Below are the 8 most recent journal entries recorded in Darths & Droids' InsaneJournal:

Tuesday, October 17th, 2023
9:11 am	Episode 2375: Reylo-dex https://www.darthsanddroids.net/episodes/2375.html Players will often come up with weird ideas for something to try. As a GM you have a few options: Look it up in the rulebooks, find it's not covered by a rule, and declare it can't be done. Ignore the rulebooks and declare it can't be done. Look it up in the rulebooks, find it's not covered by a rule, and declare, "sure, why not?" Ignore the rulebooks and declare, "sure, why not?" These are basically listed in increasing order of fun. At least from the players' point of view. If you're the GM, you just have to ask yourself: How much player fun can you take without going crazy? aurilee writes: Commentary by memnarch (who has not seen the movie) Ohhh, we've got another one of these scenes. That makes more sense than immediately jumping away to the First Order side. And of course the GM complains about it. Not much else for Kylo to do here though! I'm still really curious why Kylo seems to be bothering to contact Rey in the first place. He's less panicky now, but it still doesn't seem like there's anything to gain from this. Prank-dialing the enemy can be amusing, but we already had that happen once. I'd hazard a guess that Kylo is attempting a temptation here, except that he's already shown that he's got no patience for that sort of long term planning. As for planning the story, well........ I've got a pretty good idea of what the answer is. Most of the time. Transcript (Comment on this)
Sunday, October 15th, 2023
9:11 am	Episode 2374: Ordnance and Ordinance https://www.darthsanddroids.net/episodes/2374.html Weather is something that real people talk about a lot. It's considered one of the safe topics of conversation with strangers or loose acquaintances. And people care about the weather. If it's sunny or rainy has a big impact on your plans for the day and how much you enjoy them. It makes sense that weather should have a significant effect on game worlds too. Especially for people engaged in outdoor activities like, you know, adventuring. But many GMs never give weather a second thought, nor even a first one. Entire multi-year campaigns happen without the weather ever being mentioned, and the players just blithely assuming everything happens on a warm and sunny spring day. But if you suddenly try to bring weather into a game like this - let's say you mention that today it's raining, or snowing - the players immediately get suspicious. They assume that the weather is important somehow, simply because it's the first time the GM has ever mentioned weather at all. It must be a nefarious plot by the Evil Weather Wizard to take over the world! But all you wanted to do was make your campaign world a bit more realistic, and maybe have the heroes have to deal with a bit of snow while marching to their next location. What can a conscientious GM do? The Angry GM wrote a blog post about this situation, with a fantastic series of recommendations for incorporating weather into your campaign world in a consistent and interesting way, without any of the above problems. Highly recommended reading for all GMs. aurilee writes: Commentary by memnarch (who has not seen the movie) I guess Rey hates porgs. Or maybe is trying to decide if she wants to be a hermit, insomuch as a hermit can be on an island with an old mentor-like figure and a bunch of bathrobe fishpeople. It's not exactly a pleasant island on the face of it, but as long as the map wasn't copied, Ahch-To is reasonably secluded to avoid people. Which makes me wonder if that's why Luke came here in the first place. As a hero of the Rebellion, maybe he just got old and tired of the attention, and up and left one day with Lor San. And that's a pretty good scene transition. I'd thought we'd stick with Rey for a bit longer, but maybe there was more conversation that was cut out between Chewie and Rey. Well. In-universe conversation anyway, unless Chewie's suddenly gotten a translator. A munitions factory makes sense for a ship of that size. Not 100% sense mind you; blasters and turbolasers for ships never seem to need reloading. But being able to manufacture more ships and weapons (if there are spare crew) and more missiles while on a mission seems sensible enough. And hey, even if there's nothing else going on or if I've forgotten about similar things from the old cut-away ship books, it's still better than the hallways of nothing. Transcript (Comment on this)
Thursday, October 12th, 2023
9:11 am	Episode 2373: Aboard This Whiny Ship https://www.darthsanddroids.net/episodes/2373.html The good thing about establishing local wildlife as part of the scenery is that later you can use them in increasingly significant ways. You can consider doing this if you have a plan for using seemingly innocuous animals as a threat or annoyance later. Introduce them in advance and let your players think they're harmless. Only to discover later on that they leach magical power from all their items, or they suck blood at night, or whatever. Or maybe they become useful in other ways, as an emergency food source, or a way to send a message or something. aurilee writes: Commentary by memnarch (who has not seen the movie) Or we could go back to Achoo again. It's been a little while since we've seen Chewbacca, however, so that's nice. And I see the porgs have been designated the little mascots for this part of the movie, otherwise they'd probably have been left off screen. Artoo must be busy plugged into the ship or something as well, though he also doesn't need more screen time in order to be merchanisable. Porg plushies probably were pushed a bit before Baby Yoda took over. That thing was impossible to avoid, though I do know now that's not from the movies at least. Huge progress extremely rapidly could be extremely interesting! With results such as "where's the nearest refueling station" or "where'd half the ship go"! I do wonder about the radio silence part. Chewie wouldn't need a headset on if he's just doing ship repairs or tests. Hmmm. Maybe Ben will take the advice to heart and just leave the planet! Admittedly, this would mean we're leaving Luke behind for no reason and simply snipping off the training plot thread on the movie side, but that'd be extremely amusing from the comic point of view. Transcript (Comment on this)
Thursday, October 5th, 2023
9:11 am	Episode 2370: Con, Troll, and Chaos https://www.darthsanddroids.net/episodes/2370.html The con job is a classic story plot. And it's perfect for a roleplaying game scenario too. So. Many. Things that could possibly go wrong! aurilee writes: Commentary by memnarch (who has not seen the movie) Who are you and what have you done with Ben? Have you been talking with Jim too much lately? This sounds like one of his ideas! Are we sure Ben doesn't need psychiatric treatment for a broken brain instead? Anyway, it rather seems like BB-8's come to get the other characters moving again. I really doubt the psychiatrist plan is going to be used as that's not a Star-Wars-like thing. Cut to the shuttle for a change of plans scene perhaps? This balcony has some nice architecture, but it lacks for privacy, and for a place to gear up. Transcript (Comment on this)
Sunday, October 8th, 2023
9:11 am	Episode 2371: Dressed for Failure https://www.darthsanddroids.net/episodes/2371.html The white tuxedo is always a symbol of class. Players don't often think about the specifics of clothing in games, but it plays a big role in social expectations and interactions in real life, so it makes sense that it should in a campaign world too. If you establish that the majority of people typically wear grubby, rumpled, homespun stuff in a dozen exciting shades of brown, then the simple act of describing a person wearing immaculate clothing in crisp, neatly tailored lines with vibrant hues of sky blue and pale yellow instantly makes them stand out from the crowd and conveys that this is someone important. aurilee writes: Commentary by memnarch (who has not seen the movie) Ooooooh dear. Hey Ben, here's the perfect opportunity to top Jim's plan improv! Finn's even getting the white glove treatment! Oh, sorry; I just noticed Rose is falling over in the last panel too. Anyway, it took the patrons long enough to notice the problem with the outfits. It's extremely amusing that Finn points someone out, or something out, just before immediately getting spotted for that. There's probably some other reason Finn and Rose are getting called out, like Finn getting called out for being First Order again, but imagine if the clothing is actually the main reason! Weapons though? I don't think I spotted any weapons so far. Maybe Finn's got a blaster on him in the third panel, but it's hard to tell for sure. No droids makes sense at least. A casino wouldn't want anyone to be able to tell the odds of winning too easily, and a droid can probably hack things faster than a biological person can. Transcript (Comment on this)
Tuesday, October 10th, 2023
9:11 am	Episode 2372: Dungeons and Draggins https://www.darthsanddroids.net/episodes/2372.html In games with sentient or sentient-seeming robots, there are societal questions to be considered about their status. Are they treated like citizens with full rights, just like organic beings? Are they lower-class citizens, with restricted rights? Are they discriminated against, or accepted for who they are? Are they treated as property, with no rights of their own at all? This leads to many secondary questions about robots: Can they be called upon to give evidence in court? Can they have a job and earn money? Can they vote? Can they sue people? Can they marry? If your game has robots, ask some of these questions. And don't necessarily take what you think is the more obvious answer. Try taking the other answer, or say, "This is something that society is currently struggling with." aurilee writes: Commentary by memnarch (who has not seen the movie) Heh, that's almost the same phrase used way back in Episode IV! That's a pretty strong guard as well; Finn and Rey had to lift BB down into the hiding spot on the Falcon last episode. Of course, the guard probably doesn't care if BB gets damaged, so perhaps that explains it a little. BB-8's also lucky he didn't lose his head again. Time for a change of scenery now? This has the feel of a finished scene signaled by the sound, and Finn and Rose still need to be dragged off somewhere. So where to next? It's been a little bit since we've seen the First Order along with Sally, so perhaps there? Alternatively, we get to see what Poe's up to. I think it'll be extremely amusing if Poe's gone chasing after Rey and Chewie. Transcript (Comment on this)
Sunday, October 1st, 2023
9:11 am	Episode 2368: The Fathier Adventures of Robbers on Canto https://www.darthsanddroids.net/episodes/2368.html Every science fiction or fantasy world needs a good horse-analogue. It's impossible to have a fictional setting without some sort of riding animal. So if you don't want standard Earth horses, you have to invent something else that can serve the purpose. It might conceivably be borderline possible to imagine a fictional world without riding animals... But that's basically crazy talk. Get out of here! aurilee writes: Commentary by memnarch (who has not seen the movie) Ahh, so Ben's playing the dumb one this time. Heisting a casino? That's all fun and games. Going back to spend it at the same casino? That's begging to get caught. Interesting that there's a red highlight over the fathier jockey. It makes me think there's an info tidbit on that particular racer, or perhaps the odds of that one winning. I wonder what the writing actually means as well. This being Star Wars, I'd be shocked if it was nonsense lettering, but that still leaves room for easter egg text or something more meaningful. Also? There are some pretty good expressions here, especially the last panel. I can just feel how snarky Annie's question is with how Finn's looking at the camera. Transcript (Comment on this)
Tuesday, October 3rd, 2023
9:11 am	Episode 2369: Manumission Impossible https://www.darthsanddroids.net/episodes/2369.html Showing the seedy underbelly of places is a great way to set a mood and demonstrate to the players that this is a real, gritty place, where wealth and prosperity are built on a foundation of lower classes and suffering. Some types of games typically tend to gloss over this sort of stuff - for example the typical pseudo-medieval fantasy world where the peasants are all well-fed and happy, or simply never referred to. If your players are comfortable in the illusion that there is no lower class suffering in your campaign setting, putting it front and centre can be a way to shock their worldview and inspire new types of adventures. aurilee writes: Commentary by memnarch (who has not seen the movie) Oooooookay? Yet again, not where I would have expected the story to go. Definitely playing up the "this casino is just a shiny lights and sound show" angle. Maybe Rose and Finn are here to rob the place for something? The scene would help the audience feel better about having the place robbed as well. Or blown up. I could also see the casino getting blown up as part of an escape. The lighting from the lightning on the four-armed alien helps sell the idea that the people in charge suck. That face looks like a pile of ground beef on gravel! And while judging people by their appearances isn't good, it's definitely something that comes up frequently anyway, even when not paired with animal cruelty. Also? Wow, that's a heck of a callback. And here I was trying to remember what other campaigns or movies that could have been referring to before I recalled specifically Annie's previous characters prior to Finn. Transcript (Comment on this)