‘Coulda-Shoulda-Woulda’s of my Darkstryder Campaign
Sgt. Brophar Tofarain, Cobb Unser, and Trev Haynor
Both Brophar and Cobb were freighter pilots coming into Darkstryder Campaign, at some point, or at least have connections into the freighter pilots of the Kathol Sector. I organized these freighter pilots and smugglers under the Free Traders Alliance. As I thought back, I wished I could have had an interested political power play between the factions with in the Free Traders (The anti-NR and the Pro-NR) and their use of Brophar and Cobb.
Cobb’s sister could have been brought into this and used to force information from Cobb or just to motivate Cobb (“We know a guy who knows a guy who might know where your sister is. We need you to help us in exchange.”) Him being a freighter pilot could have connected him to faction within the Free Traders Alliance.
Brophar could have been given the option to lead a faction within the FT Alliance. The political power play that would develop between him and the Skandrei Bandits (enemies of the FT Alliance), Chuborro, and the factions of the Sabiador Slave Ring could have made for great character development in his case.
Trev Haynor was a pilot all his life, so I could have connected him to the Free Traders via his father or brother (evil brother). I did try to start a rivalry between him and his brother, but never got around to finishing that plot line. I actually remember starting a rival TIE fighter squadron lead by Haynor’s brother. Damn, forgot about that.
Lt. Darryn Thyte & Edly “Pot-shot” Fasalk
A purely military politics-plot could have been at least developed in the beginning of the campaign, between Thyte and some high-brass types with the NR military that didn’t the Captain or didn’t trust the NR commander that commissioned the Farstar mission. He could have manipulated contacts to garner support or stop resistance to the mission. This, of course, would require an extensive contact list for Thyte.
Edly “Pot-shot” Fasalk Could have been brought into this NR plot, with a list of contacts as well. Since he already has a history with the NR, he could have been unknowing opposition or unknowing support to Thyte.
Delmon, the Alien Explorer
Delmon himself was unique, based on the concept that he puts out an EM signature of a droid, and his body is highly EM-reactive. He wears a protective suit constantly to keep the EMs from disrupting peoples own EM systems. This character I tried to develop into a key race in the Darkstryder history or perhaps a by-product of the Rift disaster. However, it was difficult to do with some many characters. In the end, Delmon played a major role, but this could have been developed better in the time prior.
Kl’aal, the Defel Scout
Speak of the Defel! I could have pursued Kl’aal marked past a little more, perhaps linking his brother’s murder to an overall for sinister plot connected to Darkstryder or Sarne or a Sarne ally. The murderer could have been any number of people, from Mist to some other unnamed Sarne assassin (another bad guy I could have created). I did attempt to bring in some bounty hunters in the end, however, it was too late for any major development.
Daily/Weekly/By-the-Session Incident Reports and Incident Encounters:
One player mentioned that to add more feel of the journey, random ship incidents should have been a part of the campaign. I thought of twp ways of handling this. One was periodic incident reports for the officers to go ovcer. This would cover all security issuse, social issues, supply issues on the ship, so they got a feel for what was going on behind all the adventuring.
Second, before each session, Icould have incidental encounters for the players. One or more of the players could have been involved in some kind of ship-board incident or encounter of some kind. This could have spawned plot lines, and all kinds of other things.