play. This pivotal encounter could very well set the stage for your next Star Wars campaign, determining the fate of the galaxy and the seats of power for the next set of heroes your players dream up. In the end, darksiders make great opponents, villains, and evil masterminds to set against the heroes. Make sure that each new darksider you create has his or her own personality, method of operation, and style of dress and speech. This way each one is memorable and unique, no matter how many times you resort to the dark side of the Force to provide an enemy. Play darksiders intelligently, using every power and ability in their repertoire, and the players will always remember these encounters.
Running Dark Side Campaigns
We've talked about dark side characters from the player's point of view. A dark side campaign centers on a group of evil characters. They don't all have to be Force-sensitive characters. In fact, you can run a respectable dark side campaign without any Forceusing heroes at all. On the other hand, your group can consist of nothing but Force-sensitive and Forceusing characters who have no qualms about calling on the dark side of the Force whenever they feel the need or desire. The ultimate dark side campaign, however, revolve around a mixed group of Forcesensitive characters and their non-Force-using allies, all determined to walk the path of corruption to see what levels of power they can attain.
The Evil Campaign A campaign for evil characters can take many forms. The characters might work for a crime lord, intent on clawing their way to the top of the galactic underworld. They might be minions of the secretive Sith Lords, sowing hatred and confusion throughout the crumbling Old Republic. Maybe the group takes on bounty hunter assignments for whoever pays the most credits, sometimes working for the forces of good but usually doing the bidding of evil employer (they pay better). During the Rebellion era, a group in this kind of campaign works for the Empire, doing everything in its power to crush the Rebellion and end the Galactic, Civil War. If the campaign takes place after the fall of the Empire during the formative years of the New Republic, a dark side group might take the role of rebels working to restore the glory of the Emperor's New Order. Or they might be exImperials seeking to carve out their own kingdom as infamous warlords or crime lords in the tradition of Zinj and Prince Xizor of Black Sun.
By the time of The New Jedi Order, evil campaigns can develop in a variety of intriguing new ways. The group could consist of rogue Jedi who have broken away from Luke Skywalker's leadership to follow a more active, darker path. They could be dark Forceusers of no discernible tradition, using the confusion of the Yuuzhan Vong invasion to make their own place in the galaxy while the Jedi are too busy to try to stop them. Another option allows the group to side with the invaders, earning a profit while selling out the Republic and the Imperial Remnant. For something really different, you could allow the players to take on the roles of evil Yuuzhan Vong warriors and priests, letting them direct a portion of the invasion. You might even decide to travel farther back into the Star Wars timeline. With a little work and a lot of imagination, a dark side campaign set in the time of the ancient Sith opens up a great many possibilities and provides a lot of freedom in the direction of the campaign's storyline. In the end, it all depends on what you want to run and what kinds of characters your players want to develop.
Beware the Dark Side While we recommend that players run good or at least neutral characters, we know that the lure of the dark side is strong and persistent. Playing on the dark side provides too many temptations to assume players won't want to try it-at least for a change of pace. Campaigns built around evil characters face a host of challenges that rarely disturb heroic campaigns. The biggest challenge relates to the players and how they develop their characters. Evil tends to be argumentative, divisive, and out for itself. This sometimes compels players to run their characters as selfish and distrustful, making it difficult to foster teamwork and cooperation. In the hands of a strong GM and good roleplayers, these kinds of characters can create compelling and powerful stories. More often, however, playing evil characters leads to arguments, hard feelings, and, in extreme circumstances, the eventual breakup of the gaming group. You and the players should seek some common ground and a focus for a party of evil characters. As long as the entire group benefits by working together for a shared goal, then the campaign should be able to sustain itself. Even so, at some point, the temptation to take advantage of the other characters may overwhelm an evil character. What happens then depends on the skills of the GM and the players. Will story and character development win out, or will the players be unable to overcome the deception and betrayal of the evil character? The best way to approach a dark side campaign may be as a limited arc of adventures with a planned ending. This works especially well if you've never run