I’ve heard several stories about how the reason for the Death Star II in ROTJ is because Lucas originally wanted to save the Death Star for last, but didn’t think he’d be able to make more then one movie.

That just leaves me to wonder: what would it even be like if he had stuck with that plan, saving the Death Star for the 3rd film in the trilogy, and thus ANH was without the Death Star? A huge chunk of the plot revolves around it. It almost seems impossible to imagine the film without it. In that case, what was he thinking the movie would be about?