A Run of Really Bad Luck

In the 1990s edition of the Star Wars RPG (d6 rules), there is one die in your pool called the wild die. When you roll your Xd6, if the wild die comes up a 6, you get to roll it again and add the result (repeating this if another 6 is rolled). If the wild die comes up a 1, you subtract the 1 and the highest other die in the roll.

In our current SWRPG game, we are on a mission to rescue/ recover a crashed ship in a jungle. We landed our ship in a clearing about 20 km from the crash site, and had to travel on foot through the jungle. During this trek, we’ve been attacked by lots of big birds (size of large eagles), wolf-like predators, and a big green crab-thing.

In our first encounter with the big birds (attacking in flocks of up to 8 at a time), my wookiee hit four of them with a blaster rifle, but didn’t drop any of them. In fact, 3 of the hits were completely shrugged off (their 2D Strength roll was better than my 5D damage rolls). Everyone else in our group was dropping a bird with every hit (often killing them outright).

One PC accidentally shot an NPC in the back during the first fight. (The NPC was between the shooter and the target, providing cover.) Fortunately, the victim only took a stun wound.

Because the birds attack like a swarm, this friendly fire/crossfire thing comes up nearly every engagement with them.

Later, in two other fights, my wookiee got surrounded by birds. Instead of shooting them, I went all wookiee-fu with my 7D Brawling skill. Because everyone else in our party has higher Perception (we take our side’s turn in order of our Perception). My wookiee usually takes his actions last. So I’d declare like 4 attacks (taking me down to rolling 4D). But then all the other PCs would drop the birds with their blaster shots. I might, might, actually have a target left by the time my turn comes around. And then my 5D Strength kept failing to drop a bird in one hit.

Sigh, and double sigh. My luck has been totally sucking. I estimate that I’ve failed to drop a 2D-Strength target with 5D damage about 10-12 times in this adventure. (“Drop” meaning do more than a stun.) Everyone at the table is amazed by my bad luck in this regard.

Then, in our last fight with the damn jungle birds, on our way out of the jungle, I take a shot at a bird attacking the NPC (same one as above). Again, the NPC is between the shooter and the target. I roll a terrible attack, and hit the NPC. Then I roll great damage, and the 3D-Strength NPC rolls 3 ones to resist.

Oh my God!

Then, another PC ends up hitting my wookiee in the same way. Through our three adventures, my wookiee has been shot, stabbed, clawed, or bitten 28 times. (After getting hit 6 times in our first adventure, and shrugging off all of them, I started keeping track of how many times my wookiee got hit, just for the fun of it. He’s never taken more than 4 damage, minimum for a wound.) This was the 29th time, and the most severe (5 damage). I’m wounded and drop. Fortunately, I survive the fight.

All of us at the table were amazed at just how bad a run of luck my wookiee has had on this adventure. There is no GM hanky-panky or fudging (all rolls in the open), no house rules (or at least no house rules that we don’t all agree with/on, if some rule we use happens to actually not be in the book), and no bad feelings about anything (other than I’ve come to absolutely hate and fear the wild die).

Bullgrit
bullgrit@totalbullgrit.com