(repost from SWRPG reddit)

Hey Guys! I've been playing FFG star wars rpg's since the beginning of 2015 and have EOTE, AoR, and Onslaught at Adra 1. I've been GM-ing a long on-going campaign with my players for months now as we all learn the system and the world of tabletop (This is a first for all of us and we love it!) My favorite thing about tabletops is that you can incorporate all of the best things you love about video game mechanics and LORE and leave out all the annoying junk. You can play how you want which is amazing. Anyway my players and I LOVE star wars Battlefront and with the new trailers for the new game coming out I had the idea to make a campaign based on the style of battlefront. So here it is: I would love advice and feedback.

My PCs have been slowly building up a resistance force on Mandalore (called the Brotherhood of Mandalorians) and helping jumpstart the Rebel Alliance. They have run a few missions building up reputation among the rebels and gathering supplies and resources. All while they did this they've been building enemies within the Empire as well. Once they have successfully sparked a rebellion I plan on bringing down the might of the Empire as a full invasion for their finale.

The premise will be that the Alliance is secretly dry docked North of the city of Keldabe. The Empire has found out and sent an invasion force to find them. The Brotherhood of Mandalorians (Itching to strike at the Empire) launches a counter attack that the PCs will be a part of, while the Alliance prepares to flee. Eventually the Brotherhood will need backup and the Alliance will surprise the Empire by being fully operational and join the assault. From there we proceed to numerous event seeds that the PCs can partake in to sway the course of the battle. As far as the ending, well I think that's up to the PCs. If they can find a way to win I'll let them. If the Mass Combat checks result in the Empire winning I will switch to a "battle of Hoth" haul-ass outta there mission.

My idea is to have the Brotherhood defending from the capital city while the Empire deploys its forces across a large battlefield. The Brotherhood will be using early versions of the rebel equipment since I eventually want them to assimilate into the Alliance. This makes it easier for me to stat out the vehicles, like X-wings and the lot. My players will be a squad that will heavily affect the sway of the battle. There will be 4 or 5 command posts spread across the map.

Moves (Each requires an action to perform on the player's turn )

1. Call in a shuttle. Anyone can spend their action portion of their turn to call in a shuttle. The shuttle will arrive in 3 turns. There are two types of shuttles:

a. Medical – A medical shuttle comes equipped with some emergency medical supplies and has a medic on board that can evac a wounded person. The Medic cannot stay on the field.

b. Reinforcements – These shuttles can bring 1 squad of NPC Soldiers that can act independently or be used by a PC. The shuttle will also bring some weapons and ammo including the chance for a heavy weapon (Roll d20. 1-10 = Rocket Launcher 11-20 = Heavy repeating blaster) This Shuttle can also be used for evac and transport to other areas on the battlefield.

2. Call in an airstrike. Anyone can spend their action to call in an airstrike on a specific location. If the target is in medium or close ranged anyone can call it in. If the target is in long or further range the PC must be using binoculars. Anyone in Engaged range of the target is subject to take fire. The airstrike will arrive next turn but have a cooldown of 3 turns (Based on status of the battle) There are two types of airstrikes:

a. Airstrike – A squadron of ties/ x-wing rain canon fire on the target.

b. Bombing Run – Bombers drop ordinance on a target.

Command Posts

Shuttles can only land safely at Command posts. If a shuttle is called to a non – command post they will have to make a check to land safely and if they fail there will be a cooldown of 3 turns.

To capture a command post at least one PC must be within close range of it and no enemies can come in close range for 3 turns. If they do, the capture must start over.

Command posts will also be supplied in accordance with the flow of the battle and vehicles and supplies will be dropped off if they can be.

Every so often I will make a mass combat check to see how the rest of the battle is going and let the players decide their next course of action from there.

I will also throw choices at the players too like Rebels will call for back up but there will also be an open command post for the taking and the players must decide which to go for. Each choice will affect the battle in some way.

Combat

Here’s where I feel like I need the most advice. My idea is that most of the general soldiers will die in one successful hit on a combat check so that the battle keeps moving and the players don’t get killed by just soldiers. I want them to feel heroic and I want the setting to feel massive and battlefront-y where the heroes can take on a lot of stormtroopers and eventually go after At-STs and such. Obviously bosses and commanding officers will be harder to kill. Any suggestions on how to keep battles fluid and fun would be greatly appreciated.

Any suggestions or comments in general would be greatly appreciated. Thanks guys! Happing RPG-ing!

First off, it may just be you doing something with Battlefront and that was my high school years, but I can't say enough good things about his idea. Beyond that, I have limited knowledge of AoR, but this is an awesome idea, so I feel compelled to throw ideas out there.

The command post part:

One thing I don't think battlefront did well was showing a more significant reason for the command points besides limiting enemy reinforcements/vehicle drops. These positions are there for a reason and should have a strategic reason to exist. The best example I can think of were they did have this is the hanger on Hoth. Rebels lose that, AT-AT's have fun. That being said, they need a reason to move between them. Even if that reason is just "get closer to enemy comms relay," there needs to be a reason. Given that it sounds like they're the ones being attacked first, they wouldn't have a ton of time to plan everything, but they should have some input into what their command points are used for. Sniper nests, turret power stations, shields of key locations, etc. This can even tie into the airstrikes to a degree. Same goes for the Empire side of things. Maybe those shielded areas would be the best locations to land AT-ST's. If a command post can be destroyed (like the turret power stations), then it should have a secondary purpose. Of course, keep what the Empire gets out of them secret. They don't know everything that's going on nor what the Empire's strategy is.

Combat:

Even in a zerg rush, the empire isn't everywhere or there all at once. Many times, they can run into advanced squads or be going for locations the enemy commanders don't feel is important. How many times have you gone to a command point and found almost no one there? Other times, you are where everyone wants to be. This is a good time to have a Rambo moment. Besides using squad rules to reassign hits to reflect the chaos of the battle, there's no reason why every stormtrooper squad would open fire on the PC's. Well, at least not at the beginning of the battle. As for numbers of troops/squad can be altered some.

Mass combat can decide if they're dealing with the real force they should be concerned with or if a TIE Bomber squadron got through to something important. That is something Battlefront-y: everything going well where you are and everything else is falling apart at the seems.

Empire heros would be the bosses/commanders. Have fun with that.

Doubt much of this would help, but good luck. I'm curious to see how this turns out.

Having experience with both AoR and Battlefront type games... you concept is good, your mechanics are not.

To pull this off you need the rules in the following two Supps: Onslaught at Arda I, AoR Gamemaster kit.

• Onsalught will provide the "mass combat" system needed to keep things flowing.
• The GM screen will provide the Squad rules needed to keep the battle big and players alive.

You seem to already have these, but I wanted to mention it should anyone else want to do it as well.

The way that you'd run the game would be to break down the battle into manageable encounters, probably using your command points idea as the template. Give each point a focus and clear objective, often this can also make a good set piece.

• Take the bridge
• Destroy the bunker
• Defend the shield generator

At each location, design the encounter largely as you would normally. Increase the scope of the battle by adding squads and using above average sized minion groups. So the end result will include lots of minions, but will have a more manageable 50/50 initiative slot count so you don't spend an hour moving and rolling NPCs. Don't overdo it, every encounter should run the usual 3-5 rounds give or take. Making it run longer sounds good, but keeping the battle moving is better, trust me. If the players don't squad up, just leave the squad in cover and toss regular boosts at the players and setbacks at the opponents to represent friendly covering fire, but otherwise ignore them. The entire point is you want to keep the PC/NPC initiative count roughly 1:1.

After each Encounter objective is accomplished (or failed), you make your mass combat check. Use that results of that to determine the next objective, and apply bonuses or setbacks.

• Oh, a triumph! You can either request reinforcements before the next encounter, or you can use a triumph once during the next encounter to call in an x-wing to strafe a target.
• Oh a despair! The fighting blew a dam and the streets are flooding. Moving through the streets in the next encounter is going to be an Athletics based Terrain Check, or you can run along the roofs using Coordination based terrain checks...

After your mass combat check, move on the the next encounter. Rinse repeat until the battle is won or lost.

Also notice that the Mass Combat system is built around a narrative allowance. So it can be used to represent a something like a losing battle where the Players are still allowed to "win" individually. Think Battle of Hoth, where the players would had had no hope of victory, but each encounter/mass combat helps determine if the battle results in merely a major setback to the Rebellion's greater effort, or a major Defeat that will take a long time to recover from.

Having experience with both AoR and Battlefront type games... ...take a long time to recover from.

Oh man, this spawned a few great ideas. What am I going to do, they don't fit with my current plot!

It's decided then, I will never get to play this game - only run it.

Having experience with both AoR and Battlefront type games... ...take a long time to recover from.

Oh man, this spawned a few great ideas. What am I going to do, they don't fit with my current plot!

It's decided then, I will never get to play this game - only run it.

Image: Emperor with the caption "Good good I can feel your anger"

Oh lawdy, I need two of me for all my wants.

Hey guys, thanks for the feedback! So after going over your replies I've tweaked a few things. I've given each command post a reason for being there. As of right now since the Empire is invading a lot of the command posts have been given a reason as to why it would be bad if the Imperials captured the,. (Example: One post controls the bridge, if the imperials get it they can open the bridge for their walkers) Now the players can choose to fight and capture command posts and generally just partake in the battle and if they do, good. However, for my players, they sometimes need a push in the right direction. That's why I started developing events. They are my version of larger encounters that keep the players feeling important and involved. Each Event the y complete will affect the battle and will take them to different points on the huge map (Including but not limited to command posts). Here's my first one:

Event: The Asset

The PC's are tasked with flying their ship through the ongoing battle to a canyon passed enemy lines. They must navigate through the canyon and land in the mountains to rescue a rebel asset.

The Imperials have located the asset as well and have already landed. The PCs have to take down 1 or 2 squads on their way up to the hidden bunker. Once they arrive they see no one around but....ITS A TRAP! The imps are already inside. The PCs have to deal with them and free the asset who they find out is a Jedi. Then they must fight their way down the mountain and to their ship where they will have to fly out of the canyon while being pursued by TIEs

So that was my first one. I'm working on more but if you guys have any ideas let me know. A guy on reddit made me a map and it is awesome! I really like how this is coming together and I can't wait to run it!

Hey guys, thanks for the feedback! So after going over your replies I've tweaked a few things. I've given each command post a reason for being there. As of right now since the Empire is invading a lot of the command posts have been given a reason as to why it would be bad if the Imperials captured the,. (Example: One post controls the bridge, if the imperials get it they can open the bridge for their walkers) Now the players can choose to fight and capture command posts and generally just partake in the battle and if they do, good. However, for my players, they sometimes need a push in the right direction. That's why I started developing events. They are my version of larger encounters that keep the players feeling important and involved. Each Event the y complete will affect the battle and will take them to different points on the huge map (Including but not limited to command posts). Here's my first one:

Event: The Asset

The PC's are tasked with flying their ship through the ongoing battle to a canyon passed enemy lines. They must navigate through the canyon and land in the mountains to rescue a rebel asset.

The Imperials have located the asset as well and have already landed. The PCs have to take down 1 or 2 squads on their way up to the hidden bunker. Once they arrive they see no one around but....ITS A TRAP! The imps are already inside. The PCs have to deal with them and free the asset who they find out is a Jedi. Then they must fight their way down the mountain and to their ship where they will have to fly out of the canyon while being pursued by TIEs

So that was my first one. I'm working on more but if you guys have any ideas let me know. A guy on reddit made me a map and it is awesome! I really like how this is coming together and I can't wait to run it!

Link to the map?

Sounds like you're on a better path. Just remember to keep it moving. You want the impression of scope and scale, not the complexity. A normal personal level encounter can take about 3-5 turns on average. You want to stay in that zone.

So for this example I see:

Canyon approach: 1 Piloting check, maybe two. Perhaps toss in something else that doesn't require initiative.

Encounter 1: Hot LZ - Players fight some enemy troopers.

Mass Combat Check

Encounter 2: Storm the Bunker and rescue the VIP

Mass Combat Check

Canyon Escape: Us the chase mechanic to have enemy fighter chase the players and allow them to either fight it out or flee.

So the target is to have the engagement over in 12-15 turns, and then move on to a noncombat encounter or two to break up the pacing and set up for the next event.

Remember, it's an RPG not a tactical table top, so keep it personal and the players invested. A battle is just an adventure with brighter lights and louder sounds.

Here's the map: http://thompsonpeters.com/eote/eoteimg/mand_cityapproach.png

Also I plan on keeping this very cinematic and not too tactical.

I do like myself some big old star wars land battles.

it does seem to be better sticking to the Onslaught at arda I rules where you move from encounter to encounter with mass combat rules in between. be wary that one player might want to jump in an x-wing and take the battle to the air so you may have to write up some encounters for them too.

I do like myself some big old star wars land battles.

it does seem to be better sticking to the Onslaught at arda I rules where you move from encounter to encounter with mass combat rules in between. be wary that one player might want to jump in an x-wing and take the battle to the air so you may have to write up some encounters for them too.

Good News: You can totally do that, actually fairly well. End result is a very nice Endor style jumping back and forth between surface and space battle scene.

Bad News: Starfighter combat is especially fast and deadly, and players tend to be a little foolhardy. The system works fine as RAW, but building the encounter is a little tricky for a GM not familiar with how the system works. Let me know if you need help.

I do like myself some big old star wars land battles.

it does seem to be better sticking to the Onslaught at arda I rules where you move from encounter to encounter with mass combat rules in between. be wary that one player might want to jump in an x-wing and take the battle to the air so you may have to write up some encounters for them too.

Good News: You can totally do that, actually fairly well. End result is a very nice Endor style jumping back and forth between surface and space battle scene.

Bad News: Starfighter combat is especially fast and deadly, and players tend to be a little foolhardy. The system works fine as RAW, but building the encounter is a little tricky for a GM not familiar with how the system works. Let me know if you need help.

I was just putting that up as a warning, all i saw being talked about was ground based missions. just have some aerial objectives up your sleeve so your not caught with your pants down if one of your players say " i jump in an x-wing and hunt down some ties!"

I do like myself some big old star wars land battles.

it does seem to be better sticking to the Onslaught at arda I rules where you move from encounter to encounter with mass combat rules in between. be wary that one player might want to jump in an x-wing and take the battle to the air so you may have to write up some encounters for them too.

Good News: You can totally do that, actually fairly well. End result is a very nice Endor style jumping back and forth between surface and space battle scene.

Bad News: Starfighter combat is especially fast and deadly, and players tend to be a little foolhardy. The system works fine as RAW, but building the encounter is a little tricky for a GM not familiar with how the system works. Let me know if you need help.

I was just putting that up as a warning, all i saw being talked about was ground based missions. just have some aerial objectives up your sleeve so your not caught with your pants down if one of your players say " i jump in an x-wing and hunt down some ties!"

Well if there's a Pilot in the mix I'd actually say build it with that in mind.

The whole " i jump in an x-wing and hunt down some ties!" thing seems a little... sandboxy, and not in a good way. While I certainly wouldn't rule it out, I would suggest you either plan that as an Event in the battle script, or lock it out until you can.

The thing is you need to be able to tie the X-wing into the encounter in a way that keeps the X-wing busy and contributes to the story and flow. What you don't want is the old "Oh... I guess I torpedo the guys on the ground that are giving everyone else problems. Boom they all die and we win. *Yawn...* Where are the cheetos?"

My point exactly!

Torpedoes on ground troops......Somebody is about to get chewed out by their commanding officer. Those torpedoes are frelling expensive, and you go and use them on blowing up some STORMTROOPERS?!?!?!? When our troops in Gamma Sector were being cut to pieces by TIE strafing runs!

Ghost is right, what I would do, is make up some modular space/air encounters. At the very basic level, you can just throw TIE Fighters at him until the battle is over. Orrrrrrr throw in several different objectives and obstacles for him.

Some examples:

1.Tie fighters are doing strafing runs on your allied positions away from the other PC's on the ground, They need some air cover to prevent the PBI's (Poor Bloody Infantry) from being slaughtered.

2. An Elite Fighter Ace is cutting the other allied squadrons to pieces, a perfect opportunity, for a Rebel Pilot to prove his worth and ratchet his Duty up a few notches by taking down a skilled enemy pilot (Hopefully this will give you a bit of a longer fighter combat as the Ace should be able to survive a bit longer)

3. Long range sensors have detected a large group of bombers heading towards the base/encampment/allied position, we have limited fighter capabilities so we need you to go engage them as far from the battle as you can. Give the bombers a group of escorts as well, having the pilot engage them at great distance from the base/battle takes the starfighter out of the PC ground battle, but gives the Pilot something meaningful and fun to do.

4. There is enemy heavy armor (AT-AT's, AAT, etc etc) approaching in Sector B7, we need immediate heavy air support to take them out as they are impervious to all of our ground weapons.

5. We have identified the enemy command ship and are tasking your squadron with destroying it. Complete with point defense towers, enemy escort squadrons, and if you're fighting Imperials, giving a nice fat Star Destroyer a really bad case of TRD (Trench Run Disease) with a torp to the bridge.

6. We've identified a weakness in the enemy defenses, it is a target that is un-assailable from the ground and our heavy weapons are tied up somewhere else so we're sending you to blow it up. Could be a shield generator, power coupling, heavy artillery emplacement, a 2 meter wide exhaust port on the enemy battlestation.

If it is a large battle, there should be a lot going on in the air (Or space). A lot of these encounters can be tweaked depending on the specific variables of the encounter, just change up what they're encountering. For example #4 instead of AT-AT's its a squadron of Skip-Rays, or Assault Shuttles on route to a boarding action. #1 could be strafing runs on the medical frigate and it needs fighter escort.

So as quick response I will say this, my girlfriend is playing the pilot and I do see her jumping into the ship and going for a dog fight. So I am building some ship encounters. They are still a few sessions away from the finale (Which is what this will be) and I'm going away next week which will give me time to work on encounters. I'm loving the responses and am tweaking the ideas as we speak.

Torpedoes on ground troops......Somebody is about to get chewed out by their commanding officer. Those torpedoes are frelling expensive, and you go and use them on blowing up some STORMTROOPERS?!?!?!? When our troops in Gamma Sector were being cut to pieces by TIE strafing runs!

Ghost is right, what I would do, is make up some modular space/air encounters. At the very basic level, you can just throw TIE Fighters at him until the battle is over. Orrrrrrr throw in several different objectives and obstacles for him.

Some examples:

1.Tie fighters are doing strafing runs on your allied positions away from the other PC's on the ground, They need some air cover to prevent the PBI's (Poor Bloody Infantry) from being slaughtered.

2. An Elite Fighter Ace is cutting the other allied squadrons to pieces, a perfect opportunity, for a Rebel Pilot to prove his worth and ratchet his Duty up a few notches by taking down a skilled enemy pilot (Hopefully this will give you a bit of a longer fighter combat as the Ace should be able to survive a bit longer)

3. Long range sensors have detected a large group of bombers heading towards the base/encampment/allied position, we have limited fighter capabilities so we need you to go engage them as far from the battle as you can. Give the bombers a group of escorts as well, having the pilot engage them at great distance from the base/battle takes the starfighter out of the PC ground battle, but gives the Pilot something meaningful and fun to do.

4. There is enemy heavy armor (AT-AT's, AAT, etc etc) approaching in Sector B7, we need immediate heavy air support to take them out as they are impervious to all of our ground weapons.

5. We have identified the enemy command ship and are tasking your squadron with destroying it. Complete with point defense towers, enemy escort squadrons, and if you're fighting Imperials, giving a nice fat Star Destroyer a really bad case of TRD (Trench Run Disease) with a torp to the bridge.

6. We've identified a weakness in the enemy defenses, it is a target that is un-assailable from the ground and our heavy weapons are tied up somewhere else so we're sending you to blow it up. Could be a shield generator, power coupling, heavy artillery emplacement, a 2 meter wide exhaust port on the enemy battlestation.

If it is a large battle, there should be a lot going on in the air (Or space). A lot of these encounters can be tweaked depending on the specific variables of the encounter, just change up what they're encountering. For example #4 instead of AT-AT's its a squadron of Skip-Rays, or Assault Shuttles on route to a boarding action. #1 could be strafing runs on the medical frigate and it needs fighter escort.

Hey! i was the one who advised adding vehicle encounters, no spectral entity is stealing my credit today thank you!

We're a team! Succeed together, fail apart!!

Im more on the empires view of your mistakes are my success. Haha