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In regards to Rey and lightsaber
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Rey's history may have been spoiled in a videogame ** spoiler omitted **
I'm putting the chances of the Luke connection at under 50%.
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3 viewings so far, with a 4th tentatively scheduled for this weekend. My second viewing wasn't as empty as I had hoped, but it was sparse enough that it was dead quiet throughout. The movie definitely benefits from a 2nd viewing without the hype of an anticipatory crowd. I love the energy of an excited crowd, but it changes how a movie feels.
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My brother loved, loved LOVED Han Solo. So I got him a Millennium Falcon for Christmas. My favorite part was...Kylo Ren. All the complaints about him being kinda whiney hold true, and I think he needs a haircut, but I think he's more interesting as an antagonist/Sith than any of the others we've seen.
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Original system using custom dice (with no numbers). Chris Mortika's link has it all.TL:DR version: You build a dice pool according to your Abilities (stats) and skill. You declare your intended action, roll the dice then narrate how you succeeded or failed based on the result. Unlike most RPGs, the outcome is not binary. You can succeed but with a threat (something bad), fail but with advantage, succeed the roll with a despair (which typically trigger an opponent or environmental reaction etc. Its a very narrative game.
I have all 3 core books. I have not played it yet. But to me the fact you have to come up with a story for every die roll can be cluncky and slow things down. I don't need to know why I hit or miss every single mook I am shooting at.
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I'm going to put my old West End Games hat on now and make some extrapolations and work on The Imperials First Order.
These posts a purely conjecture based on what little info we have gleamed so far, and canon material from The Original Trilogy.
But back before when WEG WAS the Wookieepedia of its day, and best selling authors and award winning video game companies alike needed information this is exactly what we did. So if you are fans of this type of stuff, please indulge me.
I will go in some detail why I am making these assumptions.
In this post lets start with General Hux, The Grand Moff Tarkin analog played by Domhnall Gleeson, an actor I do quite like but who I feel may be a little young for the role. I have to rationalize this.
1. How old is General Hux?
Gleeson was age 31 when he filmed The Force Awakens making his character at least around age 33 or so if I were to hazard a guess.
That's way too young for a Flag Officer much less one who may be THE Flag Officer of The First Order.
In comparison, during World War II, the youngest American generals were:
James Gavin commander of the US 82nd Airborne Division was the youngest Major General (2 Stars) commanding a division during World War II at the age of 36.
Edward J. Timberlake Jr., who was the youngest general officer when promoted to Brigadier General (1 Star) aged 33 for outstanding combat duty with the Air Forces overseas.
Dean C. Strother, 35, promoted to Brigadier General for work with a fighter command in the South Pacific.
Garrison H. Davidson, 39, famed one time West Point footballer and coach promoted to Brigadier General for outstanding work overseas with the engineers. Now this bit is interesting and I'll get back to this later.
For rank of General (4 Stars) Barry McCaffrey was the youngest as of his retirement in 1996, at the age of 54.
Now if we go way back, George Armsrong Custer made it to Brigadier General at 23 three days prior to the Battle of Gettysburg, and Major General at 24, but he was a fluke, that man was clearly a Western Jedi.
Now that's in comparison to America's ground forces, if we use the UK or World War II era Germany, then the comparative age of Flag Officers goes up even further.
That would mean General Hux is no older than a child of 6 or 7 at the time of The Battle of Endor.
2. Now what rank of General was Hux?
From A New Hope the Army Commanding Officer under Grand Moff Tarkin was General Cassio Tagge who is the Imperial equivalent of a 4 Star Flag officer, but as stated he answered to Grand Moff Tarkin (and later on The Emperor's Emissary, Darth Vader).
In The Empire Strikes Back, it is Major General (2 Stars) Maximilian Veers who breaks the Rebel defenses at Hoth and hailed as a Hero of The Empire. He had operational command of all ground units, support and auxiliaries attached to Vader's The Death Squadron.
Since both the Death Stars had a Grand Moff (arguably the most powerful and influential to take that rank) and a Moff commanding them respectively, its logically sound that Starkiller Base was commanded by a full 4 Star General equivalent in the very least.
3. How did Hux attain that rank at such an early age?
Possibilities:
A. After the nightmarish debacle at Endor and the aftermath that followed many of the senior officer core of The Empire were either captured, died out from combat with the Rebels or internal infighting, or went into hiding for war crimes. In other words there was a power vacuum and officers who would normally be filling the middle tier found themselves in Flag positions.
B. Moff Jerjerrod was given command of the Death Star II not because of his military career but rather he was considered an exceptional administrator. During Word War II, Brigadier General Davidson, was given the rank for outstanding work with the engineers.
Now what if General Hux was instrumental to the building and creation of Starkiller Base? That would easily explain why he was the commanding such an important weapon/asset.
C. Like The Empire that spawned it, it takes a certain type of person/persona to achieve high rank The First Order. Like The Emperor, who encouraged infighting between his own courtiers, military High Command, and ruling elite, always playing them off one another, Supreme Leader Snoke needed an individual who could stand up to Kylo Ren.
It is also clear that Hux knows how to motivate his forces, he gives an impassioned speech worthy of Julius Caesar or Hitler at Nuremberg.
I doubt Kylo Ren would foster that kind of esprit de corps.
The Supreme Leader could not have any one individual clearly in line as his second, it would be more aligned with his principles if a few of his ranking officials and advisors each took leadership roles in different aspects of the First Order's hierarchy, with each jealous and aspiring of the others' influence, power and prestige, holding each other in check, all the while being dependent on currying favor and patronage of the Supreme Leader.
D. Was it Hux who was responsible and developed the psychological/physiological/physical program for the current manifestation of the Stormtrooper Legion?
This was alluded to when Ren made a comment about Fenn, and how perhaps clones should be put into use again. Hux is steadfast in his defense of his men and their training. It would appear Fenn is a singularity.
E. Hux is willing to do what even others in The First Order would not.
In comparison, early in his own career, then a young Captain Tarkin, proved his ruthless efficiency with the Ghorman Massacre.
Captain Tarkin was tasked with ending the protest on Ghoram but he was clearly mandated by decree of the Imperial Senate "not to fire a single shot, even in warning" at the thousands of peaceful civilians.
Tarkin, calculating and ruthlessly pragmatic took the orders to heart. He ordered his cruiser into low orbit and hovered several hundred meters above the protesters who stood on the port's landing pad and refused to move.
Tarkin with neither a hint of malice nor remorse, then ordered his the cruiser to land right on the protesters.
An overwhelming majority were killed instantly, while thousands more were severely injured, many of them later dying from the resulting injuries. Only a lucky few escaped the ordeal with their lives intact, but all sustained horrific psychological damage.
Tarkin, while reviled by the Galaxy at large, entered The Emperor's Inner Circle and rapidly rose through the ranks.
Tarkin then later ordered the destruction of Alderaan, a Core World and a founding charter member of the Old Republic.
General Hux ordered the destruction of five inhabited worlds, depopulating nearly a whole system.
How many in the First Order could willingly give that order?
4. What are Hux's personality/ambitions/goals/motivations?
Empire building of course. That much is obvious.
But watch the scenes with General Hux when he speaks about the Republic and the Resistance.
Hux purely and irrationally HATES them, even more than Ren. He is shaking as he gives that speech.
What is the cause of this?
Perhaps a renowned family member was killed by the Rebels, maybe a beloved uncle was the Chief Operations Officer at Endor and fell to the Rebel saboteurs and native Ewoks.
Perhaps with the destruction of the Death Star II, Hux family, Imperial Loyalists, are forced to leave Coruscant and he feels that he lost his familial birthright. There is some limited evidence of this.
A. Coruscant is not a target of Starkiller Base. Meaning Hux wants that target taken intact.
B. JJ Abrams made a comment in which he postulated what would happen to Imperials if they fled the same way the Nazis escaped to Argentina, and what if those same Imperials managed to rebuild and grow.
Lastly Hux is a new breed if Imperial, one who recognizes the military value of The Force.
While the officers of The Empire looked on Darth Vader and The Force as a curious (if not deadly to them) anomaly, a "pet project" of The Emperor, and a remnant of a bygone era, General Hux seems to be quite aware that using the talents of Kylo Ren is needed (at least for now) if the First Order is to rise triumphant.
He is aware that Supreme Commander Snoke is a Force User, and accepts this. Many of his contemporaries in The Empire were not fully aware of Emperor Palpatine's use of The Force, and scoffed at the notion that an antiquated religion was any of their concern.
General Hux, is also willing to fall back and cut his loses.
That's not new, and not in The Imperial Tradition either.
Can you honestly imagine Grand Moff Tarkin giving an order to retreat and regroup?
He would brand you a traitor for the very thought.
Any thoughts on the above?
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In regards to Rey and lightsaber
** spoiler omitted **
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DM Becket - you're entitled to your opinion, but saying it was 'terribly written' and doesn't deserve to be Star Wars is just not true. Those claims *could* be leveled at the prequels, but NOT at the Force Awakens. You may personally dislike the film and that's fine, but making those sorts of claims are simply being disingenuous.
Of course, when something is super popular and super successful, there will still be some folks that don't like it, and that's fine. Heck, Avatar was certainly a very popular and successful film (clearly) but I didn't care for it. Of course, I didn't seek out people (or online forums) expressly for the purpose of complaining about how much I didn't like it.
Not liking something is fine. Trying to rain on the parade of people (and let's face it, from the money the film is making, and the sheer number of people seeing this movie multiple times) that DO like it just feels like ... kind of crappy to do
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Great new CANON material from The Force Awakens, from the novel.
R2-D2 "powers up" at the end of the movie because his is prompted by BB-8 when he says "we have a piece of the map, do you have the rest?"
What map is this? The map of ALL the known Jedi temples in The Galaxy.
When The Emperor Palpatine rose to power and shattered the Jedi Order he also destroyed their great library and expunged all known records from public information stores. It was the only way to make certain the Jedi would not rise again as well as using the information to track down any possible Jedi survivors and holdouts.
Where did Emperor Palpatine, who himself prized Jedi relics, store this bit of knowledge for his own use?
Why The Empire's most impregnable fortress at the time, The Death Star.
When R2-D2 tapped into the Death Star I systems in A New Hope, the droid was able to gleam a substantial amount of valuable information on the location of several of the Jedi temples, and this is the information Luke uses to search for the First Jedi temple.
Its Han who leaves Leia after Snoke seduces Ren/Ben as a coping mechanism, he is the beloved scoundrel after all.
The Kyber crystal powering Ren's lightsaber is flawed and cracked.
Also when Rey sees visions after touching Luke/Anakin's lightsaber, the hallway she sees are the exact duplicate of Cloud City, where Luke fights Vader for the first time. In essence she experiences what the lightsaber itself has experienced.
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This one I came up with my own.
Part of the reason C-3PO has a red arm is an homage to "Wookiees pulling arms off the sockets of their opponents in games".
If you look at the chess/Dejarik scene on the Falcon the pieces do the reverse of what happens in A New Hope.
In the original R2-D2's Mantellian Savrip smashes Chewie's Kintan Strider. In The Force Awakens the Kintan Strider pummels the Mantellian Savrip's face in.
After thirty eight long years, the Kintan Striders get their revenge!
I have all 3 core books. I have not played it yet. But to me the fact you have to come up with a story for every die roll can be cluncky and slow things down. I don't need to know why I hit or miss every single mook I am shooting at.
Original system using custom dice (with no numbers). Chris Mortika's link has it all.TL:DR version: You build a dice pool according to your Abilities (stats) and skill. You declare your intended action, roll the dice then narrate how you succeeded or failed based on the result. Unlike most RPGs, the outcome is not binary. You can succeed but with a threat (something bad), fail but with advantage, succeed the roll with a despair (which typically trigger an opponent or environmental reaction etc. Its a very narrative game.
I play two games, one with my kids and one with my adult friends.
We do narrate our rolls in the adult game. After a few games, it becomes natural and doesn't slow the game down. On the contrary, it gives it a nice flow. A "story" doesn't have to be invented for each rolls; usually it's only a matter how you get fatigued or recover...
In the games with the kids, I as the GM narrate what needs to be narrated and just figuring out the results and after-results. It's faster and less "fussy". I guess games can be played either way without losing on the game.
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Get used to hearing John Williams' composition of Rey's Theme in the future movies.
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DM Becket - you're entitled to your opinion, but saying it was 'terribly written' and doesn't deserve to be Star Wars is just not true. Those claims *could* be leveled at the prequels, but NOT at the Force Awakens. You may personally dislike the film and that's fine, but making those sorts of claims are simply being disingenuous.
Of course, when something is super popular and super successful, there will still be some folks that don't like it, and that's fine. Heck, Avatar was certainly a very popular and successful film (clearly) but I didn't care for it. Of course, I didn't seek out people (or online forums) expressly for the purpose of complaining about how much I didn't like it.
Not liking something is fine. Trying to rain on the parade of people (and let's face it, from the money the film is making, and the sheer number of people seeing this movie multiple times) that DO like it just feels like ... kind of crappy to do
Well, personally I think continuously attempting to shut down opinions that do not agree with yours is a pretty crappy thing to do. A large part of why we are talking about what we don't like is so that it doesn't happen again if there are further movies.
Some people liked it, and some don't. A agree, it's fine that you do. But please, stop assuming that your opinion is the only one that matters. In retrospection, I think I like all the prequels more, and yes, I do think the Force Awakens was terribly written and doesn't deserve to be a Star Wars movie, not do I think getting rid of the Expanded Universe was close to a good trade-off.
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He joins a rather select and exclusive group, which include Liam Neeson and Sir Alec Guinness, who as primary/lead character, die at the start of their respective Trilogy.
They all die by being struck down by a lightsaber.
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DM Becket - you're entitled to your opinion, but saying it was 'terribly written' and doesn't deserve to be Star Wars is just not true. Those claims *could* be leveled at the prequels, but NOT at the Force Awakens. You may personally dislike the film and that's fine, but making those sorts of claims are simply being disingenuous.
Of course, when something is super popular and super successful, there will still be some folks that don't like it, and that's fine. Heck, Avatar was certainly a very popular and successful film (clearly) but I didn't care for it. Of course, I didn't seek out people (or online forums) expressly for the purpose of complaining about how much I didn't like it.
Not liking something is fine. Trying to rain on the parade of people (and let's face it, from the money the film is making, and the sheer number of people seeing this movie multiple times) that DO like it just feels like ... kind of crappy to do
Stop taking people's opinions personally. You aren't JJ Abrams. You didn't work on the movie. You should have ZERO vested interest in the opinions of other people on this topic. I can really easily make a case for this being the worst written SW movie and really easily worse than the prequels in many respects (which I still may do, I am making it a point to not do a plot critique here until after the 1st). It isn't raining on your parade to voice my dissatisfaction with the film in a forum specifically about the film. As in these are "forums" not "echo chambers." Please, try to accept that people who disagree with you are not attacking you. They just disagree with you.
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When will people who didn't like this movie realize they were wrong?
When will people who didn't like this movie realize they were wrong?
On or around 7.22.2016
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The length of the Finalizer Resurgent Class Star Destroyer has been confirmed at 2,915.81 meters, or nearly two miles.
That's nearly twice the length of an Imperial Class at 1,610 meters (one mile).
For those of you keen eyed, there are four other destroyers very briefly seen orbiting Starkiller Base, although their class was not given.
When will people who didn't like this movie realize they were wrong?When you stop drinking the Haterade.
I don't drink haterade, I serve it to the deserving.
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When will people who didn't like this movie realize they were wrong?The better question is when will the remove the current writers and directors and have Joss Whedon come save Star Wars for us?
:P
fortunately, that will NEVER happen.
Whedon's time is done.
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I don't drink haterade, I serve it to the deserving.
You gotta be careful what you say on a searchable index.
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@ baron, man I wish I was old enough to play D6 Star Wars. But nobody wanted to play it when I was starting my gaming days. And then, finally we got our hands on some rulebooks and were going to play, and my friend's car caught fire (we suspect arson to this day, he was pretty unpopular with some, well not so nice people), and the books were in the car.
I don't drink haterade, I serve it to the deserving.You gotta be careful what you say on a searchable index.
that's wasn't a drink. That was a slurp.
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Ah, semantics. The last defense of a defeated argument.
two different things!
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that's wasn't a drink. That was a slurp.I don't drink haterade, I serve it to the deserving.You gotta be careful what you say on a searchable index.
*cough* Kegstand
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*cough* Kegstandthat's wasn't a drink. That was a slurp.I don't drink haterade, I serve it to the deserving.You gotta be careful what you say on a searchable index.
oh come on, I was young and in college!
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@ baron, man I wish I was old enough to play D6 Star Wars.
Be glad you are not Grognard and can watch Star Wars until 2100s.
In the (Force) Spirit of giving friend Hama, Happy Christmas, all the D6 Core Rulebooks are here for you for free. And these campaign Sourcebooks are a great read.
(Please feel free to make a small $$ donation to D6 Holocron site)
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You're meh?Yes, actually. It was a good movie, but I'd seen it before. It's not praiseworthy, unless you are comparing it to the prequels.
Kinda my thoughts as well. The movie didn't blow me away. It was a pleasure to watch, and I couldn't find any weak parts, so it was good.
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@ baron, man I wish I was old enough to play D6 Star Wars. But nobody wanted to play it when I was starting my gaming days. And then, finally we got our hands on some rulebooks and were going to play, and my friend's car caught fire (we suspect arson to this day, he was pretty unpopular with some, well not so nice people), and the books were in the car.
I know it's not exactly the same, but you can always use the free PDF's of WEG D6 Space.
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@ baron, man I wish I was old enough to play D6 Star Wars. But nobody wanted to play it when I was starting my gaming days. And then, finally we got our hands on some rulebooks and were going to play, and my friend's car caught fire (we suspect arson to this day, he was pretty unpopular with some, well not so nice people), and the books were in the car.
I'm kinda tempted to give the spiel Palpatine gave Anakin in that opera in RotS. ^^
*edit* Oh, I see there *is* a light-side solution. :p
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You're meh?Yes, actually. It was a good movie, but I'd seen it before. It's not praiseworthy, unless you are comparing it to the prequels.Have you seen the anti-cheese edits?
Eh, I was on board with this until I saw that the dude took out the best line in the entire prequel trilogy, "So, this is how liberty dies. With thunderous applause".
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I have fond memories of D6 Star Wars, but I also consider the system to be inherently flawed and has serious balance issues. In general, d6 pool systems where you add the numbers together are very difficult to balance. I've GM'ed Green Ronin's "A Song of Ice and Fire RPG" and found it to have almost the exact same flaws.
I'm considering redesigning the game, so that you could use the books and stats, perhaps convert one or two portions of a stat block, but have it result in a smoother, more balanced game.