Darths & Droids

ARCHIVE     FORUM     CAST     FAN ART     RSS     IPAD     FAQ     ACADEMY

<     Episode 1895: Smoke Me a Skipper!     >

Episode 1895: Smoke Me a Skipper!

<<FIRST     <PREVIOUS     NEXT>     LATEST>>

If you're going to commit to accepting the result of a die roll in a random table, it helps to not even look at the table you're rolling on first. This way you can't pre-judge that some of the results will be silly or inapplicable, and when you come up with something weird you just have to run with it and deal wth as best you can. This opens up possibilities you may never have considered before.

Which can be good. Sometimes.

Rejected strip title: Smoke Gets in Your PIEs.

Commentary by Keybounce (who has not seen the movie)

We are starting out with two people on a planet, and separated by unknown distance. Where have we seen this before? Oh, right - when we ran into a native on the planet: Jar Jar.

Will they talk to each other over unknown distance? Actually no, not this time. In fact...

We pull a jacket out. We do not pull a body out. We do not see him pulling Poe out. Only a jacket.

Where oh where oh where has Poe gone,
Where oh where oh where has Poe gone,
... (Let's see who can name this song-o)

Commentary by memnarch (who has not seen the movie)

Ah now that's clever, both in the comic and movie. A quick transition from the escapees falling down to the bad guys up in the flagship, then back to crashed fighter on the planet, compared with an action split between game sessions. It's an easy sidestep around any problems showing the whole process of de-orbiting, as well as providing a handy little timeskip to let things immediately start moving in the game. Probably no need to show Rey and BB leaving the small outpost now too, which would also be convenient for the action when we get back to them.

A single Fatigue point isn't too bad from a few kilometer jog. In the desert. While in the sun. The white armor probably is helping keep the absorbed heat down, but the lack of a head covering probably hurts a fair amount. Recovery is going to be a problem though, what with the lack of other investigating people at the crash scene. That probably means there's no one capable of reaching them within reasonable walking distance, which is not good when starting with no supplies.

Narratively Finn is going to be fine; Poe may or may not actually be dead. I'm guessing Poe has taken off already on an aimless journey to find alternate transportation, or he's going to get pulled out of the wreck after Finn goes inside to check. There's no revenge in just letting your enemy die like that, so Finn's gotta try and save Poe so he can be killed later.

...

I bet "Shaking Sand" is an 81-86 roll, and the GM completely forgot about how bad that book is. I certainly don't remember every possible reference book before looking at them again after years away.

Transcript

GM: Okay, let’s start. Finn, you jerk awake. You’re strapped to your ejector seat, surrounded by sand. The Tatooine dawn is already baking the desert.
Finn: I get out and look around.
GM: You see dunes, and a pillar of smoke, rising a few kilometres away.
Finn: I head over as fast as I can.
GM: Take a Fatigue point. The fighter is surrounded by debris, but it’s mostly intact, and burning.
Finn: Poe! Are you in there?!
GM: The cockpit is so smoky you can’t see inside. You pull Poe’s leather jacket out.
GM: Suddenly... <roll>... <flip flip>...
GM: Hmm. The sand starts shaking.
Rey: Is that the Giant Sand Creatures encounter table again?
GM: Why are there no creatures in this table?


Our comics: Darths & Droids | Irregular Webcomic! | Eavesdropper | Planet of Hats | The Dinosaur Whiteboard | The Prisoner of Monty Hall | mezzacotta
Blogs: dangermouse.net (daily updates) | 100 Proofs that the Earths is a Globe (science!) | Carpe DMM (whatever) | Snot Block & Roll (food reviews)
More comics we host: Lightning Made of Owls | Square Root of Minus Garfield | iToons | Comments on a Postcard | Awkward Fumbles
Published: Tuesday, 22 September, 2020; 03:11:18 PDT.
Copyright © 2007-2024, The Comic Irregulars. irregulars@darthsanddroids.net