Outlining a campaign

[Falconer]

Before starting a campaign, I like to have ample resources at my fingertips. I like to have a general outline, or rather several outlines, to give me an idea of the general shape of the campaign, and plenty of alternate adventures handy for when things go differently. I wonder if we can pool our resources, knowledge, and enthusiasm and come up with some campaign outlines. I’ll start with some vague ideas, but I’d love for it to get more into detail.

Literature-based
A campaign based on the early Marvel comics (based in Yavin)
A campaign based on the Thrawn Trilogy
A campaign based on the Han Solo Adventures (Corporate Sector/Tion Hegemony)
A campaign based on the X-Wing books (esp. Wraith Squadron and/or Bacta War)

Adventures in a self-contained sector
A campaign based in the Minos Cluster (Tramp Freighters)
A campaign based in the Elrood Sector (Planets of the Galaxy, Volume Three)
A campaign based in the Kathol Sector (DarkStryder Campaign)

A campaign featuring Tatooine heavily, starting there and returning frequently

A campaign in the Unknown Regions

Set the players loose on Tony Case’s map and let literally anything happen

A string of 1E modules… what order??

Starting with the IAG scenario (looks awesome)… then what?

[boot]

Apr 20, 2019 17:14:40 GMT -6 Falconer said:

A campaign featuring Tatooine heavily, starting there and returning frequently

I've been thinking along the same lines, except that I'm interested in a sandbox starting on Tatooine and maybe growing that into one or more of the scripted adventures.

All of the official SW adventures, that I know of, are all linear stories.  I'm interested in plopping the characters down into a world and the just following them.  Let 'em do whatever they want.  Let the story grow organically.



My thoughts have been revolving around Tatooine--specifically Mos Eisely--for a number of reasons.  First, the place is very familiar to even the casual Star Wars fan.  I think we'd all be interested to adventure there.  Second, there's lots of resources, both for the game specifically and out in the big SW fan universe of support books and such.



I have some very, very rough ideas, as I am just reading right now (making my way through GG1 and GG6).  I want to set the characters down on Tatooine, fresh to it (maybe they've been there before--thus, the player familiarity with the place), with little resources.  I want them to try to find jobs, get in trouble, or other ways to take care of themselves.

I was thinking that the PCs would come from Kaller, a world out in the Outer Rim territories where a process has just been discovered where the local oil can be processed as a super-lubricant that will not catch fire, never heat up, and evaporates/dissipates so slowly under high heat conditions that it would take decades to need to be replenished.

This has started a type of gold rush and prosperity for Kaller as, Kallerzen, the oil, can only be processed with the local oil found on Kaller.  That makes it a rare, expensive commodity that has boosted the planet's economy.  But, it's also a depleting resource.  Once it is gone, it is gone.

The Empire has been the major buyer of Kallerzen, and a few years ago, became the only legal buy by Imperial Law.  Just before the game starts, the Empire invades (is welcomed in by the planetary governor through manipulation of the Kaller political system).  The entire planet is basically "nationalized" as we would say in the real world.  The citizens lose everything.  The Empire comes in an moves all the people (except those the Empire needs) off the world.

It does this "legally".  Kaller's Imperial Governor and politicians do this through the courts.  It's like Eminent Domain, except for the entire planet.

The Empire scatters the citizens all over the Outer Rim.  Small freighters are hired--thousands of them, for multiple trips--so that less than ten people in a group are taken to a world.

All the property a Kallerian had is seized.  The Empire gives them 500 Credits and a free passage offworld to a destination of the Empire's choosing.

This is where the PCs begin.  They will be offloading in a docking bay in Mos Eiesly.  They've got basically what is written on the 1E character templates, and that's it.  Immediate families were kept together, but the groups were kept small.  I guess the player's ship will be those with no family.  Or, maybe they're from off-world.  I think it would be neat for at least one to be from Alderaan, living on Kaller.  I thought about running Graveyard of Alderaan down the road in this campaign, especially if one of the players starts to be interested in the Force (there's a light saber in that adventure).

Backgrounds will be adjusted based on player Template choice.

And, I want this to begin just before A New Hope.  I'd like to use some of the characters that died in ANH in this sandbox.  We'll never have as good a chance to use characters like that.

For example, I thought the freighter that takes the PCs to Tatooine would be captained by Greedo, the bounty hunter that Han kills in the cantina.

The game will begin at the docking port.  

Where do you want to go?

I'll hit them with living expenses from time to time to cover off-camera meals.  They'll have to find a place to stay.  They'll need income.  That could be interesting, from driving a flatbed speeder out into the dunes, delivering to homesteads (honest work) to working for Jabba to getting involved in the Rebellion....who knows where it will go.  I don't.

[Zulgyan]

I think that gaming in the Star Wars universe lends itself perfectly to big ellipses between adventures. I treat adventures as if they were new Star Wars films. For example, in my game, we started off with Tatooine Manhunt, with a cast of characters. After finishing that "module-film", I played Rebel Breakout, as a "spinoff film" with a new cast of characters (players). After that I declared a 3 year ellipsis, and players from the Tatootine Manhunt adventure-film joined players from the Rebel Breakout adventure-film, forming a new party (other players dropped from the campaign do to lack of time to game). In that 3 year ellipsis, a lot happened "off-screen". For example, the jedi aspirant character began training with Luke and constructed his light-saber. A 13 year old female kid became a more mature 16 year rebel scout.

Now I'm preparing some skirmishes in the context of the battle of Hoth, and then I will run Crisis in Could City, that is a sequel to Starfall.

So I am going by the string of modules model, allowing myself to introduce long or short ellipses when needed, with important developments occurring in those ellipsis, just like in the films.