My players will soon be cracking into some juicy Imperial intel archives and I want to plant a future adventure hook in there. Something alarming, but with the potential to try to do something about it if the information can be acted on quickly enough. I'd like to steer clear of direct movie ripoffs, so not any Death Star plans or the like, but either a plan or a weapon that was to be kept secret that can spur the characters into action.

Something like a new starship design, or an impending invasion somewhere in the galaxy, or a looming internal divide among the Moffs, etc...

Got any awesome ideas?

11 minutes ago, Nostromoid said:

My players will soon be cracking into some juicy Imperial intel archives and I want to plant a future adventure hook in there. Something alarming, but with the potential to try to do something about it if the information can be acted on quickly enough. I'd like to steer clear of direct movie ripoffs, so not any Death Star plans or the like, but either a plan or a weapon that was to be kept secret that can spur the characters into action.

Something like a new starship design, or an impending invasion somewhere in the galaxy, or a looming internal divide among the Moffs, etc...

Got any awesome ideas?

Depending on how familiar the group with the EU if I were you I'd rip off mercilessly something from there.

For example in the X-wing series, there's a clandestine Imp research trying to give intelligence to lesser species. They got a gene-modified Gammorean in the Rogue squadron. But they are working on Talz, Ewok, and other not-so-intelligent but sentient species.

You could modify WotC Dawn of Defiance campaign.

There's always the World Devastator .

I can't find anything that would make the debut of an Executor-class dreadnought fit in the timeline of approximately 1-2 ABY. That's a little bit after the Executor was already known to be combing the galaxy for the Rebellion.

Interdictors were likewise old news. Same with TIE Defenders.

I seem to recall that Palpatine had a secret black site prison for holding Jedi captives? One that may have actually been a trap for capturing even more Jedi?

@Rimsen Ah, perhaps coordinates to major internment camps housing captive "primitives" for forced labor and orderly displacement from homeworlds that had significant resources. Everybody loves a good jailbreak. And one of the PCs is a Bothan, so maybe he'll have a cousin in there or something.

@kaosoe Ah, the world devastators take me back to the old Essential Guide to Vehicles, since I didn't actually read the book they were from. That could be a thing, even if we're pretty early in the canon timeline. Perhaps they're only in the prototype stages?

I’ll shoot you a PM. Some of my players are on the boards, and haven’t reached a point to connect the dots on one particular Imperial plot.

I'm also liking a tie-in with some of the Rogue One project names. War Mantle could be the world devastator development. Dark Saber could be the Eclipse star dreadnought (breaking from new-canon in which the Eclipse is most probably one of the Executor-class) in construction at Kuat. Pax Aurora could be the code name for what led to Project Cinder. Mark Omega could be just about anything.

5 hours ago, Nytwyng said:

I’ll shoot you a PM. Some of my players are on the boards, and haven’t reached a point to connect the dots on one particular Imperial plot.

Hi Nytwyng, any chance I could have a look at that as well? I’m currently running a AoR campaign & always looking for good ideas!

As for other plot ideas I’ve used some of Fractalsponge’s TIE variants as “secret projects” that need some Rebel interference! It’s a great website if you’ve not already checked it out!

My players foiled a plot to create guided bombs that could bypass planetary shields by using a gand findsman (with their force guided navigational abilities) to jump them out of hyperspace between shield and target. They had kidnapped their families to get them to comply.

had they not stopped it Hoth would have turned out differently!

Project Blackwing . An Imperial Bioweapons Project, focused on meddling with modern technology and old Sith relics they don't quite understand. Vader ordered it mothballed, cited reason as: "Blasphemy" in the official report. Before the Dark Lord's orders could be carried out, Scarif happened, and the Empire had bigger problems. Now, anyone who knows of the project is either onsite at the facility, the Supreme Commander of the Imperial Military, The Emperor himself, or freezing in the vacuum above Yavin. They lost contact with the facility around 3 months ago (modify as needed for your timeline, assuming 1 ABY?). Just know that just because most of the people in the facility are dead, doesn't mean they'll stay that way. . .

As an active AoR GM, I also have "secret" plans in the works.

BUT, one of the plots that I have used effectively was to have the PC's sent in to search out the secret plans for a new Imperial fighter system, fit to replace the Tie Fighters.

They found themselves uncovering the development project for the TIE Interceptors.

The blasted thing was that the PC's were "THIS" close to destroying the entire development project for the TIE Interceptor. ! I must be more careful about giving the PC's that much world changing opportunity. Although a Star Wars campaign where the Tie Interceptor was never built? The PC's DID however, delay the deployment of the TIE Interceptor. (Go Team)!

Here's another thought. The planet Rothana is a secret research world with a number of independent Imperial research projects (and this was the location of the aforementioned projects). It can make a nice setting for a Cloak & Dagger escapade.

The PC's did learn about a competing "Project Alpha" and the Empire has already deployed a handful of Alpha Fighters that the PC's have had a chance to interact with already.

There were also a couple of super tall combat droids that the PC's ran into on Rothana as well, but they only learned that these prototype combat droids were hard to fight . . .

I do have the benefit in my campaign that we're still early in the time line and In My Star Wars Universe (IMSWU) ships like the A-Wing, B-Wing, Tie Defender, etc are still either on the early design boards or are slated to be developed later.

21 hours ago, AceSolo5 said:

Hi Nytwyng, any chance I could have a look at that as well? I’m currently running a AoR campaign & always looking for good ideas!

As for other plot ideas I’ve used some of Fractalsponge’s TIE variants as “secret projects” that need some Rebel interference! It’s a great website if you’ve not already checked it out!

Sure. PM incoming.

My players found intel on an Imperial base called Stronghold which, according to Rebel intelligence, was a bioweapons lab. They infiltrated it, but found it's actually a seed vault that has been around since the Republic. They collect genetic material from dead and dying worlds in hopes of saving entire ecosystems.

They questioned the director, who oversaw the transition from Republic to Empire. He uses red tape and bureaucracy to allow the facility to remain without much oversight. My players then had the moral quandary of turning over all this knowledge to the Rebellion and increase their Duty ranking, or leave it as is, a relatively safe bastion of hope that happens to operate within the structure of the Empire.

The danger is the Alliance doesn't have the resources to keep a vast facility like this running. They may also try to destroy the facility just to deliver a blow to the Empire. They could also take it over, causing the Empire to retaliate, also potentially destroying it.

I got a lot of narrative meat out of a "you recover some intel on a computer" adventure.

This one, I can post openly. It dates back to our old WEG campaign some 20 years ago. Trying to come up with a major threat that could run through and potentially allow for a big win for the group, my eyes fell on an old Cylon Base Star model next to a MicroMachines Star Destroyer. And thus was born the Starbreaker battle platform. It was designed as a sort of (relatively) small-scale support for the Death Star. On the "interior" faces of the hull, there are what were - on Battlestar Galactica - the main guns of the Base Star that, at the scale I was making it, were dubbed "powerlasers." In current terms, each powerlaser is more or less equivalent to a single reactor blast from the Death Star's Superlaser...or, as conceived back then, just slightly less powerful than when the Death Star II was firing at capital ships. One shot would be enough to overpower most capital ships' shields, then a second would be enough to destroy it (which was why they're mounted in pairs, thanks to slow recharge times).

Ten Star Destroyers could also dock, allowing the Starbreaker to also serve as a mobile command center.

3 hours ago, Nytwyng said:

Ten Star Destroyers could also dock, allowing the Starbreaker to also serve as a mobile command center.

Nice adventure and imagery. Personally I'd picture the Star Destroyers docking side-on or forwards. That image makes more sense offensively, but I can't picture too many docking ports on the rear of the ship by the engines.

But I'm nitpicking. I repeat, nice adventure and imagery.

10 hours ago, Roderz said:

Nice adventure and imagery. Personally I'd picture the Star Destroyers docking side-on or forwards. That image makes more sense offensively, but I can't picture too many docking ports on the rear of the ship by the engines.

But I'm nitpicking. I repeat, nice adventure and imagery.

That’s exactly why I docked them the way I did: rapid departure for action. (With the physical objects in front of them, though, like you, my players wanted to drop the SD into the “launch well,” or whatever you want to call it. So, there’s room for both interpretations.)

My thinking was, if the back of the tower had a huge hatch that’s big enough for “garbage” the size of a freighter, it wouldn’t be out of the question to have personnel docking ports back there. ?

15 hours ago, Nytwyng said:

And thus was born the Starbreaker battle platform

I would totally steal that if Cylons and Base Stars (and some other goodies from that time period) didn't already exist out in the Mego Arm in my campaign.

4 minutes ago, Vorzakk said:

I would totally steal that if Cylons and Base Stars (and some other goodies from that time period) didn't already exist out in the Mego Arm in my campaign.

“Other goodies” perhaps being Micronauts and Spaceknights? ?

You can do a WMD story-line that doesn't involve a gun that blows up planets. For my Age of Rebellion campaign, a recent story arc involved delivering a plague antidote to Dellalt. The Imperials were testing a bioweapon on the lake-dwelling sauropteroids in anticipation of deploying it on nearby Mon Cala. The Imperials deployed fanatical, aquatic Ailon Nova Guardsman as project guards.

1 hour ago, Nytwyng said:

“Other goodies” perhaps being Micronauts and Spaceknights? ?

Micronauts, yes; particularly those creepy aliens with the glowing brains and the prosthetic weapons. Spaceknights I'm afraid I'm unfamiliar with.

42 minutes ago, Vorzakk said:

Micronauts, yes; particularly those creepy aliens with the glowing brains and the prosthetic weapons. Spaceknights I'm afraid I'm unfamiliar with.

Coincidentally enough, I’ve been planning to stat out some of those same Micronauts aliens. Just haven’t had the right spot to drop them into an adventure.

Spaceknights are part of the lore from the ROM toy (and even more so from the Marvel comic of the late 70s into the 80s). Cyborg defenders of the planet Galador, who sacrificed their humanity to protect their world from the shapeshifting, sorcerous Dire Wraiths.

I do have a kernel that I can safely disclose from my campaign.

My group is currently tasked with discovering what's going on on Bestine. The Empire has recently interdicted the former resort world and traffic to and from the system is now HIGHLY controlled.

The PC's job is to visit the world and try to uncover what's going on now. Simple recon mission, no?

They're three sessions in and they are NO WHERE close to getting to Bestine. <And still no devil smiley emoticon . . . > In short, they need to procure the proper permits to arrive to Bestine without being blasted out of the sky before getting the chance to visit.

And in the defense of the players, they DID take a side quest that I wasn't expecting.

Whatever the Empire is doing below the salty surfaces of this mostly water world Force only knows . . . . I'll update you later as the plot thickens.

On 8/13/2018 at 2:23 AM, Nytwyng said:

I’ll shoot you a PM. Some of my players are on the boards, and haven’t reached a point to connect the dots on one particular Imperial plot.

Hey Nytwyng, is there any chance you could PM me too please?

10 hours ago, SirSaiCo said:

Hey Nytwyng, is there any chance you could PM me too please?

On 8/15/2018 at 3:34 PM, Nytwyng said:

That’s exactly why I docked them the way I did: rapid departure for action. (With the physical objects in front of them, though, like you, my players wanted to drop the SD into the “launch well,” or whatever you want to call it. So, there’s room for both interpretations.)

My thinking was, if the back of the tower had a huge hatch that’s big enough for “garbage” the size of a freighter, it wouldn’t be out of the question to have personnel docking ports back there. ?

It might be quicker if they were docked to the side - you probably don't want to fire up those enormous 130m diameter engines with a friendly station right behind you. And the chance that the place you want to go to is directly away from the station is equal to the chance of it being anywhere else.