Greetings everyone, it is finally time for another update from the Jedi Wing!

I. Introduction
II. Jedi Rules
III. Hint of updates to come
IV. Acknowledgements

I. Introduction

A lot has been happening to our rules over the past few months, both Raven and I
have been working very diligently at re-balancing and expanding upon our rules
set in order to provide the most comprehensive collection of rules that the ABG
has ever seen before. All players are strongly encouraged to thoroughly look
over the manual to refresh themselves on the basics and see what you may have
missed. While all of these changes to our fundamental system may seem
confusing, or even aggravating, the command staff is always available to field
your questions and help familiarize everyone with the new rules.

For those character sheets that need brought up to date with the new system,
please bring them to the attention of one of us and we will be sure that
everything is taken care of. If it primarily has to do with the recent changes
to our Force system, please bring them to me before assaulting Raven's mailbox
:) .

Some small changes that may have slipped through the cracks and are worth
mentioning include, but are not limited to: The creation of weapon HP, repair,
and modification rules; a re-balancing of the benefits provided by data pads,
laptops, computers, and mainframes (see the store for details, and contact your
local GM to update your sheet, these changes ARE retroactive); the
categorization of weapons based on weight and the creation of rules based on
such; the development of an entirely new system for handling martial arts; and
much, much more.

II. Jedi Rules

The ABG's rules and mechanics for all Force Sensitives has finally received a
much needed revamp. Every single power within our rules has received a close
examination and has been attempted to be balanced based on what has been
demonstrated in the movies, books, and in the interest of realism and fairness.
As time goes on and these new powers receive additional field testing,
adjustments may be necessary based on how they perform. However, I am very
confident that the vast majority of the changes made were for the better and
will result in a more enjoyable playing experience for those who utilize and
interact with the Force.

Additionally, the mechanics for the force system itself have been altered in
quite a few significant ways. It would be slightly redundant to go through all
of them in this NL as the entirety of these rules have been added to the ABG's
manual, but I will point out the most important. For those wishing to see a word
document based format for all of these changes, it can be found at
http://abg.rebelsquadrons.org/aotf/JediUpdate3.doc (please note however there
have been some minor changes from this document to the power descriptions as
noticed on the webpage as errors were noted and corrected).

- The requirements for advancing in Jedi Rank have been tweaked to promote early
advancement with the goal of most of a Force Sensitive character's playtime
spent between the Journeyman and Knight ranks.
- The waiting period between learning force powers has been removed. While some
felt it was advantageous to 'force' characters to develop their non Force based
skills, I did not feel it was necessary to place this restriction on every
player. If you want to learn nothing but force powers, be our guest.
- Characters may now only possess 1 master level power for every 20 RP above 200
that they possess. Masters have a reason to keep gaining RP!
- You may NOT learn powers above your rank.
- Focus not only determines how many powers you can have active at once, but is
also a measure of how much you are concentrating on your task. Any actions
outside of the object of your focus receive -1D penalty for each focus point
being used.
- Certain powers are now listed as being 'Restricted by Armor', causing the
difficulty of their activation to be increased if wearing large or encumbering
suits of armor.
- The alignment system received a major revamp as it was felt that the system
was rather cumbersome and annoying to keep track of. When awarding LSP or DSP,
all Jedi automatically receive twice the shift when they are applied to their
sheet. Characters that are exceptionally light aligned or dark aligned will find
themselves more capable of using powers that match their alignment, and less
capable of using powers that do not.
- At any point force sensitive characters may attempt to harness the power of
the darkside for their needs and desires, intentionally taking DSP for
temporary, if exhausting, boosts in power.

All of this, and more, may be found in the updated manual found here
http://abg.rebelsquadrons.org/manual/guide.php?id=14 .

Additionally, the new powers may be found by clicking the "jedi powers" button
on the website as usual. For those who are interested in getting into the old
AOTF website, you may still do so, the link is http://abg.rebelsquadrons.org/aotf/index.php


Plans are in the works for the creation of a new 'History' page for the ABG
which will include all of the background information present in this old section
of the website. Don't worry folks, we're not trying to erase our past, just
unclutter the site. :)

III. Hints of things to come
Now that the main system has been fleshed out and most of its powers, I am
hoping to take a look at some of the more interesting bits of what the force has
to offer, namely the construction of Lightsabers and the Alchemy rules. There's
a lot of crazy stuff to be done out there, and I would enjoy getting some less
vague guidelines down so that players may explore this aspect of construction.
Additionally, Lightsaber construction will receive a revamp and will help serve
as a model for Weapon Design rolls in the future. Finally, I'm hoping to see
about creating a system of dueling for the ABG, particularly focusing on Melee
Combat. I'm hoping such a system would make 'epic fights' much more interesting,
but also hope to include additional rule suggestions for feinting, disarming,
and other combat maneuvers that typically come into play when facing an opponent
one on one. :)

Meanwhile, the rules for the substance Cortosis have been fleshed out and are
now presented here to you for your enjoyment. Taadaaa!

Cortosis:

Cortosis, in its natural state, is a rather brittle if not chalky substance that
has the unique property of causing a feedback loop in any continuous energy
beam. The most common application of this would be to rather screw over a
;ightsaber, although it would probably be useful for messing up force fields
too. When a continuous energy circuit is intersected by pure cortosis, it causes
a feedback loop that completely shuts down the source of said circuit with a
chance of damaging the emitters.



Due to the brittleness of natural cortosis it is impractical for day to day use
in combat. However, it has been known to be laced with other metals to create an
alloy that is useful for combating against lightsabers. Cortosis imbued alloys
or 'cortosis weave' armor are naturally resistant to lightsaber blades and are
not easily cut, unlike their non reinforced counterparts that offer no
protection whatsoever to a lightsaber blade.



When used in armor, the brittleness of cortosis reduces the physical protection
of the armor by 1D while allowing a resistance roll against lightsabers at +2D
the energy rating of the armor. The benefits of cortosis can only be gained at
the creation of the armor, and typically will cost 10,000 credits to gain the
rare ore for smelting.



As an after construction modification, cortosis plating may be adhered to a
weapon to increase its resilience to lightsabers. The bonding process reduces
the HP of the weapon by 25%, but provides an armor roll of the weapons damage -
2D against lightsaber attacks. The cost for this addition is equivalent to 5
times the normal cost of the weapon.


IV. Acknowledgements
I want to thank our very own Wes, also known as Gizmo, for his contributions to
this project. He has put in a lot of hours with me with the Jedi Wing in
general, and deserves special recognition for his contributions to this project.
Special thanks to Davin and Josh who, between the two of them, managed to bust
out a new power hierarchy database that made implementing these rules a heck of
a lot easier. Kuudos to Sconn and Rhuryc, who allowed me to bounce ideas off of
them from time to time. Finally, big thanks to our illustrious leader and
friend, Raven, who I am certain got tired of me firing off hypothetical ideas at
him on a regular basis.





Till next time, this is the Jedi CO signing off

":)

MGN Cyrel Vandroth

a.k.a. `Carl






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That being said, I figure it's (finally) time to recognize certain players for
their contributions to this complete revamp of our system into something more
fair, and cognizant to a positive simming enviroment.


Cyrel Vandroth (Carl!) step forward. First of all, I'd like to say how very
pleased I am that you were willing to step up and take on the massive project of
revamping the entire ABG Force System in the first place. I have praised you
previously for this, but I wish to make it clear that without your contributions
the system would still be lackluster and far too confusing to allow for a proper
RP enviroment. I am proud to promote you to the rank of Lieutenant General,
congratulations.

Don't step down just yet, as a suppliment to your tremendous work, I am proud to
also award you with the Kessel Cup, congratulations.


General Wes Belden, step forward. For your tremendous assistance to Carl in
completion of the Jedi revamp, going above and beyond the contributions of any
one other individual; I am proud to present you with the Dagger of Courage,
congratulations.


The following people are hereby awarded a Merit Commendation. For their
invaluable assistance in revamping the system.

Commander Davin Ingram Kabak
Commodore Joshua Hawkins
General Sienn Sconn
Major Rhuryc


Assorted Recognitions:

2nd LT Arcane, I hereby promote you to 1st LT for your activity and continued
assistance in perpetuating good roleplay.

Captain Jinn Azeti, for your continual activity I hereby promote you to the rank
of Major.


Thank you to everyone that helped Carl revamp the Force system, and thank you to
everyone that continues to make the ABG the best damn fleet in this
organization. It makes me proud to continue to roleplay with you all.