Taking control of an Imperial Nebulon B

[Lord Zash]

Hi everyone,

in the last session of my 1 year long campaign (1st edition), my players have just come to the decision they want to attack an Imperial Nebulon B. I need a bit of help because to me it sounds crazy but at the same time sounds like an awesome adventure. Players are excited so I want to give them a good time.


First, couple of things, this is a very loose campaign more about story telling than gritty combat (although there's plenty of combat), pure 1st edition, 1st book no rules companion or add-ons and maybe a couple stats from sourcebooks. Simple space combat like in the main book. I have created my own sector and used resources from SW lore to complement it so you might read a couple of things that might hurt your eyes!


Premise of the adventure:

-Imperial Nebulon B outside a remote volcanic planet
-My players want to use that planet as a secret location for their rebellion.
-A small Rebel Alliance cell has come to the sector to help my players after their incursion in the Mid-Rim territories.
-They fear that if they attack the Nebulon B, this one might send a distress signal that could be picked up by the main fleet under control of the Moff who outnumbers them.


So their plan is to infiltrate the Nebulon dressed as troopers (they have armour from previous adventures), disable the main communications system in time for the small fleet to appear and outnumber the Nebulon and its TIE fighters.

My players are super pumped about this adventure so I want it to be fun.

I have some problems:

- They are not good at CON (there is no persuasion on 1st Ed.) or perception skills in general. I have thought of giving them bonus to the checks if they are wearing the stormtrooper armour. Any other ideas? This is their fault though...

- The small rebel cell will attack while the players are inside the Nebulon, how would you handle this? Just focus on small fighters until the Nebulon sees itself surrounded?

- Imagine they win. As in they disable the communications system and suddenly the Nebulon B is alone and surrenders. How do you handle the fact that there is a lot of people inside that imperial ship. I don't really want to delve into the whole making prisoners, managing a crew of Imperials, trying to get them out of the system or put them in prison or something... How would you handle this?


Any advice masters of the Force will be most welcome.

[garhkal]

[Solo4114]

Do....they realize that a fully crewed Nebulon-B has several hundred crewmembers? How do they propose to "take it over" with what's probably between 3-8 of them? Are the Rebels sending boarding parties or something? Can you take over the bridge and, like, remotely vent all the decks out into space?

[Lord Zash]

Great advice Garhkal! Some awesome ideas there, thank you. Love that one of a stormtrooper captain giving them orders and they don't get it or don't answer with the right stuff.

My party (made of 2 players) relevant stats are:

Burocracy 4D and 3D
Bargain 4D+1 and 2D
Command 4D+1 and 3D+1
Con 3D+1 and 2D


so not great....


Solo4114: yep definitely.
The premise of the adventure is disable the communications array of the Nebulon B before this one can send a distress signal once the Rebel fleet shows up.

The small rebel fleet has 3 B Wings (which in our campaign were specifically made at Shantipole Station to target Nebulons), a few X wings and 1 big cruiser from an alien Race called Merovech.

The idea is that the Nebulon B surrenders to that force that is bigger than them but it must not send that S.O.S. signal because if it does the Moff will put his attention on this planet which my players plan on using as secret base of operations.

1st Edition space combat is minimal and don't want to run much of that. I think the system shines at small skirmish type of adventures. It's all narrative. So the focus of the adventure is on the PCs to infiltrate the Nebulon and will run the space battle narratively (maybe will run a few combats in Space see how they are doing).


And yep definitely 100s of crew members which I am not keen on focusing on. Maybe they can send them on a transport to where the rebellion is?

[CRMcNeill]

Obviously, your best source here is The Far Orbit Project, as it includes several pages of deckplans for the Nebulon, as well as descriptions of its various systems. Based on what you’ve described, it’s plausible that a PC team could infiltrate the ship, take and disable the Nebulon’s long range comm system (it has a pretty robust sub space comm array) and hold it against attacking stormtroopers and naval infantry while your allies disable the ship from the outside.
_________________
"No set of rules can cover every situation. It's expected that you will make up new rules to suit the needs of your game." - The Star Wars Roleplaying Game, 2R&E, pg. 69, WEG, 1996.

The CRMcNeill Stat/Rule Index

[Solo4114]

[Lord Zash]

Brilliant! thank you guys, very helpful!

That's one thing I hadn't thought of CRMcNeill, holding the position! great idea. They get to the communications array and disable it, then the Imperials think why doesn't it work so they send a squad of troopers to fix it. If the PCs hold position for X amount of rounds the Nebulon overwhelmed by superior force surrenders. If they don't hold position distress signal is sent.

[CRMcNeill]

And the deck plans in Far Orbit Project include the comm control rooms, so that’ll be helpful, too.
_________________
"No set of rules can cover every situation. It's expected that you will make up new rules to suit the needs of your game." - The Star Wars Roleplaying Game, 2R&E, pg. 69, WEG, 1996.

The CRMcNeill Stat/Rule Index

[Ray]

How many Ewoks and how much prep time is available?

[Sutehp]

For invading/capturing a Neb-B, I third the idea of using the Far Orbit sourcebook; I imagine (I haven't actually read it but I'm passingly familiar with it) that book is ideal for this adventure concept.

But the Rebel Alliance sourcebook is also relevant for at least two more reasons: 1) what to do with any Imperial prisoners once the Neb-B is captured and 2) an example of how a Rebel Alliance commando raid is run. (And don't let the fact that I'm shilling my favorite Star Wars D6 sourcebook unduly influence you in any way. ) Now that I think of it, the Rebel SpecForce Handbook Rules of Engagement (another personal favorite of mine) can also be helpful for additional detail on running Rebel Commando raids since that book specializes directly on SpecForce.

Concerning the 1st topic of dealing with Imp prisoners: It's more than plausible that the local Rebel Sector Command will want to interrogate any captured Imperial officers. Let's face it, capturing any mid-to-high ranking officers of an Imperial ship of the line would be an intelligence godsend. I can totally see Rebel Sector Command issuing a secondary objective of capturing Imp officers for interrogation to your characters. Mind you, as a secondary objective, if trying to capture officers would endanger the larger objective of capturing the ship, then Command wouldn't mourn too much if the characters were forced to kill any hostile Imps that refused to surrender. After all, managing to capture the navcomp and/or other computers intact would still be a huge intelligence coup for the Rebel Alliance even without prisoners to interrogate. But if the characters do manage to capture prisoners, they'll have the (relatively good) problem of delivering the prisoners alive to Rebel Sector Command, which could lead into at least one additional subsequent adventure for your characters.

This leads into why I mentioned The Rebel Alliance Sourcebook. According to that book (see pages 131-135 for further details), Imperial prisoners captured by the Alliance (whether they've been interrogated or not, but presumably after they have been) are simply dumped onto a Rebel safeworld, since the Alliance (as an insurgency group that can't afford to stay stationary long enough to hold ground) doesn't have any dedicated jails to hold POWs. Rebel safeworlds are essentially frontier planets that haven't been mapped by the Empire where families of Rebels can live out their lives without fear of reprisal and they vary in technological level from simple villages to having a few small cities with perhaps even a rudimentary spaceport (if they're especially well-established). Imperial prisoners are basically dumped on these worlds on a separate continent from these families and are given some basic supplies and told that their only chance for survival is to build shelter and a food supply before the winter comes. And the Imp prisoners really don't have a choice since they don't have any transportation to cross the thousands-mile-long journey it would take to reach the Rebel settlements on the other side of the planet. And this doesn't take into account the fact that the Imp prisoners certainly don't have any weapons even if they somehow did manage to reach a Rebel settlement.

Of course, there are exceptions to every rule. There's even a published SWD6 adventure about what can go wrong if Imp prisoners on a safeworld do manage to get to escape: The Isis Coordinates Adventure has details about a group of Imperial prisoners on a Rebel safeworld actually managing to escape by stealing a Rebel Corellian gunship carrying important medical supplies and the PCs have to both recapture the prisoners and retrieve the medical supplies and deliver them to the planet where they're needed. I'm sure that this book (my third recommendation!) can serve as inspiration for a subsequent adventure in which your PCs will have to deal with additional fallout of taking prisoners from the Neb-B and depositing them on a safeworld after Rebel Sector Command has finished interrogating them.

Also, take special note of the planet Flitter in the sidebar on page 133 of The Rebel Alliance Sourcebook. That's an extreme example of just why the Rebel Alliance goes to such trouble to keep the locations of safeworlds secret. If you do decide to run an adventure with your PCs having to recapture Imp prisoners escaping from a safeworld, having an NPC tell that particular story to your PCs should drive it home just why Imp prisoners escaping from a safeworld is especially dangerous.

Concerning the 2nd topic of running a Rebel Commando raid: the other reason why The Rebel Alliance Sourcebook is particularly useful for your adventure idea is that there is an in-universe example of a Rebel SpecForce commando raid codenamed Operation Cobalt in the sidebars on pages 23(initial planning), 25(allocation of forces), and 32(after-action report). Operation Cobalt isn't a "capture capital ship" mission; it's instead a raid on an Imperial space station to steal an Imperial decoder machine. (Basically it's the Star Wars version of the real life example of the Allies stealing the Nazis' Enigma decoder machine during WWII.) It's a rather complicated op with several moving parts/ teams, but I think it's a perfect example of how to run a successful commando raid in Star Wars. And since there are several components to Operation Cobalt involving no less than three separate commando teams as well as starfighter support (to draw off the Imp station's TIE fighters), there should be sufficient inspiration to give all of your PCs a role to play in your Neb-B raid even if they have to be in separate groups. (Yeah, yeah, I know: Never split the party if you can help it, but I think this is a necessary exception to that rule and can be very rewarding if done well.)

Personal note: Take special notice of the casualty list in the after-action report. While Operation Cobalt was a total success (the Rebels managed to capture the decoder and destroy the station to cover up the theft), commando raids like these are very dangerous. At least two of the team leaders, both of whom were high-ranking colonels in SpecForce, were killed along with the entire commando team that was sent to destroy the space station's power generator, as well as more than a few pilots that were part of the starfighter support team that drew away the TIEs. Remember to hit it home to your PCs that high-risk, high-reward raids like these are extremely dangerous. Even if your PCs all make it out alive, don't be afraid to kill off a few NPCs to emphasize the danger of these commando raids. SpecForce is a highly elite team of military professionals for a reason.

Furthermore, (if for whatever reason you can't access the Rebel SpecForce Handbook Rules of Engagement) rudimentary details and/or stats on SpecForce are on pages 27-30 of the Rebel Alliance Sourcebook.

This post is longer than I originally envisioned (but it was still a joy to write it) and I need to get dinner, so I'll start summing up:

Relevant sourcebooks:
1) The Rebel Alliance Sourcebook
2) Rules of Engagement: Rebel SpecForce Handbook
3) The Isis Coordinates (adventure book)

Additional stories for your PCs after the Neb-B is captured:
1) transporting the prisoners to Rebel Sector Command so they can be interrogated
2) delivering the prisoners to a Rebel safeworld after they've been interrogated
3) dealing with the Imp prisoners' escape attempt from said safeworld (this is where Isis Coordinates will be especially helpful)

Hope this helps. 8)
_________________
Sutehp's RPG Goodies
Only some of it is for D6 Star Wars.
Just repurchased the X-Wing and Tie Fighter flight sim games. I forgot how much I missed them.

[Lord Zash]

[Sutehp]

[CRMcNeill]

Another potential wrinkle is that an unknown percentage of Imperial starships have sleeper agents from Imperial Intelligence or the ISB onboard with orders to keep the ship from defecting or being captured by any means necessary, up to and including the complete destruction of the ship (think the saboteur in the Hunt for Red October). See the Rebel Alliance Sourcebook page 50 for more details.
_________________
"No set of rules can cover every situation. It's expected that you will make up new rules to suit the needs of your game." - The Star Wars Roleplaying Game, 2R&E, pg. 69, WEG, 1996.

The CRMcNeill Stat/Rule Index

[CRMcNeill]

And while conventional wisdom may say to never to split the party, the party gets split amazingly often in the SWU, especially w/r/t splitting the Jedi off from the party to face a Sith while the rest of the group now has to scramble to complete their own missions without the Jedi's aid. This happens in all three of the original films and two of the three prequels, so while party splitting may not be advisable from a gaming standpoint, it is a very Star Wars thing to do under the right circumstances.
_________________
"No set of rules can cover every situation. It's expected that you will make up new rules to suit the needs of your game." - The Star Wars Roleplaying Game, 2R&E, pg. 69, WEG, 1996.

The CRMcNeill Stat/Rule Index

[garhkal]