I've just gotten through reading the Beyond the Rim book and will start running the adventure for my group in two weeks. Right now my party consists of a Duros pilot, a twilik outlaw tech (with cybernetic eye and leku), a droid big-game hunter, a bounty hunter, and a new player who has not made his character just yet.

In the current story the party just completed the operation given to them by Bargos the Hutt but they neglected to mention that they stole some droids and 65k from the mining operation after giving Bargos his 100k. The mining foreman will be the one to inform Bargos of the theft as he personally witnessed the PCs take the droids and knows that the 165 was in the safe.

The PCs may try to pin the theft on EVE, but it's possible that Bargos may see through their deception and demand the return of his money or threaten them with putting a massive bounty on their head.

I'm thinking of opening the adventure up with this conversation, done via holographs. This will hopefully make Roem's communication regarding a business transaction seem a little more inviting.

Does anyone have any other suggestions how I can really put some extra meat and detail into this adventure? I want it to be very cinematic and exciting, but also very fluid so that the PCs don't feel like they are being railroaded. I don't know how they will deal with the Yvar clan, or the Imperials. I'm hoping that they work with Roem the majority of the adventure and end up being invited as partners of IsoTech. But I'm definitely going to let the PCs forge their own destiny.

Spoilers:

In BtR, one of the major plot points is an Arcanian that has a great deal of knowledge about cybernetics. You have a Twi'Lek with a number of Cybernetics; perhaps you could start there.

Spoilers:

In BtR, one of the major plot points is an Arcanian that has a great deal of knowledge about cybernetics. You have a Twi'Lek with a number of Cybernetics; perhaps you could start there.

This had crossed my mind. I imagine that when they do find Cratala that she will have an interest in the Twi'lek PC and possibly try to improve upon the design. She might even help her access the Cybernetics skill.

I was wondering if that character has explained where they got their cybernetics implants from?

Would it be too railroady for them to discover its imperial in origin and they're using that to gather intelligence on whats going on?

Imagine Cratala discovering that and telling them once they return to the Wheel the Imperial Operatives there will just download what they've gathered unknowingly....

Considering Bargos is near broke, the threat of bounties isn't that big.

I am currently Running the adventure, I modified one of the main encounters that totaly changed the tempo of the adventure into something more dangerous and exciting.

Some nifty ideas. I was trying to decide if Bargos would be the type who would go into further debt by putting a huge bounty on the PCs head just for the sake of getting his revenge. But having someone who would be more threatening get involved (such as the Hutt that Bargos owes money to) might be more the way to go.

If you're interested in giving players some downtime on the wheel (I.e. They are lazy like my old group's players and refuse to do any sort of meaningful investigation), the old marvel books that actually have the wheel inspired me to include a fighting tournament. One of my players entered and the others all gambled on it. I used this to introduce several new contacts and gain a bit fame (or infamy.) one player went so far as to rig the championship fight. (He's lucky he made his roles.)

If you're interested in giving players some downtime on the wheel (I.e. They are lazy like my old group's players and refuse to do any sort of meaningful investigation), the old marvel books that actually have the wheel inspired me to include a fighting tournament. One of my players entered and the others all gambled on it. I used this to introduce several new contacts and gain a bit fame (or infamy.) one player went so far as to rig the championship fight. (He's lucky he made his roles.)

That's awesome!

Reminds me of the time my crime syndicate guild in Star Wars Galaxies set up a rigged "Fight Night" competition in the cantina in Mos Eisley where we fixed the fights.

Question about long distance communication in the game. If I want Bargos, or any NPC for that matter, to contact the PCs but he has no idea where they are in the galaxy, what is the best way to manage this? I see holographic communication from ship to ship or ship to planet in the movies and shows used quite frequently, but I wanted to see what the limitations of that kind of communication is.

Depends on where they are.

For the outer rim, especially during the time of rebellion. I don't think two way communication exists outside of a planetary system without the Imperials knowing. Unless someone has found a way to hack into the Holonet. Usually there needs to be a messenger to deliver a message with a notification on receipt sent to the sender. or there could be a Trusted Lieutenant making the deals away from the boss

Depends on where they are.

For the outer rim, especially during the time of rebellion. I don't think two way communication exists outside of a planetary system without the Imperials knowing. Unless someone has found a way to hack into the Holonet. Usually there needs to be a messenger to deliver a message with a notification on receipt sent to the sender. or there could be a Trusted Lieutenant making the deals away from the boss

Now can a one way message be transmitted to a ship matching the right info if it enters the orbit of a planet that is detecting for it?

Now can a one way message be transmitted to a ship matching the right info if it enters the orbit of a planet that is detecting for it?

Most certainly. Why wouldn't it?

Now can a one way message be transmitted to a ship matching the right info if it enters the orbit of a planet that is detecting for it?

Most certainly. Why wouldn't it?

Just verifying. Star Wars tech always seems like it's vastly superior in some areas, but has a lot of limitations.

"The holomessage flickers for a moment, then resolves into the image of Bragos. It's not possible to reach through a holorecording and strangle someone, but Bragos looks mad enough to try it. 'Ah...there you are...' his voice rumbles. 'I wondered where you went. I also wondered where 65,000 of MY credits went, until the foreman was nice enough to tell me. Normally, I would have every bounty hunter this side of the Hydian Way after you, but you got me the 100,000 credits I sent you for, so I am going to do you a favor. Im offering you a choice. Never let it be said that Bragos was anything but generous. Your first choice...return my 65k, with interest, and I let you keep your lives. How much interest...oh...lets say your ship. Two, I send those bounty hunters after you with orders to return your hides and your ship to me. Third...' Bragos leans closer. 'You do a job for me. Its a job that could make you a little money, and make me enough credits to forget your....borrowing...of my money.' Bragos leans back. 'Of course, if you would rather spend the rest of your miserable and soon-to-be-shorter lives on the run....' his voice trails off and a smirk crosses his face. 'If you want the job, be at the following location in 3 days [or however long in your campaign] and talk to a Twi'lek named Reom. If I get a message from him before that time is up, I'll know that you have taken the job. If I don't hear from him, or you, by that time....well....' His voice trails off as the holomessage dissolves into static, and then flicks off."

The PC's can take their chances, but the implied threat may make them decide to go with the job offer. Theres a clock that they have to 'beat', otherwise the PCs are going to have a whole bunch of 'Hunters after them. As far as Bragos being broke...the PC's may not know that. And besides...its your game. Bragos can be as broke or as rich as you want him to be.

"The holomessage flickers for a moment, then resolves into the image of Bragos. It's not possible to reach through a holorecording and strangle someone, but Bragos looks mad enough to try it. 'Ah...there you are...' his voice rumbles. 'I wondered where you went. I also wondered where 65,000 of MY credits went, until the foreman was nice enough to tell me. Normally, I would have every bounty hunter this side of the Hydian Way after you, but you got me the 100,000 credits I sent you for, so I am going to do you a favor. Im offering you a choice. Never let it be said that Bragos was anything but generous. Your first choice...return my 65k, with interest, and I let you keep your lives. How much interest...oh...lets say your ship. Two, I send those bounty hunters after you with orders to return your hides and your ship to me. Third...' Bragos leans closer. 'You do a job for me. Its a job that could make you a little money, and make me enough credits to forget your....borrowing...of my money.' Bragos leans back. 'Of course, if you would rather spend the rest of your miserable and soon-to-be-shorter lives on the run....' his voice trails off and a smirk crosses his face. 'If you want the job, be at the following location in 3 days [or however long in your campaign] and talk to a Twi'lek named Reom. If I get a message from him before that time is up, I'll know that you have taken the job. If I don't hear from him, or you, by that time....well....' His voice trails off as the holomessage dissolves into static, and then flicks off."

The PC's can take their chances, but the implied threat may make them decide to go with the job offer. Theres a clock that they have to 'beat', otherwise the PCs are going to have a whole bunch of 'Hunters after them. As far as Bragos being broke...the PC's may not know that. And besides...its your game. Bragos can be as broke or as rich as you want him to be.

Come GM for me...

The PC's can take their chances, but the implied threat may make them decide to go with the job offer. Theres a clock that they have to 'beat', otherwise the PCs are going to have a whole bunch of 'Hunters after them. As far as Bragos being broke...the PC's may not know that. And besides...its your game. Bragos can be as broke or as rich as you want him to be.

Heh... heh.

My group would have taken the unstated choice: Hunt Bragos down and do unto him first.

Of course this is the group that turned the Beginner Mission on it's head, light it on fire, and stole all it's credits (we got the Port Security droids and the Imperial to fight (temporarily), got a pair of Droids to crash the Imperial's Lambada shuttle into Teemo's palace, and hired the Bounty Hunter to fly us to our destination - though we did eventually have to kill him too...)

EDIT: Yes, we were a marauding bunch of idiots. Of course I blame the rest of the party for listening to me all the time...

Question about long distance communication in the game. If I want Bargos, or any NPC for that matter, to contact the PCs but he has no idea where they are in the galaxy, what is the best way to manage this? I see holographic communication from ship to ship or ship to planet in the movies and shows used quite frequently, but I wanted to see what the limitations of that kind of communication is.

Basically, it works however you want it to work for your story.

As I have read it in the books, the direct personal use of the Holonet is actually quite a rare thing — only Jedi and top level military commanders have done it, and presumably also top members of the banking clan, etc.... Think using video phone style communications back in the 60s and 70s. This doesn’t have to be encrypted, either.

But certainly well-financed and well-connected people can also use it, and a Hutt would certainly qualify. They might even be well-connected and/or well-financed enough to be able to send secured communications through the Holonet. Moreover, they might have people working for them who are top slicers and who can rig up an encrypted holographic one-way dropbox communication method that piggy backs on the "Be On the LookOut" system employed across much of the galaxy by the Empire. So, as soon as they pop up in most any populated system, they get detected and then the message gets transmitted directly to them.

Or maybe it’s just the Holonet equivalent of an e-mail message that is left for them whenever they decide to check it.

Either way, the most important thing is your narrative and how you need the system to work.

Just verifying. Star Wars tech always seems like it's vastly superior in some areas, but has a lot of limitations.

A lot of the underlying concepts are based on old technology, just spiffed up a bit. Like, the star fighter combat is based on WW-II era dogfighting.

Much computers and communications are based on what was common at the time the original movies were being made, so the Holonet equivalent of CNN or ESPN is absolutely appropriate. The Holonet equivalent of Pravda would also be appropriate. Realtime video communications for the top echelon of the elite caste would be appropriate. Small hand-held short range audio communication devices would be appropriate.

That should give you some idea of the flavor.

"The holomessage flickers for a moment, then resolves into the image of Bragos. It's not possible to reach through a holorecording and strangle someone, but Bragos looks mad enough to try it. 'Ah...there you are...' his voice rumbles. 'I wondered where you went. I also wondered where 65,000 of MY credits went, until the foreman was nice enough to tell me. Normally, I would have every bounty hunter this side of the Hydian Way after you, but you got me the 100,000 credits I sent you for, so I am going to do you a favor. Im offering you a choice. Never let it be said that Bragos was anything but generous. Your first choice...return my 65k, with interest, and I let you keep your lives. How much interest...oh...lets say your ship. Two, I send those bounty hunters after you with orders to return your hides and your ship to me. Third...' Bragos leans closer. 'You do a job for me. Its a job that could make you a little money, and make me enough credits to forget your....borrowing...of my money.' Bragos leans back. 'Of course, if you would rather spend the rest of your miserable and soon-to-be-shorter lives on the run....' his voice trails off and a smirk crosses his face. 'If you want the job, be at the following location in 3 days [or however long in your campaign] and talk to a Twi'lek named Reom. If I get a message from him before that time is up, I'll know that you have taken the job. If I don't hear from him, or you, by that time....well....' His voice trails off as the holomessage dissolves into static, and then flicks off."

The PC's can take their chances, but the implied threat may make them decide to go with the job offer. Theres a clock that they have to 'beat', otherwise the PCs are going to have a whole bunch of 'Hunters after them. As far as Bragos being broke...the PC's may not know that. And besides...its your game. Bragos can be as broke or as rich as you want him to be.

Come GM for me...

Much as I'd like to run a game, I'm stuck in Phoenix. In a gaming desert, for the most part.

I don't know if this will be any great help to you, but here is part one of the adventure from of the players point of view. In my Obsidian Portal, you can find a lot of extra fluff and info about the Wheel and other stuff. Take a look, and use any of it that you want to.

Adventure recap: Tomorrow sometimes dies.

The Wheel: a sparkling hub of commerce in the Mid-Rim’s gateway to the Outer Rim. Here, the Lucky Shot arrives for their per-arranged meeting with Reom, the Twi’lek President of IsoTech. Mr. Reom has a proposition: a Confederacy of Independent Systems frigate of legend, the Sa Nalor, has been found upon a distant world, thanks to a antiquated signal pod salvaged near the Wheel. The Group is tasked with finding the ship, assessing its condition, and investigating the circumstances of its disappearance. Additionally, any money, treasure, or technology found would be split 50/50, which would go a long way in repaying their debt to Xol Nemnim.

The crew of the Lucky Shot sets out to equip themselves for adverse planetary exploration and gathering information on the mysterious planet of Cholganna while they wait for both the sensor pod to be prepared for examination, as well as the arrival of IT-3P0. IT3 was the personal droid of Captain Harsol of the Sal Nalor, and will both act as a aid and a representative for Reom. The crew spreads out: some buy the essentials, others gather street talk and rumors (or buys a rug).

A busy afternoon on the Wheel is shattered by an attack on the Isotech’s offices, sparking a series of violent engagements across the station. Reom has been attacked by the YiYar Clan, a predominately Rodian salvaging group gunning for the Sa Nalor and chief enemies of Isotech. Realizing the threat to both the signal pod and the inbound IT-3P0. Locking the ship after barely unloading their survival gear, Max, Mark, Miles, and Arc run to the signal pod before any Rodian interference can occur. The pod is unmolested, so Arc begins pulling the antique data read-outs from the pod while the others stand watch.

Things might have gone smoothly if a disturbance in the Force caught Miles’ interest. Investigating a strange sense of unease and fear nearby and expecting a potential YiYar ambush, Miles investigated with Markus in tow. Their investigation (which lacked a certain amount of finesse) revealed a sudden act of violence. A elderly Duro and his Weequay accomplice at that moment gunned down a Kel-Dor carrying a case, sparking a firefight as the startled and outraged Miles perceived an innocent being being murdered in cold blood.

However, Markus recognized the Duro for a legend in the Bounty Hunting community from decades ago: the Infamous Cad Bane, killing what was likely a Force-User of some kind. While the Kel-Dor’s life ended in Miles’ arms, his timely use of the Force to send Cad Bane’s jetboots careening down the station’s corridors allowed the crew to finish ripping the pod data and escaping. The Kel-Dor expired after sharing a few words of hope to Miles, and disengaging the wrist lock on the case for Miles to take.

By the time the crew returned to the ship, they had almost no time before Reom’s sister, who brought IT3 to the Wheel, alerted them suddenly to the droid’s theft. Springing into action once again, the crew did not have to go far to find a group of mercenaries attempting to abscond with the droid. The firefight was brutal, as the mercenaries had inclined to bring considerable firepower. Yet, in-spite of grave injuries, the group mauled the mercenaries enough for only one to escape, returning the IT3 to the Lucky Shot. Not inclined to remain for the Wheel’s security forces, the Lucky Shot blasted off from the station, awkwardly banging off an incoming freighter, and making a exceptionally well calculated hyperspace jump towards the resting place of the Sa Nalor.

I had one of my players obligation came up before the adventure. Really served as a nice easy hook to get the players involved. The Twi'lek PC used to be a slave to the Hutts, escaped, then during a raid got recaptured by another hutt who serves the primary hutt. he escaped again, then got involved with another hutt (Teemo) but was able to make Teemo a fool. But this Allowed me to bring in a primary crony of the Primary hutt (Hulgalu), a nasty cyber enhanced Cathar known only as "Fang". An underworld contact got word from Fang/Hulgalu that they were looking for a Twi'lek with face tatoos (the player had slavers tatoos on his face that he was able to add more tatoo's to not appear as a slavers mark.). It allowed me to also easily add in a new player.

This is what I wrote up and used for my game:

The players failed a deception check and mentioned the treasure to Reom... so now they got TWO parties.. at least... wanting the treasure.... oh.. what an even GM i am heh heh heh

There's always gaming on Google+ and Roll20. I was skeptical until I gave it a try. I live in an RPG-active area, BUT everyone here plays Pathfinder, so it's pretty much a gaming desert for anything else. Online "tabletop" gaming has been a godsend.

So we ran the first session. I went with @LugWrench 's opening message from Bargos because I loved it so much. Of course the general outlook of my players is "Eh...screw that Hutt. What's he going to do?". Luckily the Twi'lik technician in the group got a little excited when she heard the job would be for IsoTech, so they ended up flying to the Wheel to at least see what the job was about. I played Roem as likable as possible. His intent was to not be the middle man between Bargos and the players, but possibly get them out of their jam and still let them profit. The players kept asking what Bargos is going to get out of it, but Roem kept to himself that Bargos's debt was accumulated from funding Isotech for several years. So far there hasn't been any cybertech that has been able to mesh with Bargos' unique biology to replace the missing eye and missing piece of his brain. Roem and Bargos hope that the technology scavanged from the Sa Nalour will do the trick, but that's Bargo's personal business. The PCs just need to know that Bargos will be happy if the Sa Nalour is found and the technology secured.

When the PCs first got to the wheel, the Twi'lek technician decided to use her cybernetic brain to connect with a Master-Com terminal. Master-Com politely welcomed her to the station and gave her the local Emperial-standard time. The technician turned to an associate and asked if she should try to hack the thing. Master-com surprised her by saying "Please don't do that. I'd hate to have to have you incarcerated." I think her exact words following that were "#$%^ it's an A.I.!". She disconnected and Master-Com politely chirped "Thank you for not hacking me. Have a good day."

After their meeting with Roem the party split up. The technician stayed behind with Roem for a bit to chat tech stuff, the Duros pilot went to the casino to cheat at Sabac, and the Droid Big Game Hunter went to a supply shop to prepare himself for nabbing a Nexu while on Cholganna. It was all pretty uneventful. The Pilot bet and lost 8 credits at Sabacc and went back to his ship. The technician tried to charm Roem's pants off (Did I mention the technician is played by my wife?) only to have him take a rain-check on that so they could focus on the business at hand. The Big Game Hunter went to the Farlander's emporium to buy some electric perimeters and some creature crates. He got the crates on sale because "... this one was used to transport Monkey Lizards, so I don't think that smell is ever coming out".

The Imperials tried to get the tracking device on the PCs ship, but failed when the Pilot turned the mechanic droid away. Later Shira contacted the PCs to inform them that she was bringing in the protocol droid for the mission. When she failed to show the Pilot opened the doors to the hanger, noticed the downed guards and announced "I close the doors".

After the technician failed to reach Roem, she talked everyone into heading out into the main corridor. They watched as the droid was taken by Yiv and his gang, and they fled off onto a repulsor sled down the hall towards their own hanger. The pilot and the big game hunter took off with another sled while the technician decided to try and hack Master Com after all.

Surprisingly she was successful (even masking her attempt with a triumph roll), even after I upgraded the difficulty dice. She attempted to close some corridor doors on the Rodians, but was booted out of the system by Master-Com, only succeeding in partially closing the doors on her friends who were pursuing the Rodians.

The Big Game Hunter ended up getting a shot at Yiv and hit him in the shoulder for 10 damage. Yiv crashed the sled, and the 4 of them ran off into the crowd. Meanwhile Master-Com was busy alerting security, and the technician tried to hack him again, succeeding for the second time and getting another triumph to boot. She managed to deactivate the security alarm and rewrite Master-Com's memory of the event.

The Party claimed the protocol droid, got into their ship, and punched in the coordinates for a straight jump to Cholganna that they had gotten from the pod earlier. No one noticed the tracking beacon that was placed on their ship during the chase in the corridors.

When they came out of hyperspace (due to a threat rolled) their systems sparked and flashed, and their scanners went cold as they entered the nebula.

Chapter 2 begins next week.

Glad I could be of service, Shawnacy. Now comes the fun part...creeping through a jungle full of carnivorous critters. For added ambiance, the right music or soundtrack can help. Has everyone in your group seen the original 'Predator' movie? About the first 50 seconds of this tune...kind of low...should get the group nice and on edge.

After that, spook em with something small.