Hey Guys,

My group has just finished long arm of the hutt (and someone lost an arm in the process ). However now I am unsure how to proceed. The players have gotten 55 xp in total over the course of doing these adventures.

At the moment there are 2 likely options for them, they will have to do favors to Jabba or they can choose to head back to Ryloth and do a new job for Nyn. If they work for Jabba, I will send them to Baros the Hutt on a "debt collection" and run the GM kit adventure with them. If they head back to Ryloth, they will get the option of expanding the influence of Nyn and her operations by taking over someones else Ryll mine.

For the first option i could probably get away with running the GM kit adventure and add a skill level or stat point here and there.

The second option actually got me thinking what would be better. Should I create my own minions and rivals based on the xp players have or should I grab things from the back of the book and modify it? Its a shame there is no xp level noted or anything with all the creatures!

How do you guys handle this?

I've always found running original material to be more satisfying and easier to modify in the heat of the moment. For XP levels, it's true that this game doesn't really use Challenge Ratings or anything, so it can be hard to gauge how to challenge your players.

I would say that, in general, minions should always have noticeably less XP than the players, as they're only supposed to be really dangerous in groups. If you want to really do the work, level up the minions so they match the players in groups of four or more, but really just using the base stats should be fine. If your players are still mowing them down, increase their numbers.

Nemeses are supposed to have XP equivalent to the group, if not a few sessions' worth more, so a Rival probably ought to have XP equivalent to the players, and maybe just 10 or so less. Rivals are supposed to be more or less on equal footing with the PCs, but still only really dangerous if they have a Minion group at their backs.

It's a tough balancing act, but all it takes is practice.

Take what's in the book and tweak it to fit your exact requirements. There's no XP level listed because the game doesn't work like that. The listed NPCs are statted based on what they are expected to do in a typical encounter that features them, not based on some D20 style challenge rating based on the players.

Good news though is the core book covers a lot of ground so if the NPC you need isnt there's, odds are there's something so close all you need to change is a skill or two and their gear.

Do both until you feel ready to have more of your own created minions.

What obligations do they have?

That might help you with planning future adventures and never forget to ask them what they'd like their characters to be doing... after all that will give you a goal and potential new npcs' for them to interact and fight...

With only 55xp under your characters' belts, you'll probably be cool just running adventures like the GM Kit story as written.

If they kill a minion group too quickly, you can always bring in another identical group as reinforcements. "Another group of 3 thugs arrives through a side door!"

Yeah, I think i'll use the stuff from the books as templates and if things are going to well I can tweak stuff if needed. Thanks for the feedback. Group is thorougly enjoying themselves and I'm having a lot of fun as well