Aren't they as one-note as you play them?

Aren't they as one-note as you play them?

While this is true, it's hard to put any life into them as a Star Wars species, since we know so little about them. The Sand People, for instance, have had a broad treatment in various novels, and while those stories are no longer canon, they give us a basis for the society behind that people group. Jawas are a little more of a mystery.

This isn't the reason I wouldn't play one. I just don't find them appealing or fun, as a species. But as a GM, I have no issues coming up with some interesting stories for them.

Aren't they as one-note as you play them?

Oh that's certainly true, but I feel like with Jawas, the more wildly unique and complex you make them the less they remain Jawas at all. A person could certainly come up with a flamboyant Jawa opera star who wears a platinum blonde wig and purple evening gown. But at that point, why play a jawa at all?

Not trying to turn anyone's opinion here, just clarifying my own.

Aren't they as one-note as you play them?

Oh that's certainly true, but I feel like with Jawas, the more wildly unique and complex you make them the less they remain Jawas at all. A person could certainly come up with a flamboyant Jawa opera star who wears a platinum blonde wig and purple evening gown. But at that point, why play a jawa at all?

Not trying to turn anyone's opinion here, just clarifying my own.

Sure but this goes for all sw races...

Aren't they as one-note as you play them?

Oh that's certainly true, but I feel like with Jawas, the more wildly unique and complex you make them the less they remain Jawas at all. A person could certainly come up with a flamboyant Jawa opera star who wears a platinum blonde wig and purple evening gown. But at that point, why play a jawa at all?

Not trying to turn anyone's opinion here, just clarifying my own.

Sure but this goes for all sw races...

Not trying to be combative here, but I'm not sure that it does.

In the 'canon' media so far, we've seen Twi'lek slave girls, freedom fighters, Jedi, and senators. We've seen Rodian bounty hunters, dancers, and diplomats. We've seen Trandoshan scavengers and bounty hunters. But with Jawas, we see an insular species who all dress the same, and act the same. They're the guys who are scurrying about, pawing at your stuff, and shouting 'Utinni!'.

I'm certainly not saying anyone should be chained to established continuity, but I think there's a reason that the Jawa has never been depicted in any other way. But my feelings on them may be coloured by something I read about them (it might have been the film novelization) describing them as only slightly more evolved than animals, and not possessing a lot of variety.

Don't get me wrong, I love Jawas. But a 'sweet-talking smuggler' Jawa comes across as an ex- or former-Jawa, in my mind.

But with Jawas, we see an insular species who all dress the same, and act the same. They're the guys who are scurrying about, pawing at your stuff, and shouting 'Utinni!'.

Blizz would like a word with you. . . .

Jawa shoots gun! I'll just take my opinions and go.

Are Jawas an attractive race for you?

Yes, yes they are. . . .

Is that a bunny or a chihuahua on her arm? I can't tell.

Off on a bit of a tangent, when I went to Applebee's a week or so ago, there was this big tattooed bruiser-looking dude having dinner with his bud. As I walked by him going to my table, I noticed that on one arm he had Winnie the Pooh and on the other arm was Tigger My first impression of this guy was apparently totally wrong

And I'm with Doc on this one. I'll reserve judgement until AFTER she removes the hood

I'm guessing it's an Eevee from Pokemon.

I too love jawas. Our GM just started running a modified Crate of Krayts and our desert guide was a Jawa Survivalist. He was more bad-*** than 2 of our other party members. LOL

One of our players actually wants to play a Jawa Sentinel in F&D! All 3 Artisan, Shadow, and Shien. (using the unofficial menagerie stats B1,C3). That would be just alittle scary I think.

One of our players is currently enjoying a jawa bounty hunter (using the unofficial species menagerie for racial stats). He loves it. Many of the NPCs ridicule him for being 'just a jawa' - and he tends to have an itchy trigger finger (and is by far the best gun hand in the party).

Like most things, it is what you make of it.

If this rpg is the bright shining centre to the Galaxy, Tatooine is the planet I want it to stay the farthest from.

I am sick of evwrything having Tatooine as a destination. Movies, games, rpg,etc all end up on Tatooine. It is ridiculous. Luke himself, said there was nothing to see there. I agree.

I don't get how you can be a Star Wars fan and downplay the importance of Tatooine like this. Who cares what "Luke himself said"? He was being kept on his uncle's farm almost as a prisoner of sorts. Of course he is going to dislike his station in life. Of course a farmer from Poughkeepsie will tell you New york state isn't "all that". What matters is that he was there. Furthermore Kenobi lived there for decades, it is where Han and Chewie met with Luke and it is where Jabba's palace is. It is where Anakin was born, it is where Anakin met Padme and on and on.

Of course it is used often. It is classic Star Wars.

Nothing to see? I suggest you rewatch a few movies...

This.

Luke is a teen. Go live someplace rural. Lots of teens will complain about how they live someplace that isn't important, that's nowhere, and all the interesting stuff happens far from home.

Tatooine is, as another poster pointed out, home to Jabba. Jabba is one of the most, if not the most important Hutt in the galaxy - important enough that appeasing him is sufficient to keep the Hutt cartels neutral-friendly with the Republic and neutral-hostile toward the CIS during the Clone Wars. It is home to a not unimportant pod racing circuit. It is home to Mos Eisley spaceport, which is a large city and a hopping spaceport (if Tatooine were the backside of nowhere, Mos Eisley would have been a sleepy little spaceport and Luke and Obi-Wan would have had to cut a deal with the only smuggler in town on the particular day they were there, instead of having smugglers lined up all along the bar). And that's to say nothing of Anchorhead, Mos Eisley's gentrified sister.

Now Naboo, that's a nowhere place. True, it's the home planet of the Emperor, but it is of little political, economic, military, or cultural significance. A gorgeous planet whose denizens craft gorgeous things. But that's it: Naboo is effectively discount Alderaan. (I would expect the Empire to construct a shrine over the spot where Palpatine was born, a detachment of Royal Guard supported by Stormtroopers, at least one Star Destroyer in orbit, and maybe a dacha for the Emperor, but that's it.)

But with Jawas, we see an insular species who all dress the same, and act the same. They're the guys who are scurrying about, pawing at your stuff, and shouting 'Utinni!'.

Blizz would like a word with you. . . .

If by 'a word' you mean 'an enormous rocket' and by 'with you' you mean 'exploding in your face', then yes.

I've never had a player opting for the Jawa, but one of my first D6 villains was a Dark Jedi Jawa with a double light-scythe ... yeah I know...

We have a Jawa in our party. A Tech Menchanic with a love for droids. The player really gets into character, and has started speakink a little Jawa outside of the game. But I guess you may need a special kind of player, to pull off the kind of character you get with a Jawa.

Jegergryte er veldig godt forresten

If this rpg is the bright shining centre to the Galaxy, Tatooine is the planet I want it to stay the farthest from.

I am sick of evwrything having Tatooine as a destination. Movies, games, rpg,etc all end up on Tatooine. It is ridiculous. Luke himself, said there was nothing to see there. I agree.

I only want them to have rules for it for those campaigns which choose to go there. Otherwise I QUITE agree.

I have to agree with James Rowe. Whether any one of us finds the species attractive to play or not, there are clearly enough players wanting to play them. I would be supportive of having rules for their sakes.

I have to agree with James Rowe. Whether any one of us finds the species attractive to play or not, there are clearly enough players wanting to play them. I would be supportive of having rules for their sakes.

Thats true, though not the only criteria for inclusion. Are there other races that are more popular, what unused races fit the theme of the book, which races do the designers like and feel are appropriate, and of course what races do the all mighty overlords at Disney approve of us using.

Don't forget players can always homebrew something with their GM...

Jawas are the Star Wars stand-ins for the "vaguely mysterious"/cloaked in shadow Middle Eastern or North African market shop keepers and barkers that crept into every American-goes-to-a-foreign-land adventure movies between 1930 and 1960. The stuff that inspired Lucas and Spielberg. See Indiana Jones in... every Indiana Jones movie.

Without a heck of a good write-up, playing a Jawa would be a hard sell for me both as a PC and as a GM. They seem more like a visual gag - what with their short stature, gibbering language, primitive grasp of technology and... greedy disposition - than a playable option.

primitive grasp of technology

I never really got where this idea came from. A society in a large mobile vehicle (Technological) that trades droids (Technology) between great swap-meets (of technology) never struck me as not having a good handle on technology.

I was kind of under the impression Star Wars is kinda one big visual gag.....I mean if Jawas are a gag, what the heck is a guy in a gorilla suit with a crossbow called?... I mean visual gag kinda equals space opera really.

I believe that in one of the Suns of Fortune or Lords of Nal Hutta modular encounters, one of the members of a smuggling crew was a Jawa named Kef (or Hef, something like that), if you're looking for what an NPC Jawa might look like stat-wise.

primitive grasp of technology

I never really got where this idea came from. A society in a large mobile vehicle (Technological) that trades droids (Technology) between great swap-meets (of technology) never struck me as not having a good handle on technology.

Sand People have firearms (technology) but that doesn't qualify them for a seat in the Imperial Senate.

Comprehension and understanding defines the difference between scavenging/acquiring and actually building and innovating. White settlers gave the First Nations access to musket (and later repeating rifle) technology. Warriors knew how firearms worked in the abstract but didn't have the metallurgical expertise to manufacture their own without training from colonists.

Steam powered crawlers and droid motors are still ancient technology in the scope of the Star Wars Universe. Introducing Jawas as PCs introduces the same problems - and possibilities - as introducing Ewoks and Sand People. There has to be a mechanic or an in-game reason that respects their "primitiveness" but allows their players to participate to the same degree (i.e. as blockbuster heroes) as other PCs. Otherwise, they're a one-use gag concept.

I was kind of under the impression Star Wars is kinda one big visual gag.....I mean if Jawas are a gag, what the heck is a guy in a gorilla suit with a crossbow called?... I mean visual gag kinda equals space opera really.

I see your point. The difference is between a monster design that was influenced by biology (like any fantasy or sci-fi film) and a filmmaker nudging you in the ribs saying, "Doesn't this remind you of that scene in Karloff's The Mummy? EH? EH?" *nudge nudge*.

And space opera by sub-genre is defined by melodrama and advanced tech. Everything else is gravy.

I never really got where this idea came from. A society in a large mobile vehicle (Technological) that trades droids (Technology) between great swap-meets (of technology) never struck me as not having a good handle on technology.

If you sell F-16s to a primitive tribe and they roll it down a hill at their enemies, yes they have managed to use it as a weapon, doesn't mean they have a handle on the technology. It is established in the first movie that they didn't build any of their technology and tat they also can't actually repair any of it. Switching out a motivator is an easy task, but the best they can do for the R4 unit it disguise the problem until it blows.

It is established in the first movie that they didn't build any of their technology and tat they also can't actually repair any of it. Switching out a motivator is an easy task, but the best they can do for the R4 unit it disguise the problem until it blows.

Take a look at the movie again. They didn’t build the sandcrawler, no. But I’m pretty sure that they made modifications to it.

I think it’s pretty clear that they did build the Ion Blaster Rifle, or at least put the parts for one together from other objects that they had scavenged.

And the problem with the R4 unit might not have been repairable by anyone, but we have no evidence one way or the other.

So, the Jawas are techno-scavengers, and they can at least kit-bash things together from the devices they scavenge.

If we have learned anything from MacGyver, it’s that you have to understand a fair bit about what you’ve got in order to be able to take it and turn it into something else that can be more useful to you.

Maybe Jawas aren’t a baseline 4 Intelligence, but I’d definitely give them a baseline 3.

One of our players is currently enjoying a jawa bounty hunter (using the unofficial species menagerie for racial stats). He loves it. Many of the NPCs ridicule him for being 'just a jawa' - and he tends to have an itchy trigger finger (and is by far the best gun hand in the party).

Like most things, it is what you make of it.

Now you make me want to play either a Jawa Heavy with a repeater twice its size or a gunslinger out drawing everyone and gunning them down.

Sand People have firearms (technology) but that doesn't qualify them for a seat in the Imperial Senate.

Comprehension and understanding defines the difference between scavenging/acquiring and actually building and innovating. White settlers gave the First Nations access to musket (and later repeating rifle) technology. Warriors knew how firearms worked in the abstract but didn't have the metallurgical expertise to manufacture their own without training from colonists.

If we drop you in the middle of a pristine wilderness with an AK-47 (or even a simple matchlock firearm) and told you to build a copy of it utilizing simple stone age tools and you fail (because you will), is your failure because you do not comprehend or understand the technology involved?

If we gave you three damaged AK-47s (with only enough functional parts between the three to produce one functional firearm), in a pristine wilderness, with simple stone age tools, you could probably (through trial and error) produce a functional firearm. The ease with which you can produce such a firearm will be determined by your comprehension and understanding of the technology. But I doubt you could innovate anything, even if you've been factory certified as an armorer by the factory in Izhvesk, gone through and been certified as a gunsmith by an accredited institution, and gone through a couple of AK builder's courses (IOW, have a thorough understanding and comprehension of how the firearm in question is assembled and how firearms in general function and how the firearm in question in particular functions).

There is no reason to suspect that Jawas are incapable of innovation. There is no reason to suspect that the Jawas do not possess a thorough and complete understanding of the technology they work with and work on.

However, given that they are scavengers and that the moisture farmers (and others) on Tatooine rely on them to supply parts and technology, it tells us that both the Jawas and the moisture farmers lack the logistical and population base necessary to manufacture new technology and that, in many ways, the Jawas are more capable than their client base.