Appealing to Wider Audiences in D&D

Okay, what is wrong with this picture?  Lets count the ways.

* She's not wearing a bra.
yes, she isn't wearing a bra.


* She's fighting two werewolves.
Yes, that's right, she is definitely fighting two werewolves.


* Her figure is very fantastic and not very realistic.
Correct, her figure is fantastic, and so is her outfit.  Also the situation is unrealistic, and caters to men.  No woman would realistically fight two werewolves alone in the woods just to prove her womanhood, even if you asked her too.  If a werewolf is ravaging your house, your wife will scream like a girl and depend on you to save her, no matter how gun-ho and Red Sonja-like she presents herself. 


Okay, so lets talk about Sexism in D&D.  This has become a hot topic for this month.  Sarah Darkmagic has complained that D&D is sexist.  That it caters to one demographic -- white men who can't get a date even when they run around trying to decide who is better: Captain Kirk or Captain Picard.  I'm in that demographic and I find this talk stimulating, but what is the problem?

D&D is based on the works of Edgar Rice Burroughs, John Norman, Frank Frazetta, Lanhkmar, Michael Moorcock, the Celtic Sagas, the Arthurian Romances, Greek Myth, Robert E. Howard's Conan the Barbarian (there can only be one source for Conan spinoffs, baby!), and the Universal Monster Movies.  Okay, so that's not the problem.   The problem is how Dungeons and Dragons is marketed.  Sarah Darkmagic wants D&D to be marketed to a wider audience and she invokes Sexism to do this.

Why are you complaining that D&D is sexist in it's marketing when it is clear that D&D was originally inspired by the adventure tales of Conan the Barbarian, Tarzan, and John Carter of Mars?  Dungeons and Dragons is a quandary for those who are offended by it's art.  Who feel that they face sexism everyday and they want to escape.  But why invoke sexism?  What do you want out of D&D that it doesn't already provide?

Okay, Marketing is a problem.  But really, Dungeons and Dragons wasn't designed to hit the demographic of women that want to escape from Sexism.  It was designed for young men to live out their fantasies in Myth and Legend.  It's not a Romance Game designed for women, it's Dungeons and Dragons.  You go into dungeons, hit your enemy, defeat him and scour the dungeon for treasure.  So, you call for it to appeal to a wider audience.

Well, lets talk about that problem.  Too appeal for a wider demographic, say D&D players of African ancestry, you have to make up a world for them that appeals to them.  Perhaps based on Sub-Saharan Africa.  The first thing to do is get a writer who meets your top priorities -- a game writer that knows all about mythological sub-saharan Africa.

Have him produce a document, and then get artists who can draw sub-saharan Africa competently.  Then lay it out, get it printed, and distributed.  Writing a game setting set just in Africa would be pretty smart.  Not only are you widening your customer base, your traditional customers may buy a copy of the game.  They could set it in their own world and explore a sub-saharan Africa setting like the English and French did in the 19th Century.  While gamers of color would explore a setting they have a vested interest in.  No change there, since you can do anything as to portraying the natives.  beautiful black girls can still wear leopard skin bikinis or more traditional african dress and no one would really complain.

Sorry to bust everyone's bubble, but Atlas Games had released Nyambe: African Adventures for the d20 System.  The only problem, though, it didn't have the marketing power house of Wizards of the Coast behind it.

Perhaps Wizards of the Coast can't be bothered with such a niche product.  However, Nyambe is a complete campaign setting based on Sub-Sahara Africa and it's myths.

It's a setting that blends African myth and legend with high fantasy.  And by all rights, it did a good job.  But it didn't come out of Wizards of the Coast, that's the problem.  So, what about Paizo?

Paizo does have an adventure set in the Mwangi Expanse.  Here it is:

The adventure is designed around an awakened Gorilla and a Gorilla God.  However, all the major human actors are white.  Okay, so it's not a good example.  

What about a D&D campaign that doesn't carry the Sexism against women?  How about a campaign set in a Matriarchy?  Although it will satisfy a lot of women who complain about sexism in D&D, a Matriarchy culture exists only in a few remote centers of the world.  And everything is backwards.  Well, almost everything.  The women rule, and the cultures are generally seen as more egalitarian.  Again, a product Wizards of the Coast won't consider releasing.  A Matriarchal campaign, with a perfect or ideal Matriarchy at it's center, will have to be produced outside both Paizo and Wizards of the Coast.

How about Homosexual gamers?  Why not try to cater to them?  Even though D&D books are filled to the brim with Beefcake (even the Sorcerer, Hennet, looked like he could take on Redgar), focusing around homosexual gamers can be problematic.  What do they want to see to make them feel better?  Yaoi -- which is depictions of light-hearted homosexual relationships, or Guro -- which is much more grittier and can include male on male rape.

First of all, there are marking problems with both of these.  Yaoi, which is lighthearted, is aimed primarily at young women.  You can typically get beautiful men kissing each other and having a fulfilling relationship.  You put this into a D&D book, and you get some confused customers.  They want scenes of adventure, and not two men kissing each other and having a deep relationship with each other in order to fulfill a woman's fantasy.  So, that leaves Guro, where you have more realistic, more mature homosexual relationships depicted.  Really, from a marketing standpoint, do you really want to sell D&D books with this sort of imagery inside them?

D&D sells better with images like this:

Not this:

But this is how to market D&D better to appeal to a wider audience?  What steps can we take to make women, black gamers, and homosexual gamers feel better?  Well, if you try to make D&D appeal to everyone, it won't sell, ever.  You are lumping everything in, and the end result is a mishmash that won't taste good and will probably not appeal to anyone.

However, the Black Gamer market is definitely worthy to cater to with the existing D&D books.  All Wizards of the Coast can do is create a Sub-Saharan Setting, make it Black gamer friendly, and market it.  Sub-saharan Africa doesn't have to be a niche product, it can be a core product.  And even white gamers would buy a product if: the number of white actors in art is kept down to a minimum -- or even taken out entirely.  Wizards of the Coast can enlarge it's customer base if it does the demographic research among black gamers and white gamers.  Check to see if caucasian customers would buy such a product, and produce it and market it for 5th Edition.  I bet the customer base would increase.

Now about those that scream Sexism in D&D.  First of all realize that it's not only women who are discriminated against in the new Dungeon Punk style -- men are also.  Wayne Reynolds draws men with in human musculatures -- i.e. BEEFCAKE.  The style is so inhuman that his men look not in proportion.  Every time I look at one of Wayne Renolds' men, I have a dissonance disconnect.  Then there is CHEESECAKE in D&D, and it's over emphasized with the Dungeon Punk style, thats true.  But in Second Edition D&D, there is always good examples of women who aren't always there as eye candy.

So, instead of making a niche product that is based on the idealistic matriarchy (and that's putting it over the top), how about hiring a more varied artist base?  By having a varied artist base, you can't always guarantee that cheesecake will go away; but you will get less sorceresses in loin cloths and more women in full armor, or full dresses, or fully clothed. 

Finally, there is Homosexual Men.  If homosexual gamers are into yaoi and are more pleased by yaoi stories, they wouldn't be gaming in Dungeons and Dragons.  Homosexuals into yaoi are looking for something different.  They want deep character stories where the boys share their love at the end, than going into Dungeons and beating up on goblins.  That leaves Guro imagery. However, Dirk Benedict made the call that if the A-Team would be produced today, it would be called "the Gay Team."

So, to appeal to the Homosexual gamer, you need more pictures of male camaraderie. You don't need to dip into Guro -- where you get homosexual sex, sometimes of a rape nature.  And you don't need to dip into yaoi, which depends on deepened Character stories and caters more to young women than to homosexual gamers and aren't representative of D&D at all.

Of the three, to appeal to a wider audience, WotC just needs to do three things:

1. Produce a setting based on Sub-saharan Africa and leaving out caucasian genotypes or representing them at a bare minimum and have African genotype characters represented in the art overwhelmingly.

2. Take a more moderate approach to Art and in how men and women are depicted in the D&D books.  Less beefcake and cheesecake, and more realism.

3. Do not do yaoi, yuri, or guro, but put more pictures of an all male team in your books.  Or a team made up of tomboys so as to go for the gay and lesbian demographics.

4. finally, as to the last two, moderation is the key.  Sure, we want to see varied teams, but remember there are those that feel comfortable with a team of men being comrades, and those that are comfortable to see a team of tomboys try to make it in their world.

That's pretty much all that I have to say about it.  However, for those calling for change -- and to Sarah Darkmagic in particular, you have to realize that tons of market research went into D&D.  To get what you want, you also have to realize that market research has to be done.  To prompt such market research, go to GENCON and make yourselves heard.  Tell all your gamer friends to attend GenCon this year (if possible) and show the WotC representatives that people of all kinds play D&D.  Attend the RPGAs, hold games of your own, do everything you can to show that D&D has one true demographic -- the Creative, Scholarly, and Intelligent who want to play games catered to them besides Chess and Checkers.

Spring is striking!

and now it's time to change the background of my blog to reflect the season. :)  I hope you all enjoy it. :)

Star Wars vs. Star Trek

There is no Star Wars vs. Star Trek.  They are both built on different stories, and have different bases in science.  The differences are telling:

Star Trek deals with the potential of the human civilization and is based on Relativistic physics.  Transporters aside (which is based on Quantum Teleportation), you have Warp Drive, phasers, complex plotting, and many different gadgets.

Star Trek attracts those with a higher education.  Star Trek gets deep into intellectual and social character development.  You hardly fire any photon torpedoes at your enemy, and everything is based on negotiations to resolve conflict.  Of course, you get some phaser fire.  Star Trek episodes deal with possibilities.  You have some deep roleplaying in your Star Trek RPGs because not everything is based on combat.  I have a copy of the TNG RPG (LUGTrek) and it handles TNG so superbly.  Right down to how to portray your villains.   In fact, a lot of things that happen in Star Trek Phase II (which is Original Trek carried on) is based on events and storytelling that happened in TNG.

Until Star Trek 9 happened.  It wasn't because of Kirk.  Kirk, as portrayed by Christopher Pine -- represents a younger hotheaded Trek.  Shatner's Kirk in OST is much more mature, and Cawley's Kirk shows a Kirk that is wise beyond his years.

It was the storyline.  Star Trek 9 wasn't Star Trek.  But then, ST: Nemesis didn't make any sense either.  But perhaps the worst part of Star Trek was Seasons 4 and 5 of Voyager.  But Star Trek is strongly based on science and what could be possible and is highly intellectual in it's approach.

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So, on to Star Wars.  Star Wars is based on Quantum Physics.  While the show is fantasy, and has mythological themes, the thing that underlies it all is the Force.  Star Wars is ultimately about individual human potential.  While Star Trek talks about our potential as a species and how we can rise above barbarism, Star Stars talks about our potential as individuals and how we can achieve such potential.

You have the Force.  Through the Force (which is a scientifically proven fact) a human being can become a better human - even supra human.  And while you have spaceships -- with the capability to go into a whole other dimension (Hyperspace) no less -- everything about Star Wars is individual human achievement.

This is told through the Story of Anakin Skywalker and his relationship with his son, Luke Skywalker.  Like the Master Sage -- Yahshua the Messiah -- Anakin Skywalker was the result of a parthenogenesis.  Unlike Yahshua the Messiah who lived to be an example, Anakin Skywalker fell -- and he fell hard -- and became Darth Vader.

So the last two Jedi, Obi-Wan and Yoda, took it upon themselves to train Luke Skywalker in order to face Darth Vader and defeat him and his Emperor.  Luke, with his reckless behavior, learned the horrible truth, Darth Vader was his father.  Luke eventually fights his father and defeats him in front of the Emperor on the Second Death Star.  His father, unable to HATE his son because he reminded him of Padme Amidala -- his beloved wife -- couldn't kill his son.  Faced with the ultimate temptation, Luke resists temptation and says that he will not turn to the dark side and use Bogan.

The Emperor, feeling that he was a great threat to his power, attacked him with Force Lightning.  During the fight, however, Luke used Dun Moch on his own father in a reverse and less perverse way.  Luke saw the Good in his Father and Darth Vader, seeing what represented the last of Padme in utter pain from Force Lightning, repented and threw the Emperor down the main reactor shaft.  Thereby redeeming himself of his terrible betrayal of the Jedi and becoming a vessel for Ashla once again.

Besides, the Science of Star Wars is much more complex than you think.  Star Trek's science is simple to understand -- but the Science of Star Wars is so subtle in the movies that you need a book to understand what goes on behind the scenes.
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Through the story of Star Wars, we learn that we can become better individuals through redemption and we have great Potential -- through the interaction of the Force and those sensitive to it.   Through Star Trek, we learn that the human as a Civilization has the ability to improve and rise above our proclivity to war amongst ourselves.  Star Wars is ultimately a Science Fiction tale about the Individual.  While Star Trek is a science fiction tale about the Community.

Star Wars is about Individual Freedom, while Star Trek is about working together to achieve the objective. Star Wars is also about preserving true Freedom against tyranny -- whether it is from a Galactic Empire ruled by a Militaristic Dictatorship with the Emperor as its head or a true Utopia (Star Wars: X-XII).  Star Trek is about the potential of the human to overcome the worst of our individual selves and to band together to build something great.

Both story cycles are good and both are great to watch.  However to play in an MMO, Star Wars has the best potential to play in an MMO -- since all MMOs have mostly solo adventures.  In Star Trek, you need to work together or its not going to be plausible as Star Trek.  Star Trek would not work as an MMO, but both work as Roleplaying Games in their own right.  Although Star Trek lends itself well to team play. :)

In the end analysis, neither is better than the other.  Geeks who fight over who groks what universe best both should read and watch more Science Fiction.  Stranger in a Strange Land, The Martian Chronicles, Dune, A Princess of Mars, The Gods Themselves, Foundation series, At the Earth's Core, Ender's Game, and Farseer are all good examples of Science Fiction.

Running a Star Wars campaign

Interestingly enough, I'm running a Star Wars SAGA game set in the Old Republic.

I'm just listing one of the NPCs here, nothing big.  His picture is from Star Wars: the Old Republic.
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SETH JURAN                                                     CR 10

male human Jedi 7/Jedi Knight 3
Force: 5
Initiative: +12, Senses: Perception +12
Languages: Basic, High Galactic, Huttese (Understand only)
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Defenses Ref 23 (flatfooted 21), Fort 20, Will 24
hp 120; Threshold 25
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Speed: 6 sq (30 ft.)
Melee: +12 Lightsaber (2d8+6)
Melee: +11 Lightsaber (2d8+6) with rapid strike
Ranged: By weapon
Base Attack: +10, Grapple: +12
Attack Options: Acrobatic Strike, Rapid Strike, Running Attack
Force Powers Known (Use the Force +18): Battle Strike, Farseeing, Force Disarm, Force Light, Makashi Reposte, Mind Trick,  Pass the Blade, Pushing Slash, Rising Whirlwind, Saber Swarm
Force Techniques: Force Point Recovery
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Abilities: Str 12, Con 11, Dex 14, Int 15, Wis 18, Cha 16
Talents: Adept Negotiator, Ataru, Force Intuition, Jar-Kai, Lightsaber Defense, Severing Strike, Weapon Specialization (Lightsabers)
Feats: Acrobatic Strike, Force Sensitive, Force Training (2), Force Regimen Mastery, Rapid Strike, Running Attack, Skill Focus (Use the Force), Weapon Finesse, Weapon Focus (Lightsabers), Weapon Proficiency (Lightsabers, simple weapons).
Force Regimens: Awaken Force Sensitivity, Eyes of the Force, Quiet the Mind, Telekinetic Practice
Skills: Acrobatics +12, Initiative +12, Mechanics +12, Perception +14, Pilot +12, Use the Force +18
Possessions: Lightsaber (self built), Jedi Robes, Defender class Corvette (light freighter size).

The Force -- a Scientific Point of View

We have all watched Star Wars: A New Hope.  Some uncountable times.  We all have our opinions on the movies -- from midichlorians to Jar Jar Binks to the Ewoks to the annoying habit of Star Wars fans snubbing each other if they liked or disliked the Prequels or the original Trilogy.

However, all of these things pale in comparison to the concept of the Force in the films.  This blog article will explore the Force and it's possibility of actually being the one thing about Star Wars that is true.  So, lets discuss the nature of the Force.

The Force is an energy field that surrounds us, penetrates us, and binds the Galaxy together.  So did Obi-Wan Kenobi explain to Luke Starwalker.  It is also the source of the powers of the Jedi Order, and ostensibly the Sith.  In the Star Wars universe, the Force was discovered by scientists and its existence was universally accepted some 25 thousand years before the Battle of Yavin.  Scientists, philosophers, and mystics came to Tython to debate and discuss the scientific merits of the Force.  Out of the debates came a rich understanding of the Force.

Afterwards, the debates turned into the formation of the Je'daii -- the first Jedi Order.  However, a few have studied how strong emotions affected the force and opposed the Je'daii -- peacefully at first.  The Je'daii turned to use the light side of the Force, which was named Ashla.  While those in opposition used the dark side of the Force, which was named Bogan.

Through the Force, the Je'daii can see into the future, read other people's minds, and telekinetically lift things.  Those that use Bogan noticed that the Force was stronger with strong emotions.  And besides psychokinesis, telepathy, and future sight they also gained the ability generate a powerful plasma energy current called "Force Lightning."

Thinking that the concepts of the Force espoused by the students of Bogan was a perversion of the Force, the Je'daii attacked the students of Bogan.  The Je'daii called them Dark Je'daii -- a force of evil who were trying to influence the fledging Je'daii council to evil. Master Rajavari, who thought that the fledging Je'daii council was becoming too strict and dogmatic, led the Dark Je'daii against their oppressors.  Many of his apprentices were cut down, killed, and were forced off of Tython.

The Je'daii became the Jedi Order and they became the protectors of peace and Justice throughout the Galactic Republic.  It makes for great science fiction, and became one of the foundations of one of the Greatest Stories ever told -- the original Myth of Star Wars.  And George Lucas really didn't believe that Episode IV would ever succeed.  However, what if it was Science Fact?  What if the Force was discovered here, on Earth, before George Lucas wrote about it?  What if a true scientist described the Force and called it something else?

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Orgone Energy

A not very long time ago relative to the stories of the Star Wars films, a Doctor Wilhelm Reich -- who was employed by Marxists in Germany -- started work on something that could have revolutionized scientific thought back in the late '20s and early '30s.  Trained in Psychoanalysis by Doctor Sigmund Freud, Dr. Reich was a psychologist on the highest order.  He started work on the Libido -- or "animal magnetism" as known colloquially.  As he delved deep in the nature of the Libido, he discovered something extraordinary.

What Dr. Reich discovered is called Orgone Energy.  Mystics call it God.  Classical science called it the Ether, until Einstein.  Charles Littlefield calls it vital magnetism, and Henri Bergson called it the élan vital -- "The vital force."  And George Lucas?  He simply called it "the Force."  Latter-day Saints, who I count myself as a member, call it the Holy Spirit.  The orgone energy is best defined as the creative force in nature.


First of all, a couple of points about Dr. Wilhelm Reich.  He did not set out to make a great discovery.  He didn't want to revolutionize scientific thought.  Not at all.  The man simply observed what he saw, wrote it down in his journals, and did experiments.  He found the facts and organized them as they appeared, as he studied Nature and understood the creative substratum of the Universe.  What he discovered is the same energy that flowed in the same sexual embrace is present in all nature.  Both living and nonliving, and that it was the governor of the most significant and widespread of natural functions. Orgone energy underlies the following classification of phenomena.

A. Consciousness -
     1. Sensation
     2. Emotion
     3. Perception
     4. Thought.

B. Life --
     1. Animal Movement
     2. Biogenesis
     3. Reproduction
     4. Evolution
     5. Growth.

C. Atmospheric and Cosmic processes:
     1. Clouds
     2. Storms
     3. Electricity at all scales (Earthly, Atmospheric, Cosmic)
     4. Creation of matter at all scales (atom, planet, star, galaxy)

These follow Reich's discoveries and investigations into the orgone -- from psychiatry to medicine and biology to physics.

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Properties of Orgone Energy vs. the Force


Orgone Energy has the following properties as discovered by Dr. Reich.  It is the creative force in Nature, so it is expected that such a force would have these properties.  After all, it is not electromagnetism nor matter, but it is fundamental to both.  Our knowledge of the orgone is fragmentary at best, but perhaps, when we receive a deeper understanding we will gain as deep a perspective as the Jedi Order and the Sith in the Star Wars Universe.

1. It is mass free.  The first property found that it has no inertia nor weight, so by all counts it is mass free. This is why it is difficult to measure with our crude instruments.  Mass, however, is intimately dependent on these characteristics.  Measurements of weight and inertia reflect the characteristics of this field as well as the object within it.  The Force is mass free in the Star Wars Universe.

2. It is present everywhere. The second property discovered by Dr. Reich.  Orgone energy fills all space -- so it is analogous to Zero Point Energy, the energy that can be used someday to power our cities.   However, it is present in different degrees or charges but is no where absent.

The Force in Star Wars is present everywhere as well.  It was present in different degrees or charges but is nowhere absent.  Concentrations of the Force can be felt by Luke Starwalker in the Star Wars films.  This was telling when Luke Starwalker felt an unusual concentration of the Dark Side of the Force in Episode V.

3. Its the medium for electromagnetic and gravitational phenomena. Like the Ether, the orgone energy is the basis of the most fundamental of natural phenomena.  It is the medium through which light moves and the electromagnetic and gravitational fields exert themselves.

In the Star Wars films, we see the Jedi and Sith generating seemingly miraculous feats.  Psychokinesis, empathy, telepathy, and energy generation in the form of Force Lightning, and even Satele Shan blocking a lightsaber with her hand, was the Jedi demonstrating that the Force is the medium for electromagnetic and gravitational phenomena.  And the Jedi and Sith have control over how this worked due to their understanding of the Force.

4. Orgone energy is constantly in motion. Continual motion of the orgone energy can be observed in certain conditions.  The energy follows an organic flow that is like the DNA helix, and flows as a pulsation.  GL didn't get into the physics of how the Force moved in the Films, nor is it explored in the Expanded Universe as far as I know.  But the Force is also constantly in motion.

5. Orgone Energy contradicts the Law of Entropy. Probably the best case for Immortality is the property of the Orgone Energy to contradict the Law of Entropy.  The energy is attracted to higher concentrations of it.  In other words, it moves from cold to warm.  This breaks a law of Thermodynamics, in which heat moves from warm to cold.

To explain, Heat energy as we know it seeks to balance itself out.  When you heat a mug of hot chocolate and leave it out, it's heat will dissipate into the room until the hot chocolate is at room temperature. This is how everything in the system is the same temperature.  In other words, Entropy increases as the the heat is distributed more evenly.

However, orgone process works in the opposite direction.  High concentrations of orgone energy attract orgone energy towards them.  In orgone, cold orgone is attracted to hot orgone and entropy decreases as orgone energy is distributed more and more unevenly.  However, it is wrong to simply reverse the Thermodynamic equations to represent orgone.  Orgone energy is fundamentally different from heat and other energy sources we know about.  But it is these processes that are responsible for learning and growth. within living systems, and directs evolution along it's path.  In the non-living nature, the process governs the formation of clouds, storms, and Galaxies.

The Force also contradicts Entropy.  This is subtly demonstrated in the films in the strength that the Jedi have in feeling the Force, with Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader being the pinnacle of Force Sensitivity in many, many years.  Also, in the films, many of the Jedi were losing their sensitivity to the Force.  Even Master Yoda was doing so.  How they were losing their sensitivity hasn't been stated, but the Force must have been flowing away from most of them as It tried to find balance within itself.

6. Orgone Energy forms units which are the foci of creative activity.  Orgone energy units may be living or nonliving.  In living matter you have the bion (or midichlorian), the cell, the plant, and the animal, and finally Man.  In nonliving matter you have the atomic particle, the atom, the cloud, the storm, the planet, the star, and finally the Galaxy.  All of these have features in common.  All are negatively entropic in the sense discussed above. All of them have life cycles, and all of them receive energy from their environment.

The Force also form units which are the foci of creative activity. In Episode V, Yoda describes the Force as something generated by Life and Life makes it grow.  He also says to Luke that they (we?) are luminous beings and not crude matter.  However none of the Jedi nor Sith created anything seemingly out of nothing (ex nihilo).  However, just because it didn't happen in the films in such a gross way doesn't mean that the creative activity wasn't demonstrated.

Anakin Skywalker was the result of a virgin pregnancy.  Darth Plagueis the Wise was able to manipulate the midichlorians to create or sustain life unnaturally.  Luke was able to lift stones, and Yoda lifted a whole spaceship telekinetically.  Anakin Skywalker and Padme Amidala Skywalker got together and made two new lives together, one stronger in the Force than Anakin was.

7. Matter is created from Orgone Energy. Under the appropriate conditions, matter arises from mass free Orgone Energy.  These conditions are never rare or unusual, as Reich believed (and rightly so) that matter is continuously created on Earth.

This property of the Force is never demonstrated in the films, unless you are willing to look to the Lightsaber as demonstration of this property.  The Lightsaber, which is beyond our current technology, is capable of generating a beam of light that is limited in length and has some mass and density in order to cut through anything.  We can not produce "Hard Light."  That is, light with substance.  However, it is possible thanks to the understanding the infamous double slit experiment provides.



8. It is Responsible for Life. Life energy is orgone energy, just as orgone energy is zero point energy.  And so is responsible for the characteristics that differs living matter from non-living matter. This is observed in this way: some orgone elements develop into the special qualities that define life.  Therefore, this is chain reaction to creative activity.  And Reich has made strong studies and documents on how orgone energy governs and is governed by Life.

The Force in the films is responsible for Life.  This is demonstrated by Jedi and Sith healing abilities.  Also, to reiterate, the Force had a hand in Shmi's pregnancy with Anakin Skywalker, the Parthenogenesis of the Chosen One to bring Balance to the Force.  Which is miraculous considering that either Shmi had two X genes and a Y gene in her genetic makeup, or Darth Plagueis the Wise had a hand in making Anakin.

9. Separate streams of orgone energy may be attracted to each other and superimpose.  Most probably in a double helix, like DNA is stringed.   And how galaxies are formed from plasma.  The super imposition is the fundamental form of the creative process and is best demonstrated through human mating.  Two separate streams of Kundalini  Energy -- one from male and female, or one from homosexual pairs; flow together and superimpose during orgasm.  The power and depth felt when a man and his wife come together does reflect the intensity of the orgone energy flow that takes place.

The Star Wars films do not have on screen matings, however several movies do.  Secondly, this property of the Force has never been explored except in parody films like Spaceballs.  It was never a plot point to point out how the Force moves through the Galaxy.

10. It can be manipulated and controlled by orgone energy devices. Such devices include the orgone accumulator and orgonite.   The accumulator works by accumulating the energy in a small space, and orgonite works by accumulating energy and directing it to some goal.

In the Star Wars films and expanded Universe, the Force was never manipulated and controlled by energy devices (except perhaps the lightsaber), but by living intelligent beings -- the Jedi.  However just because the Force was manipulated by Jedi and Sith does not mean it is different from orgone energy.  More on orgone energy manipulation later.

11. Orgone energy units use stored energy of many kinds through the creative process.  Units of energy use many different types of energy to grow and maintain themselves.  Living human beings use such energy in their bodies during cellular growth and division.  We use it to make sperm and eggs.  Storms, which are also orgone energy systems, use the latent heat in water condensation to generate their power.

In the Star Wars films, this property of the Force wasn't explored, but exposited by Qui-Gon Jin to Anakin Skywalker, and via Skywalker to the audience.  Qui-Gon explains the existence of midichlorians and how they serve in biological life.  Doctor Reich discovered something like midichlorians in the blood -- he called them bions.

12. "Spontaneous Generation" or abiogenesis (which some scientists are so fond of saying happened on Earth) and other processes dealing with orgone energy requires an impeded stream of cosmic orgone energy.  Abiogenesis is really impossible in the laboratory under the conditions that scientists impose.  However, such conditions are not the right conditions to start abiogenesis, as they are abnormal from Nature. Life can and does arise under the right conditions.  This process has been described by the good Doctor.

This property of the Force was never explored in the films.  However, the Star Wars universe is a universe filled with infinite expression of Life.  There are thousands of alien lifeforms in the Star Wars Galaxy.  It's impossible for our Universe, as vast as it is, to be home to one species of intelligent Life.

-------------

Manipulation of the Force in the Star Wars films


Now that we have gone over how the Force and orgone energy are one and the same; it's time to see how it is possible given our understanding of this energy on how we can manipulate it.

Psychokinesis, Empathy, Telepathy, Precognition, Prescience and Teleportation
The Jedi and the Sith have the ability to show that they can Sense, Control, and Alter the Force according to their desires.  In the Films this is demonstrated by Telepathy -- i.e. the Jedi Mind trick; Empathy -- i.e. Luke sensing the presence of Darth Vader on the moon of Endor; Precognition and Prescience, i.e. Anakin's disturbing dreams in Revenge of the Sith; and finally Psychokinesis -- the ability of the Jedi lifting stones, pushing droids, and Darth Sidious demonstrating Force Lightning all without mechanical means.

Most of these are not in our Life Experience, so therefore given our understanding of how orgone interacts with us, these items are seemingly impossible.  No one has used Force Lightning.  And there is no truly documented case of a man or woman using psychokinesis to move objects through space without applying mechanical energy.

However, there is a scripture that states that there is a Law decreed in heaven upon which all blessings are predicated.  This is the Law of Cause and Effect, and it governs how we interact with orgone energy.  After all there is one property of the Force that we experience all the time, and we use this property mostly unconsciously.  This property is called Metacreativity or the ability to create matter from energy.

Back to the infamous double slit experiment.  If you recall, the electrons beamed through the two slits formed an interference pattern.  This baffled scientists so they set up an observer to see what was really happening.  The result was a pattern of matter rather than an interference pattern -- as if the electrons knew that they were being observed.  What was happening was that the measuring device collapsed the wave function of electrons and turned them into solid matter.  So, what does this have to do with us and what does this have to do with the Force?

Simple.  We must be vibrational beings and we have the ability to affect vibration.  Or more simply for Atheists, we create as the gods you don't believe in.  When we do not observe something directly, it transforms into an energy wave function.  When we observe something, the wave function collapses into what we unconsciously expect it to be.

We can take an infinite wave of potentials and collapse it into matter or energy that we expect it to be either unconsciously or consciously.  When we do it unconsciously, we are interacting with the Universe as a victim.  When we do it consciously, we take on the role of Creator.  In essence, we are granted whatever we deeply desire.

So, can we cast Force Lightning, do Jedi mind tricks, and telekinetically lift matter without mechanical means?  Theoretically yes.  In practice, no one wants to try since we are told it's impossible and it's believed by all to be impossible.  However, it is found that there is a relationship between us and matter far away, that we are connected to each other.  Einstein called this spooky action at a distance.

A particle can affect another particle, no matter where the second particle is in the Universe at this time.  This is shown in water experiments done by Masaru Emoto in which shows that emotion can affect the crystallization of water.  In experiment after experiment and by documenting the results through photographs, Dr. Emoto found that water affected by emotion and intent can produce different crystals.  Doctor Emoto has many different photographs ranging from what happens if water is crystalized by "You make me sick!" to water crystalized by mozart, to love and happiness.  And he found that negative emotions produce hardly any crystal structure, if at all, while love and gratitude form the most beautiful crystals in Creation.

So, what does it mean when we tell our best friend that we love them?  They are affected by it, no matter where they are in the Universe.  And if we tell them that we don't love them?  They will be affected by that.  So, in human relationships, it's far better to tell your friends that you love them than to tell them that you don't.

-----------------

In conclusion: the Force in Star Wars has been discovered by Science some forty to sixty years before it appeared on film.  It's been documented, explained, and experimented with in dozens of experiments ranging from psychological to meteorological.  The Force in Star Wars is a true scientific phenomenon, it is not owned by George Lucas and never can it be claimed to be owned as an entity.  If it is, George Lucas would have to sue the makers of The Secret, What the Bleep Do We Know? and countless life coaches for Patent violation.  Not to mention that he also can sue his Maker, and according to this article, the Force itself; according to the Patent laws of the United States.

However, since only the Force's action in the Star Wars films is copyrighted, George Lucas only owns the rights to the Force as it's role in the stories of Star Wars.  As the Force is a real, scientifically documented phenomenon, how we all interact with the Force makes us either Jedi or Sith.  And as such, we are able to do Anything, have Anything, and be Anything we so desire.

So as long as we are willing to accept the consequences of such.

------------------------------------------

Works Cited.

Before anyone ever tries to refute me out of passion, I urge you do to your own Research.   And if you do make a comment without doing the research, you are a Sith and deserve to be treated as such by your friends and colleagues.

This bibliography gives you the power to do your own research.

----------------------

Works positive to the Force

Allen, J. (1905). As a Man Thinketh. New York City: Public Domain.

Captured Light Distribution. (2004). What the Bleep Do We Know!? (C. L. Distribution, Producer) Retrieved Febuary 22, 2012, from What the Bleep Do We Know!?: http://www.whatthebleep.com/

Charles R. Kelley, P. (1962, September). What IS ORGONE ENERGY? by Charles R. Kelley, PHD. Retrieved February 21, 2012, from GALACTIC ORGONOMY EXCHANGE: http://www.orgone.org/articles/ax9kelley1a.htm

Hill, N. (1930). Think and Grow Rich. New York City: Public Domain.

Lucas, G. (Writer), & Lucas, G. (Director). (1977). Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope [Motion Picture]. United States: 20th Century Fox.

Works negative to the Force

Dawkins, R. (2006). The God Delusion. New York City: Houghton Miffin Company. 

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A Treatise on the Force

The Star Wars Saga has been one of the best series of movies that came out of Hollywood in the late 20th Century and part of the Early Twenty-first.  The most important message of the Saga was the message about the Force.

If you remember the first movie, Episode 4, Obi-wan Kenobi introduced Luke Skywalker to the Force.  He described the Force as an energy field generated by all living things.  It surrounds us, penetrates us, and binds the Galaxy together and started Luke on his path on becoming a Jedi and facing the two Dark Lords of the Sith.

As the stories of Star Wars continued to expand, we learned much of the Jedi and the Dark Lords of the Sith, the Republic, the Sith Empire, and the Galaxy.  Recently, last year, Star Wars: the Old Republic Massively Multiplayer Online Roleplaying Game (MMORPG) was released.  This game answers most of the questions of the Jedi and the Sith.  Where did they start?  How did they come to be?  What actually happened?  However, watching on-line Lets Plays reveals something of the players of the game.  More people played as Sith Lords or as Jedi than as Troopers, Smugglers, Bounty Hunters, and Imperial Agents.

Understanding Star Wars


Star Wars sets itself apart from Star Trek in the basic idea that the premise of both are incredibly different.  Star Trek presents a positive view of Science and the Achievement of Man.  Star Wars is a Spiritual, almost religious, Myth.  Both are the brain children of two men.  One was a police officer, the other was a racer.  The second, George Lucas, was in a car accident while racing.  According to his biography, George Lucas was in the hospital when he came to learn of the Force.  The Star Wars movies presents his beliefs about the Force.  A lot of people believe that the Force is fiction. However, in the twentieth Century, Science has been done before the Movies had ever come out, that may prove that the Force is an actual reality.

Doctor Riche and the Force


Doctor Riche was a German Scientist who made an interesting discovery.  He practically discovered an energy that is present in all living things -- he called it the Orgone Energy.  What he found was that the Orgone came in two flavors -- Positive Orgone and Deadly Orgone.  Positive Orgone -- which he called POR -- can heal and cause growth in an organism if properly accumulated.  Deadly Orgone causes Dis-Ease (disease) and sickness in an organism and can eventually kill.

When he published his discoveries and experiments with Orgone, Doctor Riche came under attack by a vicious smear campaign.  He was eventually found guilty by an obscure health law, imprisoned, and his books burned.  His life destroyed, this gentle scientist died in Prison.  But the discoveries he has made with life and energy was so significant that Doctor Albert Einstein was impressed.  Not impressed enough to endorse Doctor Riche, but impressed.

Since then, we have Photographic Proof of the Orgone Energy.  It appears as a blue glow around Astronauts, Galaxies, the Earth, and organisms in the Earth.  The Force is real enough.  So, as the Force is real -- as in actual photographic proof, what does that make us?

The Vibrational Being


As humans (and star children, and indigo children, you know who you are) we are vibrational beings.  We are capable of altering the vibrations of Energy -- the Force -- all around us to produce results.  This is either a determined result or a subconscious result.

In the movies, Force sensitives were able to show that they can control the Force, they were able to show that they can alter the Force, and sense the Force.  Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader could telekinetically move objects, see the future, and alter patterns in the Force to their desires.  Even Darth Sidious was able to do this -- as he arrogantly bragged to Vader's son how everything transpired according to his desires.

Ironically, not many people know we can do the same.  However, instead of telekinesis, and being our own seers, we alter the Force through creation.  As vibrational beings, we alter Force patterns.  However, to be able to do this, we also have to be beings of the Force ourselves.

In Episode 5 and the Episode 6 novelizations, both Yoda and Vader told Luke that we are luminous beings and not the crude matter that makes up our bodies.  This implies that we are all apart of the Force, and therefore, connected to one another.  This is the true message of the movies: that we are beings able to alter the Force.  We are luminous, spiritual beings.

The Jedi and Sith, a Critique


One of the interesting things that came out of the movies is a new religion that has appeared on Earth.  This religion is called the Jedi religion and it's been pieced together from the movies.  However, I'd like to say that although the Jedi and Sith in the movies are on the right track, they have existed so long in that Galaxy that both have missed the mark as a Religion.  Both Jedi and Sith are members of the same religion -- just that one side believes in strict monastic, or Aesthetic beliefs and the other indulges in the opposite.

What Happened on Tython
The MMORPG gets into what happened on Tython, the home planet of both Jedi and Sith, a little.  From what is said on the Wookieepedia, those that followed Ashla and Bodan had a dichotomous disagreement over how the Force should be used.  The Ashlar believed that strict control over one's passions is the key, while the Bodanists believed that unbridled emotion is the key to getting results.  A fight broke out, and the result was a true schism.  The Bodanists were eventually banished and the Ashlar, who became the Jedi, left the planet on their own accord, relocating on Coruscant.

The Bodan Jedi eventually found the Sith aliens and conquered them, becoming the Dark Lords of the Sith according to the Galactic Record.  The Ashla Jedi simply became the Jedi.  The two constantly clashed, but the two groups truly balanced one another.  The Jedi can't exist without the Sith, it's impossible.  If one group was destroyed, that group will eventually arise from the one who is victorious.  So, the Galaxy was in balance because of the existence of both Jedi and Sith.  However, both are wrong in their approach to the Force and the role of emotion.

I thought about what it would be like if Jesus Christ was born on Tython and how the Jedi and Sith would respond to his teachings.  Jesus Christ, who would be the ultimate Force user, would probably put the Jedi Council and the Dark Council in a total tizzy.  His teachings would bring both councils into an uproar as he  probably would denounce both Sith and Jedi as hypocrites and taught the common people their secrets.

Jesus, a man of infinite love and compassion, would suffer death after their hands.  Both the Jedi and the Sith would slay the Great Sage of Nazareth.  So, I figure that there was probably a third group of Jedi on Tython, who strived to be one with the Living Force by neither denying emotion nor letting it run unbridled, but experienced emotion and were passionate enough to deliberately create from the Force.

Christianity and the Force


Most people don't understand that they are Children of the Force.  However, all people on the Planet Earth has at least three fathers:  the Father of our Intelligence, the Father of our Spirits, and our Earthly father make up the trinity that gives us our origins.  Christians have a fourth father: Jesus Christ himself.  All Christians -- whether baptized by proper authority or not, have taken upon themselves the name of Jesus Christ.  But lets talk about these fathers, each in turn.

The First Father is our Earthly father.  Our Earthly fathers have given us life by having sex with our mothers.  When a father and a mother come together and become one flesh, they create new Life.  Both must unite in this common purpose to create a body of Flesh and Blood so that we may experience Earth Life and learn from our experience.  Through our Earthly father and mother, we are given a physical body so we can experience what we truly desire through our five senses -- Taste, Smell, Touch, Sight, and Hearing.

The Second Father is our Heavenly Father -- the Great Eternal.  He is known by many names, but its most proper to call him Heavenly Father.  The Jews call him Elohim, but in that, there is a strong problem.  The word Elohim is plural.  Our Heavenly Father is immortal, meaning that he has both Life Eternal -- a body of Flesh and Bones -- and Eternal Life.  He is the father of our Spirit, or as the Psychologist would say, the father of our Consciousness.  The process of creating Spirit bodies, however, is similar to creating a body of flesh and blood.

The Third Father is the Force itself.  Our intelligence, our power and will to act, has to have an Origin.  This is the Force, or more properly, the Holy Spirit.  In ancient Hebrew the Holy Spirit is known as Ruach, which means wind, breath, mind, and spirit.  We are all Children of the Holy Spirit.  In a fit of Understanding Itself and seeking to be more, the Holy Spirit split a part of itself into infinite parts.  These parts are us.  All of us.  Man, Animal, Plant, Mineral.  All of us are a part of the Force or the Holy Spirit. Therefore, as a part of the Force, we are all connected to the Force, and through the Force, we are connected to each other.  We are children of the Holy Spirit, and as such we are capable of having anything, doing anything, and being anything.

If we desire to lift an object without touching it, we can do so.  If we desire to see the future and the past, we can do so.  If we desire to leap high, cast Force lightning, and do other things beautiful, great, and terrible; we can do so.  If we desire an abundance of goods, we will have them.  If we desire to reject the message of Salvation, we can do so (and many have done so).  The Force exists to grant our every desire, whether good or evil, bad or righteous, such desires are always granted by the Force.

The Fourth Father however, pertains to Christians.  This fourth Father is Jesus Christ himself.  As Christians, we have taken upon ourselves His name, and acknowledge Him to be the Father of our Salvation.  Jesus Christ made it possible for us to come into Heavenly Father's presence.  As Christians, we are to put our trust in Jesus Christ's sacrifice and live our lives according to how the Holy Spirit or the Force, directs us to live.

In this way, Jesus Christ is our Messiah, our Savior.  He saved us from our sins, or our rebelliousness against the Holy Spirit.  He saved us from an eternity of pain and suffering.  Jesus also has another identity.  Jesus, whose English name means NOTHING in Hebrew, was given the Hebrew name of Yeshua -- which is transliterated into English as Joshua.  Yeshua, or Yahshua, means in Hebrew "Yahweh is Salvation."

This means that Jesus is Yahweh (pronounced "Yah-way").   This also means that Yahweh is Jesus. The God of the Old Testament, the God that commanded the Israelites to leave Egypt and to slay the Canaanites, is Jesus Christ of the new Testament.  They are one and the same.  When you speak of Yahweh, you are speaking of Jesus Christ.  And when you are speaking of Jesus Christ, you are speaking of Yahweh.  Jesus was crucified and was resurrected, meaning that he has a body of Flesh and Bone and is fully alive.

Jesus doesn't sleep, he is very aware of what is going on with the World and he has pleaded with His people in the latter days to repent and to believe upon Him and to forsake our vain quest for popularity and material things.  Jesus has had enough with the wayward ways of His nation, and He will chastise His nation for our adulterous and slutty behavior.  However, Jesus is full of infinite love and compass ion.  He has sent a Prophet for those who want to live through his judgement of America, he will call those who will listen.  These are His elect, and he will have them be prepared so he can have a nation of Priests and Priestesses, Kings and Queens once again.

In Summation

So to conclude the Treatise, the Force in Star Wars is an actual thing.  It has been scientifically documented and experimented with by Doctor Wilhelm Riche.  The Force is Orgone Energy, and there is photographic proof of the Force.

The Force is the father of our Intelligence.  Because we are the Children of the Force, we are all connected to one another.  We are also infinite as the Force is infinite, and we are capable of having anything, doing anything, and being anything we desire.  We are truly the Children of God.

The Great Eternal, our Heavenly Father -- is the Father of our Spirits.  The Spirit is the blueprint, or pattern, of our bodies.  The Spirit gives our Intelligence definition and form.  The Great Eternal, our Heavenly Father -- has a body of Flesh and Bones.  Therefore, he was once a man liken unto our Earthly father.  He was once mortal and had mortal children.  Now he has an immortal body and has immortal children.

Our Earthly fathers are the fathers of our bodies.  Our Earthly father, with the help of our Earthly mother, made it possible to for us to have a mortal body and to be able to experience Earth life.  With a body we are capable of making manifest our desires, through the Force, into physical reality.

Our Father of our Salvation is Jesus Christ.  As Christians, we have taken upon ourselves his name and promised not to be hypocrites -- saying one thing but doing another.  Doing so is taking the name of Christ in vain.  Vanity is a shallow thing when made manifest, especially as Christians.  It is easier to be a Christian in vain, though -- than it is to be a Christian in reality.  A vain Christian has the pride and popularity of the World.  A real Christian is thought of as peculiar, strange, and weird by the World.  Such a man or woman is laughed at, spit upon, thought of as crazy, weird, and eventually may find himself under physical persecution for his belief in Christ.  He may even lose his life for the Father of his Salvation.

The Force is a real thing.  We are real Children of the Force, or God.  As such, we should do everything we can to Learn about ourselves, the reality of ourselves, and seek Atonement with God.  We are to become one with God and eventually become as Exalted as the Great Eternal is.

If I were to run Star Wars SAGA RPG

If I were to run the Stars Wars SAGA RPG, I'd set it during the Knights of the Old Republic Era -- the same as the current, and new Star Wars: The Old Republic Massively Multiplayer Online Roleplaying Game is set.

So, why STAR WARS SAGA?

Star Wars SAGA is the true 4th Edition of D&D.  Really it is.  Looking at the rules, it's easier to get.  You've got five classes:

Jedi -- which covers the Jedi and the Sith.

Noble -- Star Wars nobles.

Scoundrel -- Han Solo

Scout -- Chewbacca (although his Scout role wasn't really all up on that. )

Soldier -- which covers Republic and Sith soldiers.


Next: you have feats and Talent Trees.  The Talent Trees is where D&D 4e should have gone rather than use Powers set up in order to ease D&Ders into 4th Edition.  In other words SAGA represents were 4th should have gone and 4th represents where 5th needed to go.  By that time, we would be ready for 4th Edition as it stands.

But Alas, pathos, pathos, pathos.

So, why Star Wars: The Knights of the Old Republic?

KotR is the Setting of the Jedi Golden Age.  Well, kinda.  The Force was balanced by the Jedi and the Sith.  Although to describe it as the Jedi Golden Age is laughable at best.  Especially when I have the unnerving feeling that the Jedi will most probably try to kill Jesus Christ for taking the Jedi Secrets and teaching them to the common people.

The Brahmin Caste tried to do it when the Christ visited India.  The Christ's only crime was to take the secret of the Brahmins and teach it to the Vayshas and the Untouchables.  Then the Christ got kicked out of many places -- Athens, Alexandria, Persepolis, Rome . . . And the Shelahites finally crucified him.  He didn't get kicked out of Britain, but he built the first version of Glastonbury church.  Ahem.

Well, I would set the campaign during the Knights of the Old Republic.  Player characters would be on the side of the Republic and fight the Sith Empire.  Adventures would take them to Tython, to Coruscant, to Ord Mantell, and other lovely places in the Galaxy -- including Alderaan, Tatooine, and Corellia.

So, how does the MMO work?

Basically, it's based on the World of Warcraft model (a lot).  In WoW, it's Horde vs. Alliance.  In this case, its set in the KotR Aeon and it's Republic vs. Sith.  Although in WoW, you can justify the Horde being good -- especially after the Horde has been cleansed by its blood taint and now they have two Paladin Orders -- the Blood Knights and the Sunwalkers to offset the Order of Argus and the Knights of the Silver Hand.  In Star Wars it's not so simple.

Changing the Subject:
Although, in a fit, the MMO says you can set your own destiny by gaining Force points and Darkside points through certain choices.  So it's possible to play a righteous Sith (although Ironically, you have to lie a bit to attain Righteousness among the Sith) and a wicked Jedi (which it makes sense that you have to lie and cheat to be WICKED among the Jedi).  The problem is -- George tells us that the Sith are evil incarnate.

The Galaxy is very Dichotomous thanks to Ashla and Bodan.   There is really no middle ground.  So, what do you do?  Gray out both sides.  Corruption is in the Senate, and some of the Sith are actually good guys and they see the Empire as the way to spread law and order across the Galaxy.  The only problem is --

All the Sith Lords are a bunch of backstabbing, half-brained, power hungry idiots who will sooner turn on each other or get their slaves to do their dirty work.

There are a total of 4 classes with their Dichotomy counter parts.

The Jedi Knight is opposed by the Sith Warrior.

The Jedi Consular is opposed by the Sith Inquisitor.

The Republic Trooper is opposed by the Imperial Agent.

And the Smuggler is opposed by the Bounty Hunter.

Advanced classes are these:

The Jedi Sage is comparable to the Priest in WoW.  The Jedi Sage is about Force Healing and fighting purely with Ashla.

The Jedi Shadow has no comparison to a WoW class.  The Shadows are consulars who are the James Bonds of the Republic.  They wield double bladed lightsabers and have licenses to kill.

The Jedi Guardian is comparable to the Paladin in WoW.  It's about protecting and dispensing Justice throughout the Republic and the Galaxy.

The Jedi Sentinel has no comparison to a WoW Class.  They use the Force and they fight with two lightsabers, and they use the Force to exploit their enemies' weaknesses.

The Scoundrelous Smuggler is comparable to the Rogue in WoW.

The Gunslinging Smuggler is comparable to the Cowboy in all the Old West movies you used to watch.  To get into the Gunslinging smuggler, you need to watch High Noon, The Shootist, and Support Your Local Gunslinger.

The Vanguard is comparable to the Warrior in WoW.

The Commando has no comparison in WoW, but if you have to compare it to a D&D class, the best way to  compare it too is the ranger.  The Commando is comparable to the U.S. Rodger's Rangers, who in the Revolutionary War, were a Crack Team of Elite soldiers of the Republic made up of rough and tumble Frontiersmen (and were one of the slights that turned General Arnold into a traitor).


The Power Tech bounty hunter specializes in using technology to his advantage.  He has no comparable WoW class.

The Mercenary Bounty Hunter is the Sith Empire's answer to the Warrior Class in WoW.

The Juggernaut Sith Warrior is a Dark Paladin.  Truly dark in every way, the Blood Knights -- although with a reputation for evil -- would find the Juggernaut to be a perversion of Paladin virtue.

The Marauding Sith Warrior is a highly aggressive Sith Lord that opposes Jedi Sentinels.

The Sith Sorcerer, an Inquistor that looks deeper into the Force -- is comparable to the WoW Warlock -- but not in every way possible.  Some interesting parallels are the fact that they are also comparable to Shadow Priests in WoW.

The Sith Assassin are comparable to KGB Assassins in attitude.  Maybe worse.  They need no license to Kill.  Wielding double bladed lightsabers, the Sith Assassin is something you don't want hunting you.

The Sniping Imperial Agent are comparable to snipers in Rainbow Six.  The only comparable WoW Class is the Hunter.

The Operative Imperial Agent represent the Sith Empire's Impossible Mission Force.  While the Republic relies on the Jedi Shadow to deal with impossible espionage missions, the Sith Empire is built on Lies, Secrets, and Intrigue.  Thus it's fighting class -- the Imperial Agent -- is based on the WoW Rogue.


So, how do you put all this together in a Roleplaying Game?

The Jedi class represents Jedi Knights, Jedi Consulars, Sith Warriors, and Sith Inquisitors.

The Scoundrel class represents both Smugglers and Bounty Hunters.

The Soldier class represents the Republic Trooper, while the Scout class best serves the Imperial Agent.  It's a little more complex than that.  Bounty Hunters who are mercenaries are certainly Soldiers, while gunslinging Smugglers can certainly be Scouts.

The SAGA edition can certainly be used to replicate the ST:tOR MMO.  Just remember that the SAGA game system and the MMO are based on different game systems (the d20 System vs. the WoW MMO system -- Advanced Classes get TALENTS!).  You can't fully replicate one game with the mechanics of the other.  However, with the RPG, you can go places were the MMO can't.  The MMO is totally scripted -- in one Story, you are a Sith that gets involved with the Revanites in order to kill their leader and to destroy their religion.  However in an RPG, you can get involved with the Revanites and not kill them but become their leader.

Kind of different way of doing things with the RPG than with the MMO.

What I want 5e to do.

Simple.  I want support, however measly that is, for interesting backgrounds that makes a character live and breathe.

Last night, one of my players had fun with Central Casting.  It was Paul Jaquays' book on generating character backgrounds for fantasy characters, first edition.  We spent more time on building his character's father's career than his.

As a result, we got an interesting background for a nezumi or ratkin, or skavin character.  The results were simple.  Here's a conversation between a 4e character and this Pathfinder Nezumi.

4e Character: "Hello, happy world!  Hello, happy tree, hello happy bunny, hello happy squirrel!"

Pathfinder Character (who looks like a rat): "Hello, clueless one."

4e Character: "Oh hi!  Can we be friends?"

Pathfinder Nezumi character: "Maybe.  Tell me about yourself."

4e Character: "Well, my name's George.  I'm a house Deneith Mercenary and I fought in the Last War."

Pathfinder Nezumi Character. "Well, you're certainly acting pretty one dimensional, what was your military experience?"

George Deneith (4e): "I don't know.  I'm just a veteran of the Last War.  But I have Intimidate as an associated skill!"

The Nezumi does a face palm.  George. "What?"

"Your player is a gamist, right?"

"Yes."

"Thought so.  My player took the trouble generating my background, but my exploits pale in comparison to my father's."

"Oh?  What happened?"

"First of all, we were kicked out of Nezumi lands for being different.  My father found work as a fisherman and joined the Home Guard so we can have some money.  At first, he saw little action, ran away from some, and joined up to prove himself.

"There was a major war with a neighboring kingdom and his actions got him promoted to corporal.  There was many battles, and he was finally decorated for his bravery and became an officer.  He was so good that he signed on for another five years and was assigned to special forces -- in the Ranger division.  Another war broke out with Drow and he kills one of their generals!  There were major battles, where he lost most of his forces, but he proved himself and became a knight!  A KNIGHT!

"There was another war that broke out, and his stint was increased.  I never saw him but I knew he was doing well.  When he returned, he taught me some of his swordcraft, and taught me sword fighting the soldiering way.  Finally, there was a major coup on our kingdom and he led it.  He slew the king and took over the kingdom."

George looked at the Nezumi with his jaw open.

"And you think you have problems.  I've been adventuring in my father's shadow ever since!"


The difference between 4e and 3e is that 4e has little Roleplaying support.  You get backgrounds and you get themes, so what?  Tell me more about your character.  Give him a reason that he's alive, that he fought in the Last War and returned a hardened veteran.  After all, Roleplaying is ROLEPLAYING!  4e has little of that.

If you want to pick up a character sheet, write down some figures, and play; there's nothing wrong with that.  Character creation in 5e at the start should be quick and easy and fun.  However, if you want depth with your character, there should be options to build an interesting background for your character.  Some of us don't want to pick up and play, we want to know everything about that character so we can just get started.

It's as simple as that.

5th Edition

well, who wants to talk about 5th Edition Dungeons and Dragons now that Monte Cook is working on it?


5e. . .

5e . . .



5e!

Stargate SG-1 RPG

I just read the Stargate SG-1 RPG.  So many possibilities in one little RPG.  A far reaching Stargate network -- and hundreds of d20 and Pathfinder campaigns connected by that Stargate Network.  So many possibilities.

At the end of the book is a list of possible Crossovers:

Dragonstar, Mindshadows, Nyambe, and Seven Seas were all suggested as possible crossovers.  In fact, Dragonstar could be a replacement for the Goa'uld and the Ori.  In fact, the game suggests crossovers.  So, my mind went a thousand miles an hour and put together the following possibilities.

The Dragon Empire -- after the Goa'uld and the Ori were defeated, the Dragon Empire becomes the new problem.  With Quesamet and Asamet -- the Tau'ri have to deal with dragons in the Milky Way Galaxy and the Sagittarius Dwarf Elliptical Galaxy that has been intersecting with the Milky Way.  The dragons are like the Goa'uld -- they become masters of all they see.

The two empires have been competing and now the Dragon Empire is expanding.  Can the Tau'ri stop their expanse?

Forgotten Realms and Hârn:  Both Faerun and Harn were linked to Earth.  Instead of what the writers intended, I would use Stargates to link both Harn and Shavarash (Faerun) to Earth.  The Stargate would be in an Earthmaster (Ancient) site on Harn (Melderyn) and on the Forgotten Realms, the Stargate is located on the Chessenta and Unther border.

The Goa'uld used the Stargate to seed Faerun with Orcs and Elves along with humans from Earth.  Supreme System Lord Ra was defeated by the Goa'uld System Lord Gruumsh once, but Gruumsh was defeated by the Goa'uld System Lord Correllon Larethan.  The Goa'uld are also the Imaskari, with most of the Imaskari fighting chaste being Jaffa.

Eberron: Eberron has a STARGATE!  Built there by the Ancients, the Goa'uld seeded Eberron with humans from Earth -- taken from Troy or Greece.  The Stargate is located in Sarlona, specifically somewhere in Riedra.

Yrth: The planet of GURPS: Banestorm has a stargate.  The stargate is located in the island nations.

Plus, hundreds of other possibilities!  You can do anything with a Stargate campaign.  The possibilities are endless!

The Creation of the Earth

What really happened with the Creation of the Earth?  Did it happen by Accretion, or was their another method?  Lately, new information about the Earth has fallen into our hands.  First of all, we do know that the Earth is hollow.

There is a great many witnesses to the fact that the Earth is hollow.  From Admiral Bird's flight, to a heathen Scandinavian, to visitors from the Hollow Earth.  They are all consistent.  There is a "sun" of sorts in the inner Earth and there is no horizon.  It's bright, as bright as it is up here.  And that the "sun" of sorts provides light to the inhabitants of the Earth.

Also, information coming from the Space Age completely challenges the assumptions that gravity is in charge of everything.  From Dark Matter, to Dark Energy, to Dark Forces, the theory of Relativity used to govern the Universe has become something of a cart before the Horse.  It has gotten so bad that those who follow the Big Bang Theory have become little more than Astrologers.  They have created a religion where  Intellect is worshipped and that the Universe was started by the Big Bang and that there will be a big crunch afterwords.

Lately, however, there comes along another Theory.  This theory is the Electric Universe Theory.  The Electrical Universe theory is pretty old.  It really started in the Early 20th Century.  It's the theory that Electromagnetism is the dominate force in the Universe and that gravity is basically the ashes of this force.  So, what does this have to do with the Creation of the World?

If you notice, there is a "sun" at the core of the Earth.  This "sun" is made of plasma.  The core of the Earth isn't solid iron, it's plasma.  And that the land it shines on is abundant and rich.  So, if the inner core is plasma, what does that tell you about the Creation of the Earth?  Are we interpreting Genesis in correctly?

The Book of Abraham expounds upon the Creation of the Earth.  Abraham, the father of the Israelite Nation and father of a multitude of nations (the U.S.A., England, France, Germany, Switzerland, Georgia, etc.), was given an account of the Creation of the Earth.  The entire account is in Chapter 4, verse 1.

"And the Lord said: Let us go down.  And they went down at the beginning, and they -- that is the Gods -- organized and formed the Heavens and the Earth."

So, those who took part in the Creation of the Earth organized and formed the Earth.  The Earth was brought into a paradisiacal state, and that Man was brought on the Earth to till the ground and transform it into a Celestial Kingdom.

So, lets look at the words organize and form.

or·gan·ize  (ôrg-nz) v. or·gan·ized, or·gan·iz·ing, or·gan·iz·es v.tr. 1. To put together into an orderly, functional, structured whole. 2. a. To arrange in a coherent form; systematize: organized her thoughts before speaking. b. To arrange in a desired pattern or structure: "The painting is organized about a young reaper enjoying his noonday rest" (William Carlos Williams). 3. To arrange systematically for harmonious or united action: organize a strike. See Synonyms at arrange. 4. a. To establish as an organization: organize a club. See Synonyms at found1. b. To induce (employees) to form or join a labor union. c. To induce the employees of (a business or an industry) to form or join a union: organize a factory.

and now Form.

form  (fôrm) n. 1. a. The shape and structure of an object. b. The body or outward appearance of a person or an animal considered separately from the face or head; figure. 2. a. The essence of something. b. The mode in which a thing exists, acts, or manifests itself; kind: a form of animal life; a form of blackmail. 3. a. Procedure as determined or governed by regulation or custom. b. A fixed order of words or procedures, as for use in a ceremony; a formula. 4. A document with blanks for the insertion of details or information: insurance forms. 5. a. Manners or conduct as governed by etiquette, decorum, or custom. b. Behavior according to a fixed or accepted standard: Tardiness is considered bad form. c. Performance considered with regard to acknowledged criteria: a good jump shooter having an unusual form. 6. a. Proven ability to perform: a musician at the top of her form. b. Fitness, as of an athlete or animal, with regard to health or training. c. The past performance of a racehorse. d. A racing form. 7. a. Method of arrangement or manner of coordinating elements in literary or musical composition or in organized discourse: presented my ideas in outline form; a treatise in the form of a dialogue. b. A particular type or example of such arrangement: The essay is a literary form. c. The design, structure, or pattern of a work of art: symphonic form. 8. a. A mold for the setting of concrete. b. A model of the human figure or part of it used for displaying clothes. c. A proportioned model that may be adjusted for fitting clothes. 9. A grade in a British secondary school or in some American private schools: the sixth form. 10. a. A linguistic form. b. The external aspect of words with regard to their inflections, pronunciation, or spelling. 11. a. Chiefly British A long seat; a bench. b. The resting place of a hare. 12. Botany A subdivision of a variety usually differing in one trivial characteristic, such as flower color. v. formed, form·ing, forms v.tr. 1. a. To give form to; shape: form clay into figures. b. To develop in the mind; conceive: form an opinion. 2. a. To shape or mold (dough, for example) into a particular form. b. To arrange oneself in: Holding out his arms, the cheerleader formed a T. The acrobats formed a pyramid. c. To organize or arrange: The environmentalists formed their own party. d. To fashion, train, or develop by instruction or precept: form a child's mind. 3. To come to have; develop or acquire: form a habit. 4. To constitute or compose a usually basic element, part, or characteristic of. 5. a. To produce (a tense, for example) by inflection: form the pluperfect. b. To make (a word) by derivation or composition. 6. To put in order; arrange.

So those involved had organized, or arranged the materials of the Earth -- and gave it form -- a shape.  Because of the core of the Earth is plasma, it means basically that the Earth was organized and formed from Plasma. In every case, those involved waited until they were obeyed.

So, was the planet composed in nothing around the Sun, Sol?  Early human traditions and beliefs say that wasn't the case.  Early astronomer priests among the Egyptians, the Babylonians, and the Greeks all held something in high regard: they called this Ra, or Shamash, or Helios -- or even Chronos or Saturn.  So, like a ship isn't built without a shipyard -- the Planet wasn't built without a shipyard.

Those who were involved in the Creation of this Earth built the planet in the Planet Saturn -- Saturn was the shipyard in this case.  And like every ship, there was a Christening and a Launching of this planet from the Sun, Saturn.  Everything was prepared.  The planet Earth was bathed in Saturn's Corona.  On the Earth, the animals and plants (and humans) were subjected to a soft twilight of red.  In the Earth, however, the plasma core had shined brilliantly allowing the plants and animals that were set there -- including Man -- to be subject to the entire spectrum.  However, everything was eventually set up to fall.

Abraham goes into the same detail as the Genesis account, but we turn to Genesis.  According to Genesis, there was light, and the light was divided from the Darkness.  It is also interesting that the Sun, Sol, appeared on the Fifth Day of Creation rather than the first.  So, what can we gain from this?

Scientifically, to stay within what Human Testimony has said over the years and to ignore the theory of Creation by Accretion, it leaves us with one alternative.   The Earth and Saturn were captured by Sol!

First Day of Creation -- the Solar Wind assaults Saturn's Corona, blowing it away literally.  The first sign was a brilliant light.  God declared that this light was good, and the division is marked by Twilight at daybreak and at sundown.  The darkness was called night, and the light was called day.

In the Second Day of Creation, the waters were gathered together to form an ocean or Sea, and the dry land appeared.  Well, since Man had saw this happening, there had to be land on the Earth already.  So, again, this is symbolic of what actually happened.  The clearing of the Atmosphere is the best candidate.

On the Third Day, the atmosphere of the Earth had grown transparent.  At first, the Atmosphere was dominated by a thick cloud cover.  Not as thick as the Atmosphere of Venus, but thick enough to obscure the stars from view.  On the third day, humans could see stars and nebulae.  They could also see the first sun, the planet Saturn.  The Planet Saturn was given the role of being in charge of time.

The lord said the Sun, Sol, was to rule the day and that the Moon, Luna, was to rule the night.  Suppose if you were to transpose Moon with Saturn, you will get a better understanding of what ruled the night.  According to the fifth and sixth days of creation, the animals and plants were brought forth abundantly on the Earth and man came to till the ground.

When did the Creation actually happen?


A. Presumptly after the Age of Virgo and at the beginning of the Age of Leo.

Q. Why are you using the Zodiac to keep time?


A. Because the Zodiac was placed in the Heavens to help us with the roll of years.  This has nothing to do with Astrology rather than just time keeping.  Each sign of the Zodiac has an "age" about 2,000 years.  To find out what Age we are in, you just track which sign the sun rises in during the Vernal Equinox.  We are currently in the Age of Pisces -- the Fish -- and are currently moving into the Age of Aquarius, or the water bearer.  To ride through the full Precession of the Zodiac takes about 26,000 years.

Q. Are you equating Saturn with Kolob?


A. Yes, actually.  Saturn is Kolob.  Although it can be shocking to most Mormons since my dad bellowed that Kolob is actually close to God and that God isn't anywhere close like Saturn.  However, if one takes a look at the scriptures intelligently and take human testimony immemorial into account, one has to come to the conclusion that Saturn is Kolob.

One revolution of Kolob is liken unto a day to the Lord.  Or a thousand years.  Saturn has an orbit of about 30 years.  The polar revolution of Saturn hasn't been measured.  Now it takes 26,000 years for the poles of the Earth to revolve one full circle.  Perhaps Saturn's poles are much more energetic and only take a thousand years to revolve.  Who really knows?

Q. Why haven't the Brethren (Thomas S. Monson and the rest) said anything about this?


A. They don't know.  They just plainly don't know.

R. But they are prophets, they are supposed to tell us these things.


A. Would it change anything if they had?  You can bring an Atheist to the Fountains of Truth, but you can't make him drink.  If Thomas S. Monson knew what was going on, do you really think that he would tell us?  Joseph Smith understood things that if he told the brethren, they would immediately turn on him and kill him.  If Thomas S. Monson is a true prophet, he would be urging us to prepare for the Second Coming in a physical sense and prepare us to live in a Zion Society.

He can't expound on the doctrine in the Temple because it's too urgent now to prepare to survive to the Second Coming.   Assuming that he does receive revelation and talks and walks with God (his talks never change, it's all the same sleeping gas.  I have never heard anything edifying from Thomas S. Monson, his talks are about stroking the ego and making us feel good -- I had to turn to other sources to find the truth I so crave).  This has been revealed to the World through other means than the Temple.  So this means that we must have rejected the knowledge.

Q. How do you know that the Core of the Earth is plasma?


A. I haven't been to Agartha or the city called Eden, so I can't really give a testimony that what I said is true.  I only have the testimony of others to go on.  I missed an opportunity to go. I should have signed on board, but then I wouldn't be writing this blog because I most likely won't be connected to this internet. (Some people would probably say: "You should have gone!")

Q. Is the Earth truly hollow?


A. It has to be.  When it was in the great constellation of planets, the Earth vibrated with sound frequency singing "eeeeaaaaooooaaaaeeeee," which is the Name of God.  This is the music of the Spheres.  You can't get such a beautiful sound with a perfectly solid sphere -- but you can get one from a hollow sphere.  A hollow sphere acts as a sound speaker.  A solid sphere acts as a buffer.

Q. How does Gravity work with a hollow sphere?


A. I don't know.  A scientist named Rodney Cluff can explain this one better.

If you have any other questions, leave them in the comments section.