I'm going to be running an EotE campaign for my sister, brother in law (her husband), my brother, and my girlfriend. Here are the Players and Characters:

Brother: Mandalorian (Human) Bounty Hunter (Gadgeteer)

Sister: Bothan Technician (Slicer)

BiL: Wookie Hired Gun (Bodyguard)

GF: Human Explorer (unknown) (She's using Sasha from the FFG Website as her base character)

I am trying to figure whether to have the group be obligated to one person/entity rather than individual obligations.

In addition to the above, I am thinking about adding a fifth GMPC that can fill the hole of either pilot, mechanic, or medical (or a combination of them). The main idea is due to potential scheduling conflicts.

Next Meeting:

Finish making characters with the players.

For making the obligation to one person, I am considering Roem (Beyond the Rim), the Hutt from "Debts to Pay", Grinder, or someone else that comes to mind. However, I am not 100% on this decision.

I am planning on running the Scenario "Taming the Dragon", though I'll be changing the location from Corellia to Nal Hutta. This way I can then send the group on to either "Debts to Pay" or do the "Under a Black Sun" (this being set on Nar Shadaa).

What do you all think?

I prefer separate major obligations, with a minor obligation that ties them together.

That way, each character has his/her own backstory (that you've hopefully gone over with them personally and separately). Get more info about their characters and craft an obligation that fits their character and they agree with. This way, they have this hidden bit of info that gets revealed later.

Really flesh these out.

Maybe the character has a problem with booze (minor obligation), and one night while drunk in a bar someone bet that he couldn't steal an imperial shuttle from the nearby outpost. He did steal it, but killed 2 tech accidentally (working on the exhaust manifolds when the player fired up the engines), so now he's wanted by the empire (obligation) for stealing imperial equipment and killing imperial troops.

Maybe the character is a rookie bounty hunter and was hired to perform a hit on an Imperial officer (under the false premise of him being some nobody royal that everyone hated). During the hit though he actually killed the officer's wife, and later found out that he was really hired just to be a fall guy for the job. His killing of the wife screwed up the real assisination though so now that assassin is ticked off at him for messing it up (minor obligation) and the Imperial officer wants revenge (major obligation)

Maybe a character is working as a janitor as a veterinarian's office (gotta pay those bills somehow). The Doc is out and you were the only person there. A mob boss, his wounded son, and some of their thugs bust in the back door. They mistake you for the doctor due to your white cleaning smock you wear. The boss tells you to fix up his son or die. You try to explain, but they'll have none of it. He lives or you die. You clear the room, do your best, but suturing up arteries isn't the quite the same as lacing up your shoes. He dies, you sneak out the window. Now you have an entire mob family blaming you for this kid's death (major obligation).

Then they all have some minor obligation that results in them all being tied together for an initial mission (assuming their characters aren't all life long friends).

A small time Hutt is looking for some enforcers to collect money owed to him. Your characters all need jobs (to pay off their debts, keep people off their tail, or just put food in their bellies) He's willing to give you some small crappy ship and put you on retainer as his enforcers. When this obligation triggers, they have to enforce payment on someone in that adventure which will likely complicate matters (some NPC was being very helpful with info about the Imperial outpost, but then you demand payment and leave...now he warns the Imps you are coming. He doesn't care for the Imps, but you just ticked him off). Or someone in that adventure owes money to the Hutt, but the players don't know who (you pick someone they may or may not kill, but is likely to end up dead), and if they kill him, the Hutt gets pissed and the obligation increases.

Now fast forward to a major obligation triggering. Major obligation triggers and someone has a bounty hunter chasing the party. Or someone gets nabbed by Imperial troops as he's a wanted felon, etc. The players all learn about that character's history through these events. They learn to trust, or mistrust each other based on the actual character. You want that sort of thing to grow naturally through the course of the game.

The obligations can be a great narrative tool. Way too much potential to just roll from the list and write down some flavorless information.

As for the GMPC, use a droid. Flavorless empty shell type character. Makes no decisions, has no initiative, just a filler. Make it a mechanic or a doctor, and have all it's points go towards those utility skills like healing, fixing stuff, piloting, and a little bit into small blasters (but leave it for last overall). Only activate him if you don't have a full party, or better yet, when you are down 2 players. 3 is still pretty good, but if they are really missing a critical skill, you could activate it then. Have him onboard their ship, and have him seem to malfunction whenever the group is full. He's just quirky that way! He could come with the run down ship you received for the combined obligation.

I'd like to echo that droids work really well as "Skill Banks". Personality is fine, just make submissive/deferring part of it - he goes with what the owners decide. Many (NPC) droids have low attributes and high skills, which means its almost always advantageous for them to be working with a PC (they provide skilled assistance). This allows them to "temporarily turn someone into a doctor/mechanic" rather than "be the doctor/mechanic". If you're looking at a 1 brawn, slow moving droid he becomes more of a ship fixture than a tag along PC. (PS, I recommend the Vex-41 artwork, it's a great medical/technician droid)

Honestly, if your down people in this game, it's often easier to adjust the adventure to make sure missing skills are not critical (you've always got a couple greens!) then to deal with a on again/off again GMPC.

Also, on obligation, the value of obligation is dependent on the nature of the campaign and it's story arcs. Particularly if you roll to see if obligations are activated in the beginning of a game, it can be more "That bounty hunter we ran into on Ord Mandell changed my mind" than "My new favorite wall decoration"

So a droid is recommended for the group as a GMPC, if needed. Should I also have the droid get experience at the same rate as the group?

So, as far as Obligation goes, I shouldn't have it be a major part, but should definitely have it be a minor part at best.

So, using that as a reference point, I am thinking about having the group go for two Obligations each. The first will be a story/character based obligation, while the second is an obligation to the benefactor for the group.

What do you all think?

I'd do 50% XP, as the Loyal NPC isn't going to have to cover the same breadth of skill or unique tricks a PCs will. In our game we're running at 25% xp NPCs, but we also have a very large group, so their skill ranks/talents are not as critical/important.

For obligation, I would say it depends if your 'universal' guy is more of a sponsor or a debtor. If the story is more about what you owe him, then yeah, give everyone 5pts in obligation: that guy, then let them buy up to 5 or 10 points in other obligations. If the story is about them working for that guy, I'd consider using Duty from AoR alongside personal obligations instead, as it does a good job of marking "you are making me happy, you get an extra toy."

I'd do 50% XP, as the Loyal NPC isn't going to have to cover the same breadth of skill or unique tricks a PCs will. In our game we're running at 25% xp NPCs, but we also have a very large group, so their skill ranks/talents are not as critical/important.

For obligation, I would say it depends if your 'universal' guy is more of a sponsor or a debtor. If the story is more about what you owe him, then yeah, give everyone 5pts in obligation: that guy, then let them buy up to 5 or 10 points in other obligations. If the story is about them working for that guy, I'd consider using Duty from AoR alongside personal obligations instead, as it does a good job of marking "you are making me happy, you get an extra toy."

I'm thinking about using one of the "named" benefactors/debtors (either the Hutt from AoR GM Scenario (Dead in the Water), the Hutt from the EotE GM Scenario (Debts to Pay), or the Twi'lek from "Beyond the Rim"), that way there's a bit more story there.

To be more specific, I'm leaning toward the Hutt from "Debts to Pay" as he is a bit more "trapped". He has limited resources himself, needs to rely on people he trusts more than ever, and might be willing to be a voice for the Alliance should they be profitable. However, the other two can just be as useful.

Just curious, are there any other patrons/benefactors/debtors?

I have information on the following:

Reom: Male Twi'lek and CEO of Isotech, a black market cybernetics business.

Bargos the Hutt: Male Hutt and middling crime boss.

Shoola the Hutt: Female Hutt and station master of Port Tooga.

There's also Chopper from "Under a Black Sun", but I'm not feeling too warm about him.

A couple campaign-based questions:

1) Which clan(s) are Bargos and Shoola in? The modules doesn't exactly mention them, only that they are part of the criminal underworld with each ina niche position.

2) Are there any other NPCs that would have access to the level of support like the other three?

3) My initial plan is for the group to be staying on Nal Hutta/Nar Shadaa for a session or three. Because of this, I am thinking about not giving the group a ship until after this "training" period. Should I give the PCs a bit more money in credits to reflect this "handicap" or have it be in reserve?

4) As mentioned by kmanweiss and Quicksilver, a good GMPC would be a droid. What have each of you done with a droid GMPC?

Non campaign question:

1) I'm looking through the various source books for EotE and I am having trouble placing pictures to equipment. Besides wookiepedia, are there any other sources for pictures and such?

My initial plan is for the PCs to go for "Tame the Dragon" and then move on to "Under a Black Sun". Once those two are completed, the group will be going to through "Debts to Pay". In between the adventures, I might be using the scenarios from the Core books and the Source books as filler.

What do you all think?

Non campaign question 1) Wookiepedia is pretty extensive and I wouldn't doubt that some of the equipment in FFG's source books were created by FFG developers.

I've come across using a droid as a GMPC in several other threads especially to cover the skills gap that narrow focus groups tend to produce. As for myself I had created a Rebel Bothan Sharpshooter, to be used as a normal PC but I volunteered to GM this time, assigned to the group as a "handler" of sorts and pipeline to Alliance Command. Giving them intel, some supplies, and the occasional fire support if I've a mind to place him in that position.

Non campaign question 1) Wookiepedia is pretty extensive and I wouldn't doubt that some of the equipment in FFG's source books were created by FFG developers.

I've come across using a droid as a GMPC in several other threads especially to cover the skills gap that narrow focus groups tend to produce. As for myself I had created a Rebel Bothan Sharpshooter, to be used as a normal PC but I volunteered to GM this time, assigned to the group as a "handler" of sorts and pipeline to Alliance Command. Giving them intel, some supplies, and the occasional fire support if I've a mind to place him in that position.

Interesting concept. That might be used, not quite deus ex machina but as a helpful guardian.

I'm thinking about having Teemo the Hutt be a bit more known in the campaign. The reasoning for this is due to his attempts to gain power and challenge Jabba. Here is my thinking:

1. Due to ties with various Imperial factions and agencies, Teemo is a backer in the Imperial Intelligence's Kwymar Automaton Ltd. While Teemo might not know everything about the operation, he keeping notes on the building and modification of droids. He plans on taking a few plays from the Imperials and get his droids in position to take out rivals when he makes his coup.
2. One of the first droids to be modified was EV-8D3, an EV Supervisor droid. Unfortunately, the modifications idnd't work as well as Temmo hoped. He sold the droid to Thakba Besadii Diori, who in turn sold it to Oridelve Incorporated.
3. He is the primary sponsor of the Black Seraphs swoop gang. This provides him with a "racing" team as well as a some hired muscle. In addition, I'm planning on changing the location from Corellia to Nal Hutta in order to keep the PCs planet side for a while.
4. Is a major financier for the Viyar Clan. This due to a common goal of gaining tech, especially designs ad techniques from before the Clone Wars. This will also provide Teemo with enhanced cybernetics to help his plans in gaining new allies.

That's all I have for now. I'll be doing my best to get a copy of Jewel of Yavin and Sons of Fortune for research and possible ties to this, if everything goes as planned.