[Closed] (FKR) Star Wars Order 66 Survivor

This is still just an interest check, to see if it is worth spending time working out details. So treat this as a rambling first draft. :)

• Contains spoilers for Star Wars Episode III (Order 66).

I had an idea for a game where we play Jedi Padawans that survived the Order 66 cull, and are now on the run. This idea stuck with me for about a week, so I am bringing it here.

How you avoided death would be up to you and the game group, it could be individually, or as a group, whichever we prefer. Maybe you were at the temple when Anikin struck, maybe you were away with your master and they died saving you, maybe you were on a class outing and survived as a group? Options abound, make your backstory your own.

How you join up as a team would be up to the group as well. Maybe you were all together when things went down, maybe you were responding to the recall beacon and were close together when it was changed to a warning and stuck together, maybe you found each other over the following weeks? It need not be the same for everyone.

You are old enough to have had some training, and to have made your lightsaber... but a lightsaber is an obvious tell that you are Jedi, so using it may be a bad idea. Maybe you hid it away, maybe you sold it, maybe you turned it in for the reward, claiming to have killed the Jedi who wielded it? Maybe you keep is close, just in case? You could always (try) make another one later if it comes to that.

Age ranges are probably between Ahsoka in Clone Wars and Obi-Wan in Episode I, so probably the equivalent of 'teenagers' (for whatever that means for your species), though ones that have been taught to be more mature than our current crop. :)

This idea was actually spawned from a discussion of 'low dopamine production in the teenage brain —making everything "sooo booooring!"— and high dopamine reward pathways —making risky behaviour appealing.' So it is 'Star Wars as an afterthought'.

FKR
Free Kriegsspiel Roleplaying (or Revolution or Renaissance) was born out of Kriegsspiel (Kriegs = war; spiel = play) or 'War Games', played by professional soldiers, as training. They found that the 'rulebooks' could not cover all the options, because the real world is complex and ever-changing, and decided that "We are all soldiers. We know what is reasonable and what works. We don't need the rulebooks." So they started playing 'Frei' (Free (of overcomplicated rules)).

It worked because everyone was on the same page about 'what sort of things could happen', 'what could come up', 'what could work'. They were all experienced soldiers playing soldiery things.

Since we can assume 'we all know Star Wars', FKR seems a good fit.

We don't need overcomplicated rulebooks that force us to play a particular way. We can all envisage the sorts of scenes that we would see in a Star Wars, and we can describe it and have it happen.

I am not 'a massive Star Wars fan', though. I enjoyed the movies and the Clone Wars animated series, and Andor, and read a few books, but am pretty meh about most of the other stuff. Just to get us all on the same page.

FKR and Dice
Sometimes we need to answer a question that is not obvious, then we turn to some 'resolution mechanic'. I have seen differing opinions on how this should be done:

Some feel the 'dice' should be as minimalist as possible, and get out of the way as quick as possible. And old-old-school "roll a d6, better than x" can do the trick. 'X' could 'better than 1' for an easy task 'just don't roll a 1 and you are fine' —a la 'Gygax'— or a hard task could be 'better than 5' for a really risky task were you have to roll a 6 to succeed.

Some feel that, since the 'dice' only occasionally come up, they should 'be an occasion'. Ironically —since we are definitely not using the system— the FFG Star Wars (Genesys) system's fancy dice provide a lot of narrative flavour which I often like for FKR. It can be worth spending the time to put together a dice pool based on the situation and interpret the outcomes. This site supports these dice, so they are an option, we can talk about it. This can be slow in PbP.

Cards are also a popular vehicle for randomness in FKR, especially if we don't concern ourselves with 'sheets and books' and skip the 'pen and paper' part. They can be more convenient while standing in a queue, or while on a hike. Dice are not feasible (I don't like rings), but a shuffled deck of cards in a jacket pocked is easy to draw the top card from. Cards also provide colour and flavour, not just numbers. This site's cards are too clumsy to make that worth it, I think. :(

Personally I would go with a fairly simple system with a little structure. Maybe 24XX (SRD) blends the simple dice rolls with a little situation-based dice-pooling, and an easy to understand and remember outcome number.

Skills and Leveling and such
We can pull skills from our imagination, or from other rulebooks (WEG d6 or Force & Destiny or 2400 for instance) and make a system that makes sense for what we are playing. 2400: Project Ikaros' Psi Powers could provide a place to build our Force Powers from.

Using Force Skills risks revealing your Jediness, and will bring trouble. Some are obvious: like firing up a lightsaber, or using Force Jump to flip over a bully and Force Push to knock them down (i.e. 'pulling a Spider-man'). Others are more subtle: like using Force Push, in a crowded street, to cause your target to stumble and miss their taxi. The details of the situation would heavily affect this. The fiction always comes first. Using your Force Powers to jump a little further and run a little faster to win a competition might go unnoticed... for a while. Using Mind Trick to get past guards might become a problem when they are questioned as to why they let you pass, or why they sold you death-sticks and are rethinking their life...

We, obviously want to have Force Powers, else we would not be playing Jedi. But resisting the temptation to use them is likely to be a large part of the game. :)

'Leveling Up' might use a simplified Trait Vote system (from Burning Wheel), so what you do would shape how you 'level'.
Species

I never thought the 'playable' races in Star Wars were very distinct. I generally just modeled the different races as 'flavour'. But diverting a few Initial Skill Increases to 'Species Characteristics' is a fun way to handle these (see 2400: Legends as an example). If you are aquatic, you would naturally be good at swimming, so put some points into Swimming; you might also be able to breath underwater, but need to keep yourself wet. If you don't breath 'our atmosphere' (accept it, it's Star Wars), you might need to wear a mask at all times, this is a vulnerability, but also means you don't need to worry about poison gas or lack of atmosphere.

• Don't be a dick. Don't abuse the freedom of the system.

• Be a fan of the other players' characters. Use your character's specialness to make them shine. If everyone else is allergic to water, don't make a character that can live and breath in water, or don't expect that ability to come up except in very special circumstances where you might get your one chance to shine.

What do we think? Shall we give this a try?

Yes we shall

I've played Star wars D20, Saga Edition and Free form... I'd definately give this a go!

I've been wanting to try FKR ever since you mentioned it a few months ago, VagueGM, so count me in!

Expressing some (hesitant) interest. I haven’t watched any of the Star Wars movies or shows, but I do have some knowledge about the setting and general outline of the story. I am worried I won’t always be on the same page as the others when it comes to what is or isn’t possible in-universe, and that it might cause more issues in a freeform sort of setting.

Would that be too much of a problem? I don’t want to slow things down by asking too many questions mid-action.

Also, I gather this is sorta an ‘on the run’ kind of game?

Hmm...
All those systems... That is almost an anti-recommendation. :)
I was thinking of you while writing this, but just had a scare when it looked you might not know Star Wars... but that was just your character.
And now ... we are going to have to live through that aftermath. :(

I don't think that will work. Not for a game which relies on the players knowledge of Star Wars to fill in for a rulebook.

What about this appeals to you, since it probably isn't the Stars or the Wars? :) Maybe we can find something else that does work, at another time.
If you are wanting to try a Star Wars game, go for something with a strong setting and rulebook, to ground you in the lore a bit. But most games would expect, at least, some interest in the movies.

If we do this —and it is looking like we might— this game will not be 'first come, first served'.
I will expect my players to be self-motivated and contribute to the world, and the story.

Players will be expected to post most days.

Ha! Oh yes, I have seen every single film and TV show, and played a lot of the video games, as well as some of the old WEG game and Saga edition. One notable exception: Andor season two. I really am behind on that!

Oh, and one other. I have not seen the xmas special.

Nobody should have to

Yes, the real draw was the fun I’m having in the other game I’m in with you. I also tend to prefer system-light or freeform games, so the format did appeal to me.

Maybe some other time then.

I forgot to mention those. My first introduction to Star Wars was actually the Dark Forces: Jedi Knight -> Jedi Knight: Outcast -> Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy games, I thoroughly enjoyed them. And I played Knights of the Old Republic (1). I pretty much stopped playing video games around that time though.
Likewise. Though I generally wait for the whole thing to be available before I start watching, so this is normal.

Andor is probably the closest to what I am aiming for. In terms or 'realism', other Star Wars can be a bit silly.

I don't even know what that is... (only slight exaggeration).

Likewise. Hence my 'offer' to try find something FKR that you are into. We can chat.

Count me interested.

On the contrary. My point was that I am not a stranger to the Star Wars Universe. I've also watched all the movies and most of the TV shows... still have a few I need to catch up on.

'Twas but a jest. :)

That RPG knowledge is also useful. We would welcome any suggestions of which books to look at for examples for things like Skills and Species. I generally go with the (free) Star Wars: The_Roleplaying: Game Revised Expanded Updated version of West End Games d6 Star Wars system, and wookieepedia (or whatever web resources are currently du jour) for such things. But these are only examples, and I prefer to keep things 'general'.

As a 'casual Star Wars fan', I also plan to look for some books (novels) from this era (right after Episode III), to become familiar with the general tone. I welcome any suggestions on good ones worth reading.

I could see players creating a character using Saga Edition to just give a guideline for species, abilities, force powers etc, while discarding actual game mechanics, working well.

Star Wars Saga Efition Wikia
There are stats for 210 species alone...

As for class, I'd say Jedi of 1st - 5th level would work with a bonus feat at level 1 (Force Training) allowing each Padawan to have 1 Force Power [if starting at 1st level]

There's like 53 Force Powers to choose from so a lot of variation amongst characters would pretty much be guaranteed.

Padawan 5th level example:

I have mostly been reading the High Republic series

I have zero knowledge of the game system, but the premise of the setting sounds awesome.

My Star Wars fan-level is on the side that I have seen all movies multiple times. And some of the shows on Disney+ is they were good
(I totally love Skeleton Crew, I admit!)

We can look at that wiki as a resource for examples of species, and skills, and force powers, though they seem to call them 'Force Techniques'.

We will probably want to settle on one source as the primary tool, as they all tend to have their own opinions on things and, just from glancing at that swse wiki I can see contradictory 'facts'.

We would not use those to 'make characters', our characters will be mainly narrative, this is not a mechanical game. We still need to find how much mechanics we need to sprinkle on, but we will play most of it by ear when we need to resort to dice.
Looks like the wrong era for direct inspiration for this game, but I will add them to my list to take a look at.

"There is no system." :)

Welcome to the site.

Have you played Monster of the Week, and Masks? They are a lot more mechanical than what we are doing here, but experience in those sort of 'more story focused' (compared to DnD) games is a help. No worries if you haven't, their mere interest is a good sign.
This will not be that. I hear it gets better, but those kids irritated me, so I have not watched much.
I think we should stick to mainly the movies as our 'canon'.

Don’t know if it’s been mentioned yet but the Starwars d6 Reup game is both free and robust, as an idea of where to get a frame for dice mechanics out of.

Agreed. That is probably going to be the main source I draw from for examples and such. (Strong) Rumor has it George Lucas used this West End Games RPG to get names and such for the Species when he needed them for later movies, there were very few official names in the original movies.

But we won't be using those rules. They are not bad at all, and not just 'for a game of that age', and are what I reach for 'first' when recommending a 'Star Wars RPG' to people. Honestly, though, as mentioned earlier, when I want a full system I usually use these resources as a reference, but play with the unofficial Star Wars World (Omega) mod for Apocalypse World (mostly gone with the demise of G+): or Impulse Drive, or maybe Scum & Villainy (FitD) and treat them as Star Wars. But we are not using any system for this, or maybe a little 2400 as a dice mechanic.

I must put together a blurb about how I envision this working, then I will want everyone to contribute and help form a light structure we can work with. For instance: We will need to 'decide' how granular we want the Force Powers to be:

We can go with very broad 'Abilities' like Control, Sense, Alter.

We can go with more fine-grained like 'Control' consisting of: Speed, Jump, Wall-Run, Hibernate; and 'Sense' having: Sense Life, Sense Force, Sense Direction; and so forth.

I might recommend something in the middle.

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There is also the question of how do we want to handle 'The Dark Side'?

We are probably not the most 'responsible' people around. We have some discipline from our Jedi training, but the temptation of the Dark Side is always there. Without the 'absolutes' of the Jedi Order, what is our (player) stance on The Dark Side, and will it be a factor in our characters' decisions?

Do we want to play with balancing (or not balancing) this 'duality'?

If this is to take place right after Order 66 was issued I don't think any padawan's would have access to dark side powers... not sure if this system has any kind of leveling mechanic but dark side powers would be accessible after a time without Jedi influence but would need to have been played out prior; that the character had been flirting with dark thoughts, actions, or an NPC's council or actions influenced them towards the Dark Side, etc...

Do agree, but even for just force powers in general. Outside of the chosen one, the movies seem to imply for force sensitives in their nascence that it takes years of tutelage for a youngling to be able to move all but the most small of objects with the force. On some level it may make sense for force actions to be heavily influenced by luck.

are we to be younglings or Padawans... teenagers who have had a master and had some training in the force?

The idea is older padawans, right? Late, mature teens. I think they have some decent control of a few force powers. I think they've learned a reliable trick or two. But those tricks are small in scope and few in number. They been trained by the Jedi, so I don't think they know any darkside powers. Yet.

Agreed. Not at the start, but how you use the Powers you have may drive you that way later?

How do you feel? Are you angry? Who knows where that leads... :)
Yes, the fiction. If it makes sense for you to learn new things, or improve things you know, that will happen. This will be reflected on your sheet.
That's what I am thinking.
Yes. Fiction First.
Not younglings, no. Padawans with a little training. We can work out the specifics for each character. Being 'human' makes this a lot easier, but we can look at other species if we have to.

Yeah, but 'necessity' and all that. Schools are really not the fastest way for people to learn things. Shove them out into the world and make them need to use their skills to survive and people learn real fast... those who survive, that is, but those are the types we are telling stories about, right? :)
You mean learning them? Sure, could be, we will base this on the fictional circumstance in which we are trying to learn.

If you mean to use, then yes, we will use dice. Let me write that up.

Yep.
I don't know how 'mature' you are, that is an opinion. :) But teen, sure. We can work out the details as a group.

It may be easiest if we are all similar age. The difference between 15 and 17 is huge. But we can chat about those specifics and preferences.
Sounds about right.
Yet... three little letters with so much ... potential. :)

Species
The Star Wars world is dominated (possibly literally) by 'humans'. Sure, this is probably mainly to help the SFX budget, but it is still what we see.

Humans are also the easiest to play, since we have some understanding of how they work. I usually want my 'aliens' to be alien, not just people with different coloured skin or pointy ears, but I am not sure how feasible that is in Star Wars.

I suggest we lean towards human, or humanoid or humanish characters, but we can talk about trying to make anything you want work. We can use the books and wikis for guidance about what they are like, but this is mainly about the narrative, so tell your story with that character rather than statting them out mechanically. Support that story with the mechanics, as needed. See Below.

Dice
Here is how the dice might work (these are the rules for 2400):

Skills (and these probably include 'Force Powers') are a d6, if you are trained in that skill it is a d8, or, later, maybe even a d10 or a d12.

If you can't reasonably do a thing without training, you can't do it. Maybe, based on the fiction, you might be able to try it, but you might roll a d4 because you are Hindered by lack of familiarity. Do it enough and you could become 'familiar' and can roll a d6 (or get even better).

If you are Hindered —by circumstance, by injury, by exhaustion, or anything else that makes sense in the fiction— you roll a d4 for your Skill die (no matter what value that die has, it does not step down (we can chat if we don't like this, but it actually works, so I stick with it)). A sprained ankle, for example, will Hinder your Running, but won't Hinder your Typing.

If you are Helped —by circumstances, preparation, or the perfect tool, maybe— you roll an extra d6 (always a d6).

If you are Helped by another player, they roll their relevant Skill die and share in the risk.

If you are Helped by a Force Power, roll that die in addition to the Skill die you are using (either of which may be Hindered).
• In addition to any already existing Risks, add the Risk of being found out (or tick a 'Hunter Clock', maybe, as appropriate).

Use the single highest die, if it is a:
• 1–2 Disaster. Suffer the full risk. GM decides if you succeed at all. If risking death, you die.
• 3–4 Setback. A lesser consequence or partial success. If risking death, you're injured.
• 5​+ Success. The higher the roll, the better.
• If success can't get you what you want (maybe you make the shot, but they're bulletproof!), you'll at least get useful info or set up an advantage.
• Defense: Say how one of your items breaks to turn a hit into a brief hindrance. Broken gear is useless until repaired.
• Harm: Injuries require time and/or treatment to heal.

Skills
It is not required, but I suggest reading the 2400 RPGs, various ones have things that can guide us.

Take, for example, their handling of 'Skills':

• Choose or invent Skills. For example: Climbing, Connections, Deception, Hacking, Electronics, Engines, Explosives, Forgery, Hand-to-hand, Intimidation, Labor, Machinery, Persuasion, Piloting, Reading People, Running, Sailing, Shooting, Singing, Sleight of Hand, Spacewalking, Stealth, Swimming, Tracking, ...

Specifically note the 'choose or invent', and then some examples. We don't need to use this list, think about what sort of 'skills' you would like to see in Star Wars and we can try make that happen.

Or we might use more general ones like: Biology, Psychology, Technology, Physics, ...

We can decide how granular we want to go, or how broad each skill should be. We could adjust later, if needed.


I also propose a 'smell test' when something needs to be done. Let's say, for instance, you need to 'pick a lock', but you don't have the Pick-Locks Skill:

If all you have is Diplomacy and Shooting, even though you are really good at both, you simply can not try picking a lock (or you can't roll dice for it, you can always narrate trying as much as you like if that is what your character would do:).

If, on the other hand, you have both Mechanic, and Watchmaker... well, we can assume you can work out how to pick a lock (and probably even manufacture suitable tools). The exact dice will depend on many things.

If, on the other hand (wait, how many hands do you have!!?), you have high Mechanic, but that is 'diesel engine mechanic' (might be Engines... who knows), that probably does not translate well to delicate actions like picking locks, maybe you can try roll, but you are Hindered by your 'big, dumb hands'.

In the cases where you can roll, you might be Helped by your Force Sense die, or other factors based on the fiction.

The Force
I am inclined towards making 'The Force' be just another set of Skills. You would buy them the same as you buy/upgrade any other skill. Bear the fiction in mind for how you can explain learning new things, and remember that time spent honing your Force Skills is time not spent honing your regular Skills.

The Force is meant to be cool, so it may overshadow other Skills, but it comes with higher risks. We will do what we need to 'balance' this to keep it fun.

I invite you all to suggest Force Skills that you would like to see, even if you don't have them at the start. We can slowly build a list. Please don't copy/paste a list from another RPG. Let's focus on the ones we care about at the start.

You were still learning when you were separated from your teachers and the temple. So you may only know the basics and need to find out how to learn more. We can decide together how much you know.

Starting Characters
Maybe we will start with 3 points to allocate to Skills (including Force Powers). Maybe 4 points? We can see how the characters shape up and adjust.

You can use a 'point' to raise a Skill from nothing to a d8, or to raise a d8 to a d10, or a d10 to a d12. d12 is as high as it goes, and it seems foolish to focus that high at the start.

Most Skills are d6 if you have not invested points in them, but some things need training/experience before you can even try them. Raising a Skill to d8 implies such training, tell us how.

No Hard to type names, please! :)
This is Star Wars, but it is also PbP. Let's be kind to each other and not make us type impossible names. :)

Being 'old enough to get a job' might make things easier, but I am sure there a lots of places that don't have strict child-labor laws, so needing to contend with being considered 'too young' can also be fun and complicate your lives.

The group can decide on an age range they like.

Lines and Veils
We can talk about it more in the game, but a common hard line that people lay down is 'no violence against children'. I think we may need to forego that, for this game. Though, 'children' is relative to us, and we are talking about only the bad guys doing it, and (mostly) off-screen.

I don't think this will be R-Rated. Probably in line with Star Wars movies.
We are teenagers, though, so there may be some 'romance' but it will fade to black when needed.

This game is LGBTQA+ friendly. It feels like we need to start saying that again.

No violence against kids

Is not the same as

No violence against a teen with a lightsaber


But either way I would be fine

For the record, I am happy to use the rules from 2400 or another lightweight game, but then are we doing FKR? Myself, I am most interested in the FKR experience. I'll play a Star Wars themed game of 2400, sure, but I'd prefer it be FKR, myself.

This sounds like a great concept, and I’m definitely interested—especially if it leans into a pure freeform or FKR (Free Kriegsspiel Revival) style. I'd love to play in a game with no rules at all—just GM interpretation, maybe with some hidden rolls or decisions behind the curtain, and everything driven by fiction first. If you’re GMing, vagueGM, I’d be excited to join under those terms.

That said, if you're planning to use an actual system—even something as light as 2400—I’ll probably step back and let others take the spot. I’m happy to wait for a more rules-minimal opportunity. I feel you or someone will try it, someday, in Gamersplane. =)

As for Star Wars familiarity, I’ve seen all the films, read over a dozen novels from both the old EU and the Disney canon, and watched several of the series (including Ahsoka and Andor). I’ve also GMed the FFG Edge of the Empire RPG for a couple of years and I’ve spent a lot of time exploring the setting both as a player and GM.

Looking forward to seeing how this develops!

Here is my suggestion for "rules"

Species
Same as vagueGM wrote above.

Characters
Characters will be mainly narrative, the thing I am suggesting is not a mechanical game. To create your character, you write a backstory and choose 3-4 relevant traits, skills or aspects. Purely textual, no dice equivalent.

Dice
The GM may throw some physical dice behind the curtains. Or not. We will never know and it won't matter. We will trust them and they will trust us.

What about...
We will talk about it, make a specific ruling for this specific situation and move on. We will use your traits and the NPC traits to resolve the situation. The GM has the final word. You will have to trust them.

Fine by me. How does everybody else feel?

But FKR generally has some random dice element, for those times when none of us know if you can or can't succeed at something. Drgwen, you know that, even in heavier systems, my games tend to roll dice only rarely. :)

I was proposing 2400 as this resolution mechanism since it is just a simple 'how good are you at this' and a simple dice mechanic that says how well you did it. In 2400 you 'only roll to avoid risks'. So most of the time you don't need to involve the dice except as a reminder of what you are good at.

We can skip the numbers in character creation, and rely purely on our shared understanding of the world and the problem we face to resolve all situations.

If the 'no dice' resolutions ends up taking too much discussion, then we can revisit this issue.

FKR is not about the amount of rules, it is about everything else, the stuff that is not rules. FKR is not about the rules, it is about the mindset. (Though opinions vary.:)

I will not be rolling dice to decide, they are your characters actions, you roll their dice (if they have any). :)
I don't do anything 'behind the curtain', if dice are involved everyone will know. Sometimes I may 'keep my hand over the result for a minute' so players don't know the number till after the resolution, but that is the extent of my 'behind the DM's screen' rolling, and players can always see that, in this one instance, they are being kept in the dark, this is an exception.
Open dice aid trust. Why hide anything (once it happens)?
Exactly. Be those 'traits' defined by dice, or numbers, or just ... what's the popular word these days? ...: 'vibes'.

We only need to define enough to be able to resolve questions of if you can do a thing. And only when it is not clear from the context.
Well, yes. That is always the case. But it should seldom be a question. It should be clear to everybody, from the fiction (which includes the characters and their 'sheets') how a situation is likely to turn out. There may be unknowns that have not been taken into account by your characters, but they players should be vaguely aware that they are not 'fully prepared'.

I have no strong feelings towards a system, as long as it's consistent

I have not chosen players yet, but I am liking the group we see here and the dialogue we are having.

Despite the lack of a game, we can start by describing our characters. Work together to form a group that fits (in terms of Concept, Aim, Tone), but don't worry about forming a 'balanced party'. It is natural for people to tackle tasks they are suited for, so most of the game will involve you doing the things you made your character good at, those are, presumably, the things you find interesting (the 'character sheet' is flags for the GM, they are a fan of your character). Sometimes you will be put in situations you are not equipped to deal with (the principle of: "find where they are weak and push there"), but it is still about your character, and we are all eager to see how they get out of that nest of gundarks. :)

Basically, the game shapes itself around your characters.

Based on the descriptions, we can see what we need to define. One approach could be:
• Define three things you are good at, and one thing you are not good at.

Give your characters strengths and weaknesses. These can change as we play.

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I will probably decide on the roster and make a game based on the character discussion, but we can start a game and take that discussion there if we prefer.

I like this plan. I suppose it would make more sense to conduct our character discussion in a game, rather than here in the games tavern?

I have not fully invested in my character yet. It is always a bummer to love a character and then not get on a game.

But my general idea was to be a daughter from some high-up family from Alderaan. Found and recruited at young age. Trained in Coruscant, but still drawn to the beauty of Alderaan and the privileged position she got to know in her early years.

Understood. Likewise I don't want to bring people into the game only to find their character concept or idea for the game does not fit, this is an especial concern when there is no rulebook to establish basic things. That's why we are chatting before games and invites.

That said, I like this group, and I will make a game, hopefully later today, and invite: runekyndig, Balthazar, Drgwen, and Owlbeer, all based on engagement in this thread. Delta and htech, I would like to hear more from you, and may extend this to 5 or 6 players, though that can get unwieldy.
Character Creation should be a collaborative process, so we can't really invest too much into them till we hear from everyone and see how things are shaping up.
We should look at the canon details of when Jedi are harvested, I think it is young enough that our family backgrounds don't matter too much, but we probably have some memories of home (seems they Jedi encourage us to forget about our mothers, though). I don't think you get to 'go home for the holidays' or visit after you join, it seemed a pretty severe severing.

Coming from a recognisable family will add extra wrinkles. It might give you access to some resources that can help, but can also add the risk of your being more easily identified, or your family being used against you. Two-edged-swords are the best. :)

Would this translate into higher 'social' skills? Or just a little more 'refinement' when it is called for?

Nah. As you said, kids get recruited early and probably cut quite hard. I am more thinking a spoiled/bratty attitude :)

Vague, that actually sounds exactly like what I’m hoping for.

My concern with using even something as light as 2400 at this early stage was just that it might signal to players that dice resolution will be more central than intended—like in most traditional RPGs, where it's expected rather than exceptional. The real novelty and appeal for me here is the chance to play in a truly minimalist, narrative-first, FKR-style game—where we resolve almost everything through shared understanding, and dice only come in when none of us can reasonably say what happens next.

If those edge cases are rare—and I fully expect they would be under your GMing style—then I don’t think we need to frontload a resolution system. Even something as lightweight as "roll a d6 and interpret a result from a GM-created table for that specific situation" once in a year would feel totally in line with the spirit of FKR for me. And I’m also totally fine with rolling that dice—whatever supports the fiction best.

That said, I’m aware this isn’t how most games run, including mine. I usually have predefined mechanics and resolution systems in place too. But I’m genuinely excited to commit to something more freeform. That’s the kind of creative energy I’m looking for.

Lastly, I’d love to hear what the rest of the potential players think. I know Drgwen mentioned a similar interest, but this only works if the whole table is on the same page. It's definitely not the norm, and it takes buy-in from everyone to work well. Staying here or in a "pre-game" forum works for me until we get this sorted out. =)

So... I will create a draft version of a character background, post here three things they are good at, and at least one thing they are not good at and see how things go. OK? =)

Oh, joy! :)

Your classmates must have looved you. /s
It is up to y'all if any of you trained together, or if you meet/met for the first time in these dire straits.

I had exactly the same concern, agonised a bit over even mentioning it.

We can easily bring dice in when we need them. So I will leave that out for now.
Which is how I run most games, anyway. So moving to actually calling it FKR (with all the baggage that comes with names) makes sense.
When it comes up, we can work out what dice need to be rolled. It could be as simple as: "Are you good at doing this? You are? Cool, roll a d8. Vs, oh, you're really not good at this at all, roll a d4." And we can think about recording that on your sheet for next time... but next time you may have gained some skill and those numbers don't apply, so we have that conversation again.
All that is needed is some way to answer a question of if we can succeed at something, and only when we all genuinely don't know what the outcomes should be. "Can you do it? Not sure? Roll a dice: low is 'bad', high is 'good', both are fun." We only roll when it is both risky and interesting to fail... just like in all RPGs...
Agreed. We can treat my 2400 discourse as 'just an example of how it could work'. That way everyone has some idea of what to expect when we are expecting random results.
Something very rough, keep it flexible so we can shape it around the other characters, and them around us.
Those specifics can also come after we see the sort of character. They are less important than the character story, and can be worked out as we play.

I have run DnD with newbies (who 'don't read') where I made characters by asking them questions: "Your carriage is attacked. What do you do? Do you grab your sword and shield, or stop to study the situation? (i.e. are you a 'fighter' or a 'magic user' or 'sneak') ... What does your armor look like? Shiny metal or leather? (i.e. are you a 'Paladin'/'Cleric' or a 'Ranger'/'Rogue/Thief')", or Oh, yes? What spell do you use? What does it do? Go ahead: Make something up. (i.e. 'Wizard' vs 'Cleric', 'blaster' vs 'support') and so on, how they approach problems defines their 'attributes'. That is for people who need the hand-holding, though, so not for this group.

When it comes to what you are good at, we can work that out as we see how the characters move through the world. Those 3/1 numbers are a thumbsuck.

That all sounds great—and it’s reassuring to see we’re in sync so far. Framing the 2400 rules as just an example of how resolution could work really helps clarify where you were coming from. I’m glad we had the chance to talk it through early, and I’m feeling even more confident about the tone and direction of the game now, if the other prospective players agree.

I’ll post something else about the character a bit later—thanks again for the thoughtful responses!

Right back at you.

Mutter, mutter... I guess we are up to five players now. I wonder if we will end up "The 6 after 66" or some stupid name. :)

When I am thinking of an interesting padawan survivor, I think of one who was badly hurt in the Order 66 culling. Cybernetic lim replacement, and such. I'm currently contemplating if having both legs and right arm replaced with cybernetics is to much.
Lots of resentment towards the imperials.
Lots of guilt for being a burde to her friends.
And a good pile of stress for not being able to let those feelings go

Of course. I hadn't even considered that. That might put a bit of time between the Order 66 and where we are at the start. Unless you want to start with us playing out how your friends help you with that (if we are together). Or we can play that out in backstory-flashbacks if you want.

But, this is Star Wars, so it probably does not take all that long to get a cybernetic limb.

One wonders how you paid for it.
"Be mindful of your feelings, you must!"

Great stuff.

I had an idea for a padawan who’s not all that special, either in ability or background. Like a teenage Alan Tudyk lol

Curse your sudden but inevitable betrayal! XD

Sorry I've been so quiet for the past 24 hours or so... Had a rough shift at work yesterday with a migraine on top of it... when I got home I only had the bandwidth for a beer and bed... I'm at work again today but so far nothing's hit the fan.

I am good with however you want to structure any dice mechanics... I've played 30+ different game systems over the past 40 years... I'm adaptable.

I had a Kel'Doran concept in my mind before you implied that Human's might be best for everyone. If you'd prefer us all be human I can create a human character easily enough.

Sorry to hear that. It is no problem at all, it happens and we cope with it, this is PbP.
Ugh. Take care of yourself first and foremost, games come second.
Yeah, I don't care about systems anymore, they are all the same. :)
They do have value in that their limits place bounds on our story and help keep things focused.
The specific concerns I raised are specific concerns. If your character does not butt against those problems then there is no problem.
A quick search shows Kel'Dor have about the same lifespan as humans, so we can treat them as human in terms of being a teenager, and aging with the rest of the crew?
I will rely on my players to make sure such concepts work. We can look it up if we need more details, but you can show us what that means as we play.
I like one-time-use items. We can deal with it in the narrative.

Name: Brenya So’luppa (she/her)
Species: Gungan
Age: ~15 standard years
Lightsaber: Simple, single-bladed, sea-glass green — currently disassembled and hidden in pieces, probably
Personality: Easygoing and playfully curious
Strengths: Intuition, awareness, "luck", smarts
Weaknesses: Alter, Control, overt combat, brute strength, agility, etc

---

Brenya So’luppa never saw the point of rules that didn’t feel right.

Born in the luminous underwater city of Otoh Gunga, from a very early age she was known for sneaking off to poke at things she wasn’t supposed to — glowing plants, ancient junk, even half-sunken ruins teetering on the sea floor (+ Curious). Elders called her "full of bubbles," but there was something about her questions — the kind that made people uncomfortable — that hinted at deeper waters.

She didn’t exactly mean to get chosen by the Jedi. She just sort of... ended up there, after a visiting Jedi caught her exploring an ancient Gungan shrine no one was allowed near. She’d been curious (+ Curious), slipped past a patrol, and found herself face-to-face with a relic humming faintly with the Force. The Knight didn't scold her. He watched. Then took her with him.

Training at the Temple was... weird. The other younglings were more serious. Brenya laughed too much. She asked too many "what if" questions. She often got distracted halfway through lessons (- Impulsive). But she was friendly, easy to like, and rarely let stress get to her. Her quiet confidence and playful humor made her well-liked by most of her peers (+ Easygoing).

She was never much good at the flashy Force stuff. Her pushes were weak (- Alter), and she couldn’t hold a saber to save her life (- Combat) — not without tripping over her own feet. But she felt things others missed. She could sense (+ Sense) when someone was about to speak, when a room’s energy shifted, when a wrong turn could be right. She couldn’t know the future, but she always seemed to step the right way at the right time. Her Master often said, "The Force whispers to her in odd little ways."

That whisper saved her life.

On the day of the purge, Breenya had been missing from her scheduled training. Again. She’d found a sealed maintenance hatch in the lower Temple levels and had decided to follow it "just for a peek" (+ Curious, - Impulsive). By the time she emerged, the halls were scorched and silent. She felt it then — a deep pull in the Force (+ Sense), tugging her away from the light, away from death. She ran, not knowing why, only that she had to.

Somehow, she survived — not with violence, but with intuition and instinct. She isn’t a hero. Not yet. She’s just a girl trying to listen to the Force and stay one step ahead.

Stronk! We will see just how lucky you really are. :)

Okay. I had a bit more time to work on my character idea.



Name: Taryn Devrane
Species: Human
Home world: Alderaan
Age: 16
Appearance: Short, agile, blonde hair in a practical ponytail, build for speed and elegance, now hiding in normal, but fancy clothes
Lightsaber: Fancy green with a gold tinited hilt, her combat style is fast and dextrous, flashy, showy.

Taryn comes from a rich family on Alderaan, and as a child was quite spoiled. Her childhood with her parents was brief. For soon she was tested force sensitive and brought to the Jedi for training. She immediatelly felt special, as if it was something she was entitled too. And no Jedi master could rid her of her bit snotty, bratty, spoiled, arrogant attitude. In the brief days after the Republic suddenly started to hunt the Jedi, she felt robbed of what was hers. Maybe a bit angry even, although she shouldn't. Now she needs to hide, very hard for her as she loves to be in the centre of the attention.

Taryn is good...
... with the lightsaber. She is fast and agile and shows it in her light saber style, which is almost a gymnastic routine. Maybe she does show off a bit.
... with social skills, she is quite charming and knows how to manipulate people into doing things. Without mindtricks.
... pretending all is fine and keeping cool. Even though she might be a nervous, it won't help to show it.

Tarys is not so good...
... at survival. After Alderaan's rich family home and Coruscant's Jedi temple, she is a city girl. Used to having things available. Even if the Jedi are way more modest, basic needs are always within reach.
... letting go of her ego. She is exceptional and entitled. Or so she believes.
... dealing with loss and grief. Although she pretends all is fine, it really isn't. She isn't used that much to set backs.


Her forcepowers are mostly physical and acrobatic. Force jump, her lightsaber skills, blaster deflection...



Art is work in progress...

Tyra Voss – Survivor of Order 66
Species: Human
Age: 17
Background: Jedi Padawan
Force Talent: Force Echo (Psychometry)
Physical Traits:

Slim and youthful, but heavily scarred
Cybernetic legs (mismatched, droid-grade, functional but graceless)
Oversized mechanical arm (from a cargo droid, powerful but crude)
Dark cropped hair, pale skin, haunted eyes

Origin & Trauma

Tyra was aboard a small Jedi frigate when Order 66 was issued. Ambushed by clone troopers—including one with a heavy blaster cannon—she was blown apart in the crossfire, left barely alive. Her fellow survivors stabilized her in a bacta tank, hastily replacing her limbs with whatever mechanical parts were on hand. The ship fled into hyperspace as she drifted near death.

When she awoke, her body was no longer hers—and the Jedi Order was gone.

Psychological Profile

Resentful of the Empire and the betrayal by clones she once trusted

Guilt-ridden, believing she’s a burden her friends risked too much to save

Body dysmorphic, disconnected from her cybernetic limbs and her reflection Emotionally overwhelmed, unable to process the trauma or let go of her pain

Struggling with identity, caught between being a Jedi and just… surviving

Force talent: Force Echo (Psychometry)
Tyra can feel the past imprinted on objects and places. When touching something saturated with emotion—especially pain, fear, or death—she experiences vivid sensory flashbacks.

Early on, this is uncontrolled, triggered by trauma or stress

She sees and feels the final moments of others—sometimes friends, sometimes foes

Over time, she may learn to focus the ability: searching for truths, tracking enemies, or finding closure

This power reflects her inner conflict—she can’t let go of the past, because she relives it.

I really like the last name Voss. I just finished the 'See' series on Apple, with Jason Momoa playing a blind swordsman called Baba Voss.

What fun. :)

Do remember that, this is your character, they are not represented by numbers and abilities, but by how you describe them. The world and other characters will react to you as thought these 'facts' are true. You will 'succeed' and 'fail' based on these descriptions.

Of course, though, you can describe your character making an effort to play against character, but that is a constant effort and we will assume otherwise if it is not made.

You can (as quickly as you like) grow out of this. Maybe you learn to conceal your nature more easily, or maybe you just grow up.

This is great stuff and how the game plays. This is what it is about.
Presumably this will also translate, somewhat, into fighting with a staff or sword? Though they are fairly different to a lightsaber, sometimes you just have to make do.
You can also use these to augment your 'mundane' actions, but might attract attention.

I immediately though of that as 'quest' when I read the description at the top. Replacing them should be fun to play out, and place more 'burden on your companions'.

Do you talk to them about your feelings of dysmorphia, or is that a secret shame you don't want to burden them with? How important/high priority should they think your replacement mission is? "These parts work fine."
One wonders: Do your cybernetic limbs trigger this? Maybe at awkward times? Just a thought, play with as you like.
It sounds great to me. The others can weigh in on if it is appealing. Fortunately it can always be toned down in play (if it becomes too much of a focus), you can learn to cope... or not, as we like it.

I hoped to get a game up yesterday, but that —clearly— was not on the cards. I will try get it going in the next few hours and invite 5 players.

Delta, as the least engaged applicant, I am hesitant to do this with 6 players, that is a lot for PbP. I am sorry to see you miss this, and could be persuaded to rethink the numbers.

No worries, happy to sit this one out if it contributes to avoiding future burnout.

Cool. 'FKR' is ... unpredictably, undefined. It may play easily with the group and we can add another (we will be in touch) or it may be hard work, and a delicate balance may be broken by more people. A rigid rulebook makes this sort of thing more predictable, so there are benefits to those systems. :)

@runekyndig, @Balthazar, @Drgwen, @Owlbeer, @htech: Invites sent. You can accept them at the Game Details page [link].

Let's pick this discussion up in the Character Creation thread.

It seems like a very good idea, solid fun and cool. You could use free leagues 6 on a d6 is a success. Multi d6 based on stats.

I do love the idea and if you go forth with the plan put my name in the hat.