# Star Wars RPG ideas



## Hughjefender (Aug 23, 2010)

I was just wondering what are some good campaign ideas for a Star Wars game. I've got a Scum and Villainy set already, but I'm curious about other options.


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## pawsplay (Aug 23, 2010)

I invariably run Rebellion campaigns set 2-3 months after the Battle of Yavin, with the PCs being recruited by a Rebel Alliance that has only recently achieved name recognition with most people. There's usually at least one shady character, and another who is a Force-user without the benefit of Jedi training.


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## Hughjefender (Aug 23, 2010)

I'd like to use a force-sensitive but without lightsabers too. So Scum and Villainy might work but Rebellion sounds good too. Any thoughts on The Force Unleashed campaign?


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## NMC (Aug 26, 2010)

That, for me, is the most intriguing era of play right now. Outside of a few novels and some comics (printed and online), it is relatively undeveloped. I would start a campaign much earlier than the events of _TFU_, however.

A potential problem I foresee is the question of scope. To a certain extend, I think this is inherent in any _Star Wars_ game; I'm the kind of GM and player who doesn't want my characters doing things that are bigger and more awesome than what happens in the movies. Because of the time period for a Dark Times campaign, I think this becomes even more difficult.

One thought that occurs to me is that, if a GM limited the action of a campaign to one sector or at least a small part of the galaxy, the heroes could achieve some considerable accomplishments without throwing out the early history of the Rebellion.

-Nate


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## Maxecat1 (Aug 28, 2010)

There is heaps of fan fiction out there with some pretty fleshed out ideas & campaigns, you can find most of them with an internet search. You can also check out the Wizards of the Coast website for their old SW stuff, including the Dawn of Defiance campaign.

Also search for: - Rise of the Empire: Infinities sourcebook. Fan fiction for a what-if deal where Qui-gon lived to train Anakin, who then didn't fall to the dark side...
- Rise of the Rebellion: A Time of Darkness. Again fan fiction, but dealing with the time just after the Jedi temple is over-run...
- Rough & Tundra. A WotC e-book (free) set in the Greater Javin area concerning the hunt for pirates who have started operating in the area...
- Kinghts of the Old Republic. Set 10,000 (?) years before the movies - plenty of fan fiction & e-books (again free) for that. A cool setting too. Ever play the PC/X-box games...
- There's also a fan fiction one (can't remember the name sorry), where Vader splits from the Empire, so the galaxy is split 3 ways with the Rebels/Vader/Empire. Plenty of oportunity for playing any of the sides involved...

Hope these help.


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## pawsplay (Aug 28, 2010)

NMC said:


> That, for me, is the most intriguing era of play right now. Outside of a few novels and some comics (printed and online), it is relatively undeveloped. I would start a campaign much earlier than the events of _TFU_, however.
> 
> A potential problem I foresee is the question of scope. To a certain extend, I think this is inherent in any _Star Wars_ game; I'm the kind of GM and player who doesn't want my characters doing things that are bigger and more awesome than what happens in the movies. Because of the time period for a Dark Times campaign, I think this becomes even more difficult.
> 
> ...




I have the philosophy that as long as the galaxy is continually in peril, the heroes we know from the film can't be everywhere at once. The PCs can be very important heroes without trampling on existing storylines.

For instance, I ran a series of adventures that had the PCs confronting a dire military threat from the Empire. In Return of the Jedi, we see the appearance of some larger Star Destroyer vessels with better shields and more firepower. So I basically took this idea and ran with it. The PCs were taked by the Rebellion to make an intrusion at Kuat Shipyards and uncover the Empire's newest military capability. The shipyard complex was too heavily armed for a full force, making it perfect for a PC-led commando mission type scenario. Long story short, the PCs gathered vital intelligence on the vessels, infiltrated a prototype ship, but were eventually detected and cornered. They riigged the Star Destroyer to explode. While the Imperials tried to evacuate, the PCs blasted their way out. At one point they actually flew stolen TIe fighters inside the hanger in a crazy battle with the Imperial guards. Tell me that's not Star Wars! 

And so in my campaign, that was the reason for the small number of heavy Star Destroyers fielded; the PCs destroyed one and disabled another. You can frame that in the terms, thanks to the PCs, the Empire's new SD program was weakened, making possible the final victory in RotJ. Pretty cool, right?


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## MarkB (Sep 1, 2010)

My current campaign is set around a mercenary squad seconded to the Republic during the early months of the Clone Wars (basically, the idea is that there are plenty of generic clone troopers, but specialists like clone commandos and ARC Troopers will take more time to perfect and train - but in the meantime, the Republic needs specialist forces, so they're hiring them).

This is allowing me to use the rank and equipment rules from _Galaxy At War_ along with familiar resources like Clone armour, weapons, LAAT/i Gunships etc., along with Spycraft-style mission structures, without limiting everyone to playing Clone Troopers.

Initially, they'll be undertaking covert missions against the Separatists, but they're going to start uncovering clues that lead them into investigating a new threat, ultimately venturing into far regions of the galaxy to face something which could be inimical to Republic and Separatists alike.


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## Hughjefender (Sep 3, 2010)

thanks for all the great feedback!
It helps a lot but I prefer to keep things in canon. I know that sounds really anal, but I like the idea of my characters not doing galaxy changing events but rather accomplishing some small scale missions. Very episodic like. The fan-fic ideas especially infinities are interesting but as I said, I'm a canon-whore.


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## ValhallaGH (Sep 4, 2010)

Hughjefender said:


> I like the idea of my characters not doing galaxy changing events but rather accomplishing some small scale missions.



And how do your *players* feel about it?

Star Wars RPGs fall apart faster than just about any other RPG I've ever seen, because people come with different expectations.
Some folks expect to be secondary characters, doing stuff in the background of the canon.  It's important stuff, but their characters end up a footnote in galactic history, no matter how personally powerful and awesome they become.
Other folks expect to be the starts of the campaign and of most of the setting (for a time).  They expect to emulate the films and other source material, without reproducing it or having their actions circumscribed by it.

Both methods can work, and be fun and enjoyable games for all involved.  The problem that sabotages Star Wars games is that some people want to do the former ("because it's Star Wars.  It's all about the story; the canonical story.") and others want to do the latter ("because it's Star Wars.  It's all about the story; the epic, galaxy-changing story of our adventures."), and nobody realizes it until the game has already started and bad feelings have started.
Many players will only play in one of those two styles, which makes it even more important to establish ahead of time which style will prevail.  Be very clear and very explicit with your players, and be prepared for some of them to immediately drop out.  It's not a personal insult, it's a matter of different tastes and expectations.


Good luck.


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## MarkB (Sep 4, 2010)

ValhallaGH said:


> And how do your *players* feel about it?
> 
> Star Wars RPGs fall apart faster than just about any other RPG I've ever seen, because people come with different expectations.




I'll second those concerns. Players tend to come to Star Wars for the epic, heroic feel of the setting. They may get miffed if none of that Epic comes their way.

The solution I've seen most canon-friendly scenarios follow is to simply take advantage of the vastness of the setting to place your story elsewhere from current events, following an epic, galaxy-changing scenario which will, if the players are successful, _prevent_ something from happening that would go against both canon and the best interests of the galaxy.

So for instance, my Clone Wars campaign isn't going to see the heroes changing the outcome of that war - instead, it'll see them facing off against an outside threat that, if they weren't there to oppose it, would quite likely be able to ensure that both sides lose the war.


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## pawsplay (Sep 5, 2010)

Hughjefender said:


> thanks for all the great feedback!
> It helps a lot but I prefer to keep things in canon. I know that sounds really anal, but I like the idea of my characters not doing galaxy changing events but rather accomplishing some small scale missions.




I think that's an appealing playstyle, personally. However, it's important to realize that it diverges significantly from th tone of the movies and even the majority of the novels and other tie-ins. Star Wars is in original form is melodramatic, baroque, grand, swashbuckling. I like the idea of a small mercenary unit or a squad of X-wing pilots adventuring, but it's a Star Wars variant, like running DC Adventures game based around the exploits of the Gotham City Police is a variant on DC superheroes.


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## Salcor (Sep 6, 2010)

This is one of the reasons that I like the Knights of the Old Republic setting.  There is canon, but it is not the overwhelming behemoth that is the Rebellion era or the Clone Wars Era.  Another good time to play is the Dark Times/Force Unleashed era.  Unfortunately I have not been able to run this campaign yet but I was thinking of a campaign set in the KoTR era that is based off the Dungeon Savage Tides adventure path.  Essentially the characters would be sent to the unknown region to research an item found by a jedi family tied to the explorers guild.  This would lead the characters to discover a living planetoid that had ruins from a couple ancient civilizations on it (the Rakatan and  kwa).  It is was the site of an experimental infinity gate to travel to another galaxy.  The planetoid was a seedling of Yuuzhan'tar which happened to get trapped in a darkside nexus.  The Kwa managed to tap into the seedling and use it to connect to the Vong's galaxy.  The Rakatan discovered the site and took it over, and used this technology along with the darkside energy to create some deadly new weapons.  However, after the Infinite Empire fell the site fell into ruin, but the connection to the Vong galaxy was still over.  Some Vong pathfinders discovered it, and was attempting to use it to open a connection to their galaxy, but due to their lack of force connection they could not access the systems.

Salcor


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## NMC (Sep 9, 2010)

ValhallaGH said:


> Star Wars RPGs fall apart faster than just about any other RPG I've ever seen, because people come with different expectations.




My experiences have been different, but I think these are still good points.

I first started playing Star Wars with modules from West End Games, and I think those were nicely integrated with the canon, so that probably colored my expectations. Even so, it was the novels and comics that aimed for plots bigger and better than those of the movies--such as Dark Empire and the entire New Jedi Order series--that reaffirmed my bias. In those, the events were so grandiose that what happened in the films seemed to be of little consequence, and that soured the experience for me.

In the same way, I think one can turn off players by not respecting the canon, but I've never had a player complain because a campaign did respect it.

It's a good point, though, that most players expect epic moments. The trick, of course, is to provide those moments without outdoing the films. A good examples of this is the old adventure Black Ice, where the heroes have a chance to take on a Torpedo Sphere that is attacking their base. While not quite as big as either of the Death Star engagements, that still provided a really cool moment. Another example is Strike Force Shantipole, where the heroes can save the prototype B-Wing fighter from falling into Imperial hands, thus contributing to the accomplishments of the Alliance as a whole.

-Nate


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## jefgorbach (Sep 9, 2010)

of course one thing to remember is even in the movies, the Luke's party didnt act alone ... there were ALWAYS an unknown legion of other rebels at all levels working alongside them even/esp during the epic death star battle. 

Perhaps its your unsung PCs who recovered the plans and/or relayed them to Princess Leia in Movie4 which alerted the Rebels to the Death Star's very existence and the means of its destruction? 

Perhaps they were one of the numerous other Xwing pilots in the final assault whose own heroic actions went unnoticed by Cannon simply bc the Movie focused on Luke's group. 

Its a massive galaxy full of tales untold by the movie's plotline.


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## NMC (Sep 10, 2010)

I played in a campaign once that ended with a great example of that kind of adventure. The heroes snuck into a top-secret facility and stole a few X-Wings; only once they'd jumped to the rendezvous point did we learn their destination: Yavin IV. We delivered them just in time for the big fight.

The old _Secrets of Naboo_ supplement has another good example of this, the adventure "Peril on Naboo," in which the heroes have their own assignment in the middle of the events from Episode I.

-Nate


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