Short Fiction: A Jedi's Justice

STAR WARS: A JEDI'S JUSTICE

Bhen Kenobi stared at the remains of bodies. The old man heard a rumour that the freed slaves who had carved a thousand doors into the walls of the canyon were no longer trading with the Sand People of the Western Badlands. They were dead. It's strange that he had not sensed it. Thousands of lives taken unnoticed. Most had been ignited by a high energy weapon that had excited every atom in their bodies and caused nuclear decay until they were little more than carbon scoring. Bhen looked back along the narrow Canyon. A single pilot fighter could fit the gap. Whoever had committed this atrocity had flown the length of the canyon over and over, killing every living thing that moved. The sheltering homes carved from rock by the hands of free people were scared with carbon. The very air had burned, ignited by the energy. Imperial forces would have deployed stormtroopers to mop up and yet there was no sign that this had occurred. All the killing had been done from a small, one-man fighter. Bhen continued down the length of the canyon until he reached the opening to the Badlands. A few of the victims had made it to the edge of the Badlands. Bhen Kenobi reached out with his senses. The life was faint. A rock overhang and beneath it a single survivor.
"It's all right. Here...water." Magh Rghn stared at the old man in dust brown robes and smiled against the pain in a last sign of gratitude.
"Who did this?" Magh Rghn felt pain just thinking the shape of the fighter: Bhen listened as Rhodium described the shape of the craft. Triangular. Three wings. A T-16. They didn't come with weapons. A modified T-16. There were a half dozen of them out at Toshi Power Station. Magh Rghn died. The lightsaber activated. Bhen Kenobi held it firmly as it's blade forced slowly into the stone of the canyon wall and then along cutting a groove in the rock some two metres in length. Again the lightsaber cut into the rock fifty centimetres above the previous cut. And now, the lightsaber cut grooves downward  to link one cut to the other. Bhen Kenobi used the force to crack the rock from its place. There was now a shelf. The old man placed the body of Magh Rghn on the shelf and moved the stone back into place sealing the beggar's Tomb. The lightsaber cut away the overhanging block creating a smooth surface. The old man could do nothing for this last survivor other than bring the justice of the jedi to the perpetrators.

Toshi Power Station was little more that a salvaged reactor from a republic star destroyer. Bhen Kenobi looked at the cluster of T-16s, some under repair. A group of younglings were working on converting old speeders into speeder bikes, now sitting on their sides and a rider's saddle straddled the top. Their ingenuity and craftsmanship was refreshing. It was something Bhen Kenobi hadn't seen in a long time. The upper gantry of the old reactor was occupied by a group of young adults watching the kids. The T-16s were more their speed. Which one had unleashed this slaughter? The sensation of despair came from everyone on the gantry. Bhen looked at the T-16s. They were all dusty. Their wings folded vertical in landing. There. A wipe of his hand confirmed it. Oxidation produced by a gas leak from a faulty surge connector. An imperial weapon to be sure, but this one was recently removed.
"Don't go messing with my T-16 old man." The guilty party had arrived.
"Like to cut down the Rhodians out at beggar's canyon do you?" Bhen Kenobi ignited his lightsaber.
"What do you care about a nest of womp rats?" Qen Darklighter fumbled his blaster just missing the old man as the lightsaber took off Qen's arm at the armpit. Qen collapsed on the ground.
"Who else?" Bhen pressed the advantage.
"We all do it." Bhen turned to confront Qen's friends as they closed firing their blasters.
They all did it. Bhen Kenobi deflected the blasts back at the murderous vermin now looking for a fight while younglings scattered on their makeshift speeder bikes. Bhen Kenobi cut the murderers down before returning his attention to the one armed man struggling to crawl for the cockpit hatch of his T-16.
"Did I say you could leave?" Qen Darklighter sat up against the hatch and again found a lightsaber in his face.
"Now, where is the weapon." Qen surrendered to a certain realisation.
"Biggs. Biggs took it." Bhen looked skyward, a familiar feeling drawing his attention. The tiny silver grey shape of a star destroyer firing on a small transport vessel. Imperials. Bhen returned his attention to the felon at his feet.
"Where can I find Biggs?" The one armed man at his feet was dead. Bhen deactivated his lightsaber and walked into the dune sea.

art Folio: more art

Handsome fellow...

Star trek: Tribbles? Yeah...Tribbles.

The Tribble: A Plague among your Houses

Discovered within the territories of the Klingon Empire during an expansion cycle it was found to be an asymmetrically aggressive Predatory Omnivore which consumed all sources of food for the singular purpose of species proliferation. For living prey it is particularly dangerous. Its spines (often mistaken for fur) are designed to break off on physical contact and be breathed in through the respiratory system or penetrate the soft dermal layer as a ballistic penetrator much like the Portuguese Man-o-war Jellyfish.

 Initial Occupation attempts by Klingons of the ‘Tribble Home world’ resulted in those Klingons exposed to Tribbles becoming passive and ceasing all contact with the rest of the Klingon Empire. Further exposure resulted in the exporting of Tribbles to surrounding systems, their less than hygienic ships filled with scraps of food and thus proving to be an ideal environment in which Tribbles could proliferate during space travel. Those sent to investigate the behavioral changes in exposed Klingons on ships ‘behaving oddly’ soon became exposed to Tribbles in the confined spaces of Klingon Spaceships resulting in suspension of aggressive behavior and eventual failure of the desire to do anything thus falling prey to this rather dangerous predator. Though a surgical solution was found to the spreading ‘plague’ the Tribble relationship to the ‘plague’ that was decimating the Klingon population not found until a decade later when an Alien doctor conducted a study of the Tribble and its effects on the Klingon Population as a Case Study.

“Tribble exposure was found to be particularly dangerous for Klingons who were greatly pacified thanks to the direct exposure of the Klingon Frontal Lobe and olfactory gland to the Respiratory system. Surgical alteration to their Frontal lobes and respiratory systems was required to remove the damaged respiratory and frontal lobe tissue ultimately the removal of the cranial ridges in vast populations of Klingons. It is odd however that for a truly aggressive and war-like people they have chosen to live peaceably with the presence of the Tribble to the point of surgical alteration of the entire Klingon Population and the public dissemination of the fiction of a ‘plague’ among the Klingon population rather than simply remove the Tribble as a threat to public health“.

 The study was reviewed by a Klingon Scientist who realized the significance of the research. This Doctor, along with his research, was ’invited’ to Kronos and ‘kept secret’ by the Klingon High Council who realized finally that the source of their problem was the Tribble - a far more dangerous predator than they had ever encountered. Thus the Tribble Extermination was undertaken although it was never revealed to the Klingon Population the connection between the Plague and the Tribble.

 With the Tribble population Exterminated the Klingon High Council was able to declare the ‘Plague’ to be at an end. Klingons were able to have new medical treatment in which their Cranial Ridges could be regrown and their Frontal lobe and respiratory tissue damage repaired.

lazy Dungeon Master: building your own Monster Manual...

Why not create your own Monster Manual this year? You don't even need artwork to get you started. Simply hunt down images that freak you out and build a concept around them.

Dungeon Mastery: Radium Apes

"Get your hands off me you damn dirty Ape!"

Dungeon Mastery: going all game of thrones

Before you do something silly with your campaign remember: you are working with players to create a shared story but Just because you want to create characters with depth, history, feelings, agendas, and a need for speed doesn't mean you can, but it doesn't stop you from trying.

Roleplay means to play a role. Inexperienced players are going to have trouble playing the role of their character. Many become disgruntled with character development and prefer to play dungeons and dragons as a hack and slash game.

Encouraging character development

Allow the players time to get the game mechanics down. Once they can spin that d20 on the edge of their character sheet you can look at building the character.

Darvil the Sword: Fighter (level 3); neutral; 10hp; St(14), In(13), Wi(9), De(18), Co(3), Ch(16); Equipment: Sword(1d8), leather armour, boots, belt, pouch. Description: Sickly, Darvil coughs up blood after one turn of physical activity and requires three turns to recover. He chews chillies he keeps in his belt pouch and undertakes breathing exercises to recover after he coughs up blood. 

Some time around third level ask the players to come up with a phrase that their character uses regularly and the circumstances under which it is used.

Personality: Darvil tries to speak on most things of concern to him and thinks the more input the better. He will say the words: "Damn it..." when he needs to cough up blood.

If the player remembers to use the character's 'phrase' add a few experience Points to the character in reward. Don't give it away. The player needs to say it to get the experience.
Low charisma characters are less likely to input, while high charisma characters will speak more. So penalise a high charisma pc for not producing character input equal to the charisma bonus penalise low charisma PCs for oversharing their life story. Darvil's player needs to provide input at least twice to avoid an exp penalty and saying 'damn it' twice won't cut it.
With Darvil coughing up blood with every profanity, and offering to let the kobolds live if they cough up their gold more to avoid exertion than out of any sense of kindness we have a character that is more than a sword.

Board games: da rule book!!

 

 

 

Any issues just bitch in the comments section...