Ulwan and Seven Ulwan - new games for the SWFFG system

Preface:

As of late, I've been the GM of a SWFFG Edge of the Empire game, and so far I've found the whole experience quite enjoyable. It's a well put together system that not only rewards narrative play, but makes it nearly effortless to achieve. I am always trying to think of fun new ways to improve my game, and the other day, I got lucky. I happened upon a video of Irving Finkle of the British Museum, and the educational YouTuber Tom Scott, playing an interesting and ancient game - the Royal Game of Ur. As I watched, I realized a Star Wars themed rehash was in order. I put together a new board, some game pieces, and decided on a new name - Ulwan (lore on that below). However, as I hashed it out, I realized more complicated and strategic game types could and should be played with the same board. After some brainstorming and a healthy dose of play-testing with friends, this second game - Seven Ulwan - was born. But, before we get into the details, lets start with the basics.

The Basics: Ulwan, which gets its name from the Huttese word for smuggler, is a common game found throughout Hutt Space and beyond. One of the few original Hutt games to survive the collapse of the their ancient homeworld, its Hutt-specific terms and iconography have long since been replaced with modern, generic aurebesh names and characters. In its simplest form, it's a two player race, that combines luck and strategy. In a standard game of Ulwan, the goal is to get all of your pieces on, through, and then off the board, before your opponent does. A number of dice are rolled, or coins are flipped, to determine how many places your piece moves. Each player has their own half of the board where their pieces start, but they will quickly move into a shared area as the game progresses. In this shared area, if one player's piece lands on top of another's, the player whose piece is landed on has to take their piece off the board. A player's piece may not, however, land on a slot with one of their own pieces in it. With each roll, the player may also bring a new piece onto the board instead of moving an existing piece, assuming they don't land on one of their own pieces. If a player's piece makes it through to the end of the contested area, their piece will once again move into a safe area. However, to move it fully off the board and score a point, they need to roll exactly the number of spaces to move off the board, and no more, or that piece cannot move. If a player can move on their turn, they must move. The first player with all their pieces through the board wins. It is important to note that, barring special circumstance discussed later, pieces can only move "forward" on the board - that is, along the designated path from start to finish. Pieces cannot move backwards along the path towards the start, and they cannot move sideways or diagonally into their own territory - they can only transition between the player's territory and the contested path at the designated corners. A player's piece also cannot enter their opponents territory.

Common Rules: Now that you understand the core mechanics, we can start to put together more complicated Ulwan games. Most boards have special icons on its tiles, that in play apply different effects when landed on, depending on the ruleset or type of Ulwan game you are playing. The most universal of these tiles, however, is Cresh, symbolized by the Aurebesh letter of the same name. In almost every game of Ulwan, landing on the Cresh tile means the player can roll again. The results of this roll can be applied to any of the player's pieces, including bringing new pieces on the board. There are multiple Cresh tiles on the board, and there is no cap to how many times a player can re-roll by landing on another Cresh in a single turn. Finally, a piece on a Cresh tile cannot be knocked off the board if it is landed on - instead, a piece that lands on a Cresh occupied by another piece (friend or foe) "bounces" to the next tile - meaning you move one square in front of the occupied Cresh. If the final Cresh of their path is occupied, players may score by bouncing one of their pieces on the Cresh and off the board. In the most casual of Ulwan games, Cresh is often the only special tile used. Most game variants of Ulwan also use probabilistically equivalent dice. The most common are a set of four tetrahedral dice, each of which has two possible successes or two possible failures - but four coins, with a success or failure on each side, or even a certified RNG machine - are not uncommon as substitutes. Whichever the players use, all four are rolled together, and the number of successes tallied; the number of successes being equal to the number of spaces you can move on that turn. This setup results in the possibility of moving zero to four spaces in a standard move.

Seven Ulwan (sometimes Seven Scoundrels or Seven Smugglers): While other versions of the game are popular in various settings, Seven Ulwan is considered the industry standard for gambling-level Ulwan play, and is the version of the game featured at most casinos or other serious betting establishments. What Seven Ulwan brings to the table are tighter rules, and a codified betting system for the players and spectators alike. First, for every Seven Ulwan game, each player starts with Seven pieces, all of which they must get through the board first to win. Second, every Seven Ulwan game has a set 'ante' price, established before play begins. Adding pieces to the board requires one pay-in of the ante, and activating tile effects require a pay-in of some set multiple of the ante price. The game is also sometimes played with a "fair-play" token system, which is described further on. The special tiles of Seven Ulwan, their effects, and their costs, are: Cresh (gold) - Roll another time to move a piece of your choice, and your piece is protected while on the Cresh. Buy: 5x the ante price for the additional roll. Protection of your piece while on the Cresh is automatic and free, and remains in effect until you move off the Cresh or the effect is altered by another tile. Dorn (green) - Landing on this tile allows you to put a new piece in your first Aurek position for free. By remaining on this tile for additional turns, you may also buy in additional pieces at an extra cost but as a free move, once per turn. Buy: None upon landing, negates piece adding cost if piece is added. If your piece remains in this position, you may choose to buy in another piece to your first Aurek space as an additional move, for 2x the Ante. Esk (red/blue) - You may move one of your pieces on a red or blue square to any adjacent red or blue square, including to and from Esk positions. This includes red/blue/Esk tiles located laterally or diagonally from the starting red/blue/Esk tile, and includes the tiles of your opponents territory (see 'invasion' in the 'Other Rules' section for details). Buy: 5x ante price. Forn (gold/green) – While you have a piece on your Forn tile, your other pieces can move into a Cresh occupied by an opponent, and knock their piece off the board. Note that moving onto a Forn grants you no extra moves. Buy: Activation is automatic and free upon landing on the Forn, and the tile ability remains in effect until your piece moves off the Forn. In Seven Ulwan, there are also two non-special tiles - the Aurek (blue) and the Besh (red). While these tiles have no effects of their own, they are integral to the effects of some of the other tiles, and are important to spectator betting, which is described below. Other rules: Invasion – if you move a piece into your opponent’s territory using an Esk tile, they are now ‘invaded.’ While they are ‘invaded,’ it costs your opponent double to activate tile effects. Note: only the Aurek and and Besh tiles on your opponents side of the board count as their territory – occupying the Cresh on their side of the board does not count as ‘invading.’ Rolling back on the board – If a player rolls a 4, instead of moving a piece 4 places they may chose to place a new piece on their first Aurek space for free, assuming it it's not already occupied by one of their own pieces. Spectator's Betting: Typically only present at casinos or other spectator gaming events, spectator betting allows those watching a match to bet on a game they are viewing in a number of ways. First is the 'short bet'. Those wishing to bet are given a scorecard, where they bet on odds of Aurek to Besh tiles landed on, special tiles activated, etc., for the different players over a certain random time interval, then submit them to a pit boss or other respective employee. These 'short bets' are pooled on the fly, allowing for quick buy-in and cash out for viewers while minimizing potential bet manipulation by the players. Short bets pools are opened and closed intermittently and repeatedly throughout the match. There are also full game, or 'long bets', such as which player will win, what the score at the end of the game will be, total tile activations, etc. Like short bets these are bets against odds, and are entered into their own separate pools. Making such bets on casino games, outside of their own internal system, is heavily frowned upon by most establishments and may result in expulsion, and is often illegal; therefore it is not recommended. In games using these interactive betting rules, players are often incentivized by earning a small cut of the house winnings upon victory. Alternate Play - Token System: In what's often called "fair-play" games, the cash-ante system is replaced with a token system, where each player buys in for a flat fee at the beginning of a game, and is provided with a set and equal number of tokens at the start of play. To play in this manner with Seven Ulwan's effect-buy rules, simply make the value of the ante one token. For most token systems, players start the game with 100 tokens each, but variance is not unheard of. Token Systems are the common for professional tournament games, low-stakes open-floor casino games, and casual games where players are not looking to bet money but test their skill. In the world of professional Ulwan, it's not uncommon to play with Token System rules, but have the player's winnings subsidized by spectator bets. This style of play is not to be confused with the use of chips, which have monetary value in an establishment that does not want the free exchange of loose credits on their floor, and are not limited in number at the start of play. Of course, like all betting games there are even more ways for people to decide on how to spend or split their money. For instance, some players combine a token and credit system by deciding on an ante price, and then buying all their play tokens at that price, up front. This system is popular when playing sets, as players are locked into the number of tokens they have on a game by game basis.

Winnings: Upon winning the game, what the victor receives depends on the initial conditions. In open-wallet games, the winner collects the entirety of the pot that has accumulated over the course of play. In closed-wallet/fair-play games, the victor collects both entry-fee payments. In games with spectator betting, the winner will often receive a set, small percentile of the spectator money, courtesy of the house.

Other Notes:

For those of you who play your games on Roll20, you can roll and instantly get the number of successes by entering: [[4d2>2]] into the chat window. If you are playing on Roll20, also feel free to use these images for game pieces.

Player One game piece:

Player two game piece:

The "One Ante" token/chip:

The "Two Ante" token/chip:

The "Five Ante" token/chip:

The "Ten Ante" token/chip:

The "One-hundred Ante" token/chip:

As for the in-game cost for an Ulwan set, that's for you to decide what's right for your game. But, if you want to use my numbers, your average Seven Ulwan gaming set (Board, Dice, Pieces, and Tokens [Of the 1, 2, 5, 10, and 100 variety]) should run you about 120 credits. Typically, the assemblage comes in a simple case, which has the board in the center and the chips/tokens to the side. Inside a drawer on the Ulwan board, the dice and game pieces are stored.

And that's about it! At this point in time the project is still relatively new, so I expect it to evolve, and maybe even new Ulwan game variants to arise. So keep an eye out here for updates, or other SWFFG content - I plan to add more of the game resources I've created in the near future. Meanwhile, I hope you all enjoy playing Seven Ulwan, and if you have feedback, criticisms, or witty remarks, please send them in an email to the address listed at the bottom of the page.

Till next time,

Lazer

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