17 minutes ago, micheldebruyn said:

I can find no reference to the species ever having been mentioned in stories. The very first mention of them was in the Shadows Of The Empire soundtrack CD booklet. I own the comics they supposedly first appeared in, and there's no reference to them being anything else than humans in armour in those books.

What do the footnotes in the wookieepedia say there is usually a source list.

https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Timeline_9:_The_Mandalorian_Wars

I remember watching these videos when the mmo came out.

https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Taung

Tales of the Jedi and Knights of the Old Republic comics.

2 hours ago, Eoen said:

What do the footnotes in the wookieepedia say there is usually a source list.

https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Timeline_9:_The_Mandalorian_Wars

I remember watching these videos when the mmo came out.

The video doesn't mention Taungs. And nothing relating to that time period is canon anyways. But even back when it was canon, the Taungs were accidentally created by a writer who took an armoured Mandalorian for an unarmoured alien.

2 hours ago, micheldebruyn said:

The video doesn't mention Taungs. And nothing relating to that time period is canon anyways. But even back when it was canon, the Taungs were accidentally created by a writer who took an armoured Mandalorian for an unarmoured alien.

Yeah it does Mandalore the ultimate was a Taung. The Taung finally were eclipsed by humans because of the war. The leadership of the Mandalorians at the time where Taungs.

Who cares if its canon or not, nothing we do at our tables is canon either, and the game dips into legends material often enough. Having fun is all that matters.

3 hours ago, Eoen said:

Yeah it does Mandalore the ultimate was a Taung. The Taung finally were eclipsed by humans because of the war. The leadership of the Mandalorians at the time where Taungs.

Who cares if its canon or not, nothing we do at our tables is canon either, and the game dips into legends material often enough. Having fun is all that matters.

And some, like me, have plenty of fun ignoring the Taung/Mandalorian relationship. In my case, more fun than I would if I included it.

Personally the whole Canon/Legends gets brought up ad-nauseam. Who cares? This is an RPG site, not StarWars.com continuity forums. Like Eoen said, most games dip into Legends, some do a triple somersault dive with a twist into it and others avoid it like Space Herpes.

I won't use them, I will have fun. Some will use them, and, I know I'm going out on a limb here, but they will probably have fun too. 🙂

Rewatching ep 3 I realized that despite the all the supposedly fancy nightvision stuff stormtroopers have in their helmets, they still needed to clip flashlights to their blasters. Makes perfect sense if you consider that their armor might be in a state of disrepair or... that the empire was toppled before imperial battery size standardization reached the outer rim. Now it's simply impossible to find the right size in a backwater like the one in the show.

Thanks, Organa!

On 11/28/2019 at 10:20 PM, Eoen said:

Beskar literally means Iron in Mand’oa. The English word “steel” means an alloy of iron and carbon, and “steel” has been used in canon.

If your going to reference legends then it’s fair game to rebut with legends content.

“Beskar is a uniquely resistant iron that develops a wide range of properties—and colors—in the hands of skilled metalsmiths. Depending on the alloy, it can take any form from plate, laminate, and wire to foam, mesh, micronized particles, and even a transparent film. Mandalorians jealously guard their beskar-working skills and refuse to sell the formulas for any price; attempts to reproduce finished beskar elsewhere have been disappointing. The ore is found solely on Mandalore, and only Mandalorians know how to work it to maximize its extraordinary properties.“

Let's make one thing clear: I'm not referencing to Legends.

I'm just saying that the first time it was mentioned by any name was in a comic in 1997.
And that it was only later named beskar.

I'm not saying that it means anything in legends or making any reference to the mandalorian language from legends.

What I'm saying is that the fact that it was called mandalorian iron for a long time doesn't mean it's made of iron. It just means that the person who made up the name for the comic was lazy enough to use iron as a denomination of "some sort of metal".

It is by no means proof that it's actually made of iron.

On 11/29/2019 at 10:23 PM, Tramp Graphics said:

Excuse me? Beskar

Except it's not a "colloquial" term. See below.

Execpt, as @Eoen pointed out below, Beskar literally translates to iron in Mando'a.

Which is something that was done long after both names were coined.

AND it's also just legends, and so far nothing else has been mentioned in canon... indeed, I don't even think the term "Mandalorian Iron" has been mentioned in the new canon at all.

So, for now, "Beskar" just means "some sort of mandalorian metal".

7 minutes ago, OddballE8 said:

Which is something that was done long after both names were coined.

AND it's also just legends, and so far nothing else has been mentioned in canon... indeed, I don't even think the term "Mandalorian Iron" has been mentioned in the new canon at all.

So, for now, "Beskar" just means "some sort of mandalorian metal".

It was called "Steel" in the Mandalorian, in the English language steel means and alloy of iron and carbon. Until some canon source says otherwise I'm going to assume the story group is just canonizing legends material.

Of course what you define at your table is your business.

Knock! It! The! F#€k off!

4 hours ago, Eoen said:

It was called "Steel" in the Mandalorian, in the English language steel means and alloy of iron and carbon. Until some canon source says otherwise I'm going to assume the story group is just canonizing legends material.

Of course what you define at your table is your business.

I've got a great deal on some gold for you if you're interested in making a quick buck. So cheap only a fool would turn this offer down!

16 minutes ago, penpenpen said:

I've got a great deal on some gold for you if you're interested in making a quick buck. So cheap only a fool would turn this offer down!

Go troll infowars, those rednecks are all about the gold.

I think it's kinda remarkable the levels of pedantry Star Wars can bring out in fans, I haven't seen any other IP inspire this much absurd nonsense

1 hour ago, Tom Cruise said:

I think it's kinda remarkable the levels of pedantry Star Wars can bring out in fans, I haven't seen any other IP inspire this much absurd nonsense

LOL, check out another IP that begins with "Star".

1 hour ago, Jareth Valar said:

LOL, check out another IP that begins with "Star".

At least Star Trek has the excuse that's its trying for at least some degree of scientific plausibility, though how much depends on which series; Voyager is notorious for its nonsense technobabble, while the original series didn't try to go too in-depth lest the soap bubble of suspension of disbelief pop.

Star Wars has been space fantasy since Day One.

The kind of factoid I needed today:

Why is the ice cream machine container called a camtono?

It's good to know that the IP is fueled by this kind of creativity.

14 hours ago, Tom Cruise said:

I think it's kinda remarkable the levels of pedantry Star Wars can bring out in fans, I haven't seen any other IP inspire this much absurd nonsense

12 hours ago, Jareth Valar said:

LOL, check out another IP that begins with "Star".

Also check out some of the Transformers forums. TF fans are also known for their pedantry.

Just now, Tramp Graphics said:

Transformers forums. TF fans are also known for their pedantry.

Really? Huh. Never struck me as the sort of fandom that would have that. (to be fair, my only exposure to it was a 6-year old who tried to explain Optimus Prime and Bumblebee to me)

1 minute ago, P-47 Thunderbolt said:

Really? Huh. Never struck me as the sort of fandom that would have that. (to be fair, my only exposure to it was a 6-year old who tried to explain Optimus Prime and Bumblebee to me)

Yeah, try talking with people who have been fans since G1.

1 minute ago, Tramp Graphics said:

Yeah, try talking with people who have been fans since G1.

Or perhaps I shouldn't...

I get the impression that Cara's "deal" will be explored in greater detail as the show goes on, in that things won't be as simple as they appeared. People don't just decide to go for a long walk; they do so for a reason. I'm guessing that as the series goes on it's going to explore this cold war climate created between the Republic and the remnants of the empire as despite losing the war, they kept a fair amount of domain following the war and were able to stay poltically relevant through back doors. Thus why she's drifting could be a number of reasons.

1) The Republic, having won a war has no need for soldiers and simply decides to dump them as quickly as possible as the instrituion that once maintained the army of the republic was no longer required when it returned to it's roots, a series of independently governed planets that decide it doesn't want to foot the bill to maintain a large standing army. For a lot of people whom might've been fighting for some time; they simply decided to move on in the wilder places of space where the Republic has no real interest in keeping secure. I strongly suspect this and pretty much everything I read about this new republic finds me resenting them. They took all the progress of the galactic civil war and was like "lol not my problem, the empire's cool." Kinda reminds me of our actual political environment too much; long as the bombs drop and the weapon sales are made in the middle east and not on "civilised" soil we don't much care. Still paying the price for that ignorant mentality even today. It would make sense though; the new Republic probably wouldn't have any loyalties to the people who bled under it's banner.

2) The Empire are still very active; despite losing a lot they are taking revenge in whatever little way they can. The social climate between Russia and Amercia and the war being held in the middle east is a perfect example of how two nations can fight entire wars over territory and people despite being officially at peace, the empire being better at that simply because it doesn't need to pretend to be moral. Therefore any war heroes whom was especially distinguished is probably being hunted by the Empire with whatever mercenary force's will take their coin.

3) She's done something especially bad to make her wanted by the republic. Deserting can do that, but in a time of peace it seems likely she's just really angered someone in a position of power. Perhaps her old boss or an alliance general of some description.

People don't seem to like Mandolorians very much, they just begrudgingly accept them. If they did they wouldn't have reason to be just hiding in what was otherwise a hive of scum and villinary. I figure why that's the case will be clear eventually, just they seem to live the lives of nomads. It would be interesting to see some of them taking up trades other then simply fighting; even warrior people such as the Normans had to do farming to grow crops, indeed Vikings aren't even a culture but rather a thing that pagan Scandinavians/Danish out of necessarily. After all, the second born onwards usually had to as only the primary heir would inherit the family property and therefore much of it's wealth; going raiding (or as they would say, Go Viking) was one of the few ways those less favoured son's had of obtaining considerable wealth to construct a new legacy.

3 minutes ago, LordBritish said:

long as the bombs drop and the weapon sales are made in the middle east and not on "civilised" soil we don't much care.

Hooo... I could go on for a while on this subject 🙄... But I won't because it would be pointless.

5 minutes ago, LordBritish said:

People don't seem to like Mandolorians very much, they just begrudgingly accept them. If they did they wouldn't have reason to be just hiding in what was otherwise a hive of scum and villinary. I figure why that's the case will be clear eventually, just they seem to live the lives of nomads.

I think that this might be largely on the Mandalorians' end. It may not be so much that people dislike them* but that they are trying to keep themselves separate from the outer cultures. Hence "enclave" and "covert" both suggesting a sort of sealing off, rather than shunning (though this is easily debatable and I can see both sides).

Christians talk about being "in the world, but not of the world," so the Mandalorians may be "not in the world or a part of it" choosing to keep themselves separate in order to preserve their culture's purity.

11 minutes ago, LordBritish said:

It would be interesting to see some of them taking up trades other then simply fighting

Like the Mandalorian, it seems that they are mercenaries who hire themselves out. Even if they only go out in small numbers, you just need to have a couple decently-sized groups go out at a time. Then they bring back their spoils and live off of them for a while before heading out again. The Mandalorian is in a different situation in that he is a guilded bounty hunter and can find steady(ish) work, resulting in him not staying there as much, while possibly not getting paid as much per job. This is somewhat reinforced by the exchange with the farmer where he says "What do you think I am, some kind of mercenary?" and the farmer responds "Well, you are Mandalorian, aren't you?" suggesting that his knowledge of Mandalorians is as mercenaries. Given that Disney canon is sketchy on whether the Mandalorians widely worked as mercs up till this point, this could be an implication that Mandalorians have become pretty much just mercs now that they have been scattered through the galaxy.

We also don't know how they handle private property and pooled resources. They might be of a more communal (not communist or socialist, just hear me out) bent, sharing their resources in the name of survival. They seem like a culture that would be better able to pull this off, and the small numbers of this community also play to their advantage in this regard. When the armorer says: "The excess will sponsor many foundlings" it seems to be almost an unspoken understanding that they must contribute to the community rather than "The excess could sponsor many foundlings" which would indicate a suggestion or request. And this is less cut-and-dried, but his answer would further reinforce that.

*There is probably a component of fear though. If they are known as warriors, it may be hard to find a job flipping burgers. There may also be a component of the perceived impersonablity of people who never remove their helmets. In Legends, they often filled roles such as mechanics, engineers, farmers, etc. on their own planets, while also being warriors. Since they aren't on their own planets anymore, they may not feel that it is an option as they aren't "secure."

40 minutes ago, LordBritish said:

The Republic, having won a war has no need for soldiers and simply decides to dump them as quickly as possible

While we haven’t seen or heard this on the large or small screen (so far), the novels have established that Mon Mothma demilitarized the New Republic in pretty short order after the Battle of Jakku, not wanting to even give the impression that the new government might even consider using force to keep planets in line.

A musing on ep4.

Cara Dunne claims she has seen an AT-ST mow down "companies" worth of troops in a matter of minutes.

That'd be, what? Something like 300 minions or so?

Considering the effect of vehicle scale and blast weapons on minion groups, that sounds about right...

Although, Mandy's absolute refusal to use his ship as planetary transport, or for air support, is starting to be a bit odd. I've started to compile a mental list of instances where we see starships engage in atmospheric combat, and the films aren't really full of them, and the ones we do see is mostly starfighters. Perhaps starships should get some setback dice in atmosphere on account for not being built for that? Sure, a starfighter with good handling and a pilot with skilled jockey might not mind so much, but your average Bounty Hunter might not want to wobble around and risk running a perfectly good starship into the ground. Gives more reason to invest in a speeder for running around planetside, and less instances where the PCs show up with starship level weaponry for a bar brawl.

Also, gives airspeeders more reason for existing.

32 minutes ago, penpenpen said:

A musing on ep4.

Cara Dunne claims she has seen an AT-ST mow down "companies" worth of troops in a matter of minutes.

That'd be, what? Something like 300 minions or so?

Considering the effect of vehicle scale and blast weapons on minion groups, that sounds about right...

I can’t believe you so casually dismiss the lives of those poor minions. Besides all they really needed to take down the AT-ST are two logs and some vines.