When The Force Awakens thundered into theaters last December, fans were introduced to a whole new Star Wars campaign setting, ripe with never-before-seen characters, alien species, locations, organizations, events, and technology that immediately became part of the new canon—every bit as official as the Millennium Falcon’s temperamental hyperdrive. For us, as Star Wars gamers, this new content opens up a fresh horizon of storytelling in that Galaxy Far Far Away that begs to be explored through a roleplaying adventure set during this time period.
A full analysis of all of these new developments is well beyond the scope of this article, but for a good primer on what has changed since Return of the Jedi, you can check out Episode 69 of the Order 66 Podcast, titled “The Adventure Awakens.” In that episode, the hosts are joined by Sterling Hershey and yours truly in a three-hour in-depth discussion of the new canon and the state of the galaxy at the time of Star Wars Episode VII. What follows below is a series of six adventure hooks and further story ideas based on those conversations and inspired by the new movie, which you can use as-is or modify to suit your Star Wars campaign: 1) As Real As It Gets
A former Imperial Moff with a known love of blood sports is being courted by the First Order, which wants to conscript new Stormtroopers from his sector without losing his financial support. This Imperial loyalist won’t be satisfied unless the Order demonstrates the quality and realism of their new training simulations with a live combat test—the more brutal, the better. A covert Resistance cell learns of this demonstration and is tasked with stealing those simulations so they can be studied for tactical weaknesses. In order to get their hands on the highly secure programs, however, they will need to go undercover within the combat arena and somehow survive the deadly challenge before escaping with the data.
Background Notes: Official resources about Episode VII tell us that The First Order conscripts children for its Stormtrooper program, and that General Hux believes strongly that tactical simulations are the ideal way to prepare these soldiers for the battlefield. Normally the training programs are carried out on board Resurgent-class star destroyers that operate like mobile top secret space stations in the Unknown Regions. The performance of a simulated (but still deadly) test at a known location is an opportunity the Resistance can’t pass up. Knowing exactly how every stormtrooper is trained to react to changing battlefield conditions could allow the desperately undermanned Resistance to use the First Order’s own combat instruction manual and playbook against it when the fighting begins…
2) False Idols
Rival sects that have broken off from the Church of the Force following Luke Skywalker’s disappearance are desperately trying to complete a set of forgotten relics, and the PCs are set to make a delivery. When the relics turn out to be counterfeits, the PCs stand accused! Can they find the genuine artifacts before a violent religious dispute engulfs a once-peaceful star system? And what ancient secret is unlocked when the real pieces are put together?
Background Notes: As the Empire fell, Force-based religious faiths that had been suppressed throughout the Dark Times have emerged from hiding—groups made up primarily of non-Force-sensitive individuals that generally uphold and even worship the ideals of the Jedi and place a great deal of value on the relics of that ancient religion. But without a Jedi Order to serve as an example to new generations of the faithful, and with the Cosmic Force asleep at the wheel (so to speak), some of these cults could make dangerous choices, and even embrace some distinctly Dark Side behaviors in their quest for meaning. They might even be led astray by lost lore and relics of the ancient Sith, mistaken for Jedi heirlooms by people with more curiosity than wisdom.
3) Saving Face
When a former business partner turns up dead—wearing a facial reconstruction that perfectly matches one of the player characters!—the group is drawn into an investigation that points them toward the cryptosurgeons Thromba and Laparo on the neutral world of Tokodana. They claim he was running from an unpaid debt, but the plot thickens when the dead man’s will is found, leaving hundreds of thousands of credits to the player character whose face he was wearing! Their windfall is cut short, though, when someone ELSE turns up, wearing the old partner’s face and claiming to not have died at all. Is a Changeling involved, or did the Frigosians swap more than one identity? And what happens when that money goes missing entirely, and the Guavian Death Gang shows up to collect what they are owed?
Background notes: The Star Wars The Force Awakens Visual Dictionary provides names and species identification, along with some valuable back-story, to most if not all of the aliens seen in Maz Kanata’s castle in the movie. Within this treasure-trove of new content is a caption that briefly introduces these Frigosians and their facial reconstruction business.
4) Dangerous Game
Eager to show up Regent Solculvis of the Mol’leaj system, King Prana seeks a deadly tentacled rathtar for his private zoo and is offering a great reward to the first trapper to deliver one. The Resistance could really use that money, so when the PCs learn about a pristine nature preserve infested with the things—one with desperate owners willing to pay to get rid of them—it’s a chance to earn much-needed credits from two sources on one job! Problem one: a Dowutin big game hunter named Grummgar is after the same score, and he’s got a way to disable the PC’s ship so they can’t be the first to leave with a rathtar. Problem two: he brought along his lady friend, Bazine, who—unknown to Grummgar—is a First Order spy that would sell out the PCs in an instant if she ever learned of their allegiance. Problem three: while everyone is on-site and racing to track down these ferocious beasts, the owners of the wilderness preserve decide to fumigate the place with powerful toxins that are deadly to rathtars—and any other species that isn’t native to the planet!
Background notes: Grummgar is the really big guy in Maz’s castle, with horns on his chin. He’s obsessed with trophies and has a massive sniper rife with a flash suppressor and a remote trigger upgrade. Bazine Netal is the spy who summons the First Order when she sees BB-8. She wears sensor-baffling garments and carries a dagger coated with kouhun venom.
5) Crystal Clear
Rare and valuable crystals with energy-transmitting properties have been turning up on the black market, and the Resistance sends the PCs to track them to their source. The appraisers Sonsigo & Munduri, a pair of Bravaisian podmates staying at Maz’s castle on Tokodana, can point the PCs in the right direction—but the secret caves are deep in the Unknown Regions and guarded by the First Order. If that wasn’t bad enough, the First Order is trying to track down the leak of its resources, and has stationed a spy (Bazine Netal again) in the castle to watch for leads. Thanks to her, the PCs might have an unpleasant surprise waiting for them when they arrive to investigate the caves for themselves…
Background notes: The First Order is using honest-to-goodness kyber crystals in its new turbolaser batteries, which should be very significant to fans of the old Expanded Universe. It is also established that the Order selected a special planet in the Unknown Regions with an unusual abundance of energy-transmitting crystals to turn into Starkiller Base. While not officially confirmed, anecdotal evidence suggests that this planet was none other than Illum. (With that in mind, these black market crystals might even be of sufficient quality to use in a lightsaber.) If you want to use this plot hook to set up the events of The Force Awakens, you might let the PCs be the ones who first discover the Starkiller and bring vital intel about the planet to General Leia.
6) One Bad Day
After borrowing credits from Kanjiklub to pay off a settlement to the Mining Guild, the owner of a remote asteroid mine and its docking station (where the PCs happen to be parked) has defaulted on the loan. The PCs are trapped on board when the facility is put on lock-down by the gang–which has decided to use the entire outpost as collateral. Things go from bad to worse when the gang leader loses a challenge for control and drunken thugs start vandalizing the place and making off with anything that isn’t tied down—including the cargo that the PCs were supposed to deliver! While they’re dealing with that, perhaps the station’s owner decides it’s a good time to make his getaway—using the group’s unattended ship! Chasing down their own stolen ride (using jury-rigged junkers the PCs have stolen from Kanjiklub) would be a lot easier if the gang wasn’t in close pursuit using stolen mining craft with heavy-duty cutting lasers—and if the panicking fool that started all of this hadn’t led them straight into the asteroid field…
Background notes: Kanjiklub is a raucous and unruly group of thugs and street fighters that rebelled against their Hutt masters on Nar Kanji and formed their own criminal organization based on extortion and piracy. They favor heavily modified and improvised weapons.
Christopher West is a gaming industry cartographer who has been mapping and writing about the Star Wars galaxy for over a decade. In 2003, Chris’s deck plan and in-depth writeup of Han Solo’s famous freighter in the “Secrets of the Falcon” article (Polyhedron magazine #162) became an official reference that has been used by all of Lucasfilm’s Millennium Falcon products ever since.
He now sells poster maps of original starships—and other sci-fi and fantasy encounter locations for RPGs and tactical miniatures games—at www.mapsofmastery.com
