Kannik
Legend
Apologies in advance, as there’s no way I can make this short, but I’ll do my best.
It was an epic moment and one of my top gaming memories (and best die rolls) ever.
This was under WEG's D6 engine, and of the official versions I have played (I never did D20, but have tried FFG's) it is my preferred. My absolute favourite ruleset is our current campaign(s), as it uses a system of my own devising I call the Aurora RPG Engine. (I'm in the process of writing a second version of an example RPG using my Star Wars rules for release, but the barebones first one and the RPG engine itself are already available.) Obviously I'm biased, but it has provided the high adventure action and high drama story that befits Star Wars stories.

It was the final adventure of six for our characters. During the first, the Jedi in our party had lost his lightsabre when we were captured by Imperials, including the commander who would become our nemesis: General Grendrief. During the remainer, my character, Elladora, turned out to be quite the firebrand. So it would all come to pass such that we found ourselves in a large ornate office, complete with a big desk in front of a large window overlooking an expansive hangar bay. Intricate marble floor, wall hangings, chandelier lighting, and pedestals around the room each supporting a decorative shrub in large planters filled with marbles. The kind of tacky opulence you’d expect from someone who was trying to aggrandize themselves, someone who was ambitious and not above cheating and scheming to get there.
Indeed, there he was behind the desk, the base captain, none other than General Grendreef, flanked by two of his guards. Except, they were in armour. Power armour. As we tried to process this unexpected sight, the doors locked behind us.
As Grendreef began to gloat, expressing his anger for our little trick that stranded him in the middle of nowhere, Elladora quickly took stock of the situation. There were four of us, and only three of them, but they were in powered exoskeleton armour, and we had, well, what we had. It took no time for her to realize that, “if we fight them straight up, we are so dead. Crap, crap, crap… what to do?”
Why, get creative, of course.
“Hey Ace!” she said, ignoring the still droning Grendreef, “Run over that way and begin tipping over some of those fancy trees!”
“What? Why? What will…”
“Just do it!”
It was at that moment that Grendreef, perhaps not even noticing the commotion going on, pulled something off of his armour, held it in front of him, and ignited it. A blade of energy pulsed from the hilt.
It was our Jedi’s lightsabre.
This really tested the limit of our Jedi’s equanimity.
As Elladora dove one way and Ace the other, both aiming to tip some potted plants, the Jedi dropped to one knee and fired his blaster at Grendreef. His aim was true and his hit strong, searing into the elbow and fusing the circuitry holding the lightsabre. Grendreef struggled against his armour, but the limb held fast, stuck in its outstretched position.
Crash! Came the sound of trees, planters, and oh so many marbles being spilled all over the floor. The two guards turned to fire at Elladora and Ace, who took shelter behind the pillars. The Jedi fired again and, guided by the force no doubt, hit the same elbow again, nearly severing the lower arm and causing the still gripped lightsabre to dangle, held on only by a few cables. Grendreef stared at it in disbelief. Elladora rolled to another pillar and tipped another plant, while Ace accomplished the same by throwing their boot.
It was at this point that Grendreef ceased to be flummoxed and chose instead to ignore the lightsabre and engage the other weapon on his power armour – a multi-barreled gatling blaster – in a wide sweep across the entire area.
Aided by additional fire from the two guards, fragments of the room began exploding everywhere. Chunks of wall raining down, one of the chandeliers crashing, and the pillars behind which now the whole party was hiding quickly whittling away. “Nice plan, Dora!” yelled Ace, sarcastically.
“Shut up!” was her reply, but she knew they were boned. She began to take inventory. “Blaster rifle, blaster pistol, holdout blaster… why do I even carry this thing? It’s so tiny I never use it. I should just throw it away. Waitaminute…”
Player to GM: “I set my blaster pistol to overload!”
“…. What?”
“I tape down the trigger and set the gun to overload condition!”
“Okay…”
Popping up from behind a pillar, Elladora yells “Fire in the hole!” and tossed the pistol like a grenade. It landed right next to the two guards who look at it for a moment before trying to run.
Try, as they begin slipping on the marbles. One slipped and landed directly on the pistol. Grendreef began to run towards us as well...
BOOM!
The blast shattered the rear window of the office as it obliterated one of the guards while flinging the other across the room to hit the wall, hard. Grendreef was blown askew, landing directly atop of Elladora. And the Jedi, unfortunately, took a bodyfull of marbles and was stunned unconscious.
But Elladora had more pressing problems, mainly the weight of power armour now lying atop her, and a lightsabre uncomfortably close. Struggling, both she and Grendreef managed to regain their footing. Grendreef stomped a big boot onto her foot (luckily it was her cyberfoot, which had been replaced after an injury in a previous adventure), pinning her in place. Screaming, she jammed the muzzle of her blaster rifle against the plating of the power armour and pumped a few shots into it. Which had much less than the desired effect. Gloating once more, Grendreef swung a massive fist and pummeled Elladora back to the ground with a thud.
Reeling, Elladora shook her head to clear it as Grendreef swung the muzzles of his gatling blaster towards her. Just then, the lightsabre, still swinging free until this moment, fell out of the weakened grip of the mechanical hand and landed between Elladora’s legs, burying itself up to the hilt in the floor. A grim look of determination fell across her face.
“I’m going to castrate this bastard…”
Grabbing the sabre, she stood up the best she could, her foot still pinned, and readied to golf swing the sabre into Grendreef’s crotch.
The GM spoke. “You realize that if you miss, you’re likely to cut off your own head, right?”
Elladora swung. And despite her injuries and pinned foot, she managed to connect!
The GM could only say “Alright, that’ll be… 8d6+1 damage.”
I gathered up my dice and rolled.
“Oh my gods, look at all the sixes.”
Apparently the GM rolled their eyes. I didn’t see that, as I was staring, wide eyed, at my dice: five sixes, one five, and two fours. Five points less than maximum.
GM: “Even after rolling for his armour, there’s 23 points of damage left.”
Elladora swung the lightsabre, hitting Grendreef square down the centre, slicing the whole way through him. As the Jedi regained consciousness, he saw Elladora hit that classic Star Wars poster pose, holding the lightsabre high above her head as the two halves of Grendreef and his power armour split apart in front of her, each half crashing to the floor.
We jumped out of the office down onto the flight deck, stole a shuttle, and got the heck out of there.
(And Elladora did… after a bit of hesitation, return the lightsabre to the Jedi.)
Indeed, there he was behind the desk, the base captain, none other than General Grendreef, flanked by two of his guards. Except, they were in armour. Power armour. As we tried to process this unexpected sight, the doors locked behind us.
As Grendreef began to gloat, expressing his anger for our little trick that stranded him in the middle of nowhere, Elladora quickly took stock of the situation. There were four of us, and only three of them, but they were in powered exoskeleton armour, and we had, well, what we had. It took no time for her to realize that, “if we fight them straight up, we are so dead. Crap, crap, crap… what to do?”
Why, get creative, of course.
“Hey Ace!” she said, ignoring the still droning Grendreef, “Run over that way and begin tipping over some of those fancy trees!”
“What? Why? What will…”
“Just do it!”
It was at that moment that Grendreef, perhaps not even noticing the commotion going on, pulled something off of his armour, held it in front of him, and ignited it. A blade of energy pulsed from the hilt.
It was our Jedi’s lightsabre.
This really tested the limit of our Jedi’s equanimity.
As Elladora dove one way and Ace the other, both aiming to tip some potted plants, the Jedi dropped to one knee and fired his blaster at Grendreef. His aim was true and his hit strong, searing into the elbow and fusing the circuitry holding the lightsabre. Grendreef struggled against his armour, but the limb held fast, stuck in its outstretched position.
Crash! Came the sound of trees, planters, and oh so many marbles being spilled all over the floor. The two guards turned to fire at Elladora and Ace, who took shelter behind the pillars. The Jedi fired again and, guided by the force no doubt, hit the same elbow again, nearly severing the lower arm and causing the still gripped lightsabre to dangle, held on only by a few cables. Grendreef stared at it in disbelief. Elladora rolled to another pillar and tipped another plant, while Ace accomplished the same by throwing their boot.
It was at this point that Grendreef ceased to be flummoxed and chose instead to ignore the lightsabre and engage the other weapon on his power armour – a multi-barreled gatling blaster – in a wide sweep across the entire area.
Aided by additional fire from the two guards, fragments of the room began exploding everywhere. Chunks of wall raining down, one of the chandeliers crashing, and the pillars behind which now the whole party was hiding quickly whittling away. “Nice plan, Dora!” yelled Ace, sarcastically.
“Shut up!” was her reply, but she knew they were boned. She began to take inventory. “Blaster rifle, blaster pistol, holdout blaster… why do I even carry this thing? It’s so tiny I never use it. I should just throw it away. Waitaminute…”
Player to GM: “I set my blaster pistol to overload!”
“…. What?”
“I tape down the trigger and set the gun to overload condition!”
“Okay…”
Popping up from behind a pillar, Elladora yells “Fire in the hole!” and tossed the pistol like a grenade. It landed right next to the two guards who look at it for a moment before trying to run.
Try, as they begin slipping on the marbles. One slipped and landed directly on the pistol. Grendreef began to run towards us as well...
BOOM!
The blast shattered the rear window of the office as it obliterated one of the guards while flinging the other across the room to hit the wall, hard. Grendreef was blown askew, landing directly atop of Elladora. And the Jedi, unfortunately, took a bodyfull of marbles and was stunned unconscious.
But Elladora had more pressing problems, mainly the weight of power armour now lying atop her, and a lightsabre uncomfortably close. Struggling, both she and Grendreef managed to regain their footing. Grendreef stomped a big boot onto her foot (luckily it was her cyberfoot, which had been replaced after an injury in a previous adventure), pinning her in place. Screaming, she jammed the muzzle of her blaster rifle against the plating of the power armour and pumped a few shots into it. Which had much less than the desired effect. Gloating once more, Grendreef swung a massive fist and pummeled Elladora back to the ground with a thud.
Reeling, Elladora shook her head to clear it as Grendreef swung the muzzles of his gatling blaster towards her. Just then, the lightsabre, still swinging free until this moment, fell out of the weakened grip of the mechanical hand and landed between Elladora’s legs, burying itself up to the hilt in the floor. A grim look of determination fell across her face.
“I’m going to castrate this bastard…”
Grabbing the sabre, she stood up the best she could, her foot still pinned, and readied to golf swing the sabre into Grendreef’s crotch.
The GM spoke. “You realize that if you miss, you’re likely to cut off your own head, right?”
Elladora swung. And despite her injuries and pinned foot, she managed to connect!
The GM could only say “Alright, that’ll be… 8d6+1 damage.”
I gathered up my dice and rolled.
“Oh my gods, look at all the sixes.”
Apparently the GM rolled their eyes. I didn’t see that, as I was staring, wide eyed, at my dice: five sixes, one five, and two fours. Five points less than maximum.
GM: “Even after rolling for his armour, there’s 23 points of damage left.”
Elladora swung the lightsabre, hitting Grendreef square down the centre, slicing the whole way through him. As the Jedi regained consciousness, he saw Elladora hit that classic Star Wars poster pose, holding the lightsabre high above her head as the two halves of Grendreef and his power armour split apart in front of her, each half crashing to the floor.
We jumped out of the office down onto the flight deck, stole a shuttle, and got the heck out of there.
(And Elladora did… after a bit of hesitation, return the lightsabre to the Jedi.)
This was under WEG's D6 engine, and of the official versions I have played (I never did D20, but have tried FFG's) it is my preferred. My absolute favourite ruleset is our current campaign(s), as it uses a system of my own devising I call the Aurora RPG Engine. (I'm in the process of writing a second version of an example RPG using my Star Wars rules for release, but the barebones first one and the RPG engine itself are already available.) Obviously I'm biased, but it has provided the high adventure action and high drama story that befits Star Wars stories.
