Warning: Geek Factor 5, err... 11

[walbourn]

When I moved from Texas to the Pacific Northwest, I had been divorced for several years and living alone. Much of my free-time was spent then, as it still is now, gaming (as in pen & paper gaming ala D&D, not casino gaming) for both the social interaction and the creative and imaginative activity it can be when it is at it's best. One of the great benefits of the RPGA Living campaigns is that when you move you can still keep playing--unlike home games, to which my friend royalbananafish can attest.

Unfortunately, not all the campaigns had active player communities locally. So in order for me to actually get to play Living Force--the RPGA's Star Wars RPG campaign--, I had to travel to cons far away when I could and play the games online otherwise. By online, I mean via AOL AIM chat for 6-8 hours at a stretch for what is normally a 4-5 hour slot face-to-face.

I was fortunate to find an active group that plays online often, and I quickly became a regular in their events. Some of them are on the East coast, but the majority of them live in different states and only see each other at major cons. Without them, I would have only gotten to play the campaign rarely, and locally I'm the primary judge running these events so I'd have ended up missing out on a lot of play for my character.

In a way, this group has become a 'home' group experience as I've been playing with the same players and the same characters for over two years now. Online roleplaying is less distracted by the reality of seven people sitting around a table rolling dice, and we've developed a rapport between our characters that feels like "family". There are a few characters I play with almost every game, and others that I play with occasionally whose games are run by one of my regular playing companions. We've all shared our moments of cinematic glory, near defeat, shared threat, frustration, and relief. In character we often spend an hour or two at the start of each session chit-chatting, inquiring about relatives and friends, and generally gabbing like mad. We as players know each other's characters very well and that comes through in our IC conversations. We've saved each other's butts over the years, and seen each other at our best and worst.

This campaign has a very low death rate, particularly compared to the D&D RPGA campaigns, partly because unlike those fantasy settings character death is permanent. The Star Wars d20 RPG is cinematic and while it is possible to get vapped by a really big blaster cannon, in practice the scenarios rarely run serious risk of killing characters. So, it came as somewhat of a shock when last week I received the following IC message via e-mail:

:: Begin Special Pre-Recorded Special Delivery Encoded Transmission - Rcvd from: ComLink C822W714WC [Wookchacca] ::

Hello Sara -

If you aren't already doing so, please pause this message and find a place to sit down before continuing.

I am sorry to inform you that since you are receiving this message it means I have departed this mortal coil you've come to know as Wookchacca. I am not certain about the specifics of my death, as I'm pre-recording these messages to the ones I loved, but I'm sure one of you must know, as I never seem to get into any trouble without one of you around. All I know is that right after the events of Master Kirlocca's death last year, Master Lanius invited me to his private meditation chambers and had a future vision. In it he said that my life is given to the hope of a better future for many. At first, I didn't give his words much weight; after all, I *am* training to become an official Diplomat and/or Senator for Cularin, and isn't that what Diplomats and Senators do? Provide a better future for others? After the Jedi Trials at the Almas Academy this year, I discovered that I have a spark of the Force within me. Master Lanius confirmed it, and offered to accept me into the Almas Academy to try and help nurture that spark. Frankly, I think he was just being overly kind - it's probably not even a true spark within me, but probably something residual transferred from that Force sensitive brick I obtained a while ago. In any case, I feel my future still lies in trying to obtain peace here in Cularin, and within the senate if I can, so I declined his offer. I did come back home and spent an evening in meditation in my greenhouse. It was there where I started looking at the larger problems of our system, and where Master Lanius' words from his vision came back to me. With the darkening cloud brewing ever closer and within Cularin's system, I felt it wise to record these messages to my friends, and set my estate, as it is, in order... in case I have mis-interpreted what Master Lanius told me over a year ago. I have no regrets about the life I've lived. I've come to terms with my past. I am truly at a very happy point in my life with incredible friends and family around me, and my career looking better and better every day. I'm sure that however I've left this life, it was doing the one thing I believe in with all my heart and soul: that I *can* make a difference, I can help others and improve their lives without having to resort to violence. Heh, I suppose that's a naive thought, considering I'm dead when you receive this, but one life to help and improve many others seems so little a price to pay. No, I have no regrets save one, and that's that I am unable to be there to console you at this time. I hope that you will grieve not long for me, for I lived the life I wanted - and as the Jedi say: There is no death, there is only the Force. And as my family says on Kashyyyk:

We fall from the Tree of Life as seedlings,
grow as individuals in the community of others around us,
fall to the earth, nourishing those around us,
and eventually return to the Tree of Life itself
to fall as a seedling once more from its branches.

Sara Ives. We didn't travel often together, but you made a deep impression on me, and I hope that you considered me as much a friend as I considered you. You're one of the finest field medics I know - which is, I believe, quite a bit more difficult than 'office medicine', and I hope that your plans for a clinic come to fruition. In support of you and your ideals, I bequeath unto you a deluxe medpac [Mastercraft +2 Medpac (certed)] that's come into my possession, as well as a portion of my liquid assets, which my executors should be contacting you about in the near future.

May the Force be with you always, my friend.
With love, and a final farewell,
Wookchacca

:: End Special Pre-Recorded Special Delivery Encoded Transmission - Rcvd from: ComLink C822W714WC [Wookchacca] ::

Sara Ives is my character, and all these characters have been played for nearly four years. In response to the news, some of the informed players responded with a short story or scene. We are in fact having an IC online wake for our friend Wookchacca next week. Here is the story I wrote in response to the news:

The blinking of the comm terminal is briefly lost as Sara flips on the lights of her home in Gadrin. Her astromech, U3-N0, trundles in behind her beeping and whirring, as she drops a field kit pack onto the entry-way chair and secures a blaster rifle on a wall mount. Sara's killisan-skin boots, caked in mud and grass after nearly two weeks in the jungles of Cularin, leave a trail from the door to the fresher. Water splashes and several moments later, she emerges again dropping the rumpled pile of clothes and boots to the side. After donning a clean set of clothing from a large wooden chest, she looks down at the muddy trail, back to the door, the fresher, and then to U3-N0. A moment later, the droid finally gets the hint and begins to clean off the bootprints with a cheery whistle.

Sara has always loved the jungle, but the demands of her job at Renna's Transport Service and the amazing number of 'entanglements' that dominate her life keeps her busy and often far from Cularin. She had been meaning to just run off for a week to visit her favorite places on foot like she did when life wasn't so busy, but she just couldn't bring herself to let go of all the responsibilities. She had to attend to Lu'Taak's training in the Tarasin Way. She had duties to perform at Renna's to make up missed hours due to her recent missions on behalf of Master Lanius. She just couldn't disappear when Cularin so clearly needs her true citizens.

Then two weeks ago, a Cularin Militia officer contacted her and asked her to run a survival training course as part of the Militia's training. Having always been a big supporter of the Cularin Militia, she jumped at the chance to help. Lu'Taak had obviously been homesick lately, so Sara decided he could use some time with his family. After making the needed arrangements, Sara happily packed for a long duration hike in the wilds of Cularin, which most outsiders would consider a good way to get a person killed. Finally, a vacation, or at least a working one.

Tired but satisfied by the extended time in the wild and feeling reconnected once again to the true Living Force, Sara looks about her abode finally seeing the comm 'waiting' light blink. Having been deep in the Cularin jungles, her portable commlink would have been unreachable and any messages would be routed to her home terminal. A slightly stern expression crosses Sara's face as she moves to the terminal. Being a reasonably accomplished programmer, Sara had spent months getting a comm-agent running to handle such incoming messages since she spent a large amount of time out-of-system or simply out-of-pocket, so whatever this message was, it was important.

As she completed crossing the room and reached for the controls, a tingling sensation that had been building in her mind finally clicked. Several nights ago, dark visions filled her dreams and a profound sense of loss filled her. The rigors of the training and the trek had kept her from taking time to mediate on the visions, but standing in her home now she knew in her heart what the message was about. The memory of the vision took form in her mind, and the image of a wookie came into focus.

Tears came to Sara's eyes before the message even started. Sitting down and taking a moment to center herself, she read through the entire message. Then once more. Cularin has lost another of her heroes in a time when we need them more than ever. A growing darkness in the galaxy has clouded Sara's visions ever since the return of Cularin, but it is the loss of friends and the fear of the future that turns the night wind cold. The whispers of fear and loss grew louder, as they have so much lately, threatening to overwhelm her in her grief. Her hand involuntarily went to the necklace about her neck, the tiny glinting piece of Kirrlocca's honor blade suspended inside a charm. Sara stared at the screen just feeling empty and alone.

A reminder beep pulled her from her moody reflection to see that another message was waiting for her to review. While the news of Wookchacca's passing was new to her, most everyone else had heard about several days ago. Several messages from mutual friends, words of condolences, links to holonews stories, and an invitation to a planned wake in honor of Wookchacca. Sara mused for a moment, ignoring the voice that whispered about the regularity of funerals for Cularin's heroes, and keyed back an RSVP. Her Tarasin nanny's words echoing in her mind: "The only good response to grief over the loss of a friend is to reconnect once again with those that remain."

For story depth and emotional connection to other characters (both other player's characters and non-player characters) Living Force is by far my favorite RPGA campaign. The campaign is scheduled to finish at the end of 2005 since the license for this era of play comes to a close with the release of the third and final Star Wars movie. I'm sure with the backdrop of galactic war, things will only continue to get more dire for Sara and her friends, but I look forward to every step of the journey and the stories we will wieve.

As the campaign founder and director of the campaign for 3 years says, the motto for the campaign is: Saga Depth Emotion.

Thanks, Jae!