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This is a well-known GMing trick. Simply describe interesting things, and let the players try to figure them out. And then when they come up with some wild theory that they're proud of, you say, "Yep. That's really clever, you worked it out!"
The hard part is working it into your actual worldbuilding backstory. But just be a bit flexible, and you can usually pull that off too.
Commentary by memnarch (who has not seen the movie)
Wait a minute. Sally pointed this out. And kept asking if Pete wanted to know what it was. I'm half expecting that she'll say she was just acting surprised at this point. It'd be a difficult thing to pull one over on Pete in terms of planning, so I could see that potentially being excited insistence to get to the realization. A bit like Corey grabbing the ship's translator without Pete noticing.
On my part, I completely discounted that phrasing in the previous comic, so it was a surprise for myself that the effect would be built around that modulator cone. Conservation of detail would have it be used somewhere of course, but this effect also feels like it can only be from the comic. I wonder if that component is ever mentioned again after that scene where it's removed; that would be a good indicator if there's something more to it like here in the comic.
Transcript
Rey: Wait a minute. Carrying an advantage?
[SFX]: whooom!
Rey: The modulator cone I pulled from the hexagon building!
[SFX]: whooom!
Rey: It’s one of Galen Erso’s time manipulation gadgets! That fires the Cataclysm Beam backwards in time.
[SFX]: Whooom!
[SFX]: Slash! {Rey wounds Kylo in the leg}
Rey: They just fired it, but the missing circuit would cause an asymmetry...
[SFX]: thud {Kylo falls}
Rey: That would rotate the beam through a space-time vector...
Rey: They just fired through part of this planet!
[SFX]: whmmmm... {Kylo gets to his feet}
Rey: And ripples in the spatio-temporal field could induce the altered time effect around the cone I’m carrying.
[SFX]: whmmmm...
Rey: Allowing me to defeat you! With heightened senses!
[SFX]: Boot! {Rey kicks Kylo}
Kylo Ren: And a heightened ego.
[SFX]: thud {Kylo collapses in the snow}
GM: The good part is I just have to describe the effects and Pete comes up with the explanations.
Kylo Ren: Stop! There’s only so much ego I can take!