Hi All,
I've been a GM for many years. I'm one of those omni GM's whose interested in the good story and good tactical encounters. I have all the (not beta) books (so far), both GM screens, 4 sets of dice, the EotE beginners box set, and several hundred minis, most of which I got for Saga edition games. But the most recent batch (I ordered 80-ish minis from Troll and toad last week Thursday October 16) was for FFG, and the previous batch (in 2012, probably 50 or 60 or so minis in that batch) was for an RCR game in which I was a player (I try to get appropriate minis for the characters in the game).
I've run 3 sessions of the EotE beginners game to introduce my players to the system. I'm going to have 6 players, 5 regulars (nominally committed to show up biweekly) plus one player who can make it about once per month. The campaign starts this Saturday Oct 25.
The sixth PC is a fixer for a Hutt. When the Hutt has a job that needs doing, she gets it done by hiring the appropriate free lancers (i.e. the other 5 PCs) and supervising/participating on that mission. When that player can't make it the PC's take other free lance jobs. Primarily bounty hunting, but anything that pays.
PC's started with 10 obligation so they could take up to 10 more. After character creation, they could advance their characters by another 150 xp, and had 900 credits to do what they wanted with and I picked out some "signature gear" (with value less than 10,000 credits) that fit their character concepts.
Here's a rundown of those 5 PCs (I helped the first 3 make their characters)
Thad (Thadius) Bane (name is tentative). Duros colonist:Marshal/sharpshooter (anything in the non beta books but force users is fair game). Nephew of Cad Bane. They come from a long line of law abiding and enforcing duros lawmen (mostly goody goody types); Cad was the black sheep of the family in that he decided to become a bounty hunter rather than a marshal. While pursuing a bounty Cad accidentally killed an innocent bystander, and his brother (father of Thadius) tried to take him in to face justice. The was a western style quick draw showdown, Thad's father was faster but missed and his brother (Cad Bane) shot him dead. Young Thadius watched his father die. Thad grew up to be a goody goody Marshal, like his father, mostly. But since they day his father died he's been preparing himself to take in his uncle, dead or alive, preferably dead. If his uncle didn't resist Thad would take him in alive, but Thad is hoping that uncle Cad will resist. Thad is a lighting fast gunslinger (agility 3, Ranged light 4, presence 2, cool 3, quick draw) like his father (from the marshal spec), but he's been honing his accuracy (sharpshooter) so that when he does shoot first, he also shoots last. About 5 years back, Thad knew he had plateaued... he wasn't going to get any better as a marshal, he needed tougher opponents to challenge himself, and hone his skills for the day he draws down on his uncle. So Thad became a bounty hunter like the uncle he plans to take down. Thad has marketing strategy, be flashy (e.g. cool ship, Kamperdine armored jacket, equalizer blaster pistol), be great, build a reputation as a bad ass (in this regard it helps to be Cad Bane's nephew) and the tough, and therefore also high paying, jobs will come to him.
Human explorer:fringer/recruit (player hasn't told me the character's name yet), a bit of a generalist/survivalist with a focus on ranged heavy: agility 3, ranged heavy 3, superior blaster carbine on a weapon sling hanging under his right arm, ready to use, hidden by an all temperature cloak, armored clothing. Because of recruit he has all 5 combat skills as class skills, he has both pilot space, and pilot ground as class skills. Childhood friend of Thad Bane, came along to help his friend take down his uncle, after all even a legendary gunslinger needs a friend to help watch his six, and it pays well enough that he can send money to his family back at the homestead.
M4-RK: Droid technician:mechanic/doctor. Brawn 2, agility 2, Int 4, cunning 2, willpower 1, presence 2. defintely does not focus on killing things but he's no slouch in a fight either, 4 ranks in medicine, 3 in mechanics, 2 in brawl, the pressure point talent and bad motivator (M4-RK is incredibly lucky, or perceptive about when an adversaries gear is about to fail and the pressure point or two and they're unconscious). Built in mountaineer's armor (which helps him get to hard to reach places), a back pack holding a tool kit, utility belt, med pac (full not emergency) cyberscanner limb, cybernetic eyes. Ion blaster (because pressure point doesn't work on other droids), hold out blaster, and a datapad. He keeps the ship/gear and his teams up and running.
human enforcer (haven't seen the build yet but I'd guess Brawn 4, Agility 3, willpower 3, and 2's in the other attributes), described as a cyberpunk style street samurai THUG (and proud of it). Signature gear is a cybernetic arm that boots brawn (from 4 to 5). has a vibrosword (looks like a Katana) and I don't know what other gear. As a teenager he was busted by Marshal Thadius and sent to Ju-V, which straightened him out... sort of. He found a career (bounty hunter) where it was appropriate for him to indulge his violent tendencies. But paying for the collateral damage has made it hard to turn a profit so his and his partner's (J-8's) ship (a jumpmaster) was repo'd (or will be in the first session, which will knock down the party's debt obligation by 15 or so points). And just when things were looking hopeless he ran into good ol' Thadius Bane, who let him and his J-8 tag along and learn how to make a profit at bounty hunting (and keep them from turning to a life of crime).
J-8, droid bounty hunter:gadgeteer. Brawn 2, Agility 4, Int 2, cunning 1, Will power 3, presence 1: a rebuilt and mostly reprogrammed HK-50. implant armor, jet pack, ranged light expert (3 yellow, 1 green). An obsession to found out about his past (and a bit in dept because of his expensive gear, which gets wiped out when his and his cyborg partner's ship gets repo'd)
So the first session is going to merge the two parties into a single party, and give them a new dangerous bounty to bring in together. The fixer (human female scoundrel in debt to the hutt she's working for to pay off the debt) was betrayed by someone she trusted who was using her to get close to the hutt she works for so he could steal something important to the hutt. The hutt tells her it's your choice: him, or her and him, but the hutt being the forgiving sort he is will give her the first chance to take care of the problem before he hands it off to another employee (one who has been gunning for her job).
So the question is, what did this guy steal from the hutt that really pissed the hutt off, and what should the adventure look like?
I imagine the duros and friends are meeting with the fixer in a cantina, when in walks the pissed off (because their ship go repo'd) human cyber samurai and droid companion. Duros tells the fixer to hand on for a moment, gets up talks to kid he busted in hushed tone's and the three of them comes back to the table.
There's going to be a game of sabaac where the duros is playing for information rather than money, someone (NPC) is caught cheating and draws a blaster pistol, duros quick draws and shoots him dead saving the contact, and gets the info he needs, (he also wins the sabaac pot, gonna wait for the NPC to get caught cheating until the duros rolls a triumph at sabaac)
The information broker, tells them about an associate of the bounty. they apprehend the associate, and he duros marhsal (bad cop) and human enforcer collaborate on the interrogation.
I think I'll steer clear of a space battle for the first session and I want to finish in the the factory map from shadows of a black sun. I'm thinking that M4-RK will disarm a bomb during the factory combat.
So I need help giving each of the PC's their moment to shine, I've got it worked out for the duros (sabaac and show down), enforcer, M4-RK and fixer more or less (although extra shine advice for them would be appreciated too), but how do I give the fringer, and droid gadgeteer their chance to shine in this adventure?
The session will last about 5 hours and I want the adventure wrapped up at the end of it, because the fixer's player won't be back for the next session.
So can you guys/gals help me with the story outline?
Thanks.