.. But what so you do with them?

Sure you could take some troops with you to absorb some damage, or get them ready for a mass combat situation, but what if you wanted to send them out in the field? Well here is a simple tool I'm making that allows some troop autonomy and has the added benefit of resource gathering - something that i feel Age of Rebellion doesn't excel at. Sometimes players want credits, to get gear before a contribution rank is reached.

So I'm working on the Intel Opportunities Deck™

These are going to be printed out on cards that are drawn from a deck. Each one has a mission on it that the players can delegate to some minions or other allies. Each mission will have a skill that must be rolled, depending on what allies you assign they may have a good chance to succeed and earn a minor award for the players.

These mission rewards are intentionally small, meant to provide gear or credits that the players may find useful and help alleviate the need to loot every corpse to get "stuff", something i don't feel is very Star Wars like. These are also not meant to replace the players going out to do missions to acquire assets for them, such as a daring supply raid, but make the nameless rebel troops be something more than fodder.

Now this is assuming a few things - that the players are in charge, that they have a base, and most importantly they have some allies to actually send out.

I came up with this idea for a campaign I was doing, and drew some further inspiration from playing Star Wars Uprising.

Here is a sample of one such card text:

For the wounded.

To keep the rebellion going you need to keep the troops in top shape. Luckily the Empire is transferring medical supplies to an nearby outpost. It would be a shame if those supplies didn't make it..

Skill required: Ranged (Heavy)

Difficulty 1r 3p

Reward:

On a successful roll, uncancelled results earn:

Each success = 1 stimpack

Each advantage = 1 litre of Bacta

Triumph: gain additional bacta or stimpacks equal to success

Triumph: gain a medkit

Despair: One Unit sent on mission is permanently lost. This result can be applied more than once. If all units sent are eliminated by despair results, mission becomes a failure, regardless of dice roll.

Each card has a skill to roll. The above is a combat mission, so you could send a bunch of minion level rebel troops to get this: How many you send determines the likely success, but sending a bunch of the said rebel troops on a mission that requires Negotiate, they dont have that skill so they arent likely to succeed.

These missions also tie up the allies and thus can't be used during the gaming session. The results laid out also state how to interpret the rolls, and unless t says otherwise, results can only be applied once.

I will also work on a resource sheet, so if a mission awards, say 500 credits of weapons, you can bank it. Most of the missions will have credit value assigned to a particular gear type. This lets the quartermaster for instance, still use his abilities to acquire items. Contribition rank is seperate and the GM can still run missions for the larger or more specific rewards.

So, please P.E.A.C.H.*

Cheers,

That Blasted Samophlange

* Please Examine And Critique Honestly

P.S. Hopefully the leader or other books don't invalidate this project!

That's a cool idea and in the right campaign would be a lot of fun.

I really like this idea.I mean, this is such a good way to utilize friendly minions in ways (as you said) other than fodder so consider it borrowed for my upcoming game.

I have two thoughts on all of this for your consideration:

1) While this is cool for QM what about someone heavy into the leadership trees? Any thoughts on letting them apply a bonus due to Confidence or Command for example? Perhaps a blue or what not to reward the leadership driven players.

2) I think Despairs being the unit loss option is a little generous to the PC's squads. If triumph, advantage and success all reward something then I would suggest that threat and despair should both hinder the PC's. Despair could signify disaster where as unchecked threats could be a d6 roll per minion in the group to determine losses (perhaps a 1-2 = death, 3-6 = survival). Additionally you could change the table to reflect fatigue and wear and tear by just making 3-4 reflect the minion missing the next mission sent on.

I think increasing the strain on minions reflects battle fatigue and generates the chance for minion groups to either be annihilated, lose members or have them temporarily unavailable. All of this building towards the risk of losing combat (mission) effectiveness and forcing the PC's to choose missions carefully.

I actually did consider giving leadership careers a way to have a bonus, but decided that the idea was these troops on these missions are in the field and out of communication with the players until the end of the mission. Also, i felt that the squad rules, and upcoming mass combat will let those characters shine.

These missions are to let minions and allies be less dead weight and provide some minor monetary/gear rewards in a narrative fashion - both to eliminate looting and the feeling that missions don't give enough "tangible" rewards in the area of credits, though that may be mostly my fault as a GM. I prefer more daring rescues that materiel procurement.

You do have a point with the despair maybe not being enough. While i feel the failure and threat are really there to cancel results on the allies rolls, i think i will take your advice to up the ante pm the despair.

I want these missions to succeed overall, but not without some minor risks. Each mission will be unique, and some will be more dangerous than others. Perhaps offering other rewards and penalties besides credits or losing troops.

I don't think i will introduce using dice beyond that found in the roleplay set, even though most have d6's and other dice. Let me know about this for the original despair result:

Despair: Roll a <force die>; for each black pip one unit sent on the mission is pernanently lost. On white pip, one unit is considered wounded, treat them as one over their wound threshold. This result can be applied more than once, if multiple despairs are rolled. Note: if all allies sent on a mission are wounded or killed, the mission is a failure regardless of the dice outcome. The GM should consider sending the PCs on a rescue mission to get the original reward and liberate the captured ally before they are interrogated.

Replying so I can follow this topic.

It sounds like an excellent idea and I love it!

I would suggest building your list in Excel so someone can roll the crit dice (d100) and look up the corresponding row.

I would also suggest rather than losing "units" via force die or d10 or whatever, you lose individuals.. which would make it worthwhile to send a couple minions with your rival level diplomats.

I agree that threat, failure, and despair should all have different, but important, penalties.

...I'm super excited by this idea.

Leadership may not need to be included in the missions. But there could be a perceived value in the training and preparation of soldiers etc. But home brew can be re-home brewed to fit the PC's around each table.

I agree with What. The idea in Excel is nice as the crit dice would work to give as much variety as desired (since ranges could apply if there was not creative juice to make 100 ideas off the hop).

Additionally, I do think losing units can be a bit much as opposed to individuals. But this can be variable based on the nature of your minion groups. If your PC's are controlling companies of soldiers then that's fine, squads would be another issue though. I think this can all largely be tailored. The big thing I am looking forward to is this rewards list!

Some of my progress is slow, been a busy week. Still i thought i should clear something up: when I say unit, i do mean one singular ally sent on the mission, not unit as representing all the npc's sent on the mission.

While i haven't has much time i have been trying to write some more missions and been thinking of some changes to the mechanics: First and foremost, this is still done from the ideas that the players are the leaders of a rebel cell, or otherwise in command. As such, i may be lowering some of the difficulties of the missions, and saying that these intel

Missions' difficulty is upgraded by the groups contribution rank. This makes early missions much easier, but as the noteriety of the players' group increases, the empire will tighten defenses everywhere.

For those wishing to try these out, here is how im implementing them:

You start, by virtue of having a base, being able to draw and do one intel mission from the deck. Each contribution rank reward spent will allow you to draw an additional. I will probably add a few intel missions that add additional draws as rewards, as well as a few ideas on missions to increase your bases/rebel cell's capacity to draw more intel oppourtunity mission cards. At the start of a session, after rolling destiny points and Duty, i suggest you draw and implement any missions you can. This ties up your forces until, say the next session, or maybe end of the session. Spending a destiny point to draw an additional mission is probably fair as well.

Here are several missions for those interested to use; sorry they are only posted in the forum, but rest assured i am looking for a good template to use for these.:

For the wounded.

To keep the rebellion going you need to keep the troops in top shape. Luckily the Empire is transferring medical supplies to an nearby outpost. It would be a shame if those supplies didn't make it..

Skill required: Ranged (Heavy)

Difficulty 1r 3p

Reward:

On a successful roll, uncancelled results earn:

Each success = 1 stimpack

Each advantage = 1 litre of Bacta

Triumph: gain additional bacta or stimpacks equal to success

Triumph: gain a medkit

Despair: Roll a force die black pips a unit is killed, white a unit is wounded (one past wound threshold). This result can be applied more than once. If all units sent are eliminated by despair results, mission becomes a failure, regardless of dice roll.

Waste not, want not..

The rebellion has a supply cache that is about to be compromised. Send someone to get there as fast as possible and load up what they can before the empire arrives

Skill:

Pilot (Space)

Difficulty 4p

Requirements: 1 hyperdrive equipped Starship with an encumbrance rating.

Reward:

Earn a number of credits equal to ships encumbrance + success result.

Triumph: each success counts as 10 credits instead.

Bolstering the ranks

As the empire tightens its grip on the galaxy, there are more and more that can be convinced to join the Rebellion.

Skill:

Leadership

Difficulty:

3p

Success:

Recruit one Alliance infantry minion or one Starfighter Pilot minion

Triumph: Recruit one Alliance Infantry or Starfighter pilot minion. This result can be used more than once.

Two triumphs: You may upgrade the Alliance Infantry or Starfighter pilot minion earned from a success to a Rebel Alliance Liaison or Starfighter Ace rival.

This one has a bad motivator..

The rebellion has need of droid parts so they can maintain their astromechs and other droids. Send someone to negotiate the procurement of some spare parts.

Skill:

Negotiate

Difficulty:

3p

On a successful roll:

Each success earns 100 credits and each advantage earns 25 credits to put towards purchasing droids.

Triumph: Earn 500 credits towards droids

The Empire wont miss these.

The Rebellion has learned of a shipment of Weapons being delivered. Getting these weapons out of imperial hands, and into ours, is vital.

Skill: Ranged (heavy)

Difficulty: 2r 3p

Success: Each success will earn 100 credits towards weapons.

Each advantage is 25 credits towards Modifications

Triumph: double the reward

Despair: Roll a force die black pips a unit is killed, white a unit is wounded (one past wound threshold). This result can be applied more than once. If all units sent are eliminated by despair results, mission becomes a failure, regardless of dice roll.

Skilled in Avoidance

Sometimes a single operative sneaking in to steal deployment intel, allows a strike where the empire is weakest

Skill:

Stealth

Difficulty:

1r, 2p

Requirement:

Single ally

Success:

During the session this intel mission is resolved, you may remove a number of minions equal to the uncancelled successes rolled, at anytime during the session, but before initiative or skill checks are rolled. For each advantage rolled, you may lower the wound threshold of a minion by one.

Triumph: You may remove one imperial rival before an initiative or skill roll.

Despair:

False intel - during the first combat encounter with imperial forces in the session, the GM chooses one enemy (or group of minions), that enemy doesn't roll for initiative, they guarantee the first initiative slot.

The last mission listed above was also a test to try something different than just resource gathering.

These missions have not had their difficulty reduced for the contribution rank idea. To do that, i would suggest just removing all red dice (listed as 3r, for example) and convert them to the purple.

Cheers,

That Blasted Samophlange

I just copied these into an excel sheet to see how it would work. The answer? Pretty well! A couple of things I played around with:

I put in empty rows for each skill, to make sure that eventually every single skill in the game has at least one mission attached. I plan on adjusting this so the more common skills (Any combat skill, piloting, vigilance, stealth...) have multiple missions to reduce chance of getting the same thing multiple times.

For resource rewards I also think they should be greatly increased - for example, a blaster pistol is 600 credits but it's very possible that the mission to raid a weapons depot will only yield 200 credits worth of weapons... which is none.

I'm also using a filler "default" bad result template, with each mission listing only unique despair results.

For non combat missions: No penalty for failure, but each threat is a force die roll for casualties as you have above.

For combat missions: Each uncanceled failure/threat is a force die, and the despair is a whole group / single rival.

Again, I'm very excited for your idea, especially those along the lines of your stealth mission with non-resource based rewards.

Glad you like the idea! Also, glad it is working in excel for you.

More than increasing the actual rewards, i think i need to adjust the difficulty of the missions. Also, these are meant to be supplemental, and not replace actual missions for the player characters. That 200 credits you possibly earn may not get you any blasters, but could get you 4 grenades!

I think for high difficulty missions like that though, i should do a less nebulous reward - award specific items.

I also have some ideas about missions that are incredibly easy, but a despair will be something like a hidden tracking device and a scenario like the Hoth evacuation must be played out. Ill probably wait for the mass combat rules before i make that card.

How about for small failure like I uncancelled threats, your team leaves some clues behind? Maybe some NPCs become suspicious about their motives and eventually report them to the ISB or some other authority, and eventually you get a rival investigating. The GM could secretly keep track of these, which could lead to other mission opportunities, like Cover Tracks, Throw Off the Scent, Dissapear Rival, etc...

This is one of the best ideas I have seen recently. No offense to the other idea people. The concept of a simultaneous economy of sorts has been an idea I have grappled with in the past. Previoulsy I have used dice rolls and less interactive options. I'd love to help in any way I can beyond just criticing. That being said I think some way of maybe voluntarily uping the ante on a mission might be of some use on some of these missions. For example the weapons raid mission maybe leave it at the base value of 2r 3p gets you 100 credits but electing instead to increas dificulty to 3r 2p nets a gaurenteed weapon starting at blaster pistol (AOR version 400 credits) it would look something like this

The Empire wont miss these.
The Rebellion has learned of two shipment of Weapons being delivered. the first delievery is of salvaged weapons destined for a reclimation and repair facility. The other is a fresh supply to an outerrim firebase. Getting either weapons shipments out of imperial hands, and into ours, is vital.

Skill: Ranged (heavy)

Difficulty: 2r 3p / (heroic) 3r 2p

Requirements: Minon group/ Minion group (5) + rival ally
Success: Each success will earn 100 credits towards weapons.
Each advantage is 25 credits towards Modifications
Triumph: double the reward

Despair: Roll a force die black pips a unit is killed, white a unit is wounded (one past wound threshold). This result can be applied more than once. If all units sent are eliminated by despair results, mission becomes a failure, regardless of dice roll.

Heroic Reward

Success: blaster pistol Each addition success adds +100 credits to the weapon value (so you can get a better weapon)

Each advantage is 50 credits towards Modifications
Triumph: double the reward

Failure: injury

Treat: death
Despair: capture and interogation leading to hoth type evacuation or increased imperial precense on next PC mission to prevent to many moves.

these values are very beta and untested since im at work and hopped up on cold medicine but I just wanted to give the option of great reward at great cost but also making it worth the effort for more established rebellions

This is a good use of personnel, not only for the AoR groups but also the EotE and the FaD.

I would point out that other missions could also be useful, with missions seeking to support the locals equally good. Granted, in those cases, I would probably limit the rewards to getting an extra minion for a triumph.

In addition, I wouldn't mind getting "upgrades" for the groups sent out. This would allow minion group to get better and be able to even get rival-level allies, if possible.

In addition, that last part could also be useful for the greater Alliance. If the PC give up an experienced minion/rivals group to the Alliance, the Alliance would send another green group to the PCs as well as support. This way the rotation would allow the GM to slow down some of the over use of minion groups while at the same time provide a thematic twist to the game.

I love this idea. I've got the Lords of Waterdeep board game for iPad. It's a similar concept, with lords sending minions on resource-gathering missions, albeit in a D&D-style setting. I'm going to look through it for mission ideas.