Okay so I am Gm for the first time and I am starting a campaign where the birth of the Rebellion is completely in the hands of the players. I have also removed Luke and Leia as i want the story solely focused on the players create the Rebellion and eventually overthrowing the Empire. I am having problems with getting started. Any ideas would really help me. I can tell you that i want it to start in Tatooine, but i'm not sure how to bring the imperials into it. I was thinking that the Empire is trying to take a foot hold in the outer rime, or snuff out the hutts, but i don't know how well that would go over. We haven't made characters yet so i don't have backgrounds, but i would at least like some idea on were i am gong to take them.

I think you need to study the Star Wars time line, understand it, conceptualize how it would happen "without Luke and Leia" (who actually had nothing to do with it's beginning - both being new burns at the time and Luke a moisture farmer at that).

By which I mean - how would it start without certain high level members of the former-Galactic Senate conspiring to form a unified resistance - and then coming up with a reasonable alternate history and process for a handful of scoundrels to achieve that Galaxy-wide movement.

Go watch Star Wars Rebels seasons 1 and about half of 2. One character is important, named Fulcrum. This person is the one who likely started the Rebel alliance or at the least became the head in a potentially short time.

Leia does make an appearance in S2 as a teenager, Luke in S3 also as a teen. Leia's part is FAR more important due to her station as a princess, but the situation could have been done without her.

Given your desired timeframe you could have your party be part of the start of the Rebel Alliance and have them meeting with some of the iconic characters from the series (like Rogue One where one of the older chars made an appearance in Rebels S3 as well). You can also viably have your party meet with characters from the Rebels series. Hera for example was mentioned in Rogue One, and the Ghost appeared as well.

Since your main issue is justifying the Imperials being there, that's what I'll focus on.

1. Like you said, the Empire is expanding it's sphere of influence, and it's set it's eyes on Tatooine (not sure WHY, it's a giant sandball in space, with no Melange or anything to make it vital, but hey, they want it anyway! ) Perhaps it's a chokepoint in some hyperspace lanes, and if they control it, it will give them a strategic advantage in the region, allowing for quick deployment of troops in various directions, as well as bottlenecking the flow of commerce along the hyperspace lane. "Greetings! We are the Empire! You now have to pay us a tax for traveling through this system or we blow you up with our 3 Star Destroyers over there! Thank you and have a nice day not being dead!"

2. They are hunting someone. The reason in New Hope is perfectly valid, though you can change who and what they are chasing, and why. Perhaps it's some other person who is a criminal to the Empire, the sky's the limit really.

Since you say they are starting the Rebellion, I am guessing you aren't trying to imply they are the first people in history to be mad at the Empire correct? Just that at this point, there has not been any actual gathering of the forces kind of thing right?

If so, then I suggest you include their backgrounds. Oh, right, first step. Make sure they give you detailed backgrounds, with family .

Lots of players like to do the "I have no family ties or any other kind of connections that the GM can use against me! So I win!" kind of background. This is bad. Background elements are plothooks to move the party down a particular line, and messing with family is a time honored tradition in the Star Wars franchise.

So, have one of their family members get on the wrong side of the Empire, either through intentional acts of defiance, or a mistake. Wrong place, wrong time kind of thing. Have that person become imprisoned by the Empire, forcing the players to rescue that person. Or have them die. Think about the movie Braveheart, and how the death of William Wallace's wife was the turning point for him, and the catalyst for the Scotsmen to decide to take action. (At least as it's presented in the film, I don't hold that film to being 100% historically accurate). Have their death push the group over into "Destroy the Empire! Burn them down!" Kind of mentality, and then give them ample ways to actually implement that.

Set up several layers of Imperial presence in the area of your first campaign, and give them multiple ways to bring them down. If there is an Imperial communication presence in the area, think of ways they could hack the transmission signals, and send out rebellious statements (Hack The Planet!), or if it's a manufactoring location, allow them ways to sabotage it, or steal munitions to use later, etc etc.

Have several different little pockets of Imperial presence, that could reasonably be taken out by a creative party bent on mayhem and chaos. And then let them loose and see which way they go.

instead of droids being given the rebel plans by Leia, Captain Antilles gives them to a person in a specially sensor shielded escape pod (making it look like there are no life signs on board). This person lands on Tattoine nearby the player characters( or could be a PC themselves) who are out doing X. They can either aid said person or ignore them. If they aid them, cue stormtroopers who kill everyone they care about while they escape or if they ignore the troopers dont believe them and do the same.

perhaps Age of Rebellion would be a better game for this campaign. We know force users can't fight a war for you

Thank you fro all your replies. I would like its to start far enough back that they meet characters like "Fulcrum" and "Jyn". I actually already have plans for them to have a large roll along side Ashoka Tano. She is by far my favorite jedi. I was trying to find a reasonable reason for them to meet her. I have been debating changing the starting planet, but im not sure. as far as backgrounds i only have one that i am working on because we work on there characters in between a 5E dnd campaign. For the one character i do have. His i planned on having his family all killed, or so he thought and his older brother turn out be trained in the dark side and serving as an Inquisitor. I am was thinking that the empire would be on Tatooine be cause there ultimate goal of the Empire is to rule the galaxy with an iron fist. Vader is much darker and bloodier. After actually killing Padme in this time line he has nothing to live for aside from his loyalty to the Emperor. His anger feeds off his hatred for himself.

Well the planet is ultimately irrelevant for the story, to be honest. If it works better to move it to a different one, go for it. I wouldn't worry so much about why the Empire is there (they want to rule with an Iron Fist all planets that exist is a perfectly valid reason for them to be somewhere), worry more about "Why are the PC's all here at the same time to become a party?"

As long as you can weave that together reasonably, whether it starts on Tatooine, Bespin, Coruscant or wherever should be a moot point.

So this is what i have as a starting point for the first characters background. I personally don't think it is very strong. Probably doesn't help that i haven't finished it yet, but i was planing on have the family killed and the character himself join a group of pirates. I was then thinking that maybe those pirates decided to aid the empire on planet X and that is how he got there. any pointers or help would be greatly welcomed and thanked.

Entry 1 - I have been working with a group of pirates for some time now. After the fall of the Galactic Republic many things in my life have changed. I feel that this diary will help me keep everything in order. One thing is for sure my hate for the Empire will never falter. What they have done to my people will never be forgiven, and worse are those of my people that helped them.

Entry 2 - We are about to do a hit and run on an imperial out post. Some things came to my mind today that i though i had long since forgotten. I for some reason thought of my home world. Maybe the cold of space brought it to the for front of my mind. I remember very little of it to be honest. Most of Mirial was a desert or frozen tundras. I remember my father telling me that food production was difficult but not impossible. Many of my people lived in tribal cities throughout the planet. My father told me that it wasn't like the tribes on Tatooine are people lived in huts or tent like buildings. These tribes were just as advanced as any other city on Mirial, but they keep themselves more secluded from others. Many of them took a more fearsome path in life. Though this did not mean that they were in any way a bad person. It made it harder to deal with them when trading. As even if they were not cheated, they would become hostile if they felt they were. My people have a strange connection to the Cosmic Force my father used to say and that it lead them in ways one would never understand.

Entry 3 -
This is three days after the outpost we hit. I was startled at first, but soon realized what was happening. The out post used to be a colony, but now. Now it was an imperial farm. People were slave more than workers being paid. The fertile land was being destroyed by the crops they were being forced to cultivate. The land would be barren before long if they continue. Many colonies on the planet had already been eradicated. Maybe due to rebellion, maybe those fields were used up. I don't know, but this travesty... Why is it allowed to continue?

Entry 4 - Its been a year since my family died and i find myself looking back on it. We had moved to Corusant when i was five. My family wanted a better life outside the barren lands of Mirial and they had hopped that Corusant was going to be the place. We found ourselves in a colony on Corusant; a place that was tightly packed together and filthy, but food was plentiful. Well, if you could call it food. For ten years my father and mother worked and instilled a sense of duty and discipline in use. We kept to time frames and a strict regimen was enforced in our family. We were a team that had to function as a whole to survive.

Maybe I'm misinterpreting this, why are you writing the back story for the PCs?

26 minutes ago, ASCI Blue said:

Maybe I'm misinterpreting this, why are you writing the back story for the PCs?

Because sometimes you have a story in mind, and the players are actors taking on a specific role. Just like any play or movie would handle it. I've done that with my players before, given them premade PC's with backgrounds and motivations, and they just act them out.

huh. I've never had a GM do that to me before.

Most don't, as they tend to have a more open session in mind. But, at least for me anyway, I have stories that bounce around in my head all the time, and some of them have a more codified structure. This character with this history/motivation, being put into this situation, with these supporting characters, etc etc. My two players were fine with it, and honestly were happy to not have to build a PC for once.

Plus it was also a bit of an experiment for me, in regards to my players. They have social issues when it comes to acting in-character, and tend to, if left to their own devices, make PC's with little to no personality to play off of. The classic taciturn, stoic, not talking kind of character. The Baze Malbus kind of character, who doesn't speak, and let's the more chatty Chirrut Imwe types do all the heavy lifting in the social department.

I was testing to see if I gave them some key personality points, similar to a play/movie director saying "This is your character's motivation" if they would be more expressive.

Huh. That sounds pretty cool, kinda like the whole GM creates the PC thing and everyone starts with a blank sheet and learns who/what they are as they play.

Yeah, i discuss with the players there background and after they say they want would like said events to happen i flesh out all the rest.

On 2017-10-19 at 7:29 PM, Havatr_Einar said:

Okay so I am Gm for the first time and I am starting a campaign where the birth of the Rebellion is completely in the hands of the players.

Just pointing out that this is a massive responsibility, far beyond any single character in the SW universe. The "birth of the Rebellion" could go as far back as the Separatists, but is more closely linked to some of the deleted scenes in E3, where Mon Mothma, Bail Organa, and Padme are all meeting to try to figure out what is going on and how to respond.

And for the Rebellion to be "completely in the hands of the players", it's worth noting that while Luke, Leia, etc might have had strong voices, the actual command structure went above them. That's really the only reason they had the time or flexibility to be available for taking pivotal actions rather than sitting in a boardroom making decisions.

what would you suggest to reflect this? They won't have to play through the clone wars, but this will take place 15 years after order 66 and i was planing on having Ahsoka, Mon Mothma, Bail Organa, and Saw Gurerra as the starting counsel. After that i want them to pick and choose planets to join the rebellion. Each planet when chosen has a desired effect and each one not apart of the rebellion will have a effect that works against the rebellion.

7 minutes ago, Havatr_Einar said:

what would you suggest to reflect this? They won't have to play through the clone wars, but this will take place 15 years after order 66 and i was planing on having Ahsoka, Mon Mothma, Bail Organa, and Saw Gurerra as the starting counsel. After that i want them to pick and choose planets to join the rebellion. Each planet when chosen has a desired effect and each one not apart of the rebellion will have a effect that works against the rebellion.

Well, what you are describing are leadership characters. Politicians, social movers and shakers, financial moguls, etc. If you are going to have your PC's take on these high tier roles, it's very unlikely that they are going to be running around shooting people in the face. So, if you are going to try and do both, I think you are going to have some tonal shifts. I mean, Mon Mothma wasn't going out and stealing the plans for Death Star 2, many Bothans did that instead. Faceless, nameless footsoldiers, not the heads of the Rebellion.

So, if this is your plan, to have them be at the upper echelons of command then, you need to seriously think about how to structure what they are doing. You will need to have a LOT of social encounters. And you need to have the PC's be career specs that would actually make sense as leadership roles. If they are picking planets to join the Rebellion, then they will need to convince that planet to join. It's not like they can just press a button, and the entire planetary government just decides to change from Red to Blue, and are now on their side. They will need to convince the people in power that they should side with the Rebellion, either covertly or openly. This will likely take a lot of wheeling and dealing, politically. Which is a VERY different kind of game than what your average gamer is looking for.

If this isn't what you had in mind, then I think you might want to rethink having them be "in charge." And instead have them be like the A-Team for the Rebellion. An elite squad of specialists that they can send in to a location of interest, to remove any impediments to their objective. Then you can have them able to move around and do the typcial pew pew pew that most want, without the logical disconnect of the entire Rebellion leadership core running around dodging blaster fire in a foxhole

So yeah, you might want to talk to the players to see what kind of game they want. If they are down for the political/strategic kind of game, then sweet. Come up with some scenarios on how they can convince the various planetary/organizational leaders to join, and play those scenes out. If they want to shoot things in the face, then perhaps you should restructure. There is a reason that shows like Rebels don't follow the leaders of the Rebellion, and instead follow the "boots on the ground" characters, enacting the Rebellion's orders. It's more exciting and makes for better entertainment.

1 hour ago, Havatr_Einar said:

what would you suggest to reflect this? They won't have to play through the clone wars, but this will take place 15 years after order 66 and i was planing on having Ahsoka, Mon Mothma, Bail Organa, and Saw Gurerra as the starting counsel. After that i want them to pick and choose planets to join the rebellion. Each planet when chosen has a desired effect and each one not apart of the rebellion will have a effect that works against the rebellion.

If you want the PCs to still be the "action figures" in the story, but you want the *players* to have a more active role in deciding how to conquer the galactic map, you could let the players decide (as if temporarily inhabiting the roles of the leadership) which planets to target. The PCs still "take orders and shoot people", because the players-as-the-leadership told them where to go. Then you as the GM have to prep for whatever target they pick.

Personally though I think it's too massive a campaign (galactic in scope), and doesn't really lend itself to story. It's really only a strategic exercise. You could limit it to a sector to make it more manageable, e.g.: approach it like the Corellian Conflict add-on to FFG's Armada game. But there wouldn't seem to be a lot of drama, other than the military success-or-fail axis. All that tension between the Mon Mothma faction and the Saw Guerrera faction would vanish.

Also, if you watch the latest Rebels (season 4, E3+E4), the leadership doesn't always get what they want. Mon Mothma wants to take a soft approach. But the Rebels end up blowing an Imperial comm tower rather than spiking and hijacking it, due to an outrageous run of bad luck (Despair-City) and the intervention of another party. That intervention leads to another sequence that hints at the underlying purpose of the Empire, which is far more important than the comm tower.

That's a real story worthy of role-play, and includes social conflict and moral decisions, along with strategic ones. This would be harder to do if you as the GM don't control the pace of story and possible plot revelations.

I'm not going to say don't do this idea but it's not going to be easy as Players tend to not do what you want them to do, especially on the grand scale. Starting and running a rebellion is largely an exercise in logistics (getting and moving money and resources around) and strategic level planning, it's not terribly glamorous. Running a game where the PCs are at this level is sort of like making a Star Wars movie about a galactic trade dispute rather than focusing on strong character development and exciting adventures...

As others have suggested I'd go with the SW Rebels approach and make your Players the A-Team, pivotal and with tactical control but not strategic. There is plenty of room to build alliances, gather resources, sabotage Imperial stuff, explore uncharted areas for potential Rebel bases etc. without all the backroom wheeling and dealing that rebellions are run on.

Though if you have PC's that are playing the more trade/social focused careers, the backroom wheeling and dealing would be an ideal place for them to actually use their abilities and talents to their fullest extent.

Of course, I would be surprised if the party has anyone like that. In my experience, PC parties want to shoot things and slash them with glowsticks of death.

I'm actually tempted to build a campaign specifically with the non-combat career/specs in mind. The Traders, and Advisors, and...that spec tree in AOR that's about enciting rebellion and resistance in the population....Agitator I think? Ones like that. And actually have them attempt to do the bigger scale things that "get the ball rolling" for the conflicts and battles later.

This is just my personal opinion, but your first campaign should not be some massive endeavor. Before you set up some lofty, setting-spanning goals for what you want to do, you should probably get adjusted to running a game in general.

Once you've had some experience with some of the crazy stuff your players can get up to and dealing with surprises, then you should get to work on constructing grand narratives that decide the fate of the galaxy. Start small, don't overburden yourself with a massive workload, and figure out a bit about what your players actually enjoy doing, how they tend to play, etc.

13 hours ago, Degenerate Mind said:

... your first campaign should not be some massive endeavor.

This, start small work your way into it. This doesn't mean don't plan or build a grand story arc (which is a tone of fun to do do) just approach by starting with a couple of throw away/episodic adventures. The adventure at the end of the F&D CRB is actually a really good starting point. It's well written and easy to customize, way better than the F&D Beginner Set one, or you can adapt the EotE Beginner game adventure (it's also good and you get a set of dice plus the players end up with a ship).

Then after you see what your players are like and how the system feels start bringing in all that fun stuff you are working on.

The Edge beginner game was a blast, it was my intro to the system I'll second running your party through that. Then you can follow up with the PDF adventure from FFG.