This series follows the trials, tribulations, successes, and failures of a fairly inexperienced GM who has recently picked up the hobby after a long time away. It aims to assist new GM’s by examining what worked, didn’t work, and what failed miserably as he spins up new campaigns, modules, encounters, and adventures for his friends and family in Fantasy Flight Games’ Edge of the Empire/Age of Rebellion/Force and Destiny system.
There’s no denying that I love the Star Wars RPG Narrative Dice system from Fantasy Flight Games. It energized me to re-enter a hobby I had once left behind. It is the reason behind the fact that now me and my family spend every week with blasters in hand, lightsabers clipped to our belt, and jumping into hyperspace. It’s simply the best system out there. The fact that it came with the greatest IP franchise ever is just a bonus. Each new book that’s released just adds so much breadth to the game that I can’t help but own them all. I can’t say enough about what FFG is doing with this game.
But one of FFG’s biggest achievements came a while back when the book Lead By Example was released for the Age of Rebellion line. In it was a quite unexpected small segment of the book that changed how I looked at this system. It begins on page 70 in that book and is not more than a few page turns to get through the section. But inside is something that very few RPG games have managed to grasp: how to get your party of players to feel like part of a giant battle where their actions affect the greater narrative. Some time ago, I wrote about this idea before and how to use Mass Combat in your games with some tips and tricks I picked up after running it. You can find those articles here: Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3.
But for this examination of Mass Combat, I thought I would go through an example of how I used it in my main Age of Rebellion campaign recently. The mechanics are pretty straight-forward, but this article will assume you have at least a tertiary understanding of the rules for Mass Combat. If you’d like a closer examination of the mechanics, see my previous writings. I have heard, however, that while many grasped the concept of the rules and how to make Mass Combat checks, they still struggled with how to craft the narrative or situations for their players and when to do what. So, hopefully this will help. Some have said they are intimidated to use Mass Combat in their games as well. I am always excited, not intimidated, to use the Mass Combat system in my games, and you should too. Nothing is more Star Wars than a giant space or ground battle. (Also, I would use this exactly system in Genesys as well for literally any genre or game type…the rules are that fluid and simple. So let’s take a look at how I used it in my campaign. Perhaps that can inspire you to do the same.
The Story
My players are a Rebel SpecForce unit that has been operating out of Polis Massa, the asteroid belt in the Outer Rim that has helped hide a Rebel Base since the beginning of the Galactic Civil War. (Information about the base at Polis Massa can be found starting on page 76 of Strongholds of Resistance.) Well, the Empire has found out where it is and has sent an invasion fleet, along with the 501st, to take the base. Earlier in the base’s history, the 501st had once before come to investigate Polis Massa, but did not find the Rebel base. They have come back to finish what they started. The base is filled not just with Rebel soldiers, but hundreds of Polis Massan families who live in the remains of the ruins of their home world. The Polis Massans continue to dig for artifacts and pieces of their history in an archaeological dig site at the base. This, however, is the problem.
When the Rebels learned the Empire was coming, they quickly began evacuation procedures. But the Polis Massan people, who must now be evacuated and abandon their home, are racing to gather every archaeological element they have, and every piece of family memorabilia. This is causing the effort to slow, while four Polis Massan transports stand ready to get them off world. The PCs must help evacuate the base swiftly, protect the citizens, and hold off the Empire long enough to save the Rebels and the people of Polis Massa.
The PCs have at their disposal the Rebels who occupy the base, but who are evacuating to join the Alliance at Hoth (which was just finished being built in my campaign timeline). They have a capital ship, a YT-1760 freighter, a U-Wing, and various fighters on their capital ship.
They have just a couple hours before the Empire arrives in full force.
Phase One
Instead of detailing the exact dice and forces for each and the mechanics, I’ll focus on what the PCs did, how their actions affected the narrative, and how the first parts and phases of this adventure played out.
Phase one consisted of a skill challenge. If you’ve never used a skill challenge they can be useful to make a lot of time pass. The Rebels were prepping to evacuate their base, with the Empire scheduled to arrive within a few hours. So, the way a skill challenge works is you have your party narratively describe what each of them is doing over the course of an hour or so, in this case a phase, and perform a skill check for each player. You keep going through until the players have at least 10 successes, or 3 failures, whichever comes first. In this case, my players performed several actions. The party leader worked to coordinate evacuation efforts, while the team medic worked to evacuate the sick bay. Other players worked to lift equipment and historical pieces from the Polis Massan people into transports. The team, after five or six checks, were able to pass the skill challenge, adding a boost to the Mass Combat check between phases 1 and 2.
The trouble is, the PCs failed the Mass Combat check. With the Empire’s forces being significantly greater than the Rebels, the PCs were on the lower side of the dice pool, so the odds were stacked against them. With the failed check, the Empire suddenly arrived for their invasion hours earlier than expected and caught the Rebels off guard. This will add two setback dice to the next phase’s combat check.
Phase 2
The Empire begins bearing down with two Star Destroyers which begin to send transports with walkers and troops to the surface. Alarms go off inside the base. The PCs now must scramble. They do not have the luxury of time. Two of the PCs take their YT-1760 Freighter up to try and keep the transports busy, while the other three in the group keep working to get the base evacuated. Another skill challenge awaits the players. However, the phase introduces some drama as the players fail the skill challenge. The Empire just gets too good a jump. However, the team did manage to shoot down one of the transports filled with AT-STs, which lowers the difficulty of the next Mass Combat check.
Again, however, the team fails the Mass Combat check. Only this time, they roll a triumph. They use that triumph to narratively explain that another Polis Massan transport has managed to escape. But having won the check, the Empire continues to push. They drop the 501st at the doorstep of the base. Now, with the PCs scattered throughout the base, the team must keep the 501st at bay while the Polis Massans run for the last two transports.
So, as of now that’s as far as my players have gotten in the adventure. Be that as it may, I wanted to give a real example of how to use the Mass Combat system in the SWRPG. Some have a problem with it or find it confusing. But if you really let the dice work, and let them inform the Mass Combat checks, the system really sings. I encourage everyone to use the Mass Combat system when playing Star Wars. Some of our very best adventures have been a result of using this great set of rules.
Scott Alden
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