INVASION

Chapter 1: Meteor Swarm

I see this starting by a swarm of drones searching and surveying for the empire. Okay, maybe a half dozen or so to start. My locations are as follows, a cornfield in Nebraska (why not?), the Amazon, the Outback in Australia, outside a shipping dock in St. Petersburg, in the middle of a Libyan terrorist camp and in the middle of Paris.

Either the group has access to scientific equipment to detect this astronomical phenomenon, or perhaps another group or the government contacts them to investigate. Pick a site, any site, and have them discover that the "meteor" has an attitude. A simple encounter that hopefully the heroes win, but the main part of this should lead to a information search. Other heroes investigate other sites, or perhaps other govt. agencies. At some point at least two other groups should be in contact to compare notes. The destroyers (a certain amount I don't remember that a listee suggested) are coming, but have not arrived just yet. But between this chapter and the next, they announce themselves with authority. As our planet is shadowed by their ominous forms. Soon its a global problem. Initially, have the group play their main heroes, but in the next chapter, identify some other groups they might like to play around with (probably just one to represent the slow escalation of a soon to be monumental crisis).

Chapter 2: The Empire Strikes First

The heroes should be in contact with most of your Earth's powerful heroes at this point. There are a half dozen Star Destroyers overhead, and the bizarre triangles in the sky have alarmed many of the Earth's citizenry. At this point in our campaign, the Avengers and Cap. American have headed up the effort, and the UN has 'deputized' the heroes to act on Earth's behalf. Each nation has mobilized their military, and troops and equipment stand at the ready. Hydrobase is our base of operations, and each hero group assumes protection of a geographic location. For us, East and West Coast Avengers are watching the U.S., Some X-men are in Japan with Mariko, protecting Asia with Sunfire's help. The once defunct People's Protectorate, and Super-Soldiers defend Russia and the Republics, Excalibur and other X-men defend the rest of Europe. T-Challa and some reserve Avengers flock to Wakanda to guard Africa, Defensor and other heroes meet in Rio de Janiero. Finally the Fantastic Four begin the investigation of the invaders from Four Freedoms Plaza.

This can be as in depth or simple as you want. We have run it like this. For each group there is an invasion force in their area, and the military has struggled to respond. Depending on the power level of the group, determine a certain number of enemy troops and vehicles that must be defeated for an Earth 'victory'. After this first wave of attacks, hopefully there will be some 'free' soil, and other areas that are under imperial control. If so, there should be a feeling of desperation among the heroes. This is good. Allowing the Conquering of the Earth should be a source of stress for the good guys.

For At-At and Speederbike stats, go here.

Chapter 3: The Resistance

After as many of these battles as you feel like running - enough to relay the seriousness of the adventure, but not so much as to bore them - the reality will settle in. As it is, the Empire is not used to this sort of resistance and is quite concerned. The heroes have made an immeasurable difference for Earth's chances. On the other hand, a large portion of the globe is in Imperial hands.

To each of the portions of Earth that are conquered, the Empire begins to funnel equipment on a massive scale. And word of this tiny planets struggle has spread across the galaxy. The rebel alliance is very interested in this backwater planet, and these heroes may be the key to overthrowing the Emperor. So an envoy from the alliance is sent to confer with the freedom fighters. Depending on your tolerance for cheese, this could even be Luke, Han, Chewie, etc. It would work just as well with Star Wars characters, or random rebels. They will find their way to the largest free city's airport, and probably be met with stiff resistance. Have the rebels receive a rude homecoming before they can announce their intentions, but hopefully no one gets killed.

Eventually they will meet with some of the superheroes - this is after all who they came to see. They will ask that a small group of heroes accompany them to their hidden rebel base (which could be Hoth, or in any of their locations...). In our campaign, we had a good mix of heroes such as Avengers, X-men etc. go with the rebels. This is to be an exchange. The rebels will provide what equipment and manpower they can muster, but want some heroes to join them for the offensive against the empire. This chapter is largely role playing, and it will introduce the heroes to the star wars universe, and bring some help to our beleaguered planet. Both the empire and alliance have decided to stake this planet out to make a final stand, and the heroes must make sure there is something to save if victory can be won.

Chapter 4: Divided we stand?

A regular player's group of heroes (5-7) should probably be the extent of the envoy from Earth. As the heroes arrive on the planet where the rebel base is in your campaign, they are greeted with awe and curiosity. Word of their resistance of the empire has preceded them. Dignitaries rush to shake their hands, and begin work on what might very well be the death of the empire. The Death Star is operational (either the first or second version), and the Alliance is interested in seeing what these heroes are made of. There is a down side to the discovery of Earth's heroes though. At least one, preferably more, super hero should have been captured during the early stages of the war. Now the Empire is looking for a means to mutate and create their own super storm troopers, who will be called shock troopers. Already they have gathered the elite from their forces and sent them to a remote planet to train. (I think I remember this from somewhere. Did I dream this up?) The experiments are beginning in a secret location inside the Death Star, and the alliance wants them stopped before the scales can shift back to the empire. They offer the opportunity to free their fellow heroes as incentives to the players to investigate, and cause as much damage to the project as possible.

Chapter 5: Behind Enemy Lines...

The dust as cleared, and sporadic fighting is still occurring around the globe. For now though, both sides are trying to regroup and take the full measure of the foes they are up against. For Earth, this is a massive scale assault by a scientifically superior force. For the Empire, they have gotten their first taste of super heroes, and perhaps their greatest challenge in a planetary conquest. The numerous Destroyers are surrounding Earth, and their blockade has all but stopped the initial influx of equipment from the rebel alliance. Occasionally some equipment still sneaks in, but the officers of the rebellion have informed you that they are withholding most of their fleet for the proper chance. They simply cannot afford to make a mistake, and say that Earth's heroes are helping their chances back at the Rebel Base. For now though, the players are on their own.

Enough of Rebel equipment is getting through though to concern Imperial forces. As a result, a "secret" mission is underway to construct a force field generator on our moon, to protect the Earth from Rebel interference. Reed Richards has let the other heroes know of this, but the Empire is slowed by the lack of a breathable atmosphere on our moon. It is a priority, but another concern is the establishment of an Imperial capital on Earth. My advice for this is a large city that is economically poor. We used Mexico City, renamed Imperial City, but which one depends on how the war turned out for you in your campaign. Cairo, Sao Paulo, New Delhi, Beijing might all be good examples.

Wherever the city is, there has been a lot of activity. New forces arriving, High Command officials who are concerned by the lack of progress, and word that the Emperor himself has made arrangements to be present. The Imperial Guard is preparing for his arrival, and Lord Vader is overseeing the operation. In addition, the airport is being turned into Earth's first Commercial spaceport. The first of the ragged band from Mos Eisley has found their way to Earth.

The Heroes have learned that the Empire is planning a second wave of attacks to complete the conquest of Earth. Morale across the globe is dangerously low. In an effort to boost global morale, lower Imperial morale, and make a statement to the galaxy, the decision has been made to send a 'suicide squad' into the Imperial City, and demolish the new palace being constructed on the outskirts by hundreds of thousands of enslaved citizens. If this can be done, the slaves might be freed, and a delay of the second wave could begin. Also, what ever intelligence can be gleaned about the operation would be invaluable, and the new spaceport may be just the place to start.

Chapter 6: Guerilla Warfare

The premise of this story is that the Empire has decided to eliminate the very large thorn of the heroes. In our campaign, everything was based off of a still active Hydrobase. Whatever you are using should work. Basically the empire is going after whichever group is giving them the most grief. They bring whatever troops they can carry. In our case they used an attack platform, a device that I created for them to make amphibious assaults- a platform that is Unearthly material strength, and travels at Incredible speeds, but protects passengers from the adverse effects of that speed.

Bad circumstance brings a visitor on Air Force One. All of the major nations that have been captured have governments in exile, and most have traveled together as a larger Allied Government. The location the heroes are using is "secret", and the official figures they will be safer amongst super heroes than anywhere else. Unfortunately, the base is not secret. The empire has two goals. The first is:

Capture as many heroes as possible (for the Shock Trooper project), kill the ones that can't be captured. Scatter the heroes that can't be killed, destroy the headquarters and any important equipment collected there.

The second is:

Capture the important global leader- alive! The new Imperial Governor has something special planned...

Chapter 7: Basic Training

Meanwhile, in a galaxy far, far away, the Heroes Envoy has been outfitted and briefed on the Shock Trooper project. As has been learned earlier, the main scientific research is being conducted on the Death Star. Unfortunately, little more is known. The location of the captured heroes is still a mystery, and the training of the Shock Troopers is still being conducted on that planet I might have dreamed up. So based on what little information is available, the heroes have two options. Go to the Death Star, and if they can get in, look around until they are killed. Or go to the training camp, on a planet that cannot destroy other planets, and look around until they get killed. Both look bleak, but their chances are significantly better on the training planet than the Death Star.

The camps are scattered on this wilderness planet, the goal being to train the stormtroopers as a unit, and their activities are isolated from the others by miles and miles of wasteland. Most of these sites have only standard security. One though, near the military space port, has incredibly tight security, and unlike the other locations, consists largely of enclosed buildings and facilities.

Several outposts of Amazing damage cannons circle the compound, and the compound itself is encased by a Shift X strength force field. A yellow intuition may remind a hero that they saw an awful lot of troops come out of a small building a couple of miles away. This could be a tunnel...(hint). That is made of Amazing strength steel with an electronic lock that requires an Incredible intensity Reason FEAT to break. Otherwise, the heroes can take their chances. If they can overload the force field, it will not come back up. It will take quite a bit to overload the force field however. Otherwise, let the heroes figure it out. That's what Karma is for.

Once inside, they can either interrogate one of the many guards they find, or once in the control center make another Incr. intensity reason FEAT to access the building plans to find the location of the Shock Trooper project. When they get there, the room is empty. There are some crates of re-packaged equipment, and a location for the "proving grounds" for the first corps of Shock Troopers. The project is a success!

Chapter 8: Swamprats

The heroes that investigated the training planet have hopefully discovered the bad news. The Shock Trooper project has succeeded, and the first corps created by the project have begun training. The information that can be gleaned from the training base is a simple map, pointing out a location in the galaxy. It is the only clue, but without much else, it should lead the heroes to the proving grounds. The location: Dagobah.

One of the listees had a very good point about the type of heroes that were captured determining the nature of the shock troopers. I've been thinking about how to do this. I will give you two options, and you choose the one that most suits your style and campaign.

Mutates


No matter whether the Earth heroes were mutant, altered, etc., the Empire's only means of transforming their elite troopers is to alter them. In essence, every Shock Trooper will be an altered human. The success of the empire was to trigger a reaction by design within the DNA of the subjects, thus causing random powers or abilities to evolve. This is what I did in the past. You would simply roll up (or use a point system) each individual 'super-stormtrooper'.

Replicas


Another system would be to make a list of all the powers and abilities above, say Remarkable, that the captured heroes had. This would be the basis of the project, and then the Empire could mass produce units with each power. For instance, Colossus, Cyclops, Quicksilver, and Invisible woman were captured. Your list might be:

Super strength= Monstrous
Armor (Steel Skin)= Amazing
Optic Blast= Excellent/Amazing
Superspeed= Shift X
Agility= Unearthly
Invisiblity = Excellent
Force Fields= Monstrous

Based on this, the empire could create a trooper with ONE of the above powers/abilities. This would create a lot more, but less powered soldiers. A limitation for this should probably be a -1 or -2 cs to the rank of the shock trooper based on the mass production.

Have the heroes land in the swamp, with no sign of the Shock Troopers. Depending on when this happens in relation to the movies, they might even meet Yoda. That could be humorous. During the camp, as they will probably not find the troopers, they should be attacked. Their landing did not go unnoticed, and the troopers commander has decided to test their abilities against the intruders. Little did he know the intruders were Earth's heroes. After the battle, either by capture or pursuit, the heroes find their way on the other side of the planet, at a large compound. Over a dozen Imperial Shuttles are loading with these new Shock Troopers. There are several hundred if there is two. The project is complete, and it seems someone has been misinformed about the lack of progress. It is a ruse, and Earth is in terrible danger.

Chapter 9: Martial Law

This chapter is an interesting way to bring new heroes into your campaign Earth. For some reason, we always ended up playing primarily pre-gens, but I know a lot of campaigns are interested in using original heroes. That is pretty clear just by the posts regarding them. Use a fairly isolated city/town in Imperial controlled territory. This will be merely an example of what is happening world wide. A good idea might be to use the actual hometown of the players, so the sites are familiar. An eerie twist to the Nightmares modules, but this isn't even future. It's present day.

A column of Stormtroopers are marching down Main street, and a 'parade' is being scheduled to celebrate the selection of the new Imperial Civic Governor. The parade leads to the city council building, or courthouse, where there is a bizarre sight. Stormtroopers and regular guards are busy transforming an office into a command center, and droids race along the courthouse floor. Citizens have turned out in massive numbers to see this parade. Not because they feel like celebrating, but because they can scarcely believe its happening. I recommend using brand new heroes here, or at least inexperienced comic heroes. All of the major heroes SHOULD be busy with the independence movement, and not around to witness the day to day activities of life in the Empire. Besides, there is most likely a price on those heroes heads anyway.

A group of youths who watched Red Dawn one too many times is holed up outside of town. They have destroyed a power generator, killed a visiting Imperial dignitary, and stolen a supply of blaster rifles. The heroes should be at the parade, and should learn of this from a careless conversation between two minor Imperial officers. They are camped at a farm/cabin/mobile home outside of town. One At-St and two dozen stormtroopers are being sent to eliminate them. The group of youths are also calling themselves Wolverines, and only number about 8. In the movie, though, the bad guys weren't stormtroopers. The heroes goal is to get to the well-meaning but poorly undermanned, inexperienced and untrained partisans before the Imperial elite do.

Give them just enough time to get there to have a conversation with the kids, and learn that these are patriots anxious to make a difference. Your heroes should know of the new training camps popping up all over the world at free military bases where members of the alliance are training new recruits and old soldiers how to fire blasters, fly X-Wings, and use Thermal Detonators. This would be an ideal place for these new kids to get involved, and also perhaps these heroes. At least for now, they don't have the reputation to be hanging out with the Avengers and X-men, but the Rebels would love to have them. Everyone now sees what the Empire is capable of, and it is more important than ever that people step up to stop them. At the end of the conversation, the small Imperial force comes a-calling.

Chapter 10: Return to Earth

It is the anniversary of the invasion, and it is a somber day. On free soil, monuments are erected around the globe to the millions that were lost defending our freedom. It has taken a lot of patience and strength to not fight back for so long, but everyone knows that impulsive action would lead to final disaster.

Our heroes who left so long ago to advise the Alliance have finally returned to our embattled planet, and they are bringing some friends with them. This is the day the Earth has waited for. Almost the entire Rebel fleet has found its way to our corner of the galaxy, and it is come to rest on the night side of our globe. Despite its strength and massive numbers, they are forced to hide. The moment of the Imperial second wave is also at hand, and they are amassed on the day side of Earth. They continue to circle the Earth at orbit speed, waiting for the moment to strike.

Unless the heroes intervened on their own, the force field generator is now up and running from our moon. No one can get in or out without shutting it down. If the heroes decide to wait for the shield to drop for the Imperial attack, it will be a crucial mistake. The Imperial fleet still outpowers the rebel one, and with the shield up, most of Earth's heroes are trapped inside. The Imperials will first engage the rebel fleet, and probably destroy it. Then they will proceed with their attack. Their only hope is to have the help of Earth's heroes. The Surfer, Iron Man, etc. could certainly tip the scales.

The smarter plan is to take out the generator. Unlike Jedi, there can be no outside land combat because of the atmosphere. Imperial troops are inside, and TIE fighters are outside. The Compound is Monstrous material strength. But the Fantastic Four (who have been in space on their Skrull Starship investigating) and the Heroes envoy should be enough to bring it down.

Afterwards, the heroes should get together to plan their final defense. The heroes envoy should rejoin them, comparing notes. Here is the situation:

Cap. America stands before Earth's heroes-

"The Imperials have a lot more hardware than the first time, and we all saw what happened the first time. In addition they now have at least a partially functioning corps of shock troopers to counter our powers. BUT- We now have the entire Rebel Alliance on our side, in fact the UN has voted to become a full fledge member of the Alliance today on this anniversary. Our military is now better equipped and trained so that our nations forces can fight on an equal playing field. Finally, they have used their trump card, surprise, a year ago. We know what we're up against, and our eyes are wide open. Troops, I don't think we'll get another chance. We can't afford to fail."

Some things to consider as the heroes plan.

There will be land assaults in every area that wasn't conquered the first time. The Emperor was last seen in the temporary palace (largest building in Imperial City), unless the palace was completed as planned The fleets will be engaging above the Earth, and the Rebel fleet alone cannot win. Shocktroopers are coming.

This should be big listees, any questions you have for those of you willing to tackle this monster, let me know.

My players have just fought off the first wave of Imperial forces that are invading the planet. I'm now trying to come up with a good combination of powers for these altered human Shock troopers the Empire starts mass producing. I've used a lot of cutting and pasting, but this is what I've got so far:

1. Imperial forces captured a certain laboratory in Canada Wolverine is familiar with = Adamantium structure
2. Among the loses are....
*Spiderman= Agility, Wall-Crawling, Combat Sense
*Colossus= Body Armor, Strength
3. Using up-to-date high tech Imperial gear

Shock Trooper

Altered Human

F- Rm(30)/Rm(30)
A- Am(50)/Ex(20)
S- Rm(30)/Mn(75)
E- Rm(30)/Un(100)
R- Ex(20)
I- Ex(20)
P- Ex(20)
H- 140/225
K- 60
R- N/A
P- N/A

Powers- *Adamantium Skeleton: Trooper's skeleton is impregnated with adamantium. As a result, Trooper is +1CS to any damage he inflicts in a slugfest, while charging, or during any combat where he uses his full body as a weapon. In addition, he may stun and slam any opponent that he can damage. If he can get past their body armor and/or force field, stun or slam results can take effect.
*Wall Crawling: AM
*Organic Steel form: Trooper can change into an armored organic steel form with the following abilities:
-Body Armor: Am vs. Physical & Energy, Mn vs. Heat & Cold, Rm vs. Electrical damage and Ex vs. Corrosives.
-Self-Sustenance: No need to eat, drink or breathe.
-Damage suffered in this form will be healed when he reverts to his true form unless his health has decreased below 70.
*Combat Sense: Am, a "buzzing" in his head alerts Trooper of potential danger.Trooper cannot be blindsided, and he may make defensive actions if he makes a successful power FEAT. Intuition in combat is equal to this power rank. If the sense has been nullified his Int. is as listed and all agility FEATs are at -1CS.

Contacts - The Empire, Dr. Kralock T'lathen (head genengineer)

Gear - *Modified Blaster Pistol[Rm Dam; Rm Range]
*Modified Blaster Rifle[In Dam; In Range]
*3 Thermal Detenators[Mn Dam in Area Explodes, In 1 area away, Ex 2 area away]
*Macrobinoculars[Standard and night vision at Am Range]
*Comlink[communications at Mn Range]

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