Hi all,

my gaming group will soon travelling from Formos to Kessel, pretending to be bounty hunters bringing Bandin Dobah there in a scheme to get access to the facilities in order to free a prisoner who has secret information on a lost Sith artifact. They will be there just when Rogue Squadron attacks in order to free Wedge Antilles (occurring in the ROgue Squadron game). I hope they'll literally have a blast!

Since the Kessel Run isn't quite your average trip, I am thinking of making the trip several legs, each requiring distinct checks in order to get there in one piece. I cannot find any info on the details of the Kessel Run, though, so what special features and challenges could the Run's legs feature? Should the number and difficulty of the legs be dependent on an initial Astrogation check? And how can I involve more than just the pilot and the navigator in those checks?

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Since the Kessel Run isn't quite your average trip, I am thinking of making the trip several legs, each requiring distinct checks in order to get there in one piece. I cannot find any info on the details of the Kessel Run, though, so what special features and challenges could the Run's legs feature? Should the number and difficulty of the legs be dependent on an initial Astrogation check? And how can I involve more than just the pilot and the navigator in those checks?

I'm a little fuzzy on what you've proposed.

What's the point of a series of checks? Wouldn't a series of encounters make more sense? Or do they know the Rogue Squadron raid is coming and are planning to use it as cover, and thus need to make it to kessel at roughly the same time as the raid? If they flub the rolls and get there too late what happens?

Occasionally I will slip and make a task more rolls than it should be - but generally I am not a fan of this level of micro-management, this "You want to defuse a bomb? Roll to cut the blue wire. Okay, now roll to cut the red wire. Now roll to cut the yellow wire. Good, now roll to unscrew the top left casing screw. And roll to unscrew the bottom left casing screw. . . . "

Roll once for the run, pick a (probably pretty difficult) number, throw some blacks at it and call it a day. Get on with the story, not the rolling.

The multi-roll thing is the old way of doing things.

In other system it's not that huge of a deal, as the average difficulty doesn't change a whole lot if you've got sufficient skill/rolls/pools/ect. In this one, it can cause more problems. While the "Difficuty" won't change, that third access does meant that each roll is more likely to cause another effect through Threat and Despair...

I agree, but there's always a "butt".

What if you want to get multiple people involved diffusing that bomb since your encounter has nothing left for them to do? Ignoring how that may be poor prior planning, there may be a reason for several rolls to diffuse said bomb (using the current example). Let's say you have Scout Zack (highest Perception in party), Engineer Mike (high Mechanic skill), and a Smuggler Joe (high Cool, high Agility):

Zack uses Perception and some Macrobinoculars to determine what the strange new device lying under their transport is. "Yep that object appears to be some sort of electronic device on top of a pile of detonite....and its counting down.."

Mike uses Mechanic to determine the proper sequence to disable it. "Hey Joe it looks like you need to cut the blue wire, then the red wire, then press the white button on the timer, all while humming 'For Whom the Klaxon Tolls' <grins at Joe>."

Joe uses Cool + Agility to calmly disable the device with a big grin while one-handed (suffering an upgrade) since his left hand is occupied the entire time flipping Mike the Bird.

Extra die rolls aren't always a story slower if everyone can get inolved.

Well, what I was thinking of was indeed some sort of encounters or, alternatively, something along the lines of the race in "Jewel of Yavin". It's supposed to emphasise that the Kessel Run isn't exactly your average hyperspace trip. I'd like to add more scenery and Star Wars feeling to it than just having them make a successful Astronavigation check and simply arriving in Kessel. I'd like to add a sense of achievement for the players and memorably situations when they (and their characters) first make the Kessel run.

I was thinking about something like the following 4 legs:

1) Let them calculate the first leg of the journey through Hyperspace up to the maw as usual.

2) Then, they'd have to go through realspace around the Maw, describing one of the Wonders fo the Galaxy and perhaps encountering ruined ships, or pirates, or difficult "terrain", or...?

3) Next, they'd have to go through the Pit asteroid field, making additional actions necessary to get to Kessel.

4) The final stage would be the Imperial Forces aroudn Kessel. How could that scene be handled?

Do you think these "legs" or scenes are valid? What could happen in them and how could I handle the scenes in game mechanics while trying to involve as many players/characters as possible?

(I have a Bounty Hunter, a Smuggler, an Archaeologist, a Mechanic, and a Heavy in the group, plus an NPC astromech droid)

How would, for example, getting through the imperials down to Kessel have to be played out, assuming the characters have a licensed bounty hunter aboard as well as his bounty?

How would the other scenes have to be played out?

I grew up with the Star Wars movies but I don't know much more about Star Wars than what was in the Trilogy ( ), and since I'm also just beginning to GM EotE, I'm a little at a loss as how to create a memorable Star Wars feeling for the players. Any ideas are much appreciated.

I've been thinking about this recently, as I reread A.C. Crispin's Han Solo trilogy not long ago. In those novels, the Kessel Run consists of two parts.

First comes the Maw, a region dense in black holes. Passing this could require both Astrogation and Piloting--Space checks, the first for plotting a course as close to the black holes as possible without losing control, and the second for flying said course.

Next is the Pit, an asteroid field inside the arm of a nebula. It might take a more difficult Piloting--Space effort, along with Perception or Computers checks to pick up obstacles with sensors or visual scanning.

This, I think, isn't too complicated, but captures the idea that this is a difficult task.

-Nate

If you can find a way to keep everyone at the table interested (and rolling dice for the sake of rolling dice become Yatzee real fast) you could have some fun. The pilot and Astrogation speak for themselves, but how do you keep 3 other people on the edge of their seats and involved?

Perhaps you could have small debris for players to shoot while the mechanic can adjust shields and so on. Perhaps the bad guys know the players are going to Kessel and keep them company coming out of hyperspace at the same time?

Perhaps you could have small debris for players to shoot while the mechanic can adjust shields and so on. Perhaps the bad guys know the players are going to Kessel and keep them company coming out of hyperspace at the same time?

I like that--asteroids that the pilot and observers miss can make for good targets. In a similar manner, the engineer might have to jury-rig systems to provide more thrust, the medic could provide first aid for characters injured in collisions, etc.

-Nate

The Maw is supposed to be hell on thrusters as well - the ship may be suffering system strain the entire time, requiring the mechanic to keep repairing and bleeding off the systems. This becomes interesting with shield boosting as another option, as it forces choices.

Leadership -> Sensors -> Chart the course -> copilot -> pilot can also make for an interesting lineup that can test a party's skills.

Part of it is also discription. Take the time to describe what's going on. Play up the seat of your pants flying, where the navigator, pilot and copilot have to make near instantaneous reactions to the shifts in gravity being picked up by the sensor reader. The sparking of systems and the inertial compensator light flicking on and off as it maxes out trying to keep the ship in one piece.

You could even ask for a Cool based Fear check going in. Many a smuggler has been known to enter the kessel run and never make it out again, and shaky hands will make for a rougher ride.

You need to be careful with making too many checks with the Kessel Run. Given that the Run requires pilots to weave in and out of a dense cluster of black holes, a failed check will generally mean more than just "system strain" or "hull trauma". It could mean the freighter spiraling into the unbreakable grasp of a black hole, the gravitic distortion tearing hull panels away in showers of sparks, as gases ignite about the outer hull and light itself begins to turn inside-out.

You need to be careful with making too many checks with the Kessel Run. Given that the Run requires pilots to weave in and out of a dense cluster of black holes, a failed check will generally mean more than just "system strain" or "hull trauma". It could mean the freighter spiraling into the unbreakable grasp of a black hole, the gravitic distortion tearing hull panels away in showers of sparks, as gases ignite about the outer hull and light itself begins to turn inside-out.

Re: Failing Forward.

Don't use "Roll or Die" checks. If the players make them, they're not interesting, if they fail (which they seem to quite often it seems) they're not interesting, because you just ended the story.

Thank you guys for your great suggestions! I got some great ideas here and I think I#ll manage to make the Kessel Run as memorable as it deserves to be.

I was wondering why nobody brought up the "Corellian Shuffle" Modular encounter from Sons of Fortune when discussing this. Part of the reason it was written if I remember right was to simulate a "Kessel Run" type thing. Heck the micro jumps alone are pretty perfect for it. The encounter is on Page 140 and the micro jumps are on 142.