Campaign title: Dark Forces.
Campaign system: Star Wars Role-playing Game (D20).
Campaign length: 12 weeks.
Campaign Overview:
Chapter 1 – Missing Diplomat: Players arrive on Eriadu to find the capital in uproar. A member of the Tarkin Clan has gone missing on the eve of a leadership announcement following the death of Wilhuff Tarkin. The players are hired to find the missing Tarkin and expose those plotting against the family.
Chapter 2 – Desperate Times: With the traitor to the Tarkin family exposed and his plans foiled, the Imperial Remnant take drastic steps to ensure they don’t lose one of the key systems in the outer rim. A fleet of Star Destroyers blockade Eriadu and the players are tasked with finding a way off world and getting a message to the New Republic.
Chapter 3 – Under Siege: After successfully escaping the blockade and making it to the nearest New Republic space station, the players were finally able to relay their message requesting aid for Eriadu. Not long after their arrival, an Imperial Remnant task force arrives and attempts to take the space station by force. The players must prepare the defenses and hold the space station until New Republic forces can arrive.
Chapter 4 – Sure Gamble: The space station is safe, the Imperial’s are retreating to lick their wounds, but Eriadu is still under blockade. Admiral Antilles formulates a bold plan to relieve Eriadu and push the Imperial Remnant out of the system for good. The players are given several key roles in this daring counter attack. Their success or failure will dictate the future of the Eriadu system.
Synopsis:
The Dark Forces campaign was written for a role-play group of four players. Most of the people in the group were new to pen and paper role playing, so I incorporated a very gradual difficulty curve to ensure that the encounters weren’t too challenging but still provided a sense of peril. The dialogue I kept basic so that plot development was understandable and quite clear on what the players needed to do throughout the story.
The campaign was divided into four chapters, each detailing key events but following a central story line. The plot revolves around the Tarkin clan as two relatives battle for control of this galactic power. As the players reveal a conspiracy involving kidnap, assassination and bribery, they end up thrust into the middle of an escalating conflict between the New Republic and the Imperial Remnant.
I wanted the campaign to feel very much like the players were having a true Star Wars experience. I did this by including several well known characters for the players to interact with, and designing encounters that tried to emulate the iconic battles from the original trilogy.