Campaign Update

As many of you will know, the D&D Player Rewards program awards members with Campaign Cards and other items usable in D&D Campaigns. These rewards are also adaptable for Living campaigns.

At the present, Living Force is allowing players to use some Campaign Cards from the first two sets and also the fist of Emirikol -- or as we here in Living Force like to think of it, "The Big Plastic Die o’ Doom." The latter works along with a cert called, wild Force shard. Unlike the fist, since the Force has both light and dark sides, the shard can have beneficial, negative, and complicating effects.

The following four cards are now usable in Living Force using the rules variants mentioned below. A player may only use one card per adventure for every two character levels (rounded up) and only one instance of each card may be used. For example, a 3rd-level tech specialist may have two cards. Only one of those cards may (and likely will, if the player possesses it) be I Have That!

Card Set 1:

Wink and a Smile: Card 8 of 10
Prerequisite: Cha 10+.
Once per adventure round, gain a +4 circumstance bonus to a single Bluff, Entertain, or Diplomacy Check. This may not be used when making Income rolls using Entertain.

I Have That!: Card 9 of 10
Once per adventure round, gain a single item listed on Table 7-4: Equipment in the Star Wars Roleplaying Game Revised Core Rulebook, worth no more than 200 credits, and weighing no more than 2 kg. The hero must spend a move action to retrieve the item.

The possible items are: all temperature cloak, 1 liter bacta, blank credit chip, blank data card for datapad, energy cell, fusion lantern, glow rod, grappling spike launcher, liquid cable dispenser, medical kit, medpac, power pack, breath mask, comlink, mastercrafted medpac (+1).

Hero's Strike: Card 10 of 10
Once per adventure round, gain a +2 morale bonus to a single attack roll. In Living Force, this use must be declared before the die is rolled.

Card Set 2:

Let's Try That Again: Card 8 of 10
Once per adventure, reroll a single, failed skill check. Use the second roll even if the result is less desirable.

Some heroes may acquire a wild Force shard in the performance of a mission. This shard resonates with the Force and these harmonics can occasionally produce powerful effects. These effects are sometimes helpful, sometimes harmful, and sometimes simply . . . interesting.

Game Use: If a player’s hero has the certificate for a wild Force shard and has the fist of Emirikol RPGA Player Reward item at the table, the player's hero may use the wild Force shard once per adventure. Retrieving it and touching it is a move action; activating it is a combat action that does not draw an attack of opportunity.

The effects are summarized below. The sigil effect list of the fist of Emirikol gives a d20 number that goes along with each symbol on the die face. Alternatively, as long as the player has the Fist at the table, the GM may roll a d20 instead. If the player has the Fist, the player may roll it without crushing all the miniatures -- after all is is the big plastic die o’ doom.

If the player has a cert but not the fist, the player may, once per adventure, add +1 to the effect of a Force Point die roll, after seeing what the die result is. This effect may also be chosen instead of rolling the fist. Choosing this option requires retrieving and touching the shard but does not involve activation as per the wild effects above.

Under no circumstances may any hero trigger a wild Force shard more than once per adventure. Different players who have the shards may each have their hero use their own shard once per adventure. To make the d20 roll, each must have his or her own fist. Any character possessing two or more wild Force shards will find that their force emanations cancel each other out in such proximity; none of them will function at all until the hero gets rid of all but one wild Force shard.

Jedi should note that the shard is not aligned towards either the light or dark side: it simply resonates with the Force. It is neither good nor evil.

THE EFFECTS:

Negatives:

1: Shard resonates with the dark side amplifying fear, aggression and doubt. For the duration of the adventure, it requires the expenditure of two Force Points to generate the effect of one-- unless the hero calls upon the dark side. If the hero does call upon the dark side, it takes the usual one Force Point and the dice have maximum effect, as if 6s were rolled. However, the hero gets two Dark Side Points for calling on the dark side (four Dark Side Points if the hero has the cert, "Focused on the Light"). Tempting, the dark side is, and an easy road to power...

2: Dark side effects are at -2 DC to affect the hero, and any hero saves to resist the effects are at +2 DC for this encounter, as the shard is leaving him or her open to the dark side. These effects make it easier to get the dark side to affect the hero and harder for the hero to resist.

3: Shard emanations disturb the hero's focus: distraction imposes a -2 modifier to any Intelligence-, Wisdom-, or Charisma-based skill attempts to the end of the encounter.

4: Shard channels the dark side and fatigues the hero, draining him or her of 10 vitality. This cannot take the hero into wounds, but can leave the hero at 0 vitality. This vitality loss is recovered as normal and can be healed with the usual skills and effects.

5: Shard channels the dark side and surrounds the hero with a stench that effectively reduces all social interaction skill attempts by 10, for the next 10 game minutes. This is actually a negative mental aura that cuts across cultural differences: everyone hates it.

6: Shard emanations dull hero's senses: -2 circumstance modifier to Spot, Listen, Search and Initiative for the duration of the encounter.

7: Warp in the Flow: the shard sets up a Force-dampening field that prevents the shard from functioning for the rest of the adventure. Any other wild Force shards within 50 meters will now not function for the duration of the encounter, if they have not yet been used. Heroes and others can call upon the Force as normal; it is only the shard(s) that do not work.

8: Show the list to the GM. He or she will pick one effect, from #1 to #12, that he or she feels will work best with the story line. This can simply be effect #7, if the GM wishes.

Complicating:

9: Move Object (effect as if a skill result of 20 was rolled) on the nearest small object (less than 5 kg), towards the hero who triggers this effect.

10: The hero is surrounded in a glow of golden light, making it very hard to hide. However, the glow gives a +2 to Charisma and therefore a +1 to all Charisma-related skill tests, for the duration, which is ten game minutes.

11: An ion field is generated around the hero. Any droids or powered electronics, which come within 2 meters of the hero, have a 50% chance of malfunctioning or going inactive. This effect lasts for ten game minutes. There is a detectable smell of ozone around the hero. This does not include opponents’ weapons, but does include computers, starship control consoles, etc. For the duration of the effect, the hero will be unable to get any powered weapon to work, but nothing on his or her person when the effect occurs will be permanently damaged.

12: The hero has full life support for the duration of the encounter, or the next game hour, whichever is shorter: air, food, drink, and sleep are not needed, and environmental extremes (heat, cold, pressure variances) will not harm the hero. Weapon attacks and severe environmental effects (lava, lightning, hard vacuum, etc.) will still do damage normally. At the end of the duration, the hero is stunned for ten game minutes.

Positives:

13: Force Defense +2 bonus for duration of this encounter (in other words, +2 to saves vs. any Force effect that allows a save, as if from Force Defense). This stacks with Force Defense, even though it normally would not do so.

14: Shard emanations help hero's focus: +2 circumstance bonus to any Intelligence-, Wisdom- or Charisma-based skill rolls to the end of this encounter.

15: Shard channels the light side and gives +10 vitality for the duration of the encounter. These points may not be regenerated or healed by any means once expended. They can temporarily take the hero's current vitality over the maximum.

16: Shard channels the light side and surrounds the hero with an aura that grants a stacking DR2 for the duration of the encounter. The aura is a pale green light, which extends for 3 cm and is quite visible.

17: Shard emanations heighten hero's senses: +2 circumstance modifier to Spot, Listen, Search and Initiative for the duration of the encounter.

18: Shard focuses the Force and heals/invigorates the hero, increasing wounds by three. If this would take the hero over his or her maximum wounds, the "phantom extra wounds" fade away at the end of the adventure, if the hero has not been reduced to his or her normal maximum wounds by then. Any wound damage taken is subtracted from any "extra" wounds first.

19: Pick any effect from this list, except #20, and apply it to your hero.

20: Shard channels the light side. The next Force Point that the hero uses, to call on the light side, will automatically function at maximum effect (for example, if the hero would normally roll 3d6, count it as if 18 had been rolled). This effect expires at the end of the adventure, or as soon as the hero uses it.

If you want to learn more about the Living Force campaign, this introduction will get you started.