I'm thinking about setting my next campaign during the events leading up to and during the Jedi-Sith War (~1000 BBY): http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Jedi–Sith_war I didn't like what existed in the old legends material and this time is a big blank-slate in the new canon. I'd like to come up with some original material (normally I run in the Rebellion era, but I'm pretty burnt out with that). I'm planning on letting my PCs choose from all three core books, as long as they can give me some sort of connection to the story to work with (they are usually good at that on their own, they are all RPG vets). They are also good about mixing it up, so even though it will be a Old Republic game, I suspect there will be a mix of Jedi, officers, politicians, and fringe elements. I want to make sure I have something for everyone.

I'd like to do something somewhat episodic but with large underlying plots that develop over time. I'd like to include time jumps in the campaign and explore a similar set of themes to the fall of the Republic that we see in the prequels and clone wars (without the cringey acting). I see this as the opportunity to tell my own version of that story without necessarily doing an AU style campaign.

What I'd like help with is how to hook it: I want them to start as young jedi (or republic soldiers, sector rangers, etc) who are just starting to get their own missions. I'd like to develop a series of seemingly unconnected intrigues and investigations that start to connect into the bigger picture of the Sith return. I'm thinking that the Sith would have agents throughout their invasion route starting to sow discord and weaken the Republic before their actual invasion. I want this to be subtle, though - stringing out clues over the course of the first six months or so of the campaign.

Once they figure this out, I'd like to introduce some political intrigue that shows how divided and ineffective the government is (drawing analogs to how the current US gov is divided to the point of being ineffective). I'd like to end this arc with the beginning of the Sith invasion and then fast-forward a few years to the point where the Republic is about to fall, possibly ending on a ESB note when Coruscant falls. During this phase, the characters will now be seasoned Knights, fighting major battles and determining the fate of the Republic.

I'd then like to fast-forward once more to the characters as masters, now fighting to preserve what is left of the Jedi Order and Republic. I'd like to introduce padawans for the jedi to train, and have the republic officers, politicians, and others building up a resistance army. I'd like this arc to culminate in retaking Coruscant and restoring the Republic and Jedi Order.

I'm also thinking about having a few interlude sessions where the PCs play on the Sith side to have it feel more like a television series where the viewer sees both sides of the action (my group is good at keeping meta knowledge out of their IG decision making, so I'm not worried about that).

I'm looking for ANY ideas you guys have - this is a much bigger scope than I have ever tackled in one of my campaigns and I'm looking to push myself and my players to build something really epic and have our own trilogy! Any ideas are welcome, but I'm especially interested in determining the initial intrigues that lead to the discovery of the Sith invasion plans, as well as the organization of the Sith Empire of the time. I big goal is to not have the Sith be mustache-twirling generic evils, but nuanced characters. The Dark Lords themselves might be irredeemably evil, but I'd like the majority of the converts to their Empire to have realistic motivations: the Republic is failing and many governments might actually prefer a strong empire that promises prosperity and security. I'd also like help developing the political factions within the Republic and even the Order. I don't want the Sith to be the only (or even necessarily the main) threat to the Republic. I want the PCs to struggle against the system they are trying to redeem as much as the external threat to it. Lastly, help developing any other major factions in the galaxy at the time. The Zygerrian Slave Empire would be at the height of its power. Not sure how the Hutts and other criminal empires would factor in at this time. Any help or ideas would be appreciated!

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I big goal is to not have the Sith be mustache-twirling generic evils, but nuanced characters. The Dark Lords themselves might be irredeemably evil, but I'd like the majority of the converts to their Empire to have realistic motivations: the Republic is failing and many governments might actually prefer a strong empire that promises prosperity and security.

This makes me think right off the bat that you should start working up a reoccurring NPC who is a sympathetic villain. Perhaps someone in authority or power who works with the group at first as a quest giver or info broker. The over the course of the first series of missions that seem like small unimportant tasks in the scheme of the events of the galaxy have the players witness the NPC's fall from grace as they become more concerned with the governments inability to solve the most basic of problems. I'd fun food supplies, medical supply, and humanitarian type missions that just seem to go from bad to worse. Maybe the food is delivered, but the players found out a struggling colony was denied their shipment so the pcs could deliver it some where else. Have a situation where despite all the good the players are trying to do things just seem to get worse. Play it up with the interactions and close out the first chapter with the npc "giving up" or just not showing up any more.

Fast forward to the second chapter and the players rediscover the NPC, but a dark more manipulative version. The missions or information while good enough to make progress and complete missions begins to have a darker tint to it. Run more ops going head to head, but it seems like the Sith are always once step ahead of the party. During the final massive battle reveal your sympathetic npc to be a double agent, but do it in a way where they don't have a chance actually fight yet. Save that adversary for the conclusion. Have this betrayal be the thing that turns their tide and suffer the fall.

In you final arch start with rebuilding and training padwans, maybe lose one dramatically to the old npc until you have a confrontation with the npc allowing the players to finally get their justice or payoff. Then cap off the series with the epic battle against the Sith Lord who turned their once friend npc.

2 hours ago, arrivan said:

This makes me think right off the bat that you should start working up a reoccurring NPC who is a sympathetic villain. Perhaps someone in authority or power who works with the group at first as a quest giver or info broker. The over the course of the first series of missions that seem like small unimportant tasks in the scheme of the events of the galaxy have the players witness the NPC's fall from grace as they become more concerned with the governments inability to solve the most basic of problems. I'd fun food supplies, medical supply, and humanitarian type missions that just seem to go from bad to worse. Maybe the food is delivered, but the players found out a struggling colony was denied their shipment so the pcs could deliver it some where else. Have a situation where despite all the good the players are trying to do things just seem to get worse. Play it up with the interactions and close out the first chapter with the npc "giving up" or just not showing up any more.

Fast forward to the second chapter and the players rediscover the NPC, but a dark more manipulative version. The missions or information while good enough to make progress and complete missions begins to have a darker tint to it. Run more ops going head to head, but it seems like the Sith are always once step ahead of the party. During the final massive battle reveal your sympathetic npc to be a double agent, but do it in a way where they don't have a chance actually fight yet. Save that adversary for the conclusion. Have this betrayal be the thing that turns their tide and suffer the fall.

In you final arch start with rebuilding and training padwans, maybe lose one dramatically to the old npc until you have a confrontation with the npc allowing the players to finally get their justice or payoff. Then cap off the series with the epic battle against the Sith Lord who turned their once friend npc.

This is all really good advice and I'll definitely be using it! I'm going to wait to see what the party comp is like before I make my choice, but I'll probably have it either be a idealistic Republic officer who is the one assigning their early missions or a freshly minted Jedi Knight who is hyped as a rising star in the order (somebody they will look up to).