General Discussion

[Vergence]

Somewhere in the Corellian sector isn't a bad idea; plenty of opportunities for both high- and low-brow hijinks. I might suggest somewhere other than Corellia itself (just because I prefer to avoid overused Star Wars planets). Talus or Tralus, perhaps? That said, I understand the appeal of popular planets, so if y'all are deadset on Corellia, we can do that. If you're still interested in Hutt Space and its environs, you might consider Randon or Ubrikkia.

I'm fine with any of the locations. I was just trying to make it easier when I thought the sourcebook would be useful for the various background & environments. Most of my suggestions are just presenting ideas so we don't spend a month building character backgrounds

@DeepSpacer I've actually started a different character concept and dropped the Hutt. Leaning towards a Clawdite promoter/stagecraft/stylist, playing a more background role. I also like the idea of the 'star' leaving the band to get signed by a label.

[SavageBob]

I'm fine with any of the locations. I was just trying to make it easier when I thought the sourcebook would be useful for the various background & environments. Most of my suggestions are just presenting ideas so we don't spend a month building character backgrounds

No, no! Keep the suggestions coming! I'm not meaning to shoot you down, just offer my 2 creds. Any of the planets proffered so far will allow us to draw from region splatbooks, so it's all good.

[Vergence]

No worries, I knew you weren't shooting them down.

[DeepSpacer]

DeepSpacer I've actually started a different character concept and dropped the Hutt. Leaning towards a Clawdite promoter/stagecraft/stylist, playing a more background role. I also like the idea of the 'star' leaving the band to get signed by a label.

Ah, yes! I had forgotten. Long week of work for me, so tired. No reason a clawdite couldn't play a role in the music, be the occasional minor celebrity, and even have an alias as someone in the group. Maybe he likes the sharade? Lots of skills qualify in making some music.

[Boutrose Saba-Norr]

So for play I think I’m really just going to focus on developing Guy since he’s the most thought out so far with the least complications and no skill overlap. This way deep can also play his int based character and it’s not just a bunch of int based characters rolling around.

I’m still going to develop Gause’s story but only because I think he is an interesting npc that could be in guys back story, or maybe even Guy’s employee that he gets?

Just keep in mind that it looks like @DeepSpacer will be playing his Presence-focused Twi'lek rather than his Intellect-focused hippie now. Either way, though, you're going to have some overlap; your Cool-focused guy would presumably have decent Presence, but your Intellect-focused guy would overlap somewhat with @ThreeBFour's Droid Tech. Just play the character you feel most drawn to; Genesys-style social combat makes it so that overlapping face skills shouldn't be a big problem as long as the characters have other areas where they diverge.

The Genesys style social combat is kind of why I’m leaning more towards guy, his genesys motivation is just more compelling.

Looking at the comparisons between characters and lining them up on a spreadsheet, I am finding the Guy-Chiss concept compelling. Inspiring Rhetoric, goes well with being a lead singer or piano-keyboard artist. The guilty survivor background seems to have a melancholy, country music story-telling to it. I find it easy to imagine a lead singer (Insp. Rhet.) while playing a keyboard with a Twi'lek dancer performing the expressive dance to go along with the music, while the technician works on mood lighting, sound and stage effects. Truthfully, it is almost like a performing artist opera/play idea. Music that means something or tells a story. Part of what Wahfamo does is set us up to do performances. Some of our own creation, some customized songs and stories to act out with song, music, and dance.

Yea his background has a very blues feel, and country, rock, and jazz are all descendents of blues, which I feel gives the character musical versatility, but ultimately not a peppy artist like gause might have been, more like a laid back cool kind of dude.

I might have him double as a keyboardist at times but I do think I am going to keep him as a drummer, the idea is that his setting the tempo of the song with percussion is leading the rest of the band to do better when inspiring the crowd, which makes more sense with the leadership checks since they are to influence allies and not opponents, whereas the lead singers goal is to influence the audience. For your dancer think of it as him setting the rhythm of her movements with the song beat.

I can definitely see him taking lead vocals on a song or two, or trying to directly effect the crowd himself when he goes for a solo, but I wouldn’t want it to be the main thing for him.

This does mean we will need someone to be dedicated lead singer if we want one, bands don’t always need them.

[ThreeBFour]

DeepSpacer I've actually started a different character concept and dropped the Hutt. Leaning towards a Clawdite promoter/stagecraft/stylist, playing a more background role. I also like the idea of the 'star' leaving the band to get signed by a label.

Ah, yes! I had forgotten. Long week of work for me, so tired. No reason a clawdite couldn't play a role in the music, be the occasional minor celebrity, and even have an alias as someone in the group. Maybe he likes the sharade? Lots of skills qualify in making some music.

Clawdite is the ultimate Celeb, go on stage as one person, walk out the back as someone else....lol

[LaGouache]

Hi I would like to join here. I am trying to propose some concepts based on what has been discussed here.

If there are no more slots then feel free to discuss the concepts anyway and feel free to use them for inspiration if they fit you

[SavageBob]

I might have him double as a keyboardist at times but I do think I am going to keep him as a drummer, the idea is that his setting the tempo of the song with percussion is leading the rest of the band to do better when inspiring the crowd, which makes more sense with the leadership checks since they are to influence allies and not opponents, whereas the lead singers goal is to influence the audience. For your dancer think of it as him setting the rhythm of her movements with the song beat.

This is an interesting predicament. By Genesys RAW, the goal of social combat is to bring your opponents down to either half Strain (compromise) or 0 Strain (capitulation). But are members of the crowd always "opponents?" If not, would Inspiring Rhetoric aimed at the audience be counterproductive, as it would give Strain back to them?

If we go with the idea of crowds being made up of several minion groups, perhaps some of them are fans and some are unconvinced or antagonistic. Perhaps performers get +1 boost for each group of fans present when they use social skills against haters in the crowd, emulating the idea of positive energy in the crowd helping to win over the naysayers? One of the results of Threats on performance rolls might be that fans start to doubt the band (lose Strain) and are less likely to help in this way.

If we stick with the Genesys RAW idea that influencing a crowd is done versus a basic difficulty pool (P, PP, PPP, etc.), Inspiring Rhetoric retains its uses for the musician's own band mates, but I'm not sure how it would affect the crowd as a whole. I'll need to think about it.

I can definitely see him taking lead vocals on a song or two, or trying to directly effect the crowd himself when he goes for a solo, but I wouldn’t want it to be the main thing for him.

This does mean we will need someone to be dedicated lead singer if we want one, bands don’t always need them.

Don Henley is a good example of a lead singer/drummer. You all might trade off lead-singer duties from song to song, again, like the Eagles.

But you're right; it's possible the band is trying to make a name without their lead singer on purpose after the acrimonious departure. (Let's go with that background for the group for now. Gives me lots to work with as GM.)

[SavageBob]

Clawdite is the ultimate Celeb, go on stage as one person, walk out the back as someone else....lol

It'll be a useful gimmick at first. But what happens when you all start to get some fame? Not shooing the idea down; just gesturing toward some potential drama down the road! What will the paparazzi think?

[SavageBob]

Hi I would like to join here. I am trying to propose some concepts based on what has been discussed here.

If there are no more slots then feel free to discuss the concepts anyway and feel free to use them for inspiration if they fit you

Welcome, LaGouache! We actually had one player drop out because they were too busy (SanguineAngel), so we have a spot for you. Feel free to join into the discussion here, as well. As of now, it seems like the group has been together for awhile, but they recently lost their lead singer, who went solo and left them behind. We may start on or near Corellia, or in or hear Hutt Space. Other ideas are welcome, as well.

[Boutrose Saba-Norr]

Loving the idea that we've lost our lead singer and all take turns trading off on vocals, or maybe even sing together while harmonizing like in the Beatles.

and yea, since most of my talents and social abilities lead to giving boosts and returning strain it wouldn't work if I were targetting the crowd directly using my inspiring rhetoric talent, I might be able to do it with improved commanding presence later in the game though. I am going to look up the details of leadership checks more to see if I can use them to try and affect the crowd in a way that benefits us per the Genesys rules, but if not then I'm fine with being essentially the social buffer/healer for the group, recovering strain and improving their social checks.

[SavageBob]

... if not then I'm fine with being essentially the social buffer/healer for the group, recovering strain and improving their social checks.

There is a rule that if you fail your social check, you take 2 Strain. With that stipulation, having a "healer" is definitely a positive thing for the band.

[Boutrose Saba-Norr]

... if not then I'm fine with being essentially the social buffer/healer for the group, recovering strain and improving their social checks.

There is a rule that if you fail your social check, you take 2 Strain. With that stipulation, having a "healer" is definitely a positive thing for the band.

yea i think its good then, so i know that @DeepSpacer is going to be influencing the crowd with their twilek dancer, and i assume @ThreeBFour is going to be doing the same with their droid tech, but is there a way we can make it so that @Vergence and @LaGouache can also do something with their characters during performances, mostly I ask becasue given the other peculiar edge of the empire game that you, three, and i are in, a single instance (in the other games case a race and in this case a performance) can take weeks in real time and if someone doesn't have something to do during a performance i don't want them to have to wait al that time.

[DeepSpacer]

Loving the idea that we've lost our lead singer and all take turns trading off on vocals, or maybe even sing together while harmonizing like in the Beatles.

and yea, since most of my talents and social abilities lead to giving boosts and returning strain it wouldn't work if I were targetting the crowd directly using my inspiring rhetoric talent, I might be able to do it with improved commanding presence later in the game though. I am going to look up the details of leadership checks more to see if I can use them to try and affect the crowd in a way that benefits us per the Genesys rules, but if not then I'm fine with being essentially the social buffer/healer for the group, recovering strain and improving their social checks.

@SavageBob This is an interesting predicament. By Genesys RAW, the goal of social combat is to bring your opponents down to either half Strain (compromise) or 0 Strain (capitulation). But are members of the crowd always "opponents?" If not, would Inspiring Rhetoric aimed at the audience be counterproductive, as it would give Strain back to them?

IMO, Leadership and Inspiring Rhetoric cuts both ways on the same roll regarding a performance. Insp Rhet is a Leadership check. We (the band) gain the Inspiring Rhetoric effect while the crowd benefits/suffers from the same Leadership check. No reason an Inspiring Performance on stage can't lift up both the band and the audience (as it basically does IRL). Imagine Van Halen doing a great guitar solo. The audience AND his fellow players are influenced. "VH is really on it tonight!!!"

[DeepSpacer]

If we stick with the Genesys RAW idea that influencing a crowd is done versus a basic difficulty pool (P, PP, PPP, etc.), Inspiring Rhetoric retains its uses for the musician's own band mates, but I'm not sure how it would affect the crowd as a whole. I'll need to think about it.

1) can make two leadership rolls. 2) excess Adv or Thr (Tri or Des) go towards the crowd. 3) roll a separate crowd difficulty while using the one Leadership roll to apply towards both.

[SavageBob]

Everyone, please note: I've decided to start everyone with +30 XP as a GM grant. This XP can only be used on Talents and Skills, not on Attributes. The idea is to encourage everyone to dump most or all of their starting XP into Attributes but to still start with a few talents or skills. Since we're not going with the idea that you're rank amateurs now, it makes sense you'd have a bit of XP under your belts.

[Vergence]

Everyone, please note: I've decided to start everyone with +30 XP as a GM grant. This XP can only be used on Talents and Skills, not on Attributes. The idea is to encourage everyone to dump most or all of their starting XP into Attributes but to still start with a few talents or skills. Since we're not going with the idea that you're rank amateurs now, it makes sense you'd have a bit of XP under your belts.

Do you wish for us to still not exceed skill rank 2 with the extra XP?

[SavageBob]

Do you wish for us to still not exceed skill rank 2 with the extra XP?

Good question. Yes, a character can exceed Rank 2 with the GM-granted XP if the player wishes.

[Vergence]

We are just starting with the base creation 500cr, correct? (Unless taking the obligation credit options)

[Boutrose Saba-Norr]

Hmm I’m considering, this really puts me in a position, I have 20 starting college left, now that I’m getting this 30 for talents and skills I could conceivably reduce my 4 presence and bring bring two more things up to 3 giving me a pretty well rounded character, but thematically I like having the chiss commander who is just really good at presence, above average in intellect and average in everything else.

What do I need more brawn or agility for I don’t attack, I guide others to attack.

[Boutrose Saba-Norr]

Willpower and cunning would be so nice at 3 though.

[SavageBob]

We are just starting with the base creation 500cr, correct? (Unless taking the obligation credit options)

Yes, standard starting credits. Getting better instruments and gear will be a major goal, especially once you all start tricking out your business, which I'm assuming will grow into either a studio or a talent agency or both.

Willpower and cunning would be so nice at 3 though.

The tough choices of character creation! Either approach can work; I've played both styles, and they each offer benefits and drawbacks. It's fun to be the master of a single domain (Creds), but versatility is fun, too (Vesper until recently, Buimo).

[Boutrose Saba-Norr]

Yea I went the versatility rout, I don’t really need agility and brawn in this case because I see him as more of a commander type so being able to get the three social traits and int to start at 3 is really too good to pass up, but as soon as I can get dedication I’m going for presence 4

The only problem is that now I’ll have to wait a bit before getting improved inspiring rhetoric lol.

[ThreeBFour]

Have we decided on a planet yet? How about Vagran (pg 78 SoF)? Several dense metro areas with big space in between.

[Boutrose Saba-Norr]

So i'm looking for an obligation that could show that Guy can't go back to the Chiss ascendency and only has his music to rely on. I was going for bounty due to him being a deserter, but that could make problems for us as a group, but do you think taking criminal and having him be a criminal in the ascendency would be enough?