Campaign background Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11
DISCLAIMER
This article is not authorized or supported by West End Games. This conversion is unofficial and has not been reviewed by anybody at West End Games or Lucasfilm, Ltd. Star Wars (R), TM, & (C) by Lucasfilm, Ltd. All Rights Reserved. Trademarks of Lucasfilm, Ltd., used without authorization, that use isn't intended as a challenge to those trademarks.
ABOUT FUDGE
Fudge is a role-playing game written by Steffan O'Sullivan, with extensive input from the Usenet community of rec.games.design. The basic rules of Fudge are available on the internet at http://www.fudgerpg.com and in book form from Grey Ghost Games, P.O. Box 838, Randolph, MA 02368. They may be used with any gaming genre. While an individual work derived from Fudge may specify certain attributes and skills, many more are possible with Fudge. Every Game Master using Fudge is encouraged to add or ignore any character traits. Anyone who wishes to distribute such material for free may do so - merely include this ABOUT FUDGE notice and disclaimer (complete with Fudge copyright notice). If you wish to charge a fee for such material, other than as an article in a magazine or other periodical, you must first obtain a royalty-free license from the author of Fudge, Steffan O'Sullivan, P.O. Box 465, Plymouth, NH 03264.
DISCLAIMER
The following materials based on Fudge, entitled Fudge Starwars: the Easiest Way, are created by, made available by, and Copyright (C) 2006 by Jorge Arredondo, and are not necessarily endorsed in any way by Steffan O'Sullivan or any publisher of other Fudge materials. Neither Steffan O'Sullivan nor any publisher of other Fudge materials is in any way responsible for the content of these materials unless specifically credited. Original Fudge materials Copyright (C)1992-1995 by Steffan O'Sullivan, All Rights Reserved.
[ Soundtrack music: starting theme of Revenge of the Sith ]
The emptyness of space, slowly getting filled by a reddish world with no signs of civilization. Far away in the close orbit we see a battle, where humongous capital ships, surrounded by swarms of fighters, exchange fire and fill the eternal night with fire. A fleet of Venator-class republic star destroyers fight a decimated fleet of trade federation cruisers, the battle is still raging though it is clear who is having the upper hand.
The characters ship exits from hyperspace near the system Optimus, in the middle rim. Fortunately they're far from the battle though the floating debris mark the course of battle just some hours ago. This system still endures a ship battle though not as fierce as before. The nearer ships detected by the sensors are republican cruisers.
After some time travelling through the galaxy, following the course of Torunn's jedi fighter beacon, this is the last world where the council had readings of his ship, so after a lot of red herrings and wasted time looking for him elsewhere, this looks like their last clue.
The characters are called from the flagship ("Conquerer") and they're questioned about their presence there, in the middle of a battle and endangering themselves. Depending on their arguments they may allow them to continue their course without further interruptions or they'll require them to moor in the flagship, even to the point of using tractor beams.
If they had to dock in the Conquerer hangar they're scorted by armed clon troopers to the bridge. The commander in chief of the fleet is the admiral Wilhuff Tarkin (there are no jedi generals in this battle), who will question the characters about their mission there, mainly because except the battle, there is nothing of interest there (Optimus is merely a dirt ball with strategic importance as it is a shortcut on the hyperspace routes leading to the inner core).
If the PCs show them their republic identifications he'll let them go, though a bit reluctantly. They may notice Tarkin is a bit hostile to jedis (except if there is an obvious jedi in the party), with quotes like this "if the jedi hadn't provoked Dooku, probably we wouldn't have reached this point. At least, not until being fully prepared". It's not canon but Tarkin's family died in one of the first attacks of the war, hence his hatred of jedi.
In an holographic tactical display he'll show them how the battle is going. In the planet surface the battle is also still raging on, but it will be won in a couple of hours. The surface of Optimus is similar to Geonosis, but it is dotted with large rocky columns where the separatists had installed their bases.
If the characters didn't dock on the Conquerer, the flagship nevertheless sends them the tactical display to help them get a safe approximation vector far from the space battle.
As soon as Neelyx sees the tactical display, he feels they have to look for Torunn at one of the rocky towers, which is fortunately quite far from the ground battle (all that area was already bombed with turbolaser fire from the republic fleet).
They're also warned to be careful with "ghost droid activity". Anyone with Technology Fair or better knows that a ghost droid is a droid which should have disconnected (in this case, by having destroyed their main remote processor) but didn't, so it acts randomly which is often far more dangerous.
[ GM's note: the encounter with Tarkin was made to teach the PCs that bad choices can have serious, lasting consequences. ]
[ Soundtrack music: Star Wars, the land of the sand people ]
The separatists had installed a base in this system to control this strategic sector in the hyperspace routes to the inner core. After a hard fight with the republic they've been routed though there is still some resistence in some of the ruinous instalations, and a battle in the near orbit with cruisers and droid fighters.
Optimus is a reddish rocky planet, filled with canyons not unlike the Great Canyon. There is little vegetation larger than a bush and thus few bigger animals. The oxygen is for the same reason slightly under the optimum average for humans though it is enough.
Neelyx wants to go to a rocky tower far from the main headquarters, a place quite damaged after the planetary shields fell.
Even when they have a plotted course from the republic fleet, it is a good idea landing some kilometers away from the tower. There might still be some automatic anti-aircraft batteries left. Fudge them if they don't want to walk!
They can land safely at around 2 miles of the tower, at an small natural basin large enough for the Falcon. From there, they have to spend around 1 hour walking to arrive to their destination, unless they don't bother to go stealthily! There are however many dry beds of ancient rivers where they can approach to the tower offering a low profile, it is wise following them.
Whatever the case, request Great or better Sneak rolls. If failed, they're ambushed by floating droid probes, armed with blaster cannons.
Probe droids
Attributes: Mediocre Dexterity, Mediocre Perception, Fair Strength
Skills: Blasters Fair, Dodge Great, Search Great
Health levels: Ok, Damaged, Out of Order.
Equipment: light armor DDF +1, Light blaster cannon (OF +3), range like a rifle
[ GM's note: this encounter means they've been detected. Maybe by nobody, maybe by someone who can do something about it. ]
There is a great noise from the ground battle, barely a few kilometers from them. Heavy blaster fire and lost missiles cross the sky now and then.
It is easy getting close to the tower, it was the bigger tower of the surroundings from where the ruins of a base made with reinforced permacite can be seen. There are signs of the previous battle everywhere (lots of destroyed droids and clone corpses).
The PCs may be wise enough to reach the main entry as stealthily as possible, as there are around 100 meters from their hiding position on a dry river up to the main gate, though in this case there are no guardians unless the PCs managed to go unnoticed by the probes earlier and you still want to test their mettle.
Once inside of the base everything is crashed. There are collapsed walls and ceilings, crackling energy cables, fires still burning, slowly, and battle droids and clones lying everywhere. Some damaged girders creak ominously, making the base look as if it were going to topple over the PCs by moments.
Neelyx leads the PCs through the labyrinth of tunnels following his instinct. The further they go inside the base, the less damaged it seems, like if the zone they're going to was stronger with each step.
Some time afterwards a succesful Great or better Perception roll will make them know there are some security cameras which seem to be still working. It may mean nothing if there is nobody left, though.
[ GM's note: this scene means that they may have detected by someone in the base so they may have a warm reception. ]
When they're reaching a crossroad of corridors with a large blast door apparently undamaged Neelyx says "Well, at least till now this has been a piece of cake, isn't it?", moment in which a large group of battle droids attack them from either side of the corridors.
The door can be opened with a Superb roll of Security or broken with a lightsaber and time (though this requires time and the jedi doing that would be fried by the droids' blaster fire).
These droids have been modified and have better combat skills, besides they don't use a remote processor which makes them more independent but disallows them to coordinate fire. Those modifications aren't cheap, otherwise all the droid army might have them.
[ Soundtrack music: Revenge of the Sith, Grievous and the droids ]
Modified Baktoid Combat Automata B1 Series
Attributes: Strength Mediocre, Dexterity Poor, Knowledge Terrible
Skills: Blasters Mediocre (ODF +3), Mediocre Melee, Dodge Mediocre
Health levels: Ok, Damaged, Out of Order.
Special: no armor, Initiative Fair.
There will be between 15 and 20 droids. What's worse is that as soon as the skirmish begins a hidden blaster cannon above the door appears and starts blasting the PCs. Right under the cannon the PCs can't be shot by it though they're exposed to the droids' fire.
Hidden blaster cannon
Attributes: Strength Fair
Skills: Blasters Mediocre (ODF +5)
Health levels: Ok, Damaged, Out of Order.
Special: armor DF +2
Once the foes are defeated they can try to bypass the blast door. They'll find a large robotic laboratory filled with large computers (most of them already turned off) and droid equipment. Light is poor except sparks of light from the computers. It is like the skeleton of a huge creature, all metal: girders, a metallic mail floor, stairs to reach an upper level, all meshed with the rock walls and permacite reinforcements.
The room is rectangular with two other doors at the left and right and a circular tunnel in the left corner in the wall in front of the main door.
They can check the computers to find valuable information left. Even when all relevant information has been deleted, with a Computer Programming roll of Superb or better they find a fragment of an holovid with Count Dooku in person! The video is almost fully deleted but they can still see a part in which a gentle, calmed Dooku says "Bakli has been behaving funny lately and we think he's been treating with the Shadow, you know what that means... we'd have to come and pay a visit to him. You're in charge of it".
There are no time references on the holovid so it might have been generated yesterday or some months ago.
If any character works for Chandrila, they know that the House is very interested into catching the Shadow because he/she/it/they has stolen very important information from them, though he doesn't know specifically which one.
A few moments later they hear the metallic steps of two beings approaching from the darkness of the tunnel. In the shadows they can barely see two pairs of droid eyes (one of them around 6 feet tall and the other only 3 feet tall) getting close. This is someone called Tangram returning to the laboratory after loading his ship in a hidden hangar at the side of the mountain.
It's pretty probable that Tangram already knows there are at least one jedi amongst the characters so he's prepared his escape and the defenses of the laboratory.
Before getting fully exposed to the light of the laboratory, he asks the characters "Welcome to my laboratory, I am Tangram. Have you come here to finish the work?".
Tangram's possible reply will be "Either finishing me off or finish hacking my computers, or did you dare to think I wouldn't notice the intrusion?".
In this moment his whole form is revealed. He's some kind of short feline alien severely cyborgized. His arms and legs are fully mechanic under shoulders and the mid-thighs respectively. He also has a plate on his chest and life support dials on his belt (similar though smaller to Darth Vader's). His skull is also severely damaged, his left half is fully metallic, earless, and it covers his eyesockets with large reddish cybernetic eyes. He walks slowly aided by some kind of metallic staff and is accompanied by an unidentifiable protocol-space port-like droid supporting his decrepit body "Oh master, you shouldn't get upset. It's bad for your health".
Tangram's decrepitude is a masquerade, though. He's optimized himself with extra strengh, faster than normal reflexes, unnatural joints, minirepulsor devices and magnetic grapples allowing him to move quite fast on many surfaces. Before being turned into his current form, he was a neutral engineer working for the separatists, after that he became a fanatical enemy of the republic and the jedi. He's greatly contributed to the war effort since then, working on cheaper electrostaves not made with Phrik alloys (using electromagnetic pulses to avoid lightsabers from touching the polearm) to build a whole army of jedi hunter droids, on droid enhancements and on special prototypes.
"Jedi scum" Tangram continues "Do they think they can do as they please, that they're above everything? Before this war ends I'll see them beneath my feet!".
If the PCs shoot him in this moment they'll find out he's behind an energy shield (but that probably lets physical objects cross through), which protects the entry of the tunnel. In that moment the doors in the sides of the room open and ten super battle droids (5 from each door) come to protect him.
Baktoid Combat Automata B2 Series
Attributes: Strength Fair, Dexterity Mediocre, Knowledge Poor
Skills: Blasters Mediocre (ODF +3), Melee Mediocre, Dodge Mediocre
Health levels: Ok, Damaged, Out of Order.
Special: light armor DDF +1
If the characters let him talk instead, they'll find out that someone else, probably a jedi, infiltrated the base and stole information from the computers, believing himself undetected (almost). Tangram also says that some jedi attacked him on Geonosis and reduced him to his actual state, as revenge by having designed most of the separatists' droid technology, being forced to become a cyborg monstrosity to survive and manage by himself: "the jedi code? The pack of lies of a bunch of zealots!"
[ GM's notes: Tangram doesn't lie. More about this may be found later in the campaign. ]
When the time for talking is over, Tangram summons the super battle droids anyway and flees. A few seconds later, the ground beneath their feet trembles when something very large comes rolling and crushes the wall on the opposite side of the wall where the tunnel is; it is some kind of spherical droid powered by caterpillars and repulsor motors developed to crush enemies under its incredible weight, and also menacing to collapse the whole room.
JK-01 prototype "Juggernaut"
Attributes: Strength Fair, Dexterity Fair
Skills: see below.
Health levels: Ok, Damaged, Out of Order.
Special: scale +5, redundant systems (multiple caterpillar systems all over its surface and a lot of repulsor motors allow it to keep working even when partially damaged), armor DDF +2, Initiative Mediocre, Defense always Fair, run over (attacked PCs must roll Great or better Dodges to avoid taking damage by it), Moves on any direction (multiple systems allow it to move without turning).
[ GM's note: even when this is a very dangerous foe, jedis can defeat it (blasters usually bounce over its large mass). You can also run to the corridors and avoid it till it manages to crush the walls under its large weight, it can't cross the doors or tunnels by the same reason. ]When Tangram flees only a character can follow him before some blast doors close behind the energy shield. Being behind the force field and being able to deflect blaster bolts and ligthsabers it will be very difficult opening the door quickly! However, behind the blast door, with a few rounds doing nothing else, a jedi could easily destroy the shield generators and open the door.
Once Tangram sees himself followed, he smiles evilly, contracts the irises of his red eyes, stretches with an hidraulic noise his metallic members, shakes his staff (which becomes twice as long and starts pulsating with violet energy... it's a electrostaff prototype!) and dares the PC to come and fight with him. During all this scene his protocol droid flees amongst girly cries "Oh what horror!".
[ Soundtrack music: The Phantom Menace, Duel of the fates ]
Tangram (only relevant stats)
Attributes: Dexterity Great, Strength Fair
Skills: Legendary Dodge (can even run over the walls for some time before depleting the extra batteries needed to power those systems), Superb Melee, Legendary Weapon Parry (due to enhancements, can even deflect blaster bolts but not bounce them back)
Gifts & Faults: Cybernetic reflexes, Iron will (+2 to appropriate rolls to resist force powers), Hatred of the jedi, Hatred of the Republic.
Health levels: like a PC.
Equipment: light armor DDF +1, electrostaff prototype (OF +4, the electromagnetic batteries last 5 minutes only in combat against a lightsaber or blaster fire.
Tangram would like to test some of his implants in combat against a jedi, perhaps with too much confidence on his own abilities. He also wants a lightsaber thinking he can duplicate the technology and add it to the droid armies. He hates the jedi so much that he'll prefer dying than being captured, so he installed a detonite charge on his mechanical body to kill himself in the case of defeat (he can activate it mentally as long as he's conscious, it arms and detonates within 5 seconds).
Around twenty meters away there is a bend in the tunnel after which it is an hangar with Tangram's ship with the hyperspace coordinates to his next destiny. The droid should be at least already inside it when the PCs manage to arrive there, in the worst scenario the droid flees without Tangram.
A character "might" be able to stick an hyperspace tracker (if s/he had one) at Trangram's ship before he leaves, this way they could follow him to his next destiny. The ship scale and shields is for sure too tough for PCs with blasters to beat.
It's very likely the droid will flee before the characters can do anything. If they think fast enough they'll remember there are republic ships on orbit, they could call them through their comlinks and request them to stop the ship. Unfortunately Tangram's ship is too fast and the clone figthers deployed only manage to evaluate it's hyperspace course before it jumps away. After a while calculating the hyperspace routes, the republic ships reply with a list of 6 possible star systems, including Atloran, Balfron, Kamparas, Phorliss, Tangrene, and Caprioril.
There are no other vehicles in the hangar, there is only some ship-refuelling computer through which they could find the general specifications of Tangram's ship (it is an unique ship made by himself, small but with a huge engine and quite fast).
After the fight, an appropriate roll can identify Bakli (have in mind who rolls when setting the ease level). For example, a Great or better Streetwise roll identifies Bakli as an ex-senator, governor on the Caprioril system, well known as a very good gambler. A Great or better Investigation, Cultures or Bureaucracy roll also identify Bakli (nobles and senator would only need to roll Good or better). A superb Investigation roll also identifies Bakli as someone who was important on the Republic intelligence agencies!.
Alternatively they can use their hyperspace antenna to call back "home" and ask about him. Upon the records of the Republic, Bakli is the governor of the Caprioril system, senator almost till the start of the Clone Wars, apparently retired dissapointed with politics. He's also well known as a great gambler. In fact their contact(s) in the republic ask them why are they interested in him, as he's negotiating some kind of agreement with them because he says he knows very important information about the course of war, but that he refuses talking through hyperspace. They'll request the PCs the mission of talking with him if they travel to Caprioril...
[ Soundtrack music: finishing theme of Star Wars OST ]
| Campaign background | Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 |
| Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 |
| Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 | Chapter 8 |
| Chapter 9 | Chapter 10 | Chapter 11 |
Back to SubterFUDGE main pageBack to Lich's Lair
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