Prequel Trliogy Campaign

By rkdblaze, in Star Wars: Force and Destiny RPG

So I'm putting together a campaign set in the time period of Episode 1. I've got access to most of the books FF has put out so far, and I'll be incorporating most of it into what I've got planned. But I wanted to see if anyone else has done or is planning to do anything similar and if anyone had any suggestions for running in that period. Looking for any and all input, it'll be greatly appreciated.

So I'm putting together a campaign set in the time period of Episode 1. I've got access to most of the books FF has put out so far, and I'll be incorporating most of it into what I've got planned. But I wanted to see if anyone else has done or is planning to do anything similar and if anyone had any suggestions for running in that period. Looking for any and all input, it'll be greatly appreciated.

I ran the beginnings of a clone wars era AoR/F&D game, before it fell apart with play by post vagrancys

Started the players off significantly above Knight level, with a group of clone troopers under them. unfortunately it fell apart before i got to try it out.

These guys are starting out basic, with a few adjustments here and there for time period.

I've been thinking of a campaign or a short series set right at the moment Order 66 is given with players playing Clone Commandos and the GM running the Jedi assigned to them. At that moment they need to decide to follow the order or go rogue from there and try to spirit the Jedi into hiding. Their decision also determines whether the series is based on AoR or EotE.

If the PCs decide to execute Order 66 and kill their Jedi, the following happens:

  • The PCs pick a Duty but take on the Betrayal Obligation due to killing their Jedi.
  • The Campaign or Series follows an Imperial angle until the Obligation is overwhelming.

If the PCs decide to disobey Order 66 and help their Jedi escape, the following happens:

  • The PCs pick a Obligation but take on the Support Duty, helping the Jedi escape and hide from the Empire.
  • The Campaign or Series follows a Resistance (not Rebels, they don't quite exist yet) angle until the Duty is fulfilled.

I'm thinking on this but that is what I have so far.

That could be cool. I'm sure there were clones somewhere that the programming didn't "take" with who might not just blindly follow the order when it comes down.

Here's the campaign idea I'm working on.

I've always thought that one of the main overarching themes of the whole story that's been told so far is the Prophecy of the Chosen One and the gross misinterpretation of it that the Jedi Order subscribes to. They believe that this Chosen One will destroy the Sith AND bring balance to the Force.

But what if they didn't all believe that?

What if there was a group within the Jedi Order who realized that in order to truly bring the Force back into balance, the dominance that the Jedi Order has enjoyed for centuries would have to be inverted for a time with the Dark Side rising to prominence? If this were to happen it would not be the Sith who were destroyed as the Order believes, it would be the Jedi who would fall. This coming to pass would bring death and destruction to the Republic and destroy all that the Jedi hold dear and have strove for over the ages. So when this "Chosen One" is revealed, and is brought before the Council to be tested, this group decides that something must be done.

So they decide that, for the greater good of the Galaxy, this "Chosen One" cannot be allowed to fulfill his destiny. To spare untold billions untold suffering, one life must be sacrificed. For the greater good.

This will allow the player characters to interract with mainstream events and mainstream characters that a lot of campaigns wouldn't so much allow. And give us antagonists that aren't necessarily bad guys, but might in fact be traditional heroes. And protagonists that aren't necessarily good guys, but could even be traditional villains. Which way the players course goes will ultimately be decided by how they define "greater good" for themselves.

For this Campaign I would following some Legends/EU material, particularly stuff found in the Republic Commando novel series. In that series, standard Clone Troopers followed Order 66 because they were genetically altered to pretty much blindly accept and follow orders. Clone Commandos, the ARC Troopers and the Nulls (really special clones) had a fair amount of independent thinking left to them and they mostly questioned Order 66.

Here's the campaign idea I'm working on.

I've always thought that one of the main overarching themes of the whole story that's been told so far is the Prophecy of the Chosen One and the gross misinterpretation of it that the Jedi Order subscribes to. They believe that this Chosen One will destroy the Sith AND bring balance to the Force.

But what if they didn't all believe that?

What if there was a group within the Jedi Order who realized that in order to truly bring the Force back into balance, the dominance that the Jedi Order has enjoyed for centuries would have to be inverted for a time with the Dark Side rising to prominence? If this were to happen it would not be the Sith who were destroyed as the Order believes, it would be the Jedi who would fall. This coming to pass would bring death and destruction to the Republic and destroy all that the Jedi hold dear and have strove for over the ages. So when this "Chosen One" is revealed, and is brought before the Council to be tested, this group decides that something must be done.

So they decide that, for the greater good of the Galaxy, this "Chosen One" cannot be allowed to fulfill his destiny. To spare untold billions untold suffering, one life must be sacrificed. For the greater good.

This will allow the player characters to interract with mainstream events and mainstream characters that a lot of campaigns wouldn't so much allow. And give us antagonists that aren't necessarily bad guys, but might in fact be traditional heroes. And protagonists that aren't necessarily good guys, but could even be traditional villains. Which way the players course goes will ultimately be decided by how they define "greater good" for themselves.

So eventually this could lead up to an assassination attempt on Anakin Skywalker? At what point would have the PCs interfere with events that we see in the Prequel Trilogy?

Here's the campaign idea I'm working on.

I've always thought that one of the main overarching themes of the whole story that's been told so far is the Prophecy of the Chosen One and the gross misinterpretation of it that the Jedi Order subscribes to. They believe that this Chosen One will destroy the Sith AND bring balance to the Force.

But what if they didn't all believe that?

What if there was a group within the Jedi Order who realized that in order to truly bring the Force back into balance, the dominance that the Jedi Order has enjoyed for centuries would have to be inverted for a time with the Dark Side rising to prominence? If this were to happen it would not be the Sith who were destroyed as the Order believes, it would be the Jedi who would fall. This coming to pass would bring death and destruction to the Republic and destroy all that the Jedi hold dear and have strove for over the ages. So when this "Chosen One" is revealed, and is brought before the Council to be tested, this group decides that something must be done.

So they decide that, for the greater good of the Galaxy, this "Chosen One" cannot be allowed to fulfill his destiny. To spare untold billions untold suffering, one life must be sacrificed. For the greater good.

This will allow the player characters to interract with mainstream events and mainstream characters that a lot of campaigns wouldn't so much allow. And give us antagonists that aren't necessarily bad guys, but might in fact be traditional heroes. And protagonists that aren't necessarily good guys, but could even be traditional villains. Which way the players course goes will ultimately be decided by how they define "greater good" for themselves.

So eventually this could lead up to an assassination attempt on Anakin Skywalker? At what point would have the PCs interfere with events that we see in the Prequel Trilogy?

Almost for sure before the end of Episode 1. I'm thinking Anakin's testing at the Council is tipping point. Things would start moving quickly from there.

It won't be out until later in the year, but the adventure book they announced (Chronicles of the Gatekeeper) is going to have official FFG stats for "battle droids and armored Droidekas" that are still active post-Clone Wars, so if you want some official stat blocks for Separatist droids that adventure would be worth looking into

It won't be out until later in the year, but the adventure book they announced (Chronicles of the Gatekeeper) is going to have official FFG stats for "battle droids and armored Droidekas" that are still active post-Clone Wars, so if you want some official stat blocks for Separatist droids that adventure would be worth looking into

I will definitely be taking advantage of that. That'll be very useful. Thanks!

It won't be out until later in the year, but the adventure book they announced (Chronicles of the Gatekeeper) is going to have official FFG stats for "battle droids and armored Droidekas" that are still active post-Clone Wars, so if you want some official stat blocks for Separatist droids that adventure would be worth looking into

The closest thing we have now are the refurbished B1s in Beyond the Rim.

Edited by kaosoe

It won't be out until later in the year, but the adventure book they announced (Chronicles of the Gatekeeper) is going to have official FFG stats for "battle droids and armored Droidekas" that are still active post-Clone Wars, so if you want some official stat blocks for Separatist droids that adventure would be worth looking into

The closest thing we have no are the refurbished B1s in Beyond the Rim.

I've seen some threads of homebrew write-ups for the different battle droids that I think are pretty good, I'll probably use them for the time being. What I am going to be looking for input on though is the stats for these mainstream movie characters that these guys are going to be encountering. Qui-Gon, Obi-Wan, Padme, Jar Jar, Maul, Anakin. All circa the time of his testing on Coruscant. Eventually Jango Fett, Dooku, etc. May even try to involve Aurra Sing if things go that direction.

I was thinking about an attempt on Palpatine's life by the fallen padawan of a Jedi knight who Palpatine had killed shortly before the events of Phantom Menace, driven off ironically by the Jedi he fought and defeated Anakin but received a vision revealing the ultimate events of ROTJ.

Recognising Anakin as his best means of killing Palpatine he kept watch on Darth Vader protecting him much to the Sithlord's amusement until the Battle of Yavin.

With Kenobi's death and the appearance of Anakin's son, he has left his post to prepare for the true battle ahead for at Endor he hopes to avenge his father's murder but for that to happen Luke Skywalker must be both protected and helped to achieve the goal of turning his father back to the light.

As anyone can tell you no plan survives the PCs!

As for the prequels I was thinking running through that assassination attempt and the assassin's escape strangely sparing the Chosen One's life but now the PCs have been assigned the task of hunting down the assassin.

With the Separatists seemingly unaware of the incident an obviously powerful force user is out there and unless they can find him how can they prepare against another attempt not even knowing if they're dealing with one lone wolf or an impending army of dark side adepts trained by Dooku?

Edited by copperbell

I'm playing a pre-Clone Wars era game with two of my kids. They are padawans, under the tutelage of two Jedi knights, but are currently separated from their masters. They've also stumbled onto a secret B-1 battle droid production facility, so it's set probably a couple of months/weeks before the events of Episode I.

One thing I might try to drive home is the justification of the choice between killing the Jedi, or rebelling against the Empire-to-be. One of those video games where you are a clone trooper has this wonderful little bit where the trooper says something to the equivalent of "I'd never been so happy to have this helmet. We never could've looked them in the face, and lied like this." The bulk of these troops are indoctrinated, and have known that they would eventually murder their Jedi "allies" for over ten years, just waiting for a signal to instruct them to, and the bulk of the people don't see the Empire as "evil", or even necessarily oppressive. Here in America, we certainly have people who hate our gov't, and some people who feel that it takes too many liberties, while taking our own away, but even in war time, when various Presidents have actually suspended chunks of the First Amendment, one of our inalienable, human rights, we give a certain window of acceptance, and know that times are tough. Some folks might march on the White House lawn, but the majority of American citizens patiently accept it, and wait for things to go back to normal, or they'd topple the government, and we'd have something else. Some people would argue that half or more of the point of the 2nd Amendment is to insure that the citizens can topple their own government, in the event it became an oppressive regime, like a dictatorship (your opinions may vary). Most people don't know that Palpatine is evil, and he didn't even entirely cheat to get the people to give him silly powers; he merely took an existing problem, and intensified it. He is often seen as mired in others' failings, being heavy-handed when necessary, and overall being a capable, honest, and even somewhat benevolent leader. This is mostly a good PR group, and a mask he wears as needed, but that's the people's fault for not noticing. Blah, blah, blah.

Anyway, I can imagine many players, possessing that bit of player-omniscience, just choosing "save the Jedi", because they might view the Jedi as the heroes of Star Wars, and the Empire as the bad guys, but like many people in other parts of the world, these folks have been bred and trained from near-birth to do this one thing, and to just say "nah, everything I was raised to believe is hogwash, let's save the Jedi" smacks of players making meta-decisions, rather than playing their characters, as they built them. This isn't to say none of the Clone Troopers COULD rebel; I believe some did, and the amount of time some spent battling alongside their generals, they could've come to the decision that not all of these Jedi must be bad. I just hope that, in the above scenario, there wouldn't be an overwhelming majority of said groups rebelling, for "reasons."

Edited by venkelos

I have been considering a campaign where the PCs basically collectively take on the role of Obi-Wan Kenobi.

Edited by Lord Zack

It won't be out until later in the year, but the adventure book they announced (Chronicles of the Gatekeeper) is going to have official FFG stats for "battle droids and armored Droidekas" that are still active post-Clone Wars, so if you want some official stat blocks for Separatist droids that adventure would be worth looking into

I wrote up some Adversary stats for the B1s, the B2 Super Battle droids, Droidekas, and the Commando Droids.. Be nice to see how close I got to the official write up

I thought the Antiqued Battle droid in the core rulebook is the B1 battle droid :huh:

I thought the Antiqued Battle droid in the core rulebook is the B1 battle droid :huh:

And so they are.. I guess I didn't look closely at the flavor text, just the stats briefly. I was off a little bit too on my write of them.. I gave them the Gunnery skill since they're seen operating the big guns on the Separatist capital ships..

So does anyone have any suggestions to give for stats for the main Episode 1 characters? We're moving forward with the campaign I described before, and I really need to start getting these people prepped since they'll almost for certain be involved in some form.

I got a pretty good idea of how to stat Maul from another thread I saw, so I've got him covered. Padme shouldn't be terribly difficult to put together, same for Panaka and any of the other Naboo.

Which leaves Jar Jar, Qui-Gon, Obi-Wan, and Anakin.

Someone suggested making Jar Jar some form of force adept to explain all his fortuitous accidents. And as amusing as that might be, I think I'm going to leave him fairly mundane. So figuring him out shouldn't be terribly difficult.

The other three however I could use some help on. I could really use any suggestions anyone has on how to design Qui-Gon Jinn, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and especially Anakin Skywalker Circa their return to Naboo towards the end of Episode 1.

Can anyone help me out?

Jar Jar should be a Destiny Point mechanic. Flip a dark DP to light and have him do something clumsy that gets the PCs in trouble.

For Qui-Gon, take the inquisitor rules and just build him using those. As for Obi-Wan, I would take the fallen Jedi or Jedi-in-Hiding stats in AoR and EotE and add the move power from the inquisitor rules section of the Force and Destiny beta.

Anakin. Well the beta updates for Force and Destiny had a Fallen Padawan. That would be a good place to start. But that will largely depend on which Anakin we're talking about. In fact, the same goes for Kenobi as well.

Edited by kaosoe

Jar Jar should be a Destiny Point mechanic. Flip a dark DP to light and have him do something clumsy that gets the PCs in trouble.

For Qui-Gon, take the inquisitor rules and just build him using those. As for Obi-Wan, I would take the fallen Jedi or Jedi-in-Hiding stats in AoR and EotE and add the move power from the inquisitor rules section of the Force and Destiny beta.

Anakin. Well the beta updates for Force and Destiny had a Fallen Padawan. That would be a good place to start. But that will largely depend on which Anakin we're talking about. In fact, the same goes for Kenobi as well.

We're talking about right before the Battle of Naboo. For all the characters in question. I love that suggestion for Jar Jar though, thanks!

Edited by rkdblaze

In that case, My first suggestion for Obi Wan should be fine, maybe reduce is FR to 2.

Anakin could be a simple NPC with an Agility of 3, two ranks of piloting planetary, 1 rank of piloting space, 1 Rank of Gunnery, Force Rating 1, Sense ability, and whatever you want as his Wound and Strain threshold.