While I enjoyed this episode, I think it was the weakest so far. Unfortunate, since I wanted to love it. I did love the opening action scenes...Ahsoka is appropriately bad-***, fearless, always a step ahead. I kind of like that they just jumped into it, no searching and seeking and an overly dramatic reveal. The choreography of the action scenes was great throughout. I'm fine with her appearance, her voice, and all that, in fact I'd say her look is more in line with TCW than Rebels, which is a good thing imho. And yet...I wish Dawson had worked a little harder on movement. Ahsoka walks like a poised athlete; Dawson walks like a Hollywood starlet, with a slumpy little hip-swagger that suggests a completely different attitude than what we know of Ahsoka. Plus, I wouldn't say Dawson conveyed that much conviction in her lines, the fish guy from the last episode is awesome by comparison. Giant dinosaurs feasting on burnt forests? Love it. Storywise...they squandered a lot of opportunities. The standoff between Mando and the merc could have had a lot more interesting dialogue, and not ended with such an obvious fake-out. Mando could have let him leave, he might have made an interesting enemy. The warlord had a lot of potential too. We didn't see her die, so who knows what happened, but it all seemed very throw-away. I guess that's interesting about Thrawn, a tidbit for Rebels fans, but I really hope that's all it is, just two stories briefly crossing paths. (That was one of the genius aspects of Rebels.) It implies a lot of things, especially that Thrawn has somehow survived his space-whale hug-fest and re-made contact or might even be really busy serving the Empire in other ways. But I really don't care about that character. So we're left with a dead-end, and a continued fetch quest. And, Tython? Ruins? "Seat at the top of a mountain"? Seriously? I know this is a space fantasy, but that feels more like Lord of the Rings (which I also love, but sheesh, let's not try too hard to merge genres...). And what are they going to do there? Wait just in case some Jedi got the message, and if not, die waiting? I hope the Jedi is close by, and has a handy starship... Of course baby Yoda (who cares what his real name is...!) might not reach out to the Force, so ... not sure how I'd feel about that. Finally I think the story would have worked much better if Ahsoka had simply rejected the idea of taking him on because she was busy chasing Thrawn. Instead it's like "hey I'm on the trail of this super-big-baddie, but a stranger just showed up and wants me to train this baby. And you know, I'd totally do it! I mean Thrawn can't be more important than this cute little bundle! Aren't you the darnedest thing! But oh, look, he's angry. Well, see ya!" It just doesn't work. My first line above says I "enjoyed this episode"...the more I rant the more I recant. I'm sure a lot of how I feel will depend on where they go from here.

Great summary. Very combat and "structured time" heavy, so might I add: Social conflict: know your NPCs, their goals and preferences. The more important the NPC, the more goals and/or preferences: The shopkeeper the PCs just met really wants to unload the crate of stolen blasters in his back room. But he's not sure the players aren't undercover cops. The more belligerent they are, the more suspicious he will be, so adjust Coercion accordingly The gang leader the PCs just met wants to win a local turf war (obvious goal). Peaceful coexistence is a bonus, but obliteration is on the table. He and the other leader swapped their kids as a form of MAD (mutually assured destruction), but things are getting out of hand. Now, his ward got away, and he thinks the other side killed his kid (they tried, but didn't...yet). So his sub-goals are nuanced and dangerous to know, because knowing them could compromise his situation, but played right they will reap much higher rewards. (Totally stolen from Fargo, Season 4 ) Chases: The chase need not be in structured time, the important thing is to keep regular story beats Any skill can be used in a chase, let the players be creative, but also hit them where they don't excel. Charm could be used to convince a local to find a shortcut, Negotiation says "5cr to point in the other direction", Resilience to keep up the pace, Ranged or Mechanics to blow open a door, etc

Filoni rarely does that kind of exposition (don't know about Favreau, I can only judge from TCW and Rebels). Not only would that be kind of crass, if these people barely knew about the Jedi, I doubt they'd ever have seen the Emperor. Plus a clone of Palpy isn't going to start off old and wrinkled and Force-burned, which is about the only way he'd be known. Plus...the whole foundation of the story so far is that these characters really have no idea of the bigger picture, it would be weird if they suddenly clued in. In any case, I really love their pacing of information. Anyway, what a treat! Great from beginning to end. Great action scenes, humour, banter. The speeders "skiing" down the cliff, wiping out, barely making it...all really fantastic and seamless. Again, love the small touches, like the fish dude expelling a mist when Mando walks in. I for one was never bothered by "midichlorians", so the mild reference to "m-count" was welcome to me. I noticed this one was directed by Carl Weathers, he did a bang up job.

Well so what? She's still fit and hot! Oh wait, that's in my ballpark...

The series will end back on the farming planet, where he will walk up to the widow and break his chains...

That was a great add, very freaky, ramps up the tension, but also the shift in perspective just adds that much more to the world-building...or is an homage to "a certain point of view"...

Yep, I like her style. Hindsight is 20/20, but it's so great they modelled Bo in TCW on real-life Katee, it's just seamless now the way they talk and even move. Though RL Katee has more presence... Again I have to love all the details. Everything has mass and grime and carries the weight of the world. The Razorcrest being hauled out of the water and unceremoniously dumped on the platform, with the water sloshing around the engines...it all looks fantastic, nothing you can really point to that says "CGI". I like too that *these* Mon Cala obviously have a different attitude and aesthetic than their E6 counterparts. Mando's comment at the end seems to indicate that's been the norm in his experience, I like the twist. It's kind of a perfect EotE story too, with money tight and everything falling apart.

Well, when you put it that way...I have to agree! 😁

lol, yeah, I get it's a reference to Filoni's signature love, but dude, shake things up a bit please?!

Thoroughly enjoyed it, and like grandma even more now. The pacing of the spiders (and their abilities) was well handled, each story beat introduced a new thing. Love the giant one at the end peering through the windows, like a shark eyeing a diver in a cage, creepy as ****! Some nice touches too, like the frog-lady's pulsing temples/ears. Not a fan of the sub-light thing, it's completely unnecessary. I mean, I get SW is not hard sci-fi, but it's easier to world-build on something solid. If you toss out the need for hyperspace to get between the stars, then you're world-building on a house of cards, because anything goes. It could still sort of work if stars were at least Pluto*2-distance apart, but then you'd have to assume the engines could get very close to light-speed very quickly. In the end ... whatever. I just roll my eyes and enjoy the story.

They remind me more of the garbage creatures on Raxis (?) when Savage was looking for Maul. Something about the squarish eyes

It may be a player problem, but it also may be a timing and urgency problem. There are costs associated with getting that extra die and you can control all of them: It costs some material (stimpack, drug, etc). Like casting materials for a wizard, sometimes they should be hard to find. As far as stimpacks go, maybe they aren't just available at the local SpaceWalmart. Maybe some governments or corporations monopolize them to control the population. Maybe some governments have outlawed or limited them because they are being used to make other things (like rubbing alcohol and bathtub meth). For medpacks, there probably should be a limit, or treat it like a heavy blaster and if they get 3T they have run out...this at least will give them pause. It costs an Action. If the players have enough time to do this, maybe there isn't enough pressure. Actions should be precious and come with decisions..."if I do this, then I can't do that". Ideally, the players will have more things to do than they can get to without either making uncomfortable decisions or spending precious resources. I get if they inject the pilot before a space run it's hard to control, but there's nothing stopping you from upping the challenge level in response...of course you don't telegraph this, instead congratulate them: "good thing you did that, because it looks like some of those asteroids are space-mines!" Every Action contains some risk, so don't be afraid to upgrade or add setback to the default PP difficulty. These things are harder to do when being shot at, on a ship in motion, etc. It costs Strain on the recipient. I don't know about you, but my PCs are usually running around with a strain hit anyway, because it's the default currency when I can't think of something narrative (1-2 Threat isn't enough to stop the game to ponder these things), plus I like having the increasing pressure of the day add up. The point is that 4 Strain cost should be enough to make them think twice about the impact on the recipient. It does sound like you're making this resource (materials and time) much more available than it needs to be.

I like the grandma, for a couple of reasons aesthetic and structural. First, she's a chipper break from the dour and sombre mood conveyed by nearly every other character, even the bit players. Almost everyone in Mando's sphere of orbit is either desperate or power-hungry or both. (As an aside, I have no issue with that, in fact that's "as it should be", because that's the world he walks. Plus, to paraphrase Tolkien, happy times don't make a story.) However, in keeping with the "lived in world", what grandma represents is "everybody else in the galaxy who is just living their life". She struggles, but has room for compassion. She knows her world is dangerous, but her spirit isn't broken. It's a clever shortcut the storytellers are using to ground the world of Mando into something larger.

I missed that, what was it?

Finally got to the episode, thoroughly enjoyed. Favreau ( and Filoni ) seem to understand that half the appeal is in the little world-building details, like the sand-person brushing the bantha's teeth. The tradition of a "lived-in world" lives on!

No, but you can tell by comparing the examples in combat for spending a Triumph with the suggested uses of a DP. Both can be used to upgrade a dice pool, and that seems to be the pinnacle of mechanical effect (not something you can do with any number of advantages, even though personally I find it a bit underwhelming), so they are roughly on par. That's just RAW though, if you want it to have more effect go for it.

Yes, like Triumphs and Despairs, they can not be used to cancel each other. It should be noted that, by RAW, spending a DP has about the same mechanical effect as spending a Triumph. You can upgrade your dice pool in the same way, or cause narrative things to happen with about the same value. If you start allowing things like second attacks, it makes them way more valuable, and the whole game, which already favours the attacker, turns far more lethal. Any player who understand the mechanics would only ever use it for a second attack, because dice upgrades are piddly things by comparison.

I really like how most of the skills are broken down and structured, so outside of the Knowledge skills I've left it alone. I really like the difference between Cool/Vigilance; Vigilance/Perception; Athletics/Coordination, etc. I do mess with the Knowledge skills a bit, depending on the campaign, because I'm not really a fan of the geography and socially based ones. Eg: Knowledge Underworld could easily be rolled into Lore and/or Streetwise; while Core and Outer Rim could be bundled under "Current Events" (history would fall under "Lore").

It's best to give the players some autonomy, either a long extended mission with several sub-objectives so they can decide how best to tackle the problem, or even have them disconnected from the Republic high command due to communication failures, distance, etc. If you haven't viewed the TCW arc on the assault on Umbara (S4, E7-10) it's well worth reviewing. The larger goal is to take the planet, but their own mission is to take the city, and to do that they have to take an airfield, etc. Along the way their communication with higher command is increasingly spotty, so they have to make their own decisions. Each of the clones also has a unique way of acting, speaking, thinking so it should provide good fodder for individualist ideas. This can be tricky, I can imagine it would be a great opportunity for some intense roleplay. But in the end the players will probably have to be unanimous in their decision, otherwise it would be hard to explain why the campaign doesn't end in a shootout. You can of course "steer" the results by making them privy to important information, or have them feeling increasingly neglected and treated like cannon fodder the closer to Order 66 they get. Or the other way, by having them increasingly celebrated and their status increased as they gain (future) Imperial favour...

You seem to be describing something like this: https://theangrygm.com/systematic-interaction/ (scroll down to Keeping Social Score) Probably the most important thing you can do in a social encounter is define what the NPCs really want (including any side-needs that could affect the whole). I'm not sure the long term usability and value of cataloging and charting it all. I just add a note to my NPCs when it's important (and to shake things up): "doesn't like being told what to do, but blushes at flattery". Then I can add setback or boosts (or even upgrades/downgrades) as needed in the context of how the PCs are approaching the character.

That is an interesting idea. I'm not sure how my players would react, but it might be worth trying out.

Whatever meets the story needs. I've run campaigns where the entire thing happened over a period of only a few weeks (Saga edition, level 1-15 in a ridiculously short span), but also where the players have a "business" and the interesting jobs are weeks, months, or years apart. The former was an adrenaline-rush, but I had more fun with the latter, as I was able to take more time to set the stage, build up a pool of valued NPCs, and it felt like the players reacted as if the stakes were higher once everything started coming together.

I think the idea in Far Horizons is that the party owns the business together (for whatever reason developed during session 0). At least that's how I ran it.

Afraid I can't help much if you're looking for more crunch, but I was so glad when this was released. In addition to the new specs (which I thought had great flavour), it allowed me an easy way to give my players a base of operations that legitimized hand-waving day-to-day costs. Ostensibly the players had an "import/export" business, so their more "interesting" jobs had some cover of legitimacy. I really only dealt with costs for the interesting jobs because it was assumed the business would take care of itself, but only break even, so if they wanted new equipment or had to deal with other costs, the interesting jobs needed to be lucrative. Though you could easily mix this up with a periodic Negotiation check to see how they are doing...this would certainly let an Entrepreneur shine.