Space Cowboy

My Smuggler/Gunslinger character concept for a Star Wars D6 pbp. Pretty happy with the look of it. Take the cowboy concept and put it to space.

B is for BBEG (Big Bad Evil Guy)

Continuing our Blogging from A to Z challenge.  Today, is day 2, which means that brings us to the letter B.  I can't think of anything more important to an adventure, or a character's story, than the BBEG.

The Big Bad Evil Guy is pretty much the reason that the adventure exists (unless your characters are just plodding around some open world and not really fighting anybody... who wants to play one of those game?? :P )

Every good Adventure, whether that adventure spans only a few levels, or if it spans the entire life of a character, needs to have a strong BBEG to keep the story interesting and create tension and action for the players.  A BBEG should be a complicated character, with an intriguing story, but the BBEG also needs to be able to kick some serious hind-quarters.  However, the BBEG shouldn't be someone right there in front of the players.  They need to be in the background, an ever looming threat, which finally shows up at the very end of the story and bring the smackdown to the players (who invariably return that smackdown obliterating said BBEG).

There are a lot of great BBEG's out there to draw inspiration from in movies, books, or gaming sources.  I want to talk about two different types of BBEG's, inspired by a film created a long time ago in a galaxy far, far, away.  I want to go over a few of the interesting differences between them.

The Emperor type BBEG

Sure, maybe the more recent Star Wars Trilogy wasn't that great (lots of hate out there), but I will admit, I really liked the way the Emperor rose to power throughout that trilogy.  It was great, seeing the bad guy right in the middle of all major action in the world.  Everybody in the audience knows this guy is as evil as it comes and is going to become the biggest bad-guy in the universe.

The Emperor type BBEG starts off as a subtle villain. He might even appear as a friend to the heroes of the story, but in the end, when it finally comes out that the players have been trolled by the bad guy, things start to seriously go awry and the players have to contend with a horribly evil power broker who wields massive influence and commands the loyalty of millions of evil little pawns.  This BBEG is all about working in the background.  The heroes have to go up against him every bleeding day, but they might not ever get to actually lay eyes on him until the final act.

Using an Emperor Type BBEG is a great way to develop an awesome adventure.  The only problem with this type of character though is the players are probably going to see it coming.  This type of BBEG is used so often in fiction and gaming that people are going to "game" the story, thinking in the meta, and try to figure out who the real bad guy actually is.  The way to fight this: be even more subtle about it.  Make the players think that even though the King is helping you all out, something about him seems to be a little off; maybe they will game it and come to the conclusion that he's actually the bad guy.  Then, when the players have pretty much made up their minds, throw them a curve ball.  It wasn't the king, it was Princess Peach all along!!

The Darth Vader type BBEG 

There are a lot of different ways to look at Vader, THE BOSS, as a BBEG.  I like to think that this type of BBEG is a lot less subtle.  He shows up more often in person than from behind the scenes.  He's a bad, bad man and he wants to be right out there in the open flaunting his power and strength.  Vader type BBEG's work great as recurring villains who constantly show up to thwart and generally despoil the characters, their families, and their friends.

But the Vader type BBEG also has a very involved story.  He's not a simple, one-shade of Evil.  He's many, many shades and one of them just might be good.  He might be really, horribly awful, but with the right motivation, and the proper persuasion, he might be finally turned to the forces of light in the final hour when the players are faced up against somebody even more evil than he is (see Emperor type BBEG for an example of one such "more" evil BBEG's).

There are plenty of other BBEG types out there.  Try to change it up when you're developing your adventure. Try not to get repetitive.  If you constantly abuse the same BBEG type your adventures are going to get stale. Hope that this BBEG advice has been helpful.  Adventure On!

The Art of RPG

Here is my long due first blog post, and I though I should give a little introduction about myself and my relationship with RPGs.

I am a french Ballroom Dance Teacher living and working in the fantastic city of New York, USA. I grew up a big fan of the Star Wars universe and when I was introduced to the Star Wars RPG in 1992 I discovered the joy of being part of that beloved universe. I also was lucky enough to have a group of good friend sharing the same passion and together we made the Star Wars universe a part of our teenage and later life. No toys, costumes or conventions for us; just our imagination and some good old pens, paper and six-sided dice.

An attribute of mine, I tend to go overboard once I set my mind and dedication on something, so it wasn't long before I own almost every rulebooks, handbooks, complements and journals from the Star Wars D6 line. The best in my opinion. I, or should I say we -my friend and I- only strayed away from this game on the occasion, having a try at Dungeon and Dragon of course, 2ed, and I discovered a great interest in other genres, particularly the universe of Shadowrun, being more on the sci-fi side, but we never got to develop more than a curious eye in these different games.

I left France in 2000, and to fulfill my interest in RPG I turned toward Pbp games. It was much later, in 2008 that I started doing artwork, inspired by my years of gaming, by my imagination and maybe desire to hang to it.

You see, for me RPGs are more about storytelling than stats and rolls. Though I wouldn't do without the former two, for it brings a sense of scale and randomness, and helps at the identification of a character, what I love is the creativity of a group put together to build a story, with its drama, action, twists, laughs, loses and victories in a given universe.

And in my case it usually starts with a picture. I see a piece of artwork -a character, a landscape, a scenery- and let my imagination run its course. I let the story begin. And I found myself frustrated when I was lacking this image that would start it all. Whether it's a character I would not find any interest in, or a place where a tentative description only would not inspire me to act in it.

In a sense I could say I was frustrated at my own lack of imagination. And it's a funny thought process to realize that lack of imagination lead to the creation of artwork, perfect medium for expressing what is in one's mind. So instead of surfing the web to find the perfect picture that would inspire me for the development of a character I though, why not make it yourself?
But I am to this day still a lousy drawer, so digital art has pretty much been my only option. I discovered in 2008 the tools that would help me create my art, and fell in love with the result.


So since RPG brought art to me, I am happy to help other gamers spring their imagination by bringing art to them. And if my specialty has been more sci-fi related, mostly Star Wars, I'm open to put my skills to different genre, and make characters and games come more alive with a simple piece of art.

A New Author Approaches - Obidancer Joins the Dump Stat

Hey everyone, just wanted to let you all know that we have a new author here on The Dump Stat.  Obidancer, a player in my current Shadowrun Play by Post game, has graciously accepted an invitation I sent him to join the site as an author and artist.  We can all expect some interesting stuff coming from him in the future.  If you hadn't noticed, I have been posting his artwork up here on the blog over the last few weeks; I'm a pretty big fan, so I'm really glad to be bringing him on board.

In addition to being a fantastic Digital Artist, Obidancer is also a big fan of the Star Wars RPG, something which I have actually never even touched. So, hopefully, we'll be hearing some interesting tales of the Star Wars RPG in the future too!  Hope everyone enjoys his artwork and RPG commentary.