I am sending the PCs onto a jungle planet with low population and, appears to have no intrinsic vale to the Empire. Their mission, is pretty low key but as they exit hyperspace they have an Imperial shuttle and fighters come out of hyperspace at the same time. I plan to for interaction between the characters and the Imperial agent (who is on the shuttle) before the players go on their mission. When they finish their mission and head back to the city (for pickup) there are more shuttles and more Imperial soldiers who have taken over the town and have made it a makeshift base.

I had an idea in mind and have since scrapped it. I am looking for some ideas. Nothing may directly come of it, other than an obstacle for the players to get off-planet with their goods, but I would like to have something in my back pocket in case they want to pursue that later.

One thing I would like to have is the hiring of Trandoshan scouts to tie into this.

Thoughts?

Sorry, are you looking for ideas on why the Imperials are there? Or why the Rebels are there? Both?

Play the Imperials initially as good guys. They are their to find and harvest pharmacologicals that will cure a massive plague outbreak elsewhere. While the PCs are on their mission, so are the Imperials. They can even run across each other, and the PC can have an opportunity to aid them in getting a cure. Once they return, the town is on lock down and everyone is being rounded up and the area sterilized. They Imperials really are seeking a cure, but plan on monopolizing it and using the plague and the ability to provide a cure as a weapon of terror and blackmail. The PCs have several problems: first, the Imperials want to prevent them from leaving now that they have confirmed the cure is on the planet so they maintain the monopoly; second, even if they do escape, do they do it with the cure or leave the Imperials to their plans. Either way, play out reports of the outcome later in the campaign.

The Imperials are there to hunt down someone (ex-Jedi or Jedi sympathizer is the default) and they lock down the planet until they find him.

They have been led to believe there's a rebel base somewhere in the system and are building a base to keep a better eye on the local systems in preparation for a much larger fortification on a more strategically important world.

This is just the first wave of a much more frightening build up.

The question is will a rival frame your PCs as Rebels sending them fleeing further into the Outer Rim before they learn what the Imperium are really up to?

Could this be preparation to bdz the Mon Calamari home world now that the Death Star was blown up or preparation for Dac to be the Death Star's target after Yavin?!

Wolfsforza - I am looking for why the Empire is there and why they continue to add physical resources.

ckobbe - Wow, that is pretty dark. I will think about.

HappyDaze - Maybe a hidden Temple with refugee Jedi. It would need to be something the Rebels don't know about as they intended this to be a training/"get out or hair, we are busy", mission on their part (of course nothing goes as planned)

copperbell - This is just the first wave of a much more frightening build up. What do you think would be a logical progression for the build up?

ckobbe - Wow, that is pretty dark. I will think about.

My group very rarely plays pure black hat/white hat style games. It is very common for us to throw in moral ambiguities and grey areas with moral consequences, The Imperials are a galactic government that needs to serve its people at times, or the rebellion wouldn't have been a rag tag movement that built up steam over time, so it makes since that at times Imperial forces would be used for purely benign or benevolent actions, Is it right for the rebels to oppose those actions? If they do, the become just terrorists.

Giving a group the chance to help Imperials who are doing the "right thing" and then revealing a reversal that yes the cure is going to be used to save thousands or millions, but will later be used to oppress millions or billions sets up an even bigger moral decision for a group. What will they do? Usually the best part of role playing for our group.

I also tend to show scenes of frightened family's rushing past the escaping "heroes" who are trying to find out if their loved ones (i.e. loyal storm-troopers) were just killed by the rebel terrorists. Not every scrappy street kid will have parents killed by Imperials and join the rebellion, some of them have parents killed in rebel actions and hate the Alliance to Restore the Republic.

It could be that an agent is securing the area so that a Moff can go on a hunting trip with his son. The trandoshans are hired as guiedes. Don't let the players know this is a hunting trip; and should the players decide to assasinate the Moff, put the son in the cross hairs, as he will look exactly like the moff, but younger.

In that case, here's an idea:

An Imperial agent is being sent on what he thinks is a wild goose chase for an old Jedi temple that Vader wants checked out. He thinks it's bull, but no one wants to get Force-choked, so he goes to check it out However, instead of a Jedi goose chase, he finds a forgotten Old Republic cache. Importantly, there are dozens of complete and functional, but mothballed Spaarti cloning cylinders.

Depending what you want to do with the canon, this could present a dire threat to the Rebellion. If the cloning process has been lost to the Emperor, he'll want to lock the place down so he can start a cloning program. If the Emperor still has cloning cylinders, he might want to lock down this supply so the Rebels don't get their hands on it.

copperbell - This is just the first wave of a much more frightening build up. What do you think would be a logical progression for the build up?

First off I'd want to check to see if there was any battles fought here during either the Clone Wars or even as far back as KOTOR.

Then whether there should be any link between this sector and say Star Wars Rebels since I have no idea where or when you're setting this game.

There's a scene in one of the trailers where they're brought out of hyperspace by an Interdictor and then confronted by a trio of Star Destroyers which makes me think of the AoR Beginner box set and its use of Whisper Base.

A listening outpost would make a lot of sense for a starting point but especially more so if say they've rediscovered an old long forgotten Clone War Base and rather than building an entirely new installation merely restore and update the original given by this point it is thoroughly camouflaged and hidden by the jungle that's covered it entirely since it was decommissioned.

They would need a bigger spaceport and amenities to help prepare for a larger presence in the sector so they could arrange for more people to be flown in to establish a settlement to help cover the provisions and supplies they need as they begin to increase the size of the contingent being based here.

Then there's the hangar and the fighters and other equipment they would need could even have a fighter base established on a moon giving a reason for a Imperial Frigate or two to be stationed here as part of their proclaimed fight against piracy and the terrorists calling themselves rebels...

The real question is what world or system would you want this system to be located near/within after all Anoat is close to Hoth, would you consider Chandrilla (Mon Mothma's home world) a suitable target for Imperial domination?

Like the idea of the cloning cylinders of course if its Kaminoan in origin maybe they should be located in an underwater base given that race's home world so it would otherwise be well hidden and your surface base includes a submarine pen so it can be either built up or stripped clean with no one the wiser...

copperbell - This is just the first wave of a much more frightening build up. What do you think would be a logical progression for the build up?

First off I'd want to check to see if there was any battles fought here during either the Clone Wars or even as far back as KOTOR.

Then whether there should be any link between this sector and say Star Wars Rebels since I have no idea where or when you're setting this game.

There's a scene in one of the trailers where they're brought out of hyperspace by an Interdictor and then confronted by a trio of Star Destroyers which makes me think of the AoR Beginner box set and its use of Whisper Base.

A listening outpost would make a lot of sense for a starting point but especially more so if say they've rediscovered an old long forgotten Clone War Base and rather than building an entirely new installation merely restore and update the original given by this point it is thoroughly camouflaged and hidden by the jungle that's covered it entirely since it was decommissioned.

They would need a bigger spaceport and amenities to help prepare for a larger presence in the sector so they could arrange for more people to be flown in to establish a settlement to help cover the provisions and supplies they need as they begin to increase the size of the contingent being based here.

Then there's the hangar and the fighters and other equipment they would need could even have a fighter base established on a moon giving a reason for a Imperial Frigate or two to be stationed here as part of their proclaimed fight against piracy and the terrorists calling themselves rebels...

The real question is what world or system would you want this system to be located near/within after all Anoat is close to Hoth, would you consider Chandrilla (Mon Mothma's home world) a suitable target for Imperial domination?

Like the idea of the cloning cylinders of course if its Kaminoan in origin maybe they should be located in an underwater base given that race's home world so it would otherwise be well hidden and your surface base includes a submarine pen so it can be either built up or stripped clean with no one the wiser...

Those are good questions.

As for the Imperials, it would come down to motivation and mission. Quite honestly, I like the idea of having Imperial that is doing what the Empire should be doing; provide protection and support for the greater galaxy. I would also like to see said Imperial make the decision to defect to the Alliance when they realize how far the Empire would go to use and abuse the cure and disease.

In addition, what about third party/factions? Hutts would want to exploit worlds in order to expand their wealth and markets, while the smuggler groups would look for ways to to get additional shadowports. Finally, Pirates and slavers might go after the population for the wealth the population has.

Quite honestly, I like the idea of having Imperial that is doing what the Empire should be doing; provide protection and support for the greater galaxy. I would also like to see said Imperial make the decision to defect to the Alliance when they realize how far the Empire would go to use and abuse the cure and disease.

That's the cool thing about grey storylines, they open up the possibilities of things like defections. If I ever run with this storyline myself and the PCs helped the Imperials find a cure, but show no interest in further interactions, a defector seeking them out for help would be a great way to reveal the reversal. I do sometimes plant a seed that only much later do the players find out lead to a greater evil, but usually I make sure at least the option of mitigation is available. The defector Idea is also a great way to bring in a new PC if there is slot open and the Player is willing. With the defector option you also don't need to be super obvious about the Imperial crackdown on the town to motivate them into further investigation.

Alright, lets see. How about this.

The PCs are sent to the planet in question to scout it as a possible base location. A Warfare or Rim Worlds check with a Hard Difficulty could tell them that the Republic had a base in the system at the beginning of the Clone War but the Separatists drove them away and destroyed the base. With a couple of Advantages tell them the Old Republic base was scientific in nature and was doing biological research. They are pretending to be an archaeological crew from the University of Podunkia looking into possible ancient McGuffian outpost. They have paperwork and all manner of gear to do deep scans of the ground and to uncover artifacts. They have a large shuttlecraft of some kind that is good for hauling but not so much for fighting.

When they come out of hyperspace and begin their initial orbit to scan likely locations an Imperial starship drops out of hyperspace as well. A wing of TIE fighters deploy and form up to escort a shuttlecraft that leaves the bay. Once the PCs have changed their pants the shuttle hails them and Moff Rand inquires as to what is their business with this world. Be nice and don't make them roll to pass their fake credentials on to him. The Moff will go on about how he has a layman's interest in archaeology and since his business here will take very little of his time he would love to tag along on their archaeological research. Make them understand that telling a Moff "no" is not a great idea for anyone who enjoys continued contact with ones own head. So when they inevitably agree he invites them to join him for the evening meal which they of course will also agree to do.

So they follow the Imperial shuttle down to the planet and land in what passes for the largest town on the largest continental mass. They land at the spaceport and meet with the Moff, he is overly enthusiastic and peppers them with questions. Here's the fun part. Don't let the players die roll their way out of it. Make them have the conversation with the Moff, who may not be super knowledgeable about the McGuffian culture but he knows more than any of the players or their characters. Don't be a total **** if they can't BS their way through supper but reward the players who do with extra experience. Also they can find out quite a bit about what the Imperials are up to in the system.

The Moff has been sent here to search for an Old Republic base that was lost during the Clone Wars. The system fell under Separatist control and as record keeping of such things was less than ideal it is unknown on which of the several planets and moons the base was placed. He asked for the duty since this world is well known as a excellent place for big game hunting. Not that he has any desire to participate but his son is fascinated with sport hunting. His son is a brutish young man who tears into his meal like a wild beast, offering little conversation and desperately needing a napkin. He has several small shuttles at his disposal and they will be scanning the system for the next several weeks. They are hoping to pick up an Old Republic transponder signal or indications of construction to find the old base. In that time his son will be doing quite a bit of hunting for big game as the planet is rich with life. The benefit to his sons hunting is fresh game for meals, which he of course expects the PCs to join him for when they are in town.

Once the most uncomfortable supper since the Last Supper is over the Moff will wish the PCs a pleasant evening and retire to his quarters, His son however will head to a tavern to drink and hit on barmaids. If the PCs join him they will discover the son is pretty much the **** he seemed like at supper.

Moving right along, the PCs will need to either keep the scam going while hiding their actual efforts so the Moff doesn't realize they aren't archaeologists or be so dull and boring that the Moff gives up watching. Either way things will come to a head thusly. The PC's will discover a set of caverns that are far away from town and expansive enough to hold the base and the transports. But it's too good to be true. The caverns are so good a base the Old Republic used them as well. Come on, you had to see that coming. The Old Republic had set up in the caverns and as the Separatists forced them off world the cargo pod the scientists loaded their research materials into didn't manage to be picked up off before the battledroids attacked, killing the pilot and crew of the shuttle which crashed covering the entrance to the cavern and the Separatists never searched the area.

What were they doing? How about a secret program the Emperor started to develop a super clone soldier? Or a super virus? Your choice. For the players it doesn't matter. What matters is once they find the cargo pod, get a chance to figure out what it contains and realize that it would be horrible for the Alliance the cavern vibrates with the sound of contragrav. Their buddy and his Storm Troopers have arrived. How will they respond. Hilarity ensues.

Enjoy

Alright, lets see. How about this.

The PCs are sent to the planet in question to scout it as a possible base location. A Warfare or Rim Worlds check with a Hard Difficulty could tell them that the Republic had a base in the system at the beginning of the Clone War but the Separatists drove them away and destroyed the base. With a couple of Advantages tell them the Old Republic base was scientific in nature and was doing biological research. They are pretending to be an archaeological crew from the University of Podunkia looking into possible ancient McGuffian outpost. They have paperwork and all manner of gear to do deep scans of the ground and to uncover artifacts. They have a large shuttlecraft of some kind that is good for hauling but not so much for fighting.

When they come out of hyperspace and begin their initial orbit to scan likely locations an Imperial starship drops out of hyperspace as well. A wing of TIE fighters deploy and form up to escort a shuttlecraft that leaves the bay. Once the PCs have changed their pants the shuttle hails them and Moff Rand inquires as to what is their business with this world. Be nice and don't make them roll to pass their fake credentials on to him. The Moff will go on about how he has a layman's interest in archaeology and since his business here will take very little of his time he would love to tag along on their archaeological research. Make them understand that telling a Moff "no" is not a great idea for anyone who enjoys continued contact with ones own head. So when they inevitably agree he invites them to join him for the evening meal which they of course will also agree to do.

So they follow the Imperial shuttle down to the planet and land in what passes for the largest town on the largest continental mass. They land at the spaceport and meet with the Moff, he is overly enthusiastic and peppers them with questions. Here's the fun part. Don't let the players die roll their way out of it. Make them have the conversation with the Moff, who may not be super knowledgeable about the McGuffian culture but he knows more than any of the players or their characters. Don't be a total **** if they can't BS their way through supper but reward the players who do with extra experience. Also they can find out quite a bit about what the Imperials are up to in the system.

The Moff has been sent here to search for an Old Republic base that was lost during the Clone Wars. The system fell under Separatist control and as record keeping of such things was less than ideal it is unknown on which of the several planets and moons the base was placed. He asked for the duty since this world is well known as a excellent place for big game hunting. Not that he has any desire to participate but his son is fascinated with sport hunting. His son is a brutish young man who tears into his meal like a wild beast, offering little conversation and desperately needing a napkin. He has several small shuttles at his disposal and they will be scanning the system for the next several weeks. They are hoping to pick up an Old Republic transponder signal or indications of construction to find the old base. In that time his son will be doing quite a bit of hunting for big game as the planet is rich with life. The benefit to his sons hunting is fresh game for meals, which he of course expects the PCs to join him for when they are in town.

Once the most uncomfortable supper since the Last Supper is over the Moff will wish the PCs a pleasant evening and retire to his quarters, His son however will head to a tavern to drink and hit on barmaids. If the PCs join him they will discover the son is pretty much the **** he seemed like at supper.

Moving right along, the PCs will need to either keep the scam going while hiding their actual efforts so the Moff doesn't realize they aren't archaeologists or be so dull and boring that the Moff gives up watching. Either way things will come to a head thusly. The PC's will discover a set of caverns that are far away from town and expansive enough to hold the base and the transports. But it's too good to be true. The caverns are so good a base the Old Republic used them as well. Come on, you had to see that coming. The Old Republic had set up in the caverns and as the Separatists forced them off world the cargo pod the scientists loaded their research materials into didn't manage to be picked up off before the battledroids attacked, killing the pilot and crew of the shuttle which crashed covering the entrance to the cavern and the Separatists never searched the area.

What were they doing? How about a secret program the Emperor started to develop a super clone soldier? Or a super virus? Your choice. For the players it doesn't matter. What matters is once they find the cargo pod, get a chance to figure out what it contains and realize that it would be horrible for the Alliance the cavern vibrates with the sound of contragrav. Their buddy and his Storm Troopers have arrived. How will they respond. Hilarity ensues.

Enjoy

For a part one, that actually looks pretty good. There's a few minor holes in the over all plot, but it seems manageable.

I like the image of a sort of bookish, Jones Senior-type Moff, one that isn't necessarily there for the "evlulz" but for being a good SME (subject matter expert). This would provide some diversity in the Imperial High Command. In addition, it can also be a useful source of information and support.

In turn, I'm having a bit of trouble with the son. I don't know if it is "The Beast"-trope or what, but something feels off in this case. Either there could be multiple sons or have the son be more hot-headed/head strong. This can also help the first case, as the Moff might be distracted from his family in serving the Empire.

Over all, it's a good synopsis and one that would give FFG a run for their money.

Holy cow...I came back to the thread only to find it jam packed with ideas. I didn't get a chance to read them all and I am heading back out....

I have the players as sent to Varonat in the Anoat sector. (there is a bit of change about population and a few other things)

I am not a stickler for canon (although I do like following it). The idea is that a archaeologist has been researching Mandalorian era history and believes she has come across some data maps containing locations of weapon caches and bunkers from hundreds of years ago. She has gotten the Rebels to "fund" her trip. They don't believe that there is going to be much value in the expedition, but the archaelogist called in favors and the recruits get stuck. But things turn out better than hoped and they do find sever caches worth of supplies/items/weapons, but their ride will fail to show and they will need to figure a way of gettign the goods off-world.

The same time they character arrive in Varonat, the Imperials do as well, almost ominously...almost like they were being followed (but a coincidence) I plan to have an exchange between an officer and the party before the expedition takes place, because she doesn't trust them. She will send a Trandoshan to follow them.

When the players, after a month in the feild, will find a larger force (rather than just a shuttle, and a couple tie fighters). While they may just want to get off world I would like for them to indulge their duties if they want. (counter intelligence, combat victory, resource Acq)...

Holy cow...I came back to the thread only to find it jam packed with ideas. I didn't get a chance to read them all and I am heading back out....

I have the players as sent to Varonat in the Anoat sector. (there is a bit of change about population and a few other things)

I am not a stickler for canon (although I do like following it). The idea is that a archaeologist has been researching Mandalorian era history and believes she has come across some data maps containing locations of weapon caches and bunkers from hundreds of years ago. She has gotten the Rebels to "fund" her trip. They don't believe that there is going to be much value in the expedition, but the archaelogist called in favors and the recruits get stuck. But things turn out better than hoped and they do find sever caches worth of supplies/items/weapons, but their ride will fail to show and they will need to figure a way of gettign the goods off-world.

The same time they character arrive in Varonat, the Imperials do as well, almost ominously...almost like they were being followed (but a coincidence) I plan to have an exchange between an officer and the party before the expedition takes place, because she doesn't trust them. She will send a Trandoshan to follow them.

When the players, after a month in the feild, will find a larger force (rather than just a shuttle, and a couple tie fighters). While they may just want to get off world I would like for them to indulge their duties if they want. (counter intelligence, combat victory, resource Acq)...

That's what happens when you ask for ideas. Especially those that are force multiplier ideas.

Heck, even decades, centuries, or millennia old, Mandalorian gear, weapons, droids, and vehicles were some of the best at the time. Plus, there's probably quite a few clan artifacts or maps to other caches that would be helpful in bringing the Mandalorians into the fight.

In addition, though less of a possibility, is the idea of a few warriors being frozen in carbonite. It's a play on the classic "warrior out of time" trope that also tends to be a favorite of sci-fi.

Heh out of curiosity have you been playing KOTOR?

By that I mean either of the computer games or the MMO its just that the MMO had this bit about a prison being built atop what I think was a Rakati or whatever the Infinite Empire aliens were called facility.

Might have the species name wrong, but there's quite a bit of the adventures they run through for each class that you could mine quite easily for use with the above!

For a part one, that actually looks pretty good. There's a few minor holes in the over all plot, but it seems manageable.

I like the image of a sort of bookish, Jones Senior-type Moff, one that isn't necessarily there for the "evlulz" but for being a good SME (subject matter expert). This would provide some diversity in the Imperial High Command. In addition, it can also be a useful source of information and support.

In turn, I'm having a bit of trouble with the son. I don't know if it is "The Beast"-trope or what, but something feels off in this case. Either there could be multiple sons or have the son be more hot-headed/head strong. This can also help the first case, as the Moff might be distracted from his family in serving the Empire.

Over all, it's a good synopsis and one that would give FFG a run for their money.

Why thank you for your praise. I've been gaming for something like 3 decades now and for the last one I got in the habit of writing montage scenes where I move the characters along through the not so much action periods of the game. In that way game time isn't taken up with "ok, so you are in the wagon heading to the dungeon. What are you doing for the first hour of day one...." I've gotten a lot of practice writing stuff that contains gems of information for the players to pick up on while describing their travels and the like. I also started gaming with my son and his friends so I would design the characters and write up one to five page character histories for them. Some of them brought the readers to tears. I was quite impressed with that. L. Neil Smith always said "writing is the art of describing the thumb so well that the reader can imagine the rest of the hand." I let that be my guide.

The reason I made him a beast was when his Trandoshan buddies show up he should be a kindred spirit. Someone who is civilized wouldn't be such a kindred spirit. I imagine him trying to impress the Trandoshans instead of seeing them as animals who are useful. However that might be interesting too, the Trandoshans could be an ally because of the rude treatment from the son. I do like your idea of the Moff being a Dr. Jones Sr. type. That would be hilarious to role play.