Casting Shadows

This Saturday Seed presents an idea for the less law-abiding residents on the fringes of the civilized worlds of the Empire, for whatever flavor of Star Wars RPG suits you.

The seed
This seed is based around criminal activity and the underworld, and is suited for new or experienced characters more concerned with staying out of an Imperial prison than getting involved with unprofitable rebellions and altruistic sacrifices for noble political ideals.

Planting the seed

Planting the seed is easy both as a limited run of stories or as a change of pace in an existing campaign. The Empire, as the political landscape shifts and evolves over time pays more and less attention to specific regions of importance. This seed assumes that smugglers smuggle, and outlaws avoid the law. A region light on imperial patrols and long on anonymity and reasonable profit is a good region to seek out.

The details

For quite a while now, smugglers and those up-to-no-good have been able to profit considerably over safer and more frequent runs along once heavily patrolled routes. While the price per run has dropped with the risk, the crews have been able to present more of a semblance of legitimate business people, expand their contacts, and with a little hard work, pay off old debts. Just as the thrill-seekers are starting to get bored and look for more dangerous and profitable runs where they can earn the same money for fewer trips, the political landscape shifts and the Imperial fleet descends on the area with serious intent, resources, and planning. 

Within a few days, some of the characters’ more serious competition is snatched up. Prices for runs and goods which will soon be banned or heavily taxed or restricted begin to skyrocket, begging for one last run…

What is going on

The period of peace and lack of patrols was a ruse intended to flush out rebel spies. While that particular exercise was mainly a failure leading to the sudden choking death of its overseer, and the field promotion of the number 2 man, it did manage to reap some more mundane benefits in terms of exposing the criminal networks riddling the region. 

Not an idiot and determined to live longer than his predecessor, the recently promoted overseer of the region, Din Oleon, has decided to use the tracing, round-up, and capture of the area’s smugglers and fences as a training exercise in counter-espionage for his troops. A fatalist, he is certain his plan will end in failure, but tenacious and cruel, he doesn’t intend to go down without  a fight.

Enjoy~