Classic Campaigns

Sidebar: Cover Art

The cover features key characters from the Star Wars universe, including Darth Vader looming in the background with a Death Star behind him. In the foreground are Luke Skywalker wielding a lightsaber, Han Solo with his blaster drawn, Princess Leia in her iconic slave outfit, Chewbacca, Lando Calrissian, and other notable figures. The scene is set against a backdrop of space combat, with starfighters engaged in battle around the Death Star.

WEST END GAMES

Design: Paul Murphy, Bill Smith, Ed Stark Development & Editing: Jonatha Ariadne Caspian, Greg Farshtey, Bill Slavicsek Revision for Second Edition: Bill Smith Graphics: Rosaria J. Baldari, Stephen Crane, Richard Hawran, Cathleen Hunter Cover Art: Lucasfilm Ltd. Interior Art: Lucasfilm Ltd., Allen Nunis Playtesting: Paul Balsamo, Peter Corless, Steve Gilbert Special Thanks To: James Kruczek, Brian Pratt, and Phillip Reed for their invaluable assistance on such short notice!

Publisher: Daniel Scott Palter • Associate Publisher/Treasurer: Denise Palter • Associate Publisher: Richard Hawran Senior Editor: Greg Farshtey • Editors: Peter Schweighofer, Bill Smith, Ed Stark Art Director: Stephen Crane • Graphic Artists: Tim Bobko, Brian Schomburg, Tom O'Neill Sales Manager: Bill Olmesdahl • Licensing Manager: Ron Seiden • Warehouse Manager: Ed Hill Accounting: Karen Bayly, Wendy Lord, Kimberly Riccio • Billing: Amy Giacobbe

Published by

WEST END GAMES

RR 3 Box 2345 Honesdale, PA 18431

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A Long Time Ago in a Galaxy Far, Far Away ...

Catapult your players into the middle of an epic struggle of light against oppression, of reason against the dark side of humanity. The Rebel Alliance, fighting with courage and conviction and precious little else, wages a continuing battle against the evil Galactic Empire, with triumphs and setbacks, heroic sacrifices and treacherous deeds, heart-breaking revelations and breath-taking spectacle. These are the elements that make the Star Wars saga live in the minds and hearts of people everywhere.

Welcome!

It's a very big galaxy, and just because the movies were made about Luke, Han and Leia, it doesn't mean that they're the only ones having exciting adventures. You and your players can create you own Star Wars epics!

Just as television and book series captivate audiences, so too do roleplaying games lend themselves to continuing adventures. By using continuing characters that the players get to know and love, and throwing in great action, fantastic settings and wonderful villains, a campaign lays the groundwork for years of Star Wars gaming!

Classic Campaigns is a collection of two first edition Star Wars campaign settings: the Campaign Pack, first published in 1988, and the Gamemaster Kit, first published in 1991. Each campaign gives players what they crave most from Star Wars: incredible action, interesting villains and exciting settings.

As the popularity of the Star Wars roleplaying game has increased, bringing many new players into the game, Classic Campaigns is perfect for beginning gamemasters who want a ready-made, easy to run campaign. While many gaming groups play self-contained adventures (much like the Star Wars modules published by West End Games), a campaign is a way of making adventures more fun by building on the experiences, characters and settings of previous adventures, gradually adding more elements as the story progresses, and ending up with a tapestry of incredible adventure.

The two campaigns within offer long-term story lines and a focus for a group of beginning Rebel characters, while allowing the gamemaster to get a feel for the development and progression of a campaign.

All you need is dice, character sheets and a taste for swashbuckling space opera!

The Force will be with you ...

always ...

Running a Star Wars Campaign

What is a Campaign?

A roleplaying campaign is a series of adventures involving the same group of player characters. Like a book or film series, a campaign continues until the quest is completed, the characters succeed at their task (or die trying), or the audience (i.e., the players) gets tired of the characters' escapades.

Campaigns can run the gamut from episodic to series to epic.

Episodic campaigns tend to be simpler in structure and adventures are vaguely related. Like many television series, the only things linking episodic adventures are the player characters themselves, and perhaps their starship.

Series campaigns share elements of episodic and epic campaigns; their closest analogy would be traditional comic book series. The adventures can vary in style and tone dramatically. Most series campaigns have a number of long-term stories, with a couple of episodic "interludes." The stories are linked by continuing subplots.

Epic campaigns have a more detailed structure, with linked, evolving adventures, like the original Star Wars trilogy. In these campaigns, not only do the same player characters appear in every adventure, but the story itself evolves, with each new adventure adding a new chapter and new plot twists, all revolving around one giant, far-reaching back story and all leading to a dramatic conclusion.

A campaign serves several functions in roleplaying. At its most basic, it is a way of keeping players interested and involved over a series of adventures. A campaign is a good reason to get friends together and share the excitement of the Star Wars universe.

Campaigns allow the players and the gamemaster to learn about the imaginary universe of the game. Instead of starting over with every adventure, sessions in a campaign are building blocks. Like many characters in fiction, imaginary universes have a tendency to grow and change once they been given a little attention and thought. The Star Wars universe provides an excellent setting for adventuring because of the wealth of material available.

It's Fun for the Players

The campaign develops the characters so that, in time, they become three-dimensional personalities instead of merely a collection of statistics. For example, how many people who saw Star Wars IV: A New Hope predicted that Luke and Leia were brother and sister, or that Han and Leia would fall in love? This kind of character development makes campaigning particularly enjoyable.

The first time you play a role, whether as an actor in a play, as a comedian in a skit, or as a player in a roleplaying game, you're still feeling out the edges. What can this character do, how would he or she react? Setting those limits can be interesting, but the real fun in role-playing comes when you know your character so well that you really become that character during gaming.

Roleplaying in an extended campaign is improvisation. The interaction among characters is more important than the die rolls ... because die rolls remind you that this is a game with rules and bookkeeping, while perfect roleplaying follows the flow of the scene and creates the story.

Just as a good movie leaves the audience talking about the actions and events of the main characters' lives, so a good roleplaying game leaves the players reminiscing about scenes and actions from their characters' lives. A campaign gives each player the chance to develop his or her character into a real, complex, three-dimensional being.

Campaigns frequently have other unifying elements, such as a home base or ship (e.g., the Millennium Falcon) — these are things the player characters can use and come to count on. Campaigns introduce continuing gamemaster characters, who like the players' characters, grow, mature and develop as the story progresses — they become the player characters' friends, rivals and companions.

It's Fun for the Gamemaster, Too

Players have it easy: they play only one character. The gamemaster gets to do everything else. He gets to create a whole cast of characters and help define the universe the player characters will adventure in. The gamemaster has the fun of constructing planets and creating histories.

Just as George Lucas invented a galactic society with an emperor, countless aliens, and a magical, mystical Force that binds all living things, so you too can populate the stars. You can work out local, or planetary, or system-wide political issues, invent alien species and cultures, create new martial arts or philosophies ... and whatever else strikes your fancy. The opportunities are endless.

The Star Wars Campaign

Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game takes place in the vast Known Galaxy, spanning millions of stars, and covering a time frame from the beginning of Star Wars IV: A New Hope to beyond the events depicted in the new Star Wars novels and comics.

Characters can be anyone who lives in the galaxy, from Alliance freedom-fighters, to independent smugglers and freighter captains, to bounty hunters, to ... well, anything your players can think of.

For simplicity's sake, both campaigns in this book are written with a specific frame of reference. The characters are Rebel Alliance operatives and the time is between Star Wars IV: A New Hope and Star Wars V: The Empire Strikes Back. However, when creating your own campaign from scratch, that doesn't limit your choices: you can choose any theme and group of characters that fits your group of players.

The players get to do the obvious: play the heroes of the Star Wars universe. The gamemaster gets to do all of the work, but he also should get a great deal of satisfaction from creating an entire universe.

For beginners, the gamemaster effectively acts as director, producer, special effects supervisor, lighting director, and script writer in addition to acting out the roles of the villains, allies and extras not portrayed by the players. The gamemaster has to decide how his campaign will be run and how it will feel to the players.

There are three major areas to take into consideration:

• The role of the player characters
• Setting up the campaign
• Keeping the campaign going

The Role of the Player Characters

A Star Wars campaign centers around the player characters. The gamemaster should make sure that the characters are important to the story being told.

Sidebar: For More Ideas ...

If you want more ideas about campaigns and the personalities and locations that populate them, review the Star Wars Gamemaster Handbook and pages 21-51 (Chapter Two, "Gamemastering") and 126-138 (Chapter Seven, "The Star Wars Universe") of Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game, Second Edition. These two books discuss most elements of gamemastering in greater detail and should provide newer gamemasters with plenty of ideas about how to construct a memorable campaign.

Good luck!

The Players are the Stars

The first rule of the Star Wars universe is that the characters are the stars of the story — the campaign is their story and they make or break it.

Let the players know that their actions matter. The campaign should be independent of, or at least distanced from, the actions of Luke, Leia and Han. The heroes of the movies may make an occasional "cameo" appearance in your campaign, but the players' characters should be the ones that the story is truly about.

Star Wars definitely leans toward "heroic" characters — they aren't supposed to be perfect, and may even do a few illegal things, like smuggle, but the characters are supposed to be decent, caring Human and alien beings at heart. They are interested in doing what's right, although perceptions of "right" can vary considerably.

Make it Real

The second important thing is to make sure the players know the Star Wars universe is "realistic." They can't feel that if they look in the wrong direction, they'll see the stage lights and actors rehearsing their lines. The Star Wars universe is a living, breathing entity, with weapons of incredible destruction, intelligent machines as common as household appliances and more aliens than anyone can imagine.

Stay Close to the Universe

We recommend that the campaign not violate established Star Wars continuity. The history, as seen in the movies, should not be changed: no scenarios where Luke, Darth Vader or anyone else might meet an untimely demise.

It is best to view the movies as a campaign in one small section of the galaxy (after all, only seven systems are visited in the three movies), while your campaign is in a completely different area.

Why Are The Characters Together?

Many character groups feature an unusual collection of personality types. It's not uncommon to have a pair of brash pilots, an alien student of the Force, a smuggler and the requisite bounty hunter adventuring together, often for no apparent reason.

The players or you must have a reason for this group to be together:

• Are all of the characters Rebels?
• Are they forced to work together as a team of specialists, or do they stay together due to a real bond of friendship and trust?
• Have the criminal types (bounty hunters and pirates) reformed, or are they still criminals at heart who simply find the Alliance convenient?
• Are they constantly getting assignments from Rebel superiors, or do they seem to discover their own adventures?
• Does the campaign seem to happen around them, so that they are dragged into the story line with no choice in the matter?
• Are the characters linked by a common foe within, or even outside, the Empire?
• Did the characters know each other before the campaign began, or do they meet and have mutual dependence keeping them together?
• Are the characters independent tramp freighter pilots who gradually get pulled into the Rebellion (see Galaxy Guide 6: Tramp Freighters for more information)?

The campaign must provide a reason to get the characters together and then keep them together. It's strongly suggested that you emphasize that the characters be heroes. Evil behavior can be rewarded with Dark Side Points and, worse yet, retribution from upset gamemaster characters who can easily eliminate the offending player's character.

Setting up the Campaign

There are several things that must be done to set up your campaign. Each of them can be done in varying degrees, depending upon what the gamemaster feels is most important. Some gamemasters decide to start the campaign with a rollicking adventure, and later go back to fill in the details. Others like to meticulously plan every major event before players arrive for the first adventure. Most gamemasters fall somewhere between these two extremes, with a vague idea of what the campaign's overall theme is while leaving the detail work for later on.

Ensure Consistency

Consistency helps the players suspend their disbelief and pretend the adventure is real. Consistency is very important in establishing the reality of the game setting. If Tatooine had two suns yesterday, it must still have two suns today. Hoth cannot be an ice planet one day and a desert world the next (or at least, there had better be a very good reason why it changed). Players find it very frustrating when details are changed with no explanation. In effect, the gamemaster is telling them, "This never happened. Your actions really didn't matter."

Change is the Only Constant

Of course, consistency doesn't mean things never change. The Star Wars universe isn't static and your campaign should reflect this. New speeder models are released every year, improved droids are built, governments rise and fall, people live and die, planets are struck by famine. What was true yesterday may be changed today.

The difference between consistency and random change is very clear: in a consistent universe, there is a reason for things to change. In the previous example, if Hoth has a sudden change in climate, part of the fun can be figuring out the mystery. Granted the above example is a little extreme, but on a smaller scale, this kind of change is welcome in a campaign.

Think of the complications that arise if one of the characters' main contacts is captured by the Empire? Or, what if that Alliance officer who constantly causes problems for the characters is promoted to commander of the characters' base?

These things will affect the lives of the characters, but are realistic developments in the campaign. There are trillions of beings in the Star Wars universe, and each one of those beings is subtly making his or her or its impact on the future. The Star Wars campaign must reflect that there is a larger universe, and many things happen outside the control of the characters. This is as it should be; sometimes it's appropriate (and even desirable) for the characters to feel out of control.

Don't Worry About Everything In The Beginning

While you need to know enough about your campaign area, customs, and population to keep the story flowing and the environment consistent, you don't need to know everything.

Greedo: "Going somewhere, Solo?"

Han: "Yes, Greedo. As a matter of fact, I was just going to see your boss. Tell Jabba that I've got his money."

From this short scene in the cantina, we know nothing about Jabba the Hutt except that Han Solo owes him money, and Jabba is impatient enough with the smuggler to hire bounty hunters to collect his debt. But Han gets the drop on Greedo, and we never hear of Jabba again in Star Wars IV: A New Hope.

Since Jabba is not mentioned outside this one encounter in Star Wars IV: A New Hope, the director (in the case of roleplaying, the gamemaster) doesn't need to know much else about him.

If you think about it, you can deduce that Jabba lives on Tatooine, because that is the planet on which the conversation takes place. You could even speculate that he is in Mos Eisley. On the other hand, you could speculate that Jabba is on another world halfway across the galaxy, and that Greedo was just lucky enough to track Han Solo to Tatooine.

It is not until Jabba becomes integral to the plot of Star Wars VI: Return of the Jedi, because he has the frozen Han Solo in his palace on Tatooine, that the director needs to know whether Jabba lives in the city or outside it, or what his palace looks like, or how many guards he employs, or even what he looks like. Until a scene actually is set in Jabba's palace, all the director needs is a few hints and reminders so that the audience doesn't forget the name.

Where Are We?

A campaign is normally set in a specific section of space, with interesting locations and a well thought-out history. Campaigns are often set in a sector of space (Imperial sectors have at least 50 populated systems, but often many more), or a small portion of a sector (a few systems close together on trade routes).

For the first few adventures, developing three or four star systems should be sufficient to keep things rolling. The gamemaster can also introduce systems that the characters must quickly travel through, without time for much exploration.

Who Will We Run Into?

The continuing and one-shot gamemaster characters are one of the most important elements of the campaign. The most novel and original alien species is only exciting if the gamemaster has devised a character who intrigues the players.

By "important" gamemaster characters, we mean important to the player characters, not necessarily important to the galaxy at large. Consider all the walk-ons and extras in the Star Wars movies... enemies, aliens and allies. You need to create a memorable mix of Rebel superiors, pirates, spies, Imperial tax collectors. Bartenders. Shady contacts. The occasional droid. An alien band. Whoever it takes to populate your area and make it come alive.

The powerful people in the area... rulers, Imperial officials, local crimelords, and so forth... are probably not going to be the character's intimates, at least not right away. Instead, prepare a name and a capsule description, and let your plot build toward an encounter, the way Jabba the Hutt's name ran through the trilogy until the climactic confrontation at his desert palace.

We suggest taking a few minutes to sketch out a few gamemaster characters that will interact with the player characters in the first few adventures.

A Base of Operations

The characters need a place to call home (or at least store their belongings). Saving the galaxy can be tough work, and player characters need a place they can go between adventures to resupply, recuperate, and receive new missions. This place should have adequate medical facilities, decent supplies, and perhaps a few knowledgeable gamemaster characters the characters can turn to if things get too rough. Remember Luke's sojourn on Dagobah? Perhaps your characters want to learn a new skill. And most times, at the end of a mission successfully completed, they'll want to lean back and savor the victories. If not with the pomp and circumstance of a ceremony of state, the way Star Wars IV: A New Hope ends, perhaps with the friendly carousing in the Ewok village that closes Star Wars VI: Return of the Jedi.

A Basic Plot

If you don't have the time to come up with a complete story line just now, you can alter one of our published adventures to fit into your campaign. You can also use published adventures once you're into your campaign, whenever you're at a loss for plot development, or pressed for time, or like the ideas dished up in the adventure. If you're running a loosely structured, episodic campaign, you shouldn't have any continuity troubles, and if you've prepared a continuing storyline, the pre-generated adventure might be a subplot, or a sideline job for your characters to handle in an off moment.

A Dramatic Plot

This is more of an option than a necessity, but it is a good way to make the campaign more fun. Start with an exciting adventure, and gradually introduce elements that indicate that a larger story is unfolding. Through all of the challenges and dangers, the Rebels and their foes will learn, mature and grow. The climax of the campaign should be a grand finale, with all of the pieces and clues hinted at weeks and months ago finally falling into place.

In the end, the players and the gamemaster must have a true sense of accomplishment. They must feel that they have accomplished something meaningful or fulfilled important personal goals. The villains will retreat to lick their wounds and possibly return at a later date, but for now, X-wings will sweep across the sky in a victory parade.

Room for Expansion

A viable campaign leaves room for expansion. Just because the new Death Star is destroyed in Return of the Jedi, you shouldn't assume that Luke, Leia and Han retired (as we all know from reading Timothy Zahn's Star Wars novels). There are other battles to be fought, other worlds to save, other dangers to eliminate. In short, a hero's work is never done.

Never lock the campaign into a situation where there is no more room for change. For example, the final episode in the Trax sector campaign recommends that the characters move on to another sector of space to continue the fight against the Empire.

Just as change is inevitable, so will new challenges be brought before the players. Leave a few loose ends that will have to be wrapped up later on.

Get Started

You've got the makings. Remember, you don't need to know everything that will ever happen in your campaign as you sit down to the first session. Just start with some interesting details and a problem to solve; both you and your players will learn more as the adventure unfolds.

Keeping the Campaign Going

So how do you make your campaign the kind with which players regale each other at game conventions and office parties? It's a joint effort between you and your players, of course. And at the root of it all are the characters and adventures.

The Campaign World

A fleshed-out campaign feels real and is more fun. The planets the characters land on and the alien species they meet do not exist in a vacuum. The gamemaster must create political power structures for planets. Corporations must be created, new equipment must be written out. Add items to make your Star Wars universe unique.

This campaign pack introduces the Trax sector. Your campaign must also have a setting, with unique planets and adventures. This kind of work takes some time, but it also makes a world more than "just a place to get some food and more blaster gas."

The area's history, political structure and planetary populations must be detailed. Is the area under Imperial domination? If so, how much of a presence is there and how are the people reacting? How long has the Empire been in the area or system in question? What other factions are important in the area: what companies, alien societies or other groups have significant influence?

If a sector or system is independent, why? Have the residents fought off the Empire (this is only probable if the system is so insignificant not to be worth dominating)? Are the people receptive to representatives from the Alliance or would they just rather be left alone? Perhaps the local situation has one monolithic ruler (a king or dictator) or several competing states or there is simply anarchy—or perhaps a combination of the above.

Are the people fearful of strangers or are they a gregarious bunch? Do they have a legal system similar to Imperial law? Do the people have the same hobbies, attitudes and beliefs as the characters? What level of technology is there?

Whether your players are gallivanting across whole sectors or canvassing an insignificant moon of a minor planet, you need to be able to describe their location. As Yoda is known to say, "size matters not;" what is important is that your players feel they have room to adventure, and that no direction they turn will cause them to fall out of the game or off the map.

Maps of locations they'll explore in detail or return to frequently can be helpful. But you needn't produce a topographic masterpiece of every square kilometer (unless that level of detail appeals to you or advances your plot). There's plenty of time to fill in specifics at a later date for further episodes.

Add Interesting Characters

Campaigns live and die by the personalities the characters meet. The gamemaster characters have different roles and each one of them must be important and interesting. The campaign is populated with droids, continuing villains, rivals at the Rebel base, romantic interests and millions of other kinds of characters. Give special attention to the most important continuing characters.

To design an interesting character, first consider his or her role in the campaign. Is she a villain? A fellow Rebel? A love interest for one of the characters? A jealous rival who wants to be the best pilot in the sector? A shady gambler who needs protection from creditors?

The possible roles are numerous, but the character must somehow interact with and affect the characters (if only to provide an amusing or annoying distraction). Every major gamemaster character must have a motivation, even one as simple as getting rich. Gangsters may want to stomp out Rebel operatives because they're bad for business, or an Imperial trooper may want to defect and will let the Rebels get information from him.

A popular character archetype is the behind-the-scenes villain, who is constantly manipulating events around the Rebels but who never makes an appearance (in the first two movies, the Emperor plays this kind of role).

An important gamemaster character should evoke an emotion: anger, fear, respect, hatred, or jealousy, for example. The emotion could be brought about by action or inaction, attitude or just through his having an abrasive personality. The character's personality should be consistent (perhaps consistently inconsistent), but not predictable. Characters, just like people in real life, may do something completely unexpected.

The character's appearance, body language, dress, possessions, attitudes, beliefs and motivations are all important. Most characters need only basic statistics and a little background information, while significant individuals may be as detailed as a player character.

If you get into character consistently, acting differently for each of the gamemaster characters the players encounter, and emphasizing the distinctions between your narrator personality and the people the players are encountering, the player characters will tend to follow your lead. And there are specific techniques you can use to encourage roleplaying among your party members.

As we mentioned in Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game, Second Edition, you can use different voices and mannerisms for characters. When Gretchen, a player, tells you, "My character tells her to stop," that isn't roleplaying. But you can answer her in character: stand up, lean menacingly across the table, and in as bass a voice as you can deliver, say, "And I don't like my conversations interrupted, if you take my point." Don't sit down right away. Stand over her a little while, and she's much more likely to react as the character, and not as a player, to the threat.

A lot of little things add up to identify a character. The type of words he or she uses, the moods to which he or she is subject, the body language he or she employs. Don't make all of your gamemaster characters nervous, mousy types or the characters won't be able to tell them apart. If a number of gamemaster characters share one trait, give them contrasting secondary traits ... one character lisps, another scratches his head a lot, a third begins every other sentence with, "Golly, I don't know, but ..."

The better you have defined your gamemaster characters, the easier it is to know how they react. And the better you know them, the more interesting you'll make them for your players. Over time, the players will come to know your recurring gamemaster characters; along with providing continuity in the campaign, familiar gamemaster characters can be an important plot device within the individual adventures.

Roark: (Coughing.) "Well, if it isn't our old friend, Tax Inspector Mothra." (Wheeze.) "And how are you today, Inspector?"

Mothra: "Cut the small talk, Roark. I know you're smuggling, and I'm going to search your ship. But why are you coughing like that?"

Roark: (Sniffle.) "Oh, it's (hack, hack) nothing. Just a small dose of Merthian lung infection I picked up on Lockest IV."

Mothra: (Backing away nervously.) "Uh, Merthian lung infection? It's not serious, is it?"

Roark: (Cough, cough.) "Oh, no. It's almost never fatal." (Sneezes in Mothra's face.)

Mothra: (Hastily scuttling back into his ship.) "Uh, I guess you're clean. But stay out of trouble, Roark. I've got my eye on you." (Airlock slams shut and Imperial ship speeds off.)

Roark: "See, Hawk? I told you Mothra's a hypochondriac. Pay up."

Some people tend to characterize the Star Wars universe as one of "black and white," without a lot of room for gray (or morally ambiguous) characters. In practice, we tend to prefer a more "realistic" approach: there are plenty of good characters with negative traits; some villains have a couple of redeeming qualities.

However, the Star Wars universe is larger than life, and so the conflicts, and the morality surrounding them, tend to be amplified. It's not that gray characters don't exist in the Star Wars universe; it's simply that the conflicts are so massive that people tend to get pushed into favoring one moral point of view over another.

The Home Base

The gamemaster should give serious thought as to what kind of a home base the characters will have. Consider the possibilities of a clunky old ore ship, a hidden asteroid, a secret base on an "uninhabited" world. Hoth was an excellent Rebel stronghold because the inhospitable climate not only hampered searches, but precluded the Imperial searchers' consideration of the world as a hideout in the first place. And remember, you needn't limit your characters to just one haven.

The most common situation is for characters to be stationed at a Rebel base, although there are numerous other possibilities. The base is excellent because it gives the characters many gamemaster characters to interact with (leading to overheard rumors and interesting side adventures).

The Rebel base concept can have its problems, however. First, for the base to remain hidden from the eyes of the Empire, it must be situated in a backwater system. Second, bases have a tendency to be shopping centers for Rebel characters ("Let's see ... I'll need a protocol droid, a heavy blaster pistol and an X-wing fighter."). While it's easy enough to have Alliance command refuse to allocate this kind of equipment, it's more fun to put the players in a situation where they can't even ask for such "goodies."

The Rebel cell network is a good example of a "restricted" base of operations. The characters have a "home," but the resources and assistance they can expect is very limited. In this kind of campaign, the Rebels are on an Imperial-occupied world and must be very careful about everything they do. Capture and death is just a failed con roll away, and the Rebels have to scrounge for weapons, supplies and assistance. As the Trax sector campaign shows, the cell network is not necessarily limited to just sneaking around a planet looking for information. For more information on Rebel cell networks and Rebel bases, see the Star Wars Sourcebook and the Rebel Alliance Sourcebook.

The tramp freighter campaign is also quite popular. In this kind of situation, the characters own or crew a small freighter. Their may be anything from Rebels-in-hiding to unscrupulous pirates. The tramp freighter "base of operations" is often the ship itself, and the player characters are on their own all of the time. For more information on tramp freighters, see Galaxy Guide 6: Tramp Freighters.

The "quest" campaign doesn't often feature a base per se. The Rebel characters are busily traveling from planet to planet, either in search of or fleeing something or someone. The Rebels may be able to find a temporary hideout, but they won't have a reliable base until the mission is finished or the foe is dispatched.

A nasty (but interesting) thing to do to the players is to remove the comfort of a regular base. What happens to the Rebels when their freighter is destroyed or the base is discovered by an Imperial scout ship? The choice is up to you.

Keep the Players Challenged

The referee must make sure that his campaign is filled with challenges, new dangers and new allies. Every adventure should introduce something memorable, whether it's a new alien or an encounter with an Imperial bureaucrat who seems to be thinking of defecting to the Rebellion.

Another good idea is to develop and reuse existing plot elements. For example, what happens if the heroes return to Hoth months after the fateful battle? What will they find? Who's running Bespin after Lando leaves? What's happening on Tatooine?

Look to the development of Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker's relationship. In A New Hope, Obi-Wan Kenobi tells Luke that his father was killed by a young Jedi named Darth Vader. George Lucas could have left it at that, with subsequent movies showing the defeat of the Empire. Instead, Lucas refined an existing plot element, and we learned that Darth Vader is Luke's father, making the final battle in Return of the Jedi even more exciting.

All of these ideas, when tailored to your personal campaign, give you plenty of adventure ideas without having to do a lot of random creation. Of course, you could have these plot elements planned out right from the start, but as long as you don't violate what the players know is fact (and not hearsay, as with Obi-Wan's comments to Luke), you can later go back and tinker with your ideas.

Keep Things Moving

The Star Wars game must live up to the expectations of Star Wars fans. There is no time to discuss the finer points of hyperspace technology. Instead, the Rebels make their astrogation roll and hope for the best. Keeping the players on the go is an essential part of giving them the panoramic feel for the Star Wars universe.

When things come to a standstill, you've got to find a way to get things rolling again.

In a movie, a scene that crawls is likely to end up on the cutting room floor. The same thing should happen in a roleplaying game. Pauses happen; players need time to think, or gamemasters need time to think, or stories need time for plots to bear fruit. But all these gaps can be tightened up with good editing.

Star Wars is action ... the characters tumble from one jam to the next with nary an extra breath. Players, working without all the script and rehearsal time of actors, are likely to be indecisive, to try to consider all the options, to search for the right choice. Don't let them! Throw another character at them, fire a warning shot, and nudge them with plot situations that require immediate attention.

On the other hand, maybe they've come up with a plan that you're totally unprepared for. If winging it won't work, ask for a snack break to work out the implications, or assign the characters a short task they must do first ... like organizing among themselves who has what equipment before they go into space in individual escape pods. It'll give you time to figure out what to do with six escape pods instead of one disabled freighter!

Invoke the Cinematic Feel

A great way to keep the feel appropriate is to use various cinematic techniques. First, these techniques lend themselves to cutting time lag from stories.

The biggest lag time involves "story time." The characters have to travel to Kashyyyk from the Corporate Sector, a hyperspace journey of ... two weeks? That's a lot of time to kill. Or they have to meet someone at dawn, and it's mid-afternoon now.

Your players don't want to have to describe what they're going to do for long periods of down time. And you don't want to tell them, "Well, nothing happens." So use the cinematic techniques that filmmakers employ.

Slow dissolve. Before dawn the streets have a peaceful quality, an emptiness that belies the hustling trade they will be filled with in just three hours. As the morning stars fade into the gathering brightness ...

Fade to black as a small freighter bursts into hyperspace. Fade in on Kashyyyk street, two hours to dawn ...

The afternoon fades to full dark, and the stars make their slow arcs across the heavens. Just as dawn steals, lightfooted, across the plain south of town ...

Don't feel that 10 minutes of game time must elapse for every 10 minutes of story time. Remember, as the narrator of the story, you can make time disappear whenever things are dragging.

Important information can be conveyed through interludes, showing the villains setting their nefarious schemes into motion. This technique can be used to clue the players into the fact that "something" is happening, but shouldn't be so detailed as to tell them everything they need to know. The opening of the Trax sector campaign is an interlude.

Use quick cuts from scene to scene to vary the pace. Act out the characters. Don't get into the rut of saying, "Resner says, 'Send in the troops.'" Instead, get into the role. Stand up, pace around the room majestically, then point an accusing finger at an imaginary subordinate. Lower your voice as you dramatically announce, "Send in the troops!"

Use props when necessary (enough to be fun without distracting), and never be afraid to put your Star Wars soundtrack on the CD player in the exciting scenes.

Cooperative Plotting

The next most important thing in the campaign is the plot. You don't read books you don't like, and you don't go to movies that don't appeal to you. Neither do players stay in roleplaying games they don't consider fun. While you're the gamemaster, your players have a say in the plot, too.

After you've run a couple of adventures, you should have a pretty good feel for the types of adventures your players like. Tailor your campaign to their activities. If they're a group that likes action and battle scenes, don't give them investigation-only adventures.

This doesn't mean that you can't nudge them into a less incendiary scenario occasionally, or that always thinking with a blaster won't get them into trouble. A lot of beginning roleplayers go for the action first, because they haven't got enough confidence to really play up the character ... or they haven't solidified enough of a character to play up. But character-building takes time, and Star Wars sails along at a pretty fast clip, most times. Don't force your players to change: allow them the opportunities to grow into their characters.

And while you're at it, remember there are more villains in the galaxy than just stormtroopers; let your players occasionally butt heads with other antagonists. Bizarre alien hive minds, ruthless Corporate Sector executives, crazed planetary monarchs, evil crime bosses, huge war droids built by long-dead alien cultures ... any or all of these could have aims that conflict with those of the Rebellion.

Linking Your Adventures

Whether your overall campaign is episodic or epic or somewhere in between the two extremes, it still involves the same group of people. The characters have memories, and their players do, too. Occasional references to previous sessions' problems, discussions, and encounters give your campaign a nice feeling of history. Also, if the players get the idea that their actions do affect the course of future events, they're going to think things over a little more carefully.

Roark: "Oh, look. It's Customs Inspector Mothra. How's it doin', Motty?"

Mothra: "That's Associate Governor Mothra now, Roark. I'm glad to see your lung disease is all better now. Funny, but there isn't any mention of it in the medical databases. Well, I hope you have a nice stay on my planet." (To an aide.) "I want these scum watched 26 hours a day. If they even spit on the sidewalk, nail 'em."

And you can foreshadow upcoming adventures. A clue the characters discover could mean nothing to them now, but after study, reveal valuable information about a later episode. Even if you don't have any idea what the next adventure is, you can give hints as long as they're vague enough. Then at your leisure, or by the players' perked up ears, you can decide which clues are actually important enough to develop.

As you slip past the technicians, you overhear them discussing something called "Operation Blue Harvest." They wonder what could possibly require as much manpower and money ... Ooops. No time for more, there's your contact up ahead. She motions you into a room marked "Astrogation & Mapping."

Sidebar: Gamemastering Tip: Extra! Extra!

The galaxy is a big place, and now matter how heroic, your characters can only affect a little tiny piece of it. One way to make sure players understand this is to show them these changes.

At the start of an evening's play, one gamemaster we know hands his players a newspaper, the Antares Monthly Herald, which outlines recent events in his campaign area. The gamemaster also uses this prop to feed his players clues and hints about upcoming adventures.

"HoloNet Hype" in the Star Wars Adventure Journal is another excellent tool for giving the players a sense of what other events are happening in the galaxy around them.

Supply and Advancement

As in life, good things in roleplaying come to those who work. Characters able to requisition everything they need never get to test their ingenuity and imagination. And as they become jaded with constant advancement, you have to entice them with ever-larger payoffs. An inflationary reward spiral can mess up a campaign something fierce.

If you find you have given out too much equipment, don't be bashful about letting some of it break, or get stolen or impounded (the life of a hero is filled with unfortunate setbacks). You can dismiss the excess equipment from the campaign entirely, or design an adventure in which the characters have to work like dogs to get it back.

Roark: "Okay, I've had it. That's the third comlink we've lost. What, are the natives all kleptos?"

Bazaar seller: (Slyly.) "Actually, kind and gracious sir, if you talk of your wondrous far-speaking stick, the lizardflies are fond of metal trinkets. Perhaps, oh exalted one, they have taken your devices."

Roark: "Taken them where? Lizardflies? I want them back."

Seller: "It is no easy thing to hunt the lizardflies. They nest, most perfect of all strangers, in the cliffs above Outreachial. Many days travel. Very hard."

Balance your rewards of Character Points and Force Points. Give them out when a character deserves them, following the guidelines in Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game, Second Edition rulebook. Note that, as the characters grow in skill, you will have to adjust the strength of their antagonists accordingly.

Build Toward a Climax

Star Wars: A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi comprise a complete campaign with a grand climactic conclusion. The campaign chronicles the adventures of Luke Skywalker and his friends; it concludes when Luke redeems Darth Vader and defeats the Emperor. If the scriptwriters had wished, they could have continued the campaign ... the Emperor could have escaped and Darth Vader could have remained evil ... but they decided their audience deserved a happy ending.

We suggest ending your campaign in a grand finale because it is both more emotionally satisfying than an endless quest, and it also answers the question of what to do with characters who have become too powerful: you retire them from play, and make up new ones for the next campaign.

Even episodic campaigns can end climactically. The characters in an episodic campaign may not realize how much their experience has changed them until some grand adventure ties all the seemingly unrelated threads together.

The end of the campaign doesn't have to mark the end of the characters' careers; they can continue to play in your next campaign. However, if they become too powerful for you to come up with interesting challenges for them, or your players are getting bored with their characters, you should definitely consider mustering them out. They can always fight the Empire somewhere off-screen.

After all, true heroes never really retire ...

The End?

The Long Shot Campaign

To give you an example of how a typical Star Wars campaign should look, as well as to provide you with a ready-made campaign framework to build upon, we have developed the Long Shot campaign. This episodic campaign has an exciting setting (Fakir sector), interesting gamemaster characters (Lens Reekeene and Captain Ixsthmus, among others), a rest and recreation area (Home base), and a number of adventure outlines to help you get started. We suggest you look over this information to get a feel for how to create a campaign yourself. We also think it makes a wonderful introductory campaign to get you and your players into the Star Wars galaxy.

Campaign Background

The time is shortly after the destruction of the first Death Star in Star Wars IV: A New Hope. Shocked and demoralized by their stinging defeat at Rebel hands, and now under the masterful guidance of Darth Vader, the Imperial forces are slowly regrouping for their next great offensive. Still dramatically outnumbered and outgunned, the tiny Rebel fleet has fled and hidden, hoping to avoid battle until strong enough to defeat the mighty Empire.

Though the Rebel fleet has disappeared, the flame of hope continues to burn across the galaxy, as, on thousands of planets, brave, freedom-loving beings band together to fight the Empire. These unsung heroes, lacking manpower, supplies and communication, with no thought of reward or glory, are waging a brilliant, ruthless, incessant underground war.

They are the Rebel guerrillas, the Resistance. They are called "Irregulars."

The Irregulars

Space is large. Unimaginably large. The Emperor, obsessed with stamping out the heirs of the Old Republic and the last organized resistance to his rule, is scouring the galaxy for the hidden Rebel fleet.

If he can find the Rebels quickly and bring them to battle, he will win, and his rule will be unopposed. Each moment is critical, for the longer he takes to find the hidden Rebels, the stronger they become.

To comb the vast reaches of space, the Emperor has spread his forces thin. Troops and ships are scattered across the countless sectors of Imperial space, constantly searching for major Rebel strongholds. In many cases, he has left just a skeleton force to protect countless worlds.

To combat this tactic, the Rebellion has seeded small groups of Irregulars deep behind enemy lines to attack the inadequately-protected Imperial forces and draw ships and troops from the search.

These Irregulars, hiding on secret bases in the vast reaches of space, and disguised as merchants, criminals, travelers, or Imperial troops, strike hard and fast. They attack factories, government centers, garrisons, and space stations. They rob Imperial storehouses, bug Imperial communications, kill or terrorize Imperial governmental officials, and incite beings everywhere to revolution. They sneak in, hit their targets, then withdraw before the Imperial warships can attack.

The economics of insurgency suppression are simple: 10 Imperial ships must be deployed to neutralize one guerrilla ship. The Emperor cannot afford to ignore the Irregulars: this would be a sign of weakness his countless enemies within the Empire would be quick to exploit. Besides, the Irregulars are doing too much damage. Reluctantly, the Emperor has recalled some of his ships to deal with them. Thus, the Rebel fleet has gained precious time.

Reekeene's Roughnecks

One group of Irregulars is known as "Reekeene's Roughnecks." Founded by Lens Reekeene, a Human female mercenary, her husband, Mikka, a brilliant mechanic, and Santhou Lazith'chika, an alien student of the Force, the Roughnecks have been plaguing the Fakir sector of the Bakchou arm of the Empire for months.

Based on Home, a clunky old giant water hauler hidden in space, the Roughnecks number about 60 starship pilots, warriors, medics, engineers, and support personnel, plus an undisclosed number of spies and secret sympathizers. In addition to the base ship, the Roughnecks posses 10 smaller ships: several outdated X-wing fighters, one light freighter, two ore haulers, and one modified pleasure yacht, the Long Shot.

Lens Reekeene's philosophy of warfare is simple but effective: keep moving, hit 'em where they ain't, keep 'em nervous, and never tell anybody more than they need to know.

Her application of this philosophy is flawless. Home never stays in one place long enough to be spotted; her ships are specifically ordered to turn tail and run away at any sign of real resistance; she specializes in attacking Imperial governmental offices; and no one except Lens and her husband knows where the base ship will be at any given time or where the other ships will be attacking. Bewildered and outfought at every turn, the Imperial Moff of this sector has requested immediate reinforcements. He has ordered an entire fleet, hoping its combined firepower will be enough to destroy a small band of marauding Rebels.

Home Base

The Roughnecks' base ship is a huge old Tsukkian water freighter. The main hold has been converted into a landing bay for the Roughnecks' support craft; several other holds have been transformed into living quarters, communications centers, and supply warehouses. The ship is clunky, outdated, unarmored, and unarmed. If the Imperial forces discover its location, a single TIE fighter can easily destroy it. So Home base keeps moving, following no discernible pattern and never visiting the same place twice.

Personnel leaving Home base are not told where the ship will be going next. Instead, they are given the frequency and coordinates of a communications satellite to which they must send a request for pickup when their mission is completed. The com satellite forwards the message to another, and then another. The message may pass through as many as six satellites before it reaches Home base. New orders or coordinates for pickup are sent back through the same circuitous route. While this necessitates a communications delay of up to two days, the safety of Home base is ensured. Direct communications between ships and the base are not only forbidden, they are impossible.

Physical Description

Home base is the haven the player characters will go to between missions to rest, resupply, and receive new orders. By all rights, no action of any kind should take place there; therefore, there is not a detailed layout of the ship's interior. Players should be told that Home base is a large, drafty ship, obviously held together by spit and bailing wire. Rooms are small and uncomfortable, hallways are poorly lit and suffer from intermittent gravity fluctuations, and equipment is old but well-maintained. Discipline is good; morale is extremely high.

Personnel

As the campaign progresses, introduce gamemaster characters from the ship to the player characters: Captain Hark'r, the supply clerk, Emdee-five, the medical droid, Lens, Mikka, Santhou, as well as other fighters and pilots. The characters should grow to like the other Roughnecks and feel as though they have become part of a family.

The base occasionally has sophisticated intelligence-gathering and surveillance equipment: bugs, security droids, spy satellites, forgery equipment, and the like. This is strictly rationed and almost never issued unless a mission absolutely requires it.

New player characters may arrive at the base. They are obviously newly-recruited Roughnecks or those recently returned from extended off-base duty. (Of course, new characters may be started on a planet, rescued from a prison ship, or any other way that fits their background and the story line.)

Squads

The combat and transport personnel of the Roughnecks are broken down into attack units called "squads." A complete squad includes from four to 10 soldiers, a medical officer or droid, and a pilot and co-pilot. Each squad is issued a vehicle; depending upon circumstances, several squads may share a common ship and pilots.

Squads are designated by color, i.e., "Red squad," "Blue squad," etc. Squad members wear small arm-patches displaying their colors. Lens Reekeene, her husband, and the support personnel wear white patches; Santhou, the alien student, shuns military insignia and wears no patch. The characters and their pilot (Captain Ixsthmus) and co-pilot (Siene Symm) are part of Green squad and wear green patches: they are assigned to the space yacht Long Shot (see the following deckplans and character profiles for more information on the Long Shot and her crew).

Receiving Mission Instructions

When a squad is to receive an assignment, they are told to assemble in the briefing room. They usually have a few hours to prepare ... get cleaned up, say farewell to companions, record hololetters, clean weapons, etc.

In the briefing room, Lens or Santhou give them their instructions and answer questions. At this time, the characters may make requests for additional equipment. Once briefed, for security reasons the characters are forbidden to talk to anyone other than Lens, Mikka, or Santhou.

It's possible that the Roughnecks have the right to refuse a mission, but doing so almost always results in the characters' dismissal from the group (and from the campaign).

Once the characters have received their instructions, they proceed immediately to their ship and disembark.

Missions

Roughneck missions are aimed at disrupting (and stealing) Imperial supplies, intelligence-gathering, recruitment, and destruction and demoralization of Imperial forces, with an overall goal of drawing Imperial ships and troops from the front lines. Included are five adventure outlines with a variety of goals.

Squads are discouraged from engaging in gratuitous battle with Imperial troops and ships: staying alive to fight another is strongly encouraged. As the Roughnecks have few ships and scarce chance of getting more, keeping the ship whole and safe (and, if possible, unsuspected of being a Rebel craft) is of prime importance.

Most of the Irregulars' operations are covert. The Roughnecks' ships are equipped with a variety of forged identities, as are the soldiers and pilots themselves.

Maintenance

The maintenance personnel on Home base are very skilled at ship repair and modification. If a ship can limp its way to the base, they can probably fix it. Though, as Home base often lacks equipment and supplies, the repairs are usually jury-rigged. An adventure could revolve around finding and stealing a replacement hyperspace overthruster for a disabled X-wing ... or be started when one of those jury-rigged repairs fails at the absolutely worst time.

Supplies

Due to timely "donations" from Imperial container ships, Home base is well stocked with food, clothing, water, fuel, and medical supplies. Weapons are somewhat scarce. There are enough grenades, blaster rifles, and blaster power packs to go around, but Reekeene's Roughnecks sorely lack larger and more powerful weapons and ammo. Unless the player characters can prove a real and pressing need for heavy firepower, on most missions they will only be issued blasters and grenades. Of course, they can always try to steal other weaponry from Imperial ammo dumps.

Common articles are usually available: space suits, macrobinoculars, backpacks, flexisteel lanyard, breath masks, comlinks, glow rods, and other mundane gear.

The Roughnecks

Lens is an Alliance general and leader of the Roughnecks. She is 55 standard years old, about 1.6 meters tall, and looks like a dumpy, ill-tempered, sour-pussed shopkeeper. She has dark skin and icy, piercing blue eyes. Lens wears standard work clothing and carries a blaster slung on her left hip and a vibro-blade in her right boot. Despite appearances, she is commanding and elegant before her troops. Lens is cold and formal with everyone except her husband and never smiles.

Lens Reekeene

Type: Merc
DEXTERITY 3D+2
Blaster 5D+2, dodge 6D
KNOWLEDGE 2D+2
Survival 5D
MECHANICAL 2D+2
PERCEPTION 2D+1
Command 7D
STRENGTH 3D+2
TECHNICAL 3D
Force Points: 2
Character Points: 12
Move: 10
Equipment: Blaster pistol (4D), vibro-blade (STR+1D+2)

Fifteen years ago, Lens commanded a merc company on garrison duty for the Sartran Corporation. When Sartran was disbanded by the Empire for treasonous activities, Lens' mercenaries were imprisoned on trumped-up conspiracy charges. She was released three years ago thanks to the efforts of her husband. Discovering that most of her command had died in prison, Lens joined the Rebellion.

Lens has made the Roughnecks one of the most effective units in the Irregulars. Her only flaw is a too-great willingness to take risks. She wants revenge against the Empire for destroying her mercenary command; by continuing to build her Roughnecks into a formidable force, she expects to achieve her goal.

Mikka is second in command and chief engineer of the Roughnecks and Lens's husband. Mikka is 60 years old, but looks younger. He stands 1.7 meters tall and has a dark complexion. He is overweight, but carries it well. Mikka wears standard mechanic's overalls and tends to leave a trail of dropped hydrospanners and microswitches wherever he goes.

Mikka Reekeene

Type: Outlaw
DEXTERITY 4D
Dodge 4D+2
KNOWLEDGE 3D
Languages 3D+2, languages: Wookiee 5D, streetwise 4D, survival 4D+2
MECHANICAL 2D+2
Space transports 4D+2
PERCEPTION 2D
Con 2D+2
STRENGTH 3D+1
Climbing/jumping 3D+2
TECHNICAL 3D
Repulsorlift repair 5D, space transports repair 7D, starfighter repair 5D+2
Force Points: 1
Character Points: 8
Move: 10
Equipment: Mechanic's overalls, hydrospanners and other appropriate tools

When excited, Mikka tends to lapse into a heavily-accented brogue which nobody else can understand. He is one of the few Humans who can actually speak Wookiee.

Mikka worked for the Sartran Corporation as an engineer; when it was disbanded he was also imprisoned. He met and married Lens in jail; when released through a clerical error, he begged, borrowed and stole enough money to purchase his wife's freedom.

Mikka has joined the Rebellion more or less because his wife has; he is basically non-political. He is an effective co-leader of the Roughnecks, counterbalancing his wife's aggressiveness with native caution and humanity.

Mikka wants to protect his wife, help the Rebellion...and design the best hyperspace alternator sequencing module in the galaxy.

An advisor to Lens and Mikka, as well as a student of the Force, Santhou is two meters tall on a thin, almost gaunt, frame. He is roughly humanoid, but he has an extra joint in his legs and much larger eyes (compared to Humans). His skin is a pasty gray in color, giving him a corpse-like appearance which is augmented by his low body temperature. Santhou constantly wears a long black robe.

Santhou Lazith'chika

Type: Student of the Force
DEXTERITY 2D+1
KNOWLEDGE 3D+1
Alien species 5D, languages 4D+2, planetary systems 5D, willpower 4D+1
MECHANICAL 2D
PERCEPTION 2D+1
Con 7D, persuasion 5D
STRENGTH 3D
TECHNICAL 2D
Special Abilities:
Force Skills: Control 2D, sense 2D, alter 2D. Santhou has not openly demonstrated any Force powers. This character is Force-sensitive.
Force Points: 4
Character Points: 8
Move: 11
Equipment: Black robe, meditation globes

No one knows much about Santhou's background, where he comes from or why he is here. The only thing he will say about himself or his people is that they're very long-lived (he claims to have wandered through known space for at least 200 years). He won't discuss anything else about the subject.

Like many students of the Force during these troubled times, Santhou hides his true power behind a veneer of buffoonery. Knowing that Humans consider his appearance to be almost macabre, he has exaggerated this by adapting the pompous, hyper-dignified, doleful and pessimistic mannerisms of a low-grade holomovie undertaker. Most people consider him creepy.

As much as he tries, Santhou cannot hide his real humor and warmth. Not even Lens knows why he is here. In spite of this, she has grown to respect and like him. After her husband, Santhou is her chief advisor. Santhou speaks with a slow, depressed-sounding voice.

Bakki is Red squadron leader. A Human male, he is young, tall, fair, and handsome: the archetypical pilot.

Bakki Sourthol

Type: Brash Pilot
DEXTERITY 3D
Blaster 4D, dodge 3D+1, vehicle blasters 3D+2
KNOWLEDGE 2D
Survival 3D
MECHANICAL 4D
Astrogation 4D+2, space transports 4D+2, starfighter piloting 6D, starship gunnery 5D, starship shields 4D+2
PERCEPTION 3D
Con 4D+2, gambling 3D+2, search 3D+1
STRENGTH 3D
Brawling 3D+1
TECHNICAL 3D
Droid repair 3D+1, starfighter repair 3D+2
Character Points: 5
Move: 10
Equipment: Blaster pistol (4D), Rebel flight suit, comlink

Bakki joined the Rebellion after failing to gain entrance into the Academy due to his father's political beliefs. He loves flying more than anything and considers everything else boring (except possibly women; he does spend a lot of time trying to impress the ladies).

He is bright, cheerful, friendly, totally fearless, and thoroughly likeable (unless you are jealous of him). He laughs a lot and his sabacc games aboard Home base are legendary. If he weren't a Rebellion pilot, he'd probably be a holoshow star.

Home base's supply master, Hark'r is short and green, with four arms and large fly-like eyes. He appears to be somewhat pudgy for a Noehon.

Captain Hark'r

Type: Noehon Merchant
DEXTERITY 3D+1
Beast riding 4D
KNOWLEDGE 2D+1
Bureaucracy 3D, value 3D+1
MECHANICAL 3D+2
Astrogation 4D+2, space transports 4D+2, starship gunnery 4D
PERCEPTION 3D
Bargain 5D
STRENGTH 3D
Stamina 3D+2
TECHNICAL 2D+2
Computer programming/repair 3D+2
Special Abilities:
Multi-Actions: Noehon may make a second action in a round at no penalty. Additional actions incur penalties: third incurs -1D penalty, fourth -2D penalty, etc.
Character Points: 3
Move: 9
Equipment: Comlink, water pipe, chronometer

Formerly a merchant, Hark'r had the misfortune to pass quite close to Home base, where he was promptly captured. Fearing he would sell information about the Rebel base to the Imperials, Lens gave him two options: spend the duration of the war on a primitive planet with no ship traffic or space communications technology, or spend it on Home base. Figuring that the chances for escape were marginally better there, Hark'r chose Home.

Discovering that Hark'r has a natural talent for management, Lens put him in charge of the commissary and supply department of the Roughnecks — she keeps a close watch on him of course, and he is absolutely terrified of the woman. He repeatedly attempts to bribe the characters to smuggle him off base.

Hark'r speaks perfect Basic — perhaps too perfect. His accent is clipped and indicative of the Core Worlds and his pronunciation is irritatingly precise. He sprinkles his speech with ingratiating phrases like "my dear fellows," "old chap," and "dear boy," which sound obviously insincere.

The Long Shot

Long Shot

Purchased originally as a pleasure yacht for an Imperial admiral, Reekeene's Roughnecks "liberated" the Long Shot from the Callonia spaceport. The Roughnecks have further made substantial changes to the engines and the interior layout (with, of course, new registration numbers). The Long Shot has served the Roughnecks well for several years. It easily passes for a modified merchant vessel, pleasure yacht, or luxury passenger liner.

To improve the vessel's performance, the Roughnecks have done away with most of the amenities. The galley, holothreater, and geriatric suites normally found on this class of ship have been replaced by a supply room, machine shop, and brig (which doubles as a second supply room). The engines have been substantially enlarged, as have been the shield generators. The starboard passenger pod has been gutted and transformed into a cargo pod. Also, Mikka has added a secret cargo hold in the starboard pod.

The Long Shot's twin stabilizers are designed to provide control in planetary atmospheres; in space, the stabilizers fold down, allowing a full 360-degree arc of fire for the double turbolasers. The guns, two illegal turbolasers mounted on a single turret and fire-linked, are camouflaged as two medium blasters. The turbolasers have been significantly altered: they do far less damage than normal turbolasers (to prevent the guns from overloading the power generators), but they have a much greater range than standard blaster cannons.

Long Shot Interior Description

Bridge: The command center of the ship, the bridge seats the pilot, co-pilot, communications/computer and navigation officers. Ixsthmus, the Ithorian captain and navigator, and Siene Symm, the Sullustan co-pilot and engineer, are stationed here.

Vestibule: With its two linked blast doors, this room is essentially a large airlock designed to protect the crew on the bridge from vacuum, gas, and unwanted intruders. The crew's space suits are stored here in an overhead rack; several blasters and sleep grenades (6D/5D/ 4D/2D stun damage, with blast radius of standard grenades) are hidden beneath a concealed panel in the floor.

Computer and Life Support: The equipment in this room — astrogation computers, oxygen scrubbers and recirculators, and heating and cooling systems — is extremely important to the survival of the Long Shot.

Long Shot

Craft: Modified Lantillian Short Hauler
Type: Modified space yacht
Scale: Starfighter
Length: 27 meters
Skill: Space transports: Lantillian short hauler
Crew: 2, gunners: 1, skeleton: 1/+10
Crew Skill: See Captain Ixsthmus and Siene Symm
Passengers: 6
Cargo Capacity: 85 metric tons
Consumables: 1 month
Cost: 85,000 (used)
Hyperdrive Multiplier: x1
Hyperdrive Backup: x15
Nav Computer: Yes
Maneuverability: 1D
Space: 6
Atmosphere: 330; 950 kmh
Hull: 4D
Shields: 3D
Sensors:
Passive: 15/0D
Scan: 35/1D
Search: 55/1D+2
Focus: 6/2D+2
Weapons:
2 Turbolaser Cannons (fire-linked)
Fire Arc: Turret
Crew: 1
Scale: Starfighter
Skill: Starship gunnery
Fire Control: 3D (may be fired from co-pilot position at fire control 1D)
Space Range: 1-15/35/50
Atmosphere Range: 200-3/7/10 km
Damage: 5D
Note: Carries one escape pod which can carry 6 passengers

Common Room: This is the Long Shot's recreation center. When not in use, the room is completely bare; a control panel on the forward bulkhead causes tables, chairs, vidscreens, and a hologram table to emerge from the walls, ceiling, and floors. The Long Shot's airlock is directly above this room; when engaged, a ladder descends from the airlock. The airlock is controlled from the co-pilot's station on the bridge.

Starboard Cargo Hold: This is a 1.6-meter-wide by eight-meter-long by two meter-high-room. Strong nylonite netting holds cargo in place during violent maneuvering. A secret access hatchway in the aft end of the pod opens on a hidden cargo hold.

Supply Room: Concentrated foodstuffs are kept here.

Machine Shop: A surprisingly complete electronic and mechanical shop, this is ostensibly for ship systems' maintenance, but also serves for weapons and droid maintenance and covert equipment fabrication (including explosives, bugs, forged identitags and other espionage necessities).

Brig: This is ostensibly a second supply room, but in reality it is a medium-security brig, complete with reinforced walls, and hidden microphones and vidcams.

Engineering: Paired Durafly sublight/hyperspace engines fill the room; the remaining small open area is packed with monitors, readouts, dials, buttons and access panels. Duplicate displays appear on the co-pilot's board in the bridge; it is not necessary for anyone to be in engineering during flight (barring emergencies).

Medical Bay: The room houses Four-Onebee (a medical droid), surgical equipment, medpac supplies, and a small bacta tank.

Shields: The shield generators serve also as backup life-support power generators in case of engine malfunction.

Captain's Cabin: Captain Ixsthmus's cabin is spartan by Human standards, containing only a vidscreen, a clothes closet, and a hard pallet with a special pillow (to accommodate the Ithorian's unusual head-shape).

Co-Pilot's Cabin: Siene Symm's accommodations are much more opulent than the captain's; Siene is somewhat of a sybarite. The cabin's reddish lighting and heavy atmosphere (closely resembling conditions on Sullust) tend to discourage non-Sullustan visitors.

The Head: Showers, toilets, sinks, laundry and so forth.

Passengers' Quarters: These are standard ship's berths, sleeping two to a cabin. The characters may decorate the rooms as they wish — as long as they don't offend the captain's rather puritan standards. A secret cargo hatch is hidden in the aftmost cabin.

Corridors: The ship's corridors are 6.2 meters long and 0.7 meters wide. The escape pod and turbolasers are accessed from the corridor just fore of the engineering area.

Character Backgrounds

Ixsthmus is captain of the Long Shot and places the safety of his ship as his first priority. Ixsthmus is stern, intelligent, capable ... and possesses no sense of humor whatsoever. He is absolutely dedicated to the Rebellion, and he disapproves of what he calls "Human frivolousness and decadence."

Captain Ixsthmus

Type: Ithorian Rebel Officer
DEXTERITY 2D
Blaster 3D+2
KNOWLEDGE 2D+2
Languages: Basic 4D, planetary systems 4D+2
MECHANICAL 1D+1
Astrogation 3D, sensors 3D+1, starfighter piloting 4D, space transports 4D+2
PERCEPTION 2D+1
Command 3D
STRENGTH 2D
TECHNICAL 1D+2
Character Points: 2
Move: 10
Equipment: Hold-out blaster (3D+2), comlink, datapad

Ixsthmus intensely dislikes lying; while recognizing its necessity, he is extremely uncomfortable with anything smacking of deceitfulness. When engaged in underhandedness, he lets Symm do most of the talking (Siene Symm has no problem with lying — he enjoys it a lot).

Ixsthmus knows that the Rebellion is extremely lacking in spaceworthy vessels, and he is reluctant to put the Long Shot in jeopardy except under the most dire circumstances. He is not without compassion, and he will do his utmost to assist Rebels in trouble — if in his mind there is a reasonable chance of success.

Physically, Ixsthmus is 1.9 meters tall, and covered with brown, leatherlike skin. Captain Ixsthmus is considered quite handsome by Ithorian standards — though this is lost on most of his "alien" (including Human) passengers.

Siene Symm, First Mate

Type: Sullustan Co-Pilot
DEXTERITY 2D
KNOWLEDGE 1D+1
MECHANICAL 3D
Communications 3D+2, space transports 3D+2, starship gunnery 3D+2
PERCEPTION 2D
Bargain 3D, con 3D+2, forgery 4D+2, gambling 4D+2
STRENGTH 2D
TECHNICAL 1D+2
Space transports repair 4D
Special Abilities:
Enhanced Senses: Sullustans get +1D to search in low-light conditions or when using hearing.
Location Sense: Once a Sullustan has visited an area, he can always remember how to return to the area, and the character gets +1D to astrogation when plotting a course back.

The Long Shot

Starship Plans

Sidebar: Starship Views

The diagrams above provide top, side, and front views of The Long Shot. These illustrations detail the ship's layout and features from various angles.

Siene Symm is a natural con artist, and for years has criss-crossed the galaxy separating fools from their credits. He is an accomplished forger, an inveterate liar, and has one of the sharpest wits to be found anywhere — though he keeps it well-hidden beneath a rather dim-witted friendly expression. He loves exotic food and Drilbian wine. Siene dresses in somewhat gaudy (some would say tasteless) clothing.

Several years of forced labor aboard an Imperial warship have made Siene a skilled starship mechanic — and a foe of the Empire. He wants nothing more than to play a large role in the overthrow of the Empire...and perhaps pocket a few credits along the way.

In spite of their many differences — or perhaps because of them — in the year they have served together Siene and Ixsthumus have become fast friends.

Sullustans love to travel and are often found serving on starships across the galaxy. Gregarious and ever-cheerful, if a bit timid, Sullustans are among the friendliest people in known space; Symm fits that mold (often to excess).

In its short life, R2-V0 has been disassembled 52 times to correct an unusual flaw: while working, or any time it is activated, R2-V0 beeps, whistles, and hums a continuous stream of nonsense. Siene thinks it is some kind of sound-actuator problem. In fact, there is no problem. R2-V0 is a poet; he makes the noises because he thinks they sound nice. They do, though non-droids seldom have the necessary hearing capabilities to appreciate his poems.

Artoo-Veeoh (R2-V0)

Type: Industrial Automaton R2 Astromech Droid
DEXTERITY 1D
KNOWLEDGE 1D
MECHANICAL 2D
Astrogation, space transports, starfighter piloting
PERCEPTION 1D
STRENGTH 1D
TECHNICAL 2D
Computer programming/repair, space transports repair, starfighter repair
Equipped With:
Three wheeled legs (one retractable)
Retractable heavy grasper arm (lifting skill at 2D)
Retractable fine work grasper arm
Extendable 0.3-meter-long video sense (360° rotation)
Small electric arc welder (1D to 5D damage as fits the situation, 0.3-meter range)
Small circular saw (4D damage, 0.3-meter range)
Video display screen
Holographic projector/recorder
Fire extinguisher
Small (20 cm by 8 cm) internal "cargo" area
Move: 5
Size: 1 meter tall
Cost: 1,500 (used)

Four-Onebee is well-programmed and eager to please, although somewhat unhappy about being shut down and hidden in a closet when not needed.

Four-Onebee (4-1B)

Type: Industrial Automaton 2-1B Surgical Droid
DEXTERITY 1D
KNOWLEDGE 2D
Alien species
MECHANICAL 2D
Bacta tank operation
PERCEPTION 3D
Injury/ailment diagnostics
STRENGTH 1D
TECHNICAL 3D
First aid, medicine
Equipped With:
Computer interface tether (range of 5 meters): interface adds +2D to all medical skills
Medical diagnostic computer
Analytical computer
Surgical attachments
Hypodermic injectors (4D stun damage)
Medicine dispensers
Move: 4
Size: 1.5 meters tall
Cost: 1,275 (used)

The Fakir Sector

The Fakir sector is a relatively unimportant piece of Imperial space located near the Galactic Core. There are several hundred planets suitable for habitation in the sector; approximately 50 of them contain intelligent life-forms, of which perhaps 10 have achieved the level of technology necessary to produce space travel. Humans and other "common" aliens have colonized about 150 planets in the sector.

Points of Interest

Doneer'so

The Imperial sector headquarters. This planet, located in the Doneer'so system, is inhabited by Doneers, a species of insectoid aliens. The jungle-covered planet is dotted with cities ... as well as the radiation-scarred ruins of former cities. The atmosphere and conditions on the planet are suitable for Human life, though most long term visitors wear radiation-proof clothing.

The Doneers are excellent technicians and builders: they are quick, meticulous, and extremely hard-working. The Doneers aren't particularly adept at original research and design, but it is widely conceded that they are the finest shipbuilders and mechanics in the sector.

The Doneers are organized into city-sized clans. Doneers are fanatically loyal to their clan; before Imperial intervention there was a fierce (and often bloody) rivalry between Doneer'so cities.

The Empire has established its sector-wide government headquarters in the city of Sotak'vik. This has dramatically increased the stature and power of the Sotak city-clan ... causing fanatic loyalty from the Sotaks, and extreme jealousy from everybody else. The Empire maintains a shield and nuclear-damping system over the sector capital and ruthlessly suppresses any overly enthusiastic signs of jealousy from the other city-clans. Several cities, including the main shipyard city of Tokks'vik, are heavily pro-Rebellion.

Sinkar

Circling its cold sun at the very extreme edges of the Lawreys system, Sinkar is a frigid, inhospitable heavy-gravity planet with little to recommend it to anyone of delicate sensibilities. Sinkar's oxygen supply is frozen on the planet's surface.

It is rumored that a bizarre species of helium-based slug creatures inhabit Sinkar. Some say these creatures resemble huge, black amoebas that slowly ooze across the plains, living on solar energy and impurities in the planet's snowy oxygen blanket. It is also said that these creatures are telepaths of great strength, and are extremely wise and long-lived, and that anyone who journeys to the planet can learn the answers to the questions of the universe ... if one waits long enough. For though they are very wise, it is also said that the Sinkars are unimaginably slow and ponderous thinkers.

Other rumors suggest that the Sinkars are mindless animals of great strength with the ability to suck the energy right out of a starship's drives ... or a man's body and some say that Sinkar is also a nesting ground for space slugs ...

The Imperials have placed a garrison outpost here for some as yet undiscovered purpose.

The Sarnikken Asteroid Belt

The dangerous Sarnikken belt contains some of the most lucrative heavy-metal mines in the sector. Despite its best efforts, the Empire has been unable to wrest control of the mines from the individualistic and belligerose miners ... when sent into the belt, Imperial bureaucrats and tax collectors tend to disappear, and the density of the asteroids makes entry into the belt by larger military vessels quite dangerous.

The Empire does attempt to maintain a blockade outside the field, but they don't have enough ships to do it properly, and it is easily broken.

The Rebellion purchases raw materials for its ships from the independent miners in the belt. The Roughneck X-wings often provide escort to the overloaded Rebel transports to and from the belt. Space slugs and mynocks abound within the field, preying upon unwary ships as they circumvent the densely-packed space debris.

Campaign Adventure Outlines

This section describes several adventure outlines, or story ideas, for the Long Shot campaign.

Story ideas aren't complete adventures: each provides a general plot line for an adventure, suggesting objectives, locations, obstacles, staging tips and interesting personalities. To develop the story ideas into complete adventures, you will have to determine the buildings, equipment, weather, etc. found at the encounter locations, draw maps, and list the attributes and skills of the gamemaster characters. You might decide to add secondary and incidental encounters to the adventure as well. Additionally, you might create scripts to open the adventure and get the players right into the action.

The Long Shot campaign, as we have presented it, is episodic: the order in which you play the adventures below is not important, and no combination of adventures below builds to a big climax. If you'd prefer a more climactic campaign, watch your players reactions as they complete the first adventure. What elements of the story excited them the most? Can you develop those elements through the next couple of adventures? Can you think of some event to occur in the last adventure and tie all the exploits of Reekeene's Roughnecks into a grand scheme?

Here's an example. There's an Imperial spy named Marska in "Tests of the Godking" (adventure outline one). What if she escapes alive from the planet featured in the adventure, Masterhome? Then, in a later adventure, the characters could hear of her, or run into her, again ... only now she's higher up in the Imperial secret police. Perhaps she gets the better of the characters in their second encounter. By the end of the campaign, Marska may have worked her way up to the post of Moff of Fakir sector ... and sworn to wipe out Reekeene's Roughnecks. The climax of the campaign could be a knock-down, drag-out fight to the death between the characters and their old adversary, Marska.

Or maybe the campaign could come full circle, back to Masterhome for a decisive battle between the Empire and the characters over the fate of the planet (an especially good idea if your players liked the Anointed People a lot). Or maybe the pesky pirates from the first episode of the "Tests of the Godking" keep popping up, undermining the reputation of the Rebel Alliance with their thievery, and the characters eventually decide to track them back to their secret hideout for a space battle. The possibilities are endless.

To show you how to develop the individual adventure outlines of this campaign, the first story idea, "Tests of the Godking," is already fleshed out into a short, ready-to-play adventure immediately following these adventure outlines. If you read the adventure outline below, then read the expanded adventure in the last section, you'll see what we did to make it complete. This illustrates the kind of color and detail we think is necessary for a full, satisfying session of Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game.

Note that each adventure begins with a hyperspace time. Distances are vast in Star Wars, and travel takes time. But remember to cut time lapses ... don't bother with describing the time unless something happens. In Star Wars: A New Hope, seven hours elapse in hyperspace as the heroes travel from Tatooine to Alderaan ... and we see about 10 minutes of that time on screen: Luke practicing with his lightsaber against the remote, Han putting in his own two cents worth, Artoo playing a hologame with Chewbacca. The activities suggest what was happening for the whole length of the trip, and develop facets of each character's personality ... and don't bore anyone.

Because these story ideas are outlines, most of the details are either left out or not firmly established. Often, what sounded like a perfect plot has a few sticky places in the logic or execution of a necessary step. Perhaps you'll come up with a solution you like better than ours. As always, please feel free to alter, expand or modify the story ideas to meet your needs.

Masterhome

Masterhome is a relatively young, terrestrial planet that is comfortable to Humans and similar beings. The climate and terrain are fairly pleasant. In the most densely populated regions, seasonal variations provide for moderately warm summers (40° Centigrade or so is a normal maximum) and fairly cold winters (- 4° Centigrade is about the coldest it gets in the winter). Plant life is varied and hardy; animal life is the same, with reptiloid forms predominating. Large, furry, warm-blooded tyrannosaur-like creatures called "eaters" are abundant and very dangerous.

According to the characters' computer tapes, the sentient life-forms of Masterhome are large lizard-based creatures who call themselves the "Anointed People." Roughly humanoid in shape, but with a long, spiked tail, the Anointed People live in a feudal society, with "Godlings," the nobility, ruling over the "Unwashed," the serfs. Above the Godlings is the Godking, ruler of the planet and the person the characters must meet.

The century-old tapes also indicate where the palace of the Godking is located, and include a language translation program.

Also according to the tapes, the Anointed People are warlike in the extreme. The Godlings, who live in huge fortified castles, are constantly involved in vicious territorial battles with each other, and the Godking spends most of his time putting down revolution attempts. The tapes advise extreme caution when dealing with these belligerent beings.

The characters should quickly learn to take information from century-old tapes with a grain of salt. In fact, the Anointed People haven't had a real war in almost a century. The various Godlings do gather their people and march off to "war" every spring, but these are relatively bloodless affairs which the people look forward to as a chance to dress up in interesting clothing, meet potential mates, and visit distant lands.

The pompous titles are left over from an earlier age and are more symbolic than anything else these days. While the characters will be expecting the Anointed People to be simple barbarians, they are actually intelligent, capable beings who happen to cling to outmoded, now-ceremonial traditions.

Adventure Outline One: Tests of the Godking

Background

Masterhome is a small planet of marginal importance located well outside the sector's trade routes. It has a few mineral resources and a bellicose indigenous population with little technology and a primitive social structure. Because of this, Masterhome has thus far avoided serious Imperial attention.

The Alliance, desperately short of supplies, wishes to make a trade deal with the people of Masterhome. They will provide teachers, doctors, and engineers to the "Anointed People" (the dominant intelligent life-form on Masterhome) in return for foodstuffs. To this end, the characters are assigned to journey to Masterhome and open negotiations with the ruler of the planet, called the Godking.

Episode One: Pirates of the Void

Hyperspace: 7 days (at x1). Space pirates, disguised as Rebel privateers, attack before the jump.

Episode Objective: To get from Home base to Masterhome in one piece; to discourage pirates from pretending to be Rebels and giving the Alliance a bad name.

Obstacles: The pirates.

Episode Two: Rebels in the Godking's Court

After disposing of the pirates, the Long Shot reaches orbit around Masterhome.

Episode Objective: To make contact with the Godking and open negotiations involving trade agreements which will provide the Anointed People with technological assistance and the Alliance with much-needed supplies.

Reconnaissance Over Masterhome

The characters may learn more about the Anointed People by scouting the planet. They can:

• Kidnap/keep under surveillance/talk to a native.
• Wander around in the woods.
• Use the Long Shot's long-range scanners to skulk around near a Godling's castle.
• Scout the Godking's castle.

Meeting the Godking

Several years ago, a star ship landed in an open field near the castle. A male Human emerged, claiming to represent the Rebellion. That "Rebel," however, was actually a stellar conman ... was, in fact, the pirate captain encountered in the first episode. After promising to sell the Godking an elixir of eternal life, the conman robbed the royal treasury and escaped in his ship.

When the characters arrive, the Godking will appear to be quite cordial and friendly to them (he respects the power of their weapons), but during negotiations a series of strange occurrences may suggest to the characters that something weird is going on.

The Godking is testing them. Before deciding what to do about the aliens, he wants to find out everything he can about them: their honesty, their courage, and the power of their weapons and technology. If the characters are properly heroic and honest, he will perhaps trust them. If, however, they fail to measure up, he will probably throw them in his dungeons.

The Empire Arrives

Several days later (allowing the characters time to execute various plans they might have and after they are arrested or after the Godking accepts them), Siene calls them from the Long Shot and tells them that an Imperial shuttle has entered the atmosphere. He doesn't know if their ship was spotted, but the captain is making a break for it. They will try to return in a few days.

The Imperial shuttle settles to the ground in an open field near the castle. The door to the ship opens, heavy black smoke spilling from within, and 30 or so stormtroopers issue forth and form a circle around the ship. The Godking sends an emissary and a ceremonial honor guard of 25 armored Anointed People to the vehicle to see what the occupants want. When approached, the stormtroopers open fire on the emissary, the honor guard, and a bunch of civilians.

Inside the Imperial shuttle Resurgence ride Lord Dixton, the new Governor General of this sector; his retinue, including Marska the Imperial spy; a stormtrooper honor guard; and the shuttle crew. The Resurgence was damaged when they made a hasty jump to hyperspace to avoid a Rebel attack. The crew intends to fix the ship somehow... perhaps they haven't called up any records of Masterhome, and expect to find a Human outpost, a trader, or some equipment worth cannibalizing for parts. At worst case, they can use pieces of their own ship to effect the repairs.

If he hasn't already, the Godking decides to join the Rebellion right then and there. As his first act, he will destroy those enemies in the ship. He asks the characters if they wish to participate.

Episode Three: A Deadly Little War

The Godking plans to destroy these Imperial invaders who have brought true violence back to Masterhome.

Episode Objectives:

To defeat the stormtroopers and capture the Governor General and his staff.

Attack on the Resurgence

The Godking's Plan:

The Godking wants to assemble his knights, march onto the field, and destroy the invaders in honorable combat. This is a bad plan.

If the characters raise objections, the Godking will acknowledge his ignorance in these matters and ask them for their advice.

Leading the Anointed People:

Any frontal assault, even if supported by the characters' modern weapons, is doomed to failure, or at least will cost an inordinate amount of life. Anyone wise in the ways of the Force will certainly "have a bad feeling" about that. To succeed, the characters will have to be clever. They have the resources of an entire planet at their disposal, but they may have some trouble figuring out how to apply these resources.

Here are some possibilities:

Siege Equipment: The national museum in the castle has several old ballistae and one large catapult. Perhaps the ballistae's arrows can cut through the Imperial troopers' armor. The catapult could throw rocks at the ship's blaster, or it could hurl burning oil at the stormtroopers. The chances that the operators will hit what they are aiming at are slim.

A Large Diversion: The Anointed People have discovered a scent which attracts the large, hungry eaters and drives them into a frenzy. This plan could also backfire in a big way.

Molotov Cocktails: A crock of oil with burning rags attached makes a nice missile.

Other Resources: Bolos, gliders, pits, deadfalls... anything a medieval society could construct in two days is available to the characters.

Into the Resurgence

The best way to capture the Imperial ship is from within. If the characters come up with a good enough cover story, they can get inside the vessel. From there, they can disable the heavy blaster, capture the Governor General, or do any number of other sneaky things.

The End

Shortly after the climactic battle, the Long Shot returns to Masterhome, accompanied by several X-wings and a Rebel light cruiser. If the characters have failed to take the shuttle, these ships do so easily. In any event, the characters can return to their ship and leave the planet, taking with them the gratitude and friendship of the Anointed People and the Godking. They also receive the honorary title of "Assistant Demi-Gods."

Adventure Outline Two: The Heat of Freedom

Background

Alabash is a young world on the far edge of the Fakir sector with an extremely volatile volcanic system covering most of the planet's surface. The hazardous conditions have made mining operations too expensive.

Until now.

Rebel spies in the Imperial Resource Procurement Bureau (ReProBu) have discovered that the Empire is pulling in 600 tons of high-grade alantium (an important component in starship hull design) a month from an automated mining station on the planet.

The characters are sent to Alabash to spy on and disrupt the operation.

Outfitting: The characters are given blasters, blaster power packs, comlinks, protective clothing, breath masks, and 25 thermal detonators. In addition, they are given forged passes, secret codes, and identitags proclaiming them as ReProBu inspectors. The Long Shot is refueled and resupplied, its markings changed to match the characters' cover.

Episode One: A Needle in a Molten Ocean

Hyperspace: 2 days (at x1)

Only one small communications satellite orbits the planet. An Easy communications or Mechanical roll indicates that these satellites are commonly used to relay messages between the planet's surface and an outsystem source.

The volcanic activity blocks surface probes and makes it impossible to locate the mine from orbit.

Episode Objective: To locate the mine.

Obstacles: Hazardous planetary conditions, any creatures native to Alabash, and the mine itself.

Scouting

To have any chance at all to spot the mining complex, the ship must fly at a relatively low altitude and use visual identification.

After staring at volcanoes, lava rivers, boulders, the odd pile of smoking slag, and possibly creatures, the ship comes across a 100-meter-wide, 10-meter-deep trench cutting through lava pits, ridges, slag and everything else. The trench runs off to the horizon.

The trench leads to a 500 meter by 500 meter platform armed with huge mining lasers and a small defensive shield. The characters can recognize it as some kind of a huge strip-mining and processing factory complex. The factory floats 20 meters above ground, sucking up a 100-meter-wide swath of land, extracting the valuable elements, and spewing out a fine spray of pulverized dust behind it.

If the characters initiate conversation, a polite voice requests identification; after a few moments, they receive permission to land.

Episode Two: Abandon All Hope ...

The landing pad is small; the characters' ship is about the largest it can accommodate. As the landing pad sinks down into the interior of the platform, an access portal seals the ceiling. The same voice which spoke to them requests that they go to the reception area (the voice is carried through hidden speakers near the landing area).

Once in the reception area (a small lounge just inside the landing pad), the voice announces that the characters' passes and code words are out of date and they will be detained until confirmation of their identities arrives in about 48 hours.

Just then, heavy blast doors rumble down from the ceiling, blocking the passage back to the ship. Until such time, the voice continues, the characters will be confined in this area.

Episode Objective: To destroy the factory and escape with their lives.

The Escape

The characters must escape the reception area; they have a number of options. A thermal detonator will do the job. Otherwise, the door can be cut with a lightsaber or blown open with repeated blaster shots. A reasonable con job will do the trick. For example, the characters might claim to need medicine back on the ship. The droid brain is pretty naive, but if lied to, it learns quickly.

Their ship cannot leave until the access portal is opened, the shields are disengaged, and the blaster cannons are destroyed.

The Factory

The factory is fully automated. There isn't a single living being on it, just lots and lots of specialized droids run by one pretty intelligent control droid. Disguises are pretty pointless — the control droid knows that any life-forms, no matter how dressed, are intruders.

The factory consists of eight main sections: repulsorlift engines, ground intake suction devices, elemental separators and storage areas, refuse disposal sprayers, shields and weapons systems, droid repair center, sensors, and the control area.

With the exception of the control area, these units are extremely massive. Control dispatches repair droids immediately to fix any damaged units. To permanently disable the factory complex, the characters have to destroy or reprogram control, or cause the main engines to explode. Control cannot be reprogrammed from anywhere but the access panels in the control center.

The control droid is one of the Terreene Brainiac class of artificial intelligences. It is well-programmed and equipped to find and extract ores from the planet's surface; equally so to defend itself from external attacks. It rather lacks in equipment to defend itself from treacherous assaults from the inside, but it is capable of some interesting improvisations.

The characters can talk to the computer from several comlinks scattered throughout the factory, or they can use their own comlinks to do so, although they risk revealing their location. Control will be unfailingly polite, expressing deep regret ... while sending hordes of murderous droids to kill the characters. Control cannot be induced to self-destruct by any verbal machinations.

As it becomes aware that the characters have escaped, the factory will first activate "vermin control" droids armed with small blasters and poison gas. If forced to improvise, control attacks with repair droids armed with battering rams, lubrication droids, and automated forklifts. Other possible tactics include disrupting gravity, gassing corridors, sealing secondary bulkheads, and turning off lights. Eventually, however, the characters should reach the control center or main engines.

The Climactic Battle

The characters have one final obstacle to overcome: if they are in the engine room, they encounter a huge engine maintenance droid armed with industrial lasers, vibro-blades and grasping mandibles. If they are in the control center, they encounter the control maintenance droid: a huge, tentacular unit which attempts to grab and squeeze them to death. Once these are dispatched, the characters can destroy the factory and escape.

Adventure Outline Three: Assault on Repair Station M13

Background

A new Imperial ship repair and refueling outpost, M13, has been set up on the planet Mycroft. The characters' mission is to harass the outpost, capture prisoners for interrogation, steal supplies and weapons, and, if possible, destroy Repair Station M13.

The characters are given a description of the planet Mycroft, a map of the outpost's surroundings, and a list of the personnel and equipment expected to be at M13. Their mission is part of "Operation Retribution," in which many targets will be attacked simultaneously.

One part of Retribution will be a full-scale attack on an Imperial space station in another system. This should draw off many of Mycroft's TIE fighters and the Imperials cannot send reinforcements to the outpost for at least three days.

Lens simply tells them to hit hard, do maximum damage at minimum risk, and get out after two days.

Outfitting: The characters are assigned blasters and ammunition, fuel for their ship, food, camouflage clothing, comlinks, macrobinoculars, a dozen grenades, and, at the gamemaster's option, one heavy weapon. Operation Retribution is straining the Roughnecks' limited resources to the breaking point, and the characters will have to make do. Outfitting also asks the characters to keep their eyes open for blaster packs, medical supplies, and landspeeder gravmotor alternators.

Episode One: Deadline on Mycroft

Hyperspace: 7 days (at x1)

As a possible encounter, there may be a failure in the hyperspace engines which delays the characters, giving them an extra 24 hours to prepare for their attack but also putting them far behind schedule. Upon arriving in system, long-range sensors show that there is one Imperial frigate in orbit.

Episode Objective: To scout Repair Station M13, check maps, detail the personnel and equipment at the station, learn the guards' routines, and plan the attack.

Watching the Outpost

The outpost is designed to support Imperial exploratory and picket vessels operating on the fringes of the Fakir sector. It can only handle those vessels that can actually land on the planet with berthing for 12 TIEs, six one-man scout ships or two multi-system patrol boats. In addition to fuel and supplies, the outpost also has from 25 to 30 mechanics, doctors, bureaucrats, and support personnel permanently stationed at the base. Spaceship crews sometimes spend leave there while their ships are under repair, and so does the occasional civilian.

The outpost is guarded by 20 stormtroopers armed with blaster rifles. In the event of attack, the support personnel will grab blasters and attempt to aid in the outpost's defense, but these bureaucrats and mechanics have neither the training nor the inclination for combat and tend to panic under fire.

The stormtroopers have at their disposal three landspeeders mounted with repeating blasters. They also have several reconnaissance droids. The outpost is surrounded by a low-voltage electric fence, more to discourage large hungry animals than determined attackers.

The outpost's warehouse contains several dozen blasters and ammunition, as well as ship parts, food, and other general supplies much needed by the Roughnecks.

Looking for Trouble

If the characters are careful, there will be little or no combat during this phase — alerting the outpost is definitely a bad thing and will result in heavy air patrols of the area, deployment of extra security guards, and possibly necessitate scrubbing the mission. Therefore, any sabotage or attacks before the TIEs leave should be made to look like an accident.

Unless they have ineptly alerted the outpost, early morning of the second day after they arrive, the landing bay hatch slides open and the TIEs zoom off into the heavens. There, they enter the frigate which promptly shoots into hyperspace.

Episode Two: The Attack

It is impossible to anticipate the form of attack the characters will attempt against the repair station. However, the commander of the outpost has laid down specific guidelines for dealing with external attacks.

Stage 1: Situation Normal

This is the base's normal procedure. Two stormtroopers are patrolling the electric fence, two are stationed in the command center and power room, two are in the landing bay, two are in the storage area, two are patrolling the halls, and 10 are off-duty. The movement of non-security personnel is unrestricted.

Stage 2: Alert

An alert is activated if electric fence alarms are triggered, a stormtrooper misses a report or there is some other unusual situation. The procedures are the same as for "Situation Normal," but five of the off-duty troopers are sent to investigate. The movement of non-security personnel remains unrestricted, but if off-duty, the outpost commander returns to the command center.

Stage 3: Base Under Attack

All off-duty stormtroopers are to assemble in the command center and are ordered to defend strategic points or counterattack. Periphery patrol guards retreat to the landing bay. Non-security personnel are issued blasters and ordered to defend posts.

Stage 4: Base Falling

If the landing bay is secure and contains a spaceworthy vehicle, all non-security personnel are to retreat to the landing bay. If the bay is under attack or otherwise useless, personnel are to grab survival gear from supply and retreat into the woods. Command personnel will then set the command post on auto-destruct and attempt to escape. Stormtroopers cover the retreat.

Mycroft

Mycroft is a terrestrial planet with a wide variety of climates and terrain, ranging from frozen polar icecaps to hot, arid deserts.

The outpost is located in an area of low, forest-covered mountains. It is winter.

There is no sentient life in the area.

There are, however, several varieties of large animals populating the forests — including something quite similar to a black bear but with mottled green fur and raccoon-like hands, and a large flying carnivorous thing with a long, snake-like body and 30 centimeter long poisonous fangs. The animals are ravenous from the long, cold winter, and could give the Rebels some trouble.

Adventure Outline Four: The Plant

Background

Several weeks ago the Alliance received the plans to an Imperial Communications Center located in a high-security compound just outside the city of Takari on the planet Iyuta. Analysis of the plans has determined the Center's weakness: it is built atop an ancient sewer system.

Lens theorizes that it might be possible to plant a powerful listening device under the Communications Center.

Because the planet houses important Imperial governmental offices, it is heavily guarded by large cruisers and spy satellites — the characters will have to go in undercover.

They are to make contact with Chilla, a Rebel spy who works as a bartender in a place called the "Rusty Bucket." She will provide them with additional information as well as transportation out to the sewers.

Outfitting: The characters are given blasters, ammunition, comlinks, glow rods, 5,000 credits, an inertial tracking device, and a powerful bugging device about the size of a large suitcase. Their ship is fueled and victualled, and they are given identitags appropriate to their cover stories.

Episode One: Undercover Escapades

Hyperspace: 5.7 standard days (at x1).

Episode Objective: To come up with a good cover story; to locate the "Rusty Bucket" and find Chilla.

Obstacles: Imperial Customs officers, a no-longer existing meeting place, rowdy Imperial soldiers, possible imprisonment, and a secret double-cross.

The Spaceport

At the Iyuta spaceport, Imperial Customs officers search the Long Shot thoroughly for contraband. If none is found, the characters' cover story is taken at face value (unless it is truly implausible). Mediocre docking facilities come steep, and the characters are warned to stay within the city.

The City

Takari is a small city on an undeveloped planet. Like all resort towns, the food and board prices are outrageous.

The "Rusty Bucket" burned down last week. If questioned, neighbors will tell the characters that Chilla is currently working "somewhere down on The Strip."

The Strip is a section of Vark Street with about seven bars catering to bored Imperial marines with nowhere else to spend their money.

The marines don't like outsiders on their turf asking questions. To gain their cooperation (and avoid a beating), the characters may be forced to bribe, gamble with or otherwise prove their worth to the marines (they might demand arm-wrestling or drinking contests). If these actions are not enough, Imperial security shows up shortly after a fight breaks out and arrests everybody.

If arrested for something trivial like fighting in a bar, the characters' cover stories can save them from imprisonment, though not from a hefty fine. If charged with murder or assault with a deadly weapon, they are in much deeper trouble, facing interrogation, or possibly even imprisonment in the famed spice mines of Kessel.

Eventually, the characters find Chilla in a small bar called "The Giant Step." She provides them with directions, suitable mounts for the overland trek to the sewers (vehicles would be detected entering the Communication Center's sensor network), and an old surveyor's map of the sewers. She says accompanying the characters would blow her cover.

The characters may encounter natural hazards on the journey to the sewers, but they won't meet any Imperial patrols.

Episode Two: The Heat is On

The characters enter the sewers, plant their device, and discover the double-cross.

Episode Objective: To realize that the entire mission is a plot against the Rebellion; to find a way to make the plot benefit the Rebellion in the end.

Obstacles: Sewer creatures, others depending on details of Imperial plot.

Down Under

The ancient sewers of Iyuta are dangerous places, populated by various and sundry tentacular monsters and scaly vaguely humanoid creatures with huge eyes and big teeth. The spot where the characters are to plant the bugging device is several kilometers in from the entrance and they might encounter cave-ins, mudslides, and attacks from the hungry populace. Once again, there are no Imperial troops or monitoring devices guarding the subterranean passage, and the characters plant their device without incident.

The Sting

On the way out of the sewers, the characters stumble across (or, if they have gotten on good terms with any of the sewer's inhabitants, are directed to) the remains of a woman about the same size as the woman they know as Chilla. A detailed search finds a small comlink recorder lying in the mud next to her body.

The message it contains is in a Rebel code. An Easy Knowledge roll is needed to decipher it: "Cover blown Imps on my trail Wounded Hiding in sewers Double agent Long live the Roughnecks — Chil ..." The recording ends suddenly.

Obviously, the entire operation is a setup. Perhaps the Imperials are planning to bushwhack the characters when they leave the sewers or follow the Long Shot back to the Rebel base. They might be planning to feed the Rebels false information through the bug, as well.

The Imperials would be most interested in finding the Rebel base; they would therefore probably not attempt to capture or kill the characters on the planet, but would instead try to follow them back to Home base.

The Climax

From this point, the flow of the adventure depends on the characters' actions and the Empire's objectives. If there are zillions of stormtroopers hidden near the entrance to the sewers, the characters might fight it out with them or decide to find a different exit from the underground (and then sneak up and ambush the ambushers or escape).

If the Empire is hoping to follow the characters back to Home base, they will be extremely careful not to tip off their presence, but have a fast ship in orbit ready to follow them.

The characters might attempt to get even for being duped by making a raid on the Communications Center or capture the Imperial spy who has impersonated Chilla. Or they might choose not to plant a bugging device, as the Imperials expect, but leave a big load of explosives timed to go off shortly after the characters leave the planet. Once in space, the Long Shot can evade (or destroy) their tail and then rendezvous with Home base.

Adventure Outline Five: Lens Reekeene is Missing

Background

The characters are assigned to deep-space surveillance of the (rebuilt if it was destroyed in the prior adventure) Imperial Communications Center on Iyuta using an experimental long-range scanner/decoder. As it is entirely possible the Communications Center can monitor their transmissions, they are to maintain comm silence and make weekly reports to Home base using a hyperspace message droid pre-set with Home's location.

Outfitting: As this is a routine mission and no combat is expected, the characters are issued only blasters, blaster packs, fuel, supplies, and extra entertainment holocubes. They also receive a message droid, a somewhat supercilious personality named UP-S2 (Yupee-Estoo).

Episode One: Do You Hear What I Hear?

A boring mission suddenly becomes a matter of life and death when the characters intercept a disturbing message: Lens Reekeene has been captured!

Episode Objective: To scout Lens' prison and come up with a rescue plan.

Obstacles: A sun about to go nova; a TIE fighter; a heavy blaster artillery piece at the prison.

A Slow Start

The subspace chatter is routine and traffic is light; it seems as though nothing of any real import is going on in the sector. The characters dutifully send the probe droid off with reports of the expected grain harvest on Lorimax, the addition of two new Thran-class vessels to the Fakir sector fleet, and the abandonment of the Imperial garrison in the Flankers.

More weeks pass. Work on building gamemaster characters: the characters lose billions of imaginary credits to Symm playing sabacc. Captain Ixsthmus lectures his captive audience on the importance of solemnity for those in battle. Then, disaster strikes.

I've Got a Bad Feeling About This ...

Shortly after the characters send their message droid on its four day circuit to Home and back with this week's crop of news, an Imperial probe slams into an emergency landing near the Communications Center. The priority message, when decoded, reads:

"Priority One Message: Lens Reekeene, leader of Reekeene's Roughnecks, has been captured. Capturing vessel damaged; has landed at abandoned base on Flankers. Flankers' sun expected to go nova in 144 hours. Proceed to Flankers immediately and take her into custody. Determine whereabouts of Roughnecks base and identity of all traitors in sector. Good hunting. End Message."

The Imperial cruiser in orbit around Iyuta comms back that it will be able to leave in 14 hours; as the trip will take 50 hours, the ship will have about 80 hours of leeway before the sun goes nova.

Options

The characters have no way to contact Home. Their probe is gone and the nearest emergency rendezvous is almost three full days off. If anybody is going to rescue Lens and save the Rebel presence in Fakir sector, it will have to be them.

Taking the fastest, riskiest course for Flankers and leaving immediately, they can reach the system in about 40 hours, or 24 hours ahead of the Imperial cruiser. Transmitting a bogus message to the Communications Center may gain as much as 20 hours additional headstart, depending on the message.

Looking Around

Reaching the planet, the characters discover that energy fluxes generated by the dying sun disrupt the ship's sensors, though they are still capable of spotting the Imperial garrison.

If you own a copy of the Star Wars Sourcebook, use the garrison described therein as a basis for designing your abandoned facility.

Descending to look things over, the characters discover that the garrison has been stripped almost clean — the AT-ATs and AT-STs are gone, most of the heavy guns are also missing, and there is no sign of life anywhere.

Once they move in really close, the Imperial scout ship captain guesses the Long Shot is a Rebel ship coming to rescue Lens, and opens fire. One dilapidated TIE fighter emerges from the garrison's hanger bay, and one mounted heavy blaster begins firing from the garrison.

Episode Two: Cat and Mouse

After dealing with the TIE and the gun, a dangerous game of cat-and-mouse ensues, as the characters search the base on foot for the prisoner.

Episode Objective: To defeat the Imperials and rescue Lens.

Obstacles: The Imperials; the impending nova; a fast-approaching cruiser.

A Most Dangerous Game

The Long Shot isn't particularly helpful in the search as its sensors are disrupted by the sun. The characters must go into the buildings and find Lens themselves.

Knowing the terrain much better than his pursuers, the Imperial captain stays on the move, while watching for opportunities to ambush the characters. The characters are cheered by periodic messages from Siene updating them on the status of the imminent nova.

The battle ends when all the Imperial forces are destroyed, or the characters convince the captain to surrender.

With luck, they rescue Lens just as the Imperial cruiser arrives. As they leave the system, they have the satisfaction of seeing the sun explode, probably taking the cruiser with it.

Sidebar: What Has Gone Before

Traveling in a lone X-wing on her way to a secret rendezvous with the sector's high command, Lens was ambushed by an Imperial scout ship. She suffered heavy damage to her engines and lost her R2 unit in the initial onslaught. Attacking with an incredible ferocity which stunned the Imperial captain (who had been expecting surrender), Lens fired a salvo of proton torpedoes into the scout ship from close range, scoring three hits and causing the vessel's fuel pod to explode quite dramatically.

Unfortunately, Lens' vessel was close when the fuel pod went up, and her ship was further damaged by shrapnel. The scout captain brought his wounded vessel around (rather more cautiously, this time), picked Lens up, and limped to the Imperial base on Flankers.

Discovering that the base has been abandoned, the captain sent off a hyperspace probe droid to get help. He and his crew are hidden in the Imperial garrison, with the prisoner, ready to repel attackers and awaiting rescue.

Tests of the Godking

Introduction

In the last section, we presented five adventure outlines for the Long Shot campaign that could be developed into full adventures. In this section, we've taken the first outline, "Tests of the Godking," and expanded it for you.

Experienced gamemasters can modify this adventure to their own needs, perhaps using only the basic story line and main gamemaster characters as the foundation for an adventure of their own. Inexperienced gamemasters, however, are encouraged to stick to the adventure as it is presented. Admittedly it's lots of fun to make up your own adventure, but if you've never gamemastered a roleplaying game before, we suggest you to take advantage of the detail and structure that this one offers.

Be sure to read the adventure carefully. The more familiar you are with the story, the less you will have to refer to it later, and the easier it will be for you to run. If this is the first adventure you've run, here are a few tips:

• Make photocopies of the adventure script for each player
• Make sure each player has a character to play (make photocopies of the blank character sheet as well as the character templates in the back of Star Wars: The Role-playing Game, Second Edition).
• Have plenty of six-sided (normal) dice for each player.
• Pencils for everybody.
• Food and drink. After all, this is a game, and games are social activities. Eat, drink, and be social.

Getting Started

Once everybody is at the table, the first order of business is to generate player characters (see Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game, Second Edition, pages 7—13). If possible, the players should coordinate their characters to ensure that the group contains a healthy mix of skills. If your players wish to bring in characters used in earlier adventures, that's okay if they fit in with your campaign. Really experienced characters may unbalance the adventure and campaign. Remember, you are the gamemaster: it is your job to ensure that the game is fun and fair. If a character doesn't fit, have the player create a new one.

After everyone has created a character, read the "Players' Introduction" aloud. It assumes that the characters are new recruits to Reekeene's Roughnecks and the Rebellion. If the characters have been around for a while, you may have to modify the information somewhat.

The Script

Use the script to start the adventure. The script helps get the players into character while setting the scene. Assign each player a part (such as "1st Rebel," "2nd Rebel," and so on). If you have six players, each player reads one part. If you have five, one player should read both "3rd Rebel" & "5th Rebel"; if four players, one should read both "1st Rebel" and "6th Rebel" as well.

You must read the parts labeled "gamemaster." These lines are descriptive text, as well as all the gamemaster characters encountered in the opening sequence.

Players' Introduction

Read the following out loud:

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away ...

Shortly after the destruction of the Death Star, Rebel Irregulars do their best to capture the attention of the dreaded Imperial star fleet currently searching for the Rebel fugitives from Yavin. These partisan forces, operating deep within the Empire, harass weakly-defended interior systems in an effort to force at least part of the fleet to break off from the search. Their guerrilla tactics are an effort to buy Alliance High Command the time it needs to evacuate Yavin and find a new, more secure base planet.

You are members of Reekeene's Roughnecks, a Rebel Irregular unit working in Fakir sector. After six weeks of training, you've been assigned to Green squad and the converted luxury yacht Long Shot. You depart your base, a big old Tsukkian waterhauler called Home, for a routine flight when suddenly Captain Ixsthmus calls you all to the bridge.

Lay out the map of the Long Shot. Give the players a moment to look the map over and introduce their characters to each other. Then hand out the script and begin.

Start the script.

Tests of the Godking Adventure Script

Use the following script to start your adventure. Your gamemaster will tell you what part (or parts) to read. Read your lines out loud when your turn comes around. Speak the way you think your character would talk, and listen to what the other characters say.

1st Rebel: Let's move, Green squad! Captain Ixsthmus isn't the type that likes to be kept waiting.

2nd Rebel: I wonder what he wants us for? Do you think we're finally gonna get a mission?

3rd Rebel: Quiet down! We'll find out soon enough.

Gamemaster: You enter the bridge. Captain Ixsthmus, an Ithorian, stands facing the doorway. His co-pilot, the Sullustan named Siene Symm, is at his station, efficiently working the Long Shot's controls.

4th Rebel: Green squad reporting as ordered, sir.

Gamemaster: The Captain scowls in your direction, muttering something about being saddled with raw recruits, as he flips a switch that activates a holoprojector. An image appears in the center of the bridge.

5th Rebel: It's Lens Reekeene, the commander herself! I guess we are getting a mission!

Gamemaster (as Lens): "Greetings, Green squad. Congratulations on completing your training. As you know, the Rebellion is facing critical supply shortages. Therefore, Rebel High Command has instructed us to direct our efforts toward finding new sources of food and material. Your first mission is to contact the leader of the planet Masterhome, and open negotiations to provide supplies for the Rebellion."

6th Rebel: Masterhome? I've studied about that planet. A scouting expedition went there almost 90 years ago.

2nd Rebel: Right, right! That's the place with those lizard creatures who call themselves the "Anointed People."

Gamemaster: The holograph blurs for a moment, then Reekeene's image is replaced with that of Santhou, her alien advisor.

Gamemaster (as Santhou): "The Masterhome expedition, the only one ever sent to that planet, reported that the Anointed People were bloodthirsty primitives living in a feudal state almost lacking in advanced technology. The Empire has long ignored Masterhome; we cannot."

1st Rebel: I did my homework during basic, too. If I remember correctly, the planet's ruler is called the Godking, and the original expedition had lots of problems with hostile locals.

3rd Rebel: Oh, great! This is sounding better and better.

Gamemaster (as Santhou): "You are authorized to offer trade of technology and scientific knowledge in return for food. This may include doctors, teachers and engineers, but no weapons."

4th Rebel: In other words, they want us to go to the planet, make friendly noises to the ruler, and see whether it's worth a follow up?

2nd Rebel: Maybe we can even get the Anointed People to join the Alliance.

6th Rebel: I don't know ... this all sounds like a long shot to me.

Gamemaster (as Santhou): "Captain Ixsthmus has the route to Masterhome in his astrogation computer; your computer library has been loaded with planetary survey maps. We've also given you several language tapes, and the ship's stores have equipment to help you carry out this task.

"Remember, we are the good guys. No coercion, no extortion, no threats. And hopefully, no killing, unless absolutely necessary to preserve your lives or your ship. May the Force be with you."

With that, the holoprojector shuts off.

5th Rebel: How are we going to handle this? I say finesse is required. Finesse and style.

2nd Rebel: That leaves you out! Do you think we should scout out the terrain to see if anything's changed? It has been 90 years!

Gamemaster: Suddenly, the "Red Alert" signal blares through the Long Shot's comm units.

3rd Rebel: Hey! What's with the noise and flashing lights?

Gamemaster (as Siene Symm): "Intruder entering from hyperspace."

1st Rebel: It's on an interception course ... heading straight for us!

4th Rebel: It'll be in combat range in two minutes. We'll never be able to jump to hyperspace that fast!

5th Rebel: Great! Just great! How are we supposed to accomplish anything with all these interruptions?

Gamemaster (as Siene): "Battle stations please, gentlebeings."

6th Rebel: Battle stations? On a yacht? I have a bad feeling about this!

When the script is finished, turn to Episode One.

Episode One: Pirates of the Void

Summary

En route to Masterhome to begin their mission, the characters' vessel is waylaid by pirates disguised as Rebel privateers. They outrun the privateers or stand and fight. Eventually, their ship reaches Masterhome.

Red Alert!

Begin this episode as soon as the script is finished. Don't give your players a chance to ask questions about the campaign background. They've been given enough details to get through this opening battle. Afterward, when things calm down, Captain Ixsthmus or Siene Symm can fill them in on the Roughnecks, the Irregulars, and Home. This should simulate the confusion of battle quite nicely.

Let them tell you how they are responding to Siene's command. If they don't immediately occupy a station, Captain Ixsthmus will have a few sharp words for them later. Battle stations include the navigation and computer station, communications and shields station, engineering, and the turbolaser well. Someone may want to run to the supply room to check on the equipment Santhou mentioned, too. A listing can be found under "Ship's Stores" later in this section.

Ahrr, Mateys!

Read the following aloud:

As the Long Shot gathers speed, heading for hyperspace, Siene Symm continues to update you on the situation. "Scanners indicate the vessel to be a Corellian light freighter. The vessel's speed suggests that the ship's engines have been modified; scanners indicate that its shields are somewhat heavier than is usual for such craft. Life-form sensors indicate eight sentients on board." A short pause. "Incoming message. I'll pipe it through the ship."

A coarse voice rings through the com unit. "Ahoy yacht! This is Captain Jayhawk of the Rebellion privateer Martinette! We mean to take your cargo, but will let you and your vessel go free. Heave to and drop your shields or we will fire on you!"

Ixsthmus shuts off the com and speaks to you. "Unknown any Rebel privateer vessel Martinette. Suspect ruse — pirates or Imperial spies. Comments and suggestions?"

Points to Consider

Time to discuss options. Let the players lead the conversation, but use the captain and first mate to point them in the right direction and provide suggestions as necessary. Don't abuse the gamemaster characters' authority over the characters — the final decision is up to the players.

Here are the important questions the characters have to answer:

• Are the intruders really Rebellion privateers? Probably not. If the characters suggest it, Siene can use a Rebel codeword in a comm message to the pirates: they won't respond properly.
• If not, who are they? It's possible that they are Imperial spies, but if so, what are they up to? They are more likely just plain pirates pretending to be Rebels to misdirect Imperial retribution.
• Fight or flee? The captain is against any space battles. "Enemy ship is fast; better shields. Perhaps better armed." The captain is willing to make a run for it, but the enemy ship will be within firing range before the Long Shot can make a hyperspace jump.
• Surrender? The Long Shot isn't carrying any particularly important cargo, but the ship itself is quite valuable: the pirates will certainly commandeer it.
• Pretend to surrender? Aha! There are only eight people on board the pirate ship; remember the sensor readings. Assuming they leave two or three behind to man their vessel, at most five or six will board the Long Shot. In addition, once the two vessels are airlocked together, the enemy ship won't be able to use any heavy weaponry against the Long Shot without risking severe damage to itself — a blowout in the characters' ship would also suck atmosphere out of the enemy craft.

Something else to think about: The only way the Rebellion can succeed is with the support of the people; if the Rebellion gets a reputation for stealing from civilians, its popular support could be badly eroded. If possible, these pirates should be put out of action.

What to Do?

Flee: Discretion is the better part of valor and all that. If the players decide to flee, let the Long Shot get away. You can have it take a few hits for color, but the ship should escape with just superficial damage.

Fight a Ship-to-Ship Battle: They can do it in spite of the captain's objections. The enemy ship's statistics are listed at the end of this section; the Long Shot's are listed in "The Long Shot Campaign."

Run the battle using the ship-to-ship combat rules in Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game, Second Edition. The enemy ship will flee after being lightly damaged; if the Long Shot can severely damage it before the freighter achieves hyperspace, it will surrender.

Ship's Stores

If the characters search the ship's stores, they will find:

• Three weeks standard food and fuel rations.
• One blaster pistol for each crewmember, plus three spares.
• One blaster rifle.
• 30 blaster energy packs.
• 8 stun grenades.
• Four medpacs.
• 10 comlinks

Start the ships at a range of 40 units. The Long Shot needs to survive 10 combat rounds to achieve hyperspace, or they can outrun the pirates by moving beyond the long range of the Martinette's weapons. They can destroy the Martinette.

Crew of the Martinette

Jayhawk is a cold, ruthless pirate. He has been using the cover of a Rebel privateer to attack small freighters. While he hasn't killed "unnecessarily," he has captured several ships, stranding their crews in escape pods or on unsettled planets. He is a thin Human in his early 40s. He has a pencil-thin mustache and wears a worn red vest over a white shirt and black pants.

Captain Jayhawk

Type: Pirate
DEXTERITY 3D+2
Melee combat: sword 4D
KNOWLEDGE 2D
Intimidation 4D+2, streetwise 3D
MECHANICAL 3D+2
Astrogation 4D+2, space transports 5D
PERCEPTION 3D
Con 3D+2
STRENGTH 2D+2
Brawling 3D+1
TECHNICAL 3D
Character Points: 5
Move: 10
Equipment: Saber (STR+1D), blaster pistol (4D), comlink

Jayhawk's second in command, Mirthen is a blood-thirsty, addicted Quarren pirate. He has been elevated to this position of authority not because of skill, but because he is unambitious and poses no threat to Jayhawk.

Mirthen

Type: Quarren Pirate
DEXTERITY 1D+2
Brawling parry 3D+1
KNOWLEDGE 1D
Cultures 1D+2, intimidation 3D+2, survival: aquatic 3D
MECHANICAL 2D
Starship gunnery 3D+1
PERCEPTION 2D
Gambling 4D, search 4D
STRENGTH 2D
Brawling 3D
TECHNICAL 2D+1
Move: 9
Equipment: Blaster pistol (4D), comlink, 2 sticks Waste-it (narcotic)

6 Other Pirates

DEXTERITY 2D
KNOWLEDGE 1D
MECHANICAL 2D
PERCEPTION 2D
STRENGTH 3D
Brawling 3D+2
TECHNICAL 2D
Move: 10
Equipment: Blaster pistol (4D), comlink

The Martinette

Craft: Corellian Engineering Corporation YT-1300 Transport
Type: Modified light freighter
Scale: Starfighter
Length: 26.7 meters
Skill: Space transports: YT-1300 transports
Crew: 1 (1 can coordinate), gunners: 1
Crew Skill: See pirates' statistics
Passengers: 6 (pirates)
Cargo Capacity: 100 metric tons
Consumables: 1 month
Cost: Not available for sale
Hyperdrive Multiplier: x1
Hyperdrive Backup: x15
Nav Computer: Yes
Maneuverability: 1D
Space: 7
Atmosphere: 350; 1,000 kmh
Hull: 4D
Shields: 4D
Sensors:
Passive: 20/1D+2
Scan: 50/2D+2
Search: 60/3D
Focus: 5/4D
Weapons:
Heavy Laser Cannon
Fire Arc: Turret
Crew: 1
Skill: Starship gunnery
Fire Control: 4D
Space Range: 1-3/12/25
Atmosphere Range: 100-300/1.2/2.5 km
Damage: 6D

Let the Pirates Board: This is used if the characters surrender or plan a surprise attack. Six pirates board the Long Shot. They order the characters and crew to assemble in the common room, disarm them, and then lock them in the storage area. After assuring themselves that the Long Shot is unoccupied, the pirates leave a crew of four on the ship to take her to their base, and the remaining pirates return to their vessel. They dump the characters on a primitive planet to await rescue.

That's their plan, anyway; the pirates aren't really expecting any resistance. If half the villains are wounded or captured, the remaining pirates will attempt to withdraw. If six are wounded or captured, the survivors will surrender.

If the characters capture the pirate's ship, Captain Ixsthmus suggests that they contact Home base to have somebody pick it up.

If the characters allow themselves to be captured, you're in trouble. You can:

• Design a pirate base for the characters to escape from;
• Have a Rebellion vessel intercept the pirate's ship and free the characters;
• Have an Imperial vessel do the same.

The last option is the most interesting, as then the characters will have to convince the authorities that they are victims of the pirates and rightful owners of the Long Shot, and not pirates themselves (of course, the characters should also hide their ties to the Rebel Alliance).

Once the characters are freed and reunited with their vessel, the adventure can continue.

In Orbit

Once in orbit around Masterhome, the Long Shot can use its sensors to probe the planet.

The planet's atmosphere is breathable; the climate, temperature, and ecology in the northern continent, near the largest visible city, are comfortable (by Human standards).

The city, around six square kilometers in size, is composed of one- and two-story wood and stone buildings surrounding a large walled castle. Life-form sensors indicate about 20,000 Human-sized beings in the city. The city is surrounded by forest running for hundreds of kilometers in all directions; small farms, towns, and castles occupy clearings which dot the forest.

There is no evidence of anything above the feudal technology level. That's about all that can be determined from orbit. Go on to Episode Two.

Episode Two: Rebels in the Godking's Court

Summary

The characters scout Masterhome. Eventually, they reach the court of the Godking and deliver their message. The Godking expresses interest in joining the Rebellion, but strange, semi-life-threatening things keep happening. The characters discover that the Godking doesn't believe them. Then the Empire shows up.

Reconnaissance Over Masterhome

According to their instructions, the characters are to present their credentials to the Godking Trisstan, who holds court in the largest city on the northern continent. If the characters do so immediately, proceed to "Meeting the Godking" below.

If, however, they decide to look around first, use the following section to determine what they see and, if necessary, design some encounters for the inquisitive characters.

The Anointed People

The Anointed People are green-skinned, lizard-based humanoids, somewhat larger and stronger than Humans, but also slower and clumsier. They stand upright on two feet, balanced by a large tail. Their heads are longer and narrower than Humans and are equipped with an impressive set of pointed teeth. Typical Anointed People dress in colorful robes and carry large cudgels; the nobility wear suits of exotic scale armor and carry nasty-looking broad-swords.

The Anointed People live in a primitive feudal hierarchy: the Godking on top, below him the Godlings (the nobility), and below them the Unwashed (everybody else).

While retaining the outward trappings of a warlike people, the Anointed People are more socially advanced than they appear. Though each spring the local nobles call their vassals together to war against their neighbors, the engagements are almost totally bloodless, resembling overly-enthusiastic gravball matches.

The loser of the "war" must surrender a tribute to the winner — this usually means that he foots the bill for the big three-day party that follows. There hasn't been a real war on Masterhome for 75 years.

The Anointed People are quite fearless, but they dislike bloodshed for aesthetic reasons. They will find it quite difficult to credit the characters' stories about a cruel, ruthless Empire, believing that any advanced civilization must have learned to live in peace.

With the exception of the Godking, who has ample reason to distrust aliens, the Anointed People will be extremely friendly to the "off-world barbarians" (the characters), throwing them huge parties and wining and dining them until the characters are quite sick.

Technologically, the Anointed People have not yet reached a high level of mechanization. Swords and shields, wood and stone buildings, and animal-drawn wagons are common. Like many primitive societies, they must deal with high infant mortality rates, poor sanitation, and similar problems. They will respect the characters' advanced technology, but not to the point of awe.

Godling: "Say, stranger. That's a neat ... thing you have there. What's it do?"

Character: "It's a starship. It travels between the stars."

Godling: "Sounds interesting. But why would anyone want to? Something the matter with the star you came from?"

The Anointed People

Attribute Dice: 12D
DEXTERITY 1D/3D
KNOWLEDGE 1D/3D+2
MECHANICAL 1D/3D
PERCEPTION 2D/4D
STRENGTH 2D/4D+2
TECHNICAL 1D/3D
Special Abilities:
Armored Bodies: Anointed People have thick hides, giving them +1D physical and +2 energy.
Story Factors:
Primitive: The Anointed People are a technologically primitive species and tend to be very unsophisticated.
Move: 8/9
Size: 1.5-2.5 meters tall

The Unwashed

The Unwashed are big, burly, cheerful, and, as their name suggests, ignorant. They won't believe that the characters come from another planet, and if the characters convince them, they won't care very much. They will happily discuss the weather, the upcoming spring wars, local politics, and farming with the characters, especially if the characters offer to buy them a drink at a local inn. The Unwashed love games of chance. The "common" citizens of Masterhome tend to be cheerful and friendly and whole-heartedly unimpressed with the "amazing" technology of the visitors from the stars.

Typical Unwashed (Peasantry)

Type: Anointed Person
DEXTERITY 2D
Melee combat: club 2D+2, melee parry 2D+2
KNOWLEDGE 2D
Streetwise 3D, survival: Masterhome 3D+2
MECHANICAL 1D
PERCEPTION 3D
Bargain 3D+1, gambling 3D+2
STRENGTH 3D
Lifting 4D, stamina 4D
TECHNICAL 1D
Special Abilities:
Armored Bodies: Anointed People have thick hides, giving them +1D physical and +2 energy.
Move: 8
Equipment: Club (STR+1D), assorted peasant stuff

Godling

Godlings are like Unwashed, but more informed. Aware of the existence of other worlds and other intelligent beings in the vast reaches of space, they better understand the potential gains — and risks — attendant with the arrival of aliens with unknown powers and motivations.

tions. They will treat the characters with guarded friendliness, but will decline to discuss anything important with them, saying that is the Godking's business.The nobility of Masterhome, the Godlings are cheerful and friendly. They are renowned for making inspiring speeches that have no content whatsoever.

Typical Godling

Type: Anointed Person Godling
DEXTERITY 2D
Melee combat: sword 3D, melee parry 3D, thrown weapons 2D+2
KNOWLEDGE 3D
MECHANICAL 1D
PERCEPTION 3D
Gambling 4D, persuasion: Unwashed 5D
STRENGTH 2D
TECHNICAL 1D
Special Abilities:
Armored Bodies: Anointed People have thick hides, giving them +1D physical and +2 energy.
Character Points: Typically 0-5
Move: 8
Equipment: Sword (STR+1D), assorted nobility stuff

The Godking

The Godking is like his subjects, only better. A shrewd politician, he has employed guile, diplomacy, good public relations and enlightened tax policies to make his 40-year rule a time of unprecedented prosperity and freedom for his people. The Godking is quite friendly towards the characters. However, he is suspicious of their true motives and plans to test their courage and honesty. He is a shrewd politician who has maintained power by giving his people exactly what they want while playing rivals off each other. He knows far more about galactic society than he lets on.

Godking Trisstan

Type: Godking
DEXTERITY 2D+2
Melee combat: sword 3D+2, melee parry 3D+2
KNOWLEDGE 3D+1
Bureaucracy: Masterhome 4D+1
MECHANICAL 2D
PERCEPTION 3D+2
Bargain 4D+2, command: Anointed People 4D+2, con 5D, gambling 4D
STRENGTH 4D
Brawling 5D
TECHNICAL 2D+1
Special Abilities:
Armored Bodies: Anointed People have thick hides, giving them +1D physical and +2 energy.
Character Points: 8
Move: 8
Equipment: Sword (STR+1D), crown

Overflight

Following are capsule descriptions of the places the characters are likely to want to visit on the planet: the forest, a small town, a small castle, the big city, and the big castle. If the characters decide to do an in-depth study of the polar ice cap, you'll have to make up a description on your own, i.e., "It's white and very cold. Now what?"

The Forest: Filled with green trees, babbling brooks, and open meadows, life-form sensors indicate a variety of animals roaming the woods, ranging from a few centimeters long to roaming grazers three or four meters tall. Occasionally, Anointed People wander the forest, typically solitary males carrying spears and hunting bags slung over their shoulders.

The hunters offer to share a haunch of griff-meat (a local delicacy) with the characters. After several minutes, a loud scream sounds in the distance. The hunter exits hurriedly, explaining that "eaters" are attracted to the smell of griff-meat and suggesting that the characters leave as well.

Huge dinosaur-like creatures, "eaters" run rampant through Masterhome's forests. They have long legs and a thick, well-muscled torso. Their thick skin provides ample protection and their immense teeth are capable of killing with one bite. They are attracted by griff-meat.

Eater

Type: Huge predator
DEXTERITY 3D
PERCEPTION 1D
Search: tracking 3D
STRENGTH 3D
Brawling: bite 4D
Special Abilities:
Bite: STR+4D damage.
Armor: Thick skin provides +4D versus physical and energy attacks.
Move: 9
Size: 3 meters tall at the shoulder
Scale: Creature
Orneriness: 6D

A Village: Small wood buildings, about 20 of them, clustered around a well or at a crossroads, usually within sight of a small tower or castle, make up a village. The inhabitants bustle about their normal day's work, farming, tanning, blacksmithing, streetcleaning, etc. Once the characters' vessel is sighted, everybody stops working, rushes out into the street, and waves wildly at the ship.

If approached, the villagers are extremely friendly to the characters. Some of the youngsters may decide to examine the vessel, whacking it with rocks and sticks, attempting to yank off protruding parts, etc., until their parents chide them for rudeness and send them to bed without their supper. After the initial excitement wears off, most of the villagers drift back to work.

A Small Castle: A large central building surrounded by a five-meter wall. From up-close it can be determined that clinging vines cover the walls and flowering aquatic plants float in the moat, suggesting that there hasn't been a war in the area for some time. There are 15 guards lounging around the castle walls and courtyard.

If the characters approach the castle gates on foot, the guards will stare excitedly for a second, grab their spears, and yell for the Godling. The Godling invites the characters in for lunch, punctuating the meal with a flowering, long-winded, complimentary speech which says nothing. If the characters broach their mission to a Godling, the Godling will politely say that only the Godking has the authority to make treaties.

If they have been especially polite, the Godling will stage a three-day feast in honor of the characters, which culminates with the unexpected arrival of another Godling and his army, who challenges the local Godling to battle. Everyone will be strangely exited about the prospect of "battle." The battle looks fierce — the Anointed People rush together and smash large, heavy clubs against each other's heads — but their thick skulls prevent damage beyond a headache. The fight is over when one side retires from the field, then the party continues.

There are plenty of chances for the characters to get into trouble here. If they attempt to stop the upcoming battle, they will insult everybody and ruin the party. If they join in the fight they may get their heads bashed in (their skulls are much thinner than the Anointed Peoples'). Worst of all, the characters may use their blasters against the enemy force. If so, the fighting will stop immediately, everybody will look at the characters in disgust, and the local Godling will attempt to arrest them.

The City: The city is about six square kilometers in size and is composed of one- and two-story wood and stone buildings. The castle, three times the size of the smaller castles outside of town, sits in the middle of the city.

The city is much the same as the smaller towns, only larger. The inhabitants are quite friendly and curious; they cluster around the characters asking questions and offering to buy them drinks. The characters can wander the city, though they won't gain a whole lot by doing so: they can visit the farmers' market, have a drink in one of the many inns, or waste their time in any other fashion they choose.

After several hours, city guardsmen will approach the characters and convey the Godking's greetings and his request for them to present themselves in his chambers.

The Big Castle: Similar to the small castles, on a bigger scale. The number of guards is increased accordingly, to 45. When the characters arrive at the castle, they will be escorted into the throne room where the Godking awaits them.

Using Violence Against the Anointed People: Ixsthmus is dead set against this — at least unless the Anointed People attack first (which won't happen). If the characters leave the vessel and threaten the natives with their personal weapons, the Godking's soldiers attempt to capture them unharmed, displaying a casual contempt for personal danger in the process. If captured, the characters will be taken to the Godking, who will incarcerate them in the rather comfortable castle dungeons until he figures out what to do with them.

Meeting the Godking

When the characters request an audience with the Godking, 20 guards escort them through the main gates, up the stairs and into his chamber. The throne room is huge and ornate. Massive fluted columns support a balcony which runs along both sides of the room; the walls of the chamber are covered by elaborate tapestries displaying colorful martial scenes; gaily dressed courtiers and pages fill the room with an excited murmur as the characters enter.

The escort marches the characters to the center of the room, then they stand at attention behind the characters, spears at their sides. Trumpets sound, the crowd grows silent, and the Godking enters.

The Godking is remarkably unimpressive. The shortest lizard the characters have yet seen, he wears his silver crown and ceremonial robes with a casualness that approaches slovenliness. (It's an act; he's among the strongest of his people.) He ambles in from a doorway behind the throne, carelessly acknowledges the bows of the courtiers (and the characters, if they bow), pushes his crown back on his head, scratches his ear with his scepter, hitches up his robes, and sits on the throne.

"Space guys, huh?" he says in fair Basic, sighing. "Just what I need." An aide whispers something in his ear.

"Huh? Oh, right." He shoos the aide away. "As lord high Godking of the most holy Anointed People, I most graciously welcome you travelers from a most distant land to the blessed shores of Masterhome, etc., etc. So, what's on your mind?"

What's on the Godking's Mind?

Several months ago, another alien vessel visited Masterhome. The owner of the vessel, one Captain Jayhawk, presented himself as a member of the Alliance, fighting against the evil Empire. Captain Jayhawk appeared at the castle and asked the Godking to join the Rebellion. The discussions continued for several days, until one morning it was discovered that Jayhawk and his ship had left during the night, taking with it several hundred kilograms of gold and jewelry from the treasury room. They left two very dead guards behind. Annoyed, frustrated, and quite humiliated by the episode, the Godking had it hushed up. He suspects the characters are here to steal from him yet again.

Show and Tell

After they finish their presentation, the Godking politely thanks them, saying he has to think it over. He also asks the characters the following questions:

• Is the Empire really evil as the characters say? Why do all its subjects put up with it?
• How is the Alliance better than the Empire?
• Who's going to win the revolution?
• What do we gain by joining the revolt? The Empire has left us alone up until now, so why make it mad at us?
• What will all this technology get us? It doesn't seem to have done you guys much good.
• How do I know this isn't just a bunch of malarkey?

Throughout their replies, the Godking listens intently, pretending to weigh each response carefully. After each character has had an opportunity to speak, the Godking thanks them and asks them to stay as his guests at the castle, then he retires until dinner. He is unwilling to confront them with his suspicions until he learns what their abilities are. He assigns 20 soldiers to accompany the characters as an "honor guard," while he goes off to devise challenges to test their mettle.

The Tests

Honesty: At the banquet held for the characters that evening, Godling Satrank, sitting next to a character, whispers, "The Godking will never agree to your request; he's too afraid of losing his power. Help me depose him, and I'll give you whatever you want. What do you say?" Satrank is asking this at the request of the Godking; he'll report the characters' answer to his king.

The Situation Aboard the Good Ship Resurgence

The Imperial shuttle Resurgence is currently transporting the new Governor General, Lord Dixton, to the sector capital on Vakkar (Dixton has a pronounced aversion to his proper title, Moff, instead preferring the "more prestigious" title of Governor General). The Resurgence carries 40 stormtroopers and mounts a heavy blaster cannon.

Attacked in transit by Rebel forces, the Resurgence made a hasty jump into hyperspace, suffering major systems damage in the process. It has made an emergency landing on Masterhome to perform repairs. The captain estimates it will take him two days to repair the engines enough to jump into hyperspace. To do so, he will have to cannibalize parts from the ship's life support system and repulsorlift unit (which is why he landed the vessel) and possibly even use some of a very unhappy protocol droid's delicate microcircuitry.

Obviously, capturing the Governor General could be of enormous value to the Rebellion. Dixton, his retinue, and the ship's crew will provide little opposition; the stormtroopers, however, are another matter. They are not particularly heavily armed, carrying only blasters.

Still, that is quite an effective force against the Anointed People's primitive weapons, especially when backed up by the shuttle's blaster.

Biology: At the same banquet, one of several mildly toxic substances will be introduced into each character's dinner. Roll a die for each character: 1-3, no effect; 4, nausea; 5, drowsiness; 6, poison. Each character may make an Easy Perception roll to notice and avoid the tainted dish. If a character is affected, the Long Shot's medical droid can effect a cure. The Godking will be suitably apologetic, while noting the substance which caused the discomfort.

Strength: The Godking himself challenges a character to a wrestling match. This is a simple opposed roll; the Godking will use his Strength; the character can use either Strength or Dexterity. High roll wins.

Greed: Some time during the evening, the chief of the guard offers to buy one of the characters' blasters. He opens the bidding at 200 grams of gold (equivalent to 500 credits), and will go as high as 750 grams.

Alertness: If the characters agree to stay in the castle, an Unwashed attempts to slip quietly into a character's room during the night and steal his blaster and comlink. If caught and captured, the Godking has the subject "severely thrashed and dumped into the dungeon until he learns his lesson" (i.e., given several gold coins and sent out through a side entrance). If the thief is killed, the Godking congratulates the characters through gritted teeth. If the thief gets away, the Godking institutes an immediate search, but (not surprisingly) will find nothing.

High-Tech: In the following days, the Godking presents the characters with several more overt challenges to test their abilities, including: healing a sick Anointed Person, improving their farming techniques, stopping the sun from moving, heating and cooling things, etc. The Godking simply has no idea of the characters' limitations and abilities. For all he knows, they may be able to snort fire and read minds (if there's a Jedi in the group, he may be half right).

Combat: The Godking takes the characters on a grand hunt. He, the characters, and about 25 retainers; armed with throwing spears and swords, ride likkas into the woods in search of griff. Discovering several of the herbivores in the distance, the Godking asks the characters to kill some with their blasters. If successful, the characters carry the bodies back on their likkas as a trophy.

Several minutes later the party is attacked by an eater, driven into a frenzy by the smell of griff-meat. The eater concentrates on the character carrying the body. The Anointed Peoples' spears and swords are almost totally useless against the eater; if the characters decide to fight the monster, they are pretty much on their own.

The riding beasts of the Anointed People, these creatures are long-legged crocodilians that are greenish-brown in color (they have brilliant yellow eyes). They are ill-tempered, and are controlled by reins attached to the likka's eyelids.

Likka

Type: Riding beast
DEXTERITY 2D
PERCEPTION 2D
STRENGTH 4D
Brawling: bite 5D
Special Abilities:
Bite: STR+1 damage.
Move: 12
Size: 1.5 meters tall at the shoulder, 3 meters long
Scale: Creature
Orneriness: 3D

The Verdict

If, in the trials, the characters have proven themselves pure of heart, strong of spirit, and in possession of truly awesome firepower, the Godking decides that they probably aren't associated with the hated Captain Jayhawk. He agrees to help the Alliance and apologizes for his mistrust, telling them of Jayhawk's theft. If the characters defeated Jayhawk in the first episode, they may be able to get the Godking's treasure back, earning his gratitude. Just then, the Imperials arrive.

If, however, the characters haven't allayed his suspicions, the Godking tells them that he needs more time to think it over, thanks them for their cooperation, and with the support of 30 spear-toting warriors who suddenly appear in the throne room, "suggests" that the characters give over their blasters and tell those on board the Long Shot to surrender as well. Just then, the Imperials arrive.

The Empire Arrives

The characters' comlinks beep. When they answer, read out loud (as Siene Symm):

"Red alert, guys. Imperial vessel entering the atmosphere. Looks like it's going to land. If we're to get out before they spot us we've got to leave now — can't wait for you to get back to the ship. Better stay hidden until we come back with reinforcements, or they leave. They'll be within scanning distance shortly. Good luck. Symm out."

Off in the distance you hear the Long Shot's engines roar as the ship rises and zooms away.

Suddenly the air is rent by a sonic boom. Almost directly above you appears a black speck which rapidly grows into the form of an Imperial shuttle.

As the shuttle descends, it becomes obvious that something is seriously wrong with the vessel. It is listing badly — suggesting a grav motor malfunction — and the ship's surface is scarred with blast marks.

The ship slams to a violent landing almost directly on the spot where the Long Shot stood; the doors open, spilling black smoke out into the city. After several seconds, 30 stormtroopers trot through the doors and set up a defensive perimeter around the damaged ship.

If the characters explain that these are Imperials, the Godking decides to play it safe.

"Spread the word," he snaps to an advisor. "Nobody is to talk to these outworlders without my express consent." The advisor hurriedly departs. "Grissom," he says, turning to another Godling. "Get an honor guard together and go down to see what they want."

The Godking leads the characters to a balcony to watch Grissom talk to the stormtroopers. A crowd has gathered around the Imperial ship; the stormtroopers cover the Anointed People with their weapons. As Grissom approaches with 25 spear-carrying soldiers, the characters can hear a stormtrooper shout something. Anyone trying to distinguish the words can discover they're standard "Halt in the name of the Emperor, or I'll shoot" statements. The characters are probably too far away to halt Grissom in time to save him. Grissom pauses in confusion, then marches forward, his hands open in front of him. The stormtrooper shouts once more, then the large blaster on top of the ship opens fire on Grissom and the warriors, while the stormtroopers fire into the helpless crowd. Dozens of lifeless forms are left lying in the street.

The Godking turns grimly to the characters. "Looks like we've joined the Rebellion after all. Now, how do we get at those butchers down there?"

Episode Three: A Deadly Little War

Summary

The characters discover that the damaged Imperial shuttle is carrying the new Governor General for the Fakir sector. With the help of the Godking and the Anointed People, they attack and capture him, gaining a great prize for the Rebellion.

Here's My Plan

The Godking leaves the balcony, shouting for his warriors to attend him in the throne room. His warlord brings in a map of the eastern part of the city with the location of the Imperial ship Resurgence marked on it.

As the characters pour over the map, the Godking discusses plans with his warlord. "We march up Vine Street, deploy into battle formation, and charge, sweeping the enemy before us like likkas."

It should occur to the characters that this is a bad plan. They may attempt to explain to the Godking that the stormtroopers are quite capable of killing all of his warriors as easily as they killed Grissom and his honor guard. If so, the Godking will glare at them for a moment, then slump and ask if they have any better ideas.

How to Attack an Imperial Vessel in Three Easy Lessons

There are several ways the characters can attack the Resurgence: a simple, multi-flank attack, relying on the massive numerical superiority of the Anointed People to overwhelm the stormtroopers; a diversion by the characters to pave the way for a larger attack, even a ruse or trick of some sort to get one or more characters into the ship to disable its heavy blaster or its crew in some way.

The Anointed People are fearless, and will press the attack no matter what their losses, but some creative thought from the players can cut down on the Godking's losses and win redoubled support for the Rebellion. Real creative players can think up lots of nasty surprises for the stormtroopers.

Into the Resurgence

If the characters personally scout the Imperial ship, they learn quite a bit about the enemy. They can also set up a scanner, either removed from the Long Shot before it leaves, or jury-rigged from comlinks and such by a technician. The Imperials may or may not be checking for electronic equipment use on this potentially primitive planet. Either read the following out loud as written, or paraphrase it as if the characters were overhearing stormtroopers talk. If the characters send a native to spy on the Imperials, the Anointed Person, unable to understand Basic and ignorant about starships, Imperial politics and modern military tactics, will only be able to report on the number and disposition of the stormtroopers outside the vessel.

Expecting little trouble on the well-patrolled space routes, the Resurgence was only lightly protected by several TIE fighters assigned to escort the ship to its hyperspace jump point; the little convoy was caught completely by surprise by a squadron of Irregular X-wings just before jump-off.

To avoid destruction, the Resurgence made a hasty jump into hyperspace. The ship was dumped into normal space several light-years from its intended destination, suffering severe damage in the process. With life-support failing and the hyperdrive engines crippled, the captain released a distress buoy and limped the vessel to the nearest habitable planet, Masterhome, to effect repairs.

Stormtrooper Setup

The stormtroopers are deployed as follows: 21 are in foxholes surrounding the vessel; 2 are standing guard in area 4 within the ship; 15 are resting in area 6; and 2 are manning the heavy blaster in area 7. See the map of the Resurgence.

A Note on Stormtrooper Tactics:

These men are trained for combat situations. Very rarely will they group more than three stormtroopers together for any reason, be it conference, movement, guard duty, changing watch, or what have you, in any one area with the remotest chance of unfriendly fire.

You should decide upon the location of the 21 stormtroopers and their foxholes and sketch them in on the map; as additional stormtroopers are deployed, indicate their arrival in the same manner.

Note: The ship's heavy blaster cannot fire directly astern of the vehicle, as the ship's rudder blocks it; it also cannot fire nearer to the vessel than five meters.

Mistran is smart, cool and wholly dedicated to the Empire. He is itching for glory and is eager for a fight. He is arrogant and smug, belittling everyone outside his stormtrooper unit.

Lieutenant Mistran

Type: Imperial Officer
DEXTERITY 3D
Blaster 5D, brawling parry 4D, dodge 4D
KNOWLEDGE 2D
MECHANICAL 2D
PERCEPTION 2D
Command 3D
STRENGTH 2D
TECHNICAL 2D
Character Points: 1
Move: 10
Equipment: Heavy blaster pistol (5D)

Mistran's flunkies, these two stormtrooper officers are almost mindlessly loyal to the lieutenant.

Stormtrooper Sergeants (2)

Type: Stormtrooper Officers
DEXTERITY 2D
Blaster 4D+2, brawling parry 4D+2, dodge 4D+1
KNOWLEDGE 2D
MECHANICAL 2D
PERCEPTION 2D
STRENGTH 2D
Brawling 3D+2
TECHNICAL 2D
Move: 10
Equipment: Blaster rifle (5D), stormtrooper armor (+2D physical, +1D energy, -1D Dexterity and related skills)

40 Typical Stormtroopers

DEXTERITY 2D
Blaster 4D, brawling parry 4D, dodge 4D
KNOWLEDGE 2D
MECHANICAL 2D
PERCEPTION 2D
STRENGTH 2D
TECHNICAL 2D
Move: 10
Equipment: Stormtrooper armor (+2D physical, +1D energy, -1D Dexterity and related skills). 36 of the stormtroopers have blaster pistols (4D); four of them have blaster pistols (4D) and blaster rifles (5D)

The Anointed People's Attack

Unless the characters come up with a better idea, the Godking assembles his 200 warriors to assault the stormtroopers. Each warrior carries one spear and one sword into battle. They lumber slowly toward the ship, then, when in range, they toss their spears, rush in, and attack the troopers with their swords.

The battle will continue until the stormtroopers surrender or retreat into their ship. The Anointed People will suffer at least 75 percent casualties in the assault.

So What are the Characters Supposed to Do About All This?

Whether they have figured it out or not, the characters' mission is to capture the Imperial Governor General while minimizing civilian casualties. There are several ways they can attempt this.

Disable the Ship's Heavy Blaster:

It is nearly impossible to destroy the heavy blaster from long range. Designed to withstand the rigors of space combat, it is extremely rugged and almost impervious to the characters' hand weapons. The Anointed People have a catapult that might knock it out, or the characters will have to somehow get on board the ship.

Draw Some of the Stormtroopers into an Ambush:

"Lord Governor, we know where the Godking's treasure house is. For a small cut, and a ride off this rotten planet, we would be happy to show you ... perhaps you'd like to assign several of your stormtroopers to help us carry the gold out, hmmm?"

Large Diversion:

The characters can lure eaters to attack the shuttle with griff-meat. Could be a problem getting rid of the eaters, though.

Capture the Governor Without Bloodshed:

"Uh, Governor? We've got a little confession to make. We're not really stranded Imperial census takers. In fact, we're Rebel soldiers. And if you don't surrender this ship right now, my friend here will be forced to shoot you." Note that Lieutenant Mistran won't surrender, even if so ordered by the Governor General. Knowing this, and real interested in avoiding getting shot, the Governor General will agree to try to trick Mistran into an ambush, but remember: Mistran is smart.

Kill Lots of Stormtroopers:

Plinking away at the stormtroopers from a building is a pretty bad plan.

The Cute Fuzzy Guys Never Die — Or, the Ewok Effect

In Star Wars: Return of the Jedi, a bunch of spear-carrying Ewoks cheerfully defeat several hundred armor-clad, blaster-toting stormtroopers supported by two or three armored AT-STs. There are few Ewok casualties, while the Imperials suffer heavy (and embarrassing) losses.

This can be contrasted with the attack against the Rebel stronghold on the ice planet Hoth during The Empire Strikes Back, in which hundreds of better-armed and armored Rebels die defending themselves against the attacking stormtroopers.

Are the Ewoks much better fighters than front-line Rebel troops? Certainly not. The Ewoks succeed so admirably for a couple of reasons.

First, they succeeded because it makes Return of the Jedi a much more satisfying tale, just as in The Empire Strikes Back the Rebels are whipped because it is necessary for the storyline. The Empire Strikes Back is a downbeat movie—Han is captured, Luke is defeated by Vader, and the Rebellion suffers a serious defeat at Hoth—the death of the Rebel soldiers in the battle serves to show us graphically the Imperial forces' overwhelming might, making us feel all the more for the Alliance and eager to see the Empire get its just desserts. In Return of the Jedi, the Emperor is defeated, Darth Vader returns to the Light, and the Empire falls. It would have greatly detracted from our satisfaction at this happy outcome if in the process we had had to see hundreds of the little furry guys cut down.

However, it's often unsatisfying to dictate to the players that something happens just "because the author says so, that's why." In roleplaying games, the gamemaster has to create the illusion of a real world with real consequences to actions.

For the curious, we've come up with a few reasons why the Ewoks succeeded; apply these lessons when creating your own epic confrontations.

There are a lot of them, and the ship's blaster is murder. The characters can provide quite effective cover fire for the assault, but they had better be prepared for some serious damage, as the enemy will concentrate fire on the guys with the modern weapons.

Sneakiness: Improvised smoke bombs? How about propelling a cart loaded with burning oil into the stormtroopers' trenches? Or drawing the stormtroopers out of the ship with a fake attack, sneaking onboard the vessel, closing and disabling the airlock, killing the stormtroopers standing guard in the entrance, and jury-rigging the ship's com to emit a high-pitched whistle into the stormtroopers' helmets to blow their ears out?

There are plenty of options for thoughtful, sneaky players. Many of them involve working within the Imperial vessel; it is described below.

For one, the Ewoks had the "home field" advantage. They knew the forests of Endor well; in fact, they had evolved to survive in that environment. They had cunning, hunting and survival skills and superior knowledge of how to use that natural terrain against the Imperials. They knew how to disappear so well into the forest that not even Endor's predators could find them, much less a bunch of "pampered" Humans who relied more on their fancy weapons than their senses.

The Imperials, on the other hand, had not planned for a serious engagement on the forest moon. They underestimated the planning abilities of the Ewoks (they barely acknowledged that they existed, much less took them seriously as a threat). The Imperials did not understand the battleground or their foes and had come to rely on technology over skill and determination.

The Ewoks had a good battle plan. They knew that they could not stand and fight the Imperials: that would result in a slaughter. Instead, they used a surprise attack to confuse the Imperials, and then retreated into the forests. The Imperials followed into unfamiliar territory and split their forces. The Ewoks were then free to use guerilla attacks on the most vulnerable Imperial units, picking off the soldiers slowly and at their choosing.

To a certain extent, you should use spear-carrying extras and natural abilities and knowledge in your adventures the same way: to further the plot and create mood. In this adventure, the players have two choices: send their friends the Anointed People on a suicide charge against entrenched stormtroopers, or use subtlety and guile to accomplish the same ends at a much smaller cost in life. If the players choose the bloodier path, let the aliens pay for it with their lives. However, if the players are smart and cautious, they should be rewarded with a much smaller butcher's bill.

Captain Gorgi's loyalties lie not with the Empire, but with his ship. To his mind, his first duty is to the safety of the Resurgence, and anyone threatening that objective is an enemy that must be stopped. Gorgi is a small man with thin hair; he smokes a pipe whenever he's off-duty.

Captain Gorgi

Type: Imperial Captain
DEXTERITY 2D
Blaster 2D+2, brawling parry 3D, dodge 2D+2
KNOWLEDGE 2D
MECHANICAL 3D
Astrogation 3D+1, space transports 4D
PERCEPTION 2D
Command 2D+2, gambling 3D
STRENGTH 2D
Brawling 3D
TECHNICAL 3D
Space transports repair 3D+2
Character Points: 3
Move: 10
Equipment: Blaster pistol (4D), comlink

Hal has served with Gorgi for over a year and is loyal to his captain. He will follow Gorgi's orders even over Governor General Dixton's commands. Hal is a heavy-set Human who always carries an assortment of starship repair tools on his person.

Hal

Type: First Mate
DEXTERITY 3D
Blaster 3D+1, dodge 4D
KNOWLEDGE 2D
MECHANICAL 2D
Space transports 2D+2, starship gunnery 3D
PERCEPTION 2D
STRENGTH 3D
Brawling 3D
TECHNICAL 2D
Space transports repair 3D
Move: 10
Equipment: Blaster pistol (4D), hydrospanner and other mechanic's tools (STR+1D if used as a weapon)

Imperial Governor-General and Party

Dixton is a cowardly blowhard who thinks nothing of ordering "his" soldiers into combat while scurrying away in search of a safe place to hide. His is arrogant, unreasonable and incompetent.

Governor General Lord Dixton

Type: Imperial Governor General
DEXTERITY 2D
KNOWLEDGE 2D
Bureaucracy 4D, cultures 3D
MECHANICAL 2D
PERCEPTION 3D
Bargain 3D+2
STRENGTH 2D
TECHNICAL 2D
Character Points: 4
Move: 10
Equipment: Expensive clothing, poison ring (5D stun damage)

Marska is presumably Dixton's secretary and plays the role of "vacuous decoration" exceedingly well. However, she is an Imperial spy who has been sent to make sure Dixton stays in line. While pretending to be dumb, she is probably more cunning than everyone else on the Resurgence put together. She is fanatically loyal to the Empire.

Marska

Type: Imperial Spy
DEXTERITY 2D
Blaster 2D+2, dodge 3D+2, melee combat: vibro-blade 3D, melee parry 3D
KNOWLEDGE 2D
MECHANICAL 2D
PERCEPTION 3D
Con 4D
STRENGTH 2D
TECHNICAL 2D
Security 3D+2
Character Points: 6
Move: 10
Equipment: Vibro-blade (STR+1D+2), hold-out blaster (3D+1)

Nondescript bureaucrats who would much rather surrender than have to fight. They are Dixton's secretaries.

Lyn and Perspik

Type: Secretary
DEXTERITY 2D
KNOWLEDGE 2D
Bureaucracy 4D, languages 3D
MECHANICAL 2D
PERCEPTION 2D
STRENGTH 2D
TECHNICAL 2D
Move: 10
Equipment: Datapads

Not trusting to "standard Imperial ruffians," Dixton has privately hired on these two bodyguards. They are both Humans and are masters of the menacing glare. However, this is just a job for them, and Dixton isn't worth dying over. If the going gets tough, they will surrender.

Pfistak and Lancoln

Type: Bodyguards
DEXTERITY 3D
Blaster 3D, brawling parry 3D+2
KNOWLEDGE 2D
Intimidation 4D+2
MECHANICAL 2D
PERCEPTION 2D
Gambling 3D
STRENGTH 3D
Brawling 4D
TECHNICAL 2D
Security 2D+2
Character Points: 5
Move: 10
Equipment: Blaster pistol (4D)

Resurgence

Craft: Sienar Fleet Systems Curich-class Shuttle
Type: Cargo Shuttle
Scale: Starfighter
Length: 54 meters
Skill: Space transports: Curich shuttle
Crew: 3, gunners: 1
Crew Skill: See crew statistics
Passengers: 50
Cargo Capacity: 300 metric tons
Consumables: 1 month
Cost: 250,000 (new), 112,000 (used)
Hyperdrive Multiplier: x2
Hyperdrive Backup: x18
Nav Computer: Yes
Maneuverability: 1D
Space: 4
Atmosphere: 280; 800 kmh
Hull: 4D
Shields: 2D
Sensors:
Passive: 20/1D
Scan: 40/1D+2
Search: 50/2D
Focus: 3/2D+2
Weapons:
Heavy Blaster Cannon
Fire Arc: Front, left, right
Crew: 1
Skill: Starship gunnery
Fire Control: 2D
Space Range: 1-3/12/25
Atmosphere Range: 6-300/1.2/2.5 km
Damage: 6D

Inside the Resurgence

The description of the vessel is keyed to the map of the Resurgence. The Resurgence is an Imperial shuttle, designed to carry light cargo or passengers quickly for short duration voyages, such as across well-known hyperspace routes.

Bulkheads: The vessel has two types of bulkheads (walls): permanent support bulkheads and light partitions. The permanent support bulkheads (which are thicker on the map), including the ship's hull, are thick, almost impossible to breach; they require five or more blaster shots to penetrate, 10 to make a man-sized hole. The light partitions merely separate areas in the ship and can be penetrated fairly easily: two blaster shots to burn through, four or five to make a man-sized hole, or they can be punched through with a Difficult Strength roll.

Doors: The doors are of the same strength as the walls, i.e., bulkhead doors are heavy, partition doors are light. The airlock, a standard two-door model, is currently unlocked to permit easy access by the stormtroopers.

The bulkhead doors leading into the ship's command center, engine area, and heavy blaster well are locked and require an Easy security roll to pass, unless a crewmember provides the code sequence. Lord Dixton's room (10) is similarly locked; this requires a Moderate security roll (Dixton and Marska are the only ones who know the code).

1. Control Room: The captain can be found in this room. This room contains typical ship's controls. The hyperdrive engines, repulsorlift engines, and shield generators are currently non-operational. Exceptionally sneaky characters could turn on the ship's sub-light thrusters from here, incinerating any stormtroopers to the rear of the vessel; with an Easy space transports roll a character could slew the ship around and crush or burn several more. This would burn out the thrusters and destroy the ship's landing gear in the process — but then its not the characters' ship, is it?

This room also contains airlock override controls and ship's blaster override controls, allowing the captain to lock the doors and shut off power to the blasters.

1. Crew's Quarters: This room is usually empty. The ship's weapons locker is here; it contains three blasters and ammunition, and six stun grenades.

2. Computer/Navigation Room: This room is usually empty. It also contains the ship's communication system, through which the stormtroopers can be contacted.

3. Entranceway: Two stormtroopers are stationed here. This room is bare, except for the control panel for the airlock. The door leading into the "Computer/Navigation Room" is locked; persons wishing to go forward must buzz the captain or input the proper code word.

4. Executive Suite: This room is usually occupied by the Governor General's retinue. This room contains luxury couches, extensive entertainment equipment, and gourmet food processors. Room (5A) contains a washroom.

5. Stormtroopers' Quarters: While repelling an external attack, the stormtroopers are assigned to other areas and this is empty. This area is crowded with facilities for the 40 stormtroopers. Also here are the platoon's extra weapons and armor, which consist of six blaster pistols, 36 blaster packs, and six suits of armor. The doors into the heavy blaster well (7) and the engine room (11) are locked.

6. Heavy Blaster Well: Two stormtroopers are always stationed here. One stormtrooper is stationed at the bottom of the ladder; a second operates the gun from within the pod.

7. Secretaries' Quarters: Lyn and Perspik are here during the night. There are some computer tapes here which would be quite helpful to the Alliance, but nothing the characters can use at the moment. The secretaries do not carry weapons.

8. Marska's Room: This room is almost always empty (Marska spends the night with Dixton). A luxurious cabin containing stuff appropriate to a high-class mistress, such as sultry clothing, oodles of cosmetics, etc.

Hidden in the false bottom of a suitcase is a vibro-blade; hidden in the false heel of a shoe is a mini-blaster (1D+1).

1. Dixton's Room: Dixton and Marska are here during the night; this room is empty during the day. The door to this room is always locked; a codeword or a Moderate security roll (or lots of blaster shots) is necessary to enter.

Another luxurious cabin, this one contains, in addition to Dixton's very expensive personal possessions, several quite important computer tapes outlining the Empire's long- and short-range plans for Fakir sector. In the event that the characters' attack appears to be succeeding, either Dixton or Marska will attempt to destroy the tapes. Dixton has no weapons here (though Marska may be carrying one).

1. The Engineering Room: Hal, the first mate, is here attempting to repair the ship's engines. There's lots of high-tech equipment, engines to crawl on, and tiny access panels to hide behind. From here, the characters could cut power to the ship's blasters, communications, and/or airlock (Easy Technical or computer programming/repair roll for each), or, if they are so inclined, cause the ship to self-destruct (Moderate computer programming/repair roll).

The Cavalry to the Rescue

As you remember, the Long Shot took off for help shortly before the Imperial vessel arrived on Masterhome. As soon as it cleared the system, it made contact with Home base and explained the situation. Home immediately scrambled two X-wings from Red squad which rendezvoused with the Long Shot, and the ships immediately proceeded back to Masterhome. These vessels arrive on the planet shortly after the battle.

Unless you need them to show up earlier, that is. If the characters manage to get themselves captured or in real serious trouble, then the ships arrive just in time to save their bacon. The Imperial vessel surrenders, and the Red squad has some caustic remarks about rookies biting off more than they can chew (derision from gamemaster characters whom they respect is a good way to inform the characters that they have performed less than satisfactorily).

Epilogue

Eventually, the Imperial ship is captured and the characters are reunited with the Long Shot. The prisoners are herded into the castle's dungeons, the Imperial ship is hidden until Roughneck repair crews can get there to fix it, and the Godking throws everybody a big party to celebrate their shining victory.

For their share in the glory, the characters are proclaimed "Heroes of the Realm," and knighted "Assistant Demi-gods." Everybody pledges eternal friendship, and the Rebels take their leave of Masterhome.

Paperwork

All surviving characters should be awarded between three and six Character Points, depending on how well each did during the adventure.

Players who lost characters may, if you want, generate an Anointed Person player character who wishes to join the Alliance. Otherwise, a more typical replacement character will be waiting for Green squad once they return to Home base.

The Bissillirus Campaign

The depths of space. Music builds in the background as a story larger than life unfolds before your eyes:

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away...

A small band of brave freedom fighters — the Rebel Alliance — battles the oppression of the evil Galactic Empire. The galaxy, once home of the wise Old Republic, is the setting for a titanic struggle between good and evil.

The words slowly fade to reveal a star field, an orange-yellow orb in the foreground — an anonymous world, one of millions in the galaxy. An Imperial Star Destroyer comes into view and assumes an orbit about the small planet. The music swells as a shuttle emerges from the planet's atmosphere and flies toward one of the Star Destroyer's docking bays.

Cut to the interior of the bay. A dozen Imperial stormtroopers stand at attention, patiently waiting for the shuttle's passenger to disembark. After an anxious second, a man clad in the uniform of an Imperial Navy admiral marches down the ramp, flanked by a pair of stormtroopers. He grimaces as another officer approaches, a smaller man who nervously recites well-rehearsed lines. "Admiral Heggel, it is such an honor to have you visit our system," the officer says, sweat visible on his brow.

The Admiral dismisses the salute with a curt nod. "Commander Resner, let us dispense with the pleasantries. It is well known that there has been a significant increase in Rebel activity in the Trax sector. What steps are you taking to beat down the Rebel scum?"

Resner swallowed nervously. "Bundim, sir. We have pinpointed Bundim as the focus of the Rebels' treasonous activities. As we speak, a pacification force is headed to that world."

The Admiral smiled the cold, calculating smile that had long signaled misfortune for his enemies. Resner was unsure whether he had pleased his superior, or was about to be stripped of his rank and executed for incompetence. "A promising start. But what about long-term military considerations? Supplies, support? What have you done to build up the infrastructure?"

"Bissillirus."

Bissillirus is but one system in the Trax sector, an area of space that is giving the Empire more trouble than it will tolerate. This campaign provides background information and eight sample adventure outlines to get you started.

Campaign Background

The setting can be any time after the Battle of Yavin. The Trax sector has never been too important to the Core Worlds, but in these days of civil war the Empire cannot take anything for granted. The Empire's regional government on Deysum III has slowly applied pressure to the rest of the sector to bring things under control.

Trax sector lies between the Outer Rim Territories and other, more populated regions of space. Numerous trade routes run through the sector, making it of strategic importance to the Empire and essential to its plans to crack down on Rebel activity in the area.

The Rebel Alliance has often used the sector as a source of materials and personnel. The Imperial yoke is not yet harsh enough to arouse many thoughts of rebellion, but the inhabitants are wise enough to see the danger of the Emperor's "New Order."

Trax Sector

Trax sector's most important worlds have been settled for hundreds of years, but none of them have attained any particular renown. The past two centuries have seen a great deal of colonization and expansion, with the sector's population going from barely five billion residents to over 500 billion. There are 47 officially settled systems, including 10 worlds which can boast of intelligent life-forms native to them. Trax sector also conceals several dozen colonies which are small enough to have escaped the notice of the Imperial bureaucrats, for a total of 178 settled systems.

The sector is under the control of the Empire, with the government on Deysum III keeping the most populous worlds on a tight rein. The governors of less important systems are given more of a free hand, with local governments varying from lenient to tyrannical.

The Imperial military presence is large. Imperial Intelligence is based on Deysum III, and there are five military bases with over one million troops in the sector. Naval power is massive, with a Sector Group of 2,573 ships, including 19 Victory-class Star Destroyers, five Imperial Star Destroyers and over 1,500 other combat starships.

The Alliance has concentrated its energies on seven systems: Entrus, Bissillirus, Bundim, Longwind, Dresscol, Jhensrus and Uogo'Cor. The Rebels have been able to recruit many soldiers from the sector, although activity has been reduced since the invasion of Bundim. There are half a dozen small military bases, with a combined strength of 35 starfighters, 15 corvettes and one assault frigate.

Points of interest in the sector include:

Algunnis

A binary system surrounded by a maelstrom of rock, Imperial scientists believe that when the galaxy formed, Algunnis wandered past several other young systems, stealing worlds and crushing them into asteroids with its tremendous gravitational forces. The result is an impressive asteroid belt devoid of settlers, but home to huge space slugs. A system best observed from a distance.

Bissillirus

The setting for this campaign pack, containing the agricultural world of Draenell's Point. This is a chilly, but habitable world that has for many years been a convenient layover spot for traders traveling between the more populated areas of the galaxy and the Outer Rim Territories.

Draenell's Point has been a major source of food for the Rebellion for several years, although the corporations and the planetary government are unaware of this.

The campaign begins in this system, with the characters working undercover to ensure an uninterrupted flow of supplies to the Alliance front companies. The first adventure brings about a dramatic change in Rebel strategy because the Empire has taken notice of the planet's abundance, and decided to build an Imperial Resupply Base in the system.

Bundim

Once the Rebellion's greatest hope in the sector, now Bundim is a dismal world with seemingly no future. The Rebel network had grown strong and powerful on this planet. The tide of public opinion had swung over to favor the Rebellion and the Legislature secretly tried to remove all Imperial influences from the world. But the plan was revealed to Imperial officials by agents planted on Bundim, and the crackdown was swift and brutal.

A fleet of Imperial warships blockaded the system, destroying any merchant ship that tried to enter or leave. After a few days, Imperial troops, including two battalions of stormtroopers, swarmed onto the planet, leveling the cities with long-range artillery bombardment. The survivors were sent to "reeducation centers" in the wilderness, while troops hunted down any remaining Rebels. The battle seems lost, but the surviving Rebels fight on, hoping that they will one day be able to reclaim their world and stop the slaughter.

Deysum III

The sector capital. Deysum III's natural resources were exploited for hundreds of years until nothing remained. The companies pulled out, but the massive bureaucracy which had supported them remained behind. The only habitable parts of the planet are a few gigantic, overcrowded cities. The wealthy have private, luxurious domes, while the average resident has to stand in line for hours for food and carry a sidearm to protect himself from random crime. Outside of the cities, the planet's surface is covered with pits of deadly chemicals, barren land and streams choked with toxic wastes.

The first world colonized in a sector is traditionally made its capital, and such was the case with Deysum III — but it is widely believed that the government will eventually be moved to a more hospitable planet.

Dresscol

This system has a white-dwarf star and was deemed uninhabitable by Old Republic scouts over 200 years ago. Of course, that made it a perfect location for a Rebel base. The barren moon Qetix IV has been turned into a major repair base for Rebel starfighters, with most of the capital ships docked in the nearby Ventil system. Only starfighters, pilots and support crew are stationed here, with all ground forces scattered throughout the sector.

Entrus

The official "world of recreation" for the sector. Other planets may have a small underground economy catering to the whims and desires of the wealthy, but only Entrus has made gambling its major industry.

Entrus is a temperate water world, dotted with hundreds of small islands. With the arrival of legalized gambling, every bit of land has been built upon, and underwater cities and repulsorlift platforms now fill the seas and skies of the world. The weather is consistently comfortable due to a powerful sun and frequent rains. The cities are densely populated, with entertainment complexes towering hundreds of meters into the sky.

Entrus is home to Rebel Sector Command, which is a surprisingly small base with less than three dozen strategists and planners. Military forces are kept in various places to prevent the Empire from being able to crush the Rebellion with a single blow.

Fehern

The system of origin for the quick-witted Eddel species. During the days of the Old Republic, the unusual ships of Eddelian traders were a common sight in nearby systems. However, the anti-alien bias of the Human-dominated Empire resulted in a war against the Eddelians, with most of their technology eliminated in the process. There are only a few thousand alive today, most of them serving as slaves to the Human population that emigrated to the pleasant world.

Jhensrus

Almost considered a "frontier" world, Jhensrus is not a planet for the weak of heart. This jungle world has bred strong-willed inhabitants who think nothing of fighting for what they believe in. The planetary government is little more than a collection of bought votes and thieving criminals. The unsettling part is that the people don't seem to mind too much. The Rebel Alliance has been able to recruit many enthusiastic, if overexuberant, soldiers from the planet.

Lexrul

One of the most heavily populated systems in the sector, and the final destination of the Imperial convoy, which is the prime target in the campaign's final adventure. Lexrul is very loyal to the Empire because this is one of the few worlds where the Empire actually helped the local situation. The planet had been a loose collection of city-states until Imperial agents arrived and empowered a trio of the cities. The unification of the world was swift and morale remains high.

Longwind

Longwind is the most densely populated of the planets in the system, and was originally settled by criminals who had served their time in Old Republic prisons. In the subsequent 75 years, a thriving community has evolved on this world, with food and textile production emerging as the most important industries. Longwind is also the location of the alternate Rebel Sector Command base.

Uogo'Cor

The native Uogo translation of this planet's name is "home of the suffering ones." The harsh world, known for long, frigid winters and short, but intensely hot summers, has a small population, but its strategic importance is worthy of note. Uogo'Cor lies just off the Trax Tube, the main trade route into the Outer Rim Territories. Pirates frequented the system for years, building elaborate bases around the gas giants (the booty was so rich that they could afford these fully functioning space stations).

For many years, rival pirate gangs fought for control of the system. One gang, the "Dark Warbirds," settled the planet in the belief that a planetary base would be much easier to defend. They held control of the system for many years, while enslaving the small, humanoid Uogo. Then the Empire arrived, obliterating the pirates and many of the Uogo. Imperial forces remained to protect settlers, while military planners developed a plan to halt the piracy once and for all.

The Rebellion has sent several agents to this world to try and rally the Uogo and the native inhabitants. Alliance operatives are investigating the possibility of starting a privateer fleet in the system to waylay Imperial shipping.

The Bissillirus System

Bissillirus was discovered and catalogued by Old Republic scouts over 200 years ago. Its discovery was the result of misfortune, but the scouts swiftly realized that they had uncovered a system with vast potential for trade.

When the hyperdrive cut out, expedition commander Arnoth Draenell was relieved to discover that his scout ship had brought him to a system. A quick survey revealed five planets, one of them habitable. The ship's crew went to work on the hyperdrive, while Draenell mapped and named each of the worlds. He recorded in his log that the system could serve as an excellent resupply stop for anyone travelling the new Terr'skiar Pass route. The system was then left behind as Draenell's ship blasted into hyperspace to continue its journey (which abruptly ended when the scout crew made first contact with the xenophobic Inchichtok species). Bissillirus system was ignored for the next half-century as more pressing events garnered the galaxy's attention.

Early History

The first settlement on Draenell's Point was established 150 years ago. The settlers were traders who thought the Terr'skiar Pass would become a major trade route. They built a small colony, a primitive landing field and waited for the merchants to arrive. And waited. And waited. Once again, speculation turned sour on the greedy, but a hearty group of farmers discovered that the high plateaus of the world could grow many nourishing vegetables in the long growing season.

As a primarily agricultural system, Bissillirus thrived. Traders using tramp freighters, bulk transports, and everything in between, stopped off to fill up their cargo holds with the delicious vegetables and meats. Trade has become a major part of the system's economy, but the people have wisely developed industry so that the system could sustain itself if the need ever arose.

While the farmers developed this new world, free-trader traffic gradually picked up. Mining colonies were set up on the third world, Nurstin.

The system governed itself for many years, but that has changed in recent times. Four years ago, the Draenell Planetary Council decided to relinquish control to the Empire rather than risk invasion. The Council still makes all of the policy decisions, but they must be approved by Governor Bursthed, the Imperial supervisor of the planet.

The Planets

Five planets orbit Bissillirus. In order outward from the sun, they are Vendred, Chule, Nurstin, Draenell's Point, and Outpost. The Imperial Resupply Station (to be built after Episode One of this campaign) will be built beyond Outpost's orbit. Since Draenell's Point is the most important world in the system, it will be dealt with in a special section.

Vendred

Vendred is a small ball of rock orbiting close to Bissillirus. The world circles the star every 56 standard days. There is no atmosphere, and the planet is scarred with numerous craters from meteor impacts.

Vendred has an unstable moon, which scientists theorize was once a small comet until it was captured thousands of years ago. The moon has an elliptical orbit. It is believed that the moon will come hurtling into the small world sometime in the next three millennia.

Chule

Chule is a world with no signs of life of any kind. It has a moderate gravity, 0.75 standard, with a thin atmosphere composed mostly of methane.

Surprisingly, the planet lacks any evidence of geological activity, with no mountains. Chule is one endless, featureless plain, with freestanding seas thousands of kilometers across, but only centimeters deep. The mean temperature is six degrees Celsius. Chule orbits Bissillirus every 145 standard days, and rotates on its axis every 49 standard hours.

Nurstin

Nurstin has always been a source of speculation and the object of explorers' attentions. Arnoth Draenell's original scouting team was the first to notice the unusual "flashes" of light that seemed to come from the red planet. They searched for signs of intelligent civilization, but found nothing and had to move on to the next system to stay on schedule.

The first settlers sent expeditions to discover the cause of the flashes. They found that the planet has a high concentration of the light-reflecting gas corthel, and quickly discovered a large amount of the rock form, known as cortheum. Soon after, miners arrived to exploit the valuable mineral resource, which is used in droid photoreceptors.

The Messert Mines Corporation received an Imperial charter, granting it exclusive mineral rights on Nurstin. There are over 200 miners and thousands of mining droids in the three major complexes, digging up enough cortheum every year for five million sets of photo-receptors.

The planet's atmosphere is thin but breathable, albeit for a limited time. Unprotected Humans have been known to survive for several days, although it is officially recommended that a person not remain on the surface for more than eight hours without breathing apparatus. The soil has a reddish hue and the climate is warm enough that most species can exist outdoors without insulated clothing.

The rocky ground has little to offer outside of the cortheum, which is often found just a few meters below the surface. The planet supports plant life in the northern atmosphere, but nothing more advanced than insects and plants has been catalogued. The southern hemisphere is particularly stark, with almost no plant life extant. There are a half dozen small seas. Weather is generally clear, although occasional rain storms occur.

Messert Mines sends a large bulk freighter every 22 days to retrieve the cortheum and shift personnel. The freighter also stops at Draenell's Point to pick up food for the miners, as well as basic necessities.

The world orbits Bissillirus every 300 standard days, and rotates on its axis every 19 standard hours. A small ring of ice and rock surrounds Nurstin, but it poses no navigational problems.

Outpost

This small, icy world is the final planet in the system and was first noticed by Draenell's scouting team. Now, Outpost is nothing more than a landmark for system visitors.

The planet has a very thin atmosphere and gravity only one-fourth of standard. The world is covered with frozen ammonia seas, high mountains and numerous craters.

Despite the world's lack of distinguishing features, Unilliten Industries established a small scientific research base there over a decade ago. It is still manned by a small team, although no one outside of the firm knows specific details of their work. Unilliten threatens any visitors with criminal prosecution, and no one wants to go head to head with a huge galactic conglomerate. What could be so interesting on such a minor world is a subject of speculation on Draenell's Point, but this question may never be answered.

Draenell's Point

This frigid world is the only well-developed world in the Bissillirus system. Viewed from space, it appears as a yellow-blue orb. There are no space stations in near orbit, so trade is limited to small tramp freighters. Bulk transports occasionally visit the system, perhaps twice a year, excluding the Messert Mines Corporation's bulk freighter.

The planet has one moon named Unillian ("wanderer"). It is responsible for the tremendous tidal forces on Draenell's Point.

Climate

Draenell's Point is cold but habitable. Temperatures rarely rise above 15 degrees Celsius, but they seldom drop below -5 degrees, either. The planet's atmosphere spreads energy and heat evenly so that temperatures rarely vary more than five degrees from pole to equator.

The planet's distant orbit makes a "year" last for 4.2 standard years. Seasons are long and consistent, lasting about 14 standard months. The summer growing season is called "Thulpin." "Poll," the cold season, is inhospitable enough to prevent the growth of many vegetables, although the prime crops, trun' and jun, can be grown year-round. Fall and spring are called "Inpoll" and "Inthulpin" respectively.

Days on Draenell's Point are 37 Standard Hours long, which the colonists have divided into eight work/sleep/ recreation shifts of four hours each, with a five hour "community phase." Outsiders often have trouble adjusting to this unusual cycle, but the gregarious nature of the inhabitants often eases the "sleep shock."

Geography

The surface of Draenell's Point is two-thirds water, with most of the land mass composed of steep mountains. The interior plateaus of the continents are small, but provide the best locations for farming. Most of the major cities are in the mountainous interior, while a few small outposts are built closer to the seas and oceans (most of these are hover platforms, which can be raised or lowered to compensate for changes in the tides).

The small amount of undersea mapping completed indicates that the continents are extensions of huge mountain chains that drop more than five kilometers below the water's surface. The tidal forces of the world make such mapping difficult, as waves on the coastline regularly crest at over 15 meters. Earthquakes are rare, but are incredibly destructive when they occur.

The Continents

Draenell's Point has three major land masses, along with many small islands, but they are too often adversely affected by storms, and so remain uninhabited.

The largest continent, Rett, is also the least populated. The only major city, New Calince, is a major food processing center. Rett is mountainous, with farms carved into the sides of the rocky peaks. Rett's mountains are the steepest and its creatures the most dangerous, so few inhabitants ever venture beyond the cities.

The smallest continent is called Inquiesse, and is home of Juntrack, a large city known for its great manufacturing capacity. Several other cities dot the Juntrack River valley, which extends for thousands of kilometers throughout the mountains.

The true power on Draenell's Point resides on the continent of Mee'r. The planet's capital city, Wullerton, as well as the only civilian starport, in Starpoint, can be found in the West Unillian Mountain chain. Another important location is Thulpin City, home of the largest agricultural company on the planet, Thulpin Agriculture.

While Mee'r has the largest population, it has not been completely tamed and still has its wild areas. Draenell's Point is still a frontier world in many ways, and many of the mountainous areas in the centers of the continents remain unexplored and unsettled.

Population

Over 50 million beings call Draenell's Point home. Sixty percent of the population is Human, 30 percent Borneck, and the remaining 10 percent is made up of a smattering of species from all over the galaxy.

Rett has six million inhabitants (over two million live in New Calince alone), while Inquiesse is home to fifteen million beings (three million live in Juntrack). The rest live on Mee'r, with Wullerton home to five million. Starpoint three million, and Thulpin City, Uniqer and Jhepar having over one million inhabitants each.

The people suffer with high taxes and a high conscription rate for the military, but they have yet to see the brutal might of the Empire. The Rebellion is not popular on this world because the Imperial propaganda machine has done its work well.

Attitudes and Culture

The people of Draenell's Point have a well-developed work ethic. They believe that hard work is rewarded with success, health and happiness. Most of the rural population are farmers, while city residents are often educators, engineers, factory workers and businessmen. The world's economy is remarkably diverse and self-sufficient, so there is room for virtually every occupation.

Sidebar: The Borneck

Attribute Dice: 12D+1
DEXTERITY 2D/4D
Climb/Jump, Melee Parry, Running, Stealth
KNOWLEDGE 1D+1/4D
Alien Species, Bureaucracy, Culture (Borneck), Streetwise
MECHANICAL 2D/4D+2
Drive, Repair, Vehicles
PERCEPTION 1D/3D+2
Search, Willpower
STRENGTH 2D/4D+2
Brawling Parry, Melee Combat (Vibroblade)
TECHNICAL 1D/3D+2
Astrogation, Computer Programming/Use, Sensors
Move: 8/10
Size: 1.8-2.0 meters tall

Average Borneck

DEXTERITY 2D
KNOWLEDGE 1D+2
MECHANICAL 2D+1
PERCEPTION 1D+2
STRENGTH 3D
TECHNICAL 1D+2
Move: 8

The Borneck started emigrating from their home system of Vellity 50 years ago. The hard-working, even-tempered humanoids were a welcome addition to the growing economy. They are primarily farm laborers, although many have been able to start their own farms and small businesses. Draenell's Point has been a good environment for the race, as many of their number have become wealthy businessmen and influential politicians.

They are humanoid, and in many aspects are similar to Humans. They average 1.9 meters in height and live an average of 120 standard years. Their skin ranges in hue from pale yellow to a rich orange-brown, with a dark yellow most common.

They are known for their patience and common sense. A peaceful people, they enjoy the sense of accomplishment they get from farming, although most despise the dark, dirty work of mining. Their naturally powerful bodies help them perform heavy work, and many have found jobs in the cities in warehouses and the construction industry. They are skilled at piloting vehicles as well, and quite a few have worked their way up to positions on cargo shuttles and tramp freighters. The Empire's restrictive policies have kept Borneck out of the military, but quite a few have found a home in the Rebellion.

pation. Wages are low, taxes are high, but people can make a decent living on this world, far from the terrors of harsh Imperial repression.

Residents believe that celebration is necessary for the spirit, and there always seems to be some kind of community event going on. The planet is very close-knit, and cities, even those which are bitter rivals, think nothing of sending whatever they can spare to each other in times of need. The world has a strong family orientation. Most young adults are expected to attend a local university, get a good job and get to the important business of providing grandchildren.

However, the fierce pioneer spirit and independence of farmers is not a trait that can be dismissed lightly. The people of Draenell's Point believe in their rights and will take up arms to protect them. They accept the Imperial presence because it is fairly minor and they feel it is a necessary evil in these dangerous times. The Rebellion will find a few supporters, but they generally keep silent about their views. Most people believe the Imperial propaganda branding the Rebels as a gang of undisciplined cutthroats and smugglers.

The gangs that appear in Episode Five have formed in response to the Imperial crackdown. They are viewed with a mixture of suspicion and hope by the planet's few nascent Rebels, who believe that people must put aside their differences and work together against the common enemy — the Empire. Although people holding those beliefs remain a distinct minority, if the Empire goes too far in its actions against the gangs, Draenell's Point could easily become a hotbed of rebellion.

Industry and Trade

Draenell's Point thrives only because of the men and women who work the land, and so the farmers have had tremendous influence on the planet's history and social structure over the centuries. Agriculture generates over 75 percent of the income flowing into the system as a whole, with Draenell's Point receiving the lion's share and the rest distributed to the other planets through common trade.

Farms are large and often owned by wealthy, influential families. The money is good enough that wise first-generation farmers can expect to make a decent living. Competition is active, but not so fierce that hard-working family farms cannot survive.

Agricultural support industries, such as farm machinery manufacturing, are also important. The planet has a strong economic infrastructure, including mining, manufacturing, distribution and sales for most heavy industries. Airspeeders and other personal transports and copied versions of those made by larger galactic corporations are available in quantity, although the ones made on Draenell's Point are much more expensive. Most residents would gladly pay the extra credits just to know that they are supporting their own people.

Rebel Cell Construction

The Newest Rebels

General Cracken sighed as he read over the records of the Rebel soldiers waiting outside his office. More lambs to the slaughter, he thought, with more than a trace of bitterness.

He was tired. Tired of seeing young men and women go up in X-wings and Y-wings and anything else that could fly and not come back. Tired of secret missions and spying, and tired of death.

Shaking his head, the general fingered the intercom on his desk. "Yes, sir?" came the receptionist droid's response. The voice sounded relatively feminine, but tinny. "Send them in, Fourdee." If they really want to come, he almost added.

The door opened, and in walked three men and one woman: Carns Capra, Denis Rygelli, Ben Spax, and Trinna Orani, Rebels all, and young. Well, the old general thought, better to send 'em briefed than blindside...

After the first few days, Cracken was able to place each of the Rebels in his newest class: Capra was the hot one, ready to act and act now. His father was one of the earliest Rebel leaders and had been killed on Mantooine, defending the generators to the last. The younger Capra was eager to strike back at the Empire, but he wasn't stupid.

Rygelli, or "Reggie," as his classmates called him was a techie: do anything with anything. He'd been working on everything from the Rebellion's starships to their food droids since signing on, but now he wanted "to do something more." He was cautious, perhaps to the point of being a little afraid, but he was at heart a good man.

Ben Spax was an enigma. Nobody knew where he'd come from; rumor had it he had found the Rebellion on his own. Still, he'd checked out to all the Rebellion's IntelTechs, and he was an able fighter — and, from what Cracken had heard, a damn good starpilot. The general wondered why Spax wanted to get into the Intelligence arm, but he didn't ask.

Then there was Trinna Orini. She was so small that the rest of the group couldn't help but act protective toward her, like a little sister. But from the first, Cracken had been certain of her abilities, and when they first went as a group to the shooting range, the rest of the team got a taste of them as well.

They were, Cracken had to admit, a well-balanced team. They were just so young.

Step One: The System

"The first thing you have to learn before attempting to set up a Rebel cell within a solar system is everything you can about the system itself. Everything. What the people are like, what they do there, how they do it, and why they do it. You have to learn their culture and their background. This can be especially difficult in cultures that are alien to your own, but the Rebellion tries to send you to systems that are primarily made up of those similar to your species."

A hand was raised. Capra's. "Yes?"

"Sir, do you mean in addition to our briefing?" the youth asked. "I mean, before we leave, they do brief us about the system thoroughly."

Cracken nodded. "Of course, the Rebellion briefs you, Capra, but there are so many systems and so many worlds that the Alliance just can't keep up with conditions on all of them, especially now. The Empire has been cracking down and giving more power to its governors than ever before. There are systems we haven't heard from in years."

Trinna's hand shot up. "How do we learn, then, General?"

"When you leave here, you will not leave in an Alliance starship, which would mark you as Rebels with a mission. You will be dropped off at a star-port somewhere and you will have to make your own way to your assigned system. During your travels to the system in question, you are expected to visit libraries, comm centers, and even Imperial travel agencies and gather information about the system you are headed to."

Cracken expected some groans there, and he was not disappointed. "This is not only for the protection of the Alliance and yourselves, but for the protection of the system you go to," he said above the sounds of their protestations.

That had them thinking. He let them ponder for a moment more and then continued, "Sure, you knew that organizing a Rebel cell network would be dangerous, for both you and the Alliance, but didn't you think about the system? If the Emperor knew which systems we were trying to infiltrate with our spies, he would crack down all the harder on those areas."

Step Two: The Imperial Presence

"The next step is to learn all you can about the extent of the Imperial presence in the system. Sometimes, the Alliance knows why the Empire has chosen to pay special attention to one system over another, but often that is not the case. During your travels, you must try to find out, discreetly, what the Empire wants with, say, the Beta System. Are there valuable resources in the system? Is it a strategic port? Does some important personage visit there on holiday?" General Cracken allowed himself a wry smile. "Does the Grand Moff of the sector particularly enjoy one of the local wines?"

The four students chuckled. Before Cracken could continue, though, Ben Spax raised his hand. His voice was quiet and calm, but there was steel behind his words. "I thought we knew what the Empire wanted with each system: to dominate and control it; to exploit and corrupt it."

The other three looked at Spax. Already, his comrades were looking to him as their leader. Cracken answered, with all seriousness, "You've been reading too much of our own propaganda, Ben."

Before the younger man could take offense, Cracken continued, "Of course, we know that that is exactly what the Emperor wants, but he can't have it. Not yet." The general sighed. "Even as vast and powerful as the Empire's forces are, they are not omnipotent. They can't be everywhere.

"When Palpatine took power, he had to delegate authority to maintain control of the galaxy. He had to give the regional and system governors near complete authority. Some systems, at that time, had very little, if any, military presence, and some have remained so. Palpatine is stretching his arm out, gathering them in, but still some remain relatively free. I hear that, before Luke Skywalker joined the Alliance, Tatooine was such a place."

That sobered the class somewhat. Mention a hero, Cracken reflected, and you've got their attention.

Assess the Resistance

After studying the various reasons the Empire would be interested in a system, and how they would express that interest, Cracken herded his charges into the next lesson.

"Assess the resistance, or potential resistance, of a system or planet. If the Empire is there, doing what the Empire likes to do, there is very likely to be resistance of some kind, minor though it may be."

"General Cracken, is there always resistance?" Reggie asked. "Does the Empire ever take over in such a way that it won't stir up trouble for them later?"

The others in the group chuckled and made some disparaging remarks, except for Spax, who appeared to be lost in thought. Cracken waited to see if Ben would come to the smaller man's defense, but he returned the general's gaze and said nothing.

"Good point, and you'd all do well to consider it," the general said, looking hard at Trinna and Capra as he did so. "It seldom happens, but sometimes Imperial takeover actually appears to benefit a system."

Reggie blinked, stunned, both Trinna and Capra looked shocked — an Alliance general defending the Empire?! Ben Spax just nodded slowly.

"Sometimes, maybe once in ten thousand times, the Empire takes over a system that was either on the brink of collapse, or sends in a governor who isn't as grasping or evil as they tend to be. Perhaps some bureaucrat of the Old Republic who managed to slip through the cracks.

"Generally, we leave those systems alone — but we watch them carefully. Eventually, the evil that is the Empire shows through and the oppression begins to be felt. It is sad, but it is only when things are at their worst that we can go in. Otherwise, it is quite possible that the populace would see the Alliance as the enemy."

Cracken paused to let the students soak that in. It was, perhaps, the first time they had been confronted with the reality of their mission: to live on worlds where the Empire was at its worst and fight for the Rebellion in quiet, secret ways, perhaps for the rest of their lives.

"But let's get on, shall we?," the general said, breaking the tension. "Let us suppose that the Empire is not the force for order and justice the Emperor says it is." That brought back some smiles, Cracken saw. "In that case, what do you do?"

"Strike back at the Empire, sir!" Capra said, "Let the resistance know you're there!"

"A good, solid idea," Cracken said, nodding. "And almost totally wrong."

The boy's smile faded quickly. "Oh, don't get me wrong, son. I know that's the way you've been trained: go in fast and hard, blow something up, and get out again. But remember; you are going to have to live there. If you start causing trouble right off the bat, the Empire will try to hunt you down and the resistance, if there is any, won't have anything to do with you. Any other ideas?"

No one said anything for quite a while, then Spax spoke up, softly, "Set up a base of ops. Get to know the locals. Find out about the resistance and about the local feeling. If there's no organized resistance, find groups who might be interested. Don't give yourself away until you're sure of their loyalties."

Every so often, the general thought, there's one.

"Exactly," he said forcefully, trying to drive the point home. "Take your time. You, as Alliance members, want to get things started, but you can't do it if you're dead or imprisoned. Now, how do you do this?"

Tentatively, Capra raised his hand, "Maybe, um, get jobs or something?"

Good. "Right, Capra, right. There's nothing so good as working alongside a man to get him to trust you. Yes, Trinna?"

"I was thinking, maybe you could open up a store or a bar. That way you could see the people every day and know who is doing what."

"Good ideas. The bar would be best. It's amazing what a man will say or do when he's drunk, and many bartenders see more action than most psychologists. If you worked in a bar — I wouldn't recommend owning one to start; too much money would have to be spent suddenly — you'd probably hear a lot in a hurry.

"Moving along, the next part of assessing the resistance is determining what type it is. Some resistance groups are just a common feeling — a lot of people getting together and complaining about the Empire. Others are the hot and flashy type — blow up a fuel dump now and then, or assault a patrol. Yes, Capra?"

"And we'd rather deal with the first group, right, General?" The young man grinned.

"Maybe there's hope for you yet, Capra. You're right, of course. Though we want resistance groups to strike back at the Empire, the value of a Rebel cell to the Alliance is measured by the information it provides. In the Battle of Yavin, it was information that won the day, not just Commander Skywalker's incredible shot.

"Also, the talkers are usually the thinkers. When a group that thinks gets together to do something, it usually has a greater effect than a group that just lashes out at whatever's handy. Blowing up a fuel dump is fine on any day, but on the day before the fleet comes in for resupply, it can be incredible. Use your cells to funnel us this information, and you'll be the heroes of the Alliance."

Organization

A few days later, Cracken had his class in for their last assignment briefing. He looked them over for what he knew would probably the final time, and began.

"The last step is the actual organization of the Rebel cell. Any ideas?"

Reggie was the first to respond. "Well, sir, it will work best if you set it up like a parallel circuit."

The group stifled its snickers. General Cracken asked, "Could you explain that for the rest of us who aren't so tech-oriented, Reggie?"

The small man blushed, but continued, "If each Rebel cell is composed of lots of little cells, with connections all over the place, then if one cell gets caught, the overall circuit is unbroken."

Chuckling lightly, Cracken smiled, "I know what you mean, Reggie, and you're right. But maybe I'd better explain it anyway.

"Rebel cells are built in small, separate units. When you get to a planet, you will, effectively be one cell. You should then, separately, make contacts with other resistance members as they become known. In turn, your new members should make additional contacts — not telling you who those contacts are. Eventually, there should be a whole network of cells on the planet and throughout the system. Each member of each cell would only know one or two of the other members of the resistance. That way, if you are caught, you can only betray one or two others."

There was still some confusion in the class, so Cracken went to the blackboard at the front of the room. "Look," he said, "I'll draw it for you."

"Here you can see the value of the cell network. If, say, Reggie were captured, he could betray the members of Cell 1 and Resistance Member A. You each could only betray each other and one other resistance member. Sure, the Empire could eventually trace the whole convoluted pattern, but, by that time, the cells could break up, scatter, and reorganize. Somewhere, the connection would be broken. Meanwhile, the other cells could go on with business as usual."

Cracken looked out at the four young faces in the classroom. They looked back, and in them he saw equal parts of eagerness, determination and fear. Surprisingly, he also saw a little of himself at that age. Feeling emotional, the old general cleared his throat and stood. "Unless there are any questions," he said, "that's all I have for you. You'll be leaving in the morning."

Without a word, but with gratitude and excitement in their eyes, the four future Rebel leaders stood, saluted, and marched out the door. The general said softly to their backs, "May the Force be with you."

He sat down, reached under his desk, and pulled out a bottle of brandy. He was about to take a long pull on the bottle when he was interrupted by a familiar tinny voice: "Next batch at 0600, General Cracken."

He slammed his free hand down on the intercom and snarled, "I know, you blasted machine; just let me have a little quiet between now and then, all right?!" He tilted his head back and winced as the sharp alcohol bit into the back of his throat.

"Cheers, General," the tinny voice answered.

Blasted machine, the old general thought. Oh, well, at least I'm not tired anymore ...

Changing the Balance

Adventure Background

Draenell's Point has been an important source of foodstuffs for the Rebellion for several years. Through a complicated series of front companies, the Alliance has been able to secure a regular supply of the nutritious vegetables and meats the planet produces. This steady stream of supplies has been invaluable to the Rebellion in its efforts to defeat the Empire.

That the food is available at all is a small miracle—the planet is ruled by a planetary council, which is in turn closely overseen by Imperial Governor Bursthed, a man of great ambition and an unlimited capacity for self-indulgence. Bursthed isn't a very capable ruler, but he is fanatically loyal to the oppressive Empire.

The inhabitants of Draenell's Point are largely ambivalent regarding the civil war. Most would rather not have to suffer an Imperial presence on their planet, but view it as a necessary evil. They have no great love for the Alliance, either, believing the Rebels to be a bunch of mangy cutthroats. A few of the planet's idealistic young people believe in the Rebellion.

That's where the Bissillirus campaign begins. To prevent any "Imperial entanglements," the Rebel characters have been assigned to Draenell's Point. Their assignment is to ensure the flow of supplies to the Alliance front companies continues, as well as to recruit a few good soldiers, if possible. The Rebels have been placed in various important positions on the planet—one in the Planetary Communications Commission in capital city of Wullerton, another as a low level executive in Draenell Industries in the city of Juntrack, another as a Galactic Sales Representative for Thulpin Agriculture, the distributor for the planet's hundreds of independent farmers. Each of these positions is a false identity for one of the player characters. Additional Rebel characters can be added as needed.

The assignment gets an unusual twist when an Imperial Food Inspector casually comments to a Rebel agent, "You're going to have a lot more free time soon. This system has become a good deal more important to the Empire recently." With that, the Rebels realize that the delicate balance of power in the Bissillirus system is about to be upset, and not in the Rebellion's favor.

A Secret Shared ...

The inspector has found out that "something" big is about to happen in Bissillirus, although his sources haven't been able to find out exactly what. He does know that trade will probably be cut off because the Empire's activities, by their very nature, have a tendency to interrupt the free flow of goods. He knows that Governor Bursthed is regarded as incompetent, and will soon have to tighten his control of the area or face removal from his post.

If politely pressured, the inspector will reveal all of the above information, absent-mindedly commenting that his informants are based on Deysum III, the Trax sector capitol. If the Rebels threaten him in any way, he will give them the same information, but report the incident to his superiors and Thulpin Agriculture management (the "sales representative's" cover has been blown if this happens).

The Rebels can infiltrate Draenell's computer systems or head directly to Deysum III. Trying to break into the system can be done from the company (Difficult computer programming roll) or in the capital city (Moderate computer programming roll, but plenty of guards to avoid when sneaking in). The company is not especially security-conscious, and the planetary capital is the only place where the Empire's presence is truly felt. Fortunately, the Imperial and planetary guards will believe any reasonable cover story as long as the Rebels aren't caught doing something illegal.

All the Draenell's Point computers will reveal is that a "large Imperial construction project" is slated to begin in a short time. Apparently, Trax's Moff doesn't believe Draenell's Point has a right to know what is going on.

Planetary Soldiers

DEXTERITY 2D+2
Blaster 3D+2, brawling parry 4D, dodge 4D, grenade 3D+2, melee combat 4D, melee parry 3D+2
KNOWLEDGE 1D+2
MECHANICAL 2D
PERCEPTION 2D
Search 4D, sneak 3D+2
STRENGTH 2D+1
Brawling 3D+2, climbing/jumping 2D+2
TECHNICAL 1D+1
Move: 10
Equipment: Blaster pistol (4D), comlink, protective vest and helmet (+2 physical, +1 energy combined)

Imperial Army Trooper

DEXTERITY 3D
Blaster 4D, dodge 4D+2, melee combat 4D+2, melee parry 4D+2
KNOWLEDGE 1D+1
Survival 2D+2
MECHANICAL 1D+1
Repulsorlift operation 2D+2
PERCEPTION 2D
Search 3D
STRENGTH 3D+1
Brawling 4D+2, stamina 3D+2
TECHNICAL 1D
Repulsorlift repair 2D
Move: 10
Equipment: Blaster pistol (4D), comlink, vibro-bayonet (STR+1D+2), protective vest (+2 physical, +1 energy), protective helmet (+2 physical, +1 energy)

If the Rebels don't have their own ship, getting a ride to Deysum III won't be easy. The Rebels must convince a tramp freighter captain to take them there and pay him a decent amount, or work off the fare. It may also be fun to throw in a dispute with another passenger (it's assumed that the Rebels can't afford to "buy" the ship for the whole flight and must share it with travelers en route to another world along the trade paths).

If the Rebels do have their own ship, they will probably want to concoct a cover story for themselves and disguise their ship's identity somehow.

Deception on Deysum III

Deysum III is a world that has suffered from the uncontrolled growth of industry. There are several large population centers, including the capital city of Dragnoor. Everything outside of the city boundaries is wasteland, with pits of toxic chemicals and polluted streams and rivers. The soil cannot support any crops and the only surviving life-forms are in the zoos. Anyone venturing into "the wastes" is carefully screened and decontaminated upon their return to a city. Several domes are being built over the major cities so that air may be filtered before being breathed by the residents.

Deysum III is also a world where the forces of oppression are visible at every turn. The Imperial flag and seal adorns everything in sight. Even the spaceport area and the poorer neighborhoods are inundated regularly with Imperial propaganda, from computer data tapes to the holo broadcasts. Everyone wears an identity bracelet (all visitors are issued one upon arrival), and strangers are detained and questioned regarding anything that looks even remotely suspicious. Imperial Army squads patrol everywhere, although they seldom enter private facilities unless "something suspicious" appears to be going on.

This environment provides a good opportunity for the Rebels to use con skills to get out of any troublesome situations. While the planet is firmly in the control of the Empire, the populace is quiescent more through fear than loyalty. The average citizen won't assist any Rebel operatives and may even report Rebel activities, but a few sympathizers exist who could intervene on behalf of the Rebels. While the Rebels should get the feeling that they are just about to be caught every step of the way, the actual threat should be minimal unless the Rebels unwisely make their allegiance well-known.

Rebels who take a look around will realize that, while planetary security is high, the world is generally unsophisticated. Just by observing the people crowding the streets, they will realize that most have been intimidated into following the edicts of the Empire, and the stormtroopers are well aware of the power this fear gives them. Rebel actions are virtually unheard of. Criminal elements aren't considered a threat to the bureaucracy, so they are allowed to exist as long as they don't become a menace to the monied classes.

The Rebels must get access to the planet's Imperial computer network. The most detailed information will be available at the huge Imperial Resources Base, in the city of Klerint. The base employs half a million beings and is responsible for military and civilian planning for Trax sector. Imperial Intelligence also maintains a headquarters in the base, which boasts 300 buildings over a nine square kilometer area. There are any number of ways of sneaking into the complex, despite its extensive Imperial Army guard (i.e., the Rebels could pose as engineers arriving to discuss the construction project). Troops can be seen patrolling the entire area, and often use personal hover transports to get to different sections of the base. Once inside the base, the Rebels must make every effort to avoid detection, because once the shooting starts, the odds are that the Rebels will be defeated.

Accessing the computers inside the base takes a Moderate computer programming roll. If the Rebels are able to get into the Sector Planning building, a Very Easy computer programming roll will provide them with the information they are looking for.

The Rebels may also be able to access the Imperial computer network from one of the planet's computer stations. To do this, the Rebels will have to make three Moderate computer programming rolls in succession.

Imperial Soldier (Deysum III City Patrol)

DEXTERITY 3D
Blaster 5D, dodge 5D+2, melee combat 4D+2, melee parry 4D+2
KNOWLEDGE 1D+1
Languages 2D
MECHANICAL 1D+1
Repulsorlift operation 2D+2
PERCEPTION 2D
Command 3D, search 3D+1, sneak 3D
STRENGTH 3D+1
Brawling 4D, stamina 4D+2
TECHNICAL 1D
Security 2D+2
Move: 10
Equipment: Blaster rifle (5D), club (STR+1D), comlink, protective vest (+2 physical, +1 energy), protective helmet (+2 physical, +1 energy)

Imperial Army Trooper (Imperial Resources Base)

DEXTERITY 3D+1
Blaster 5D+2, dodge 5D+2, melee combat 5D, melee parry 4D+2
KNOWLEDGE 1D+2
Cultures 3D, languages 2D+1
MECHANICAL 1D+2
Repulsorlift operation 2D+2
PERCEPTION 2D
Command 3D+2, search 4D+2, sneak 3D+2
STRENGTH 3D+2
Brawling 5D, stamina 4D+2
TECHNICAL 1D+2
Security 3D
Move: 10
Equipment: Blaster rifle (5D), club (STR+1D), comlink, uniform

Repulsorlift Sled

Craft: Tykannin Turbines 3-2-XR
Type: Repulsorlift sled
Scale: Speeder
Length: 4.3 meters
Skill: Repulsorlift operation: speeder bike
Crew: 1
Crew Skill: See Imperial Army Trooper (Imperial Resources Base) and Imperial Soldier (Deysum III City Patrol)
Cargo Capacity: 5 kilograms
Cover: 1/4
Altitude Range: Ground level-3 meters
Cost: 5,950 (new), 3,250 (used)
Maneuverability: 1D+1
Move: 280; 800 kmh
Body Strength: 2D
Weapons:
1 Light Blaster Cannon
Fire Arc: Front
Skill: Vehicle blasters
Fire Control: 2D
Range: 25-50/100/150
Damage: 2D+1

A Secret Revealed

To their horror, the Rebels will discover that Bissillirus is to be the site of a new Imperial Resupply Base. The same qualities that combined to make Bissillirus attractive to traders — ease of access and proximity to trade routes — also makes the system an excellent stopover point for Imperial convoys. The resupply base will have over 600 soldiers, two dozen TIE fighters, two system patrol craft, three Lambda-class shuttles, and over 400 administrative and support personnel. The base will be bristling with armament and will be able to service up to eight large transports at once.

Bissillirus Resupply Base Specifications

Construction to Begin: In five days
Construction to Be Completed: In 14 days
Commander: Colonel Randall Jaggert
Height: 1,540 meters
Diameter: 200 meters
Facilities: Accommodates up to 1,750 personnel; 6 landing bays; 2 docking hoods
Personnel: 608 Naval troops, 36 pilots, 376 support administrative personnel
Complement: 24 TIE/ln fighters, 3 Lambda-class shuttles, 2 Loronar Regulator X-Q2 Patrol Cruisers
Consumables: 1 year
Sensors:
Passive: 50/1D
Scan: 75/2D
Search: 150/3D
Focus: 10/4D
Scale: Capital
Reinforced Hull: 5D
Weapons:
20 Turbolaser Batteries
Fire Arc: Turret
Crew: 3
Skill: Capital ship gunnery
Fire Control: 4D
Space Range: 3-15/35/75
Damage: 5D

If the adventure is dragging, the Rebels could be discovered by a small patrol. If they can get access to a high-speed repulsorlift vehicle, they may be able to blast out of the base's gates and get away, since the troops aren't used to displays of force. The Rebels will then have to engage in an elaborate game of hide-and-seek in the cluttered and polluted streets of the city.

Cut to ...

At some point after the Rebels have discovered the Empire's plans to build the orbiting resupply base, they should pass by the slave auction, thus propelling them into Episode Two. Cut to "Rebel Enslaved."

2 Rebel Enslaved!

Adventure Background

Having obtained the information they sought on Deysum III — namely, that the Empire plans to build a resupply base in the Bissillirus system — the Rebels are attempting to make their way off-planet. The city is crawling with stormtroopers and Imperial agents, and it is difficult to know whom to trust. The easiest way to avoid detection is to mingle with the crowds in the bazaars, all the while mulling over how to find a ship to get away from Deysum III (if the Rebels do not have one of their own). But while so occupied, they make a shocking discovery ...

Shackles for a Rebel

As the Rebels move through the bustling city streets, they pass by a slave auction in full swing. When they do, they hear the smooth, unmistakable voice of a Devaronian shouting, "Sold! To Quintarus Returyl, representative of the Spice Mines of Kessel!" This is followed by the equally unmistakable bellow of an enraged Wookiee.

The Rebels glance up to see the furry figure of a large Wookiee struggling futilely against his bonds. He is bellowing and thrashing around with his great body, but to no avail.

At this point, one of the Rebels recognizes the Wookiee. "Hey, that's Kentara," the Rebel whispers to her companions. "He's one of us!"

Kentara was a stalwart member of the Rebellion until just after the Battle of Yavin. Afterwards, when many of the Rebels were getting assigned to search for new bases for Alliance forces, Kentara disappeared. No one knew where he had gone, but rumors stated that he had been assigned a secret mission by General Cracken himself. No one had seen the Wookiee since.

Courses of Action

It should be obvious to the Rebels that they cannot leave one of their fellows in the hands of slavers. They will have to try and rescue Kentara before escaping the planet. Since the bazaar is crawling with stormtroopers, the Rebels would be ill-advised to start a shoot-out immediately. They need to find out where Kentara is being held and break him out at night.

If the Rebels work their way through the crowd to either the auction block or near where Quintarus Returyl is standing, they can overhear the following:

• The Wookiee will be held by the slavers until noon tomorrow, after which Quintarus will come to the camp with a contingent of his personal security guards to pick up his purchase.

• Quintarus is staying at the Dancing Duinuogwuin Inn, located in the richest section of the city.

• Harthusa, the Devaronian, gives directions to the slaver's compound to one of Quintarus' representatives, locating it five kilometers east of the city.

After the auction ends, Quintarus goes with his armed guard back to his inn, and Harthusa and his guards head back to the compound with their slaves, both sold and unsold.

The Rebels have two options: one is to try talking Quintarus into selling or surrendering the Wookiee, the other is breaking Kentara out of the slavers' compound. If they want to talk to Quintarus, they must go to the Dancing Duinuogwuin Inn.

The Dancing Duinuogwuin Inn

This inn is located in the affluent business district of the city. There is a strong stormtrooper and Imperial presence here, so the Rebels will have to be on their guard.

Not many non-Humans stay at the inn, but there are a few — their presence there is a sure sign of their wealth, as the Duinuogwuin is very expensive.

The Rebels will find it difficult to get in to see Quintarus. Security is extremely tight in the inn and in the neighborhood as a whole, making a break-in a poor approach to the situation. It is possible to bribe the doorman to take a message to Quintarus, providing the Rebels can convince him that they are wealthy traders with a business proposition for the spice merchant (Difficult con roll).

Quintarus will welcome them into his suite, but will not dismiss his five guards (after all, a man in his position must be prepared for anything). He will listen politely to an offer for the Wookiee if the Rebels choose to make one, but convincing him that they really are businessmen with the money to back up their talk will take a Very Difficult con roll. Even if they do succeed, Quintarus will insist on seeing the money up front. If the Rebels hedge, he will order his guards to throw them out.

Starting a firefight will gain the Rebels nothing. The noise will bring Imperial soldiers on the run, and even if they could get away with killing Quintarus, he does not have the bill of sale for Kentara on him, so his death would not help free the Wookiee. The Rebels would be better off simply leaving the inn and making other plans.

Quintarus Returyl is a consummate businessman. As a slaver, he is paranoid and suspicious. He has seen all the scams there are and is not easily taken in. He is always interested in a legitimate offer, but hasn't the patience for games: he will want a deal immediately and he will want everything to go his way. He's a bully in expensive clothing.

Quintarus Returyl

Type: Slave Trader
DEXTERITY 2D+1
Blaster 3D, dodge 10D
KNOWLEDGE 4D
Bureaucracy 6D, business: slaving 7D, intimidation 5D+2, languages 5D+1, planetary systems 5D, value: slaves 7D, willpower 6D
MECHANICAL 3D+2
PERCEPTION 3D+1
Bargain 7D, con 6D, gambling 5D+1
STRENGTH 2D+1
TECHNICAL 2D+1
Character Points: 9
Move: 10
Equipment: Hold-out blaster (3D+1)

5 Personal Guards

DEXTERITY 3D
Blaster 4D+1, dodge 4D+1
KNOWLEDGE 1D+1
Intimidation 4D+2
MECHANICAL 1D+1
PERCEPTION 2D
STRENGTH 3D+1
Brawling 4D+1
TECHNICAL 1D
Move: 10
Equipment: Blaster pistol (4D)

Assault on the Slave Camp

The Rebels should have a great deal more luck raiding the slave camp. Though slavery is technically legal in the Empire (at least, enslavement of criminals and some non-Human species is still looked upon with favor by the authorities), most people find it somewhat distasteful. So, to make the apparatus of slavery less offensive, the Moff has decreed that all slave compounds be located not closer than five kilometers from any major city. Auctions can be held within the city limits, but the actual storage of the "cargo" must be done at the camps.

Deysum III is a highly industrial world and one without a conscience. The surface of the planet, once lush and green, is now either covered with settlements or scarred and pitted waste. The slave camp lies in one of these wasteland areas.

Composed of scrap metal and reinforced concrete, the walls of the compound are over five meters high. Jagged and rusty spikes protrude from both sides and make climbing the wall a Moderate task.

There are four guards constantly on duty on the wall. Since they are more concerned with the slaves breaking out of their pens than someone sneaking in, they suffer a penalty of +1D to the difficulty to detect anyone sneaking in by the wall.

4 Slaver Guards

DEXTERITY 2D
Blaster 3D+1, melee combat 3D
KNOWLEDGE 2D
Alien species 3D, languages 3D, streetwise 2D+1
MECHANICAL 2D
PERCEPTION 2D
Command 4D, search 4D+1
STRENGTH 2D
Brawling 3D+1
TECHNICAL 2D
Security 4D
Move: 10
Equipment: Force pike (STR+2D), heavy blaster pistol (5D), 3 sets of force cuffs (Very Difficult Strength roll to break)

The walls on which they walk surround the slave compound. This area is, during the day, where the slaves can take their exercise under the watchful eyes of their captors. At night, the slaves are locked in their slave pens. There are 19 slaves of various species in the pens, including Kentara. Each pen has a separate lock requiring a Difficult security roll to pick.

Adjacent to the slave compound is the guards' barracks. There are six additional guards in the buildings there, and all have identical statistics and equipment as the ones on the wall. The gates to each compound are tough enough to stand up to heavy weapons fire, but the locks, which can only be picked from the outside, are much less sophisticated than those on the pens. They only require a Moderate security roll to pick.

The only key to either set of locks is in Harthusa's possession (see below).

Harthusa's Dome

Located about 100 meters from the slave compound, Harthusa's dome is in striking contrast to the squat, ugly buildings that house his "goods." The doors to the dome are ornate and striking, and the entire structure has been colored a pleasant light blue.

The doors to the dome are very well made and the locks require a Difficult security roll to pick. The same is required to penetrate the inner door. The doors to the guards' bedrooms are unlocked.

Beside the dome is a small landing pad upon which rests Harthusa's space yacht.

Harthusa's Defel Bodyguards (2)

DEXTERITY 3D
Blaster 4D+1, blind fighting 6D, brawling parry 3D+2, dodge 4D
KNOWLEDGE 1D
Alien species 2D+2, survival 3D
MECHANICAL 1D
PERCEPTION 2D
Command 3D+1, search 3D
STRENGTH 4D
Brawling 5D, stamina 4D+2
TECHNICAL 1D
Security 2D+2
Special Abilities:
Invisibility (+3D to sneak), claws (STR+2D damage), light blind.*
Move: 10
Equipment: Heavy blaster pistol (5D)

• For more information on the Defel, see Galaxy Guide 4: Alien Races, Second Edition, pages 33-34.

Of all the guards, these two Defel are the most fiercely loyal to Harthusa. They were freed from slavery by him after he saw what the pair did to several other slaves that attacked them. In the manner of their people, the two Defel have repaid his "kindness" tenfold.

Harthusa's room is more like a pleasure palace than a simple sleeping chamber. He has filled the room with treasures from all over the galaxy for his amusement. Soft music and the sound of running water fill the air, and cushions and plush carpets adorn the floor.

Harthusa spends most of his time in this chamber, often with female company. Tonight, after the stress of the auction, he is alone. The spice merchant had paid him well, and he has been celebrating in grand fashion, by getting drunk.

Harthusa is a cunning coward. If the characters wake him up, he will beg, plead, lie, bargain and do whatever it takes to save as much of his accumulated wealth as possible, and only incidentally, his life as well. If at all possible, he will not engage in combat, even if he is at an advantage. He will, if pressed, defend himself, but he would much rather run away.

Harthusa

Type: Devaronian Slaver
DEXTERITY 2D
Blaster 3D, dodge 4D
KNOWLEDGE 3D
Alien species 4D+2, cultures 4D, languages 5D+2, streetwise 3D+2
MECHANICAL 1D
Astrogation 2D, space transports 3D
PERCEPTION 2D+2
Bargain 4D+2, command 4D, con 4D, sneak 3D+2
STRENGTH 2D+1
TECHNICAL 1D
Character Points: 12
Move: 10
Equipment: Modified hold-out blaster (3D+2), keys to all the locks (including the secret vault), jewelry (valued at 300 credits)

Harthusa's Pride is the home base for Harthusa as he travels outlying regions of the galaxy plying his trade. The ship itself radiates luxury, from the carpeted corridors, to the exotic sculptures on display in the various staterooms, to the rather extensive array of liquors and spices in the private master suite. Still, the sense of gloom cannot be missed — it radiates up from the cargo holds, and it is all too easy to tell that this wealth comes from blood money.

Harthusa's Pride

Type: Modified Ghtroc Industries Luxurious-class Space Yacht
Scale: Starfighter
Length: 31 meters
Skill: Space transports: Luxurious space yacht
Crew: 1, gunners: 1
Crew Skill: See Harthusa
Passengers: 4 (in passenger compartment), 30 (in slave pens in cargo hold)
Cargo Capacity: 75 metric tons
Consumables: 1 month
Cost: 350,000
Hyperdrive Multiplier: x2
Hyperdrive Backup: x12
Nav Computer: Yes
Maneuverability: 1D
Space: 10
Atmosphere: 415; 1,200 kmh
Hull: 2D
Shields: 1D
Sensors:
Passive: 15/1D
Scan: 30/2D
Search: 45/3D
Focus: 6/4D
Sensor Stealth Package: Add +2D to the difficulty for any other ships to detect the Harthusa's Pride
Weapons:
1 Laser Cannon
Fire Arc: Turret
Crew: 1
Skill: Starship gunnery
Fire Control: 2D (can be remotely controlled by pilot at fire control 0D)
Space Range: 1-3/5/10
Atmosphere Range: 100-300/500/1 km
Damage: 2D

The ship itself is a highly modified yacht, refitted to Harthusa's exacting specifications. It is astoundingly fast for a vessel of this type, yet this has come at a cost, both in terms of credits and safety. The hull and shield generators can withstand only the most minimal blasts, while its weaponry will deter only the most poorly equipped privateers. It seems that this ship is an extension of Harthusa's personality: why fight when one can run away?

The Secret Panel

If the Rebels search the flat back wall of the dome, a Difficult search roll will enable them to find the secret panel that leads to Harthusa's vault. Though he keeps most of his wealth in the Imperial Bank, he has held on to some liquid savings "for a rainy day." The accumulated treasure amounts to approximately 25,000 credits and weighs about 300 kilograms. Also enclosed in the vault is the security code for his space yacht.

If the Rebels look like they are going to blast Harthusa, this will be his last ploy: offering his treasure, including his ship, in exchange for his life.

Cut to ...

After the Rebels have saved the slaves (hopefully they will try to save all of them and not just Kentara), they would be well-advised to flee the planet as soon as possible. Kentara's companions will choose to remain on Deysum III, taking advantage of whatever Rebel underground still exists to eventually get passage off-planet. That way, if the Rebel characters fail to escape, there will still be someone free to save them.

The easiest way for the Rebels to escape is to take Harthusa's ship. If they appear to be dawdling—collecting treasure, etc.—have some of Quintarus's guards show up a little early to collect their master's purchases.

Escaping Deysum III is not as difficult as it might at first seem. The planet is so firmly under Imperial control that the ships patrolling the system expect little trouble. Surprise should be on the Rebels' side, and if they move swiftly enough, they should be able to lose any pursuing vessels.

Once the Rebels are safely on their way to Bundim, cut to "Episode Three: Return to Bundim."

3 Return to Bundim

Adventure Background

With both Kentara and the Rebels safely off Deysum III, it seems the time has come to take action on the data discovered there. But the Wookiee has other plans, demanding that he be taken back to Bundim to aid in the struggle against the Empire.

The ship's computers contain the most recent information on Bundim:

"A world which has become the symbol of the struggle in the Trax sector, the Rebellion had been active on the planet for many years. In recent months, public opinion swung in favor of the Alliance. This temperate world, known for its beautiful oceans and sparkling lakes, was also becoming known as a beacon of freedom to the oppressed people of the galaxy. This condition was a temporary one.

"Imperial action began three standard months ago. Tramp freighters departing the system commed a frantic call for help and communications were then cut off. Three standard minutes later, an Imperial Star Destroyer and its full complement moved into orbit around Bundim. The troops landed and started the 'pacification' of the world. An estimated 60,000 people were rounded up and transported into the wilderness. Some were killed, others suffered brutal torture, but most were sent to hastily constructed reeducation camps in the planet's forests. Rebels on the besieged world decided to take steps to alleviate this situation.

"Offensives against Imperial forces met with success over first two standard weeks. Six AT-AT walkers were destroyed by sabotage, and Imperial troops were routed in several battles. The battle of Heg was disastrous for the Rebels, with over 5,000 troops killed and twice as many captured. The capital city was turned into a smoking ruin after three days of artillery assaults and bombing."

Kentara was one of the first Rebels to be captured at Heg. Fortunately, the Imperials did not recognize his importance, leaving him alive. It is a decision they may soon regret.

The Bundim Gambit

Kentara is determined to return to Bundim and no amount of persuasion will get him to change his mind. Of course, he expects the Rebels to fly him to the heart of the combat zone. He will provide them with a detailed overview of the strength of the occupation fleet at the time of his capture.

The Rebels will have to break through the Imperial blockade and get to the Ghentiw Northern Mountains, where an important Rebel outpost is located. Of course, it will be difficult for the Rebels to sneak through the fleet, especially if Harthusa was left alive (he will no doubt have reported the theft of his ship), so they must arrange a distraction. The two most effective means of getting onto Bundim are detailed below.

The Risky, but Sneaky Method

After looking over the deployment of the Imperial fleet and making a Moderate tactics or Knowledge roll, one of the Rebels will note that a patrol craft cruises the perimeter of the system once per day. The cruiser also swings by Bundim. It may be possible to lure the patrol craft into a trap near the fringes of the system, and if its communications gear were to be crippled immediately, the Rebels could board the ship without the rest of the Imperial fleet being warned. If they subsequently claimed a severe system failure near Bundim, they might be able to fake a "crash landing," and arrive planetside without arousing Imperial suspicions. Kentara can suggest this plan if none of the players hits upon it.

The problem with this approach is that the patrol craft stands a good chance of getting a warning off to the fleet (by the second round of combat). However normal space communication is line-of-sight, so if the patrol craft can be lured to a spot where a planet stands between it and the fleet, the Rebels will have a few more rounds grace (at least until the cruiser can clear the planet).

Once the Rebels have taken the ship, it will be a matter of several Moderate con rolls and some fancy flying to pull off the "crash landing" scenario. With excellent roleplaying or a Difficult con, the Rebels may be able to convince the lowly Imperial communications officer that they have been ordered to the planet, as an alternative to crash landing.

The Risky, but Less Sneaky Method

Although this plan seems like an excellent way of fulfilling a death wish, there is a slim chance of survival.

The Imperial fleet has settled into "pacification" mode — all of the Rebel Alliance's starfighters have been destroyed and all space traffic has been stopped. The battle has been reduced to rooting out small but determined pockets of resistance. The last thing the Imperial commanders expect is for a poorly-armed space yacht to blast its way onto an occupied planet.

However, the fleet will respond appropriately — a group of four TIE fighters will be sent to destroy the Rebels' ship. The Rebels would be wise to pretend to be shot down rather than slug it out. By the time Imperial ground forces can get to the ship, the Rebels could be long gone.

After "landing," the Rebels may be allowed to advance to the Rebel base without any difficulty or they can be forced to endure the "dangerous overland trek" type of adventure (see "Gamemaster Diagram: Bundim" on the following page). Kentara is thoroughly familiar with the planet, so this won't be an adventure in unknown lands, but there should be a full understanding of just how dangerous portions of Bundim can be. The Rebels will also have to dodge Imperial patrols using everything from speeder bikes to Juggernaut heavy assault vehicles (see pages 69-70 of the Imperial Sourcebook, Second Edition).

Patrol Cruiser

Craft: Loronar Regulator X-Q2 System Patrol Cruiser
Type: Inter-system patrol/customs craft
Scale: Capital
Length: 150 meters
Skill: Capital ship piloting: X-Q2 Cruiser
Crew: 9, gunners: 5, skeleton: 5/+15
Crew Skill: Capital ship gunnery 4D, capital ship piloting 4D, capital ship shields 3D+2
Passengers: 15
Cargo Capacity: 300 metric tons
Consumables: 3 weeks
Cost: Not available for sale
Maneuverability: 2D+2
Space: 7
Atmosphere: 350; 1,000 kmh
Hull: 4D
Shields: 2D+2
Sensors:
Passive: 20/1D
Scan: 40/1D+2
Search: 60/2D
Focus: 4/2D+2
Weapons:
5 Laser Cannons
Fire Arc: 2 forward, 1 left, 1 right, 1 back
Crew: 1
Skill: Capital ship gunnery
Fire Control: 2D+2
Space Range: 2-15/30/60
Atmosphere Range: 400-3/6/12 km
Damage: 4D

To increase the tension level, the Rebels may finally get to the base only to find that it has been evacuated or that there has been a large battle there. At this point, the Rebels will have to use their wits and luck to find other Rebel operatives.

Hello and Goodbye

Upon encountering the Bundim Rebels, the Rebel characters will be advised by them to return to Draenell's Point as soon as possible. The Rebel leader, a Mon Calamari named Kray'geen T'ihar, tells the characters that they can learn from Bundim's mistakes. He instructs the Rebels on how to set up a Rebel cell network that will be able to gather information and materials without causing a similar invasion fleet to be brought down upon the planet.

Kray'geen has proven himself a capable leader, taking over Bundim's Rebel network in a period of crisis several years ago. He has skillfully built up the Alliance's military and economic resources on this world.

Kray'geen T'ihar

Type: Mon Cal Rebel Leader
DEXTERITY 2D+2
Blaster 4D+2, dodge 4D, melee combat 3D+1, melee parry 4D, vehicle blasters 3D+1
KNOWLEDGE 4D
Alien species 6D+2, bureaucracy 5D, cultures 6D, languages 7D, planetary systems 5D+2, streetwise 5D, survival 5D+2, tactics 7D, value 5D+1
MECHANICAL 2D+2
Astrogation 3D+2, beast riding 3D, repulsorlift operation 4D, space transports 4D
PERCEPTION 3D
Bargain 3D+2, command 5D, con 4D+1, search 4D
STRENGTH 3D
Brawling 3D+2, stamina 4D, swimming 4D+2
TECHNICAL 2D+2
Computer programming/repair 3D+2, demolition 3D, droid programming 4D, droid repair 4D+2, first aid 4D+2, repulsorlift repair 3D+2, security 4D, space transports repair 3D+1
Special Abilities:
Moist Environments: +1D to Dexterity, Perception and Strength attribute and skill checks when in moist environments.
Dry Environments: -1D to Dexterity, Perception and Strength attribute and skill checks when in dry environments.
Aquatic: Mon Calamari can breathe both air and water and can withstand extreme pressures found in ocean depths.
Force Points: 1
Character Points: 10
Move: 10
Equipment: Heavy blaster pistol (5D), blaster rifle (5D), comlink, pocket computer, computer tool kit, droid tool kit

The Rebels should realize that they must return to Draenell's Point. Unfortunately, the vessel they arrived in will either have been damaged in the "crash landing," or discovered and confiscated by Imperial soldiers. Their only options will be to hire transport or book passage on an outgoing vessel. The Bundim Rebels can probably provide information on which ships are scheduled to depart from the starport.

4 Going My Way?

Adventure Background

The Rebels begin this adventure on Bundim, a heavily-blockaded world. Bundim, which is described in the previous episode, is a world on which the Rebellion once prospered, but which is now being crushed under the Imperial heel.

The Rebels came to Bundim to deliver a Wookiee Rebel back to his comrades, and now need to return to Draenell's Point. But with the vessel they used to get here unavailable, they must find other means of transport off the planet. In addition, it is possible that Imperial authorities may be looking for them with regard to their activities on Deysum III.

This episode begins with the Rebels arriving at the starport, seeking a way off Bundim.

Do You Know the Way to Draenell's Point?

The Rebels essentially have two options: chartering a ship (possibly with the money they took from Harthusa), or booking passage on a vessel. If they attempt the former, they will encounter only frustration. Virtually all the captains they could trust are "laying low" due to the increased Imperial interest in the system, and any others might be in the pay of Imperial Intelligence and planning to fly them right into the Empire's hands.

Checking around the starport, the Rebels will find that there are a number of vessels scheduled to depart, with courses that take them in the general direction of Draenell's Point. Unfortunately, most of these are full. If they ask around, they will find that, in the wake of the Imperial crackdown, many people have decided to "take a vacation" from Bundim.

The only ship not booked solid is Telgordo's Pride, a luxury vessel run by an Imperial subsidiary company. Not the most comfortable of options, to say the least. But, Telgordo's Pride is leaving the next day and, if the Rebels don't want to stay on Bundim to be rooted out, they had better figure out some way to get aboard.

Telgordo's Pride is one of the more impressive starliners in Telgordo Travel's fleet. This is no small distinction, as the company is one of the most influential shipping firms in the galaxy, run by men and women who are among the most trusted in the Empire.

Cut to ...

Once the Rebels are ready to leave Bundim, cut to "Episode Four: Going My Way?"

The only reason Telgordo's Pride is on Bundim at all is by an incredible mischance. A week ago, the ship was cruising the spaceways with its normal complement of rich Imperials and hangers-on. Then, just after passing an Imperial checkpoint (Telgordo ships don't stop for checkpoints, they just pass by), the ship was hijacked.

The hijackers were rebels against the Empire, but ones not associated with the Rebel Alliance. They were representatives of the many species subjugated and exploited by the Empire: Wookiees, Mon Calamari, and Togorions, mainly. They took the ship with remarkable ease, a credit to both their ingenuity and the complacency of the previous owners. Marooning most of the passengers and crew, they fled to the nearest "safe" system: Bundim.

The Imperial presence, however, has severely shaken the hijackers. Originally, their plan was to sell the luxury liner and buy smaller, better-armed vessels to use in their fight against the Empire. Now, with the Star Destroyer hovering in-system like a watchdog, they have come up with another plan.

The hijackers have decided to pretend that it's all business as usual aboard Telgordo's Pride. They are slowly taking passengers and cargo aboard and will soon try to depart the system. They are extremely nervous about their plan, but see no other way out of their current predicament.

Ticket to Ride

As on many worlds throughout the Empire, the Rebels find that on Bundim, the portmaster keeps records of where each ship is and when it is departing, but each vessel handles its own ticket sales. The Rebels must venture over to Telgordo's Pride themselves if they wish to book passage.

The "ticket agent" for Telgordo's Pride is a Gotal named Trill Dantor. When the hijackers decided upon their new plan, they figured he would be the one best suited to screening prospective customers. Given his natural abilities and general paranoia, the hijackers have chosen well.

Trill Dantor

DEXTERITY 1D+2
Blaster 3D, dodge 2D+2
KNOWLEDGE 1D
Alien species 2D+2, languages 3D
MECHANICAL 1D
Starship shields 3D+1
PERCEPTION 5D
Bargain 5D+1, con 5D+2, search 6D
STRENGTH 2D+1
TECHNICAL 1D
Space transports repair 2D+2
Special Abilities:
Energy sensitivity* (+3D to search), mood detection, fast initiative (+1D to initiative against non-Gotal opponents)
Move: 10
Equipment: Hold-out blaster (3D+1), tickets, utility space suit (on board ship), oxygen reprocessor (on ship)

• For more information on Gotal special abilities, see pages 47-48 of Galaxy Guide 4: Alien Races, Second Edition.

Note: The deckplans of Telgordo's Pride show Level 4; Levels 1-3 and 5-10 are laid out in similar fashion. Level 1 is the engine section, while Levels 2-3 and 5-10 feature an observation deck in place of the control room.

Dantor will be a little less friendly with his customers than a normal ticket agent would be. If characters make a Moderate Perception roll, they will notice that the Gotal seems nervous about something. Of course, Dantor is probably going to be able to detect the moods of the characters as well — if the characters aren't careful, the Gotal will become suspicious and will not allow them on board the Telgordo's Pride.

The going price for a ticket aboard Telgordo's Pride is 900 credits, non-negotiable. A high price for simple passage, true, but a ridiculously low one for a luxury liner like the Pride. A Moderate Knowledge roll will reveal that this is quite a bargain. If they ask Dantor about the low rate, he will just say, "The company's having a special," and leave it at that.

The Catch

Both groups of rebels are in a sticky situation. The Rebel characters must try to seem like loyal Imperial citizens going on a pleasure cruise, while the hijackers must screen each individual carefully. If anyone tries to buy a ticket who looks like a Rebel sympathizer, the hijackers have to refuse — it might draw Imperial attention to the ship and result in their exposure and arrest.

On the other hand, if anyone appears to be too "pro-Empire," they won't want to accept him purely as a matter of taste.

The Rebel players will probably need to obtain forged customs papers (good enough to get by Dantor), and they will have to come up with the money for the trip (if they don't have Harthusa's cash). Needless to say, the crew of Telgordo's Pride is not interested in hiring new workers.

All Aboard

Once on board, the Rebels will find themselves surrounded by rich, loyal imperial citizens and, apparently, a crew of loyal Telgordo employees. The temptation for most Rebels will be too great to resist. However, the gamemaster should caution them against too rash a maneuver until they get into hyperspace. Until then, that Star Destroyer could come down on this little ship hard. The Rebels need to play their roles carefully until such time as they are well away from Bundim, or they will alert the other passengers to their true identities.

The new crew of Telgordo's Pride will keep as far away from the passengers as they can during the in-system travel. Since this is a luxury liner and not a tramp freighter, it takes a considerable amount of time for it to work up to a hyperspace jump. During this time, the Rebels may encounter various passengers, including an Imperial lieutenant governor on his way through Bundim after a "well-earned leave"; a crusty and corrupt ex-Senator now in the pay of the Empire; a wealthy spice merchant and her sycophantic entourage, etc.

All of these people should be frightfully interested in the business of the Rebels and at the same time annoying and impossible to get away from. Whenever one person gets rebuffed, bring on another unsavory individual to torment the Rebels. Also, remind them constantly that they are under the watchful eyes of the ship's security guards.

Surprise!

By the time Telgordo's Pride finally hits hyperspace, the Rebels should be about ready to chew glow rods. With any luck, they have planned something along the lines of a hijacking of their own, or at least a little petty theft.

Regardless, as soon as the ship jumps to hyperdrive, armed "guards" will burst into their cabin(s) or surround them in the lounge area. A voice will come over the intercom stating:

"Welcome aboard Telgordo's Pride, formerly the flagship of the Telgordo Travel fleet. It is now under the command of the Rebellion and you are all our prisoners."

The pilot will then show himself to his stunned "guests." He is the leader of the hijackers, a Mon Calamari named Rutralli Optor.

Rutralli Optor

DEXTERITY 2D
Blaster 3D+2, dodge 3D, melee combat 2D+2
KNOWLEDGE 2D
Languages 4D, value 3D+1
MECHANICAL 2D
Astrogation 4D, capital ship gunnery 2D+2, capital ship piloting 4D, capital ship shields 3D
PERCEPTION 2D
Command 4D, search 3D
STRENGTH 2D
TECHNICAL 2D
Computer programming/repair 3D, first aid 3D+1, capital ship repair 3D+1
Special Abilities:
Moist environments (+1D to Dexterity, Perception and Strength in moist environments), dry environments (-1D to Dexterity, Perception and Strength in dry environments), aquatic (Mon Calamari can breathe both air and water)
Move: 10
Equipment: Blaster pistol (4D), utility space suit, miniature life-support system, vibro-blade (STR+1D+2)

Also aboard are 10 other guards of mixed species (see above) and Trill Dantor. They intend to rob the passengers and then abandon them on a habitable planet off the beaten spaceways.

The Rebels have three options: fight, talk, or surrender. Since the hijackers have the obvious upper hand and are apparently working for the Rebellion (though the Rebels have never heard of any of them), fighting may seem a little crazy. Marooning is probably also not a viable option — there's no telling when the Rebels would be found.

The only other chance the Rebels have is to convince the hijackers that they themselves oppose the Empire. The Rebels will have to roleplay this extremely well; the hijackers are incredibly paranoid after the incident at Bundim and have, supposedly, been taken in by the Rebels' previous performance — the one where they pretended to be loyal citizens of the Empire.

Feel free to make the Rebels sweat. Keep in mind that the hijackers are paranoid, but they are not lunatics — Dantor and Optor haven't survived this long by stubbornly refusing to bargain. If the Rebels remain reasonably calm (not an easy thing to do with Wookiees and Togorions breathing down your neck), and don't do anything foolish, they should be able to succeed. Rutralli will probably try tests to trick them, i.e., "See that fat merchant? Shoot him and I'll let you go," or "If you're Rebels, where's the Alliance's main base?" If the Rebels shoot the merchant or reveal the location (though Rutralli wouldn't know if they gave the right answer, anyway), he'll maroon them with the rest. "Real Rebels would never do that!" Use your imagination.

Cut to ...

When the Rebels do convince the hijackers of their true loyalties, then everything will be fine. The hijackers will maroon the rest of the passengers (on an out-of-the-way planet, of course) and take the Rebels to a safe starport from which they can easily get passage back to Draenell's Point. The hijackers will then say goodbye.

If the Rebels ask their brethren to come with them, the hijackers will probably decline, saying they need to sell Telgordo's Pride and buy some warships first. Then, well, they'll see.

Once the Rebels are on their way to Draenell's Point, cut to "Episode Five: 'Blades and Blasters."

5 'Blades and Blasters

Adventure Background

The Rebels have returned to Draenell's Point, a small, primarily agrarian, world "far from the bright center of the universe." But things have changed markedly since their last visit. This system was all but ignored by the Empire, but now there is a very conspicuous Imperial presence — ships, stormtroopers, and even an Imperial Governor.

The reason for this is that the Empire has decided to construct a resupply base in the Bissillirus system, and standard Imperial procedure dictates that the system must be "secured against Rebel action" before work can begin on the base.

What all this has meant to the people of Draenell's Point is a thorough crackdown on any activities deemed seditious. Martial law took effect immediately upon the arrival of the first Imperial vessel, and that meant the days of free trade were over. The ever-paranoid Empire, upon seeing happy, prospering citizens, immediately knew that Rebel activity had to be taking place on the planet. They imposed a curfew in the cities and have begun patrolling the rural areas.

Naturally, there was some initial resistance. Farmers objected to selling their products at one-quarter their value "to supply the Imperial garrison," citizens of the towns and cities spoke out against curfews and house-to-house inspections, and the local governments were displeased at the idea of Imperial overlordship.

But the Empire had done this sort of thing so many times before. Even before all their ships were down, Imperial agents began rounding up "Rebel leaders and sympathizers." They put up jails and guardposts and, before the people of the Point realized it, they were part of the Empire for real.

In this adventure, the Rebels need to use their knowledge of Rebel cell construction (see "Rebel Cell Construction") to organize a resistance to the Imperial forces. Otherwise, peaceful Draenell's Point will be crushed beneath the weight of the Empire.

Arrival

The first thing the Rebels have to do upon reaching Draenell's Point is find someplace to stay. Their best bet will be to set up a base of operations in the largest city on the planet, called simply Starpoint, the planet's only civilian starport.

This should not be too difficult. There are plenty of houses and buildings for rent in the city (the Rebels would be advised against staying in a public inn unless they have no other recourse); many people have fled to the country to escape Imperial oppression.

Once they have done that, the Rebels have to locate local pockets of resistance. Even on the tamest of worlds, there is some resistance to Imperial oppression, and Draenell's Point is no exception.

Among the places the Rebels should check for information are the local bars, and since this is a starport city, there are plenty. Unfortunately, many of them have become the off-duty haunts of Imperial officers and men. But if the Rebels check some of the seedier sections of town, they will find the "Farmer's Folly."

The Farmer's Folly

The "Farmer's Folly" is a tavern located as far from the starport as the city limits allow. It is a small bar, and, before the Empire moved in, it was avoided by all but the criminal element of Draenell's Point. Now, the "honest" criminals (those that object to the presence of Imperial forces on the planet) still hang out here, but they are often in the company of those whom they used to prey upon. The place has become a haven for those with a gripe against the Empire.

When the Rebels enter the Folly, they will immediately become the centers of attention. People move away and stare — not in fear, but suspicion. Just recently, there was a battle between rival youth gangs in the area, and the patrons are nervous about a possible strengthening of the Empire's repressive measures as a result.

Patrons of the bar include:

• Kesha Weebe, bartender and owner. Kesha has owned and run the Farmer's Folly for over a quarter of a century. A widow, Kesha is a tough old woman who knows when to mind her own business and who keeps an eye out for trouble;

Drukus Kain is a local farm tool manufacturer who has taken to making weapons on the sly. He is a big, burly man with a hot temper. He talks a lot, drinks a lot and, unless stopped by Kesha, fights a lot. He uses his farm tool manufacturing business to distract inspectors, quietly turning out dozens of illegal weapons every week, including blasters and vibro weapons. He sells them primarily to the criminal element. Since the Empire has begun clamping down on Draenell's Point, Drukus has begun supplying the local youth gangs with weapons in the hope that they will use them to fight the Empire.

Drukus Kain

Type: Businessman
DEXTERITY 3D
Blaster 4D+1, brawling parry 3D+2, melee combat 4D, vehicle blasters 3D+1
KNOWLEDGE 2D+2
Streetwise 4D, value 3D
MECHANICAL 2D+2
Beast riding 3D
PERCEPTION 3D
Bargain 4D, con 4D+1, gambling 3D+1, sneak 3D+2
STRENGTH 3D
Brawling 4D+2
TECHNICAL 3D+2
(A) Blaster design 6D, blaster repair 10D, demolition 5D, security 5D, (A) vibro weapon design 5D+2, vibro weapon repair 8D
Character Points: 8
Move: 10
Equipment: Concealed hold-out blaster (3D+1), vibro-blade (STR+1D+2), 100 credits

Plessus was a small-time thief when the Imperials arrived in force. Knowing his skills would not be sufficient to get him a position working directly for the Empire, and also being a natural coward, Plessus decided to become an informer. He hangs around the Farmer's Folly and waits to hear rebellious talk, then he hightails it to the nearest checkpoint and informs on the "Rebel."

Plessus Weege

Type: Imperial Spy
DEXTERITY 2D
Blaster 3D, dodge 3D+2, melee combat 3D+1, pick pocket 3D+2
KNOWLEDGE 2D
Streetwise 4D+1, survival 4D
MECHANICAL 2D
PERCEPTION 2D
Con 4D+1, search 3D+2, sneak 4D+2
STRENGTH 2D
TECHNICAL 2D
Security 2D+2
Character Points: 3
Move: 10
Equipment: Concealed vibro-blade (STR+1D+2), 25 credits

The stormtroopers and officers stationed on Draenell's Point use Weege, but they don't like him. They pay him less than he thinks is fair, but he has to be satisfied ... or they'll let word of his activities leak to the people he has informed on. Currently, he is watching Drukus Kain and hoping the big man will make a slip.

There are four other customers in the bar, and all are talking in whispers about the local gangs and their activities. If the Rebels sit quietly and make Moderate Perception rolls, they'll hear:

Patron #1: "... Benthar's boys painted that graffiti on the checkpoint walls."

Patron #2: "...when the fight was over, they all took off before the troopers got there to clean up."

Patron #3: "... was Droxie there? I heard she was with the Vibroblade gang now."

Patron #4: " ... the Vibroblades have Benthar, I hear, and they want a merger."

Patron #1: "... troopers can't even stop a gang and they're supposed to stop the Rebellion?"

That last comment comes from Drukus Kain. He is getting a little drunk, and the remark came out a little louder than he had intended it. The entire bar falls silent when he says it, and the Rebels notice the patrons glancing at Drukus and then in their direction.

Droxie

The tension sparked by Kain's words will be supplanted, but not eased, by the entrance of a teenage girl wearing a tight coverall and jacket. She is fairly attractive, but when she enters, the looks she gets from the patrons are more hostile than appraising. As she saunters up to the bar, the Rebels see that the back of her jacket is emblazoned with the stylized emblem of the Vibroblade gang: a silver vibroblade stuck through a bleeding rose.

When the teenager gets to the bar, Kesha walks up to her and calls her "Droxie." It is immediately obvious that the two regard each other with hostility. After a quiet exchange, the girl drops a packet on the bar and says, "If Benthar's Boys want him back, then they can come get him," then saunters out.

At this point, the Rebels can feel free to talk to Kesha about what's happened, mainly because everyone else is. She relates that a few nights ago, "Benthar's Boys," a local youth gang, had a fight with the "Vibroblade" gang. But, instead of just breaking up after a few passes, the fight turned ugly. Several members on both sides were severely wounded, and Benthar, one of the gangleaders, was captured by the Vibroblades.

Benthar's Boys are the gang that runs this area. The bar patrons, for the most part, like the Boys. Before the Empire arrived, they were just a group of kids who hung around in the streets, not causing any more trouble than would be expected. But in recent weeks they have become involved in a turf war with the Vibroblades. Although both gangs have been known to strike out in small ways against the Imperial presence (graffiti, minor assaults on lone troops, occasional tomato throwing), their hatred for each other has distracted them from fighting their common enemy.

Droxie is the cause of the conflict. She had been Benthar's girlfriend and second-in-command of the Boys before the Empire arrived. Then, for reasons unknown to the bar patrons, she left him and the gang and went over to the 'Blades. Benthar and the 'Blade gang leader (a punk named Herafin) have been feuding ever since.

The Rebels should see an opportunity here. If they can meet with the two gangs and settle their differences, the Rebels will have the beginning of a resistance movement. The only common ground the two gangs have is their opposition to the Empire, but that should be enough. The first thing the Rebels have to do is free Benthar. If he is killed while the 'Blades have him prisoner, it will mean an all-out war (if they don't figure this out, Drukus will probably say it).

The Rebels have an ally in Drukus. He wants the two gangs to unite and form a resistance unit, but he is reluctant to try and organize it himself. He will help the Rebels if they let him know that they share his goals.

Of course, Plessus Weege will want to inform his Imperial bosses about the "traitorous talk" in the bar. After the Rebels have learned what information they can, they will notice Weege skulk out of the bar. At least one of the Rebels should "have a bad feeling about this" and choose to follow. If not, the now-drunk Drukus will get up, exclaim, "Where's that informing womprat headed ...?!" and stagger after the spy.

The Boys and the 'Blades

With any luck, the Rebels will get into a fight with Weege and begin to interrogate him. Before they get too far, however, they are interrupted by a group of teenagers exploding out of the shadows — between 10 and 20 of them. The gang - Benthar's Boys - has the advantage of numbers and surprise, but will make clear they just want to talk to the Rebels.

Krystick Moonskimmer, Benthar's new lieutenant, will do the talking. He informs the Rebels that the gang has had its eye on Weege for some time, and by attacking him, the Rebels have, to some extent, proven where their loyalties lie. The idea of this scene is to get the Rebels to volunteer to break Benthar out of the warehouse he is being held in. Benthar's Boys approve of this plan and will agree that, if the Rebels accomplish it successfully, the gang will listen to whatever they have to say.

There are 20 teenagers in the Vibroblade gang, but only about 10 will be at the warehouse at any one time. They have Benthar tied to a chair in the middle of the large first floor room and they've been trying to "convince" him to betray his gang's war plans. They haven't tortured him, but they have been taunting him in his helplessness.

The idea for the Rebels is to break into the warehouse and either free Benthar and escape unnoticed (not very likely), or to subdue the gang in a non-lethal fashion. They should be aware of the fact that killing a bunch of local kids is not the best way to start a Rebel cell. They can either try to intimidate or beat the kids into submission, but they should stop short of serious injury.

10 Vibroblade Members

DEXTERITY 2D
Brawling parry 3D+2, dodge 4D, melee combat 4D+1, melee parry 4D
KNOWLEDGE 2D+1
Streetwise 4D+1, survival 3D
MECHANICAL 1D+2
PERCEPTION 2D
Con 2D+2, sneak 4D
STRENGTH 2D
Brawling 3D+1
TECHNICAL 2D
Move: 10
Equipment: Vibro-blade (STR+1D+2), 10-30 credits

Droxie and Herafin each have a hold-out blaster (3D+1).

If the Rebels are able to free Benthar with a minimum of bloodshed, they will be able to meet with both gangs and eventually bring them together. The Boys will be willing to hold up their end of the agreement and listen to the Rebels, and the 'Blades will concede the Rebel's right to ask a boon of them, as they were the victors in the fight. Both gangs simply need to be reminded that the Empire is the true enemy, and their own personal disagreements should be put aside for the good of Draenell's Point.

Having identified themselves as Rebels, the player characters will find themselves being regarded as heroes by the two gangs. In addition, it is quite likely that Droxie will develop a "crush" on one of the Rebels, probably the apparent leader. She is a "leader's woman," which is why she changed gangs in the first place (and started all the trouble).

Cut to ...

With the start of an active resistance movement on Draenell's Point, the Rebels should be ready to take the first step toward disrupting the Empire's plans for the Bissillirus Resupply Base. Cut to "Episode Six: Breakthrough in Bissillirus."

6 Breakthrough in Bissillirus

Adventure Background

Bissillirus Resupply Base. A simple decision made by an anonymous Imperial strategist that completely altered the agenda of the Rebel Alliance in the Trax sector.

Up to now, Sector Command had been content to let the Rebel cell on Draenell's Point monitor the system and make sure food shipments get safely off-planet. Information on the Imperial resupply base has been scarce and unreliable - all that is known for certain is that the facility is expected to play a crucial role in Imperial plans for Trax sector. Hard, accurate information on the base would give the Rebel Alliance a strategic advantage in the area, despite its relative lack of manpower and materials.

But finding out about the base seems to be next to impossible. Scheduling information is so well guarded that only a few very powerful individuals can get details.

Security is so tight that not even a microbe could slip into or out of the base, and every attempt to pierce the veil of secrecy around it seemed destined to end in failure.

Or so the Rebels thought until their meeting with a trader named Hennilrum, an Alliance sympathizer and a valuable source of information. Hennilrum revealed that much of his data was provided by a mid-level bureaucrat on the base, Treffelt Wuin. The Imperial official claims to have information "of vital interest to the Rebellion," but is demanding sanctuary on a Rebel safeworld out of fear that his treachery is about to be discovered.

A Passage to BRB

The first part of the adventure is actually sneaking on to the station. Hennilrum will inform the Rebels that a Draenell's Point bureaucrat named Ensil Moiss has been summoned to the station for an important mission of some kind. The Rebels have the option of quietly taking out Moiss' security escort, although they will have to ensure a quick and clean substitution. If Commander Jaggert of the Resupply Base finds out that anything strange is going on, he may change whatever plans are in the works.

The substitution will be difficult. The Rebels must sneak into the main spaceport (not hard since civilian ships are often docked at the port and many people have business there), but then they must subdue the guards without damaging the uniforms or attracting attention (there are a few lonely service corridors in the port that would serve their purposes admirably).

Fortunately, the uniforms' helmets have a blast shield, so Human Rebels will have no trouble disguising themselves, but aliens have no chance of disguise. A Moderate con roll will be necessary to convince the lead security guard to do something outside of his orders, such as break up a fight supposedly occurring around the corner or something similar. This kind of ploy will be necessary to get the guards out of sight and into an ambush.

Ensil Moiss is not very attentive when it comes to his guards. He trusts them to know their job, which is to protect him at the expense of their lives. Once aboard the transport shuttle, Moiss will keep the lead guard up front with him for conversation (Moiss is an agricultural supervisor, so the conversation consists mostly of grumbling about how production is down due to lazy workers, how the resupply base is cutting business, etc.)

Middle-aged, rotund and obnoxious, Moiss should be a trial for the Rebels to put up with. He is quick to criticize anything and everything, and will drone on for hours about agriculture if allowed to.

Tall, thin, balding and extremely nervous, Wuin went over to the Rebellion out of spite when he was passed over for a promotion. He has worried since then that he may have made the wrong choice, but it's too late to back out now.

Ensil Moiss

Type: Bureaucrat
DEXTERITY 1D+2
Dodge 2D+2
KNOWLEDGE 2D+1
Alien species 3D+1, bureaucracy 4D, scholar: agriculture 6D
MECHANICAL 2D
PERCEPTION 2D
Command 3D
STRENGTH 2D
TECHNICAL 2D
Security 2D
Move: 10
Equipment: Comlink, cheap suit

Bodyguards

DEXTERITY 2D
Blaster 3D+1, brawling parry 4D, melee combat 4D, melee parry 4D+2
KNOWLEDGE 2D
MECHANICAL 1D+2
PERCEPTION 2D
Con 3D, search 3D+2
STRENGTH 2D+1
Brawling 3D+2
TECHNICAL 2D
Move: 10
Equipment: Blaster pistol (4D), comlink

Upon arrival at the landing bay, a dozen TIE fighters can be seen on the flight deck (held in suspension above the deck in a strange gridwork), as well as a pair of small Imperial shuttles. There is more than enough room for Moiss' old shuttle. Although the station is certainly secure, Moiss says, he asks his guards to accompany him as a matter of planetary pride.

The Rebels should thus be able to board the base without undergoing any excessive scrutiny. But if the Rebels say anything to arouse suspicion in front of the Imperial guards they may be facing real trouble. The regular Imperial Army troops are armed with blaster rifles and comlinks. While Moiss leads them through the station, they will encounter several squads of Imperial Army troops and even a few squads of stormtroopers. Occasionally, they will overhear derisive comments about the quality of the planetary militia.

Moiss will lead them past several rooms containing computers, but no apparent security. Once Moiss arrives at the meeting room, they will be left in the main reception area. The Rebels are free to leave if they want to. Moiss mentions that the meeting will be over in two hours.

To find Wuin, the Rebels will have to access the station's computer systems. Hennilrum told the characters to mention his name once they found Wuin so that Wuin would know they were who they claimed to be. The Rebels will cross several rooms where there are no guards or security cameras; if they want to be difficult and try to access a more sensitive area, they can insist on going to an office where there are guards and other security measures.

Once at the computer, the characters will have to make a Very Easy computer programming/repair roll to find out where Wuin is at present. The machine will reveal that he is in the middle of a physical recreation period at one of the health facilities deep in the station. The Rebels should realize that they must somehow acquire Imperial uniforms if they intend to go marching around unnoticed.

Once they have "acquired" Imperial uniforms (and providing they haven't raised a general alarm in doing so), the Rebels can get to the health facility without a problem. They may wait for Wuin to leave or decide to pretend to be soldiers there for recreation. Wuin will express a mixture of shock and relief once the Rebels reveal who they are. He will want to go to his quarters and get personal belongings before boarding the shuttle, but the Rebels won't have time to allow this. In fact, they will have to rush to get Wuin to the shuttle, hide him in the cargo hold (a concept he is not at all amenable to), and arrive at the reception area in time to escort Moiss back.

On the flight back to the Point, Moiss will relate that the base will be taking a huge supply of Draenell's crops within the next 10 days. Commander Jaggert is planning to send 300 Imperial troops to the planet to oversee operations there.

Once planetside, the Rebels will have to escort Wuin out of the spaceport. Free from spying eyes, Wuin will explain that a huge transport convoy is scheduled to arrive at Bissillirus Resupply Base in 10 days. He believes the convoy would be an easy target for a Rebel assault and an excellent chance to get supplies. As far as getting to a Rebel safeworld, if the Rebel characters already have sufficient connections to get Wuin off-planet, allow them to — but if not, Wuin will have to go into hiding and wait on Draenell's Point indefinitely. Within a couple of days, however, Imperial troops will quietly arrive on the planet and begin looking for the missing officer. For added excitement, the Rebels could discover an ISB agent on the planet and have to continually move Wuin around to avoid detection.

Treffelt Wuin

Type: Imperial Traitor
DEXTERITY 2D
Blaster 3D, brawling parry 3D+1, dodge 3D+2, melee combat 3D
KNOWLEDGE 2D+2
Bureaucracy 4D+2, planetary systems 3D, scholar: Imperial procedures 5D
MECHANICAL 2D
Astrogation 2D+2, starship gunnery 3D
PERCEPTION 2D
Command 4D, search 4D+1
STRENGTH 1D+2
Brawling 2D
TECHNICAL 1D+2
Droid programming 3D+1, space transports repair 2D+1
Character Points: 3
Move: 10
Equipment: Blaster pistol (4D), rank code cylinders

Imperial Army Trooper

DEXTERITY 3D
Blaster 4D, dodge 4D+2, melee combat 4D+2, melee parry 4D+2
KNOWLEDGE 1D+1
Survival 2D+2
MECHANICAL 1D+1
Repulsorlift operation 2D+2
PERCEPTION 2D
Search 3D
STRENGTH 3D+1
Brawling 4D+2, stamina 3D+2
TECHNICAL 1D
Repulsorlift repair 2D
Move: 10
Equipment: Blaster pistol (4D), comlink, vibro-bayonet (STR+1D+2), protective vest (+2 physical, +1 energy), protective helmet (+2 physical, +1 energy)

7 All Our Sins Remembered

Adventure Background

This episode fits directly into the Bissillirus campaign. If you are playing it as a separate adventure, the following two events must have occurred prior to its opening: 1) the Rebels have somehow angered a wealthy gangster or industrialist, and 2) the Rebels have important information that they must get to Rebel Sector Command.

Early in the campaign, the Rebels successfully saved a Wookiee Rebel named Kentara from the clutches of a slaver. In so doing, they cost the Spice Mines of Kessel a valuable piece of "property," angering the heads of that corporation.

In this adventure, the Rebels find themselves the targets of bounty hunters sent by the mining concern, which is determined to make an example out of the Rebels to discourage others who might want to interfere in operations in the future.

The bounty hunters make their presence known while the Rebel characters are travelling to the resort world of Entrus to make contact with Rebel Sector Command and tell them about the imminent arrival of the Imperial supply fleet at Bissillirus Resupply Base. If the supply fleet can be stopped, the Imperial campaign on Lexrul will be halted and the Rebels on that planet will have time to escape.

Sidebar: Cut to ...

With Wuin's information safely in the Rebels' hands, cut to "Episode Seven: All Our Sins Remembered."

Chased by the Best

The episode begins on Draenell's Point, where the Rebels must find transport to Entrus. If the Rebels were unsuccessful in keeping their identities secret in Episode Six, they will have to disguise themselves before entering the spaceport because the Planetary Guard will be conducting an exhaustive search for them. This will include an identity check for anyone purchasing tickets for off-planet transport, so the Rebels will either have to come up with excellent cover identities (a Moderate forgery roll to alter a Bissillirus identification card for this purpose) or have someone else buy their tickets.

If the Rebels try to con someone into buying their tickets, the difficulty is Moderate with a +5 modifier because the unlucky person should be at least somewhat suspicious. If the characters care, this person will be in a tremendous amount of trouble if his part in assisting wanted criminals is ever revealed.

A Helping Hand

One way to help the Rebels along in this scene is to introduce Hen Jamos, a merchant going to Entrus. If the Rebels can come up with a convincing tale of woe and misfortune, he may take pity on them and claim that they are his assistants. Jamos is a merchant of miscellaneous trinkets (he will give each Rebel either an automatic breath refresher, personal computer micro-cleaner or metal miniature of a stock light freighter — "for the kids").

Hen Jamos

DEXTERITY 2D
Dodge 2D+2
KNOWLEDGE 2D
Planetary systems 2D+2
MECHANICAL 2D
PERCEPTION 2D
Bargain 4D
STRENGTH 2D
TECHNICAL 2D
Move: 10

A slightly overweight, balding Human in his mid-30s, Jamos makes a meager living selling trinkets and marginally useful gadgets on different planets. He has been in Bissillirus system for a few months, has made some money, and is now going to Entrus to see if his products will be more popular there. He claims to be an "exclusive factory-direct representative" for many small companies.

Jamos has booked passage on the Trax Express, a small starship liner known for low fares and minimal comfort. Passengers are crammed into rows and rows of uncomfortable seats (sleep is impossible due to the noise and seat design). If the Rebels want to stretch their legs, they can get a decent meal in the lounge, although the prices are outrageous (25 credits for a sandwich and beverage). The lounge is large and offers a separate section with holo-vids and a couple of small souvenir shops (Jamos will try to ply his wares in these shops).

If the Rebels enter one of the shops, they will notice a suspicious looking Human in the lounge. He is trying to appear inconspicuous, but is watching every move the Rebel characters make.

The man is Andar Sizzton, one of the five bounty hunters sent after the Rebels. He is dressed in casual clothing and has a blaster pistol concealed under his tunic. He has brown hair, is in his early twenties, and has a nose ring. He will not approach any of the Rebels. He is studying them and trying to spot any weaknesses. He does not plan to make an attempt to apprehend the Rebels at this point.

Sizzton is very nervous because he is the only one on this flight. The others remained behind on Draenell's Point and Bundim, in the event the Rebels somehow doubled back and returned there. Sizzton's assignment is to follow the Rebels and notify his comrades once the ship arrives on Entrus. If he is able to exit the ship quickly, he will be able to get the message off and the other bounty hunters will arrive in six hours. If the Rebels can stop him, the other bounty hunters will arrive on Entrus in three days looking for Sizzton.

Andar Sizzton

DEXTERITY 2D+1
Blaster 4D, dodge 3D+1, melee combat 4D
KNOWLEDGE 1D+2
Streetwise 2D, survival 2D+2
MECHANICAL 2D
Space transports 4D
PERCEPTION 2D
Bargain 3D+2, con 4D+1, sneak 3D+2
STRENGTH 2D+1
TECHNICAL 1D+2
Move: 10
Equipment: Blaster pistol (4D), armor (+1D physical, +1 energy, -1D Dexterity and all related skills), vibro-blade (hidden in boots, STR+1D+2), 475 credits

Andar is nervous because he realizes that his "targets" suspect something, but he also knows that they can't do anything about it in public. He figures his best bet is to flee once he lands on Entrus and get an underworld messenger to summon the rest of the bounty hunter team.

World of Distractions

Entrus is a resort world designed for the amusement of the sector's upper class, and accurately reflects the general unsophistication of the people. Gambling is legal, as are most other vices. Billboards, signs and holo-ads for businesses and products are meters high, with gaudy colors and overpowering soundtracks to lure those with money to burn.

The spaceport is located in the largest city, Cica, an overcrowded metropolis jammed with people in search of a good time. Roleplay out any encounters with over-bearing gamblers and tourists — many people, upset at losing all of their money, will be looking for a good fight.

The Rebels know they must go to the "Tabal Comet" casino, one of the larger ones on the planet. Every street corner has a holographic map of the city, so the Rebels will be able to find their way without any problem. If Sizzton has not been taken care of already, he will follow them.

Making Contact

Their contact on Entrus is a Sullustan dealer named Kelthizar Nimm. He is an excellent gambler, and when the Rebels use the code phrase, "On Bespin, the moons never rise," he will not seem to notice. A few seconds later, he will look at them and reply, "There are no moons on Bespin." When he gets a chance, he will comment that he just started his shift and that they should come back in nine hours. If desired, the players could encounter a couple of red herrings before they meet Kelthizar.

Kelthizar Nimm

DEXTERITY 2D
Blaster 2D+1, dodge 2D+1
KNOWLEDGE 1D+1
Languages 1D+2, planetary systems 1D+2
MECHANICAL 3D
PERCEPTION 2D
Con 2D+1, gambling 4D+2
STRENGTH 2D
TECHNICAL 1D+2
Special Abilities:
Enhanced senses* (+3D to search or Perception in low-light conditions), location sense (Sullustans can always remember how to return to an area, +1D to astrogation when returning to a system)
Move: 10
Equipment: Hold-out blaster (concealed in boot, 3D+1)

• For more information, see page 82 of the Star Wars Sourcebook, Second Edition.

The Rebels should spend the next few hours misadventuring in the large city. They might encounter a bookie, be harassed by street merchants or face a mugger. If Andar hasn't somehow been eliminated, he will follow the players, but will not confront them if he doesn't have to.

A Bounty on Their Heads

If Andar has sent his message, the other four bounty hunters will arrive on Entrus six hours after the Rebels do. They will have an excellent description of the Rebels and will trail them until they are cornered. They take no prisoners.

If the Rebels have prevented Andar from notifying the rest of the bounty hunters, they will arrive on the planet in three days to look for him. They will also be hunting for the Rebels. Logically, the Rebels should have left within three days, but if they are delayed for some reason, play out the bounty hunter plot to its fullest.

The Rebels have a major problem. They must stop the bounty hunters without attracting the attention of the local police (and the 200 stormtroopers based in the city), and they can't let the bounty hunters find out where Rebel Sector Command is.

Play the bounty hunters as intelligent, tenacious and greedy. Just when the Rebels think they have stopped them, they should somehow pose more problems (such as notifying the authorities).

The Bounty Hunters

Zinn is Human and the leader of this team of bounty hunters. He is blond, with sharp features and green eyes. He always wears polished red and green battle armor, with a blast helmet that has a mounted comlink and life-form scanner. He carries a number of blasters with him.

Zinn Classet

Type: Bounty Hunter
DEXTERITY 4D
Blaster 5D+2, brawling parry 4D+1, dodge 5D+2
KNOWLEDGE 2D+2
Alien species 3D+1, cultures 4D, languages 3D+1, planetary systems 3D, streetwise 3D+1, survival 4D
MECHANICAL 3D
Astrogation 4D, repulsorlift operation 4D+1, space transports 5D
PERCEPTION 2D
Command 3D, search 3D+2
STRENGTH 3D
Brawling 4D, stamina 3D+2
TECHNICAL 3D+1
Droid programming 4D, droid repair 4D, repulsorlift repair 4D+1, security 4D+2
Force Points: 1
Dark Side Points: 2
Character Points: 14
Move: 10
Equipment: 2 modified blaster pistols (5D+2), armor (+1D+1 physical, +2 energy, -2 all Dexterity actions), comlink and life-form scanner mounted in helmet, recording rod

Classet is a total professional who makes a point of not underestimating his foes. He has worked to cultivate a reputation for being mysterious and dangerous.

Big, strong and intimidating. Muus is blunt, violent, rude and enjoys interacting with others, then killing them.

Jargool Muus

Type: Gamorrean Bounty Hunter
DEXTERITY 4D
Blaster 5D, dodge 5D, melee combat 5D, melee parry 4D+1, vehicle blasters 4D+1
KNOWLEDGE 1D
Intimidation 5D, planetary systems 2D+2, survival 2D+2
MECHANICAL 1D
PERCEPTION 1D
Search 4D
STRENGTH 3D
Brawling 5D, lifting 5D+2, stamina 5D+1
TECHNICAL 1D
Special Abilities:
Voice Box: Gamorreans cannot speak Basic.
Stamina: If a Gamorrean fails a stamina check, the character may immediately make a second check.
Character Points: 9
Move: 9
Equipment: Blaster pistol (4D), vibro-axe (STR+2D), comlink, furs, clothes, macrobinoculars, syntherope

Uthil appears to be a typical Gotal, with two cones on the top of his head and dark skin. He wears a full length blue cloak and several items of jewelry, including chains, rings and earrings. He has a large scar on his left cheek, which he adorns with earrings.

Uthil Ren'kacal

Type: Gotal Bounty Hunter
DEXTERITY 2D
Blaster 3D, dodge 4D
KNOWLEDGE 1D
Alien species 1D+2, cultures 2D, languages 2D+1
MECHANICAL 1D
Astrogation 2D+2
PERCEPTION 5D
Bargain 6D+1, con 6D+2, search 6D
STRENGTH 2D
TECHNICAL 1D
Computer programming/repair 2D, first aid 3D
Special Abilities:
Energy Sensitivity: Gotals receive +3D to search in wide open areas. For more information, see pages 47-48 of Galaxy Guide 4: Alien Races, Second Edition.
Mood Detection: Gotals can read the moods of others.
Fast Initiative: Gotals who are not suffering from radiation static receive a +1D bonus when rolling initiative against non-Gotal opponents.
Character Points: 5
Move: 10
Equipment: Blaster pistol (4D), personal computer, 3 medpacs, multiple changes of clothes, 100 credits, false identity packet

Uthil knows he is not much good in a fight, but he has been an excellent tracker for Zinn. Uthil is always diplomatic and polite, but can also be very deceitful.

Negollup is an Aqualish and wears a solid orange space suit, with a brown vest and brown boots. He openly wears his weapons on his belt. He is a typical Aqualish: rude, abrasive and itching for a fight. He is very greedy and eager to hunt down anyone if the credits are right.

Negollup ("Scrapper")

Type: Aqualish Bounty Hunter
DEXTERITY 2D+1
Blaster 5D, brawling parry 4D, dodge 3D+1, vehicle blasters 3D+1
KNOWLEDGE 1D+1
Languages 2D
MECHANICAL 2D+2
Beast riding 3D+1, starship gunnery 3D
PERCEPTION 2D
Con 2D+2, gambling 3D+1, search 3D+1
STRENGTH 2D
Brawling 3D+2, climbing/jumping 3D+1
TECHNICAL 1D+2
Repulsorlift repair 2D+1
Character Points: 3
Move: 10
Equipment: Heavy blaster pistol (5D), vibro-blade (STR+2D), comlink, 300 credits

Zinn's Revenge

Craft: Modified Corellispace Gymsnor-3 Freighter
Type: Modified light freighter
Scale: Starfighter
Length: 34.1 meters
Skill: Space transports: Gymsnor-3
Crew: 2, gunners: 4, skeleton: 1/+10
Crew Skill: See bounty hunters
Passengers: 6
Cargo Capacity: 10 metric tons
Consumables: 1 month
Cost: Not available for sale
Hyperdrive Multiplier: x1
Hyperdrive Backup: x10
Nav Computer: Yes
Maneuverability: 2D+1
Space: 4
Atmosphere: 480; 800 kmh
Hull: 4D+2
Shields: 3D+2
Sensors:
Passive: 15/0D
Scan: 30/1D
Search: 45/2D
Focus: 3/3D
Weapons:
4 Heavy Laser Cannons
Fire Arc: 1 front, 1 left, 1 right, 1 back
Crew: 1
Skill: Starship gunnery
Fire Control: 2D
Space Range: 1-5/10/17
Atmosphere Range: 100-500/1/1.7 km
Damage: 4D

Aid is Always Welcome ...

Kelthizar Nimm will meet the Rebels in a back alley behind the casino. He will tell them that he will lead them to Rebel Sector Command, but they must come immediately.

At this time, it would be appropriate to have some planetary guards around the corner. If the Rebels don't resist their approach, the guards will be satisfied to just search them for illegal contraband (they will ignore any weapons less powerful than a blaster pistol — blaster rifles, thermal detonators and the like will be confiscated).

Of course, if a battle erupts, it will be interesting, as the guards will try to keep civilians out of the area, and the Rebels have plenty of cover (trash, parked landspeeders, etc.). There should be a driving rainstorm to reduce visibility and increase the odds of falling into the mud or wet piles of trash.

The guards will call for reinforcements, but none will arrive within the first five minutes (by then, the battle should be over).

The bounty hunters will be watching this battle from the rooftop of a nearby building, sizing up the Rebels.

8 Planetary Guards

DEXTERITY 2D
Blaster 3D, dodge 2D+2, melee combat 3D+1, melee parry 3D
KNOWLEDGE 1D+2
MECHANICAL 2D
PERCEPTION 2D
Search 3D
STRENGTH 2D+1
Brawling 4D
TECHNICAL 2D
Move: 10
Equipment: Blaster rifle (5D), club (STR+1D), comlink

To Catch a Rebel

If the bounty hunters are on the trail, give the Rebels a reasonable chance to discover them. They may see a mysterious person following them and set a trap for him. If they want to go ahead to Rebel Sector Command without leaving a false trail of clues, Nimm will suggest that they pull into a side alleyway because he thinks they are being followed.

At least two of the bounty hunters will come along in a few minutes, obviously confused by the Rebels' disappearance. Or, have the hunters discover the trail and sneak up behind the Rebels. By now, the bounty hunters have realized that their prey may have knowledge that would be of value, so they will attempt to capture the Rebels and get information from them. They don't want to create too much of a disturbance because bounty hunting (save on the Empire's behalf) is illegal on Entrus, while the Rebels would just as soon avoid guards and stormtroopers after the battle in the alleyway.

If any of the bounty hunters escape, it will come back to haunt the Rebel characters in the final scene. Unconscious bounty hunters should be bound and left in the alleyway for the authorities.

Command Decision

Nimm will lead the Rebels through a number of neighborhoods, each shabbier than the last. After a couple of hours, he will comment that they are almost at the meeting place. They will enter the basement of a large apartment building, and find it to be heavily reinforced inside. Dozens of volunteers scurry about in the cramped quarters. Computers line the walls, and a large holographic map of the sector dominates the center of the room.

Nimm will introduce the Rebels to Beckar, Commander-in-Chief, Trax sector. He is a tall Human, with a long scar running down the side of his head. He will take great interest in the Rebels' information, and then decide that an assault on Bissillirus Resupply Station is in order.

A minute or so later, he will begin questioning the characters about the Bissillirus food storage units in Thulpin City. An attack there, he reasons, would provide an excellent opportunity to both strike at the Empire and help the Rebellion obtain food supplies. The Rebel military fleet for the sector will attack the convoy and attempt to capture as many of the ships as possible. At the same time, Rebel transports will orbit Draenell's Point, while assault shuttles raid the stores near Thulpin City. He orders the Rebel characters to lead a preliminary ground strike against the storage facilities near Thulpin City and hold it until reinforcements arrive via a stolen Imperial assault shuttle.

He will send the players to Dresscol system to rendezvous with the fleet. At Dresscol they will be loaned a ship if they don't have one of their own.

Disaster!

If any of the bounty hunters have escaped, this encounter occurs immediately after Beckar hatches his plan. If the bounty hunter threat has been ended, or the bounty hunters aren't on the planet yet, cut to "Episode Eight: Showdown."

Read or paraphrase to the players:

Suddenly, the door to the base explodes, and the guards fall to the ground as smoke billows into the room. Blaster bolts fill the air, as Imperial stormtroopers come charging through the haze.

An amplified voice shouts over the din, "Surrender now, Rebels, or die!"

Two dozen stormtroopers are outside, although they will have to wait in line to get through the door (only two can fit through at a time). Each one has a blaster rifle and two smoke grenades (smoke in five-meter radius for one minute, no damage, +5 to difficulty to hit). The Imperial forces were alerted by any surviving bounty hunters.

The hunters, posing as concerned citizens, will be with Imperial officers aboard an urban assault speeder.

Urban Assault Speeder

Craft: RepulsorCorp. Urban Assault Speeder
Type: Heavy speeder
Scale: Speeder
Length: 13.6 meters
Skill: Repulsorlift operation: heavy speeder
Crew: 2, gunners: 1
Crew Skill: Vehicle blasters 3D+2, repulsorlift operation 3D+2
Passengers: 15 (troops)
Cargo Capacity: 500 kilograms
Cover: Full
Altitude Range: Ground level-2 meters
Cost: Not available for sale
Maneuverability: 1D
Move: 35; 100 kmh
Body Strength: 2D
Weapons:
1 Laser Cannon
Fire Arc: Turret
Crew: 1
Skill: Vehicle blasters
Fire Control: 1D+2
Range: 25-75/150/300
Damage: 2D

Beckar will rush towards a hidden exit that connects to a tunnel running under several portions of the city, leading the Rebels and most of the rest of his staff to safety. When they reach the sewer tunnels, he will detonate a bomb which had been planted beneath the Rebel base, effectively destroying it. If anyone has been left behind, he will only say, "They knew and accepted the risks."

After wandering through the sewers for a few hours, the Rebels will emerge in a heavily industrialized section of the city. Beckar will lead them to a well hidden Heckson Industries transport shuttle, which they can pilot to Dresscol.

If the gamemaster wishes, it would be reasonable to have the Rebels found by Imperial search teams. The battle could then be a desperate slugfest, with all of the people from Sector Command willing to sacrifice themselves to ensure that at least someone gets to the shuttle and Dresscol to warn the sector's fleet.

Rebel Shuttle

Craft: Heckson Industries "Quick Ship" Shuttle
Type: Transport shuttle
Scale: Starfighter
Length: 17 meters
Skill: Space transports: Quick Ship
Crew: 1, gunners: 1
Crew Skill: Varies widely
Passengers: 6
Cargo Capacity: 100 kilograms
Consumables: 5 days
Cost: 75,000 (new), 35,000 (used)
Hyperdrive Multiplier: x2
Nav Computer: Astromech droid stores 10 jumps
Maneuverability: 1D+2
Space: 4
Atmosphere: 280; 800 kmh
Hull: 6D
Shields: 2D
Sensors:
Passive: 10/1D
Scan: 25/1D+2
Search: 40/2D
Focus: 3/2D+2
Weapons:
8 Triple Blasters (fire-linked)
Fire Arc: Turret
Crew: 1
Skill: Starship gunnery
Fire Control: 1D
Space Range: 1-3/12/25
Atmosphere Range: 100-300/1.2/2.5 km
Damage: 3D+2

Sidebar: Cut to ...

When you are ready to begin the battle for the Thulpin Agriculture Platform, cut to "Episode Eight: Showdown."

Showdown

Adventure Background

Having delivered the vital information on the Imperial supply convoy to Trax sector command, the Rebels now find themselves a crucial part of the two-pronged assault on the Bissillirus Resupply Base and the storage center in Thulpin City. This adventure contains the climactic conclusion of the campaign, with an epic space and ground battle between the forces of the Alliance and the Empire.

This episode has two distinct sections: the space battle and the ground battle. The characters may take a role in both sections.

The Plan

Rebel Command's battle plan is to have the player characters return to Draenell's Point a few hours before the Rebel fleet attacks the supply convoy and the resupply base. While ground forces take over the agricultural platforms, the Rebel supply fleet will arrive in-system. The Rebel ships will arrive as the Alliance's ground forces take control of the agriculture platforms — it is vital that the Rebel ground forces (whom the player characters will lead) gain control of these platforms. The Rebel ground forces must move swiftly so that the small contingent of troops as the platforms will not have a chance to alert additional troops in Thulpin City, possibly calling in reinforcements and alerting the Imperials at the Bissillirus Resupply Base of Rebel activity.

After the Alliance transports have arrived, loaded and headed out for the jump to hyperspace, a Rebel military fleet will jump into Bissillirus system to attack the Bissillirus Resupply Base and the newly arrived Imperial supply fleet at the base. As the Rebel convoy fleet escapes to safety, the player characters will join in the assault on the Imperial fleet, possibly playing an instrumental role in the Alliance's victory.

Rebel Transport Fleet

• 3 Gamma-class assault shuttles captured from the Empire (see pages 49-50 of the Imperial Sourcebook, Second Edition)
• 7 Rebel transports (see pages 48-49 of the Star Wars Sourcebook, Second Edition)
• 6 X-wing starfighters

Imperial Forces

• Bissillirus Resupply Base
• 24 TIE/In fighters
• 2 Loronar Regular X-Q2 System Patrol Craft
• Drammel, a Nebulon-B Frigate (see pages 31-32 of the Star Wars Sourcebook, Second Edition)
• Three KDY Super Transports XI (see pages 45-46 of the Star Wars Sourcebook, Second Edition)

Rebel Forces

• Corellian Thunder and Dream Runner, Corellian Gunships (see pages 61-63 of the Rebel Alliance Sourcebook,

Second Edition)

• Defector, a Nebulon-B Frigate (see pages 31-32 of the Star Wars Sourcebook, Second Edition)

• 16 X-wing starfighters

• 6 Y-wing starfigthers (standard)

• 2 A-wing starfighters

Getting to Draenell's Point

The first test for the characters is to set down on Draenell's Point without attracting too much notice. If the characters do not have their own vessel, they will be supplied with the Planet Jumper, a modified light freighter.

The Planet Jumper is a small freighter that has been in service for the Rebellion for about a decade. In that time, the ship has been substantially modified, including the addition of the triple laser cannons and substantial hull reinforcing. The ship appears beat-up, but inside she is sturdy (if temperamental). Rebel technicians will warn the characters that the Planet Jumper handles far better in an atmosphere than in space (due to some as yet undiscovered quirk in the ship's flight control systems) and that the hyperdrive has a tendency to bleed off a lot of energy just prior to a jump — in the final 30 seconds or so before a jump, the characters may find one of the ship's systems (such as maneuverability, shields or weaponry) go dead as the hyperdrive engines gobble up all available energy.

Planet Jumper

Craft: Gallofree Yards Crinya-class freighter
Type: Modified light freighter
Scale: Starfighter
Length: 29.2 meters
Skill: Space transports: Crinya-class freighter
Crew: 2 (1 can coordinate), gunners: 2
Crew Skill: Varies dramatically
Passengers: 7
Cargo Capacity: 90 metric tons
Consumables: 2 months
Cost: 65,000
Hyperdrive Multiplier: x2
Hyperdrive Backup: x10
Nav Computer: Yes
Maneuverability: 1D (space), 2D+2 (atmosphere)
Space: 6
Atmosphere: 330; 950 kmh
Hull: 5D
Shields: 2D
Sensors:
Passive: 10/1D
Scan: 25/1D+2
Search: 40/2D
Focus: 4/2D+2
Weapons:
2 Triple Laser Cannon
Fire Arc: Turret
Crew: 1
Skill: Starship gunnery
Fire Control: 1D
Space Range: 1-3/10/25
Atmosphere Range: 100-300/1/2.5 km
Damage: 4D+2

Getting Through Customs

Upon arriving in realspace in Bissillirus system, the characters will have no problems getting their bearings. The sublight trip to Draenell's Point will take two hours.

After a few minutes at sublight, the Planet Jumper's sensors will detect two vessels coming in from Draenell's Point at a high rate of speed. A Moderate sensors roll will identify the vessels as Loronor Regulator X-Q2 patrol ships — Imperial vessels. Quick calculations reveal that the ships will come within communication range within a minute or so and within combat range within about four minutes.

The ships are headed for a rendezvous with Bissillirus Resupply Base in preparation for the incoming Imperial fleet. Characters who ask to see if the vectors match should be told this, otherwise the characters will probably assume that the patrol ships have been sent after them. As the ships close to communications range, they will ask the characters the ship's name, the captain's name, last system visited, destination and business in Bissillirus system. Characters who respond in a matter of fact manner will be given clearance to proceed to Draenell's Point after changing to a new course vector which will take them out of the path of the patrol cruisers. The characters will be advised to stay out of this particular flight corridor as it is restricted for the next 32 hours.

If the characters overreact and initiate battle, the patrol cruisers will attempt to broadcast a distress signal. TIE fighters stationed at Draenell's Point will be looking for the characters (see "A Dramatic Entrance"). Also, Bissillirus Resupply Base will be at a much higher state of alert — high enough, in fact, to detect the incoming Rebel transport fleet. The base will send its full complement of TIE fighters and patrol cruisers to engage the fleet, and the Rebel transport fleet will be cut to ribbons (the characters will learn of this when the Rebel transport fleet broadcasts a distress signal upon arriving in-system in a few hours — and Alliance command will make sure the characters feel the full brunt of their folly).

If the characters pass the patrol vessels with no problems, proceed to "Through Customs."

A Dramatic Entrance

As the Planet Jumper heads toward Draenell's Point, four TIE fighters climb through the upper atmosphere. The Imperial pilots announce, "Halt, freighter! By the authority of the Imperial Navy you are ordered to proceed to the following coordinates, where you will receive an armed escort to Wullerton Starport, where you will be boarded. Any deviation from these instructions will result in your vessel's destruction."

The characters have a number of options. If they do as ordered, upon landing at Wullerton Starport no less than two dozen Imperial Army troops will approach, blaster rifles drawn, ready to arrest the characters and haul them off to prison, where they will remain for a long, long time. Since the characters have with them a list of all Rebel agents on Draenell's Point, their capture will lead to a massive crackdown and a stunning blow against the Alliance.

Clever characters may have planned a diversion, such as using the Planet's Jumpers thrusters to discourage the Imperial troops from approaching any closer while the characters disembark, guns blazing, and head for the nearest speeder or cloud car.

Of course, the final option is to engage or outrun the TIE fighters. If the characters don't think of this on their own, any gamemaster characters aboard (such as an astrogation droid) may suggest that the characters head for the mountains. Within the winding canyons the TIE fighters will have to slow down (they are far faster than the Planet Jumper; this may be just enough to equalize out the TIEs), allowing the characters to use superior flying skills to outrun the TIEs or find a good hiding spot.

TIE Fighters. Starfighter, starfighter piloting 4D, starship gunnery 4D. Maneuverability 2D, space 10, atmosphere 415, hull 2D. Weapons: 2 laser cannons (fire-linked, fire control 2D, damage 5D).

The chase can be extremely exciting for the characters: this will be an excellent chance to separate the fighters into pairs, allowing the Planet Jumper to take on the vessels and have a chance of surviving. The chase itself can feature twisting, close maneuvers among outcroppings, rock towers, blind turns, and even rockslides caused by the roar of the ships' engines. Perhaps the Planet Jumper can even use the setting sun to its advantage by maneuvering the TIEs into a canyon that faces directly into the sun; while the TIE pilots fight to regain their vision (even if only for a split-second), this is all the Planet Jumper's gunners should need to be able to get off a couple of well-placed shots.

For the adventure to continue, the characters should escape or destroy the TIE fighters. If the Planet Jumper is severely damaged, perhaps the characters will have to crash-land the ship — and soon Rebel partisans hiding out in the mountains and drawn by the sounds of combat — arrive to help the characters escape and stop the remaining TIEs.

Cut to "Rebels Assemble."

Through Customs

The characters can land in Thulpin City's rather small starport. The Planet Jumper will be allowed to land with no hassle (assuming the characters haven't done anything to draw attention to themselves). Upon landing, a customs official will show up to collect the 25 credit landing fee and then allow the characters to be on their way (he will even offer directions, suggestions for good restaurants or other basic information if the characters ask). If the characters are careless in showing off large, illegal weapons (or otherwise draw undue attention to themselves), the customs official will want to take a look around the Planet Jumper, but otherwise there will be no cause for a ship inspection.

The customs official will ask when the characters will want to take off so he can preregister a take-off time with starport control. If the characters don't give a time, he will shrug his shoulders, muttering, "It's your wait. Just trying to help out."

Cut to "Rebels Assemble."

Rebels Assemble

The characters must now assemble the various Rebel groups they have built, the gangs (if the characters orchestrated a peace and got the gangs to cooperate in Episode Five, "'Blades and Blasters'"), in addition to any other active Rebel groups on Draenell's Point (Rebel Command has supplied them with this list).

This can be as simple as making a few vidcomm calls, or it may involve a lot of covert travel, dodging Imperial patrols all the way — this is up to the gamemaster.

The end result should be the characters assembling their Rebel assault team not far from agricultural landing platform XT-21s, 17 kilometers outside of Thulpin City, as per their orders from Alliance command. The various other Rebel groups will be responsible for the assaults on the other towers, all in preparation for the landing of the Rebel transports within a few hours.

Cut to "Assault on the Platform."

Assault on the Platform

The Rebels' orders are simple: take and hold landing platform XT-21s. They are to assist the Rebel transports in loading cargo, and then leave Draenell's Point as soon as possible (so as to avoid an imminent Imperial crackdown). The characters have a great deal of latitude in approaching this assault.

A few points to consider:

• The characters will want to get as close as possible to the platform before actually opening fire. The Draenell's Point army soldiers and Imperial soldiers guarding the platform will raise the alarm as soon as possible, and if an alarm goes out, the Alliance's mission here will be a failure.

• The platform is at the top of a large hill. There is one winding access road. At the base of the hill is a guard post with 5-6 guards, while intelligence indicates that upwards of two dozen Imperial or Draenell's Point soldiers will be on-duty guarding the platform. The Imperial presence is due to the incoming Imperial transport fleet.

• The cargo — grains and vegetables — is stored in vast underground chambers beneath the platform.

• The platform itself has no defenses beyond the soldiers. There is, however, a communications tower on the platform. While it is normally used to guide incoming vessels, it can also be used to send a distress signal to Thulpin City, with a request for reinforcements.

Approaches

The characters may attempt simply sneaking by the guards and hope to get to the platform unnoticed. This is a questionable approach and they are fairly likely to encounter patrols. The characters will have only four to five rounds to reach the platform and take out the communications tower with several well-placed repeating blaster shots or explosives (blaster rifles aren't powerful enough to cause significant damage to the tower — its walls have 2D speeder scale walls).

A different approach (and one far more likely to succeed) is for the characters to find out which cargo skiffs will be making last minute deliveries to the agriculture platform (the easiest way to find out about this is by going to one of the local farms or food processing plants). When there aren't any witnesses around, it should be a simple matter for the characters to overpower the skiff's crew and take over the vessel, impersonating the crew. They should be able to get by the guard posts with a minimum of hassle (the army troopers will make only the most cursory examination of datadocuments). They should also be able to proceed to the platform with no hassle, and maybe even con their way past the guards at the platform to the point of getting to the unloading dock (where the vegetables and grains are placed in the underground storage silos). From there, characters will only have to sneak up a four story stairway to get to the communications tower on top of the landing platform.

Characters who come up with other plans should be given a reasonable chance for success. The troopers are here to insure a smooth cargo delivery, but they aren't really expecting trouble unless the characters themselves raised the alert earlier. Therefore, the troopers will be relaxed, possibly even lazy, when it comes to security.

When combat does erupt, the gamemaster should run the battle as a series of scenes and encounters, summarizing much of the battle through description rather than rolling for every character every round. By using appropriate encounters, the gamemaster can allow the player characters a chance to really determine the course of the battle without bogging the adventure down into a multi-hour battle. As an alternative, the gamemaster may run the Star Wars Miniatures Battles scenario as written below so the players can determine the outcome as if it were a real battle.

If the gamemasters wishes to spice up the encounter, he may have a communication come to the troopers as they are talking to the characters — the workers from the skiff have been found (or some other evidence of the characters' actions). This can happen at the guard post, meaning the characters will have to fight their way up the hill (as in the miniatures battle scenario) or after they have left the guard post (leading to an exciting chase up the winding road leading to the platform) or as they reach the platform (leading to a tense but small battle for control of the platform).

The gamemaster can use several encounters to make this battle unique, such as having the characters flee or chase troopers through the massive loading tubes of the platform, or having the characters attempt to stop the troops from raising the alarm. For a humorous scene, perhaps a stray shot hits one of the loading tubes or seals, leading to a rupture — grain and fresh vegetables spray all over the combat area, pelting helpless Imperial troops while the characters get a chance to escape.

Hopefully with the characters in control of the platform, one of the Rebel transports will land and begin loading food (other transports will be landing at other platforms). If the characters haven't secured the platform, the Rebel crewmen will have to deal with shots from the remaining Imperial troopers. Perhaps the Imperials will find a way to disable the transport (blowing out its sublight drives, perhaps), making their presence a true threat.

Once the transports are loaded, the characters will be asked to assist in the assault on the Imperial fleet and the Bissillirus Resupply Base.

Cut to "Showdown at Bissillirus."

Showdown at Bissillirus

With the Rebel transports loaded and ready to retreat to the Alliance staging area, the characters are asked to participate in the space battle at the Bissillirus Resupply Base; three of the six X-wing fighters and the three Gamma-class assault shuttles accompany the Planet Jumper to the battle.

As the characters arrive on the scene, the battle is already at a fever pitch. The Rebel corvettes are hammering Bissillirus base, while the Imperial and Rebel Nebulon-B frigates are squaring off. The Imperial patrol ships have retreated to cover the transports while they attempt to travel away from the base and make a jump to hyperspace, but the Rebel fighters are seriously hampering the escape effort.

It is suggested that the gamemaster run this battle with a great deal of description and a few events which the characters can take part in. This will prove faster and much more satisfying than a round-by-round slugfest, which could take hours to play out.

Here are a few encounters the gamemaster can use to spice up the battle:

• The Imperial transports are marshalling and preparing to retreat. As they turn for a departure vector, the Planet Jumper can escort the assault shuttles to the transports. If the Jumper can fend off the patrol cruisers, the assault shuttles can grapple the transports, carve a hole in the hull and allow the Rebel troopers aboard to attempt to take the Imperial transports. As soon as the Rebels have taken control of the transports, the Imperial ships will turn their efforts to attempting to destroy the transports rather than allow them to fall into Rebel hands — the characters will now have to defend the transports while they attempt to jump to the Rebel staging area.

• One of the Rebel corvettes has been disabled in the battle and the Bissillirus Resupply Base is pelting it very severely. The corvette's captain has broadcast a plea for help. The characters can use the Planet Jumper to distract the Resupply Base's gunners, possibly by concentrating fire on a particularly vulnerable spot on the ship (such as the "neck" between the top and bottom halves of the station, or possibly the landing bays — if they are disabled the TIE fighters, without enough fuel to get back to Draenell's Point, will be stranded in space). A few well-placed shots can give the corvette's crew time to repair the shield generators and drive systems enough to allow the ship to limp away and jump to hyperspace.

• The Rebels intercept an incoming transmission for the Bissillirus Resupply Base — the Imperial Navy is sending reinforcements in the form of three Carrack cruisers. These extra vessels will enable the Imperials to defeat the Rebel fleet, so the Rebels will have to finish up the battle soon. They have only 15 minutes before the Carrack cruisers arrive.

• Suddenly, a dozen of the TIE fighters peel off from the battle, heading for Draenell's Point. Apparently, the Imperials have detected the fleeing Rebel fleet and are determined to destroy the transports. Can the Planet Jumper slow down the TIEs long enough for the helpless transports to escape?

A Hero's Welcome

If the battle goes well for the Alliance, the characters and the rest of the Alliance combatants will receive commendations from Alliance command. If the characters succeeded at any of the more important encounters, they will in line for a special commendation and a promotion, possibly being made a Special Operations Team (for more information, see pages 14-19 of Galaxy Guide 9: Fragments from the Rim). The awards ceremony and celebration will be held at Alliance Command for Trax sector and will involve all of the Alliance's soldiers in the sector — the characters are truly celebrities.

If the gamemaster wishes to continue the campaign, the characters may be given a new command, or may be promoted to Trax sector command, with the responsibility to help establish effective Alliance units in other parts of the sector or other adjoining sectors.

If the players completed the entire campaign, award them 6-10 Character Points as a bonus for their efforts.

Miniatures Battle

The following scenario is designed to be run using Star Wars Miniatures Battles and features the battle for the agricultural loading platform described above. It is assumed that the Rebels have arrived at the battle site with no complications; run the battle as a straightforward scenario.

It is assumed that half of the players will run the Rebel forces, while the other half will run the Empire's troops.

The Set-Up

The platform should measure 12 inches high, 12 inches wide and 18 inches long. The top level is a landing platform with a control tower. Six inches above "ground level," there is a walkway two inches wide, with a railing 1/2 inch high. The walkway goes around the whole building. There are stairways, one inch wide, on each side of the platform: one running from ground level to the walkway, one from the walkway to the top of the platform.

The building is at the top of a hill three inches high. The first elevation is an easy hill one inch high (rough terrain, provides medium cover, 2x movement cost). The second elevation is a difficult hill two inches high (very rough terrain, medium cover, 4x movement cost). Please note that the terrain between the elevations is flat clear terrain. See page 36 of Star Wars Miniatures Battles for more information.

Running up one slope of the hill is an access road, which winds from side to side. While it is easy terrain, providing medium cover as if a hill, the time saved by following the road its whole length is negligible. Several low walls are within three inches of the road (2" of movement, +2 fire combat difficulty).

The table should be large enough so that Rebel troops will have to spend at least one round on a full run before they reach the building.

Gamemaster Hints

There are several inexpensive ways to set up the terrain for this scenario. Hardcover books and game boxes can be stacked up, with felt rolled over them, to represent the hills. The road could be brown or black construction paper pinned to the felt. The low walls could be cut from styrene or made from modeling clay or similar compounds.

The loading platform could be any cardboard box. To put the catwalk in, get a large piece of cardboard about four inches longer and four inches wider than the box. Cut the box in half (horizontally) and then put the cardboard in the middle, gluing the bottom and top halves of the box together. Then paint or decorate the box as necessary.

Orders of the Day

Rebel Commander

Your mission is to take agricultural loading platform XT-21s, located 17 kilometers west of Thulpin City. This platform's strategic location will give us a convenient platform for any defense of our transports, which are due to land about three hours after the battle begins.

It is believed that the platform is guarded by a squad of stormtroopers and planetary militia. You must take complete control of the platform, eliminating and/or capturing enemy forces, and hold the platform until a stolen Imperial assault shuttle with a squad of elite infantry arrives (the end of turn 15).

The platform has a control tower on the landing deck.

You wait to deploy your troops until after all of the Imperial forces are deployed. All troops must be placed within six inches of a table edge. The table edges are the only Rebel rally points.

You win this encounter by getting one soldier to the control tower by the end of the 15th turn.

Imperial Commander

You have been charged with holding this loading platform against any Rebel forces. It is believed that several squads of Rebel troops have targeted this platform, although the terrain should give you the tactical advantage.

You may place up to six troops on the loading platform top level (roof), and six more on the walkway/stairwells. The rest must be deployed around the platform, within at least 12 inches of the building. The heavy weapons must be deployed at the top of the hill (may not be anywhere on the building). When combat begins, troops may move anywhere on the table. The building is a rally point.

You win this encounter if your forces have prevented the Rebels from getting at least one soldier to the control tower by the 15th turn.

Rebel Forces

Draenell's Spies

• 10 Average Rebel Troopers
• Move 10, DEX 3, blaster 6, grenade 4, melee combat 6; KNO 2; MEC 2; PER 2, command 3; STR 2, brawling 3; TEC 2
• Walk Rate: 8"; Run Rate: 11".
• Weapons: blaster pistol, vibroblade, 2 grenades each (fragmentation)
• Commander: command 6
• Specialist: blaster 7
• Weapon: medium repeating blaster
• Squad Generation Points: 550

Benthar's Boys (Gang Members)

• 10 Average Troops
• Move 10, DEX 3, blaster 5, melee combat 5; KNO 2; MEC 3; PER 2; STR 2; TEC 2
• Walk Rate: 8"; Run Rate: 13"
• Weapons: blaster pistol, club
• Commander: command 5
• Specialist: blaster 6
• Weapon: repeating blaster (tripod-mounted)
• Squad Generation Points: 397

Vibroblades (Gang Members)

• 10 Average Troops
• Move 10, DEX 3, blaster 5, melee combat 5; KNO 2; MEC 3; PER 2; STR 2; TEC 2
• Walk Rate: 8"; Run Rate: 13"
• Weapons: blaster pistol, club
• Commander: command 5
• Specialist: blaster 6
• Weapon: repeating blaster (tripod-mounted)
• Squad Generation Points: 397

Heroes

This scenario assumes that there will be five hero figures with fire combat skills averaging 7. If there are more or fewer heroes, adjust the Imperial forces accordingly.

"Bissillirus Blaster" Squad

• 10 Average Stormtroopers
• Move 10, DEX (1), blaster (3), grenade (2), melee combat (2); KNO 2; MEC 2; PER 2; STR 2 (3), brawling 4; TEC (2)
• Walk Rate: 6"; Run Rate: 10"
• Weapons: blaster pistol, 2 grenades each (fragmentation)
• Commander: command 4
• Specialist: heavy weapons (5)
• Weapon: repeating blaster (tripod-mounted)
• Squad Generation Points: 479

"Draxlor Company" Squad

• 10 Average Stormtroopers
• Move 10, DEX (1), blaster (3), melee combat (2), grenade (3); KNO 2; MEC 2; PER 2; STR 2 (3), brawling 4; TEC (2)
• Walk Rate: 6"; Run Rate: 11"
• Weapons: blaster pistol, 2 grenades each (fragmentation)
• Commander: command 4
• Specialist: blaster (6)
• Weapon: medium repeating blaster
• Squad Generation Points: 492

"Thulpin Reserve" Planetary Guard

• 8 Average Stormtroopers
• Move 10, DEX (1), blaster (3), melee combat (2), grenade (3); KNO 2; MEC 2; PER 2; STR 2 (3), brawling 4; TEC (2)
• Walk Rate: 8"; Run Rate: 13"
• Weapons: blaster pistol, 2 grenades each (fragmentation)
• Commander: command 4
• Specialist: blaster (5)
• Weapon: medium repeating blaster
• Squad Generation Points: 349

Miniatures Types

Here are some suggested miniatures for the battle. Specific Star Wars miniatures blister packs are noted:

Draenell's Spies, Benthar's Boys, Vibroblades. Rebel Troopers 1 (40405), Rebel Troopers 2 (40406), Rebel Troopers 3 (40413), Rebel Commandos 1 (40414), Rebel Commandos 2 (40417), Rebel Troopers 4 (40421). Draenell's Spies may be painted in traditional Alliance colors; Benthar's Boys should be painted deep blue with red and yellow trim; the Vibroblades should be painted green with red and orange trim.

Bissillirus Blaster, Draxlor Company. Stormtroopers 1 (40403), Stormtroopers 2 (40404), Stormtroopers 3 (40409). Painted in traditional stormtrooper design.

Thulpin Reserve. Heavy Blaster w/ Imperial Crew (40410), Imperial Army Troopers 1 (40411), Imperial Army Troopers 2 (40418). Thulpin Reserve troops should have gray and red uniforms with white helmets with red trim.

Victory Conditions

The Rebel resupply shuttle will arrive at the end of turn 15. In order for the Rebels to win, they must have at least one trooper reach the control tower by the end of turn 15. The Imperials win by preventing the Rebels from achieving this.

Classic Campaigns

by Paul Murphy, Bill Smith and Ed Stark

"I've got a bad feeling about this..."

"Swell," you shout as blaster bolts explode around you. "First pirates attack us, then lizards arrest us, and now we're chasing a bunch of lunatics through an abandoned Imperial garrison base under a sun about to go nova! How come we never get an easy job like blowing up a Death Star or something?"

Your smuggler friend grins slyly. "Oh, didn't I tell ya..."

It's never been easy being a Rebel... especially when game-masters have two exciting campaigns to throw at the players. Classic Campaigns presents two Star Wars first edition favorites completely updated to Star Wars, Second Edition.

The first campaign features the adventures of the Long Shot, a modified space yacht that's a perfect base of operations for Rebel adventurers.

The second campaign chronicles the efforts of Rebels trying to halt construction on an Imperial resupply base. The fate of the distant Trax sector is at stake!

Are your players up to the challenge?

A STAR WARS SUPPLEMENT

For ages 12 and up.

® TM & © 1994 Lucasfilm Ltd. (LFL). All Rights Reserved. Trademarks of LFL used by West End Games under authorization.

This supplement contains material which originally appeared in the Star Wars Campaign Pack and the Star Wars Gamemaster Kit, revised and updated for Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game, Second Edition.

A supplement for use with Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game

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