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CRMcNeill
Director of Engineering
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Location: Redding System, California Sector, on the I-5 Hyperspace Route.
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 Posted: Sun Dec 01, 2019 7:09 pm Post subject: |
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In light of the Mandalorian, have you considered an expanded role for the Builder sub-type?
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"No set of rules can cover every situation. It's expected that you will make up new rules to suit the needs of your game." - The Star Wars Roleplaying Game, 2R&E, pg. 69, WEG, 1996.
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Dredwulf60
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| Posted: Mon Dec 02, 2019 9:27 pm Post subject: |
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| CRMcNeill wrote: | | In light of the Mandalorian, have you considered an expanded role for the Builder sub-type? |
In what way are you thinking?
It is hard to judge based on what we have seen so far in the TV show.
So far we have one example that would fit the role...who also seems to be a person of leadership/ significance in the clan/ sect we see.
In my game, we only have seen a couple in the Builder role, each NPCs.
The one who is in the player character's clan is a very good armor smith, and is decent at most other mechanical tasks.
He gets self conscious though because his duties keep him *very* busy for the clan and he has no time to participate in the pew-pew operations. He worries that others don't see him as a real warrior. There's a respect for him...but its a different kind of respect.
The same dilemma so many real world military personnel find themselves in, who aren't front line combat types.
Super vital jobs that need to be done...but...not glamorous. |
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CRMcNeill
Director of Engineering
Joined: 05 Apr 2010
Posts: 16281
Location: Redding System, California Sector, on the I-5 Hyperspace Route.
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| Posted: Tue Dec 03, 2019 12:03 am Post subject: |
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Initial impression suggests a blending of Armorer and Priest. The armor and weapons seem to have either religious or ritualistic significance, perhaps partially analogous to the the Five K's of Sikhism.
Maybe make the Builders into Engineers, specializing in Demolitions and the other aspects of combat engineering, and make the Armorers an NPC caste who handle armor, weapons and upgrades. They could even be the arbiters of the ijaat / kando balance, dictating whether or not other Mandos are of sufficient rank to have a new piece of equipment.
_________________
"No set of rules can cover every situation. It's expected that you will make up new rules to suit the needs of your game." - The Star Wars Roleplaying Game, 2R&E, pg. 69, WEG, 1996.
The CRMcNeill Stat/Rule Index
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Dredwulf60
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| Posted: Tue Dec 03, 2019 6:07 pm Post subject: |
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| CRMcNeill wrote: | Initial impression suggests a blending of Armorer and Priest. The armor and weapons seem to have either religious or ritualistic significance, perhaps partially analogous to the the Five K's of Sikhism.
Maybe make the Builders into Engineers, specializing in Demolitions and the other aspects of combat engineering, and make the Armorers an NPC caste who handle armor, weapons and upgrades. They could even be the arbiters of the ijaat / kando balance, dictating whether or not other Mandos are of sufficient rank to have a new piece of equipment. |
Those would be good ideas based on what has been seen so far.
My group has discussed the evolving series. Initially I was worried about how much the series would change the way we do things. I decided that major changes that might develop I'd take on a case-by-case basis on whether to incorporate or ignore (as I think everyone does when trying to reconcile the ongoing developments in canon)
So far, very satisfied how closely it matches what we are doing.
I'm running, presently, with the idea that what we've seen so far is a small orthodox movement/ sect. Maybe they are adhering to some very old traditions, or maybe they have adopted new ones in light of the Imperial purge that is referenced.
This will account for any differences that may crop up.
Once the series progresses further and more is revealed, I think I'll be better armed to make decisions on things like that. |
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CRMcNeill
Director of Engineering
Joined: 05 Apr 2010
Posts: 16281
Location: Redding System, California Sector, on the I-5 Hyperspace Route.
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| Posted: Wed Dec 04, 2019 12:11 am Post subject: |
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Fair enough.
On a related note, have you thought of making Builders into jury-riggers and saboteurs? IIRC, Sabine Wren was shown in early Rebels promotional videos sneaking around and planting bombs, including the explosive paint she used to "tag" things.
Sure, it'd need a decent rule system for jury-rigging and sabotage, but it would open up options for Tech-minded Mandalorians...
_________________
"No set of rules can cover every situation. It's expected that you will make up new rules to suit the needs of your game." - The Star Wars Roleplaying Game, 2R&E, pg. 69, WEG, 1996.
The CRMcNeill Stat/Rule Index
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Dredwulf60
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| Posted: Wed Dec 04, 2019 11:08 pm Post subject: |
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| CRMcNeill wrote: | Fair enough.
On a related note, have you thought of making Builders into jury-riggers and saboteurs? IIRC, Sabine Wren was shown in early Rebels promotional videos sneaking around and planting bombs, including the explosive paint she used to "tag" things.
Sure, it'd need a decent rule system for jury-rigging and sabotage, but it would open up options for Tech-minded Mandalorians... |
It's a possibility. I never watched the Rebels show.
The archetypes I put together were some broad Mandalorian archetypes that I thought characters could use to help differentiate from each other. So they are certainly open for further expansion.
One of the hardest things was avoiding the urge to over-specialize the descriptions. Because that would turn into player straight-jackets rather than spring-boards for individual character development.
So having a player take the builder and then create a character that is all about sabotage would have my blessing.  |
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CRMcNeill
Director of Engineering
Joined: 05 Apr 2010
Posts: 16281
Location: Redding System, California Sector, on the I-5 Hyperspace Route.
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| Posted: Sat Dec 07, 2019 2:23 am Post subject: |
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Well, you certainly went specialized for the combat-oriented types. At the very least, I'd suggest separating the Builder category into Engineer and Saboteur, with one being oriented more toward traditional repair and similar tasks, and the other more towards sneaking around planting explosives and rigging equipment to bad things.
_________________
"No set of rules can cover every situation. It's expected that you will make up new rules to suit the needs of your game." - The Star Wars Roleplaying Game, 2R&E, pg. 69, WEG, 1996.
The CRMcNeill Stat/Rule Index
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CRMcNeill
Director of Engineering
Joined: 05 Apr 2010
Posts: 16281
Location: Redding System, California Sector, on the I-5 Hyperspace Route.
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| Posted: Sun Dec 08, 2019 5:30 pm Post subject: |
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Oh, and for your pilot Mandalorian, check this out.
The Basilisk War Droid as reimagined by Fractalsponge. It's similar to the Vulture droid from the prequels, in that it has both flight and walker modes. The difference is, it's manned.
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"No set of rules can cover every situation. It's expected that you will make up new rules to suit the needs of your game." - The Star Wars Roleplaying Game, 2R&E, pg. 69, WEG, 1996.
The CRMcNeill Stat/Rule Index
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Dredwulf60
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| Posted: Mon Dec 09, 2019 2:26 pm Post subject: |
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| CRMcNeill wrote: | | Well, you certainly went specialized for the combat-oriented types. |
That's to be expected and necessary to differentiate in a culture where ALL are default combat-oriented types.
Notice I don't have Mando Starship engineers, Droid programmers, Computer Slicers, Professional bolo-ball players, Bartenders, Communications specialists, Armored vehicle drivers, Underwater operations troopers, Aerial insertion specialists, law enforcers etc.
All of which a player can certainly build as their character and are all valid trades that might crop up in mandalorian society.
To me, sabotage, just like assassination and bounty hunter is a job or task that could be taken on by any mando, not a recognized specialty on par with the main ones I did lay out.
But everyone will have a different take and all are welcome to carry on with developing what I've laid out. |
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Dredwulf60
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| Posted: Mon Dec 09, 2019 3:16 pm Post subject: |
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| CRMcNeill wrote: | Oh, and for your pilot Mandalorian, check this out.
The Basilisk War Droid as reimagined by Fractalsponge. It's similar to the Vulture droid from the prequels, in that it has both flight and walker modes. The difference is, it's manned. |
I was never a fan of the basilisk war droid, in concept. Mandalorians 'ride' them...like...on top of them.
But that one looks like a cool vehicle. |
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CRMcNeill
Director of Engineering
Joined: 05 Apr 2010
Posts: 16281
Location: Redding System, California Sector, on the I-5 Hyperspace Route.
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| Posted: Fri Dec 13, 2019 6:05 pm Post subject: |
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| Dredwulf60 wrote: | | To me, sabotage, just like assassination and bounty hunter is a job or task that could be taken on by any mando, not a recognized specialty on par with the main ones I did lay out. |
True, but the same could be said for any of the combat specialties; someone trained in that aspect will be better at it than someone with a more basic level of training, and someone with a technical background will be capable of more devious and ingenious methods of sabotage than, say, a gunfighter or meleist. This is mostly in reaction to your description of the Mando Builder feeling underutilized, and somewhat less of a warrior; someone who builds can be just as adept at destroying what others have built. Just planting some seeds.
_________________
"No set of rules can cover every situation. It's expected that you will make up new rules to suit the needs of your game." - The Star Wars Roleplaying Game, 2R&E, pg. 69, WEG, 1996.
The CRMcNeill Stat/Rule Index
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CRMcNeill
Director of Engineering
Joined: 05 Apr 2010
Posts: 16281
Location: Redding System, California Sector, on the I-5 Hyperspace Route.
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| Posted: Fri Dec 13, 2019 6:07 pm Post subject: |
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| Dredwulf60 wrote: | I was never a fan of the basilisk war droid, in concept. Mandalorians 'ride' them...like...on top of them.
But that one looks like a cool vehicle. |
In his initial notes, Fractal had a similar reaction. So what he produced was a combination exo-atmospheric fighter/walker, something like a manned vulture droid minus the deep space flight capability. It would have to be deployed from a mother ship either in atmosphere or from low orbit, but IMO, it's a much better realization of the Basilisk concept than the original.
_________________
"No set of rules can cover every situation. It's expected that you will make up new rules to suit the needs of your game." - The Star Wars Roleplaying Game, 2R&E, pg. 69, WEG, 1996.
The CRMcNeill Stat/Rule Index
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Raven Redstar
Rear Admiral
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Location: Salem, OR
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| Posted: Sun Jan 31, 2021 5:21 pm Post subject: |
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Giving this a little bump, since I decided to start using Ijaat as the social skill rolled with/against other Mandalorians in my solo play Mandalorian games in place of Bargain, Persuasion, and Command.
I'm not sure if I want to go into the depth of the armor build system and keeping your points within your Ijaat rating, but I might do a basic one where if your armor defense is higher than your Ijaat, you take a penalty on social rolls with other Mandos.
I have also suggested to a few people to come to the forums and check this system out when wanting some in depth ideas for running a Mandalorian campaign.
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Dredwulf60
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| Posted: Mon Feb 01, 2021 8:50 am Post subject: |
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| Raven Redstar wrote: | Giving this a little bump, since I decided to start using Ijaat as the social skill rolled with/against other Mandalorians in my solo play Mandalorian games in place of Bargain, Persuasion, and Command.
I'm not sure if I want to go into the depth of the armor build system and keeping your points within your Ijaat rating, but I might do a basic one where if your armor defense is higher than your Ijaat, you take a penalty on social rolls with other Mandos.
I have also suggested to a few people to come to the forums and check this system out when wanting some in depth ideas for running a Mandalorian campaign. |
Cool!
The main reasoning behind the Ijaat mechanic is to try to curb the tendency of players to throw every gadget into their armor, including the kitchen sink, right off the bat.
Seeing a big list of gizmos, and (in my experience) PCs naturally want it all...
And lets face it, if I have a party of 5 mando characters who all get every gadget, then it's less of a customization.
But if one uses his sparse allowance and goes the jetpack route, another might go with the flame-thrower and line-thrower route, while another might get a sensor suite and targeting systems, each choice reinforcing their differences in philosophy and capabilities.
In-world, my reasoning is that:
The Mandalorian themselves are the weapon. Everything else is just tools and convenience. A young, inexperienced mandalorian whose arm bracers are loaded down with dozens of weapons and gizmos and whose helmet is festooned with all kinds of sensor aids etc is going to be scorned for over-compensating for their perceived deficiencies. They haven't proven what they can do without the 'crutches'.
In the most extreme situations, Mandalorians view it in similar ways to modern military vets look at Stolen Valor. Wearing the signs of accomplishment without having earned the right to it.
A more well-known and respected mando is recognized as a capable warrior and earned the right to cut some corners. |
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Raven Redstar
Rear Admiral
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Posts: 2648
Location: Salem, OR
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| Posted: Mon Feb 01, 2021 2:21 pm Post subject: |
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Yeah, just doing the piece building can be a little daunting for someone who hasn't messed with the system much. I'm sure that I'll come around to it here in a bit. The character is going to start adopting fighters and building a new clan from the ground up. So I might use the system for his new recruits.
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