Gamer Nation Con 2016: The Pre-Game - Guns of Nova Rain

It's been over a month since I've posted to the blog. I was on vacation for two of those and WAY away from Keyboard during that time. Aside from that, I've been writing like a mad fiend trying to get my modules all lined up for GNC 2016. I'm running three modules at the con, two of them new. I've been trying to get the last details written up and ready for the first session this coming Thursday, and I've still got a ways to go. That being said, I wanted to get something up on this site, and share with you all some of what you have to look forward to if you're coming to the Con.

The Guns of Nova Rain

Returning to GNC 2016 is the first module in the "Knights of the Rebellion" story arc; the Guns of Nova Rain. Yes, it's a take off of the Guns of Navarone, but it's still a fun story. The PCs are members of a Special Forces unit sent to the planet Makeb to eliminate some deadly orbital cannons. The cannons are preventing the Rebellion from rescuing the beleagured 5th Army. Imperial reinforcements are only hours away, and the PCs must destroy the guns to allow the Alliance Fleet to pick up the troops so they can fight another day.

Here's the Biographies for the PCs for that adventure.

Commander Pagor Lim’r has served with the Alliance from some of their earliest engagements. A specialist in mountain combat and small unit tactics, Pagor has enjoyed testing the limits of how much damage his small unit could inflict on the seemingly infinite resources of the Empire.

Pagor is a rather pragmatic commander. He doesn’t necessarily believe that the Empire is evil or that the Alliance is good, he joined the Alliance because they were the better alternative for the Nikto. As a commander he sees the bigger picture and knows that troops are going to die on both sides of a battle. Pagor doesn’t sacrifice his troops needlessly though; he knows that having troopers with experience are better than an endless supply of raw recruits. Still, sacrifices must be made to accomplish the mission.

The number of engagements and the loss of so many comrades has started to wear on Pagor. After years of constant battle, he is looking forward to finishing his tour of duty and resting for a time on his homeworld of Kintan. He does not know if he will return to active duty afterwards, only that he feels his days as a combat commander are almost over. Maybe he’ll become an instructor and teach the next generation of recruits how to fight the Empire and win. 

Feautres: Master Tactician. Tough with ranks in Body Guard, Side, Step, and Field Commander. Fights with a blaster rifle, but his real proficiency is using Field Commander to grant allies extra Maneuvers and Actions.

Anexa Panteer grew up as a member of the Alderaanian nobility. With the comforts that came with her family’s money, she was free to engage in whatever pursuit attracted her fancy at any given moment. It was during her teenage years that Anexa realized she could perform extraordinary feats of athleticism without much training. Consulting with some trusted family historians and advisers, she determined that she was calling on the Force. She secretly funded several expeditions in search of Jedi artifacts and relics to learn more about her abilities.

While Anexa was away chasing down a lead on a Jedi artifact, the Death Star destroyed Alderaan. Anexa felt her friends, her colleagues, and her family die in an instant. Initially paralyzed by grief, Anexa recovered and threw herself at becoming a Jedi. She found a holocron and learned to harness the power of the Force to seek Justice against the Empire. Hearing that her fellow survivor, Princess Organa, was a member of the Rebel Alliance along with many other orphans of Alderaan, Anexa joined the Rebellion.

Since the destruction of her homeworld, Anexa has become very protective of anything or anyone from Alderaan. Now that so little remains of her homeworld, she will go to great lengths and personal danger to preserve anything from it.

Features: Shien Expert with the Enhance Force Power. Able to reflect blaster fire back at her attackers, and Force leap great distances as a Maneuver. Fights with a lightsaber.

Weyan Boroko was content; he had a great career as an associate professor of chemistry at the University of Coronet City, a comfortable lifestyle, and an extensive Duresse Folk Music collection. When the Empire restricted the opportunities non-humans had in the Corellia sector, Weyan lacked the courage to object to the change in policy. Instead he buried his frustrations  deep within, and it festered. When he was overlooked for promotions twice by the Imperial-advised Board of Deans, he grew bitter. Finally, when news came that an Imperial officer executed his brother and his Duros construction team at a TIE Bomber factory on Isinar, Weyan reached his boiling point. After mixing a highly effective chemical bomb with ingredients from the science lab and using it to destroy the Imperial attaché’s office (along with the attache), he left Corellia to join the Alliance.

Weyan hates the Empire. They took his career, his family, and - because he had to flee so quickly - his music collection. He knows he should have spoken out sooner, should have told his kid brother to change jobs, should have done a great many things; but he didn’t. All he has left is a score to settle with the Imps, and his extensive knowledge of explosive chemical combinations as his currency.

Features: Demolitionist Scholar. High Intellect with many explosive tricks; Time to Go, Powerful Blast, Selective Detonation. Look for opportunities to make things go "boom" and improvise explosives if need be.

Asper Stirada lived the life of an independent smuggler. Danger, excitement, money; he had it all. His most frequent port of call was his home planet; Makeb. During a stop-over he met a beautiful zabrak woman named Jelia. They quickly fell for each other, and she became his constant companion for two years. The once-passionate relationship started to sour when she wanted more from their relationship, including a family. Afraid of commitment and losing the life he knew, he left her on Makeb and ran ; a decision that refused to sit well with him in the seven years since.

Unhappy and despondent, Asper distracted himself for years by getting involved in high-risk endeavors. Eventually, Asper took one job too many, and found himself captured by the Empire for glitterstim smuggling. Overcome by a sense of irony, the Magistrate sentenced Asper to the spice mines of Kessel as punishment.

During the trip to Kessel, his transport was attacked by the Rebel Alliance, who were there to free several of their officers who were also aboard. Asper convinced the Rebels to take him with them. Since then, he’s signed on with the Alliance as a sort of independent contractor, using his experiences and contacts as a smuggler to transport supplies, Alliance SpecForce teams, and sometimes even assist in a more direct role. He likes that he now has his high-risk fixes he craves, but also has back-up in case things go south.

Features: Exceptional Pilot with Brilliant Evasion, Dead to Rights, and tricky target. Look for opportunities to pilot vehicles of all styles. Fights with two blaster pistols.

Meteo Qulon was raised on Balmorra, where she was expected to follow the family tradition and join the army. Even before the Empire, the Qulons have served in the Balmorran military for generations. There were no indications that Meteo would be any different, she was tough and pushed herself to be in the best physical shape possible. She never backed down from a challenge, and seemed to soak up her father’s urging to always win, and always prevail. She would get into fights at the Academy, which her father would beam at when she found out she won. The reason Meteo fought seemed to escape him, however; Meteo got into fights protecting non-human classmates from human bullies.

The night before Meteo was to report for Stormtrooper Basic Training, one of her classmates told her that he made contact with the Rebel Alliance, and he was leaving to join them. Knowing that many of her alien friends were doing the same, and that her training class would include many of the bullies she beat up over the years, she left Balmorra to join the Alliance.

Meteo believes in the strength of diversity the Alliance was founded on. She knows that her squad’s weaknesses are diminished by the ethnic variety of the group. She became a medic to help keep her team in the fight, and uses her firearms to protect them as much as her stimpacks.

Features: Heavily armored and armed Medic. Has several ranks of Stimpack Specialization as well as the Characteristic-enhancing Stim Application. Fights with a Repeating Blaster Rifle. Should use Stim Application at least once during every encounter.

Koron “Kory” Vida grew up on Ryloth where he watched the Empire turn a blind eye to the Hutts slave trade. When most of his family was sold into slavery by his corrupt uncle, Kory stowed away on a freighter to escape a similar fate. His youthful charm endeared him to the captain when he was discovered, and he accompanied the Captain for a few years, growing up on the Outer Rim spacelanes.

Kory had waking dreams of an orange fiery bird, but never thought much of it. Eventually, Kory heard about the Rebel Alliance and saw their emblem and knew it was no coincidence. He joined the Alliance as an infantry trooper and due to his size, natural charisma, and enthusiasm became the favored mascot and kid brother of every unit he was assigned to. Kory is used to this “beloved” status he has with his team, even though everyone still treats him like a kid. It’s certainly better than the alternative.

Kory is seen as a good-luck charm in many regards. His personnel file is littered with instances of unbelievable survival and remarkable luck. Kory gets flashes of things to come, strong hunches of danger and has uncanny luck. He knows when attacks are coming, been in explosions that miraculously left him unscathed, and his teammates proclaim that they perform better when he’s in the field with them. Whether by luck, circumstance, or something more, the Force is apparently with Kory.

Features: Force Sensitive Emergent/Sharpshooter with the Foresee Force power. Able to enhance the Initiative Rolls of self and allies. Fights with a blaster rifle.

Pre-Game Familiarity

 I'm going to be setting up one of these blog pages for each of my games. They may be boring for those of you not attending the game, but then again maybe you can datamine these entries for ideas for your own games.

Enjoy!