What makes it "Star Wars"?

[Finarvyn]

So I'm going to be running a short Star Wars campaign at my local game store, and I'll be using the FFG version since it's the one that the store is currently selling. My basic plan was to throw some pregen characters into a Millinium Falcon style ship (probably without all of the extra add-ons) and give it an NPC captain to guide the ship around, then drop the characters into a "situation of the week" thing to give them some short adventures.

When I described this to my sister, she said it sounded a lot like Firefly. Knowing that players are signing up for Star Wars and not Firefly, I thought it would be worth having a discussion of what gives something a "Star Wars feel."

I came up with a short list of three "props" that make a setting feel like Star Wars.
(1) Stormtroopers. Lots of 'em. Bad shots and all.
(2) Jedi. While I don't plan lots of powerful jedi in this campaign (set around the time of episode IV) there need to be some sprinkled around.
(3) Lightsabers. Very iconic of Star Wars, even though so many other settings tried to make knock-off Lazer Sword stuff.

I also came up with a short list of three "style" things that make a setting feel like Star Wars.
(1) Cinematic. Lots of action, swashbuckling stuff, and so on.
(2) Speed. Hard to simulate, but every Star Wars movie had some sort of fast-paced chase.
(3) Improbable. Harder to define, but Star Wars is full of improbable coincidences. Luke just happens to stumble onto Obi-Wan. Darth Vader and the Falcon both arrive at Bespin, of all places, at roughly the same time. It seems like we're supposed to have a vast universe, yet somehow all of the action converges when needed.

What do you think? Any "rule of three" ideas to throw into the mix? What makes a "Star Wars feel" in a setting?

[waysoftheearth]

Don't forget droids

[Finarvyn]

Jun 29, 2015 20:49:13 GMT -6 waysoftheearth said:

Don't forget droids

Great catch. I had actually thought of droids last night and was going to edit my three, but you beat me to it.

My new thre:
(1) Stormtroopers
(2) Jedi with light sabers
(3) Droids

[cadriel]

One thing to keep in mind is that Star Wars planets and moons tend to be extreme environments, Tatooine is a giant desert, Yavin IV and Endor are both covered in jungle, Hoth is a frozen wasteland, Bespin only has humans in the clouds, Dagobah is all swampland. You don't go to a city, you go to a planet that is a giant city (Coruscant). I'd keep that in mind for any settings you use: one biome, taken to the extreme.

[randyb]

The Force. Not only is it what empowers the Jedi, it drives events in improbable ways, even as early as Ep. IV.
The dark side thereof. Is it the early-Lucas "corruption of the Force" or the late-Lucas "light-dark balance of the Force". Canonically, in either case, the dark side is a separate and objectively existent thing; "neutral Force" theories have always been shown to be deceptions of dark side origin.

[Falconer]

I think a planet-of-the-week campaign is more-or-less what I would do. Cadriel’s point is spot on, except personally I would avoid Coruscant and stick to more savage planets.

[cadriel]

Aliens should be a big differentiator from Firefly, too. Players don't even need to know what the aliens are, you never get detailed racial or cultural stats about them. They don't all speak in Basic and they are often just background dressing but there are plenty of them.

Also, vehicle fights are very important. Firefly doesn't ever do them but you need fights in both spaceships and terrestrial vehicles.

[Falconer]

Nailed it again, Cadriel.

One reason I have no desire to run a game in the Firefly universe (Londinium-Sihnon System) is the lack of the fantastic compared to other franchises (Star Trek TOS, Star Wars OT, Battlestar Galactica TOS…). But since all four franchises take inspiration from each other—and, humorously, each attempted to be a “space western” as if inventing the concept—I wouldn’t have any qualms about it if sometimes the “feel” sometimes drifted around.

[Zenopus]

I was going to say Aliens too since that was my favorite part as a kid - I loved the action figures of the Creature Cantina - but I couldn't articulate what about the Aliens is particular to Star Wars.

[Deleted]

I think simplistic interpersonal relationships are one of the reasons why SW has a certain appeal: Not kidding - in SW, the quest is usually the focus of a story, not group dynamics, like in, say, Game of Thrones. So, not everyone is a traitor, sex is not a focus of the story, and people are usually working together out of personal sympathies. HArd to say how you emulate this in a game, but IMO one of the key elements of SW.

[cadriel]

Jul 1, 2015 0:05:14 GMT -6 @rafael said:

I think simplistic interpersonal relationships are one of the reasons why SW has a certain appeal: Not kidding - in SW, the quest is usually the focus of a story, not group dynamics, like in, say, Game of Thrones. So, not everyone is a traitor, sex is not a focus of the story, and people are usually working together out of personal sympathies. HArd to say how you emulate this in a game, but IMO one of the key elements of SW.

Star Wars has a MacGuffin-driven structure: there is a straightforward object/action goal, an obstacle, and usually a twist or two en route, but it's very much storytelling 101. The original is a particular favorite in screenwriting courses because the plot is blazing obvious and easy to understand. The personal dynamics are generally a side aspect, because it's a very story-forward film.

One way to do it in a game is probably to have everyone with 3 'hooks' about their character (Farmboy, Pilot, Son of a Jedi; Rogue, Ship Captain, Heart of Gold; Princess, Capable, Member of the Rebel Alliance and a Spy; Old Jedi, Veteran of the Clone Wars, Local Kook) and sort of roleplay in very broad strokes around those.

[Deleted]

I'm a big fan of the old Han Solo books, so Stormtroopers and Jedi aren't really necessary for it to be Star Wars for me.

The way I see Star Wars is similar to pulp stuff like Indiana Jones. He starts in Peru, which is jungle-y, then goes to the city of London, and finally to the desert of Egypt. Star Wars is just this type of globe trotting pulp adventure where you replace the globe with a galaxy, nations with planets, and natives with aliens.

So the one-biome planet and the ludicrously fast hyperspace are just products of the story structure. If that makes any sense.

For example, in Star Trek you get lots of plots based on them being the only ship in range. There's a problem where they happen to be and they need to solve it.

In Star Wars, you get lots of plots based on someone needing to deliver something or talk to someone so they fly halfway across the galaxy to do just that. Leia didn't send the Death Star plans to the rebellion via an encrypted email.

Also, technology in Star Wars is simply an expression of the character. The Millenium Falcon isn't fast because it's got a super high tech engine, it's fast because Han Solo is constantly working on it (i.e. hot rod culture). The Death Star isn't a technological achievement as much as it is an expression of the massive economic power of the Empire. It's powerful because it's big and it's big because the Empire has the money to make something that big. Likewise, the light saber is an expression of the Jedi's dedication and training (combined with a good dose of Samuria/Katana fetishism). It's an "elegant" and "civilized" weapon, not a high tech one.

[Deleted]

Jul 1, 2015 8:10:52 GMT -6 cadriel said:

Jul 1, 2015 0:05:14 GMT -6 @rafael said:

I think simplistic interpersonal relationships are one of the reasons why SW has a certain appeal: Not kidding - in SW, the quest is usually the focus of a story, not group dynamics, like in, say, Game of Thrones. So, not everyone is a traitor, sex is not a focus of the story, and people are usually working together out of personal sympathies. HArd to say how you emulate this in a game, but IMO one of the key elements of SW.

Star Wars has a MacGuffin-driven structure: there is a straightforward object/action goal, an obstacle, and usually a twist or two en route, but it's very much storytelling 101. The original is a particular favorite in screenwriting courses because the plot is blazing obvious and easy to understand. The personal dynamics are generally a side aspect, because it's a very story-forward film.

One way to do it in a game is probably to have everyone with 3 'hooks' about their character (Farmboy, Pilot, Son of a Jedi; Rogue, Ship Captain, Heart of Gold; Princess, Capable, Member of the Rebel Alliance and a Spy; Old Jedi, Veteran of the Clone Wars, Local Kook) and sort of roleplay in very broad strokes around those.

Hehe, yeah, the clumsiness, or rather, the basic nature of the plot and the characters are one of the script's greatest assets - which is remarkable, because nearly all other similarly structured series, from Krull to Flash Gordon to Die Hard have struggled in comparison. It's also why I think that the prequels don't work - SW is not about complication.