Help needed for homebrew campaign

By Ash-skaz, in Game Masters

Back to GMing Star Wars after a pretty long break, I need some help fleshing out my upcoming homebrew campaign. I'm going to use the "campaigns as seasons" structure described in Dawn of Rebellion, and though I have some general ideas, I'm a bit in a hurry, so here I am.

1) So, first things first, the PCs. My players decided to start as good old bounty hunters, and one of them wants to be Force emergent. We agreed on having the PC unaware of his true potential for a while, but I really want to give him the opportunity to learn the ways of the Force later in the game (between season 1 and 2, for instance). As for the other PCs, I plan on using their respective backgrounds to create filler episodes.

2) Story arc : Season 1 would revolve around one of Palpatine's Observatories, where experiments are conducted on Force sensitive children under the supervision of one of Yupe Tashu 's Acolyte of the Beyond, in order to create a machine that could boost Palpatine's meditative power (some kind of a Professor X's Cerebro fueled by children). The existence of the Observatory is known only to a few of Palpatine's loyal followers, and the Acolyte works with a bounty hunter who regularly provides him with whatever he needs (mostly new "guinea pigs", but also Sith relics and other texts/artifacts).

3) Force sensitive PC arc : I'd like the PCs to meet a broken Jedi over the course of the campaign (a Rahm Kota/Cere Junda/old Luke kind of NPC). At first, they wouldn't even know who he really is, but they would learn the truth after an encounter with his former padawan (and now a member of the Inquisitorius). Not particularly original, I must admit, but I kinda like the trope of the broken mentor who first refuses to help, then changes his mind in order to fix his past mistakes. And should season 1 be a success, I'd like the Inquisitor to return as the main antagonist in season 2.

Now, I plan on having the PCs have a run-in with the bounty hunter during the first session to set things in motion, but I'm still trying to figure out the ins and outs of the whole situation. Also, I want the story arc to end with the PCs destroying the Observatory and freeing some of the kids with the help of the former Jedi. Anyway, that's pretty much all I've got so far. So if you have any idea/suggestion, feel free to share it with me .


Edited by Ash-skaz

More ideas I got over the past few days :

The first session will send the PCs on the hunt for a teenager who double-crossed his employer and escaped with some panache. Think of him as a young Solo or Ezra Bridger (smart, lucky and overconfident, but also very annoying). The employer is more annoyed than really angry, and wants him back in order to punish him but also to give him a more important role in his criminal organization (because, you know, the kid is really talented).

Of course, the teenager is Force sensitive, even though he doesn't know it. So most of the session would focus on tracking him and... tracking him again because he IS really talented( That's got to be the best pirate I've ever seen... ) , until he finally runs out of luck and the Bounty Hunter nemesis arrives.





8 minutes ago, Ash-skaz said:

The first session will send the PCs on the hunt for a teenager who double-crossed his employer and escaped with some panache. Think of him as a young Solo or Ezra Bridger (smart, lucky and overconfident, but also very annoying). The employer is more annoyed than really angry, and wants him back in order to punish him but also to give him a more important role in his criminal organization (because, you know, the kid is really talented).

Traitors! Scum! I am so proud... But also betrayed.
-Hondo Ohnaka

10 minutes ago, Ash-skaz said:

More ideas I got over the past few days :

The first session will send the PCs on the hunt for a teenager who double-crossed his employer and escaped with some panache. Think of him as a young Solo or Ezra Bridger (smart, lucky and overconfident, but also very annoying). The employer is more annoyed than really angry, and wants him back in order to punish him but also to give him a more important role in his criminal organization (because, you know, the kid is really talented).

Of course, the teenager is Force sensitive, even though he doesn't know it. So most of the session would focus on tracking him and... tracking him again because he IS really talented( That's got to be the best pirate I've ever seen... ) , until he finally runs out of luck and the Bounty Hunter nemesis arrives.

This all sounds really interesting, so I only have one piece of advice: Hondo Ohnaka!

Thanks for the suggestion, I had completely forgotten about him. Ondo is definitely the kind of character I have in mind, even though I can't directly use him due to one of the PCs' background. Well, I could, but that would mean throwing away really cool ideas. So I'll probably make the employer a mix of Lady Proxima, Ondo and Father Chains (from the Gentlemen Bastards novels).

Also, the first scenario is pretty much ready, I just need the stats. So here is the plan :

The game stars with an in media res action scene, with the PCs trying to escape a gang of minions whose boss they just captured. It will allow me to introduce first the characters, then their ship, and finally their fixer.

After that, they a meeting with Ondo Proxima, who tells them about the teenager (let's call him Ezra Solo for now). Ondo shows them a video (available on the holonet, that's important) of Ezra escaping Imps aboard a vehicle full of stolen cargo ("I KNOW it's him... He is the only one on this planet with such skills"), and explains them that the kid has gone missing since then. Of course, he wants HIS cargo back, but he also wants to know what happened to Ezra whom he pretty much considers his son. Also, Ondo doesn't want to send his own men after the kid to keep the incident secret, and so is the reason he contacted the PCs.

After a short investigation, the PCs learn that Ezra's dream is to be a racer pilot.
Coincidentally , a major racing event is currently held on an old Clone Wars platform located on a planet nearby (yeah, my players haven't watched Resistance).

The PCs travel there, find the boy (not very difficult considering he is racing when they arrive and his picture is displayed on a giant holo screen) and confront him. But the kid manages to escape them in the most crazy way (meet Kazuda Xiono ) and steals another pilot's ship... which is absolutely useless since racing ships do not have hyperdrive and the plaform is the only inhabited place on the planet.

Eventually, the PCs track (or chase) Ezra and convince him to go home. He accepts, but tell them the money he made with the stolen cargo is still on the platform (at least what remains of it after buying a racing ship and a few droids).

But as soon as they land on the platform, the Bounty Hunter ambushes them with enough men (stormtroopers ?) and firepower to sink the whole platform into the ocean. He kidnaps Ezra, leaves at least one of PCs for dead (cause of their mutual background) and cripples their ship. END.

So the general idea here is to have a light headed session until the final scene, which I want to be very dramatic in contrast with the rest of the adventure. I know it's a very straight forward scenraio, but like I said before, we haven't played Star Wars for a while, so I want to keep things pretty simple. Anyway, feel free to make suggestions/comments.

PS : I'm looking for racer ships (like the Fireball from Resistance) stats. Any idea where I can find those ?

Small correction, Hondo, not Ondo.

Sounds good! Not sure what advice I can really offer...