A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away...
Star Wars
Episode 3.0000001 - Order 66

Treason! The Jedi order have been accused of betraying the Republic. Per secret Order 66 of the vile Chancellor Palpatine, the Jedi Knights have been executed as traitors to the Republic, with but a handful of unorganized survivors.

Without the Jedi Knights to defend the Republic, Chancellor Palpatine has dissolved the Republic and declared himself first Emperor of the Galactic Empire. Unbeknowst to most of the galaxy, Palpatine is actually Darth Sideous, a Sith Lord who secretly controlled both sides of the Clone Wars - the war between the Separatists and Republic Forces was but a ruse to allow him to consolidate power.

A small band of unlikely heroes has banded together to help form an alliance to rebel against the Evil Galactic Empire. Emperor Palpatine is determined to crush this remaining spark of freedom before it can threaten the new order he has established...

At home we have made a mockery of being our brother's keeper by being his jail keeper. When we can no longer see the stars, the times are tragic. We must believe that it is the darkness before the dawn of a beautiful new galaxy; we will see it when we believe it.

(based on quote from Saul Alinsky’s Rules for Radicals)

At home we have made a mockery of being our brother's keeper by being his jail keeper. When Americans can no longer see the stars, the times are tragic. We must believe that it is the darkness before the dawn of a beautiful new world; we will see it when we believe it.

Campaign Background

This game will begin in the period just prior to the issuing of Order 66 which sealed the doom of the Jedi Knights and transformed the Republic into the Evil Galactic Empire ™. It will follow a band of unlikely heroes who plant the first seeds of resistance against the Empire which will one day bloom into the Rebel Alliance that nearly 25 years later will destroy the Empire and found the New Republic.

In this period neither the Rebellion nor the Empire are yet what they are as seen in the classic Star Wars movies (Episodes IV-VI). For the most part, people believe the Empire to be a good thing. The years preceding the Clone Wars showed a Republic about as effective as our United Nations – disputes blossomed into wars, separatists splintered off of the Republic, and the Jedi (as far as most people believed) tried to take power by assassinating Chancellor Palpatine. Therefore Palpatine is seen by most as a strong leader for difficult times. The transition to Empire signifies how things are “getting better”.

That is most people. A lot of people are not happy with this new arrangement. While perhaps not knowing the whole story – how the Sith controlled both sides of the Clone Wars – they still see how Palpatine took advantage of situation after situation to increase his personal power. The novelization for “Revenge of the Sith” references a group of senators who protest Palpatine’s seizure of power in a petition – and are arrested for treason. In the movie we see how Bail Organa, senator from Alderaan, witnesses the massacre at the Jedi Temple and aids Yoda and Obi-Wan in their escape. There are other senators who have figured out some of what is going on as well. They will help start the Rebel Alliance – though for nearly twenty years rebellion against the Empire will not be united – various groups will all do their part against the Empire – some with conflicting goals. And some with less than noble goals – wanting to seize power for themselves. Shortly before the events of Episode IV do the main three factions of rebellion merge to form the Rebel Alliance. So at this point any rebellion is in pockets or in tiny cells. There is no Rebel Fleet - no squadron of X-Wing fighters to attack Star Destroyers. Rebellion is on the small scale – smuggling out of Jedi survivors, sabotage of Imperial shipyards, acquiring weapons and vessels to be used against the Empire. Your characters will have one or more patrons in the senate – whose identity your characters may not be aware of at first.

Fortunately, while the Rebellion is not yet fully formed, the Empire is young as well. The Emperor needs to leave some remnants of the Old Republic in place – it is not until Episode IV that he is finally able to disband the Senate, so there is at least some pretense of democracy. I would view his version of democracy as if all the conspiracy theories about George Bush from moveon.org, Michael Moore, George Soros, and Howard Dean are all true. Unpatriotic enemies vanishing at night. Terrorists deported to unknown camps – “these are bad people”. Jedi cultists constantly striking from the dark, wanting to kidnap your babies. Separatist fragments constantly planning terrorist actions. The people of the Empire will support it out of fear – eventually because they fear the Empire, but at first because they fear the alternative.

It is a period where heroes can still make a difference. For the darkness descending across the galaxy means even the smallest acts of heroism can shine brightly.

Your Characters

With all this talk of heroism, does this mean your characters have to be “goody-two-shoes”? Nope. Han Solo had one thing on his mind when he took on a farm-boy and an aging Jedi as passengers – money – to get out of debt to a crimelord. Not that a hero-type would be out of place.

Basically, your characters should all be characters who have reason to dislike to Empire. This can range to the Empire being bad for your business to being a Jedi Padawan who somehow survives Order 66. You can be a member of pretty much any species you like except for some really weird ones.

We will be using the Star Wars Roleplaying Game Revised Core Rulebook as our rules set. It uses a game system really close to the D&D rules. I have a spare copy of the rules that I can lend out if anyone needs to borrow it between game sessions. If you want to get your own copy hobby and bookstores often have copies of it and I’ve seen it at various online shops. Some samples:

• frpgames.com - $31.96 + S&H
• rpgshop.com - $33.96 + S&H
• amzaon.com - $23.96 (takes 1-2 weeks to ship, which is never a good sign from amazon)
• BarnesAndNoble.com - $31.96, qualifies for free shipping
• Icon USA - $29.99 + S&H

A few important differences between D&D and Star Wars:

• You don’t have hit points. Instead you have wound points and vitality points. Wound points equal your constitution score. Vitality points are similar to hit points. You gain more vitality every level. When you run out of vitality points you begin taking wound damage. When you run out of wound points you are dying. Critical hits do not do double damage – instead they apply damage directly to wound points. That means a single blaster shot has a chance of seriously hurt you. It should be noted that unimportant characters do not have vitality, just wound points. This means a 20th level stormtrooper may be really good at combat, but a simple blaster shot has a good chance of killing him. Vitality represents your ability to avoid getting seriously hurt – near misses, parries, etc. Wound points indicate “real” damage. Vitality heals quickly. An example of a character who has run out of vitality points would be Luke towards the end of his duel with Vader in The Empire Strikes Back.

• Instead of armor class you have a defense rating. Your character class, level, feats, dexterity, and other factors influence your defense rating. Armor does not.
• Armor provides you with damage resistance, lowering the amount of damage you take. It only reduces damage to wound points, not vitality points (which tends to make it more popular with characters without vitality).

To make our characters we will be using a point-buy system for purchasing ability scores, as detailed on page 18 of the rules. You start off with 27 points. I liked Ben’s idea of giving bonus points for a good description so I will give one bonus point for each of the following:

• Describing what your character looks like – either via words, a picture, or describing what actor would play your character and how he or she dresses.
• Describing or naming your characters homeworld – mainly looking for big city, boonies, etc.
• Detailing at least one or two family members or friends.
• Describing a character flaw – something your character doesn’t like about himself. Or describing someone who just doesn’t like your character. (Who will no doubt show up at some point, so I’d suggest someone other than Darth Vader…)
• Describing what your character did during the Clone Wars. Stayed at home? Fought as a mercenary? Unaware of it? Tried to make money off of it? Was a separatist?

I’d prefer to avoid your characters running at the sight of womp rats, so I am going to have you start your characters above first level. Characters will start at third level – high enough level to have some experience, low enough to have plenty of room for development. You can start with any reasonable amount of normal equipment – no owning Star Destroyers, but any normal equipment like blasters, some grenades, medpacks, etc. would all be reasonable. If owning a small freighter or fighter would fit your character that is fine, though your vessel will be nearly unmodified – special modifications can come with time. I reserve the right to veto equipment choices.