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Director's Commentary
Episode II: A New Beginning
ACT II, Scene iv
Hello, my name is Mr. Roarke and I am your host--welcome to Fantasy Island!
No, wait, wrong Director's Track there. I am Darth Xechon the GM for the
NorthCo Gamers' Star Wars campaign.
You are reading the Director's Commentary track for Act II, scene iv: "Luminous beings are we."
Since this turned out to be one of our larger sessions, there's a lot to cover today!
I had spent some considerable time preparing the Shiningmoon system for the party's
eventual arrival. In fact, the players mused that this system had to be important, as I'd
used three seperate plot-arcs to get them there! One way or another, the party
was going to go there dammit--even if I had to hijack their hyperdrive. Which,
amusingly, I sort of did. The opening scrolltext for this episode was fairly
specific this time, as I knew more or less what was here for the party to encounter:
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"Luminous beings are we"
Cut-off from the REBELLION and with a crippled ship, our heroes find
themselves stranded on a world tainted with the Dark Side. Having found
a relatively safe haven at the Czerka Prison Colony on SHININGMOON MAJOR,
the party has been forced to deal with a secret HUTT operative so as to
not blow their cover.
Their destination is finally in sight, however, as the lightly defended
KDY v-150 Ion Turret sits tantalizingly close up on the mountainside
overlooking the prison facility. Between them and their target are deadly
swamp jungles and quicksand flats prowled by a near-human species called the
NAUFRAGI. Steeped in the dark taint of this world, they look to the party
as both enemies and saviors.
But the natives are the least of their problems, as the party must somehow
come to terms with freeing three villainous prisoners while leaving hundreds
of innocent slave families behind to pillage the beautiful, glowing moon.
But THE FORCE would not of led them here if they were simply meant to ignore the
whispering calls of the Jedi and the difficult path of the light...
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I had several things waiting for them at Shiningmoon that I had been planning all campaign.
Unlike, Niven's Star, which I made up as I went, I was ready with Shiningmoon. First off
was the name, it sounds like something out of Firefly. But, add in the Major/Minor aspect
and you've got Star Wars. Trivia point: Alderaan was originally called Organa Major. Scary huh?
This system was rife with the Force, both good and evil. As Jon (Lim) eventually caught on, the
entire system was an exercise in balance. There was a dark planet and a light moon, but on the
dark planet there was a light "embassy" and on the light moon there was a dark "embassy". Taking it
one step further, inside the light embassy there was a dark hill, and inside the dark embassy
there was a light Jedi. Balance, balance, balance. How all this came to be was partly explained
in Lim's dreams about the Jedi and Averre Naufragus. Basically, the temple embassies were set up
during a treaty-enforced time of peace between the Sith
and Republic. As a later scene in the
dream showed, the treaty went all to hell when the Sith War started up--events which are seen in
the KOTOR game. Averre
Naufragus was a contemporary of Revan, Bastila,
and the rest of that group. Does Naufragus still live? We'll
see the answer to that question in a later episode...
I wanted to point out a bit of background about the Light Side Temple on Shiningmoon Major.
The design is taken directly from a landscape art piece done in 1971 by the artist
Robert Smithson. Located at an old quarry in Emmen, Holland, the piece is entitled
Broken Circle Spiral Hill.
I found out about it during an art history class I took a few semesters back and knew
immediately that I wanted to use it as a Light Side Temple and test. Yup, test.
The stone could only be moved by the Force, and the person climbing into the
tunnel underneath had to have a Force Control skill or they'd be spit back
out. Passing that, they were given a choice: 2D of Force skills for themselves, or 1D
to one of their Force Sensitive companions. If a Jedi takes the selfish 2D for themselves
option they will get the 2D, but with a Dark Side point to boot. Suffice to say, Lim chose... wisely.
The next fun thing was the Czerka base and the KDY v-150.
Czerka was taken directly from KOTOR, but was added in after the base was designed. I knew
it was going to be an Imperial-allied Corporation, and Czerka fit the bill. As stated in the
last Director's Commentaries, the base itself was designed loosely around the LuftStalag POW camp in
The Great Escape.
However, the addition of the families made it more of a Australian prison colony than a camp.
Roll it all together and this means that the party must at least try to save the families at some point
(or Master Li's Jedi Ghost will get very angry). The cannon was fun, it was designed to shoot
out the shield generator--originally to assist the party tunneling out of the
camp with the families! Oh well, guess what the party ended up doing worked about as well.
While there is still one major Dark Side temple to explore on Shiningmoon Major (i.e. Averre's), the
real "gem" to the system is the crystal-studded moon. As stated by Bah'Ger a few session back,
some of the crystals were high enough quality to be used as holonet transmitters (or
lightsaber crystals, an idea not lost on the Jedi in the party). What they didn't know was that
the crystals were alive, and the bigger arrays were sentient. This is what happens when your
GM grows up on old Star Trek episodes...
While you can use the more pure, and therefore more intelligent/sentient, of the crystals in a
lightsaber, you are actually using the corpse of a once living thing. This is a conundrum for the
Jedi in the party looking for lightsaber crystals: You're on a planet full of them, but
how do you morally justify ripping one out of the ground to use? This is what Vorla's cryptic
"Do not pluck it, it is not ripe" prophecy to Haselvlat was all about. Remember part two to that prophecy?
"They are not for you, they are for Him. You will know Him..." yadda yadda yadda. I don't remember
it exactly, namely since I made it up on the spot, but you get the gist.
Now for the moon itself. Yes, the crystals are alive, and yes the bigger arrays are sentient.
Marrla referred to them as "The Great Masters" and stated that only one was still alive. The only
array big enough would be the one on the opposite side of the planet from the strip mine, a place
the party has yet to explore. I've got a scene all lined up for that though.
The Dark Side temple in the moon held a lot of scenes that I had planned out for a long time.
First and foremost was the droid attacking Lim, although
I didn't plan on how impressively cool that fight would turn out to be. Short, yes, but only because
the party worked together so well. If I was an artist I'd draw that scene out, it was done so very
well on the part of the players. The "poem" on the wall was also something that I had written out
well before hand, but the true meaning of it has yet to be discovered. Trust me, you'll know it when you see it.
Lastly, there's Marrla. A real Jedi Knight. A real Jedi Knight with a Dark Side point because
she once did something very very bad with a certain Anakin Skywalker. No no no, not that,
(he's got Padme for that remember?) but something so horrific that it drove her to swear off all
violence and go into hiding. On the up side, good thing she did--this means that she can teach
Lim et all. Bad thing in that she ran from her problems, which is not very Jedi-like. Still, beggars
can't be choosers, and this is the first (and last) real teacher they're going to get for awhile.
I already know how she buys the proverbial farm, what is uncertain is how the party reacts to
it... or how many of them join her. Luckily for the party, she's trying to atone for her sins,
so the DS point won't rub off on them. Time will tell how long they will be able to train with her before
Palpatine sends someone to stop her. Most of the players are cringingly thinking that it will be
Yanna. That, combined with the fact that next session is
the Act II ender, is a pretty good guess.
Oh, and the frigate? Take it or leave it, the scenario
can be completed either way. But, remember that this is Star Wars, this party can successfully
capture the ship if they work together and do it smart. Put on your Alias caps and think,
"What would Targeter Do?"
This has been the Director's Commentaries for Act II, Scene iv
 Back to Scene iv without the commentary
On to Scene v 
Engage the hyperdrive and return to the Campaign page
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