# Kid's Star Wars game -- Session 2!



## Desdichado (Nov 7, 2004)

Well, my wife has been out of town this weekend with the two younger kids to go visit a cousin's three year old birthday party.  Since I was left with the older kids, this afternoon I decided to introduce them to the concept of roleplaying games.  And since they were very familiar with the concept of Star Wars, I decided to make that the setting to play in.  I helped them make some characters using a very simplified ruleset (I used a modified version of The Window which has the added benefit of allowing them to use pretty much all of the various dice.  In fact, that turned out to be the hardest part of the game; teaching them to recognize which dice was which.  My eight year old boy (Spencer) did better, and ended up helping his little sister (Jessica, 6) by the end of the game.  Their character sheets only had 8-10 items on it, including the names (which they picked themselves) and a few other things; I fit it on an index card, and that ended up being easy for them to read.

It seems to have been a success; my son was clamoring for me to run something else _immediately_ which I told him I wasn't going to do.  Then he insisted that we still play something later today when I was trying to defer until later in the week sometime.  In the meantime, the adventure, which only took about 45 minutes or so to run, has been typed up here for your amusement; it was really straightforward and easy for two young kids who were new to roleplaying to get.  I'm not sure I exactly got the blow for blow with the Sith gal (the kids had just watched _Clone Wars_ on my PC, so I thought a familiar villain would help get them excited.)

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Yoda called the two young padawan’s into his office – the slight young man Dracula and the blond, blue-eyed Alea.  Both were known for their distinctive lighsaber colors; Dracula had a brilliant orange one, while Alea’s was a soft baby pink.

“Your help I need,” the aged Jedi master said.  “Princess Cyd Charisse has been captured and is being held captive on Ilium.  Bring her back you must.”

“Don’t worry, Master Yoda,” Dracula said.  “We’ll make sure she comes back.”  Suddenly the two young Jedi leapt from Yoda’s skyscraper office window, plummeting like rockets through the crowded Coruscant atmosphere, to land lightly on a landing platform far below.

A small, black R2 unit was waiting for them, as well as a man who was refueling their shiny reddish ship.  “It’s all set for you,” he said.  “Hyperspace coordinates are plugged into the R2 unit there to take you to Ilium.”

“Great!”

The two Jedi blasted up from Coruscant as soon as the R2 unit was loaded into the ship.  “What’s that?” Alea asked once they were in space.  Behind them was an odd-looking ship that appeared to be following them.

“Nothing, just local traffic,” Dracula dismissed.  He punched in the command to jump to light-speed.

When they arrived at Ilium, it was a grayish white world, covered in snow and ice.  On the surface a blizzard obscured most of their vision, but they could see a tall tower with a lighted beacon at the top.

“I sense that the princess is inside,” Alea said, so they both walked confidently inside.  There, shiny silver battle droids lowered their gunfists and launched blaster bolts at the two Jedi.  Alea and Dracula blocked the bolts with their lightsabers as they moved to attack position, cutting down the droids like weeds.  Alea took a minor hit to her shoulder, but it did not slow her.

They ascended the stairs to another room, this time with columns of laser light being the only illumination.  Alea, again the sharpeyed one, noticed several Frisbee like droids winging towards them.  Dracula went to go have a look and was blasted in the shoulder for his trouble.  He waved his hand at the flying droids, and they scattered to smash against the walls.  Alea used her baby pink lightsaber to slash through another group of them, although she also took another hit.  Scanning the room again, she noticed a small box on the wall.  Inside were three medical injections – she put one in her leg and immediately felt refreshed.  There was another staircase moving upwards.

At this level, it was extremely dark.  “I sense a disturbance in the force…” Dracula says; he can feel that some dark presence has entered the tower.

They climb again to the next level, and here they face more battle droids.  Alea uses the force to cause a chunk of the wall to fly forward and hit some of them, scattering them like bowling pins.  Dracula similarly chopped his to shreds with his lightsaber.

When the battle droids were disposed of, Alea spotted a trapdoor high above them in the ceiling.  The two Jedi used the force to jump fifty feet into the air to check it out, but found it locked.  Alea attempted to slice it open with her lightsaber, but missed.  Dracula was more successful; he cut the portal wide open and climbed up through it.  Alea then jumped again, torpedoing through the trap door to land nimbly on her feet.

Inside this next level, they could see a small cage at the far end of a very large, open room.  The cage had a pinkish force field at one end, and inside was a young girl.  The rest of the room was very open; large glass windows covered all sides, and the ceiling was very high.  The girl looked up at them as they came into the room and a wide smile crossed her face.  “Are you here to rescue me?” she cried.

But it wasn’t going to be that easy…  four destroyer droids rolled into place in front of the Jedi, shooting away with their twin blaster arms.  Both of the Jedi took a hit before they were able to ready their lightsabers for defense.  Dracula used the force to smash one of them against the floor, while Alea deflected their blaster bolts to destroy two more.  Dracula cut down the last of them finally, then the turned to go see about the princess.

Just then a blurry figure shot up through the trapdoor, and while in the air, pulled two red lightsabers off her waist.  She landed lightly between the Jedi and the girl they were hoping to save.  This new person was pale white, with a bald head.  Both the Jedi felt a strong disturbance in the force as she appeared; she was bad news.

“Leave the princess where she is,” the woman hissed at them, “and I might let you live.”  Alea and Dracula brought up their lightsabers, and rushed in for the attack.  The woman moved like lightning, and even with two opponents, she gave as good as she got, tagging both of the Jedi lightly with her twin pistol-grip red sabers.  Dracula saw an opening and extended his hand, the force pushing the woman back to slam against the side of the building.

She in turn raised her hands, and the ceiling began to crumble, dropping in large chunks on the Jedi.  Alea jumped out of the way, clear up to the ceiling, but Dracula took a heavy blow to his shoulder.  The Sith witch leapt high up in the air to attack Alea, but she deflected her blast, and pushed her back with the force to slam heavily on the ground below.  Dracula also moved in with his saber, catching her off guard and cutting her again.

The three of them commenced the dance of death again, their sabers flashing, humming and crackling in fast motion.  Then the Sith witch raised her hands again, and all the glass that made up the walls of the huge room shattered to rain down in a deadly hail.  Alea and Dracula were able to hold a hand above their heads and stop any glass from hitting them, and Dracula pushed the Sith one final time, causing her to slide completely out of the room and plummet to the ground below.

Their sabers were ineffective for opening the princess’ cell, but Alea spotted the control panel and they were able to open it.  After taking the final two medical shots, both Alea and Dracula were in much better condition; in fact, as good as new.  The took the princess back to their ship, and Dracula spotted a dip in the snow, apparently where the Sith witch landed.  She was gone, and footprints led away into the blizzard.  He was thoughtful as they flew back through hyperspace to Coruscant to bring her to Yoda…


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## threshel (Nov 8, 2004)

Excellent!  I always enjoy seeing the way that kids play.  I've played with kids this young and it's always a blast.  Everything is new and exciting to them, and that attitude becomes infectious.
I hope they get to play again soon!

J


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## Desdichado (Nov 8, 2004)

Yeah, it was surprising to me how quick they just jumped into things; Yoda wasn't even done talking to them yet, and my son was like, "I jump out the window and fly down to the street" kinda thing, just because it was exciting to use the Jedi abilities and stuff.  I think that was at least half the fun for them.

I also got a kick out of the names they choose -- Dracula and Aaliyah.  Except I wouldn't tell my daughter how to spell Aaliyah (I didn't know anyway) and told her to sound it out, and she came up with Alea.


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## ph34r (Nov 8, 2004)

Joshua Dyal said:
			
		

> I also got a kick out of the names they choose -- Dracula and Aaliyah.




Watch alot of vampire movies?


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## Desdichado (Nov 8, 2004)

No, but I did have _Van Helsing_ in the house for me to watch while Julie was out of town.

And he does read a lot of Goosebumps books.


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## ledded (Nov 8, 2004)

SWEET.

That is quite cool.

I'm very tempted to yoink your idea and write up one of my son's games that we do.  See, he loves to read and even creates little illustrated 'books' for his friends and his mom sometimes.  I could write, he could illustrate .

But very nice that you've done this, and I bet your kids are enjoying it.


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## Ankh-Morpork Guard (Nov 8, 2004)

I'll echo with another that's great!

Always good to see more Star Wars story hours, and even better with kids!


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## ragboy (Nov 8, 2004)

Joshua Dyal said:
			
		

> It seems to have been a success; my son was clamoring for me to run something else _immediately_ which I told him I wasn't going to do.



I've found the same thing. Kids just 'get' roleplaying...probably because they do it all the time with their action-figures and dolls and whatnot. 


Excellent story hour! Play some more. Your kids are begging and so are we!


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## Desdichado (Nov 9, 2004)

Oh, there'll be more.  With their mother too, we hope, no less.


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## Rel (Nov 9, 2004)

ragboy said:
			
		

> I've found the same thing. Kids just 'get' roleplaying...probably because they do it all the time with their action-figures and dolls and whatnot.
> 
> 
> Excellent story hour! Play some more. Your kids are begging and so are we!




Ditto!  I just started posting a Story Hour today for my three year old's adventures.  Great fun.

I'll be watching this thread with interest, Joshua!  Can't wait for more!


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## Desdichado (Nov 10, 2004)

Rel said:
			
		

> I'll be watching this thread with interest, Joshua!  Can't wait for more!



Based on their enthusiasm, I'd better have something ready to go still this week!  Luckily I've got Veteran's Day off work to think of what to do for them...


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## Desdichado (Nov 19, 2004)

Well, last weekend was a complete bust (in terms of getting a game in, anyway -- otherwise it was mostly fine.)  This weekend it is, though.  And hopefully another session over the Thanksgiving holiday while we're at it!


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## Rel (Nov 19, 2004)

Joshua Dyal said:
			
		

> Well, last weekend was a complete bust (in terms of getting a game in, anyway -- otherwise it was mostly fine.)  This weekend it is, though.  And hopefully another session over the Thanksgiving holiday while we're at it!




Sweet!  May the Force Be With Them!


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## Desdichado (Nov 22, 2004)

Second session last night -- I decided to see what would happen if I put some less than clear goals in front of them.  Unfortunately, I was very tired as we played, so I think the main thing that happened was that the session was largely incoherent to the kids.  Oh well...

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Space Dracula (the first name was a new addition to his title) was lounging about in his Coruscant apartment.  His onetime partner in Jedi hijinks, Alea, was busy, having her nails done by her mother, and he was just reading a book, when a speeder flew past his window close enough to make his apartment shake.  He reached out with the Force to try and sense what was happening, and he got a very bad feeling about the speeder; it was clearly someone who was up to no good.

That was all he needed to come running out of his apartment, his gold-yellow lightsaber (slight change in color since last session) in hand.  A speeder was sitting nearby; a nice hot rod with flames painted along the sides.  "That'll do nicely," he said to himself as he hopped in and chased the speeder away.  He darted through the busy Coruscant traffic after the dark speeder in front of him.  Stretching out with the Force again, he pushed the speeder, which lost control and crashed to the street below.  He saw a figure climb out of the wreck and run inside a crowded restaurant below.

He brought his own speeder down to the ground and hopped out, running inside after.  However, once inside, he was surprised to see that it was an extremely crowded area, and he had no way of telling who it was that he had chased.  He reached out with the Force once again to try and discern who amongst the crowd was his quarry as he walked slowly through the crowd.  He noticed one alien in particular who was watching him suspiciously, and as he looked at him, the alien turned and ran away through a back door.  Space Dracula gave chase.

Outside, he was surprised to run into two battle droids.  His lightsaber quickly came out and he dispatched them with no problem, but as he was doing so, the man he was chasing flew away; a rocket pack on his back giving him the boost he needed to escape.

Space Dracula returned to the Jedi Temple to consult with Yoda on the strange alien that had so disturbed him.  He was crestfallen, however, to discover that Yoda was not in his office; apparently he was off scouting a newly discovered planet named Dagobah for its capability to have Jedi natives.  Mace Windu was present however, and asked Space Dracula to describe the villain to him.

"Yes, we know of this scoundrel," he said.  "He is said to be in league with a creature named General Grevious that we are most anxious to apprehend.  His ship was tracked to the Panthan Asteroid Belt.  Take a Jedi Starfighter and follow him, and stop him however you must."

Space Dracula was glad to have a clear mission in front of him, so he went through the temple to the hangar bay.  There he found Alea waiting for him.  She was apparently done with her nails (they were nice and pink) and had inexplicably turned into a dog that looked like this one.  But she was now ready to embark on adventure with her partner again, so she climbed into the gunner's seat and the two of them set their hyperspace coordinates for the Panthan asteroid belt, a densely packed region of space that had no nearly planet or sun.

Once they arrived, they were surprised to find their ship under attack!  Blaster shots seared the rocks around them as Space Dracula swerved and rolled to avoid the attacks.  Space Dracula ducked behind an asteroid and settled quietly on the surface, turning off any systems that would give away their location.  Once the ship zoomed past them, apparently unaware of where they had gone, he launched back into space behind it.  

"I got 'em!" said Alea, narrowing in with her guns on the target.  With a few key blasts, she hit the attacking spacecraft, which spun out of control to explode against a nearby asteroid.  When the fire, smoke and debris cleared, they set about trying to find the hideout they knew must be nearby.

Soon they could see not far away a silvery structure attached to a large asteroid; almost a minor planet it was so big.  The landed their ship next to it and went to investigate.

The door to the structure was locked, but a simple swipe with their lightsabers took care of that.  Inside, they found a lighted shaft that plunged downward almost as far as they could see.  They both leapt downwards, using the Force to control their fall and land lightly after falling for several minutes.  Battle droids looked up in surprise as they landed, but they quickly dispatched them, taking no blaster hits themselves.

But moving into the next room, they found a droid of a type they had never seen before (see attached image.)  He was tall, looming over them with a narrow, soul-less face, and as they approached he scornfully mocked them, drawing lightsabers for each hand -- and then one for his clawed foot.

Rather than a blow for blow, suffice it to say that the two intrepid young Jedi defeated the strange droid, but it had left them both with only one more hit left before death.  They staggered back to their spaceship relieved to have survived the encounter and desperate to heal their wounds before anything else went wrong...


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