DarkStryder ideas *Spoilers*

[MA-3PO]

Has anyone run and successfully completed the DarkStryder campaign? I love the basic story but I'm looking for ways to improve some of the details that I know some of my players probably won't care for. For example, the planet at the end on which DarkStryder resides has a force related magic that can be learned by spending char points. I know this is at the end of the story but I know my players aren't going to be crazy about spending char points to learn skills that they can only use on this one planet at the edge of the galaxy. Any alternate ideas for making this planet unique and memorable?(As if DS itself isn't memorable enough?)

I would also like to hear about any other alternative story ideas you may have had that didn't alter the basic story to much.

[KageRyu]

I never ran darkstryder, or played it, or even really read it, so I can offer little help.
One thought does come to mind, perhaps there is some element or material on the planet that causes this "magic" effect you speak of, and if the PCs were to fashion talismans of some sort from it, then these skills would be usable in other places as long as they had the talisman?

As for the spending CP for temporary uses, it is really only slightly different from spending CP to temporarily increase a skill or damage resist roll. Granted, most players wont see it this way, and I can understand how you might balk at it. Perhaps you could consider granting a "role Playing" or "Individual Acomplishment" CP award to players who did learn these abilities, not just to compensate for CP spent, but to reflect their active involvment and enthusiasm in the adventure. Another thought would be to lay plot threads for some future event that brings the PCs back to this planet?
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"There's a set way to gain new Force Points and it represents a very nice system, where you're rewarded for heroism, not for being a poor conductor to electricity." ~Jachra

[garhkal]

I have the boxed set and all 3 expansions, but never had a chance to use it (or play in it)...
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[MA-3PO]

Yeah, I've owned it since it was released so I guess I've been ready to play for years. The problem is that I know the story so well it's now gotten difficult to think "outside the box" for alternate story ideas.

[Jedi Skyler]

I like Kage's idea about fashioning a talisman that allows the PCs to use these newfound abilities off-planet. I don't know if any of the characters are Force-sensitive or not, but you might even make them Force-sensitive after prolonged exposure to these items, thereby adding a new dimension to their characters. If they ARE already sensitive to the Force, then perhaps this whole adventure might deepen their awareness- either an extra D to Sense, or a brand-new power they don't need to spend CPs to learn. Some way to reward them in some fashion that will carry over and be usable outside this adventure.

[The Brain]

Ah the Darkstyder campaign I remember that good times...at least after we tossed that multiple character idea out the airlock. Well before I get all nostalgic and start retelling old stories try this. The female jedi in stasis at the end who turns out to be the ex-imp officer's ancestor have her trn out the be a dark jedi who at the proper moment turns on the PCs trys to corrupt her descendent and sieze Darkstryder's power for herself.

[MA-3PO]

[Endwyn]

Just a hint: Seperate the characters into piles, so that you can tell the players to pick a character from each pile - otherwise they might pick two characters that work side by side; and that's not fun.

As for the Tai ri and dathomir spells; our group edited the cost structure - if you really look at the cost vs game balance factor it seems off. I'm not saying that it should be dirt cheap, but w/ the darkstryder stuff the N FS characters loose access to the powers off planet (a good thing, but a draw back to the powers non-the-less). Dathomir spells are specialized force skills - only getting one power at a die code. Just a thought.
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And Leia is your sister!
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That's...highly unlikely.
The Force? Bacteria called midichlorians.
If you don’t take this seriously I'm out.

[The Brain]

"Hmm...that's an interesting idea. Just out of curiosity...why did you toss the multiple character idea out? Did it have problems working or just your groups preference? I thought it would be nice because it is not such a big deal if a char gets killed and a player gets to be in three places at once. For example a player gets to be involved in the starfighter dogfight, ground combat, and blasting away in the turbolaser turret all in the same battle."

Well first off it was a pain trying the keep records for what four people were doing with three or four characters each, not to mention how overly complex a battle could getwith three diffent scenes running simaultaniously. My players didn't feel like using pre-gen characters for a full campaign. Its one of those effort put in equals intrest things you don't invest much effort or energy into a pre-gen so you don't care as much what happens to it ("Bob you just ate a thermal detonator blast" "Oh okay no big deal hand me the campaign book and I'll pick a new one").

[Jedi Skyler]

If you still want to use the multi-character angle, you might combine ideas. Don't use the pre-gen characters, but have the players create ones that are along the same lines, but built from scratch. That will at least give them more of an investment in their characters, so they'll be able to get more into it...