GM For Hire: Star Wars D6
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Introduction: When I was taken to see the original Star Wars film in the cinema at the age of two, I was so amazed that I got out of the seat and toddled down to the front of the cinema where I sat completely entranced for two hours! Soon after, I had a collection of the Star Wars figures and a copy of John Williams' double LP score which I'd listen to as I played with my figures. And so a love of storytelling and science fiction began. Forty three years later, I still love visiting a galaxy far, far away as I run Star Wars adventures using West End Games' D6 system. As I embark on my own adventure of becoming a GM for hire, I'm looking forward to sharing that love with new players online. This post sets out some of the options to give prospective players an idea of what they can play and an idea of what to expect.
First of all, here's me chatting about this service, but please read on if you want to know more!
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| The iconic film poster where my love of all things Star Wars began. West End Games used the same image for the cover of the 1st edition of their roleplaying game. |
The System: I'm using the Star Wars REUP system which is the fan version of 2nd Edition Star Wars by West End Games. The reason I love this system is that it is simple to learn, yet can offer crunch should the GM require it (though my preference to to keep things as simple as possible).
The Setting: The Star Wars galaxy. Expect to visit planets, some familiar, some less so from the Star Wars universe with extreme climates and full of exotic aliens and strange creatures! My preferred setting is the Galactic Civil War as this is the period that most of the published game materials are designed for.
Please note that, for the purposes of home-brew games, I only consider the films as cannon. I do use Wookieepedia as a tool for designing my universe so I do try to avoid anything which clashes with anything in the EU, but some dramatic licence may be used from time to time. Some published adventures may also have elements which have been altered since Disney jettisoned the EU (which West End Games began with their game and supplements).
The Action: This can range from personal one on one gunfights up to major battles! Star Wars routinely sees Player Characters wielding blasters and lightsabers, battling on foot or in walkers or speeders, and piloting fighters and freighters into battle - even occasionally involving capital sized ships - should be expected also!
The Platform: Discord will be used for voice chat and to add text/pictures while Roll20 will be used for maps and tokens. I own all of John Williams' scores for Episodes IV-VI as well as some select tracks from Episodes I-III and curate a playlist of tracks for each adventure to set the appropriate mood! Please have a look at my Green Vipers posts which show examples of "Music Cues", giving an idea of how I select tracks to best fit the mood of the adventure. Finally, every adventure (though not necessarily every session) will have an opening scroll which, in campaign mode, can be tailored to mention particular group members, their ships and settings. You can click on this text to view all of the existing examples of opening scrolls on my YouTube channel.
Characters: The Star Wars REUP system has 26 character templates, including the following:
Brash Pilot
Gambler
Minor Jedi*
Smuggler
Tongue-Tied Engineer
*Note: To keep play balanced, I don't recommend there being any more than one Jedi character in the party. Also, Jedi characters should expect to gain their powers extremely slowly, literally over a period of months, if not years. Becoming a Jedi is not a quick and easy path.
These are just a sample, and, if you don't like any of those in the REUP book, there are literally dozens of other options available from other supplements! In addition, if Campaign Play is desired, I will happily guide players through the process of designing a character from the ground up! The character YOU want is what will be delivered!
Game Options: I am delighted to offer Star Wars at all three tiers, meaning that prospective players can opt to play Casual, Campaign or Unique Campaign play. More on each follows:-
Casual Play: Casual play offers the running of classic adventures by West End Games. There are too many to list, but the following adventures are among those available to run:
Strike Force Shantipole
Battle for the Golden Sun
Starfall
Scavenger Hunt
Riders on the Maelstrom
Crisis on Cloud City
If there is another adventure players would like me to run, please do not hesitate to contact me as I am able to run most, if not all of the adventures!
Campaign Play: The published adventures are "one shot" in nature, unconnected stories which are fun in their own right, but if you're looking for a deeper experience, then campaign play might be for you!
During "Session Zero" character creation, players will be encouraged to come up with backstories to provide me with potential storyline hooks to thread into the campaign. Once the sessions get underway, the team will be provided with a home base where they will meet a group of allies who will be recurring characters in the campaign. A PDF of this will also be provided. Recurring villains should also be expected, and the aim will be to provide a series of adventures which tell a bigger story. This does not mean that the one-shot adventures will not be used, but they will be incorporated into the tapestry of a wider tale. There are some adventures too which have been partially sketched out in some of the campaign packs that I will adapt and expand upon to fully realise for play. A good example of this is The Long Shot campaign which, with the exception of Trials of the Godking which already existed as a full adventure, has now been fully realised for play. Campaigns which are currently available for play are as follows:-
Unique Campaign Play: Unique campaign play means me writing a campaign for your team of players and that it will be designed with all of your needs and wants catered for! You want to play as Imperial Agents trying to infiltrate Rebels, no problem! Stormtroopers in the 501st, sent for missions across the galaxy, you got it! Or maybe a team of bounty hunters, pursuing the galaxy's most desperate and despised? If you can dream it, I can't see a problem accommodating it!
For the really adventurous, I do have a complete 50 episode campaign called Rise of the Rebellion which charts a Rebel group's exploits running from 5BBY to 0BBY (5 years before A New Hope right up until just before the events of Rogue One). The campaign has been fully play tested with a group of 7 regular players already.
Plot Armour: I am pleased to be able to offer Plot Armour to be set "on" or "off". This means that adventures can occur within the established timeline of the films, dovetailing, but not changing anything established in canon, or, alternatively, the characters can take on the likes of Jabba or even Vader and the Emperor in their own alternate version of the saga!
Rates:
Service Charges are for a three hour session, and all associated preparation and writing, with charges on a per-player basis with groups consisting of 6 players.
Tier One: Casual Play. £7.50 per session running pre-published adventures.
Tier Two: Campaign Play. £10 per session running a mixture of pre-published and home-brew adventures with play tailored to the specific characters in the group. An introductory post will be put up on this blog and players will be provided with a PDF of the same document.
Tier Three: Unique Campaign Play. £15 per session running home-brew adventures only, tailored to your group's needs and wants for the campaign.
Immortalise Option: For an additional £2.50 per player on top of the chosen Tier pledge, a full write up of your session will feature on my blog along with a PDF copy for each player. See Green Vipers posts on this blog for examples of what you can expect.
Rules: For anyone not familiar with the system, here's a few quick basics: all attributes and skills under the attributes have a dice code, e.g. 3D, 4D which simply indicates how many six sided dice the player rolls, the totals of which are added together when rolled. Some dice codes have +1 or +2 after them, e.g. 4D+2, which would mean that you roll 4 six sided dice, add them up and add 2 to the result. Note: Roll20 automatically tallies the dice rolls so you don't have to worry about the arithmetic!
When asked to make a skill or attribute roll, the GM will set a difficulty for it. If the roll equals or exceeds the difficulty, the character has passed the test, while, if it is lower, they fail. The difficulties are as follows:
Very Easy: 1-5, Easy: 6-10, Moderate: 11-15, Difficult: 16-20, Very Difficult 21-30, Heroic 31+
When rolling the dice for any skill check, you have a single "Fate" dice which adds extra excitement to proceedings: roll a 6 and the dice "explodes", allowing you to roll another dice to add to your result - if another 6 is rolled, the dice explodes again and will keep rolling until a player fails to roll a 6! A roll of a 1 means that you will either be asked to subtract the 1 and the highest result from the total or, alternatively, the GM will tell you that a complication has happened and something interesting and unexpected happens!
You gain Character Points at the end of an adventure and can spend these either to increase your skills or can use them in-game to boost rolls if desired. Force Points also allow players to double all of their skills for one turn!
If all of the above seems straightforward enough, you shouldn't have any problem entering a galaxy far, far away! Join me! With our combined strength, we can end this destructive conflict and bring order to the galaxy!
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