Star Wars: Flight from Yavin
Notes: This is an introductory mission for a new party of PCs, intended to be run on the Star Wars D6 system. It begins in the immediate aftermath of the battle of Yavin and leads into the Long Shot Campaign which can be found in the "Classic Campaigns" book published by West End Games. Note that the ship referred to as "Home" in those materials is replaced with a former CIS capital ship called "Nowhere" at the end of the adventure. The adventure was written for my own group of players - Tarrik Nightburner who is mentioned is one of my PCs, the only one not on the freighter called the Centurion. Nightburner fought at the battle of Yavin, where Green Squadron acted as decoys to pull most of the Empire's fleet of TIEs away from Red and Gold Squadron's trench run attack. He was the sole survivor. Also included are a few R2 prompts which relate to soundboards I sourced from the net (but have lost the links for, sorry). The music cues in the text relate to tracks from John Williams' soundtracks for the Original Trilogy. I do not own any of the images, all of which were all sourced from Google images. This site contains no advertising and is not for profit.
Opening crawl for players.
Music Cue: The Imperial March
Space. A crippled TIE fighter drifts in the distance. The underside of a dark grey gargantuan ship slides into view and passes overhead for what seems like an eternity. Its tractor beams lock on to the stricken craft and bring it in to one of the hangar bays. This is Darth Vader’s personal flagship, the Super Star Destroyer, Executor.
In the hangar bay, Darth Vader emerges from the TIE Advanced Fighter and is met by Admiral Ozzel.
Ozzel: My lord, its is a relief to see you again. When we heard of the destruction of the Death Star, we feared the worst.
Vader: You may dispense with the pleasantries, Admiral. The evacuation of the Rebel base may not yet be over. Set course for the moon of Yavin IV. I want those rebels.
Ozzel: Yes, my lord. It will be done.
Wipe to:
The Centurion - a modified YT-1300 - drops out of hyperspace and begins its descent into the atmosphere of the jungle moon of Yavin 4.
Cut to:
Yavin base. As you troop off the Centurion, you see the base is a hive of activity with personnel hurriedly loading up their transports and ships blasting off every other minute. Out of the confusion, a large man strides up to you. A pilot and an R2 unit hurry after him. As he addresses you, he casts a scrutinising gaze across each one of you. He doesn’t look impressed.
Shepherd: I’m Commander Shepherd - and you’re late. We’re a little rushed for time so I don’t have time for a proper briefing. You missed the main excitement. The Death Star has been destroyed, but not before the location of this base was uncovered. It’s a sure bet half the Imperial Fleet are on their way here. The evacuation is well underway but we’ve several more transports requiring escort. Nightburner here will help you but we’ve still got two spare X-Wings that weren’t employed in the attack upon the Death Star, anyone want to pilot one?
Allow the PCs to volunteer. If anyone asks about why they don’t have enough pilots, Shepherd explains that many of their best pilots were killed in the attack at Scarif base. As soon as they’ve done so…
A klaxon sounds across the base as something blocks out the sun. Rebels look to the sky and cry out in dismay.
Music Cue: Rebels At Bay
Shepherd: Looks like we’ve run out of time! You’ll be protecting two troop transports. Once they make the jump, you can follow too. Your designation is Green Squadron. Volunteers, get to the hangar and into your X-Wings! The rest of you, back on your freighter - and take my droid R2-G8 with you. He’ll provide your ship’s hyperdrive with the co-ordinates to the rendezvous point.
[R2 Unconvinced Grumbling & Taking the Comlink] Do as your told R2! They’ll take care of you, won’t you?
The X-Wings are already programmed for the jump. You’re Green Team. Get to your ships - and may the force be with you!
Allow the PCs to get to their ships and get set for take-off. As they do so, the transports they have to escort take off. Comms flash on each ship’s dashboards. They receive the following communication:
Alliance HQ: Green Squadron this is Alliance HQ. Enemy fighters coming your way. Head for bearing 6-7-3. You’ll have to navigate a small asteroid belt before you can make the jump to hyperspace, but it should offer you some protection from those fighters. Those transports will be right behind you, use your sensors to clear a path. A few of our flyboys use it for training, they say the larger the asteroid, the easier they are to dodge. Still, the smaller asteroids will do less damage! Good luck.
Music Cue: The Imperial March
Wipe to:
Lord Vader stands on the bridge of his vessel, staring out the viewport at the forest moon of Yavin IV. Admiral Ozzel briskly approaches him.
Ozzel: Lord Vader, the Rebels are scrambling their transports in several directions to split our forces. One group is headed into a small asteroid field. Sending TIE fighters in to pursue would be a wasted-
Vader: Asteroids do not concern me Admiral, I want those ships destroyed.
Ozzel: As you wish, my lord. [Ozzel turns and barks orders to the command crew] Scan the asteroid field! Find the Rebels and guide our TIE squadrons to them!
The Asteroid Chase:
Music Cues: Hyperspace & the Asteoird Field. Once TIEs are involved, run Ben’s Death and TIE Fighter Attack
Use the map provided. The team must negotiate the asteroid field and deal with incoming TIE fighters! Assign a squadron of 3 TIE Fighters for each Rebel ship (excluding transports) there is in the field. This is a hard challenge, but, it’s likely that a few of the fighters may be destroyed inside the field.
Scale: Each square on the grid represents movement of 2 Space units. This means that the YT-1300 can move 2 squares in standard movement, while an X-Wing can move 4.
Sensors: These will be vitally important in discovering both asteroids and enemy fighters. Anyone working sensors will know that with so many objects ahead of them, their scopes will be overwhelmed with readings. A very easy Knowledge roll or communication to Alliance HQ will provide them with the information that limiting the number of items they are scanning will provide them with clearer results. It will be extremely difficult to find the smaller asteroids and enemy fighters.
Sensors will pick up the closest asteroid/fighter in their range. Difficulty increases by one level per number of additional of obstacles the person searching is looking for. Check which type of scanning each PC is using. The difficulty of each roll is further adjusted by the size of the nearest object (or furtherest of those a ship can within the range it is searching for if looking for more than one object). Switching to Search will provide the best chances of identifying objects but this will create blind spots because the scanning can only happen in one direction. Once an asteroid has been picked up on Sensors, it is permanently revealed.
Note that asteroids can move at the GM’s discretion to ratchet up the tension further!
Number of Objects Scanned For: Difficulty 5 +5 per obstacle searched for beyond 1.
Size of Asteroid: Huge: 0, Large +5, Small +10
TIE Fighters: Number remaining in squadron: 1: +10, 2: +5, 3: 0
Example: A Search scan on a YT-1300 provides the user with a bonus 2D to their Sensors skill of 3D, giving them 5D. They decide to look for 2 objects. The closest 2 objects are both asteroids, one Huge and one Small. The base difficulty is 10 (for 2 objects). A roll of 10 will be required to discover the Huge asteroid while 20+ required to find the small asteroid. A roll of 0-9 will find nothing, 10-19 will uncover the huge asteroid, while 20+ will uncover both. Had the closest 2 objects been 2 Small asteroids, a roll of 20+ would be required to find the closest one, while 30+ would be required to find both.
Movement: Moving through the field is extremely difficult, especially if Sensors do not pick up asteroids. The difficulties are as follows - but most can be mitigated by flying at Cautious or Cruising Speeds.
Base Difficulty Roll: 16+ (Difficult)
Flying Across Space with Revealed Asteroid: Huge: 0, Large +5, Small +10
Flying Across Space with Unrevealed Asteroid: Huge: 5, Large +10, Small +15
See Starship Movement Failures on page 133 for what happens if there is a failure.
Asteroid Damage: Small Asteroid: 2D, Large Asteroid 4D, Huge Asteroid 6D, modified by the ships’ speed as shown on page 134.
Shields: Starship shields are a reactive skill.
Starship Gunnery: Range for all ships is as follows: 2 Squares: Short, 3-6 Squares: Medium, 7-13: Long
TIE Deployment and Movement: The first TIE squadron will deploy at the opposite end of the board. The second on one flank, moving in to hit the convoy from one side. Any other squadrons will deploy at the far end of the board along with the first squadron. They can move 5 spaces but will move cautiously, 5 squares every 2 turns (or 3 when it becomes too tricky to monitor).
Key TIE Stats: Straighter Piloting 4D+1 (Manoeuvrability 2D), Starship Gunnery 4D (Fire Control 2D). Hull 2D. Space: 5 squares per 2 turns
TIE Tactics: The TIEs have been tasked with destroying the Troop Transports first. The Transports have a Hull of 8D + 1D shields. TIE laser cannon have damage of 5D so it may take some time to inflict much damage. However, if Rebel ships intervene, single ships will break off from the squadron to deal with attackers in dogfights (breaking off if there is only the one).
TIE Tactics: The TIEs have been tasked with destroying the Troop Transports first. The Transports have a Hull of 8D + 1D shields. TIE laser cannon have damage of 5D so it may take some time to inflict much damage. However, if Rebel ships intervene, single ships will break off from the squadron to deal with attackers in dogfights (breaking off if there is only the one).
Once the PCs exit the opposite end of the play area, they can make the jump to light speed and escape!
Cut to:
Music Cue: The Imperial March
On the bridge of the Executor, Darth Vader stares out as the Rebel ships vanish out of sight. Admiral Ozzel feels a tug at his throat and falls to the ground…
Captain Piett: Lord Vader, the Emperor commands you to make contact with him.
Ozzel feels Vader’s force choke release and he lies on the deck gasping for breath as Vader walks past him, his cloak billowing in his wake.
Wipe to:
Music Cue: The Princess Appears
A tiny dot of light streaks across a star field. We then cut, looking back at a YT-1300 which is hurtling towards us through hyperspace. We close in on the cockpit and see the smuggler captain and his co-pilot turning out of their chairs. We follow them through to the ship’s corridors to the main hold where they join the rest of the new recruits bound for the rendezvous point, two of whom are playing holochess.
Allow the PCs an opportunity to role-play out their proper introductions to one another. As soon as they have done so, the hyperdrive signals that their arrival at the rendezvous is imminent.
Wipe to:
Music Cue: Finale start at 1:15, read from 1:18
Your ships drop out of hyperspace in an area of space your sensors indicate is in the Minos Cluster. You see a battered old capital ship, a relic from the Clone Wars by the look of it. Huge sections of the ship, which you know should be twinkling with light, are in darkness. As you close in, you can see activity in the hangar bay where a number of X-Wings and a few A-Wings have landed. Astromech droids buzz across the ship’s hull, their arc-welders flickering in the dark. Several troop transports hang in space around the vessel.
At 1:45
Commander Shepherd’s voice crackles over the comms in greeting. “Glad you rookies could make it! You’re clear for landing. Welcome…to Nowhere.”
