Shadows of Bankor

It’s always a fun time to run these and I feel like I learn something new. I also realize these are tiring to run but I enjoy the challenge and I had some simple goals, I wanted to run a semi-classic star wars story of a scrappy rebellion versus jerk Empire and I think I achieved that with middling results.

I still try and add a personal touch but that does get difficult at times and I apologize if folks feel like they didn’t get a story they resonated with, there was a wide range of stories this time which I am still not super happy with Bounties but that is literally my least fave aspect of the setting, since it can be difficult for me to make that more exciting than roll to find target add some obstacles then shoot or capture dude.

This game was the first I really had to deal with major player issues, and that can detract from the fun of the game but overall the players were great, and most issues were clashes of personality and style than outright conflict. I am not an adversarial GM I am not out to get anyone; I do like to add twists and wrinkles to things but I am not out to screw anyone which I think sometimes people seem to assume.

Overall it was a fun game, will probably continue it.

I actually think that this was, no kidding, your best game yet. Seriously, it was so full of stuff! And exciting changes! And so reactive! It's been incredible!

Thanks for running!

As always: thanks so much for your time and energy! It is greatly appreciated

I thought the origin stories worked incredibly well and I'm really glad to hear that you are likely to continue with this setting. Lots of wonderful characters and memorable moments. The Easter eggs from previous games have been a joy to find

Thank you Dapper for this game! It had some very good moments and while I haven't got on some of the more exciting plot lines the fault is with me, my build and my choices for the character. I still think the best game ever of yours was NS but it's because it had both blues and reds. I like when there are two sides of the story, hence Old Republic or Late Republic settings are some of my favourite, this was slightly different but still with some variety.

I liked all the interconnected story links between characters and events and your ability to include player ideas into your world building. Was the focus on Crimson Dawn something you had planned or thought cool to include because it was on several character sheets?

Bounties were well-handled imho. Both how the Wall and Baji were enmeshed fit well with the experience.

I also enjoyed the bigger introduction of half-roll half-RP events even if the one I actually took part was more technical in this regard. Heist dynamics as a failsafe against anticlimactic failures was a really nice touch.

I wasn't too involved with Jedi/Resistance plotlines so can't comment on those but I think they gave people who like such stories a growth curve that made it enjoyable.

Kerfuffles happen always, no need to focus on them. Thank you once again for the titanic effort. Hope when all is over you'll get more sleep. XD

EDIT: Yeah, Easter Eggs were awesome!

I've corrected, learned, a lot of the vibes I thought I felt in these games when my life was a little muddier. One of my biggest reliefs was coming into this game without that haze over me, being able to work with/understand you better, and honestly having one of my better experiences in Forum gaming. So, thank you Dapper, I've appreciated all the work given toward my threads and plots and loved every second of it.

Generally, the game was great, and had a really good atmosphere of being alive and reactive! Seeing what other people got up to was always super cool too! Was a very fun game. Heist events were some of my favorite, and almost the only ones I joined! It was a little awkward at first, getting to allow myself to fall into it, but the ability to sorta just write a cool scene with some rolls was very fun. Very much helped the vibe that put the scene in the right place.

Seeing the trickle-down from old games was cool. And, on that note, it was a small note at the start but I very much appreciated the position the new-age Serasai was in. Very nice, very appropriate.

However it ends, Jenna is a character I will remember and you, along with my thread partners, are responsible for that. Thank you!

I had no Crimson Dawn until it showed up on several characters. Vandil was always going to go after her boss but the Crimson Dawn plot made it a spicier venture.

Probably lots of stuff that had no presence till players arrived.

The Temple came from the my one shot, the CIS stuff came from players, and a lot of the Aznuri stuff built on player stuff. Probably lots of little and big stuff.

I had a lot of fun in this game, and I was honestly surprised at the amount of Mando stuff that came up considering it was just me and one other person who had strong ties with that. I'm glad you were willing to put the time into it. I hope it came out interesting for you, as well.

It really helped that I felt a little more comfortable communicating with you as the GM this time. I don't know if that's a change with me or how things were in the game itself, but I appreciate it nonetheless.

I also felt much less stress with this game than I often do. I often found myself feeling that things would go in an interesting direction no matter whether I succeeded or failed at something. It made it easier to let the dice fall where they may and look forward to the outcome regardless.

As others have said, the easter eggs from the previous games were a nice touch. It gave everything a sense of continuity. There were a couple of times I found myself wondering what echoes Luth left, and if Raela's still out there somewhere. It created in some ways a sense of a bigger galaxy where things were going on beyond just here and now.

All in all, great job. I really enjoyed my time in this game. I'm glad I slapped together a character fast enough to participate.

Definitely a big thank you for all the running and patience.

I for one was fine not having the most exciting story, due to time constraints. It can be okay being a side character if that's what you're up to

Wish I had something to add for the bounties, but I will say I do enjoy them as is. Personally, of course. Sometimes it can be nice to just have an uncomplicated place you can use your character's combat skills without it being part of something larger.

Definitely need to throw my gratitude in here as well. This game was a total surprise with Alderaan still on the docket, and you're crazy (awesome) for just throwing this one into the mix as well. Loved the callbacks to the previous games as well and looking forward to seeing more in the timestream. My only hope is we haven't tired you out too much; I know GM'ing can often be overwhelming and seem like a thankless job, so again, thank you!

Dapper Dog wrote: ↑

Wed Feb 19, 2020 9:11 pm

The Temple came from the my one shot...

Can you say more about that? The hunt for the hidden temple was something that felt so tailor-made for Vaya that it exceeded all my expectations (which I had carefully managed since I think when me/others asked before game "will there be archaeology and stuff" the answer was ambiguous). So, I'm interested to what extent it was a response to me/others, or pre-existing, or a result of this mysterious one-shot.

Thanks for the game!

Just a small comment on the bounty hunter stuff. If you don't like it, maybe don't worry about Including it? I haven't read all the books or played all the games. As far as I have seen though in starwars bounty hunters generally fill the roll of antagonist. So maybe its something thats not needed to be added?

As one of the difficult players, I'll say this much - even when things got rough, and communication struggled, I was enjoying the game enough to want to stay and work it out, which I hope you'll take as a complement.

It was a fun game - it definitely had more of a cinematic feel, and an element of 'plot armor' that sometimes made playing a hard boiled character a lot more difficult, because crazy plans had a high success rate - but in a setting like star wars, and a very cooperative game like this, I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing.

I think I've told you my concerns OOC in private, so I won't hash them out, but on the whole, I think you've done a good job. Even when we had clashes of style/personality (Which happens with all our characters too, so I can't say I'm entirely surprised), you were willing to work it out and I appreciated that. I do think you may want a minion GM to help take a little of the load, just because playing a more active GM for this many players has got to be crazy difficult.

For bounties, I think having a few 'opt in' combat encounters like that are a good idea - but perhaps making them up like mini events, with a limited number and very high lethality risk... could make it something that gets pursued by a group of hunters or none of them... it's a hard thing to work with - I guess you'd have to ask what you want the bounties to accomplish. They did feel somewhat unnecessary for many characters, but there were a few who seemed quite engaged in that.

I guess my long story short is, the game was fun, even if sometimes trying to oblige every player caused some troubles where 'grimdark' war vets intersected with idealistic youngster characters had tonal conflicts - which, in itself... very star wars. Some players were trying to play Rogue One, some were trying to play Return of the Jedi... and balancing that isn't an enviable task. My constructive feedback would be primarily: consider recruiting a helper GM who either picks up a plot or two, or just does bookkeeping duties, to help ease the work load.

If this game story continues in later installments, I'd probably enjoy giving it another go, and had a good time, bumps and all.

I thought the first session was going to be all about finding Oraka. Then we met him on Day 1 and I realised this wasn't going to go the way I thought

I absolutely loved the Valus redemption arc, thanks very much for that! I also think you were expecting Oraka to die earlyish? So what surprised you the most about player decisions in on the Jedi side of things?

First off, thank you so much for running another game. As always, I have a lot of fun in your games, and I greatly appriciate all the hard work you put into this. Events, NPCs, running said NPCs, adding in little twists and things that give people something to do and a touch of something personal... really, much appriciated and great job doing it all you crazy dawg!

I loved the concept of a cooperative game again in working together for a common goal, and I think you pulled it off well from the GM side of things. Cooperative games are some of my favorite types.

And I'm sorry if I threw a monkey wrench in your plans by getting myself attached to the Inquisitor!


I think of feedback, I think I would keep it simple:

• I think bounties can be dropped. They're not nescessary to have in every game (Nar Shaddaa made sense!), and it's not like there's a bounty broker association or the likes on every planet.
• I would like to see more reward on occassion for being the "good guys". Yes, doing risky business for crime should of course payoff, but too often if you're the good soldier for the good cause, goodies seem to be rarer. Not every character wants to committ crime to be able to get gear, or turn to the Dark Side for cookies.
• I loved the Heist concept! This is something I'd love to see more of in the future, even applied to other things that aren't nescessarily criminal heists. I liked the idea of leaving something in the creative hands of the players, while also having a structure around it that was more than just the usual Event-posts. Very well done and two thumbs up for this!

Sacha Ordo wrote: ↑

Wed Feb 19, 2020 9:22 pm

I also felt much less stress with this game than I often do. I often found myself feeling that things would go in an interesting direction no matter whether I succeeded or failed at something. It made it easier to let the dice fall where they may and look forward to the outcome regardless.

This is important to me as I always dislike a failed roll just being the end, things can be cool from failure as they can be from success so I tried to do something fun with failure probably not all the time but I tried. Also why I often rolled for NPCs to do things to show that they were fallible. Iam glad you enjoyed it.

Vaya Mer'darrow wrote: ↑

Wed Feb 19, 2020 11:59 pm

Dapper Dog wrote: ↑

Wed Feb 19, 2020 9:11 pm

The Temple came from the my one shot...

Can you say more about that? The hunt for the hidden temple was something that felt so tailor-made for Vaya that it exceeded all my expectations (which I had carefully managed since I think when me/others asked before game "will there be archaeology and stuff" the answer was ambiguous). So, I'm interested to what extent it was a response to me/others, or pre-existing, or a result of this mysterious one-shot.

It was at the end of the One-Shot they found a lightsaber, Oraka’s lightsaber I had thought but maybe it was just random Jedi in the end, and the map. The game ended with a cliffhanger they arrived at the Aznuri enclave and then the Empire came and I ended the game.

The Temple was just a temple, I figured I could keep the seed alive as I knew Sloan was interested in it and players in EVERY game love to go delving into old places. Once I knew that I was going to bring my old character Byron and Daz who I had planned from Day 1, the holocron was originally going to be found by Petrus but he took forever to go to the desert so I dropped it on Floats and that worked out well.

Once I determined that Daz would be in the Sixth Line, then it seemed obvious to me it needed to be a Sixth Line Jedi Temple, I am glad that it was fun for her to chase the threads. I dropped a lot of obstacles but the team went through it all and I think the ending was unexpected which is always fun for me.

Plus I got to create Mother Yugba, who was supposed to die but she was too cool to die. And Stephe Poule, another fun NPC to introduce. Pieces just started to coming together as things progressed and it gave a world tour kind of feeling as they got everything sorted.

Xanna Teevou wrote: ↑

Thu Feb 20, 2020 3:25 am

I thought the first session was going to be all about finding Oraka. Then we met him on Day 1 and I realised this wasn't going to go the way I thought

I absolutely loved the Valus redemption arc, thanks very much for that! I also think you were expecting Oraka to die earlyish? So what surprised you the most about player decisions in on the Jedi side of things?

I wasn’t sure how long I wanted that to be and then it made sense that like Obi Wan they would just run into him early and get that arc going. Oraka was scheduled to die heroically because that’s what you do when you are the old guard but it never came together and instead he stuck around.

Making the Inquisitor, Valus came together obviously early on in the pre-game and it was fun to hint at that until the big reveal which was also earlyish on. Then hinting at Neela once she came together was also fun too and I am glad I introduced them early on to interact with people because I think that made their redemption work better because we got to see them be evil and terrible and then the juxtaposition as they struggle with redemption.

There were a lot of Jedi so yeah the game was going to have a heavy Jedi vibe but I think it worked.

Dove Gray wrote: ↑

Thu Feb 20, 2020 3:54 am

I think of feedback, I think I would keep it simple:

• I think bounties can be dropped. They're not nescessary to have in every game (Nar Shaddaa made sense!), and it's not like there's a bounty broker association or the likes on every planet.
• I would like to see more reward on occassion for being the "good guys". Yes, doing risky business for crime should of course payoff, but too often if you're the good soldier for the good cause, goodies seem to be rarer. Not every character wants to committ crime to be able to get gear, or turn to the Dark Side for cookies.
• I loved the Heist concept! This is something I'd love to see more of in the future, even applied to other things that aren't nescessarily criminal heists. I liked the idea of leaving something in the creative hands of the players, while also having a structure around it that was more than just the usual Event-posts. Very well done and two thumbs up for this!

1. Yeah I think I could have dropped that and just did them as needed.

2. Agreed it's a missed opportunity and more an oversight, money is a tricky thing in this game because Gear is a huge boost.

3. Thanks I will have to refine the Heist thing but I am glad it worked well and I like role play, and thanks for doing the mini-dungeon crawl with the Disciple.

*salutes*

Dove came well-prepared to dungeon crawl!

Yeah, I want to also mention that Heists were amazing. Definitely making notes there!

Adding on here, the whole Stephe Poule arc wasn't one I expected but more fell into. I loved all the vibes with it and then when it culminated in that Elevator scene I don't think I could have asked for anything better.

Was one of the things I was really hoping for to come out of that idea.

Times with Vandil and the Hutt were great, I saw the Destiny every time and my setting knowledge had me like: "Now I know what's going to happen next, and I love it."

So, in finality of this second note: thanks for Stephe!

Easter Eggs or Callbacks

Obviously Delia was Darth Zash but that one was not terribly surprising. She has changed a lot and probably become more gray in the years.

The Red Mask and Force Visions of the Bankor encounter with Zash and the Jedi.

Liua and her family are a callback to the Jedi academy game and Byron Mik.

Rayne was a personal easter egg of my first Star wars character in this system.

The Dark Islands were Flogston paradise from Bankor Old Era.

The Pew and the Last Word showed up in Old Bankor along with the cloak that Floats and Sinn found.

Lyla used the Lightsaber hilts of Shaisha.

Rannek had Zash’s old crystal now purified.

Jin Serasai is a callback to the trio.

Daz Hoshin is another callback and Easter Egg.

The Sixth Line and Master Surro are more links to the old Jedi and Ziost.

Servant Nine showing up is another obvious callback.

Oddyn’s knife being found.

Oh HYDRA and the rahkghouls were a callback as well, so there is that.

Probably more I am forgetting.

So this has been theorized before, but was the High Inquisitor finding the temple a result of Verse's obligation triggering? Or did he somehow read her memories during the meditation?

Verse Aura wrote: ↑

Thu Feb 20, 2020 4:27 am

So this has been theorized before, but was the High Inquisitor finding the temple a result of Verse's obligation triggering? Or did he somehow read her memories during the meditation?

Both.

You both it.

If you have any question on NPCs I will gladly answer what I can as well.

So many memorable NPCs yet again!

Was Oraka Hin related to Gerry and Ashley Hin?

Did you indeed for Liua to be force sensitive or did that grow organically from player decisions?