My current game will be ending due to moving, but I already have the makings of a new group (3 members so far, with another 2 on the fence depending on scheduling). With that, my brain has been running through a plethora of ideas of how to get them started to introduce them to the game without feeling as though the entire galaxy is at their fingers (which has lead to a good number of games having issues as players tick off someone in one area and then run off to the next).

That said, here's the collection of ideas I have to make a party "Planet Bound" at the start.

1) Shipless on Selonia

Any planet will do, I just couldn't say no to a chance at alliteration.

The party begins without a ship for some reason and are stuck on a planet; perhaps it was destroyed in a crash landing, it is currently in the shop for some massive repairs, it's been impounded or stolen, or simply the party is without a ship and arrived at the current location as a "layover" that has been delayed by something (like the destruction of Alderaan).

The party is approached by someone that has heard of their reputation for getting jobs done and makes a deal with them: if they do a few jobs and do them well, they will be given a ship from the local yard, entirely legal and in their name.

Of course, they won't be getting paid for the jobs; that's what the ship is for.

This method also can help the party pick out a ship that may be a bit more expensive (my group originally wanted a YT-2400 as their starter, but changed their minds after seeing a few of the homebrew ships out there) or even give them an opportunity to use other ships and pick the one they like most.

2) Business is Business

The party actually doesn't even HAVE a ship, and have been doing a rather good job making money by staying "home" or chartering transportation (or even renting ships) to get to other locations to work for people that have heard of them.

With this approach, I've been considering the following:

--Give the party 120,000 credits.

--Allow them to purchase a location to act as their base. 10,000 for something small, like a pair of rooms, up to 100,000 for a large, multi-floor building. This can, of course, change from planet to planet; 50,000 on Coruscant won't get them nearly as much as Tatooine, for example.

--Allow them to do what they will with the rest of the cash; vehicles, medical droids, bacta tanks, tools of the trade, contacts/bribes, etc.

This way, the party can set up a "party fund" or a true "home base" but will be without a ship until they decide to purchase one.

This approach is also nice if the party doesn't have set goals besides making money, and you want to help create that living world of consequences with them.

3) Interdicted

The party is, for some reason, stuck on an interdicted planet, and acquiring a ship with a hyperdrive is nearly impossible as they have all been destroyed or the hyperdrives have been ripped out.

They hear rumors of one (or more!) ships that can get them offworld, but they'll need to find some way to steal them or to get close enough to the owner to allow the party passage offworld as a crew.

Or perhaps they wish to build a ship from the various hulks still around (Beyond the Rim, anyone?). . .

Those are the three I have on hand, but I'm all ears for other ideas that I may be overlooking. The basic goal is to give the party members a reason to work on planet while not giving them a very easy way out (like their own ship if things go south).

Anyone have any input?

I started my group off in a prison cell on an imperial transport ship headed for Kessel. The first adventure was them breaking out and making their way to an escape pod. The fact that the ship was under attack by the Rebellion was what allowed for their escape in the first place.

In my story the escape pod was picked up by pirates who effectively "gave" them a ship. The story has included several missions that essentially are them paying back the pirates.

You could just as easily have the pod crash down on a planet that they will need to run several missions on in order to get off of. If you do that though I would reccomend that you give them a ship that costs more than 120,000. Seeing as they should have had that value of ship from the start.

I've set up a new colony on a planet along a newly discovered hyperspace route. It's Deadwood in Star Wars. At the moment the players are just doing jobs for the people who have discovered the planet. Soon it will be a smaller town with a ton of infighting and opportunities for money and power.

The players could leave at any point really, but I'm giving them reason to stay. Steady work and hopefully a higher station in "society". I've also been able to incorporate some big stories for every career. It's an unexplored planet, everything needs to be fixed, pirates and predators abound and people are scrambling for political power and I'm not even getting started with the force sensitive.

My characters still have a ship, but I'm trying to give them reasons to hang around. Each of them is invested, one way or another in the colony's success.

How about a small scouting/exploration party sent as a precursor to colonizing a new planet? (or a newly terraformed world?)

How about a small scouting/exploration party sent as a precursor to colonizing a new planet? (or a newly terraformed world?)

The problem there is that it focuses on the party being Explorers or akin to them and coming up with a reason to stay on a deserted planet. Not everyone likes to be a trailblazer, especially if they are Mandalorians (pick any flavor you want) or a Politico.

With your idea, I feel as though it'd be a whole lot of Deus Ex: you are forced to stay until the others arrive, you need to do X scouting runs, etc etc. It feels like it'd be great for Explorers, but other parties may be a bit put off by this.

I did a combination of this and an Interdicted planet years ago. The party hated it as no one wanted to be a scout.

There's one line in the CRB that I based my starting game around.

" As part of their Obligation , each group starts out with a ship"

I thought it would be interesting to have the group develop that Obligation during game play. So far it's been interesting. And I think the group is more attached to the ship because they had to earn it.

(which has lead to a good number of games having issues as players tick off someone in one area and then run off to the next).

I'm all ears for other ideas that I may be overlooking. The basic goal is to give the party members a reason to work on planet while not giving them a very easy way out (like their own ship if things go south).

Anyone have any input?

As far as this is concerned, I would turn the story into an "Avoid the Bounty Hunters" game, if my players started doing this.

(which has lead to a good number of games having issues as players tick off someone in one area and then run off to the next).

I'm all ears for other ideas that I may be overlooking. The basic goal is to give the party members a reason to work on planet while not giving them a very easy way out (like their own ship if things go south).

Anyone have any input?

As far as this is concerned, I would turn the story into an "Avoid the Bounty Hunters" game, if my players started doing this.

It normally does after the 2nd or 3rd time it happens, as people begin to realize they share enemies or they want their revenge before the others, leading to even bigger prices on their heads.

My current group has three: An Imperial Moff that only can assume it was them (no proof and major blackmail), the Zann Constortium (which has begun sending out thugs already) and a Hutt they never finished a job for.

I did give my party a ship but they're only authorized to use it during specific missions as per their employer. The cost of fuel, repairs and general maintenance is too much so it's only used on high-paying jobs.

A few party members have asked about getting their own ship so I gave them access to an LAAT type craft, their satisfied for now.

Inheritance - Out of the blue a player gets notification that his Great Uncle Wally has died and left him his ship, the Stinky Barstool. Hey it's even on planet... not bad... I wonder what kinda shape Wally kept her in... I didn't even know I had a Great Uncle...

I like Interdicted if only for the possibilities of a Junkyard Wars scenario. Also an assualt map from Unreal Tournament 2004 comes to mind when I start thinking about the preliminary frame work of the campaign. Two real draw backs with what I'm thinking though: A) You'd need at least one mechanic or outlaw tech for this really to have a chance 2) might be hard to keep it intresting as a long term campaign since the end goal is to get back into space.

Business is Business could also be good. I'm starting to think of campaign based on Coruscant. Get in on the "ground level" (this could make fo a rough life if taken literally) doing shady things like working the grey/black market, PI work, and the like and work their way up. Frame it up like an old noir film. I got to find my old campaign notes from an old Eberron campaign were I did similar, this could have potential.

I like Interdicted if only for the possibilities of a Junkyard Wars scenario. Also an assualt map from Unreal Tournament 2004 comes to mind when I start thinking about the preliminary frame work of the campaign. Two real draw backs with what I'm thinking though: A) You'd need at least one mechanic or outlaw tech for this really to have a chance 2) might be hard to keep it intresting as a long term campaign since the end goal is to get back into space.

Business is Business could also be good. I'm starting to think of campaign based on Coruscant. Get in on the "ground level" (this could make fo a rough life if taken literally) doing shady things like working the grey/black market, PI work, and the like and work their way up. Frame it up like an old noir film. I got to find my old campaign notes from an old Eberron campaign were I did similar, this could have potential.

The Interdicted was the thought of Junkyard Wars, especially with multiple people competing. Of course, you don't really NEED a PC techie; you can use an NPC, or you could be stealing a ship from another party that is trying to get offworld, or you could be protecting the ship of someone who is trying to get offworld but they can't man all the stations/guns/etc on their own.

Business is Business is by far my favorite, as it makes me think of Cowboy Bebop (only on-planet instead of in a larger ship) and Outlaw Star (early on in the series where two of the main characters have a business on world) as well as a few random Star Wars characters that won't stray far from home.

The Interdicted was the thought of Junkyard Wars, especially with multiple people competing. Of course, you don't really NEED a PC techie; you can use an NPC, or you could be stealing a ship from another party that is trying to get offworld, or you could be protecting the ship of someone who is trying to get offworld but they can't man all the stations/guns/etc on their own.

Business is Business is by far my favorite, as it makes me think of Cowboy Bebop (only on-planet instead of in a larger ship) and Outlaw Star (early on in the series where two of the main characters have a business on world) as well as a few random Star Wars characters that won't stray far from home.

Your players must not be as paranoid as I the ones I usually GM. They won't willingly go on anything cobbled together like that without knowing the complete ins and outs of it and having a hand in it's construction/restoration. Frankly, in a game that is as space based as Star Wars, I think a class with mechanics as a skill is as vital as one with medicine. This would go doubley so for a rattling death trap cobbled together a few days ago, that has to thrive in the most hostile enviroments known to most biological beings, and its first flight will probably be the same one that they run an Imperial blockade. Are the players going to trust an NPC controlled by the GM in that scenario?

I agree BiB is my favorite also, provided you have the right sort of players to go along with it. Its hard to run a nuanced campaign when you have a bunch of door kickers for players. I agree with Cowboy Bebop with being a good inspiration, but less so with Outlaw Star. The latter I see more as your stadard campaign arc really; players start off broke and without ship, player get MacGuffin/ship/both, players struggle through campaign and level, campaign reachs climatic conclusion. I personally liked The Maltese Falcon and Blade Runner for idea fodder. Also had a few good novels and comics I read at the time too, though the names aren't coming to mind right away. I had some notes for this sort of campaign that I could give better ideas from, but they're from 2005-2006 and I've moved 7 times and 4 states since then. I think they might be in a box in Michigan in my grandparents attic. That is if I kept them with my books and my memory isn't faulty on the location of my books.

My first reaction was;

So you arrived on Monderon with a cargo of weapons for the local crime syndicate.

The world is currently in turmoil as the local resistance are up in arms with the Imperial Garrison, as a result one bright spark decided to hack into the local defence network and seized control of the local defence network meaning if they want to leave they need to locate where he hacked in and "persuade" them to stop that long enough for you guys to leave...

They can even get a bonus since both the locals and the Imperials are willing to pay for their services to accomplish this very task...

Now once they meet said crime boss they learn where the Resistance may be based or more importantly

Finding their way inside they discover the resistance

Finally reaching their ship only to discover

In case you're wondering that stole more than a bit of story from the smuggler starting storyline from the KOTOR MMO... and if I ever get the chance I'd run that!

4) Someone has triggered an ancient device depowering most of the surrounding technology and someone has to locate where and whoever did this and make them switch it off!

Or blow it up... I believe thats a favourite with Imperials and PCs alike!

5) Someone seized your ship and sold it off at an auction... did you keep up the repayments?

Or did someone swipe your ship under less than legal means?

So will you chase whoever did this?

Or steal a new ship of your own?

By the way you were here to meet someone about a job... turns out that job involves using their transport which may help you hunt down your own ship...

So do you know who stole your ship... and what does Black Sun or the Hutts got to do with it?

Players have a family member being held hostage and are being forced to stay on planet to work for 'Dr. Diabolical', so they have to plan a rescue and steal a ship.

The only part I'd be careful about is handing the party 120K credits for their initial outfitting. RAI I get the impression the ship is supposed to be a plot hook and a nod to party independence. If the PCs take a smaller or cheaper ship, for example, they aren't entitled by RAW to the remainder of that "allowance." I'd see no problems whatsoever starting a campaign with a party that lacks a ship or even anything more than a prison jumpsuit off the bat (that campaign sounds fun, btw).

Gear can do a lot in this game and it'd be easy in buying a low-end ship or base of operations to skim a lot of cash off the top to get an early lead in that area. For a lot of games this defeats the hunger for credits that faces a novice party. I'm not saying don't do it, but I'd look at it as carefully as handing everyone 300 XP to make advanced characters, for example. It's something to be done deliberately.

The only part I'd be careful about is handing the party 120K credits for their initial outfitting. RAI I get the impression the ship is supposed to be a plot hook and a nod to party independence. If the PCs take a smaller or cheaper ship, for example, they aren't entitled by RAW to the remainder of that "allowance." I'd see no problems whatsoever starting a campaign with a party that lacks a ship or even anything more than a prison jumpsuit off the bat (that campaign sounds fun, btw).

Gear can do a lot in this game and it'd be easy in buying a low-end ship or base of operations to skim a lot of cash off the top to get an early lead in that area. For a lot of games this defeats the hunger for credits that faces a novice party. I'm not saying don't do it, but I'd look at it as carefully as handing everyone 300 XP to make advanced characters, for example. It's something to be done deliberately.

It is this very reason why I was looking for input and other ideas.

Now, as for the concern regarding the credits: if the party consists of 4-5 players, that leaves each of them "responsible" for 22-30k each. If they were to lose 40k for a "base," this leaves each member with 16-20k each.

Then you need to worry about whatever "tools" they need for their jobs. They'll want to worry about vehicles to get to planet-bound jobs (which can sink 3-10k each), toolkits, medical supplies, or even a trusty blaster and armor. This may sound like a lot, but it really isn't that much.

Using just the core rules and standard rulings (no R items at chargen), a player can drop 1,500 on a Heavy Blaster Rifle, 2,500 on laminate armor, 10,000 on a personal deflector shield, and 3,000 for an Aratech speeder bike. Grand total: 17,000 credits. This would probably be the most combat oriented character there and would be hard to kill in certain ways, but this leaves little to no room for "utility" items.

Alternatively, I could simply dictate that they already own their base of operations and a single landspeeder that can carry them all (or a small "fleet" of vehicles for each of them or that they can borrow) and leave them broke like current rules stand. I would also consider giving each of them equipment related to their jobs (a mechanic gets tools, the combat monkey can get a proper rifle, etc) or allow them to "borrow" from a bigger group they work for or somesuch.

Would you think that is a better approach to alleviate the concern?

Alternatively, I could simply dictate that they already own their base of operations and a single landspeeder that can carry them all (or a small "fleet" of vehicles for each of them or that they can borrow) and leave them broke like current rules stand. I would also consider giving each of them equipment related to their jobs (a mechanic gets tools, the combat monkey can get a proper rifle, etc) or allow them to "borrow" from a bigger group they work for or somesuch.

I would favor this option.

One thing I am inevitably faced with when I bring a group of people together is the "what's my motivation" question, or "why is my character hanging out with the other characters" question.

One of the things I like the most about this system is that the answer is a hard game mechanic. The Obligation score, and the associated desire to reduce it, are an excellent reason why one players awesome character is slumming around with all the other riff-raff that the rest of the table brought. As a group they have a ship and with a ship they can work at completing their individual goals. Personally, I wouldn’t worry too much about the details of the Base of Operations. A lot of your players will feel that it is star wars after all and what's star wars without space ships?

That being said you could have them develop an attachment for the Base of Operations only to have it taken from them by the big bad evil guy. Then the story will be all about them taking it back. Floating some ideas towards you:

The group comes together as "Specialists" hired to "monitor and protect" a private mine out in the outer rim. The owner needs to be away for a time and leaves the place under the protection of the Player Characters. While he is gone, they have various adventures with the local pirates the indigenous sentients, malfunctioning droids ect.

When the owner finally returns he pays them to take a freighter back to the core. They are to sell the ore and then return with the proceeds but after they unload the ore and have secured the credits, the freighter is (somehow) taken from them. Now they have to buy a ship and bring the bad news to their employer, only to discover that the empire has moved in and taken over the mine and their former employer is nowhere to be found.

...Insert lots of adventure and interlude...

Their exploits have drawn the attention of influential persons and that leads them to discover that their employer had escaped to the protection of the Rebellion. In a desperate final assault they lead an attack to re-secure the mine that they started at and procure a valuable asset for the Rebels.

I would second Ryoden's support of your idea to simply start them out with the basics, perhaps with a couple different "packages" or options for the players, such as having an option between having a better stocked base (maybe with a workroom or some communications gear) but only a single speeder truck, versus having a more bare-bones headquarter but a speeder bike for each of them (since that facilitates multitasking for the group and so forth) or having a perk like a light repeater for the sole speeder truck.

Bear in mind with the kit you outlined, you could drop the speeder down to a bare bones swoop and easily make back 10K+ for more gear and customization of that gear. A couple of weeks ago I made a "wish list" for my bounty hunter and I think the grand total for a full combat kit with three longarm options and more support gear than I could actually carry came out to around 38K, about half of which was in attachments. Starting characters RAW could barely get that suit of laminate armor you cited, and that's with taking 10 points of additional obligation (or another way of looking at it, a 10 point debt on top of whatever else they've got going on). Again, I'm not saying it's not perfectly valid to give them a large budget, but the feel of the game will be a lot different particularly early on.

I'd talk it over with the players. A lot of EotE is setting scenes and really starting situation/assets are nothing more or less. Do they want to be established professionals? Are they young (or recently disenfranchised) and hungry? Does the idea of playing a swoop gang trying to break into big time crime appeal to them? Or maybe being heavily armored couriers or the planetary equivalent of Doctors without Borders on a war-torn planet? I'd tailor the assets to the concept they (and you!) want to run with. That said, completing or assembling an early kit makes a good short-term motivation that can keep them looking locally for a while before they set off to the stars.

Haggar and Ryoden, you've provided the kind of soundboarding I needed to get the idea fleshed out and to NOT sound like a crackpot. Thank you both.

Ryoden, I didn't think of a campaign outline just yet (as the new group is still in the making), but this is the kind of madness I would put my poor players through.

Haggar, the idea of the "short-term motivation" is key for me. Too many groups don't allow their characters to have a REASON to stay somewhere, even if it does make sense. I once had a player refuse to stay on planet for more than one standard week before wanting to leave again, as it was "too long in one place." The current group burns bridges, even though they are given chances to stay in one place for more opportunities.

Still, it's fun coming up with new ideas just to see what people will do.

Thanks again for the input!

Surprised this hasn't been mentioned (or it has and I missed it) but the Age of Rebellion beta book actually has an option for starting without a ship. The players instead work with the GM to come up with a base of operations for the party. They're compensated with 2,500 additional credits each for starting gear.

A little off topic, but somewhat related as an idea:

In my latest campaign I started to make use of the star wars essential atlas in a new way with the goal to control where my players may go from the start. I took a map of the sector they were in and made a player's map from it, with only the planets and routes on it, that their navi-comp knew. They could only use those routes. It really made them hunt for navi-data, hitting spacer bars and making contacts to increase their range. And they really cheered when they discovered a secret shortcut in an abandoned freighter.

Age of rebellion proposes a base and an extra 2500 credits as one of the options, perfect for a swoop gang.

In a campaign I recently started, the group as a whole didn't want a ship. Only one of the players actually wanted a ship. So I gave him one. At the beginning of the first session, he "won" it in a card game. Oddly, though, the character doesn't know how to gamble, and he has the barest inkling of how to play that particular game and yet he won an entire ship. The ship is a slightly older YT-1300 - nothing fancy.

Lucky, right? Nope. The ship was pawned off on him by its owner who was fed up with all of its problems. The ship is haunted. (Literally... by its first owner, a Jedi who was murdered on board. The most recent owner has no idea of its past, he just knows it is an accurséd ship and was high time he got rid of it.)

The ship is also needing some repairs before it can go anywhere. And that leads into a few misadventures planetside while they scrounge up the parts needed to make her spaceworthy. It also holds a few secrets that will likely lead to trouble down the road...