Welcome to the HoloNet Uplink, citizen. This series focuses on Fantasy Flight Games’ Star Wars Roleplaying Game, with content aimed mostly at the Gamemaster. Threats, adventure seeds, rules supplements, and more are all to come for those who access The HoloNet Uplink.
Working on a strategic studies degree and having some experience, I can’t help but relate Star Wars to real world military theory and practice. I’m an avid reader of the Star Wars satirical content hosted on The Angry Staff Officer blog. My most recent favourite has to be a short piece exploring the Rebel Alliance’s fit to models of insurgency. This is serious business.
In honour of the angry staff officers who keep me entertained and educated, today I offer the staff officer as an NPC. I aim to over-deliver by also including some rules for staff officers boosting their commander in Mass Combat through their specific areas of expertise. Enjoy.
Staff Officer [Rival]
The complexity of the galaxy’s conflicts mean all but the lowest level military commanders need dedicated staff officers to help plan and manage operations. Whether analyzing information, coordinating forces, planning for contingencies, or ensuring support, these officers focus on the details for their commander. This frees the commander to think big picture, able to do the art rather than the science of military operations. Thus it is said, behind every Ackbar or Thrawn are unknown, but effective staff turning their commander’s vision into reality.
The goliath Imperial war machine employs thousands of staff officers in an effort to keep the gears of war turning. Service on a staff is often seen as necessary for career progression through forging networks across branches and securing patronage from higher officers. This career climbing can come at a price for Imperial efficiency, however, as some unscrupulous officers find sabotage of others easier than succeeding on their own merits.
The Rebel Alliance, strapped for personnel at all levels, can rarely afford to spare enough officers for a full staff. Qualified officers are needed in command positions, and indeed academy trained leaders are a minority in the ranks. Instead of a rigid doctrinal definition of staff, the Alliance uses collaborative planning to perform the same basic function. Specialists from all walks of life, and all ranks, are invited to contribute when their expertise may be useful. With a galaxy-wide war of liberation to fight, most Rebel commanders will heed the words of the former professor even if they wear a lowly enlisted rank in the Alliance’s military hierarchy.
Br 2, Ag 2, Int 3, Cun 3, Will 2, Pres 3
Soak 3, W. Threshold 14, Def M/R 0/0
Skills: Computers 1, Discipline 2, Knowledge (Education) 2, Knowledge (Warfare) 3, Leadership 2, Perception 1, Ranged (Light) 2, Vigilance 1.
Talents: Careful Planning (Once per session, may introduce a “fact” into the narrative as if a Destiny Point had been spent), Researcher 2 (Remove 2 Setback dice from all Knowledge checks. Researching a subject takes half the time), Thorough Assessment (Once per session, take a Thorough Assessment action to make a Hard (3 Purple) Knowledge check to gain Boost dice equal to Success that can be distributed during the encounter).
Abilities: Staff Branch (Provides a bonus to commanders in Mass Combat, select a Staff Branch from the table below).
Equipment: Blaster pistol (Ranged [Light]; Damage 6 Critical 3; Range [Medium]; Stun setting), uniform (+1 soak), encoded datapad with staff estimates and planning data.
Staff Branches
Select, or roll 1d5, to determine staff officer branch and ability.
| Staff Branch | Mass Combat Ability |
| Intelligence | Once per encounter, reduce the difficulty of a Mass Combat check by one. |
| Operations | Once per encounter, treat the acting force strength in a Mass Combat check as one higher. |
| Logistics | Once per encounter, negate a reduction in force strength by one. |
| Plans | Once per encounter, the acting force commander may use the Careful Planning talent as if it was their own. |
| Signals | Once per encounter, negate an ability that prevents the acting force commander from applying their Leadership skill. |
Christopher Hunt
Latest posts by Christopher Hunt (see all)
- Command School – Deterrence and Compellence - July 11, 2019
