My first night as a EotE GM

By Cool Manchu, in Game Masters

Posted at

Hi everyone,

Here is a recap of our very first game run by me in EotE. I am trying to come up with a unique story line for my players that is going to be predominantly homebrew that tries to follow canon, but sometimes it's just to make fun of it...

I have around half a dozen story arcs worked out so far, but this is how I got the group together and headed on their first adventure together.

For the first night, four of our five players were able to make it, they include:

- August Mikal, Corellian Pilot

- Bigby Lash, Human Thief

- MA3-STRO, Protocol Droid

- LU-B3, Combat Droid

A galactic civil war has broken out, and word has come that the Rebel Alliance has struck a decisive blow against the Empire, destroying the dreaded Death Star.

In response, the Empire has clamped down and have set up blockades along all of the major travel routes, making travel difficult and in some cases impossible. Now is a good time for those who live on the fringes to take advantage of the situation and cash in on the dangerous, but lucrative opportunities provided by the situation.

Our story picks up in a docking bay located on Coruscant where the Captain of the Countess Palantine aka “The Crone”, August Mikal, is preparing to take some passengers and supplies to Nar Shaddaa. The passengers are a couple of Rodians and unbeknownst to him, he has picked up Bigby Lash, a thief on the lamb from the Black Sun, who has stowed away in the cargo being loaded onto the ship. Bigby is carrying a small black box that he stole on his last job.

As the ship was being loaded with some last minute items and as he was waiting for the Rodians to arrive, August was approached by a protocol droid named MA3-STRO, who wanted to book passage but didn’t have the funds. The droid was about to leave rejected to find another way to Nar Shaddaa when the Rodains approached, wheeling in a large deactivated combat droid into the loading area. August was told by his employer, Gil Tarr, that it was just going to be the two Rodians and nothing about a combat droid…

Today turned out to be MA3-STRO’s lucky day when it turned out that August didn’t speak Rodian, and the Rodian bounty hunters didn’t speak Basic. Until they showed up with their bounty, August was unaware that he would be hauling an assault droid, so he needed the help of someone who could communicate with the Rodians. He agreed to take the protocol droid as a passenger, so long as the droid agreed to help him deal with the Rodians.

It was decided that the Rodian’s would pay August 500 credits to stow the droid in the cargo bay, and as part of the deal, he was given the controls to the restraining bolt to ensure that he could take down the combat droid in a worst case scenario.

As the Crone left Coruscant, Bigby still in the crate starts to nose around and finds boxes and boxes of Booster Blue, nearly 25,000 credits worth. He then exits the crate to have a look around to find a place to place his stash, while doing so, he stumbles upon the combat droid secured nearby. His curiosity gets the better of him and he powers up the droid, who introduces himself as LU-B3.

Back in the cockpit and right after the ship entered space, she was hailed by Lt. Wormwood of the Imperial security forces and ordered to dock with a space station and be boarded for inspection. August opted to run. The Crone was pursued by two TIE fighters, but August took evasive maneuvers and made the hyperspace jump before the Imperials could damage the ship.

Back in the main area of the ship, the Rodian pair start asking MA3-STRO a lot of questions. This leads to a small confrontation when MA3-STRO starts bringing up sensitive subjects about the Rodian people. With that the Rodians storm back to their room to investigate who MA3-STRO really is. MA3-STRO makes his way over to eavesdrop on the pair.

At this time, the crew is thrown asunder with the sudden unexpected jump to hyperspace. MA3-STRO tumbles through the doorway of the Rodian’s room and see them researching him on a dataslate. He knows that they are onto him and that soon they will find out about the substantial reward offered for his capture.

Back in the storage area, the jump also causes Bigby to grab onto the bindings holding LU-B3, causing them to loosen up. After he regains his footing, he completes the job and frees the droid.

Needless to say, all hell broke loose pretty quickly after that. From his seat on the bridge, August heard the distinctive sound of an ion rifle being fired. He ran into the lounge area and took cover to find the protocol droid engaged in battle with the two Rodians. At nearly the same moment, the stowaway, Bigby, burst into the lounge area from the aft section of the ship, followed by the assault droid.

A battle ensued, with August trying to decide which side he was on while both droids and the stowaway stranger fought it out with the Rodians. The protocol droid was able to convince August that the Rodians had started the fracas, and that they had a sizable bounty on their heads. August joined the fight against the Rodians, and the four-vs.-two battle soon ended with the Rodians subdued. One, a female, was rendered unconscious, and the other, a brawny male, attempted to surrender after receiving multiple serious injuries.

The stowaway supported the protocol droid’s story of a bounty and convinced August that he’d get a share of the money. While August was distracted, the assault droid killed the male Rodian. August, with his ship full of unexpected guests who dragged him into a battle with his only official passengers, was at a loss as to what to do or say, beyond repeating his insistence that he get a cut of the bounty for the Rodians.

August retreated to the bridge to monitor the hyperspace jump and try to figure out what had just happened. The Crone continued toward Nar Shaddaa with a captain trying to figure out how to explain to his employer what happened and what to say to the Hutt waiting for the Rodian bounty hunters and the droid they have for him upon their arrival.

After a short while, August is followed into the cockpit by Bibgy who asks why he smuggling drugs for Gil Tarr, further adding to the confusion in August’s mind…because Gil wouldn’t have him do something illegal on top of all this would he?

Treasure acquired:

August given 500 credits for transporting the droid

August acquired 1000 credits for Rodian’s trip to Nar Shaddaa 900 of which to be paid to Gil Tarr

LU-B3 finds a credit stick with 1100 credits on it in the Rodian’s chamber

Other equipment from Rodians include:

- Armored clothing (August)

- Padded Armor (Bigby)

- Ion Blaster Rifle

- Blaster pistol x2

- Blast Knuckles

Approximately 25,000 credits worth of Booster Blue

15XP given to each player

Posted at

Sounds like you're off to a great start. You've created an interesting way for the group to come together, although I would be careful about inter-player tensions. Sometimes it's fun to have the players causing a mess and rolling with it in-character; just make sure that everyone is cool with it and having fun out-of-character, or your group may not last very long.

The predicament you've created for the group also is very interesting, as leaves a lot of options for how the PCs will try to work it out. The combat droid is very illegal, thanks to the Clone Wars use of droid armies, and the way you worked in some of the Obligations of the players is solid.

Regarding Obligation, something I've done to make it easier to have them be a part of the story is to roll for the Obligation chart at the end of each session for the next session. That way, whoever's obligation was rolled, I now have some time between sessions to plan how that obligation will come into play next time we meet.

All said, keep up the good work!

Posted at

Thank you for the kind words, support, and idea about Obligation.

I really don't worry about player tensions because the group was hand picked by me from people I know personally and know they all want to be part of the game. It's just to add drama because they are good enough players to feed off of the tension and turn it into a lot of fun.

We sure did laugh a lot during the game, there were some gasps when certain things happened, so that was very encouraging. I would love to let some cats out of the bag, but they might stumble upon this and that would suck for them to know what's planned.

In regards to the combat droid, I have played him up as being an illegal commodity, and it will come into play more as things evolve.

Posted at

So we had our second game last week. This is what happened...


We pick up our story of the denizens of the Countess Palantine, the motliest of all possible motley crews, with the group exiting Hyperspace near Nar Shaddaa. As the captain navigates the ship to Durga the Hutt’s landing platform, a large ILH-KK freighter painted in lavish colors jockeys in and nearly collides with the Crone, causing August to take evasive maneuvers to avoid damaging his ship.

Due to his expert piloting skills, he manages to land safely on the pad and notices that the larger ship lands nearby. He tries to hail the other ship, but is met with silence.

August quickly gets out of the ship looking to confront the pilot of the other ship, but the group is distracted by the whines and whirls of a nearby Astrodroid, who seems to be in a heated argument with a blue-skinned Chiss over the proper way to fix a Landspeeder power coupler. This leads to a quick introduction of the new crew member assigned to the ship by Gil Tarr, a tech known as Inigo.

While they make quick introductions, a very loud, booming voice calls out from the other end of the hanger, “Where the hell is my droid?” This of course is Durga the Hutt, aka: the kingpin who runs this area of the planet; His Obesity; the Heir-apparent.

Durga, son of the late Aruk the Hutt, was displeased to find that his Rodian bounty hunters were not among the Palantine’s passengers – especially since Gil Tarr had assured him that they and their droid bounty were on the ship when it left Coruscant.

The situation appeared dodgy until Durga’s long, lost protocol droid, MA3-STRO, stepped forward out of the shadows and announced himself to gain Durga’s attention. When Durga realizes that it is in fact MA3-STRO he says, “AH! YOU BRING DURGA GRANDEST PRIZE OF ALL! This pays for death of Derppa, but only Derppa…Durga not like him. Has no brains. Ermma though, Ermma Gerhd. She could…do….things…mmmmm….Gerhd…”

Durga then insists that the crew come back to his cantina, the Fat Bastard, to discuss how August and his crew can address what Durga feels is owed to him to pay off the debt for the death of his bounty hunters. This way they can, “Celebrate our new partnership, as is customary, and will be the beginnings of making Durga richer…oh and you too!”He also mentions to MA3-STRO how they need to discuss the implications of him coming back home.

During the somewhat forced festivities, B3 was approached by a pink Twi’lek who called himself the Ringmaster and was the proprietor of a show he called the Circus Horrificus. He was accompanied by his “beast handler” Malakili. The Ringmaster, seeing potential in LU-B3, who offered the assault droid a pretty decent payday to “perform” in his show.

Bigby slipped away from the main group and managed to break into Durga’s office, but found no computer he could slice. He did find a fairly complex surveillance system. Fortunately, he was able to slice into the system and delete the record of his break-in.

Meanwhile, some of Durga’s thugs hustled MA3-STRO off to a workshop, where Durga’s astromech, R6-D6, quickly went to work to remove a chip containing a great deal of information related to Durga’s fathers many interests. A chip that Durga feels that will allow him to get all of his businesses in accord and get him back on top as the sole leader of his clan.

Unfortunately for MA3-STRO, R6-D6 turns out to be an unusually cruel, if gifted, astrodroid. Immediately after powering down MA3-STRO, he attaches the droids head to a power supply and powers it back on, so he can witness the masterpiece of destruction that his body is about to experience.

A short time later, Inigo found the workshop just in time MA3-STRO’s completely disassembled body, catching R6-D6 is his excessive act. The droid is obviously upset that he was caught and set about rebuilding MA3-STRO’s body, however, he add a Thermal Detonator, as per Durga’s wishes…so that MA3-STRO will think twice about leaving his home again. The implant procedure was so complex, Inigo determined that any attempt to remove the detonator would be highly dangerous and incredibly difficult.

Back in Durga’s private room at the Fat Bastard, Durga is talking to August and insisting that the group owed him 50,000 credits in compensation for Erma’s death. August tried to negotiate a better price, but he was no match for the Hutt. On the up side – if you can call it that – Durga said he would smooth things over with Gil Tarr, if August and the others would work for him. He generously insisted that they take MA3-STRO, the potentially exploding protocol droid, with them as a translator…and someone who can keep an eye on his new employees…

Now with MA3-STRO back, Durga takes him to the side and fills him in on the current situation at hand for the Hutt. He lets him know that he is now back with his family, but as a precaution, he has placed an explosive in him, “just in case.” He also provides some insight that he needs money and he needs it fast. He has financed the Circus Horrificus and with that, most of his funds have been depleted. However, he knows that he can get his finances back in accord now that he has the missing data chip back in his position and that he is going to utilize the crew and MA3-STRO to get much of his wealth back.

Other activities at the bar included August getting groped by a Rodian chick who was attracted to the scent left behind by Derpa on the clothes that August appropriated. Later on he was peed on by a giant toad-like creature that Durga keeps as a pet.

After much convincing by the Ringmaster, LU-B3 agreed to one performance in the Circus Horrificus for 1500 credits, which turned out to be a gladiatorial arena in which he was expected to fight a huge Arqet, a bull-like creature with large horns and a scaly protective hide.

However, the beast had different ideas; it immediately charged towards LU-B3, but instead of crushing him and trampling him, the Arqet runs past B3, and leaps up into the stands and begins crushing the spectators and causing riot-like conditions in the arena.

While B3 ran to pick up a vibroaxe, the Arqet continued its trail of destruction, leaving a dozen dead spectators behind it as it flailed its way through the crowd and finally disappeared through a huge ventilation duct. In the chaos, the Ringleader worked his way in the opposite direction, trying to make his way back through an unfamiliar city back to the landing docks to make his escape on his ship The Menagerie, the same ship that almost collided with the Crone when it was attempting to land.

Durga quickly assembled the group and pleaded with them to follow the Arqet into the ventilation tunnels and put it down and then come back and track down the Ringmaster, whom he wanted back alive. As incentive, he offered to forgive half of the group’s debt over Erma.

The group accepted the deal, and as the party headed toward the tunnels, Durga stopped them and said “You non-mechanicals may want these.” He offered them respirator masks. Bigby already had his own; August and Inigo accepted Durga’s offer.

After a few hours spent working their way deeper into the ventilation tunnels tracking the elusive to the best of their meager abilities, the party began to think the respirator masks were a good idea when they detected the strong odor of caustic fumes. The group had come across a flock of vynocks – acid-spewing, metal-eating bat creatures. The vynocks were busily feeding on the grate over a huge, deactivated exhaust fan, but many of them quickly turned their attention to B3.

B3 was swarmed by vynocks intent on dissolving and eating his tangy metal skin. MA3-STRO braved the swarm to make his way to a control panel on a wall near the deactivated fan. Through a wireless link that let him see what the protocol droid saw, Inigo attempted to access the panel and activate the fan, but the vynocks kept MA3STRO too busy to accomplish the task.

Demonstrating more nerve than most protocol droids possess (sorry, but it’s true), MA3-STRO fell back from the panel, hoping the vynocks would continue attacking him and leave the panel clear for Inigo to access. The vynocks didn’t follow right away, but Bigby and August were able to blast enough of them to clear a path for Inigo.

Inigo activated the huge exhaust fan, and everything that wasn’t attached to the floor – i.e., all of the vynocks – were sucked into the spinning blades. Unfortunately, B3 and Inigo were nearly sucked in as well. B3 managed to keep his feet, but if Inigo hadn’t grabbed the fan’s grating, he’d have joined the vynocks in the nastiest smoothie imaginable.

B3 and Bigby rushed forward to grab Inigo and keep him from slipping into the fan. August ran to the panel and managed to shut down the exhaust fan. The close call was ended, but not without some cost to our heroes’ hides.

And the Arqet was still somewhere in the tunnels….

Edited by Cool Manchu
Posted at

Good stuff, my man!

Did you see the other thread about using campaign management tools online?

Instead of just posting here on the thread, you should make a campaign blog.

I have been using Obsidian Portal, have you heard of it? https://theedge.obsidianportal.com

Edited by opsnafu