Player Primer

"There will be times when the struggle seems impossible. I know this already. Alone, unsure, dwarfed by the scale of the enemy. Remember this. Freedom is a pure idea. It occurs spontaneously and without instruction. Random acts of insurrection are occurring constantly throughout the galaxy. There are whole armies, battalions that have no idea that they've already enlisted in the cause. Remember that the frontier of the Rebellion is everywhere. And even the smallest act of insurrection pushes our lines forward. And then remember this. The Imperial need for control is so desperate because it is so unnatural. Tyranny requires constant effort. It breaks, it leaks. Authority is brittle. Oppression is the mask of fear. Remember that. And know this, the day will come when all these skirmishes and battles, these moments of defiance will have flooded the banks of the Empire's authority and then there will be one too many. One single thing will break the siege. Remember this. Try."

~Karis Nemik

The Dawn of Defiance campaign opens some months after the rise of the Empire, with the Clone Wars a very recent and vivid memory for most beings in the galaxy. The Empire has begun tightening its grip on star systems throughout the galaxy, and Darth Vader stands at the newly declared Emperor's right hand, crushing any opposition and hunting down the last remnants of The Jedi Order. In these short months since the fall of the Republic, many have joined the Empire willingly, including The Core Worlds whose Human nobles stand to benefit a great deal from its tyranny. Similarly, many others have begun rebelling against Imperial oppression, finding themselves driven out of their homes (Or worse) and forced to live in a galaxy that tolerates no opposition to the Empire. Throughout the Dawn of Defiance campaign, the heroes must deal with the reality that the Empire is a monolithic threat without any kind of organized opposition, and dealing with agents of the Empire can be dangerous.

Where am I?

You will be travelling to a star station known as Sel Zonn Station, in orbit of Brentaal IV. It is a core world and occupied by the Imperials. It's up to you why you are stopping here, but know that you will not be staying long as the events that you stumble upon will quickly sweep you up in a galaxy size quest that will have you visiting many iconic Star Wars locations.

Who am I?

Your character needs to be at least opposed to the Empire in some way. Enough that you would be willing to join a resistance to fight against the tyranny.

I am looking for 4-5 players to run this campaign for. This campaign will be a theater of the mind located within the Star Wars Galazy using the Legends timeline. There will be a heavy focus on personal character stories as such character backstories will be important. I welcome all players of any experience level, no matter race, gender, religion, political leaning ect. I just ask that you do not bring any of that to the table. I will only give 1 warning before booting someone from the table for any of that behavior. Expect the campaign to take about a year playing weekly games of 2-3 hours each. I will be placing the following rules/restrictions in effect for character creation.

No overly edgy social outcasts that do not want to work with a party. This is a team storytelling game. It gets tiring dealing with the archetype after hour 8.
No stealing from fellow party members.
No rolling dice against other party members.
No characters that give off blatant red flags.
Characters will be expected to have a backstory that must be approved by me. You did not just materialize out of nothing after all! Your characters have lived a life up to the point they became adventurers. You will also need to have your age, birthdate, weight, and height figured out. Backstories don't need to be a book, even a few lines will suffice!
No Homebrew
No blatant murderhobos.
No evil characters. This is not the easiest to define sometimes but check with me if you are unsure. I don't mind grey but keep it within reason.
We will be playing the game on a program called Foundry VTT. The program is 100% free to the player. World Anvil will be used to organize session notes.

Character Creation

• Starting Credits: 500
• Item Rarity: Up to 5
• Any Careers from Force and Destiny will not be allowed in this campaign.
• Check with me on force specializations, I will be placing some restrictions at the start of the campaign. I have plans on opening this up later down the road after certain story beats.
• Obligations may come into effect during sessions, some good ones to have but not limited to
• Addiction
• Bounty
• Criminal
• Debt
• Duty Bound
• Family
• Favor
• Oath
• Obsession
• Responsibility

This Wiki has information on all Careers and Specializations.

Session 0 Topics

• XP: This system uses a XP based system, expect 10-25 xp to be awarded at the end of each session, pending on what you achieve. You may spend your XP whenever you wish, this includes before, after, or even during a session. You will not need to check with me unless you are buying a force specialization.
• Note that over a 100 group obligation will prevent you from spending XP, please keep that in mind while building your characters. You may gain more obligation as the story progresses but will also lose some.
• As touched on before the Legends timeline will be used, as it is my preferred storyline and I am sure some of yours!

Player, Behaviour, Game Behaviour & DM Expectations

• Alcohol - Please come to the session sober. I don’t mind if you have a drink or two but I am not willing to DM for someone intoxicated.
• Narcotics - Again please come to session sober.
• Player Attention - If a player is constantly distracted without reason I will ask you in private if you need to step away. Constant disruption will result in asking you to leave the table for the night.
• Disruptive Topics - have already touched on this already. However please do not bring it to the table. I will only give 1 warning before kicking a player.
• Unannounced Dice Rolls - I do not accept unannounced dice rolls. I will pretend it never existed. I will ask you to roll dice. You are free to negotiate a different skill check however if I have put my foot down that is the roll I need.
• Dice rolls against one another - I do not use dice rolls to settle player arguments. If you disagree you must roleplay the encounter out to convince the other person. If it starts to become an OOC matter I will step in as needed.
• Player vs Player - I am ok with tension between players however you still have to work together as a group. You are not to steal from one another. I do not condone PvP however if there are any cases that it might come up. At this point it gets rolled just like any other combat encounter.
• PC Secrets - Try to keep the secrets to a minimum. It stresses me out as a DM trying to keep up with everything! I don’t mind one or two though.
• Player Expectations, Types, Goals & Diversity - This campaign will be RP, and combat heavy with a large amount of exploration. Keep in mind not all players will have a min/maxed character. And in fact you don’t have to have one as I will be trying to balance stuff to work with a non min/maxed character.
• Player Discomfort - As discussed earlier: war, animal cruelty, torture, murder, famine, and racism as well as other topics may appear within the campaign.
• Player Agency - I am a strong supporter of Player Agency. However there may be certain situations where you can lose control of your character. This is hard to give examples for.
• Game Balance & Fairness - The encounters at times will be very deadly if players make certain decisions or take certain actions they can become unwinnable. I as a DM will not hold back in either case. Expect to have to think on your feet and play smart.
• Rules Debates - I facilitate rules discussion at the table however in many cases I will make a ruling on the fly to keep the game moving. We can always revisit the rule after the game to discuss further on the rule. When I have made a call I expect everyone to run with it as is.
• Spotlight Sharing - Players should try to share the spotlight where they can. As DM I will try to shine the spotlight on as many players as I can. Please try not to trample over another player's spotlight during a scene. That is just bad practice.
• Meta-knowledge - try to separate your characters from yourself. Just cause you know the troll doesn’t regen from fire damage doesn’t mean your character would know. I treat knowledge checks as a free action. Use them as needed. I as well will try to enforce limited discussion while already in an encounter. You should spend the time outside these encounters discussing strategy and tactics then.
• MinMaxing - I welcome both optimized and unoptimized characters and will try to facilitate both.
• Character Party Fit - You players will be required to create a character that is willing to at least be a part of the group. Do not create a social outcast that refuses to work with the party.
• Murderhobos - just no… it really becomes a boring game for everyone involved when you go and just start killing random civilians. Your characters do not know the concept of Advancements! It is a player mechanic to track your character's growth through quantifiable numbers.
• Other behavior Rules - always be respectful of one another

The DM

• Player Absences - I will run a game as long as 4 players are present. The missing players will be controlled by someone in the party or by the DM. Or fade into the background. When they return it is as if they were always there. The missing player still receives their cut of any advancements, treasure and loot even if they miss a session. Working adults have things that come up, that is life. There won't be any punishment for missing sessions.

Ethic Concerns & Topics

• Gender - players can play any gender they wish and you will not be judged at my table by me or any of the players.
• Attraction & Sexual Orientation - same as gender you can play however you see fit and you will not be judged by me or other players.
• Rape, Sexual Assault - NO, players trying to do this at my table will receive 1 warning. Next time it happens they are booted from the campaign. I won’t be an outlet for any sick fantasies sorry.
• Racism, Prejudice - When creating your characters try to shy away from this topic as much as you can.
• Slavery - Players will not be able to own slaves