RPR Archive A New Hope AU discussion thread

Ok it is obvious that I need some input and discussion about my game idea. The things that I want to stay in the picture are that Dooku somehow becomes Anakin Skywalker's master, Luke and Leia survive to adulthood, and the rebel alliance exists. The rest is up for discussion.

---

[color=white][hl=black][b]I_H Edit:[/b][/hl][/color] [b]Locked at GM's request[/b]

 

Let's begin at the beginning then. What do you hope to accomplish with this game? What are the themes? How far afield from the traditional storyline do you want to go?

What about this: Anakin finds Mace attacking Palpatine. Anakin kills Palpatine instead. He is branded a traitor, having killed him before he could utter the "Jedi don't kill" line and is thrown out of the Jedi order. Knowing of his downfall, Dooku recruits Anakin to be his own apprentice, convincing him that Anakin should lead the Jedi against the Seperatists.

Meanwhile, Mace has seen Anakin's shatterpoint. He tells the Jedi Council. Obi-Wan goes to Padme and explains the entire situation, and furthermore that Anakin is dangerous. For her own safety and that of her children, she is spirited away from him.

Order 66 is never given. Instead, Dooku continues to persecute the Seperatists, with Anakin by his side. Windu, Yoda and Kenobi, seeing what is occuring, realize the Jedi have been fighting on the wrong side all along, that the path they are being led is one of death and destruction.

Luke and Leia are born. Obi-Wan takes Leia to Tattoine, where he will train her to be a Jedi. Mace takes Luke to Haruun Kal, where he will train him.

Lots of blanks to be filled in here, but something to start with anyway.

 

I think the most prominent is "How is Dooku still alive?" If Dooku's still alive the bulk of RotS is probably out the window, so the entire dynamic of Episode IV is going to change. Palpatine might not even bother trying to corrupt Anakin if he perceives Anakin as being "too weak" or something for not striking Dooku down in anger. Let's not forget it was Palpy who gave that order. It's questionable that Anakin even goes down the dark path at all.

 

Ok since I started this I will answer Mango first. First of let us assume that Dooku actually sets it up so that Skywalker believes that Palpatine or the Jedi killed Padme. This would guarantee that Skywalker goes down the path to the Dark Side. Another assumption that would help the cause would be that Dooku wants revenge against the the Jedi just as much as Palpatine.

Good point darthramza maybe he escaped before the Jedi found him. He then went underground and discovered his masters true duality. Angry at Darth Sidous he would find a way to strike back at him. Realizing Anakin was a tool he could use he decided to drive a wedge between the two. See the assumptions I listed in answer to Mango.

Again keep the questions and suggestions coming this is all helpful to the final goal of getting this RPG up and running and the title can be changed as needed.

 

I think the focus of the idea is too wide.

With all the playable roles, jedi, Imp, Fringe, it sounds like you are making it galaxy-wide, but with a slight change of personnel at the top, eg. Dooku instead of Palpie, nothing much will have changed for others, so no real point.

If you make the focus smaller, like perhaps moving up to the Palpie hit you mentioned on the GDG, you could do it as a sandbox game, based round one main event.

 

So your suggesting that it could be more focused. As in a personal war between Dooku and Palpie about who would be in control of the galactic empire. The benefit being that the winner gets to train Anakin.

I hope I'm reading this suggestion right. Maybe you could explain your idea a little more.

 

Though I agree with Eye-Five about the questions on focus and point of this RPG, it's pretty simple to manufacture Dooku's survival from the events of Episode 3. Just run the line that Dooku didn't just sit there mutely when Palpatine ordered his death. Have him out Palpatine to Anakin right there and then. Remember, Anakin's not totally consumed by hate when he kills Dooku -- he wrestles with his decision before making the final cut, as it were. Padme remains Anakin's lover, Luke and Leia are still born, and Obi-Wan at that point is unconscious.

Where you take it from there backgroundwise is a matter of weighing up your options. Palpatine might have reacted violently to being unmasked; perhaps he might have tried to convince Anakin he wasn't the Sith Lord; perhaps he might have confessed all. Any of them are equally available.

Plotting from there is merely a question of asking what each of the major players could be expected to do following that revelation.

 

L-A, when introducing your idea over on the GDG thread, you included the line(s), "However, one final twist of fate occurred instead of destroying Dooku, Darth Tyranus, Anakin teamed up with him. The two conspired and trained together without Sidious knowing. Finally, at a time and place agreed upon the two took on Darth Sidious together."

My thinking, then, is that rather than going galaxy-wide, you focus on that event, and the lead-up, with all potential roles that would be needed, eg. Sidious, Anakin, Dooku, 501st troops and so on, going out to members.

 

Yes, this actually makes sense. So with this story line and the time line would be much further back in time.

Ok, based on every ones ideas I think it is necessary to start the story much earlier and sort of allow the players to decide what happens next, with my guidance of course. I will sort of do a mock up based on all your suggestions. I will also take further suggestion on what you all think should happen.

 

I have something that hasn't been said yet...

L_A, while I think your asking for our help is a good thing, I think it is of paramount importance that *you yourself* think about and design your game so that *you yourself* will be comfortable and excited GMing it. We can give you all the advice in the world, but if its a bad fit with your personal RPing and GMing style, it won't do much good in the long run.

You may be plotting your own course here, in which case, this is merely an educational post for anyone reading. There have been posters here before that have made their games exactly how everyone wants it to be made. Basically a consensus game from RPRers and friends. And I've yet to see one do well. Not for lack of players, but because the GM doesn't relate to the game as much as he would if the ideas were more his own. The GM becomes a steward of the community's idea versus a parent of his own idea. There is less personal pride in the work.

Other game idea threads here have been different (I think) because their GMs came in with either an existing franchise of their own creation or a strong idea of their own. This is important to have.

Just a friendly warning to you and other GMs out there. There is some art to successful RPing, and abstract sort of ideas like pride, style, creativity and all that shouldn't be totally ignored.

-I_H

 

Yes I_H I realize that these suggestion are just suggestions and that I have to "live" with the end product. My intention was to have a healthy discussion and decide how to formulate the story on my own terms. So don't worry I will not "go down the path to dark side."

And now for my revised story

The lightsaber battle between Count Dooku and Anakin skywalker had ended with Dooku disarmed of his weapon and helpless. This was a turn of events that would lead to Dooku death, but something happened Skywalker allowed Count Dooku to live. The reason he did was Dooku claimed Palpatine had been behind the war from the beginning. Dooku showed Anakin evidence of his innocence and Darth Sidious' guilt. Then he revealed that Darth Sidous was in fact Chacelor palptine the very man pushing Anakin to kill Dooku. The revelation had the desired effect Anakin decided it was Dooku that should be his master. The two agreed to fake Dooku?s death and Anakin?s and Padme?s disappearance so that they could train together. Anakin kept Padme in the dark about his plans as Dooku planned to turn Anakin to the dark side. It was revenge they both sought against the traitor Darth Sidious that could change the fate of the galaxy forever.

I believe the name for RPG should now be
1. Star Wars: Part III A Twist of Fate
2. Star Wars: Part III The Revenge of Count Dooku
3. Star Wars: Part III Revelation of the Dark Side
4. Star Wars: Part III The Revenge of Anakin Skywalker and Count Dooku

 

By way of footnote, this is also called having a concrete vision of your story that's clearly defined. A good analogy is your average Hollywood film, and in particular "Jaws" versus, say, Jaws II (or pretty well any of its sequels.) Why is it that "Jaws", despite the world's most fake shark, is unrelentingly terrifying draws us into its world, and convinces us of its characters? Answer: because it is Steven Spielberg's powerful directorial vision of how the story should be told; he basically controlled everything about the picture, with a minimum of interference from the studio about story, cinematography, and script (other than the budget, of course). You have a movie that is always focused, always knows where it's going, always directed towards the plot and the outcome. The result is arguably the best "layman's" horror movie of the 20th century.

Compare that to the mess which is Jaws II: written by a team of writers, directed by two different directors, essentially created by a board of producers who wanted to ride off the success of the first. Spielberg's driving vision is gone, and it shows with arguably the worst layman's horror movie of the 20th century.

The difference? Singular vision. Read criticism, accept the matters directed at technique or logical flaws. Don't throw an element into the story just because someone else wants it.

 

Thanks to everyone who participated I feel like this idea has stalled so I see no reason to continue keeping this thread open.