So I recently am thinking of future plotlines for my campaign, and one session idea has the PCs, currently working for a powerful hutt, must investigate a new spice processing installation he has on Ylesia. A revolution of the slaves working the plant broke out, and as soon as his men said they had it under control communications went out. He wants them to figure out what happened here and procure any valuables left.

So basically I want the PCs to investigate this abandoned spice plant where a savant Verpine mixed just the right chemicals to turn spice into a weapon that inadvertently turns sentients that inhale it into bloodthristy savages. (Im thinking zombies along the lines of those in World War Z rather than the walking dead)

Now my question is that it is kind of branching away from the lore common in star wars, but do you think it's grounded enough to work? I do like to keep my campaigns as fact checked and accurate to the universe as possible, but is this zombie adventure breaking the rules too much? I would love to hear all your thoughts.

Thanks

How about the rakghoul disease? It's already in swotor and both kotor games. They're basically victims of a virus created by the ancient sith to turn normal people into sithspawn via bio warfare.

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Rakghoul

Edit: to be clear there are no rules yet for how rakghouls work so you can basically make them your zombies

IMO, the Zombie thing would be great as a Halloween episode, but outside of that I think it’s a bit far afield compared to the rest of the Space Fantasy style that I think is more typical for Star Wars.

Now, if you didn’t flavor it as Zombies, but instead focussed on the medical/pharmaceutical side of the equation, so the result was kind of like a super-enhanced combination of PCP, methamphetamine, crack, LSD, Scopolamine, heroin, Ketamine, and whatever other drugs you want to throw into the mix, all of which resulted in people becoming super-strong, super-fast, super-aggressive, and susceptible to mind control.

That could work, but I would think you would need to focus on the fact that this might be a temporary condition but which would have horrible withdrawal symptoms, and/or that there might be a cure or treatment that could be developed, but only if the doctors have a proper supply of patients.

But I would think that would be a fine line to walk, so that the story didn’t quickly devolve into zombies that want to eat your brains out, etc….

How about the rakghoul disease? It's already in swotor and both kotor games. They're basically victims of a virus created by the ancient sith to turn normal people into sithspawn via bio warfare.

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Rakghoul

Then there could be a “cure”, but maybe that’s actually worse than the disease?

How about the rakghoul disease? It's already in swotor and both kotor games. They're basically victims of a virus created by the ancient sith to turn normal people into sithspawn via bio warfare. http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Rakghoul

Then there could be a “cure”, but maybe that’s actually worse than the disease?

Or no cure and the Hutts want you to bring back a sample so they can weaponize it! Make the heroes choose between cash from the Hutts or "the right thing" and taking the sample to scientists to find a cure.

Then the story arc could continue. If they gave the sample to the Hutts they have to save a ship/base/planet the Hutts use it on, and find a cure or evac refugees or something. If they found the cure they have to sneak past the Hutt security to administer the cure and save everyone.

So many branches to take!

Tell me about it. I really like the rakghoul idea, that the hutt secretly had tests being run alongside the spice (this particular hutt would do something like this). But the mixture of certain drugs into a hyper induced state sounds nice too, I'll just have to narrow it down. Thanks all

Hmm. The cure for the Rakghoul disease might come from the Hutts themselves — they are very hardy and resistant to a lot of different types of drugs and diseases.

Makes you wonder how far the Hutts would go to weaponize the disease so that they could make money selling to both sides of that war….

And don't forget the Geonosian brain worms.

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Brain_worm

What i call "a zombie episode" is definetly not something that should be discourages. I sometimes break them out; they are proving to be popular with players as long as they make sense with your overall storyline or your setting.

The zombies should have.. Some consequences. Its not necessarily that you should keep them coming back, just that their why, how, when and where should have interesting answers.

Because as opposed to a TV Zombie apocalypse, the Zs wont remain around permanently, and then your players will have the time and leisure to ask themselves "why".

Also, while the idea above of using the Rakhgoul plague is fan-tastic, i recommend heartily that you do not give away the answers right off the bat. Them knowing that they are going to gather a Rakhghoul sample, and then face monsters, they will put 2 and 2 together in less time than you eill need to calculate your next skill roll.

Remember, Zombies are originally a horror genre. So the mystery, unknowns and claustrophobic environment are your friend. Its about making a great set piece that, which the zombies are a part of.

Remember the Peragus Station from KOTOR2. That was a fantastic piece: everybody's dead Dave, and you wander in the empty space station.. Trying to dicover what happened to everybody.

In that case, it was an Assassin Droid. In your case, it might be the Horde of the Undeads.. Which you hear coming up the corridors.. They will be there in one minute, what do you do?

In my Star Wars campaign, we used the Bando Gora (basically, space zombies from the Jango Fett video game) as a recurring villain. I actually tied the cult in with the Rakghouls as well. Between the two angles, and force users who could control the hordes via Force-enhanced masks that were semi-Sith artifacts, we got to deal with numerous iterations of the problem.

Thanks for the advice everyone, I think I'm going to go with a rakghoul weaponizing program on Ylesia with the cover of a spice processing plant. Something went wrong, and the PCs can either bring the weapon grade rakghoul disease back to the hutt for prestige or help the head Verpine scientist cure it.

Now that I'm thinking about it, what kind of stats would you use for rakghouls? I don't imagine them to be super weak zombie like, maybe low wound thres but high hit power? What do you all think for stats?

I've ran a zombie adventure for halloween before. Went ok.

As for Star Wars lore and zombies, Deathtroopers has a Star destroyer full of them. And wasn't there a sequel?

As for Rakghouls, might want to note that while the Rakghouls themselves can spread the Rakghoul-ism to any species, the artefacts that create them cannot affect Force Sensitives or members of certain non-Human species. You could work a Force Sensitive into the game in that way

I was actually planning on putting in zombies too. They're gonna be jedi brought back to life by the force to act as guardians of an old temple.

At the end of the day if you think it's gonna make for a good plot you should totally try it, there's so much expanded universe stuff that goes against canon it'd make your head spin how crazy some things get. Pretty sure I once saw Vader using force lightning lol

I was actually planning on putting in zombies too. They're gonna be jedi brought back to life by the force to act as guardians of an old temple.

At the end of the day if you think it's gonna make for a good plot you should totally try it, there's so much expanded universe stuff that goes against canon it'd make your head spin how crazy some things get. Pretty sure I once saw Vader using force lightning lol

The one time Vader used Force Lightning was when he was under the effects of the Muur Talisman (which ironically enough is quite important for control of the Rakghouls if I remember correctly