Star Wars Campaigns-Managing a Great Campaign vs. True to Canon Spirit

[National Acrobat]

Ok, I have a question for anyone out there who runs Star Wars. I have a campaign that started about 2 months ago and is now about to replace my DnD Campaign. It is set during the infancy of the Rebellion and currently we are about 1 year before the destruction of the first Death Star. Now, anyone who knows about gaming Campaigns knows that current events and PC Actions can have a long lasting impact in the Campaign on future events. Now in a SW Universe we have 5 movies that have defined the setting, plus the expanded Universe. My question is, have any of you changed 'canon' in order to fit your campaign and if so, has it changed the flavor of the group.

My Campaign has 2 examples. I have a few surviving Jedi Masters who teach Alliance Force Users in a secret location, provided the Alliance can vouch for them and provided the PC's have proven themselves time and time again in the service of the Alliance, to be trustworthy and reliable.

Secondly, Amidala is not dead (as people speculate will happen in EP III) and is actually an active member of the Alliance.

Thoughts?

Thanks.

 

[Mr Fidgit]

My Campaign has 2 examples...

Thoughts?

i think if the jedi and Amidala are on Alderaan in a year, they won't be influencing your game at all!

in the SW games i've played in, the DM has purposely avoided having the players influence the movie stories. we've had one game post-Empire (which ended way before Jedi), another that was post-Jedi (with no 'expanded universe'), and a future game planned 1000 years before Ep I.

if you think your players can handle changing the movie stories, go for it! but they have to able to face the consequences as well.

you: "Because your team was delayed and couldn't help in the battle, the Death Star has destroyed Yavin 4."
players: "ooops....."


if you're not sure, have the PCs sent on missions that don't directly relate to the movies. there are rebellion cels all over the known galaxy. OR, they could affect things peripherally...

"Many player characters died to bring us this information..."

don't be afraid to make the game your own

 

[Redleg06]

I think the movies left enought to the imagination that one does not have to tinker with "the facts" as such.

nstead of surviving Jedi Masters you could have former Jedi (like Count Dookoo), and Padawans that went into hiding after Vader's Jedi hunt. They could then come out of hiding and teach what they know. I think having "other" Jedi Masters survive does sort of spoil the spirit of the movies.

Then again it's your world! Do as you will!

 

[Henry]

This year I ran a New Jedi Order campaign that had MASSIVE changes that occurred about 50 years before the current date. I "re-inherited" the campaign from another GM in our group, after I had given it over to him in the first place. That GM ran a spectacular campaign, involving time travel, a redeemed and quite healthy Anakin Skywalker trained by Yoda, an Evil Luke and Leia, Mace Windu kicking major butt alongside our PC's, and an Emperor who was executed before the battle of Endor.

When I inherited it back, I cleaned up the continuity somewhat, substituting the original heroes (Luke, Leia, Han, etc) with the PC's from the old campaign for some of the crucial past actions. The old PC's were responsible for setting up a secret biological weapon to use against the Yuuzhan Vong. (I heavily drew upon inspiration from the "V" movies for this.) The players enjoyed it immensely, especially for some to see how their old player characters turned out, who died performing what sefless action, etc.

Don't be afraid to change it. Just because Luke didn't fly the Hoth sortie, or just because it wasn't Obi-wan who cut off the Death Star Generators, doesn't make it NOT Star Wars. Keeping the two-fisted and one-blaster action, keeping the dog-fights with Imperial TIE fighters, and having one small core of ragtag freedom fighters saving the day -- THAT is what makes it Star Wars.

Oh, and don't forget to throw in a Jedi Knight in training somewhere. Wouldn't be Star Wars without that.

 

[roytheodd]

I got my idea from a comic book, but I ran a campaign based upon "What if Luke's torpedo didn't destroy the Death Star". The campaign was only about 6 months but it was a blast. I allowed for a lot more Jedi based upon the fact that we only learn of the Jedi-shortage later in the series; in Star Wars we weren't sure of how many others there were (just that the Clone Wars nearly wiped them out).

 

[Drakmar]

well.. I just started in a game.. that is really really really fun.. basically it was set 5 minutes after the Celebrations after the Battle of Yavin. Me.. a techo.. had to find out why the Targeting Computers didn't work like they were meant to.. My and my muscle found the sabotuer and his ship and all sorts of stuff.. and now we are off the get more droids since so many were destroyed in the battle of yavin.

 

[Skywalker]

I also look for ways to free up the SW universe. If you do this I think that's it important to remember the universe's roots. SW stories have a certain feel and pace that should be replicated if you can but the detail need not be.

My own game was going to be a New Republic Era game (perhaps the most free era) however I really wanted to explore the Empire from within. So I came up with an "End of Empires" concept that was designed to open up the SW classic elements to the players yet retain the SW feel. I won't bore you with the details...

 

[LrdApoc]

One of the best Star Wars games I ran was back in the old D6 days, but it centered around a trader captain and his crew.. one of which was a 'Droid Liberator'. A techie who felt Droids deserved freedom, so he never hesitated to help them 'escape'.

This was especially funny because he didn't do it to be a thief.. he just had a loose sense of property.

Anyway, as far as cannon goes it depends on the game if I adhere to it.. I know a lot more of the expanded univers than most of my players so I'm not too worried they will see through 'stolen' plots, or modified EU sources.. I avoid using movie characters as active players in the game world.. it tends to take the focus off the PCs.

One game I played in had a time travel aspect.. It ended quickly because the GM put myself and another Jedi PC in a position to screw up continuity.. and for some reason he didn't like that.. so much so he banned me from the game for it.. We met Darth Maul in orbit just before he was to set down on Tatooinee. With access to an armory, the Jedi master strapped on a belt of Thermal Detonators as a backup plan.. I was just his Padawan, so I followed his lead.. we both engaged DM, and began to win so the GM decided to remove us. The Jedi Master set all the Thermal Detonators and basically blew Darth Maul and us into space dust. We had come from the future to find the truth about the Sith in the past.. and the other player sacrificed us to eliminate the Sith lord we saw before us because we could not defeat him any other way.. That GM was not able to rebound from that event, and the game came to a crashing halt..

So the moral of my long winded story is if you choose to play by cannon, be prepared to have it quickly erradicated by the players..

No plan survives contact with the enemy.

 

[Mr Fidgit]

Those droids were prisoners of the Empire! they deserved freedom from their tyrannical servitude!

 

[Rodrigo Istalindir]

In the d6 campaign I ran in college (pre-Episode I), I tried to weave the events in the referenced in the movies into the campaign, with the players being observers or instigators. This let them feel like they were contributing to the overall result without me having to re-write canon too much.

For example, on one mission to Kessel, the PCs screwed up and got a couple of Star Destroyers on their tail as they fled. They picked up a freighter on their sensors, and pulled some tricks to fool the Imperials into confusing the two ships. They got away scot-free, and some poor sucker by the name of Solo was forced to dump his cargo before he got boarded.....