So, I've run two games with this system before, and both of them were seriously fun for everyone involved. The main problem was that everybody eventually started feeling like we were just running around in circles, and I realized that unlike D&D or a few 1920s and dieselpunk supernatural thriller games that I've run, I just seem to have a lot of trouble coming up with a good overarching plot for my Star Wars games. Sure, we'd have fun running around smuggling goods and killing thugs, but at the end of the day none of us could come up with a theme for the story, no big, main story that would play out around our exploits.

So, in hopes of getting help for a future game, I figured I'd ask here for some ideas I could use as the seed to start an entertaining and gripping overarching campaign story that can run above and beyond the day-to-day jobs (kind of like how the big goal in the movies was always to 'defeat the empire', but other scenarios like dealing with Jabba still came up between those times that the main plot moved forwards). I'd prefer to keep force-users to a minimum - my players have asked for them before, but I don't have the rulebooks for them and I'd rather do something a bit different than a party of overpowered Jedi-wannabes ala West End Games style... hehe.

Star Wars isn't sci fi, it's space opera. Really with a little tweaking there isn't any reason you can't port your D&D or diselpunk campaign stories right over to it.

My advice for an over-arching storyline is to plot out the first few adventures (either homebrew or published) that you plan to take the players through and Next step is.... build the story with your players. Find out their character backstories and use that as your reasoning.

Ex.) The Pilot is an imperial dropout and wanted for assaulting an officer.... Makes all cargo inspections extra tense and if the player plays it right, it will drive the others to ask why.

Ex.) The Doctor is on the run because he is hiding from his shameful past where he let his village die of Nexxu Fever while working for Doctors without galactic borders.

Then there's the typical (Bounty on their heads, Working for Hutt X). These can all drive a campaign and get the players involved.

Heck depending on characters you have, they could be a swoop bike pilot and his loyal (if somewhat questionable) pit crew on a racing tour seeking glory.

The characters ARE the story. Let them tell it.

The MAIN idea is to develop them as characters and always go back to that. Is their main goal in life to fly around in a freighter smuggling stuff, eating space food, and sleeping in flat, hard beds all of the time? Wow, that's the life!

What did Luke want to do with his life? See the stars, battle the Empire, know his father, learn the force, make something of himself.

Obi-wan? Wanted to restart this thing, confront the Empire, pass things along, save the rebellion.

Look at how Han Solo developed. A loner, in it for money, pay off his debts, had a choice to go or stay, chose friends over money.

Hopes? Dreams?

Character issues? I have one player who always seemed to degenerate into a schizo-paranoid, murderhobo loner no matter what type of character he played. For him, I always have to give his character moral choices, opportunities to do-the-right-thing, and npc 'friends'. Big, loner-type? Throw in an adoring, weakling sidekick. He'll have to warm up and move towards developing attachments like Han did. Most recently, I gave his female character an older gentleman who, in her background, she owed him for helping her escape a deadly situation. He adores her like a daughter. However, he also has an extremely jealous, female companion who hates her.

One problem we've had in the past is 'planet-hopping'. That is, each adventure or two going to another planet or system. Even with a smuggler storyline, it still boiled down to the same thing.....beat up some thugs, survive, repeat. The variety that did exist came by utilizing new rules (Like space combat or brawling rules), not story plots. I used to sarcastically call it 'Shadowrun in space'.

Maybe they want to be their own boss? Maybe, retire to Naboo? Return home and show dad you're a success?

Maybe start as a boring, mundane smuggling crew whose boss is killed but they found a clue to a big treasure? They have precious little to start with and need to work to acquire resources to hunt down the clues.

Hogan's Heroes theme where they are prisoners who escape and live on the run? Their pursuer is somehow personally embarrassed by the escape so it's only him they evade, not the entire Empire (Or, whomever).

Hutt palace workers who become embroiled in a plot to kill their boss. the boss has something valuable to both the Rebels and Empire. They get approached by both.
Flee to the Outer Rim (for various reasons) to work for an exploration company searching for the legendary Planet-X, which is said to be worth trillions in mineral rights and technology. The company's really a front for something else.

For me, the simpler the better. My campaign is really only about the Empire taking control of a planet and stealing its resources. But in there is a ton of great opportunity for personal impact and sacrifice. If you flesh out the NPCs from session 1, and make them matter to the PCs, as the game progresses they might decide to do something about the Empire's impact on these people. Also the enemies can slowly change scope as the PCs gather more clues. For example, in my current campaign, at first it was just local "thugs" disrupting the PC's friend's operations. These thugs had their own nemesis leaders to be dealt with in various ways. But clues were gathered to suggest that the scope is larger than local thugs, they were simply hired as a planet-wide onslaught on certain resource owners. Intersperse that with basic smuggling runs and other activities, and, well...we've been going 3 years now and the real adversaries are only now becoming apparent.

Basically there are two facets:

1. A simple overarching plot. Avoid the galactic scale, it's already been done in the movies. The real heroes are those unsung people who think globally, but act locally.

2. NPCs, both allies and adversaries, that mean something to the PCs. They can be friends from "high school", street buddies from the "bad times", or fellow former soldiers belonging to a disbanded platoon...basically anything that promote allegiance and loyalty, or hatred and vengeance.

I try to follow the lead of the best 80's-era comics: bring a main plot (let's call it Plot A) to the forefront (which may be tied to a single character or the group as a whole), with a couple of subplots (Plot B & Plot C) bubbling in the background (each also possibly tied to a single character or the group as a whole). When Plot A reaches its resolution, Plot B moves to the fore, while Plot D slides into the background, and so on, and so on...

So far, Plot A has just been my group doing smuggling and other jobs, establishing the nominal status quo. One of those recurring smuggling jobs Is about to come to the fore, bringing a lot of new information with it and leading to the resolution of Plot A. At the same time, one of the PC's has been the center of Plot B, as she searches for a fabled treasure. It's moving closer to the fore as she's looped the rest of the group in, and offered them a cut if they help her.

Rogueranger1993, what is the style of play that your players prefer? Are they looking for the tramp freighter crew trying to keep the bills paid, or do they want to fight the good fight against the Empire?

-Nate

From what we've done in the past, it seems they enjoy a little of both. I know that they enjoyed playing the crew of a tramp freighter/smuggler, and there were several missions where they stuck it to the empire that they seriously enjoyed. I've recently started to considered a campaign in which they start off as a tramp crew for a while, then later get roped into the rebellion as privateers (like Han Solo), fighting the empire in a specific sector of space while taking on cargoes as a side job to make ends meet, though I'm unsure how solid such an idea would prove to be in practice. Thoughts?

Pick a story you like. I think Dark Matter/Jason Bourne is a good idea, they come to from carbon freezing with amnesia and everyone after them. There's LOTRs, a team trying to find an enormously powerful Sith artifact and see it destroyed. There's any cop drama, plain old honest cops stuck with Imperial govt trying to do their job. There's monster flicks, a group of jedi wanna be exiles and inquisitors working together to stop some Force vampire. I think the trap GMs fall into is trying to duplicate the plot/theme of the movies.

From what we've done in the past, it seems they enjoy a little of both. I know that they enjoyed playing the crew of a tramp freighter/smuggler, and there were several missions where they stuck it to the empire that they seriously enjoyed. I've recently started to considered a campaign in which they start off as a tramp crew for a while, then later get roped into the rebellion as privateers (like Han Solo), fighting the empire in a specific sector of space while taking on cargoes as a side job to make ends meet, though I'm unsure how solid such an idea would prove to be in practice. Thoughts?

What you describe is similar to my group's status quo.

They are a freighter/smuggler crew, but have an arrangement with a local Rebel cell. The Rebel cell has a cover that they are a Blackwater-style private paramilitary group. The cell provides the group with free hangar space in their facility, in exchange for the group occasionally doing jobs for them that might otherwise expose the cell's cover.

I find that it works quite well. It allows for pure EotE sessions, and for sessions up against the Empire.

Good points, all. After further thought, I've decided to try setting the campaign in a specific area of space, rather than traipsing all over the galaxy. This still allow players to hop between planets, and they can of course make the odd trip to another sector of space, but for the most part I'll try to keep them within the defined area. Hopefully this will allow the players to become intimately familiar with a number of places and people, giving more chances for me to pull them into meaningful events. The current setting I'm planning for places this sector in the area between Hutt Space and the Corporate Sector.

I'm also liking the idea of a campaign in which the party starts off as a down-and-out tramp freighter crew just trying to make ends meet. I'm strongly considering NOT starting them with a ship, and instead throwing them together in a bad situation from which they have to work upwards and then buy or steal their first ship. The hope is that doing so will attach more sentimental value to their first vessel, since they will have actually earned it rather than just acquiring it at the beginning of the first session. A second opinion would be welcome, though.

After that, keep the busy trying to make a living before throwing them into a job for a local rebel cell, then running with it from there as they slowly become more involved with the Rebellion and the fight against the empire.

Starting in jail is still one of my favs.

Minos Cluster - campaign all in one spot. So is Operation : Elrood.

The beginner game adventure Escape from Mos Shuuta ends with the PCs stealing a ship.

From what we've done in the past, it seems they enjoy a little of both. I know that they enjoyed playing the crew of a tramp freighter/smuggler, and there were several missions where they stuck it to the empire that they seriously enjoyed. I've recently started to considered a campaign in which they start off as a tramp crew for a while, then later get roped into the rebellion as privateers (like Han Solo), fighting the empire in a specific sector of space while taking on cargoes as a side job to make ends meet, though I'm unsure how solid such an idea would prove to be in practice. Thoughts?

Sounds good, but seems transparent. As if they'll see these npc's as Rebel agents from a mile away. I'm not saying to not use that plot, but just disguise it a bit. The obvious plots are always betray the Hutts, help the Rebels, and fight the Empire. For example, in my current campaign the group is working for an operation (similar to your down-and-out tramp freighter crew). One job they'll get is to salvage a lost prototype starfighter. Part of the job will be the search, and then they will find it. Now, the ship will be a TIE fighter. There will be a pilot there with the hidden ship. This is where it can go either way. The Pilot can be a Rebel spy who stole it, and he'll play coy with the group because he doesn't know who they are working for. The thing is, the GROUP does not know who they are REALLY working for. Now, the pilot could just as easily be Imperial....works both ways. In both cases, the Pilot knows that both sides are coming for the ship. As they are there, they are radioed or make contact with a 3rd group that is coming for the ship. So, one way or another, one group is unknowingly working for the Rebels, one for the Empire, but neither knows which is which. It may be up to the Pilot to convince them, or lie to them. In the end, stromtroopers show up to shoot everyone, friend and foe alike. The group may not really sort this out until several episodes down the road. IMO, much better than a linear plotline of smuggling for the Rebellion.

Great idea, Duros, and that was already going along with my general line of thinking. My plan was to have them start working under a 'boss' of sorts, then have the rebels deal with them through shady middlemen and seemingly ordinary business deals - only when some major event or slip-up occurs will the players slowly begin to uncover the existence of these rebels who are hiring them from behind the scenes.

I also planned to make the overall Imperial threat a slow, creeping thing that starts off as seemingly mundane issues like gang wars, industrial espionage, etc., but then slowly escalate it all as the Empire begins moving to tighten their control of the sector. Most of it will be happening behind the scenes, and the players will only uncover clues to such actions early on through diligent, strenuous efforts in investigation or detail hunting - if they don't, the plan is that the events will only begin to reveal themselves much later on.

After further thought, I've decided to try setting the campaign in a specific area of space, rather than traipsing all over the galaxy.

In case it's useful: the way I managed this was to make the PC's home planet difficult to reach or get away from. The history was a colony ship that got lost in the various nebulae, dust clouds, and asteroid fields surrounding the planet's system, and crash landed some 300 years BBY. From those humble beginnings they've managed to rebuild a lot of Republic-level technology to the point that 50 years BBY they finally found a series of reliable micro-jumps that let them re-esablish contact with the Republic. The closest Republic planet is Eriadu, and it takes 8-10 jumps +/- failures/successes to get out or in, and I set the cost at about 100cr per jump (Advantages can trim this). Of course once they're at Eriadu they can go anywhere, but so far they've always had a mission and NPCs that need something that precludes them thinking about jumping around too much.

Some day I'm gonna try a bit different campaign, starting something like this: "Airlock doors open in front of you and your execution starts as you are purged into space. Now let's start to tell the tale how you got to this point." (Instead of airlock, it could be "you start to fall towards Sarlacc's open mouth" or something similar, more Star Warsy. Then the idea of campaign is to build a coherent story about why and how PCs were sentenced to death. Basic pacing of this main plotline would be slow, and it would mostly be Lovecraft's cosmic horror ending looming in background. Kind of Munchausen story telling. Of course, if they wouldn't forget the inevitable end, PCs could prepare to it.

But back to OPs problem. I have noticed that often with sandbox campaigns, there are few potential campaign main plotlines which can be grasped. Just look what are the common themes in those separate sessions/missions. Sometimes making the plot line, which stand out, the campaign main plotline requires some kind of suspension of disbelief, but I have learned players are usually eager to seize the plotline, because it helps them to structure event happening around. Also, retconning some event, especially what happened behind the screen, and was never shown to players, can offer many ways to build a metaplot for ongoing campaign. Maybe the minion NPC Bendix the Badguy whose ship PCs blow up at first session didn't die, but has been playing Moriarty and trying to manipulate PCs. Maybe that pirate who tried to rob PCs at the middle of campaign wasn't independent entrepreneur after all, even when he told PCs so. Maybe he worked for Bendix.

Also, think about few possibilities, and drop some hints to players during few sessions, and see about which they are most interested about.

And, as how to build metaplot for new campaign? (I'm really bad at this myself.) Remember, FFGSW is not simulationistic system, but story driven system. Not all need to make perfect sense. Take your favourite movies (scifi, modern, fantasy) and watch them again, especially from following point of view: How could these be modified to happen in space. And then obfuscate and combine plots enough that event are not too obvious to players.

Almost any movies can be modified to space. PCs need to take cursed Sith holocron to mustafar and throw it to lava, stories tell that it can be only destroyed by mustafarian lava. There is a forgotten Jedi school in unknown regions, which former student, turned to darkside tries to conquer. He has splitted his soul to seven artefacts, which must be destoyed before he can be killed. See https://twitter.com/swrpgadventuresfor examples and inspiration. Some of those are really good (YMMV of course). One of the recent favourites of mine: "The PCs find a map in a strange language, mysteriously removed from the programming of all protocol droids built in the last thousand years." And my all time favourite: "A PC's uncle dies; PCs'll inherit his capital ship if they spend 1 night there. At 0:00 hours the ship jumps to hyperspace, going...somewhere..." Nice campaign there. No high scale galactic politics, just finding a way to home.

Remember not all campaigns need to grand and epic. Often it's enough when PCs have a goal (even if it's on personal level) which to go for. "You can do anything, what do you do" is often more paralysing than "you can do nothing, what do you do". What is the ultimate goal of campaign? After doing what PCs are ready to retire and have nothing more to do? Oh, and at least for a moment, totally forget canon and thing totally out of the box.

Sorry, this came out as quite a mess (this message is purely stream of consciousness and I haven't edited this at al). It's 2:35 here now, and I should be sleeping, but our short and sweet session became less short, but more sweet.

Some day I'm gonna try a bit different campaign, starting something like this: "Airlock doors open in front of you and your execution starts as you are purged into space. Now let's start to tell the tale how you got to this point." (Instead of airlock, it could be "you start to fall towards Sarlacc's open mouth" or something similar, more Star Warsy. Then the idea of campaign is to build a coherent story about why and how PCs were sentenced to death. Basic pacing of this main plotline would be slow, and it would mostly be Lovecraft's cosmic horror ending looming in background. Kind of Munchausen story telling. Of course, if they wouldn't forget the inevitable end, PCs could prepare to it.

Cool idea.

I started a session this way once. I began it with a scene where the PCs were in their ship facing down three Z-95 Headhunters. The lead fighter pilot was talking to them over the comms and telling them to surrender.

They would not, of course, so I had them roll initiative. I jotted down their scores, and then...

Cut to two days earlier.

It worked out pretty well. In roughly two days' time, they were in their ship heading somewhere, and that's when those guys intercepted them.

One element that I've been wanting to try is having the PCs work as smugglers, but eventually they discover that their employer is an Imperial agent trying to expose Rebel activity. This comes out when the employer sends them with a cargo of weapons carrying a tracking device, and then sends in the Empire to catch them and the Rebels in the act.

-Nate

One element that I've been wanting to try is having the PCs work as smugglers, but eventually they discover that their employer is an Imperial agent trying to expose Rebel activity. This comes out when the employer sends them with a cargo of weapons carrying a tracking device, and then sends in the Empire to catch them and the Rebels in the act.

-Nate

I may steal this idea from you. Sorry and thank you.

One element that I've been wanting to try is having the PCs work as smugglers, but eventually they discover that their employer is an Imperial agent trying to expose Rebel activity. This comes out when the employer sends them with a cargo of weapons carrying a tracking device, and then sends in the Empire to catch them and the Rebels in the act.

Do one better - the Imperial Agent spares the PCs, so that the Rebels think that they threw the alliance under the bus. Now instead of just being shot at by the Empire, they have to earn the trust of the Rebels again.

Do one better - the Imperial Agent spares the PCs, so that the Rebels think that they threw the alliance under the bus. Now instead of just being shot at by the Empire, they have to earn the trust of the Rebels again.

Oh, that’s cruel!

Snarf!

So cruel, yes... though it certainly sweetens my day if it happens.

One element that I've been wanting to try is having the PCs work as smugglers, but eventually they discover that their employer is an Imperial agent trying to expose Rebel activity. This comes out when the employer sends them with a cargo of weapons carrying a tracking device, and then sends in the Empire to catch them and the Rebels in the act.

Do one better - the Imperial Agent spares the PCs, so that the Rebels think that they threw the alliance under the bus. Now instead of just being shot at by the Empire, they have to earn the trust of the Rebels again.

Desslok. I like the way you think.