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  1. In Memory of LAJ_FETT: Please share your remembrances and condolences HERE

Lit We Hav to Go on an Adventure with Jello

Discussion in 'Literature' started by Havac , Mar 7, 2016.

  1. Havac

    Havac Former Moderator star 7 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Sep 29, 2005
    Now it is time for the quarterly greatness of the Galaxywide NewsNets. We've now progressed to stories set one year after the Battle of Yavin.

    From Ord Grovner comes the report that two Imperial Star Destroyers have exterminated the Eyttyrmin Batiiv pirate group. The pirates were a massive organization, with eight thousand pirates in one hundred fifty craft, facing two Victory-class Star Destroyers. The pirates chose to fight it out when the Imperial force came for them, resulting in a three-day battle that annihilated the pirates and destroyed their base. The Star Destroyers took heavy damage, but fewer than three hundred pirates escaped and they were completely broken as a force. It's a great story, a few paragraphs evoking an epic incident, but it actually didn't originate with the NewsNets. The story is as old as WEG, originally told in a vignette in the original Star Wars Sourcebook. It was referenced in Galaxy Guide 9, which established the Khuiumin Survivors. This is just another case of WEG's great tradition of drawing on its own rich back catalog, finding an existing story and referencing it in the NewsNets. Of course, this tidbit would see its ultimate popularization when Michael Stackpole drew on it for I, Jedi, choosing to use the Khuiumin Survivors as a major part of the plot.

    In our next story, we get something of great interest to Jello: the debut of Imperial Advisor Alec Pradeux. Pradeux, introduced here as one of Palpatine's closest advisors, makes his appearance as an Imperial spokesman, revealing at a press conference that investigation of the Candorian plague outbreak that killed everyone on Dentaal -- something it was ominously threatening last issue -- was the result of none other than those dastardly Rebels. The Empire investigated, and it turns out that Candorian plague came out of those dangerous Alderaanian bioweapon labs, one of many samples that made it offworld before the Emperor could cleanse Bail Organa's threat to the galaxy. Which makes a great cover for any more Imperial bioweapon attacks. The Empire has found out that the breakout occurred when the Rebels were loading the canisters to ship to Imperial Center when they accidentally released the virus. One of my favorite magnificent Imperial propaganda juxtapositions: "We can only be thankful that the vermin choked on their own filth before they were able to unleash it upon millions of innocent Imperial citizens. Naturally, we at the Palace mourn the passing of Dentaal."

    Darpa SectorNet reports from Alabar, Esseles that the Empire has ordered sixty million more probots, in addition to one hundred fifty million already built in the past two years. These Navy contracts will result in more work on Esseles, where Dynacorp builds the hull pods and Sendarl Electronics contributes the sensory arrays.

    TriNebulon News reports on the ongoing saga of Fitz Roi, who has abruptly moved from his family estate on Lenniera to Calamar, Esseles. Maybe he wants in on some of those probot jobs. Roi continues to be a mildly amusing parody of wayward stardom, as he appears to have just gotten bored with the monotony of home and picked Esseles on a lark, went on a "journey of rediscovery" in the Outer Colonies and is now big on the Bith, and talks about how he's glad all his sponsors have dropped him because now he can do whatever he wants and slum around like in the good old days. There's also a brief interview with a suitably vapid fourteen-year-old fangirl.

    Finally, we get our first report from the famous Nal Hutta Kal'tamok. Established in the first NewsNets article as a famously professional underworld journal, this is the first time we've actually gotten a NewsNet from it. Here, our impeccably connected underworld sources relay the fact that the Empire has in one day nationalized the major manufacturers of black-market assassin droid components in the Mid Rim. Imperial troops abruptly seized the assets of Bansche Tech on Chamble, Sencil Corp on Churba, Reiber Manufacturing of Jeyell, and and SGI Systems of Druckenwell. This not only limits the supply of assassin droids, but spells danger to the companies' buyers, whose identities could potentially be learned from the companies' records. Already, many notable officials have disappeared, either arrested or fleeing in advance of arrest. This is also a significant blow in the corporate world, as Bansche and SGI were major corporations holding a diverse array of legitimate assets, all suddenly nationalized, their publicly traded shares worthless (a throwaway line here continues the NewsNets' conception of Corellia as a major financial center, an aspect I really, really like because it makes perfect sense but has nothing to do with Corellian stereotypes). The Ralltiir Exchange may finally be done for, with this crash coming on top of the Imperial blockade. This will probably eliminate the Mid Rim assassin droid manufacturing market, and buyers will have to turn to the Outer Rim and Corporate Sector for their supply as prices for remaining droids go way up.

    If you remember the Tombat, the mysterious cat burglar from earlier issues, "he" has struck again (world-famous cat burglars are one of those wonderful staples of fiction that have completely colonized fiction despite having almost no presence in the real world, like suave international agents, private eyes surrounded by constant murder, and omnipotent government conspirators). Moff Jerjerrod has had his vault burgled during a high-class party, and his staff is furious, according to the amusingly gossipy, frankly embarrassing report by Core News Digest. They're keeping the local police out and conducting the investigation themselves. Valuable artwork was taken, with important records and data left alone. This is an embarrassment for Jerjerrod, the moff of Quanta sector, since he was celebrating his fresh appointment to run Imperial Energy Systems, a new Ministry of Energy division created to develop large portable power plants. I really love any time actual government functions and ministries are mentioned and personnel are actually placed in them. This is the first Tombat strike since a heist on Spira during the Regatta; you may remember that last issue, Tanda Marelle reported on the Spira Regatta.

    In Eldrooden, Eldrood, Colonial News Nets reports that Earnst Kamiel has been captured. A leader of the Justice Action Network, the most famous band of anti-Imperial terrorists among fandom, he was responsible for bombing Imperial buildings all over the Colonies. He was caught arriving on Eldrood with false ID papers, and will be extradited to Haldeen sector. The mention of bombing government buildings is weirdly timely, given this issue is dated May 1995, and would of course have been worked on before that; the Oklahoma City bombing occurred in April 1995.

    From Curamalle, Corulag comes the story on new tariffs. COMPNOR has succeeded in placing tariffs on high-end agricultural exports from the Bormea sector. As doubtless designed, this has had little effect on most of the highly developed worlds of the Bormea sector (I love how much WEG did to develop the Bormea sector specifically -- there's a whole tangent I could go off on here), but is hard on Chandrila, which has a big agricultural sector unlike the others. Chandrila is the biggest source in the Core for perishable luxury foods and spices, and this could cripple its economy. Governor Holleck of Chandrila has vowed to get the tariff removed, and suggests the government might take strong steps to improve its relations with the Empire.

    It's back to the Bakuran storyline from last issue as we learn that Nereus has reached a settlement with the Bakuran Senate. Nereus won't significantly restructure the existing government, and they'll subordinate their constitution to an Imperial charter. Orn Belden puts a positive spin on things, noting that the Empire could have pushed them all aside but they were able to convince Nereus that it would be in everybody's best interests if he kept the existing government stably in place. Nereus does a great job of selling Imperial rule, highlighting Imperial economic aid, spending on military upgrades, and boosting government services, as well as four thousand scholarships sending Bakuran students to Imperial universities (a SAGroup program, of course). This has been a great example not only of showing the Empire taking over a world, but also the way the PR machine was able to spin it and the Empire was able to appear genuinely benevolent and beneficial when it wasn't being resisted, the way people can buy into it. And it's also a fantastic example of the Adventure Journal tying into a big novel. We're getting key backstory for a major setting here, and it's pretty seamless.

    Another great NewsNets. A couple storylines from last issue continue to percolate, small running side stories like Fitz Roi and the Tombat are served, and we get some great detail and really interesting pieces filling in the setting. The Galaxywide NewsNets continue to set the standard for ongoing excellence in the Adventure Journal. Each issue, they reliably knock it out of the park, filled with great little factoids and evocative stories. Next time, we'll get a piece on scouts, the third-to-last segment of this issue.
     
  2. Charlemagne19

    Charlemagne19 Chosen One star 8

    Registered:
    Jul 30, 2000
    Which is, of course, the Second Death Star.
     
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  3. Havac

    Havac Former Moderator star 7 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Sep 29, 2005
    With the appearance of Scouts' Dispatch, yet another recurring series has been introduced to the Adventure Journal. This will show up again in later issues, in the vein of Wanted by Cracken and Smuggler's Log. Well, maybe more in the vein of Cracken's Rebel Field Guide and Cracken's Rebel Operatives, recurring features that only popped up a couple times. In fact, this issue, with no Smuggler's Log, represents an early shift away from running Wanted by Cracken and Smuggler's Log every issue and toward a more mix-and-match approach to recurring features. Scouts' Dispatch sets up the world of scouts, explorers penetrating unexplored regions of the galaxy. It would be nice to see scouts get their own full feature, in the way privateers, mercenaries, pirates, gamblers and swoop gangs have gotten their own articles on how to base campaigns around those types, but this is a good start.

    The feature immediately establishes that it's New Republic-set. The focus here is on scouts for the New Republic, exploring the galactic frontier, solitary examples of hardiness and daring. Though they usually operate on their own, they have a support network that allows them to share information. Captain Korren Starchaser is one of the foremost voices of that informal professional association, a veteran scout who makes sure to share all his knowledge, discoveries, and tradecraft with his fellow New Republic scouts. So Korren Starchaser -- a pretty cool name -- will be the Platt Okeefe of this feature, an experienced, helpful voice providing useful tidbits.

    There's a personal blurb from Starchaser to begin the meat of the piece, extolling the values of scouts. They act on the desire to escape civilization, to explore the unexplored, but they must be careful of their role as pioneers. They have the responsibility of knowing that in opening up new worlds, they open them up to the possibility of Imperial domination or ruthless corporate exploitation. They need to do their jobs conscientiously, not just rushing from place to place, throwing information out there, caught up in the joy of trailblazing.

    We start with special equipment. You've got survival packs, which include rations, medpacs, glowrod, macrobinoculars, recording rods, flares, breath masks, grapple and rope, holorecorder, datapad, pop-up shelter, portable vaporator, hand-cranked generator, and scanning kit. Each scout usually modifies the loadout to personal preference, of course. Starchaser has adapted them from military survival packs, simply taking out the weapons and ammunition and replacing them with scouting gear. Starchaser also promotes insect repellent based on a microorganism from Barkhesh -- yet another Rogue Squadron video game planet originating from an obscure Adventure Journal mention -- that when released into the air, colonizes and quickly digests insect life. The microorganism dies off quickly and can't reproduce off Barkhesh, allowing it to work as a brief area-effect insect killer and not an ecological menace. They have to be gotten on Barkhesh, as the canisters are only good for a month after leaving Barkhesh. They're not dangerous to big sentient insectoids, who will suffer some slight irritation but won't be killed. Then there's the excluder, a sonic contraption that sends out high-frequency sound that can drive off hostile creatures from a campsite or person. They have to be tuned to the specific frequencies for each creature, and some predators may be irritated into attacking, so they have to be carefully used. They may also irritate sentient species with higher-frequency hearing, so for them you can get headsets that tune out the excluder.

    Next comes a profile of Starchaser and his crew. Starchaser is a veteran fighter pilot who's become a talented scout, driven by the compulsion to explore the frontier. He's sarcastic and cynical, but loves to teach others and pass on his knowledge, though he won't admit how much he enjoys it. He displays a respect for the Jedi Knights, including naming his ship the Jedi Dreamer "for a friend," but doesn't believe in the Force. He's quite close to his crew and dedicated to them, and has a son, Darren, who's now a fighter pilot himself. Mowa Gundeeb is a Sullustan mercenary who was nearly killed in a battle with another mercenary company before young X-wing pilot Starchaser saved his life. Gundeeb joined the Alliance, and ended up saving Starchaser's life himself in a gunfight. The two are closely bonded, and when Starchaser became a scout, Gundeeb went with him. He's developed a love of exploration himself, and serves loyally as Starchaser's right-hand man, copilot, and muscle. He also maintains a very quiet interest in nonhuman philosophy. Senni Otek is a young woman from Lianna, the daughter of Sienar engineers. As a teen, she tried to join the Rebellion, which got her parents taken hostage by the Empire. A Rebel cell was able to rescue her, but her parents were killed in a subsequent rescue attempt. She became a technician aboard a Star Cruiser, and served at Endor. She found her way onto Starchaser's crew when he started putting his team together, and helped his design his custom scout ship, which she's still continually modifying. Starchaser feels gruffly paternal to the still-naive, impulsive, but extremely talented young woman. The last member of the crew is CKO-171, an old-model protocol droid. Unlike the stereotypical protocol droid, he's isn't fussy and is almost totally unflappable, making him a great choice for Starchaser's translator. The drawback of his outdated programming is that he tends to use old dialects and is full of outdated information; having been deactivated for fortysomething years until he was reactivated by mistake in a New Republic storehouse a year and a half ago and assigned to Starchaser when he requested a protocol droid. He sometimes irritates Starchaser, but the captain is fond of him, and Kay-Oh is loyal and useful. He's also well-suited to exploration, as he has a humanoid torso but is on all-terrain treads instead of legs.

    And that's it. It's simple, but it's a decent start, giving us some interesting characters and a bit of equipment that players could use. The exploration angle is a cool one and the article ably captures its appeal. Its approach offers a nice change of pace from the Smuggler's Log and things like Cracken's Rebel Field Guide, with an earnest voice and an emphasis on legitimate exploratory supplies, not spacer's gear or military equipment. Next up, this issue's second Laurie Burns short story, about intrepid reporter Kella Rand.
     
  4. Sarge

    Sarge Chosen One star 10

    Registered:
    Oct 4, 1998
    It's not easy to come up with exploratory scifi stuff and not have any Trek flavoring in it. I think they pulled it off pretty well.

    Didn't WEG publish a Galaxy Guide for scouts? Or is my imagination leaking into my memory?
     
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  5. Havac

    Havac Former Moderator star 7 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Sep 29, 2005
    Galaxy Guide 8.
     
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  6. blackmyron

    blackmyron Chosen One star 7

    Registered:
    Oct 29, 2005
    Yeah, it's sad that, much like the era of RPG-specific magazines, we're not going to see something like the "Galaxy Guides" again for SW any time soon. (Having said that, I am curious what FFG plans to do now that they've exhausted the Class splatbooks for EOTE).
     
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  7. Havac

    Havac Former Moderator star 7 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Sep 29, 2005
    Kella Rand, Reporting . . . is Laurie Burns's second short story this issue. This is pretty unusual, as we've never had two short stories from the same author in one issue, and only occasionally two articles by the same person. The likely explanation, though, comes in last issue, the back cover of which promised the Kella Rand short story inside. It mistakenly went to press with that text on there, but the most likely explanation is that the story wasn't ready for that issue or got bumped for some other reason, and rolling it back got us two Burns stories in one issue.

    The first sentence of this story must be reproduced in full: "Just when Kella was sure the leader of the Indu San system was going to vote 'no' to an alliance with the New Republic, he went and blew up instead." You might say this story starts with . . . a bang.
    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    Galactic News Network reporter Kella Rand responds to the chaos and swarming hover-cams with excitement to be covering an even bigger story than she expected. There had been weeks of negotiation on Indu San's potential entry to the New Republic. The Indu Council seemed to support it, but the chief councilor was the only one whose opinion ultimately mattered, and he had refused to give any indication of where he was leaning. It's not uncommon at this time for Rim systems to decline to join the Republic, enjoying their neutrality and fearing Imperial reprisal. We learn from a profile that Indu San (population: China) has marble as its main export, and was cultivated early on by Imperial Governor Stant Rosswell, who relaxed economic regulations to win the support of the business community and maintained pleasant relations with the politicians and people. Around Endor, Governor Ekam Ouwray took over, and wasn't as easy to get along with. This led to a homegrown revolt, which received support from a New Republic fleet. Ouwray, insufficiently reinforced, fled, and the planet now finds itself free, neutral, and considering joining the New Republic but fearful of the Imperial reprisal Ouwray promised.

    Kella's ability to get the story out first is dependent on the arrival of GNN's courier droid, since the HoloNet's still down. It'll be a race with TriNebulon News. So this is a story basically built around the NewsNets, which is wonderful. She spots Tev Aden, aide to the New Republic ambassador, slipping out of the room pursued by a cop, and decides to follow up on it. She runs to get to the hallway he headed into, but is blocked by a cop who's sealing the area. Until they hear a blaster shot and go running, only to find a dead Tev Aden. The officer chasing him shot him when he wouldn't stop, which isn't really a good look, especially when the cop says he just wanted to catch the guy to . . . tell him to leave the section they were sealing. She sees them find what appears to be a detonator on Aden's body before more police arrive and kick her out.

    She attends the news conference, but there's little information, and comes back to the bureau to find she's got a 2200 deadline, about three hours, to file her story. The New Republic is suspected of involvement, what with Aden's situation, and the Council is planning to elect a new chief councilor and have another vote tomorrow. Kella, however, doesn't see what the New Republic could get out of it, given that even if Aden hadn't been caught doing it, it wouldn't have stirred up any enthusiasm for joining the New Republic, and the next guy might be just as disinclined to join. It's more likely Indu San will stay neutral now, or even go back to the Empire, as some businessmen with a longing for stability are pushing for.

    So she starts putting together her story, and in reviewing her holos from the last weeks, she sees something interesting in the background of an interview yesterday. She thinks she sees someone rigging the bomb. The guy fiddling around with the comm panel at Chief Councilor Shek Barayel's desk is none other than Darme, the cop who shot Aden. Which, let's face it, we all saw coming. Excited, she pulls in Nostler, the local bureau chief, to take a look, and reporter Crislyn comes in as well. Unnoticed, ominously, reporter Juloff takes out his comm and sneaks off. I think we've got a rat.

    Kella and Nostler don't trust the local authorities, given this evidence of a police officer's complicity in the assassination, and so decide to give the evidence to Dictio L'varren, the New Republic ambassador. Now he's not exactly the best person to clear himself, and it's not very likely all the authorities are in on this, so this isn't really the best plan. As she walks over to the hotel where L'varren's staying, somebody starts taking shots at her. She drops down into cover, pinned down, until a guy does exactly what you should do in response to gunshots in the street and opens a door to demand to know what's going on. She rushes inside, through a restaurant, out the back, and finally to the hotel, where protesters surround the entrance. In the lobby, she spots Juloff talking with Darme. And they spot her. She bolts into the turbolift and comms L'varren, with whom she's had some kind of embarrassing incident in the past (it sounds like a romantic entanglement) to let him know that she's coming with proof, and also with the killer hot on her tail. She has a thought, and takes her copy of the incriminating holo and puts the card in her hover-cam, which is basically a limited droid, and tells it to make sure to get to L'varren's suite instead of following her the way it has all story. That'll make sure the evidence survives even if Darme gets her.

    And when she leaves the lift, Darme does indeed get her, grabbing her, disarming her, and holding a vibroblade to her throat as he demands the datacard. He grabs her datacards, and lets her know that her report has been deleted by Juloff; there will be no evidence. They're both loyal Imperials, and they hatched the plot to kill Barayel and pin the assassination on the New Republic to make sure Indu San didn't join. Barayel may have voted no, or he may have voted yes -- they couldn't trust him. But now everybody's stirred up against the NR. The turbolift stops, Darme opens the doors to escape into the shaft, and then he shoots Kella with her own blaster. Lucky she'd just set it to stun.

    She wakes up being cared for by L'varren's staff, and is informed that they got the evidence and arrested Darme. She's resolved a major incident! But more importantly, she needs to know if the courier droid has picked up its stories yet. She's probably missed the deadline and her report's been deleted! She'll be scooped! Luckily, she has just enough time to start working feverishly on recreating her report, now with the entire thing resolved. Reporter's priorities.

    Our backstory for Kella is that she's the daughter of a refueling station administrator who attended university on Corellia, where she considered a career in the Imperial Diplomatic Corps to see the galaxy, but didn't have the patience for diplomacy. What she did have was a flair for news. She got a job with a Corellian NewsNet, where her interview with a supposed childhood friend of Han Solo's got picked up by GNN and she got a GNN job, which she's had for four years. She enjoys traveling across the galaxy for her job, chasing all kinds of different stories in all kinds of different environments, and especially enjoys the challenge of trying to get as much truth through the Imperial censors as possible, which is becoming easier and easier as the Empire fragments and has fewer resources to devote to censoring the news.

    There's also an amusing profile of Robbe Nostler, the Indu San bureau chief. He's not your typical veteran-newshound editor type -- nope, he's a guy who's been worn down by years of filing reports and sanitizing them for the Empire, a guy who leaves the reporting to the reporters and regards both governments cynically. All he really wants is to do the best job he can, make it to retirement, and go somewhere where he never has to pay attention to the news again.

    Our villain, Kaleb Darme, has a writeup that's pretty good. His biggest influence is seeing Armor of Honor when he was ten, a holo-epic about heroic stormtroopers that made him fall in love with the Empire. He became a Council Authority officer with the goal of becoming the governor's bodyguard, and worked as a huge supporter of Governor Ouwray behind the scenes. When Ouwray fled, he asked Darme to stay behind and work for the Empire's return.

    Dictio L'varren gets a profile too. An Alderaanian who was grave beyond his years even as a child, he became a professional mediator and eventually a Rebel supporter. When Alderaan was blown up, he took a full-time job as an ambassador for the Alliance and has spent his time convincing factions to join the Alliance and now newly liberated or neutral worlds to join the New Republic. He has a strong sense of humor, but rarely lets it out during negotiations.

    One Adventure Idea has a warlord, supported by Ouwray, trying to take Indu San. Free-trader characters are hired to deliver what turns out to be an arms shipment to Imperials on Indu San, with a plan that they be arrested and their ship confiscated, which they must avert. If they're New Republic characters, they make the shipment undercover, hoping to find the Imperial contacts and defeat the plan. A more amusing Adventure Idea has Kella Rand interview the players about their latest adventure, which is quite flattering until the broadcast gets them renewed attention from some old enemy.

    It's a great little story, drawing on Burns's own experience as a newspaper reporter and editor. Both of Burns's stories so far have been breaths of fresh air. Rather than the typical smuggler adventure or Rebel mission, we get mysteries built around classic character types who rarely appear in Star Wars fiction -- a detective and a reporter. Both these stories have felt like something out of classic twenties and thirties pulp, which is a great thing. They're fun, pulpy adventures that make great use of the Star Wars universe as a setting without feeling compelled to repeat the same old storytelling forms. They sneak in new types of protagonists -- I'd have loved to have seen Burns develop a Kella Rand series. The only drawback is that with the short length, Burns can't set up much of a mystery here. From the beginning, you know it's not going to be the New Republic, and with the suspicious cop being the only suspect in sight, you know it's going to turn out to be him, working for the Imperials. That predictability, however, doesn't change the pleasures of seeing a gutsy reporter charge through such an agreeable adventure.

    There's also an interesting aspect buried in here -- the suggestion that the New Republic doesn't simply take over the worlds it liberates from the Empire. It requires them to actually choose to join it, and leaves open the possibility of the New Republic fighting to kick the Empire off and then being left with a neutral world. I really like that, as it helps highlight the NR's commitment to democracy.

    We'll finish off this issue tomorrow with the final feature, an Objective Sighted.
     
  8. Charlemagne19

    Charlemagne19 Chosen One star 8

    Registered:
    Jul 30, 2000
    I never liked this short story because the ISB really came off as incompetent here.
     
  9. Havac

    Havac Former Moderator star 7 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

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    Sep 29, 2005
    Well, the ISB isn't in this story . . . but maybe that was their first mistake.
     
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  10. Havac

    Havac Former Moderator star 7 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

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    Sep 29, 2005
    Objective Sighted: The Trap represents the return of the Miniatures scenario feature after an issue's absence.

    This one's a bit different in being a New Republic-era scenario. Saarn is a remote planet once used to train Rebel troops, but it's mostly unused now that the New Republic's established in the Core. It's been reduced to a surveillance outpost. Some forces were sent to pull out equipment that's wanted back on recently-taken Coruscant, with some troops along to conduct exercises while the base is stripped. But en route, the New Republic has lost communications with the outpost. This small detachment of soldiers and technicians now faces the prospect of having to secure a base that may have been attacked. Most of the troops are unseasoned recruits who could have used the training, since they weren't expecting to run into opposition. So after scanning the planet, the commander has received permission to land and check out the situation, expecting that it was more likely a pirate raid than Imperial activity against such a remote target. The truth, though, is that Thrawn's ISD Stormhawk knocked out the outpost and put up an Imperial listening post instead. The Imperial forces left to put up the listening post plan on ambushing the NR troops.

    Our battlefield is set up to allow space for vehicles to maneuver, but the terrain is light woods to keep them from zipping around and keep them in a supporting firepower role. Two New Republic shuttles face the Imperial command post. The New Republic's objectives are to get inside the post and remove as much equipment as possible. They'll need to use the technical personnel to remove the equipment. The secondary objective is to destroy the base. The Imperials get the advantage of placing their forces for an ambush, and have the goal of destroying the New Republic forces. They can also try to capture one of the shuttles to use to board the NR cruiser in orbit. The New Republic gets four squads of twelve troopers and one squad of six veteran troopers and four landspeeders. The Empire gets two squads of ten troopers (one scout troopers, one army), two squads of eight army troopers back at the command post, one squad of seven veteran scout troopers with speeder bikes, and one squad of six technicians at the base.

    It then goes on about adding or removing forces to modify the scenario, allowing multiple players, how to use the optional reinforcement squads, how to use the vehicles, the option of using the weapons on the shuttles, and how the scenario works well for an advanced player playing as the NR, with complicated objectives, and a beginning playing as the Empire, which just has to destroy the other guys.

    And that wraps up a pretty great issue of the Adventure Journal. It's pretty much what every installment of Objective Sighted is. A decent prompt if you're playing the miniatures game, a bare-bones seed of a story if you're not.

    Much more interesting is what we've got coming up in Adventure Journal 7. We've got Timothy Zahn writing Grand Admiral Thrawn's backstory, Mike Stackpole writing the very first Corran Horn story, my personal favorite Adventure Journal adventure, Laurie Burns's Retreat from Coruscant, the classic Into the Core Worlds, yet another Charlene Newcomb short story, Pablo Hidalgo establishing the lore on R-series astromechs, Patricia Jackson on Old Corellian, and of course all the usual attractions (NewsNets!). It promises to be a very exciting issue.
     
  11. Charlemagne19

    Charlemagne19 Chosen One star 8

    Registered:
    Jul 30, 2000
    Well whatever Imperial intelligence group murdered their own guy on the off chance it would make the situation better.
     
  12. Havac

    Havac Former Moderator star 7 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

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    Sep 29, 2005
    They were freelancers, and they murdered a guy whose opinion they couldn't find out and framed the New Republic for it to turn the public against the NR. As plans go, it wasn't terrible.
     
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  13. Havac

    Havac Former Moderator star 7 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Sep 29, 2005
    [​IMG]

    Here it comes, Adventure Journal 7. We've got a lot of great content coming, as promised on that cover. Which, correct me if I'm wrong, but that seems to be original art, a first for the Journal. Previously it's used LFL stock images -- movie stills and promotional photos. This, unless it's repurposed trading card art or something I'm not familiar with, is an original piece. Which would remain a rarity for the Adventure Journal.

    The Admiral's Communique this issue is about our illustrious star authors. Schweighofer assures us that West End Games has been working hard to get the big novel authors into the Adventure Journal, where they can be "guest stars." We've had Tyers, Zahn is coming back this issue, and Stackpole is debuting the lead character for his book series coming out next year. But they're also integrating the authors into the rest of WEG's material. Zahn wrote an introductory short story for The DarkStryder Campaign. Tyers is co-writing The Truce at Bakura Sourcebook. And that's all this really comes down to: plugging the big names. But heck, they're big names, so plug away.

    And then it's off to New Horizons, where we get our look at upcoming merchandise. The Illustrated Star Wars Universe is coming out, taking us to eight planets illustrated by Ralph McQuarrie. Each planet will be described by a different in-universe character as written by Kevin J. Anderson, a pretty neat conceit that's given quite a bit of attention.

    Decipher, meanwhile, is coming out with its Collectible Card Game. There's a lot of talk of the quality, how they're making the cards by going back to the original negatives to make new prints, which will be transformed into the card images with all the latest technology. They're also bringing in West End Games to help develop them, apparently as consultants on the lore.

    Fisher Space Pen Company is coming out with two different gravity-defying space pen designs for Star Wars. One, the Rebel Fighter pen, is black and silver, with a Rebel log, and the Force pen is sort of greenish, made with brass and titanium, and is engrave with "May the Force be with you." Both, of course, say "STAR WARS." I'll be honest, they're pretty cool pens.

    We had the Dark Empire and Tales of the Jedi audio dramas promoted previously; now we learn that there's a Dark Empire II audio drama on the way.

    Also on the way: more Bantam books. Tales from the Mos Eisley Cantina will be the first of the short story anthologies to come out; we've heard a decent bit about these upcoming anthologies in the pages of the Adventure Journal already. Our WEG author also seems proud to note they'll use art of the aliens from the Galaxy Guides with each story, and the book itself will be dedicated to WEG editor Bill Smith. It will be followed by Tales from Jabba's Palace, and then a bounty hunters anthology. It's interesting that nobody's OCD compelled them to go in movie order. Showdown at Centerpoint will also be coming out to conclude the Corellian Trilogy. Finally, Darksaber will be following on where Children of the Jedi left off. "Tormented and haunted, Luke cannot rest until Callista is again a Jedi, for only then will the link between them be restored." Yeah, you can't be in love with someone who's not a Jedi. But lest you think this is just a book about Luke moping around about his relationship problems, it's also got Hutts building their own Death Star, and Admiral Daala is still somehow alive and will be teaming up with Captain Pellaeon. From Thrawn to Daala, man, talk about a downgrade. Also good for a laugh: Durga and Daala being described as "the most formidable villains in the galaxy." Which I guess is a pretty good indicator of how well the New Republic had pacified things.

    Lastly, as Schweighofer had mentioned, Kathy Tyers will be co-writing a sourcebook for her novel, The Truce at Bakura. It's pretty neat that they won't just be doing a sourcebook on it, but will have the active cooperation of the author. Tyers is very clearly into working with WEG. They even have quotes from her. Tyers wrote vignettes expanding on her characters, and provided backstory for characters that didn't make it into the book. The great Eric Trautmann, her co-writer, also had a lot to contribute, such as extrapolating Ssi-ruuk society. Also upcoming is Galaxy Guide 12: Enemies and Allies, which delivers the details on many species that have popped up and been around but never received full WEG writeups, including Weequay, Nikto, Gran, and Chevin.

    The excitement kicks off with two high-powered short stories in a row from novel authors, and we'll be starting with Mist Encounter, in which Timothy Zahn explains just how Thrawn first joined the Empire.
     
  14. comradepitrovsky

    comradepitrovsky Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Jan 5, 2017
    Was the Decipher game any fun? The art looks cool, but I've always been curious.
     
  15. The Positive Fan

    The Positive Fan Force Ghost star 4

    Registered:
    Jan 19, 2015
    It was fun; it didn't suck nor was it particularly groundbreaking. It hewed to the formula established by M:TG pretty closely. It might have paled in comparison to that pioneer, but taken on its own terms it was a perfectly acceptable little game.

    Truthfully neither the game itself nor the art were the real draw of the SW:CCG, but the then-exclusive lore. Decipher filled the gaps WEG left behind, dropping brand-new names and details for alien species and background characters left and right. Nary a background extra was left in the OT who didn't have a name and history attached to them, thanks to the CCG.
     
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  16. Havac

    Havac Former Moderator star 7 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Sep 29, 2005
    The Adventure Journal kicked off its first issue with reigning King of Star Wars Timothy Zahn's short story about Mara and Karrde's first meeting. After that, though, the Journal didn't make big-name guest stars a regular thing. Kathy Tyers dropped by, but even just a few issues ago, Schweighofer was phrasing big-name appearances as a matter of their approaching the Journal, not the Journal seeking them out. With this, though, we get a splash as Zahn returns to the pages of the Adventure Journal with crucial backstory for none other than Grand Admiral Thrawn himself. Mist Encounter tells the tale of Thrawn's discovery by the Empire, introducing a significant character in Voss Parck whom Zahn would come back to. Just as notable, however, this represents the first of many collaborations between Zahn and Michael Stackpole. Both stories share a character in Mosh Barris. There's also some cutesy wordplay showing just how tightly Zahn and Stackpole were coordinating their stories: the titles "Mist Encounter" and "Missed Chance" play with the homophony of "mist" and "missed." Stackpole even lets Zahn debut the character of Booster Terrik in his story. This all before Rogue Squadron even came out; it shows just how tightly Zahn and Stackpole were working together -- and how much they enjoyed it and went out of their way to do it -- from the very beginning.

    [​IMG]
    The original art of Thrawn, colored for Hyperspace.

    The story opens with smuggler Booster Terrik desperately fleeing a Victory-class Star Destroyer into "unknown space." This brings up a couple interesting points: Zahn doesn't seem to have latched on to the term Unknown Regions yet, or the idea of it being a sort of proper-noun zone. But more importantly, this is the debut of ass-kicking, Star-Destroyer-owning, Borsk-walloping smuggler badass Booster Terrik, one of the great characters of the EU. This has led to a bit of confusion throughout the years: if Terrik, originally famous for his appearances in Stackpole's X-wing series, first appeared in a Tim Zahn short story, given the history of collaboration between Zahn and Stackpole, then did Zahn create him and Stackpole just latch on to him as a character to use, or did Stackpole create him and somehow persuade Zahn to seed him into a story? A quick look at the timeline, and the knowledge of how closely Zahn and Stackpole were collaborating here, clears that up. With Stackpole already deep into working on Rogue Squadron, which would come out about five months after these stories, at minimum, the odds that he paused after finding out Zahn had invented a narratively insignificant smuggler character, said, "I have to incorporate this guy!" and seized upon him for an elaborate role as the father of his protagonist's love interest and longtime rival of his protagonist's father are minuscule. If the story had come out two years before the book, it would be possible that Stackpole fit Zahn's creation into his plans. As it is, though, it's clear that the character was Stackpole's creation, whom Stackpole shared with Zahn when it became apparent that Zahn would be using, or could use, a smuggler in a minor role several decades before the movies. "Hey, I've got an old-time smuggler from my books!" is almost certainly how it went down.

    Anyway, Booster and his partner Llollulion have made three blind jumps and the Star Destroyer is still following them into the UR. That's a damn persistent captain. Llollulion spots a habitable planet in the system, so they go to hide on it. We then switch POV to Captain Voss Parck, who is awesome. Parck is frustrated with the inefficiencies of his junior officers, in an echo of Pellaeon, and reflects on the fact that only a week ago Palpatine declared himself Emperor, and Parck has faith that Palpatine will reform the system and make the Fleet more effective, root out inefficiencies and outdated thinking. It's a wonderfully bold move, for this point in time, to actually set a story in the immediate aftermath of the Empire's creation and get away with it. We also learn that the reason Parck is so determined to capture the freighter is because he believes it to be carrying supplies for one of the proto-Rebel resistance groups that's already springing up, and wants to be able to get information on the group out of the crew.

    Back with Booster and his definitely alien partner -- Zahn has always been pretty good about creating alien aliens -- they detect a power source on the planet, indicating there must be some kind of outpost there. And nobody with an outpost on a remote mystery world is going to welcome visitors. But with TIEs on his tail (of all things to specify, TIEs are like the only thing the EU didn't end up introducing within a week of ROTS) and within sensor range, Booster decides to overfly the power source, hoping it's his only chance to throw the fighters' sensors off and make a quick landing and power down. Llollulion -- okay, we'll just call him L -- shoots down both fighters just before they pass over a clearing with a little house in it, and Booster's now able to hid out in some cliffside caves safely.

    Some time later, Colonel Mosh Barris, commander of the Star Destroyer Strikefast's ground complement and frequent concertgoer, reports up to Parck from the encampment. They've found signs of habitation, but all the markings are in a language not even the 3PO unit can translate. Parck would like it not to be, but Barris insists that there's really no explanation except for its being the residence of a mysterious new alien. Which, unfortunately, triggers the Unknown Alien Encounter Orders, a bunch of old standing orders from the Republic on contact with unknown species that the military tends to see as an outdated burden. There's also more than a bit of speciesism in Barris's griping about the Republic passing out membership to every weirdo critter the Fleet stumbles across. It's spoken of as a relic of the Old Republic's "glory days" when species were being constantly discovered (by Dreadnaughts and Carracks, which shows a very different idea of the ages of these outdated-but-still-in-use ships) which an entrenched military bureaucracy disdains, and which is rumored Palpatine will do away with. But this is interrupted by a report from a lieutenant investigating one of the downed TIEs nearby. The pilot's body has been removed, the flightsuit and helmet stuffed with grass and berries. Someone's also got his blaster, grenades, and power packs. Barris and his men immediately suspect the presence of "savages," hostile natives being something the Fleet supposedly has a great deal of experience with. This feels like a bit more of a British Empire take on the Old Republic than the Clone Wars scenario we ultimately got, of course.

    Later, around nightfall, Barris and his men have a couple explosions go off in the camp. They're minor, but Barris starts increasing security measures on the already-alert perimeter, and some TIEs do a flyover -- only for one of the TIEs to go down. And once more, our mysterious natives have gotten there first and stripped the pilot for weapons. Barris and Parck go back and forth, deciding this may be the smugglers trying to distract them from something and just make it look like primitives. And then Parck realizes something, and has Barris's men check the pilots' helmets. The comm on the first one has been removed. The adversary has been listening in on them. Parck has it shut down, but it's embarrassing not to have picked up on it.

    Booster, of course, had nothing to do with it, as we see him working on repairs and trying to figure out what the hell's going on with these grenade-sized explosions he keeps hearing throughout the night. He can't figure out what the Empire is doing, until L suggests maybe it's the inhabitant of the dwelling harassing the Imperials. Booster can't buy the idea of one or two beings in a tiny hut giving the Empire this much trouble, though. Of course, he hasn't reckoned with that one man being a tactical genius. He dismisses L's idea of trying to maybe make contact with whoever it is. The distraction is helpful, but there's no point in trying to make contact with some mystery alien. What a different galaxy it might be, though, if it had been Booster Terrik Thrawn made contact with, and not the Empire. Imagine Thrawn the crimelord!

    In the morning, Barris's nerves have been frazzled by a long night of intermittent attacks that have cost him five men, two of them shot by their own jumpy comrades. Barris just wants to pull out and hit the whole place from orbit. Parck tells him he can pull his men; he'll be replacing them with stormtroopers. Which is apparently already what the clonetroopers are being called. But the conversation breaks up in jamming, and Barris says screw it. That's enough. He's pulling everyone, including the stormtroopers, out now that the communications are gone. And since he's sure somebody in the Senate will throw a fit if they pull out without fully investigating these signs of a potential uncontacted civilization, he says to disassemble the whole hut and take it with them. They're all ready to go, except one stormtrooper is missing. A frustrated Barris says screw it, he's pulling out, but then another stormtrooper ups and explodes. It's a small explosion, but the body appears to have been completely incinerated. Just then, the last stormtroopers come in with the body of the one who'd gone missing, so everybody gets out of there.

    Barris lands in the hangar bay, greeted by a Parck, who's obviously disappointed in his performance. Parck, though, seems to be on to something, and takes him up to the darkened hangar control room to watch the bay. It takes two hours, but finally a figure slips out of the returned transports and starts sneaking around. Parck is confident this is the one person who caused Barris all this trouble, leaving Barris indignant. Once the alien gets aboard one of the parked shuttles, Parck sends in troops to stun him. Instead, he surrenders without a fight. The alien, wearing hides, is brought before Parck, and turns out to speak Basic. He introduces himself as Mitth'raw'nuruodo -- the name goes back that far, and wasn't just invented for the Hand of Thrawn. He first encountered galactic civilization through some Corellian traders, again, this long before Outbound Flight. Parck wants to understand what exactly Mitth'raw'nuruodo's goal was in giving the troops such a hard time and then trying to sneak aboard the Star Destroyer. He says he wanted to return home from exile. Parck is willing to help him, but not before he explains.

    Thrawn says that he got the gimmicked power packs in for the first explosions by strapping them to nocturnal critters who were drawn to the fermented berries he'd included inside the flight suit, knowing they wound find the stuffed flight suit odd enough to take it back into their encampment for study. He'd achieved the same effect later by throwing berries with a sling. He took down the TIE by stringing monofilament wire between the two tallest treetops, so he could steal the pilot's comlink. See, they found he hadn't taken the second pilot's comlink, but he had. He'd just put the first pilot's comlink back into the second's helmet, so when they cut out the first one he was still able to eavesdrop. And he kept killing soldiers in the encampment in the hopes of drawing out heavier troops. The Army troopers did him no good -- he needed somebody with full-face helmets. So when the stormtroopers came and started probing the forest, he killed one with an explosion timed to the initial jamming, then studied the armor to understand how to kill another one without ruining the armor. So he killed another stormtrooper, took his armor, walked back into camp, and hid on one of the ships, propping up the empty suit of armor outside the ship and destroying it with an explosive inside to hide the fact that there was another stormtrooper missing.

    Thrawn insists that it's necessary he return to his people. He was exiled because he disagreed with his leaders. He is their only military leader who accepts the concept of a preemptive strike, and many great dangers face them. He's not going to try to persuade them anymore, though. He just intends to fight on their behalf. Barris asks if he's going to do this by himself; he says, "If necessary," but that doesn't seem to be his plan. It seems that Zahn already has the idea out there of Thrawn already having some kind of infrastructure in place, or some network of supporters whom he can count on to create his Household Phalanx and go to war to protect the Chiss people. Parck has a better idea. How about Mitth'raw'nuruodo joins them? Barris is pissy about it, as he has been throughout the confrontation, but Parck sees great value in presenting such a clever officer to Palpatine, to make up for his failure to secure the smugglers' knowledge of the burgeoning resistance. This alien will help the Fleet. In exchange, he'll have access to all the Empire's wealth of information on unknown space, on potential threats. He'll have the ability to destroy potential threats to his people within the Empire's reach. And Palpatine may even be willing to send him back with a fleet, to destroy threats out here that might threaten the Empire too. And if the Empire won't take him, Parck will drop him off wherever he wants to go. Parck isn't particularly worried about the alien thing. Yeah, Palpatine's Empire appears to already be taking an anti-alien stance, at least to those in the know like Barris, who seems to be in on some of the New Order maneuvering within the military. But Parck is even more in the know; his cousin was the commander of Darth Vader's ship when Vader made contact with the Noghri, and got promoted as a result. We're fitting a lot of things in awful damn early here. But the point is, Parck knows Palpatine's not above being happy to use aliens when they're extremely talented. Our alien friend agrees to come along, but agrees to Parck's comment that his name is too difficult for most people to pronounce. As his red eyes glow in his deep blue skin, he suggests people can use his core name -- Thrawn. Big reveal! Except, you know, not in 2017. Or any point after Specter of the Past blew the lid off Mitth'raw'nuruodo being Thrawn's full name.

    [​IMG]
    Some nifty Essential Reader's Companion art.

    We end as we began, with Booster Terrik completely ignorant of the significance of his actions, wondering what happened to make the Imperials leave, but happy and confident that whatever was going on with the encampment, it had nothing to do with him.

    The story is followed by the usual writeups. Captain Voss Parck is the product of a Corulag family with a long history of naval officers; it seems the Parcks are Generationals. Parck has found himself surpassed by many of his cousins and other family members, and is looking for a way to advance himself in the face of some politicking from other family members. Just recently, he was moved from a Mid Rim patrol route out to the hinterlands. He's written up as a bit of a cross between Pellaeon and Thrawn: by-the-book, concerned about the quality of his subordinates, stern, and slow to advance, but also penetratingly intelligent, patient, and generally tolerant of the failings of others but quick to dismiss subordinates in particular instances. He's clearly a clever guy, having figured out the general outlines of what was going on, but he's not Thrawn's match. I really like him as a complement to Thrawn, less expository Watson and more cunning co-conspirator; you can see how Parck became the guy Thrawn leaves behind to run the show that really matters to him while he's in the Empire with Pellaeon.

    Booster Terrik is a smuggler working with Llollulion, a noble of the avian Borlovian species. Booster started as a legitimate corporate pilot, but sought out independence in his own ventures, which led to bankruptcy and debt to a crimelord. Llollulion paid off his debts in exchange for Booster taking him on as a partner and teaching him the ways of smuggling. L is a noble, but unusually among his staid, feudal species, he seeks adventure and travel. They've become partners in smuggling, with some of L's better instincts helping persuade Booster to get involved in the budding resistance movement to the Empire, which he fears could limit his independence. Obviously, this won't take in the long term, but it's an interesting setup for a character we'll come to know very differently. There's an Adventure Idea associated with them, as the Journal struggles to deal with the fact that this is way out of their normal timeline, of having the players have to take up the slack on the shipment that's gone missing because of this incident. They're sent to Kobbahn to figure out what happened to Booster after he left there. They can eventually find him and help him escape from some pirates.

    Colonel Mosh Barris is a fighting man who's worked his way up with a lot of experience and some compassion for those underneath him. He's very concerned about his men's welfare, and now that he's in a high-ranking position, he wants to help reform the Army to take better care of its soldiers. It's an interesting take on a character who's not portrayed very favorably in the story; you can see how his concern for his men plays into his ultimate panic and timidity on the ground, though; it reminds me a bit of the Civil War generals who were arguably quite competent officers except that they were so solicitous of avoiding any risk of defeat, both to their men and themselves, that they were ultimately paralyzed and ineffective by fear of getting into an engagement with anything less than the overwhelming advantage.

    We also get a writeup of the Kappa-class shuttles mentioned. An older design of troop lander, they're a precursor to Lambdas, looking much like Lambdas with stub wings, that has been largely surpassed by newer ships with better carrying capacity and the ability to hold bigger walkers. These were designed to carry only two AT-PTs. Some have made it out into the civilian world, including some with their AT-PTs still inside.

    Finally, there's Thrawn (who looks hilarious with long hair in his picture). Thrawn was a highly respected tactician and warrior among his people, but never got along well with their leadership. He has total confidence in himself and his methods, but his people consider him unnecessarily violent and wildly unconventional despite a disposition that would seem stoic, measured, and highly disciplined to others. His people believed firmly that preemptive strikes were immoral and that war could only be levied when the enemy absolutely proved an intent on war with a first strike. Thrawn, however, believed that hostile intent could be detected through preparations for war and mobilization. He was finally exiled when he executed a preemptive strike, blowing up an arms factory that was manufacturing weapons for a surprise attack. Despite his exile, he remains deeply passionate, both about his beliefs and about protecting his people.

    Well, there's a lot to dig into with this story. This story turns out to be a pretty crucial one. Not just as backstory, but as a look at where Zahn was taking Thrawn as a character. There are a lot of details here that set up future Thrawn stories: everything is pretty much directly in line with the Hand of Thrawn duology and Outbound Flight (in the paperback of which it was much later republished, with some edits to smooth references from "President Palpatine" into "Chancellor Palpatine" and the like), and there are tons of important elements to HOT, from Parck to Thrawn's backstory to his name that are revealed here though they'll come across as big revelations in HOT for anyone who hasn't read this story. About the only revelation from that series that isn't dropped here is the name of his species, the Chiss. You can see Zahn already knows where he's going. Thrawn is here cast as a man of determination, "passion," even, to protect his people, one who is most concerned with the Unknown Regions, not the Empire. None of this is stuff that really comes across in TTT, but it's all critical to HOT. I'd be interested to know at exactly what point Zahn started intending this, and exactly what he saw as Thrawn's arc. Thrawn's also in an unusual position in the story. Not just in having no art to study, but in that Thrawn isn't just theorizing battle plans here, but carrying them out in person, a one-man wrecking crew. It's the only way to really have him display tactical genius on his own, since he's not going to be exiled with a convenient battle fleet to pummel Parck with, but it's still a bit different to think of Thrawn running around like Batman. It does help reinforce the idea of a younger Thrawn as not just a remote commander, but a genuine warrior, a man of experience and action. It's pretty neat to have such a momentous piece appear in the Adventure Journal. I understand, too, that this story has been largely recanonized by the Thrawn novel. For those who have read it, please tell more.

    You've seen Booster Terrik make his debut. Now meet his future son-in-law for the first time with Missed Chance from Michael Stackpole, up next!

    [​IMG]
    Spectacular Czech cover art of a George Clooney-looking Thrawn in disguise from a Czech collection of early-timeline short stories that included Mist Encounter.
     
  17. comradepitrovsky

    comradepitrovsky Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Jan 5, 2017
    Comparing this with the first chapters of the Thrawn novel is interesting in the evolution of the EU, I think.
     
  18. Vthuil

    Vthuil Force Ghost star 5

    Registered:
    Jan 3, 2013
    Oh my god, he actually looks like a Duros. (Well, a Duros in a wig).
     
  19. Havac

    Havac Former Moderator star 7 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Sep 29, 2005
    Would you care to elaborate?
     
  20. Charlemagne19

    Charlemagne19 Chosen One star 8

    Registered:
    Jul 30, 2000
    The opening chapters of THRAWN are a retelling of "Mist Encounter" with a slightly different cast (Eli Vanto and no Booster Terrick).
     
  21. comradepitrovsky

    comradepitrovsky Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Jan 5, 2017
    Along with the technical differences -- V-Wings vs Ties, Vic-Stars vs Ven-Stars, Chancellor and President -- the beginning of THRAWN tells the exact same story but avoids those same implications you mention -- of a older, more British Empire/UFP seeming Republic filled with dreads and Carracks.
     
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  22. JediBatman

    JediBatman Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    May 3, 2015
    And just like Cad Bane, he snuck onto a ship by disguising himself as a clone trooper. He really IS a Duros! :p
     
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  23. blackmyron

    blackmyron Chosen One star 7

    Registered:
    Oct 29, 2005
    Zahn was fairly daring to dip into the nigh-forbidden territory of the early Imperial days - in fact, wasn't that one of the only stories set around then until ROTS came out?
     
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  24. AdmiralWesJanson

    AdmiralWesJanson Force Ghost star 5

    Registered:
    May 23, 2005
    It was well done and very popular at the time. Magic was king, but SWCCG and L5R tended to trade the 2 and 3 slots back and forth.

    It chared the same basic concepts of collectability as Magic, but went in a vastly different direction of resource management (your cards themselves were your resources) and board control (distinct locations for characters and ships to fight at) than magic.
     
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  25. Daneira

    Daneira Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Jun 30, 2016
    the Decipher game was one of my Star Wars fandom gateways as a kid. my brother was really into it and he always forced me to play with him. I don't think I ever won.


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