last night, one of my players failed an astrogate check, but had 2 triumphs and a couple of advantages. so, I gave them a derelict ship, figuring that was triumph worthy. and a good adventure seed. now I have no idea what to do with it.

Have them find this starving Ortolan hiding on board:

Many years ago the Radee the Ortolan left Orto in order to travel the Galaxy. He took a job on a modest passenger freighter as a mechanic and co-pilot. Which went well until one day the ship was knocked out of a hyperspace by a piece of space debris. The ship survived but was severely damaged. They lost all hyperdrive capabilities and they had trouble sending out a distress signal. This left the passengers and crew stranded in space for a very long time with only enough food for weeks. Which meant they were soon all starving. Radee was the first to snap under these difficult circumstances. He went on a killing spree, taking the life of everyone on board. Surviving another couple of months on their remains.
Eventually the ship's weak distress signal was answered by a small cargo ship. The deranged Ortolan slayed his two rescuers as soon as their backs were turned and took their ship. Although this ship had enough food on board, Radee preferred to dine on his latest victims. He had developed a taste for the meat of sapient creatures.
To this day Radee wanders the Galaxy from spaceport to spaceport. Looking for passage on small ships. Killing and devouring the crew as soon as they are deep in space. Then repeating the process as soon as he reached another port.

ooh, that's good

Where to start is to figure out what kind, a Spooky Story, a Horror Story, a What happened to everyone, set up for a trap by local pirates or something else.

Then how big of a ship do you want them to find derelict?

Is repairable/still in working order?

is it private owned ship, rebel ship, imperial or some other unheard of faction/race?

Do you want them to gain ownership of the ship? If not then I would have the owner(company or person) show up and pay them a reward for its safe return once the adventure is done.

Then from there mark down what reward/loot they can/could find. Logs they could access with info, encounters(if any), Damage(if any) and anything else I may not be able to think of.

I’m thinking it would be better if he were found in the original ship, near death — but before the second ship picks him up. He complains about having been set upon by pirates who knocked them out of hyperspace and then got interrupted by Reavers so they got out of there as fast as they could. He somehow managed to lock himself inside the bilge, where he could hide from them.

Yes, that means he is covered in large quantities of … poo … but he figured they’d never look down there, and they’d never find him.

Is he really the one responsible for doing all the killing? Or was it pirates? Or was it the Reavers?

Or for a less creepy take on it.

Pirate Trap! The ship is not really derelict, and they have positioned several hired guns inside. Alternately, they are using a true derelict as bait, and are hiding in a position where they can jump out and ambush anyone who investigates.

Aliens! also works, particularly if it a large ship like an Action IV or even larger. Some...thing... is hunting them.

Morality! the crew is aboard and has little of value. They offer everything they have for a chance to get to a decent system.

Long term issue! Linked with the above, there is some cargo on the ship (spice, weapons or otherwise). Unfortunately, someone has been tracking their missing cargo, and now thinks the PCs stole it.

I really like the idea of a spooky ship. and big!

not aliens though, but ghosts could be fun

they've had a lot.of combat , so some mind messing ideas would be good

edit like something they can't fight.andGOOD jump scared

I sense the presence of the DARK SIDE here.

Somewhere out there someone did a story about the "Republic", a luxury cruise liner. Think Titanic.

My crew found it, took some treasure, faced down a Squib salvage crew, then got their contact (an undercover ISB agent) to file a salvage claim for them, which he gladly did, then screwed them over later

As long as you avoid the Trek trap of time travel, it sounds fun.

Yeah. No time-travel, please.

Leave that to “Dr. Who”, if you don’t mind.

The ship belonged to a smuggler wanted by the Hutts, Empire, bounty hunters etc. While the ship vanished a while ago, those factions still want to get their hands on the former owner/occupants of that ship. As soon as the PCs take their ship to a inhabited system, rumours of it's re-apearance will reach the ears of those looking for it.

Now the PCs are being tracked/ followed/apraoched/attacked. Can they convince those sent after them that they have nothing to do with the ships former crew?

Maybe something is hidden on the ship that the Hutts/Empire, etc want to get their hands on.

Just an empty ship and a mystery. Marie Celeste style.

The escape pods are still intact. Food on the table. No signs of forced entry. No system failures evident. Nothing in the logs to indicate anything unusual was happening. The ship was on its way from Point A to point B, and was reported as never having shown up (if it was expected at all).

The crew is simply gone, and the ship is floating derelict.

The ancient and large transport was carrying a variety of cargos, including a multitude of dangerous animals from around the galaxy for use in entertainment circles and zoos. Soon after the ship's stranding, the cages these beast were in failed and allowed them to roam freely, eating the former crew before setting up various lairs across the decks.

(Totally-not-a-classic-dungeon-crawl-in-space)

Just an empty ship and a mystery. Marie Celeste style.

The escape pods are still intact. Food on the table. No signs of forced entry. No system failures evident. Nothing in the logs to indicate anything unusual was happening. The ship was on its way from Point A to point B, and was reported as never having shown up (if it was expected at all).

The crew is simply gone, and the ship is floating derelict.

And then the PCs find out the ship's computer is self aware and is flying the ship on its own!

I really like rlouge177 idea. im going to go the spooky ghost type rout. the Marie Celeste is perfect

Well if we where going to go dark side spooky... maybe have them find a harrower-class dreadnought from the days of the old republic war with the Sith empire.(Google ship for sure)

"As you fly closer you are shocked to discover a ship of such size just floating in the darkness of space. The ship looks shocking close to the modern Star Destroy in use by the Imperial Navy. There have been no attempts to communicate with you." Allow them to try to scan/contact the ship as they get closer to it, roll lore checks(make it hard or daunting due to how lond the ship is),

Once they want to fly closer you can just tell them or have them roll checks to see(simple or easy) "As you fly closer you can seen marks on the hull of the ship from unknown sources. Also the ship seems to be unpowered currently. Ahead you see a large docking bay to land in."

On entering the back have who every is piloting roll a easy pilot check to avoid hitting a ship that seems to have crashed/shot down into the bay. and then allow them to land. They will need space suit/breathers to walk out of their ship safely onto the grand ol' ship.

then from there their first goal should be to try and get the power back on. They can spend a DP to maybe have a console with power they could download blueprints from but then have it sizzle out right after. During their walk there have them make Simple perception checks time to time. You want them to pass these, when they do, they will think they are hearing foot steps running down the hall from in front of them or from where they just came. have this happen every so often but not every time they turn a comer or room.

Once in the engine room. Have non-force users do a hard perception(maybe?) check, force users do a Simple one. Or you could just have everyone receive a Vision, due to strength of the dark side on the ship. The group seems a Man, maybe 30s, people running around him. They hear him yell into a communicator "We cannot use the hyper drive right now, we suffered extreme damage and it may cause the power core to shut down!" then they Vision goes away and they are in the engine room. a few bodies floating in around, long dead.

If they are able to restore power(few hours work maybe) it restores life support and power to the bridge. If they work on it more they find they can switch the power to there areas of the ship one at a time. This is where you could have a few defense droids on the ship turn on if you want combat. have them activate here, the bridge and the bay they landed.

As they walk throughout the ship you can have more vision, crew quarters, hall way out side the bridge, and such. Showing they where boarded shortly before they jumped by Commandos and a jedi,

On the bridge as they enter the Final Vision happens, The jedi and what remains of his Commandos find their target, a Sith Lord, who as they enter is yelling to use the hyperdrive to try and escape. He then pulls out his light Saber and looks at the Commander of the ship, Say something about how it is his fault they where caught in this trap and executes him then he looks over to the Jedi and they run at each other. You could end the vision there or give detail of the fight, but in the end it was the Jedi killed and the Sith was alive... Choices for you as the GM from there. The Sith is still alive on the ship, he was in stasis, and when they return to the docking bay he is there waiting for them. Or he has since long died after the jump and die on the bridge sitting in the Commanders Chair, hunched over with one of his hands in a thinking pose as he stares out into space. Taint of the Dark Side should be strongest on the bridge.

If they are able to access the ships records they will be able to gain access to many details about the Jedi Sith War from 3500 years ago that someone may pay a to get their hands on. Maybe a few people want the data once they start looking for buyers... Lower end offer should be someone wanting to preserve the knowledge, Higher Offer wants to make sure it never sees the light of day...

Rewards: 2 light sabers, one jedi(green) and one Sith(red), Anything you may not want them to have could have been shot up or cut by the light sabers, like lets say the Commando Armor(personally i'd use Heavy Battle Armor stats for that) Well don't want them in armor that strong yet, by chance it was shot up to where it is now useless.

You can have them find some old relics to sell along with the data and anything else you think they should find.

Hope this helps you come up with some ideas. If anything reads odd let me know, typed this up pretty fast.

The ancient and large transport was carrying a variety of cargos, including a multitude of dangerous animals from around the galaxy for use in entertainment circles and zoos. Soon after the ship's stranding, the cages these beast were in failed and allowed them to roam freely, eating the former crew before setting up various lairs across the decks.

(Totally-not-a-classic-dungeon-crawl-in-space)

Ooh Rancor boss battle!

I really like rlouge177 idea. im going to go the spooky ghost type rout. the Marie Celeste is perfect

Play up how creepy it is inside. The power is all off, but it doesn't take much to restore it. Perhaps it's an older ship, so there are signs of wear and tear here and there, but nothing that suggests the crew should abandon ship. And if they did abandon ship, they didn't use the escape pods.

Describe brief, strange noises like the odd clank or twisting metal. It's never in the same room the PCs are in. When they run to investigate, they don't find anything conclusive. A light on the cockpit panels flickers once or twice for no apparent reason. Wait, what's that smell? I don't know, it's gone now...

But not too much. Don't overtly suggest there are ghosts or poltergeists or anything like that. A little creepy goes a long way.

With a situation like this, the players can really imagine any sort of thing happening. And if they suggest something you think is really cool, you can go with it!

And of course, you can plant any clue for your other stories or items you want the PCs to have on the ship.

good idea. thanks rogue

Hmm... how about mood. if im going spooky ghost story, I need to.set a mood. I know I can't turn off the lights and play by candle. people need to read their sheets. but what about music? or other ideas would be good too.

You want to bring in some greed for the players, have the ship be an old dreadnaught that might have been part of the Katana fleet. Let them investigate this mysteriously empty ship thoroughly, with lots of ambiguous clues about whether it was part of the fleet or not. Of course it's NOT part of the Katana fleet, but any players EU-savvy enough to know of it are going to drool as they investigate.

I've read the books they we're in, and I can't remember the katana fleet

The Katana fleet was an entire fleet of slave-rigged dreadnaughts. Something went wrong on the test flight, and they all jumped into hyperspace, never to be seen. Fake Katana-fleet treasure maps are a staple of swindlers. Most people in Star Wars have probably heard of the Katana fleet, but nobody would believe it has been found. But people are always looking. It's that kind of legend.