trying to get away. However, he just watched the rest of the party play out their escape so he thinks he may be screwed unless he can get back to his own ship. The GM figures he's given Luke enough chances so he has Vader waiting in ambush, but Vader rolls a one on his attack in the surprise round and whiffs. Luke's luck runs out quickly after that as Vader forces him into a corner. The GM gives him one last chance by having Vader demand surrender, thinking that the rest of the party can attempt a rescue as the transition into a stealth mission onto Vader's Super Star Destroyer that he has been planning.
Luke's player opts to fight on, Luke scores another lucky crit on Vader and Luke's player whoops annoyingly. The GM pulls out the stops and has Vader go for a called shot on Luke's hand to disarm him and leave him no option but to surrender - the GM has, regretfully, invested a large portion of the campaign plot in Luke and doesn't want to throw it out if he can avoid it. Luke's player is not totally oblivious to the fact that he's been given quite a few potential outs during his fight with Vader and so he gambles on Luke having substantial enough plot immunity that he can get out of the situation without surrendering. When Vader reveals that he is Luke's father Luke's player's hunch that he has plot immunity is confirmed and he opts to simply jump and fall with the assumption that the GM will figure out a way to save his character. The GM sighs and does save Luke from a messy death, but then thinks worse of it and decides he's done with Luke. He leaves him hanging at the bottom of the city with death an eventual certainty.
With that development the group begins debating how to proceed. They want to try to help Luke but think it's too contrived to simply turn around and pick him up. Luke's player asks the GM if he can use the Force to contact Leia and ask for help. The GM says yes but assigns a difficulty to the task that leaves only a very slim chance of success. Once again Luke's player pulls off the roll and whoops annoyingly. The GM smiles thinly and then pretends to read a rulebook for a moment to conceal the twitching of his left eye.
Knowing that the hyperdrive on the Falcon is still out of order, and seeing that R2's player seems to have forgotten the information about it that he retrieved from the Cloud City computer system, the GM sends some Imperial fighters after the party. If he can disable the ship and capture the party he can adapt the Star Destroyer mission into a stealth escape mission. Chewie, Leia and Lando get everything ready to jump to light speed only to find it doesn't work. While Lando's player gets defensive about it and says that Lando's history with the ship should allow him to fix it quickly Chewie's player curses himself for not killing Lando when he had the chance and tells Lando to stay put in the cockpit while Chewie sorts it out.
While Chewie works on the hyperdrive in vain - he keeps failing his checks when trying to diagnose the problem - the GM begins foreshadowing the capture of the party by having Vader talk to Luke using the Force. R2's player says he tried to tell the group about the hyperdrive problem and nobody listened before but Threepio's player shuts him down again, saying that Chewie can fix the hyperdrive and R2 should finish getting Threepio's legs reattached. R2's player has had enough of Threepio's player and asks the GM how much information R2 got from the Cloud City computer about the hyperdrive problem. The GM sets R2 an almost impossible computer check. R2's player pulls off the roll and Luke's player whoops annoyingly. While Threepio's player whines about Threepio still having one leg not yet attached R2 proceeds to fix the hyperdrive and the party escapes. The GM calls the game to a close for the night.
During the week all of the players - except for Han's player, who spent the whole night doing nothing as Han was encased in carbonite at the end of the session the week before - praise the GM for running the best adventure yet. The GM considers the pile of notes he had ready for a detailed adventure aboard Vader's Star Destroyer that are now void and advises the group he is thinking about taking a break from GMing. As it happens an old group member returns to town and offers to pick up GMing the game as he has some great ideas for an adventure on a small moon inhabited by a cool new race of feral furry halflings he's designed.
(Okay, so I got a little carried away...)
