First off I wanted to thank everyone for the help they gave me on my last post, the one about using Jedi powers during a dream state. My players still talk about that mission and think it was the best one we have done so far, so thanks.

Now to my question. What I would like to do is have the pcs be part of a Monster Gladiator Competition. What I am going to have them do is they will have 1 month to go out and capture any creature that they want to use up to a certain weight limit (examples are a rancor, krayt dragon, condor dragon, acklay, drexl, maybe a gorog but this one might be too big) also if they want to go with 2 or 3 smaller creatures to fight as one group that is okay as well.

When they bring them back they will be fitted with a type mind control device (this one the pcs can control the actions of the monsters while in the arena. Which could cause havok if the device get tampered with before the fight.

So my questions are:

1. How would one transport the larger creatures? Ive looked in the books and didn't see anything for that large a creature.

2. Is the mind-control scenario feasible? or could this blow up in my face and the pcs start using this device everywhere they go

3. What kind of prize would you give them for winning? I figure this is going to take at least 4 meet-ups to finish the entire thing and it will probably cost them a lot of credits to capture the creature. Also I wanted a good enough prize that it would draw a lot of people throughout the universe, maybe even Bossk (because one of my pc's has a bounty on Trandosha) My thoughts were maybe a starship that is heavily modded

4. During the battles what would you do so that all the players are doing something and not just one person is doing all the fighting. I thought about having them be able to maybe control some environmental conditions.

5. Lastly, Are there any creatures you might suggest for this? Maybe some small ones that fight in a pack similar to vornskr. I am shooting for some diverse creatures to make the battles interesting.

1. Maybe a cruiser size (silhouette 6?)

2. The Far Horizons book has a harness and various ways to control creatures maybe that is what you would like to look into? it isn't mind control but more chemical induced.

3. Depends on how good they do and how much fun they have =)

4. everyone should participate maybe even episode 2 style where they have to fend of monsters and their handlers?

5. again look to episode 2.

1. Far Horizons have specimen containers of various sizes that you can use a bases for containing the creatures. use threats and despair to determine how well the beasts are held.

2. There's a legends example of beast mind control in the KotOR comics. Sounds like discipline checks would be necessary to maintain control on the beast

You could include also have further build-up such as allowing PCs to spend some time and use survival to train the beasts before the battle.

In either case, I would use the beast training rules in Stay On Target to determine the difficulty of controlling the beasts.

3. A beastly (heh) ship would be an excellent prize. Or maybe a normal ship with a hidden macguffin that the PCs don't know about it, but the various players in the underworld do. Like It's astrogation charts have the location of a hidden planet containing valuable resources. Or used to belong to a rebel, and now the empire knows its databanks contain the location to the rebel fleet.

4. As mentioned above, maybe someone can be involved with training, another could be arranging bets and sabotaging the opposition. Or if it's a large beast. Have each character control a different part of the body a la Voltron/Power Rangers.

5. Lots. Nexu, Reek, Rancor, Hssiss, Vronskyr, Gundark, Wampa, Zillo beast, Zakkeg, Terentetek, Krayt Dragon, Aklay, Space Slugs, Bigger Fish (only amble to be summoned)... The list goes on. What kind of creatures will the NPCs be using? That could help narrow things down.

Ohhhh I forgot about the mind Control Ezra did in rebels... so there is canon for that over creatures... Kannan did this as well, though Ezra did it for a bigger creature.

The npcs will be using any of the ones that the pcs don't choose. Basically iI am going to create one adventure for the capture and then only have to adjust it slightly depending on what creature they choose. That way it makes a less headache on me so I don't have to make up multiple adventures only to use one of them.

My hope is that i can have different obstacles they have to overcome in the battle because of the different creature they are fighting. Examples would be a flying creature versus a land based one, or one that can burrow. What i don't want it to become is a slugfest between two brutes, although this could happen once i just want all of them to be that way cause then it would get boring. I want them to have to think outside the box to try and win and not just use brute strength.

My group has gotten to the point where they can take out a lot of stuff with their own skills and equipment. I want them to try and beat this a different way, so maybe the arena is a type of figurative puzzle they have to figure out before they can win each stage.

We have also run beyond the rim so they pcs have meet cratala so i am planning on letting them use her to beef up their creature if they think about it. Plus they could use Iso-one to transport their captured creature for some obligation. But how do you get a large creature like a full grown krayt dragon from the ground up to the capital ship if there are no ports? I guess that was my question about transporting them.

So for the type of creatures I'm looking for are ones that could pose a challenge based on the things they can do different (ie flying, breathing fire, burrow, ect..)

Thanks for the feedback

How do you get a krayt dragon there? .... have the arena on tatooine.. flying not required.

You could have the Arena be a maze? All in together with a McGuffin in the middle. have PC's work in pairs, I controls the beast, the other is a spotter or betting or trying to get info from the people who built the maze.

If you're looking for something to occupy the other characters, perhaps make the actual arena fight a cover for the team's real objectives. There's a bounty target who's left his life behind and has started over as a monster trainer. The coliseum is part of a local palace, and they're trying to steal the crown jewels while the whole city is distracted. They desperately need to speak with the sultan, and coliseum access provides them the best opportunity to slip by his bodyguards and reach his private box.

Or it's something they haven't planned for. Dissidents use the chaos of the tournament to stage an assassination attempt. Some of the creatures get out and are staging a rampage in the lower levels. They catch an old adversary by the betting pool and see an opportunity for payback. It might take some planning, but two concurrent narratives that play off each other could be a lot of fun. Hell, I might steal pieces of your idea for myself. It sounds fun.

It seems to me that a monster battle arena is a pretty stellar environment for an adventure, and it would be almost a waste to have them all invested in the pit fighting when some of them could be out there mixing it up in the crowds.

If you're looking for something to occupy the other characters, perhaps make the actual arena fight a cover for the team's real objectives. There's a bounty target who's left his life behind and has started over as a monster trainer. The coliseum is part of a local palace, and they're trying to steal the crown jewels while the whole city is distracted. They desperately need to speak with the sultan, and coliseum access provides them the best opportunity to slip by his bodyguards and reach his private box.

Or it's something they haven't planned for. Dissidents use the chaos of the tournament to stage an assassination attempt. Some of the creatures get out and are staging a rampage in the lower levels. They catch an old adversary by the betting pool and see an opportunity for payback. It might take some planning, but two concurrent narratives that play off each other could be a lot of fun. Hell, I might steal pieces of your idea for myself. It sounds fun.

It seems to me that a monster battle arena is a pretty stellar environment for an adventure, and it would be almost a waste to have them all invested in the pit fighting when some of them could be out there mixing it up in the crowds.

Thanks for the ideas. I have found the adventure http://www.d20radio.com/backerzone/The%20Hovertrain%20Heist/The%20Hovertrain%20Heist.pdf , that i am going to edit to use. I plan on having them have to do the heist while one of their monster battles is going on. My wife also gave me a fantastic idea that there is a group that dislikes the cruelty of creatures and is protesting the arena contest. I am going to have them release some of the creatures in protest during the heist so that the pcs have to deal with the rampage monsters and the heist at the same time.

Should be lots of chaos and fun.

Ill let you know how it goes.

If you're looking for something to occupy the other characters, perhaps make the actual arena fight a cover for the team's real objectives. There's a bounty target who's left his life behind and has started over as a monster trainer. The coliseum is part of a local palace, and they're trying to steal the crown jewels while the whole city is distracted. They desperately need to speak with the sultan, and coliseum access provides them the best opportunity to slip by his bodyguards and reach his private box.

Or it's something they haven't planned for. Dissidents use the chaos of the tournament to stage an assassination attempt. Some of the creatures get out and are staging a rampage in the lower levels. They catch an old adversary by the betting pool and see an opportunity for payback. It might take some planning, but two concurrent narratives that play off each other could be a lot of fun. Hell, I might steal pieces of your idea for myself. It sounds fun.

It seems to me that a monster battle arena is a pretty stellar environment for an adventure, and it would be almost a waste to have them all invested in the pit fighting when some of them could be out there mixing it up in the crowds.

Thanks for the ideas. I have found the adventure http://www.d20radio.com/backerzone/The%20Hovertrain%20Heist/The%20Hovertrain%20Heist.pdf , that i am going to edit to use. I plan on having them have to do the heist while one of their monster battles is going on. My wife also gave me a fantastic idea that there is a group that dislikes the cruelty of creatures and is protesting the arena contest. I am going to have them release some of the creatures in protest during the heist so that the pcs have to deal with the rampage monsters and the heist at the same time.

Should be lots of chaos and fun.

Ill let you know how it goes.

Please do. It sounds like a blast.