Good evening,

I have been running for a while and like to put my players in situations that effect the major events of the Rebellion without usurping the roles of the major characters (Luke, Han, etc). For example, during the Battle of Yavin, the PCs were on a scouting mission to take over an Imperial listening post and were the first to know that the Deathstar was on its way, giving the Rebellion time to prepare for battle.

So now we're up to Return of the Jedi and they are going to be responsible for getting the second Deathstar plans to the Rebels. Don't worry, many Bothans will die to bring them that information

But what after that? The Battle of Endor seems so... meh. Fighting in a massive space battle is ok and all, but I'd like something more involved.

Any ideas?

Chewie is with Han and Leia when they get captured...and the PC's need to rescue them and/or finish the mission to bring down the shield generator!

They have to infiltrate DS2 while it's under attack to steal files of the Emperor's detailing all Hand and Inquisitor operatives, as well as, locations of suspected Force users, and get out before the earth shattering kaboom.

Someone had to deal with that At-At we saw in the cut scene when Luke gets captured.

So, something that has always made me wonder, the destruction of a grenade can do serious damage to anything in its radius, did Yavin or any planetary bodies that were close to the DS1 take any massive damage from huge chunks of shrapnel? Moreover, when the DS2 is destroyed, it seems like the DS2 is closer than the DS1 was to Yavin. Maybe it is the PCs job to re-route the shield generator to protect Endor from the results of the explosion.

You're treading on real science, best to not in Star Wars. Simply having an artificial body in orbit like the DS's would have caused tidal and tectonic stresses that would have annihilated the environments on both Yavin and Endor.

Who ever said the shield generator didn't have backup systems at a different location?

Where did all of those troopers come from? There could be a base somewhere around there that someone had to do something with.

An additional fleet is out of the system, ready to jump on any Rebels who run early or provide reinforcements if the Empire starts losing. (HA! As if!) Someone has to make sure those ships don't enter the fight.

Rear guard. Empire knows a massive number of Rebels will be on the attack. Which means many Rebel bases are left under-defended. Empire plans to blitz the Rebel bases unless someone can do something about it. Ranging from mislaying information about the bases to fighting of the Empire.

... cut content had "two battalions" of Imperial troops on Endor. That's somewhere around 1,000 troops... way more then what you see in the films...

And a Lambda can hold 20 people, plus the command crew...How many people do we see with Solo and friends? 7? 10? That leaves 10 more seats...

Perhaps in addition to the troops at the back door there's a TIE base across the river or something. Solo and pals go off to "Sabotage the shield generator" The players, and another 10 troopers or so, are assigned to cross the river, and launch a coordinated attack on the TIE base so Han and pals don't blow the shield only to get bombed into oblivion. The players get plenty to do. They have to dodge an imperial patrol or three, cross a river, spend a night dealing with a hungry Gorax, and then plan and execute an assault on the TIE base that for some reason is also the landing point for bargeloads of AT-STs....

I actually may have use for that rundown myself tomorrow...

Infiltrate the Exector and sabotage it's systems such as its forward batteries, for example.

And then find a way to escape before this happens...

Invite the players to an ewok BBQ.

They can do whatever they want, as long as they stay away from the Death Star.

I like the infiltrate Death Star idea. How about to get prisoners/slaves out, or the previously mentioned data.

It always struck me as odd that there was no shield generator protecting the power core, especially as something the size of the falcon could fly right up to it.

Hasn't the empire ever heard of of redundancy? Or maybe they did but some unseen heroes got to it first.

Like Jango Fett private investigator turning off the Shields on the Seperatists Comand ship before Anakin flew into the Hanger and later bursting R2's bubble?

http://darthsanddroids.net/episodes/0287.html

Edit: sorry different campaign

My players were busy taking out one of the (several) secondary shield generators that protected the Death Star II from Endor... Because, you know, the Emperor is not a moron.

I ran the Battle of Endor for my players in the old D6 system. They were a part of Admiral Ackbar's and Lando's force attacking the Imperial fleet in space. Two of them were in their starfighters while the others were aboard their main ship. I mapped the whole thing out as one long scene with multiple branching encounters that began when they came out of hyperspace and had to break off to avoid smashing into the Death Star's shield and ended when they (and the remains of a few starfighter squadrons they'd "adopted" along the way) flew cover for the ships going into the Death Star itself.

Love the ideas, guys, thank you so much!

I really like the idea of infiltrating the Executioner and using the system connection to slice the data files used by Vader's Inquisitors to hunt down Force Sensitives. When they get there, they're in for a surprise to find a dark Jedi already there and stealing the same files! They'll chase him through the Star Destroyer and then have to break off contact when the battle kicks off and they're ordered to sabotage the forward deflector shields, giving the A-Wing pilot the edge he needs to blast through the bridge. Then escape before crashing into the Death Star II.

You're treading on real science, best to not in Star Wars. Simply having an artificial body in orbit like the DS's would have caused tidal and tectonic stresses that would have annihilated the environments on both Yavin and Endor.

If that were true, our own moon would have long since wiped us out. The Death Star is *much* smaller (1/20 the diameter), and significantly less dense (containing quite a bit of air-filled, open spaces), rather than being effectively solid. And don't forget the fact that the Death Star was in geosynchronous orbit, so, even if it *were* massive enough to impart tidal and tectonic stresses, it is only going to introduce static, rather than dynamic, stresses. Regardless, the gravitational forces of the Sanctuary Moon's planet (a gas giant) will be *vastly* dominant in that scenario. If the Death Star were going to annihilate the environment of the forest moon, the planet itself would have done so *long* before. (The same goes for the base at Yavin, which was *also* a moon orbiting the gas giant.)

Not every role has to be glamorous. Have them aboard a fatally stricken capital ship and have to prevent it from cashing into the forest moon or at least assisting with the evacuation.

First of all, they should be the ones to steal the imperial shuttle Tydirium and its security codes.

Second, i guess it depends on what your players like to do. I always found a "get in, get out" mission to be less tedious than a pitted battle, so i would go for the "Infiltrate the Executor/Death Star" over "Help the Ewoks fight the Stormtroopers"

But yhea. They could try to infiltrate the Executor before the start of the battle, meant to sabotage it. And then, they find out the Imperial Fleet arrived, and they realize ITS A TRAP. And have the choice of trying to send a signal to the Rebel Fleet...

If they dont, then it plays out as normal.

If they do, they are the ones who warn Lando that the shield is still up, and they were the ones who saved the entire Fighter Group.

(Viva Schrodinger's Plot!)

It all really depends on how strongly you are going to adhere to canon. If you don't mind adhering to the movies, then obviously they could take on the role of destroying the shield generators or taking out the Death Star II.

If you do want to remain consistent with the movies, then you want something that will feel spectacular so they don't feel completely overshadowed by the main characters, but they will probably be involved in something "off screen". Here are a few ideas off the top of my head:

Ground combat:

• There is a backup shield generator that must be destroyed along with the main generator that Han is attacking. After the Battle of Yavin debacle, why wouldn't the Empire include some redundancy when protecting their new toy?
• The party is part of the assault on the shield generators but manage to escape capture. While not shown on screen, they are the ones that actually rally the Ewoks and lead the attempt to free the captured rebel force.
• The party is part of the rebel force, everything pretty much plays out as seen, but they take some significant actions of their own while the camera is focused on the heroes (taking out AT-STs, killing hordes of Stormtroopers, etc). They could even have their own speeder bike chase that we never got to see while Luke and Leia were out romping with the initial Scout Troopers that we saw in the film.
• In the chaos of the battle, the party infiltrates an Imperial Star Destroyer and helps the rebels capture it, which represents a significant victory in not only eliminating a threat, but providing the rebels with some sorely-needed firepower to combat the Imperial fleet.

Space combat:

• In the movie, Lando notes that their sensors are being jammed. The PCs are tasked to take out the EW (electronic warfare) ship that is responsible for jamming the entire fleet (possibly another variant of the Imperial Star Destroyer). You could also turn this into a ground-based mission by having the party infiltrate and sabotage the ship instead of going toe-to-toe with it.
• Some sources that I've read mentioned that the Executor had already suffered serious damage and the A-Wing crashing into the bridge was just the final straw. Let the players be the ones that take out some of the critical systems leading up to that climactic event.
• The party flies starfighters into the Death Star II core along with the Millennium Falcon and keep the TIEs off of Lando and Wedge so they can destroy the battle station.
• We only ever see Lando and Nien Nunb on the Millennium Falcon but from what we know of it, it makes sense for there to be other crew members. The party could man other roles like engineering and gunners inside the famous ship. Lando just steers the ship around but it is the players that actually deliver victory to the rebels (including being the ones to fire that salvo of concussion missiles to destroy the Death Star).
• After the Death Star II is destroyed, the party helps force a withdrawal of the Imperial fleet, which otherwise still outnumbers the rebels and presents a significant threat.
• The players help evacuate a destroyed rebel ship to save as many people as possible (which could tie into my suggestion above with infiltrating and taking over a star destroyer, why not find a new use for a full crew).
• Instead of the party being directly involved in combat and making rolls to destroy TIE fighters, make them commanders. This involves some abstraction and possibly improvising a mass combat system, but they could make significant decisions during the battle without getting bogged down in the weeds with destroying one specific fighter out of hundreds.
• Since the rebels don't realize this is a trap, they want to create a distraction to keep the Imperial fleet busy elsewhere. Have them lead a sortie against a major Imperial outpost to draw attention there while the rest of the fleet engages the Death Star at Endor. This does have the significant downside of cutting the players out of the battle itself, however. You might offer it as one of several roles that Alliance High Command needs and see what they gravitate towards.

Maybe they fly in an attack wing and need to destroy/board and sabotage Interdictor-class cruisers so the fleet can hyper out in case the battle sours.

Battle of Endor is nice and all, but don't forget their was the concurrent Battle of Sullust. It was a secondary diversion, but was apparently a formidable enough fleet for Vader to ask about.

Battle of Endor is nice and all, but don't forget their was the concurrent Battle of Sullust. It was a secondary diversion, but was apparently a formidable enough fleet for Vader to ask about.

I always thought Sullust was merely the staging point for the Endor Attack. And the Emperor wanted to draw the maximum number of Rebels at Endor rather than pre-emptively strike at them.

It was an attempt to draw the Imperial Navy away from Endor, although it didn't take. It's not clear if Ackbar's attack fleet is the same one mentioned by Vader or not (which I think it isn't), but if the Alliance divided their forces, it stands to reason that something happened over Sullust. Enough, at least, to make an interesting adventure out of it, and enough for a group of PCs to partake in the finale of the OT without treading on the toes of giants, so to speak.