What 'Return of the Jedi' Teaches Us About OSR Game Balance

“Master Luke, you're standing on the…”

“I will not give up my favourite decoration” Jabba interjects in booming Huttese “I like Captain Solo where he is…”

With lightning speed, the force flares through Luke’s outstretched fingers, ripping the blaster from the guards holster into his grasp.

But not quick enough to beat the wet thump of Jabba’s fist slamming down upon the booby trapped floor, sending Luke tumbling into the Rancor’s pit, whilst loosing impotent laser bolts into the ceiling with a loud pew pew!

Ahoy m’hearties, today's post is a lesson on game balance brought to us by 1983’s Return of the Jedi in the way that Luke battles and defeats Jabba’s pet Rancor (pfft, spoilers!). What’s that you say? Last weeks post was about game balance too? Well, yeah, loosely, but it’s my blog and I go where the wind takes me, damnit!

OK, let’s get this show on the road. I want to talk about two versions of the Luke vs Rancor encounter in the context of a TTRPG, in an imaginary one, the entire encounter has all been perfectly balanced. The result is that without any need to think outside his character sheet, Luke and the Rancor square up against each other, going blow for blow, taking it in turns to roll to hit and damage until Luke wins, having used all his spell slots. There's simply no requirement here for Luke to think creatively about the situation.

Let’s just admit it, shall we? We’ve all experienced this fight before at the table, and it was boring for everyone involved.

I know some of you are going to say that there’s nothing stopping players being creative and spicing it up, but the point I want to underline here is that there’s nothing forcing them too either.

Spoilers for Return of the Jedi!

In the true version however, there's no balance - Luke is in a situation that is practically hopeless… yet he triumphs.

Now, ya’ll just settle yourselves down a moment, because I'm going to skip ahead to the part just after the Rancor savagely eats the Gamorean Guard. This moment highlights the deadliness of the encounter to Luke, he knows there's no chance of a fair fight…

Luke:- I grab a large bone off the ground to defend myself with.

GM:- Confronted by this enormous slavering beast, the bone feels pathetic in your grip. The Rancor reaches down and grapples you, lifting you up with one powerful taloned hand that wraps around your waist. You can smell the stench of rotten flesh as you're elevated towards its gaping maw.

Luke:- As it brings me level to it's face, I want to force the bone into its mouth, wedging it open.

GM:- The Rancor roars in frustration, flailing, it drops you to the ground.

Luke:- Is there anywhere I can hide?

GM:- There's a crevasse in the cave wall that you can squeeze into, but you'll be trapped.

Luke:- I roll into it.

GM:- OK, and from your new vantage peering between the Rancor’s legs, you can see a metal door with an electronic lock next to it. It looks like an exit! Before you can act though, with a sickening crunch the bone in the Rancor’s mouth snaps. Bending down, it reaches a clawed hand towards you.

Luke:- Is there anything down here with me I can use to hit the hand with?

GM:- There are some hand sized rocks, and bits of rubble.

Luke:- I grab a rock and smash it down on the Rancor’s finger.

GM:- The Rancor pulls it's hand away in pain, throwing it's head back in rage and let's out a roar.

Luke:- Great, I roll out from the crevasse, and whilst the Rancor is roaring, I want to run between it's legs towards that door and punch the switch to get out.

GM:- Great plan, you sprint across the cave and hit the door release, unfortunately it opens to reveal a secondary gate, metal and grated, the jeering presence of the Rancor trainers beyond push you back. Meanwhile, the Rancor is making it’s way over, crouching beneath the portcullis as it lumbers towards you.

Luke:- How does that portcullis work? Could it crush the Rancor?

GM:- Definitely! You see it’s controls on the wall some 15’ away.

Luke:- Whilst the Rancor is under the portcullis, I grab another rock and use the Force to throw it at that switch.

GM:- Great, roll to hit with advantage…

What Should we Learn from this?

There’s lessons here for GM and player alike:

Firstly, if we accept that balanced encounters lean into being predictable (IE the players expect that they’re “meant” to win) then it’s also clear that this can reduce the interaction of the encounter to simply engaging with the base mechanics of the game. How many times have you heard a player just say “I want to hit him with my sword…” when this is the bulk of an encounter - you know that there’s magic missing.

Secondly, if your players have no expectation of balanced encounters, they will be forced to creatively engage with the situation to ensure survival. The GM should be very open to this creativity, and be prepared to bypass strict mechanisms and favour rulings over rules.

Thirdly, as a player, you should ask tonnes of questions, knowledge is king, so don't be afraid to prompt the narrative that you want to hear from the GM. This behaviour turns passive players into active proponents of the games narrative direction.

Fourthly, As GM, do your best to describe the scene honestly, but don't try to solve the problem for the players. Instead, you should be rooting for the player, give them every chance to succeed with each feasible suggestion they present.

As my fellow blogger, Arthur Brill, writes in The Fields We Know in his post on game balance with (it must be said) far more eloquence and gravitas than I could command:

“Much more important than worrying about creating "balanced" encounters is designing encounters in such a way that players have the ability to size up the difficulty of a potential fight so they know whether to engage or to find another approach. (Run away, diplomacy, stealth, surprise, etc...)

. . .

Information trumps power. Van Helsing (the book character, not the movie version) does not defeat Dracula because he is more powerful than him. He defeats Dracula because he understands both the vampire's power and weakness.”

Thanks Arthur.

This philosophy is what lays at the heart of great OSR gameplay. The thrill comes from player ingenuity, not predetermined balance.

Conclusion

OK, I can hear you screaming that you’ve got the point. I promise, I’ll stop writing about game balance for a bit, next week I’ll write about a cool homebrew I use. Honest.

Hey, thanks for reading - you’re good people. If you’ve enjoyed reading this, it’d be great if you could share it on your socials, and maybe think about subscribing to the Mailer of Many Things! Either way, catch you later.