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Episode 1729: Point of No Return

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To change someone's opinion of another person, you need a strong, powerful, cathartic revelation. Having the main villain doing the reveal just makes things all the more dramatic for storytelling purposes.

So try to provide an NPC that the players can assume something incorrect about. You probably don't even need to plan this in advance. Simply have your regular cast of planned NPCs, and then when the players make some ridiculous wrong-headed assumption about one of them, run with it by providing tiny hints that feed into their mistaken opinion, but which really have another perfectly reasonable explanation.

After a while, the players will assume they know exactly what that NPC is like. Either for good or bad, depending which way the initial incorrect assumption rolls. Now you're set up to reveal at an appropriately dramatic time that they were mistaken all along. If they've assumed the NPC is good/friendly, then that NPC can turn out to have been behind whatever dastardly events are happening in the adventure - or at least in league with the main villain.

Perhaps even better, if you can set up an NPC so that the players suspect them of being up to something, that NPC can appear to save them when the PCs are in a pickle. Now, do they trust the actually trustworthy friend despite their suspicions, or do they reject the genuinely offered assistance?

[Reminder: Our guest commentators have not seen Rogue One. Part of the fun is seeing how their untainted impressions re-interpret the movie through the lens of our comic.]

This is a beautiful reversal of all the standard tropes. It's not even a monologue. They're actually talking to each other.

Krennic clearly enjoys this moment. Like someone that was running a 15 year long con, finally seeing the payoff from all their fun work.

But I have to wonder. If Galen really did not want to design these weapons, would he have deliberately and intentionally designed a self-destruct button or mechanism? Was he hoping that some sort of "Perry the Platypus" would come along and destroy his horrible, unwanted evil?

It certainly would explain the unshielded exhaust port and the ridiculous vulnerability to a single well-placed shot.

— Keybounce

Transcript

Krennic: You're Galen Erso's little girl. You've turned into just the sort of person he would have despised.
Bria: Well good! Because I hate him too!
Krennic: How deliciously ironic. He hated violence, and now look at you. A Rebel thug. Using violence to further your hopeless cause.
Bria: He built the biggest weapon in all of... ever! The traitorous, murderous evil-pants!
Krennic: Ha ha hah! You don't even know your own father. He was devoted to peace.
Bria: Stop telling horrible lies about my father!!
Krennic: I bent his brilliance to my will. So many ingenious weapons the Empire never would have had. And you, my dear, were the fulcrum.
Bria: What do you mean?
Krennic: He only worked for me because I threatened to have you killed.
Bria: I don't believe you! You're trying to turn me towards my family!
Krennic: And all along he hated using PowerPoint.
{beat, they stare at each other resolutely}
Bria: Dad... I'm so sorry.


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Published: Sunday, 11 November, 2018; 02:11:01 PST.
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