Star Wars - The Battle of Lorimax
Introduction:
This adventure is intended for the Star Wars D6 RPG system and, although it is very much tailored to my own players and campaign, it should be adaptable to other GM's campaign settings. It is assumed that GM's own a copy of Star Wars REUP rules, *available here* or West End Games' Star Wars D6 R&E before play begins.
Please note that I do not own the images contained in this adventure, they were all sourced from Google images, although I have altered some of them to provide information. This is a not for profit, advert free blog.
Special thanks for the input of Mr Nexx, Garhkal, Grimace, KageRyu, and Raven Redstar on the Rancor Pit - with a special acknowledgement to CR McNeill whose rules which we're using are available on this blog here. Please also visit The Rancor Pit to join the excellent community there (unless you're one of my players, in which case stay away)!
Background:
I've been running the Long Shot Campaign which has the materials has the players operating from a huge water hauler spacecraft called Home. I decided to tweak this to call the ship Nowhere and to change the ship type to a Providence-class dreadnought (much like General Grevious
' ship the Invisible Hand that featured in the opening sequence of Revenge of the Sith). At the beginning of the campaign, Nowhere was completely defenceless, but as the months wore on, General Reekeene - whose squadrons of Roughnecks have been operating from the base - has slowly been returning the vessel to a semblance of its former glory. The player team go by the name of Green Vipers.
In a previous mission, the Sector's new commander, Moff Lorin, allowed the Rebels to plant a bugging device under a Communications Centre on Iyuta and has been providing the Rebels with genuine information about Imperial operations in the sector. Lorin's plan has been to allow the Rebels to disrupt smaller Imperial operations in the hope of drawing out Nowhere to wipe out Reekeene's Roughnecks in one fell swoop. That time has now come.
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| Moff Lorin |
An Imperial Assault Transport will be entering the system carrying veteran Stormtroopers - and Reekeene's Roughnecks will be targeting these vessels. Unfortunately, Moff Lorin's Star Destroyer flagship, the Clenched Fist and an Interdictor Star Destroyer will also be in attendance to destroy the Rebels!
GMs can come up with their own reasons for running this adventure. If it is the case that their home base is on a planet, then they may wish to provide some additional exposition to explain that the bulk of the base's staff have boarded a capital ship to carry out this mission. Additional explanation may be required as to where that ship came from, but I don't see any reason why Alliance Command would not lend a local system a capital ship. There is nothing to stop fellow GMs changing the type of capital ship used in this scenario, or for that matter, adapting the scenario in any way they see fit.
Mission Briefing:
Music Cue: Rebel Briefing
General Lens Reekeene calls her entire Roughnecks to the command deck. Also in attendance is her husband Mikka and her advisor Santhou.
Lens: We've learned that Moff Lorin, Fakir Sector's new replacement after we captured Dixton, has requested additional resources. It seems we've been ruffling a few too many feathers!
Santhou: The reinforcements consist of over one hundred veteran Stormtroopers from the 501st, Vader's own. They'll be brought in to our sector on board an Imperial Assault Transport and will have two Imperial Raiders escorting them.
Lens: While that speaks volumes of our successes, were these reinforcements to reach their destinations across the sector, it would be bad news for our operations...
Santhou: ...but the intelligence we've gathered indicates that the convoy will be stopping off at Lorimax to dock with a refuelling station. The Imperials won't be expecting us. However, taking out an Assault Transport will be no easy feat, especially with the Raiders in close attendance. A fighter assault would expect to suffer significant losses...
Lens: Which is why we're going to be throwing everything we have at it. Nowhere will be joining the attack. We need pilots for the X-Wings. Every ship - that means fighters, freighters and pleasure boats alike - and every member of the Roughnecks needs to play their part.
Santhou: The strategy will be for Nowhere to close in on the convoy and hit them with everything we've got - but each Raider has four TIEs each. The priority for X-Wings will be to keep those TIEs in check - but there's more of you than there are of them - and TIEs are no match for X-Wings. Your fighters will be fully loaded with Proton Torpedoes. They will be more effective against unshielded targets, but use your own judgement as to when to launch these. Make sure that you're right on your target when you launch those missiles - the range is poor and they're difficult to use even at medium range. The nav computers on every ship have been programmed with the astrogation for both for the jump to Lorimax and the jump to the rendezvous point after the assault - so all ships can escape at any time.
Lens: That's right, so we get in there, hit that Transport hard, and then jump out again. I want all Roughnecks to inform their Captains of what role they'll be playing and then for the Captains to liaise with Santhou in order that we can plan our attack. Those ships are already on their way to Lorimax and our hyperspace jump will take a few days, so we have to be rolling within three hours. That's tight, but doable - plus we can refine our plan during lightspeed. You don't need me to tell you how critical this mission is. Everything we've built here is on the line. But we have the advantage - and for once, superior firepower. Let's get to it!
Allow the other PCs to work out what they want to do during the attack. They can opt to fly in X-Wings, their own ship(s), or man guns on Nowhere. If there is anyone on the team who has experience of Capital Ship Piloting, they may be asked to Captain Nowhere. All fighters will be fully armed with torpedoes as outlined on the stats on REUP. Team Captains should relay their team's choices to Santhou and should make any suggestions they see fit about mission tactics. When the team is set, any ships should take up position around Nowhere before making the jump to hyperspace. Mark these up on a map before making the jump so the positions are clear when the battle begins.
From hereon in, it is assumed that the GM is familiar with the Capital Ship Combat rules and has access to the Command Decks provided in the Appendices of that post.
Commanding Nowhere:
Nowhere is operating with a skeleton crew of 8,300 which means it has a difficulty of 15 to Command. However, as most of the crew are droids, they are easier to Command than a self-aware crew and so the difficulty has been modified to 12.
If anyone is concerned about defending Nowhere, here is a map of the vessel with the key command corridors off of which some important areas of the ship can be accessed. General Reekeene has 6 E-web guns which can be deployed anywhere.
The Command Corridor which leads to the Command Bridge is the most critical of these. It is 850 metres long and there are doors which grant access to the reactor and shield generators periodically placed along it. These can be locked down from the Command Deck (it is likely that General Reekeene will suggest doing so even if none of the party don't do so). At the far end of the corridor is a set up central turbo lifts which provide access up to the Ground Forces Command Bridge or down towards the hangar bay or the storage beneath it. The corridor which leads from the turbo lasers to the hangar is 150 metres long. At the rear of the ship are the engines and hyperdrive modules which General Reekeene will have locked down with ray shields (effectively making them off-limits for the adventure). Another corridor, 75 metres long, leads to the turbo lift which grants access to the Observation Deck.
None of the above is worth getting too hung up on, it is really a schematic to illustrate the main routes that the Stormtroopers will take if they board the ship. Their priority will be to get to the Command Bridge and capture the ship and Command Crew. When the team are ready to go, you can run this video to build the excitement ahead of the battle!
The Battle of Lorimax:
Music Cues: Into the Trap, The Sith Spacecraft and Droid Battle, Hyperspace, The Asteroid Field, Ben's Death and TIE Fighter Attack, Rescue of the Princess, The Last Battle
When the ships drop out of hyperspace they will see the Imperial Assault Transport, two Raiders and the refuelling station in the distance.
Sensors: If they think to make Sensors scans behind them, they will provide no readings as that area of subspace has flooded been with static. This is because there is a Star Destroyer behind them which is jamming sensors! If they alert General Reekeene, Nowhere will be able to cut through the chatter to reveal the trap. Whether they contact Reekeene or not, their sensors will pick up the Raiders and their TIEs - and that there are large TIE swarms holding position just outside the fringes of play.
Hyperdrive: An Interdictor Star Destroyer is behind the Rebel fleet which is fully powered up and will lay down a gravity well to prevent the Rebels making a hyperspace jump to safety! Unless the PCs realise the Interdictor is there, the first they'll know about it is when they try to make the jump to hyperspace when their engines make a horrible noise and fail to engage!
Tactics: As soon as the PCs realise that something is amiss, Tactics rolls are allowed against Moff Lorin. A success will reveal that he has set a trap with the Interdictor holding the entire Rebel fleet in place. What is unusual is that the Interdictor has not opened fire, nor has Lorin's Star Destroyer, although it may be beyond the limits of its range to target the Rebels. A Tactics roll may also uncover a detail about the refuelling station which could be of critical importance, more on that below.
Survival: Once the PCs are aware of the Interdictor placing the gravity well near them, an Easy Survival roll will identify that if the fleet can get clear of the gravity wells, they can make the jump to hyperspace. This simply means that they have to outrun the Interdictor which X-Wings and Y-Wings can do, but Nowhere cannot: fleeing would consign their home ship to capture. Disabling the Interdictor's Gravity Well projectors will be the other route of escape (see more below). A Very Difficult Tactics roll will provide a player with a full understanding of how the Gravity Well Projectors operate (see below).
Fighters: Fighters are arranged into Flights (see Capital Ship rules) which increase their Scale to 8D. They are represented by a single image on the map (i.e. One X-Wing = 4 X-Wings, One Y-Wing = 4 Y-Wings, One freighter = 4 Freighters.)
Notes on running the battle: With hordes of ships involved in this conflict, it's easy to get bogged down in detail. See the end of this post for the key stats required, but each stage of the battle is broken down into sections. As GM, a "brush strokes" approach to the battle should be taken. Allow the PCs to directly control their ships and have Nowhere respond accordingly. In other words, if the PCs decide to hit the Raiders, Nowhere will follow in support; if they spin around to deal with the Interdictor to try to disable it to facilitate their escape, Nowhere will do likewise. Depending on where the Rebels head, it may be necessary to scroll items on the map, so be ready to do so. This battle is in open space so there is no requirement to worry about any other terrain.
Deployment (notes follow image):
Green Box: Deployment for Nowhere and the surrounding fighters.
Blue Box: The Imperial Assault Transport and two Raiders with their 8 TIEs are in close proximity to the refuelling tanker at the top of the map.
Red Box: Imperial-class Star Destroyer, Interdictor, Lambda shuttles + 16 TIEs.
Not Shown: Most of the Star Destroyers' TIE fighters (56) have been deployed into 2 TIE swarms of 28 (7 Flights) apiece - both groups are off of the map to the left and right. If the signal for either squadron is given to join the battle, it takes 3 rounds for them to enter the board. The remaining 16 TIEs are on board the Imperial Start Destroyer and will deploy to escort the Lambda shuttles to Nowhere's hangar bay.
The main options the PCs have are as follows:
1) Hit the Transport and Raiders as planned and try to outrun the pursuing ships. No problem in doing this but the Interdictor can match Nowhere's speed and the ship cannot make the jump until it is disabled.
2) Spin around to confront the Interdictor. Possibly the best plan as the whole Roughnecks operation is at stake here. The only problem is that Moff Lorin is no fool; he has positioned it behind his own flagship Imperial Star Destroyer, the Clenched Fist.
3) Turn away to fly directly at one of the TIE swarms. As the Rebel ships turn, adjust the map accordingly to reveal the fighters (again, they fly in Flights of 4, so use 9 TIE icons to represent this).
Imperial Tactics:
Moff Lorin wants to take Nowhere intact to make a show out of publicly executing the Rebels - although, if the fight starts to turn the Rebels' way (unlikely), he will settle for their destruction. I've split the tactics down into those for the various factions.
The Transport, Raiders & Refuelling Station:
1) The Transport, and two Raiders have been refuelled but remain in close proximity to the refuelling station. They will hold position, laying down heavy laser fire to attempt to prevent the Rebels breaking through and escaping. If the Rebels head directly for the Interdictor, they will only join the fray should the Clenched Fist seem to be in any trouble.
2) Each Raider has 4 TIEs ready to deploy. The focus of these TIEs is to defend the Raiders and keep the Rebels' attention away from the Lambda Shuttles who are making their approach to Nowhere (see more below).
4) The Refuelling Station has no weapons or engines and so plays no active role in the battle. It does, however, represent an opportunity for the Rebels. Anyone who asks if it is possible to blow up the station or passes a 12+ Tactics roll will recognise that the fuel regulators above the primary tanks could set off a chain reaction capable of destroying the entire rig and potentially damage nearby ships. Due to the refuelling station being static, rolls to hit it are Very Easy 5+, but targeting the small regulators which aren't much bigger than two metres adds +8D to the difficulty. The "Hull" value on the location is only 1D at Capital scale, 7D at Starfighter scale. If the regulator is destroyed, all four tanks go off at once, sparking a detonation that engulfs surrounding squares with the following damage (Capital/Frigate/Starfighter Damage):
1-4 Space: 8D/10D/14D
5-6 Space: 4D/6D/10D
7-8 Space: 2D/4D/8D
If the regulators are not hit, fuel tanks can be targeted/destroyed one at a time, but have a Hull of 5D at Capital scale, 11D Starfighter. Each explosion is still significant, but less deadly:
1-2 Space: 4D/6D/10D
3-4 Space: 2D/4D/8D
5-6 Space: 1D/3D/7D
The tanks are built to stand up to any other one exploding so will not spark a chain reaction.
Warn any PC attempting to destroy the fuel tanks that they must ensure they have an unspecified amount of movement left to get clear of the explosion.
The Interdictor and Lambdas:
The Interdictor is simply staying off to one side laying down gravity wells to prevent the Rebels from escaping. In practice this means that the Interdictor wants to stay within 75 spaces of Nowhere (short range for the gravity well projectors). The Interdictor will lay down the gravity well as soon as the Rebels arrive, within 6 space of Nowhere to prevent it from making the hyperspace jump. As gravity wells are difficult to move, the Interdictor will fire one each turn, constantly preventing Nowhere's escape. Previous wells are disabled as a new one is fired, meaning that the Star Destroyer is not slowed by using vast amounts of energy. Each gravity well projector takes 6 rounds to recharge, meaning that the Interdictor will leave the 4th well in place until the 1st is ready to fire again. This may give the Rebels a chance of escape. Do not bother rolling for gravity well hits: the difficulty to hit and the ability of the operators make these rolls fairly redundant and there will be plenty of other GM rolls required during the battle.
Should the Rebels try to attack the Interdictor, or perhaps flee from it, it will open fire upon them then.
The Interdictor sacrificed its TIE hangar space to allow the carrying of the five modified Lambdas. These shuttles picked up the 501st before the Rebel arrival.
The Lambdas launch from the Interdictor and try to land in the hangar bay as quickly as possible. The 16 TIEs act as a guard for the slow moving transports. Once the Lambdas touchdown, 20 Stormtroopers will pour out and head for the Command Bridge to bring Nowhere under their control. There are 50 Roughnecks on the station who will try to defend the ship, but they will be no match for the 501st unless their numbers were depleted by the PCs either in mounting a defence against them on the ship or by depleting their numbers by destroying transports before they had the opportunity to touch down.
Star Destroyer Clenched Fist:
On board is Moff Lorin. Not knowing for certain where the Rebel fleet would drop out of hyperspace, it takes his vessel, the Clenched Fist some time to enter the field of play. As stated previously, it is at the GM's discretion as to when this should happen as its arrival will likely prove fatal to the Rebels -and the prime goal is to take control of Nowhere, but the Clenched Fist will begin bombarding Nowhere if the Stormtrooper assault fails. Once the players are aware of it, describe the Star Destroyer as closing in on them, at most a few minutes away.
TIE Fighters:
Their prime purpose is to prevent the Rebels escaping. They will only join the fight if it looks like things are going badly for the Imperials or if the Rebels decide to attempt to punch through them to escape.
How to Run the Mass Battle:
This is an encounter of huge scale and, as such, will be highly complicated. There will be a lot of dice rolling to be done but your focus should be firmly upon your players whose actions and rolls should largely dictate how the battle goes.
Cutscenes:
1) As the Rebel fleet drops out of hyperspace, cut to the bridge of the Transport where an officer shouts to his Captain.
Officer: Captain! Sensors picking up ships in sector 7! Readings suggest a Providence-class Dreadnaught and fighters moving to attack position!
Captain: Sound the alarm! Prepare for battle!
2) As the Rebels realise that the Clenched Fist is there, cut to the bridge there where Moff Lorin grins triumphantly.
Officer: Sir, the Rebel ship is trying to scan our area of space! Our attempts to jam their sensors will not hold.
Lorin: Calm yourself officer. It was always inevitable that they would become aware of our presence. They must surely know they are defeated. Open comms to their Captain...
Once the comms are opened.
Lorin: This is Moff Lorin of the Clenched Fist. You are outnumbered and outmanoeuvred. To avoid a pointless loss of life, I suggest you surrender immediately. Be under no illusions though, we will have your ship and put an end to your pitiful little rebellion once and for all.
When the Rebels inevitably reject the call...
Lorin: So be it, Roughnecks. I shall see you very soon, when you are on your knees before me.
3) When Nowhere actively engages the Clenched Fist.
Officer: They're moving to engage us, sir!
Lorin: They're bigger fools than I thought! Raise shields - and open fire!
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