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<     Episode 2454: Excelling at Evil, or Evil at Excelling?

Episode 2454: Excelling at Evil, or Evil at Excelling?

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Permanent link to this strip: http://www.darthsanddroids.net/episodes/2454.html

Disguise is great if you need to infiltrate an enemy lair. The real issue comes when you need to speak with someone. How do your enemies speak? Try it and find out! Although experimenting in this situation may be hazardous.

Do you play up the evilness and act like BB-8 here? While amusing, it might sound a bit suspicious if you're dealing with anyone but a faceless stormtrooper. Do evil villains really talk about how evil they are? Probably not. How do they talk to each other? It's probably not going to be the same way heroes talk to their comrades. Almost any interaction could very well ring alarm bells.

Commentary by memnarch (who has not seen the movie)

Ooooooooo. Evil BB-8. If they're not named something like OO-4 or 00-B, I'm going to be disappointed. And to think, I missed the little panels on the first read through as well. The flat-top head is a great addition to the black-with-red-highlights. The ventilation grills aren't something I would have chosen, but they're probably just a design choice for more contrast. I don't think they'd actually be good as a surface for rolling on.

The GM throwing in a complication like this makes perfect sense. The movie? Less so, but only by a little. A little ball droid noticing there's something amiss from behind and on a raised platform instead of the trooper getting hit rather than any humanoids? That's eyebrow raising, but it's also early into the infiltration. I'm pretty sure only humanoid droids speak intelligibly in the movies, so having an evil droid notice the intruders and be unable to communicate that fact is good for tension. Sure, astromechs are usually understood, but that's easily hand-waved away. Plus, once the droid has rolled off screen to find someone who can understand, troopers coming to investigate could happen at any time!

I do have to ask though, did they really have to make BB-8's basket look like a soup can in the 00-B view?

Transcript

Rose: Now we have to find a terminal room.
GM: <roll>
GM: BB-8 bumps into a passing trooper.
{silent inset panel shows a close up of a security platform overlooking the area}
[SFX]: bump
BB-8: Watch where you’re going!
Trooper: Sorry, uh... please don’t hurt me, Mr Evil Droid.
{silent inset panel shows an evil-looking black droid similar to BB-8 but with a more cylindrical, evil-looking head, patrolling on the security platform}
BB-8: Hey, where’s the nearest computer room? I need to plug in and do some evil number crunching.
Trooper: Yes, sir! Down the slick black platform with no railings, past the exposed lift shaft, then down the corridor on the right.
BB-8: Thank you, my good man. I mean, get back to work, you sinister slacker!
{silent inset panel shows the evil-looking droid in close-up, scrutinising the scene below}
Rose: They really haven’t learnt anything about occupational health and safety, have they?
DJ: Statio male fida homines. They’ve learnt to make it even more fun!
{silent inset panel shows a droid-POV scan of the three human intruders and BB-8’s suspicious looking rubbish bin disguise}


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Published: Thursday, 18 April, 2024; 02:11:01 PDT
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