ZSutherland
First Post
I'm getting ready to run my first Star Wars Saga Edition game on the 18th of August for my regular group. We've never done more than one-offs with RCR because we found the rules too clunky, so this will be my first attempt at a long campaign with the setting, and our first game with the new rules. The players at this point, have pretty much come down on a jedi, a soldier, and a scoundrel (though he's vascillating between that and noble), but they haven't made their characters yet (probably this weekend). At this point, I have some notes about the campaign in general and the first adventure, but I'd be very appreciative if more experienced SW GMs looked it over and pointed out glaring problems, spots for improvements, etc. Thanks!
Campaign Notes:
Setting –
3946 BBY (10 years post KOTOR)
The Jedi Order has been decimated by 3 wars nearly back to back (the Great Sith War, the Mandolorian War, and the Jedi Civil War) as well as losses of many of their order to the Dark Side during all three wars. Barely one hundred full Jedi remain and a similar number of Padawans. While the war has technically ended, border skirmishes still spark up along the Outer Rim as the remnants of the Sith military are rooted out by the Republic Fleet and the Jedi.
The Sith forces were likewise decimated at the Battle of Rakata Prime, but they retain several Outer Rim sectors, including a strong base of Operations on Korriban. In the early years after the war, they were easily dispatched, being a rather scattered and disjointed force, but for the past three years they have held firmer, and their resolve seems stronger. Unbeknownst to the Jedi Order or the Republic, a new Dark Lord rose to replace Darth Malak almost immediately after the Battle of Rakata Prime. Unfortunately for the Republic, the new Lord of the Sith, Darth Hydra, is a much more cunning and strategic enemy than Malak, and with the final fall of the Jedi Order so nearly in his grasp, he is relentless.
The Star Forge was not the only treasure left behind by the ancient Rakata, and all of them were well catalogued in the records of the Star Forge. On the far reaches of the galaxy on the remote planet Bactaris, Darth Hydra is in command of an incredible cloning facility, far surpassing present Republic technology in both accelerated growth and stability. He has been busy these last ten years cloning Mandalorians and having them trained by the best: their genetic progenitors. His clone troops are well trained, highly conditioned, utterly ruthless, and absolutely loyal to their Sith master.
He has left the running of the remnants of the original Sith forces in the capable hands of his apprentice, Darth Umbrous, who has done a commendable job. The scattering of the Sith Forces from the Jedi has been a sham from the beginning, designed to lure the Republic into a false sense of victory and distract them from the true threat. Darth Umbrous has also used this time to train a new company of Dark Side Force-users. While not true Sith and equipped with very narrow training in the ways of the Force, they will serve as capable assassins, spies, and diversions against any small-group assault the Republic may muster. The Sith have learned well from the mistakes of Darth Malak.
Darth Umbrous’s feinting campaign is nearly at an end. With the loss of the Star Forge, infrastructure will be needed to support the army of Mandalorian clones, and under the guiding hand of Darth Hydra, the Dark Apprentice will soon strike back against an unsuspecting Republic to commandeer what will be needed. Even here, the ever-cunning Sith Lord shows a façade, for the early attacks will be carried out with the remaining battle droids and ships from the Star Forge, and a small contingent of former Republic commandos who defected with Revan and Malak. No clones will be involved.
First Adventure
Enter the heroes. All the PCs will be, for various reasons, in the same planet-side starport (planet not chosen yet) when the Sith attack. The game will start en media res with a battle against a small group of battle droids. The Sith’s plan is simple, but elegant. With the help of one of their Dark Siders, a platoon of former Republic commandos will seize control of the planet’s planetary shield controls under cover of scattered droid attacks. The operation has been carefully planned and timed to ensure that the three Sith capital warships that will come out of hyperspace in orbit only five minutes later will find little or no resistance.
The planet has a good sized weapons manufacturing industry, a few smaller capital ships which the Sith ground-crews in the arriving capital ships plan to commandeer, but mostly they plan to use the planet, which is mainly agrarian as a source of food for their clone army.
The PCs should win the initial fight easily. The droids are lower end battle droids (non-heroic CL1), and are not expecting any fierce resistance. The rest of the adventure will depend on what the PCs decide to do afterwards. It will be made clear to them that escape to space, assuming they could commandeer a ship, is a dangerous option considering the orbiting Sith ships, and they will likely be stuck planet-side while they figure out what happened and set about correcting the problem. Once a few firm garrisons have been set up with troops from the overhead ships, and the planet’s own store of capital ships, weapons, and a first supply of food stuff has been taken, two of the Sith capital ships will withdraw. The reality is that the Sith armada was much decimated, and they simply cannot be spared to guard over this one target planet. I think this process should take about 10 days. If, at that time, the PCs can find a ship, getting off planet shouldn’t be overly problematic.
Things to Do:
Come up with possible encounters and locations.
Come up with both possible allies and threats (stalwart farmers, criminal element)
Come up with side quests (who might they have to bribe or hire to get off planet and how will they raise the money? Who might they help along the way?)
What do they absolutely have to find out/do to keep the story moving before they leave?
Brainstorm for situations where each PC can shine during the adventure.
Campaign Notes:
Setting –
3946 BBY (10 years post KOTOR)
The Jedi Order has been decimated by 3 wars nearly back to back (the Great Sith War, the Mandolorian War, and the Jedi Civil War) as well as losses of many of their order to the Dark Side during all three wars. Barely one hundred full Jedi remain and a similar number of Padawans. While the war has technically ended, border skirmishes still spark up along the Outer Rim as the remnants of the Sith military are rooted out by the Republic Fleet and the Jedi.
The Sith forces were likewise decimated at the Battle of Rakata Prime, but they retain several Outer Rim sectors, including a strong base of Operations on Korriban. In the early years after the war, they were easily dispatched, being a rather scattered and disjointed force, but for the past three years they have held firmer, and their resolve seems stronger. Unbeknownst to the Jedi Order or the Republic, a new Dark Lord rose to replace Darth Malak almost immediately after the Battle of Rakata Prime. Unfortunately for the Republic, the new Lord of the Sith, Darth Hydra, is a much more cunning and strategic enemy than Malak, and with the final fall of the Jedi Order so nearly in his grasp, he is relentless.
The Star Forge was not the only treasure left behind by the ancient Rakata, and all of them were well catalogued in the records of the Star Forge. On the far reaches of the galaxy on the remote planet Bactaris, Darth Hydra is in command of an incredible cloning facility, far surpassing present Republic technology in both accelerated growth and stability. He has been busy these last ten years cloning Mandalorians and having them trained by the best: their genetic progenitors. His clone troops are well trained, highly conditioned, utterly ruthless, and absolutely loyal to their Sith master.
He has left the running of the remnants of the original Sith forces in the capable hands of his apprentice, Darth Umbrous, who has done a commendable job. The scattering of the Sith Forces from the Jedi has been a sham from the beginning, designed to lure the Republic into a false sense of victory and distract them from the true threat. Darth Umbrous has also used this time to train a new company of Dark Side Force-users. While not true Sith and equipped with very narrow training in the ways of the Force, they will serve as capable assassins, spies, and diversions against any small-group assault the Republic may muster. The Sith have learned well from the mistakes of Darth Malak.
Darth Umbrous’s feinting campaign is nearly at an end. With the loss of the Star Forge, infrastructure will be needed to support the army of Mandalorian clones, and under the guiding hand of Darth Hydra, the Dark Apprentice will soon strike back against an unsuspecting Republic to commandeer what will be needed. Even here, the ever-cunning Sith Lord shows a façade, for the early attacks will be carried out with the remaining battle droids and ships from the Star Forge, and a small contingent of former Republic commandos who defected with Revan and Malak. No clones will be involved.
First Adventure
Enter the heroes. All the PCs will be, for various reasons, in the same planet-side starport (planet not chosen yet) when the Sith attack. The game will start en media res with a battle against a small group of battle droids. The Sith’s plan is simple, but elegant. With the help of one of their Dark Siders, a platoon of former Republic commandos will seize control of the planet’s planetary shield controls under cover of scattered droid attacks. The operation has been carefully planned and timed to ensure that the three Sith capital warships that will come out of hyperspace in orbit only five minutes later will find little or no resistance.
The planet has a good sized weapons manufacturing industry, a few smaller capital ships which the Sith ground-crews in the arriving capital ships plan to commandeer, but mostly they plan to use the planet, which is mainly agrarian as a source of food for their clone army.
The PCs should win the initial fight easily. The droids are lower end battle droids (non-heroic CL1), and are not expecting any fierce resistance. The rest of the adventure will depend on what the PCs decide to do afterwards. It will be made clear to them that escape to space, assuming they could commandeer a ship, is a dangerous option considering the orbiting Sith ships, and they will likely be stuck planet-side while they figure out what happened and set about correcting the problem. Once a few firm garrisons have been set up with troops from the overhead ships, and the planet’s own store of capital ships, weapons, and a first supply of food stuff has been taken, two of the Sith capital ships will withdraw. The reality is that the Sith armada was much decimated, and they simply cannot be spared to guard over this one target planet. I think this process should take about 10 days. If, at that time, the PCs can find a ship, getting off planet shouldn’t be overly problematic.
Things to Do:
Come up with possible encounters and locations.
Come up with both possible allies and threats (stalwart farmers, criminal element)
Come up with side quests (who might they have to bribe or hire to get off planet and how will they raise the money? Who might they help along the way?)
What do they absolutely have to find out/do to keep the story moving before they leave?
Brainstorm for situations where each PC can shine during the adventure.
