Episodic campaign using FFG adventures?

By Ceodryn, in Game Masters

Hi,

I just listened to the excellent Order 66 episode about episodic playing, and I would like to start my own playing group with that concept of an episodic campaign, mostly using FFG adventures with a few fan made scenarios in between.

In what order would you recommend a beginner group to run FFG adventures? I have them all, including the beta if necessary, but I have not read any of them yet as I was previously mostly a player.

Thank you

Which episode is that? I'd be interested in listening to it myself.

ddbrown30: Episode 21 "Isn't it Episodic (Don't you Think)?"

If it's intended to be episodic, order might not matter so much. I'm not familiar with all the modules, fan-made or official, so I can't really help you on that. But of all the FFG published adventures, my favorite is certainly "Under a Black Sun". If you run that one, take a look at the final encounter with the bounty hunter in the factory. Definitely think of some ways to make sure all of those nifty set pieces will make it into the encounter. My players are a "stand and shoot them" kind of players so they didn't do much with all of the nifty machinery around them and the nasty molten metal.

My group started with the pre-gens in "Escape from Mos Shuuta" then we followed it up with "The Long Arm of the Hutt". I transitioned them into their own characters using "Trouble Brewing" and weaved that into "Debts to Pay". I may do a couple modular encounters from Suns of Fortune to lead them into the next adventure. I'm leaning towards doing Jewel of Yavin next; mainly because they have a slicer in the party and are always looking for a big payday.

ddbrown30: Episode 21 "Isn't it Episodic (Don't you Think)?"

If it's intended to be episodic, order might not matter so much.

You have a point :) . Let me re-frame my question: In what order do the FFG adventures make the most sense to bring beginner characters to higher up levels. For example, Beyond the Rim is supposedly for starting characters or not very advanced, but Jewel of Yavin is for advanced characters. Again, I haven't read any of the FFG published adventures, so I am trying to gauge what would be the best order for a new group without having to heavily scale up or down the adventures.

Thanks

For my campaign, it's very episodic. Thus far, it's gone as so:

  • Trouble Brewing (first adventure from the EotE Core Rulebook taking place on Formos)
  • A Hutt's Tail (home brew follow up from Trouble Brewing where the PCs visit Thakba the Hutt on Sleheyron)
  • Ignoble Designs (home brew adventure where the PCs return to Eriadu for the first major story arc)
  • Beyond the Rim ( broken down into three different episodes: The Wheel, Cholganna, Raxus Prime)
  • Isolated Incidents (home brew follow up to Beyond the Rim continuing the first major story arc on Eriadu)

And that's currently where we are. I have a massive GM document that has pre-made modular encounters for all of my PCs' various obligations (five to six pre-made encounters per character) that I can drop in at any time if I roll their Obligation at the beginning of the game session.

Thanks Daven! How long are your sessions? I am planning for 3 to 4 hours online, and my fear is that rolling Obligation every session could easily derail that particular episode, especially since online playing is slower than tabletop.

I was thinking to have Obligation encounters happen in between episodic adventures. I am in any case planning to ask the players to come up with ideas of modular encounters based on their obligation.

On that note, that massive Gm doc would be a great share for the community :)

Hey Ceodryn,

Our sessions are usually in the 3-5 hour range. I tend to really run with the narrative play style to knock out some of the PCs' tendencies to revert back to the days of D20 when they'd want to make a pit stop every other session to "find new gear" on some little side tangent.

EotE is about the narrative and the setting and my players have really taken to that. You could certainly have the Obligation encounters occurring in-between, but I think you could miss a great opportunity to tie them in with the bigger picture. Could Han Solo have run off in-between A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back to pay off Jabba the Hutt? Yessir! Would that have made for a less compelling story? In my view, I think it would have. His debt to Jabba wound up affecting the larger group's trajectories as well.

I might post my GM doc, but I wouldn't want my players discovering it as it would completely ruin much of the story arcs of their characters for the everyone involved. I might post one modular encounter that we've already played out just to give an example though...

I shall ponder these things. ^_^

Edited by DavenQuint

For my campaign, it's very episodic. Thus far, it's gone as so:

  • Trouble Brewing (first adventure from the EotE Core Rulebook taking place on Formos)
  • A Hutt's Tail (home brew follow up from Trouble Brewing where the PCs visit Thakba the Hutt on Sleheyron)
  • Ignoble Designs (home brew adventure where the PCs return to Eriadu for the first major story arc)
  • Beyond the Rim ( broken down into three different episodes: The Wheel, Cholganna, Raxus Prime)
  • Isolated Incidents (home brew follow up to Beyond the Rim continuing the first major story arc on Eriadu)

And that's currently where we are. I have a massive GM document that has pre-made modular encounters for all of my PCs' various obligations (five to six pre-made encounters per character) that I can drop in at any time if I roll their Obligation at the beginning of the game session.

Oh my. That sounds delightful. Is there a way you can somehow message the document out by request?

I certainly can. I'll be out of town for a few days, but I'll send along what I can when I return. Keep in mind that my campaign already has pre-generated characters similar to what is done in the Edge Beginner's Game. I have four players who chose from six potential characters--nevertheless my documents include plot hooks and developments for the two characters that weren't selected as well.

The pre-gens are:

  • Quint Veleris: Male Human Smuggler (Pilot) from Eriadu
  • Jess Thune: Female Human Colonist (Doctor) from Talus
  • Riggs: Male Human Technician (Outlaw Tech) from Eriadu
  • Onaro: Male Rodian Hired Gun (Bodyguard) from Rodia
  • Key'la Serik: Female Bothan Explorer (Trader) from Derethui
  • Azzak Shon: Male Weequay Bounty Hunter (Survivalist) from Sriluur/Dennogra

cool I'm doing something quite similar. can you message me the document also?

I've been having trouble incorporating the pre-gen adventures. tried with under the black sun last. and in a couple of sessions I'm planning on running long arm of the hutt.

I have had great succes with incorperating my players obligations into the adventures. and I've found it pretty easy.

Ceodryn,

I would recommend going to Wookieepedia and doing a search for web adventures. WOTC did a lot of web adventures, and they are short and easy to convert. They have come in handy for my firefly style episodic adventure set during the dark times.

Salcor