A Crazy Idea: Kitbashing Star Wars, Freeport and Spirit of the Century...

Okay... Just for fun, here's my bright idea:

I'm going to start with the adventure module Death in Freeport, and re-season it as necessary to plop the whole plot line down in Mos Eisley on Tatooine in the Star Wars universe.

Second, I going to come up with as few house rules as possible to make Spirit of the Century work in Star Wars.

Lastly, I'll convert any necessary stats in the adventure from D20 to "Spirit of the Force"... along with pre-generated characters based on the D20 "Star Wars Iconic Characters".

The goal is to use this adventure as a vacation from D&D at sometime in the indeterminate future.

Suggestions are always welcome.

Let me review Death in Freeport tonight, and then I'll get started.

WARNING: The remainder of the thread likely will contain spoilers for anyone who is not familiar with the Freeport Adventure series.

The Basic Plot Outline goes something like this:

A young priest from the Temple of Knowledge is unknowingly possessed by an extraplanar entity, and the spirit, through the priest, begins trying to learn as much as it can about the world. The priest is expelled from the temple for violations, and then disappears into the wider world for years. When he returns, he remembers nothing of his travels, but now possesses an impressive collection of books, scrolls and artifacts. Apparently cured of his madness, he begs to be readmitted to the temple, and offers the mysterious collection to the temple as recompense for his past transgressions. They take him back in, and everything's pretty quiet for a while. Then, he begins to have strange and troubling dreams. Believing the dreams to be connected to the missing years of his life, he begins to investigate his travels during that period, so that he can find out exactly what happened. Finally, he disappears again for the second time.

As the Heroes arrive in the city, they are hired by another monk from the temple to find the missing brother. Following a trail of clues, they will have to deal with the priests of the temple, a band of pirates, the local authorities, and finally a strange, otherworldly cult.

A Brief History of Freeport:

The world was once ruled by snake-men would worshipped Yig. Their world-spanning Empire was destroyed by the Unspeakable One, a Cthulu-esque horror.

Millennia later, humans rose to power, and pirates colonized a small chain of islands, founding the city of Freeport. It served as a base of operations until it drew the attention of Imperial navies. After long years of fighting back and forth between the pirates and the Imperials, a captain named Drac struck a deal: He'd stop the piracy, if the island was recognized as a legitimate city-state with him as the ruler. Good news for everybody.

Freeport more or less thrived as a trading port for generations. Recently, however, a Sea Lord who was getting the city back on it's feet after a rough patch was killed. The assassin was killed and his body disappeared before anyone could question him. The Sea Lord who succeeded him is just a little bit loopy, and has thrown all the city's resources into building the biggest lighthouse in the world -- to display Freeport's dominance to the rest of the world -- and it's a project that is bankrupting the city.

The grand inauguration of the lighthouse is only a few months away.

Initial thoughts...

First, most of my players are only causal Star Wars fans. So, I want make certain that, while I may use bits and pieces of Star Wars esoterica, the players will require no knowledge of the greater Star Wars universe outside of the six movies.

So... The history of Tatooine, I think, doesn't really require any adjust itself. only minor tweaks to the presumed Freeport history are needed to make it all fit together:

Tatooine was originally a lush world with an indigenous population known as the Ghorfas. It was conquered by the Rakatans, an empire tainted by the Dark Side of the Force, who enslaved the Ghorfas. The Ghorfas eventually rebelled, and the Rakatans punished them by bombarding the planet from orbit, until it resembled the desolate wasteland it has now become.

Later, Tatooine was recolonized by the Republic, but historically has been effectively independent under the de facto rule of assorted corporations, smugglers, pirates and gangsters.

More recently, the Empire has appointed a Planetary Governor and Prefect to the planet, and has stationed a small garrison of Stormtroopers there.

The Ghorfa-Rakata history meshes pretty well with the Yiggite-Unspeakable One history. Jabba the Hutt, Lady Valerian and other important businesspeople and criminals about town will stand in for the Captains' Council. And I think I can easily drop either the Imperial Prefect or the Imperial Governor into the Sea Lord's spot, and the Lighthouse can turn into an Orbital Docking and Transfer Facility. Being recognized as a legitimate state in exchange for a cessation of piracy will instead be explained as, "Allow us to establish an Imperial presence, and we will turn a blind eye to some of your less reputable business practices."

More initial thoughts...

The part of the Temple of Knowledge will be played by the B'omarr Monks -- the strange brains-in-a-jar-spider-droids that wandered around Jabba's palace (actually one of their monasteries). They fit the profile, and I like the vague creepiness about them.

The Evil Cult will, of course, be linked to the Dark Side. Since I'm planning on using conversions of the D20 Star Wars Iconic Characters, I'd like to use Set Harth, one of the the D20 Iconic Dark Jedi/Sith Lord, as the BBEG here. His reported ability to transfer his consciousness from one body to another would fit in well here.

Spirit of the Force

Having taken another look through the Spirit of the Century rules, I think I can do Star Wars with an absolute minimum of house rules, aside from descriptive alterations.

The Force, The Sith and The Jedi:

The mysteries skill and its related stunts do a pretty good job of covering characters who are simply "Force sensitive". It also covers basic "mind tricks", construction of Force-imbued artifacts, and Force ghosts (Luke's specific connection to Obi-Wan's spirit, for example).

For other Force-type skills and tricks, appropriate Stunts from the related skill should be used. If, for example, you want your Jedi to reliably use the Force to leap tall buildings in a single bound, then you should be certain to take the Mighty Leap [Athletics] stunt.

Otherwise, any other aspects of Force use can be adequately simulated through Aspects, which, through the expenditure of Fate points, allow for the use of temporary skill bonuses, skill rerolls, and also to make player-driven changes to the immediate plot or circumstances.

Additional stunts specifically related to the Force might be useful. For now, though, I'm going to use what's there.

Blasters, Spaceships and other Sci-Fi tech:

In SotC, unless the weapon is something specific and special gained through a Stunt (Jedi lightsabers might be a good example), the type of weapon you use has no bearing on how much damage you do or how easy it is for you to hit... It's all about your character's skill.

That said, blasters are just guns that shoot glowing bullets, and lightsabers are just swords with glowing blades. No special rules are really needed for them or any other Star Wars weapon. If the players want a weapon that does something a little extra, they can take the appropriate stunt and maybe even an Aspect as well.

The Drive skill will cover anything the moves in two dimensions (ground vehicles and "land speeders"), while Pilot covers anything that moves in three dimensions ("air speeders" and all spacecraft). Leadership, under the Command action, can be used by the Captain of large spacecraft to enhance the skill checks of his crew.

All other advanced technology can be covered by the rules for Weird Science and Mad Science. Only, the assumption will be that both Weird Science and Mad Science are far, far more common, than they are in default Spirit of the Century.

Droids and Aliens

In a word, they are PCs and NPCs just like anyone else. Significant differences between standard humans can not be taken care of through Skill and Stunt choice, but also through Aspects. A Chewbacca, for example, might have an Aspect called "Wookiee Rage!"


In a general sense, I think that covers most of the major differences in setting. The rest we can address on an ad hoc basis as we go.

PART 1: Baiting the Hook

Jabba’s Weequay slaver and a dozen of his friends mistake the Heroes for easy marks and attempt to press gang them as they leave the docking bay bay at which they’ve arrived.

Queequeg and his thugs corner the Heroes in a narrow back alley that leads from the docking bay exit to the street. The alley is crowded with refuse, assorted empty crates, barrels, garbage cans and such. Passers-by in the street studiously ignore the confrontation, except for one a young man in robes who intently watches from safely behind a corner.

LOCALE ASPECTS
Hot, Dusty, Cluttered

QUEEQUEG, JABBA’S SLAVE MASTER

ASPECTS
Follower of Quay, Weequay Pheromones, Superstitious, Suspicious Mind, Jabba’s Man, “Where there’s a whip, there’s a way.”, Extraordinary Recuperation, Renagade Survivor, “Speak softly…”, “…and carry a big stick.”

SKILLS
Superb: Intimidate
Great: Athletics, Weapons
Good: Alertness, Guns, Endurance
Fair: Might, Fists, Survival, Leadership
Average: Deceit, Gambling, Mysteries, Resolve, Survival

STUNTS
Scary [Intimidation] Normally, Intimidation attempts are resisted by Resolve; with this stunt, the character can use his Intimidation skill to resist Intimidation attempts.

Aura of Menace [Intimidation] Once per scene per target, the character may spend a fate point to intimidate a target as a free action, no matter what the circumstances, immediately (if between actions), or immediately after the current action underway. This free action takes place in addition to any other action the character might take during the exchange.

The Promise of Pain [Intimidation] The character makes a promise (really, a threat) to a target, and makes an attack using Intimidation. If he scores a successful hit of one or better on the target’s mental stress track, he may spend a fate point to immediately force a psychological consequence instead. The consequence must represent an appropriate response (such as folding up in fear, or a broken spirit) to the threat.

Flawless Parry [Weapons] When the character takes a full defense action using Weapons, he gains a +3 bonus rather than the usual +2.

Riposte [Weapons] Whenever you are physically attacked by an opponent at melee distance (the same zone as you), and you successfully defend yourself (using Weapons) well enough to gain spin, you may use that spin to inflict a single point of physical stress on your attacker, immediately, as a free action.

Health: 7
Composure: 6

LOCAL THUGS, MINIONS
Quality: Fair (physical)
Quantity: 12

PART 1: Baiting the Hook (Cont.)

The fellow in the robes in Brother Egil, Acolyte of the B'omarr Orders. He'll warn the Heroes that those were Jabba's men and make small talk, as he guides them to Chalmun's Cantina. Once there, he'll explain that he's looking to hire someone to find another monk who's gone missing -- Brother Lucius. "You'll certainly be able to handle yourselves around here, and you looked a little down on your luck... I thought maybe we can help each other out."

What Egil knows:

• Lucius was training to become a B'omarr Archivist. The Archivists are tasked with collecting and collating lost knowledge.
• About six years ago, Lucius had a severe change in personality. Asking odd questions about Forbidden Subjects, losing all memory of previous friendships, and treating the Temple's archives as his own personal library.
• After getting caught violating the Sanctum, he was expelled from the Order and left Tatooine entirely.
• He reappeared five years later, apparently his old self again. He had no memory of his travels, and begged to be readmitted into the Order.
• No one thought he would be readmitted, but the Abbot welcomed Lucius back in after a private meeting with him.
• Everything seemed back to normal, until Lucius started having strange dreams several month ago.
• He was going crazy trying to find out what he had been doing during those five years missing from his memory.
• Two days ago, he disappeared and no one can find him. The other monks seem unconcerned.

Egil is willing to let the Heroes search Lucius' quarters, but only so long as he can be present when they do.

Other Tidbits and Rumors that can be heard around town:

• The Orbital Station is almost done now: Only three more months until its commissioning. They say the Imperial Governor is planning a big celebration.
• They don’t call that infernal station “Milton’s Folly” for nothing. Ten years to build, and now the planetary coffers are almost empty.
• The Imperial Garrison has been cut back so much that the thieves, smugglers and pirates are running wild. Only the Old Quarter gets real protection.
• All the Stormtroopers from the garrison are being sent out to try to refortify Fort Tusken. It's a lost cause, if you ask me... It'll take every man they've got to just to hold onto it against the Sand People.
• Pirates don’t even bother to lay low when they come to port these days. There are pirate ships here right now—there's even a crew of Gamorreans!
• The local crime lords have had just about enough of Governor Milton. I wouldn't be surprised if had an “unfortunate accident” before his precious space station is finished.

Just to let you know that I'm reading your thread and quite interested. Let me re-read and I may have something more meaning ful to contribute

Are you planning on running this using the SAGA rules or the RCR?

Steel_Wind said:

Just to let you know that I'm reading your thread and quite interested. Let me re-read and I may have something more meaning ful to contribute

Are you planning on running this using the SAGA rules or the RCR?

Click to expand...

Sorry I got distracted for a bit...

Actually, I planning on using Spirit of Century. I've got a feeling that pulp action-adventure rules would be well suited to Star Wars.