The desert winds now fill our Star Wars CCG
expedition's empty footprints in the sands of Tunisia. As you read
this, the sun has risen over the still and quiet of Star Wars
Canyon and the Jundland wastes, with perhaps only the cry of some
distant donkey to break the solitude. Hauntingly similar to a
Tusken Raider's roar, the sound is only part of the vast texture
of a foreign land that is for us a foreign planet also.
The group I led really did travel in two worlds. Tatooine was
ever-present in Tunisia, especially with the enthusiasm of fellow
fans in the air. As much as I enjoyed the thrill of discovery on
earlier missions, there was a unique experience this time in
re-living a number of Star Wars scenes.
Tournament director Francis Lalumiere and I several times found
ourselves sitting in exactly the positions taken by characters in
the film, and the dialogue sprang to our lips as if it came from
our hearts. This strange experience made the film seem like
memories of a dream, while the more powerful reality was before
us, and indeed, in us.
In the dining room of the Lars Homestead, we lived that table
conversation, with the cool shadows of the courtyard outside and
the exotic architecture surrounding us. There was nothing
'virtual' here: down to the very atoms and the air, it was all
real. As I heard Francis' voice it was like hearing the words for
the first time.
On another occasion, I looked up at Francis from the rock where
Luke was attacked by the Tusken Raider. We were carefully
re-creating the image from the film, and the others in the group
waited nearby while the pictures were composed and taken. As his
silhouette blotted out the harsh sun, I saw the streaming light
around him, the blue sky, and the walls of the canyon and nothing
else. The voices of the others faded and were lost, and in that
timeless moment I was there beneath the Gaffi stick of a flesh and
cloth Tusken Raider.
There on the rocks where Ben Kenobi and Luke once talked, so
did we. "You know him?" I asked. "Of course I know him," Francis
replied. "He's me."
In the dark recesses of an rough-carved alcove within an old
ksar in the south, we sat across from each other at a table.
Francis looked at me with guarded eyes. "She's fast enough for
you, old man," I told him. Whole scenes took place, unbroken
illusions that felt real. I could feel all of Tatooine around me,
and it was as if I had always lived there.
Decipher's Star Wars CCG can, with the right person across the
table, bring to you some of the experience of Star Wars, in a
live, interactive way. With our Return to Tatooine we took that
about as far as it could go. I hope that we have shared some of
the spell of that journey with you, and may you find it in your
own cards as well.
Salut,
Capt. David West
Reynolds
