Does anyone have any advice for running episode 3 of Onslaught at Arda I? I'm having a tough tone figuring out how the players are even meant to start. They have a rebel contact, and that contact can potentially give then information about the bombing that killed Narek's family, but then what? The book details all these different locations without any instructions on how to inform them players that they exist.

Also, why would it be so difficult to find Narek's mansion? The first thing my players are doing to do when they land is search public records for his home. If they find it, they'll just go there and set an ambush. Which is fine, but I don't understand how that's not the way that every group would end up approaching this.

For anyone reading this later, it went pretty much exactly how I expected. We've paused at the manor as the Imperials arrive, but there's no way I'm going to get to the climax as written. Again, it's fine, but I have no idea how anyone would ever have the adventure go like it is in the book without some serious railroading.

Hi, @ddbrown30

I haven't run the scneario yet, but plan to in about 12 session's time. I was always going to use the book heavily modified and adapted to my own setting and campaign, and will therefore have to change the entire Ord Radama episode. But, I'm curious, if the PCs are already at the Narek Manor at this point, what is the issue with getting to the climax? IIRC, this section revolves around the PCs getting to where Var is at, confronts him and learns his motivations (and the fact that the kidnapped Rebel officer is locked away elsewhere), and the the Empire arrives = Climax 1. From there, the Empire captures the Rebel officer lady and storms off, which leads to a new chase, which takes the story into the sewers for confrontation & climax no.2?

What will go wrong at this point?

Sorry, but I can't remember how the getting-to-the-manor bit is supposed to work in the scenario...

Is his mansion public?

Is it easily visible, or is it hidden away somewhere, like the jungle?

What do the PCs already know of it?

I am not familiar with the module, so I'll give my advice from a strictly story/plot hole side of things as I don't even know what sort of mansion it is or who this character is.
The mansion is hidden away somewhere and very few people know about it other than the people who make supply runs, and they're on the payroll and aren't spilling (until the PCs come around, that is).
When the PCs try to search public records for it, they find an address, sure, but it isn't the right one. It's a [building], and clearly not what they're looking for (or maybe it is, and they have to discover that it isn't). Now they have to track down where the real mansion is, and it's probably administratively disguised as something else.

I always view adventure books as story generators and starting points, never a finished product. Don't be afraid to shift things around.

9 hours ago, ddbrown30 said:

For anyone reading this later, it went pretty much exactly how I expected. We've paused at the manor as the Imperials arrive, but there's no way I'm going to get to the climax as written. Again, it's fine, but I have no idea how anyone would ever have the adventure go like it is in the book without some serious railroading.

Not that it helps, but I do remember that issue when I first read through it, and recall a discussion on these boards about it. It's a pretty poor transition to the third act. Not helpful, but you're not alone. I think the only thing you can do is rewrite it and make it your own.

I agree with angelman and whatfrog. When I "ran" this module - amazing Act I, pretty good Act II with a worst-module-development-I've-ever-seen ACTII climax I dropped Act III (and made up my own on the Interdictor detailed in the module). But that's not helpful except to say you're not alone.

I'd just present things to the PC's and let them tackle it and drive through it to conclusion without much concern for steering it. Just have an idea of the PCs and their resources etc and use those as obstacles and challenges for the players. It's Act III so you don't need to worry about getting them to another Act - so let them do their thing and they'll get to a conclusion.

19 hours ago, angelman2 said:

Hi, @ddbrown30

I haven't run the scneario yet, but plan to in about 12 session's time. I was always going to use the book heavily modified and adapted to my own setting and campaign, and will therefore have to change the entire Ord Radama episode. But, I'm curious, if the PCs are already at the Narek Manor at this point, what is the issue with getting to the climax? IIRC, this section revolves around the PCs getting to where Var is at, confronts him and learns his motivations (and the fact that the kidnapped Rebel officer is locked away elsewhere), and the the Empire arrives = Climax 1. From there, the Empire captures the Rebel officer lady and storms off, which leads to a new chase, which takes the story into the sewers for confrontation & climax no.2?

What will go wrong at this point?

Sorry, but I can't remember how the getting-to-the-manor bit is supposed to work in the scenario...

The encounter at the manor requires that the players arrive after Narek. It's setup such that Narek hides Hase away in a shed so that the PCs can encounter him without knowing where Hase is. This then leads into going to get Hase from the shed only to find that Narek's handler has beat them there. He then grabs Hase and leads the party on a chase into the climax.

By arriving early and ambushing Narek, none of this can happen. The group has Hase in their control before the Imperials arrive.

14 hours ago, P-47 Thunderbolt said:

Is his mansion public?

Is it easily visible, or is it hidden away somewhere, like the jungle?

What do the PCs already know of it?

I am not familiar with the module, so I'll give my advice from a strictly story/plot hole side of things as I don't even know what sort of mansion it is or who this character is.
The mansion is hidden away somewhere and very few people know about it other than the people who make supply runs, and they're on the payroll and aren't spilling (until the PCs come around, that is).
When the PCs try to search public records for it, they find an address, sure, but it isn't the right one. It's a [building], and clearly not what they're looking for (or maybe it is, and they have to discover that it isn't). Now they have to track down where the real mansion is, and it's probably administratively disguised as something else.

I always view adventure books as story generators and starting points, never a finished product. Don't be afraid to shift things around.

Var Narek comes from a noble family and the manor is situated on a lake not far from the city (they make a point of mentioning that it's close because the party needs to get their quickly). It makes sense that it would be relatively easy to track down the manor.

The manor is run down and dilapidated, having clearly not been lived in for years. I probably could have rebuilt the entire act around discovering the location of the manor or something but I didn't feel it was worth it. Everything had gone fine so far, it's just a far cry from what the book describes.

10 hours ago, ddbrown30 said:

The encounter at the manor requires that the players arrive after Narek. It's setup such that Narek hides Hase away in a shed so that the PCs can encounter him without knowing where Hase is. This then leads into going to get Hase from the shed only to find that Narek's handler has beat them there. He then grabs Hase and leads the party on a chase into the climax.

By arriving early and ambushing Narek, none of this can happen. The group has Hase in their control before the Imperials arrive.

Ah, I see. Well, that's a problem. If it isn't too late for you, perhaps you could have Narek having already hidden Hase away somewhere in the woods (or wherever) enrout to the manor? If the PCs already have Hase in their care, well... then I don't see any other option than to have the Imps/badies launch a MASSIVE attack on the manor that forces the heroes down into the sewer below the manor, and fuge your way to the second climax from there. Is that doable in your story?

15 hours ago, ddbrown30 said:

It's setup such that Narek hides Hase away in a shed so that the PCs can encounter him without knowing where Hase is. This then leads into going to get Hase from the shed only to find that Narek's handler has beat them there. He then grabs Hase and leads the party on a chase into the climax.

By arriving early and ambushing Narek, none of this can happen. The group has Hase in their control before the Imperials arrive.

Maybe there's a Hase clone...only one is legit

On 9/22/2020 at 11:19 AM, angelman2 said:

Ah, I see. Well, that's a problem. If it isn't too late for you, perhaps you could have Narek having already hidden Hase away somewhere in the woods (or wherever) enrout to the manor? If the PCs already have Hase in their care, well... then I don't see any other option than to have the Imps/badies launch a MASSIVE attack on the manor that forces the heroes down into the sewer below the manor, and fuge your way to the second climax from there. Is that doable in your story?

The whole thrust of this episode is that the PCs are able to get to the planet before Narek so that they have time to learn about Narek's history and prepare for his arrival. The only way to do what you suggest would be to have Narek land somewhere else without being detected and then head to the manor after that. This has some logic issues for me, but it's probably the best idea that's come up so far.

As for my current position, yeah, it's way too late for any changes to that. I am indeed just about to have a massive attack on the manor. The Imps have already arrived in force. We paused just after the PCs destroyed the Imps' transport ship. They now have 16 Stormtroopers and the IIS nemesis to deal with, but more will be on the way. I doubt I'll even try to force into the final climax. I have no idea what the players are going to do next, so I'm not even going to bother trying to plan for it. This will be seat of the pants GMing, for sure.