“KNIGHT TERRORS”
An SWRPG Adventure for 2-6 players, following WEG rules.

This adventure takes place before the destruction of the first Death Star.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

The Emporer has orderd Lord Darth Vader to exterminate all the Jedi in the Galaxy, and while Vader has hatched many plans to do this, including using Dark Jedi, armored war machines, secret agents, and even hunting them himself, one of his most effective and lethal plans was the creation of the Knight Terrors.
The Knight Terrors are a full batallion (70 men) of elite Storm Commandos, specially trained to take out Jedi Knights. Thier mission is to search the Galaxy to find Jedi in hiding, young apprentices, and those who can even use thier powers untrained, and to capture or kill them. The Knight Terrors have had outstanding success and a perfect record, capturing or killing over 20 Jedi adepts since thier inception. Then came thier hardest challenge: Jedi Knight Adi-Von Bindu.
Adi-Von Bindu was discovered by Ubiquitorate agents, and from the Emporer’s records, was one of the most powerfull Jedi Knights unaccounted for in the initial purge, out-classed only by Darrin Arkanian, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and Yoda. The Knight Terrors were ordered to proceed with caution, for Bindu was no adept, but a fully-trained Jedi Knight. The KT felt they would be able to take Bindu down with acceptable losses to manpower and equipment.
The were dead wrong.
Adi-Von Bindu had no intention of being captured, and while eventually he was put down, he slaughtered the KT literally to a man. Of the 70 Storm Commandos that converged upon Bindu’s position, two returned with thier lives. One man died in the the Knightmare’s sickbay the next day, after spending the night in critical condition, and the other man, Col. Howler Locke, the former commander of the KT, will be confined to a repulsor-chair for the rest of his life.

Skip ahead in time about a month...

ADVENTURE SET-UP:

It’s important that whatever adventure you run before this one, your PC’s be captured by Imperial forces. I accomplished this with one of my favorite recurring villains, ISB Major Rhen Rand, an undercover Imperial operative who duped the characters once before, and vowed to bring them in ever since that day. If you have a favorite recurring Imperial villain, now’s the time to let them win and capture the characters.

ADVENTURE OUTLINE

In the wake of the Adi-Von Bindu fiasco and the subsequent destruction of the Knight Terrors, the Knightmare has been temporarily reassigned to prisoner transfer in the Outer Rim. A contingent of standard stormtroopers is crewing the ship to act as ship’s security, a role formerly filled by the Knight Terrors. Unknown even to Captain Grevson, one of the new stormtroopers is infact a member of the Emporer’s elite Royal Guard, with his own set of orders...

The Nightmare (as it has been re-designated untill a new squadron of Knight Terrors can be trained) is still transporting Adi-Von Bindu, who’s being kept confined under extreme security: triple-thick titanium walls, redundant force-fields, and reduced life-support to force him into a hibernation trance. The RG has been ordered, by none other than Lord Darth Vader, that if Adi-Von Bindu attempts to escape, he is to do everything he can to prevent Bindu from succeeding, up to and including destroying the Nightmare and everyone aboard.

Now, with a shipload of green stormtroopers, a rotated crew, a captain who’s disgruntled about having to take what he believes is an assignment far below his abilities, and a hold full of criminals, the Nightmare has set course for the planet Galen IV, an Imperial penal colony...


EPISODE I: GETTING TO KNOW YOU...

The characters are shoved into the communal area by the stormtroopers. The other prisoners milling about look up with surprise at the new arrivals.

ST#1: Enjoy your lunch, prisoner! We’ll be back, so eat fast!
ST#2: Boy, that recruiter was right! This is an easy job.
ST#1: I’ll say... (the two ST’s leave.)

GM: As the two ST’s leave, you look around. The prisoner’s mess is a drab room with plain gray walls that match the dekplates and ceiling. The prisoners at the long tables are eating a gray gruel that also shares the color. The line in front of you to get the gruel is one of the longest you’ve ever stood in.

Ash: You’ve got to be kidding me. We’ve got to stand in line for this?
Scorp: Son-of-a-bitchin’, double-crossin’, Imp-bitch! If I ever get my hands on her...
Kanowa: And what the hell is with those dip-shit stormtroopers?
Scorp: Real stormtroopers never talk. These must be new guys.
Ash: (looking into a passing prisoner’s bowl) Man, I hope this stuff tastes better than it smells.

GM: Just then, a group of Rodians wearing the same prisoner jump-suits you are cuts in front of you. One of them looks right at Scorpion. “New guys eat last, blondy. Out of our way!”

Ash: (eyes wide with fear) Uh, Scorp, somehow I doubt this gruel is worth it...
Kanowa: (with his arms wrapped around Scorpion, trying to restrain him) Listen to him Scorp, listen to him! A prison riot on our first day is NOT a good idea!

GM: The Rodian winks at Scorpion, curls his snout into something like a cocky smile and gets a bowl from the wrack.

Rodian prisoners. All stats 2D except: brawling parry 4D, dodge 4D, melee combat 4D, melee parry 3D, Strength 3D, brawling 5D. Move:10. Prison jumpsuits.

After a few rounds of combat, the speakers come on. “You now have 10 seconds to desist or the room will be sealed off and pumped full of anasthezine.” says a gruff human voice. If combat still continues after 3 rounds, the Imperials make good on thier promise. If not, once things settle down, a squad of stormtroopers arrive to handle the mess. Unless any of the characters are particularly rude or try anything, they will be escorted back to thier holding cells. If they do either of the above, they are stunned and taken to solitary confinement.


EPISODE 2: JAIL BREAK!
By now, the characters will have had just about enough of being imprisoned in thier cells. The cells are grouped closely together, and the characters have the chance to talk to the other prisoners on board, thus finding out information about the ship, the crew, and what exactly is going on. After some discussion, the characters hear the stormtrooper guard being chewed out in the worst way by Colonel Locke. The characters see the quadreplegic go by in his repulsorchair, and if they ask, someone might tell them something about the backstory. Quinn knows a little, but the rest just have hair-brained ideas and no clue as to thier true fate. The only way to really find out what’s going on is to hack the main computers.

At this point, the characters can try whatever they want to escape. The escape attempt should work , because breaking out isn’t the focus of the adventure. Don’t make it too easy, but let whatever they plan succeed (within reason.) Remember, the stormtroopers are young, foolish, and basically gullible. They’ll even fall for the old: “Oh, I think my friend is getting sick!” routine, but encourage your PC’s to try and find a different approach. That one’s so overdone it’s pathetic.


EPISODE 3: NOW, TO TAKE THE SHIP
Depending on the characters plans, the ship could be at red alert, with stormtroopers combing the corridors for them, or they could have no idea what’s going on. Eventually, the Imps will catch on that something isn’t right, but exactly when that is is up to the characters. If they proceed with caution, they can capture close to half the ship before they meet serious resistance. They should be advised, however, that any trip of an alarm, breech of security, or especially firing a blaster will trigger an alarm and bring the ship to full alert. However, there are still possibilites...

WITHOUT TRIPPING ALARMS
Taking out Imps using sneak, melee combat, and brawling is a good bet.
Hacking computers to gather more information. Be carefull, because unauthorized use will trigger an alarm.
Sabotaging the ship is a good bet, be it in Engineering, Environmental Control, or taking the bridge.

ONCE THE ALARM GOES OFF
Eventually, the alarm will go off, and the characters are going to have to fight to control the ship. Major points of resistance are Engineering, the Bridge, the Armory, the Hangar, as well as isolated sweeps in corridors. If the characters thought to take out internal sensors, roll 1D in random corridors for a patrol, with a 1 or 6 yielding a firefight, 2 or 5 letting the characters get the drop on the patrol, and 3 or 4 showing a clean corridor. If the sensors are in place, the characters will have a much rougher time of it, meeting resistance at every turn.

IMPERIAL FORCES:
Stormtroopers. All stats 2D except: blaster 4D, brawling parry 4D, dodge 4D, brawling 3D. Move: 10. Stormtrooper armor (+2D, +1D, -1D), blaster rifle (5D), blaster pistol (4D).
TIE fighter pilot. All stats are 2D except: Dexterity 3D+1, blaster 4D+1, dodge 4D+1, planetary systems 3D, Mechanical 4D, sensors 4D+2, starfighter piloting 6D, starship gunnery 5D, Perception 3D, command 4D, search 4D, Strength 3D, stamina 4D, computer programming/repair 3D+1, starfighter repair 5D. Move: 10. NavCom link-up helmet (+1D sensors), flightsuit, blaster pistol (4D).
Imperial crewer. All stats are 2D except: Dexterity 2D+1, blaster 3D+1, dodge 3D+1, Knowledge 1D+1, planetary systems 2D+1, survival 2D+1, value 2D+1, Mechanical 3D, astrogation 4D, capital ship piloting 5D, capital ship shields 4D, communications 3D+1, sensors 3D+1, space transports 4D, hide 3D, investigation 3D, sneak 3D, climbing/jumping 4D, stamina 3D+1, Technical 1D+1, capital ship repair 3D+1, capital ship weapon repair 2D+1, computer programming/repair 2D+1. Move: 10. Blaster pistol (4D), uniform, comlink.
K4 Security Droid. Dexterity 3D, blaster 7D, dodge 8D, running 4D, all other stats 1D. Body armor (+2D), internal blaster rifle (5D). Move: 11.


Engineering: 10 ST’s, 5 crewers, 2 droids. Rolling a 1 on the wild die will damage a random system, and anyone near the impact point will take 5D explosive damage.

Environmental Control: 2 ST’s, 2 crewers (without alarm) 10 ST’s, 1 droid (with alarm)

Armory: 10 ST’s (2 crewing an EWEB), 2 droids.

Hangar: 10 ST’s 10 pilots, 2 droids. (Smart characters might try to think of a way to take this area en masse...

Bridge: 10 ST’s, 10 crewers, 2 droids, Captain Grevson.

EPISODE 4: ALL IS NOT WHAT IT SEEMS...

Now that the characters have control, they’ll want to assess thier situation.

Armory:
100 blaster pistols (4D)
25 blaster rifles (5D)
2 light repeating blasters (6D)
1 EWEB (8D)
2 PLEX (6D,)
2 shoulder ion cannons (3D, speeder)
400 power packs
50 frag grenades (5D)
50 stun grenades (5D stun)
25 vibroblades (STR+2D)
10 vibroaxes (STR+3D)
100 blast vests (+1D, +1)
100 blast helmets (+1D, +1)

When they go to open the special storage locker, they’ll find it empty. According to manifests, it should contain a suit of space-trooper armor. This should be their first clue that all is not right.

As the prisoners search the ship, they will no doubt attempt to contact each other. Roll 1D. On an odd result, that character is dead, killed by the Royal Guardsmen aboard. When the characters go looking for them, they find several viscious stab wounds and multiple broken bones. Each time a character calls an NPC on the comlink, roll the die to see if that NPC will be answering.


The RG will continue these hit-fade attacks untill the characters either
A) Take the ship to lightspeed
B) Wake up Adi-Von Bindu.

At this point, the RG will step up his attack strategy (see his character sheet at the end for details on how to run him.), ultimately to the point of destroying the ship. He has the suit of Spacetrooper armor, so he has access to the outside of the ship, as well as the run of the inside of it.
Use this to your advantage, and play on the paranoia of your players. Describe dark corridors, and make them think they saw a flash of movement out of the corner of thier eye. As for Perception checks, and when they give you the totals, chuckle to yourself, make a note, and continue on as if nothing’s happening (players hate this. Mine threatened to let the air out of my tires if I didn’t quit freaking them out.) Here’s another good trick: when the players call an ally on the comlink, have there be no answer for a second, then just when they think that their new friend is dead, have him report that he had a short in his comlink or something. Tension and release is the name of this game, GMs. Build ‘em up, then let em down easy, then build ‘em up again, hold ‘em there for a little while, then when they get used to the pattern, build ‘em up again... then kill somebody so they know you aren’t fucking around.

At some point, the PC’s (and whatever allies they have left) will have to do battle with the Royal Guardsmen. This battle should be played out in truly grandiose style, with lots of blasters and swords flying everywhere. If the characters are looking like they’re going to be defeated, maybe Adi-Von Bindu will regain enough strength to aid them...

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