USH'S STAR WARS GAME- CAMPAIGN II EPISODE III (RENEGADES)- The Hunters Hunted
A Long Time Ago, in a Galaxy Far, Far Away…
Music- Star Wars Main Theme
EPISODE III- THE HUNTERS HUNTED
It is four years since the Battle of Naboo and the election of Supreme Chancellor Palpatine. Under his wise and popular guidance, the Republic is thriving and many see a new era of peace and prosperity ahead
Yet some see a growing darkness behind this happy façade. A vast conspiracy of Corporate interests has grown, backed by a covert arms race, and some observers see a repeat of the Naboo invasion in future, on other innocent planets, as a certainty
Backed by a quiet counter-conspiracy of concerned star systems, a small group of Renegade Jedi work to uncover the works of these corporate interests and bring the perpetrators, most notably high-placed Techno-Union functionary CIRUS CANNES, to some form of justice…
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Welcome to Episode III of the second campaign. More so than the Jedi, the Renegades are following a direct continuation of the plotline established in the first two Episodes. However, this is the start of a new story, and a good time for new players to join because anyone can pick up the story right here.
As the game opens, you guys are all part of a brand new situation. Long-term Renegade Xeth has long been working with his contacts from the planet Talora, a planet of highly intelligent but rather paranoid Conspiracy theorists. That’s handy, because this is exactly the time in which they are needed, because these are conspiratorial times. Xeth has spent a long time trying to investigate who it is that has been leaking out droid armies all over the place, only to eventually find out that they weren’t being stolen but deliberately let loose by the Techno-Union (who owns the subsidiary that builds them(, in Conspiracy with the Trade Federation. Why? Because they seem very keen to test and improve them, in the wake of the Naboo invasion. That rather callous attitude to lives in the Galaxy- conducting secret live weapons tests on living suspects (and as Xeth discovered, it’s not just droids but all sorts of technology) is simply one symptom of how callous this Conspiracy is. However, that was just the start.
Two years ago, it seemed that the Trade Federation might collapse. However, the legal case against it has run into apparently unassailable delays. Now the Federation, and its Viceroy, is back in business, with most of the crimes (the Naboo invasion aside) levelled against it instead pinned on one of its Vice-Presidents, Carlan Ryamore, who unfortunately died resisting arrest from Xeth himself.
The Jedi have to leave it there, but Xeth and his Taloranian backers who were giving him all the tip offs he needed don’t want to leave it there- mostly because they know for sure that Ryamore was a dud, sacrificed by others to avoid all the blame. This leaves the following situation:
1. The Corporate interests in the Galaxy all seem to be working together in some sort of Conspiracy, in which the invasion of Naboo was just the start.
2. The full extent of what its purpose is, is unknown (it is in fact the build up to the Clone Wars, but you guys don’t know that of course)
3. It seems to involve the considerable testing and building of new weapons systems
4. All legal powers seem powerless to stop it. Most are not even aware of it.
5. People are dying because of it- presumably, many more to come
To try and do something about this, Xeth and his other Renegade friends- that’s you guys!- have formed a new private investigation group. You do general good PI work as well- catching bad guys that have escaped the notice of local law enforcement- but your ultimate objective is to uncover the conspiracy and bring the people responsible for it to justice. Working from the third moon of Uridian, which is nice, quiet, civilised, and out of the way, you pursue your own brand of justice- trying not to stray on the wrong side of the law, because you are all good guys at heart- and wait for chances to come along.
And that is the nature of your lives these days!
Your forthcoming plotline is relatively straightforward, VERY risky, and whilst dangerous probably has the best possibility for good results of any of the Episode III plotlines. All the stories have some sort of victory possible, of course, it is just that this is quite a big one. If you think you are up to it!
At this point, I need to ask everyone what, if any, predictive power they wish to use before the game starts. I’ll need to know it pretty quickly because once the plot gets underway you are forbidden from using them. As a reminder, the predictive powers you may have taken are:
Dreams. Using this gives you a small chance that the Force will have given you insight into what is to come in the upcoming story, giving you a chance to better react and deal with these events.
Foresight. This is better than Dreams- it represents you actually spending time to navigate the future to deliberately try and get warning of upcoming events. It can give far more clear and comprehensive visions than Dreams.
Instincts. The power of the Living Force gives you no warning about the future at all, but makes you more likely to do things right once you get there. A successful use of Instincts will give you a certain amount of re-rolls to use during the story, which you can use whenever a die roll goes badly to get a better result.
So, if you have Foresight, don’t use Dreams, Foresight is simply better. So if you have a choice, chose between either Cosmic Force prediction in advance, or Living Force sense at the time.
If you wish, you may reduce your force rating by one for the story to get +1 on your prediction roll. The Force power Augury also gives a bonus to these rolls, as does the Acolyte talent ‘Highly Symbiotic’. If the upcoming storyline is drastically relevant to you, you get +4 to the roll, but I will not tell you that in advance.
Choose one; I shall make the roll and tell you the result. Bear in mind that the rolls are not easy and if you get a result you have been lucky.
Good luck folks; the next post I make will be the starting situation.