I'm just another duelist. I have a background thought up, just nothing about you. Zero asked me to work with you?

1 hour ago, Arctanaar said:

Assuming you are going to have a lightsaber, that's going to leave us a couple thousand credits short of 11000, assuming you don't take additional starting credits. Ouch.

Otherwise, a healer is, indeed, the more needed type of character right now. Story-wise, though, I was more interested in Lutrina, actually.

Well I'll finish my backstory. Take a look at it and then let me know. I'm still open for either really.

For those interested in world building one of the benefits of a business is a small group of NPCS who work for the business to help keep it running. They are supposed to be fairly mundane, not experts in any field, although they can have a rank of training in a skill or two related to the business that you guys lack.

They are not supposed to be the boss, just workers that can be folded into the narrative and create depth. They really don't even need a stat block, their story is more important. Personality, quirks both positive and negative, and a motivation are important.

So who has broad ideas, let's get a short list then we can choose 4 to flesh out properly.

The business also provides all your accommodation as well as a place for the vehicle. Then it also obviously provides the facility required for the basic functions of the business. In this case something like a simple firing range, a gym, recovery room and a sparing area.

Four staff make to into npc's who would help the party and the business. We could have a trained physician, to act as a way for the party to heal in between encounters and to heal our gladiators of course.

What other staff would we want?

I was thinking you may need a PR manager as none of you are really into the Negotiations side of things.

You could do with a chauffeur too but that could be a side role of one of the other NPCS since your not that big of a business yet. They don't need to be all that good because who expects more than simple jaunts across town?

@Revanchist what do you think? Would you want to play a healer, or have one in our Ludus?

PR manager or a Fight promoter could probably be a good Negotiator for us.

What else are we missing?

I guess that we have to have a sort of manager who would register the fighters and do the necessary micromanagement (head of personnel?), a doctor who would patch up the fighters when needed (even with Sevrath we won't be able to be there all the time, and such a public display of their abilities may be detrimental), and a mechanic who would buikd contraptions to simulate some of those used in the arena(s) (I don't think that leaving it to Vyrr is going to be a good decision, as time is a bit more precious than that). Considering that we are most likely going to upgrade the Focus of our business, I think it is reasonable to assume that these 'major' NPCs are going to have some faceless support. I think that regular trainers should be this 'faceless support' to our head of personnel.

@Shlambate If we have an NPC doctor and everyone feels Sevrath isn't needed as badly I'm more than happy to run Lutrina.

@Revanchist It is ultimately up to you, do you want to be the doc or do you want a person in our Ludus to be the Doc?

I think all points raised on hiding our powers are Valid if we stay in an Empire setting, however if we change to a different time period then hiding your powers may no longer be a concern, so the questions we as a group are where are we in time during all of Star Wars and Who are our Four major support staff. Once we determine Time period and the Staff I think then we can determine the personalities of our Staff npc's and get the show on the road.

If you all want it then I don't mind running the game in the dark times. Just post all your opinions then we can move forward

I vote for Clone Wars or the Galactic Civil War.

I give my vote to the Galactic Civil War, the Force Awakens era, anything between those, and, probably, the Old Republic. I am less keen on the last one, but I still find it a more compelling setting than the Rise of the Empire era.

EDIT: But yeah, even with an NPC doctor Sevrath is going to be irreplaceable as a medic. Sevrath is 30 XP away from being able to heal up to 5 Critical Injuries per day in addition to the usual once per Critical Injury per week plus once a week through Resilience (or once a day through Resilience if a bacta tank is available).

Ok. Healer it is. If he dies then I'll bring in Lutrina. Dark Times or GCW is fine with me. It is possible to be a little freer in the use of powers during GCW because the Empire is too focused on the Rebellion to hit the random Force User X. I'd rather not do TFA (personal preference because I hate Ep VII). Old Republic is good too.

8 hours ago, Revanchist said:

I'd rather not do TFA (personal preference because I hate Ep VII).

I apologise for doing this, but I kind of lost a couple of hours trying to go to sleep after that bit. I just want to reply this one time on this topic and suggest that we drop it afterwards.

I really don't understand the sentiment, the movie, despite some flaws (is there a movie without flaws?), was pretty good, especially if we compare it to the prequels (which I think are just bland with some annoying things in the Phantom Menace; I don't consider them awful, just bland). Kylo was surprisingly well done, I consider the character to be a more interesting villain than Vader at this point (in part due to how much material already features the older Skywalker). The lightsaber fight involving Rey, Finn and Kylo is probably the most well done among ones in the main films (especially when compared to those dance-offs in the prequels).

I'll chime in and say I don't think TFA's story was that inspiring but I really like the characters, far more than the prequels. I think I like the place they went with world building of how things fell into place after RotJ. The idea that The Force was dormant is potentially intriguing, the mobile seat of government is neat and makes sense. I just hope TLJ is more creative, fresh, with less "fan service"... who knows, it's still better than the prequels. (All my personal opinion of course)

I'll make a decision now based on the three of you, we will stick ourselves in the Galactic Civil War. Imperial news on the holonet is full of stories about a large terrorist attack by the Rebel traitors. A common story is:

" Rebel traitors have unfortunately succeeded in disrupting Imperial efforts to maintain stability throughout the Galaxy. The Emperor has issued Orders to ensure they are prevented from further action, your cooperation is required. Your safety is important, if you see any suspicious activity please report to your local authorities."

In some circles rumours spread that this may not be the full story. Other rumours can be heard that the Alderan system is locked down and access is prohibited, some wonder if these things are related.

Now on another note our one month family trip to Europe ends today. I'll be in transit for over thirty hours so don't expect much from me for a couple of days.

While we have time to prepare, let's discuss the NPCs that constitute our staff. Have we decided what occupations our NPCs should have?

I think the two that are necessary are the Doctor and the Manager, the Manager cause he can cover the Deceit and Charm checks and the Doctor to cure all the gladiators who we don't have time to heal every single last one.

19 hours ago, Arctanaar said:

I apologise for doing this, but I kind of lost a couple of hours trying to go to sleep after that bit. I just want to reply this one time on this topic and suggest that we drop it afterwards.

I really don't understand the sentiment, the movie, despite some flaws (is there a movie without flaws?), was pretty good, especially if we compare it to the prequels (which I think are just bland with some annoying things in the Phantom Menace; I don't consider them awful, just bland). Kylo was surprisingly well done, I consider the character to be a more interesting villain than Vader at this point (in part due to how much material already features the older Skywalker). The lightsaber fight involving Rey, Finn and Kylo is probably the most well done among ones in the main films (especially when compared to those dance-offs in the prequels).

And I will just pop in one response and then move on. If you wish to discuss it more I am more than happy to continue the discussion over PMs.

TFA was unoriginal, bland, and had characters that made no sense. Instead of trying to make something new and interesting, they took the same boring (yet safe, because t oday's culture wants shallow. They want action without substance. They want effects over form. No story, and predictable. That's why reboots are the in thing, because people already know what's going to happen ) route. Oh look, another desert planet that another vitally important macGuffin landed on. Hey, an even bigger superweapon that can destroy entire systems (by far my biggest complaint from much of the older EU was the constant Superweapon of the Week drivel). And what do you know, it has a weakness that can be exploited by snubfighters and torpedoes.

Now as far as characters go, they're all pretty terribad. I'm just going to focus on the heroes.

Poe: Ok the First Order is coming to get me. They're murdering innocent people. Let's hop in my X-wing, power up the ship-grade lasers and my underslung antipersonnel Cannon and strafe run the troopers, then make my escape—NOPE let's go all Leeroy Jenkins and run around with my blaster. Later: Let's go back to Jakku, risking my life because the data on that droid is worth it—LOL NOPE, after the crash I think I'll just head back to the Resistance base and chill.

Rey: Ok, another forgotten nobody on a desert world like Luke. That's fine. The problem is that Luke had very noticeable flaws that slowly had to be worked through. He also wasn't good at everything, and came to rely on his friends to provide what he could not. Rey on the other hand is a Mary Sue. She is an ace pilot, can understand Shriiwook, can understand astromech, is an excellent mechanic, and practically a Force pro already. She has zero flaws. She does Han, Luke, and Leia's jobs already. Why does she need the other characters again? A mysterious past is a great plot hook, but without any inner obstacles to fight a character becomes shallow.

Finn: He had so much potential. Completely wasted. For a Stormtrooper who's been brainwashed from birth to be a killing machine he has way too much personality, not to mention the fact that it's the wrong type. Also, let's not forget the classic: my best friend was just murdered by this Resistance pilot, guess I'll make him my new bestie. Out of all the characters in the movie he's the one I hate the most simply because he could have been so interesting.

Phasma: yeah, not even worth talking about. Just because a character has different armor and faces a lackluster end (though she didn't die) does not make them the new Boba Fett. Sorry JJ.

Now TLJ could change all this for me. I mean, if they can rewrite where Kylo's scar is they can rewrite a character's personality. Though given Hamill said he disagrees with everything about his character in the new movie, I am not going to hold my breath.

10 hours ago, Shlambate said:

I think the two that are necessary are the Doctor and the Manager, the Manager cause he can cover the Deceit and Charm checks and the Doctor to cure all the gladiators who we don't have time to heal every single last one.

I agree with this. Other than that I'd say a Mechanic of some sort would probably be nice.

So, thus far we have

1. A manager to micromanage our business
2. A doctor to heal the fighters
3. A mechanic to build the training equipment

What else could we make use of? A secondary manager to make the first one's job easier?

Also, what do you think regarding these characters themselves?

Well I think another NPC to train gladiators in our Ludus would be good, else Bull will be tied to the Ludus or the Arena at all times.

6 hours ago, Shlambate said:

Well I think another NPC to train gladiators in our Ludus would be good, else Bull will be tied to the Ludus or the Arena at all times.

We are likely going to have a number of 'faceless' trainer NPCs that are going to be commanded by one of the managers, so we probably should pick something else, I think.

Fair point, how about a Gladiator? One of our favorites that we have trained up as Face to oppose Bull's Heel? It could help for us to have both someone with fans to call upon and well Bull who can scare things.

1 hour ago, Shlambate said:

Fair point, how about a Gladiator? One of our favorites that we have trained up as Face to oppose Bull's Heel? It could help for us to have both someone with fans to call upon and well Bull who can scare things.

That would work

Seems like we have to simply think of how to flesh out these NPCs. Any suggtions?

Alright so we have our 4 NPC's down, we need to come up with personalities for them.

For the Doctor do we want Doctor House or Someone a bit nicer?

Is our Manager sleazy and untrustworthy making him/her the Deciet king or is he/she a smooth operator?

Mind you I'm just giving a few options for personalities we can have many different ones for our cast of NPC's. These were just the ones of the top of my head.