Ten years after the rise of the Empire, the known galaxy in gripped by the tyranny of the Emperor Palpatine. The Jedi Knights, the once great order, has not only failed to protect the Republic, but has been decimated by the Emperor’s servant Darth Vader. The Dark Lord of the Sith hunts down and kills those Jedi who managed to survive in hiding. But the oppressed have begun to organize, and with the covert support of Senators who seek a return of the Republic, the Resistance begins to take form. This is the story of some who are ushering in the Dawn of Defiance.
This is the blog about my Dawn of Defiance Campaign run in the Star Wars universe set about a decade before the events of Star Wars IV: A New Hope (9 BBY). The campaign uses the Star Wars Saga Edition rules published by Wizards of the Coast and was written as a set of 10 connected adventure modules by the authors of the system and release as free downloads.
They are mostly well written, and I am running them with my home gaming group of more than 2 decades. I have also made changes (as always 😎 which I will periodically post along with their adventures. Without further ado, the protagonists.
Shroon-kor: A male Kel-dor Jedi padawan with great promise, and great struggles. Down 8 hp before Vital Transfer. XP: 15,750
Ehred: A female human Jedi padawan. Contemplative and determined to stay far from the darkness of her Dathomiri bretheren. XP: 18,750
Tex: Taung warrior. Rescued from slavers by Jedi, lost wife and sons. XP: 18,750
Bob-Nob: A Twi’lek who supports the Resistance, in return for their credits. With a knack for robotics, he is never far from his support droids. XP: 17,750
Bob-bob: A medical droid, Bob-Nob’s programming has been altered for “proactive protection.” XP: 13,750
TS “Sparktacus”: A former mining droid, he searches for his master. Currently damaged by Stormtroopers, and not fully repaired (hard to do). XP: 17,750
Nai-Keego: Not all are cut out for the Imperial Navy, even if you have the skills if you happen to be non-human. A Bothan pilot, Nai-Keego joined up with the Resistance, taking along with him his trainer Z-95.
@~46 hp after Medpac. XP: 16,750
Har-har: A Gungun Jedi, who has recently joined up with the Resistance. @ 23 hp after Vital Transfer. XP: 12,750
[Game Notes]
Campaign Changes
- The game starts at year 9 BBY. This is 10 years after Order 66. This allows the Jedi characters to conceivably be around 18-20 years of age, as they had just started their apprenticeships before their masters were killed.
- I plan to for PCs to be about level 16 at the end of the campaign. The d20 rules really start to break down past that point. Even the creators of the game acknowledge that (specifically, Rodney stated the difficulty of writing the last few modules of the campaign to be sufficiently challenging and still manageable.)
House Rules in Effect (and when they started)
a. Roll stats rather than set
b. May re-roll hp with Force Point
c. Droids get Syntax Points (basically, Force Points)
d. Using Force Point to avoid death costs ALL Force Points (Part 4)
e. PC’s only get 1 Destiny Point per character level PLAYED (Part 4)
f. Use the Force changed multiple times. Currently, Skill Focus only available to Knight Prestige class.
g. Extra talents at base class levels 1, 4, 7, 10, 13, & 16. **Note, 1st level Talents must be from different trees. Also, this 1st bonus talent is not obtained when multi-classing into another class (just as not all starting feats are received.)
h. Force Powers take 1 step longer to use. Practiced Force User Talent to reduce back one-step.
i. Can only learn Force Powers with a teacher.
j. Vital Transfer can’t be used to heal Vital Transfer (Part 4)
k. Block and Deflect are one Talent
l. Lightsabers deal 2d12 damage
m. Movement: Diagonals cost 1.5 squares as D&D 3.5 (Part 3)
n. Starship: Can flee a Dogfight as free action, but gives every opponent free critical attack from full attack. (Part 5)
Misc