So I currently DM for three separate groups (each of which has PCs from F&D, AoR and EoE. It's a mess, I know.) and have been toying with the idea of a story line that affects all three separately but will lead up to one final battle/event where the three groups meet and fight a common enemy (think the eternal empire from swtor). The way I picture it is like a tournament tree of cause and effect - they all start on their own (possibly hearing about the other groups through mutual contacts?) but the decisions of one group can have an affect on another. Here's where I'm at...

The mutual enemy is Abeloth (Legends) who has the ability to control minds. She somehow takes over the Killik race to claim the galaxy for herself using the ancient species as her pawns. Group A consists of a bounty hunter, big game hunter, force sensitive pilot, and soldier who's main goal is to form their own Black Sun/Zann Consortium style business. Group B consists of a force sensitive bounty hunter, another force sensitive pilot, a smuggler droid and a sharpshooter all about frontier justice. Group C is... well a work in progress (their old party died/disbanded and are creating new ones. I was a PC in their original group and use my surviving Ataru Striker/Pilot as an obi-wan style guide for all three groups)

I figure group A can gather an army to fight Abeloth's army and kill two birds with one stone. Another group can go on a hunt to find my PC who has gone missing but knows information on how to defeat Abeloth/her location (who's potentially been corrupted by her). I haven't figured out anything for the last group however. I figure when the final climax happens the groups can merge with other groups (I.E. Pilots forming squadrons, stealth classes for infiltration and sabotage, fighters to lead ground assaults, force sensitives to battle Abeloth or whatever works)

If anyone has any ideas on good missions/plot points or cause and effect leading up to the finale for the individual groups to perform I'd love to hear feed back. I'm trying to make this a pretty grandiose event for recording purposes (podcast/YouTube) Anything works, I'm open to ideas. Thanks for reading this far and apologies for all the parentheses!

Do the different groups have any particular emphasis in their skill spread? For example, does Group A have more Pilot focused PC's, where Group B is filled to bursting with tricksy sneak thieves?

If so, then I would try and tailor their connecting missions along those lines. If one group is really got at shipjacking for example, perhaps they can have several missions that involve stealing bigger and more powerful ships, that the combined group will use later on. If there is a sneaky heavy group, have them do missions to obtain details on enemy troop movements, to know where the fleet needs to be deployed, etc. If there is a combat heavy group, have them work on obtaining equipment for troops, or perhaps actually finding the people to train directly. This might not work, since most player groups are obsessed with making sure all the "skill holes" are filled in a group. So I suspect that all 3 groups have nothing in the way of specialization to them.

The idea of connective missions eventually leading them together is a good starting point. If they are widely spread apart, I would try and introduce some hub location, that they all eventually gravitate to. Either an NPC base that they all get wind of, and start working with for different reasons. Or perhaps a specific NPC that has a lot of information they use to connect the dots.

Without knowing details, it's hard to be too specific, so all I can suggest are broad strokes.

Perhaps give them all tidbits of information about "Project Epsilon Nova", and have the details of that plot hook pull them all to the one system.

Another option is to have their missions interweave based on what they do. Not sure how you will handle it from a networking view but, perhaps have NPC Guy tell Group A, that he knows of another cell that could possibly obtain a starship they would need for their next job....and have that cell be Group B. Group B can then hear from NPC Guy that "I've got a cell that has a very important mission, but they need access to an Imperial shuttle with up to date clearance codes", and then they are off to try and shipjack what is needed. So they can end up supporting each other behind the scenes, without knowing they are doing so.

Are you planning on having them know they are working with other actual players? Or are you planning on having that be some big surprise at the end, during the climactic big final fight?

I like your idea, it just seems like it will be hard to balance that many plates at once. But I would probably try and start with the stuff I suggested above, and see what works and what doesn't.

Thanks for the feedback,

Unfortunately as most groups go they didn't create their characters with teamwork in mind (not that that's a bad thing). These are pretty much their first characters in anything roleplaying so their backstories and motivations are all pretty diverse. They know about the overall concept but not about the who, how, or why. I do like the idea of interweaving missions you had. I'm not trying to get them all together before the end but if a situation where one person from group C has to, for whatever reason, help on a mission with group A I'm not opposed to it. The problem with introducing a new NPC syndicate is finding one that would relate to this force using villain (if there is such a group in the current timeline, I don't know it) My Ataru striker is pretty much the only connected character who's basically become an NPC at this point so I figured that would be the stem of it, but basically the plot is whats needed. How to get these three totally separate groups together and, based on their skills, what missions would they need to run to get to their end goal.

I'll do some building based on the individual groups to figure out what fits them best, thanks for the ideas!

Are any of them part of the Rebellion? If so, that's a pretty good plot hook to start pointing them in the same general direction, or at least allow some cross communication. A contact from the Rebellion that normally works with Group A, can send out a little birdy to have someone over in the other sector, talk to Group B, and vice versa.

Again, without knowing details of them, it's hard to say anything specific, but there are a lot of groups you could use. Even some of the criminal organizations wouldn't mind working with the Rebellion, if it's more profitable for them. Maybe some of the NPC's have family in the systems where the PC's are operating, and get in touch with them that way, or something.

I'd just like to throw out there that the mass combat rules from Lead by Example are your friend here. The Order 66 podcast episode "Mass Effect" has some good examples and thoughts on it, but it's tailor-made for turning a gigantic conflict like this into a series of manageable, PC-influenced phases that boil huge conflicts down to a few rolls.

I think GM Phil over on the O66 Podcast just finished a... whatever you call this. May want to hit him up for advice...

I haven't listened to the podcast yet but I'm definitely gonna binge it, thanks for that. I like the rebellion idea, that's kinda what I was thinking as well. As for the groups:

Group A-

Human Commander Tactician, Human Commando, Trandoshan Big Game Hunter, Force Sensitive Correllian Assassin - Independent merc group with little affiliation to Rebellion hoping to start their own conglomerate in Mid/Outer Rim willing to aide both Imperial and Rebel.

Group B-

Force Sensitive Human Ace Pilot, Bothan Sharpshooter, Droid Scoundrel, Force Sensitive Togruta Assassin - Rebellion undercover agents in the outer rim with a potential Light side/Dark Side conflict within

Group C-

Droid Infiltrator, Force Sensitive Zeltron Thief, Human Gunslinger, Shistavanen Gadgeteer - Pretty blank slate considering it's a new party. Currently doing the Beyond the Rim campaign as a starting point.

Saw you guys were asking to know more about them so I figured I'd spell them out on here and see if you guys had any cool thoughts.

Well, Group C seems to be, more leaning towards sneaky stuff, with 2 character specs that have a stealth emphasis. I would probably try and lean that party towards infiltration jobs, stealing stuff, extracting high value personnel, data retrieval, even shipjacking if they've got the skills for it, etc. And have them be approached by people who need things done quietly, and without a lot of fanfare. Have some of their jobs be larger objectives for your plot. If they successfully infiltrate an Imperial facility for their "client", and steal that military experiment data, the data can show up later to the group that does have ties to the Rebellion (who were actually the client for Group C), to lead them on to the next bit of your story. Or if they steal a starship, have that starship show up elsewhere, when Group A or B are needed to interact with it. That imperial shuttle from Return of the Jedi was pretty darn important, but we never do learn how they obtained it. Might be a fun job for this group to pull off.

For Group A, since they are combat heavy, and are also established as mercs, just simply hire them out as you need. Again, like with Group C, have the "client" be an agent for the Rebellion, or a 3rd party front for them. They need something blown up, but don't want to implicate the Rebellion. So they hire mercs. Since they have a straight up assassin, hire them for jobs that need a specific person taken out. A medium ranking Imperial Officer/Governor on a specific planet, who is getting too close to their operations on planet. Since the group has no direct affiliation to the rebel cells on planet, it won't lead back to them. And have this open up options through the rebellion for Group B, and vice versa. "Now that planet Red Herring in the Rope A Dope system is destabilized with the death of the Governor, security is in turmoil. We can now attempt to extract our various cells that were operating on the surface, before they are hunted and killed" etc etc.

Personally, and this is me just spit-balling ideas here. I would decide on some specific system that is going to include the climactic fight, and start tossing out plot hooks that weave between the groups to lead them all there. Personally, I find the Rebellion as an awesome clearing house for plot hook justification. They operate in secrecy, are willing to hire nefarious groups to get the job done, and obtain the resources and ships they need, but are also on the side of good enough to generally draw the attention of "good guy" characters that want to help. Since they are spread out all over, you can justify having some of them pretty much anywhere you need one, and they can have information from the other cells, that needs to be distributed to the other Groups, without having to actually bring the groups together just yet.

Not sure if any of that helps, but that's what I got atm.

No that's awesome. It definitely help ignite the creative fires. I've got a rough outline now so if anyone has any interest in helping me write it I'd be in their debt and grateful. Or if something just looks weird/doesn't make sense let me know.

...I'm just gonna repeat that it's a rough outline haha

Rough Draft of Story.docx