Starting new all Jedi Campaign...
I am beginning a new SW campaign this week. I have set it in the NJO era however I am tweaking the storyline so mine would be considered an “alternate universe”. The characters are all Jedi.
I have talked extensively with the many SW fans in and out of my gaming group and we all agreed that playing Jedi would be important and trying to mimic the cannon storylines is somewhat cheesy, over-rated, and predictable (they make amazing stories though – don’t get me wrong – just not good makings for a RPG game – IMHO). I am introducing a new plot line for the NJO. Nothing the players have read in the books will be cannon nor will they see most of it in the game. I may use the Yuzong Vong in some capacity but most likely I will come up with something original that strikes my fancy. I plan on utilizing many of the students and Masters outline in the NJO rulebook but altering their backgrounds to fit my story.
Here’s the concept:
Luke – being the smart guy he became – researches and explores the remnants of the Jedi Order BEFORE he takes on new students. He finds parts of the archives in tact on Coruscant, has some adventures discovering some lost holocrons, meets some new force using friends along the way, and manages to put together enough info to re-establish a decent facsimile of the original. Yes he still marries Mara Jade and yes she is one of his Jedi Knights. He reopens the Academy on Coruscant. No Yavin 4 here as I found that silly (not big on the NJO plot line as it has been outlined to me – I did NOT read the books – so pardon my preferences). He dresses and the students dress in the classic uniform (the black only being pertinent for that moment…), many concepts have been rediscovered, and he has enough Masters to form a new council (although it is young). The current political climate is still similar - with the New Republic senate being a bit wary of Jedi, but unofficially tolerating them considering Luke’s role in the rebellion.
Master Skywalker is forming groups of Jedi together to explore the established galaxy and recover Jedi artifacts and knowledge. He also wants these groups to eventually take on patrols of defined areas to lend strength and protection to areas still recovering from the long galactic civil war. The old ways of single Knights paired with their padawan or another Knight are rare these days as Master Skywalker appreciates the strength in numbers. Diplomatic missions and missions of subtlety can still find pairs of Knights being dispatched to handle it. The goal here is to reestablish the order as an order of learning and peace. Master Skywalker sees the Jedi Order as his masters did – as protectors of peace and order in the galaxy. Of course, the goal of stemming the dark side from Jedi practitioners still holds as a strong goal for the centralized academy. After reading about Force Spirits and seeing that new feat – I plan on having Luke counseled from time to time by Obi Wan, Yoda, and Anakin (his father not Solo). The twins are studying at the academy and Anakin is being rebellious and soiling his “royal” oats for the time being. Eventually Ben will be born to Mara and Luke but most likely not under those circumstances (I mean SHEESE these people deserve a little joy in the story line for crying out loud!). I may even have one of the founders Force Spirits adopt a PC for depth in the saga.
The game stuff:
The characters are starting out at 2nd level. They are taking one level in a non-Jedi class representing their past before they were discovered by their sponsor/master. They get the force sensitive feat for free (Adepts get one free feat approved by me, so far I have had no adept concepts yet). Then they are taking a second level in a Jedi class. I asked them to work together to create a team with each Jedi specializing in another area so they could all be Jedi and still have some other focus that lends to the group. I am going to allow them to designate two primary defining skills from the first class as class-skills to facilitate the focus on being specialized Jedi.
Want more info?
I am creating a plethora of NPCs, maps in Fractal Terrains (from Campaign Cartographer), ship schematics, locality maps in CC2, and adventures. I am also working on my alternate timeline, story elements, and the like. If you are interested let me know and I will be glad to share my work on this campaign.
Ciao for now…
