Vader's Newsletter
BLOG ISSUE #3

Star Wars Missions
IT'S ONE IN A MILLION KID
I have recently been playing the Star Wars Missions game. My friend Chris Bender very graciously (my thanks dude ^^) lent me the books to the game because I did not have them and so ever since I aquired them I have been zooming off to more adventures across a galaxy far far away then I can count. The game is played by first picking up the mission book and reading through a pre-mission story that sets the playing field for your mission. After you have read through the pre-mission you select a person from the availabe characters along with a vehicle and some weapons and you are ready to get going. Once you enter the mission itself the book narrates many of your actions until a confrontation or other peril occurs in which you will have the option to either avoid or fight whatever the problem is. A simple statistic system determines what you will need to roll with either a 6 or 12 sided dice. If you roll within the alloted numbers you procede triumphantly. If you fail however, you will be forced to face a penalty and either re-do the confrontation or take another course of action altogether. Many of the missions given to have you playing through as a character from the Rebel Alliance, but some of them allow you to play as a Stormtrooper or even a Bounty Hunter. What struck me most about the simple system used to play the game was not the game itself, but the fact that using very rudimentry tecniques you could easily duplicate cards and maps or you could even create your own (which I intend to do in the near future =D ) The Star Wars Missions systems is a system capable of granting hours of entertainment to countless numbers of people and has the potential to expand for as long as the Star Wars galaxy continues to grow.

Star Wars Technical Corner
WHERE YOU SEE HOW THOSE MACHINES WORK
This week the Republic's DC-15S blaster will be getting discussed in the technical corner. The DC-15S was designed by BlasTech for the clone army used by the Republic during the Clone Wars. The DC-15S was light enough that is was able to be dual wielded but was rarely used in this way. The DC-15S featured a stock that could fold back to give it's weilder more accuracy. Despite it's small size the DC-15S featured almost as much firepower as the much larger E-5 blaster rifle. The DC-15S could also be fitted with modifications like grapling hooks as was seen when clone commander Rex and the Torrent squadron of the 501st Legion used these to ascend the sheer cliff that lay ahead of the B'omarr Monk monastary on Teth. The DC-15 carried (like most blaster weapons) an astounding amount of shots and each of it's power packs held enough energy for around 500 shots. The DC-15A blaster rifle was the primary weapon of the clone army at the beginning of the war, but as the war dragged on the Republic decided it would be more cost effective to switch almost entirely to the DC-15S. The designs of the DC-15S would later be used to produce the BlasTech E-11 blaster rifle, which is also known as the "Stormtrooper Rifle" due to it's almost exclusive use by the Empire.

Discussion Central
WHERE YOU CAN VOICE YOUR OPINION
The discussion topic for this week will be the expanded universe of the Star Wars Galaxy. Do you think its the greatest thing since roasted Nerf or do you think thats its Bantha Poodoo? The Star Wars expanded universe is full of stories both good and bad that tell the continued tale of the Rebel Alliance's rise to power after Return of the Jedi, but deal with fantastic events that would make even the most hardcore fan shake his head and wonder. They also contain thrilling tales of adventure and wonder that will make you hungry for more. Send your opinions and comments in to steinerknievel@yahoo.com or just post it as a comment on this blog.

LINKS RELATED TO THE TOPIC DISCUSSED:
STAR WARS MISSIONS:
http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Star_Wars_Missions
DC-15 BLASTER (ALL VARIATIONS):
http://starwar.wikia.com/wiki/DC-15
E-5 BLASER RIFLE
http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/E-5_blaster_rifle
E-11 BLASTER RIFLE:
http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/E-11_blaster_rifle

B'OMAR MONK MONASTERY (ALL KNOWN):
http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/B%27omarr_Monastery