Is it just me or does this base layout make absolutely no sense?

My limited experience with whisper base has a lot of things about it making no sense...

I dont remember anything about the layout not making sense. Was there something in perticular you reacted to?

There's a couple of things I probably would have moved, had it been my design, but otherwise it seems like a fairly typical dug-in-to-the-hill base. Nothing that seems particularly outlandish. Particularly if one assumes it's dug into the hill for bombardment protection, not obfuscation.

Is it just me or does this base layout make absolutely no sense?

Yea the colors suck, gunmetal grey? White chairs in the mess hall? GAG!

You might want to be a bit more specific, to better quantify your statement.

I would have trouble coming up with anything better

From memory of my players and I taking 20 and looking at the map, the notes on our issues are in the car: Walk in, take a right, you're at the command center. No med bay, no brig, locker room for workout room when bunkhouse is around the corner, armory halfway across the facility from firing range.

Reminds me of how I feel about the System Alliance ship layouts in Mass Effect.

Me playing Mass Effect 3 and finding out that the armory has been moved to the shuttle bay: "Ok new rules. First everyone even remotely combat qualified will be carrying a sidearm at all times. Second everyone is sleeping with a gun under their pillow or at least within reach."

But yeah I would put the command center near the center of the base or near an emergency exit with the main armory next door and smaller weapon stockpiles near the bunkhouse and entrance.

Well also remember that Whisper Base is meant to be more of a "covert outpost" so that a high-ranking Imperial can spy on another high-ranking Imperial that's attached to the Imperial military.

It probably wasn't built up to Imperial code or even standard design for those very reasons. Plus, it's main from of defense was the same one that the Alliance repeatedly uses: If the enemy doesn't know about your base, they can't attack it.

And not only is it meant to be a covert outpost. Its a listening outpost/Information processing hub/spy center on a friendly world with a relative low threat profile. Sure its not a very well fortified base, but I doubt it was ever supposed to fight of anything other then a few beastriders or animals.

It also may not have been build 'out of whole cloth'. I'd guess it started as a garage, barracks/mess and command center that doubled as the comms room. Then it got bigger, one or two rooms at a time. For a listening post that should, in theory, never end up engaged in combat there's no reason to have a serious medical ward. Any training accidents or illnesses can be handled by the medic in the barracks or locker room. More serious cases would be evac-ed by shuttle. It's a hidden non-combat base, so it should never take POWs. That combined with its small size makes the brig irrelevant. Most likely the locker-room isn't just for the gym, it for all the outfitting gear, while the barracks is simply for sleeping. So all your armor and gear would be there. It's still by far not the most efficient base design by far, but I find there's nothing blatantly illogical or things that can't be explained by being built up over time, or repurposed.

I chuckled a bit when I noticed all of the parallels between Whisper Base and Escape from Mos Shuuta And, of course, the only reason I could figure for them building the communications tower 5 miles from the base (huh??) was specifically so there could be a vehicle chase at the end. Just a bit contrived.

I chuckled a bit when I noticed all of the parallels between Whisper Base and Escape from Mos Shuuta And, of course, the only reason I could figure for them building the communications tower 5 miles from the base (huh??) was specifically so there could be a vehicle chase at the end. Just a bit contrived.

The layout of the base I'm fine with. I agree with the stance it started out small and grew. There wasn't a pre-planned layout for expansion considered early on. The map does suffer from the old D&D square sheet syndrome however.

As for the tower, I think it can be easily explained that it's on the largest hill nearby (better for communications) while the command center and living quarters bunker is lower and more protected underground. I can think of a realworld example I used to eat chow at in Hawaii.

Yeah, I assumed the same thing for the communications bunker - They installed it first at the best place to intercept transmissions, then realized if they build a base around it it'd be too obvious, so they looked for a place far enough away to hide a base. Even that could be considered part of the "start small and grow" issue once they realized this wasn't just going to be a guy and a droid in a studio apartment listening to radio chatter.

next someone is going to try to explain the prequels... its a base designed for beginner PC's/GM its made to fit the story, although not that well. i think the garage description describes 1 door into the base, map shows 2!

But the Command room being close to the Garage? thats so the "surprise" at the end is more logical. and the dish being separate is defiantly for a fun climactic ending,

If your worried and your PC's take over the base, let them modify it. Make it make sense to you, dig deeper, put in a medical research lab, set up an engineering room, Satellite uplink, Alien Containment, geothermal power generator... oh wait this isn't X-Com, its a Pen and Paper!

The base was built by people who don't think yawning multi-storey chasms should be ringed by railings. The Republic and the Empire just doesn't think the same way we do about how things should be built and just go with it because that's what makes it Star Wars.

It just seems like if it was meant for the PC's to take over and use, it should be put together in useful fashion. I would think a basic medical facility would go hand in hand with being on Onderon, a planet so antithetical to human life it makes Australia look like a petting zoo, with an evil twin planet known for dropping bigger and nastier beasts on them randomly. Even assuming the Moff was a complete moron (more of a fact) you'd think one of his trusted lackeys would have said "Boss, this is kinda dumb" at one point or another.

Just because the module comes with a map doesn't mean that the GM is obligated to use that map. GMs are free to change the map, or use a completely new one. Having said that, I must agree that the provided map is ... stupidly designed.

Just take a look at any military base.

32.345826, -84.966644

These are the coordinates for the known-distance firing range at Ft Benning. The range is across the street from an elementary school.

Why not just address this in the game? Let the players ask why it makes no sense, and then they can either discover the reason or just have to deal with the mystery.

You could throw in another oddly constructed facility later, and see if they notice and think it was built by the same guy.

Just take a look at any military base.

32.345826, -84.966644

These are the coordinates for the known-distance firing range at Ft Benning. The range is across the street from an elementary school.

See, it's not just Star Wars that has stupid in the ranks.