Next session of my game is upon me. The characters have been investigating a mining complex which contained some ancient ruins. They are accompanied by an archeologist grad student NPC (the profession, not the EotE career) by the name of Nesbin Finch. They had to hike out the long way, since one of the players got "creative" with some of the cave structures, and sealed off their only way back.

I want the next session to be a major Strain. Partly it's because the Ambassador hasn't had a chance yet to exercise his Inspiring Rhetoric, and partly because, well, it'll be fun The idea is a creature called the Vaxur (which they are already aware of but have never met) that hunts in packs like wolves or hyenas. Its main tactic is to hide and slink in tall grass, communicate and coordinate using native insect sounds (specifically, a type of cricket) to keep their prey unaware, and when the time is right, lunge in for a thump or bite before dashing back into the grass. If the group panics and scatters, or someone gives chase into the grass, they'll swarm any loners. Poor Nesbin Finch may be susceptible...

I don't want to make the situation too "roll-y", but was wondering if anybody has ideas how to emulate these tactics mechanically. Defense 1, and cover from the grass; Brawn 3 for the minions, plus skills in Brawl, Cool, and Athletics. The Cool is for the continual "ambush" nature of the encounter, and I kind of want it to apply to Defense, e.g. if they're jumping out of the grass, getting off a shot before they disappear again should be difficult, so perhaps any Cool advantages can be used for additional setback.

For the party, I'm thinking the attacks would come at most every other turn, maybe only one individual targeted per turn, that way they could roll to predict something. I would have them roll Fear first, but allow Survival, Perception, Vigilance, etc to pick up on a coming attack, mitigating whatever "ambush" advantage the creatures have. Any other ideas?

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And, in case anyone's interested, here's the preface to the session. All the PCs are Force sensitive, but the NPC doesn't know this:

You emerge from the tunnel system into a long narrow defile, an arroyo as Stranko identifies it, which winds down to a wide open grassy plain. Rugged dark hills line the western horizon, silhouettes against the setting sun. The "golden hour" is turning red. To the south are sharp mountain peaks, the very tips dusted with snow. To the north the land climbs slightly, open valleys nestled between tall mesas.

You know where you are, at least by coordinates, but not by geography. Home is north and east, you know that much. A direct route "as the hawkbat flies" might be several hours walk. You can't get a comm signal, and this fact perhaps rings a bell...there are areas known for their "dead spots" in the Eastfall Badlands, you must be in one of them. It's also possible one or more of you have been here before.

Nesbin Finch pipes up, marvelling at the open expanse and sunset. "My planet is over populated", he says, "I've never seen anything like this!" He takes a deep breath and gives a huge sigh of satisfaction. He snaps a few images with his datapad while the rest of you discuss
your route.

"Can I see it?" he suddenly asks. He means the holocron, the cube Stranko found under one of the many skeletons littering the temple complex. Stranko hands it over. Nesbin handles it gently and with care, no sign of his usual clumsiness. "I wonder how it opens?" he muses. "I don't know anybody sensitive to the Force, do you?" He hands it back. "We'll probably have to report it to the university..." he trails off, uncertain. "Well, I guess we should get going."

The sun sets, the afterglow still giving plenty of light to hike by. The grass is up to your waists as you swish through it. A slight breeze keeps the worst of the biting insects at bay. The first fire beetle lifts off from the tips of grass, like a dancing star. In the distance a kukura bird laughs, and a cricket begins its raspy call...

I’m on pins and needles! I can’t wait to see how this turns out!

Set a roll, Discipline or Cool, whatever, every round and if they fail bill them a Strain for the tension messing with their heads.

I would probably run this as a very open non-standard combat scene, letting rounds stretch for any amount of time with heavy narrative. I'd treat the grass as Concealment for ranged attacks and Perception (or boost dice for Stealth if you like that better); according to the table on p.213 of EotE you could add up to 3 setback dice (these forums need Star Wars dice emoticons). The slight difference to Cover seems to be that these setback dice seem to stack as they are not Defense per se.

The beasts sound like dangerous pack hunters; depending on their intelligence, you can always do ye olde bait and switch: Have one present itself as a distraction (rustling in the grass, making a sound, i.e. roaring) while the rest sneaks ups. Have them feint, two approaching from one side, getting the attention but then retreating while the rest come from behind. For this fight, you might put more emphasis on facing (or rather use facing at all), maybe for setback dice. The creatures will try to attack from behind, I guess.

What about trying to knock someone prone and dragging them into the grass? This would give the others ample opportunities to be heroes and save their comrade.

2P51's suggestion is good, a scene like that should take a toll.

I find myself picturing the Raptors Attack scene from Jurassic Park the Lost World.

I suppose how I would do it is Vigilance at first, and anyone who fails has to suffer some strain from the surprise of the attack, then defend against the attack. Then it's all Cool checks from there.

Anyone who fails the cool check takes some strain (two or three?) and the worst roll or two that round has to handle the attack. If the PCs are not fighting back, just make a standard attack; I like the idea of a boost die for leaping out of concealment. I also like the idea of a setback die if the PCs figure out what the cricket sounds actually are.

If the party does fight, my vote is to make it easy for yourself, and have the intended target of the attack from your monster happen at the same time. Rather than you roll for your monster's attack as usual, use purples, reds, and blacks instead of greens, yellows, and blues, and make the player roll that as the difficulty of his attack. An opposed attack roll.

This gives you more time for figuring out how to apply more strain. Always more strain.

Thanks for the ideas, I appreciate the input. I like the idea of facing and was thinking along similar lines. Not so much "facing" per se, as "are you all back-to-back, and can you stay that way?" This would involve some Cool and Leadership to keep a good formation.

I think I'm going to put a rocky outcropping nearby, so they have something to aim for...and also to lure the NPC to make a break for it. Part of the PC's job will be to keep the NPC from breaking ranks and getting swarmed...

Thanks for the ideas, I appreciate the input. I like the idea of facing and was thinking along similar lines. Not so much "facing" per se, as "are you all back-to-back, and can you stay that way?" This would involve some Cool and Leadership to keep a good formation.

Yeah, I did mean facing in a miniature-game kind of way, but rather allowing the PCs to form defensive circles and such, maybe removing setback dice for some, stuff like that.

I really do like the scene and will probably nick it for my own game ...

So, I could have handled it better, but luckily the players didn't seem to notice and apparently enjoyed it. Or maybe they just enjoyed the ridiculous number of Triumphs they rolled...

The only thing really missing was a layered beat to the action, which I managed to initiate about halfway through, and probably salvaged the thing. After the first couple of rounds I also introduced a target destination: a low rocky rise where the grass was thin, or a tall pillar further away, each requiring several turns to get to.

First, the enemy:

Vaxur, Minion, vaguely hyena-like. WT: 4

Brawn 3, Agility 3, Int 1, Cunning 2, Willpower 2, Presence 2

Camouflage/Agile: 1 Defence vs Ranged and Melee

Skills: Brawl, Cool

Environment and conditions:

Flat open terrain, covered in tall grasses, thick up to 1m high, with the tops over 1.5m

Dark: +1 setback

Grass: +1 Defense from Cover

Bogs: gentle dips in the ground. The grass grows taller here, so it's hard to tell. Failed Perception (PPP) or Survival (PP) rolls mean falling into the bog. I should have used the Ensnare rules, but forgot, so Athletics (PPP) check to extract oneself. 3 Advantages or Triumph can be used to note that the bogs have more fire beetles dancing above them (they like the moisture), which upgrades any future Perception or Survival checks.

Once the party realized they were surrounded, a Fear check was called for (PP + setback). A successful Leadership roll could be used to keep the party together until after the Leadership-rolling player's next turn, and that would translate into a form of Defense (a setback for the Vaxur).

Number of Vaxur was 1 minion group for each player - 1 (4 players = 3 minion groups). For combat I went with a break in the usual combat order: each turn I'd pick the non-target with a random dice roll. For each other player in turn: Vaxur Cool vs Player Vigilance. Winner gets to hit first. If the Vaxur go first, narrated as distracting ripples in the grass, heads popping up close by, then a snarling beast rushing in. If the player wins, they have a chance to reduce the minion group before it's the Vaxur's turn. The remaining player can use leadership or some other skill (looking for bogs, etc), or try to get off a shot or a hit, with the difficulty upgraded because they might hit their friend).

EDIT: I didn't attack them each turn, more like 2 turns on, 2 turns off. The "off" turns were just narrated trying to keep together while the Vaxur withdraw a bit, continuing to make their way towards the rocky outcropping, etc.

There was a Vaxur queen coordinating it all, but I never showed her.

The party made it to the rocky outcropping and only had to pin the NPC down once to keep him from running. An amusing scene was when the Enforcer turns to the NPC and says "you run, you die", not clarifying whether it would be by the hands of the Vaxur or the Enforcer. A quick Coercion roll brought the NPC in line...for a while.

One of the more epic moments was when the NPC finally did break, the Enforcer used Athletics (with Force die from Enhance) to grab him, fails with a Triumph but still has a dark pip...but is low on Strain, decides to spend it to make it a success, tackling the NPC. The player decided Triumph was that the Vaxur started to chase the NPC, and the Enforcer got in the way to take a swing with his truncheon, rolls a ridiculous number of successes with another Triumph, so took down two.