Miscellany

I met my father for lunch today. This was nice, as it always is. It's good to hear how he's enjoying retirement and I think assuring him that I'm doing okay helps to convince me that's true.

I did voice a possible need for a vacation. 'tis true, I think. I took a couple days off for a long weekend in February and... uh... that's about it for my planned time off this year. Past and future. Part of the problem is not really having anything to do. I could take time off and hang around at home for rest's sake, but it doesn't really get me a change of scenery or perspective. I've friends who would encourage me to visit, but the expense of traveling anywhere is a major kink in such things.


I've still got a bad taste in my mouth from how an adventure I assisted in online, but didn't run myself, drew to a close. One of the villains, placed in my hands, was smarter than the players expected and made what might otherwise have been a solid victory a partial one at best. Some people cried foul when it happened and I still just don't feel completely "okay" with the situation even though one could argue it was unavoidable at that point.

I'm also trying to psyche myself back up for running a game. I was doing pretty well there for a while, then a couple players went to roll their characters... and roll their characters... and roll...
You get the idea. I think the rerolls actually bother me less than the "Well, maybe I could work with that, but (insert varied complaints here) and it's going to suck." I looked at an alternate point-buy system, but was going to have to go way over the book-recommended value to satisfy anyone (or so it seemed) and no one seemed excited at that prospect either. In the end, I washed my hands of it saying "You do whatever you have to so you have characters you want to play, as long as all the players are on the same page and okay with it." Unfortunately, my enthusiasm took a serious hit there which I'm still struggling to recover from.
And the incident spawned some discussion about character stats. My own thoughts are somewhat less than focused on the matter. Does a character need to have above-average (or good, or excellent) attributes to contribute as a central figure in a story/campaign? In principle, I tend to think not, but story characters tend to excel in some area if not across the board so why not game characters? Then again, a deficiency in some area can define a character even more powerfully. I have yet to come up with a definitive viewpoint on the subject to throw my belief behind.



I read through Star Wars: Republic Commando: Hard Contact (I swear, Star Wars anything has to have a ridiculously-long title) a couple nights ago. I think I would have enjoyed it even if I wasn't trying to be in a Star Warsy mood. The characters make the book. The viewpoint bounces around some, but I see no fault in it as I enjoyed each perspective. Even the primary villain manages to be smart without being neigh-omniscient.

As with Shatterpoint, the book got me thinking about Jedi. The Clone Wars mark one of the best times to study them, it seems: peacekeepers thrust into the role of military commanders. Sucks to be them. Being a "good" Jedi takes discipline in in times of peace. It's all but impossible to fight a war as one. One might argue Palpatine engineered the war as much to disrupt the Jedi as to take over the Republic.
I find more "realism" in some of these Expanded Universe sources. It's no surprise, really, for how much detail can you go into in a series of movies when you're covering other things? More and more, I'm given to think the Jedi Code and those lectures by Yoda are all rote. Those principles are taught and recited until a Jedi finally comes to the understanding that they are not truths so much as ideals. Ideals to be looked toward for guidance, but not followed mindlessly.
A Jedi is not truly expected to be an emotionless robot, because that's foolish. The Force is a power of life, and living things have emotions. Though divorced from their family, Jedi make bonds with their teachers and fellows. All those chidings to avoid attachment are not truly expected to keep such bonds from forming, but rather to help a Jedi understand that in a moment of decision, they should try to do what is best - as opposed to what they might want the most.
I think by the time a Jedi is accepted as a Master, they generally understand that. They accept the camaraderie between their fellows and their students naturally and they know making a decision based solely on emotion will likely cause more grief than not. The emotions are most certainly there, and probably often a factor, but they are tempered by wisdom. After all, even Yoda considered at least some wookiees to be "friends."
No doubt that can be a hard line to walk, but I find myself feeling sorry for those (fictional characters) who never come to that understanding. All they ever see is the smokescreen of simple text repeated over and over. Avoid attachment. Avoid emotion. That seems like a borderline-cruel way to teach the lesson. It makes me think there should have been a long history of "Darth Vaders."


But that's enough for now.