Specialization: Outlaw Tech

The Hook: There's a competition that occurs every 1/5/10/whatever years to build the best battle droid. The droids are entered into a gladiatorial competition against each other and the last droid standing wins. The prize money and recognition are huge, resulting in a large number of entrants from all backgrounds.

The Meat: This adventure has two main parts. The first is the construction of the droid. There is a massive range of options for how this could go down, but I'll include a few here that I think would be fun. The PCs could scavenge the rare and powerful remains of battle droids from past eras. They could break into a droid manufacturer to steal schematics and/or parts for prototype droids. They could contact a previous winner to figure out his secret (this could reveal some interesting secrets i.e. cheating or a rules loophole).

The second part is the competition itself. I'll start off by saying that running each of the combat encounters might not be a great idea, but it depends on your group. Unless you build the adventure in such a way that there are enough droids for all of your players to control, the combat will likely be boring for a lot of the group. Finding a way of abstractly resolving the combat will keep the game moving and keep everyone involved. The exception might be the final fight (if the droid makes it that far), since tensions will be higher.

With all that said, the competition should not be limited to the battlefield itself. Before the fights begin and in between rounds, the party should have things to do. There should definitely be cheating happening. Give the players opportunities to uncover sabotage. If the PCs' droid is doing well, have another competitor threaten them. Give the PCs the option to cheat too (with the associated consequences if they fail). Give time for repairs and modifications to the droid; allow the players to learn from each round and alter the droid accordingly.

For the fights themselves, for any that you actually run as a combat encounter, I would suggest coming up with ways of making it unique. Neutral combatants or dangerous, fluctuating terrain come to mind. Basically, you don't want the encounter to be, "I shoot, they shoot, I shoot, they shoot." It should require movement around the battlefield, quick reactions, and tactical choices. If it all comes down to the dice, there's not much point in running it.

For both parts of the adventure, there is a ton of leeway for creativity. I've just included a few options to get your juices flowing, but don't feel constrained by what's here. You know your group best; find ways to tailor the adventure to your players and their characters.

The End: As usual, if the PCs win, they get paid. Winning this competition should be a major boost to their reputation. Companies from all over will have an interest in the PCs and they will be contacted with lucrative offers in the future. This should also open up some contacts for them that they can use to help with future jobs. You could even find a way of tying this into obligation reduction.

If the PCs fail, consider the possibility of a partial reward based on how far they made it. For instance, making it to the final is still a huge accomplishment and may still open some doors for them (even if they have less leverage for pay negotiations). If the PCs were caught cheating, expulsion from the competition and a black mark on their name will likely be appropriate.

Think like a podracer -- are you going to be Anakin or Sebulba? Or one of the other guys that gets knocked out?

And like a chess tournament, it might not be single-elimination. Each entrant might be required to fight each one of the other entrants, and then the final four could be chosen from the four entrants with the best overall scores.

Or, each of the winners of the first round would go on to fight the other winners. And each of the losers might be given a second chance -- or a third chance, or maybe even a fourth chance. So, a single bad die roll might not be the end of you.

And maybe there's a melee competition, a ranged competition, competition against previous winners and/or "stock" opponents, one randomly selected team against the other, maybe a free-for-all competition, who knows how many different types of competions.

And would Cybot Galactica or Sorosubb really want to lose to Joe Random "Super Engineer" Slave Kid?

Lots of different directions you could go with this. Lots of different cable or network TV shows that you could use as for inspiration.

Thanks, ddbrown30! Much appreciated!

The Hook: A contact of the PCs has discovered some information that points to a ship graveyard somewhere in the Deep Core. Due to a certain combination of gravitational forces (or some other sci-fi mumbo jumbo) derelict ships collect in a certain region of space. The contact wants the PCs to go there and attempt to repair and recover any ships they can. Since this is a highly dangerous mission, having this reduce obligation would make sense.

The Meat: The contact has some very dated astrogation data, but it would be wise of the PCs to seek out newer data. The Empire considers the Deep Core routes to be highly restricted, so getting this data will not be easy. Reaching out to contacts or even taking on more obligation might be necessary. Make sure that the players understand just how dangerous the Deep Core is. The PCs should also consider picking up some spare parts; extra hyperdrives, nav computers, and sublight engine parts would make the most sense. They should also ensure a proper selection of tools, if they don't already have them. Finally, the PCs should consider the fact that they may have to enter vacuum and should prepare accordingly.

After they've finished their preparation, they need to make the jump. Personally, I would upgrade the astrogation check at least once to ensure the possibility of despair. Also modify the roll for any better data they may have received, as you see fit. If the jump does generate a despair, instant death is an option but isn't going to be very much fun for most players. Instead, have the group be pulled out of hyperspace by the gravity of a planet and have them crash land there. From there, it's a new adventure to survive and somehow escape.

If the PCs make the jump safely, the can immediately confirm the story's veracity. Dozens of ships of varying designs and integrity and tons of debris litter the area. At this point, the PCs should start scanning the graveyard for ships that look like they're either space worthy or that could be made so. From there, they need to fly around from ship to ship getting them running and jumping them out of the Deep Core.

I would definitely suggest having some interesting encounters on some of the ships. Finding interesting data in the computers of one of the ships. A ship that's in complete working order, but devoid of all life (lots of room for imagination with this one). A ship that's inhabited by some hostile space creatures. Finding some valuable or rare weapons or gear. Finding a ship that the PCs might want to keep (this might require some negotiation or deception with their contact). There are lots of possibilities.

If you feel the need to mix things up, have an Imperial patrol come by to cause some trouble.

The End: Depending on how well the PCs rolled in their various efforts, they should be coming home with quite a payday. If they're very successful, they may even have a new ship of their own. I would also recommend trying to seed some future adventures from the ships they investigated; data or items from some of the derelict ships could easily lead to a larger story.

The Hook: The technician and his allies experienced engine difficulty and had to make an emergency stop at a remote space station that serves as a refueling depot for Imperial warships patrolling the Outer Rim. The Empire reluctantly granted the heroes clearance to land due to their engine difficulties. Soon after repairing their ship, while the heroes are relaxing at a tapcaf, chaos breaks out.

The Meat: The Rebel Alliance sets and successfully activates a bomb that disables the station's atmosphere processing plant. With only a limited amount of air left panic quickly sets in. The heroes realize they'll never get clearance to take off as everyone on the station is trying to depart at the same time.

Luckily the technician has the skills to repair the air processing system. First he has to get through the panic stricken crowds rushing for the docks (he has push against the wave to get further into the station). Another challenge awaits as the Rebels who disabled the system are still on the station and they plan to stop anyone reestablishing life support. The heroes will have to decide if they want to battle the Rebels to save an Imperial station or try to blast their way out with their ship.

The End: Either the heroes reestablish oxygen production (and earn obligation with the Rebels) or they fly to safety (and earn obligation with the Empire).

The Hook: The Technician is traveling to planet [GM's Choice] when he receives a distress call. The plea for help is coming from a disabled Corellian Corvette orbiting Jumus (Sons of Fortune pg. 84 or any planet of the GM's choice).

The Meat: The captain claims he was attacked by pirates that disabled his ship. His crew evacuated the vessel and went to Jumus below. The captain wants the heroes to find his crew and relay their status. He's also willing to pay any skilled Technician to repair his disabled corvette.

As the Technician explores the ship he finds the maneuvering thrusters, power plant. and blaster turrets all knocked out but repairable. During a trip to the cargo bay he luckily sees the parts he'll need to repair the ship. However, the cargo hold also contains barrels of spice, chests with jewelry inside, and tons of weapons. It should dawn on the Technician that the captain wasn't attacked by pirates; he in fact is a pirate himself!

Meanwhile the captain is become agitated. He snaps at anyone who talks to him and is constantly upset with the speed of repairs on his ship.

On the planet the crew is very unfriendly and show no desire to rejoin the captain's pirate gang. It only takes a little conversation regarding the corvette and pirates before the crew becomes violent. In fact, the crew is strangely more confrontational then they should be. The heroes will note that the crew member all have extremely bloodshot eyes as they attack.

The heroes return to the corvette with the bad news. There the captain has become extremely agitated and soon attacks the Technician for failing to bring the crew back. The heroes note his eyes are bloodshot.

Now the heroes have a broken down corvette; however, they are beginning to become agitated. Each hero should make hard Resilience checks to resist their urge to snap at their fellow heroes. The Technician will soon realize that this ship is carrying some kind of virus that caused the crew to go mad and rage.

Once the heroes realize they're infected someone will try to make Medicine check to figure out what's going on. With an average roll the hero will realize that they are infected with nanobots, tiny droids that are affecting their brains. Now it's up to the Technician to find a "cure" to disable the nanobots before they all go mad.

As if this isn't vexing enough, the Imperials show up and ID the corvette as a pirate vessel. The Imperial ship should be a smaller warship on par with a Corellian Corvette, not a mighty Star Destroyer that would blow them out of space. The Imperials will try to board the ship, putting the Technician and his allies in jeopardy. The heroes can either flee the corvette in their ship or they can stand and fight for possession of the corvette.

The End: If the heroes succeed in curing themselves, and defeating the Imperials, they can try to fix up the corvette. Many of its systems are dilapidated or disabled, making it a shadow of its former strength. Still, a capital ship is great boon that can be sold off or fixed up. Alternatively, if they escape on their ship they may have grabbed some of the booty from the pirate ship's cargo hold. It's up to the GM to determine what their loot is worth.

Note that this ending could lead to further adventures. Who manufactured the nanobots? Why were they deployed and how did the pirates encounter the virus? How widespread is the disease?

Specialization: Outlaw Tech

The Hook: There's a competition that occurs every 1/5/10/whatever years to build the best battle droid. The droids are entered into a gladiatorial competition against each other and the last droid standing wins. The prize money and recognition are huge, resulting in a large number of entrants from all backgrounds.

Wow, I love this one. I don't currently have a Technician in my group, but perhaps my Gadgeteer BH would like a session involving this.

Specialization: Outlaw Tech

The Hook: There's a competition that occurs every 1/5/10/whatever years to build the best battle droid. The droids are entered into a gladiatorial competition against each other and the last droid standing wins. The prize money and recognition are huge, resulting in a large number of entrants from all backgrounds.

Wow, I love this one. I don't currently have a Technician in my group, but perhaps my Gadgeteer BH would like a session involving this.

I second that. It's Robot Wars, Star Wars edition! You could have best two out of three round fights, and in between the group's mechanic or gadgeteer could make repairs. The slicer/computer expert could try to program new data based on observations in the fight. During the fight, perception or mechanics checks could notice weaknesses in the opposition. And of course a thief or scoundrel could try to steal parts from competition or sabotage their droids.

I love that droid competition - but imagine entering a Player's Droid character...

...I can imagine one of our player's getting very cocky as he wins battle after battle.

Then his final match is against a battle droid the size of a dump truck....

....and is considered a 'vehicle'.

A little thread necromancing, but I just found this. And I really like the slicer hook. Leaves the option that your contact at the security firm is in reality a criminal, and the databank you are to slice in does not belong to that company. Instead you are stealing real data from a powerful competitor. Will the party find out? Or will they find out, after the job is done and their contact has betrayed them, sending the security of that competitor on their trail?