Career Adventure Seeds: The Smuggler

By ddbrown30, in Game Masters

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Welcome to the first entry in what I intend to be a series of threads to catalog adventure seeds for each of the careers. You can check out the full list of seeds here .


The idea is that if a GM would like to create an adventure that caters to the career of a specific player in his group, he can come here to get some ideas.


Each seed should include the basic hook, an overview of how the adventure plays out (the meat), and how it ends. If the seed is aimed at a specific specialization, please include that as well.


First up is the Smuggler. Here's one to get us started and to give you an example of the format.


The Hook: The PCs are offered a job to transport an unknown cargo and offered a ridiculously high payment. The employer absolutely refuses to tell the PCs what the cargo is; they can either take the job or leave it. The PCs are sent to meet a ship in a remote location to pick up the cargo and, as they prepare to load the cargo, discover that their cargo is a group of slaves.


The Meat: The PCs have a few options here. They could back out of the deal and leave. They could take the slaves with them and free them later. They could attack the slavers. If your players (or their characters) are particularly evil, they could simply complete the deal.


The End: Depending on how the PCs deal with the slaves will greatly affect how the adventure ends. Most likely, they will have earned some new enemies in the slavers. If they went the evil route, having one of the slaves become a future nemesis could make for some fun down the line.

Edited by ddbrown30
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Hook: The Smuggler is hired to move legitimate but regulated cargo from the core to the rim. Alcohol or medicine for instance. The pay is a little higher than a normal transport job but the client wants it moved "without Imperial oversight". A drop off location is selected. One of the more popular outer rim worlds. They are told what ship the buyer will be flying and where to meet him when they get there.

Meet: They need to slip past at least two imperial check points and get the cargo to the destination. When they get there they discover that the ship they were to meet with, to transfer the cargo to, has been impounded by the ISB. The buyer, who evaded capture, contacts them and suggests that he could pay them an additional fare if they take him and the cargo to a nearby planet.

End: They take him to the planet only to discover that the buyer is working with the Rebel Alliance. Now the party needs to determine what to do with their knowledge of the rebel base.

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Specialization: Thief

The Hook: The owner of a spaceport/storage business/whatever wants to hire the PCs to break into a rival business to steal something from one or more of their customers. He is doing this as a way to undermine his rival's claims of security in hopes of increasing his business.

The Meat: The PCs can either go through with the theft or they could approach the rival with the information, possibly turning around and instead robbing the initial employer instead. Another possibility would be for the PCs to intentionally fail at the theft in order to make the security look better.

The End: If the PCs completed the theft successfully, they get paid. To tie into future adventures, the PCs identities could be discovered later, leading to bounties or just an enemy. If they were caught, they'll need to deal with the authorities - or maybe just an angry Hutt.

Edited by ddbrown30
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Moved to bounty hunter thread.

Edited by Kalrunoor
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I think you missed the title of the thread. :) I'll make the Bounty Hunter next, just for you.

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The Hook: A planet is currently under blockade. The PCs are hired to deliver much needed medical supplies. The employer has some stolen transponder codes that should get the PCs past the blockade and to the surface, but it's unlikely the codes work again on the way out.


The Meat: This adventure can go in many directions. The transponder could fail, leading to a chase to the surface. Either way, the PCs will need to find an alternate way of bypassing the blockade on the way out. Some suggestions would be to bribe an official, steal new transponder codes, or, if the players are feeling brave, to try to run the blockade directly, escaping to hyperspace. They could even find a way to end the blockade.


Beyond that, there's lots to work with here. Why is the planet blockaded? Is it a political move? Is there a contagion of some kind? Perhaps a Moff has gone rogue and is trying to cover up something. Getting off the planet could/should require the PCs to become embroiled in whatever intrigue is happening.


The End: Not much I can say here since the meat is so open. Obviously the players will eventually be able to leave the planet, but the how and why will greatly depend on your design.

Edited by ddbrown30
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Errr I meant Survi-droel? *Walks away quickly whistling*

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The Hook: The PCs are hired to transport some Imperial weapons or technology to some location in space in order to trade them for some other commodity they need. Before the trade can be completed, the trader is captured by the Imperials. Knowing that the PCs will be meeting him with stolen Imperial tech, he strikes a deal with the Imperials to betray the PCs.


The Meat: When the PCs show up to make the trade, have it appear as if nothing is wrong, but give the players many opportunities to get a sense that something is amiss. Depending on how your players react, they may proceed with the trade, flee, or attempt to change the arrangement somehow. Regardless, the Imperials will be monitoring the situation and should show up at some point before the PCs leave. Make sure to use an appropriate challenge of ship here; the players shouldn't feel immediately defeated and should have an opportunity to escape or fight back.


The End: By the end of the adventure, the PCs will have either destroyed or fled from the Imperial ship or have been captured. If they managed to get away with their goods, then they'll be back to square one to find somewhere to offload their goods. If they were captured, that's another new adventure to run.

Edited by ddbrown30
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The Hook: The players are hired to deliver needed medical supplies to a mid-rim world. If they're symathetic to the Rebellion, the Rebels are upfront about it - they're delivering to a Rebel stronghold. Otherwise, all they're told is its a humanitarian supply run.

The Meat: The PC ship comes out of hyperspace into a warzone. The Imperial navy is bombarding the planet and Rebel forces are engaged in a desperate battle against the blockade. If they want to get paid, the players will have to slip through the battle onto the planet surface, brave the bombardment and head to the drop off point - a Rebel bunker in a devastated city crawling with Imperial troops. Even if they drop off the cargo, the players then have to backtrack past the battle, and escape the system. Being caught with the supplies by Imperial forces gets them labeled as suspected Rebel sympathizers even if they *didn't* know who they were delivering to.

The End: If the players bail on the job, the Rebels catch wind of it and the players reputation takes a big hit - Rebel elements are also less likely to hire them again. They can still make a profit, though, selling the supplies on the black market. If they succeed in the mission, the Rebellion is overjoyed and duly impressed - they're given a bonus (materials, money or favours) for risking their necks, and the promise of more work in the future.

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Specialization: Thief & Pilot

The Hook: Someone hires the PCs to retrieve their starship from an impound yard.

The Meat: After somehow breaking into the impound lot, they discover the ship is no longer there. The PCs must do some investigation to find out where it's gone. The best way for this adventure to play out will be as a trail of breadcrumbs. For instance, the impounder sold it to someone, then it was stolen and the transponder was changed, before it was moved to a storage facility to await resale. Feel free to come up with your own ideas that fit the PCs skillsets.

Once the PCs eventually track down the ship, they have to break in and fly it out, all without damaging the ship too much.

The End: The PCs reward should be relative to the ship's condition. If they manage to get it there in perfect condition, especially if they don't take too long, they should get a bonus. A heavily damaged ship should be worth significantly less.

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Thanks to bradknowles for the inspiration for this one.

Specialization: Thief

The Hook: A sympathetic character approaches the PCs to retrieve an item that was stolen. In reality, the item is not rightfully theirs. The Damsel in Distress will work well here and ensure that the current owner of said item is especially villainous. The goal here is to lower the guard of players as much as possible; you want them to fully believe the damsel. If you feel there is a better way trick your players (the players, not the PCs), then use that. Only roll for any deception if the players suspect something and, even then, make the check difficult; the damsel runs scams often and is well-practiced. Success should only make the PCs suspicious, not reveal the nature of her deception.

The Meat: If the PCs take the damsel at face value, they'll likely dive straight into trying to retrieve the item. This will probably involve the usual stuff like staking out the place, grabbing blueprints, and trying to find someone on the inside to bribe, or it could end up being more "guns blazing" if that's how your group plays.

Regardless of how your players approach this, it should eventually be revealed that the item does not, in fact, belong to the damsel. If you would like to add some extra twist, you can make it so that the villain is not the true owner either.

Depending on when and how this info is revealed, it can have some big changes to the adventure. It's possible that the villain may convince the PCs to give up their employer, either for money or simply to avoid being killed/arrested. If a third party is the true owner, the PCs may decide to simply abscond with the item in the hopes that the true owner will give them a larger reward.

As a final note, it could be interesting to make the item desirable to the PCs. If it's worth more than just credits, they may decide to keep it for themselves, especially if they know the damsel is not the owner.

The End: Depending on how the meat played out, you could end up in very different situations. At its core, however, are really just four main results.

If they give the item to the damsel, allow enough time for her to leave the planet before her deception is revealed; she'll make for an excellent future nemesis (think Saffron from Firefly).

If they let the villain keep the item, maybe he'll be a new friend, but that will greatly depend on how much damage they caused on the way in. You should also give the PCs an opportunity to confront the damsel.

If they decide to find the true owner, that could be an adventure in and of itself. If you want to go with something simpler, some simple social checks can be a faster way to go. If the PCs approach the owner along the vector of selling the item to him, he will react as if the PCs are criminals who are ransoming back his property. If they instead offer it up freely, he will be much more amenable to giving them a reward. Reward the players risk here, to encourage this sort of play in the future. It doesn't need to just be more credits, but the players should feel it was worth it.

Finally, the PCs could have decided to keep the item. This should result in pretty much everyone involved becoming enemies of the PCs. I might even suggest telling the players that they'll need to take on obligation if they choose to keep the item.

Edited by ddbrown30
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The Hook: The heroes are hired by an eccentric collector to smuggle the parts of his vintage starcruiser through customs at [GM's choice]. The vessel is to be taken in pieces to his estate on another world. This unorthodox method will allow him to avoid a fortune in taxes to transport an expensive classic starcruiser and he intends to make a project out of rebuilding it. He's arranged to have the spaceframe prepaid for and stored at a remote mining station. The individual starship parts (engines, control systems, etc.) are to be purchased and picked up from the collector's contact on [GM's choice] as their first task.
The Meat: No doubt the heroes rejoice, for practiced smugglers this is a coffee and cake run. First the PCs meet up with the collector's contact; however, their patron failed to mention that this contact was a pirate. Even worse, the pirate brought members of his gang with the intention of taking the credits without completing their side of the bargain. The heroes will have to defend themselves from the greedy gangsters before taking possession of the starship parts.

The cargo consists of two large engines and several crates full of components that would take the better part of a week to catalogue. Next the heroes have to get clearance to takeoff without Imperial security confirming their manifest. The GM can throw out whatever hijinks he wants here as some side mission to solve a problem for the customs supervisor in return for not searching their ship.

As soon as the heroes hit space they are hailed by a recently arrived Star Destroyer asking if they specifically have cargo belonging to the collector that hired them. TIE Fighters quickly move to intercept. The heroes will have to hold them off until they can make the jump to lightspeed. Note that while it can be used to create tension, the Star Destroyer should not have enough time to come within range of the PC's ship.

The heroes make their first drop-off at the patron's estate on planet [GM's choice]. The patron claims to not know why the Imperials would care about his project and offers to double the heroes' pay if they'll go retrieve the spaceframe. So long as smugglers still crave credits the heroes should agree.

When the heroes arrive at the mining station orbiting [GM's choice] they inquire as to the cargo pod that the spaceframe is contained in. The dockmaster tells them that an [alien of your choice] took possession of it a week ago. There is only one alien of that type on the station and the dockmaster claims he can usually be found on the recreation deck. Once there, the heroes find the alien playing sabacc. He claims that the patron owed him an unpaid debt and his repossession was fair and square. Luckily this alien has a weakness for gambling and if the heroes can engage him in a sabacc game they can play for the spaceframe (see the free adventure "Under a Black Sun" for rules on sabacc).

The heroes find the spaceframe cut into two pieces for easy transport on a freighter. It should dawn on them as soon as they see the frame that they are smuggling a Y-Wing starfighter. Obviously the patron has some explaining to do!

The End: Upon meeting the collector he admits that he has dedicated his wealth to assisting the Rebel Alliance. He apologizes for not telling the heroes; however, he needed the best smugglers he could find one way or another. The patron makes good on the pay he promised the heroes plus something extra for their trouble.

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The Hook: Guns and ammo need to be delivered to some people for their protection.

The Meat: clients are a gang, intend on using the guns in a shooting war. Guns are Imperial owned. Both the Empire and Rebellion contact PCs about the stolen weapons

The End: deliver guns and get paid, decide against it, inform Rebels/Imperials about the guns. Could double or triple cross but that will end in a shootout.

Edited by GroggyGolem
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The Hook:Transport shady characters off-world that want to avoid the Empire.

The Meat: Wanted criminals. A Bounty Hunter is sent after them to bring them in.

The End: Finish the job, give up the bounty, betray the clients and turn the bounty in yourself.

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Specialization: Pilot

Hook: The players are contacted by a crime organization (the Pykes) to find a ship which has crashed in an asteroid field and return its cargo to their operative on some other planet. (Llanic fits well)

Meat: This involves several parts, which can be included or excluded based on the skill set of the group and how long the GM wants the adventure to be. It takes a while to find the crashed ship, which requires checks to survive that long in an asteroid field. A mechanic can decrease time by temporarily boosting the sensors. Once they land, they find that the co-pilot is still alive. The co-pilot expresses interest in knowing what the cargo is, and if the PCs look inside the crates, they find to be carrying some cheap, unimportant, and not very special cargo. Extensive, careful, searching reveals a data drive hidden inside. It is highly secure, and the PCs can spend time hacking it if they would like. This reveals navigation data. Further intrigue include a baby Exogorth trying to attack the ship, which would require a check to transfer all of the crates in time.

End: Once they escape, they receive an alert that their communication systems are being used from the inside. They end up discovering that the co-pilot is the culprit, and that he has summoned bounty hunters. Perhaps simultaneously, they must chase/battle the co-pilot and escape bounty hunters through the asteroid in a ship chase. Once in hyperspace, they may attempt to interrogate the co-pilot. Depending on how you want to continue, they may get all or part of the following story:

Spies for the Pykes captured navigation data from a crime family, (For example, Hutt clan Besadii) This data is the location of a very secret world that Besadii uses for spice mining. Too sensitive to send by comm, they instead decide to have a pilot smuggle the data drive to their base of operations. However, there is another crime lord (some minor Hutt, we'll call him Guta) who also wants the data. Guta is a rival to Besadii. Guta hired the co-pilot to get him the data drive. Since the drive is small and well-hidden, the co-pilot couldn't find it. So he organized the crashing of the ship, and hoped that the Pykes would send someone who would know and reveal the location of the data drive. Expecting less powerful PCs/slower ship/less powerful ship, he assumed the bounty hunters could acquire the drive.