Tales From The Rebellion FAQ
Version 1.9
A New Hope
Well, droid names in our game are very similar to Paranoia names: they are meant chiefly as bad puns. CHIP'S MODIFIED R2 DROID: R2 MADIKS: (R2 Modified Accelerated Developmental Interactive Klupbrg System) Chip's first R2 unit is named for Artie Maddicks, the proverbial "little pink mutant guy" from the "X-Terminators" comic book series of the mid-80s. (He also appeared in several other "X" books around that time period.) Artie was a mute, but he could make pictures appear above his head to communicate. His best friend was Leech, alias "the little green mutant guy". They have recently returned to the X-books to much applause (at least from me.) John Hogg was the first one to point this out in the first ever Tales From The Rebellion Contest, for which the Postal Service received an autographed copy of Larson and Chip's wanted poster for publication in their Dead Letter Office. There are other droid names that we used, most of them worse puns than this one. No spoilers in this FAQ, though...
Well, if you put it that way, all right: The original Z-95 wasn't originally named anything except This Heap Of Junk by Larson. After meeting Kestren, however, they renamed it The Kestren Surprise. The Modified Shuttle that Ryetar flies probably had a really cool name, but we forgot to ask what it was. There will be other ship names, and this part of the FAQ will justify it's existence, really, it will, trust me on this. I just don't want to hand out too many spoilers.
If you haven't seen West End Games' _Imperial Sourcebook_, it's very
likely you don't know what COMPNOR is. COMPNOR stands for Committee for
the Preservation of the New Order. It started as a sort of "Empire
Booster Club", but quickly developed into a political and military tool
for use by the Emperor. It can be likened to the civilian arm of the
Empire: regulating art, education, colonization, scouting new planets,
taxation, and, as Chip found out, science. It often works closely with
Imperial military forces, as we also found out. It is also a sort of
neo-NSA "intelligence service" for rooting out treason in the
military...gee, all of a sudden this sounds like another game... ("Commie
mutant Rebels!")
COMPNOR is not in the "real" movies.
a) Jeez, if Chip is so smart, how come he, Larson and Zorel would
do something as stupid as try to fly to Selerthon when they didn't
make contact with their pickup? (from Part 7)
When we thought about it later, we realized what a stupid idea it had
been. If you like, you can call it a momentary brain malfunction, but I
like to think that when Chip and Larson decide that a mission is screwed
up, they don't want to do it halfway. John also informs us that there were
in fact things to do on that other planet, but that we were taking the
wrong route in getting there.
b) The Empire builds an extensive base in order to transmit
for a cloaking shield for capital ships, it puts up a cloaking
shield around the base, and it _neglects_ to put any means
of communications into the base other than a single computer
cable?
Well, John isn't one of COMPNOR Architectural Engineering's fine
employees, so sometimes he does stuff like that. However, we pointed out
that the cloaking shield was experimental---they may not have worked out
all the quirks yet, and perhaps there was only one shielded line
available. John has confirmed that this is in fact the case, covering his
tracks in a big way.
a) Specifically, tell me about the ships in the
story.
OK.
The Z-95 STARFIGHTER that Chip and Larson fly to Atraxis, and later to
Rakrir, is a heavily-modified version of the ancient design of the Z-95,
(of which Han Solo has been known to say: "What did you do, knock over a
museum?" John calls it "the VW bug of the spaceways") The Z-95 is not
widely used by the Rebellion, since it has no hyperdrive. Of course,
since Chip can make ships sit up and beg just by brandishing a
hydrospanner at them, there was little problem in inserting a hyperdrive
into the Z-95, at the expense of most of the hull, all of the shields and
guns, and most of the sublight capability. Though it is conceivable that
Larson could complain more about the Z-95, it is unlikely that any human
would be able to do so.
The even more modified version that appears in Parts 18-?? has a single
medium blaster cannon mounted on the front and more shields. However, it's
pokier, both in normal- and hyper- space, and is very fragile.
The LANCER-CLASS FRIGATE that Chip and Larson blow up on Atraxis is
slightly different from the Frigate listed in _The Imperial Sourcebook_.
According to John (our GM), the Lancer _class_ indicates the sort of
engine in the frigate (a Lancer, oddly enough). The military design of the
frigate is for starfighter suppression, though it doesn't hold up well in
fleet engagements. The model that Chip and Larson blew up had been
quickly and heavily modified to carry prefabricated mining facilities to
Atraxis and power stasis field generators to remove the baradium. John
informs us that this is to emphasize the quickly cobbled-together aspect
of the Imperial mission.
The CONVERTED SHUTTLE that Ryetar flies in Part 9 and crashes in Part 10
is a design by John himself. Since the only shuttles we see in the movies
are Imperial military shuttles, he used that as a jumping-off point for
other military shuttles. It looks very similar, with the three fold-out
wings, but they are swept back for easier deployment in atmosphere. Also,
this particular shuttle did in fact have more guns and shields than the
ordinary model, but since we never got to use them, they aren't referred
to in the story.
b) All right, enough about the ships already.
What about the
speeders in the story? What about them, huh, wiseguy?
Sure, thing, sizzlechest.
The MILITARY SPEEDER that Larson steals on Wevsignington Six is
essentially an ordinary landspeeder, much like the one Ben and Luke drove
at the beginning of "A New Hope", with two exceptions: first, it is
armored a lot better (although it is still open to the air), and second,
it has a blaster turret mounted in place of a rear passenger seat. Other
than that, it looks very similar, cheesy special effects and all.
There is little hope for a Zorel story. Consider this scene: CHIP: Where are you from, Zorel? ZOREL (stares steel-eyed into distance): A ways off. CHIP: Yeah, but where? ZOREL (glares at CHIP, then walks away. Cue music) On the other hand, a Larson story is possible. If you want to see a Larson story, bug Ryan at the address below.
No sweat. I'm corleyj@gas.uug.arizona.edu. Ryan (who plays Larson) is ryan@cobweb.scarymonsters.net. John Brownlee (our GM and Director) is jonnie@cobweb.scarymonsters.net. Eric Vens (who briefly played Zorel) is ericvens@aol.com.
a.1) Who are Greg Proops and Tony Slattery? They're the guys who play Chip and Larson in the movie. a.2) You dummy. I mean who are they in real life? They're comedians. They can be seen on , which currently airs on Comedy Central. Tony Slattery was in "To Die For" as Terry, played Deveroux in "The Crying Game" and was Basil in "How to Get Ahead in Advertising." Greg Proops was the voice of the Harlequin Demon, the Devil and the Sax Player in Tim Burton's "Nightmare Before Christmas." For fairness, it should be mentioned that Johnathan Pryce, who I have slated to play Kestren, is a much more well-known actor. He was Juan Peron in "Evita" this year, was the villain Horatio Jackson in "The Adventures of Baron Munchausen", was Jack in "Jumpin' Jack Flash", starred as Sam Lowry in the classic "Brazil", was Mr. Dark in the 1983 version of "Something Wicked This Way Comes" and James Lingk in "Glengarry Glen Ross." We decided on him for the role for his performance in "Brazil", with that harried and slightly manic touch he brought to the part.
b) How come you have so darn many celebrity cameos in this flick? Because we don't have to pay them. Here's the current list of people we have playing what parts:
Tales From The Rebellion A Lucasfilm Production Special Effects by Industrial Light and Magic Musical Score by John Williams Additional Music by Tori Amos, Timbuk3, Laurie Anderson, Richard Vranch, Tom Petty, Counting Crows, and Jane Siberry. STARRING Greg Proops as Chip Stevens Tony Slattery as Larson Margath Jonathan Pryce as Commander Kestren Tommy Lee Jones as Outlaw Zorel ALSO STARRING Patricia Arquette as Sherilyn Sean Connery as Prefect Naynosn George Lucas as the Crotchety Old Guy Anthony Hopkins as the Freaky Old Guy Steven Seagal as Captain Vogel Clint Eastwood as The Stranger Paul Hogan as Lieutenant Ryetar FEATURING Michael Caine as Commander Ontsius Kim Cattrell as Commander Syrtys Gavin Macleod as Captain Simkith Sandy Toksvig as Generic Rebel Commander #4 Clive Anderson as Admiral Ptovny Ryan Stiles as The Colonel Josie Lawrence as Slicer Mary John Sessions as Chancellor Fromp Jack Nicholson as Chief Technician Stonway Richard Vranch as the Cantina Musician Mike McShane as the Mining Camp Trader Laurie Anderson as the Shuttlecraft Stewardess Gene Hackman as the Bartender Rick Moranis as the Used Repulsorbelt Dealer Francis Ford Coppola as the Gun Dealer Florence Henderson as the Bo-Nasty Dark Jedi Brad Pitt as the Generic Rebel Technician Kimmy Robertson as the Rebel Officer Babe Lorenzo Music (formerly Bill Murray, see Bloopers, below) as the Voice of Vul-Dea
c) Why the heck did you pick... i) Bill Murray as a fighter jock? Well, we wanted to make a joke: as we never actually _saw_ Vul-Dea, only heard his voice on a commo unit, we referred to him like Carlton the doorman from the 1970s show "Rhoda", one of Murray's first roles. Carlton never appeared in an episode and was only a voice in the wall.This turned out to be completely wrong (see Bloopers below) and we belatedly gave credit where credit was due to Lorenzo Music, who provided that lugubrious voice. ii) Laurie Anderson as the Shutlecraft Stewardess? Listen to her story "Language of the Future" on United States Parts I-IV, and you will know why: she does a _stunning_ stewardess impersonation. iii) Brad Pitt as a technician? We wanted to bonk him on the head. iv) Kimmy Robertson as the Babe Officer? Because she hasn't gotten much good work since "Twin Peaks."
SUGGESTIONS FOR MORE PEOPLE (OR BETTER PEOPLE) FOR THE CAST ARE MUCH APPRECIATED!
a) Are any of the characters from the "real" Star Wars movies
going to turn up?
Darth Vader made a cameo appearance in Part 9. There will be others.
b) So when is "Tales From the Rebellion" set anyway?
"Tales From The Rebellion" is set, at least during the beginning, in the
"golden age" of Star Wars: just after the battle of Yavin (the end of "Star
Wars IV: A New Hope."), although the time scale is not clear. Events from
the other movies eventually turn up in this one. John has done a great
job trying to keep us abreast of where we are in relation to the other
movies.
Well, like all movies, and like all role-playing games, we make mistakes, we make errors, and we don't remember things all that well. Hence, we've made the "Bloopers" section of the FAQ. Some are "true bloopers" in that they represent actual error. Some are "false bloopers" in that they represent areas of discrepancy that were explained out-of-character, or off-screen, as the case may be. FALSE BLOOPERS -------------- 1. "Jedi...Jedi...Who's got the Jedi?" ======================================= One that I saw during the game came up in Part 9: Chip is unable to find the power source with his sensor pack because of interference from the metallic rocks in the soil. Yet the stormtroopers had no problems finding the Freaky Old Guy, even underground! The explanations that were given are: 1. The stormtroopers knew what they were looking for. 2. The stormtroopers had been specifically trained in the use of that specific sensor unit, whereas Chip, being somewhat of a technical genius, was navigating on pure talent. 3. The stormtroopers were lucky---they walked right past the mouth of the cave. 4. The time that elapsed between the shuttle's hasty departure from the planet and the stormtroopers discovering the cave was much larger than it appeared---they in fact _did_ cast around aimlessly for many hours before they found him. 2. "A B C D E F Hey!" ====================== John Hogg (yes, the same guy that won the contest) pointed out, and rightly so, that the Star Wars universe doesn't use English, and so all the printing in the movie should look like cartoon swear words: "*#@&^*!" But this is intentional: so much of Tales From the Rebellion is information-based, that we needed a quick and easy way to get it across. Hence, English. But there's still no paper. We are not _total_ revisionists. 3. "Hello, Rhoda." "Hi, Carlton." ================================== Howard Levine pointed out, correctly, that Bill Murray was not the voice of Carlton the doorman we never got to see in "Rhoda", and therefore should not get to be the voice of Vul-Dea, the fighter jock who we never get to see. That honor goes to...Lorenzo Music, who we have no idea who he is. Congratulations and thanks to Howard for pointing this out. Thanks also to Nick Trahan who informed us that Lorenzo Music can also be heard as...ta-da! The voice of Garfield the cat. Who knew? TRUE BLOOPERS ------------- 1. "Money money money money. MONEY!" ====================================== In Part 7, as Zorel and Chip are fleeing the landing pad after Zorel has used a blaster dispersion grenade to dispatch some stormtroopers, Chip says they are "Worth every cent." This should, of course, be "Worth every millicred" or something like that. 2. "Check out the big brain on Drac! No metric system!" ========================================================= Along the same lines, Jack Dracula reports: "In Part Four, the salesman tries to sell them water, eight _ounces_ of water. I really don't believe that any spacefaring empire or republic would use the English measurement system." Jack's desperate attempt to get on this ftp site _yet again_ has succeeded. This should be 'eight _slugs_ of water.', referring of course to the Water-Slugs of Barabel Nine. --------- MORE BLOOPERS WANTED! LET'S MAKE DICK CLARK SQUEAL LIKE NED BEATTY!
The percentage yield is a measure of how many explosions have occurred in Tales From The Rebellion: CURRENT NUMBER OF PARTS: 28 EPISODES IN WHICH SOMETHING EXPLODES: 14 VOLUME PERCENTAGE YIELD: 50% The average yield is the total estimated amount of megatonnage exploded in all Tales episodes divided betwixt all the episodes. It is in the process of being calculated, as it is quite large even by conservative estimates.
Well, all the currently available parts of Tales From The Rebellion are accessible via anonymous ftp from cobweb.scarymonsters.net. The Tales From The Rebellion Galaxy-Wide-Web Page can be accessed at: http://cobweb.scarymonsters.net/~corleyj/wwwtftr/tftrdex.html This page is under construction and will eventually have neat graphics and funky hypertext versions of the scripts. Also on the Tales from the Rebellion ftp site, you can find the trailers to Tales From The Rebellion, this FAQ, and a bunch of other neat stuff.
In the works:
A game-speak summary of Chip and Larson's skills, Why John allowed Chip force skills, Tales From The Rebellion merchandising (including music videos, action figures and models!) and much much more!