Tempted by the Dark Side of the SW Age Force

One of the questions I’ve been asked about my Star Wars/Age conversion is about the Force.  I’m pulling from a variety of sources in this conversion, but admittedly, the d6 game is a big, if not the largest, influence.

So here’s how I’m handling the Force and the dark side; the Force is one of the starting eight abilities, replacing Magic.  There are three focuses tied to magic:  Alter, Control, and Sense.  If you are familiar with the AGE rules, you know that those focuses grant a +2 to the test made using them.  If your Force attribute is at least a 4, and this isn’t easy to accomplish at character creation, you can select Force Talents.  There are Talents for Alter, Control, and Sense.  So you could go Force Alter Novice, and next time you select a talent you can go Journeyman in the same talent, or choose to be novice in Force Control instead.  Each rank in a talent opens the door to new force powers.

So once you have Force powers, using them is just another action.  Here’s a sample:

Force Push (Alter)
Action: Minor Target Number: 10
Test: None
Using the Force, you push back one or more creatures or objects within
your line of sight and up to 6 meters away from you. The number of
creatures you can push are equal to 3+Force Die of the Force (Alter) test.
Each creature is pushed back 4 meters and falls prone.

So, a Force Push is a minor action that requires the user to roll a Force (Alter) test and beat a 10.  The “Test:  None” line refers to whether or not the targets can do anything to avoid being pushed.  They can’t.  The effect of the power is self explanatory.

Let’s talk Dark Side now.  I plan to incorporate the Dark Side Point thing from other games into this conversion.  So here’s how it’s going to work for now, keep in mind that I have to test it.

When you use a force power with the possibility that using it in that manner will lead you to the dark side, the GM will warn you.  Once you make your choice, you’ll gain dark side points equal to the Force Die of the roll.

When you accumulate enough dark side points this way,  you’ll hit certain milestones.  it’ll come to a point where the DM will tell you that you can apply a +2 to certain rolls, thanks to the dark side. If you accept those, you’ll gain 2+Force Die worth of dark side points.  Your next milestone will involve the DM offering you a +5 to your rolls, and accepting those will give you a 5+Force Die to your Dark Side point total.  Eventually, you’ll succumb to the Dark Side completely.

There are other ways to do this too.  You can tell the DM that you are reaching into the Dark Side, and that you’d like a +1 bonus to any test.  This willful search of the dark side to aid you will get you faster towards the dark side, so tapping the dark side like this is dangerous.

So how do you atone, and head back towards the light side of the Force?  You reject the dark side and it’s temptations.  if the DM offers you a chance to use the Dark Side, you turn it down, and make your roll at a -5.  This will reduce your Dark Side points by the result of the Force Die, and possibly causing you to fail at your test.  You sacrificed your action and rejected the dark side, and you are now closer to the light.

So that’s what I’m planning for the force in this conversion, which is closer and closer to being done.  At least the first 5 levels worth of game. 🙂