Transmissions: July 2002
Celebrating Living Force

By Jae Walker
Living Force Campaign Director

A long time ago (well, the weekend of May 3 -- 5) in a galaxy far, far away (to be honest, it was Indianapolis, but the fact-checker has managed to slip out of the binders ... er, is out of the office this week), a great adventure took place. A number of great adventures, in fact. The Living Force campaign made an impressive appearance at Star Wars Celebration II, and we were more successful than we could have possibly imagined.
Katy Zook holds new Living Force players spellbound.

If you were there, you know what it was like. Thousands of people, fans from all over the world, came together to celebrate the magic that is Star Wars. The Living Force campaign was represented at CII by Colleen Lahna (our Metacampaign Director), Morrie Mullins (our Evil Plot Director), a bevy of wonderful judges and volunteers (including the esteemed Darth August), and, of course, me. We ran seven Living Force events over six slots, as well as three classic events, while contributing volunteers to help with the Star Wars Delve in the Exhibitor's area - all with only 23 people to do the work!

Due to a clerical oversight, Living Force was left out of the main schedule for the convention, so we hadn't anticipated a huge turnout. We were, to say the least, pleasantly surprised to run nearly 40 tables over the course of the weekend.

For those of you who weren't there, I'm going to give you the short form of CII.

It was an absolute blast.

Now For the Longer Form
Colleen, Morrie, and I drove down together from Lansing Thursday night. Morrie drove in so that we could all travel together and come up with a battle plan for the con. We arrived shortly before 11 p.m., Indianapolis time, checked in, and made our last-minute mental preparations for the convention. At this point, we were still anticipating a fairly light turnout for LF.

Friday morning came, and we attempted to enter the con. "Attempted?" you say. "But Jae, why would you have to attempt anything?" Well, we didn't actually have our badges yet (we had to pick them up at the con), and the very efficient and large-shouldered security guard was more than a little hesitant to allow us into the convention center just because we said he should. Fortunately, the Force was with us, and a pair of members of Hasbro's design team - you know, the guys who make all the cool toys? - wandered past us, and we begged them to find someone to vouch for us. Within minutes, Robert Wiese appeared at the door and took us down to get our badges, and we stood in line for our Fan Club lanyards to ensure that we had access to all the areas we needed. I spent the next hour and a half or so walking up and down the two block-encircling lines looking for our judges so that we could badge them as well.

And so it began.

You've probably seen the news reports, if you weren't there. The expected 20-25,000 attendees turned out to be closer to 75,000. With the event so much larger than the organizers had anticipated (not that they're likely to complain), a large number of people ended up looking for things to do that didn't involve standing in lines. And there, off to one side, was a sign that read "RPGA HQ," with a number of happy, smiling people waiting to talk Star Wars.
Greg Bernath runs a party through Wizards of the Coast's Star Wars Delve

For Living Force, CII turned out to be very much a case of, "If you build it, they will come." We sat in and around HQ as people wandered by to find out what we were about. We signed up a large number of new RPGA members, many of whom played "Coruscani Dawn," the Living Force module that Morrie wrote specifically for CII. We talked to people about the RPGA, about gaming clubs, about Living campaigns, and, of course, about Star Wars. People walked in to get away from crowds, but they walked out with Living Force heroes and a place in the ongoing story that we (that's you, the players, and us, the staff) are telling in the Star Wars galaxy.

And the games we had! In addition to "Coruscani Dawn," we also ran the popular "Clouds of Genarius" trilogy (written by Jason Nichols and Morrie) from our first year, and the "Almas, Sweet Almas" trilogy by Adam Burns, a first-time Living Force author who bravely tackled our first Jedi-focused trilogy. The classic events - "Flames of Rebellion" by Jeremy Bernstein and "Child of Light" and "Soulsaber," both by LF assistant plot director Lee Pickler -- were also well-received, and first-time gamers were sent to the Delve to be thoroughly convinced of what a brilliant time can be had with the Star Wars Roleplaying Game.

Of course, there was plenty of non-roleplaying fun to be had at CII, as well - or at least, that's what we heard. We were having enough fun that we didn't do much else. Oh, sure, we wandered the Exhibitor Hall, ogling the extremely rare and pricey toys. We looked at the autograph lines, walked through the "One of Every Star Wars Toy" museum, goggled at the 17-foot Lego Yoda, and, after we were done drooling, walked the hallways admiring all the amazing costumes and rubbing elbows with countless thousands of our fellow fans.
Yoda, King of Celebration II

End of the Party
All told, it was a good weekend. We introduced new players to Living Force. We got copies of the new revised core rulebook (and yes, we will be converting after Gen Con; details to follow next month). We talked to game designers and had lots of fun with our wonderful cadre of judges. With any luck, we'll be able to be part of the Celebration for the final movie in the Star Wars saga!

I would like to thank the RPGA for having us at the show, Robert Wiese for coordinating, and our wonderful, fabulous volunteers, who all worked long hours to bring the sheer fun of Star Wars gaming to Celebration II. I continue to be humbled by the quality and professionalism of our volunteers. They are, alphabetically: Gregory Bernath, Paul Blanchard, Michael Cottle, Kevin L. Cuichta, Sr., August Hahn, Cynthia Hahn, Colleen Lahna, Scott Lahna, Adam Norman, Craig Norman, Sean Orwin, Darlene Oser, Christopher Perkins, Thomas Piernicky, Charles Ryan, Steven Sampson, Tammy Sampson, Keith Weepie, JD Wiker, Kathryn Zook, and Kenneth Zook.

May the Force Be With You!