![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
D6 Star Wars Geekery
I was participating in a discussion on the use of Dark Side Points in West End's Star Wars RPG on The Rancor Pit, and I was rather proud of what I came up with. Any of the players in my game reading might want to take note as to my approach to the subject:
Getting back to the subject at hand, DSPs are largely the concern of Force sensitive characters. I don't see crooks racking them up all over the place. In order to explain why, I will lay out my understanding of the Force and the ethical systems applied to it. I'm going to refer to non-Force sensitives as "mundanes" for ease of typing.
The Force is a something tangible in the Star Wars universe. DSPs are a game mechanical device that is specifically intended to reflect the precarious nature of dealing directly with the Force, and the temptations towards abuse that that power can provide. There is no actual Light or Dark side to the Force, there is just the Force itself.
Those who subscribe to the "Light" side are those who fight against the tendency that "power corrupts", and the ethics they follow are a discipline they learn to make fighting that corruption easier. Jedi and other "light" side Force sensitives have basically adopted the Spider Man dictum of "With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility" and have set up the chivalric Jedi order to codify and enforce that notion, as well as to take a place in the larger interstellar community. The disadvantage to this is that the Order can, with the best intentions, end up taking on too much responsibility (and therefore power) and end up resented by the "mundane" community, and the very power wielded by the Order can end up causing the very corruption it was created to avoid. The various Jedi who have fallen to the "Dark" side attest to this.
Subscribers to the "Dark" side are those who decide that they are going to use the power at their disposal to fulfill their own goals regardless of how it affects others. The ruling dictum here is "Might Makes Right" and the Sith and other "Dark" siders act accordingly. The biggest problem with this is that it ultimately leads to a scenario where various "Dark" siders are in constant competition and dominance games with one another, and succession usually results from Apprentices killing their Masters (to use a Sith example), and results in a rather unstable state of affairs.
Because all of this is tied up rather specifically with the use of the Force and what it does to people, the awarding of DSPs to "mundanes" seems rather pointless in most cases.
Force sensitives, by the virtue of their being sensitive, are elite. They have the ability to manipulate the very fabric of the Force, and that ability tends to make their actions disproportionately significant to it, which is why Force sensitives have to be so careful about their actions. Since the Force is connected to every living thing in the universe, the actions of those who can manipulate it have far-reaching effects, and when they manipulate it in "Dark" side ways, even relatively small actions like the murder of individuals can have drastic effects, hence the DSPs. This is also why the only mention I see in the rulebook of mundanes getting DSPs is when they do something evil while spending a Force point. They have temporarily gained that greater connection with the Force that sensitives have, and as such are subject to peril associated with it.
Because "mundanes" do not have this stronger connection, they would have to do something incredibly bad to earn a DSP (without spending Force points), something so heinous that the sheer maliciousness or destructiveness sends ripples through the Force itself through the weaker connection that all life shares. Grand Moff Tarkin, ordering the destruction of Alderaan would be something I could see as qualifying for quite a few. Acts of genocide not involving planetary destruction would probably also qualify. Serial killers who torture, rape and kill victims would probably earn one, if any, by comparison. There simply isn't the same amount of cosmic significance attached to the "mundane's" actions, unless it is in fact something of cosmic significance. Kind of like Stalin's quote about the death of one is a tragedy, the death of millions is a statistic, except in reverse.
Getting back to the subject at hand, DSPs are largely the concern of Force sensitive characters. I don't see crooks racking them up all over the place. In order to explain why, I will lay out my understanding of the Force and the ethical systems applied to it. I'm going to refer to non-Force sensitives as "mundanes" for ease of typing.
The Force is a something tangible in the Star Wars universe. DSPs are a game mechanical device that is specifically intended to reflect the precarious nature of dealing directly with the Force, and the temptations towards abuse that that power can provide. There is no actual Light or Dark side to the Force, there is just the Force itself.
Those who subscribe to the "Light" side are those who fight against the tendency that "power corrupts", and the ethics they follow are a discipline they learn to make fighting that corruption easier. Jedi and other "light" side Force sensitives have basically adopted the Spider Man dictum of "With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility" and have set up the chivalric Jedi order to codify and enforce that notion, as well as to take a place in the larger interstellar community. The disadvantage to this is that the Order can, with the best intentions, end up taking on too much responsibility (and therefore power) and end up resented by the "mundane" community, and the very power wielded by the Order can end up causing the very corruption it was created to avoid. The various Jedi who have fallen to the "Dark" side attest to this.
Subscribers to the "Dark" side are those who decide that they are going to use the power at their disposal to fulfill their own goals regardless of how it affects others. The ruling dictum here is "Might Makes Right" and the Sith and other "Dark" siders act accordingly. The biggest problem with this is that it ultimately leads to a scenario where various "Dark" siders are in constant competition and dominance games with one another, and succession usually results from Apprentices killing their Masters (to use a Sith example), and results in a rather unstable state of affairs.
Because all of this is tied up rather specifically with the use of the Force and what it does to people, the awarding of DSPs to "mundanes" seems rather pointless in most cases.
Force sensitives, by the virtue of their being sensitive, are elite. They have the ability to manipulate the very fabric of the Force, and that ability tends to make their actions disproportionately significant to it, which is why Force sensitives have to be so careful about their actions. Since the Force is connected to every living thing in the universe, the actions of those who can manipulate it have far-reaching effects, and when they manipulate it in "Dark" side ways, even relatively small actions like the murder of individuals can have drastic effects, hence the DSPs. This is also why the only mention I see in the rulebook of mundanes getting DSPs is when they do something evil while spending a Force point. They have temporarily gained that greater connection with the Force that sensitives have, and as such are subject to peril associated with it.
Because "mundanes" do not have this stronger connection, they would have to do something incredibly bad to earn a DSP (without spending Force points), something so heinous that the sheer maliciousness or destructiveness sends ripples through the Force itself through the weaker connection that all life shares. Grand Moff Tarkin, ordering the destruction of Alderaan would be something I could see as qualifying for quite a few. Acts of genocide not involving planetary destruction would probably also qualify. Serial killers who torture, rape and kill victims would probably earn one, if any, by comparison. There simply isn't the same amount of cosmic significance attached to the "mundane's" actions, unless it is in fact something of cosmic significance. Kind of like Stalin's quote about the death of one is a tragedy, the death of millions is a statistic, except in reverse.
no subject
I particularly liked your description of the Light vs. Dark side, as I always had problems with Lucas' portrayal of a very distinct dichotomous duality re: users of the Force. I disagree that there is no happy medium--most people tend to have a mix of both extremes, with others who find a happy medium (whatever that is).
Somewhat tangentially, I don't suppose you happen to know anyone--chaote or other--who uses the actual Jedi Religion as a working paradigm, do you? I would truly love to talk with them--from a Comparative Religious Studies POV alone. I've always thought about it, but have always been too busy with other Projects.
Now I'm gonna log off and go play some BattleFront II.
"May the Farce be with You".
Xi O'Teaz
no subject
http://www.xeper.org/maquino/index.html