The DarkStryder Campaign, a series of books published by West End Games for the Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game, consisted of multiple volumes. Bill Smith, Timothy Zahn, Eric S. Trautmann, Peter M. Schweighofer, and Doug Shuler were the creators of this series, which included a boxed set and three supplemental books. The DarkStryder Campaign, the initial release, occurred in July of 1995. Subsequently, The Kathol Outback, The Kathol Rift, and Endgame were released in February, May, and November of 1996, respectively. A deluxe boxed set, containing all four products from the series, was launched in April of 1998. Furthermore, there were three blister packs released for the Star Wars Miniatures Battles game, which featured miniatures modeled after several key characters.
The Campaign's narrative unfolds during the early years of the New Republic era, focusing on the adventures of the New Republic CR90 corvette, named FarStar. Its central mission is to locate the renegade Imperial Moff, Kentor Sarne. The FarStar, manned by a diverse group of New Republic personnel, civilians, and individuals from the fringes of society, journeys through the largely uncharted territories of the Kathol sector, the Kathol Outback, and the Kathol Rift in their pursuit of Sarne. Sarne, possessing extraordinary alien technology, has formed an alliance with a mysterious being known as the DarkStryder, a living, insect-like bio-computer tasked with protecting the remaining members of the Kathol, an ancient civilization nearly destroyed by a catastrophic event. The FarStar's journey involves recruiting allies, combating pirate and Imperial forces, and navigating the perilous Kathol Rift, a volatile region of space, before finally confronting Sarne and his forces on Kathol.
The concept of a campaign boxed set arose during a discussion between Bill Smith, the line editor for West End Games' Star Wars products, and Daniel Scott Palter, the company's chief executive and publisher. The conversation led to the suggestion of blending "high-fantasy, gritty drama and space opera." One of the foundational concepts involved establishing a planet where "magic" was functional.
Following his initial discussion with Palter, Smith mentioned the project, tentatively titled The FarStar Campaign, to Timothy Zahn, who authored the Thrawn Trilogy. Zahn was enthusiastic about the idea, and he and Smith discussed it extensively in the months that followed. During this time, Eric S. Trautmann was engaged in several freelance projects for West End Games, including The Truce at Bakura Sourcebook and The Last Command Sourcebook, and maintained regular contact with Smith. During a phone conversation, Smith shared the project details with Trautmann, revealing the difficulty they were facing in devising a plausible explanation for a planet where magic was prevalent. Trautmann directed Smith to some of his earlier freelance work for the Star Wars Gamemaster Handbook, specifically mentioning an ancient alien race of "super-scientists" called the Cthol, who had developed a device known as the Codex for studying and quantifying the Force. Coincidentally, Trautmann had recently started an original Star Wars campaign with his friends that featured the Cthol, a planet brimming with alien technology, and a haunted region of space called Cthol Rift. Smith integrated these concepts into the project, and at Trautmann's suggestion, it was renamed The DarkStryder Campaign.
With Trautmann joining the creative team, the campaign's structure needed to be determined. It was decided that the Campaign would have a defined length, featuring a clear beginning, middle, and end to the narrative. Initially, the Campaign was planned to span six installments, but this was eventually reduced to four. A significant departure from previous West End Games products was the concept that players would role-play with pre-generated characters, each with their own distinct backgrounds and stories, rather than creating new characters from scratch. However, the large ensemble cast necessitated that the Campaign support a multi-character dynamic, with players controlling multiple characters, ideally one from the main cast and one or two from the secondary cast. This approach allowed for the inclusion of original characters into the Campaign.
Among the initial ideas considered for the Campaign was the inclusion of High Inquisitor Antinnis Tremayne as an antagonist. However, this idea was discarded because Kaiya Adrimetrum had already been chosen to command the FarStar, and both characters originated from the same sourcebook, Galaxy Guide 9: Fragments from the Rim. An early decision was made to confine the effects of the DarkStryder technology to a specific region of space to prevent its misuse in fan campaigns. A second ship, named the PaleShadow, was initially proposed but was ultimately removed during the editing process. Finally, another element from Trautmann's work for the Gamemaster Handbook—a male Dark Jedi named Halbret in a hibernation trance—was extensively reworked into a female light-sided Jedi.
With the foundation of the Campaign established, the creative team faced their biggest challenge: securing approval from Lucasfilm. They anticipated that several elements they had created would be met with disapproval by the staff responsible for approving all aspects of Star Wars licensing, including ancient Old Republic battlefields and Jedi (which were traditionally "off-limits"), a novel interpretation of the Force in Ta-Ree magic, and a significant redesign of one of the film's most iconic ships, the blockade runner. To the creative team's surprise, however, Lucasfilm's approvers endorsed the Campaign with enthusiasm.
Three months after the completion of the creative process, the Campaign encountered difficulties. Paramount Pictures announced their latest series to the press: Star Trek: Voyager, the third spin-off of the Star Trek franchise. Despite the independent development of both projects and the lack of knowledge of each other, the show's concept was sufficiently similar to The DarkStryder Campaign to necessitate last-minute modifications by the West End Games creative team to avoid the appearance of a television show knock-off.
Dave Dorman was originally contracted to create the cover art for the boxed set, a picture the creative team referred to as the "Memphis Belle" shot. However, scheduling conflicts prevented Dorman from completing the work, and Stephen Crane brought in Christopher Moeller to create the cover. Moeller's finished piece arrived just in time for printing.
The cover for the first supplement, The Kathol Outback, was actually from the Hungarian edition of Dark Force Rising. It quickly became clear that this choice presented a problem: the cover prominently featured an Imperial-class Star Destroyer, but no such vessel appeared in any of the book's adventures. George Strayton rewrote his contribution, Galaxy's Edge, to include a Star Destroyer.
For the second supplement, The Kathol Rift, the designers discovered that the book exceeded the allowed length and were forced to cut Matt Maneely's adventure, A Cry For Help. This adventure could have focused on the character of Makezh and his acquisition of the Codex, but the discovery of the artifact had to be incorporated into Josh Miller's Waystation adventure. However, the book's back cover was published stating that the supplement contained six adventures, instead of the five that were included.
Another potential issue was averted when it was realized that the original concepts for the DarkStryder and his minions were too similar to the Shadows from the Babylon 5 universe. Consequently, the creatures were redesigned by Tom O'Neill and Tim Bobko.
The series' central storyline revolves around the mission of the New Republic CR90 corvette FarStar, a significantly modified vessel captured from Moff Kentor Sarne's forces during the liberation of the planet Kal'Shebbol. Despite New Republic forces deposing the Moff, he managed to escape into the Kathol sector with the majority of his forces and access to advanced new technology. Unable to commit to a full-scale operation to pursue the Moff, a diverse crew of New Republic officers, fringers, and civilians is tasked with tracking him down and neutralizing any potential threat he poses. The ship and its crew pursue the rogue Imperial warlord through the Kathol sector, the Kathol Outback, and the Kathol Rift, ultimately confronting the Moff and his ally, the DarkStryder (the source of the advanced technology the Moff possesses), in the Battle of Kathol System.
The DarkStryder Campaign, released in July 1995, was a deluxe boxset which laid the groundwork for much of the Campaign's lore and established the series' premise.
The boxset included:
- A 96-page Campaign Book detailing the FarStar and its crew, plus the original story The Saga Begins by Timothy Zahn. [1]
- A 96-page Adventure Book featuring the adventures Omens , Artifact of Aaris , Death Is Remotely Possible , Shintel Downtime , Crisis , and Traitor in our Midst . [1]
- Color recognition cards for characters and ships featured in the books, designed to aid Gamemasters and players visually. [1]
- A full-color poster of the modified corvette FarStar , with detailed deckplans on the reverse side. [1]
This supplement provided information on the worlds within the Kathol sector, as well as background stories for members of the FarStar's crew and potential allies and enemies. The most comprehensive details were about the corvette itself, including deckplans, operating conditions, and its history.
The Kathol Outback, published in 1996, was the first supplement for The DarkStryder Campaign. The book presented background information on the region of space known as the Kathol Outback, and included the adventures Plant Food, Little Empires, Wildfire, The Masters of Exocron, and Galaxy's Edge.
The Kathol Rift, published in 1996, was the second supplement and the third installment in the DarkStryder series. Containing information on the enigmatic Kathol Rift, the book featured the adventures Harm's Way, Rogue Elements, Waystation, Home, and Showdown.
The DarkStryder Campaign, Deluxe was a boxed set that combined all four DarkStryder roleplaying game products into a single package. Released in 1998, it marked the final product created by West End Games for the D6 line.
Three blister packs, based on characters from The DarkStryder Campaign, were released for use with Star Wars Miniatures Battles. These small models could also be used as visual aids for players during a DarkStryder adventure. The first pack featured the characters Kaiya Adrimetrum, Gorak Khzam, and Brophar Tofarain. The second pack contained Jessa Dajus, Ranna Gorjaye, and Darryn Thyte, while the third pack included Loh'khar, Lofryyhn, and Kl'aal.
Elements originating from The DarkStryder Campaign have been incorporated into subsequent works, primarily through the efforts of Timothy Zahn, one of the project's original creators. In his 1998 novel, Vision of the Future, Talon Karrde ventures into the Kathol sector in search of Jorj Car'das, a former colleague and friend. Zahn utilized locations established in the Campaign, including Pembric II, Dayark, and Exocron. He also made reference to the characters Crev Bombaasa and Horzao Darr, and the alien race known as the Aing-Tii were used as a key plot element in the latter part of the novel. Bombaasa, sometimes misspelled as "Bombassa," would later appear in two books from The New Jedi Order series, The New Jedi Order: Agents of Chaos II: Jedi Eclipse and The New Jedi Order: The Unifying Force, as well as in Star Wars Galaxies: An Empire Divided.
However, it is the Aing-Tii, a mysterious alien race with a unique understanding of the Force, that have been most frequently referenced in later Star Wars works, receiving mentions in The New Jedi Order: Agents of Chaos I: Hero's Trial, Dark Nest I: The Joiner King, Legacy of the Force: Bloodlines, Legacy of the Force: Tempest, Legacy of the Force: Invincible, and Jedi vs. Sith: The Essential Guide to the Force. Indeed, the Aing-Tii's concept of flow-walking, the capacity to observe past events from an unbiased perspective, serves as a significant plot point in The Joiner King, and influences Jacen Solo's decision to align himself with the Sith. The Aing-Tii themselves ultimately appeared in the storyline of Fate of the Jedi: Omen, the second book in the Fate of the Jedi series.