Ahoy hoy,

I am writing an adventure and part of it deals with an Imperial occupied planet and after thinking about it, I realized that with the exception of Jedha in Rogue One, we have not really seen an Imperial occupied planet in the movies (don't think a garrison on Tatooine or the occupation of Cloud City count) and I was curious how you guys play it?

In the adventure, there is an industrial planet that the Empire nationalized a year or so earlier and the PC's are sent there to make contact with the leaders of a resistance cell but am curious how to flesh it out correctly. Some of my assumptions:

• Any ship attempting to land or leave the planet would be intercepted and identified - an Imperial Cargo Frigate with 2 TIE escorts would insist on scanning and possibly boarding the ship. Players not complying and fleeing to the planet surface would be chased by the TIE's, with more possibly joining them.
• Stormtroopers would be almost a constant presence and threat. We saw in the "Ring of Kafrene" scene in Rogue One that they seemed to just be patrolling at random and armed with complete authority.
• Communication networks would be coopted by the Empire and both locked down and monitored.

What else do you guys do to flesh out this kind of world? Are all startports under Imperial control? How do the Imperials act and function? What plot devices or adventure stubs make sense for you guys in these situations?

Lastly, how would you handle the Imperial reaction to a rebel cell on the planet? There is obviously no chance of driving the Empire off the planet, so is it just a constant pattern of hits on Imperial targets with "high value" targets being personnel and places?

thanks in advance!

1 hour ago, DangerShine Designs said:

Ahoy hoy,

I am writing an adventure and part of it deals with an Imperial occupied planet and after thinking about it, I realized that with the exception of Jedha in Rogue One, we have not really seen an Imperial occupied planet in the movies (don't think a garrison on Tatooine or the occupation of Cloud City count) and I was curious how you guys play it?

In the adventure, there is an industrial planet that the Empire nationalized a year or so earlier and the PC's are sent there to make contact with the leaders of a resistance cell but am curious how to flesh it out correctly. Some of my assumptions:

• Any ship attempting to land or leave the planet would be intercepted and identified - an Imperial Cargo Frigate with 2 TIE escorts would insist on scanning and possibly boarding the ship. Players not complying and fleeing to the planet surface would be chased by the TIE's, with more possibly joining them.
• Stormtroopers would be almost a constant presence and threat. We saw in the "Ring of Kafrene" scene in Rogue One that they seemed to just be patrolling at random and armed with complete authority.
• Communication networks would be coopted by the Empire and both locked down and monitored.

In actuality we do see this in Return of the Jedi with Endor. Not only is there a large imperial presence on the moon, but several Ships in orbit requiring any ship in the area to have proper access codes.

I think you are on the right track. Imperial ships would definitely be checking all ships Transponder codes and possibly scanning, but unless something seems suspicious I don't think they would board the ship. In terms of story telling I always tend to think in terms of "the easy part is getting in , its getting back out that is the hardest part".

Also, random patrols sure, but would the be patting down every person, no, but that guy armed to the teeth or fitting the description of someone they are looking for? you bet. I also assume with heavy occupation there would be random checkpoints, "You got a permit for those Restricted items?" (hopefully your players are smart enough to leave restricted gear on the ship ).

Monitored communication, "everyone has their Encrypted Communicators right?"

Feel free to start cranking up the presence once the Rebels start a skirmish or two. Patrols double, couple of ties flying overhead, maybe reports of a 2 star destroyers showing up in orbit. It will definitely make your players feel the pressure.

Look up the imperial sourcebook from WEG. A lot of useful info in it on this type of stuff. That mostly should still be good.b

First Edition & Second Edition

In my campaign, "Imperial occupied" can mean anything from a single customs officer at the biggest spaceport to small fleet of star destroyers in orbit and an AT-ST on every street corner. It all depends on how many people are on the planet, how compliant they are, how valuable the planet is, and (most importantly) what works best for me regarding my PC's visit to the planet in question.

If you have watched Rebels then Lothal was Imperial Occupied and is a perfect canon example of one. Seasons 1 & 2 , Season 3 has them setting up a Rebel base, so less so with this one.

Under no circumstances should the party expect to start a firefight and win a pitched battle. Imperial forces will keep calling in higher echelons of support until the party is overwhelmed:

• If a fireteam goes silent/missing, no big deal, comms are sometimes unreliable. A second team will be sent to investigate
• If the second team loses comms or becomes engaged, two or more squads will be sent to cordon the area and move to engage
• If one or more of the reinforcing squads starts taking casualties, an additional platoon is sent to prosecute the target
• At this point, the PCs have almost certainly had enough and are probably unconscious/captured. If they were particularly lucky and well-equipped and are foolish enough not to break contact, the Empire will pull off the kid gloves. A company will be sent via dropships with AT-ST support, all timed to arrive simultaneously
• If the PCs exhibit anti-armor capabilities, or somehow otherwise manage to disable or destroy a transport or AT-ST, TIE/ln fighters will be sent to harass, observe, and channel the PCs while higher echelons of firepower are brought to bear
• &c. etc. and so on and so forth

At the small level, the PCs can get into a skirmish and still escape, but they just can't match either the resources of the Empire or the casual disregard for sentient life and collateral damage. The problem (for the PCs) is that every time they defeat a wave of reinforcements, more power is brought to bear. If the PCs manage to conceal anti-air/anti-armor turrets on a speeder truck and use them to mow down a bunch of stormtroopers, the Empire will think nothing of using additional troops to fix the PCs in position then flatten the neighborhood with TIE bombers. If the PCs are successful, they're dangerous, and if they're dangerous the Empire will use every means necessary to crush them as an abject lesson to Rebel sympathizers. Orbital bombardment is always on the table.

4 hours ago, SFC Snuffy said:

Under no circumstances should the party expect to start a firefight and win a pitched battle. Imperial forces will keep calling in higher echelons of support until the party is overwhelmed:

• If a fireteam goes silent/missing, no big deal, comms are sometimes unreliable. A second team will be sent to investigate
• If the second team loses comms or becomes engaged, two or more squads will be sent to cordon the area and move to engage
• If one or more of the reinforcing squads starts taking casualties, an additional platoon is sent to prosecute the target
• At this point, the PCs have almost certainly had enough and are probably unconscious/captured. If they were particularly lucky and well-equipped and are foolish enough not to break contact, the Empire will pull off the kid gloves. A company will be sent via dropships with AT-ST support, all timed to arrive simultaneously
• If the PCs exhibit anti-armor capabilities, or somehow otherwise manage to disable or destroy a transport or AT-ST, TIE/ln fighters will be sent to harass, observe, and channel the PCs while higher echelons of firepower are brought to bear
• &c. etc. and so on and so forth

At the small level, the PCs can get into a skirmish and still escape, but they just can't match either the resources of the Empire or the casual disregard for sentient life and collateral damage. The problem (for the PCs) is that every time they defeat a wave of reinforcements, more power is brought to bear. If the PCs manage to conceal anti-air/anti-armor turrets on a speeder truck and use them to mow down a bunch of stormtroopers, the Empire will think nothing of using additional troops to fix the PCs in position then flatten the neighborhood with TIE bombers. If the PCs are successful, they're dangerous, and if they're dangerous the Empire will use every means necessary to crush them as an abject lesson to Rebel sympathizers. Orbital bombardment is always on the table.

If the PCs defeats a squad and get away. Security in the area will be increased. Likely for a couple weeks. If they keep hitting in an area things will get steadily more secure and harder to operate. This is why the Rebels hit and fade. then hit somewhere else.

I had a group that one did an undercover mission on an Imperial Occupied Planet.

They were impersonating rebels trying to meet with a contact, but to get the "scale" of the occupation to them, I ensured they had to go through several checks, ran into tons of patrols, and in the end when they fled under fire they were basically 5 of them running through streets from a battalion of pursuing troops.

They key thing to remember, is that on a "majorly occupied planet" imperials like to keep the peace and law, so a single blaster shot will likely draw investigators who report they are going to investigate and where. Meaning if they take out someone who investigates something they do, they can except questions and more people.