New Campaign, . . . Ideas?

[Guardian_A]

I'm getting ready to kick off a new campaign. Its going to be pre episode 1 (Probably about 50 years before those events) following the adventures of a young padawan and his master.

This campaign is only going to involve one player plus myself as GM.

The Jedi Master is a scolar who spends much of his time seeking out and studying objects/relics associated with the Force. He is an ageing Kluuzot with no real interest in having a Padawan. The PC is his first student.

The Jedi Master was a pivotal NPC in a Dark Ages campaign I ran a few years ago, so in a way, this will be a way to tell some of his history in my Star Wars universe. In the previous storyline, he was trying to protect a small band of surviving padawans during the Purge. Needless to say, his opinion of Padawans will be changing greatly over the course of this storyline. This will NOT be a prequil to the previous story that included this character, it will simply be another story that includes one of the same supporting characters.

The player character is going to be a young padawan (about 13yo) who has just been assigned his first master. He wants to make his character into something of a Force User/Fighter Jock. The player is a long time D&D player, but is new to D6. He has a copy of the Star Wars R&E Rulebook and I gave him a copy of the players handout posted a while back on this site.

The first adventure will have the pair on a backwater little planet that is rumored to have a lost Jedi temple. It wont be too hard for them to find the old remnants of the lost temple, but it will turn out that a small group of pirates are now using it as a home base.

With all of that said, I havent really put much thought into the long term direction of the campaign. Anyone have any thoughts/comments/ideas before I start hammering out a campaign?

[garhkal]

Perhaps due to the master's non desire to have a padawan, he leaves the kid to his own devices... until he senses a new master over the horizon who would love to take the kid (Dark sider)..
_________________
Confucious sayeth, don't wash cat while drunk!

[MacRauri]

[garhkal]

Nice add on.. Also the new master could be an old enemy of the current one, or one who used to be friends.. till he split off.
_________________
Confucious sayeth, don't wash cat while drunk!

[Raven Redstar]

You could have the Jedi Master infected with a strain of virus that has been enhanced by Sith Alchemy. This virus eats away at the Jedi's mind, incapacitating him until he falls completely to the dark side, becoming a psychotic murderer. The only hope for his master is to find an ancient cure developed thousands of years in the past by the Jedi who had encountered it during one of their many conflicts with the Sith. This solves the issue of having a Jedi Master who steals the show from the player, plus it allows the space jockey a chance to go gallivanting around the galaxy searching for a cure. Perhaps he'll come across some incorrect cures that alleviate the symptoms long enough for him to receive some training from his master, but then his master slips back, and further. The player can also be tempted by the prospect of learning Sith Alchemy himself to create his own virus to destroy the one affecting his master... however this would send him down a dangerous path...

I dunno, just an idea...
_________________
RR
________________________________________________________________

[S-Foil]

If the player is going to have the only PC in the game here's some ideas I've used in the past to help keep the campaign moving:

Droid Companion - Give the character a droid companion of some type. The droid can be assigned to handle mundane tasks that the character might otherwise need to do. It can also be trained in a skill set that is quite different from the PC. The player is going to need to dump their character points into their Force abilities and piloting skill. They probably won't have a lot of points left over to put into Starfighter Repair, Computer Programming or Security. Astromech droids make for good companions.

Hire a Ship - Instead of giving the character permanent access to a ship have them instead hire one like Luke and Obi Wan did in ANH. You always have the option of the crew of the ship help out in an adventure and they can serve as their own adventure hooks if you get stuck. Having to wait for your ride to show up can help put some dramatic tension into the story.

Bad Guys Run Away - Don't make all fights to the death. This also lends to showing the player a difference between D6 and D&D. Opponents don't irrationally lock themselves into life or death combat just because they were in the room you entered. They pull back if the Jedi start literally cutting a path through their compatriots.

As for story elements, adding Dark Side users makes for a good challenge for Jedi characters. This doesn't need they need to be actual Sith (since no one knew the Sith still existed until Darth Maul showed up). They can be fallen Jedi, followers of some alternate path, or just sorcerer/witch types they have an evil inclination and some abilities in the Force. They don't even need to be ridiculously powerful since a Padawan and a scholarly Jedi won't necessarily be the best fighters in the universe.

A long term option for your Jedi Master could be he slowly falls to the Dark Side. Maybe some of the things he's studying or an event in his past lead him down that path. He could have secluded himself and dedicated himself to his studies in order to be able to pursue his Dark Side studies in secret. The Padawan could be a crimp in his plans even if he doesn't necessarily feel any personal resentment towards him. He might hold back on the Padawan's training or be stand offish so he doesn't accidentally let slip any Dark Side teachings.

[garhkal]

On the curse/cure.. potentially even have it that the longer the pupil stays around the more likely HE is to contract it as well
_________________
Confucious sayeth, don't wash cat while drunk!

[Guardian_A]

Thanks for all the feedback guys.

The "Alternate Teacher" idea is one that I have been floating around. I'm probably going to give the character a chance to learn from a rogue Jedi, but thats not going to happen right away. I'm going to give him a chance to get comfortable with the character first (Probably 2-3 short story arcs first).

The "Infected" idea is something that one of my fellow GMs did in his own story. So thats probably not going to happen for a while. (No matter how badly I want to run another Death Troopers/Red Harvest related story.)

Droid Companion: I have actually talked with the player breifly about this. He's probably going to receive either a Droid or animal companion early on, but I want to introduce that in-story. Before I do so, I want to see how he plays his character so I can create a companion who will compliment him. There is also the possibility of adding another NPC as something of a sidekick should the need arise. Maybe someone who declares a "Life Debt" to him for saving their life.

Hire a ship: I plan to have the Jedi Master book passage to the planet in question, but once there, they will need to acquire to their next destination. This is likely to come in the form of one of the local Pirate's smaller ships.

Bad Guys Run Away: I intend for the Pirates they cross paths with to act as a long term antagonist. Their organization will need to remain largely intact to accomplish this. Besides, they want to get rich through piracy, not dead. A few of them might fight to the death, but for most of them, their priorities will be a follows: 1. Stay Alive. 2. Get rich. 3. Live the good life!

Dark Siders: I plan to introduce Dark Side Adepts into the story, but they probably wont be very powerful or very organized. After all, much of the Jedi believe that the Sith are extinct during this time period.

If I wasnt making use of an NPC who had appeared in another of my campaigns, then falling to the dark side might be an option. Over the course of this campaign, I plan for this Jedi Master to slowly go from being something of a antisocial hermet to becoming a fatherly teacher of young Jedi. With that said, his lack of interest in his young charge might open the door to the dark side in other ways, . . .

A short overview of the first story:
-Awkward meeting of Padawan and Master
-Characters leave the Jedi Temple and book passage to planet in question.
-Characters arrive on planet and discover location of the lost temple.
-Characters find temple only to discover that it is being used as a base of opperations for pirates.
-Characters infiltrate temple in hopes of finding lost jedi lore/artifacts
-Characters are discovered by pirates
-Characters escape (Possibly by stealing one of the Pirates "Prize" ships. Probably a light freighter.)


Thanks again for all the feedback guys. There are a lot of good ideas, keep them coming!

[Guardian_A]

Just a short recap of whats happened in the story so far:

The first little adventure went about as expected, ending with the character acquiring a ship, an astromech droid, and a useful contact in the form of a freed prisoner.

Upon return to the Jedi Temple on Coruscant, the character went on a small adventure with a fellow Padawan. The end result was a few laughs, the introduction of several NPCs that will play rolls in future adventures, and a couple of plot hooks set for future adventures.

The third adventure involved the young Padawan and his master flying off in their new ship in search of further Force related artifacts. The end result was the acquisition of a pair of ancient Sith Lightsabers, a small missunderstanding amongst the local population, and a significant plot hook related to a (Distant) future adventure I have planned.

Up to this point, I have been trying to balance the story between "Padawan Training" and small adventures. But with the player finally starting to get a feel for both the D6 system and his character, I'm starting to look at the bigger picture. The player is seeming to build his character into something that feels like a blend of bounty hunter & diplomat, but for now, I want to keep the story focused on his master's persuit of Force related artifacts.

At this point, I am looking for a couple of story ideas that will allow the Master to continue search for artifacts, but at the same time, I want to encourage the Padawan to continue building his current skill set. I'm planning to run one or two "Indiana Jones" style adventures that would allow him to make use of all his skills, but I'd love to come up with a wide veriety of adventures/situations to challenge the character without getting away from the current focus of the story. Thoughts? Ideas?

[Bren]

One idea is to find some short adventures for the Padawan on his own.

One idea that occurred to me is that since the master values artifacts - and presumably history, culture, archaology, art history etc. and the Padawan seems action oritented the master may set the Padawan some tasks to broaden his knowledge in ways that the master prefers.

So the master sends the Padawan to the museum on whatever planet they are on. Master says something like - "Go to the Museum, study and meditate on the art there to learn what the thoughts of those ancient artists were."

While Padawan is in the museum (whether he is bored, fascinated, or whatever) something could happen.

A) Thieves break in to the museum to steal art work. Can the Padawan stop them without allowing any people or artwork to be damaged?

B) There is a reception for wealthy patrons at the museum. The Padawan could be forced or drawn into socializing with the wealthy and powerful. This is a chance to observe others - how do the powerful treat other attendees - how do they treat their servants - etc. How does the Padawan react?

C) As B) but bounty hunters are hired to kidnap one of the attendees. Can the Padawan stop them without allowing any people or artwork to be damaged?

D) As B) but an assassin(s) is there to kill an important politician or wealthy industrialist. Can the Padawan stop him without allowing any people or artwork to be damaged?

E) A dissident group breaks into the museum to "reclaim" artwork created by their species or culture in the past. The artwork in the Museum of another dominant culture. [Real world examples that could inspire such behavior include large numbers of art in Western museums from the Egypt, the Middle East, Greece, etc.] Can the Padawan negotiate a peaceful resolution to the problem. Note that this encounter could be seen as a criticism of the Master's quest for artifacts created by other cultures. You could even have the dissidents become opponents of the Master.

[ZzaphodD]

[Guardian_A]