While I ran two separate sessions of Star Wars, second edition revised & Expanded rpg from West End Games, I'm only posting one report on the convention.

"The Rescue" scenario was one that I had worked on off and on since January to get ready. It is the first attempt by me to write a scenario. While "Rescue" seemed to work for the players, both those who have played Star Wars before and those who were new to the game system, it left me some what disappointed. I ran the game from 2-6 pm on Saturday and in the same time slot on Sunday. The Saturday session was full, the Sunday session was one short. Both sessions ran over the time limit, but I didn't mind that on Sunday.
So, let's start here with the basic plot for the scenario, and the player characters created for this adventure.

The Plot

28 ABY: Three years ago, an Imperial Warlord, invaded a world in the Unknown Regions, a planet called Earth… The Earthlings fought hard, but all looked hopeless. Then agents of the New Republic arrived.
A few days ago, a Y-Wing longprobe on a routine recon mission was brought down somewhere near the city of Ottawa on Earth. It is imperative that you rescue Lt. Amanda Ell, the pilot. She has information that could be very damaging to NRI operations on Earth.
Your group is assigned to fly to Earth make contact with Corellana Brivviin, NRI’s contact with Earth’s various resistance groups. She will get point you toward Lt. Ell’s last known position. You must recover Lt. Ell, and escape before the Empire learns too much.



Cute, Yes? :)

The player characters specifically for this convention game were:

Matreise: A female Damronian bounty hunter. Who’d been working with Lt Warren Vallion for years. As a whole, she's condescending toward men, but respects Lt. Vallion. She's been brought along as extra fire power for the rescue mission.

Dr. Chuck Conway: An African-American male medical doctor and member of Earth’s resistance movement. He and Jenny are the only survivors of their old resistance cell. He's been looking after Jenny since death of her Jedi mentor.

Tobin Colle: A male Jedi Knight, part of the Shadows, he'd been assigned by Master’s Luke and Mara Skywalker to investigate the death of a fellow Jedi Knight, Vajra Myal here on Earth. He has worked with Lt Warren Vallion before and suspects there is more going on then Warren is willing to reviel.

Lt. Warren Vallion: A male New Republic Intelligence Operative. The man in-charge of this rescue mission. But there is more to this mission then he's letting on to the others.

Brace Malor: A male Wroonian smuggler. He's worked with Lt. Vallion before and has taken this mission because, in typical Wroonian fashion, he thought it would be fun. He's piloting the ship the New Republic provided for the mission.

Jenny Waites: A 22 year old Carleton University student and Jedi Padawan. Always Force sensitive, this girl has seen one too many Buffy episodes. Her mentor, Vajra Myal was trying to straighten her out when she was killed. Now Jenny has taken up her mentors lightsaber in her quest for justice.

*****

The strange thing about the two sessions was the mix of players. The Saturday afternoon game had six guys, but the Sunday afternoon session had four guys and two kids playing the characters.

From the point of view of the runnings of the two games, neither of these sessions of Star Wars provided more than one or two memorable impressions. Some stuff that I *do* remember, however, are:

1. In the Saturday afternoon game, the man sitting across from me who felt the need to constantly consult his copy of the game manual. If you've played the game before, goody for you, but the session only needs one GM. Leave the manual in your bag.

2. A magnificent moment occurred in the Saturday game during the final battle with the Dark Jedi. I hadn't taken into account that the player playing Tobin would spend a Force Point on the first strike, bisecting Varrik.

3. In the Sunday session, the fellow who played Brace, a father introducing his nine year old son to gaming, played the Wroonian to the hilt. First to try something dangerous, always wanting to drive, even when in an Earth vehicle.

4. In the Sunday session, during the chase scene in the Carleton tunnels, Tobin used Telekinesis to pull the shotgun out of the villains hands, rolling a one on the wild die, the gun flew straight into Brace's face, knocking him to the ground.

5. In the Sunday session, the guy playing Jenny preformed a marvelous flip over the two Stormtroopers and remembered to use Lightsaber Combat to *reduce* the amount of damage she did in the battle with the traitor.

6. Both players playing Tobin reacted with shocked gasps at the discovery that the stormtroopers they were facing in Manotick were from the 501st Legion.

7. In the Sunday session, the player playing Jenny: "You mean I've gotta drive all the way to Manotick!?!"

8. In the Sunday session, the kid playing Matreise, used her webslinging ability to web up the traitor before the traitor could pull out the hand grenade.

Both sessions turned out to be over the four hour limit but Sunday's session was a fun game, marred only by the noise problems. Four of the players in Sunday's game, including the two kids, had never played the system before, and one of the guys had only play D20 Star Wars before. I would have liked to have sat down with him and gotten his impressions. He seemed to have enjoyed it, when the others opted not to keep their character sheets, *he* collected them.

I'm going to CanGames AND GenCon this year, So I have a few things to plan.

Gaming Projects on the go:
1. stats for Blood Bay Pirate pics. Status: This project is still on hold.

2. CanGames 2008 scenarios (Invasion Earth theme).
The Rescue: Star Wars Revised & Expanded rpg. 4 to 6 players, duration: 4 hr.s.
Set on Earth, one year after the Imperial invasion. A mixed team of New Republic operatives and members of Earth’s resistance must travel to Ottawa to rescue a downed Y-Wing pilot. Status: Undergoing a rewrite.

Well I attempted my first play-test with jkahane and Tammy. I now see that I should have run the outline by others, long before this point. I've discovered swiss cheese holes, big enough to drive a Mack through. Thankfully the two were able to give me a great deal of advice ... Besides converting Star Wars over to the Ubiquity System :) ... in order to fix it.

Any Port in a Storm: Mekton Zeta+ rpg. 4 to 6 players, Duration 4 hr.s.
Using the Freedom! setting by James Milligan. A century after the invasion of Earth, in the teeth of a raging blizzard, a band of freedom fighters stumble into the forbidden city of Ottawa. Status: Scenario dumped do to time constraints. Elements are going into the Star Wars scenario.

3. GenCon 2008 scenario.
Legacy of the Lost: Hollow Earth Expedition. 4 to 6 players, duration: 4 hr.s.
On a mission a mission for the Crown to find the missing Prof. Torres, and the idol of Attana, a hand-picked group of explorers find themselves in a race with Spanish Nationalists for both. They found themselves in Peru, trapped underground by an explosion. As our intrepid band explores the mysterious land beneath the Earth and it’s many wonders, they come to realize they are not alone and a simple mission is far harder then they thought. Can our heroes rescue themselves, and Professor Torres from the duplicitous Children of Nah. Status: No change.

I'm going to CanGames AND GenCon this year, So I have a few things to plan.

Gaming Projects on the go:
1. stats for Blood Bay Pirate pics. Status: This project is on hold.

2. GenCon 2008 scenario.
Legacy of the Lost: Hollow Earth Expedition. 4 to 6 players, duration: 4 hr.s.
On a mission a mission for the Crown to find the missing Prof. Torres, and the idol of Attana, a hand-picked group of explorers find themselves in a race with Spanish Nationalists for both. They found themselves in Peru, trapped underground by an explosion. As our intrepid band explores the mysterious land beneath the Earth and it’s many wonders, they come to realize they are not alone and a simple mission is far harder then they thought. Can our heroes rescue themselves, and Professor Torres from the duplicitous Children of Nah. Status: First act started, Player Characters names and type chosen.

3. CanGames 2008 scenarios (Invasion Earth theme).
The Rescue: Star Wars Revised & Expanded rpg. 4 to 6 players, duration: 4 hr.s.
Set on Earth, one year after the Imperial invasion. A mixed team of New Republic operatives and members of Earth’s resistance must travel to Ottawa to rescue a downed Y-Wing pilot. Status: First act started, Player Characters named and stated.

Any Port in a Storm: Mekton Zeta+ rpg. 4 to 6 players, Duration 4 hr.s.
Using the Freedom! setting by James Milligan. A century after the invasion of Earth, in the teeth of a raging blizzard, a band of freedom fighters stumble into the forbidden city of Ottawa. Status: Outline started, Player Characters names and type chosen.

Beginning to wonder how I got talked into this? :(