Hi all,

I am currently half way through GMing Onslaught at Arda I. 11 Sessions in with about 4-6 to go (I think..). I will be doing the usual post campaign chat with the group to either 1. keep going with current characters or 2. try something new.

To that end, I have been thinking about the "something new". As my last two campaigns have been loosely AoR as a specfor team. I want to add a bit more theme to the group.

I am considering re-imagining the plot of Wraith Squadron from the x-wing series. Basic premise is that Wedge has the Idea for Wraith squadron after the battle of Hoth and sets it up in a similar way.

Ragtag squadron of Pilots that all have a particular and varied set of skills.

Chargen would be that everyone Picks a career and spec. Those that dont pick Ace will then get ace/Pilot or Smuggler/Pilot or Starfighter ace for free. Those that Pick an Ace career and spec first will then get a free spec in whatever else for free. This will represent the fact that some may come from a different life and have to pick up piloting, whilst others may be pilots first and foremost, but there previous life/upbringing gives them some other skills.

Key to this is that they get both specs in character creation, and can spend the second free ranks in both specs.

Once thats done, its time for them to be issued their astromechs and fighters. As it is ragtag I will randomise the driods, and will mix up the fighters to meet the classes (as in pair up a weaker pilot with a gunner in a Y-wing or other 2 seater)

Thats the foundations. I would love any advice and ideas, and if anyone has written any space based adventures that would be great.

I am planning to loosely follow the plot of the trilogy, as it is basically a RPG waiting to happen

I might suggest mining episodes from the original Battlestar Galactica TV series. Apollo, Starbuck, Boomer, Athena, and all the rest of them were colonial warriors, not just starfighter pilots as they were in the reimagined BSG series. To that end, there were many episodes that took place planetside and made use of a variety of skills and stories. Of course, many episode stories also relied on, or had acts, starfighter battles.

This is what the Battlestar Galactica wiki says about colonial warriors:

"'Colonial Warrior' is a universal term to describe the highly-skilled Viper pilots and soldiers of the Colonial military. Warriors are extremely versatile in many combat roles, and are well regarded for extremely unconventional thinking for special missions."

Are you starting at Knight-level or higher? I know that the PCs are the stars, but starting PCs are still near the bottom of the food chain in terms of the Rebellion.

Personally, I'd rather have them work their way up to an invitation to join/form an elite squadron. Yes, it would certainly take longer, but the players would be justifiably proud of their accomplishments if you made them work to get there.

On ‎12‎/‎02‎/‎2018 at 4:46 AM, Funk Fu master said:

Thats the foundations. I would love any advice and ideas, and if anyone has written any space based adventures that would be great

• As noted, get everyone to pick a 'pilot-ey' specialisation
• Any Ace Specialisation except Beast Master is worth it.
• Squadron Leader from Commander and the Force & Destiny Starfighter Pilot gives you a fair number of specs.
• Let the players mix and match fighters. Let the players take whatever of the rebel 'Alphabet Soup' fighters they like, subject to your vetting.
• Make all Y-Wings BTL-A4 variants with fixed guns rather than turrets. The way the rules work vastly benefit multi-crew fighters, so avoid having some of the squad in them and some not.
• Get Stay On Target if you don't have it:
  • It has specific advantage/threat tables for various dogfight settings (nebula, asteroid field, major space battle)
  • It has rules for generic NPC astromechs.
  • It includes pretty much every ship you'll want that's not in the core book - E-wings, 'Heavy Z' headhunter refits, V-wings, etc.
• Knight Level Play is a good call. Effectiveness and especially survivability in dogfights is fairly heavily tied to talents like tricky target, defensive driving and so on.
• Consider - at least to start with - giving the players an NPC wingman or two each - the GM's kit has rules for fighting in squads/squadrons, which lets you kill off the generic goons first and allows them to provide boost dice to attack, or bonus defence, or whatever, depending on their formation.
• I would strongly recommend stealing the Genesys version of Gain The Advantage - upgrade your check or the difficulty of your opponent's check twice when exchanging shots, only expires when they (re)gain the advantage.

As to missions:

X-wing

X-wing Alliance

X-wing vs TIE Fighter

Each of those wiki pages outlines the setting of pretty much every mission in each tour of duty campaign in the game. Go nuts!