Hello,

Im trying to work out an appropriate responce to a report of a Jedi or some one swining a glow sword.

How does the Empire respond? Do they send the ISB first to confirm or does the "Executor" show up in all its glory with Lord Helmet at point???

Depends on the report. Quality of the information I would think.

Yeah, Except for it's most upper echelons the Empire works like most any bureaucracy. First report may be completely ignored. second report may warrant a cursory review of the available data. from there the response will continue to grow until it is determined that a major action is required. I highly doubt that lord helmet spens his time zipping about chasing rumors.

I imagine they'd post a bounty... The Jedi are effectively criminals after Order 66 comes into effect!

I'm with Ryoden. You gotta factor in each situation, and context, and build up.

Waving a glowstick around + move object, or superjumps, or something + in public + a public that actually gives a carp + being identifiable when you do it + more then once, and you've got the Empire's attention.

Change or remove any one of those points sufficiently and you're back into "baseless rumor" territory and the PC can keep doing his thing.

Hello,

Im trying to work out an appropriate responce to a report of a Jedi or some one swining a glow sword.

How does the Empire respond? Do they send the ISB first to confirm or does the "Executor" show up in all its glory with Lord Helmet at point???

A Jedi report is likely to be taken as a serious threat -- even to non-Sith. Propaganda paints the Jedi as terrorists and lays the blame for a costly war at their feet. The response is probably going to depend on what the PC in question continues to do. If it's a one-time incident, the response will be slightly uncomfortable for a very short period of time.

The local governor will likely increase military force in the local area and institute a bounty for the suspect's arrest. If the governor proves incompetent, a Moff may involve herself directly and bear more military might down on the region accordingly. At this point, the bounty might even stop going up - the moffs are not traditionally 'hearts and minds' players - and lead to martial law. If the situation continues to escalate, it'll eventually attract the attention of an Emperor's Hand, of course, but that's basically the final resort before having Vader show up in person. They likely won't close the ports, but will increase their scrutiny of logs and transponder data and flag suspicious comings and goings for follow-up.

Parallel to this, if you've got someone in local government with strong COMPNOR ties/allegiances, she might want to (overzealously, in typical COMPNOR fashion) exploit this to try and wrangle some additional political power. Which means attracting ISB attention parallel to the government/military response, or some 'neighborhood watch' style patrols made up of COMPNOR's 'Palpatine Youth' division.

Any additional pressure that these threats generate won't just be brought to bear on the PCs, but on the other locals as well. Which means the local underworld will be interested in taking care of this Jedi threat, as well.

My reasoning would be if this is reported to Imperial Authorities whether Compnor or ISB the first thing is seeing if anyone is in the sector say a Customs Frigate or have the local Imperial Garrison investigate.

If its just gossip about a lightsaber it would probably be ignored unless there's physical evidence but it would probably require Stormtroopers witnessing it to really get the ball moving.

Word of supernatural abilities would increase the chances they will eventually check this out but the bit about bounty hunters would make more sense out on the edge since just having a lightsaber would be enough to get the wielder shot or turned in for the reward in some places.

I believe an Order 66 podcast dealt with that subject I think it was one of their newer informative releases where you hear someone in a cantina talking about various subjects one of which involved a lightsaber... his response is well worth taking another listen to!

I'd say that if the evidence mounted up to something clearly beyond the "normal", such as super-high jumps, blocking blaster bolts with a lightsaber, and so on, it would get serious attention from the Empire (how long it would take for that attention to yield specific consequences is another issue). If it was just someone waving a lightsaber around it probably wouldn't rouse a lot of attention; anyone could conceivably have found an old lightsaber.

As for the nature of the response, I'd say first maybe some ISB agents if the observations didn't have any obvious mystical elements to it. If it did, it would be something like an Imperial Inquisitor.

I'm with the "depends on the evidence" crowd. Maybe have someone investigate to try to get corroborating evidence/witnesses. If it is plausible, then up security and increase staff working on the investigation.

Once there is credible evidence, send word up the chain and a task force (inquisitor maybe) gets sent out to further the investigation and capture/takedown.

They can't just send the cavalry every time someone screams "Jedi." There aren't enough qualified personnel to come running whenever a collector fires up an old lightsaber or someone swears their neighbor used the Force to rip out their petunias. If there were always a strong response, it would become a cheaper alternative to paying bounty hunters: frame someone as a Jedi.

After three years of that crap, I wouldn't send any of my people out without something concrete.

All I know is in Star Wars the Stormtroopers got a report of trouble in a cantina with a Lightsaber involved and they dispatched half a dozen troopers armed with repeating blasters to investigate, so I am thinking they take it pretty seriously.

Pretty pretty lights in the sky and ground. Honestly you have to take into account where it is and what you the GM have going on there at the time. For example in A New Hope, 2P51 is completely correct in that regard but the situation was there was a garrison deployed there to collect two droids with top secret data. The fact that a lightsaber wielding lunatic shows up with two droids in tow. They going to send a well armed squad to look into it.

So if for example the report came from Dantooine there probably not be much of a reaction other than primitive screwball found a lightsaber natural selection going to handle that. Now if you had one wielding it around in or around Kuat or one of the heavily populated core, mid rim, or outer rim worlds you might get an immediate reaction from COMPNOR, ISB, Imperial Intelligence, and the Inquisitor group. Depending on his mood Palpatine might even dispatch a Hand, not for the sole purpose of catching the guy but to observe how the other groups act and if there is any signs of sedition in the ranks. Now if it happened in say the Corporate Sector you would probably get the Espos after you. If it was in the Corellian Sector it would probably be CorSec. If it was in Hutt Space you might get a bounty put out on the guy for one of two reasons !) Hutt wants to REALLY meet the guy or 2) the Hutts don't want the Empire accuse them of harboring terrorists and just don't want the hassle.

I would say in a Core World what would happen is day 2 after the incident you get an Imp officer and a squad of troopers look into it. If there is any evidence or confirmation that is sent up the flagpole. The ISB and Inquisitors would flag it and the Inquistor probably will wait for ISB to investigate. So in a week the place might have 2 or three agents wandering around gathering intel. If their intel is confirmed then they might take command of a few squads and go on a sweep for the person. If they find no other evidence then that is that they will assume he has moved on. An agent might be left behind just to keep an eye out but that is about it. If more evidence is found more up the flagpole and the Inquisitors get curious. I would say this would be about a month after the first incident and depending on how many others there were plus the reports whether Inquisitors send another spy or an actual Inquisitor. See what happens if nothing happens for a while with the person they are looking for. The agent stays and time moves on until the glowstick shows up again. At this point hopefully the lightsaber wielder realizes he is causing a ton of trouble for the locals and has alreaddy moved to a more isolated area or he doesn't and he provokes a serious reaction. An Inquisitor shows up and hunts this guy down using any resources in the area including bounty hunters and hired guns. At this point it to flush the person out and provoke a confrontation. The Inquisitor will then attempt to capture or kill the individual.

Now if by some miracle the guy survives an encounter with an Inquisitor that when a Hand or depending on how well known the acts have been Vader is dispatched to deal with this threat. Fit meet Shan = splat lightsaber wielder.

All I know is in Star Wars the Stormtroopers got a report of trouble in a cantina with a Lightsaber involved and they dispatched half a dozen troopers armed with repeating blasters to investigate, so I am thinking they take it pretty seriously.

The circumstance there differ from the typical and that matters quite a bit IMO. These stormtroopers were sent down from Vader's ship looking for the DS plans. I'm fairly sure that they were more motivated to investigate and respond than the average Imperial garrison.

Look at the example of Obi-wan in the Cantina. he just waved his sword around like an expert and quickly dispatched two thugs. Someone runs out and finds the nearest stormtrooper and tells him some guy just killed two people with a lightsaber. The trooper don't rush in blasters blazing, but take thier time and casually go to the cantina, and then talk to the Bartender who points in the direction where Obi and Luke are. Then they lose them in the back alley.

Also don't forget that the Lightsaber is rare and valuable enough that people would be willing to pay over 10k credits for one. Most any bounty hunter will take that opportunity to collect one.

On the other hand, using force powers in Public will give you more attention to the point that Local imperials will start being curious. Each time there is a report (or a chance of reporting) it starts working up the food chain, getting the notice of Planetary governors, Sector Moffs, and then finally His nibs and his pet Vader. whiten 5 reports you start seeing a Star Destroyer maybe even more of "Death Squadron" showing up.

Finally there is a bounty associated with you that starts increasing until the point that every bounty hunter in the Galaxy is looking for you even the Mandalorian takes note and starts looking for you

I also go with 'Depends on the circumstances'.

Time, location and number of witnesses make it difficult to make exact estimates but rather more a set of guide lines (which should be obvious).

The longer the Clone Wars are past the less people believe in Jedis.

The closer to the Core Worlds or important military installations you get the more paranoid in general the military is.

The more people see you the greater the risk someone rats you out.

My campaign runs just after the end of the Clone Wars and the new Empire is out to conquer the rest of the known galaxy. Jedis are vilified in the news and the Imperial Navy and Army are kicking butts and taking names. Show your powers openly and you get a detachmet of Troopers on your ass faster than you can say 'Jump to Hyperspace, now!'.

During a time as A New Hope played the Force was underestimated, lightsabers required investigation but when nothing turns up nothing happens. Overall the Empire is far more relaxed. Unless you throw Troopers around and cut them down with a lightsaber. Reports about THAT can still get you Vaders attention.

I would also assume the Empire maintains a standing bounty for known Jedi who were never accounted for after the purge. People like Kenobi and Yoda who up and disappeared. If your Jedi is one who lived through the purge, and not a new breed guy like Luke, you may get more scrutiny by merit of someone looking you up on an Imperial Most Wanted List.

Of course, E4 Kenobi looks almost nothing like E3 Kenobi in universe (not talking about change if actors) thanks to some loving Tatooine sunshine!

I suspect we'll get a canon answer to this sort of thing if the latest SW: Rebels trailer is anything to go by.

For those that haven't seen it, there's a short segment towards the end where Kanan breaks out his lightsaber to face off against the Imperial Agent and some stormtroopers, and probably demonstrates that Kaden is indeed a Jedi.

Granted, the Imperials were seemingly already after the crew of The Ghost, so it's not like Kaden suddenly jumped in as a total unknown and broke out the ever-glowin' beatstick.

Something gleaned from the SWTOR series was that most officers stationed on remote backwater planets, or low tier positions, hate their jobs.

Some will likely just sit in their office and wait for retirement, and not react at all. Others will view the opportunity of capturing a Jedi as an opportunity to grasp a promotion.

If your player is messing around with Force powers in public, or waving a lightsaber around, don't think about what the Empire as a whole would think. Think about what the local Official will think. Make him into a character of note. Does he want out of his crappy posting, to get an office with a view on Coruscant? Or is he tired of chasing the bad guys, and just sends his two worse officers to investigate another crazy rumour?

Once you decide if anyone local cares, you can step into the shoes of that official, and decide what he would do. Is he the dutiful officer who reports it to his superiors? Or does he viciously hunt down evidence so that he alone can take credit for the apprehension?

Hello,

Im trying to work out an appropriate responce to a report of a Jedi or some one swining a glow sword.

How does the Empire respond?

Nuke the site from orbit. Its the only way to be sure.

Sorry. It was just too easy and no one else was... I'll just go now.

Wasn't that what the Death Star was for? Appropriate response to Jedi presence? Some Force-user uses his Force abilities and DV or Empy Notice it in the Force, dispatch the DS on site and blow the whole planet up. Seems like an appropriate response.

Wasn't that what the Death Star was for? Appropriate response to Jedi presence? Some Force-user uses his Force abilities and DV or Empy Notice it in the Force, dispatch the DS on site and blow the whole planet up. Seems like an appropriate response.

An effective one if nothing else to be sure..

I would imagine that the response depends on where in the galaxy and the type of report.
A report of a jedi in the Core Systems is going to get a response from COMPNOR, ISB, and the local gendarmerie pretty fast. A report filed on Monday will probably have a response by early Tuesday. This is the heart of the Empire, after all.

The farther you get away from the core, and more towards the edge, the fewer resources the Empire can rapidly bring to bear. A report will still get some attention, though until the Empire can route resources towards the planet, that attention would probably be in the form of surveillance and keeping tabs on the person in question until the Empire gets there.

As an interesting story hook, what if your players stumbled upon the Empire gathering information on a suspected Jedi?