The Great Holocron

An Expanded Universe Artifact from Star Wars: Attack of the Clones - The Visual Dictionary, available April 23

By Cory Herndon

Deep within the Jedi temple on Coruscant, thousands of years of collected Republic history, studiously maintained by the Jedi since the earliest days of the order, resides in the Archives Library. Among the collected histories, records, teachings, and solemn busts depicting Jedi long dead, the Great Holocron awaits all those students of the Force willing to learn from its vast stores of collected knowledge.

Unlike some Force artifacts, the twelve-sided Great Holocron was designed specifically for ease of use, especially by young Jedi trainees. Some, including Archives Director Madame Jocasta Nu, have speculated that even Yoda may not yet have learned all its mysteries. Regardless, it is said to be the largest and most powerful holocron in the Archives Library.

Using the Great Holocron
The Great Holocron will not respond to characters without the Force-Sensitive feat. Permission to access the Great Holocron is available to Jedi and those deemed worthy by the Jedi Order, but the artifact does not give up its deepest secrets to the novice. To use the Great Holocron, a character makes an Empathy check (untrained if necessary) with a -12 circumstance penalty (one for each facet of the Holocron's surface) on the table below. The user may choose to add a Force bonus equal to his or her Force-using levels (+12 max). The roll may not be reduced to zero.

Gamemasters are encouraged to override specific questions that they deem sensitive to storyline plans or that delve into events that simply took place too recently. Otherwise, GMs should strive to answer the user's question in a way appropriate to his or her skill level. The Great Holocron will not reveal the secrets of Sith sorcery, for example, to a 14-year-old Human Padawan without an especially strong disturbance in the Force likely to alert the Archives Director. Young students often must be pulled from the Holocron before they sap their vitality.

The Great Holocron is available only during the Rise of the Empire era and remains lost in the other eras of play.

Holocrons convey information through holographic Force representations of the Jedi Master whose teachings they hold, so the more cryptic your depiction, the better. And when in doubt you are, recommended is grammar odd.

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