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View Full Version : [Star Wars] KotOR Mini-campaign: Taris Resists!



Kiero
2009-02-19, 05:13 AM
Given it's not been possible to run After the Darkness, Comes the Light (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=99575), I'm thinking about alternative games. One which can be done and dusted in about four sessions, since that's probably as long as I'll have.

I really love the new stuff around the Old Republic era, specifically the two video games, and the new Dark Horse comics series. Not least because even when he's not so competent, the main character is still a hero, with hero's sensibilities. He cares about people. It shows us a rich, busy setting with all sorts of things going on.

Anyway, one of the episodes covered briefly in the comics is the Siege of Taris (http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Siege_of_Taris). Zayne and Gryph hook up with the Taris Resistance (http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Taris_resistance) and attempt to take out Cassus Fett (http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Cassus_Fett) in his command post, possibly ending not only the occupation, but also the war. They fail, and leave, and the siege ends in Mandalorian victory, but the fight doesn't end there. The survivors of the Resistance are driven into the Undercity, and continue to fight the Mandos from there.

It's two years before Revan's fleets finally free Taris - what happened in that time? What acts of heroism and barbarism were committed? What deeds as yet unsung?

I've got two players, and four sessions seems a neat little window for a brief game centred around the efforts to defy and hamper Mandalorian control of the planet. For anyone who's played the first game, it's all familiar territory, and you've got added hazards like the rakghouls.

There's the Mandalorians and Exchange slavers who are working alongside them (good for business, after all). Rakghouls marauding around the undercity. Outcast villagers who just want to be left alone. Snooty nobles who resent taking orders from commoners and are trying to take control of the movement.

It might be a little darker than regular Star Wars, this is a nasty guerilla campaign against a ruthless enemy. People have lost everything, and those who are caught alive tend to be either enslaved, or shipped off as a newly-minted Neo-Crusader to some brutal front. There's no contact with the outside world, no support or rescue coming. All the survivors have is each other and the hope that one day Taris will be free.

PCs would be luminaries amongst the survivors - both natives who's lives have been destroyed, and also off-worlders trapped here and doing what they can. Amongst them might be a Revanchist (http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Revanchist_(faction))Jedi Knight, sent here by Revan to sow the seeds of the later victory. Perhaps he's seen the need to create a fifth column that will be pivotal in that later battle? Maybe there's a Republic agent or two, as well, or some veterans from the earlier battles doing what they can to organise things now they're stuck here?

Kiero
2009-02-19, 05:25 AM
I was thinking in the gym last night, a neat setup for a two-player game might be a pair of Revanchist Jedi Knights, both with different skills and strengths, who become major players in the Resistance. After all what better banner to rally around than a Jedi or two?

Or for added spin, we might have one Revanchist and one who's been officially sent here by the Order, and then got caught up in things.

While it does lose the contrasts of the native and the offworlder (since both would be offworlders), it might be fun in and of itself. Getting to be Jedi heroes doing the buddy-cop thing.

An initial first session might be getting the Senator off-planet. He was the leader of the Resistance initially, but escapes, and that could be a neat little scenario.

Which means they could then be involved in the in-fighting that might follow when it comes to who should take over the leadership. Which might be one or both of them, depending on how it goes.

archmage45
2009-02-19, 07:24 AM
That sounds like a great mini-campaign. Let us know how it goes. And I like the idea of the 2 players being jedi sent by Revan.

Kiero
2009-02-19, 11:25 AM
That sounds like a great mini-campaign. Let us know how it goes. And I like the idea of the 2 players being jedi sent by Revan.

Would it not be more interesting if one of them was sent by Revan, and the other was loyal to the Council and happened to get trapped on Taris? You could have all the arguments about whether or not the Jedi should be involved in this war, and who is right.

SydneyLosstarot
2009-02-19, 01:25 PM
Or for added spin, we might have one Revanchist and one who's been officially sent here by the Order, and then got caught up in things.

While it does lose the contrasts of the native and the offworlder (since both would be offworlders), it might be fun in and of itself. Getting to be Jedi heroes doing the buddy-cop thing.
you can have both!
there were these guys, of which some might have remained on Taris:
http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Jedi_Covenant
so, one could live a good part of his live on the planet, and the other could be a Revanchist who's just arrived

Kiero
2009-02-19, 01:35 PM
you can have both!
there were these guys, of which some might have remained on Taris:
http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Jedi_Covenant
so, one could live a good part of his live on the planet, and the other could be a Revanchist who's just arrived

Hmmm, while I definitely get the feeling the Covenant withdrew from Taris before the invasion (they are seers, after all), that doesn't mean they didn't leave some of their agents on-planet. Their Shadows (like Celeste Morne) did seem to be wherever they were needed most.

That could be a bizarre pairing, a Covenant Shadow and a Revanchist.

SydneyLosstarot
2009-02-19, 02:16 PM
I think it's gonna be hilarious at the very least.

Shadow: We watch. We See. We wait for a good...
Revanchist: Chaaarge!

(Had a similar scene yesterday, when the party encountered two Dark Jedi. Miralukan scientist: "now guys, let's not get hasty and violent" Taung savage: "they're a threat to you! I hit them in the face with my pike!")

Still, ideological conflict will be inevitable and intriguing: both are representatives of somewhat non-canonical parts of the Jedi Order, and both are passionate believers.

Kiero
2009-02-19, 07:59 PM
And we're go, the players are on-board. It'll be two Jedi Knights with differing opinions on lots of things. I'll be running this with my FATE adaptation (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=103051), and I've given some thought to the Phases to help the players with their Aspects.

Phase One: Origins. As per usual, it's the world your character is originally from, and remember this being KotOR, you weren't necessarily grabbed up as a babe. It's also where your species is relevant too, for the non-human character.

Phase Two: Training. So having been inducted into the Order, what was your training like? Who was your Master? What interesting adventures did you have with them? What contact, if any did you have with the other character? What strengths and weaknesses emerged during your training?

Phase Three: Knighthood. You're both independent agents, what did you do with your new freedom and responsibility? Were there any causes you championed or places you visited or tied yourself to? How have your views on the Force and a Jedi's place in the galaxy matured?

Phase Four: Recent Events. What is your view on Revan and the Council's judgements on the Mandalorian threat? Which side do you take - tradition or a certain brand of idealism (or if a Covenant agent, what do you think)? Why are you on Taris? What role did you play in The Retreat (as the actions that led to the survival of the Resistance after the collapse of the Siege have been called)? What role do you play in the movement?

Otherwise it's 30 points for Skills (capped at Great (+4) though), and 6 Stunts (one must be Constructed Lightsaber, and no more than 3 Force Training Stunts).

Kiero
2009-02-19, 08:01 PM
My players don't read this site, so I can talk with impunity about stuff. I think the first session is going to be about getting Senator Goravvus (http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Goravvus)off-planet. He needs to be able to go and do his work raising awareness of the plight of the Resistance, which can't win without external support. Primarly that of the Republic re-tasking a battlegroup here to drive off the Mandos.

So any ideas for how that might be possible, given the Mandalorians have locked the planet down? An early idea is an Exchange sell-out who might be willing to give them some of the means (like uniforms, or launch codes, or patrol patterns, or something).

Just thinking about factions in the Resistance, at the very least there's the nobles, the commoners, maybe a alien faction, the swoop gangers (led by Gadon Thejik), maybe a remnant of the constables. I've already got an idea for some really pompous non-entity leading the nobles who has a fanatical bodyguard protecting him.

Complications, NPCs, major antagonists and the like are welcome.

Kiero
2009-02-21, 10:58 PM
The players tell me there will be an alien who's a Tarisian native, and a human who's an off-worlder. No decision yet on who's going to be the Revanchist.

I've told them if it helps, they can build their characters in Saga Edition first, 28-point buy and 9th or 10th level, before making them in FATE.

If people have ideas for NPCs, be those members of the Resistance, Mandalorians, the Exchange or others, they're more than welcome. Ones I really like will make an appearance in the game.

Obviously there's some of the characters from the first KotOR game, like Gadon, Brejik and Zaerdra. But there's others too.

I could do with a haughty nobleman who has no qualms about slaves and treating his social inferiors as expendable. Who also happens to be a very high-ranking aristocrat (an Earl or something equivalent). I'm thinking he's got a trio of cloned life-wards.

Some Republic military veterans, the odd independent criminal, maybe even an upstanding citizen or two, constables, some off-worlders trapped here. All ideas welcome.