Hi all

Soon i'll be starting with a new project: a big campaign, meaning: over 16 players over many sessions.
Each session will be with 4 players. After each sessions the groups can organise themself to get the best party for a certain mission.

The set up is: players are part of the Rebellion (either as military using duty, or as e civilian using obligation, or as a force sensitive users using morality). They'll start out in a rebellion outpost, and with succeeding in missions, investing credits and/or XP, they'll be able to build the base in something bigger: eventually the main base of the rebel alliance.

When they make the base bigger, they'll get access to for example the armory. From there they'll be able to buy cheaper weapons (from what's in stock, because this will change regulary).

Also, what one group or player decides in one mission/session, can have an impact on the rest of the group. Like telling the wrong guy where the base is, or where to find player x because jabba the hutt was asking about him. They will also have to face the dilemma of investing in their own character or making the base bigger and helping the group.

And so on, and so on

This is just a fraction of how this is all set up, bit it gives you an idea.u

So what i like from you is, ideas on how to improve the base. What should be available when? Maybe your idea of the base-building-tree.

What kind of missions would you run?

And any other idea that you have.

I have to build a lot, and i like to get all ideas to make the best campaign ever

For the Republic!

And tnx for all and any idea!

Let's take a couple of steps back, shall we.

Sixteen players? As in a One next to a Six?

Are you MAD!?

Okay, I may be short sighted and unambitious, but I'd love to see how you are going to coordinate the actions between 4 PC groups.

I did run a game with a fantasy setting about 20 years ago with two separate groups and that was a chore! (IIRC it was 10 players in two groups of 5). So similar experience? Maybe?

So for clarification, how often are you meeting? How long is each session? Where are you meeting? Do you have a contingency for when the groups are in the same place in game?

Do you really have 16 players lined up for this ambitious project?

As for base creation, there was an awesome thread related to this subject last week. I'm hoping that one of the really technically savvy contributors can link that thread here, because that is a must read for you (IMHO).

In short, let your players figure this stuff out. Do they want to keep listening to the NPC's grouse about having to eat uncooked E-Rats* all the time so that they can install an Ion Cannon, or are they going to chance it and put together a Dining Facility first?

* - You might think that "E-Rats" stands for "Emergency" but you would be oh so mistaken. Nope, that stands for Eriadu Rats. Sushi anyone?

Yes i am mad.i am even running a cthulhu and pathfinder campaign on the side.

We have around 16 players. Most of them i know from other rpgs i ran or fromto local game shop.

Each session will be around 5 to 6 hours.

Normal missions will take this long and they get back to base.

If it is a longer mission and it will take more sessions than they will have to sticj with the same group untill finished. But usually not longer than 2 sessions.

Players can leave or join at any moment since there are many rebels that can start an adventure at the base. Players can even make multiple characters to play within different sessions.

Basicly it isxa campaign but consisting of multiple one shots. There is the main mission that can be played when the base levels up. These are the two things that holds the group together: the main campaign and the base building.

If players are at the same place as another players character that is not playing than they can interact with him/her but not as much as kidnapping or killing. Thats a house rule.

Games will be played at the local game shop or at my place.

If you play star wars you gave to embrace it. It is a huge galaxy with many inhabitants

Any ideas on missions?

It will be mainly sandbox but i need to prepare a little bit

Sorry for the typos.. phone is awkward

Just my thoughts:

Dig back. A lot of older WEG and WotC stuff might be a good source of inspiration, if not outright plagiarism. Keeping up with 16 players is going to be quite a task so being able to do something like pull an Instant Adventure and modify the story a bit to fit your campaign will save you hours of prep work. When the player's let slip where their base is it'll save you a lot of time to just do something like mod the Isis Coordinates instead of trying to cook up your own story from scratch about how the players need to stop an imperial scout team from reporting back.

Likewise look at stuff like Desperate Allies, Hideouts and Strongholds, and the death star tech manual for ideas on base building. While the numbers aren't all useful, the fluff is when it comes to the base building. Allowing the players to do things like have to choose between a solar array, a fossil fuel burning generator, or a quadex reactor can give you adventure options, goals, and rewards. It also does a nice job of redefning what a base needs to be. While something like Echo is kinda the default, there's nothing that says your base can't be a fortified asteroid, or a repurposed crashed starship, or a bunch of prefabricated hab domes on the bottom of the ocean. Each of these has options that will make it a better, and worse option as a base.

Think less sandbox, and more walled garden. Just letting the players go willy-nilly means the game won't go anywhere. Sit down and figure out where you want to go with the overall campaign. Do you want it to end with the players launching out and liberating a planet after the D-star II blows? Do you want the base to have to be evaced and a new one established with whatever the players can carry? Once you've got the broad strokes sorted and a basic plan laid out, you can go back an laydown modular adventure ideas that can give the players choice (or the illusion of choice) over the finer details. It doesn't matter if the players decide to run the Jakku Sidestep mission, or the Rhen Vhar Gambit, or full out Operation Elrood, because you can walk in knowing how each is going to affect the campaign and the following mission block. You'll probably want to make a kind of flowchart similar to Mass Combat, showing how each adventure option will progress the larger story.

So like:

A-Base needs power

1. Ord Mantell Recovery - Fission Core (Easy, Mission unlikely to be noticed by empire, but base power core will be detectable from space)
2. Davenport Gateway theft - Quadex core (Hard, Mission will be noticed by empire, but base will not be detected from space)
3. Nar Shadda Sunburn - Solar Array (Moderate, Mission will be completely undetected, and only detectable form space with visual scanners, but Gorba the Hutt will demand he use the base to refuel smugger ships)

B- Loose ends

If Ord Mantell Recovery -> Go to Meltdown (Players need to acquire cooling rods from a Pre-Clone War battlefield without crossing the Corporate Sector operator running salvage here and before the target hulk is reduced in a molecular furnace)

If Davenport -> Go to Proving Ground (Players are waylaid on a jungle planet, a unit specializing in field testing new weapons follows them from davenport, they must hold out until the heavy lift transport arrives)

If Nar Shadda -> Go to Creative Solutions (Players are on a Blue Milk run for supplies when Imperial Customs detects Spice hidden aboard the ship. The players must figure out why their empty ship is registering as a spice runner on sensors.)

And the thing is you can repurpose these to keep the flow without totally ditching your prep work:

Example:

If Creative Solutions-> Go to Meltdown (Players need to acquire a clean freighter component for their ship from an orbital salvage yard without crossing the Corporate Sector operator and before the target hulk is reduced in a molecular furnace)

TheFugs,

Kool. Nice to know that you've embraced your madness. Sometimes its better to embrace insanity rather than fight it tooth and nail, especially if you're bound to get to the same destination regardless.

Ghostofman has some great foundation ideas to start you off.

I'd also recommend (at first) figuring out where this alleged base is going to be. If need be assign the team to a "sector" with minimal resources.

I just had an idea. You have four groups and you could send each group out to investigate four prospective unique base locations. Literally, start with the Galaxy Map, pick four planets and thumbnail the four locations and insert a cool side mission.

Each group would then present a recommendation for their site and then let each player figure out, democratically, where they want to initially set up.

Then, let the base building begin.

As far as what you would need for a base . . .

1) A landing facility and hanger.

2) A place to rest.

3) Storage; General and Perishable (Food), Hazardous (Munitions).

4) A place to eat.

5) A sensor array.

6) Help me out folks. What else will they need up front?

I also imagine that a lot of the beginning missions will center around acquisition and logistics. Building Materials are an obvious choice but so will be the three "B's" of battle: Beans, Band-aids, & Bullets. Or for your Star Wars campaign; Bantha, Bacta, & Bombs.

Its getting late, but if this is pointing you in the right direction, this might be enough of a foundation for us to start.

Also if you can point us at a region of space, we should be able to get you creative mission profiles based on what is in the neighborhood.

Also, what are going to be listed among the PC's assets? (Ships, weapons, vehicles). Knowing what is available would be keen. "I mean if only we had a Holocaust Cloak and a Wheelbarrow . . ."

First of all: if you're from belgium, and this looks kinda like what you are going to play within a few weeks, stop reading you **** =)

Great stuff so far

The first 3 sessions i am going to run are going to be telling the story of how the players found the rebel base.

Like one sessions starts where they wake up with a headache just to notice that they are being held captive by slavers; next to them sits another person who, if rescued, gets them to the rebel base.

The base itself is far behind the legend. The base is merely an outpost with fatigued rebels.

I was thinking to let the story start after the battle of Yavin, but with a worse outcome for the rebels.

- I like the idea of options: we need power; our scouts/leaders/..; think this are the options with the possible negative effects. So I'll be implementing that. Thanks. And i can indeed reuse not played missions.

- The location of the base: i have no idea yet to where it will be. Any thoughts of what rim will be best?

- For rewards: I wont give them much credits as a reward, although i'll give them the possibility to go to the cantina in the base, and choose high risk/big reward missions for xtra cash. But they'll also need to put credits in the base as a group to 'level it up'. If they succeed in missions for the rebel fleet for instance, they'll get access to a few starfighters, and so on. Rather than let them buy evertything themself. Also weapons and armor: they can buy it in the galaxy, but for a high price. If they build a bigger armory, they'll get access to rare and cheaper stuff.

The big problem for me is indeed the treebuilding. From where do i start and if they build A, what options will there be next to build.
For example:
They can start of with missions for de Jedi Council, Ministry of supply, Ministry of Education, ...

Jedi Council missions will eventually lead to the ability to make lightsabers

Supply missions: Armory level 1, after that specialisations between weapons, armor, attachments, ...

Eduations will lead to special items, new recruits, high priority missions, ...

The overall big campaign will look a bit like this:

- First all is fine, they are building the base with the base-building missions

- Than, on a mission, they'll find a rogue imperial engineer. He is giving them high priority data (like the building of another death star for example)

- When they'll go out and see what's going on at the imperial base, they'll find that they are building something special (to be decided)

- Probably they'll start planning for an invasion, only to find out that the engineer was a spy, and their base is now under attack

- They'll have to evacuate what they can (they'll have an easier job if they invested in better defense systems, instead for better weapons for themself, ...) and than they'll have to find a new base

This will be act 1/start of act 2

Hope it's a little bit clear what i wrote, i just woke up, all is blurry ;-)

Starting with Location options.

Galactic North is where the Corporate Sector is located. This area will be dominated by corporate controlled worlds. There are a lot of corporate abuses and plenty of opportunities to mete out righteous indignation. Also, finding less scrupulous corporate opportunists might be easier for acquiring needed equipment and supplies.

Galactic East is where you'll find Hutt Space. There are a lot of autonomous systems, but the dominate factions are Hutt Gangsters. There's lots of trade and Hutt Space, though expensive and dangerous, has everything that a fledgling rebel will need. There are also going to be Alliance friendly ports available to and this area is bookended by two major trade routes back into the core. Based on your description, I think this is where you may opt to start your campaign based on the fact that they're captured by slavers.

Galactic South is where Hoth & Bespin are located. This area seems more settled and a "normal" Imperial presence will be more apparent. If you are looking for a more traditional Star Wars feeling campaign, this area might work well too. This area will feature lots of autonomous worlds but Imperial Fleets will be readily available.

There's the raw data. My recommendation is an previously uncharged world in the area of R-11-12 or S 11-12. This area of space seems pretty clear and is close to Toydaria and is a mere three sectors south of Kashyyyk

P-13 also looks good as it houses no named systems. (Keep in mind that each of these squares houses thousands of star systems).

My next question is, "What type of world is this base located on?" This decision may drive base building and maintenance requirements. Obviously the more kind the system the easier it will be to develop the base.

Options and thoughts:on base locations:

- Idealyc Temperate world? No. Any planet like this would already be colonized.

- Barren sand Desert world.

- Barren Arctic world. (Yeah, I'm brain storming as much as anything).

- Broken rocky world (lots of caves)!

- Water world? (No, that was a horrible movie).

- Large rocky asteroid?

- Wandering Rogue Planet found between systems. (Basically a lifeless rock in space).

- Swamp world? Problem is you'll end up building a base and it'll sink into the swamp . . .

- Rocky Mountainous world.

Great stuff. I think hutt space is the best because it will also give more dangers from the gangsters and can be the reason why prices are so high so they need to start building that base to get better deals and find a way to trade with the coorporate sector..

I was thinking jungle and caves because this can give many options when they have to defend the base. And who knows what else is lurking in the jungle.

Great stuff so far, keep it coming )

Rocky planet with lots of caves and Jungles.

Food and water will be a prime issue. Jungles usually develop on poor agrarian areas. Plus Jungles usually are home to several apex predators. That means lots of imported foodstuff. Good news is that food is cheap and not very bulky, but teams will need to pick up food periodically. Not a big issue, but it will require visits to high traffic trade areas where side issues will likely arise.

As for water, the good news is that it will be plentiful. Bad news is that you'll need water purification and water processing equipment. That will need specific replacement parts and chemicals, but again an easily and readily available supply should be available for trade on most worlds and won't raise too many eyebrows.

Caves will make nice initial shelter, but Apex predators will make them dangerous to occupy at first, but these natural caves wont necessarily be shaped appropriate for the Rebel's needs. And that means you'll need mining equipment to craft new rooms to suit your needs.

I've got other commitments and need to think more about how to make these missions work. More later.

Mission Suggestion: The Natives are Restless.

This lovely rocky jungle world has a proto sapient species which is thoroughly primitive and violently defensive. They've been victims of Hutt Slaver raids and see all "Star Walkers" as a threat, ready to pluck them from the planet to disappear forever.

And they know that "Star Walkers" can bleed.

Bad enough, right? Unwittingly, our heroes have built their base in a cave network which is considered sacred. This is a huge affront to the religiosity of the natives and occasionally they gather a group of young warriors to "cleanse the sacred caves." These are generally lightning raids designed to kill as many people as possible and to wreck as much equipment as possible.

These natives don't fight to the death, and will retreat into the concealment of the jungle undergrowth once serious resistance is met.

Yes, sociologist and other local alliance scientists are interested in trying to see if a bridge can be made between the two groups, but they keep disappearing, never to be heard from again.

Basically, there is a local threat on the planet that will occasionally strike the base senselessly. The PC's should be part of the reaction force to repel these incursions.

I'd recommend minion groups wielding a throwing spear and also armed with crude clubs and shields (Def:1).

Voluntarily; the PC's may decide to take proactive action to deal with this issue.

In part, I'm thinking about two actually currently existing native groups who exist in real life on this planet who do straight up kill anyone not a part of their tribe on site.

After the battle of yavin the rebels went back into hiding by scattering the fleet. The PC's could all have been assigned to the same escape transport.

After a hyperdrive malfunction the transport ship crashed into a jungle area of an uncharted moon, most of the rebels were killed leaving the 16 PCs plus a skeleton support and command staff.

The ship will never fly again but is in a position where the hanger is accessible and the surrounding terrain is defensible if fortifications are built. There are enough shuttles for 4 small teams to operate.

The old commander is a believer in the force and declares that the force must have guided them to this spot, given the rebels primary objective of finding a new base it does seem that fortune is smiling on the PC's despite the crash. His orders are to establish a new base at this location.

Ask what your players want for their characters early and often. Also how often are you playing? If it's not at least once a week, then each player will play less than once a month, and a lot of them will be trying to take more than their "fair share" (the same idea as when people are starving they will take more than an equal share at the expense of others having none so that they themselves will get what they need). Basically you're going to have a lot of people dropping out because they don't get to play frequently enough. By the way I have 6 players and one of their wives have shown an interest in joining. 6 is pretty manageable as long as you have room at the table and in a game store that should be doable (my campaign started in a game store named active imagination, they have the space of 2 next door stores, but only 2/3rd of one store is allocated to selling product, the rest is gaming space, which they provide for "free" to gamers, idea is that if gamers are in the store they will buy stuff

Do you watch Star Wars Rebels or the Clone Wars series?

I suggest you check them out as they have a treasure trove of ideas you might find helpful!

Then there's the Lego Freemaker series, yes I know Lego but check it out some of the backdrops for the series are amazing and perfect to inspire your game!

Remember the medical stations now imagine stealing one of them, there's your new base however the Empire are hardly going to make it easy now aren't they?

Ask your players for background history and then use their ideas so when it turns up they can use their knowledge to improve your game for you!

Still haven't watched Rogue One wish me luck!

. . . Still haven't watched Rogue One wish me luck!

Enjoy. I also just saw Rogue One over this last weekend and you're in for a treat.

Great stuff. I think hutt space is the best because it will also give more dangers from the gangsters and can be the reason why prices are so high so they need to start building that base to get better deals and find a way to trade with the coorporate sector..

I was thinking jungle and caves because this can give many options when they have to defend the base. And who knows what else is lurking in the jungle.

Great stuff so far, keep it coming )

There's a nice peninsula near Boz Pity. Would make a good location, as there's nothing officially there yet (we can assume there is SOMETHING there or the Hutts wouldn't have it, but it's not canon yet whatever it is).

That's out of the way enough that nothing is going to show up on a routine patrol. Keeping just inside Hutt space doesn't ensure you can avoid eventual retaliation, but it will hinder Imperial reconnaissance to either what they can get permission from the Hutts for or what they don't think the Hutts will catch them doing. Story-wise this means the campaign base's initial greatest threat won't be probe droids and scout cruisers, but will instead be things like spies and infiltration units. So early adventures can have double edged sword events. "Several of those refugees are interested in working for the Alliance and do have useful skills worth 10 Recruitment Duty, do you dump them with the rest, or bring them to the base and hope none of them are spies?" "Those protocol droids would really help out with that crew of Wookiees you pulled off that station near Trandoa, of course they might have hidden espionage programming....."

Eventually the Hutts will either sell you out, or the Empire will decide it's worth the political nutroll to just move on you without permission, but until then...

Next you need to figure out the purpose of the base.

It's got access to places like Roche and Dac... Why not make the base start as a waystation for new B-wings? You know, they roll off the assembly line, and temp pilots ferry them out to your base where they are refueled and flown on to the strike bases or carriers they'll actually be operating out of. So the base can start out as a lot of nothing. A refueling and recharge system, some hanger space, a small tech area, a couple bunkrooms and a small mess, a little storage and not really anything else. Then the players can expand it out as they run missions. Add all those fancy features from the books and make it better suited for the covert strike base it'll likely become.

That would also make for a nice foil too. Say the players highjack a load of torpedoes. They want to use them to make proton bombs for an upcoming sabotage mission, but some Navy turd wants to take em and load the B-wings so they'll arrive at their new stations fully loaded. The players can then do some favor, or owe some debt, or pull some Duty op to convince the higher ups they need the resources more.

As for the planet, why not pull a George and make the planet all one place. Like Planet Hawaii? That'll give you black sand beaches for stormtroopers to invade, water, jungle, islands, horrible storms from time to time, volcanoes, and so on. Have the island the base is on be larger with a volcano that's petering out, leaving lots of big dormant lava tube caverns to set up shop in.

I would suggest taking a look at a few video games if you got a chance. The first one that comes to mind is Tom Clancy's The Division. One of the primary tasks in that is to go accomplish missions to establish a base of operations. As you bring them online they give bonuses to characters. Also another aspect is the fact that you need to recruit someone to run the different sections of the base while your players are busy being big **** heroes. Basically support staff but youcould have it where these NPC's help guide the players in their missions. Another video game that comes to mind is a pretty old pair of Star Wars games The Rebellion (not the board game) and Star Wars Empire at War. These can give you ideas as to how you would like to develop other aspects such as: How do we get the materials a to build item b? What kind of structures does a base Really need? How do these other aspects (Edge and Force) factor into the world of Age? Also it gives you some insight into FFG as both those games FFG has drawn inspiration from.