Endor/Death Star II: Setting the Stage
these tournaments affected the development of Death Star II cards - part
1 of a three part series of articles
by Joe Alread
Three separate theatres. Each with its own distinct flavor. Many
of us have probably seen the Battle of Endor in Return of the
Jedi at least a dozen times over the years. And now that we're
witnessing the making of the prequels, the crossing of Anakin
Skywalker back over to the Light Side becomes all the more real
to us. We now know more about his life, and that makes the final
act in Return of the Jedi all the more compelling to watch.
Since 1995, when the Premiere set for the Star Wars Customizable Card Game was first released, I think I can honestly say that everybody who has played this game has wondered how the final sequences from Return of the Jedi would play out in the card game. Would it be as good as it was in the movies?
With the Endor/Death Star II sanctioned tournament formats, the answer is a resounding YES! Not only through the possible turning of Darth Vader to the Light Side of the Force, but also through the forests of Endor and even through the trench run on the second Death Star. It's all there. While most expansion specific or closed-environment decks focus on one of the three main theatres - space, ground or dueling - the majority can also interact in all three at once, reproducing the true feel of the Battle of Endor.
The process Product Development had to go through to create this unique feel was long and difficult. All three theatre-themed strategies had to be balanced, since it would get boring very quickly if everyone played the same decks against each other time and time again. After creating basic mechanics for the space and dueling theatres in the Death Star II expansion set, a comparison between these and the ground mechanics introduced in Endor showed that the scouts we fell in love with a year ago needed some help! Insertion Planning and Strike Planning were born in order to help out the Rebel Strike Team objective. Insertion Planning (nicknamed "Clothesline" during playtesting) was made to stop those pesky Speeder Bikes that every Light Side player dreaded in last year's Endor Sealed Deck tournaments. Strike Planning originally didn't let you get just Generals - it let you get Crix Madine, Mon Mothma, General Solo, and/or Lieutenant Page, too. Why the change? We'll talk about that next time.
Another major obstacle for the development team was the "completeness" of the environment. How could the new environment live without key ingredients such as the Executor, the Falcon or Vader's Lightsaber? It was decided that new versions of these cards be created to make the closed environment feel more complete. Most of Lord Vader's text revolved around him using a lightsaber, so how weird would it have been if it were impossible to even give him one in the first place?!
Now that we know what Product Development had to do to bring in all the pieces of the puzzle, what about the mechanics of Death Star II itself? Next time we'll discuss what the team had to deal with when tweaking the new game mechanics that were to come out in that set, starting with the building of the second Death Star. At one time the Death Star II even allowed the Dark Side to suspend Great Warrior! Can you imagine that?!
But wait, there's plenty more to tell - next time, in Part 2 of
this three part series.
