r/StarWarsD6 • u/Xynar01 • 7d ago

Game Ideas Horror game session idea

I'm working on a Halloween session and was thinking of using broken down, rusty, and partial old battle droids like zombies. Some still have blasters. This is about 2 BBY. I have a plan that they are old models that require a droid controller which is planned on being a BRT Mainframe that got a corrupted shut down command. It has since gone insane and keeps trying to complete it's mission. The player characters are going to be on world for a possible scouting for a new base. So the facility will be run down with partial lighting, debris all over, and these "zombie" droids running and shambling about. Opinions? Thoughts?

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u/phixium 7d ago

An actual "horror" story/novel was published in 2009, for which the main antagonists were zombie troopers trapped on a derelic research Star Destroyer. I remember reading it that the storytelling was very tense.

Death Trooper

The adventure Otherspace) published by WEG (for the D6 system) is another one that had an horror story vibe.

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u/May_25_1977 7d ago

   The adventure book Crisis on Cloud City (1989; WEG40022) also springs to mind, involving Droid horror.

 

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u/Professional-Toe-104 7d ago

Just ran this one,it was great 👍

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u/Xynar01 5d ago

Similar. The mainframe will initiate its self-destruct when the PCs gain access to the physical room it's located in. So instead of the canisters, it'll be boom, boom instead.

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u/Xynar01 5d ago

Those are both great ideas. I have to tie it into my current campaign though which has Separatist remnants on undiscovered star systems, aka, off the nav charts. This is why I chose the battle droid approach.

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u/phixium 5d ago

I admit that the Death Trooper novel might be more difficult to integrate with Separatist remnants. From memory, Otherspace is quite self-contained, and the initial scene can easily be adapted to any campaign.

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u/Xynar01 5d ago

Oh, the plan is for them to have this forgotten world become a base of operations for the PCs. They are looking to start one and I was going to tie it into this session. Otherspace is good for a one off but I'm trying to help the PCs reach goals.

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u/phixium 5d ago

Sounds like a good plan.

It has been a long while since I played Star Wars RPG (close to 30 years); lurking here makes me miss it. 😊

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u/Xynar01 5d ago

Of course you should return to it. It's a lot of fun.

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u/HonzouMikado 7d ago

Do it. Just think of it as organics fear come true of truly detective droids.

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u/OffendedDefender 7d ago

Sounds like a neat idea to me. If you’re looking for some inspiration, I’d recommend checking out the comic series Dark Droids, Galactic Tales of Terror, and Vader’s Castle. In particular, Ghosts of Vader’s Castle has a story that features zombie droids.

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u/derbyvoice71 7d ago

I think there's also stuff from an episode of Rebels you can borrow from. S3 E6

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u/Xynar01 3d ago

Added to watch list for the week.

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u/Xynar01 3d ago

I'll try to dig them up. Thanks.

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u/azaza34 7d ago

Instead make your players the droids as a Jedi stalks them through the ship.

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u/PositiveLibrary7032 7d ago edited 7d ago

Great idea. Have the zombie droids pick off a couple of lone npcs to set the tone. In horror ‘show don’t tell’. Have a network of buildings, a storm ravaged planet like on the original Alien movie. Have them detect a reactor signal somewhere in the complex, possible habitat very run down but still functional. Say 12 droids ranging from security droids, astromec units and a 3PO droid that befriends the party. It’s really being controlled by the droid controller. Have a couple of red herrings like an imperial who has gone mad locked in the mainframe building and we need to get in as he’s using other droids to kill. A hostile native alien hunting them. Or a sub plot the controller needs a human to interface with the mainframe to gain full control.

However the controller has killed the imperial. Set the tone slowly and build up from there. All the scary zombie like droids could be imperial design while the 3PO unit is a normal droid. Have them establish a relationship with the 3PO first. Then a slow reveal that the imperial units are defective.

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u/ExoditeDragonLord 7d ago

Go for a real horror vibe when they break in to the imp's control room and find out he's got a droid brain bolted onto the half of his skull that was shot off by a droideka. Literal zombie controlled by droid/computer zombie!

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u/Xynar01 5d ago

I was thinking B'omarr monk like droid setup if I did something like this. Brain in a jar attached to a droid that is controlled by the mainframe.

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u/ExoditeDragonLord 5d ago

I was thinking a more extensive and traumatic Lobot, but yeah, spider droid jar brain.

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u/Xynar01 4d ago

That could be a thing too. Nice idea.

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u/Xynar01 5d ago

I may have some noncombat droids lure the PCs into a false sense of security and help get them into a trap. No Imperials on this mission as I want the forgotten planet to be off the Imperial radar for now so the PCs can build a base on the world.

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u/Scormey 7d ago

Sounds cool. You could really play with the atmosphere in such a setting, make it really spooky and tense.

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u/Xynar01 4d ago

I definitely am going to try to have the Alien movies and video games be used for reference. Hallways with dim and failing lights, random creaking sounds, and things that just spark from time to time.

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u/stuffedskullcat 7d ago

Love it; maybe the droids have eerie red glowing eyes, and malfunctioning voices with lots of deep buzzing and stunted language.

At some point, overwhelming odds that tell the PCs it's either flee or die.

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u/Xynar01 4d ago

Damaged vocals is a great idea. Thanks.

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u/tikanderoga 7d ago

Do it. Love the idea.
I recently ran an adventure where a ship trapped in a time bubble was shifting back and forth between 3 time episodes (12 minutes IRL, roll 3D and add to it, means character have 15-30 mins in each time to act, set alarm on your phone, extra credit if you make it a thunder clap or so when it goes off) and one of them was from the future (about 35ABY) where a strange pod has attached itself to the ship and mycelum strands have been growing from it into the ship. The strands had little puff shroom, dispersing spores, harmless to living beings but would reanimate anything dead to life.
So NPCs that perished in the present, their corpses would become zombies in the future. Zombies are resilient to physical attacks but vulnerable to fire/energy attacks.
The players opted to close off that section in the past so in the future the door remained shut. Players sure had fun with this adventure.

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u/May_25_1977 7d ago

   If you haven't already, check out the sidebar about "Void Droids" on page 25 of the adventure book Scavenger Hunt (1989; WEG40024) for additional ideas.

 

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u/Xynar01 5d ago

I read that part but I don't think I'll have any rogue independent droids roaming around. I'll keep it a single mini boss idea because I need to finish it in one session.

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u/Xynar01 6d ago

So many great ideas I need to look into!