Stormtrooper Dilema!

[ZepDek]

Oy, If I only had a nickle for every time my players mocked stormtroopers.....But seriously one of the best things you can do is to send a good number of stormies at them (Like 10-20 for every one PC, Imperials were never know for subtly), and have the groups combine fire. I read in the source book "Rules of Engagement - The Rebel SpecForce Handbook" that some stormtroopers due to their superior skill do not need to role to use combined actions. Hope this helps

[KageRyu]

As mentioned earlier, it does stand to reason that there could be experienced, veteran, and elite storm troopers. In the GM sections of the book, it recommends upping skill dice and stats, or even giving NPCs CP to spend to make them more challenging. All of this has been said in other posts. Further, it does stand to reason there will be some military units of any given type that are either more or less experienced than others, due to combat experience and length of service.

So, consider this:

• Make at least 1 trooper in each squad slightly more experienced as the squad leader (marked with an insignia or colored epaulette). He must have done some service to warrent standing out and gaining leadership of a squad right? Give him a few Bonus D to divide amongst his skills (around 2D-4D amongst 3-4 skills). I use this as a standard convention.
• Use a chart or template to randomly determine a squads Skill level, and thus add or subtract Bonus D to overall skills (like: 1= Green (-1D) 2-3= Normal (no change) 4-5=Veteran (+1D) 6=Elite (+2D-3D)). The charts in Star Warriors for pilotting skills can be easily adapted for this as well (but often lead to overskilled units).
• If the players are posing as great a threat to the empire as indicated, the empire will notice. After losing several garrisons, and a few hundred stormtroopers, the empire will take special steps to deal with the players. In this situation it is possible to create a unit of Storm Trooper specialists, drawn from veterran units, assigned by the empire to deal specifically with the players. Such Veterrans should be created as minor NPCs, or at least given +2D-4D bonuses to skills (not a uniform bunos to all skills, but varryed). Such a unit should definately be commanded by a member of the Royal Guard who has taken on Storm Trooper duties again. If the Player Character's have become as big a threat as mentioned, the Empire will definately take special precautions and measures to wipe them out.
• All of the above posts about artillery support, fighter support, and special weapons can also be used too. Especially in combination with a special ST squad tracking the players. One possibility (a custom i used in one campaign) is stylized vehicles. I had created a custom TIE Transport (similar to the modified bomber listed in Galaxy Guide 03) where the entire Bomb pod had been retrofitted to carry 5 ST's. In addition, the sponson that normally carried the targetting array for the bombs was refitted with an E-Web HRB to provide fire support to the squad. These TIE's proved invaluable as they could deploy rapidly from a base or capital ship, and the repulsor lifts allowed them to maintain a low hover while the troops repelled out the back of the pod. The TIE pilot could also provide fire support for the squad with the HRB. 2 of these, mixed with 2-3 TIE Bombers for additional ground support give an elite squad some serious teeth. Now, I know not all GMs like monkeying with the equipment or vehicles, but the conversion just seemed so...tempting, and was inspired by existing material and notes already made under the TIE bomber entry in various books

That's some of my 2 cents.

[Argamoth]

Giving troopers better equipment helps too, as said before. Better blasters, armor, some heavy weaponry, etc...

[Phalanks Balas]

You can have storm's support like armoured land speeder... remember, a hit of a speeder scaled blaster have a range of effect (I would say 30 cm radius). If the gunner into the speeder can't hit directly your PC, the range of effect can hit him (with lesser dommage).
The storm can have grenades. They can surprise the PC team...
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Phalanks

A day you will be facing the guns of the Black Pearl. You will know what means damned pirates !

[netjedi]

Most importantly it is your game, don't forget it. as the characters progress their skills with experience, who is to say that the Stormtroopers are not also advancing with their experiences. the write up of stormtroopers for me is what they are once they leave the stormtrooper academy, not after a year or two or three or more after they leave. In fragments of the rim they have Storm Commandoes these are elite Stormtroopers, they had to get to those skill levels somehow to make it to a Storm Commando. I always adjust what my players are going up against through out the adventures. if at teh beginning they face stock storm troopers then after a few sessions the storm troopers have better equipment and increased skills. the balance being it has to be at least a little chalenge, if there is no challenge then it is not fun. I know i am repeating alot of what has been said but i wanted to give my cred and a half. Cheers
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"Dig it. Who's the man? I'm the man. I'm a bad man. How bad? Real bad. I'm a 12.0 on the 10.0 scale of badness." The Evil Midnight Bomber

Wanted Poster

[KageRyu]

Ok, thought this might be of note to everyone looking for some "Official Guideline" about adjusting Stormtrooper skill levels up:

• The Thrawn Trilogy Sourcebook
• The Heir to the Empire Sourcebook

In both of these very officila WEG books, it is mentioned that Thrawn's Stormtroopers are more experienced than the average Stormtrooper, giving reasons such as seeing more action, better training, and not squandering them on pointless missions. Still, this establishes an "official" precedent for you to improve your Stormtroopers.

Have Fun
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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]

[masque]

I never treat Stormtroopers as a joke. If you haven't checked out TD0013's A Different Point of View, you should. He's a Sandtrooper that gives the Imperial perspective on Star Wars, and his analysis of the ST's poor performance in the Death Star is right on, namely that the ST's let Han, Luke and the rest escape so that the Imperials could track them. He's also pretty damn funny.

http://www.dragonpage.com/archives/more_td0013.html

I particularly like it when characters start joking about ST's before going up against them. In my games, when the ST's have kill orders, they do not screw around. This forces the characters to have to think a lot more strategically, and ends up being more fun.
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Hokey religions and ancient weapons are no match for a good blaster at your side, kid.

[Firehawk0220]

When I have characters with awesome stats and skills that need to feel a sense of danger, I create an NPC that's better to go after them. If I need to, I will change one of the regular NPC Stormtroopers into a badass.

My players know to be afraid and to think before they go running down into a base with 1,000 Stormtroopers in it.

[Taliesin_Bardwolf]

Well, after reading this thread many times and thinking a lot, I have made a basic stormtrooper template, one for "rookie" ones, with the dice codes from rulebook. Basing on it, I make veteran trooper, snowtrooper, sandtrooper, etc., by adding dice in skills as survival: snow, stealh, swimming, etc.

This way, I have a basis in order to make future trooper types, and alsto it is easy to make soldiers of different levels.

[Akari]

Problem is, while the individual stormtrooper may not be much of a threat, players are going to die the statistical death when dealing with a dozen or more of them. Stormtroopers are very well organized and coordinate actions like almost no other strikeforce in the known universe. That and their almost unshakable determination is why they are so deadly in numbers.

Our most resiliant character has a strength+armor roll of 5d+1. A one on the wild die can happen quickly and that means he's in serious danger of being wounded (or worse) by an aimed blster rifle shot. We also try to round out our characters, training them in several fields, so our combat statistics are not skyhigh (usually between 5d and 7d). Makes for some interesting conflict, usually.

[garhkal]

[Firehawk0220]

Don't forget, everytime someone kills a Stormtrooper, another one takes his place. They all look the same and show up in almost endless numbers.

That is why they are scary. For no other reason. The Empire at sometime started using humans instead of clones and started to skimp on their training and equipment. Clone troopers are actually much better than Stormtroopers.

It has also been said some Stormtroopers are human and some are still clones. Therefore, I'd make stats for about two or three different Stormtroopers and mix them up some. That way the players won't know which kind they are getting.

[Pel]

"Stormtroopers shoot straight and don't care about casualties."
-Rebel SpecForce maxim from RoE.

I really enjoyed that book's take on how Stormtroopers are brave, not stupid. Yes, they're decimated by the Heroes of Yavin, but those guys were exceptional shots and every single time, they ran from the Stormtroopers. That should tell us something.
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Aha!

[garhkal]