Dellow Felegates!

I'm currently running a campaign called Dawn of the Jedi (not to be confused with the comic series of the same name). It follows five students at Luke Skywalker's Jedi Praxeum approx. 14 ABY. Needless to say, it takes place in the Legends continuity. However I will take some liberties with the canon, as the campaign progresses.

The overall story (of this long term campaign) will take inspiration from the Fate of the Jedi storyline, with an ancient being of dark side energy awakening and becoming the main antagonist.

I was wondering if any of you fine sirs and ma'ams would have any ideas for smaller storylines or modular encounters within this narrative? Any cool training methods, or Jedi oriented missions you've run yourselves. Any tips of the trade you guys can share would be gratefully acceptepted.

Thanks!

Well, it probably goes without saying, that you need to slowly ramp the players up to "Ancient Being of Dark Side Power" level of conflict

If they aren't starting with lightsabers, then that would be a good place to start. In fact, there is a section in one of the F&D books about the Trials of the Jedi. And how you can run those are your basic "Starting Jedi in Training" missions. You can tailor them to whatever you want, but they can provide some serious, but not too intense challenges for your newbie Jedi.

One thing I did that went over well with my newbie Jedi, was to have them take on what at first, seems to be a fairly minor escort job, but turns into something a little more intense.

Rough outline: They were the Padawan's to a Master, and were sent on a diplomatic mission between two species on the same planet. The political stuff happened off camera, and occupied the Master (thus allowing the PC's to operate independently). Basically, I had the attache of one of the political factions, run into something of a problem. He was obtaining an historical relic of the other faction, to offer up as a peace offering, to try and smooth over the negotiations. However, the courier who was transporting the item, was robbed by a local gang, and the item was taken. Since the Master was already mediating the negotiations, and letting them know this was going on would cause the politician to lose face, the two Padawans decided to go and deal with it themselves. Thus, they had a small scuffle with a group of minions, and had a chance to do various skill checks and test out their abilities. It worked well as a "getting their feet wet" kind of scenario.

So you could do something like that. Perhaps they follow Luke around on a few errands, such as going to planets to find new candidates. And while Luke is offscreen doing something, the PC's can get involved in something different. Something serious, but not necessarily life threatening or end of the world type scenario. Remember, in things like the Clone Wars, there were a lot of episodes that were relatively low stakes for the heroes. They would involve a very small scale situation, with very small scale stakes, but the stakes were very important to the people involved.

I would do that type of thing for several episodes, to get them some XP to start fleshing out their PC's, and then have them go out on a mission on their own. Perhaps after having finished several of the afore mentioned trials of the Jedi.

Jedi Trials? I have to check this out!

I'm not coming up with any ideas yet . . . (It's been a long day). But let me noodle over this.

1 hour ago, Mark Caliber said:

Jedi Trials? I have to check this out!

I'm not coming up with any ideas yet . . . (It's been a long day). But let me noodle over this.

Yeah, there is a significant entry about them in one of the F&D books. I'm terrible at remembering which book has what information, so I'll leave that up to one of the other posters who have grokked more fully the source material. But yeah, it's essentially a guide for how to let your PC's learn of, and take part in, the various trials that the Jedi would put Padawan's through. Jedi Basic Training if you will. It gives lots of good ideas on how to try and incorporate it into your campaign. Definitely check it out.

23 minutes ago, KungFuFerret said:

Yeah, there is a significant entry about them in one of the F&D books. I'm terrible at remembering which book has what information, so I'll leave that up to one of the other posters who have grokked more fully the source material.

Nexus of Power

Ah yes, there you go. Nexus of Power. It's in there.

21 hours ago, KungFuFerret said:

Well, it probably goes without saying, that you need to slowly ramp the players up to "Ancient Being of Dark Side Power" level of conflict

If they aren't starting with lightsabers, then that would be a good place to start. In fact, there is a section in one of the F&D books about the Trials of the Jedi. And how you can run those are your basic "Starting Jedi in Training" missions. You can tailor them to whatever you want, but they can provide some serious, but not too intense challenges for your newbie Jedi.

One thing I did that went over well with my newbie Jedi, was to have them take on what at first, seems to be a fairly minor escort job, but turns into something a little more intense.

Rough outline: They were the Padawan's to a Master, and were sent on a diplomatic mission between two species on the same planet. The political stuff happened off camera, and occupied the Master (thus allowing the PC's to operate independently). Basically, I had the attache of one of the political factions, run into something of a problem. He was obtaining an historical relic of the other faction, to offer up as a peace offering, to try and smooth over the negotiations. However, the courier who was transporting the item, was robbed by a local gang, and the item was taken. Since the Master was already mediating the negotiations, and letting them know this was going on would cause the politician to lose face, the two Padawans decided to go and deal with it themselves. Thus, they had a small scuffle with a group of minions, and had a chance to do various skill checks and test out their abilities. It worked well as a "getting their feet wet" kind of scenario.

So you could do something like that. Perhaps they follow Luke around on a few errands, such as going to planets to find new candidates. And while Luke is offscreen doing something, the PC's can get involved in something different. Something serious, but not necessarily life threatening or end of the world type scenario. Remember, in things like the Clone Wars, there were a lot of episodes that were relatively low stakes for the heroes. They would involve a very small scale situation, with very small scale stakes, but the stakes were very important to the people involved.

I would do that type of thing for several episodes, to get them some XP to start fleshing out their PC's, and then have them go out on a mission on their own. Perhaps after having finished several of the afore mentioned trials of the Jedi.

Indeed The ancient being will be The Emperor of this campaign, not the Darth Vader.

Thanks alot for your ideas! The outline you wrote is going straight into my campaign setup. The PC's are currently at around 250 xp (they started at KLP of 150), so they're somewhat competent. I used the "Witch's Wrath" modular encounter from Nexus of Power in our last session. Sianna Sekko is going to be a recurring villain and the right hand of the ancient being.

The main storyline will revolve around Sekko gathering up artifacts tainted by the dark side, which the ancient being will "feed on" and grow stronger. The PCs will be sent on missions ala the ones from Jedi Academy, with some stand alone missions but mostly they will revolve around stopping Sekko or learning more about the ancient being.

Thanks again for the tips!

Have a great day.

No problem, glad to be of help.

16 hours ago, MasterKazur said:

Indeed The ancient being will be The Emperor of this campaign, not the Darth Vader.

Thanks alot for your ideas! The outline you wrote is going straight into my campaign setup. The PC's are currently at around 250 xp (they started at KLP of 150), so they're somewhat competent. I used the "Witch's Wrath" modular encounter from Nexus of Power in our last session. Sianna Sekko is going to be a recurring villain and the right hand of the ancient being.

The main storyline will revolve around Sekko gathering up artifacts tainted by the dark side, which the ancient being will "feed on" and grow stronger. The PCs will be sent on missions ala the ones from Jedi Academy, with some stand alone missions but mostly they will revolve around stopping Sekko or learning more about the ancient being.

Thanks again for the tips!

Have a great day.

That sounds similar to the storyline of the forthcoming Ghosts of Dathomir, or at least easy to integrate .

Do you have a copy of the Saga Edition Jedi Academy Training Manual ? Lots of good material to mine from there. I could see adapting the Force regimens or lightsaber regimens as a training exercise. Vo'Ren's cadences are an excellent training method for a narrative system like this. Also, the Twin Suns style of dueling is pretty awesome, and would make for a great showcase for an Ataru or Makashi specialist.

6 hours ago, SFC Snuffy said:

That sounds similar to the storyline of the forthcoming Ghosts of Dathomir, or at least easy to integrate .

Do you have a copy of the Saga Edition Jedi Academy Training Manual ? Lots of good material to mine from there. I could see adapting the Force regimens or lightsaber regimens as a training exercise. Vo'Ren's cadences are an excellent training method for a narrative system like this. Also, the Twin Suns style of dueling is pretty awesome, and would make for a great showcase for an Ataru or Makashi specialist.

I did not know that, but that's great news! That's about ready to come out isn't it? Sounds like it was meant to be.

I do actually, and thats great advice! I'll dust it off and give it a read through. I remember so little about the SAGA books, but I'm guessing the ideas will be somewhat easy to convert to FFG.

Thanks again.

Have you read or heard of the young Jedi knights books? They're pretty ripe for ideas.

A few morals to teach to would be Jedi's are:

The lightsaber is a tool, not a weapon.

Have them in a situation where they are armed with their lightsaber, but must use it in ways outside of hitting stuff. It is basically a never ending force power cell after all. It would be a great lead up to building their own saber if they sacrificed the given saber to complete a task, learning that the saber is not merely a weapon.

Using the force is not your first response in a situation.

Resorting to force use reflexively is abusive to the natural flow/will of the force. One must use it after appropriate reflection.

Not everyone can/wants to be saved.

It's easy to think that everyone wants to live the same kind of life you have or want, or even simply wants to live. This could be an interaction with someone who has experienced something unbearable. Or it can be a friend who has fallen that simply doesn't want to be saved - though maybe they're a morally grey character that can't commit the heinous act required of them, yet can't follow the hollow words/teachings of Luke Skywalker.

I have to go to work, hopefully this helps

17 hours ago, jshlouie said:

Have you read or heard of the young Jedi knights books? They're pretty ripe for ideas.

A few morals to teach to would be Jedi's are:

The lightsaber is a tool, not a weapon.

Have them in a situation where they are armed with their lightsaber, but must use it in ways outside of hitting stuff. It is basically a never ending force power cell after all. It would be a great lead up to building their own saber if they sacrificed the given saber to complete a task, learning that the saber is not merely a weapon.

Using the force is not your first response in a situation.

Resorting to force use reflexively is abusive to the natural flow/will of the force. One must use it after appropriate reflection.

Not everyone can/wants to be saved.

It's easy to think that everyone wants to live the same kind of life you have or want, or even simply wants to live. This could be an interaction with someone who has experienced something unbearable. Or it can be a friend who has fallen that simply doesn't want to be saved - though maybe they're a morally grey character that can't commit the heinous act required of them, yet can't follow the hollow words/teachings of Luke Skywalker.

I have to go to work, hopefully this helps

Really great ideas! I will definately incorporate these into my campaign.

I actually own the complete Young Jedi Knight series, so I'll be giving them a read through.

Thanks, jshlouie!

You should be able to find a .pdf of a D6 SW Source Book called "Fragments form the Rim" most of it is stuff for Fringers and such but theres a whole chapter on Force Training and some exercises for everything from Lightsaber Combat to Telekineses etc...worth tracking down.

On a side note, I've been noodling with an idea for a Jedi Academy Campaign, but one set either in the past or the future so no known personalities. Was going to call it "Academy Black" and it was basically going to be a Jedi Reform school for those students and even former Masters, who didn't quite make the cut, were too rebellious, or even slipped into the darkness...not all of the players would be students; some would be faculty, some would be staff....was going to make sure to include the retired Spec-Force-Trooper-turned-Janitor who could still wipe the floor with some snot-nosed little punks...8D

4 hours ago, GandofGand said:

You should be able to find a .pdf of a D6 SW Source Book called "Fragments form the Rim" most of it is stuff for Fringers and such but theres a whole chapter on Force Training and some exercises for everything from Lightsaber Combat to Telekineses etc...worth tracking down.

On a side note, I've been noodling with an idea for a Jedi Academy Campaign, but one set either in the past or the future so no known personalities. Was going to call it "Academy Black" and it was basically going to be a Jedi Reform school for those students and even former Masters, who didn't quite make the cut, were too rebellious, or even slipped into the darkness...not all of the players would be students; some would be faculty, some would be staff....was going to make sure to include the retired Spec-Force-Trooper-turned-Janitor who could still wipe the floor with some snot-nosed little punks...8D

I own that book as well. Love the D6 game.

That's a brilliant idea for a campaign! Great stuff, man!

I think it will be the next SW Campaign I run...just have to work out how its going to work with varying power levels etc...cause not all of the players will be the same Experience Level.

Thinking about it I may do a thing like Fate system where younger characters have more potential so they get some Bonus Dice they can add to a variety rolls that other, more experienced characters do because they have expended their experience into honing their craft...hrmmm demmit...now I need players...

8 hours ago, GandofGand said:

On a side note, I've been noodling with an idea for a Jedi Academy Campaign, but one set either in the past or the future so no known personalities. Was going to call it "Academy Black" and it was basically going to be a Jedi Reform school for those students and even former Masters, who didn't quite make the cut, were too rebellious, or even slipped into the darkness...not all of the players would be students; some would be faculty, some would be staff....was going to make sure to include the retired Spec-Force-Trooper-turned-Janitor who could still wipe the floor with some snot-nosed little punks...8D

You could later reveal that Academy Black was not actually sanctioned by the Jedi Council, even though hardly anyone (or no one) at the academy knows this (yet). Perhaps it was sanctioned by: 1) Jedi splinter cell, 2) Experimental Jedi spec/black ops cell that only Mace Windu knows about, 3) Count Dooku or the Emperor nabbing up rejects under the pretense they are still in training to be Jedi!

Number 3 could be the most interesting. The Headmaster may actually be an Inquisitor with Dooku or the Emperor hoping to secretly raise a group of helpers. Perhaps the PCs are unknowingly being formed into the first Emperor's Hands! Edit: Oh I like this. I've never run an all-Jedi campaign but I will have to recall this if I do. Thanks for the spark Kazur!

Are you familiar with the Sixth Line group of Jedi? The SW:TOR MMORPG used them as a storyline as part of a game update a while back. Separate from that, and the in-game time period, I always thought that a group of militant Jedi like that had interesting story potential. They get their name from the additional line they added (for themselves) to the Jedi Code: " There is no contemplation, there is only duty. "

Seems like it could fit in nicely with some of the "Academy Black" ideas.

Eh I tend to run games outside of Cannon Timelines so i don't have to deal with the expectations of the Named/Notable Characters.

Though the one game i DID run that was Cannon I had the timeline diverge on Hoth where Luke died an Leia eventually had to take up her training...until they found a clone of Leia and named her "Padme". That was a pretty fun campaign!