Star Wars: Age of Rebellion campaign ideas

Here's an idea for a campaign you can use. I stole it from someone else and we had a pretty kick-ass campaign a few years ago. Anyway, without further ado:

It's an alternate timeline. R2-D2 and C-3P0 were shot down over Tatooine as they tried to escape with the Death Star plans. Start with that and go over the consequences -- without the droids, Luke never has cause to leave Tattoine at exactly the right time, so they're never on the Death Start to rescue Leia until it's, perhaps, too late? Kenobi would feel the destruction of Alderaan, and perhaps come out of retirement...

Basically just run with it. In my campaign, Princess Leia, having been captured by Vader at the same time the droids were shot down, eventually succumbed to the dark side under months of constant torture. She gave up Yavin 4 as the rebel base, and the battle following was quick and decisive -- the rebels lost in one flash of light. Very few survived, but those that did are now under the command of General Kenobi, who came out of retirement after the destruction of Alderaan, but rather than having bases, they're a rag-tag fleet constantly on the run a la Battlestar Galactica. Vader eventually turned the Death Star on Coruscant, killing the Emperor and taking control himself.

The PCs were recruited by the rebels and eventually started working directly for Kenobi. Eventually they were able to discover the plans to the Death Star after several confrontations with Darth Fury (Leia) where she let slip that she had hid the plans in some droids that got shot down. Of course, that was just part of her plan to take over from Vader, but they figured that out on their own and forced a confrontation against both on the Death Star (with Kenobi in tow to face Vader) even as the ace pilot PCs were involved in their own trench-run battle, "holding off" as well as they could until the other PCs could escape.

Anyway, I'm sure your campaign will do something different, but the set up makes for a very compelling Star Wars campaign, IMO -- allowing the PCs to to shine without being overshadowed by Luke/Leia/Han/Chewie.

The Galactic Empire brings safety, security, prosperity, and progress to every planet that welcomes its care . . . or so the story goes, anyways. On one Outer Rim world, at first that all seemed true: oppressive nobles were overthrown, social mobility increased, and industry flourished. However, in the mines and the ‘reeducation’ camps the truth of Imperial rule can be found for those brave and/or unfortunate enough to uncover it. The Rebellion fights here despite the Empire’s good publicity, but what path will the different cells take to freedom? How will new additions to the base upset the balance? Check your power packs and calibrate your blaster’s sights, we’re joining up with the rebels of Jumar Base!

This Meet the Campaign has much older roots than my usual offerings, and actually there’s a chance you’ve already seen a version of it in play. I was fortunate enough to spend some time behind the scenes at Dice for Brains, and did some writing for Season 8: Partisans of Parsh. Ross and co. wanted a rebel base that was divided into factions, facing an uphill battle against a planet that mostly believed the Empire was good for it, ready for a batch of player characters to drop in and shake things up. I’ve been chewing on the idea of making a planet-neutral version of that idea for a while, and have finally put it together here.

P.S.: Go give Dice for Brains a listen/watch. While it’s no longer active, there’s a ton of great actual play content (including two trilogies worth of Star Wars adventures), and the Star Wars actual play scene owes a lot to what they did.

The Situation

Whatever planet you decide to set this campaign idea on, there are three points of order that are important to get the right vibe. First, it has to be on an inhabited planet that is occupied by the Empire, on the surface of things willingly but with the inevitable Imperial oppression beginning to show. Second, the base the resistance is operating from has to be extremely well hidden/hard to get to, or else the base won’t be part of the campaign for very long. Third, the base lacks central leadership, and the Rebellion forces associated with it are deeply divided on their methods and goals.

So, let’s describe the bare bones of our occupied planet and scenario. Let’s say it’s a world far enough from the Core to be straddling the line between Outer Rim and Wild Space, a colony of mostly humans that has actually been ‘lost’ by the galaxy at large until relatively recently. Like Crucival, for instance, technology had backslid quite a bit – not quite to the same degree as Weik with its sunthrowers and ‘enchanted armor’, but blasters are rare and spaceworthy vessels numbered pretty much zero. Things had gotten decidedly feudal, with hereditary nobles running the show, until the Empire ‘discovered’ the planet and found it to be rich in resources useful to its ever-expanding war machine.

The nobles didn’t much care for being conquered, however amiable it might have been at first, and tried to muster a resistance. As it turned out, however, the nobles hadn’t exactly endeared themselves to their subjects, and the offerings of the Empire – modern technology, an end to the feudal system, the chance to join a galactic community – were more than appealing. The ex-nobles were betrayed, the resistance died with a whimper, and the locals looked towards a brighter future.

As too much of the rest of the galaxy could have warned them, however, the rot of Imperial rule began to set in, slowly and ever so quietly. As the planet was given more of the ‘Emperor’s trust’ and more ‘responsibility’, the standards it was held to rose. Quotas had to be met, obedience had to be maintained, the thoughts and opinions of the populace had to be held to the right caliber. Thanks to the never-ending propaganda efforts of the local Moff, by and large the populace thinks all of this is good and proper – but very few ‘students’ come out of the ‘reeducation camps’  besides those sent to the mines, and none of the penal workers come out of those.  To make matters worse, off-world criminal enterprises including the Hutts saw plenty of ways to take advantage of this new world on the map, and the Empire largely turned a blind eye with the right bribes. Smugglers might be helpful in the right circumstances, but spice runners and slavers . . .

Eventually, Rebel Alliance logistics experts noticed a new influx of materiel and equipment, and sent a SpecOps team to nip it in the bud before the Empire’s advantage became even more profound. The team stumbled upon the camps and the mines, however, and called it in. That got the Alliance to pay more attention, and they dispatched more personnel and dedicated the funds to setting up a hidden base. The Commander assigned to the base was particularly charismatic, able to manage several different emerging factions among the resistance . . . but disaster struck during a rescue mission at one of the camps several months later, and the Commander was killed.

Into this steps the party of player characters.

If you’re running Edge of the Empire, there are a few ways you could wind up on this planet. First of all, you could be from this planet, which would definitely give you a personal stake in the matter. Second, you could be smuggling something to the resistance, only for a simple weapons-running job to get a lot more complicated when you get stranded there. Third, you could be involved in the more truly criminal side of things, working with/for Black Sun, the Hutts, or some other organization looking to make a profit.

Age of Rebellion? Easy, you’re the latest batch of Alliance reinforcements being sent to the base. Either you’re arriving expecting to be introduced to your new Commander, only to find out they’ve been dead for weeks, or you’re the only team the Alliance could spare to fill the gap after they found out about the Commander’s death.

Force and Destiny is a harder fit, unless your group of Force users shares the Edge and Age motivations above. However, with some more writing there could be some Force-based hooks: you’re tracking Inquisitorius activity to the planet, or the base is actually in an ancient Jedi (or Sith) temple…

The Rebels

Resistance against the Empire on this world is organized, more or less, into three cells of rebels, although to call them all members of the Alliance to Restore the Republic wouldn’t be accurate. They consist of an Alliance Special Operations team and their recruits, true patriots hoping for a better world, and those who are taking advantage of the chaos to grab at wealth and power. So who are the leaders, who are their immediate subordinates, and who are the rank and file?

Cell #1: Forged in Battle

Membership: Mostly locals rescued from ‘reeducation’ camps and trained at the base, built around a core of Alliance SpecOps agents.

Goals: Destruction of Imperial infrastructure, and disruption of the flow of materiel to the Imperial war machine.

A small Alliance Special Operations team was the first true spark of rebellion on this world, initially sent on (for them) a pretty standard sabotage mission to disrupt Imperial operations. Once they were on-world, realized exactly how bad things were, and called it in, they were told to stay put and follow the Commander’s lead. For a time it looked like the rebels would be able to pull off another Lothal, until disaster struck. As a result, Cell #1 is in triage mode.

The SpecOps team no longer think that a protracted campaign to liberate the world is a possibility. They’ll do what they can to give the rest of the local resistance a chance, but other than that their main priority will be damaging the planet’s ability to supply the Empire. The Lieutenant enforces Alliance protocols when it comes to protecting civilians with a literally titanium fist, but explosive violence is the name of the game. Cell #2 haven’t come to grips with the situation yet, and while Cell #3’s stealing suits Cell #1 just fine the Lieutenant knows better than to actually work with Hutts.

Outlook: SpecOps agents are widely regarded as a little on the crazy side in the first place; the fact that the locals who make up the majority of the cell are camp and mine survivors and thus extremely angry when it comes to the Empire hasn’t done much to mitigate that. The cell’s instinct will be to find any weak spot in the Empire’s grip, any valuable location that they can reach, and hammer it as hard as they can before vanishing into the smoke. Crazy PC Plans that fit that will get their support and advance their goals.

Lt. Talak Orden – Gank SpecOps Team Leader (Nemesis)

Characteristics: Brawn 2, Agility 4, Intellect 4, Cunning 3,  Willpower 3, Presence 3

Wound Threshold: 14

Strain Threshold: 15

Soak: 5

Defense: 0 Melee/0 Ranged

Talents: Encouraging Words (After an engaged ally fails a check, may suffer 1 strain to assist that ally’s next check this encounter as an out-of-turn incidental), That’s How It’s Done (May suffer 1 strain on a successful check to add Advantage to the same skill check made by 3 allies within short range during the next round), It’s Not That Bad (Once per session when an ally would suffer a Critical Injury, may take an It’s Not That Bad as an out-of-turn incidental; make a Hard Medicine check to stop the ally from gaining the Injury), Stim Application (Take the Stim Application action; make an Average Medicine check. If successful 1 engaged character increases 1 characteristic by 1 for the encounter and suffers 4 Strain) Improved Field Commander (Take the Field Commander action; make an Average Leadership check. 4 allies may immediately suffer 1 Strain to perform 1 free maneuver; may spend Triumph to allow 1 ally to suffer 1 strain and perform 1 free action instead)

Skills: Ranged (Heavy) 3, Medicine 4, Knowledge (Warfare) 3, Leadership 3, Discipline 3, Ranged (Light) 2, Knowledge (Outer Rim) 2, Stealth 2, Vigilance 1, Cool 1, Coercion 1, Perception 1

Equipment: Blaster Rifle with Under-Barrel Grenade Launcher, Laminate Armor, Frag Grenade x3, Stun Grenade x3, Medpac, Stimpacks x5, Cyberscanner Limb, Reflex Boosters (Suffer 1 Strain, +1 Success on Initiative), Armor Implant, C-22 Retinal Implant (+1 Advantage on Ranged (Heavy))

Profile: It was supposed to be simple: travel to one of the Empire’s resource worlds, blow some stuff up, leave for the next mission of mayhem. So of course it’s turned into the most complicated mission of Talak’s career.

Talak Orden breaks with most Gank stereotypes, particularly the one about being a cold-blooded killer; he left them behind when the Alliance became his new pack. He has instead taken on Alliance morals as his own . . . and fully embraced the stereotype of Alliance Special Operations. He leads a team because he’s capable of keeping a level head when one is required, but just like the rest of his people he’s got a taste for flashy operations that leave the Empire reeling, the crazier the better. He also cares deeply for those under his command; none of them are likely to die of old age in their beds, but he’s determined to keep them alive as long as he can – and make each ending count for something.

Alliance SpecOps Agent (Rival)

Characteristics: Brawn 3, Agility 3, Intellect 3, Cunning 3,  Willpower 3, Presence 3

Wound Threshold: 15

Soak: 5

Defense: 0 Melee/0 Ranged

Talents: Durable (May reduce any Critical Injury suffered by 10, to a minimum of 1), Lethal Blows (Add +10 to any Critical Injury inflicted on opponents), Deadly Accuracy (Choose 1 Combat Skill; add damage equal to ranks in that skill to one hit of a successful attack using that skill)

Abilities: Specialist (each Alliance SpecOps Agent has an additional four skills not listed below, chosen by the GM: one at Rank 3, one at Rank 2, and two at Rank 1.

Skills: Ranged (Heavy) 3 OR Ranged (Light) 3 OR Melee 3 OR Gunnery 3, Stealth 2, Vigilance 2

Equipment: Heavy Blaster Rifle OR Heavy Blaster Pistols x2 OR Vibroaxe OR Flame Projector, Laminate Armor, Frag Grenade, Detonite Charge, Stimpack

Profile: These are the members of the Alliance Special Operations team that Talak commands. Their specialty in general is chaos and ruining the Empire’s day, but they each take a different approach to it. At Jumar Base they’ve so far split their time between being the pointy end of the spear and the ones training the locals to use a blaster.

On an individual basis they’re the most dangerous asset the local resistance has (at least until the player characters show up), but they’re hampered by two things. First, they don’t have the numbers; we’re talking 5-6 people at most. Second, the Alliance’s diversity works against them on a world with a native population that is entirely human. The SpecOps team is mostly not, if they even have any human members at all (ex: Dug, Bothan, Droid, Mirialan, Zabrak, Rodian). The odd suit of stormtrooper armor helps to disguise the humanoid members, and being completely stealthy works just fine, but blending into a crowd anywhere outside of the underworld is something they’ll struggle with.

SpecOps Recruit (Minion)

Characteristics: Brawn 2, Agility 2, Intellect 2, Cunning 2,  Willpower 2, Presence 2

Wound Threshold: 5

Soak: 3

Talents: Improved Improvised Detonation (Once per session make an Average Mechanics Check to perform the Improvised Detonation action and build an explosive device dealing damage equal to 2 + double ranks in Mechanics + Successes, with an Blast Rating. Triumph can be spent to increase the damage by 2, Despair can set it off early )

Abilities: Taking You With Me: When their Wound Threshold is exceeded, a SpecOps Recruit may attempt to detonate a Frag Grenade, Detonite charge, or other explosive device in their possession as an out of turn incidental; they are, of course, automatically hit.

Skills (group only): Ranged (Light), Melee, Stealth, Mechanics

Equipment: Slugthrower Pistol or Blaster Pistol, Combat Knife, Frag Grenade, Detonite Charge, Heavy Clothing

Profile: The locals who have formed a cell under Talak’s command tend to be survivors of the reeducation camps, the mines, or other people who have been directly exposed to the worst of the Empire. Their fight against the Imperials thus tends to be personal, and Talak became their ‘commander’ in no small part so that he could rein them in before they all got themselves (and the rest of the local resistance) killed. They’ve become respectable hit-and-run fighters since, although a straight up fight with stormtroopers would be a daunting prospect.

It’s a tragic irony that these fighters would be the ones most likely to sign up not just for a local rebellion but the Rebellion, while of the three cell leaders theirs is the one who doesn’t think a full-blown liberation is possible in any sort of reasonable time frame.

Cell #2: Desperate Allies

Membership: Common locals, ex-Imperial defectors.

Goals: Aid people in escaping from the reeducation camps and turn the tide of propaganda against the Empire.

Learning the truth of the Empire has been a hard lesson for the locals unfortunate enough to have a thought that doesn’t sit well with the Empire. Enough have managed to survive the Empire’s truth, however, to begin fighting for the hearts and minds of their people.

While Cell #2 sees aggressive violence as a very late-stage part of their plan for their homeworld, they saw an opportunity in working with the larger Alliance. Now that the Commander leading them is dead, they’ve reverted to type. Their priorities are rescuing people from the camps, spreading counter-propaganda, and creating more bases and like-minded cells as part of a long game for a general uprising.

Cell #2 wants to see their home freed and the Empire sent back from whence they came, but they have no interest in following the Empire out into the void to keep waging war. Liberation will be enough, and then the off-worlders can go back to slaughtering one another on their own planets. The Alliance will have to be content with one less planet supporting the Empire, not one more planet supporting the Alliance. Pointedly they include the Hutts among those they want gone, causing friction with Cell #3, and they don’t support Cell #1’s end goals because they want the infrastructure to be intact to benefit their world.

Outlook: They want to go back to their planet being on its own; exposure to the wider galaxy has caused enough trouble. They don’t want a return to the way things were before, though. They’re idealistic, diplomatic, and above all else patient. Careful PC Plans that support growing the resistance with as few explosions as possible will get their support and advance their goals.

Bronwyn Vantai – Defected Revolutionary (Nemesis)

Characteristics: Brawn 2, Agility 3, Intellect 3, Cunning 3,  Willpower 4, Presence 4

Wound Threshold: 14

Strain Threshold: 16

Soak: 3

Defense: 0 Melee/0 Ranged

Abilities: For Our Home!: The difficulty of Coercion attempts made against Bronwyn Vantai are increased twice.

Talents: Bad Press (Once per session, choose an organization and make a Hard Deception check. On Success, organization members have their wound thresholds reduced by 1, plus 1 per 3 successes, until the end of the session.), Informant (Once per session, may reveal a contact who can shed light on a chosen subject), Nobody’s Fool (May Upgrade difficulty of incoming Charm, Coercion, or Deception checks once), Improved Inspiring Rhetoric (Take the Inspiring Rhetoric action; make an Average Leadership check. Each Success causes 1 ally in short range to recover 1 Strain. Spend Advantage to cause 1 affected ally to recover 1 additional Strain. Each affected ally also gains 1 Boost on all checks for 3 rounds.), Works Like A Charm (Once per session, make one skill check using Presence rather than the characteristic linked to that skill)

Skills: Charm 4, Leadership 3, Cool 3, Negotiation 3, Discipline 3, Knowledge (Outer Rim) 2, Ranged (Light) 2, Vigilance 2, Deception 2

Equipment: Holdout Blaster, Propaganda Leaflets (+1 Boost when convincing fellow locals to join the resistance), Lector’s Outfit (+1 Soak, +1 Boost to social checks involving a large group of listeners, can be heard clearly even at considerable distances)

Profile: Bronwyn Vantai was, like many of the locals, glad for the Empire’s arrival and the change it brought to her homeworld. She was even one of those who turned on the ex-nobles who attempted to rally a resistance, ending the uprising before it could begin. She was handsomely rewarded for her Imperial loyalty, and began to rise in the ranks of the Empire’s growing bureaucracy, helping to bring her world into a new age. She was proud, and loyal, and so she gained increasing responsibility . . . until she was trusted to oversee ‘student’ transfers to the reeducation camps. She questioned a single assignment to the camps – laughing at a stormtrooper who had tripped seemed such a small thing for a youngling to do – and suddenly found that she had been assigned as a ‘student’ herself.

Freedom – and survival – came to her in the form of an Alliance SpecOps team and a small group of angry locals blasting their way into her camp, grabbing as many people as they could, and fleeing in the night. Bronwyn dedicated her life to bringing a new and better age for her world before, and that has not changed. Now she’ll just make sure it’s done right.

Propagandist (Rival)

Characteristics: Brawn 1, Agility 2, Intellect 2, Cunning 2,  Willpower 3, Presence 3

Wound Threshold: 12

Soak: 3

Talents: Informant (Once per session, may reveal a contact who can shed light on a chosen subject), Incite Rebellion (Once per session, may take an Incite Rebellion action; make a Hard Coercion check to cause up to 3 beings to become rebellious until the end of the encounter), Congenial (May suffer 1 Strain to downgrade difficulty of Charm or Negotiation checks or upgrade difficulty of incoming Charm or Negotiation checks by 1)

Abilities: For Our Home!: The difficulty of Coercion attempts made against Propagandists are increased twice.

Skills: Charm 3, Coercion 3, Deception 2, Stealth 2, Discipline 2, Vigilance 1, Perception 1

Equipment: Slugthrower Pistol or Holdout Blaster, Propaganda Leaflets (+1 Boost when convincing fellow locals to join the resistance), Heavy Clothing

Profile: The local resistance has not yet reached the point where it has cells in every settlement, but Bronwyn has already begun to lay the groundwork by coaching prospective cell leaders to spread the message (and potentially replace her if the worst should occur). Each of them has become skilled at convincing (or browbeating) reluctant locals who have rationalized the Empire’s activities to cut through the fog and see the truth. Should Bronwyn’s goals be attained and a wider homegrown resistance come to be, these will be the rebels who truly lead the fight.

Patriot (Minion)

Characteristics: Brawn 2, Agility 2, Intellect 2, Cunning 2,  Willpower 2, Presence 2

Wound Threshold: 5

Soak: 3

Talents: Kill With Kindness (Remove 1 Setback from Charm and Leadership checks)

Abilities: For Our Home!: The difficulty of Coercion attempts made against Patriots are increased twice.

Skills (group only): Ranged (Light), Stealth, Charm, Perception

Equipment: Slugthrower Pistol or Holdout Blaster, Propaganda Leaflets (+1 Boost when convincing fellow locals to join the resistance), Heavy Clothing

Profile: Local resistance members who follow Bronwyn are true believers in not just a free homeworld but a truly new world, better than anything that came before under the nobles or the Imperials. Some have escaped from the camps, but most are actually the local version of defectors, those who were serving the Empire in some way and got to see what lurked behind the facade because of their perceived loyalty.

Their glimpses of the true Empire has inspired them to join the resistance, but as with Bronwyn their time serving the Empire has drilled into them just how strong the Empire is, so they play the long game. Mostly they serve as recruiters and information gatherers, the closest thing the local resistance has to a spy network.

Cell #3: Scum and Villainy

Membership: Ex-nobles, criminally-inclined locals, opportunistic off-worlders.

Goals: Ally with the Hutts and other underworld residents to support the resistance, capture and take over industry and resources, and profit.

Not all of the local nobles got wiped out at, and some of the survivors have decided the underworld is the best place to find what they need to kick out the Empire, free the planet, and rebuild their power base. They’re more than willing to get in bed with some nasty characters to do it.

Cell #3’s modus operandi is something akin to piracy. Most of their operations involve stealing resources and equipment, either for their own use or to sell on the black market to further fund their operations. They cozy up to the Hutts and co. in the hopes of getting more funding or hiring mercenaries to do the actual liberating part.

They absolutely want their home to be free, but on their terms. Thus their plan for things like Imperial infrastructure involves taking it over . . . and then they get to be the ones controlling everything. Like Cell #2, they’re not willing to follow the Alliance out into the wider galaxy . . . but they wouldn’t object to having someone to sell materiel to.

Outlook: A homeworld for those born there, exactly the way it was before but with new slimy friends in the mix. It’s entirely about influence, credits, and power with this cell. Take those away from the Empire, put them into the proper hands, and everything will turn out okay. These are definitely not the steal-from-the-Imps-give-to-the-poor types. Larcenous PC Plans that involve stealing anything from blasters to bacta to boxes of ore will get their support and advance their goals.

Varn Parlayy – Ex-Noble Crime Lord (Nemesis)

Characteristics: Brawn 3, Agility 2, Intellect 3, Cunning 5,  Willpower 3, Presence 3

Wound Threshold: 15

Strain Threshold: 15

Soak: 4

Defense: 0 Melee/0 Ranged

Abilities: Noble Valor (May perform a maneuver to cause all ranged attacks targeting Varn to instead hit one ally or helpless enemy until the beginning of his next turn)

Talents: Altered Deal (Once per session may take the Altered Deal action and make a Hard Coercion check  to radically change a previously made deal or bargain to the character’s advantage), Intimidating (May suffer 1 Strain to Downgrade the difficulty of Coercion checks or Upgrade difficulty when targeted by Coercion checks by 1), Smooth Talker [Coercion] (When making Coercion checks spend Triumph to gain an additional success), Natural Charmer (Once per session, may reroll any 1 Charm or Deception check), Convincing Demeanor (Remove 1 Setback die from Deception and Skulduggery checks)

Skills: Deception 4, Knowledge (Underworld) 3, Brawl 3, Coercion 3, Skullduggery 3, Ranged (Light) 2, Leadership 2, Cool 2, Streetwise 2, Perception 1, Cool 1, Vigilance 1

Equipment: Disruptor Pistol, Armored Clothing, 4000 Credits

Profile: Varn Parlayy was always something of a viper among his fellow nobles; with most of those fellows dead and the Empire in control, he’s merely come into his fangs. Rebuilding his power base among the criminal dregs has been a surprisingly pleasant (and profitable) challenge.

The thing is, Varn truly does believe in liberating his homeworld; he is just incapable of viewing improving things for the world as different from improving things for himself, and vice versa. For the line of Parlayy, for his home, there’s very little he’s not willing to do.

Smuggler (Rival)

Characteristics: Brawn 2, Agility 3, Intellect 2, Cunning 3,  Willpower 1, Presence 2

Wound Threshold: 12

Soak: 3

Defense: 1 Melee/1 Ranged

Abilities: Always Have a Way Out (Receive +2 Boost Dice to all checks during a chase in which the Smuggler is the one attempting to get away)

Talents: Greased Palms, Black Market Contacts, Quick Draw

Skills: Deception 3, Skullduggery 1, Negotiation 1, (Ranged Light) 3, Knowledge (Underworld) 3, Streetwise 2, Stealth 1

Equipment: Heavy Blaster Pistol, Armored Clothing, 500 Credits

Profile: Not every member of the resistance is actually a local or even from the Alliance. More than one off-world smuggler operating out of the underworld has come to the conclusion that there are good credits to be made in putting dents in the Empire. After all, this planet was a non-entity before the Empire rediscovered it. Now it’s a potential profit center.

They’re definitely in it for the money, not the revolution, but so long as the Imperials try to keep an iron grip on the flow of certain goods to and from the planet there’ll be a reason for the smugglers to keep finding ways to avoid their grasp.

Local Scum (Minion)

Characteristics: Brawn 2, Agility 2, Intellect 2, Cunning 2,  Willpower 2, Presence 2

Wound Threshold: 5

Soak: 3

Talents: Convincing Demeanor (Remove 1 Setback die from Deception and Skulduggery checks)

Abilities: What’s In It For Me?: Any social check against Local Scum that does not include some promise of reward or some kind of mortal threat is upgraded twice.

Skills (group only): Ranged (Light), Deception, Coercion, Skullduggery

Equipment: Slugthrower Pistol or Heavy Blaster Pistol, Heavy Clothing, 100 Credits

Profile: Not every resistance member following Parlayy is completely self-centered; many hate the Empire for many of the same reasons as those under Orden or Vantai. What you won’t find, however, is an abundance of self-sacrifice or heroism. Parlayy’s Local Scum tend to avoid the most dangerous risks, nipping around the edges of the Imperial forces just enough to make off with whatever prize has caught their eye.

With all the potential friction between the three different factions of rebels, I think it’s important to point out that they still do work together to an extent, and can provide things that the others can’t. Orden’s cell can provide the firepower both for Vantai’s liberation missions and Parlayy’s heists. Vantai’s propagandists and patriots are functionally the spy network for the other cells, providing targets and recruits for Orden and opportunities for Parlayy. Despite Parlayy’s questionable associations, his criminal contacts and smugglers are a key lifeline for getting necessary supplies to both Orden and Vantai, as well as for smuggling certain people to safety.

So, where’s their HQ?

Jumar Base

Description: The Jumar Base of Partisans of Parsh could only be reached by flying into underground tunnels and ‘gliding’ on electromagnetic fields. You don’t have to make it quite as exciting . . . but maybe you should, and in any case as mentioned earlier it needs to be well-hidden, or else things are going to go very wrong very fast.

Wherever you hide it, while it might not have to worry about AT-ATs knocking on the front door it has plenty of other problems facing it.

Base Type: Meeting Center/Training Camp

Duty: 0

Enhanced Security: All doors within the base gain an electronic lock that can only be opened with a Hard Computers check. The base gains security cameras that can be accessed from a central control room.

Hangar/Repair Bay: The base includes a hangar where mechanics can store and repair vehicles and droids.

The hangar holds a number of vehicles with a combined silhouette of 30 and no single vehicle larger than silhouette 5. It also includes a full set of mechanics’ tools (allowing characters to perform Mechanics checks to heal droids or repair vehicles or starships without penalty), and an oil bath for droids. When used to repair starships or vehicles, the character repairs 2 additional hull trauma or 2 additional system strain on a successful check.

Training Facility: The base features living quarters to accommodate a full platoon of soldiers, as well as equipment and facilities necessary to train them to serve in the Rebel Alliance. This includes (rudimentary, in this case) combat simulators, lecture halls, and gyms. Trainees typically occupy the facility at all times.

At the GM’s discretion the Player Characters may call upon trainees or instructors to assist with a current mission. In addition, Ranged (Light) is the training curriculum’s focus, and counts as a Career Skill for all PCs operating out of this base.

Command and Control Center: The base possesses a dedicated space from which people can broadcast to the whole base, track the activities of agents in the field, and monitor information about the base and its surroundings.

This facility grants occupants +1 Boost on Computers, Leadership, and Vigilance checks.

As the most likely point for moving personnel and supplies on and off world, Jumar Base has to have a hangar bay. As this is the location used for coordination with and between the rebel cells on the planet, it needs a Command and Control center to manage communications. The two upgrades to security are in order to keep meetings between those cells secure, particularly as the biggest threat facing the base would be infiltrators either among the cells or among the rescued people from the camps. The training facility is necessary to keep growing the local resistance, although it’s probably not as finished-looking as most other such facilities; it focuses on Ranged (Light) because those are the easiest weapons to acquire and conceal. Quite a few of the training facility’s bunks are probably devoted to refugees, with a handful of each batch receiving training and heading back out into the world to ostensibly form new cells.

The base has some noticeable lacks, however. First and foremost is that it doesn’t have a medical facility. Second is that the lack of a proper armory means there aren’t a lot of free weapons lying around; unless they’ve recently been stolen, scrounged, or bought and have yet to be distributed every weapon you see probably belongs to the person carrying it. There are plenty of other ways the base could be upgraded and expanded as well.

So, welcome to Jumar Base! I know you’d like to get settled in, but . . . well, Lt. Orden’s team is gearing up to hit a factory complex in the  capital city, Bronwyn is drawing up plans to get a data spike into a communications center so she can do more pirate broadcasts, and Parlayy is working out some deal with this crazy Weequay to hijack a freighter full of gemstones and blaster rifles. Plus we just ran out of the last of our bacta patches, we’ve got two grenades left to share between everyone, and the Empire Day celebrations next month are looking to be the biggest, most popular holiday the planet has ever seen.

Whatever it’s going to be, may the Force be with you.

We’re all going to need it.

Looking for more Star Wars campaign ideas? Drop by the Astrogation Glitch Cantina, find out more about the movers and shakers on Nar Shadaa, fight the First Order after the Battle of Crait, or head for Wild Space to create a colony of your own!

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