My group has been playing through the series of missions that started with the intro game, Takeover at Whisper Base. I wasn't sure how long Onderon would hold their interest, but they ended up slowly checking off every side quest that was loosely sketched out in Operation Shadowpoint. They've just completed a preemptive midnight raid on Jayenne Base to disrupt the Imperial forces massing for a counter-attack, and they've accrued a small coalition of allies: Rebel survivors of a downed ship, Clone Wars guerillas who used to run with Saw Gerrera, and the Clazca beast riders from the surrounding jungle.

We're planning on one big battle to cap off this chapter of the game, and then we'll probably rotate to someone else running a game system of their choice for a while.

So, my question is: We've actually dragged this saga out for so long that merely living through an armored assault by the Empire before scuttling the base and leaving the planet behind is perhaps too low-stakes. How to make their successful fight to hang onto a captured base for a month or two more of a major contribution to the Rebellion? I was thinking of raising the stakes during the battle by having the players hold off the attack long enough to buy time for their team to decrypt something juicy from the Empire's files.

But what? Can you think of something that hits the right balance between being exciting but not over the top? This isn't how the Rebellion finds out about the Death Star, or the second one either. But maybe some other kind of dangerous weapon? Or an imminent attack elsewhere in the galaxy? Or a Moff who might be willing to defect? Or an evil weapon or plot? What was that Jedi jail that Palpatine used to run? Any of you geniuses got some great ideas for me to run with? Whatever it is, it's at best a cliffhanger that we might circle back to later, but it also might just be an epilogue thing.

Star Destroyer bombardment?

4 hours ago, kaosoe said:

Star Destroyer bombardment?

Well I'm going with the idea that the Empire can't just obliterate the base from orbit due to political secrecy. But did you mean learning about a bombardment somewhere else?

What if the Imperials had discovered the location of the Rebel fleet? The heroes could realize that, and the fact that a traitor revealed it; their discovery could allow the fleet to relocate and the traitor to be apprehended.

-Nate

Has Admiral Corlen from the book been a feature? If so, perhaps he's either been captured or turned himself in, and now you need to get all the information you can from him before either the base is overrun or evacuation becomes possible? This provides high stakes - he is the sector's senior flag officer, after all - while also giving your social characters something to do in a big battle, and tying in to the whole purpose of having a base on Alderaan.

Are you going to have them leave the base afterwards? Another option would be to have them holding on while the evacuation ship either fights its way in through a blockade, or is prepared for leaving. Maybe they need to rebuild that crashed ship you mentioned?

What you want is a hook that gives them something to work with going forward, and the potential for a newly-repaired or -assigned Alliance warship for them to cruise around in, potentially with an Admiral's worth of naval movements (or even the Admiral himself) to work from, could give them something to look forward to that caps it off by making the whole thing worthwhile for the cause and the participants.

If you want to lead into the Arda adventure, have them decrypt a file that discusses the defenses of the Arda Base, making it clear that there is a mole. The PC's get reassigned there to root them out. That is the gist of that module anyway.

Or if you want a juicy reward for them, have it list the coordinates for a prisoner transfer caravan. They could be transporting anyone from Wookiee Soldiers, Rebel Princesses, Arms Dealers, Jedi Master, or anyone else you want as a recurring NPC.

I did not come to that point in my group, but I planed loosly that the SCs would play a major roll in the bombardment and destruction of Jyrenne Base. It is mentioned in the Legends Timeline:

Just read this Wookipedia Article an let your imagination run wild with it:

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Attack_on_the_Imperial_Army-Navy_Ordnance_Center

I was planning on getting the PCs to sapotage the Bases Shields in some way, so that the Rebel Attack would be successfull. You could also lead up to this Mission by inciting some nearby system to get the imperial Warships to "respond to an Emergency" elsewhere to make the Rebel Assault possible, etc.

The Attack would be a Hit&Run Assault by the Rebels while evacuating all forces from Onderon.

I think this would be a big bang to end the Onderon "Campaign".