Freighter against a Star Destroyer? I nearly killed our characters last game putting them up against 4 Tie Fighters.

I think this could be easily avoided by the swarms of tie fighters the star destroyer has and tractor beams.

Keep in mind that when the heroes could take on a big thing, they did, even when the situation looked bleak; however, those same heroes habitually ran away from every Star Destroyer they met, often by limping off into hyperspace. When they couldn't do that, they hid - either in an asteroid field or by attaching themselves to the rear of the Star Destroyer's bridge.

I say let 'em do it. If they think they can take on a Star Destroyer, let 'em concoct a plan and carry it out. If/when they fall on their collective faces, you can sooth them with either: A. brand new blank character sheets, or B. you GM them out of the jam by having them wake up from a communal nightmare of epicly stupid proportions.

As a side not I was GMing the Operation Shellgame for my wife and kids. My wifes wonderful idea was to Charm half a dozen securiy guards with her cleavage while another character hit the release button on the cell doors, freeing some prisoners. Needless to say, she did succeed with her charm attempt, but rolled 3 disadvantages. I had the detention center doors lock behind her, seperating the rest of the party from the two of them. Both my wife and my daughters characters instantly got shot and were both reduced to 2 and 1 wounds left. She looked at me across the table and sheepishly smiled. Cleavage is powerful, but not always tactically smart. Gotta love inventive PC's.

P.S. They made it out when she rolled for coordination to get to the door and unlock it so the rest of the party could wade on into the fight.

And of course, some of the iconic "punch above weight" moments are themselves "with help", sometimes outright mentioned in the movies, i.e. the famous crashing by Arvel Crynyd of his A-wing into Executor 's bridge being because of Admiral Ackbar's " Concentrate all fire on that Super Star Destroyer! "

Honestly. a one or two being snub fighter would probably have considerably better odds than something like a yt or gethroc. Being fast and small enough to hopefully not be hit long enough to pull off something fancy. A non-military light freighter falls into the ranges of "To big to dodge efffectivly" and "too small to pack enough shields or guns to trade punches with something that powerful". I find that PCs will often fall into a trap of thinking they're invincible. Break this illusion. If you don't want to tpk then just have the ring leader killed in a hull breach or sparky console and torture the rest until the rebels bust them out.

GM and PC disagreements aren't the worst of course. Those can always be talked about and compromises made. The worst is when most of the party acts like badasses that still know that being shot hurts and one nutjob that constantly says "we can take 'em" even if it's twenty to one and you're all packing a single rusty spoon.

It also helps if the Empire wants to take you alive and if its Darth Vader they have to explain to afterwards I suspect they have a higher chance of survival than if the Imperial Commander of that ship doesn't have a clue who that suicidal idiot is of course they could be arrogant enough to just order a wing of TIE Fighters' to launch leaving their hangar bay open and vulnerable if it occurs to your players to hit that before scarpering!

It also helps if the Empire wants to take you alive and if its Darth Vader they have to explain to afterwards I suspect they have a higher chance of survival than if the Imperial Commander of that ship doesn't have a clue who that suicidal idiot is of course they could be arrogant enough to just order a wing of TIE Fighters' to launch leaving their hangar bay open and vulnerable if it occurs to your players to hit that before scarpering!

The hanger is always open. Its the big hole in the bottom of the ship.

I always assumed it was at least as heavily shielded as the command deck, I'd have assumed you'd have more luck pulling off what they did in the two part opening episodes of Firefly (the one they should have shown first in the US for those that don't know what I mean and didn't pick up the series on dvd or Netflix, etc).

Now jury rigging another freighter to keep the Imperial ship's attention whilst you fly away on the opposite side of the planet might also work though the Sheridan method in that prelude movie might also work though that involved getting the Imp to fly within the border of an asteroid belt... might work if they set up an entire disused or abandoned docking station to blow up whilst they're in proximity but that's better if you make sure they never find out it was you even if the ship doesn't survive you really don't want them actively hunting you because someone passed on the story as long as whoever did it didn't give you the rightful credit for the idea...

About the only time you wouldn't be unhappy that happened I guess!

Cleavage is powerful...

Amen.

Man, I've killed a lot of Star Destroyers in video games over the years.

wow, i bet the inhabitants of that planet are not happy with the rebels blowing up a star destroyer and the debris falling through the atmosphere to decimate the people below......

Did they ever reveal whose worlds they were and maybe given the Empire's reputation would have sent them fleeing into shelters as soon as anyone detected the fire fight... not that they didn't want to help but first things first get everyone on the opposite side of the planet in case that star destroyer crashes into the planet... sorry I meant crash lands... that's not better at all!

Now I'm reminded of the Endor Holocaust... too bad Pablo Hidalgo declared "happy ending!" to assert that it didn't happen and Curtis Saxton left the franchise rather than have anything to do with it not happening.

I always assumed it was at least as heavily shielded as the command deck,

There are shields. Episode 4 has a throwaway line over the PA system when the Falcon is being brought into the Death Star about "opening the magnetic shields" for the hanger.

So you're asking "the odds of surviving a direct attack on an imperial star destroyer"?

"Never tell me the odds!"

So you're asking "the odds of surviving a direct attack on an imperial star destroyer"?

Too bad Threepio didn't get to finish that sentence. It was pretty inconsiderate of Leia not to let him feed us that bit of exposition....

wow, i bet the inhabitants of that planet are not happy with the rebels blowing up a star destroyer and the debris falling through the atmosphere to decimate the people below......

Case in point, the next level has you providing air cover for Crix Madine and his commandos as they recover a macguffin from the wreck:-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UJxznSyPwyI

So again, the results of shooting down a Star Destroyer over a planet depend heavily on the sort of game you are playing.

Now I'm reminded of the Endor Holocaust... too bad Pablo Hidalgo declared "happy ending!" to assert that it didn't happen and Curtis Saxton left the franchise rather than have anything to do with it not happening.

Meh, seeing as Star Wars is meant to have a happy ending it would have been stupid to have such a thing happen, even if "scientifically" it should have done. Star Wars is a background driven by narrative, not science.

Also, Curtis Saxton is the root cause of much of the Star "Destroyer" nonsense, where Star Destroyers are small escorts of the Imperial Navy, rather than the symbols of power and dread they should be. Star Dreadnaughts... blech... It is and always will be a "Super Star Destroyer" in my mind.

Also, Curtis Saxton is the root cause of much of the Star "Destroyer" nonsense, where Star Destroyers are small escorts of the Imperial Navy, rather than the symbols of power and dread they should be. Star Dreadnaughts... blech... It is and always will be a "Super Star Destroyer" in my mind.

I agree here. I see no reason why I should adopt a 21st-century naval classification system for kilometers-long interstellar warships "a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away." Besides, I think Vader's assigned purpose would logically have warranted a force a little more substantial than an escort group.

Meh, seeing as Star Wars is meant to have a happy ending it would have been stupid to have such a thing happen, even if "scientifically" it should have done. Star Wars is a background driven by narrative, not science.

As for the whole "Destroyer" malarkey... blame the EU bloat for them being "small escorts" relative to what the Imperial Navy had by the time he started classifying them... though it's arguably also testament to the scale of Star Wars ! I mean heck, in our days (where battleships were obsoleted by carriers but not in Star Wars , not least since the iconic "battleships" are carriers in their own right) destroyers tend to be the "tactical" surface combatant warship and the "show of force" warship... albeit far more about missiles than guns as is the case in Star Wars , ironically with missiles as a primary armament mainly being relegated to smaller ships.

I also wouldn't take Vader as indicative of "normal" force structure considering his authority to flat-out attach and detach units as he pleased, although in Episode IV he raised his flag onboard a 'regular' Star Destroyer and it would be a while until he moved to Executor (if going strictly by G-canon we don't see it until 3 ABY, although C-canon/EU has Executor entering service 0.5 ABY and being formally commissioned in 2 ABY).

... that makes Star Wars worse in my mind, not better.

Well, I hope you can one day find a science fiction property that is more to your taste.

Well, I hope you can one day find a science fiction property that is more to your taste.

Erik, here's a guy who has forgotten more about Star Wars than you (or I) will learn in our lifetimes...

(Actually, I assume he's a guy! Apologies if I have this wrong! )

Serious question, Erik - are you playing AoE and EoE? If not, wouldn't a movie board suit you better? Because there, an argument about what is 'canon' might actually have some meaning.

I can't alter the movies. I can alter my games.

Well, I hope you can one day find a science fiction property that is more to your taste.

Erik, here's a guy who has forgotten more about Star Wars than you (or I) will learn in our lifetimes...

(Actually, I assume he's a guy! Apologies if I have this wrong! )

Serious question, Erik - are you playing AoE and EoE? If not, wouldn't a movie board suit you better? Because there, an argument about what is 'canon' might actually have some meaning.

I can't alter the movies. I can alter my games.

Cause I have never had a missed shot be a miss cause the cloaked Rogue Shadow accidently got in the way and was completely destroyed. On its first mission. When it had no bearing whatsoever on the game I was running....

On the other hand, I have always thought that discussion of the Endor Holocaust, in terms of an RPG, is pretty silly. Either it is the kind of game where it happened or it is the kind of game where it didnt. That is all up to the players of the game, not some continuity manager or author. Come to think of it if I want my game to have its climax be where the protaganist Duke Spacerunner fights his second cousin in front of the emperor while Dan Alone blows up the shield generator with the help of thousands of Wookies, that is my business in my game. Your opinion if it is irrelevant

So I will generalize Maelora's statement: Play your game the way you want. It is yours, not Disney's

So I will generalize Maelora's statement: Play your game the way you want. It is yours, not Disney's

And FFG go out of their way to tell us exactly this on page 295!