I am attempting to plan out the general potential early components to a fairly open campaign for just a couple players. My expectation is that none of the players will start off playing AoR characters but I would like to expose the players to the general content available from all three systems. There's plenty of premade adventures available already to keep me going for awhile between beginner games and their downloadable content, core rulebooks and GM guides plus the additional longer adventures released for each of the systems. However, all of the AoR themed stuff appears to assume you already have connections to or are part of the rebellion. What I would like are some suggestions people might have for a relatively small adventure which is intended to create initial connections to the rebellion for a group with now AoR players in it to begin with.

My current plan, is to take the EotE beginner game as a starting point. The players are prisoners of Teemo who have just escaped and have to get off the planet in a hurry.. and thus starts the adventure following basically the same encounters, etc.. as the beginner game. It continues with act 1 of Long Arm of the Hutt as they deal with problems on the ship. And in reading the summary of the other acts I see at least one good hook for rebellion ties there. If the Bothan that approaches them is working for the rebellion that is the start of an 'in' for the characters to be contacted for other cases where they may be able to help the rebellion efforts.

Does anyone know of other good existing story tie-ins for non-AoR characters to make their initial contact with the rebellion efforts? Or have other suggestions for a small initial hook and plot that would be good for this purpose? I am expecting I will have either 1 FaD force user and one EotE combatant or 2 FaD force users, but it's hard to tell for sure yet.

My issue with using the Long Arm of the Hutt acts 2 and 3 for this is that it seems like it would be a difficult sell to convince two escaped prisoners to go back to Teemo's palace. Especially hard if this were run immediately after their escape, but it also appears that the adventure plays off the fact that Teemo's palace is currently a bit chaotic after their escape and various other activities through out Mos Shuuta to explain there being some security holes to exploit and get themselves in. Any thoughts on making it seem like a plausible and good idea for the characters to return to the scene of their daring escape?

My first advice would be to listen to your players. Wanting to use the tons of premade adventure is understandable but forcing them in the throat of your players if they dont want is the best way the end up a campaign prematurly. So for your first session, sit down with them and discuss about what kind of story they want to play. The most important thing is to let the players having their choices count and dont force them in a plot that doesnt interest them.

Now assuming your players will follow you no matter what you throw at them, The Onslaught at Arda 1 adventure will easely work with a EoTE group who got caught at the wrong place in the wrong moment depending if the characters really care about finding the spy. If not, then only the first act will work. The Bothan in Long arm of the Hutt is also a good tie to the rebellion. A good mini adventure could be that they met a rebel operative pursued by stormtroopers on a backwater planet. On his dying breath, he ask them to deliver a holodisck of information to a secret base.

Long Arm of the Hutt assume the PC will want revenge on Teemo or at least get rid of him so that the Bounty he place on them will disapear. That the purpose of act 2 and 3. If what they only want to do is go as far as they can hôpping the Hutt forget about them, then you are right, it would be hard to make the PC return to Tatooine

I'm not concerned about the use of premade content. For me they are useful in providing my players with a game to play. They are easily adapted to fit my needs and that works for us. They are excellent adventures and save me a lot of time, which is a premium for me. It is also moot to the actual question at hand.

I'll definitely take a look at Onslaught at Arda I and see how it might be adapted for my needs and if it seems like it would fit in well. My overall goal is to have ways to introduce them to a little bit of each system. Then, once they get a feel for their options and their characters, use some of those tie-ins employed earlier on to present them with various options on what they could do or where they could go and let them decide their course from there. For example, after making some initial contact with the Rebellion they may or may not choose to join. If they don't join directly the contact they make there could still reach out to them at times and ask if they could help him out, and again, the choice is in their hands.. perhaps they will instead follow a tip on a jewel heist, or look into a rumor they uncovered about a lost jedi temple... the key factor is getting initial contacts and sources in place for them to gain these leads and threads from and then see which ones they pull on.

What I tried to say is that your game will be more rewarding if you tie the story to your characters and their actions than just plugging one pre-made adventure after another one. Every module could be use with some tweeking but sometimes it feel forced. I have a hard time imaginating rebel soldiers wanting to rob a jewel. Same thing with a group of lawful jedi wanting to hunt a pirate on behalf of another criminal organization.

Thank you for the suggestions, but that really isn't the part I am concerned about at this point. I will worry about which modules and stories to play as our game progresses. I am more concerned with some interesting potential story arcs for creating some connections with the rebel alliance for characters who may not be part of the alliance or even actively seeking to join it at the current time.

For my part, I would look at motivations of the main characters that the PCs might be interacting with, and then try to figure out how those could be changed to Imperial or Rebel “entanglements”, and how that might change the story.

Only you are likely to know the kinds of things that might motivate your players and their PCs, and depending on what kinds of conversations you have with them, that might help you figure out how other existing modules might be adaptable to your requirements.

Motivations are the key. Everything else flows from that starting point.

The Minos Campaign. The party would take totally 'legit' jobs from clients that were Alliance agents. You can make one of the contacts that gives out jobs an Alliance contact. The initial few jobs aren't obvious, but on the third or fourth they'll start getting hints and offers to join the Alliance. Every second or third job/adventure could be from the Alliance.

They could owe Obligation to two or more people, with one being the Alliance agent and the others being whoever. The Alliance Op could be hiring the group to eventually recruit them, or just to handle 'problems'. If you want the party to join the Alliance, you can make him affable, or more neutral if you just want the option.

Not sure if that's what you're looking for.

One easy and genre-appropriate way to get your characters working with the Rebellion is to have them get captured by the Empire for some crime or another, then have them team up with Rebel agents to escape. The old WEG module Starfall, featuring an escape from a damaged Star Destroyer in mid-battle, might be worth a look.

These are some excellent suggestions. Any little story hooks are good. A good example being the Bothan in Long Arm of the Hutt.. if you spin it so that taking Teemo out is something the Alliance needs done and this Bothan is slipping info to the PCs who already have a score to settle with Teemo that creates a useful initial tie in.. later maybe that Bothan contacts them about other work, say a listening post they could use some people to infiltrate.

The escape from the Star Destroyer and teaming up with some Rebels to do it could also be a good hook. I will have to take a look at the Starfall module.

And I totally agree with you BradKnowles that overall the player Motivations are key to the ongoing story or how to bring them into adventures and the like. In this case I'm looking for smaller pieces that are more general just to get that initial contact and trust in place that could lead to the Alliance offering other work, what that work is would definitely need to play off motivations.

Since you seem to have chosen AoR to be the primary setting of your campaign, you could also start them directly in the rebellion if they agree. Any special reasons why you absolutly want your players to be recruited by the Alliance in game?

They wants to run a story about regulars being recruited, because most AoR stories begin after the characters have been recruited somehow. They're asking for hooks and suggestions on how to make that happen.

Yes, vilainn6 has missed the point of the request and topic. The idea is not for an AoR campaign at all. The intention is to run a more general game with characters from any of the books and likely they will not be AoR characters or have initial ties to the Alliance. However, I am hoping to provide the opportunity for these characters to explore themes from all of the systems. It will be up to the players if they will follow those opportunities or not but if they don't start with the ties to the Alliance then it makes for a bit of a challenge to get them into that content. So the goal of this topic is to brainstorm some ideas to create some links to the alliance that can be used to provide them with the opportunities to take on work for the Alliance.

Sorry if I missed your point ShiKage. What I understand of your first post is that you want to run a AoR campaign, that your players will play 2 force users, that you want to include the 3 setting in your campaign and that you wanted hooks to make your players join the Alliance.

What about your players seeking the Alliance by themselves instead of putting the rebel agent on their path? Maybe finding a rebel agent or recruiter is super hard. Maybe they must pass many trial before being accepted.

For a longer term process...

Introduce an NPC to the group who has a fairly mundane job. A mechanic, a doctor, an arms dealer... Have the PCs employ/visit/buy from the same guy a couple of times. After a few times meeting with the PCs, he takes an interest in what they do. If he's a mechanic or a doctor, he wants to engage in small talk about where all the damage came from that he's constantly fixing. If he's something like an arms dealer, he small talks them about their adventures.

Secretly this guy is a recruiter for the Rebellion. He's interested in the PCs and is gauging them for the Alliance; it's a vetting process. If he's satisfied with what he hears, he offers them a fairly straight-forward job for pay. A supply run. Or a theft. Or even a hit, depending on what sort of people he figures the PCs are. However, he doesn't tell them who it's really for. He doesn't tell them he's with the Rebellion. He's turning them into assets.

Upon successful completion of the first job, he will simply tell them there're always more credits and jobs like that. After a couple jobs, he might come clean. Or it might slip out. Or the PCs could simply discover it during one of the jobs. Then they'll know who the guy works for and they'll know who they're working for if they accept more missions from him.

That's when they have some decisions to make.

For a longer term process...

Introduce an NPC to the group who has a fairly mundane job. A mechanic, a doctor, an arms dealer... Have the PCs employ/visit/buy from the same guy a couple of times. After a few times meeting with the PCs, he takes an interest in what they do. If he's a mechanic or a doctor, he wants to engage in small talk about where all the damage came from that he's constantly fixing. If he's something like an arms dealer, he small talks them about their adventures.

Secretly this guy is a recruiter for the Rebellion. He's interested in the PCs and is gauging them for the Alliance; it's a vetting process. If he's satisfied with what he hears, he offers them a fairly straight-forward job for pay. A supply run. Or a theft. Or even a hit, depending on what sort of people he figures the PCs are. However, he doesn't tell them who it's really for. He doesn't tell them he's with the Rebellion. He's turning them into assets.

Upon successful completion of the first job, he will simply tell them there're always more credits and jobs like that. After a couple jobs, he might come clean. Or it might slip out. Or the PCs could simply discover it during one of the jobs. Then they'll know who the guy works for and they'll know who they're working for if they accept more missions from him.

That's when they have some decisions to make.

This is a good idea for the long term and could definitely be a lot of fun as well as potentially helping to fill some of the basic roles (like downtime medic or ship mechanic) that may exist in a small group. Though it does open up the question still of what makes the Alliance take an interest in them in the first place.

Sorry if I missed your point ShiKage. What I understand of your first post is that you want to run a AoR campaign, that your players will play 2 force users, that you want to include the 3 setting in your campaign and that you wanted hooks to make your players join the Alliance.

What about your players seeking the Alliance by themselves instead of putting the rebel agent on their path? Maybe finding a rebel agent or recruiter is super hard. Maybe they must pass many trial before being accepted.

Again, AoR is not at ALL the primary campaign story. It may be that the players never choose to do anything for the Alliance and that is perfectly fine. The question is ways in which to get a simple tie in and potential contact to offer them the opportunity to get involved with the Alliance and see what they do with that. If, on the otherhand, they choose right from the start that they would like to take an active role in the rebellion then that makes it easy to handle. If they make characters from other aspects of the game.. maybe two force users.. maybe a force user and a fringer tech.. then my goal is to be able to have a small and not overpowering "in" for them.. a way to kind of have someone say: hey, you could be a big help to us.. if you want. But not force them into AoR at all. I want the game to be open and I want them to feel they can choose to pursue any number of different paths.

My campaign did a year of Edge of the Empire before moving into Age of Rebellion. We used heavily modified versions of the AoR Beginner games "Takeover at Whisper Base" and "Operation: Shadowpoint" to make the transition. This was for characters with 800+ xp, but with a few tweaks here and there, everything fit seamlessly with our custom adventures.

As for the storyline we established, the party started out as mercenaries, but got more involved with the Rebellion as time went on. Finally, after a harrowing "season finale" encounter with COMPNOR, the group officially partnered with the Rebellion.

Here's a clip of that transition.

@verdantsf, so for the initial Whisper Base adventure you had the rebellion hire them as a team of mercs then basically?

Yup! Over the course of the Edge of the Empire campaign, the PCs became friends with Renci Tosh, a Rebel introduced in Rendezvous at Ord Mantell, a WEG adventure modified by forum member Donovan Morningfire for EotE. After that adventure, they received missions here and there from Renci, which helped build trust between them, especially The Laws of War.

By the time we got to Takeover at Whisper Base, the transition was natural. It surprised quite a few members, but everyone agreed that it made sense. Of course, now everyone is expecting another big transition to Force and Destiny next year. We'll see .

This is a good idea for the long term and could definitely be a lot of fun as well as potentially helping to fill some of the basic roles (like downtime medic or ship mechanic) that may exist in a small group. Though it does open up the question still of what makes the Alliance take an interest in them in the first place.

Ah, but it's the recruiter that takes an interest in them in the first place, not the Alliance. By engaging the group in small talk and feeling them out for things like their morality and capability and such, he is figuring out if the group is suited for the Alliance and in what capacity they're suited for. So he runs them on some missions himself (for the Alliance). And when he thinks they are ready to move ahead, he introduces them to another guy in the Rebellion who has other missions for them to do.

The Alliance is not a machine like the Empire. The Alliance is individuals and small pockets of individuals trying to make a difference against the juggernaut of the Empire. There's no hard and fast protocol for bringing people in -- it's people-oriented; it's organic; it's trust.