[SWRPG] Star Wars: Rise of Clan Kirruk

[Lazer]

Thanks Saratek! Ha, those Mando troops were so ungrateful!

[Draidden]

hafrogman - nice app, I did notice one thing that looks like a mistake. In your background, in the second paragraph, you have written that she never kept striding for perfection. I may be wrong, but I think you meant she never stopped striving for perfection.

Thought I would mention it just in case. As is it sounds like she just quit.

[Draidden]

My app is completed

[girlplay]

Hi. Where is the best source of information on the culture and creed of Mandalorians. I feel like I need to do some research on that.

[Kaigen]

I've been referencing the Culture section of the Mandalorian article on Wookieepedia, just to get an overview. I'm taking nothing for granted without hearing from Lazer, though, since so many different hands have been at work in that lore over the years.

[Lazer]

Yes, Wookieepedia is always good. I actually know very little about their culture other than what I’ve seen on the Mandalorian tv series (which features one of those never-take-off-their-armor extremists) and what I’ve read in various articles and websites. And, in fact, I had only read the canon version of the Wookieepedia page, so looking at the Legends version gives a lot more background (thanks Kaigan)!

For the purposes of roleplay we just need to remember that they’re a warrior culture which values honour and tradition. And maybe throw in a mando’a phrase every now and then, just for flavour. Oya manda!

[Saratek]

I actually got a lot of my inspiration from the old PC game "Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 2" because they had a whole section on Mandalore during that period of time. They spoke a lot on the beliefs and history of Mandalore, and, as far as I know, is/was based on canon sources.

I also used Wookiepedia and have watched the series, of course.

[Kaigen]

KotOR2 is the best. I might have to replay that a bit. The question of "how do we preserve our culture while also adapting to the galaxy around us?" is a fascinating one.

[Saratek]

Agreed, Kaigen. I had to resist getting too close to Bao-Dur with Viz.

[NightDreamer09]

The actual Canon is the things made after Disney brought Star Wars in 2012, es. The Mandalorian, and what they stated it is canon, es. the 6 classic films. Legends is everything written before 2012, also known as the old Expanded Universe, and it's all material dating back the 80s so it is a lot more material. Kotor/Kotor2 at the moment is considered Legends.

Wookiepedia gathers knowledge from basically everything marked as Star Wars so it's practically the bible in fact of lore and it's the most comprehensive online source you can find for Star Wars.

It's a matter of the DM to decide if prefer Canon or Legends.

And yes, I'm tempted to make an application cause Star Wars, even if I never played any of the tabletop roleplaying games, but I need to see if another application goes through before evaluating if I have enough time ^^

[Lazer]

I tend to use a mix of canon and legends. Basically I stick to canon unless there’s not very much of interest there, in which case I take a look at legends for inspiration. For example, when choosing a planet for this game I looked at the SWGalaxy map for somewhere which is pretty isolated, not on any major hyperlanes, but was reasonably close to a minor one. Rannon fit the bill nicely, but it’s entirely legends, which is fine. If anyone wants to look it up there was only ever one reference to it from a previous Star Wars RPG, and there was a dark Jedi loose on the planet.

He won’t be around in our game, I’m afraid, so Rannon is a blank slate for us.

[Kaigen]

That's often the approach I take when I'm running Star Wars. Legends material varies widely in the quality of what it adds to lore (not that canon doesn't have it's own problems, but there's less of it), so I don't want to assume it's on by default, but it's nice to dip into when I need inspiration or I have questions about something not covered in canon.

I appreciate the culture section in the Legends article for Mandalorians because in TV/Film they never take the time to show any part of the warrior culture that's not the warriors (see also: Klingons in Star Trek), and it always makes me wonder what things are like for everyone else. After all, no army is 100% tooth, 0% tail, and in modern armies you have multiple support troops for every combat soldier. Granted, sci-fi tech probably pushes the ratio back towards the teeth, but someone still has to be responsible for building and maintaining that tech and the infrastructure around it.

Anyway, I'll stop rambling for now.

[Helvorix]

Name: Koen Nu'kree

Species: Zabrak

Career: Bounty-Hunter

Specialization: Gadgeteer

Universal Spec: Mandalorian Forgemaster

Physical Description: Just shy of 6 feet tall, well-muscled as someone who has conditioned themselves from a very young age, chestnut hair that he cuts himself without using a mirror, and hazel eyes. Due to his upbringing, he doesn't have any tattoos as most Zabraks but tends to decorated his armor with the kinds of patterns that are commonly seen on Iridonia.

Obligation: Antagonist 10: He married a thief and she stole from his clan.

Backstory:

 

There are some things you should know about me before accepting me into your fold. You may have guessed by the horns on my head that I wasn't born into clan Nu'kree. I was selectively bred to compete in the fighting pits of Nal Hutta; they had me going up against gamorreans before my horns had fully come in. Earned Throbu the Hutt a small fortune, from what they told me. I guess it turned me into an arrogant little son of murglak.

One day, Throbu stepped on the tail of someone wealthier and better connected than he was, and they sent Mandalorians after him. Needless to say, they went through his security like a wet piece of flimsy. Throbu had no choice but to throw his fighters at them, including me. That plan went about as well as you'd think. It was bright, loud, and over before we knew what was going on. I got over my arrogant streak pretty fast after that. I survived the fight, obviously, since I'm still here talking to you. I was still just a kid, so clan Nu'kree took me in and got to work making me into one of them. They taught me the difference between a fighter and a warrior.

Life on the rim scraping out a living as part of a mostly extinct warrior creed may not sound like most decent folks' idea of a good life but I loved it. I grew up, got to see the galaxy, I could walk where I liked, mostly, and I had people I could trust with my back. I didn't even know what the word family meant while I was in the pits. Then I went and karked it all up.
I got married.

Vaniya

Thought she was Mando'ad like the rest of us. She spoke like us, fought like us.
Long story short, she got close to me, wrapped me around her little finger, and I fell for her pretty hard. I was dumb. I asked her to marry me without really knowing anything about her. She used me to get what she really wanted. She stole an ancient relic the next best thing to sacred to our kind; a Basilisk war droid. We went after her, as she must have known we would have to, but she proved to be more slippery than we could have expected. Every time we thought we had her, something would go wrong. She had a hell of a lot of luck and an uncanny ability to sniff out our traps. The others didn't say it, they didn't have to, but I'd lost their trust after that. So I left. I don't feel I can return to face my clan until I rectify my mistake. I've been hunting for Vaniya ever since, but I haven't heard so much as a rumor of her in over a year, and the last time I found her... well, let's just say she escaped and leave it at that.

That's about everything. I failed to recognize an enemy and lost a valued part of our heritage. You still want a di'kut like me joining your band of warriors, or should I keep heading on my way?

Roleplay Example:

 

It's an odd thing, going from having a team, a family, to being completely on your own. You get so used to having someone covering your shebs, you forget to check your blind spots. But finally, after two months of tracking through Coruscants gloomy undercity and forty-five hundred credits paid out to the Blacksuns, Koen had her! Not more than five meters away and none the wiser. Trying to pick his steps carefully in the dark, he moved through the abandoned construction machinery and rickety scaffolds that clung to the sides of a megalithic building like giant durasteel cobwebs, glittering in the neon lights of a nearby cantina. By the time he was close enough to smell her perfume, he was sure the sound of his heart pounding in his throat would give him away. But she gave no sign anything was amiss. He kept going and soon was close enough to reach out and touch her. Koen had even rehearsed a line he could use as he slapped the stun-cuffs on her. Hey, Vaniya, I picked something up for you that I want you to wear for me. Then he suddenly found himself blinded as his hiding place was flooded with a bright fluorescent light coming from his left and slightly behind him. The whine of a repulsor engine roared to life, momentarily drowning out the din of the city. Koen tried to dive to one side. Too slow.

WHAM!

There was a loud slamming crunching sound mixed with the screech of metal on metal. The whole planet began tumbling around violently before coming to a sudden rib-cracking halt. Koen felt vaguely like he was trapped underwater in a frozen lake, pressure in his ears, pins and needles all over his body, and the stinging sensation of fluid in his synesis. He noted dimly that his visor seemed to be smeared with some viscous substance. Koen tried to move to wipe it off. The searing pain that shot up his arm brought reality back into sharp resolution, along with a wave of barely contained nausea. Trying hard not to throw up in his helmet, he took a moment to let the world stop spinning before looking around to see what in the hell just happened. He was pinned between a gigantic inactive loader droid and a hover-truck. His armor had taken a beating, fresh dents and long strips of paint peeled away in places where metal met duracrete. His left arm stuck out at an odd angle and didn't move the way it was supposed to, but his right arm seemed to be in working order. "You were right, Vaniya," said a masculine voice from the hover-truck's driverside window, "You did pick up a tail. Guess I owe you a drink."
Vaniya was standing over Koen, her face lit up by the hover-truck's headlights. She was human, long black hair, looks to die for. Her hand rested easy on the blaster at her hip. It was hard to say what emotion was behind her eyes but something definitely slipped past the cracks in her usually perfect mask of neutrality.

"Cyar'ika riduur," she said, flatly, "You came halfway across the galaxy just for me?"

Koen's hand moved to his belt and he saw her stiffen only a little. He tossed the stun-cuffs at her feet.
"Got somin I want you a wear for me," He slurred, he was pretty sure it had sounded better in his head.

[kymrel]

@Lazer, will the PCs have access to a starship to hop between missions? If so, what kind of limits are you thinking about for the ship? A "standard" cost ship or something a bit more extravagant, since we're starting at knight level?

I assume this is something we'd discuss in the session 0, but I'd be interested to hear both your thoughts and what the other applicants think.

[Saratek]

Originally Posted by kymrel

I'd be interested to hear both your thoughts and what the other applicants think.

As long as it has it flies and has cargo space, Viz can make it work.