Star Wars RPG: Recreating Ahsoka Tano
FFG some some great ways to bring Ahsoka Tano into your Star Wars Role Playing Game!
Note: This article does contain spoilers for Season One and Two of Star Wars: Rebels. If you don’t want it spoiled, move along. This is not the article you’re looking for.
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Still here? Okay then – you have been warned!
Today, guest writer Bryan Young explores that connection between the Star Wars universe that exists in film and print and your experiences in FFG’s Star Wars roleplaying games. A huge fan of tabletop games, RPGs, board games, card games, and all things Star Wars, Bryan is a regular columnist for StarWars.com and a frequent contributor to Star Wars Insider. You can follow him on Twitter @swankmotron or listen to him on the Full of Sith podcast.
Bryan Young on Recreating the Star Wars Universe at Your Table
I’m an avid gamer and have been my whole life, as far back as I can remember. When I was seven years old, Star Wars was my first roleplaying game. It helped me relive all of the excitement and adventure of my favorite movies. I was working to stop the oppression of the Sith with a band of friends, brothers and sisters in arms against the Empire, sometimes literally with my brothers and sister. I’m honored that Fantasy Flight Games has invited me into this space to help pass on some of my passion for gaming.
One of my favorite things to do in the world of Star Wars is to recreate the feel of the things I love in the universe. With the era of the roleplaying game set during the dark times of the evil Galactic Empire, the possibilities are close to endless with what you can fit into your game, but I always loved taking the spirit of my favorite characters and seeing how I could work them in.
After watching the Season Two Finale of Star Wars Rebels, I couldn’t help but think of what a character like Ahsoka Tano might be like in the game.
AdvertisementLady Tano, Fulcrum of the Rebellion
For those who don’t know, in the era of Rebellion, Ahsoka Tano is a former Jedi who acts as point of contact within the rebel organization for operationally isolated cells. During all of that, she’s still dealing with the fact that her old master, Anakin Skywalker, may very well be the Sith Lord Darth Vader. For the first season of Star Wars Rebels, she was known only as Fulcrum, the contact giving the rebel crew of the Ghost the missions they would embark on in order to best help the rebellion.
In Season Two, she occasionally accompanied the crew of the Ghost on some of their missions, always keeping her suspicions of Anakin Skywalker and her investigation in that direction at the back of her mind. She was useful in fending off enemies that were too challenging for the heroes, namely the Inquisitors tasked by Palpatine and Vader to hunt down the remaining Force users in the galaxy that couldn’t be bent to their will.
There are a number of ways a character like this could be useful in a game, either as a player character or a non-player character controlled by the Game Master.
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For the Game Master, having a Force-wielding Clone Wars veteran as a contact for the rebellion offers many fascinating gaming opportunities and a way to help guide the characters using lore familiar to fans of all the Star Wars movies.
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For a character, working with the rebellion or as a smuggler or scoundrel in the underworld is a much more difficult choice with the added tension of being a former Jedi, still on the run from the lapdogs of the Sith. The roleplaying possibilities for a character in that kind of situation are limitless.
How Would You Create a Character Like Ahsoka?
How would you craft such a character in the game? Obviously, you’d want to start with the character creation from the Force and Destiny Core Rulebook. For the sake of argument, we’ll assume that the rest of the party would be coming from the Rebellion, to more closely match a character like Ahsoka Tano. If you wanted to go full-Ahsoka, the Togruta species has their stats listed in that very book. The pack hunting special ability of the Togruta seems uniquely suited to an Ahsoka sort of character, too, though any species would work as well with a backstory similar to Ahsoka’s for the purposes of the game.
AdvertisementThere are a few ways you could handle the career and specializations for a character like Ahsoka.
- If I were playing a character like Ahsoka, I might choose the Guardian: Peacekeeper role to make the character a strong guide and natural leader for the rest of the party. It plays well off of Ahsoka’s role as Fulcrum as well.
- On the other hand, you might be more interested in focusing on the part of Ahsoka’s backstory where she was on her own and left to fend for herself in the galaxy. The Seeker: Ataru Striker career path, with its focus on agility and saber combat, would make a much more formidable fighting character. If you left the command and leadership up to roleplaying ability, that would make this path a natural choice.
- A third, totally valid argument could be made for the Sentinel: Shien Expert path. Characters like Ahsoka had to rely on their cunning as well as their skills with a lightsaber to survive. This skill tree would give her the street smarts to survive in such a cutthroat galaxy, while at the same time bolstering her abilities with a lightsaber.
As for Force powers, Ahsoka has used things similar to what you’d see in the “Foresee,” “Protect/Unleash,” and “Sense” trees. You can tweak one for your character how you see fit. Maybe your version of an NPC like Ashoka uses “Battle Meditation” to help the group fight when she’s with them. Or maybe she’s a healer. As Shmi Skywalker said,“It’s up to you. The choice is yours alone.”
Bryan has a TON of great advice for re-creating Ashoka Tano in your game. If you’d like to read the full article you can check it out on Fantasy Flight Games page. I highly recommend checking that out if you’re a Game Master and you’re looking for your next adventuring hook. He’s got some really great ideas of how to incorporate this type of character into your game. He’s also got some great recommendations during the character creation process for players as well. It’s a really great read! And feel free to pick up a copy of Force and Destiny to add Force users into your Star Wars RPG campaigns.
Star Wars: Force and Destiny Core Rulebook $59.95
Use the full power of the Force in the epic adventures of the Force and Destiny roleplaying game! You can travel the galaxy in search of ancient Jedi knowledge, protect the downtrodden on your home planet, or pilot a starship for the Rebellion. Whatever your path, the Force and Destiny Core Rulebook contains all the information players and Game Masters need to launch a roleplaying campaign set in the Star Wars® universe.
The beautifully illustrated, 448-page Core Rulebook details everything from using the narrative dice system in combat and creating Force-sensitive characters to the mythology of the Jedi order and locations inside Sith space. It is the fundamental book and launching point for any Force and Destiny campaign.
The Force and Destiny Core Rulebook features:
- An introduction to roleplaying in the Star Wars universe
- Clear and concise rules for skill checks, combat, and using the Force
- Six careers, eight species, and eighteen specializations for Force-sensitive characters
- Detailed background information on galactic geography, politics, and the Jedi and Sith orders
- Descriptions and data for numerous starships, vehicles, weapons and other gear
- A catalogue of NPC adversaries to thwart players during your campaign
- A complete introductory adventure, Lessons from the Past
- Helpful advice for GMs about running games of Force and Destiny
The Force will be with you, always.
