Warning: This section is intended for the Game Master’s eyes ONLY. Players who read this section only ruin the fun for themselves.
Time: Empire or New Republic
A group of young Knights was ordered to investigate a Sith uprising during the Old Republic. When they discovered the Sith, their zeal in upholding the Light brought them into the Dark Side. After several months of chasing the Dark Jedi in question, the team finally defeated their opponents, but only after causing hundreds of innocent deaths.
When returning to their Master, they learned of the results of their actions. Realizing that they had become the enemy, they filed their final message into their ship's computer, sent it to their master and committed suicide. When their bodies were recovered, they were cremated, and their ashes and weapon were placed into a sealed box and flung into space.
Centuries later, the Empire hears rumors of a box that contains incredible powers somewhere in the Outer Rim, and sends a team to investigate. The Rebellion. New Republic is now in a race to get this box, which the local legends say will destroy those who look upon its contents with darkness in their hearts.
Use the appropriate, archeological adventure traps and difficulties combined with the normal Star Wars problems, including museum and university research teams, weapons companies, the Hutts, the CSA and the Empire all trying to get the box.
When it is opened, those characters who serve the Dark Side are attacked by the spirits of the fallen Jedi, who use their weapons and Force powers. Any PCs who are dangerously close to the Dark Side should be almost attacked. When a lightsaber is about two CM in front of their face, have it get blocked by another saber, then have the PC hear a pair of voices arguing about whether "this one can be saved", and be forced to argue in his own defense. Any PC who should be so foolish as to look upon the carnage should make a Willpower roll to retain their sanity. When the battle is done, the box should pull the remains of the dead and the fallen Jedi back into it, slam shut and just sit their.
Finish the campaign with the characters fighting with their CO about what is happening to the box. Cut away to a battered freighter approaching Kessel, crewed by a Wookie, two human males and a pair of droids. The Wookie and the blond, younger human are both complaining about how uncomfortable the thing makes them, while the protocol droid is translating dire warnings and prophecies off the sides of the box. Finally, the box is loaded into an escape pod, and fired into the Maw. (One guess as to who the ship and her crew are.)
Use a lot of cut aways, like showing the box in the hold of an Imperial ship in a packing crate, and then the Imperial markings start to melt off the crate.
The typical spirit of the fallen Jedi should have 5D-6D in its Force skills, and at least one physical weapon. Be creative with the use of the Force as weapon. Imagine the imagery of a Stormtrooper being picked up and hurled through an AT-ST, and out the other side. This says that the forces in that box are not to be trifled with in no uncertain terms.
This would make a good campaign, that consists of four to six adventures, each of which should be a few sessions long (note: my average session is about four hours long). You'll want at least half of your group to be Force sensitive, and one or two Force trained individuals in the group. They should be uncomfortable around the thing, unless they have more than three DSPs. Then they should hear it calling them, asking them to open it. This is a BAD idea. The only thing worse would be letting the Empire keep it.
Actually, if your team consists of archeologists and investigative-type individuals, this could be just one of several campaigns that forms a huge chronicle, searching for Force artifacts, racing Dark Jedi and to her forces of evil, or just the ignorant.
Another great idea for this game would be to start players off in the Old Republic in the roles of the Jedi who ultimately fall. Then have them play the roles of the research team and so them the consequences of their decisions.
Time: 3500 years before Star Wars: A New Hope
Unnamed NPCs/PCs: mostly all Jedi students, a background piece of the campaign will always be the lessons, schooling of the Young Jedi... Though a non-sensitive might be fun amidst all the Force stuff...
Master: Jedi Master of the PCs seen as not reaching his potential.
Traitor: old friend/rival of the Master, he is now a Council Member. Its our intention to build him over the campaign from arrogant thorn in the side to somewhat reluctant to full scale.
Turncoat/Traitor of the Republic & Jedi & Dark Lord or the Sith.
Peer: student with the PCs in the beginning, then turns to become the apprentice of Traitor.
The Republic has just peaked at it's Golden Age after overcoming the last Dark Lord of the Sith- Exar Kun. The internal rotting of the Republic is in its infancy (one of the first "robberbarons" is our Traitor/villain mastermind), many of the Jedi & Republic senate are arrogant & comfortable in their positions. The first real dealings with the Mandalorians & the Republic begin in our campaign, while the Clone Wars won't begin for centuries if nurtured just right you can watch the beginnings of the unease between them. The dark Jedi were expelled over 15000 years ago into the Outer Rims & have been all but forgotten since the time of Sith Lords like Naga Sadow & later Freedon Nadd. The name Sith was revived by Kun but none of those Dark Jedi were involved at the time. For 500 years since Kun, the Sith have been complacent & disorganized, over that time new Lords took their places in the (Middle Age-like) Feudal system, as the hundreds of Lords gained power/slaves/regions they also began to claim the title of Dark Lord of the Sith, but as one claimed the title he/she was assassinated, recently these claims escalated into battles then into a multi-army war of Sith Lords. This is were our story begins, as the first rumblings of the "Lord Wars" first resonate into the Republic regions.
Prologue (could be done as a short story or "cut-away" sequence)
Master & Traitor (we need to name them) are childhood friends eventually entering the Jedi Academy (C'thuinar-sp?) together. Traitor is envious of Master's skills & begins learning the ways of Politician & the art of deception (learning of the Jedi driven out). Traitor begins to take credit/sabotage Master's work, discrediting Master.
Traitor is awarded rank of Jedi Knight (due to his contacts, family heritage, ass-kissing), before Master & actually influences the councils decision on making Master a Knight, prolonging it.
Master becomes Knight shortly before one of the council elders disappears (at the hands of a Sith Lord) then Traitor steps into the Council. Master learns of Traitor's holding him back & in a moment of rage (at his Knight ceremony) accuses Traitor, this is seen as unacceptable behavior for a Jedi, he is reprimanded & shunned.
Master, although naturally skilled in the force becomes only a teacher/historian rather than the high position gained by his old friend, Traitor. Master is seen as insubordinate & underachiever among the Jedi & labeled a troublemaker (even though he is more the Jedi than most, it is the time of beginning of rot in the Jedi/Republic, this will not be fully realized for centuries).
Campaign Beginning
A vision (don't tell PCs its a vision in the beginning). The PC group in the midst of a battle between their Master's elder Jedi students/Troops & two warring Sith Lords. The Lords were doing battle on & for a world in the Mandalore Regions (on the far edge of the Republic, Mandalorian's are not of the Republic but neutral). The Master might see the PCs & scold them "you shouldn't be seeing this, not yet"- Master & his Jedi are losing badly.
Traitor at this time is in his office at the academy attempting again to discredit his old friend by using Battle Meditation to give the Lords the idea to unite against the Jedi, then Traitor will send his Jedi Troops in to be the heroes... The PCs were dragged into a vision because of both the force vibrations from Traitor to Mandalore (which they feel but can't decipher yet) & their Master in trouble. Much play could come from all but Master not acknowledging the PCs during the battle- if a PC tries to get involved or thinks he's going to get ran over let him attack or dodge with no affect, He passes right through them "are they ghosts?" Then they are violently pulled back to their bodies in the academy because of the vibrations in the force that they can investigate (Traitor) maybe even talk to the Council member but find or understand little...
Traitor sends his Jedi Troop to save the day, & does, Master is baffled at why his force was losing...
The PCs are invited to come to the Mandalore System to study the battle site, reconstruct damaged areas, & aid in peace talks with the Mandalorians. This is when they recover the first images of the Sith's return on the far side of a nearby moon that one of the Lord Apprentice flees to during the battle (maybe they saw it in the vision) Much could be played on the battle torn site of the Mandalorians (a primitive metal working human-like race). Then on their investigations of the Moon they discover the Debate Site where several (5-30) Lord Apprentice argue about lands/species/etc... their Lord has acquired. When they stumble in on this they see the last step in the creation of a Dark Beast that awakes & sees the PCs. This leads to battles or chases... The PCs could even find artifacts or ancient scriptures of the Sith at this point. This moon is one of the many Lord Tomb worlds, They might even stumble into a "dungeon" adventure in the catacombs of the extensive Tombs...
If/when the PCs call for reinforcements have the apprentice escape leaving enough Info. to let them come to the conclusion of the Lord War the Sith are having. (this is when Traitor captures & personally interrogates one of the Lords apprentice learning of the Sith Culture, etc... Then decides he could become DLotS with his influence as a Council member & knowledge of many weaker Republic worlds to conquer...)
A neat red herring would be to have a corporation or criminal organization challenge the Republic for the Mandalore Region, offering the Mandalorians stuff in exchange for their unique armor technologies & habitats... Also throw in a good share of space encounters (maybe that mine horror shows up after all) & the Jedi being sent to stop other Sith Lord invasions (random, numerous, simultaneous & unorganized) as well as the intense discrediting of the Master by Traitor, & all the Jedi Training... BTW- all this time they travel with their friend/peer NPC to establish a friendship (have him bail another character out, etc...)
After several battles that really go nowhere, as the Jedi stop other Sith Lords. They come to yet another Sith Lord (one of the more powerful ones) who has stolen a capital ship & has converted it into a Sith battle platform. Once onboard (Master, Peer, PCs) discover a breeding colony of a Sith army (similar to Aliens, that the Lord found a hive of & thought they would be the perfect army), That struck back on the Lord. So at first the Jedi encounter this mobile platform that comes & starts pounding on a Republic safe world, then the species attacks in a mutiny the Sith on the inside. The Sith Lord stops his attacks on the world & asks the Jedi (who are probably attacking the station by now) to save him from his "slave revolt", because no other Sith Lord would aid him.
Once aboard they need to stop the threat then the Master & Peer split from the PCs, the Master is attacked & killed by some remaining Sith while the Peer is left alive, just as he's about to be killed too the Traitor is there to save him (he planned the event but didn't mean for the Sith to kill the Master) Seeing what his actions have done he destroys the remaining Sith, saving the Peer (then explains his goal to rule over the Sith as DLotS, the only way to stop the Sith- who are stronger than he originally thought, is to rule them but he explains why it must be kept secret from the Council...)
The PCs encounter tons of Sith fighting the Aliens, maybe even see the Sith Lord killed, while their master is killed & their friend is thought killed.
In the rage from seeing his master killed & taking guidance from a Jedi council member (Traitor) the Peer begins hunting (more predator-like than Jedi) Sith aboard the cap ship battle station, running from Traitor. Peer could even kill the Sith Lord, which would be when Traitor catches up with him, giving him the talk about fighting fire with fire (to become his apprentice- later his champion). Peer takes this a little more to heart after seeing his Master (father-figure) mauled violently by the Sith, & starts down the path of strong action of the Dark Side realizing the way of the Jedi is not aggressive enough to survive anymore... (all these behind the scene actions could happen in "cut-aways" if you want)
Seeing his creation the Traitor kind of feels guilty (for a few seconds anyway) so he covers it up by saying both the Master/Peer were killed (perhaps a rallying cry to get more backing/support from the Jedi/Republic) while he smuggled the Peer out to train in private & perhaps begin conquest of the other Sith Lords as his apprentice. This might even be a good time to tempt the PCs with coming under Traitors teaching (DSPs if they except).
Clean-up of the heavily/alien modified cap ship battle platform could be fun. It could have been adrift toward the planet below during the time they entered the ship & beginning to burn into the atmosphere (PCs save a city?). What to do with the Sith prisoners or the alien sect mutiny group? Minor Sith weapons would be found as well as leading the PCs more in the direction of understanding the Lords War of the Sith... They might even hear of a new upstart, strong Sith Lord (Traitor with anther name).
Dealing with the funeral pyre of the Master/Peer would also be something fun & out of the ordinary, with the huge procession of Jedi from across the galaxy as well as the full Senate of the Republic. Then the task of, are the PCs ready for Knightship or do they need another Master?
If they are to become Young Jedi Knights this is the perfect opportunity for the training test of the Jedi... test each PC individually centering on his/her weak points- if a PCs is impatient let him know his friends have been given the title Knight but he is not ready, if he argues- he is not, if he is understanding/patient- he is ready... If greed is their weakness offer a situation for wealth vs. the integrity of the young Jedi (will he take the 10000 credits & lie or not). All the while remembering the Traitor is on the Council to make the decisions... Does he even want them to be Knights? Or does he hold them back like their Master before them (a good time to have them introduced to the locale bartender/janitor or someone who knew of the Master's discreditation). DO NOT just do test of combat, that's boring & very non-Jedi like.
This all should last easily over 5-10+ game sessions, but there's more for later. The basic end we're looking for is the PCs learning of the Traitor (how he betrayed Master/Republic/Jedi), how he lured/trained their Peer, major confrontation with their Peer, the Traitor has become DLotS (a huge ceremony would be a cool end scene) & how he plans to use the Republic to rule the galaxy...What will they do about all this?
I suggest picking up the Dark Horse comics TotJ-Golden Age of the Sith that’s currently running to more understand the Sith culture (or what little is told of it...).
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