So... they set off the alarm... :/

By OddballE8, in Star Wars: Age of Rebellion Beginner Game

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Playing this with the kids at my school, and while the first encounter went surprisingly well

Since the first attack was with an AP grenade (custom characters) and it went so well that all 6 of the enemies died at once.

The second encounter went alot less... well.

The kids simply couldn't figure out any way to deal with the droid (apparantly, talking never occurred to them, despite me bringing it up several times... I blame the video game mentality of blowing up every problem that shows up), so they let it step into the garage and then attacked it.

HOWEVER, the droid didn't go down in the first turn. Not even in the second turn.
So, I when they finally killed the droid, (and we were about to stop playing for the session) I said that they could hear how the alarm on the base went off.
Since I did warn them repeatedly that the droid would have an internal comlink to the bases security system and would set off the alarm if they didn't take him out in the first turn, should they choose to attack him.



So... now, here's my question:
The adventure never mentiones how to play it if the alarm goes off.

So, my first thought is that they'll have to make a bee-line for the shuttle to stop the Lieutenant from escaping.
But how many troops are on the base?
The kids counted the chairs in the mess hall, and came up with the number of 48.
But then, in most facilities, you usually eat in shifts, so not everyone eats at once.
That means there's most likely more than that in the base staff.
Sure, not all are soldiers, some are just support staff, but that's still quite alot.

How would you guys reccomend I play this one out?

Ps. Playing next week.

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The lieutenant probably isn't going to run for the shuttle right away, he'll need to get a sense of the scope of the attack, and might do a Tarkin and refuse to leave until it's obvious he has to.

The base doesn't have to be full, the rest could be on patrol, or, since it's a secret base, maybe it's never been full to begin with. Some of those chairs in the mess hall might be "dusty". The nice thing is you can play with that and use the uncertainty to ramp up the tension. It also gives you the freedom to "bring in reinforcements" if you need them. Basically, there are as many troops as you need for <PLOT>.

If the players don't take steps to hide, it's worth a spanking :) Point out that there are security cameras, and once the Imperials know how many there are their response will likely be different. They have to leverage the uncertainty. If they go down, certainly the lieutenant will want to capture and interrogate them, which gives an opportunity to escape...perhaps a Rebel agent mole is on the scene who can help.

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Thanks for the imput froggy :)

Gonna use alot of that in the next battle.

Also, the trouble with having 6 kids the age of 10-11 playing the game, 4 of which have (or at least should have) the AD/HD diagnosis, is that they don't always listen very well.

Two of them were convinced that the 6 soldiers they killed were stormtroopers, so they were dead-set on using their armour to help in the fight.

I had to tell them three times that it wasn't stormtroopers before they actually got that idea out of their heads :/

Oh well, at least the two girls in the group are take-charge enough to control the boys when it comes to planning and strategic moves :D

Edited by OddballE8
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Well, I've got the weekend to set things up, but from the kids' reaction when I told them that there might be as many as 50 enemies, some of which are stormtroopers, and they all have better gear than them, I'd say it'll be a fun session or two :)

(their reaction was "Cool! We're gonna get some better gear after this fight!" more or less hehehe... but also a bit of "oh dear, we'd better hurry up and disable that shuttle so nobody leaves with our gear" hehehe)

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Turns out I've got the flu, so the kids will have to wait another week before they can clear out the base.

Luckily for me, I have Fallout 4 to keep me company while I feel sorry for myself in bed.

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Update:


So, they took the base. Barely.

In the end they fouled it up by deciding to split into three groups of two each.

This meant that each group was lacking in firepower, especially against stormtroopers.

In the end, one group went to the shuttle to sabotage it. They succeeded and then had to lock themselves in the suttle since they were surrounded by stormtroopers and one of the players got shot down (a wookie with 14 wounds none the less!). They used the ship weaponry to take out a few stormtroopers and that made them retreat to the opening, effectively ending in a stalemate.

Group two went to the armory, but the spy promptly got shot down by a stormtrooper and they had to retreat to the garage.

The third group stayed in the garage and utilized the AT-ST's to cover the exits.

They effectively had the base locked down and the communications shut off.
But then the Lieutenant made a run for it. He managed to get on a speeder bike (accompanied by two scout troopers), but was shot down by one of the AT-ST's.

The group then ventured into the base and found the last Stormtroopers locked in the control room.
After a few grenades and a (disasterous) exchange of gunfire, there was only one player left, she was at 1 wound left and on the ground, but since the stormtroopers didn't know that, the last 3 surviving ones surrendered to the group.

Thus ending the adventure.

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Nice review! I've run this adventure two times so far, both times with experienced players (above 20 y.o.). The first group excelled at planning and execution, took the base with no casualties - I just learned later we were abusing AP grenades, treated them as if they had blast quality. Even though, the key to success was skillful hacking to block doors and gain access to detailed base plans as well as quick action. The other group was too cautious, they lost momentum and were overwhelmed, arrested and killed in a garage by 6 stormtroopers and an officer. Too much hesitation and planning was their undoing.

As whafrog mentioned before, GM should assume there are as many soldiers and stormtroopers as is needed to provide a satisfying challenge for players. I assume there are 4-8 soldiers, 6-12 stormtroopers, 3 officers + lieutenant and 0-4 scout troopers inside the base. If players take their time, reinforcements may arrive

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Yeah, it nearly came to an ugly end.

But since this is their first ever experience with a roleplaying game, and they're only 10, I didn't want that to happen.

Now it's on to the Operation Shadowpoint part :D

More actual roleplaying than action, which is good now that they've gotten into the rules bit of it.

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Sounds fun. Glad to hear how it went with with younger kids though. I want to expose my nieces and nephews to this at our next family vacation and they are about this age.