You are Lite Coldlancer and when you were just a few years old, the Jedi Council of Coruscant considered training you in the use of the Force, but eventually judged you unsuitable. Anyway, the Force flows in your family, even if you are all from a merchant background: your uncle Shin Coldlancer, brother of your father, is a Jedi Master.
The struggle between Separatists and Loyalists is dividing the Galaxy: your native planet, Tardos, is considering abandoning the old Republic, a democratic federation comprising most systems of the galaxy, to pursue projects of independence in alliance with the powerful Count Dooku.
Given the growing corruption of the Republic, and the serious scandal of Naboo dating back a few years ago, the people of Tardos (especially the local merchants and Hutt) don't believe anymore in the words of freedom and good intentions of the Republic.
Even your Uncle Shin has turned away from the Jedi Order, after noticing their coldness and indifference, to safeguard the health of his people and his family on Tardos.
You are now a young teenager, and your uncle has decided to teach you the ways of the Force, giving you a lightsaber, the characteristic weapon of the Jedi. Shin Coldlancer was also elected Spokesperson of the separatist movement of the planet: only a Jedi Master has the wisdom and strength required to bring together the various parties, corresponding to the major merchant families, and he is now on a diplomatic meeting with Count Dooku.
Officially, Shin went to offer Tardos participation in the secession from the Republic and his full support for the fight... but in reality he told you he wanted to talk to Dooku face to face to better understand his real intentions. He does not trust anyone because he has perceived the Dark Side of the Force at work in these political upheavals, even if he has not yet clearly understood how.
You look forward to your teacher's return as more and more disturbing news are coming from Geonosis, the planet that Dooku has chosen for his headquarters.
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RULESET
CHARACTERISTICS
You have three characteristics: Endurance, Force and Combat Skill.
ENDURANCE
Your Endurance points represent the amount of damage you can sustain before you die. If your Endurance drops to zero points, you're dead and your adventure is over.
Your initial Endurance score is 30 and you can never go above your initial score, unless you progress in the way of the Force from Initiate to Palawan, Knight and eventually Master: at every new rank you will gain two more permanent Endurance points.
FORCE
At the beginning of this adventure, you are learning the ways of the Force, and you are already able to use some Jedi Powers, to a certain extent. To use the Jedi Powers (which you will find listed and described below) you have to use some Force points. If you do not have enough Force points, you can not use that particular Power.
The number of Force Powers that you can use and your Force Points depend on your Rank (see below). When you use Force points, you can gradually recover them: you can recover 1 Force point for each period of time that you pass without being involved in a fight and without using Force points (in general, every post that does not involve the use a Force power and that "moves the story forward", i.e. it is not about a fight, a chase, an action requiring a Force power, a clarification, a closer observation of the scene, an ongoing dialogue... allows recovering one Force Point). The recovery of Force points can be therefore notified by / double checked with the GM from time to time, but you can't exceed your initial score unless you improve your rank.
COMBAT SKILL
Your Combat Skill score of course will help you during fights: a high score means having more chances of winning, and the possibility of losing less Endurance points in battle.
Your basic Combat Skill is 10, plus the Weapon Score provided by your weapon, which is normally a Lightsaber and adds 10 Combat points. If you fight unarmed there are no more points to add and if you use other weapons the GM will tell you what is the related Weapon Score.
EQUIPMENT
The maximum number of items you can take with you is 8: you can put them in some pockets on your belt, but you do not have much space.
At the beginning of the adventure you have your Lightsaber and you can also choose up to three objects from the following list:
- 3 meals (during the adventure you may feel hungry: if you do not have a meal, you lose 3 Endurance points)
- 3 Bacta Patch (each of these Patches makes you recover 4 Endurance points: you can use them any time you want, but not during a fight)
- 2 Thermal Detonators (these are weapons that can be thrown, exploding and striking a fairly extensive area)
- 1 Rope (a rope made of synthetic material, thin and very resistant: equipped at its end with a grappling tool for protrusions or rough surfaces)
- 1 Waynee grass (herb with healing properties, effective against many poisons)
Each of the above objects occupy one place in your equipment, but you don't need to bring necessarily them all with you: if you select the 3 meals they will occupy three places, but you may also bring 2 with you and discard the third meal.
Anyway, you know that your success doesn't depend so much from owning objects and money, but rather by your ability with the Force.
THE FORCE
The Force is an energy that surrounds all living creatures, nature, things: the Jedi are known to be sensitive to it and know how to use it, but they may be not the only ones. The training to master the use of the Force is long and difficult, but once you have perfected your skills, you can use them for multiple purposes: you can move objects with your mind, hear things that others do not hear, move with extraordinary agility, see things even before they happen, perceive the presences of other living beings, their sensitivity to the Force, their intentions; it can even change the perceptions that other beings have, condition the weak minds, heal.
However, the Force has two sides: the Light Side of the Force focusses on achieving harmony between the Jedi and the world around, in line with noble ideals of peace, justice and equality. There is also the Dark Side: evil, aggressive, it is the path of hatred and destruction of the enemies, the thirst for power and the pursuit of the most unbridled ambitions. Easier, more seductive, but not for this necessarily stronger.
There are 8 Force Powers: 4 are basic powers, common to both sides, while there are 2 specific powers dedicated to each of the two sides of the Force and the other side can't use them.
ALIGNMENT
Before the start of your adventure, you must choose your alignment (Light side or Dark side of the Force). It will affect both the powers you can choose, and your alignment during the adventure can be advantageous in some situations and disadvantageous in some other situations.
If you choose the Light Side, you will not be able to learn any power from the Dark Side: your behaviour is supposed to be peaceful and selfless. You will not seek direct confrontation, you will always choose the less aggressive and more diplomatic solution: you do not exploit your neighbour, offer your help, do not attack the innocent and defenseless, do not commit heinous crimes. Your attitude will generally be beneficial and fair. It's a conduct that may seem hard to follow, and sometimes limits you, but being a true Jedi means having discipline, calmness, self-control, inner peace, domination of passions and irrational attitudes.
If you choose the Dark Side, you will not be able to learn any power from the Light Side: your behaviour is supposed to be selfish and you will pursue the death and destruction of whoever opposes you you. You will be mainly driven by your personal interests: you are not a mindless, evil person and you still have values in your life, like your family for example. What changes is that you have no moral restraints: if you kill innocents and commit crimes to protect your family or your interests, it's OK. Pursue your goals without hesitation, you have no remorse. Obviously this does not mean that you have to behave continuously in a negative and evil way, but in combat you are guided solely by anger and desire to kill and destroy your enemy.
FORCE POWERS
There are 8 Force Powers in total.
- The basic Jedi Powers are 4 and can be choosen both by the adepts of the Light Side and of the Dark Side: Telekinesis, Agility, Sixth Sense and Perception. These are the basic powers any Force adept, even if not specifically trained in them, has minimal basic abilities associated to them.
- The Jedi Powers of the Light Side are 2: Jedi Mind Trick and Jedi Healing.
- The Jedi Powers of the Dark Side are 2: Sith Lightning and Sith Choking.
Normally the use of powers requires Force points, but in some simple cases they may not be necessary. The GM will give you indications case by case.
Telekinesis
It is the ability to move objects through the Force. As your rank and experience grows, the distance within which you can use this power will increase considerably, as well as the size and weight of the objects you can move. From small, not very heavy objects, you will be able to easily move heavy bodies of large dimensions. You are also able to violently push objects and even living beings, in order to harm them.
Agility
This power gives you an incredible agility. It allows you not only to move with speed and dexterity, but also to produce "bursts" of speed, for example to make huge leaps. Your agility can help you get out of trouble in extremely difficult situations, and as your rank increases you will increase your agility and the size of your leaps.
Sixth Sense
This power allows you to see things before they happen. In addition to alerting you a few seconds in advance of an immediate danger, allows you, as your rank increases, to perceive more and more images, scenes, until real visions of events that happen more and more distant in space and time.
Perception
The perceptions of the Force adepts are much sharper and deeper than normal: this covers both body and mind perceptions. You can move in dark environments, your senses are refined, your vision is more defined. As your rank will increase, you will perceive with ever greater clarity the intentions, the thoughts, the attitudes of every living being, including in particular the ones that are Force sensitive. Moreover, you perceive the presence of living beings around you, sometimes even at a great distance, and you understand better and better how strongly the Force is present in a person.
Jedi Mind Trick
Exclusive Jedi power of the Light Side of the Force. A Jedi can influence weak minds: it can alter their perceptions, making them believe they have not heard something they have heard, or hear noises that do not exist. You can induce weak minds to follow your sentences, to answer your questions. As your powers grow with the rank, you will be able to become effectively invisible to all people with weak minds, if you want.
Jedi Healing
Exclusive Jedi power of the Light Side of the Force. A Jedi can recover Endurance points and exercise healing powers on others. A Jedi can remove or anyway slow down the effect of poisons and toxic substances. Use of this power depends on the Force points you choose to use (see next section). However, you can not exceed a maximum of 7 Force points at a time.
Sith Lightning
Exclusive Sith power of the Dark Side of the Force. It consists in lightning emanating from your hands, hitting any target within reach. It is effective at short and medium distance and causes physical damage. As your rank increases you can also cause immediate death to an enemy. It is destructive against any target and can be used during combat. The use of this power depends on the Force points you choose to use (minimum 3 Force points, maximum 7 Force points) in combat.
Sith Choking
Sith Power of the Dark Side of the Force. It consists in strangling and killing living beings at a distance. It always causes immediate death, has a much greater range of action, but is not effective against inanimate beings or Jedi knights and can not be used during a fight, because it requires concentration. As your rank increases, the range of action increases.
RANKS
This table shows your Force adept rank, the associated number of powers, and the corresponding Force points representing your maximum Force rating.
Rank | Number of Force Powers | Force Points |
Initiate | 3 | 6 |
Padawan | 4 | 7 |
Knight | 5 | 8 |
Master | 6 | 10 |
Obviously at the beginning of the adventure you are a simple Initiate, but with time and experience you can become a Master!
COMBAT
During your adventure, you will face enemies in combat, sometimes on a one-to-one basis, some other times you will have to defeat groups of enemies fighting as a single opponent. They too will have a Combat Skill and Endurance score, like you. The aim of the fight is to bring their Endurance points to zero, trying at the same time to avoid losing your Endurance.
1. First, the GM takes note of the Combat Ratio between you and your enemy. This ratio is nothing but the difference between your Combat Skill and your enemy's Combat Ratio: it can be a positive number if you have higher Combat Skill, zero if you have the same Combat Skill, or even a negative number if you have less Combat Skill than your enemy.
2. Once the Combat Ratio is determined, the combat begins, which is divided into several rounds. At each round, you must roll a 10-sided die using RPoL Dice Roller utility.
3. Once you have the rolled number, the GM will refer to the "Combat Results" table (see below). At each round, the GM will tell you how many Endurance points you have lost and how many were lost by your enemy in this round. In extreme situations, one of the opponents may even die with a single hit!
4. Resume from number 2. Continuing in this way, round after round, one of the two opponent will reach zero Endurance points. If you get to zero, you're dead and your adventure is over; if it's your enemy, it means you've won the fight and your adventure continues!
Here is a practical example that illustrates the procedure.
Suppose that Lite Coldlancer faces a group of Tusken Raiders. Lite Coldlancer has Combat Skill at 20 and Endurance at 30, while the Tusken Raiders have Combat Skill 18 and Endurance 33.
1. The Combat Ratio between Lite Coldlancer and the Tusken Raiders is +2. In fact, the Combat Skill of Lite Coldlancer is 20 and that of the Tusken is 18, and 20-18 = 2
2. Once calculated the Combat Ratio, you can start with the first round. Roll a 10-sided die and let's suppose that the roll is 5
3. Check the "Combat Results" table and see that, at the intersection of the combat ratio +2 and the rolled number 5, the enemy loses 8 Endurance points and you lose 2. Then the Tusken Raiders decrease their Endurance to 33 - 8 = 25 Endurance points and you go down to 30 - 2 = 28 Endurance points.
4. A new round starts: roll a 10-sided die, check out the Combat Results table, see how many Endurance points you have lost and how many your enemy, subtract them. Then roll for the third round, then the fourth, the fifth, and so on, until you win the fight or you are killed. Of course you can always try to escape, but obviously it is not something you can do systematically, if you want to complete the adventure successfully.
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CREDITS
This ruleset and the adventures of Lite Coldlancer are adapted from Raffaele Aquilone's writings, and in turn he was obviously inspired by the setting of Star Wars saga of George Lucas and the rules of Lone Wolf saga by Joe Dever.
Praise to them all!
This message was last edited by the GM at 13:12, Thu 03 Oct 2019.