Looking over the three group kits/campaign ideas, I find a Y Wing squadron to be both the most exciting and the most boring. In a game like this, all you are going to be doing is space and planetary vehicle combat. While the occasional fight is cool, this seems like it will get really boring really quickly.

The option of taking a shuttle is the most flexible and probably the most likely to be used. But what about having a base of operation? What kind of game does that look like? Share your ideas.

I'm thinking of a group of Rebels assigned to an undergroup rebel group) note the caps) who want to overthrow imperial rule and take back control of their planet. The Rebellion get involved, offering what resources they can to help in exchange for the planet's future support. The players would be spies, soldiers, and diplomats staging a guerilla war against the imperial forces on the planet while also trying to sway to non-rebel public to support the Rebellion.

If I can do it, this issue quite interesting because it opens up nearly every career and specialization. Although Ace is a little odd to start, the ground could seize some vehicles or even gain some fighters as a result of a Duty rollover, so those specializations can come up on time.

What would you do with a base of operation game?

Bonus question: How do the Rebels get additional funds and gear, aside from looting and rolling over their Duty?

For a base of operation game, i would treat it as a rebel cell. unless orders come from High COmmand they could try to create a popular uprising on a imperial controlled world.

The base of operations option is best used to represent the freedom fighters trying to remove the empire from their world. If you watched Clone Wars season 5, the Onderon arc, that extols that option.

Have you thought about their cover identities?

For example they have a ship maybe its used to transport goods or passengers and looks anything other than what it appears to be.

If they settle for Y-Wings perhaps suggest they take a landspeeder or something conventional so they have a mean of earning their way rather than relying on looting and possibly smuggling since they need a decent cover if they want to remain undiscovered?

There's plenty of ways to work more personal stuff into even a squadron-based campaign. "Midnight acquisitions" of spare parts, back alley shoot-outs with Imperial spies or bounty hunters, search-and-rescue missions in dangerous environmental conditions, teasing info out of imperial troopers at a local cantina so you can hit that cargo shipment coming next week, etc. I'd recommend the X-Wing books (particularly The Bacta War and Wraith Squadron) for stuff like this.

For a base of operations, it could be a physical structure (an outpost, hangar, large NPC vehicle, etc.) or more of a concept, like the rebel cell mentioned above. A couple of contacts who can supply equipment, intel, reinforcements, and shelter if/when the players need it.

Honestly our group is planning to get both the fighters and the base of operations for our first AOR Campagin though not all of our fighters will be Y-Wings. Fighters without a base won't do much good unless they are posted to a capship or something.

Pimp it out of course.....

Fighters without a base won't do much good unless they are posted to a capship or something.

Just because your group of PCs doesn't control/operate/maintain a base doesn't mean you can't travel around from base to base in your fighters doing the dirty work of the Rebel Alliance.

As for the base, think of all of the stories that can come from having a concealed Rebel base hidden under the nose of the Empire. Probably not good for a group wanting to do a lot of stand-up fighting, but for spies and diplomats it's a fantastic option.

True we're starting Pre Alliance but I'm sure the Corellian Resistance has plenty of hidden ports we can use so we can scrat the base of operations as a starter for that. Of course our second AOR campaign we will be starting with a cap ship and fighters but we'll be using that capship as a base throughout the campaign, not trading it in to upgrade to another, unless they introduce another capship model with that same role.

If you're doing a base of operations, funds, gear, and instructions for a mission can all be dropped off by a messenger who meets the group at the base, or alternatively dropped off at a drop point that the players have to check. Though it would be wise to use a messenger or have them contact somebody for details on the mission as it gives the players to more directly ask questions they have or even try to ask/negotiate for any other tools they think may be necessary.

Both Y-Wings and Lambda Shuttles are more of built for moving to a mission and then back to somewhere controlled by the Rebels to re-stock, re-fuel, and de-brief before heading out to another mission. Y-Wings are better for groups dealing with vehicle combat - likely with most of the group being geared towards agility, Lambdas are better for getting a more varied group into various areas that are more tightly controlled by the Empire. Of course, with a base of operations, either one just for the group, or a larger one controlled by the Rebels, you can just freely switch out the vehicles they use for temporary missions - maybe they do a few missions on the planet, then they use some captured TIEs the next, then a Lambda for a long-range mission, etc.

For a comedic look at the possibilities for a base of operations see 'Allo 'Allo. WW2 French resistance cell. Maslow consider the possibilities of any of many TV shows and movies over the years set in small towns, mining outposts, etc. not every adventure has to be a mission against Imperials.

As for a Y-Wing or other squadron, Battlestar Galactica offers some ideas about what fighter pilots do when off duty.

You could always have another cell join up with the group to work together against the Imperial presence in the region, this can bring some interaction for the players back at the base rather than off on mission all the time, and allow for interesting hooks like a possible Imperial spy amongst the new cell who the PC's must stop before he exposes them all, or a disaffected civilian whose partner/family was killed in the recent fighting and they want to stop the war.

For a comedic look at the possibilities for a base of operations see 'Allo 'Allo. WW2 French resistance cell. Maslow consider the possibilities of any of many TV shows and movies over the years set in small towns, mining outposts, etc. not every adventure has to be a mission against Imperials.

As for a Y-Wing or other squadron, Battlestar Galactica offers some ideas about what fighter pilots do when off duty.

The old television show Black Sheep Squadron comes to mind. It's cast of characters alone could give loads of inspiration for NPCs at the base. If you can find the shows, lots of ideas to mine for shenanigans on and off the base.

For a base, why not have a cover story? Like the front room is an engineering repair/services shop. So nobody gets too suspicious about 'repeat customers'.

It also guarantees a bit of income from the PCs when the Alliance tend to provide raw supplies instead of credits (preventing a Paper trail).

It would give you a lot of story hooks. Getting attacked by thugs wanting protection money, imperial agents wanting general services from your shop/taxes.

Possibly of new recruits through smugglers stopping by your establishment looking for work, or bringing a job with them.

My personal favourite use for a rebel base:

Animal dens! In Empire Strikes Back they housed wampa and tauntauns on the base itself, for transport/added protection during a base siege. A deleted scene from Empire showed 3PO remove signs warning about the wampa dens, so the imps would get mauled if they ever searched those rooms.

If you want your engineering business to get extra funding, enter local races/pod races and sponsor drivers/help build/repair vehicles. That way the populace know your business, you gain credits and the imperials are non the wiser as you attract more customers.

With that kind of campaign you allow any class to have some kind of job/task they can invest experience into improving.

And what backups are you willing to provide if they lose their current base of operations?

For example your players use their shuttle and Y-Wings to escape offworld after the Empire turn up and start bombarding the current base and once they jump clear they're sent coordinates for a rendezvous discovering a modified carrier is waiting for them to land.

Keeping them mobile in an attempt to stay one step ahead of the Imperials but would that interest them?

Have you seen your players prefer a specific type of base to operate from?

My personal view on the Rebellion is most of its real successes and efforts didn't revolve around pitched force on force battles or secret bases with fighters etc. I'd be more inclined to have some kind of covert cell operating out of a cantina or some other front, providing logistical support or a safe house. Then I could cycle various Rebel NPCs through on different missions needing different things from the players depending on the nature of the mission.

My personal view on the Rebellion is most of its real successes and efforts didn't revolve around pitched force on force battles or secret bases with fighters etc. I'd be more inclined to have some kind of covert cell operating out of a cantina or some other front, providing logistical support or a safe house. Then I could cycle various Rebel NPCs through on different missions needing different things from the players depending on the nature of the mission.

This is something that can be very tricky to work into the game. It makes perfect sense that your spies and covert diplomats don't congregate in the same type of bases that would be utilizing aces and soldiers. Unfortunately, it's probably pretty likely that most PC groups will have a mix of such characters, straining suspension of disbelief at times.

Part of me is reminded f a short lived Online Star Wars Roleplay I was on. It was supposed to focus on the shadier side of things. My character was going to start running a hybrid of ship dealership, spacecraft repair shop, and brothel that also aided the Alliance as a step towards his plan of establishing a shipwright and someday build a revolutionary movement to overthrow the Corporate sector or at least drive them from his homeworld of Bonadan. The Roleplay died long before I got anywhere near the second phase much less the third.

Seriously though if you could find enough Alliance personnel willing to work there a brothel, or similar establishment in an area with a lot of Imperial military traffic would probably be a great source of intel, and money on top of being one of the last places the Empire would be likely to look for a rebel outpost.

So the one suggestion I would give here, in how to handle having a base of operations in your game, is to play a few hours of Assassin's Creed. That game functionally has a base of operations in each game, but very little of the actual game takes place there. However, a number of cut-scenes do, and the PC(s) meet a lot of NPCs there that are part of their team, their family, that allow a GM to create more personal connections to stories.

One of the NPCs the party has interacted with many times, perhaps the quartermaster, from whom they get their Duty rewards, and requisition equipment for missions, might one day say this to them.
"My cousin Sheela is overdue picking up that shipment of blasters from our new contact, please go check on her!"

If that NPC has some personality quirks, and has been recurring throughout the game, the fact that his cousin is in danger acquiring gear for the party should create a stronger emotional context for the players during the adventure that spawns from that one line of NPC dialogue.

Helping to maintain any base is going to create complications for the players. There are now Duties and Obligations that can tie into the base, and divide party interests, creating tension and drama when members within the party have different priorities. LIkewise, adventures can quickly spawn from some of these sorts of logistical needs the base might have. Maybe an Imperial officer was caught poking around the base defenses, and some of the NPCs on the base captured him. The party now has to decide what to do with a captured Officer, after they find out what he told anyone else before getting captured. Do the rebels evacuate? Do they try and convert the Imperial? Do they discover a piece of vital information that gives them early warning on an upcoming imperial operation that only they can warn high command about or stop?

The great thing about a Base of Operations is that you can do all of these things just long enough for players to fall in love with the NPCs on the base, and the base itself, just long enough for it to feel like home, and then you can have the Empire smash down upon it Battle of Hoth style, creating a very emotional battle for the players, where a lot of them aren't going to want to retreat, but have to. Beloved NPCs might die, or get maimed, or captured in the process. Beyond what should be one of the major action set pieces of a campaign, this can create a revenge motive, or prisoners to rescue for future missions.

Happy Base of Operating!

For a comedic look at the possibilities for a base of operations see 'Allo 'Allo. WW2 French resistance cell. Maslow consider the possibilities of any of many TV shows and movies over the years set in small towns, mining outposts, etc. not every adventure has to be a mission against Imperials.

As for a Y-Wing or other squadron, Battlestar Galactica offers some ideas about what fighter pilots do when off duty.

So something like the wookie with the cookie in the canteen on Tattooine... http://youtu.be/H1Q83AeyYxs

And perhaps the forged painting of "the Twi'lek with the big boobies" if I remember my episodes right?

If I ever run an AoR game, I think I might just follow your suggestion!