In my campaign, my heroes serve the royal court of a homebrew Queen and her small kingdom. As she and her people have substantial mining operations, securing a contract with the Empire best suits them.

Two of my players play her Nephews--the older brother a golden tongued ambassador, the younger a strong warrior and field medic. Another two, one Rodian and one Trandoshan, serve as guards and warriors. In exchange, their people are allowed to hunt at a game reserve the Queen owns. Finally, my last character is a young Dark Jedi apprentice-- without even his lightsaber as of yet. His mission is to serve the queen while continuing his training. His master is a member of the court--but no one knows this but him. His presence also serves as a reminder of the Imperial Presence.

The party will serve the Queen and her wishes, mostly. I'm interested to use this campaign to highlight what loyalty to the Empire means, both good and bad.

Any ideas on how to make this happen would be welcome. We established the setting together and made characters yesterday. Thanks for reading.

For me the good would be that while they need your resources they will give you a certain amount of protection and you will also have the ear of the local imperial to voice your problems to, and in the eyes of some you will be on the side of order (not with them rebel terrorists). the bad being that you have to play by imperial rules and you become part of the problem in the rebels eyes. I hope this helps

I'm interested to use this campaign to highlight what loyalty to the Empire means, both good and bad.

Oh, it's definitely bad. Certainly if you go by canon, which you're not obliged to. But if the Empire was cute and fluffy, there wouldn't be a lot of conflict, or much fun for an RPG. 'The Empire pays you fairly what they owe you, then pats you on the head and gives you a cookie' doesn't make for exciting sci-fi stories.

Brutal dictatorships tend not to play fair. They might sell themselves on 'law and order' but after a while, they tend to take and take and take, then kill you if you object. These kind of societies expect success, so they tend not to reward it. And they harshly punish failure, as we see constantly in the films. So it's essential to have a scapegoat lined up for when it goes pear-shaped.

This planet has substantial mining operations? The Empire changes the terms of the deal, bit by bit. Until eventually you are basically giving them the stuff and working for no pay.

Maybe they decide to enslave rodians or transdoshans?

Maybe some Imperial takes a liking to this Queen and decides he will marry her and become king, whether she wants it or not.

Ultimately, working for the Empire will - slowly or quickly - push you to one of two options: either you submit totally and become their play toy, or you fight back in some way. The theme of that kind of game is 'what's your breaking point? How much freedom do you lose until you fight back?'

Think of Vader's deal with Lando in ESB. "Do as I say and I might not kill you".

That's how I'd run it, anyway.

ths is all stuff you're going t have to worK to point out.

I would actually do some things to take away the fun from the players. like, hear reports of a terrorist attacks, and when they get there, its already solved. one time isn't going to.ruin the game. they are going to be with the queen. have them hear and see a plague, and then next session its cured by medicine the imps bring in. show the quality of life for.humans.getting better. new houses and schools and roads. a mine collapses and the imps dig it out. new kinds of fruit and veggies brought in for the first time. better hydroponics and harvesting equipment help the planets farmers and feed millions more. pirates try to attack the palace, but are repelled by the imps and its heavy artillery. do something small. like an officer giving a young kid a bar of sweets and ruffling her hair.

you'll hear alot about how life got worse, I just wanted to give you some ideas of how it got better.

For every two small steps forward, IMO there should also be a big step backward — but maybe the PCs are the only ones who see the step backward, and they are forced to be complicit in hiding the truth of certain events.

Sure, the Empire was kind enough to come in and help dig out the miners from the cave-in. But what hardly anyone knows is that it was Imperial agents who caused the collapse in the first place, so as to give them an excuse to come in and “help”. Maybe the PCs learn about it because they hear the local mine manager say something like “Only Imperial Stormtroopers are so precise”, and he knows this because he is a retired officer who served in the Clone War.

Sure, the Empire was kind enough to come to the aid of the local government when a planetary workers strike turned into a massive riot. But what no one knows is that it was ISB operatives who were acting as “Agent Provocateurs” who got the whole riot kicked off in the first place. But maybe the PCs learn about it later when they happen to overhear the local Moff receiving a report from the lead operative who is working on a new mission.

So, lots of plot twists are possible in that type of story.

This is a tricky one. If you don't want to portray the Imperium as the usual inept bullies that somehow got into power you'll have your work cut out for you.

First you will have to start off with some of the good points.

New technologies, medical treatment and trade goods should please the Queen and her subjects, your group could be in charge of representation and negotiation.

To show off immediatly with a bad point let the Imps invite your group for a tour in an ISD. After all, they are huge and impressive ships, and important decisions about planetary development should be made in appropriate surroundings.

Let's show off a bit, brag about your big ships and fleets during the tour.

Just look out the windows of the bridge past the TINY frigates and corvettes your planet has and think about .. how much more secure you will be with the Imperial Navy protecting your skies and bringing in new goods and services.

Good agents don't grow on trees, so don't use them to create accidents when it is not necessary. The Imperial Handbooks repeatedly tells the reader that the Emperor is not a fan of wasting ressources so only use them when it is really important.

That may strike some as strange when you consider projects like the DS or SSDs, but they had their use(s).

What your Queen will not like but sooner or later will have to accept is that being a member of the Empire means that now she has a superior as well, the (Grand) Moff running the Oversector.

Sparks will fly and tension rise when the Queen is getting 'reduced' to being only a planetary ruler that has to jump as soon as she gets an order.

Then there is the influence the Empire takes by (maybe) nationalising important corporations, influencing/controlling the news, and changing what your kids learn in school.

And let's not forget the extra taxes you have to pay.

The galaxy is a big, big place. On planets completely run by aristocrats and corporations, the Empire can be looked at as a very positive thing to combat pirates and rebel "terrorists." You'd want to construct a world that doesn't have much of a trampled underclass of citizens on the planet, in order to avoid the more unseemly aspects of Imperial rule.

I think how good or evil the Empire is really depends on the setting, and the behavior of the Rebels there. If that Rebel cell is endangering civilians with their attacks, and the Empire isn't really cracking down on civilians because it is a planet full of corporate headquarters where most people are relatively wealthy, then Imperials might be seen as good guys.

So basically, I'd keep the campaign as close to the Core on a world dominated by pro-Imperial folks as possible if you want to spend some time with the players feeling they are doing good as Imperials. You can then always transfer them to a planet where the Rebels might have the moral high ground, and create a lot of conflict within the party.

The Empire is only good to loyal humans. Any benefits the human population might receive will be contrasted by the worsening treatment of all aliens. If the alien PC's avoid this fate it is only because they will be selling out other non-humans. And even then they should constantly be reminded that they are 2nd-class citizens at best.

I'm not one of those people who classifies the Empire as "evil". I classify individual leaders as being so. The Emperor, Vader, Isard, Zsinj, Derricote, Tarkin...yes, I would classify them as evil. Pellaeon, Thrawn, many other Imperial Armed Forces officers, assorted regional governors and Moffs, not so much. The character of the Empire depends on the people making and enforcing policy. If both of those people are evil, then yes, things will be bad. If the policy maker is good, but the enforcer is not, then things will be bad. If the reverse is true, things will not be as bad. Don't be afraid to explore gray areas. Just because the Empire might be bad, doesn't always mean the Rebellion will be better.

Considering the size of the galaxy, the long history of mostly human empires springing up and taking control of further parts of space i find it highly unlikely that there are no systems who are economically independent and highly humanoid who have no reason to work against the Empire or for the Rebellion.

How does the Alliance get them on their side?

Aside from trying to marry the Crown-Prince to a planetless princess that happens to be a major powerplayer in the Alliance? Yes, i'm looking at you Hapans.

The Empire is only good to loyal humans. Any benefits the human population might receive will be contrasted by the worsening treatment of all aliens. If the alien PC's avoid this fate it is only because they will be selling out other non-humans. And even then they should constantly be reminded that they are 2nd-class citizens at best.

Fortunately there's enough non-human cultures where being a second class citizen with a paying job, hot food, and a soft bed beats being whatever you are back home.

In the end it's not just the empire you need to think about but who your empire contact is for example, if you have vader as your point of contact don't expect praise for good work or mercy for your mistakes but captain Needa from ep v (the officer who takes blame for crew) he seems a good man and he will look after you and accept any mistakes. Not everyone in the empire is bad. Just like not everyone in the rebellion is good

For sure - and that gives you some other adventures right there. What happens when he gets auditited? Can the party figure out a way to cover for the Imperial Sector Governor and make sure he isn't removed. Or make sure he is removed so a better one takes his place?

I know I am late to the party and people have thrown out a bunch of good ideas, but here are a few more.

• One thing to look at is how did this Kingdom fair in the Clone Wars? What side was it on? Was it ever occupied?
• What was the feeling the Kingdom had as the Empire's rose to power?
• What incidents in the past have cause the Empire to Increase or Decrease its Initial Presence?
• Then look at the Policies implemented due to the Imperial Contract.
  • How do they effect the populous in general? What about specific groups?
• How did living conditions for most people change over time? Anyone specific group better or worse off?
• What is the Imperial Presence like? Is it just a Representative to the Court or something more?
  • Does it have a Small Garrison for Customs Inspections or a larger Military Contingent?
  • Does that force patrol and enforce laws on the planet or are they just stationed inside their facilities? Do they have a fleet that normally patrols the system? if so what is its size and capabilities?
• How much Autonomy does the Kingdom actually have?

These type things will give you a general base feeling to start with. Then you can focus on the specific good and bad parts to the Empire that you want your Players to explore. Also how does thing change with the new developments?

Considering some of your PC's backgrounds you could even give them separate views on some of those points. The two Royals could easily have a more upbeat view than the Medic. Consider what those PC's would normally see before this New Adventure begins.

Thanks for all the responses! I'll form my reply soon with in an edit. Thanks again!

Aside from trying to marry the Crown-Prince to a planetless princess that happens to be a major powerplayer in the Alliance? Yes, i'm looking at you Hapans.

Don't forget the Arrochar, either.