Darths & Droids IV: Not in Numerical Order

[137beth]

I just finished watching Episode IX. Or, maybe I should say listening to Episode IX. I had heard that, prior to the film's release, Disney issued a trigger warning for photosensitive epilepsy. While I thankfully don't get seizures, I do get headaches from strobe lights. I decided to watch the movie anyways, because I foolishly assumed that there would be strobe lights only in one scene for a brief period of time, and that I could simply skip past that scene.

Nope! Turns out there were strobe lights through a large chunk of the movie, including the climax, so I ended up just listening to the dialogue while occasionally taking quick glances at the screen to see if the strobe had stopped. On that basis alone, it was my least favorite of the sequel trilogy.

One thing I have to look forward to about Darths and Droids (when they finally get to the climax of RoS in five years) is that there won't be any strobe lights in a still-image comic.

[Anonymouswizard]

I'm calling it now.

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Poe dies in the PIE Fighter crash, and the character we meet at the Rebellion Resistance base is Wedge having taken on his form. Jim takes over Wedge for the end of TFAK, before both he and Ben make new characters for E8: Rose and Holdo.

[Kantaki]

I see one problem with BB-8's plan. Now he has to pass on the coordinates and then he'll be doomed too.
That's half the party. Way to much doom. At this point they'll pull everyone down with them.

[PoeticallyPsyco]

Funny they mention how liberating it can be to be unafraid of death. My favorite character of all time had that as part of his motivation. He was basically a Punisher-type... who had completed his multiple-year-long roaring rampage of revenge, looked around, and gone "OK. Um, now what?" At the time that the campaign started, he was basically wandering around trying to keep himself entertained, and he didn't care pretty much at all about whether other people lived or died (because he was a sociopath), including himself (because he'd already accomplished his life's purpose).

Lots of fun to roleplay someone basically immune to guilt, embarrassment, or fear, and that same lack of care also made him really easy-going, so he was a great team-player once it was established that the group was a reliable source of entertainment for him.
/tangent

[137beth]

I'm calling it now.

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Poe dies in the PIE Fighter crash, and the character we meet at the Rebellion Resistance base is Wedge having taken on his form. Jim takes over Wedge for the end of TFAK, before both he and Ben make new characters for E8: Rose and Holdo.

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Possibly, but then would Jim continue playing Wedge through the whole trilogy?

I'm guessing Kylo Ren will also be a PC, given that Darth Vader was. Maybe Jim will play him? Kylo Ren does seem power-hungry and impulsive enough to be a Jim character, and he does die.

[Anonymouswizard]

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Possibly, but then would Jim continue playing Wedge through the whole trilogy?

I'm guessing Kylo Ren will also be a PC, given that Darth Vader was. Maybe Jim will play him? Kylo Ren does seem power-hungry and impulsive enough to be a Jim character, and he does die.

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I mean, maybe, or he'll have a variety of short lived characters for the rest of E7. I could see them doing 'Jim as Wedge disguised as Poe', but I don't see them doing it for the entire trilogy.

It would be incredibly disappointing if Jim's first character survived this campaign.

As to Kylo, maybe for Episode IX, for E7 and E8 I really don't see him being a PC, despite all the theories I see about Pete playing him. I can see Jim taking him over at the beginning of E9 if he plays Holdo during E8, and working with Annie to pull off the return to the light thing, and very maybe during E8 (where, IMO, his lust for power is first visible).

New comic, I see Corey has learnt to play Jim almost as well as he plays the game.

[137beth]

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I mean, maybe, or he'll have a variety of short lived characters for the rest of E7. I could see them doing 'Jim as Wedge disguised as Poe', but I don't see them doing it for the entire trilogy.

It would be incredibly disappointing if Jim's first character survived this campaign.

As to Kylo, maybe for Episode IX, for E7 and E8 I really don't see him being a PC, despite all the theories I see about Pete playing him. I can see Jim taking him over at the beginning of E9 if he plays Holdo during E8, and working with Annie to pull off the return to the light thing, and very maybe during E8 (where, IMO, his lust for power is first visible).

New comic, I see Corey has learnt to play Jim almost as well as he plays the game.

Spoiler: Episodes 7 and 8

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Is Kylo as a PC any less viable than Darth Vader during episodes IV and V as a PC was? They didn't seem to have any problem with one of the main villains being a PC.

[Rogar Demonblud]

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That wasn't that player's only character, though.

[Anonymouswizard]

Spoiler: Episodes 7 and 8

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Is Kylo as a PC any less viable than Darth Vader during episodes IV and V as a PC was? They didn't seem to have any problem with one of the main villains being a PC.

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As said, Annie also ran Princess.

[137beth]

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As said, Annie also ran Princess.

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Not sure what point you are making with this comment. I never said I expected Kylo to be the only character controlled by a particular player, but I do expect him to be a PC.

[keybounce]

I am glad that people are enjoying my commentary.

And I am ... very happy that you are putting spoilers around things that I should not read.

[Rogar Demonblud]

Half the stuff in spoilers probably wouldn't hurt you or Memnarch, since you do read the strip, but, well, better safe than spoiled, right?

In answer to one of your questions today, the Irregulars just aren't showing the shot troopers dropping. Limited panel space, y'know?

[PoeticallyPsyco]

It's important to have phrases prepared for situations that might come up, such as a power-up you're looking forward to showing off. Corollary: if someone has a phrase prepared for a situation, that means they're probably better prepared for it than you. Jim's response is the correct one.

[Rogar Demonblud]

So, where are all those quotes from? The first is from a Tale of Two Cities, I don't remember the second, the third from Star Trek II.

[DavidSh]

So, where are all those quotes from? The first is from a Tale of Two Cities, I don't remember the second, the third from Star Trek II.

Part is from Moby-Dick:

“I turn my body from the sun. What ho, Tashtego! let me hear thy
hammer. Oh! ye three unsurrendered spires of mine; thou uncracked keel;
and only god-bullied hull; thou firm deck, and haughty helm, and
Pole-pointed prow,—death-glorious ship! must ye then perish, and
without me? Am I cut off from the last fond pride of meanest
shipwrecked captains? Oh, lonely death on lonely life! Oh, now I feel
my topmost greatness lies in my topmost grief. Ho, ho! from all your
furthest bounds, pour ye now in, ye bold billows of my whole foregone
life, and top this one piled comber of my death! Towards thee I roll,
thou all-destroying but unconquering whale; to the last I grapple with
thee; from hell’s heart I stab at thee; for hate’s sake I spit my last
breath at thee. Sink all coffins and all hearses to one common pool!
and since neither can be mine, let me then tow to pieces, while still
chasing thee, though tied to thee, thou damned whale! _Thus_, I give up
the spear!”

Part is from Hamlet's soliloquy:

Who would fardels bear,
To grunt and sweat under a weary life,
But that the dread of something after death,
The undiscovered country, from whose bourn
No traveller returns, puzzles the will,
And makes us rather bear those ills we have
Than fly to others that we know not of?

Then it gets used for the subtitle of a later Star Trek movie.

[Rogar Demonblud]

Man, it's been forever since I read Melville.

[Ellen]

"Oh, untimely death!" is from King Lear.

OSWALD.
Slave, thou hast slain me. Villain, take my purse.
If ever thou wilt thrive, bury my body;
And give the letters which thou find’st about me
To Edmund, Earl of Gloucester. Seek him out
Upon the British party. O, untimely death!

King Lear, 4.6.245-250

John Lennon's "I Am the Walrus" plays some lines from a Lear production at the end, including this line.

This is also from Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan

"Is the word given, Admiral?"
"The word is given. Warp speed."

This is from the scene where Scotty's nephew dies. "The word" refers to the all clear (he's asking Kirk if the ship is safe). Kirk's "Warp speed" is generally assumed to be a synonym for "God speed," something said to someone before a difficult journey. So, the young man is essentially asking if he can stand down (die) because the ship is safe/he's fulfilled his duty. Kirk assures him it's safe/his duty is completed and bids farewell (I had to look that up to get it, so I'm assuming other people might have trouble, too).

That's a lot of death quotes.

[Rogar Demonblud]

And the one at the end of today's strip is from the Old Testament, although Annie probably knows it from Pulp Fiction, being an aspiring actress.

[Kantaki]

With Finn going biblical on Poe here I really wonder how this party will work.
A infiltration mission?
And how many intra-party factions are there going to be?

[Rogar Demonblud]

At least one per player. Like usual.

[Anonymouswizard]

And how many intra-party factions are there going to be?

I mean, I think the last time there were only two factions was the end of Revelation of the Sith, and I'm not sure Ben and Sally were one faction.

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At least eight, as Han won't be in the same faction as Poe or Leia as Finn. A minimum of nine in TLJ, as while we lose Han we gain Luke and R2. I'm not sure about C3PO, I fully suspect Sally's characters might actually be in the same faction.

[Ellen]

And the one at the end of today's strip is from the Old Testament, although Annie probably knows it from Pulp Fiction, being an aspiring actress.

Pulp Fiction misquotes the verse, probably because the character quoting it is a bit on the crazy killer side. Don't know if that means Finn is going to be a bit on the crazy killer side.

[Kantaki]

So that's why Finn'll go rogue.
For a chance to avenge his buddy.
I wonder if that will go like Luke's quest to melt down those droids...

[keybounce]

Mwa-ha-ha. My turn, on the subject of player factions, seeing 3 comics ahead of you:

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Sally's character is ALSO on Finn's / Annie's side.

[The_Snark]

The circle is now complete. When last we met, I was but the spoiled; now, I am the spoiler!

(brought to you by the sudden realization that Keybounce has the spoiler-knowledge for once)

[Keltest]

Only a spoiler of evil, Darth!

[Anonymouswizard]

Mwa-ha-ha. My turn, on the subject of player factions, seeing 3 comics ahead of you:

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Sally's character is ALSO on Finn's / Annie's side.

Wait, going from what I remember if Episode VII

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Sally is Phasma?

Huh, I'm going to double spoiler the rest of this.

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I'm guessing that the Pete=Kylo guessers we actually right, and the GM set it up as the Resistance PCs and three First Order PCs in purpose. Finn is sent to infiltrate the Resistance instead of being a desserter.

Okay, I'm also going to guess, in light of this new information, that Rey is a replacement character brings to the next session. I'm guessing that trouble with Jim's replacement character is why Han comes back.

[137beth]

Wait, going from what I remember if Episode VII

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Sally is Phasma?

Huh, I'm going to double spoiler the rest of this.

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I'm guessing that the Pete=Kylo guessers we actually right, and the GM set it up as the Resistance PCs and three First Order PCs in purpose. Finn is sent to infiltrate the Resistance instead of being a desserter.

Okay, I'm also going to guess, in light of this new information, that Rey is a replacement character brings to the next session. I'm guessing that trouble with Jim's replacement character is why Han comes back.

Sounds like reasonable guesses to me.

[Kantaki]

New comic

Sally... I've got no idea. Maybe Kylo?

Huh. I actually got one right?
There goes my perfect miss record...

But I genuinely didn't expect that. Are we looking a a evil campaign this time around?

[Rogar Demonblud]

Looks like a split campaign, with part of the table on team one and part on team two. Not something I'd try, but this is an experienced group who know each other fairly well. so it should mitigate some of the PVP issues.