Hello everyone. I'm starting a campaign and one of my friends wants to play a Gonk Droid. He is a "heavily modified droid" to serve the role of medic in the group, and is no longer a power droid. All cool and I thought it was creative. When I told the player to give me an explanation as to how the droid moves as fast as the rest of the party (Gonk Droids move pretty slow) he got pretty upset and argued with me that getting detailed about it was "ruining the fun" and that it is just a roleplaying game. While I agree with the notion that having fun is the most important thing in these games, I felt it unwarranted to be griefed over asking for something as simple as this, especially since other Gonk droids exist and I as a GM need to know how his model is mechanically different from the others. Have you had to deal with a player like this in your game? Am I being unreasonable here? What are your opinions on how I should handle this?

I don't know the player, but sometimes when I get put on the spot, I get flustered.

I might start out with, "just think about it, and come back next week with an idea of how your droid is different from other gonk droids." Sometimes all people need is a little time to get used to an idea.

The player sounds like he overreacted, but I wouldn't have asked the question in the first place, or maybe I'd have approached it differently. On the one hand, unless you want the game to center around "waiting for the gonk droid", just leave it alone. They seem pretty slow, but maybe they have a "gallop" mode...just because it's not in the movies doesn't mean it doesn't exist.

On the other hand, if you feel it's important you could offer the Hutt movement limitations, so long as you offer something reasonable in return (like extra XP).

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and I as a GM need to know how his model is mechanically different from the others

I'm not sure why this is true for you.

I as a rule don't ever get involved with how PCs view themselves in quasi custom races or how they look, unless their gifting themselves 'death rays' from their eyes I don't bother.

Perhaps some suggestions would help the player, especially if your intent was to simply be able to narrate things better. Does the Gonk droid have retractable wheels on its feet? Upgraded servos in the legs? Alternate programming that allows it to skip, trot, etc? Or does it have a small repulsor assist, as is the case with a lot of containers in the SW universe?

Mechanically it doesn't matter. It's a PC, so it moves like a PC.

Simple. It's a modified Gonk droid that is sentient, it can literally have whatever it wants (within reason) to move at the standard rate or alternatively a boost to xp could be warranted.

I think it's a perfectly legitimate question to be asking, and any PC should have spent at least a minute to think up of whatever quirk such a droid would have if they were going for an unusual concept (which any GM should review before submission, just so everyone starts a campaign on the same page). I might have addressed it at character creation to make a thematic character out of the gates, but I don't feel that this question is entirely unreasonable given the particularly quirky design.

Two things...

Most of the droids we see in Star Wars, unless they're flying, are on the slow side. C-3PO barely picked up his feet and moved around at a sort of shuffle. R2-D2 had wheels which left very little clearance between his feet and the floor. Despite this, neither of them seemed to have a problem keeping up with the humans as they moved across the rough forest floor of Endor. Since the droid rules don't mention mobility (at least that I recall), I would just hand-wave it; just like they hand-waved it in the movies.

While EG-6 power droids are normally seen plodding along; when the Jawas opened the main door on the sandcrawler after arriving at the Lars homestead, that one on board seemed to run away at a pretty good scoot.

43 minutes ago, whafrog said:

3 minutes ago, JRRP said:

Perhaps some suggestions would help the player, especially if your intent was to simply be able to narrate things better. Does the Gonk droid have retractable wheels on its feet? Upgraded servos in the legs? Alternate programming that allows it to skip, trot, etc? Or does it have a small repulsor assist, as is the case with a lot of containers in the SW universe?

Mechanically it doesn't matter. It's a PC, so it moves like a PC.

Those narrative explanations are good. Didn't think of the retractable wheels on its feet. Thank you.

6 minutes ago, LordBritish said:

Simple. It's a modified Gonk droid that is sentient, it can literally have whatever it wants (within reason)

Totally agree.

7 minutes ago, LordBritish said:

I think it's a perfectly legitimate question to be asking, and any PC should have spent at least a minute to think up of whatever quirk such a droid would have if they were going for an unusual concept...

Exactly. The problem I am having is that the player felt just asking the question was unreasonable, and that simply saying "he is heavily modified" won't work all the time narratively.

To me the sticking point was that the character was not going to be able to move as fast as everyone else, and the player did not like that. I find that people often get indignant over a character clarification like that if they feel like their concept has been violated. Maybe he pictured the droid being able to rush over and help fallen comrades and when you suggested he couldn't move that fast on Gonk Legs it violated his idea of the capability of the character. As the GM you are the keeper of the continuity of the world, so I feel like you were completely justified in making this distinction.

There are other players who feel that any weakness is too much. Playing to weaknesses has revealed the most interesting characters in RPGs for me, and I think it is essential for most characters to have deficiencies to play to. I could see a dramatic scene where the gonk droid PC has to move at a slower speed when moving fast is paramount, but he does get there in time and the resulting tension produces a great scene. You could also have screen wipes where the droid is ambling along as the last character in frame. Having a Gamist need to win kind of spoils the fun for me, so you may need to see where this player is at and fully disclose if you aren't looking to just tell someone how they win over and over for hours just so they won't get hurt.

Is it possible that the player thought you were asking a rhetorical question? Like, the question "how are you going to move so fast" was interpreted by the player as "Gonk droids can't move that fast."

Just spitballing.

23 hours ago, whafrog said:

I'm not sure why this is true for you.

I may be taking this in the wrong direction, in on of my past games a Jawa PC (thanks Menagerie!) wanted to build himself a droid mount. His 5 int and 4 mechanics and RAW plus getting stuff to put on it yielded something that would make an HK series think twice. As I ran a higher level game I allowed it since he was super squishy and had earned the use of his abilities. I can easily see a droid PC who doesn't explain something (prototype repulsor tech is why I move fast, DUH!) could in turn ask to have him/herself modified and come back with rocket tubes, rotary cannons, and a plethora of other fun toys.

1 hour ago, ASCI Blue said:

I may be taking this in the wrong direction, in on of my past games a Jawa PC (thanks Menagerie!) wanted to build himself a droid mount. His 5 int and 4 mechanics and RAW plus getting stuff to put on it yielded something that would make an HK series think twice. As I ran a higher level game I allowed it since he was super squishy and had earned the use of his abilities. I can easily see a droid PC who doesn't explain something (prototype repulsor tech is why I move fast, DUH!) could in turn ask to have him/herself modified and come back with rocket tubes, rotary cannons, and a plethora of other fun toys.

Yeah I agree that you say no quietly now so that you don't have to say it loudly later sometimes. Players exhibit the human quality of give an inch and take a mile. Some GM's really don't mind that loud No later and feel like that is ok, whereas others get frustrated at having to be someone else's sense of proportion. Sometimes when I get really disgusted with a Player like that I give them everything they want and more and then watch boredom set in. The GM has to be able to have adversity as a tool. Without it the games are just stroke jobs.

On 10.2.2018 at 7:22 PM, whafrog said:

The player sounds like he overreacted, but I wouldn't have asked the question in the first place, or maybe I'd have approached it differently. On the one hand, unless you want the game to center around "waiting for the gonk droid", just leave it alone. They seem pretty slow, but maybe they have a "gallop" mode...just because it's not in the movies doesn't mean it doesn't exist.

On the other hand, if you feel it's important you could offer the Hutt movement limitations, so long as you offer something reasonable in return (like extra XP).

I'm not sure why this is true for you.

The question is simply interesting, because it is narratively quite different if the droid has some extra limbs or some modified repulsors or whatever. There are countless options how this little detail can be described so the question is interesting.
Either way there are no movement restrictions.

Come up with a few possible explanations, ask the player to pick one.

Unless a player is proposing something that would break the system mechanics or a very obvious setting conflict, like a Jedi cannibal or whatever, it's not worth fretting violations of personal head canon.

The better question would have been: How would this box on feet be able to do his medic stuff on the group?

3 minutes ago, MasterZelgadis said:

The better question would have been: How would this box on feet be able to do his medic stuff on the group?

Something like this? Just cubic?

Maybe.. except that a gonk droid looks more like this...

So it is a cubic doctor med. Big deal. Attach a dozen arms for medical equipment and a small repulsor unit and the Doctor is ready for you.

On 2/10/2018 at 9:46 AM, mandametal said:

When I told the player to give me an explanation as to how the droid moves as fast as the rest of the party

"Bionic Legs. I run in slow motion."

Boom, sorted.

On 2/10/2018 at 9:46 AM, mandametal said:

What are your opinions on how I should handle this?

Unless it's hindering the story or giving the player an unfair boost, then don't worry about it.

On 2/14/2018 at 7:08 AM, SEApocalypse said:

So it is a cubic doctor med. Big deal. Attach a dozen arms for medical equipment and a small repulsor unit and the Doctor is ready for you.

A Strange Droid indeed. . .

On 2/10/2018 at 11:46 AM, mandametal said:

Hello everyone. I'm starting a campaign and one of my friends wants to play a Gonk Droid. He is a "heavily modified droid" to serve the role of medic in the group, and is no longer a power droid. All cool and I thought it was creative. When I told the player to give me an explanation as to how the droid moves as fast as the rest of the party (Gonk Droids move pretty slow) he got pretty upset and argued with me that getting detailed about it was "ruining the fun" and that it is just a roleplaying game. While I agree with the notion that having fun is the most important thing in these games, I felt it unwarranted to be griefed over asking for something as simple as this, especially since other Gonk droids exist and I as a GM need to know how his model is mechanically different from the others. Have you had to deal with a player like this in your game? Am I being unreasonable here? What are your opinions on how I should handle this?

I think you answered your own question in this very paragraph. "heavily modified droid" The modifications include some other form of mobility that lets him maintain regular movement. I don't know how the guy reacted, so I can't really say, but I think your question was unnecessary, even if his reaction might have been excessive. I would just say the droid has some kind of mag/repulsor plates that let him float off the ground at average person height, and be done with it. Plenty of droids in Star Wars do this, so there is precedent for it, even big ones like the Birthing Droids in Revenge, that were the size of a person and still floated.

If he's the kind of player that would try and munchkin this type of "flight", I would just say that they function only a certain distance off the ground, so you can't just fly. You can still try and "jump" (and thus making a skill check) by overthrusting the plates, to get enough momentum to hopefully reach a higher level, but for all intents and purposes, you work like a regular person.

Beyond that, yeah I'd say don't worry about it. It is a fairly minor detail in a game that encourages not sweating the minor details, especially if they are getting in the way of fun.

I think, though, to say that you can hand-wave this, or describe it easily, is missing the point.

If the GM thought it was a significant distinction then I don't think that just saying "just let them do it," is going to work long term. You have to come to an understanding with the players. One that is giving as it can be, without being too permissive. At some point every GM has to draw boundaries and hold them, or be held prisoner in their own game.

I think that it's your game as far as refereeing it, but it's their game as far as what they do. If you feel that player needs to buy a repulsor unit to move fast then you are justified in making that a sticking point.

EPISODE I: FEETS DONT FAIL ME NOW

Having become acutely aware of how stubby feet

are unsuitable for fast movement, Gonk Doc

has decided to embark on a heroic quest for a repulsor unit.

I'm kidding about making it an adventure, but I think that this is something that you could insist is not a hand wave. The next danger would be the player installing a repulsor unit, which in my experience will mean that Gonk Doc will claim to no longer need a vehicle save for hyperspace travel, lol.

Have you tried telling the group that they are used to walk at a pace that the gonk droid can follow. But in a running sequence or in case or pursuit he is very slow. In other words the group benefits of his awesome doc skills but have to take care of him in return when time to run of escape. If you play with a map don't bother telling him he moves 4 squares and the other 6 square per turn. That can be frustrating, I personally skip the map with squares since star wars edge is not about such ruling like dnd.

That's how I'd handle this one. Hope it helps

On 2/10/2018 at 12:46 PM, mandametal said:

I'm starting a campaign and one of my friends wants to play a Gonk Droid. He is a "heavily modified droid" to serve the role of medic in the group, and is no longer a power droid. All cool and I thought it was creative. When I told the player to give me an explanation as to how the droid moves as fast as the rest of the party (Gonk Droids move pretty slow) he got pretty upset and argued with me that getting detailed about it was "ruining the fun" and that it is just a roleplaying game.

I'm going to guess that this friend of yours isn't really into Star Wars that much and is playing EotE mostly because you and your other friends are. His choice of PC screams that he's not into it so rather than build a character with some connection to your game he's going to build a gimmick PC that will likely get stale pretty quick. I foresee you having arguments throughout your sessions with him wanting to do things that just make no sense given the limitations built into his choice of character. He's explanation will always be that he's "Heavily Modified" so he can do whatever he wants. True you can say this about other Droid PCs but most people who play Droids, in my experience, aren't playing faceless boxes with stubby legs. Even an R2 unit has more personality features than a Gonk. Anyway I wouldn't be too concerned about how this sideshow PC gets around but rather you should prepare for your friend being a pain in the butt to GM.