Star Wars: Plot kernels, a/k/a HELP!

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

Surely you mean RotS (Revenge of the Sith) not RotJ (Return of the Jedi).

Unfortunately to most people Rise of the Empire covers the 50 years before A New Hope, so all the first three films.

So when I first saw this thread I was going to post my adventure set between Episodes I and II.

Once the Jedi purge is over but before the Battle of Yavin is when the Rebellion is in it's really early years, having achieved nothing much of note. To me this is a pretty boring time, as I like to involved events and characters from the films in my campaigns. Saying that wingsandswords seems to be able to make it appeal a little.

Well, I think there must have gone on a lot, otherwise the Emperor wouldn't have felt the need to let Tarkin destroy a few planets with his Death Star, including Alderaan.

The forming of the Rebellion itself and maybe the first planets that have to fend off Imperial attacks after declaring independence might make a few good backdrops for stories.
Just make up a region of space (maybe near the Unknown Region) that builds up its Rebellion and concentrates all its efforts on defending itself (instead of performing hit & run attacks and hiding like the rest of the Rebellion).

Or use the Empire as a benevolent influence in some regions - I remember that TIE Fighter had a storyline in which the Empire pacified two conflicting species (for egoistical reasons, but nevertheless - peace, not utter destruction and slavery)

What does the Imperial "New Order" stand for?

 

[LostSoul]

Or use the Empire as a benevolent influence in some regions - I remember that TIE Fighter had a storyline in which the Empire pacified two conflicting species (for egoistical reasons, but nevertheless - peace, not utter destruction and slavery)

That's a neat idea. The PCs could be Imperials who start seeing what the New Order actually means. They defect to the rebellion - or not.

 

[Bagpuss]

Just make up a region of space (maybe near the Unknown Region) that builds up its Rebellion and concentrates all its efforts on defending itself (instead of performing hit & run attacks and hiding like the rest of the Rebellion).

I would have thought if the rebel fleet itself had to use hit and run tactics to stop itself being overwhelmed then any fixed location unless not worthy of Imperial attention is likely to get crushed under the Imperial boot.

Even after destorying the Death Star the rebel fleet wasn't strong enough for a stand-up fight against the Imperials. So before then it unlikely any one region of space could stand up to the Imperial war machine.

If you were going to start a campaign with defending a world then I would expect it to fail and perhaps the world the PC are defending gets burned by massed Star Destroyer fire and the ships that flee that world become the seed of the rebellion fleet. And the reason the fleet does hit and run tactics is because their homeworld is destroyed or enslaved (like the Mon Calamari).

Of course most players aren't happy being on the losing side.

By "Jedi killed off" how long after Ep III are you thinking, as the Jedi that die in that film are only the beginning of the Jedi purge, that could be an interesting adventure with the PCs being Jedi or friends of a Jedi on the run from the Empire.

Although again its not the sort of adventure most players are use as it involves the PCs running away the whole time.

I think this is one of the problems with this particular Era, because its the time when the Empire is winning, which generally means the good guys (the PCs) are losing. Most players like to win, the only victories that can be found are usually pretty small until the Battle of Yavin.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

It is possible that some outlying sectors were able to build up enough defenses to withstand most strikes - if the Empire really focused its Resources on these sectors, it would probably prevail, but at the risk of losing other regions.
Instead, the Empire targets only the more daring or important planets and conquers or obliterates them. The rest will be done with the Death Star - once this power is on the table, no enemy force would attempt resisting the Empire, as just one lucky blow will destroy a whole planet. (Or so the Emperor believed. He didn't know of the tiny but critical weak spot in the construction).

It's also possible that one of the goals of the characters is providing several types of support to the rebels - locate hidden bases, make contact on mostly ignored worlds to make new allies or get access to vital resources. Protect politicians supporting the Rebellion, secretly place allies in important imperial positions. The Imperial Senate might be useful here - it was only disbanded during the finalization of the Death Star project. Also several Imperial Governors / Moffs and Warlords could actually be made friendly towards the Rebellion or the Republic, or they might have important ad visors or bureaucrats secretly working for the Rebellion (we can't stop the slavery of this planet, but we can limit the harshness)

The activities of the heroic characters are certainly less open then we're used to, but it could work. And there are also some great projects that the characters can be involved in - Sabotaging Stardestroyer production facilities, destroying or stealing TIE prototypes, sabotaging the Clone facilities for Clone Troopers or stop the Senate support for these facilities (EU implies that Clones proved to be unstable, but the movie cannon never explains why the Stormtroopers don't seem to be "super-clones" any more.). The destruction of a Super Star Destroyer might be a acceptable end of a Campaign (and is not against the movie canon, and probably only a stretch of the EU canon).

 

[pawsplay]

The Mon Calamari are early declarers for the Alliance... the Empire has responded by blockading the planet and subjecting them to targeted bombardment! The Alliance must move quicky, but their resources are spread thin. They have assigned a few X-wing and A-wing fighters plus a small cruiser to attack the Empire's destroyers in order to give the Mon Calamari a chance to launch a counter attack, but it's not nearly enough... the PCs have been asked to bring their special talents to bear. Can they successfully sabotage the enemy ships?

 

[Kaffis]

The destruction of a Super Star Destroyer might be a acceptable end of a Campaign (and is not against the movie canon, and probably only a stretch of the EU canon).

Even EU canon isn't firm on how many were produced, and a few of the known ones could be spun to have vague histories (though destruction is unlikely), more could be loosely interpreted as having vaguely outlined lives after they fall out of the EU's scope of interest (thought destroyed, but merely heavily damaged and vented to space with all hands lost.. a Warlord salvaged it and invested heavily to bring it back online -- this kind of thing happens in the EU itself, so it's far from frowned upon), and of course since nobody's declared that "only five were ever made" it's not a stretch of canon at all to just procure a new one and write it into your campaign.

 

[pawsplay]

IMC, the Executor was rushed to launch after the PCs orchestrated a sabotage of its two sister ships in dock.

 

[Jurble]

That's a neat idea. The PCs could be Imperials who start seeing what the New Order actually means. They defect to the rebellion - or not.

I really like this idea. Im definately going to save this thread for ideas later. I can see this working very well. Alot of naval officers (including later characters like Captain Palleon forget how to spell it. Thrawns XO) began their careers in the republics navy, served during the clone wars WITH the jedi then with the birth of the empire, were kinda dragged along for the ride. Makes sense for alot ot think "when did we become tyrants" especially those not out to climb the ladder any way they can. More imperialish officers would have knocked these guys off slowly over the 20 years b/w Ep3 and a new hope making the fleet more imperial as time went by.

Theres alot of ex-navy in the rebellion ie. Crix Madine, Jan Dodonna even Biggs Darklighter i think?

Oh and on the previous question about the Rise of Darth Vader book, its not the best book ive read for sure but its not bad either. I liked that it made anakins actiosn in Ep3 make abit more sense. That said i liked it most for what it told me about the period post-Ep3. ie the subjugation of Kashyyyk, republic navy becoming the imperial navy etc. Definately worthwhile for ideas and an interesting read as well.

 

[Faraer]

Are you suggesting that 1) the book was OK, or b) that I should mine it for ideas despite it being utter crap?

You pay attention to amazon.com 'reviews'? Dark Lord isn't 'utter crap'. Neither are Jude Watson's Last of the Jedi young-adult books, or the Dark Times comics, also set in the early Empire period.

A quick clarification: my definition of "Rise of the Empire" is specifically events AFTER Revenge of the Sith, once the Jedis are killed off / in exile / in hiding, the 20-odd years between the two trilogy movies.

OK. But the Rise of the Empire era as used by Lucas Licensing is 1000 to 0 BBY.

 

[Jurble]

You pay attention to amazon.com 'reviews'? Dark Lord isn't 'utter crap'. Neither are Jude Watson's Last of the Jedi young-adult books, or the Dark Times comics, also set in the early Empire period.OK. But the Rise of the Empire era as used by Lucas Licensing is 1000 to 0 BBY.

theres better writing out there (Tim Zahn & the Xwing/Wraith squadron books are my favorites) but critical writing isnt necessary to make an interesting story and especially set a good star wars scene!