Howdy Folks. I try to contribute ideas as much as I ask for them. I've added a few adventures to the career seeds threads to give as much as a I take. I have an adventure set up that's just... meh. It needs an injection of something exciting, a plot twist or an encounter to get the blood pumping. The basic idea for this episode begins with the adventure "The Bacta Heist" from "Tapani Sector Instant Adventures" page 18. I wildly diverge from the published adventure; I just want to steal the hook regarding the heroes Alliance employer at the end.

Here's the plot with all the details and character notes removed for brevity:

1. Low on credits and short on jobs, the heroes are hired by an eccentric Ithorian for a heist. He claims to be representing the Rebel Alliance looking for life saving bacta.

2. Once a week the Empire sends a bacta tanker that rendezvous with a YT-1200 freighter in orbit over Talus (Suns of Fortune pg. 36). The transfer of bacta is overseen by an Imperial Patrol Boat.

3. The Ithorian wants the heroes to replace the YT-1200 crew and seize the bacta. The patron emphasizes that the bacta is for the Imperial garrison and no civilian hospitals will be affected. Nevertheless, the patron wants no one killed on this job; only incapacitated.

4. To replace the crew the heroes will need access to the Imperial spaceport. The patron knows of a slicer who can alter the Imperial databank to register fake identicards for the PCs.

5. When the heroes approach the slicer he claims he has a problem. He had arranged for a spice shipment to fly into Nashel (on Talus) but his contact was shot down by CorSec. The spice shipment dropped into the nearby Methyt River.

6. The slicer wants that chest of spice returned to him. If the heroes can brave the creature infested waters he'll slice them some IDs. In the river the heroes encounter an aggressive Styanax (Suns of Fortune page 43) that poses a formidable threat.

7. With IDs in hand the heroes infiltrate the Imperial garrison and take out the YT-1200 crew. Skipping over all the drama of the infiltration, they fly the YT-1200 to the rendezvous point.

8. At the critical moment the heroes are betrayed by the patron. He hails them as an ISB agent looking to stomp out Rebel insurrection. The heroes have to escape a flight of TIE fighters and the patrol boat and make their way to safety.

9. Having escaped by the skin of their teeth the heroes find themselves back in a familiar position, low on credits and looking for their next job...

So as you see I have the skeleton on an episode but it's just missing something. I would greatly appreciate any ideas on how to enhance the plot and get some fun surprises going! As always, let me thank the community for any good ideas.

How about adding a rival who with the help of the Slicer steals their job and ends up being confronted by that trap with your players playing catch up and arrive in time to witness the trap being unleashed?

They'd have the option of lending their rivals a hand if they want or turn the tables on the treacherous patron since he's now shown his hand and isn't prepared for what the PCs now do so for example they could steal the bait and leave egg on the face of the ISB Agent if they want...

Or if they pass on trying to get their cargo away from their rivals let them witness the report of what happened and realise the close shave they had.

1. Low on credits and short on jobs, the heroes are hired by an eccentric Ithorian for a heist. He claims to be representing the Rebel Alliance looking for life saving bacta.

8. At the critical moment the heroes are betrayed by the patron. He hails them as an ISB agent looking to stomp out Rebel insurrection. The heroes have to escape a flight of TIE fighters and the patrol boat and make their way to safety.

Did they meet him in a tavern?

Seriously, please don't do that... If you want to have this scene, have it occur when the players drop off the Bacta to the contact, the Empire found out because they bagged the slicer after the PCs left with the IDs and decided to track them to find out who their Alliance contact is. Looking for the bigger fish and all that.

If you want to keep them poor, have the slicer also be a money launderer or something. So the players can't get the full credits until they've rescued the slicer in the next adventure.

I like your basic premise. It sounds like a nice mix of interaction, stealth, and some combat. I like the ISB as bad guys.

Something I thought about when reading through your idea is the concept of player agency. It seems like the end is some what preordained. Were I to play through the entire adventure and learn at the end that the ISB let me do all the sneaking around so they could capture me a the end I would feel that I had been let to succeed and not succeeded because I am a bad ass hero. This in turn would cause a tear to drop from my huge single eye onto my oversized blaster, possibly causing a malfunction. Very upsetting.

If I added a twist, I would take an enemy they had previously defeated, pump him up a bit and have him working with the ISB. Come up with a reason he was not defeated and reveal him along with the ISB agent at that critical moment and watch them cringe as the ISB and a former enemy attempt to take them into custody.

It does sound like an adventure I would have a great time playing in. Let us know how it goes in play!

If I added a twist, I would take an enemy they had previously defeated, pump him up a bit and have him working with the ISB. Come up with a reason he was not defeated and reveal him along with the ISB agent at that critical moment and watch them cringe as the ISB and a former enemy attempt to take them into custody.

I like your idea. I do have reoccurring NPCs written into the twenty-something episodes I've prepared. There is a prior episode early in the campaign where they encounter a Black Sun hired gun (favoring her skills with her vibrosword). I think I could write it that she is working with the Imperials in exchange for a pardon for her wayward action in the Corellian Sector.