I'm doing a STAR WARS game where i want the player characters to feel like they're the most important people in the galaxy. To that end, it occurs to me one of the best ways to do that is to completely throw the storyline for a loop.

I'm going to do that by having Darth Vader successfully assassinate the Emperor while the PCs are distracting them (and really really out of their depth). I'm thinking they all discover an ancient Sith world or something which attracts both the Dark Lords at once. Palpatine doesn't want anything the Sith spirits inside can offer him but well, Vader does.

Which gives him the boost necessary to slay his master and claim the mantle of Dark Lord of the Sith's Master.

It's a good "season" ender and allows for a neat little timeskip.

Yoda, Obi-Wan, and a good number of other Jedi are still alive at this time since it's previous to A New Hope.

I'd be interested in how people would see Darth Vader changing the galaxy and how the dominos might fall as well as possible new adventures which could be taken once he emerges from the planet without his master.

Note: This is about 10 years prior to ANH.

So you remove Palpatine...and replace him with...a Vader boosted enough by Knights of the Old Republic Sith Artifact Shenanigans so he's powerful enough to kill Palpatine.

This makes the PCs the most important people in the Galaxy how?

Granted it frees your campaign from the chains of the cinematic plot, but you have to choose to wear those chains to begin with.

Quote from: CRKrueger;933680So you remove Palpatine...and replace him with...a Vader boosted enough by Knights of the Old Republic Sith Artifact Shenanigans so he's powerful enough to kill Palpatine.

This makes the PCs the most important people in the Galaxy how?

Granted it frees your campaign from the chains of the cinematic plot, but you have to choose to wear those chains to begin with.

It's something of an action bomb meant to signal the rails are off the plot and the PCs are the ones who are truly aware of what's going to happen now. Vader is going to be losing his power off the world anyway, which means that he's a slightly easier target to take down than the Emperor himself. The PCs are also the primary heroes as Han, Luke, and Leia aren't really a part of things anymore and won't be for years.

Also, Vader knows who they are as well.

I suppose I could make it so the PCs are able to assassinate Palpatine during events but I'm not sure they'd take that bait since my players are the kind of people who'd assume it'd automatically feel even if he's distracted fighting Vader.

I agree that Vader killing the Emperor may just leave Vader as the new emperor, but I like the twist and it certainly will let the players know that things won't follow the established canon. Plus, I like Vader better than Palpatine and was always bummed that Vader became a second-rate bad guy in Empire Strikes Back. Vader as the Sauron of the Star Wars universe has a lot of appeal to me.

For inspiration, you might check out the INFINITIES graphic novels by Dark Horse. It's been a while since I read them, but I think there are three and each asks a question like "what if Luke missed when trying to destroy the Death Star." Then they show an alternate history as to how things might have changed.

You could also change the canon in other ways, maybe by going back to the original movie as inspiration. In ANH we all thought that Luke's dad and Vader were two separate guys, so maybe have this be the way it works in this game and have Luke's father appear to help the party only to be killed much like Ben Kenobi was in ANH. This kind of thing may get your players to start to challenge everything they think they know and will free you to do more with the setting.

I would think Vader would lack the skills to run the empire, coupled with him being temper challenged and killing of those first (and afterwards few)adjudants that try to show him what runs wrong.

So it will probably look like a more and more disconnected feudal society with Vader travelling around like an irritated political minded Tarrasque everyone tries to avoid himself and point to any disliked neighbours.

So as long as the PCs avoid to directly show up on Vaders radar, they have much more freedom to act while the official local powers have to avoid to rouse this same attention too.

Quote from: CRKrueger;933680Granted it frees your campaign from the chains of the cinematic plot, but you have to choose to wear those chains to begin with.

Mean Green nails it again.

Quote from: finarvyn;933738Plus, I like Vader better than Palpatine and was always bummed that Vader became a second-rate bad guy in Empire Strikes Back.

Vader was always somebody's bitch. Literally, as Leah points out: "Governor Tarkin, I should have expected to find you holding Vader's leash."

Quote from: Maarzan;933740I would think Vader would lack the skills to run the empire, coupled with him being temper challenged and killing of those first (and afterwards few)adjudants that try to show him what runs wrong.

So it will probably look like a more and more disconnected feudal society with Vader travelling around like an irritated political minded Tarrasque everyone tries to avoid himself and point to any disliked neighbours.

So as long as the PCs avoid to directly show up on Vaders radar, they have much more freedom to act while the official local powers have to avoid to rouse this same attention too.

I agree. Vader would demand that laws and regulations be changed to suit his whim, and throw the apparatus of galactic government into chaos whenever he decided to show up.

It would be a very chaotic setting, and probably full of adventure for a while, until everything finally broke apart and turns into Vader running around attacking everyone who won't do what he says.
I envison his final fate as a local dictator, running a single planet from his Iron Fortress, and constantly at war with the splintered Imperial factions and underworld bosses.

Thanks, good ideas so far.

Some ideas I'm playing with are:

1. There's going to be a Civil War within the Empire which results from Vader seizing power from Palpatine without having firmly established himself as the heir. There will be revolts from the Grand Admirals, Moffs, and the Imperial Senate as they all basically have their own ambitions to take over things. I'm torn between Grand Moff Tarkin siding with Vader, going for the Emperorship himself, or appearing loyal while seeking to assassinate himself.

2. This is suddenly a much darker and Grayer world because Darth Vader vs. The Revolting Imperials is a war which people might be able to pick sides on without either really winning. The still-nascent Rebellion might find itself having to support one group or the other or try to figure out how to emerge from within.

3. You could do some fun things like Tarkin giving the Rebels a chance to assassinate Vader while Vader gives the Rebels a chance to blow up the still-incomplete Death Star. Certainly, an assault on the Death Star with the Imperial Navy would be interesting.

4. I'm inclined to think Vader in this reality is a lot less enamored of the Rule of Two than Palpatine as well as not really thinking himself as a Sith. I could easily see him having the galaxy scanned for people with Jedi potential then brought to be educated as part of a Dark Side knighthood.

5. Palpatine dead means that Yoda and Obi-Wan might be able to come out of hiding or at least the other Jedi to be more active as Vader is a more "inside context" problem. He's "just" a Dark Sider that can be defeated. They can't really go after him themselves, though, because Yoda is an old muppet and Obi-Wan would be sensed a mile away.

Quote from: CTPhipps;9338701. There's going to be a Civil War within the Empire which results from Vader seizing power from Palpatine without having firmly established himself as the heir. There will be revolts from the Grand Admirals, Moffs, and the Imperial Senate as they all basically have their own ambitions to take over things. I'm torn between Grand Moff Tarkin siding with Vader, going for the Emperorship himself, or appearing loyal while seeking to assassinate himself.

This is obvious. This also means you're going to have to figure out the unique faultlines that will provide the basis of this Civil War. It's not like it'll simply be down either/or (you could - but wouldn't that be boring? Why not have several different angles that vie for power. Some might naturally fold underneath Vader or the opposition with a lot of roleplaying adventures to seal those alliances/defections.) You could have Thrawn come back early with the Imperial Expeditionary fleet and make things really interesting.

Quote from: CTPhipps;9338702. This is suddenly a much darker and Grayer world because Darth Vader vs. The Revolting Imperials is a war which people might be able to pick sides on without either really winning. The still-nascent Rebellion might find itself having to support one group or the other or try to figure out how to emerge from within.

Yep - this factors deeply into my suggestion above about making it more than just binary Pro-Vader/Anti-Vader.

Quote from: CTPhipps;9338703. You could do some fun things like Tarkin giving the Rebels a chance to assassinate Vader while Vader gives the Rebels a chance to blow up the still-incomplete Death Star. Certainly, an assault on the Death Star with the Imperial Navy would be interesting.

It would definitely change a lot of the status-quo for the Imperials and turn it into a more conventional war that would give the Rebellion (assuming there even is one) a real chance to get going.

Quote from: CTPhipps;9338704. I'm inclined to think Vader in this reality is a lot less enamored of the Rule of Two than Palpatine as well as not really thinking himself as a Sith. I could easily see him having the galaxy scanned for people with Jedi potential then brought to be educated as part of a Dark Side knighthood.

*This* is the real game-changer. This is why I detest modern Star Wars with the Rule of Two. It's dumb. Horribly dumb. I see ZERO reason why the Sith would ever keep Darth Bane's dumb idea and prevent themselves from the glory they enjoyed in the Old Republic era. Darth Vader leading a new school for the Sith on Korriban - YES. Make it happen. That will scare the dogshit out of your precious Jedi... MUAHAHAHAHA...oh heh.... sorry. If there were something to toss into your campaign box-o-ideas that will really shake stuff up, assuming you're playing with Jedi/Sith - then this is the gem you need to work on polishing. DO IT!

Quote from: CTPhipps;9338705. Palpatine dead means that Yoda and Obi-Wan might be able to come out of hiding or at least the other Jedi to be more active as Vader is a more "inside context" problem. He's "just" a Dark Sider that can be defeated. They can't really go after him themselves, though, because Yoda is an old muppet and Obi-Wan would be sensed a mile away.

Yoda might not even *know* about Vader starting a new Sith Academy. I mean they were in hiding for a reason, right? Look at it like this - Vader starts training Sith, it would be an adventure in itself to get a new Jedi-initiative even started. You can have Old Ben show up right when you need him most to really kick things into high-gear to get those first Jedi trained up. For advanced training they might have to go up against their counterparts from among the new Sith... maybe they're sent to assassinate Yoda (heh), and the Jedi have to stop them? The sky isn't even the limit on this.

Quote from: tenbones;933916*This* is the real game-changer. This is why I detest modern Star Wars with the Rule of Two. It's dumb. Horribly dumb. I see ZERO reason why the Sith would ever keep Darth Bane's dumb idea and prevent themselves from the glory they enjoyed in the Old Republic era. Darth Vader leading a new school for the Sith on Korriban - YES. Make it happen.

When I did something similar, back in the day, I took it from the second movie. Luke discovering the father he never knew, and coming to the conclusion that Kenobi is a sophistric bastard, joins with Darth Vader. After the two of them throw the Emperor down a well, Emperor Vader and his only trusted agent, Darth Narcis, work to bring back the glory of the Sith Empire.

Yoda holds his head, looks at Kenobi's shade. He mutters "that you are dead, glad I am." And then toddles off to contact the two or three other retired Jedi he knows of to restart a hidden Jedi Academy.

For me - these cinematic trailers capture Star Wars on high-octane mode as it should be.

https://youtu.be/RjG61DoDzN8

(kinda long - but worth the watch).

That was awesome! Thanks for sharing that!

Quote from: Baron Opal;933949That was awesome! Thanks for sharing that!

C'mon - when the Sith attack the Jedi temple and those red light-sabers pop out enmasse? That was goddamn chilling-and-oh-damn-awesome.

This is what Star Wars should be like. It doesn't matter what era you wanna play in.

In the same vein as the OP I always wanted to run a LotR game in which Frodo gets hit by a wagon and the PCs are all Sackville-Baggins who find the One Ring while rooting through their inheritance.

Quote from: tenbones;933950C'mon - when the Sith attack the Jedi temple and those red light-sabers pop out enmasse? That was goddamn chilling-and-oh-damn-awesome.

This is what Star Wars should be like. It doesn't matter what era you wanna play in.

Fun stuff. I see Stormtrooper marksmanship is as ludicrously inaccurate as ever though...

Quote from: Daztur;933953In the same vein as the OP I always wanted to run a LotR game in which Frodo gets hit by a wagon and the PCs are all Sackville-Baggins who find the One Ring while rooting through their inheritance.



Fun stuff. I see Stormtrooper marksmanship is as ludicrously inaccurate as ever though...

Imperial training at its finest.