1) Hyperspace travel is still possible, though without electricity it has become much more difficult and dangerous to perform. In addition it's been discovered that though the space between the inner galactic planets is safe for travel, the (current) outer edge of the galaxy is more similar to planets with bubbles of safety around them than an actual giant bubble encompassing them all. A single ship can't support enough of the nanobots to really protect the crew, though a dedicated or insane crew can make a shorter run at the low cost of years off of their lives and potentially their mental health. The solution to this is, of course, our second potential plot point.
You've still got space travel, it's just more dangerous now. No need to be stuck on a single world if you don't want to be.
2) Living Jedi can still create the required positive force pressure, and every Jedi is trained to perform it unconsciously now. The result is that the Jedi are the ones that allow ships to still penetrate to the outer worlds, providing enough force pressure to create a weak bubble of safety around the ship. It's not enough to totally eliminate the effect for any but themselves, nor can it protect against the full might of the field for any but themselves, but it does allow for shorter runs. In addition some groups of Jedi have joined with others to begin doing "rediscovery runs" where they push the outer edges of safety through the use of the Jedi's positive pressure to hold back the darkness. These runs can be highly lucrative since often there are riches still there for the taking in the form of raw resources or occasionally knowledge, since much was lost when the vast computer systems went down.
Want to travel to another planet? How about exploring ancient ruins? Better have enough force power! Maybe home-brew some rules about the AOE of the force bubble safety area with the ability to expand it by passing concentration checks each turn or something. Possibly lower normal Jedi power levels a little as a cost of them naturally generating a safety bubble for those around them? Billy-joe Bob your only Jedi? Better make sure that he doesn't bite it while you are looting some ancient library on the outer rim!
3) Of course that's ignoring all of those who turned to the dark side of the force. Turns out that turning dark
does protect you (and those around you?) and even levels you up... in exchange for making you more in tune with the dark side and being ever so slowly driven insane. Those races that turned to the dark side? Some of them are still out there along the rim, beyond where most people would go, living as entire races of (semi-)madmen. In addition bandits and the similar sometimes will "go dark" utilizing their ability to easily travel through areas others can't to prey on those more vulnerable. There are those who have gone dark without losing total control, however, and some even specialize in hunting down said bandits and destroying them in their places of safety.
Maybe give players the ability/choice to "go dark"? Level up to stronger dark force powers in exchange for slowly going insane? Possibly don't have dark force powers work as well the stronger the "positive force pressure" of the area they are in? Dark jedi being able to suppress the protection of nearby Jedi? Dark Jedi holding back the darkness from their lackeys, but it effectively serving as a "slave chip" since they can withdraw that protection at any time if the lackey displeases them? How about a dark Jedi seeking to destroy power sources on a planet to create more dark areas for them to live in? An army of one of the "dark races" about to descend on an outer world and wipe it out? There's a bunch of home-brew/lore/villain/main story possibilities here.
4) In addition many worlds now suffer spots of darkness where the massive loss of life suppresses the nanobot pressure, resulting in a similar effect as the outer rim that drains the life of those who enter without a Jedi to protect them. Coruscant, for example, has become a world of the dead, with no spot on the surface safe without a Jedi or two to hold back the drain. This has, of course, also turned it into an excellent spot for the previously mentioned explorers and bandits.
Now we can have both good and bad spots next to each other. Can you say evil strongholds for our masterminds to hole up in and ancient ruins for our good guys to valiantly explore? Maybe have a village plagued by bandits from a nearby dark spot that our band of heroes can valiantly go and deal with.
5) Possible changes due to time? With the loss of most technology and the lack of space travel for hundreds of years, what used to be one galactic culture fractured into a million tiny pieces. Worlds knew that they had to keep the generators running despite their lack of (apparent) output, but the reasons became lost to time. Mysticism and other superstitions popped up and now many are tended to by different bands of priests instead of technicians. The Jedi, being forced to serve as the only safe way to travel through many places and having lost much of their history, have had to sacrifice their aloofness with the world. In addition the demand for them has led to the increased training of force sensitives, and the term "Jedi" now also applies to the ever growing group of force sensitive adventurers, guides, and protectors who, while they are not part of the main Jedi body, nevertheless were trained by them and are an integral part of society as a whole. These Jedi are not the aloof protectors of old, and can be found in many walks of life, trying to get by just like everyone else.
Option to take "Jedi" as a profession without necessarily being part of the old-fashioned Jedi group? Han-Solo-esque adventurer rouge with multi class in Jedi skills (and therefore the protection bubble)? The old fashioned Jedi becoming more similar to a public service group (i.e. police, firefighters, mailmen, etc.) than a ruling council? Corrupt priests? Making a job running mail from colony to colony among worlds? No instant communications from this world to that one? People here having a vastly different culture than people there? Agrarian, farming dependent cultures? People not realizing the scientific truth about the nanomachines, but just protecting themselves against the darkness through "hokey religions"? (Sorry, I couldn't resist
).
6) Artificial Jedi powers? By carrying around a power source people are able to generate a localized surge in the amount of positive force energy available. As such even the weakest force sensitives are able to duplicate some of the lesser Jedi powers with only a little mental effort. This doesn't generate the same protective field against the darkness as an actual Jedi, of course, but it does let the high priest fetch his wine glass from across the room.
Priests having the ability to perform lesser jedi tricks based on their proximity to their "holy ground"? Church/power plants providing a localized penalty to "dark Jedi" powers? Exceptionally "devout" priests going a pseudo-cyborg route where they implant power sources into their bodies? Stories about the "steel men of old" (i.e., cyborgs that didn't instantly die without electricity to run their implants) that were able to perform great feats of force power due to the large power sources within their bodies? Bishops carrying small fusion generators on necklaces as a source of their power? Houses having tiny "shrines" (i.e. combustion generators) that they run for a short time every day as part of their religious observances? Ability for a non-Jedi PC to find a small generator that grants them low level force powers with some practice (possibly in exchange for those rare fuel pellets)? Mandatory midichlorian count testing as children with the highest count children being taken to be trained as a "Jedi" (whether they stay with the main organization or split off on their own or into one of the smaller guilds is up to them) and the medium level ones becoming priests?
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Topic: Idea for an PnP RPG Campaign -- No Electricity (Read 4084 times)