Adventures of the Starkiller

Star Wars has been a part of my gaming experience for a long time. I was born in the middle of the original trilogy releases, and it has certainly had an impact in my life.

Whether through lightsaber battles as a kid, my introduction into role-playing, or my large amount of digital games, Star Wars has always been incorporated in my life in some way. Some of my earliest

memories of imaginary play were of Jedi and Stormtroopers. Sure, Pirates, Knights and He-Man may have all been in heavy rotation, but Star Wars was certainly up there. Just picture a young jedi, brown towel slung over his head as a robe, card board tube swung around to self-made sound effects, slashing off the arms of invisible stormtroopers. All kids dismember their imaginary friends right? Or slightly later, with the official Kenner “the Force” lightsaber, hollow green plastic tube and black handle whistling through the air as I charged through the house. It didn’t sound like a real lightsaber, but it was a prized possession that got ample playtime. That is, until either my parents decided it was too dangerous or I’d made one too many dents in that green tube. I can’t be sure, but it’s possible this artifact of a Star Wars toy even impacted my favorite color… green. Yoda may have had something to do with it, too.

Readers may get the impression from previous posts that I’m more a fantasy fan than a Star Wars nerd. It might even be true,but it may come as a surprise that Star Wars was my very first foray into traditional tabletop RPGs, with none other than Bugsy himself at the helm of the game. I’d been exposed to the concept of RPG before (Eye of the Beholder on PC was a major deal in my household) but never to a TTRPG itself. My dad had tried to garner interest by explaining what these games were, but I just didn’t get it. By the time we played, I had long forgotten my days as a young Jedi Padawan, and this adventure rekindled that long-dimmed magic. It began with character sheets in science class and ended with rolling dice in my best friend’s house. We may have only played a few sessions, but I wanted more. Unfortunately, I didn’t have another opportunity until after high school, when I was lucky enough to find a club with an existing Star Wars game that would let me in. I ended up playing a lot of D&D and trying other games, but I was almost always playing or running something related to Star Wars.

My love affair with Star Wars didn’t end with tabletop, either. I’ve spent long hours alone and with friends playing many Star Wars video games, something else that started in my younger days. A friend (yet again, it was Bugsy) introduced me to Star Wars: TIE Fighter, not long after it came out. My first flight did not end well, with me turning on my own Star Destroyer. Over the years, I've flown Jedi starfighters, lost a pod race or two, re-enacted battle scenes with friends while throwing out movie quotes, and followed new Star Wars stories set in the Old Republic. I skipped a few gaming systems, but one of my recent purchases was the most recent Battefront game. My control and reflexes feel frustratingly sluggish, and maybe I’m getting too old for such fast-paced games. I’ll be sticking around for the story, though.

For me, May the 4th isn’t so much a holiday as it is a reminder to enjoy the universe with our friends, even if it’s just through an exchange of salutations. A time to celebrate Life Day… even if it isn’t actually Life Day. ~~A time to purchase and consume all sorts of Star Wars media - at least it’s all on sale!~~ Some time soon, I hope you can find your own venture into the Star Wars story. Maybe even run your own TTRPG session online. If you haven’t had a chance, go read Bugsy’s post on the Star Wars Radio Plays and even give them a listen. I know I plan to.

May the 4th be with you.

-A

Be a Grinch! (in a Tabletop RPG)

The Holidays may be almost over (for a while), and we hope you’ve all enjoyed your seasonal music and movies/specials. We here at Never Say Dice have covered the infamous Star Wars Holiday Special and the new LEGO edition a few posts ago. A common thing many of us into tabletop RPGS like to do is incorporate media into our games. After all, many of us have grown up with the blending of media and the holidays as a given. It provides us a framework to build on and a common touchpoint to the people at our tables, virtual or otherwise. One classic character featured in holiday specials and commemorated in his own song is the Grinch, the avocado-green villain with strange cardiac growth problems apparently linked to his personality. The Grinch, villain though he may be, has a slew of characteristics that would make the character an excellent one at the gaming table. Those of you not familiar with Suess-lore may really only know the Grinch from the How the Grinch Stole Christmas animated

An Introduction to Risus

While roaming the internet in the late nineties/early noughties, I came across a TTRPG that was rules-lite and called itself “the anything RPG.” Want to play a high school cheerleader/samurai-in-training part-time goth enthusiast fast food cashier? The hot pink stick figure art glared back at me. Nah, not interested. But I was wrong. The stick figures were actually purple, and Risus is a surprisingly versatile, handy and down right fun TTRPG. I wouldn’t figure that out though till I discovered it again several years later. Even though it was written as a comedy system (and somewhat lighthearted response to GURPS) you really can use it for just about anything: space opera, high fantasy, pulp, vampires,western, any movie setting you could think of...seriously anything. You can read a far more detailed and interesting history in a number of other places should it strike your fancy. It is time for your Risus indoctrination introduction. Risus really is versatile and fairly easy to learn

Devouring "Roll for Sandwich"

Good timezone to Never Say Dice fans, adventures in Aardia, TikTok and beyond. No, I’m not the Roll for Sandwich guy (neither of us is), but if you haven’t heard of him already (or especially if you have), this week I wanted to talk about the TikTok/YouTube show Roll for Sandwich hosted by Jacob Pauwels. The premise is exactly what it sounds like: every episode, the host rolls dice to determine the various items that comprise a sandwich (except when the episode is about s’mores). He assembles the sandwich, then actually eats and critiques his random creation. If it sounds pretty niche to you... it is. You should probably be both a bit of a foodie and a TTRPG fan in order to truly appreciate both the strange layered creations and the roleplaying references. My eldest son has been so interested in the web series that he decided he wanted to try doing it for himself. So, for the last week of summer this year, we took stock of our cupboards, made our own charts, and proceeded to consume

Willy Wonka - Cartoonish Supervillian or Time Lord?

Every spring, in at least some of the religions practiced in the States, brings yet another holiday full of varied confections: Easter. For some reason, perhaps it’s the candy content or the garish colors associated with the holiday here, Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory seems to be the movie that most often comes to my mind. While there are other pieces of media that are more “classically Easter” entries, Willy Wonka just seems to belong here. Perhaps there’s something to those giant eggs, as well. Whatever the reason, it’s in our common consciousness around this time of year, and that has had me thinking about a couple of common internet theories. One common thought is that the titular character Willy Wonka is an incarnation of Doctor Who ’s (only semi-titular) protagonist, the Doctor. The other would have you believe that Willy Wonka is a cartoonish supervillian originating in the DC universe, most likely one of Batman’s adversaries. For this post, let’s go over the arg

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