Sometimes things don't just go your way. Plots fail, threads get cut and things genuinely suck. But what is that old idiom, "Fall down once, get back up twice?" Or something equally uplifting. So it's easy, isn't it? Just dust off your shoulders, salvage what you can and move on. But sometimes, it isn't that easy, even when it should be. Sometimes it just digs so deep down in your ego or whatever you have and it bugs you. So some people fight back, try and bring back what is gone. It is an admirable quality, but is it the right one?

It can be anything from an inconvenience to an outright rage-inducing moment when something you invest time and effort into. It is even worse when the people on the other side who seemingly caused the failure are flippant about it or standoffish. How we compose ourselves and handle the situation is important to RP. Roleplaying is half IC and half OOC. It doesn't matter how wonderful you are of an RPer, if you are a genuinely ugly person outside of RP, full of bitterness when something doesn't go your way, it is a turn off.

With the recent disintegrations of the Voss-Ka RP plot on Lord Adrass, this question has come to the forefront of the community. What do we do when something falls apart like this? Even if you are not a part of the Adrass community or the Voss Project, no doubt you have been in the same position. So tell us in the comments what you do. Keep moving onward? Blow up and drop whatever plot it is? Or something else? We want to know!

"Dear Elza,

My first boyfriend got bit by a rakghoul and died. I loved him dearly and was devastated when he passed away. His death was very traumatic; a trooper had to shoot him before he turned and I was holding his hand, looking into his eyes as it happened. A mutual friend of ours, who has never hidden his feelings for me, helped me get through the difficult time after my boyfriend's death. He has always been there for me, even in the times I didn't want him to be. We even got involved together, but I had to break it off as it was too soon after my first's death. I wasn't sure then that I loved him, but I am now and for now we are together and happy. So why am I writing to you, you ask?

The person I am now involved with is a force-user. I do love him, though differently than my first boyfriend. I won't call him a Jedi, though he was trained to be one. He has promised me not to become Sith, though more and more he seems to want to go down that path, thinks he can destroy the Sith from the inside. He was even taken by a Darth at one point after he killed his apprentice, becoming an apprentice in place of the one he killed. I and a fellow managed to rescue him, but I get the feeling he wants to go back and finish his training. He's said as much. It feels as if I will lose him unless I let him go, but if I let him go, I'm sure I will lose him to the Sith. He tells me he loves me and that I'm the most important thing to him in the galaxy and he will come back to me. But he really wants to be this Sith’s apprentice, learn to use the Dark side of the force so he can destroy the sith from the inside.

What should I do?

Rakgirl"

Many quests in The Old Republic give dialogue options that allow the player to chose between accepting no credits for completing a mission, graciously accepting what is offered, or demanding more credits for whatever service was given. Thus, we all come to that decision of whether or not we should be the valiant, humble hero who accepts nothing for his service, the grateful worker who doesn't ask for credits but is happy to accept them if offered, or the greedy con artist who wants everything he can get. Thus, the topic for today's Force Reflection is: how does your character react when given a choice about the number of credits received for completing a quest?

Now, don't let this question get tangled up in the morality web, either. Just because a character is 'good' does not necessarily mean that he will turn down credits when offered. My own gunslinger Holland may be a good person deep down, and typically makes light side dialogue options, he is still careful to always make sure that a quest is going to pay him before he even sets out on it, and never turns down credits when they are offered. It has nothing to do with his moral sense, but is more a part of his character quirk of always looking out for his own well-being, and never turning down credits when they are offered because he never knows when he may get more having an unstable career.

Though demanding everything that a refugee family owns in return to bringing their lost daughter back may qualify as a reflection upon a character's moral fibre...

So when presented with the option, how does your character react? Do they always check first whether or not they are being paid, or are they willing to do quests simply because they want to help someone? Or is it entirely dependent upon the situation or the person on the other end of the conversation? Do you think this reflects upon your character's morality, or simply upon their personality?

Not all characters belong in a guild. Sometimes you play the loner or the distant role. Sometimes you are a member of a team, a family man, a brother. But what side of the fence is your character on? Not just from an OOC standpoint if there is a guild tag hanging under your name, but from an RP stand point. Do you RP a person who works with a group? Or are they on their own, fighting for themselves? Sometimes you can get by being in a guild but RPing your character as an independent. But which are you?

Are you behind the idea of being a lone wolf? No guild and RPing with everyone and anyone? Or are you part of a group, fighting the enemies of your comrades and allies while benefitting them while you can? The Star Wars universe is full of both, from the epitome of a an independent, Han Solo, to the leader of an entire fleet like Darth Vader. There are hundreds of possibilities of where you can stay on the spectrum.

As always, let us know in the comments!

Name one piece of in-universe music from Star Wars?

How many of you said "That song in the cantina?"

What would you say if I told you that, thanks to the Expanded Universe, we are given many more musical genres from which we can choose. For example, did you know that the music played by Fiery Figrin D'an and the Modal Nodes (the Cantina Band from A New Hope) played music from a genre called "Jizz?" (Go on, get the laughter out now.)  Did you know that Iridonians (Zabrak) had their own genre called Zabrak diaspora music that celebrated their colonization of other worlds?

The Galaxies and Coruscant Opera Houses were competing companies in Galactic City on Coruscant. Which one was most frequented depended largely on who the Chancellor was at the time. Music played a part in politics, too. So, though there only seems to be one real song in-universe (as the Family Guy scene says: "Play that same song!"), the Star Wars universe as an musical culture is rich, if not richer, than our own.

Today's Force Reflection asks: does your character listen to any music? Do they have a favorite genre? Let us know below!