PDA

View Full Version : [Star wars] New campaign, looking for a little advice



RFLS
2018-03-06, 02:11 AM
Ben, Ian, Ryan, stay out.

I'm starting up a new campaign set in the Star Wars universe (F&D rules, if it's relevant to your response). It'll be set about 5 years after the fall of the Empire. I'm ignoring the new movies so that I can shuffle the previous main cast off without having to deal with the new one. I'm also going to be borrowing bits and bobs from the EU, just because there is so much stuff there.

For anyone that wants a map for quick reference. (http://www.swgalaxymap.com/)

The Alliance has seized the Core and formed the Republic, but much of the Empire's territory is in complete disarray - dozens of systems want nothing to do with a new galactic government. Others are forming their own, separate from the Republic and the remains of the Empire. Still others remain loyal, and continue to put up a fierce defense despite the Emperor's death. In short, the galaxy's a mess.

The players are a group of Force-sensitives. They're starting on Dantooine, which is still loosely held by one of the fractured pieces of the Empire (centered on Yaga Minor). The Empire's presence here is weak at best, though. The players, in no particular order, are:


A young girl (~12) who is intensely interested in xenobiology. She's looking to get off planet to see the galaxy for herself.
A mechanic who has recently "come into possession" of a ship and a decent sum of credits (he caught wind that the previous captain of the vessel was planning to off him, so he stole the ship and bounced). He is as-of-yet unaware of his Force sensitivity.
A young man (~20) who is a bit of a knight-errant. He takes jobs in the area to help protect people from the Imperials. A while ago, he won a lightsaber in a game of sabaac, which he has recently begun to learn how to use.


The players are going to be tasked with tracking down a minor McGuffin off-world. The person giving them this task will be the two you people's teacher. The teacher was a member of the Jedi organization, but not a Force-sensitive herself. She held to the Jedi ideals during her time with them, but with the fall of the Republic and 20 years of Imperial rule, she has become a little jaded. However, she feels that it is her duty to assist the return of the Jedi to the galaxy at large, and, as such, will be using her extensive knowledge of the Order's resources to aid them.

She's not so irresponsible as to send a twelve year old girl on this mission. Instead, she has given the task solely to the young man, and hired the mechanic and his ship to get them where they need to be. The young girl is going to sneak aboard (discussed with the player during session 0).

I could do with some advice/suggestions for where the immediate adventure is going:


The players need a reason to not simply turn around and ditch the young girl when they find the stowaway. I'm thinking some sort of altercation with the law, but I can't force that. Maybe a minor member of a branch of the Inquisitors?
What should the McGuffin be? I want to hold off on depositing a holocron in their hands for a bit. A kyber crystal would be a bit of a gimme with Mygeeto so close by. The best I've come up with is that maybe the teacher knows the location of a hidden Jedi, and wishes to convince him to emerge from hiding. Thoughts?

Pleh
2018-03-06, 03:22 AM
First, the Abrams trilogy takes place 30 years after the fall, so you've still got 25 years before that is even scheduled to happen.

Second, tie the mcguffin to xenobiology and then the stowaway has direct usefulness to plot.

RFLS
2018-03-06, 03:36 AM
First, the Abrams trilogy takes place 30 years after the fall, so you've still got 25 years before that is even scheduled to happen.

There's no reason to keep it, though. If I keep it, then I have to pay attention to the ongoing canon to incorporate it. I also have to somehow prevent the players from impacting the course of events if I decide to keep the Abrams trilogy. Just...not really worth it. Clean slate is easier all around.


Second, tie the mcguffin to xenobiology and then the stowaway has direct usefulness to plot.

I like it. Maybe a force sensitive critter of some sort, something like the vornskrs or ysalamiri. Maybe trying to take access to it off the table for other Force using disciplines.

Pleh
2018-03-06, 09:30 AM
There's no reason to keep it, though. If I keep it, then I have to pay attention to the ongoing canon to incorporate it. I also have to somehow prevent the players from impacting the course of events if I decide to keep the Abrams trilogy. Just...not really worth it. Clean slate is easier all around.

Totally fair. I was just pointing out that most campaigns probably don't span 25 years anyway (maybe time skip, but not usually just playing through that kind of time) so it was already unlikely to come up.

But the Abrams trilogy was doing the same thing striking all canon and putting the good parts back in anyway, so it's totally fair game.


I like it. Maybe a force sensitive critter of some sort, something like the vornskrs or ysalamiri. Maybe trying to take access to it off the table for other Force using disciplines.

Actually, I never read the books about them, but the Yuuzhan Vong comes to mind.

Andor13
2018-03-06, 10:00 AM
Reasons for keeping the kid, in no particular order.

1) She's in more danger if she stays. She could be hunted by the local mob to pay off her parents debts, or has been framed for something and is sought by the Empire. (Or she could have rolled a really good bluff check to sucker the PCs into believing that.)

2) Plot related reasons. Maybe the mcguffin was sealed away by an ancestor and it has a genetically coded lock. Or the temple complex holding the mcguffin was built by an ewok sized species and they'll need someone small just to get into it. Or the mcguffin is informational and was encoded into some alien species DNA and she's the closest thing they can find to a geneticist to decode it.

3) Character related reasons. She might be a niece or cousin of one of the PCs and due to circumstance they are obligated to care for her.

4) Ship related reasons. Maybe after launch the ship life support system breaks down, and it's based on a intricate balance of algae and other microorganisms to breakdown waste and renew the air and it turns out the young stowaway has a gift for keeping it going with he xenobiology skills.

5) Blackmail. She's got dirt on at least one of the PCs and they aren't quite hard enough to just space her and be done.

redwizard007
2018-03-06, 10:01 PM
Might I suggest that you simply watch Phantom Menace and take care to note the age of characters present. Off the top of my head, there is a 10 year old pilot/captain on one of the passenger vessels and I believe that Naboo may have elected a 14 year old ruler... As the revered poet R Kelly famously said, "age is just a number."

RFLS
2018-03-07, 01:34 AM
Actually, I never read the books about them, but the Yuuzhan Vong comes to mind.

I'd sorta discarded them out of hand just because of how massive an impact they had on the galaxy, but your mentioning it made me think that maybe a small colony of sentients that are entirely outside the Force could be interesting.


1) She's in more danger if she stays. She could be hunted by the local mob to pay off her parents debts, or has been framed for something and is sought by the Empire. (Or she could have rolled a really good bluff check to sucker the PCs into believing that.)

4) Ship related reasons. Maybe after launch the ship life support system breaks down, and it's based on a intricate balance of algae and other microorganisms to breakdown waste and renew the air and it turns out the young stowaway has a gift for keeping it going with he xenobiology skills.

I like these two. For the first one, I'll run it by the player to see if he thinks his character will have it in her to bluff the other characters. Otherwise, I'm sure an altercation with the Empire could provide the impetus needed. I'll have to put some thought into making the ship dependent enough on its biological components that it makes justifying keeping her worth it.

Corsair14
2018-03-07, 09:43 AM
Has Thrawn started his rampage across the New Republic yet? He could have an inquisitor on staff and send him and a Noghri Commando squad to recover it as part of continuing his dreams to rebuild the Empire from the ashes.

There are several routes you can take. There is a missing Super Star destroyer with Admiral Dayla(I think her name was) that is too damaged to make the jump. She is desperately trying to rally different existing moffs to her side and send parts. She could find your Mcguffin is the key to getting her hyperdrive working and have sent a team to recover it. Make it a Death Trooper squad for the autonomy and maybe give them one of the remaining inquisitors as a leader to find it.

For my campaign using the d6 system I have the PCs detecting a force item (a black sphere) in a market curio shop sold to the shop keeper by a cargo pilot working on supplying an archeological site. He unfortunately is in jail so the PCs have to spring him and then convince him to take them to the site. Whole thing aside from the site is a set up to catch force sensitives by an Inquisitor and they end up having a battle in the middle of a dig site trying to avoid shooting scholars. Also introduces a villain who will hound them throughout the campaign. If this helps.

SirGraystone
2018-03-08, 03:56 PM
The best thing to watch for ideas would be the cartoon Star Wars Rebels.

Start small, picks a sector with a planet you'll mainly play on and maybe half dozen planets around it to visit, so the players can get to know those worlds. They be basic worlds, an ice planet, a desert one, a swamp or jungle world,... so they are easier to remember.

What does your main world need, freedom from imperial? someone respectable to take charge? the McGuffin can simply be to deliver a message to a politician in exile, to bring him back to be governor. Maybe some criminal syndicate backing the empire will try to stop them? Maybe the captain of the stolen ship will try to get it back.

About the stowaway girl, once they are on their way, they can't very well throws her out of an airlock, they have to at least keep her until they come back.