So my group is all hopped up to play Star Wars again after Solo dropping. Was thinking of heading back to the Dawn of Defiance campaign but they all had ideas for new characters so I decided to switch to my other campaign concept I have been developing.

Drawing inspiration from the Githyanki Invasion in Dragon many years ago, a miniature board game called Legions of Steel , and some of Star Wars Legacy comics, I mixed to create:

The Sith Machine Invasion

• A Sith research vessel disappears into the Unknown Region about 5000 years ago after being damaged in a battle. They were conducting experiments with alchemy, cybernetics, and robotics. While there they continued to experiment while also surveying planets for a place to recuperate and do repairs.
• Unfortunately the ship was damage more than was thought. While surveying one particular planet, Nestradus as it became to be known, the damaged ship was forced to the surface crash landing.
• A crystal like rock was discovered on the planet. Sharing qualities with cortosis, its uses were seen to be multitude.
• The Sith proceeded to mine the rock by using a local species as slaves. Stranded on the planet they waited and prepared to be rescued. They continued their experiments.
• Time passed and the Sith and the local population eventually amalgamated with the Sith becoming a line of leaders of them. They eventually regained the ability of space travel, building ships with the crystal material combined with steel. This gave them the same durability as ships made with cortosis.
• Experiments continued producing droids built for war. Warriors were enhanced using cybernetics. A holocron of a Sith named Bhon was used in an experiment to create an artificial intelligence.
• The artificial intelligence Mother Bhon was born. She quickly realized the machines were the superior form and decimated the population until the world was controlled by her and her droids. The local living population was relegated to stock for cyborg troops. Few of them were spared if they showed potential for using the Force. These were considered Royalty.
• Eventually she began sending scouts out into space to survey the galaxy. Upon discovering the Sith had all but been wiped out, she decided to invade and take back the galaxy for the Sith.
• Scouts and infiltrators were sent ahead to sow dissention and prepare the way for invasion. Dopplgangers and units including nightmares and fiends were seeded throughout the galaxy. Along with cyborg scouts they would prepare the way for the machines to invade.
• The year is 55 ABY. The Second Order has evolved in the Glactic Empire with a new emperor while the destruction of the Resistance caused a splinter in the galaxy. The new group that rose became the United Republic made up of many planets which chose to come together rather than be ruled by the Empire. A cold civil war continues between the two while they seem to coexist somewhat peacefully.
• The Sith have not been heard from for some time, but other new Force organizations have risen from the ashes of the Jedi and Sith. The Imperial Knights are an elite group of Force users who guard the emperor with no particular allegiance the light or dark. The Nightsisters have made a resurgence in the outskirts of society, and while they lean towards the dark, they tend to keep to themselves. A New Jedi Order has arose led by a human woman.
• The Galactic Empire, led by Emperor Daal, rules the core of the galaxy and tends towards being human-centric. It still retains control of it vast armed forces including star destroyers and stormtroopers. The emperor is also guarded by his Force using Imperial Knights. Aliens are treated as second class citizens and have fewer rights than the humans.
• The United Republic, while much larger than the Empire, is ruled by many groups working together when it suits them. That only seems to be the case when the Empire is involved. Most planets in the Republic retain their own armed forces to protect their interests, but the Republic does have the Legion. It is an armed force consisting of many species from throughout the galaxy. Seen as a neutral body owing allegiance to no one group it is used throughout the Republic when an armed force is needed without such allegiance.

The group will start out as a ragtag group running missions to survive only to be drawn into the invasion.

As I sort ideas I will post them. The above is a rough outline I have come up with off the top of my head. Will flesh it out more as time passes.

First, you've done a lot of work so far and I must say its very detailed and much of it is excellent! That being said here are my questions and thoughts:

Just thoughts to keep in mind:

• 1. There is a lot of background detail here and I am not sure how your players will find out about all of the sith backstory. Obviously they don't need to know everything, but they need to discover some of it, perhaps find the original crashed ship with a captains log or something?
• 2. You've got two villains, both who are xenophobic. Empire for humans and the Sith for In-organics. Do you need both? Its' not really a problem just something to consider.
• 3. What is the Goal of the campaign? Destroy the Holocron/AI/Bhon?

And then I have one critique:

12 hours ago, mouthymerc said:

• The artificial intelligence Mother Bhon was born. She quickly realized the machines were the superior form and decimated the population until the world was controlled by her and her droids. The local living population was relegated to stock for cyborg troops. Few of them were spared if they showed potential for using the Force. These were considered Royalty.
• Eventually she began sending scouts out into space to survey the galaxy. Upon discovering the Sith had all but been wiped out, she decided to invade and take back the galaxy for the Sith.   

In traditional Star Wars lore Droids and AI are not Force Sensitive, So would a Sith AI which lacks connection to the Force really be interested in "bringing back the sith"?

I fully understand the stranded sith, being experimentally twisted/corrupted, and then coming back to "bring back the sith". And I also get an AI who considers organics to be inferior, and therefore Destroy all organics (that is true classic sci-fi). I just don't personally think both together make sense.

If it were me I would keep all the stuff about the sith and experiments and integration/desecration of their flesh with cybernetics, but I would forgo the AI aspect. Perhaps something about the experiments or the planet slowly corrupts or weakens the descendants connection to the force, and thus they felt the need to offset that loss of their power with cybernetics as their connection to the force weakened. With their advanced cybernetic technology perhaps they find a way to bring back Bhon as a holocron infused into a cyborg body.

Just my two cents.

Another influence was The Lost Tribe of the Sith . I am just mashing a whole bunch of things together and will see where things go.

• The AI, having been based on an ancient Sith, would not have Force abilities itself. It would, though, have the ability to impart knowledge. Hence why keeping organics around. The droids and AI are never meant to be Force Sensitive.
• That being said, on why the AI would keep organics around, because it would want to use every resource at its command. Especially for infiltration.
• Multiple villains means different adventures and possible team ups of enemies. Most Edge games can have multiple villains in the Empire and cartels, if not others.
• Being influenced by the Legacy series I want a situation that has multiple angles. And was somewhat aiming for the situation that the galaxy was in just before the One Sith came to power.
• This also allows the group to decide the direction they want to go in.
• I want a game inspired by the Sith as an enemy but not a copy of them. This way the group is less inclined to guess what may be coming.

Thanks for your critique. If anything it helps me codify what I am doing by catching some weak spots or expanding on certain things.

1 hour ago, mouthymerc said:

• The AI, having been based on an ancient Sith, would not have Force abilities itself. It would, though, have the ability to impart knowledge. Hence why keeping organics around. The droids and AI are never meant to be Force Sensitive.

Yeah that's true, the sith are just a race historically. I Guess i was thinking more along the lines of "sith" being the stand-in for Dark side force users. I was also assuming that Bhon was a force user since I generally link holocrons to jedi/force users. But you're right that does not need to be the case.

1 hour ago, mouthymerc said:

Multiple villains means different adventures and possible team ups of enemies. Most Edge games can have multiple villains in the Empire and cartels, if not others.

I totally agree Edge games need threats from all sides! I only meant that with them both being xenophobic, wanting to dominate the galaxy, they might have too much overlap. Shouldn't be an issue if they have enough other differences.

Another question. Is this a defeat a Universe wide sith invasion on the level of the Yuuzhan Vong? If so that seems pretty epic in scope. This is not meant as a criticism, just maybe difference in play styles and this may be entirely different for your games, GMing, and table; but this is generally larger scope than I would go for in a Edge game. For blended game of F&D , AoR and Edge i'd for sure be looking for epic scope, but personally for my edge games I generally run them as smaller scope. Avoiding the law and the rival gangs, making a buck or two here or there, generally just a crew fighting to get by, but no expectations of saving the galaxy.

I run all my games as an amalgamation of all three lines. I was just using Edge as an example where multiple enemies can be. My players draw their characters from all three books so I end up with a variety of careers. How epic it gets will depend on them.

7 minutes ago, mouthymerc said:

How epic it gets will depend on them.

Fair enough ?

They could use the force through ai controlled cyborgs?