http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=starwars/article/sw20050407a

http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=starwars/article/sw20050407b

http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=swminis/article/kylekatarnstale

Articles on Kyle Katarn and Jan Ors, plus a mission which semi-recreates the mission where heer Katarn met up with vrouwe Ors for some game that I'm absolutely not familiar with.

Plus, just what are the final paragraphs of Katarn and Ors about? Would the 'Cloak of the Sith' have anything to do with the upcoming novels, or are we looking at a new Dark Forces game here?

That's cool.

West End Games was planning a Dark Forces Sourcebook, but they went out of business before they could publish it.

I think the thing with the Cloak of the Sith and Kyle's dissappearance and such is just there to inspire GMs with ideas for new campaigns or some such, but that would be cool for a new DF game... *shrug*

That's indeed very cool.

d6 is so easy to work with I'm sure you could just come up with material yourself.

but it's green!

AWESOME! Thanks for the links!

It turned green because of algae and rust and whatnot.

I was excited when I saw the Miniatures scenario, because it means there will most likely be a Kyle Katarn model, possibly as soon as the next set. Some people like to use the minis for the RPG, so that would help them too.

The green one was from Qu Rahn and gives to Katarn, the yellow one was one that he would've used himself up to the point of his capture.

Now that would be a WICKED awesome saber. I gathered from the description that the hilt was gold, but meh.

Whatever happened to Dark Kyle? Where's the infinities articles and discussions about Emperor Katarn? And how, exactly, does some rebel mercenary personally hunted by 3 star destroyers worth of stormtroopers and 7 dark Jedi manage to escape from an ancient temple and take over the galaxy?

-*tsk* Busy busy busy

It's just a shame that the whole Dark Forces story got really uninteresting after Jedi Outcast and Jedi Academy (JA pretty much killed it). Having a look through those pages reminded me of what I liked best about the first two games.

To be honest, how farther could they have taken him? Make him a Jedi Master and all that? All of his previous demons were basically gone: the Empire who had molded him and The Dark Jedi who killed his father. What else is there to haunt him? I actually found that they added a curious new 'demon' for him in Jedi Outcast in the form of the Force itself, and how he practically had to learn to live with it. And hell, he even basically did something that he might've promised never to do, and that's to actually use the power of the Valley. Quite a few interesting things happened with Kyle in Jedi Outcast, I think.

Jedi Academy tho'... well, Kyle's more of a side-player there than an actual main character, if you ask me. He's just there to give Jaden a few pointers. Still, Katarn is one of the main points why I found Academy fun to begin with. When it all started out, I thought that it was all a bit 'meh'. Only when Kyle suddenly joined in, did the game have a feeling of familiarity to it, and things were looking up. Still, definately not the last hurrah that I'd want to see from him. How about that 'Jedi Master' game I'd love to see?

Still, I always find it fun to see that the gruff Rebel Agent who basically introduced me to Star Wars as a whole in Dark Forces would grow out to be a Jedi Master who'd teach the new generation in Jedi Academy. Bloody nice development there.

(and BTW. Anyone catch the funny little Max reference in Kyle's article? Someone had to point it out to me)

They could've just not bothered. Although I agree to a certain extent on Jedi Outcast. I thought Kyle's reluctance to the force was handled very well, I just thought they could've added a bit more subtlety to his relationship with Jan and come up with a more original villain. He was pretty much a throwaway character in Jedi Academy, and the lines he had were terrible.

What subtlety? He believed for a good while Jan was dead. When he finally found she wasn't, and faced her after all that struggle and uncertainly... I don't think that's any place for subtlety any more. It's quite a decisive moment.



That is right. I think the only good thing concerning Kyle in JA was the fact that he saw how both of his students were being strongly seduced by the dark side. This is a good thing to remember, before you state JA total waste of Kyle's time. It shows that no matter how much Kyle tries, the dark side is always haunting him.

I imagine that Katarn in Academy is pretty much what Skywalker is in Outcast. A bloke who's there a few times to offer 'sage Jedi advice', have one part where he actively participates in a mission, and that's pretty much it. Plus, Academy was more about heer/vrouwe Korr than anyone else.

As for the Jan relationship... I actually found that they did it eerily well in Outcast. They have a pretty good buddy/buddy relationship going on at the start, with neither willing to make the next move, so to speak. Then when it seems that Katarn has lost it all, he's out on for bloody revenge. He uses that which he had sworn to protect. He blindly leads Desann towards Ruusan. From the conversation at the academy, he seems to be more than willing to go over to the Dark Side to get his revenge. He doesn't bloody care. That's what I really like about Katarn in Outcast, it really reveals that he IS a flawed character, he can make bloody mistakes. I have to admit that I was expecting him to drop Tavion from Cloud City, and it was only the revelation that Jan was still alive that might've saved Tavion. Maybe only at that point did Kyle realise his true feeling and all that jazz. Only when he has lost it, does he realise what he missed. Their romance seemed like a logical next step. And at the very least, there was no mushy "I wuv joo, Jan - I wuv joo too, Kylie" stuff in there. (in fact, in a story that takes place much later after Academy, their relationship appears to be off again)

The one thing that I still dislike from Outcast/Academy is Tavion. Mind you, she was a good-enough lackey in Outcast, but did she really have to go out and be all evil again in Academy? It just puts the 'Tavion-not-killed-after-all' in Jedi Outcast(one of my favorite scenes, mind you) in a complete different light. If she had to return, I had hoped to see her helping the main character as a neutral character, rather than an evil character or as someone who has 'seen the light'.

I agree Bur', Tavion is rubbish. I'd love to see a proper female villain in the games (seeing as there aren't any in the movies), Sariss was a step in the right direction but nothing special.

Does anyone else think the only reason Lando was in it was because he was the only original actor from the movies that would agree to appear in a game? He just seemed thrown into the mix really.



Meh. The first two games just had them as good friends, I just think that relationship was better.



That is true. Although, it would've been better if JA was much darker in tone.

Definately in agreement with you on that one. I already found it kinda odd that they both seemed to know each other to begin with. I suppose that, having both been in the criminal circuit for a while, they may have seen each other once or twice, but it seemed that Lando almost knew him personally. I mean, what are the bloody odds? Luke and Kyle I can definately understand, but Lando?

Well, Kyle was a mercenary.

And while the backstories of the characters are quite nice/interesting, they don't explain why Kyle suddenly became a Jedi. Though the JK booklet somehow implied that Morgan Katarn was one... or something.

Haha! I haven't seen that DCM for years! Classic.



Blame the force. The scapegoat for all Star Wars coincidences.

Anaking built C-3PO? The force! Chewbacca met Yoda? The force! Luke and Leia are brother and sister? The force!

Well, the Dark Forces novels tend to explain it a bit more. Kyle does use the Force when he listens to the voices in his head(ie. Rahn). Plus, after beating Maw and choosing the Light Side, Kyle has a vision from the POV from a Jedi, Tal [something], that explains how the Valley of the Jedi came to be. Afterwards, it is semi-suggested that Kyle has inherited these powers from that Tal Jedi-bloke.

I don't see what needs to be explained, really... Kyle was force sensitive, the same way Luke was. The spirit of Rahn helped Kyle learn to use the force, the same way Obi-wan trained Luke. *shrug*

we need a prequel, something where Katarn is not a Jedi Knight and its pure shoot em up meyhem. This is why DF was better than all the other ones, you actually felt like an agent doing missions, not a Jedi.

That's what I liked about Republic Commando, a no nonsense Star Wars shooter that's actually good. But it would be nice to have another Original Trilogy shooter.