Saturday, September 13, 2014

A Day That Shall Be Long Remembered

Today I had the privilege of attending the Rebellion Day event at the Fantasy Flight Games Event Center. It started off with a question-and-answer session between five or six members of the design team and the guests. They weren't allowed to say much about future projects, of course, but they did mention that the license seems secure in the light of Disney's acquisition of Lucasfilm.

The highlight of the day, of course, was the gaming session. My table had Fischer for our GM, and he did an excellent job. The scenario was “Rescue at Glare Peak,” and we enjoyed it. I have the highlights below.

*WARNING: SPOILERS FOR “RESCUE AT GLARE PEAK” FOLLOW*

The scenario began with the heroes atop a building in the town of Glare Peak, hooking up an illicit device. We witnessed the crash of a Y-wing fighter. On the way to check for survivors, we ran into a squad of stormtroopers. Our Bothan spy tried to lead them astray with a story about seeing someone fleeing in a different direction, and this was the first time that Despair reared its ugly head. They didn't buy the claim, and a lightfight ensued.

After dispatching the stormies, we reached the scene of the crash, in the front of a local cantina. The Imperials had cordoned off the area, but we slipped inside via a secret tunnel. Our Bothan tried another ruse to deceive the technicians and stormtroopers there, but once again Despair reared its ugly head and a lightfight ensued.

Via a captured technician we learned that the Y-wing's pilot had been taken to the local detention center. Armed with fake identification and a speeder borrowed from a local tech contractor, we headed in to stage a rescue. This time my Human lieutenant received the visit from Despair while attempting a bluff, but the Bothan sprang into action and coerced the officer out front to keep his mouth shut. Thus we were able to slip into the cell bay. Our Ithorian engineer took control of the computer terminal, allowing us to free the prisoner we sought. As this was transpiring, we learned that the base was about to receive an important visitor, and he arrived then—none other than Darth Vader.

Knowing we were outmatched, we used the Duro sharpshooter's explosive to make a new exit. The Ithorian bought us some time with a Triumph-ant use of his bellow, the Bothan led our prisoner out to freedom, and the Duro saved my Human by tackling him down the mountainside before Vader could strike. We slipped back into town, arranged transportation offplanet and escaped.

*END OF SPOILERS*

Reflection
All in all, the session highlighted some of the great elements of the game. For one thing, the dice did affect the story, and unexpected complications made for memorable scenes. It's also notable that the first time anybody cracked a rulebook was nearly two hours into the session, when we needed to see what kind of benefits donning stormtrooper armor gave us. Most importantly, though, it really felt like Star Wars.



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