We’ll wrap up our series on the
original “Star Wars” trilogy with statistics for the heroes and
villains from the films. But first, a note on levels: unlike Dungeons
& Dragons, the Fantasy Flight Star Wars RPGs, and other
professionally published games, USR doesn’t rely on characters
adding a host of new abilities as they gain levels. Yes, they may add
Specialisms and hit points, but we don’t have a list of special
abilities added at each level for each class. We don’t even have
classes for characters. So here’s the guideline I’m using for
Domino Writing-style USR characters.
As seen in the USR rules, you gain 1 to
3 experience points per adventure, and go up a level every 5 XP. In
other words, one level per two to three adventures, or roughly one
level for every five or so game sessions (depending on how long your
game sessions last). A character can gain unlimited levels, but by
levels above 5, most monsters will no longer be a real threat. So
let’s say a level 6 character has to “retire” from adventuring,
or at least stop gaining XP.
Here’s “A New Hope,” complete
with experience point awards.
 |
| Read this text box to start the adventure. (image: LucasFilm) |
First game session
Luke Skywalker and
Obi-Wan Kenobi join Han Solo and Chewbacca (and the droids) in the
Mos Eisley cantina, where they have to make a quick escape off the
planet Tattooine. They escape to Alderaan, per the “quest giver”
Princess Leia hologram. But Alderaan has been destroyed, and their
ship is captured. 1 XP for everyone!
Everything before the cantina — the
death of Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru, the escape of C3PO and R2-D2 with
the Death Star plans — is backstory, helping develop the
personalities of the characters. Obi-Wan and Han (and probably
Chewie, too) should be level 2 or 3, really, but RPGs don’t often
work with characters of different levels in the same party, so we’ll
have to chalk it up to the difference between a movie and a tabletop
RPG.
Second game session
In the Death Star,
the party frees Princess Leia and Obi-Wan dies (soon to become a new
Specialism for Luke). 2 XP for the dramatic conclusion to the game
session.
Third game session
The Empire follows
the Millennium Falcon to Yavin IV, triggering the dramatic space
battle and destruction of the first Death Star. 2 more XP, and
everyone goes up a level. The End.
You could define the events of the
entire movie as one adventure (so they advance to level 2 at the end
of “Return Of The Jedi”), but I want my heroes to gain XP a
little more quickly. There are big challenges ahead; they need to be
ready.
After “The Empire Strikes Back,”
they go up another level. And since we’re only looking at the
original films, that’s where we’ll stop. Despite what I said
before, to “accurately” portray the characters, they’ll be at
different levels. That’s what you’ll see next week, when we
provide USR statistics for the heroes of Star Wars.
How many game sessions
will it take to play the Harry Potter novels?
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