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Bas-Xun, a security officer aboard the Far Star, could smell the Imperial
General’s breath. The knife the “Butcher” held was close to the Gungan’s
throat and death seemed to be at hand. Bas-Xun tried to think of some way to
escape. And then it came to him.
This is the story of how my character, a Gungan in Brad Crawford’s campaign, escaped from the "Butcher." At the time my character was disarmed, one leg was in pain from being blasted into a wall, and his ears were ringing. Up against him were at least five Imps, including their General. So what was I to do? We have all been in these situations. Our character is soon to be graced by one more hole in their body, and it ain’t a piercing. (Even though I think a Gungan would look pretty neat with one. Hmmm, I’ll have to remember that for the future.) Anyways, back to what I was saying. Sometimes we can get out of a tough spot simply by having a GM who won’t kill off a PC. Brad, however, is not like this. He is cold-hearted, evil, and -- I believe -- related to some sort of hellspawn. OK, he is not really that bad, and he will give your character a slight edge; but if the dice say you die, let's just say that the song “Taps” is in your future. Now is when you start to panic. No one wants to lose his or her character. I had finally got Bas-Xun some respect. People didn’t see him as a bumbling Jar Jar. So what did I do to have Bas-Xun escape? Bas-Xun stuck that long tongue of his down his throat, and vomited all over the “Butcher.” And then he RAN!!! This is what we call playing a strength. And any character can do it. There is never an unbeatable situation. No good GM will ever put you in one. There is always a way out alive. Maybe wounded, but alive. So how does someone go about finding a way out of things? Step One is to read the posts or review the events leading up to the “unbeatable situation.” Wherever the GM listed some sort of description that at first looked unneeded is where he probably put a hint to get you out of something. Step Two is to ask your GM for more. If you couldn’t find anything of use, ask for more detail. What’s around you, where is the threat in relation to you and some cover, and who else is around are all questions that could save you. The GM is bound to put something in there to help. They can’t resist. It’s the power they feel. I would love to see a psychoanalysis of all the GM’s out there and their thirst to one day control the world. My guess is that a handbook and a stat sheet will be involved. Step Three is to play your strengths. What can your character do that the normal one can’t? Bas-Xun had the tongue thing going for him. Whenever I create a character I try to give him one strength and one weakness. Being a Gungan, my character had both off the bat. He had the tongue and also being the same race as one of the goofiest Star Wars characters ever. And I guess "play your weakness" goes here too. One thing that kept my character alive was by pretending that he was a dumb alien who didn’t know anything. The accent helped a lot. Step Four: Wait a turn. If the “unbeatable situation” is not going to kill you in the next turn or two, then stall for time. Usually there will be friends on their way to help. BEWARE OF CROSSING THE “KNOWLEDGE LINE." Let me go into more depth here. You have to make your character’s actions independent of what only you, the player, know. In my above example, I knew that help was on the way. A group of four had figured out Bas-Xun’s situation and was coming to the rescue. However my character did not know this. All he knew is that he was able to get a half garbled message out. Now he could have waited, stalling for time, BUT he didn’t know if help would ever come, or how long the Imps would keep him around. So I had to risk it, just to make sure that I didn’t do something that would ruin my credibility as a good Role Player. It paid off. Mostly because I think Brad noticed that I had a semi-good idea, and that it deserved my character to live. Bas-Xun was wounded while escaping, and was almost killed later on, but he did survive. Let's hope he stays that way. So remember, no situation will ever doom your character. All it takes is more of the great role-playing that got you into that situation in the first place. (It WAS great role-playing, right?) |
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