OK. To anyone who’s paid any attention (and remember, and gods know why you would) to any of my posts, you probably know I really struggle writing adventures and ‘stuff for my players to do’ which has unfortunately relegated me to published stuff, fan made stuff and converting old adventures from older systems.

Occasionally, I might be struck by a good idea that pans out nicely, but it’s usually inspired by something already in an adventure, or an idea someone else has mentioned or something one of my players has done or said.

One thing I do enjoy is designing documents. I’ve made some NPC record sheets, and QR sheets that some people have liked.

I am by no means a pro, I use Publisher rather than Adobe (Because I cant afford it, and don’t fancy rooting around for a dodgy copy, and then learning how to use it).

With that said…

Who would be interested in coming together (Metaphorically) to throw ideas about, and hope that out of it come some small ideas, that come together into a larger adventure that I can then put together in an FFG style PDF for others to enjoy?

I was thinking things along the length of Long Arm of the Hutt, Debts to Pay, Under a Black Sun, and Trouble Brewing.

Maybe eventually, if it works out, we could expand to a longer adventure module.

I know those of you who can spin out an adventure would probably not be all that interested, but any help would be appreciated. Many minds make light work and all that, and everyone could benefit from it, more adventures cant be a bad thing, and if it helps keep people like me (who struggle with adventures) invested, all the better!

I was considering a good start would be to ‘lift’ the adventures from other shows (Firefly sprung to mind) and then working together to properly ‘Warsify’ it for others, If people are prepared to collaborate in creating the right feel, and making the necessary tweaks, I am more than willing to try and put it in a presentable EotE style format for dissemination to the community.

I find I get sparks of inspiration while discussing and working with others, which is far more productive than trying to do it all on my own, where I hit brick walls and see now way forward.

So, if you are interested PM me, or reply here, and see if its worth doing, we can set up a Mailing List on Yahoogroups or similar, and bash out some ideas and see what happens.

RD

Occasionally, I might be struck by a good idea that pans out nicely, but it’s usually inspired by something already in an adventure, or an idea someone else has mentioned or something one of my players has done or said.

But...that's great! That's exactly how this whole process works.

I'm curious why you think you don't have enough good ideas of your own. Sounds like you manage just fine, and maybe it's more like a matter of confidence, but you have to know that most of us are ripping off things from other stories left right and centre. For example, my current campaign is now a mix of Breaking Bad and the Conquest of England in 1066...

(Read this: http://www.amazon.com/Norman-Conquest-Hastings-Anglo-Saxon-England/dp/1605986518/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1427666746&sr=1-1&keywords=the+norman+conquest

... and you'll realize Game of Thrones is rather tame by comparison.)

But I digress...

A campaign, i.e.: a series of sessions, is just a broad idea with little detail, and you can get these anywhere. I find history works best for me, there is just no lack of crazy stuff people have tried to pull over the ages...and yet the themes are very familiar and grounded in reality. Really it's all about power and how people or groups go about gaining or imposing it. Check out these couple of articles on how to set up a political situation, there are some very helpful random charts:

http://www.madadventurers.com/the-toolkit-politics-part-one/

http://www.madadventurers.com/the-toolkit-politics-part-two/

So once you have some key NPCs and know what they're up to or what they want, then you can start fleshing out the details.

Personally I don't spend a lot of time on those details. The big picture is plenty to work from, because then you know all the players and how they react to things as the players unfold them. All you need for each session is a problem to solve and the possibility of an epic scene. For both, use whatever the players hinted they wanted to do after the last session, and build the next around it (not necessarily to give them what they want, but to validate their interest). Grab some adversary cards in case there is conflict, and you're done.

I will admit, I have no read your links yet.

Its too late for me, so Ill give them a look tomorrow.

I have read many things about creating an 'environment' where 'things can happen' but I find this lack of structure uncomfortable. If I dont have a plan for what might happen, I have no idea how to deal with it. The published adventures have been great in giving ideas on the "if they do this, if they do that" kind of thing.

Ill give you an example...

I want to run Under a Black Sun. But the adventure starts kinda "mid scene".

I need to flesh out what happens in the lead up to that point.

The How and Why and When.

What do they need to do to get into the facility?

Do they need to find it?

What tools do they need?

What preparation?

etc.

Much like Jewel of Yavin (Which I dont want to run with my group as it is, as I know it wont work).

But I cannot pin down the details of the above, I think and think and think on it, and cannot find the details, so I have a point of reference or guide for when my players come to do the stuff required.

And it drives me crazy.

Sometimes I have moments of inspiration, something said, or done, or an idea someone suggests about something else.

But when it comes to actually CREATING something.. I just fall over and everything goes blank.

And I just dont know how to deal with it... so I figured id see if anyone else wanted to collaborate, and bounce ideas and see if anything kinda coalesced into an actual adventure of sorts.

I'd be happy to join in an adventure-creation project. I've done and do "shared world" stories and creation at cons and they're always fun. I got a warning at a job once for using my break time to participate in a never-ending story.

I'd be happy to join in an adventure-creation project. I've done and do "shared world" stories and creation at cons and they're always fun. I got a warning at a job once for using my break time to participate in a never-ending story.

Well thats a start

Ill give it a couple of days and see who else is intested... maybe til the weekend when I actually have some time

I'll give us a kick-off mini adventure to start, just to see how well it works. I have Under a Black Sun but it's in my pile of "steal from or run later." I'll look over the beginning again, and see if I can come up with a "start anywhere" lead in to get there. Do note, however, that the in media res (starting in the middle) is a staple of Star Wars.

I'll give us a kick-off mini adventure to start, just to see how well it works. I have Under a Black Sun but it's in my pile of "steal from or run later." I'll look over the beginning again, and see if I can come up with a "start anywhere" lead in to get there. Do note, however, that the in media res (starting in the middle) is a staple of Star Wars.

Entire adventures would be a boon, but what I am looking for are more incomplete ideas and inspirations, to pull together and create something from.

If you have a complete adventure, create it Or send me the stuff and ill try and create a proper layout for it.

If its not complete, hopefully a group can fill in the gaps, and thats the idea.

I'd be happy to join and offer what knowledge I have available. Also, in terms of planning out the game--while a general guideline with suggestions is handy (Jewel of Yavin, for example, did poorly in expecting players to think of everything without guidance), getting too in-depth means you're great if they do everything exactly the way you want and the dice always roll how you want them to. However, most games don't go that way, so most of the focus ought to be on background for NPCs and locations and how to modify the adventure when needed.

So just all give opinions on what should happen or do something like.

Post 1: intro

Post 2: encounter

Post 3: encounter

Post 4: encounter

Post 5: conclusion ?

I've kept most of my paperwork for games I ran under WEG D6 system.... I've got 2 games that are pretty good with complete files, maps and characters... The only problem is that they are all written in french It would be a pain for me to translate them. If anyone wanna do the translation, I'll gladly put them online to see the final result.

There is one kick ass game that I'm working on right now... I've got the whole story layout and probably most maps and info I need... It's just gonna take some paperwork to write down my ideas again. I could write it in english this time so I could give it to you guys once it's done.

Here is the overall story arc : a pirate setup to capture the players, escape, payback.

It will take some time to write and prepare, but i'm willing to do it for you guys.

Ok. Working title: Transfer of Power

Premise - we're transferring an Obligation from an existing PC of some kind into a need to do the Under a Black Sun adventure. Assumption is that the PCs will want to work off the Obligation.

Intro - Meeting/encounter with the Obligation holder. He/she/it has their own obligation to the Pyke family and a long history of poor interactions. The Obligation holder suggests that the PCs do him a favor by taking on this "little job for some old friends."

Encounter 1 - A rival of the Obligation holder and/or Pyke family gets wind of the job. Asks PCs to meet him in a cantina with "important info about your new bosses." Tries to persuade them in a heavy-handed way (Coercion probably) to drop the job. When that fails, he has some thugs meet them outside to "convince" them.

Encounter 2 - A travel encounter. The Obligation holder (hereafter "OH") tells them they need to get to Coruscant. Likely that needs some forged papers of some kind that the OH neither supplies nor mentions. Create them on the way, possibly with a stop to visit a forger. Preparations for how to get into the Black Sun facility done during the hyperspace journey. This might include holonet calls (social encounters) to get papers, permissions, lockcodes, etc. Astrogation checks to shave some time off the journey. Too long a trip might give setback to some of the infiltration checks later (older codes and such). Social skill checks to negotiate for the materials, make sure they're not being set up, see if they're being price gouged, etc.

Encounter 3 - The undercity of Coruscant. The PCs land/dock in a very deep, very run down area where lawlessness is the rule. Thugs, pickpockets, maybe a gang encounter while they pick up the black market type supplies they need for the infiltration. Extra threat or despair during this encounter might be spent to have some of the needed gear stolen or damaged.

Encounter 4 - Infiltration. Using the forged papers, stolen codes, and purchased slicing chips, the PCs break into the Black Sun controlled facility. Lots of Stealth, Computer, and Mechanics checks for the squishier members of the group to shine. Maybe a roving guard so the muscle-types can knock him out.

Conclusion - Get the files and set off the alarm accidentally. Under a Black Sun begins next session...

Entire adventures would be a boon, but what I am looking for are more incomplete ideas and inspirations, to pull together and create something from.

This is the outline of my current campaign, I have no idea how useful you'll find it. As a general rule, I find if you're running a campaign, most of the session events and excitement are better if they aren't *directly* related to the campaign. You can use all kinds of set pieces to further the story without having to imagine that every event must obviously move the campaign along.

The premise of the campaign is simple: a corrupt Imperial bureaucrat is buying up the mining and other resource extraction businesses on the PC's home planet. Pretty mundane on the face of it, but there's lots more in the details:

- the planet (Agrarius) was colonized by accident 300 years ago when the colony ship got lost

- due to nebula and other space debris, the colony stayed lost until about 50 years ago, when they finally re-established contact with the Republic. The closest Imperial planet is Eriadu, and it takes an average of 8 jumps (+/- failures/successes) to get there

- the bureaucrat has a few local government officials overseeing the purchase, theft, and intimidation of local resource extractors. At this point in the story, each local business owner thinks he's alone. One local Senator is known to one of the PCs due to the Obligation backstory.

- the local government officials are working with local and Hutt-connected criminals to put pressure on the local business owners.

- some of this criminal activity is outright bullying, but a lot of it is more subtle, like tampering with mining droids so their parts become damaged, then passing legislation to prohibit the import of said parts; or changing the export taxation to make resource extraction businesses unprofitable.

When the story began, the basic premise given to the players was this: the PCs are owners of a shipping company, but due to Imperial restrictions are finding work harder to come by, so they have taken to doing the occasional smuggling job. At this point they knew nothing of the bigger picture, which is kind of boring to read because none of the sessions really focus on that.

Session 0 was introducing the premise and hooking them with the promise of work: a local friend, who is a mine owner, contracted them to get his last shipment of ore delivered to Eriadu before new restrictions were imposed.

Session 1 and 2 was the transport to Eriadu, the delivery of the ore, the negotiation of the best price, and finding a cargo for the return trip. They also had to deal with a stowaway 14 year old girl fleeing an abusive father, an archeologist who wanted a ride to their planet, and a pair of pickpockets in the space port.

Session 3 and 4 was the delivery of new cargo, only to discover the recipient was the one-PC's old political friend, now a Senator (and a key player in the fraud, see above). PC owes Senator some Obligation, so things could get...difficult. They also returned to their mine-owner friend just in time to prevent his assassination. After they captured the leader of the thugs (who was wearing a Weequay mask, leading a group of Weequays), the leader turned out to be the local saloon owner...who was having an affair with the mine owner's wife. The saloon owner managed to bribe them for 20000 credits in exchange for his life, which doesn't sit well with the mine owner.

At this point the players think the wife and saloon owner have simply teamed up to inherit the mine and cash in, but future evidence will reveal they are just cogs in a bigger wheel...

Also, their mine-owning friend, who was a good-natured but naive and incompetent businessman, will undergo a personality change. The assassination attempt has opened his eyes, and in some ways he may become a danger to the PCs, perhaps even the most important danger, depending on how they handle certain things.

Honestly, I don't do much prep ahead of time, I let the players dictate what happens next to them, while the bigger picture informs the response to their actions. The only encounters I preplanned were the stowaway, the negotiation for the ore, and the assassination attempt. I didn't know about the wife, her affair, the bar owner's involvement, or their friend's future personality change until after the players dropped ideas.

I don't know how the story is going to end, that will entirely depend on what the players do, but ideally if I can keep them on track they will find a way to expose the Senator, and that will be the end of part 1. Part 2 will be that the Imperial bureaucrat is now in danger of being exposed, will kill the Senator, and start putting greater pressure to get all the deals wrapped up more quickly. Imperial presence will become more domineering. I expect chases, flight, underground activity, and planet-wide rebellion...

I would gladly be on-board with any community project.

I also think that it would be more fun and easy to convert old adventures (like I am doing with WEG gear here - https://community.fantasyflightgames.com/index.php?/topic/137406-converting-d6-d20-saga-adventures-to-eote/) but I wouldnt mind starting fresh and write our own.

Should we pen a doc? the forums aren't the best to collaborate on, at least for me.

@whafrog

My issues are, that the meat of the adventures I struggle with.

For example, the prelude to Under a Black Sun. I am seriously struggling to find set peices and activities for the players to accomplish, that leads them to being in the Black Sun Facility where UaBS starts.

What Terghon has posted above is a start, but its the details that elude me, the bits and pieces, the "you need X becuase of Y" stuff.

My flashes of inspiration tend to come for tiny moments, rather than goals to achieve. (Example: My group followed the gang to their hideout in Trouble Brewing, but being less than hugely combat orientated, and knowing they would have a fight at the end (Which almost killed them), I decided that they took so long planning outside, that the Toydarian arrived, and the majority of the gang left to ambush the players... leaving only two mooks at the hideout, which they defeated (but didnt kill!) and rescued R4... headed off to find Bandin.. at which point i figured Daro and his gang, unhurt and unmet, would ambush them at the asteroid base.... which didnt work out well, as I over judged their power).

But that kind of level of inspiration doesnt help me flesh out the UaBS stuff.... yes it may be lack of confidence, or experience.

One of my players has sent me advice on creating an 'environment' but I still cant find 'stuff to do, goals to achieve' to put into it.... my mind just goes utterly blank.

So I figured, if there are others out there who have small ideas, that dont grow into full adventures, if we all got together, our collective small ideas might come together into a bigger adventure.

For some reason I had the impression you've already run UBS, but if not...

The problem with leading directly into UBS and following it to the letter is that whatever adventure you choose to run may not lead up to a situation similar enough to how UBS starts. That module starts in media res, with the PCs on the run, but there's no way to guarantee the PCs will a) not totally defeat the opposition; b) not totally succumb to the opposition and get captured before the adventure starts; c) not roll the requisite number of threats or despair that triggers the alarms; d) might take a different exit and not flee on their speeders.

So I'd probably skip the first encounter and pick up the story at Encounter 2: Chop Talk. You can keep Encounter 1 available for any type of chase over the skies of Coruscant, insert it wherever required. There's nothing in Encounter 1 that drives the story, it's more about how to handle chases, suitable for any situation.

This means it doesn't matter how the PCs get the encrypted information, which frees you up from having to force them into that first artificial scene. This makes the lead-in adventure design simpler: you only need a way for the PCs to get the information, and once they do, they visit Chopper's.

So, the first question is, do the PCs have a contact that will offer them a heist job on Coruscant? Task one is to set that NPC up, either somebody they already know, or somebody who thinks highly enough of their reputation to give them a try. I'd add a little wrinkle: don't spill the beans that their target is the Black Sun, let the players arrive at that conclusion after they're committed, during the heist itself.

Task 2 is to set up a warehouse, which is basically a big rectangle with a small corner or front slice devoted to office space. Make it two stories, so you can put a catwalk grid in the warehouse area. That way in a fight situation the PCs and NPCs can use the catwalks or jump around on piles of crates.

Ground floor office space is spare with a small customer waiting area. Access here might be "Easy" or "Average"...too much security looks suspicious and the Black Sun, like any such organization, wants to keep a low profile. The warehouse name might be even totally mundane, in faded letters: Francil Baen's Storage and Transport - the Gold Standard of Coruscant. There is a computer terminal, but hacking from here to the main server is Daunting. Getting from here to the warehouse floor is Average.

Upper floor office space might be more ornate. Locks are Hard to get into. Once inside the server is RPP to hack, but two or more Threat will set off the (silent) alarm.

Maybe some others can jump in on other threats and how to handle them in the warehouse.

No, ive not run Black Sun yet. But I want to, it would be a good guage as to weither my group could do Jewel of Yavin.

But I know what my group is like, they wouldnt want to start Mid Adventure, they would want to work out the prep, and I want to encourage that, and keep showing them there is more than the Hack n Slash they have always used previously due to former GMs (Who are not currently playing).

So I would really like to have the Prep... the getting INTO the Facility and Stealing the Data I would pretty much let them do automatically, and then let the adventure run as is. Being careful to remove the artificial 'escapes' to keep things on track... I will admit, ive not read the entire adventure more than a couple of times, and that was a while ago.

I KNOW they want to get the ship registered to them somehow, and Fly Casual has some nice stuff in there.

I know I can get them Obligated to Thakba, who is going to not very subtly suggest he KNOWS they Killed Teemo, and if they dont want him to tell Hutts who might want retribution, they need to do some jobs for him.

I know they will enjoy planning and working out where and how to get to the facility and get in, but I want some solid ideas on who they will need to track down/talk to/find, and items to buy/find/borrow etc to pull the job off.

So I would really like to have the Prep... the getting INTO the Facility and Stealing the Data I would pretty much let them do automatically, and then let the adventure run as is.

What do you mean by "the Prep"? Is it:

- fly to Coruscant, evade Imperials

- Perception and Stealth to case the joint and find out security is fairly lax with rotating guards every 30 minutes, but if they stay more than 3 days they see that every once in a while a sniper shows up on a different roof

- Streetwise to find a security guard who works there, is disgruntled and needs the money, so that for 200 credits the PCs will get a boost die on their social roll to get him to "look the other way"

- all the social skills to finagle info on the place and who really owns it

- Computers to determine the make of video surveillance cameras and how to spoof them

- Mechanics and Skulduggery to determine the strength or make of the locks and design a master key

...

Is that what you mean?

Along those lines yes!

So I would really like to have the Prep... the getting INTO the Facility and Stealing the Data I would pretty much let them do automatically, and then let the adventure run as is.

What do you mean by "the Prep"? Is it:

- fly to Coruscant, evade Imperials

- Perception and Stealth to case the joint and find out security is fairly lax with rotating guards every 30 minutes, but if they stay more than 3 days they see that every once in a while a sniper shows up on a different roof

- Streetwise to find a security guard who works there, is disgruntled and needs the money, so that for 200 credits the PCs will get a boost die on their social roll to get him to "look the other way"

- all the social skills to finagle info on the place and who really owns it

- Computers to determine the make of video surveillance cameras and how to spoof them

- Mechanics and Skulduggery to determine the strength or make of the locks and design a master key

...

Is that what you mean?

OK, I have now read UaBS properly, and I am thinking along these lines:

They will almost certainly need to make their ship appear 'Legal', Fly Casual has some nice rules on this, and it gives my Scoundrel player a chance to use his Underworld skills (Which thus far, he hasnt.. and I want to give him some limelight).

I was going to have Thakba put them in touch with the Pykes to keep it simple, minimising the amount of tweaking I need... Thakba is in business with the Pykes, so its in his interests.

I think they will need to find a specialist Data Spike to actually GET the Data.

They will need to find the correct building (not sure how to handle this) once they get to Coruscant (Although Chopper could be their primary contact for this, but someone else might be nice)

They will need to find a way into the building, something similar to the getting into the Zelcom Tower

Not sure how many contacts the players will have on Coruscant however.

Don't over plan. That was my biggest mistake when I was GMing. I had some great 'plot' moments for the villains all planned out - and then the party screwed it. Multiple times.

Instead, the best thing to do is set up situations, and then let the party roll with it. Maybe I'm not GMing properly, but I have a lot of trouble adapting the written adventures because the party's tend to do their own thing. That said, what I like to do is use the book to set up a situation (with the background thoroughly engrained in my head through reading it), and then let the players adapt to the situation as it unfolds.

I think my two biggest successes as a GM (planning wise that is), were the super-handy character sheets I dreamed up with all stats and die used on several handy sheets grouped by type so I could get stats in an instant, and more importantly, my Random Character Sheet. After I found my players loved going shopping on all the worlds they visited, and so I didn't just name every single store Bob's, I created a paper, two columns, with the smallest font I could read, and I just put a name, a species, and a Character Note on each line. The character notes were just simple things like 'Rebel Spy', 'Interested in Pod Racing', 'Ties to the Hutt', and 'Reads the Bounty Boards'. And every time they entered a shop/bar/whatever, I grabbed a name from the list and rolled with it.

Entire adventures spawned out of that list. I'm doing that again for each future campaign I run.

They will need to find the correct building (not sure how to handle this) once they get to Coruscant

I'd think the Pykes would have this information. Actually, this is kind of a keystone for how you want to set this up and how much detail you need. Finding the right warehouse on their own could be a whole set of sessions, so before you start fleshing it out any more you need to decide how long you want this interlude to last.

If it's just one or two sessions, then the Pykes should be able to provide an address, perhaps even some information on security measures, perhaps even the data spike. Not all the information needs to be "correct", i.e.: maybe the guards changed their schedule, or the data spike needs a last minute "tweak", but there should be enough there so that the target is clear and it's accomplishable in the time given.

If it's multiple sessions and they don't even know where they are going, that needs a bigger backstory IMHO. The Pykes want some "mystery data", but they don't even know where it might be? There should be a good reason for that, otherwise it seems a bit ... unprofessional on the part of the Pykes.

So, how many sessions?

[...]

I think my two biggest successes as a GM (planning wise that is), were the super-handy character sheets I dreamed up with all stats and die used on several handy sheets grouped by type so I could get stats in an instant, and more importantly, my Random Character Sheet. After I found my players loved going shopping on all the worlds they visited, and so I didn't just name every single store Bob's, I created a paper, two columns, with the smallest font I could read, and I just put a name, a species, and a Character Note on each line. The character notes were just simple things like 'Rebel Spy', 'Interested in Pod Racing', 'Ties to the Hutt', and 'Reads the Bounty Boards'. And every time they entered a shop/bar/whatever, I grabbed a name from the list and rolled with it.

Entire adventures spawned out of that list. I'm doing that again for each future campaign I run.

ahem... do you have a copy of this list for us to uh... review?

So, how many sessions?

Uh.... I have no idea actually.... I had not even considered this bit, time and sessions for my group can be abit.. off... sometimes they run through things at a huge pace, and sometimes they dawdle for ages.

When they arrived on Formos, they spent the entire session shopping, flicking through books, getting weapons modded, fixing the ship... and no actual story stuff done.

The following week, they did the entire "Find J8, question him, take him back to the ship, return to bar, have fight, find hideout"

So sessions I really have no idea... I guess it could be done in a couple, but abit more meat would be nice... make my players feel like they really are behind the planning and prep work, give my Scoundrel a chance to shine by using all his underwrold skills to find the illicit tech and people they need.

I've kept most of my paperwork for games I ran under WEG D6 system.... I've got 2 games that are pretty good with complete files, maps and characters... The only problem is that they are all written in french It would be a pain for me to translate them. If anyone wanna do the translation, I'll gladly put them online to see the final result.

There is one kick ass game that I'm working on right now... I've got the whole story layout and probably most maps and info I need... It's just gonna take some paperwork to write down my ideas again. I could write it in english this time so I could give it to you guys once it's done.

Here is the overall story arc : a pirate setup to capture the players, escape, payback.

It will take some time to write and prepare, but i'm willing to do it for you guys.

I'd be willing to read through those; I'm taking French right now, and some practice with stuff I'm interested in would be nice. Although this may be a conversation better suited to PM, if no one else is interested...

Also, RebelDave, are you still interested in the whole "adventure design" thing, or are you more focused on working with UaBS right now? If you are, I could offer some details (x because of y and such). (Sorry if this was already mentioned; I'm pressed for time, and couldn't read all the posts just yet.)

I am taking a different direction with UaBS, but I am happy to try and take any written materials provided to me, and format them into something along the lines of the EotE published materials, but I am afraid my work might not be as polished as others, simply due to my limited programs and experience.

So really.. I am happy to colaborate with ideas and such.

If someone else can do the bulk of the writing, and someone else can provide graphics, I can try and put it all together in a nice presentable manner.