USH'S STAR WARS GAME- Episode I (Light and Dark) Post-Script

So, there was the first Episode of the new Campaign! For those of you who do not know, I always do a post-script to my SW Episodes. Often that used to be several threads large, but now I handle a lot of stuff IN-thread instead, due to the split plots, all I need to do now for my Post-Script thread is this one generic one which takes a look at the game.

Well, first of all, I want people to appreciate that this is an impromptu end to the Episode, caused by it overrunning so much- when planning RPs this is often an issue because you can never predict how players will react to things. Players self-generate their own plots sometimes, which greatly extend play time (and are always fun to see in action!), but also considerable absences, from both my and players, didn’t help matters! Just one of those things. Anyway, adaptation and improvisation are at the heart of this kind of thing, so the extended parts of the plot have been, as previously mentioned, split off to form an Episode II that did not originally exist.

That is all very well, but it DOES mean that you are coming out of an Episode- some of you for the first time!- without the intended ‘end of Episode’ feeling, so the experience might not be 100% what was hoped for. The Jedi at this point are thinking “someone is playing silly buggers with us, about time we sorted this out,” and the Dark Siders are thinking “[censored] [deleted] [censored] game right up his [censored].” Ok, more precisely they are thinking “Aww MAN, what the hell can we do against this? Kuylen had better have a damn good plan…”

Yet this point in the opening mini-storyline is a transitional point of sorts; certainly a reasonable point for experience spending, character tweaking, information reflecting, and new objectives. Just that originally this pause for through would have been within an Episode, not between two of them. Your general plots continue unbroken; your means of pursuing them now change.

Let us look, then, at what has been going on in both plotlines. There are no direct links between the two, except that they ultimately deal with the machinations of Darth Sidious, and how the players on either side eventually meet with his efforts.

Because this is the start of a new Campaign AND a new storyline, there is a considerable amount of background to both plotlines!

On the Light Side, we opened with a Conference meeting of disaffected Republican worlds. For some continuity with the older players, a representative from Damagran was there- Damagran being the world wanting to leave the Republic that made up the background plot for the very first Episodes, now started over three years ago. Damagran eventually stayed in the Republic but still has ‘issues’. The delegates are meeting with Count Dooku, who is slowly starting to put together a political association that will later become the Confederacy.

But the delegates are unhappy, because they feel powerless- how can such worlds ever hope to make a difference against the might on the vested interests in the Republic? So this Episode investigates Dooku’s trump card- he an turn some of those vested interests onto his side. The vast financial interests of the Republic- the Commerce Guild, Banking Clan, Techno Union and Trade Federation- are sympathetic with HIS view. With them on his side, the potential Confederacy could have REAL power.

But there is a problem- the Trade Federation has become a liability. Broken by the Naboo and the Jedi two years ago, they are now out of power, and facing possible extinction. Worst of all, the Viceroy is a prisoner, and might blow the biggest secret of all- the existence of Dooku’s Master, Darth Sidious.

Luckily the Sith are nothing if not adept, and Dooku/Tyrannus and Sidious have a plan. Dooku’s vast influence and resources have created the conspiracy inside the Republic, which he now puts to good use.

For the purposes of this story, the choice we made of the several tools at Dooku’s disposal was the Techno Union. This is for two reasons- first of all, the Trade Federation seem entirely technologically dependant Therefore plot wise, it made sense that the Union would be a good choice for putting the plan together. Secondly, from a gaming point of view, the Techno Union seemed to be the most exciting one for producing enemies and new situations for the Jedi to combat.

The Jedi are soon to run into this little problem head on. But another place has been looking into this issue for years. The Taloranian Government, an Inner World consisting of inventive tinkerers with a paranoid bent, has been worried about the activity of the Techno Union for some time. In particular, a missing shipment of battle droids from the Trade Federation army- that should have been de-commissioned after the Naboo invasion- has been their bugbear for quite a while, because it was a serious failure of the system that it somehow went missing. The Taloranians originally suspected the Trade Federation was dodging its punishment, and set agents to investigate the problem- including the Renegade Jedi Xeth Tam, in the capacity of which the originally joined the game back in Episode II of the last campaign, when he met the Jedi on Damagran. Xeth at the time had found out that the droids were in the hands of Shareth the Hutt, and had gone undercover. But instead of finding out how she got them, Xeth only found who she in turn was selling them on to (the separatists on Damagran). Xeth then got hooked into the main Kuylen plot of the last Campaign and lost track of the case. This turned out to be fortunate.

The Taloranians discovered that that it was in fact the Techno Union to blame, or at least an element within it- the droid shipment was purposely let slip after it was returned for de-commissioning. At the point at this was done, Darth Sidious was having to run things by himself, through his political links. But as time went by, Sidious acquired Dooku, who could oversee that part of the Sith Grand Plan, whilst Sidious concentrated on the political arena at Coruscant. Under Dooku’s supervision, the Taloranian threat was quickly sewn up, and all their agents died in mysterious accidents over the next year. These accidents all involved technology and were done by the Techno Union. Xeth may well have perished too, but he had missed the chance to go on the case because he was on Zeiton when it started, and the Taloranians had no further use for him by the time he returned- and perhaps also suspected that perhaps Xeth might be better left in reserve, a move that turned out to be wise when all their other agents died. At this point, the trail went cold, but the Taloranians had acquired a chief suspect- Carlan Ryamore, the Techno Union Outer Region Sales Director, and Vice President of Acquisitions and Security. He had the authority and, from what could be told, the opportunity to perform all that had occurred. Of course, evidence against him did not exist.

The Techno-Union’s activities were both legitimate and shady, and Ryamore continued to hassle the Taloranians, now trying to acquire the services of one of their most talented scientists, a man named Nesere. The precise reasons they wanted him should become more clear in the next episode, but Nesere continually refused the Techno-Union’s generous offer of employment on moral grounds. Eventually, to avoid attention, Nesere fled to a remote spot in the Anzat sector, to continue his work in peace. The Taloranian authorities kept tabs on him, and when he mysterious disappeared in the midst of a continuing pirate problem in that sector, the Taloranians had their suspicions… and little wonder. These pirates, the Anzat Corsairs, are being surreptitiously supported by the Techno-Union, who as part of a wider programme of shady technology tests have arranged via a third party- the slaver Arazi whom the players once met on Nar Shadda- to supply the Corsairs with brain-implanted slave warriors, whose brain implants can be programmed to drive them into killing frenzies; a cheap, disposable combat force.

And so the story kicks off. On Coruscant, the Viceroy is due to attend a pre-trial hearing in order to see if there is enough evidence to warrant bringing criminal charges against him- the equivalent of a Grand Jury hearing in the States. The Jedi, knowing that the Sith were involved in the Naboo incident, and believing Qui-Gon when he said someone was controlling the Trade Federation, are keen to get charges pressed- only then can they go ahead with their plan to get the Viceroy to testify about his boss in return for lowering the charges against him. Without that information, the Jedi still have nothing to go on from the Naboo incident other than a dead Sith who tells no tales. However, the Viceroy is in fear for his life, because by now Dooku is bringing pressure against the Viceroy also. The Viceroy kind of suspects his life is in danger because of the death of his cousin, and the PI the Viceroy sent to investigate that death. The Viceroy isn’t actually THAT certain about the threat, but he makes the most of what he has because he likes to be difficult. Hence the, Viceroy needs a bodyguard, and nothing less than the Jedi will do. The case belongs to Obi-Wan Kenobi, but the Viceroy has ‘issues’ in working with poor Ben, so the players get the job instead! Gundy and co- later joined by renegade Jedi Master Clarion, who is working as a security consultant for the Naboo- are given the thankless task of protecting the Viceroy and keeping him happy until the hearing is done and the deal can be made.

In a far simpler mission, Roan is asked by the Council to go and do something about those Anzat Corsairs, whose merciless attacks now need to be stopped. Roan brings with him his friend Xeth, and Xeth brings the resources of his little group of disaffected Renegade Jedi who like to bring justice to the Galaxy on their own terms. Their plot is much simpler so I’ll wrap all that up first.

Roan and co soon get to grips with the situation, and discover the anomaly of the missing scientist. Xeth is soon after picked up and contacted by the Taloranians, who clue him in on all they know and ask him- preferably on the quiet- to try and find a link back to the Techno-Union on all this. They want a lead on Ryamore! The Jedi determine that the sector pirate leader is a man of note named Strine- the Pirate who Cannot Die (i.e. has lots of Fortune), but that it is odd that the pirates have enough manpower to mount so many ferocious attacks. Using a borrowed freighter as a dummy, the Jedi wait for the Corsairs to attack them and then wipe out the invading party- only to then discover that these are not evil battle-hardened pirates, but a forced labour, bio-controlled slave army. Taking the slaves’ own ship back to the pirate fleet, the Jedi get on board Strine’s yacht, looking for the control system for the brain implants, and spark off a huge battle in the pirate HQ. In the ensuing confusion, Arazi- spotted but not confronted- slips away. The Jedi emerge victorious- though it was a damn close thing, and could certainly have gone better!- but with Strine dead (not easy) and Arazi gone, they may have shut down the local problem but they have no leads on the wider issue- except some evidence, in the form of the brain implants, to bring back home to Coruscant.

On Coruscant, a number of problems are turning up. First of all, old ‘friend’ Kir Ascar is watching the proceedings with great interest, his prison term seeming to mostly consist of hanging around in luxury apartments with Senators. Senator Riordan, who Ascar cut a deal with in the original Episode IV to avoid being arrested by the Jedi, has employed Ascar as an expert on these Sith-related matters. Even worse, Master Marcus; worst nightmare, the Lamellan Lawyer T’Lo Nebb, has by now become a Senator and is the other observing Senator with Riordan, for the hearing. Nebb very quickly starts to use the same filibustering tactics he used back in the previous campaign to stall the entire process- meaning that the trial will take the best part of a week, rather than hours as it was meant to. This would not be a problem, save that it very quickly transpires that the Viceroy’s life IS under threat, as evidenced by an attempted poisoning that evening- furthermore, the assassins are well informed about the whole security set-up. Every day, taking the Viceroy back and forth to the Courthouse, dramatically increases the risk. The situation must be deal with quickly, and when Master Gundark susses out from the autopsy report on the dead PI back on Neimodia (who was investigating the death of the Viceroy’s cousin) that he was killed by none other than Jedi-hunting Bounty Hunter Balek- last seen trapped on the planet Dordellus- Master Marcus and new Knight to the team Vlad are dispatched to investigate the link there, and see if they can identify the assassins.

The nagging suspicion, of course, is that it is the Sith trying to kill the Viceroy, to stop him talking. If only some evidence could be found, it might be an opportunity to find out more about them! Hah, fat chance of that… just to hammer the point home, when Gundark tries to sense the Viceroy’s future in the Force, she draws a blank more powerful than anything se has sensed, or more precisely NOT sensed, before- almost as if the Viceroy did not exist. She had done this checking on Ascar’s advice, and in later conversation with him, confirmed by Yoda, Gundark discovers a hidden truth- that very slowly, in some areas, the Jedi’s ability to use the Force is becoming impaired- and only the Sith have that power. A gas attack that night comes within an ace of claiming the Viceroy, but the mysteriously talented assailants escape.

On Neimodia, Marcus and Vlad discover a complicated web of Neimodian intrigue revolving around a Techno-Union sponsored droid factory on Neimodia, which has been hastily re-located since the Naboo incident. Some effort is obviously being made to continue with droid production even when the Federation should have ceased it all- but everyone involved on the Trade Federation side of things is being killed off, with the Viceroy being the last survivor. Techno-Union liaison to that project? None other than Carlan Ryamore. It seems that the Techno-Union is wiping out anyone who could give the game away on the Federation side. Still lacking evidence, Marcus and Vlad locate the space station the factory was moved to, but there only find Balek waiting for them. Balek comes very close to killing Marcus before withdrawing, leaving that trail ended as well.

On Coruscant, the Jedi are eventually able to overcome Nebb’s delaying efforts with the aid of a legal procedure initiated by the Judge, and on the final day, the assassins are confronted and killed also. They are Zeraphrain, telepathic combat types who act as Techno-Union security agents- under the purview of Carlan Ryamore as part of his security brief. Of course, it cannot be PROVEN that they were working for the Techno-Union… and this knowledge has come at a price; Gundark is badly poisoned defending the Viceroy from an attack and for the first time since Avalar, has to take a back seat to events as others perform the work.

The Corsairs destroyed, the link found on Neimodia, the assassins stopped, a suspect in their sights. The Jedi should feel confident of progress. And yet… something does not feel right about the situation…

… and well should it not, as the whole thing is a set-up by Dooku. As ever with the Sith, all is lies and deceit. They were not trying to kill the Viceroy- dead, he was useless to them. Dooku needed a strong Trade Federation on his side. The assassination attempts were all rigged to fail. The poisoning and the assassin droid- easily stoppable by Jedi. The gas attack? Did everything perfectly other than actually killing the Viceroy. The final assassination attempt started with perfect shots taking out the flying cars that were being used. Kill shots were made on the two escorts. The Viceroy’s car itself, quite deliberately the shot that was fired only forced it down, instead of destroying it. Dooku’s plan was simple- he was trying to scare[ the Viceroy, ably assisted by Darth Sidious, still in contact with the Viceroy, who simply pretended this was all his doing and convinced the Viceroy that he would get him sooner or later- which was the very point of all the attempts, to make it look like that the Jedi could not protect the Viceroy for along, because it kept looking like each attempt nearly succeeded. Meanwhile, Dooku has been quietly offering the Viceroy sanctuary. After the charges are finally cleared to proceed against the Viceroy, he then seeks safety not with the Jedi, but with Dooku and his friends on the planet Seronno. The Viceroy has found a new friend in Dooku- someone who seems to be able to protect him a lot better.

And so, the Viceroy will remain in charge of a unified Federation which will grow again in strength- and indebted to the Count. Dooku can be well pleased with his work, and amused with the way in which Gundark, the friend of his old Padawan, put it all into place for him. (Incidentally, if anyone is wondering why such elite assassins as those Zeraphrain would accept orders to act in such a suicidal way, it is because fear of Dooku is a good motivator).

It was Dooku, too, who has hired Balek, using the name Tyrannus, and has paid him more than he could have dreamed off to do one last job that would expose him to criminal charges, and then he could retire. It had to be a lot, because Balek was ordered to leave the Jedi alive on the station. More precisely, only one had to be left, but Balek is a careful man and when Vlad came to save Marcus, Balek considered that he would probably now have to kill either all or none, so he had to go with none. Tyrannus, of course, likes hiring talented Bounty Hunters- Balek isn’t the only one doing work for him…

Perhaps the only genuine thing that happened in the story was that the Techno-Union really DID want the scientist Nesere. But even there, most of the scenario is rigged, and Dooku made sure that it all happened at the right time for the Taloranians, the Jedi, and Xeth (oh yes, he knows about Xeth…) to get there at the same time for it all to fall into place for them. It was also Dooku who had the whole operation being run by a psycho like Strine who was bound to get caught eventually; the rather more valuable Arazi knew he had to get running when that happened.

And so the Jedi have their leads… but right now, what they don’t have is any evidence at all about the Sith… yet.

A bit of a diversion, this game, making the Sith the main bad guys, I cannot do this very much because… well, that is both the plot and the job of the films. But it’s nice to interact with that plot occasionally, and they made nice foes (without ever being seen) in this introductory episode, which was more about getting you used to how things all work with the new rules and the new background setup (being sent on missions etc.) than trying to stretch you to the limits, unlike the poor bastard Dark Siders. The various investigations were all relatively easy to progress through, the excuse being that, of course, Dooku set them up specifically to BE progressed through; the next piece of evidence always seemed to be there waiting for you. The Renegades now have their own separate motivating background as well, as they hook up with the Taloranian counter-conspiracy. Strine was an object lesson in how non-Jedi named characters are a threat worth considering- though to be sure, he wasn’t meant to be as dangerous as he turned out to be; that was only because the battle went so badly! Balek was there to demonstrate how the guy specifically designed to fight Jedi worked, and also that probably a Master isn’t the best template to face him with. He was also, of course, there for some continuity! The Coruscant plot was the non-fighting plot. Obviously, this being SW, there was SOME fighting but it was mainly diplomacy and investigation. The Light Side offers both types of plot, so in future storylines, make sure you pick the one that suits you.

This Episode begins the theme of the campaign- the decline of the Republic. Always present, the Jedi are now starting to encounter it at every turn, in its most powerful institutions, at the same time in which threats to the Republic (obviously from the Sith, but not exclusively- the Dark Siders will be one such threat) are growing all around. Things will slowly get worse for the Jedi, until the conclusion of the Campaign at the start of the Clone Wars, as the old ways are ended forever. It starts with this Conspiracy, and gets worse from here. Yet, for all this, the Campaign message is one of hope, in which all of you can still perform good and win great and essential victories, even in these darkest of times. Perhaps this Episode in particular was the exception, because except in defeating Strine there was little to achieve that Dooku didn’t want anyway (always the way with the Sith). But good plot establishment is important for the drama- Dooku’s seemingly infallible plans (though your characters are ignorant of the mastermind behind them!) and the portrayed decline of the Republic must seem genuine for your later victories to have any power.

The next Episode will carry on this storyline and finish it off, with you guys working as one big team all the way through., The Sith will move into the background as bad guys now- but you may find the Techno-Union are more of a campaign enemy! Your next chance for new missions etc. will come in Episode III. Episode III is where the storylines being laid in place now will erupt into something larger, and will also see the emergence of the main plotline as Light and Dark Side start on their distant convergence- however, the Light Side also has several other plotlines to explore; there are a lot of players on it, and a lot to do.

Meanwhile, what was happening on the Dark Side?

The Dark Siders themselves had been doing very little of note since they fled Zeiton, other than meeting up with new leader Nume Rand’s own group of Dark Siders and trying to form a somewhat shaky group for mutual protection, though clearly that operation is not 100% working yet. However, whilst the Dark Siders were just vaguely wondering around achieving little, their enemies were very busy indeed.

Darth Sidious is eliminating his enemies one by one as his build up to the Empire goes up a gear. This is his first motivation for the storm that has come to hit the Dark Siders. The second is more personal- Kuylen’s old crew have irritated him quite immensely, and it is time he was able to deploy resources to take care of this kind of threat.

Once upon a time, Darth Maul was his hatchet man to carry out such jobs, but Maul has been ‘indisposed’ for quite some time. In the last Campaign, Sidious was greatly amused at having manipulated Gundark and her Jedi team into doing his work for him, but the Council have closed that option down now. Dooku is now available but incredibly busy taking care of more direct business (as seen in the Light Side story). Ever patient, then, Sidious has spent the intervening two years putting together his new organisation dedicated to destroying all Dark Side rivals in the Galaxy. Of course, that’s just their starters; the full long term purpose of this organisation is to hunt down the Jedi once Palpatine’s Clone Wars plan comes to fruition. The Dark Siders will make good training for this organisation, but it’s not all just schooling- there are some people Palpatine REALLY wants killed by this organisation, and Kuylen is top of that list.

And so is formed the first of many organisations that will eventually come together to form the Empire… the Bureau of Immigration and Undesirables. Taking a technical remit of being a federal authority trying to stop organised crime and criminals moving between worlds (undesirables are the criminals, the Immigration is them moving), its actual remit is to commit genocide on all Dark Side rivals to Sidious (the Undesirables are the Dark Siders, the Immigration bit means ‘anywhere in the Republic’).

There are two sides to this operation. First, the Agents; picked and trained men who will co-ordinate the operations and the death squads; trained in what Dark Siders can do and how they work- very much the brains of the operation. They wear Imperial Grey, and their uniforms are very much meant to echo what the Imperial officers will eventually wear. It’s not actually THAT similar as of yet, in theory, though in the game I hyped it up a bit (by including the colourful rank badge, probably not the same design but similar enough) to try and make the hint a bit heavier… though still no-one got it until I told them. Oh well!

The other side took longer to put together, but eventually the right people were found. The Osokans are described in more detail in the survival guide- a race of evolved killers, living on an incredibly dangerous world where just living from day to day is a constant death struggle, especially against the raptor-like beats that plague their world. They are large porcine-like beats, incredibly strong and with a regenerative constitution that allows them to take massive amounts of damage before being hurt beyond recovery. They form a rough but vicious civilisation, of sorts, never comfortable in the Republic. Their Hunting Guilds, consisting of their finest warriors who use their highly advanced Neurowhip technology to actively seek and destroy the raptors for sport, are one of the most potent forces in the Galaxy. Here, then, were the ones that could take on even a Dark Sider up close- with their hunting instincts, advanced weapons, ability to withstand light sabre wounds, and most of all, their very accomplished team work and ability to adapt.

Just to make it perfect, the Guilds hated those who wield sabres, for the Guilds were never pleasant and two centuries ago had to be forcibly disbanded by the Jedi- taking hundreds of Jedi several years to finally subdue the Guilds. The Neurowhip was banned throughout the Galaxy and the Guilds broken up. They still practice in secret on their homeworld, but are denied the Galaxy at large.

The Bureau change all that, passing new laws that make the Guilds and whips legal… IF the Guilds will work for the Bureau, and hunt the Dark Siders. Suddenly, the Bureau finds itself in command of a dedicated, disciplined, deadly force, which their Agents have total control over by having the authority to expel any of them at any time.

The Bureau also has the latest in technology to aid in their hunt- as the Dark Siders find out to their cost- and vast legal powers not unlike the Jedi. But the time the game starts, the Bureau has been in operation for six months and is proving highly successful.

The Dark Side game, then, opens with an (at the time) mysterious sequence which does in fact portray the point when Agent Rado Helkin- a rising star in the Bureau- thinks he has found Kuylen himself, number one on the Bureau’s most wanted list. He has intercepted the signal caused by Kuylen’s locator transponder, activated when Kuylen is finally summoning his old crew together again, on the remote agricultural world of Demarus. Helkin is able to intercept this signal both due to a network of sensors and listening posts the Bureau has throughout the galaxy, and be cause he has access to Master Gundark’s case files from the first campaign, which include a complete technical readout of Kuylen’s ship, taken from when she boarded it in the fourth Episode of that campaign- including the frequency of this transponder. When he realises it is Kuylen’s signal, Helkin assembles a very large force of Osokans, and gets to Demarus quickly to prepare the kill.

So, our innocent Dark Siders head to Demarus totally clueless as to what is awaiting them, knowing only that Kuylen’s locator signal has finally gone off. The new entrants never knew Kuylen, but are either curious or desirous of the potential for power meeting him might hold. Demarus, notable only for its phenomenal food production made possible by its super-what crop, is a rustic, backwards world that irritates the Dark Siders immediately. The whole area is in lockdown and evacuated due to the presence of a serial killer named Zatev- in fact, a cover used by the Bureau to mask their presence. The players spot Helkin as the ‘man from Coruscant’ enforcing the legal action here, and even catch the surprising sight of an Osokan in the vicinity, but have not guessed the coming danger by the time they get to the transmitter. It is Helkin’s moment- sadly, Kuylen does not seem to have shown, but his followers, and Rand and his fellows… they make a good catch… and the Osokans are ordered in.

The confidence of the Dark Siders is quickly punctured when they realise a. how dangerous, b. how resilient, c. how organised and d. how many of these Osokan bastards there are. They aren’t going to win. They are not going to lose gracefully. They are going to be SLAUGHTERED. They hack many Osokans down, but just to make it even worse, a lot of them will eventually get better. They do not understand what is going on, but the only plan they have… is to run. And here they are fortunate; not many Dark Siders fight with the skill and (vague) teamwork of the players. The Osokans are too determined for the kill and have not sealed off the player’s escape route, and this means the sheer combat potency of the players affords them an option. After a desperate fight-through, the players manage a micro-thin escape back to their ships and freedom, after a chase through the Demaran wheat fields, and an encounter with an enormous adapted combine harvester (an amusing note about which follows later).

The players, badly injured (especially by the debilitating damage caused by the neurowhips), flee to the planet Cynelline, a planet of long-lived, highly advanced, and incredibly boring people. Nothing ever ever ever happens on Cynelline, though inevitably the players are about to change that. They do indeed rest and recuperate and heal their damage and are then extremely peeved when the Osokans turn up again, in greater numbers, this time to finish the job- and securing the player’s ships first. There is no escape from the Bureau, it seems. Their high tech transponder analysers can track the player’s ships wherever they go once they decipher their signals, and their listening devices spy upon the player’s comms, both to listen in and locate them. The players are split and disorientated; flee as best they can, but with nowhere to go…

And so it is roughly at this point that Melkus Doon arrives, as a slightly nerdy form of cavalry. Doon used to help Kuylen in the early days, as a shifter of certain ‘specialist’ antique items, he helped Kuylen find Avalar in the first place, back before even the first Campaign- in which capacity, Galder vaguely remembers him. Doon is a fully paid up Named template (a Free Trader), with a nifty gun skill and lots of Tricks, but his true benefit is in a sharp brain, quick mind, ability to form plans very quickly under pressure, and a very broad amount of skills. Doon is a remarkable man, and is renowned as a troubleshooter (he calls himself an expert in ‘crisis management’). As he explains to the others, he has been in recent contact with Kuylen- who is currently hiding from the Bureau, unable to move without being recognised- and has been sent by the man himself to pull the players out of trouble. Doon missed the players on Demarus but followed the Bureau to find them on Cynelline, and now acts as fast as possible to get the players out of danger. Getting them out the immediate firing (or whipping) line, Doon then explains the entire situation to them, from the Bureau to Kuylen to himself- explanations that had been a long time coming! He then helps the players to construct a plan to get to their ships and escape- the Osokans might have learned to seize the player’s ships first, but their plans are still not perfect and their security is loose; if the players try a non-combat approach their chances are better.

The plan does not go 100% as planned, but with Doon’s help, the players manage to slip by the Bureau once more and get the hell off the planet. This time, instead of just fleeing, Doon directs the players to somewhere where the can pick up coveted replacement transponders (not an easy good to get) in order to be able to safely fly away with their ships without being tracked, whilst faking the destruction of their ships nearby to throw off the Bureau long enough to escape. Via chicanery at the so-called Graveyard- a vast bazaar of ship parts- the Dark Siders achieve this objective also, and finally escape the Bureau, riding off into the sunset, to see what Kuylen’s plans for them really are…

If Dooku is the part of Sidious’ operation that has been bugging the Light Siders, then it is most certainly the Bureau that plagues the Dark. The Dark Lord uses different tools for different jobs- his cunning, subtle- multi-layered deceits are what the Jedi find in the midst of civilisation. Out on the frontier, things are less subtle- he needs a big stick to beat the Dark Siders with, and that is all, and the Bureau is it.

As previously noted, this storyline for the Dark Siders is a prequel, never originally played when this story was done with my friends for the first time. Originally, the Dark Side storyline began at what will now be Episode III (more Light Side than Dark Side gets played back here). One of the first things the players were told was that they had discovered the existence of an organisation called the Bureau, that was hunting them down, and so they tended to stay away from the Republic if they could help it because it was rather good at it.

When this point was reached on-line, my brother wrote a new story especially designed for you people that acted as the prequel and backstory to that original set-up. As is pretty obvious, the first half of that story- which forms the now completed Episode I- tells of how the Dark Siders came to hear about the Bureau- in a manner designed so that they take it seriously! The players here were told that they had only escaped the Bureau when they met them by destroying a ship to fake the destruction of their own, and that they now had no ships to spare- that situation was slightly changed to form the escape you guys performed. The second half of this storyline, which you are about to enter, will complete the rest of that set-up. Hence this prequel storyline will end completely at the end of Episode II, with NO loose ends to tie up, and with you all firmly established to start with the full Campaign storyline which does not start at all for you guys until Episode III (unlike the Light Side, which is building up to it in some ways before the kick off. In fact, the Light Side storyline has several different plots, yours only has one (plus this prequel), but that single plot is the central focus of the Campaign).

In his notes for this storyline, at the point where the Osokans inevitably (there was no way to stop this) track the players to Cynelline, my brother makes a comment about what the point of all this is- in that the storyline for the Dark Siders is absolutely horrendous (as I believed I warned you in the first post). Well, first of all, my brother has always had trouble with Dark Side plots- Jedi ones virtually write themselves. The very lack of restrictions that are one of the great strengths of the Dark Side is also one of the big problems in writing decent storylines for them which don’t just become one endless string of violence.

In the first Campaign, by playing the Dark Siders directly off against the Jedi there was some sort of control. Yet that plotline could only run so far, for three reasons- first it would eventually get boring, especially since we just had a climax at the end of the last campaign, and at a good time too. Secondly, it really restricts what plots can be used- for both sides! Light and Dark both benefit from being unchained from each other. Thirdly, plot-wise, it was untenable- to have this vendetta of this group of Jedi and group of Dark Siders going on and on and on… it stretched credibility, especially to keep making sure that one side did not finally nail the other.

So the two sides have been fully separated- but without the Jedi as a threat, what is there to keep the Dark Siders in check? The Bureau are the perfect answer. They are custom designed to be horrific to fight- bloody dangerous, totally unsatisfying to stop (there are always more and they just don’t die), devoid of personality (save the Agents), and they never, ever, ever bloody stop. Best of all, where the Jedi work with restrictions, the Bureau- whilst it has to be careful in public- is every bit as nasty and horrible as you guys, and will eventually go to any lengths to get you. The final touch is in two related areas- first, one area the Osokans are not supreme in is in a running race. Hence, so long as you don’t let them trap you, you can often run away if you can disengage. Secondly, the restriction of the Bureau’s powers to inside the Republic is a believable plot force which means you guys don’t HAVE to face them- so long as you stay out of the Republic. This will obviously be a theme in future stories, and the Dark Siders can expect to be facing some unusual enemies from outside of civilised space.

My brother, therefore, noted that the point of all this was not to punish the Dark Siders for playing- irritating as the Dark Side can be. Instead, it was to hammer home a point about the Bureau, and create a lasting impression of fear and hatred that will last for as long as any player who was in this game is still in the Campaign. The Bureau are NOT to be fought. They are to be out-thought and, far more preferably, totally avoided! Instead of making vague warnings about you having to stay quiet or there being trouble, now if you go to the Republic, I can say- keep things quiet, or it is the Bureau that will come to kill you! And any new players that join in future and ask why you cannot just kill anyone sent to kill you… well, you can laugh at them, can’t you? And when you yell at them to stop doing things that will get you caught, you can do it with REAL feeling.

It might seem like a bit of a psychology experiment, but as an in-game measure of plot control it works every well. The Bureau are now established and feared and with such incentive Dark Side play will become much better as a result. I think the results are already showing- under pressure, you guys are finally coming together.

This prequel game also has one other theme- lacking a purpose, just how WILL you guys fare without Kuylen? This was complicated, of course, not only by the arrival of outsiders to the game, but that one of them was a Master! This part of the game is totally absent from play here at home (where for a lot of the game it is just two Dark Siders who somehow manage to operate in an Odd Couple kind of way, and arguing about who should be taking the trash out), so it is interesting seeing the very different dynamic on-line. This is why I made such a fuss about the group before the Episode started- because I knew how different the game was going to be with this different dynamic. In one way, I will be faintly pleased if by the point you guys get to Kuylen… some of you might be thinking that you don’t actually need him any more.

Removing Kuylen makes life a lot more interesting for you guys, in that you have to think for yourselves a heck of a lot more. On the other hand, his mystique is improved by his absence, and I know some of you look forward to seeing him again. Sorry to disappoint, but the ENTRE prequel storyline is written in a non-Kuylen environment. That also works better for acclimatising the new players, who would not have been welcome if just thrust into Kuylen’s lap from the start. Doon is your guide for this story, and he makes a good ally if you treat him well, which I am glad to see you did (there is always this worry that the Dark Side will simply threaten and bully everyone they meet; that’s not how the Sith always do business and neither should you). Doon will continue to proxy for Kuylen all the way through the next Episode (he’s not on Epireus, I am afraid- he would have been if he could have been, and Doon will explain why not); so the more astute of you will have noted that anything Kuylen related will occur in the MAIN storyline after this Prequel. Aside from anything else, if Kuylen starts turning up whilst you guys are still in the Republic, Bureau or no Bureau, Gundy and the others would want in; he is quite deliberately being kept out until you guys have disengaged form central civilisation. Still, should make you guys look forwards more to completing this story, yes?

Talking of which… ending the Episode at this point might make you guys feel a little hard done by. I have just explained the point of the harshness of the preceding events, but the Episode was not originally intended to end with you guys being merely thankful to be alive. This storyline was, in several ways, constructed as an actual gift to the Dark Siders- a storyline of your own that you CAN win, in several ways to make up for the no-win Mausoleum scenario that you were playing before. The victorious parts are now being transferred into Episode II, but the point remains the same- this storyline is eminently winnable if you play well enough, and there is a substantial reward waiting for you if you do that. So in many ways… sorry that it has been so harsh but it has been done with purpose, and there are good times ahead. Don’t ever get too comfy though- once the main storyline begins from Episode III onwards, things are sure to get rocky as your experience-bloated characters will be finding some serious opposition! As has been warned, the culmination of this entire Campaign COULD end in you guys being wiped out, so there is most certainly all to play for.

But for now, relax. On Epireus- a planet that will have Campaign significance- you can rest, and you can have fun finding out what the Ghost Citadel is, and what you are meant to do there…

In conclusion then folks- thanks a lot for playing, both to the vets, the new players for the start of the Campaign, and the even newer ones that got dropped into the deep end. I know things can be hard to keep up with, and some of you are finding either RPing in general, or just my particular style of RPing, quite hard to adjust to. Sometimes I am tired and crabby and things get tense- and the same goes for inter-player relations (man, SS gets scary…). But I do want to take this opportunity to assure you all that your efforts and time is greatly appreciated, that my thanks to you are wholly genuine, and I most certainly enjoy constructing this community we have here as we continue to live out our little SW fantasises in this interpretation of the SW Galaxy…

See you soon for Episode II! Should be starting… err, tomorrow if I can.

Ergh... You welcome...

But really I should be saying Thank you, dude... Ok how long did it take you too write all that? And what do you do it for? For us, right? Without you this Sw RPG community will fall into timbers. I enjoyed playing this RP, and I hope to stay in it as much as Fire or Captain Rex, who played it for years...

Thanks!

Thanks Ush for asking me to play. This was alot more fun than I thought it would be. Many thanks to Fire, Alana & Roan for your help. Looking forward to the next chapter. Dont sweat the crabby days Ush as it's well know I am the uber-biatch. 😉

So Ush, where did that interesting note about the harvester go? 😛

Of course I'll be in Episode II. Galder has a contract signed for life, literally!

*looks around*

Dooku...knows Xeth? 😱

*starts flipping off hidden Sith cameras and saying hello to Dooku, getting strange looks from everyone*

Damn fun episode that was! Nearly died, but took out more people than Xeth has ever, maybe with the exception of Zeiton!

nice nice....
must get that character done today...

If all players could now update their characters to the latest rules, spend their xp if they wish, and make any tweaks and/or background changes you want to make, then I can post them up in the new Archival Records thread soon. The old Archival records are now being closed down, and all the new rules in the new rules thread are being imported into the main rules.

Also note the existence of the new Blade Trick 'Sabre Shield'.

Thanks Ush...

All I need to do is choose force powers, then I'll be ready to go!

Ha! I got more XP than you, Rex! 😛

Yeah, cause you nearly got yourself killed...

Hehe...
XP is good!
I think I might bank it all though, wanna save up to boost my saber score...

or..buy blade tricks.

however..where is the light side xp listed 😕
been looking all over

It's in there, it was before Clarion and Jelena finished, after Xeth & Roan & co. finished.

......... Ok P.Med Fire... Just like the old times, updating charachters is a hedache for me...

I'll be posting Rah 3.1 (kinda like Win3.1 but more glitches...) tomorrow.