Making your Star Wars RPG awesome
We start our discussion about the extra mechanics in the FFG narrative system with advantage, as we start talking about the scale of what makes one advantage a small boost versus making three or four amazing and how to scale mechanically and narratively between.
Continue reading “244 – The New Advantage Tale”Podcast: Download
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One lead and a rental speeder down, the crew turns their attention to the remaining two leads: the fence and the network. Which will they investigate first?
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Despite my love of all things Star Wars, I haven’t kept up as much with the new books and shows coming out of Lucasfilm and DelRay recently. Honestly I think I’ve held myself back, wanting to use this project as a farewell cruise through the Star Wars I grew up on before diving into the fresh and unexplored waters of the Disney canon.
Because of this lack of exposure, I am now in the strange position of talking about Grand Admiral Thrawn without having any true idea of what many fans think of the character now that he’.s been reintroduced in Rebels. What little research I’ve done while avoiding spoilers for new canon media I’ve yet to consume indicates that creating author Timothy Zahn does not consider the two incarnations separate characters and that those of you coming to this from a Disney-canon-only background should have a fairly good idea of who Thrawn is. So without any more hedging, let’s dive in to Outbound Flight, by Timothy Zahn.
Continue reading “Legends of the Hydian Way – Outbound Flight”
We talk about methods of how you as a player and a GM can move a disagreement at the table between characters and players along to some form of resolution, with a few examples from our own tables.
Continue reading “243 – The Indecisive Tale”Podcast: Download
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While investigating the ex-Sorority enforcer Graf, the crew was ambushed in the streets. Blaster bolts, knocked over trash cans, and a speeder on fire is just the start as our Heroes defend themselves.
Continue reading “Mask of the Pirate Queen Act 1, Episode 3 – “A Better Leg To Stand On””Podcast (heroes): Download
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Up until now in our look at Jedi Quest the series has largely followed Jedi Apprentice’s pattern of one or two off books with an overarching villain lurking in the background. Much to my surprise and delight, the latter half of the series becomes a continuous storyline dealing with the hunt for villain Granta Omega.
Welcome to Legends of the Hydian Way, the chronicle of my attempt to read through and review all the novels that make up mainline Legends canon in chronological order. May the Force be with me.
Continue reading “Legends of the Hydian Way – Jedi Quest Books 7-11”
Surprises can be an amazing thing, and we have a few ideas on how to turn a cliff hanger into something that the players will never expect. From fantastic settings to NPCs that will haunt your players long after they’re put back in the box, we have ideas.
Continue reading “242- The Unexpected Tale”Podcast: Download
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One Pirate Queen. Three Leads. 40,000 credits up for grabs. Our Heroes take their first actions in locating the Pirate Queen’s trail and make preparations for the dangers to come
Continue reading “Mask of the Pirate Queen Act 1, Episode 2 – “An Exchange of Resources””Podcast (heroes): Download
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You would be forgiven for thinking that the Anakin Skywalkers of The Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones were entirely separate people. Most of this is easily explained by the ten year time gap, but just what happened during those ten years to amplify Anakin’s anger issues and wear away at his gentle, compassionate side?
Welcome to Legends of the Hydian Way, the chronicle of my attempt to read through and review all the novels that make up mainline Legends canon in chronological order. May the Force be with me.
Continue reading “Legends of the Hydian Way – Jedi Quest Books 1-6”
An explosion of discussion happens in this episode about using the conflict mechanic as two GMs talk about their strategy for completely integrating the mechanic into their adventures and sessions.
Continue reading “241 – The Conflicted Party Tale”Podcast: Download
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When I started this project, I wasn’t expecting to have to keep asking all of you readers out there to do quite so much remembering and pin-sticking. Legends has so many call-forwards and retroactively written tie-ins to events that happen later in the timeline it can get a bit exhausting. Two weeks ago with Lockdown we had a very minor call-forward (more of an in-joke reference, really) to the New Jedi Order series with Maul’s boxing match against a Yuuzahn Vong. This week, the whole book is an NJO tie in!
Welcome to Legends of the Hydian Way, the chronicle of my attempt to read through and review all the novels that make up mainline Legends canon in chronological order. May the Force be with me.
Continue reading “Legends of the Hydian Way – Rogue Planet”
We talk about how to end a scene and how to keep narrative momentum up when interest feels like it’s flagging. From adventure starts and getting that spur into adventure to the pacing when your player group is traveling.
Continue reading “240 – The Momentum Tale”Podcast: Download
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Back from their vacation, the crew of Sky on Fire: the bounty hunter Barawyn, the card dealing droid Billie, the Gand technician Kaav, and their newest crew member the Pantoran doctor Vastrano travel to Saleucami to hear a job proposal from an old ally.
Continue reading “Mask of the Pirate Queen Act 1, Episode 1 – “A Proposal in Paradise Part 2””Podcast (heroes): Download
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We have, at long last, reached the first film in the Star wars franchise. 20,000 years of galactic history in under a year ain’t bad! Today we’re looking back at the novelization of The Phantom Menace. I plan to take a slightly different approach to the film novelizations in this project. Since most of you reading this have seen the films, I’m going to be focusing more on where the novels differ. Do they add new scenes? Do they recontextualize parts the film? And do these changes add or detract from the story? Let’s find out!
Welcome to Legends of the Hydian Way, the chronicle of my attempt to read through and review all the novels that make up mainline Legends canon in chronological order. May the Force be with me.
Continue reading “Legends Of The Hydian Way – The Phantom Menace”
We talk about getting your players to narrate their actions more, from beginners who have never played an RPG before, to dungeon crawlers, to GMs who are there to relax.
Continue reading “239 – The Narrative Tale”Podcast: Download
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Back from their vacation, the crew of Sky on Fire: the bounty hunter Barawyn, the card dealing droid Billie, the Gand technician Kaav, and their newest crew member the Pantoran doctor Vastrano travel to Saleucami to hear a job proposal from an old ally.
Continue reading “Mask of the Pirate Queen Act 1, Episode 1 – “A Proposal in Paradise Part 1””Podcast (heroes): Download
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This week’s novel takes us right up to the the cusp of The Phantom Menace. In fact one of the final scenes in this book is Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan departing for Naboo. However, our Jedi duo is not the focus of this book, and honestly neither is its titular character. Instead, today’s story introduces us to Darth Maul as a force of nature. An unstoppable juggernaut that will not stop pursuing the book’s true protagonists until he is certain they cannot reveal what they know.
Welcome to Legends of the Hydian Way, the chronicle of my attempt to read through and review all the novels that make up mainline Legends canon in chronological order. May the Force be with me.
Continue reading “Legends of the Hydian Way – Darth Maul: Shadow Hunter”
Ben and Rissa watched a live stream of Star Wars the RPG and things happened, over the top things, things that made us want to talk about it. Here we are talking about what happens when a group that’s combat heavy comes to your more moderate adventure.
Continue reading “238 – The Explosive Character Tale”Podcast: Download
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We join a convoy en route to Saleucami and step onto the bridge of the frigate Censure as Captain Riles receives a special report.
Continue reading “Mask of the Pirate Queen – Prelude”Podcast (heroes): Download
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To kick off Mask of the Pirate Queen, we’d like to introduce you to the newest member of the Heroes of the Hydian Way team: Brit.
Continue reading “Mask of the Pirate Queen Introduction – Brit”Podcast (heroes): Download
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Force Majeure and the Heroes of the Hydian Way are very proud to present this crossover episode!
A Besalisk in need of specialist help.
A Gand droid-tech in search of a weapon worthy of a name.
Two droid chaperones from wildly different worlds.
A Rodian with an insatiable hunger for juice boxes.
As these two worlds collide, who knows what might ensue! Join us, as Ben Yendall from the Hydian Way weaves their magic over a certain shop in Cynabale…
Continue reading “Hydian Force – A Crossover Event”Podcast (heroes): Download
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Although not aware of this when I started reading it, today’s offering is, as far as I can tell, the second-to-last book published under the Legends canon. Though quite early in our reviews since we’re going chronologically and not by publishing order, the book was released a scant 3 months before Disney officially discontinued Legends.
Welcome to Legends of the Hydian Way, the chronicle of my attempt to read through and review all the novels that make up mainline Legends canon in chronological order. May the Force be with me.
Continue reading “Legends of the Hydian Way: Maul-Lockdown”
When you bring a Droid Tech to the party, there’s bound to be crafting (Kraavfting?). This episode finds Kaav building a family of droids and other sundries for the crew of The Sky on Fire.
Continue reading “Trouble Brewing – Crafting with Kaav Episode 1”Podcast (heroes): Download
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A longtime patron got in touch with us about something that was on their mind and we thought it would make a good episode. This is talking about what do you give characters to start with and how do you guide them into directions your story might want to put on display.
Continue reading “237 – The Starting Character Tale”Podcast: Download
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Aboard the Sky on Fire, five friends gather together to play a little game called Kaverns & Krayt Dragons.
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