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brandonjg227 · 3 years

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44 Years of Star Wars

As you know, I’m a HUGE fan of Star Wars. I like all the movies (including the prequels and The Last Jedi). Today is the 44th anniversary of the premiere of the movie Star Wars. This was the movie that was eventually called Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope, according to its place in the Star Wars Skywalker saga film lineup and Original Star Wars Trilogy. To be entirely fair, Star Wars was promoted before May 25, 1977, and previewed to some very lucky individuals before this date – but May 25, 1977 was the day the movie opened to the public. Since then, one whole heck of a lot of Star Wars has been produced and released to screens both big and small.

From 2003 to 2005, “Star Wars: Clone Wars” was developed and directed by Genndy Tartakovsky for Cartoon Network. This show was effectively rebooted and/or continued with another similar show called “The Clone Wars.”

In August of 2008, before the release of the episodic show of the same name, Star Wars: The Clone Wars was released as an animated film in theaters. This movie was compiled from episodes of the show, leading the viewer into the events of the show. Star Wars: The Clone Wars show started in October of 2008 and lasted for 5 seasons on Cartoon Network, another 1 season on Netflix, and another season on Disney+, for a total of 7 seasons and 133 episodes.

In October 2012, Disney acquired Lucasfilm for $4.05 billion dollars. In October of 2014, the television show Star Wars: Rebels started on the TV channel Disney XD and lasted for four seasons and a total of 75 episodes.

In December of 2015, Star Wars Episode VII – The Force Awakens was released in theaters, directed by J.J. Abrams. The Force Awakens, The Last Jedi, and The Rise of Skywalker were all released in December of their respective years. They were released in 2015, 2017, and 2019, directed by J.J. Abrams, Rian Johnson, and J.J. Abrams respectively.

Between the first and second Disney films, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story was released in December of 2016, directed by Gareth Edwards. Solo: A Star Wars Story was released in May of 2018, directed by Ron Howard. There are plans for at least one more Star Wars film so far – one called Rogue Squadron. It’ll be directed by Patty Jenkins.

Star Wars: The Bad Batch premiered on Disney+ on May 4, 2021. This episodic series is effectively the next chapter after the TV show The Clone Wars, following a group of rogue clones after Revenge of the Sith.

The live action series The Mandalorian was first released on Disney+ in November of 2019. The Book of Boba Fett is planned for release in December of 2021. Disney announced plans for additional series for the streaming platform, including Andor, Obi-Wan Kenobi, The Acolyte, Ahsoka, and Lando. And there’ll be more, too!

Star Wars total run time

If you combined the runtime of all the currently-released movies and watched them all back-to-back, you’d find yourself in front of a screen for more than 24 hours straight (actually approximately 25.16 hours). That includes all 9 Skywalker Saga films, Solo, and Rogue One.

A very rough calculation of the number of hours included in The Clone Wars based on average run time (movie and second show, all 7 seasons) adds up to approximately 2 days, 18 hours (or 56 hours). The entirety of Star Wars: Rebels clocks in at approximately 27.5 hours. The Mandalorian (seasons 1 and 2) total run time is around 10.5 hours. The Bad Batch (the first four episodes released so far) come in at a total of 2.7 hours.

As such, if you’re looking to have the ultimate Star Wars marathon, you’d do well to carve out a full 5.5+ days for yourself. That’s not an exact calculation, but as a general moment-in-time reference point, here in May of 2021, the total run time for all Star Wars movies and shows is 121.86 hours, which is a total of 5 days and 4 hours.

If you’re adding breaks to get up and walk around once in a while, it’s safe to assume you’ll be able to EASILY fill up a full week with 100% official canonical Star Wars shows and movies – fun!

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aion-rsa · 2 years

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Link Tank: Wesley Snipes Weighs in on Blade Being Recast

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Former Blade actor Wesley Snipes is excited for Mahershala Ali to take over as the character in the MCU and gave him advice on playing the vampire hunter.

“Recently, Snipes was asked about his thoughts on the recasting, and he rather plainly stated that he supports the casting and that’s all there is to it. ‘The issue of him being cast wasn’t between us,’ Snipes said, ‘I don’t walk around as Blade, so I’m not attached to the character like that.’ Even further, he added that there’s no ’emotional loss’ is not playing the Daywalker again, with the only advice to be that Ali should be to avoid getting hurt and ‘enjoy it while it lasts.'”

Read more at Kotaku

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jaredthegreek · 7 years

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Review: April Star Wars Comics

Happy early May the 4th, let’s look at last month’s comics:

Rogue One #1: The adaptation that probably no one was waiting for is here. It follows the movie from the beginning until Jyn’s team arrives at Jedha City. This doesn’t cover much of the story, but adds some stylistic touches that make it a fine reading experience. The nice little bonus is a note from Gareth Edwards, director of the film, stating that the comic would include cut content from the movie and some alternate takes on scenes. This issue doesn’t really show that off much, but hopefully it will allow the characters to have a bit more personality in the comic than in the movie. The big flaw of this book is the art by Emilo Laiso and Oscar Bazaldua. Very few of the characters look like their actor counterpart, faces look bad in general, and some of the sequential scenes are a little hard to follow. To make matters worse the coloring looks faded and some tones like Jyn’s hair don’t look right. I am curious to see the added scenes, but unless you are a rabid fan of the movie there really isn’t a reason to jump on this comic yet.

Star Wars 30: It really feels like this arc has been going on for too long. It’s an interesting story, but feels really drawn out. This was likely done because of the upcoming Star Wars crossover “The Screaming Citadel” which looks to be exciting, but it really shouldn’t mess up story arcs like this. This is the ending chapter of this story and tells of Yoda ending the war on the unnamed planet and Luke facing Garro to determine the fate of the dying planet. It wraps up well and the art is great so there is no major complaint other than my previous statement about this being a drawn out story. This is a weaker arc in this comic, but it isn’t bad by any means.

Doctor Aphra #6: The first arc of the series comes to an end with Aphra and her father trying to escape the ancient warrior Rur as the Imperial forces give chase. This arc was not all that great and doesn’t really stand up to the ‘Darth Vader’ series from which it spun off. The writing is fine and the art is fine, but it just feels a little bland overall. The next arc will be a crossover story so I don’t have high expectations for that either. If you like the Aphra character from the Vader comics then give this arc a read, otherwise just skip it and start up with the Screaming Citadel crossover with the main ‘Star Wars’ series.

Darth Maul #3: Maul and his team of bounty hunters go forward with their plan to kidnap the captured Jedi Padawan, but they aren’t the only people with a plot. This issue moves the story forward and sets up an interesting tease for the next issue. The writing is great and the art is still done with decent quality, but the coloring can be a little too dark sometimes. This series keeps getting better and it looks like the next issue will be action packed. While this story isn’t revealing anything new about the title character it is full of intrigue and action, which makes it a fun read.

Poe Dameron #13: Wow, one of those rare moments when reading the novels pays off. If you are familiar with the ‘Aftermath’ series you get to meet up with another member of that team in this issue. Beyond that surprisingg little Easter egg this is a very action packed issu with Black Squadron battling Terex’s fleet while Poe fights for his life in a cave. This issue is a significantly better version of a similar scene from earlier in the series, which shows just how much this series has grown. The art is still terrible. There are issues with sequential storytelling and while some of the stills are nice the action doesn’t flow well panel to panel. I did like how this issue ended and while this volume is nearing the ending I am curious how they will wrap things up. If I could hand out a ‘most improved’ award this would be the series that gets it.

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kuwaiti-kid · 4 years

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The 10 Best Star Wars Video Games (Ever!!!)

The Star Wars universe has always been more than the sum of its live-action films.

Novels, comic books, toys, TV shows, and ill-fated holiday specials have all helped build out the iconic science fiction universe that George Lucas first kicked off in 1977. One would be hard-pressed to find a larger and more enduring franchise than the Lucasfilm IP (now owned by Disney), which continues to enthrall multiple generations of fans.

Aside from the mediums mentioned above, video games have also played an integral part in the world-building of the Star Wars mythos. Indeed, it could be argued that they play the most important role, as gaming allows one to take up the persona of their favorite character and choose their destiny.

In a way, you get to become the director of your very own Star Wars adventure.

The 10 Best Star Wars Video Games

With that in mind, we present the ten best Star Wars video games ever released in no specific order. The titles presented below have not all been chosen for their critical acclaim or units sold in stores. Certain fans may not universally love some. Rather, they were selected based on the following criteria:

Significance to the overall IP

Creative use of people, places, or things seen in the films

Mythos construction

Fan service

The prescience of things to come

10. Star Wars Episode I: Racer

Release date: May 18, 1999

While many Star Wars fans had problems with the first prequel film, no one could deny the thrilling nature of the sequence where young Anakin Skywalker (Jake Lloyd) wins his freedom from Watto in a pod racing tournament on Tatooine. It was a testament to just how far CGI technology had come in Hollywood, and how an intrepid filmmaker could use it to grand effect.

Moreover, the scene was a loving tribute to Lucas’s youth, a lot of which was spent drag racing in the writer/director’s hometown of Modesto, California—something Lucas also acknowledged in his second directorial feature, American Graffiti.

Hitting stands the same week Phantom Menace opened in U.S. theaters, Star Wars Episode I: Racer allowed players to live out one of the film’s most adrenaline-pumping segments. Moreover, it expanded on the central concept by offering different pod racer vehicles, as well as various tracks on eight distinct planets. While Mario Kart was already seven-years-old in ’99, this title provided a much welcome twist on the racing formula in video games.

In 2011, the Guinness Book of World Records, named Star Wars Episode I: Racer as the best-selling sci-fi racing game with 3.12 million copies sold all over the world.

9. Star Wars: Knight of the Old Republic

Release date: July 15, 2003

This is perhaps the most famous title on our list. Set four millennia before the Galactic Empire set up tyrannical shop, Knights of the Old Republic follows the ancient battle between the noble Jedi Order and the evil Sith.

With options to customize your lightsaber and character, players must visit eight planets (including familiar ones like Tatooine and Kashyyyk) to defeat Darth Malak. Thanks to fantastic gameplay and a solid plot, the role-playing game serves as an excellent prequel to the prequel film trilogy. Moreover, fans have been clamoring for a movie version of it for years.

Who knows? If The Mandalorian, Cassian Andor, and Obi-Wan series all do well on Disney+, we could get a long-awaited KOTOR adaptation.

8. Star Wars: The Force Unleashed

Release date: September 16, 2008

Like some of the comics from Marvel, The Force Unleashed intriguingly pulls back on the curtain on what Darth Vader gets up to when he’s not antagonizing the Rebel Alliance and Luke Skywalker on the big screen.

Taking place between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope, this title follows the adventures of Vader’s “secret apprentice,” Galen Marek, who is tasked with hunting down and killing the last-remaining Jedi in the galaxy. Marek (voiced by Sam Witwer, who also played Darth Maul in Clone Wars and Rebels) is convinced that he will one day kill Emperor Palpatine and rule the galaxy by Vader’s side.

As the game’s art director, Matt Omernick, told Vanity Fair, the entire project was meant “to convince players that, ‘Oh my God, I’m actually, finally, in a Star Wars movie.’”

7. Star Wars: Battlefront

Release date: September 21, 2004

Long before controversies were surrounding pay-to-play and loot crates, the Star Wars gaming franchise was reaching new heights with the release of the first Battlefront. In a lot of ways, this game felt like a culmination of everything that had come before, opening up the universe in a way fans had never seen before.

Almost like the Super Smash Bros. of Star Wars video games, Battlefront was all about playing the greatest hits of the series. You weren’t limited to one character, droid, vehicle, planet, or battlefield. You could enjoy them all in any number of combinations, be it as a Stormtrooper or as a Droideka, in an X-wing or an AT-AT.

6. Star Wars: Battlefront II

Release date: November 1, 2005

If the first Battlefront changed the Star Wars game (pun intended), then its immediate sequel perfected it. Battlefront II didn’t need to get all fancy; it just had to give us one thing: the ability to play as a Jedi or as a Sith, hero, or villain. For the first time, you could run around a map, killing your enemies as Yoda, Darth Vader, Obi-Wan, Mace Windu, Boba Fett, Princess Leia, Han Solo, Chewbacca, Emperor Palpatine, and even Darth freakin’ Maul!

And since Revenge of the Sith had finally debuted in theaters, you could also access new planets like Utapau and Mustafar. Whether you played Battlefront II on PlayStation, Xbox, or PlayStation Portable, it was one epic gaming experience.

5. LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga

Release date: November 6, 2007

Kids have always been a major part of the Star Wars fandom, so what better way to introduce a younger audience to the series (which can be dark and scary at times) than with a “LEGO-ized” version of it?

Adopting a more tongue-in-cheek approach to the six-film saga contained between Phantom Menace and Return of the Jedi, LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Sage is the video game equivalent of teaching your child to ride a bike with training wheels. Once they come to love the characters and universe, they should be able to graduate to the more mature elements of the movies in what should be a seamless transition.

And that’s not to say that the LEGO games are just for kids. Indeed, they’re packed with plenty of fun visual and audio gags that help paint the franchise in fun and often hilarious new light for longtime fans of the franchise who are looking for something a little off the beaten path.

4. Star Wars: Rogue Squadron

Release date: December 7, 1998

Influenced by the Dark Horse comics of the same name, Rogue Squadron may have been a response to the release of the first (and insanely popular) Star Fox game from Nintendo the previous year.

Even if it was, the title allowed players to become ace Rebel pilots in several different ships: X-wings, Y-wings, A-wings, V-wings, and even Snowspeeders. Like Episode I: Racer, Rogue Squadron was a chance to get into the thick of the aerial dogfights the original trilogy had become known for.

The game was so popular that it spawned two sequels, Rogue Leader (2001) and Rebel Strike (2003).

3. Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire

Release date: December 3, 1996

This is a really cool entry on the list because Shadows of the Empire was a single part of a greater multimedia initiative from Lucasfilm.

Shadows of the Empire was an umbrella project that yielded a novel, comics, and toys. Unfurling between The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, the SoTE game places you into the role of Dash Rendar, a member of the Rebel Alliance, who must protect Luke Skywalker from the deadly sights of Dark Prince Xizor, a galactic gangster looking to become Darth Vader’s second-in-command.

Similar to the events of Rogue One, this game shines an interesting light on the unsung heroes in the conflict against the Galactic Empire.

2. Star Wars: Obi-Wan

Release date: December 19, 2001

Released more than a year after Phantom Menace hit theaters, this game emphasized one of Episode I’s most beloved characters: young Obi-Wan Kenobi played by Ewan McGregor. Set before and during the events of that film, players can face off against a slew of enemies, both old and new, including an assassin droid, Tusken Raiders, and of course, Darth freakin’ Maul.

Despite mixed reviews, Star Wars: Obi-Wan was somewhat ahead of its time by acknowledging that McGregor’s character was one of the best parts of the prequels. Years later, he remains a fan favorite and is even receiving his live-action series on Disney+ that takes place between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope.

1. Star Wars: TIE Fighter

Release date: July 1, 1994

It makes a lot of sense to consider TIE Fighter as a companion piece to Rogue Squadron. After all, both games are simply two sides of the same coin. In this case, you’re not fighting for the Rebel Alliance under Luke Skywalker, but for the Imperial Navy under his father, Darth Vader. The screeching TIE Fighters are just as iconic as the Rebel X-wings, so this title proved a real treat in allowing one to side with the bad guys for a change.

The post The 10 Best Star Wars Video Games (Ever!!!) appeared first on Your Money Geek.

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kayawagner · 5 years

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Tachyon Squadron Review

I was extremely young when my family took me to see Star Wars at the drive-in, and there were a lot of details I didn’t remember until years later when I viewed the movie again on HBO–but I remembered Luke flying in his X-Wing. A year later, with slightly better cognitive functions, I was fascinated by Battlestar Galactica and the starfighter combat between the Colonial Vipers and the Cylon Raiders.

Did I outgrow my love of starfighters when I got older? Not if the hours I spent playing TIE Fighter, Freelancer, or Rogue Squadron are any indication. Even today, my favorite part of Star Wars Battlefront 2 is the starfighter missions.

Tachyon Squadron is a supplement for Fate Core that focuses on playing military science fiction campaigns that center on a starfighter squadron and the pilots of that squadron.

Sizing up the Spaceframe

This review is based both on the PDF version of the product, and the hardcover release. Tachyon Squadron is a 184-page product, with a four-page index, two-page quick reference sheet, a ship sheet, and a character sheet in the back.

The physical book is a digest-sized hardcover, similar to other Evil Hat releases. It is a full-color book, with numerous line art illustrations of pilots, starfighters, and capital ships. Formatting is similar to other Fate releases, with clear headers, call-out boxes, and very easy to digest pages of information.

Tachyon Squadron and Creating a Pilot

There is a brief five-page introduction to explain the style of science fiction that Tachyon Squadron is emulating. It’s a has a strongly military flavored sci-fi feel, and features humans skirmishing with other humans, rather than dealing with alien threats. Adversaries will include pirates and oppressive regimes, and FTL and artificial gravity technology exists without too many details. There is also a quick callout box to explain how the Fate rules are used and modified for the setting.

Creating a pilot delves into some of those ways in which the setting utilizes and modifies the Fate rules. While creating a character will look familiar to anyone that has spent some time with the Fate Core rulebook, there are a few key differences.

You don’t just need a name, you need a callsign

You don’t have a Trouble aspect, you have a decompression aspect

You get two personal stunts and a gear stunt–the gear stunt representing a special piece of equipment you have available to your character

There are example names and callsigns, as well as some archetypical skill assignment arrays. There are sidebars discussing player safety when it comes to exploring decompression aspects, as well as some guidance on how disability isn’t a limiting factor to fighter pilots in the setting.

Unlike a standard game of Fate, in Tachyon Squadron, the Trouble aspect is, instead, replaced with the decompression aspect. This aspect is split between a positive means that the pilot can decompress, and a negative means. The only way a pilot recovers stress is to decompress. If they fail their check to decompress in a positive manner, they can always blow off steam in a less productive manner, which is likely to cause problems for them, now or in the future.

Skills and Stunts

The next section of the book delves into skills available in the setting, example stunts, and new rules for gear stunts that are introduced in this book.

Skills are broken up into the following groups:

Spacefaring Skills (Gunnery, Pilot, Tactics, Technology)

Action Skills (Athletics, Fight, Notice, Shoot, Sneak)

Social Skills (Discipline, Empathy, Investigate, Provoke, Rapport)

Those categories help to summarize the expected scenes that pilot characters will play through in the game, as they fly their ship, participate in ground-based missions, and interact with civilians and military personnel between starfighter missions.

Gear Stunts introduce some new rule interactions into Fate. These stunts represent equipment that a character has available on their missions, but they can allow characters to maximize a die in certain circumstances. Maximizing a die is just taking a die from the dice, after they have been rolled, and setting it to “+.” If multiple pieces of gear would both help, you may get to maximize more than one die, but you can never have more than two maximized on one roll.

While the Gear Stunts introduce ways in which characters can maximize their dice, this is also where the concept of minimizing dice is introduced. In some disadvantageous circumstances, characters may need to set a die from the rolled dice aside and set it to a “-.” Like maximized dice, you never need to minimize more than two dice in a single roll.

Engagements

The turn order in starfighter combat is resolved in a different manner than other Fate conflicts. The next chapter in the book explains how to run engagements, and what the phases look like.

Engagements have the following parts:

Detection

Maneuver

Action

End of Round

Detection involves using the technology skill to determine if both sides know how many fighters the other side has, and where those ships are. Maneuvering involves using the tactics skill to determine what order the ships take their actions. The action phase involves performing standard Fate actions using whatever skill is appropriate to the action. The end of round phase degrading the tactics score that was used to determine ship order, as well as being the phase of the engagement where ships that declared their intent to escape leave the scene.

At a brief pass, that all can sound a lot more complicated than a standard Fate conflict, but the maneuver chart included in the book helps to illustrate how the rules work, and the individual phases are very clearly explained.

Undetected ships can’t be attacked and can attack anyone in the fight. Other ships can only attack ships with their own tactics result or lower. A ship that attempts to bug out can be targeted by anyone, but if they make it to the End of Round phase, they escape the fight unscathed. There are undetected and special spots on the maneuver chart, and the special slot goes after everyone else. This is where capital ships take their actions in a fight.

Unlike a standard Fate conflict, in the action phase, players may take actions in Step 1 or Step 2 of the round, with some special actions taking both Step 1 and Step 2 slots. Some actions allow a pilot to reroll their tactics check to move up (or down) the chart, while others may allow a pilot to harass an opposing pilot to change their score and position on the chart. Characters can also do things like making emergency repairs or recovering ejected pilots.

Fighters have specific fighter sheets that show what happens when a given component takes damage. Enemy fighters might use full ship sheets, they may use simple damage rules, or they may be organized as flights (several fighters using simple rules, adding shifts to damage as they act as a unit), or as swarms.

Swarms are one of my favorite rules for adding a ton of fighters to a battle. They act as free invokes for other ships, and the aspect representing the swarm can be removed depending on the actions taken by the PCs on their turn. Nobody in a swarm is wearing a Corellian Bloodstripe.

The Galaxy and Combat Pilots at War

The next two sections detail what the galaxy looks like and what the pilots of Tachyon Squadron do on a day to day basis. There are various example planets and space stations, as well as explanations of the daily duty and routine of fighter pilots, and what various mission profiles look like.

In short, the galaxy was split between two big human empires, who were at war. The war came to an end, but a third group split from one of those empires and is now catching all kinds of heat from the less friendly of the two superpowers. Because the Draconis System is a new player in the galaxy, the fighter pilots of Tachyon Squadron are technically volunteer civilian contractors, waiting for the full-fledged Draconis military to get up and running.

This sets up the player characters as the underdogs in most fights, trying to cause enough hassle to their better funded and backed enemies to get them to back off, rather than trying to conquer or overthrow any empire on their own.

GMing Tachyon Squadron

The next section in the book starts off by presenting consistent, current, impending, and future issues for a typical Tachyon Squadron campaign. Consistent issues are thematically appropriate story beats for the whole campaign, current issues are the “starting” problems that the group will likely be taking on, impending issues are those that are ready to move into the forefront in the near future, and future issues are emerging long-term issues that surface once the PCs have had a chance to play with the setting for a while.

The chapter then moves into advice on how to structure engagements, with some example opposition for different types of missions of varying difficulty. There is advice on how to handle concessions in starship combat, as well as how to transition missions into “out of cockpit” encounters.

The chapter wraps up with examples of how to structure a campaign, with advice on how to determine the opposition’s objectives, and how many times the PCs can stymie them before they change tactics, and eventually start to turn the tide.

I’ve always been a big fan of games clearly presenting how they are intended to be played, and this chapter has a very clear set of examples not just for individual missions, but for how the beginning, middle, and end of a campaign should look.

Ships to Fly and People to Meet and Example Player Characters

The next two chapters have statistics for spaceships, modular equipment, and characters that can be found in the setting. The example player characters can serve as examples, pre-generated characters, or NPCs if the players decide to make their own characters.

There are statistics for capital ships and fighters, and the opposition fighters have separate stat blocks for “regular” opposition and aces. The ships have aspects, skill ranks, and stunts, and the more detailed ships have lists of damaged components that can be used in a similar manner to minor consequences, with each damaged component having a special narrative effect, or causing certain rolls to be minimized.

NPCs and sample player characters are very diverse, including characters with various gender identities, sexualities, physical abilities. While I always appreciate an RPG setting that has that degree of diversity, it’s great to see actual examples of that diversity, rather than just seeing it stated in the higher-level descriptions of the setting. The commanding officers, other pilots, and civilian contacts your character runs into will reinforce that element of the setting.

The Pirates of Kepler Valley and Defense of Arcosolari Kalamos

The next two sections of the book contain sample campaign arcs for the game. One campaign focuses on defending outposts and caravans from pirates while also fighting the Dominion, and the other revolves around a space station hub where the PCs may have to root out spies and Dominion sympathizers as well as flying starship missions.

To reinforce the idea that Tachyon Squadron doesn’t have unlimited resources and is fighting against a bigger, better-supplied force, the campaign setup section lays out what equipment the PCs can expect to have available to them when their own gear conks out, or when they need specialized tech for missions. There are also outlines of specific scenes that may come at pivotal moments in the campaign, and new NPCs and locations.

If you have ever thrilled at starships shooting lasers at one another while dodging fire from capital ships, the text is going to hold your interest.

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Inspirations and Influences

Inspirations and influences is a section of the book where various media that inspired the game can be found. One thing that interests me is that, the longer the RPG industry is around, the more diverse the inspirations become. In this instance, I’m not just referring to a broad range within certain media, but that influences now include tabletop games (including older RPGs) and video games.

Target Lock

Tachyon Squadron does a remarkable job of explaining exactly what it is trying to do and showing you how to achieve that goal using the rules and structure provided. Minimizing and maximizing dice are tools that may prove useful for modeling other thematic elements in future Fate games. The structure of starfighter engagement creates a procedure that feels like dogfighting without needing to track exact positioning, distance, and orientation. The diverse range of characters reinforces a setting element with substantive content.

Pull Up

One of the book’s strengths could also be a weakness–the procedure for engagements may be just a little bit too structured depending on the flavor of Fate you prefer. While it’s not hard to adapt, Tachyon Squadron defaults to gritty “everybody’s human” military science fiction, so if your love of starfighter combat involves lots of crazy ship types, alien co-pilots, and maybe space wizards, you may need to pull from other Fate sources to fill out your preferences.

Recommended–If the product fits in your broad area of gaming interests, you are likely to be happy with this purchase.

This product is a great example of using existing rules to reinforce the tropes of a genre. If you have ever thrilled at starships shooting lasers at one another while dodging fire from capital ships, the text is going to hold your interest. Even outside of Fate, the structure for creating tactical dogfights without using exact positioning is something you may want to check out.

Have you ever adapted an RPG to model your favorite starfighter video games? Do you have a preference on how to model tactical maneuvering between ships in a sci-fi game? How gritty do you like your military sci-fi? Let us know in the comments below. We’d love to hear from you!

Tachyon Squadron Review published first on https://supergalaxyrom.tumblr.com

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spynotebook · 7 years

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All images unless otherwise noted: Lucasfilm/Disney

Two Rogue One prequel books are on the shelves: the Jyn Erso-focused Rebel Rising and the Baze Malbus and Chirrut Îmwe-starring Guardians of the Whills. As you would expect, both books drop a fair bit of new canon knowledge and help flesh out Rogue One. Here’s everything you need to know.

While most of the actual plots aren’t described here, a few plot points and twists are mentioned, so:

Rebel Rising by Beth Revis

Rebel Rising covers Jyn’s life from being rescued as a child by Saw Gerrera while she was hiding from Krennic and his forces (we learn that her family drilled for these kinds of emergencies) to her being presented to the Rebel Alliance’s high command. If you felt anything for Jyn in the movie, this book does a marvelous job of delving into Jyn’s psyche and explaining her motivations. You will feel awful for everything she has gone through and, far more than the first Rogue One prequel novel Catalyst, Rebel Rising really adds dimension to Rogue One. If you’re curious about it at all, pick it up.

Jyn, Abandonment, and Father Figures

One of the most interesting things in Rebel Rising is how deeply it dives into Jyn’s psychology. Rogue One shows Jyn’s father, Galen Erso, telling her that everything he does is to protect her before he is taken by the Empire and her mother is killed. By the time we see the adult Jyn, she doesn’t have any attachment to her father.

This makes sense, because while Galen was indeed a prisoner, publicly the Empire had been presenting him as a valuable Imperial scientist. That, and the fact that Galen had worked with the Empire prior to running with his family—as detailed in Catalyst—means that the Rebels see him as an Imperial sympathizer. Saw even tells her that, as near as he can tell, Galen could leave anytime he wants, os he has clearly made the choice to work for the Empire. Since Galen never comes for her, Jyn declares her father is a coward and stops thinking of him as her “papa.”

Meanwhile, Saw tells everyone that Jyn is his daughter and enforces that lie all the time. He trains Jyn in weapons and unarmed combat and, eventually, brings her on missions as a forger. Her training includes fighting some droids from the Clone Wars, which Saw obviously has experience with. She very much sees him as a replacement father, so his abandonment of her later breaks her all over again.

With one father an Imperial and one an extremist Rebel, Jyn tries very hard to wash her hands of every side of the fight. Unsuccessfully, obviously.

Speaking of Saw...

In Clone Wars, we met Saw Gerrera on his home planet of Onderon as an insurgent against the Separatists that had taken over. During that conflict, he met Obi-Wan Kenobi, Anakin Skywalker, Ahsoka Tano, and Captain Rex. Also during that conflict, his sister Steela died.

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Saw recounts the death of his sister to Jyn, explaining that it taught him that rebellions need martyrs to inspire them to fight. The deaths of specific people, Saw believed, would inspire far more than simple ideals. Saw is also dismissive of the Jedi, whom he said had power and still failed and died. He alludes to Ahsoka’s inability to save his sister, saying, “For all their power, they couldn’t hold on, not when it mattered.”

Saw doesn’t see any benefit in a large and organized rebellion, preferring to have many different bases and taking the occasional paying job as a mercenary for other rebel groups. He’s focused on figuring out what Galen’s research is being used for and where all the minerals—doonium, as in Thrawn, and dolovite—are being used. (It’s the Death Star. Everything always leads to the Death Star in the books set in this time. All hail the Death Star, the only thing of any importance.)

Saw sees no problem with assassination or civilian casualties. There’s a mission in the book that Saw accepts that involves killing civilians, a priestess, and an Imperial governor in a brutal public attack during a festival. Part of the reason the planet, Inusagi, is chosen is for it’s proximity to Naboo, known as Palpatine’s home planet.

Since the Empire is going to label them terrorists anyway, Saw sees no problem with using terror as a tactic. And torture, also seen in Saw’s treatment of Bodhi in Rogue One, is employed by Saw in this book. Saw’s ruthlessness and paranoia collide when he kills an ally that he claims is a spy and, more importantly, he believes knows Jyn’s true identity.

The Rebels

As a child, Jyn watches Mon Mothma and Bail Organa plead for people to see what’s happening in the Empire, unsuccessfully. Jyn sees Bail Organa as “the kind of man who’d declare war” but not the kind to have the strength to “actually fight in one.” This helps explain how Jyn recognizes both of them when she’s brought to Yavin IV in Rogue One.

We also get a sense of the growing rebellion, as various insurgencies pop up spontaneously on planets in reaction to the Empire’s brutality. At the edges of everything is the growth of what will become Rebel Alliance. We meet Idryssa Barruck, a friend of Saw’s who disagrees with him about his tactics. She talks about having “higher ups” and she has generals. Idryssa also has a “squadron,” which sounds very similar to Phoenix Squadron, the Rebel cell commanded by Hera and Jun Sato in Rebels. Saw’s willing to do some jobs for them, but he’s mostly dismissive that anything that big can actually work.

Furthermore, there’s a Twi’lek named Xosad Hozem whom we met in Catalyst. He was in a group of smugglers, including Has Obitt who traveled with Jyn’s mother in her kyber search, and then joined up with Saw’s partisans. Xosad eventually leaves Saw for the group “Idyssa joined,” a “true alliance of fighters.” He turns up recruiting for the Rebels and very meaningfully talks about having seen “the fulcrum.” The codename means nothing to Jyn, to Xosad’s disappointment.

Also popping up is the Ante, an information broker who showed up in the Darth Vader comics. He’s mentioned in passing as a possible source of information.

Jyn’s Scarf

A little nugget tucked into Rebel Rising concerns the scarf that Jyn is wearing. The necklace Jyn wears is a kyber crystal, a gift from her father to her mother, and then to her. Early in the book, Saw gives a young Jyn a gray scarf to wear to conceal the necklace from view as kybers are rare. Since all Jyn can tell Saw about her father’s research is that it involved the crystals, Saw worries he necklace could connect Jyn to Galen and make her a target, so Saw has her hide it.

Saw’s Respirator and Leg

We know from Rogue One that Saw and Jyn were separated at one point and Jyn feels he abandoned her. In Rebel Rising we see the mission that caused the split, where Saw, Jyn, and their team was betrayed on a reconnaissance mission to a planet with a mine and factory. The Empire, having removed everything they needed and built what they wanted (one part of the factory is set up to build something huge and it has equipment for kyber crystals, so no doubt it’s making parts for the Death Star), has a Star Destroyer open fire.

The traitor who sets them up appears to know Jyn’s real identity, so Saw sends Jyn away and stays to deal with him himself. While Jyn gets away and hopes that Saw will come for her, he never does. He does send a spy to check up on her—a spy Jyn catches—but Jyn still feels abandoned.

Jyn’s Crimes

The teaser trailer for Rogue One famously detailed Jyn’s crimes: forgery of imperial documents, possession of stolen property, aggravated assault, and resisting arrest. Rebel Rising explains how Jyn could be in an Imperial work camp for those crimes and yet not be recognized as Galen Erso’s daughter, whom Krennic wants as leverage.

We also get some of the stories behind the aliases listed in Rogue One: A Rebel Dossier. Tanith Ponta was the name of the daughter of a perfectly normal freight hauler that Jyn becomes friends with and the name of the sister of a man Jyn falls for. Kestrel Dawn appears as quick alias Jyn gives to avoid giving her real one.

Liana Hallik is the name she was arrested under, after trading her forgery skills to the Imperials for her freedom. As Hallik, Jyn joins a rebel group and inserts a tracking program into their ship. They’re all caught and, shock of shocks, the Imperials go back on their deal and send Jyn to jail.

All Roads Lead to the Death Star

Of course everything in Jyn’s life would lead to the Death Star. As mentioned, the mission on Tamsye Prime that leads to her being separated from Saw has a factory making giant parts and working with kyber crystals. Saw is constantly getting reports of planets of kyber crystals—including Illum, where the Jedi traditionally got crystals for their lightsabers—being hollowed out by the Empire. Galen Erso is even spotted there.

Jyn also encounters stories of mines being bought up by the Empire, against the will of the owners. All the material is being seized for the Empire, but people are noticing the amount of ships being built isn’t increasing. We all know why that is.

The Guardians of the Whills by Greg Rucka

Chronologically, this book takes place at the end of Rebel Rising, since Saw Gerrera abandons Wrea, the base he raises Jyn on, and ends up launching his offensive against the Empire on Jedha. This book for younger readers deals with Baze Malbus and Chirrut Îmwe’s lives on Jedha right before the events of Rogue One, delving into their motivations and their relationship. It’s obviously not as dark as Rebel Rising, but there’s plenty of debates about what can be done, what should be done, and how far you should go.

Baze Malbus and Chirrut Îmwe’s Relationship With Saw Gerrera

It’s in the official synopsis of the book, so it’s not a huge spoiler, but a huge chunk of this book is given over to Baze and Chirrut’s history with Saw before Jyn Erso, Cassian Andor, and K-2SO arrive in Rogue One. Saw comes to Jedha to fight the Empire. The Empire has, as we know from the movie, occupied the planet to get at its kyber crystals.

It’s Saw that seeks out Baze and Chirrut and asks them to fight with his partisans. Baze, angry as he is at the Imperial ruination of his home, is tempted. Chirrut, who mostly just wants to break any cycle of violence, isn’t. Eventually, the two of them need Saw’s help getting supplies for a number of orphans, and then they fight with the partisans in an exchange.

Eventually, Saw’s obsession with fighting the Empire at any cost eventually compels Baze and Chirrut to stop one of his deadlier plans. The Guardian of the Whills and the ex-Guardian save a lot of lives, but undoubtedly Saw sees it as a betrayal. He is very paranoid, saying:

The Empire has hounded me across the galaxy. Planted spies within my cadre. They tried to assassinate me on Errimin, poisoned me with teccitin. I was sick for months. On Ghita there was a sniper who missed by centimeters. They sent an astromech droid laced with nanoexplosives, and it went off and killed four of my best people, and again I was wounded, but I survived. That time, Fortuna said to me, “You are lucky, the Force is with you.”

As we know from Rebel Rising, the spy part at least is true. But even then Saw showed signs of paranoia that are full-blown by the time of Guardians of the Whills. Well, it might not be all paranoia, since the Empire is undoubtedly not happy with him.

That said, you can also see how that mindset led to the basically lunatic man we see in Rogue One. He is well on the road to being the man who would torture Bodhi Rook in this book. And you can also see how the single-minded obsession with the Empire would not mesh with Chirrut’s more faith-driven beliefs. And Baze, while tempted, is not leaving Chirrut.

Baze’s Gun

The book also gives a backstory to Baze’s giant gun, which is apparently a MWC-35c “Staccato Lightning” repeating cannon. Baze had a normal blaster that fell apart. He also had a lightbow (used by Chirrut on Eadu and Scarif) from when he was a Guardian. Baze refuses to use it, even though it works just fine, because it was a Guardian weapon.

Baze’s unique new weapon comes from an Imperial cache and is weapon meant to be mounted on a vehicle, not wielded by a single person. Baze and Chirrut used to attack Imperial supply ships, taking the food and medicine for an orphanage and giving the weapons to a dealer on Jedha. Baze, after his blaster breaks, Baze takes the repeating cannon from one of the Imperial stashes they stole and adapts it to his personal use.

Force Acolytes

In Star Wars, up until Rogue One, the Force was something we mostly saw with Jedi and the Sith—and, occasionally, the Nightsisters on Dathomir. Guardians of the Whills fills out the universe with a lot more. Baze and Chirrut served as Guardians, of course, to the Disciples of the Whills. The book also mentions the Brotherhood of the Beatific Countenance, the Phirmists, the Weldsingers of Grace, and the followers of the Central Isopter as orders who had a presence on Jedha. The Disciples of the Whills—those in the red robes in the movie—were simply more prominent due to their connection to the giant temple.

Throughout the book, snippets from a book called Collected Poems, Prayers, and Meditations on the Force, edited by a Disciple of the Whills, are presented. Mentioned are the Sage of Uhnuhakka, a Sister of Sarrav, a pupil of the Central Isopter, the Clan of Toribota, a Coxixian Prayer, a poet to the Royal Court of Onderon (Saw’s homeworld), Mete Janvaren of Mirial, someone named Laech Min-Glasin, an Ascendant of Mau, and a priestess from D’Janis. Also included in the book are the Jedi Code, the Sith Code, and, of course, the Guardian’s Mantra—which Chirrut chanted throughout the movie.

All of this suggests a very widespread interest and belief in the Force which the Empire was clearly devoted to and successful at stamping out, if Han Solo’s derisive reaction to Obi-Wan in A New Hope is anything to go by. Also, two spires in the city were sealed by the Empire but the faith that built them has been “all but forgotten.” I bet there was something the Emperor found interesting in there.

Image: Leevan Tenza and Beezer Fortuna (Lucasfilm)

Minor Characters’ Backstories

In classic Star Wars book fashion, a lot of characters glimpsed for barely a second get fleshed out in the book. Silvanie Phest begins the book by taking Chirrut and Baze to the temple to deal with someone claiming to be a Jedi. Her race, the Anomids, also get described here: they can’t speak vocally and use complex body language. The mask Phest wears allows them to speak to other species.

Killi Gim was another background Disciple of the Whills in Rogue One, who gets a sister who isn’t a disciple named Kaya. Killi’s also an older disciple who helped teach Chirrut. She wears a mask because the dust of the planet causes her to cough and the mask helps. She and her sister run the orphanage Baze and Chirrut steal supplies for.

The first of Saw’s partisans to meet Baze and Chirrut are the Twi’lek Beezer Fortuna and the Sabat Leevan Tenza, also background characters in the movie. They work with Baze and Chirrut a fair amount before the latter two split with Saw.

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