Let’s Play D&D With The Mandalorian
Grab your Darksaber and your favorite green toddler. This week we’re taking back Mandalore and playing D&D with Din Djarinn.
Season three of The Mandalorian is almost here and we have all watched this week’s new trailer drop multiple times. It’s one of those rare mostly-low-stakes shows that remind us that TV – and Star Wars – can be fun. And I think part of this is how wonderfully relatable Din Djarinn is as a main character. He doesn’t want all of this, he just wants to do his job and fly around the galaxy with his kid but now he’s caught up in this whole galactic unrest thing. Din reminds me so much of so many characters I’ve either played in parties with or played myself, and it makes me think that he’d be the perfect RPG character. So this week we’re playing D&D with…
The Mandalorian
Before we get too far into this, I know there is an actual Star Wars system for playing Star Wars characters in. Psych, there are actually two! The West End system is a classic fan favorite while the Fantasy Flight offering is one of my personal favorite tabletop RPGs. In fact, I’ve been in a long-term Star Wars FFG game for a while. But just like last time this came up, the schtick is “playing with D&D” so we’re playing some D&D.
You may think that a Star Wars alien is the perfect opportunity to make a non-human character… And I really wanted it to be. Perhaps if he were literally any other Mandalorian (or character) in the galaxy’s history he would have been. But part of the charm is Din is how much he’s Norm L. Person. His history, backstory, and job may be wild and everything that’s happened to him up to this point might be huge on a galactic scale, but Din is just some dude. He wants to finish his work, collect his paycheck, and find a tutor for his kid. This is an average-guy character with average-guy starter stats.
From there he’s a pretty straightforward Gunslinger. But I wanted to give him one level in Paladin because of his personal background in a pseudo-Mandalorian religious cult. His low skill scores in both History and Religion are hilariously on the nose considering how little he knows about the history of his own religion.
I wanted to make sure that Mando’s beskar armor and Darksaber were represented. And while there’s no perfect one-for-one in D&D like there may be in a more Star Wars-centered system, plate armor and a Vorpal Sword come pretty close. With this armor I decided to give him the Heavy Armor Master feat, just to drive home how special Mando armor is. Also, I’d considered the Sun Blade instead of the Vorpal. But that feels more Lightsaber while the Darksaber is a different thing.
I included Grogu on his list of equipment, but Grogu isn’t a possession as much as his own character. Who we previously made playable!
How would you make The Mandalorian for D&D? What are you most excited about in season three? Have you played the Star Wars RPG systems and which was your favorite? Let us know in the comments!
May The Force Be With You, Adventurers!
