A Change in the Force

I have long wanted to run what I consider a "traditional" Star Wars RPG campaign. Unfortunately, my vision of  such a campaign would be a long-term campaign. As such, I'm sticking to the philosophy I took up several years ago - life is hard, run short. I picked up that idea years ago and and used it to successfully run a short Call of Cthulhu campaign ("The Great (Old Ones in the) Outdoors").

As such, I saw two options, both equally valid. The first was to run a short campaign similar to the kind of story told in the series Andor - a more military/serious campaign that steered parallel to, if not away from, the hero's journey. The other option was to run something more out of the ordinary.

Being a fan of medical dramas (including MASH and Emergency!) and having somewhat of an interest in non-combat tech in Star Wars, I had always wanted to read through the Medstar duology. The idea was further fueled by "Right Hand Man," a short story penned by Dr. Lydia Kang, who works at Nebraska Medicine, where I work in the records department. "Right Hand Man" portrays the end scene from The Empire Strikes Back from the point of view of 2-1B, the medical droid who treats Luke both on Hoth and on the medical frigate after his fateful duel on Cloud City.

There are other reasons and ideas fueling the second concept, but I won't reveal them in order to avoid spoiling it for interested players. Needless to say, the sum of those reasons and ideas create a greater motivation to run with the second concept than the nostalgia fueling the first concept. That's not to say the first concept won't see the light of day; it's just not the concept I'm running with for this game.

Medstar-4 is a different kind of campaign. It can trace its roots to a variety of sources including the Medstar duology and the shows MASH and China Beach. As the heroes are on the more desperate side of the fight, they will not only be scrounging for supplies, but also fighting the shadow of the Empire's various genocidal pogroms.

I've found the background research for the game to be a very pleasant distraction. I even went as far as getting the Latin translation of "First do no harm" (Primum nihil nocebit) for the unit insignia I designed for the game. The heroes aren't going to be all cut from the same cloth. Some may be more martial while others may be civilians drawn into the fray by events beyond their control. I don't even know if there will be Jedi in the group.

At this point, I'm not sure how long the campaign will run. I know it's not going to be a "standard season" of 26 episodes like in the old days of TV. One thing I am trying for the first time is putting a time limit for people to sign up. This is because I've grown tired of posting game pitches online only to be met with a flurry of "Likes" and the occasional interested players who later ghost me on the day of the game. If nobody signs up for the game by November 23, I'll pull the ads and move on to something else.

I sincerely hope someone does sign up, as this game is going to be an interesting ride.

The campaign flyer as posted online.