I recently had this idea about a game set some good 500 years before palpatine was born. Following the adventures of the latest Sith apprentice, his or her relationship with her master. The task of destabilizing the republic, searching out knowledge and power, and eventually to overthrow their own master.

One player would get to play the Sith apprentice. While the others would play his or her allies. People paid, forced, or otherwise convinced to aid them in their schemes against the republic.

There would be a tremendous focus on roleplaying, as well as staying hidden, which would be paramount above all. If you are discovered by the Jedi, all is lost.

It would be a game for people who really like to write and get deeply in character. And I have no idea if there would be any interest at all. So I figured i'd find out here.

Are you considering free form or a system to apply to the game?

I would be interested, depending on the system.

I think it would probably have to be Saga edition. It's the only system I know well enough to run a game in. I considered free-form, but people tend to go overboard.

Roleplaying will be paramount though.

I would be willing to play.
I played in a dark side game over a decade ago and would like to dust off my blaster and take down some Jedi.

What are you thinking for levels?
What races would be available as well?
This message was last edited by a moderator, as it was against the forum rules, at 17:43, Fri 08 May 2015.

i would love to play in a game like this. i love darksiders and arguing philosophy, and playing smart sith would be awesome.

would you consider having the master and the apprentice as PCs? could make for a very interesting dynamic, especially when throwing non-force users into the mix.

Well I haven't worked out the exact details yet as i'm still in the R&D stage. But I suspect most races in the books would be acceptable except maybe a rare few. And I suspect that I'd start at level 8, so that the Sith apprentice can have their first level of sith.

Of course the main idea of the campaign would be to avoid the jedi whenever possible.

I don't think I'd allow the master to be a PC, first there's the obvious level difference, a sith lord would pretty much be far higher level than their apprentice. Secondly having the Sith lord as an npc allows me to tackle the challenge of creating a living, breathing yet terrifying character who inspires both dread and awe. Since this would probably be a game with a great deal of turn over when it comes to NPC's, i'd like to have that one NPC that's more permanent. He's really the only NPC who will have massive amounts of backstory and all that good stuff.

There's also the fact that it gives me some measure of control over the actions of the PC's. And a way for me to give 'quests' occasionally. The game would be pretty sandboxy, but it's also nice to be able to hand out quests or tips occasionally through such an NPC. And of course there's the final goal of killing the master, and taking over that mantle.

I'm very interested, though not too familiar with Saga. Generally I find d20-based systems a bit lacking when it comes to games focused on roleplay, especially in play by post games.

Have you had a look at Fate Core or Fate Accelerated? Both are available online for free, rules-lite and work very well for a game focused on character and narrative.

I might be interested and am familiar with saga edition, though I won't play Fate system or similar (I don't really like those.) I don't know about other systems, I might consider trying them.

I'd be down for this.
This message was last edited by a moderator, as it was against the forum rules, at 15:08, Tue 12 May 2015.

D20 systems have their flaws, as everything does. But I don't find it too be too bad. There's also the fact that there are already rules in place for most things star wars so I don't have to redesign everything myself.

Most importantly of all, I would never GM a game in a system that I haven't even played before. The only other system I might consider is the older revised star wars d20 edition. That had some fun things in it as well. I liked the way wound points and vitality points worked.

I would be very interested in this, however I'm a complete novice to Star Wars systems. I'd love to join though, if you're willing to take on a beginner.

That wouldn't be a problem. The systems aren't hard to learn, and I'd rather have some experienced and eager writers with no knowledge of the system, than people who know the system but don't like to write.

Kravos IV is identified in the records of the galactic republic as a lifeless barren rock of mostly carbon and hydrogen, worthless and insignificant. But nothing could be further from the truth. Though the planet is located in the outer rim and barely qualifies as being within the republic's territory. It is a beautiful green world with thick jungles and trees that are surpassed only by the Wroshyr trees of Kashyyyk. And the creatures inhabiting the forests are equally impressive. Fierce and terrible lizards the size of rancors roam the jungles searching for their prey, herbivores the size of buildings. Of course the planet has some mammals as well, mostly small rodents and a few larger quadrupeds, but all are hunted by the planet's apex predators. And even the smaller lizards are vicious and cunning, hunting in large packs and using their vicious claws to bring down larger prey so that the pack may feed.

Darth Malice had known this would be his home the very day he first discovered this planet. It is a planet worthy of the Sith, the great predators embody the spirit of the Sith, most of the plants are poisonous, and life is often short and brutal on Kravos. Which is why he paid a small fortune for a slicer to change the official records on this world to represent a barren useless rock. And from that day, Kravos became his home, and using droid labor, construction of his fortress had begun.

Now the fortress stands fully constructed, massive in size and capable of housing a good sized army. It also has many labratories, a fully functional communications array. A hangar holding several different starships, and a training center that might rival the one in the Jedi temple on Coruscant. Yet despite it's size it's halls are empty except for it's many droid servants. Darth Malice is alone, and that loneliness bothers him. Not because he desires the company or approval of other beings, he's a Sith Lord and he has no need for either the presence or approval of any other being, he is the ultimate predator in the universe and even the great lizards of this world have often fallen to his blade when he seeks to confront them.

Yet what is a Sith Lord without an apprentice? It's been 5 days since his apprentice sought to take up the mantle of Sith Lord and tried to destroy him. He can still feel the stinging sensation in his right shoulder, where his apprentice's blade grazed his skin. But his apprentice had suffered far worse for his mistakes. Darth Malice refuses to pass into death easily, if his apprentice wants to become the master, they would have to earn it. Yet the death of his apprentice has left him greatly disturbed. Not so much over the loss of his apprentice himself. The man had been talented for certain, certainly the potential was there. Yet he had failed, and failure meant death. Malice would not pass the mantle of Sith Lord onto someone not worthy. Yet this had been the second apprentice that he had trained. Both had attacked him when they thought him weakened and taken full advantage of all they had learned about their master. Yet both had died.

When he had slain his own master, it had been a terrible battle, even to this day he clearly remembers the exciting and utter terrifying contest of both body and will. It had truly been a battle like the one in ancient saga's. But he 'had' succeeded. He had slain his master and taken up the mantle of Sith Lord. So why was it that both his apprentices had failed? He hadn't thought much of it when he'd slain his first apprentice, she'd been unworthy as demonstrated by her failure to kill him. But to find himself with two failures in a row, he can't help but consider that there's some flaw in his training, or perhaps in his selection process. He had chosen beings that were remarkably strong in the force and had already shown anger and cruelty in their early years. But perhaps that simply wasn't enough. This time he would not fail, this time he would find an apprentice that would not fail to surpass him one day. A being worthy to carry on the legacy of the Sith.

He turns away from the balcony and steps through the door a mere moment after it's slid open. The action so familiar and smooth, it would look to any observer as if he had tried to walk right into the door. But he knows his fortress better than anyone ever would. And there is no time to waste. Even as he steps through his private bedroom, he reaches for his comlink.

"TV-11, prepare my ship"

He suddenly stops, and turns back to the great bay window which looks out onto the balcony and out into the forest, there's a rumble in the sky and a thick tropical downpour starts to come down onto the world. He will miss this place, this world that is truly his. But he cannot allow a desire for home to cloud his judgement.

"I might not be home for a long time.."

I'd be interested. I'm a beginner as well in regards to the system however.

This sounds like a really serious game.  Games like that tend to make me want to create comic relief.

"I'm going to be the bestest evil minion ever!!!"
This message was last edited by a moderator, as it was against the forum rules, at 13:11, Wed 03 June 2015.

This sounds like a very interesting game. Consider me intrigued.

If you want a crafty out of the box thinker, I'll still take a crack at this nut. The master will fall. Muahahaha!
This message was last edited by the user at 10:27, Wed 03 June 2015.

There seems to be enough interest and I've started some preliminary work on the idea. So far the biggest problem I have is the apprentice. It's such a critical part of the story, I can't have that player flake out after three weeks and that happens so often.

would be a total newb to the system, but I stick to games, haven't abandoned one once in the year I've been on here(not long I suppose, but still!). I like the idea of playing the apprentice, and can certainly get into character. I also don't mind playing as some random bloke :D

In reply to Solar_Dawn (msg # 19):

If the apprentice flakes, you can just kill them off. The master could be displeased and kill them, they could die in a mission, or the replacement apprentice could kill them to usurp their position.

We can't call roles here, but I am sure there has been interest in playing the apperntice.