Star Wars Role-Playing Games (1987+) and THE MANDALORIAN S1:E6

Our exploration of THE MANDALORIAN continues with the series’ 6th episode of season 1 entitled “The Prisoner.” Usually, we tie an episode to an older film but this entry will explore S1:E6 and its ties to role-playing games (RPGs).

Concept art of the crew in "The Prisoner."
Image obtained from space.com

The Disney+ synopsis of The Mandalorian Season 1: Episode 6 “The Prisoner” reads: “The Mandalorian is part of a crew of mercenaries springing a convict from a prison ship.”

Before I get into all the SPOILERS and connections to RPGs, let me first acknowledge that this is not the first time I have written about RPGs – or, more specifically, Star Wars Role-Playing Games (SWRPGs). After the release of Star Wars Episode 8 in 2017, I wrote an blog entry called The Last Jedi: Just Another Roll of the Dice that not only explains RPGs but also how post-1987 Star Wars films feel like RPGs due to the games influence on LucasFilm storytellers.

For years, I have ran SWRPGs as “The Gamemaster” (GM) and played as a player under another GM. I have played other RPGs, too, including classic Dungeons & Dragons. Star Wars, by far, is the best role-playing game to play as we know the worlds so well and have a tremendous desire to be part of Star Wars and contribute to it. 

The SWRPG Sourcebook from West End Games 1987.
Image obtained from @vintagerpg on Instagram

After “The Prisoner” episode dropped, I had a good number of old players text me: “Man, it's so much like our game.” Why? There’s 4 key components to a first game of any RPG campaing. “The Prisoner” also has those 4 components (and many more RPG-like details).

1. Putting a Crew Together

“Yeah, one of our associates ran afoul of some competitors and got himself caught. So, I am putting together a crew to spring him. It’s a five person job, I got four. All I need is the ride, and you brought it.” – Ran, an old acquaintance of Mando

Every campaign has a beginning. The GM’s job is to pull together an odd mixture of characters that people created in complete isolation and form them into a group with a common goal or mission. Each player usually creates a very unique and specialized character and a good GM steers players away from picking a role that is exactly like another player’s character (“We already have a Jedi in the group. Pick something else. How about a pilot?”).

In THE MANDALORIAN, our bounty hunter hero lands his starship Razor Crest on a space station looking for work from an old acquaintance named Ran. Ran offers a gig to Mando and then we meet the motley crew consisting of expert marksman Mayfield, Devorian thug Burg, droid pilot Zero and Twi’lek troublemaker Xi’an.

All of this happens before the opening titles of this episode! With a newbie GM, this could take a game or two to get the gang together (Currently, I'm a player in both a SWRPG and a Marvel RPG. The first gaming session of both campaigns was more than 3 hours and the GM has yet to get "the crew" completely assembled.). So, thankfully, the crew is put together quickly in this episode of The Mandalorian.

2. I Had Everything Under Control Until 

Mando and crew’s mission is clear: board a New Republic prisoner transport, liberate “the package” (criminal), and escape undetected. Yet, like in any RPG, one character is bound to get antsy and just cannot wait to use their own weapon. And, so, everything was going smoothly until so-and-so decided to pull out their blaster. GMs bank on this happening – especially with never-played-an-RPG-before players. It brings down conflict and chaos. The group is tested and needs to determine, rather quickly, “Do we fight or flight? Are we a group that sticks together? Or are we looking out for own skins?” The story writes itself either way. In The Mandalorian, Burg fires at a Mouse Droid out of frustration and the ship’s alarms go off. The entire crew knows he shouldn’t fire his blaster but it happens anyway and the things go wrong - just like in RPG games. 

A bonus is that this impulsive action usually activates a countdown. Once Burg fires on the Mouse Droid, Zero informs the crew they only have 20 minutes till reinforcements arrive and they will be in big, big trouble. This often happens in a RPG when things go awry. Suddenly, there is a clock counting down before the Imperials arrive, a ship blows up or someone could die. Pressure to act is underway.

Droid "Zero" investigates the Razor Crest's holo recordings.
Image obtained from space.com

3. Meanwhile, back on the ship…

In RPGs, one player often remains behind to watch the crew's ship. It is usually a mechanic – who takes the time to upgrade the ship. As a GM, this used to frustrate me to no end because it is boring. And so, I would add a twist to staying behind. I would plant a stowaway that would range for a small tracking device to a Xenomorph from ALIEN (1979). In Episode 6 of The Mandalorian, the audience already knows the hidden treasure aboard the Razor Crest: The Child. Zero discovers its presence – along with some information regarding its capture via hologram recordings. This leads to a tense hide-and-seek between the Droid and “Baby Yoda.”

4. Finish the Deal and Move On

RPGs conclude once everyone gets back together after a completed or abandoned  mission. The gang decides to collect their reward or get out of Dodge all together. In other words, we must move on to another assignment/adventure. In Episode 6, Mando returns to the ship in the nick of time to save The Child from Zero. He takes out Zero and flies back to Ran’s Space Station with the package in tow – a loathsome Twi’lek prisoner named Qin. Naturally, there is a lot of drama and double-crossing in the story’s wrap-up but never fear - our heroes prevail.

While I could go on and on with some additional details about the similarities between this Mandalorian episode and SWRPGs, I will stop here. Please comment below on other aspects of this episode that remind you of an RPG (should you have rolled the dice at one point or another).

Finally, I must say that if you have not watched Disney+’s Gallery on The Mandalorian, you should. Cool stuff and PLENTY of neat things about this episode. As Gallery points out, all the directors researched and researched the westerns and samurai films that inspired George Lucas to make Star Wars. “The Prisoner” references those films, too. It also references a good amount of Expanded Universe (EU) content including Star Wars RPGs. And that is cool – especially to this dice-wielding nerd. 

This entry was written by Chris Mich (pictured above with his dice collection).

Chris created Digging Star Wars in 2010 and has written the majority of entries (video, photo, text or otherwise) on this blog. Not only has Chris gamemastered and played multiple RPG campaigns since 1987, his previous SWRPG website - Rebel Rebel: A Non-Linear Hypercyle of Michman RPGs (fan.starwars.com/mich) was listed in starwars.com's Official Top 100 Fan Sites in 2001.