Hey gang,

I am running a game- with a sizeable group using pre-made characters. One of whom is Zal, a rebel pilot.

The game as written has little to no vehicle combat. I would like to spotlight on our pilot and also give her more things to do during general adventuring that feel like she has a niche in the party.

She does have a number of grenades and lockpicking- but I know she wants to utilize some piloting as well. Are there ways I could get her involved in piloting and connected to the next leg of the adventure. The part we're going into will be mostly in town dealing with getting an object from a wealthy imperial's private art collection. There are rebels and imps and gangs, but it's all on the ground as written.

The other 7 characters are:

A powerful wookie with a vibroaxe

A rebel soldier with a rifle and more explosives

A force wielding rogue (light saber)

A force wielding sniper

A force wielding mystic w the ability to detect surface thoughts

A force wielding guardian (light saber)

I haven't run much vehicle combat and am hesitant to do so since I worry the other players might get bored, but maybe I'm just not seeing a good way to implement it.

Thanks for any advice you can offer!

Maybe you can let her steal a craft or several different types, with the help of the others.

Use them for reconnaissance, back-up, escape.

Let her fly through difficult terrain or between tall buildings

Do you have the novel Scoundrels? It might give inspiration as it involves a heist and flying :-)

If you're using pre-made characters, why did you make one of them a character type that is unlikely to shine in the game you intend to run?

Maybe you can let her steal a craft or several different types, with the help of the others.

Use them for reconnaissance, back-up, escape.

Let her fly through difficult terrain or between tall buildings

Do you have the novel Scoundrels? It might give inspiration as it involves a heist and flying :-)

Ooh those are all great! I'll report back on how it goes. Thank you! I'll add it to my to-read list

If you're using pre-made characters, why did you make one of them a character type that is unlikely to shine in the game you intend to run?

I had originally allowed players to choose from the 6 pre-mades for the adventure, but then the group grew to 8 and I allowed them to pick from any of the pre-mades from the 3 beginner games. I had assumed the pilot would have other things to do for general adventuring, but after the session the player specifically asked about using her piloting skill.

Piloting (Planetary) and a jetpack?

Your adventure also sounds like a classic heist, and heists often involve getaway vehicles and chases. It should not be too difficult to incorporate one.

Every good heist needs a getaway scene.

Starship chase through skyscrapers or construction zone.

You could have the getaway ship have some problems so the pilot rolls to see how close the pursuers are and if there are any bonuses or setbacks for the two people manning the turrets. Another could be keeping the ship together as the chase threatens to shake the ship apart. Another could be working to keep the stolen thing from breaking. Maybe the art thing requires a special stasis field and keeping it running and safe during the chase could be a challenge.

Pilots can also use pilot planetary for cool city chases

Precisely what Ahrimon said: the getaway scene. Once they've boosted whatever it was they were stealing they need to get clear in a hurry. This is precisely the sort of thing where the Pilot-type characters shine. Have them steal a speeder (possibly an airspeeder, if they have some nice mountains or cityscapes to fly through) and then have two or three more speeders in pursuit. There's great potential for some stunt piloting there.

Oh, and presumably they're going to have to get off the planet at some point, right? Which requires a spaceship. And maybe some TIE fighters in pursuit? Just sayin'.

Part of it may be the pilot, but you have to change your thinking if you think Star Wars is a non-pilot world. In most movies there is a lot of piloting happening, from planets (X-34 Landspeeder, Swoop Bikes, Speeder Bikes, Gungan underwater craft and plasma launchers, troop ships, AT-AT and AT-ST Walkers, etc.) to space (X-Wing, YT-1300, Naboo Starfighter, Stolen Imperial Shuttle, and a lot of others). The movies use them for transitions, but there is also a lot of conflict resolution in Piloting. I also cannot remember a movie that had a heist scene that did not involve piloting of some kind. There is always going to be a chase. If you have characters that are not good at this, make sure the pilot has the item when they all take off on speeders (bikes or other) so that the item has a better chance of delivery. If this splits the party, keep the action swift and exciting and let the others do the best they can until they can get back to the rendezvous.

Every scene should not be about piloting, but there is plenty that should happen. Make some scenes timed so that the only way to get there is through a vehicle or ship of some kind. Find out what kind of Piloting the player thinks of when they think of the movies, was it the Falcon or the speeder bikes, the pod racing, the Coruscant scenes, etc. Use a bit of that as a carrot to satisfy that, but also put in places where scary things happen when on a ship, canyon walls, chases, strange ships that they cannot read the language of the controls. Feel free to have mundane deliveries as well that they make piloting checks on, just to keep them on their toes.

Eventually this player will branch out and pick up other things. Lockpick (though I don't recall that as a skill per se) is concerning. You don't want to have a player focused on all of the "I do it by myself" skills. Talk to them one-on-one, because right now it sounds like you need more information. If this is a new player, they may be trying to do that because it works in video games. Let them know this is a game about characters interacting with each other and should play out a bit differently. That doesn't mean there won't be time to shine for everyone (and make sure of that), but just make sure you are both on the same page.

I'm thinking of an episode of the Clone Wars when Asajj Ventress is hired as a bounty hunter to deliver, with Boba Fett and his crew, a package while on a maglev train. While on transit to their destination, the train is attacked by marauders and they must defend the train while the ennemies jump on it.

You could make something similar... the players have to steal a huge cargo train (think road-train) but are attacked by a rival swoop gang that tries to get the cargo train back. Some of them jumping on the road train going toe-to-toe against your melee characters, some of them trying to shoot the players from their swoops and speeders... all that on a chase scene.... Keep movement abstract but make each length of the chase special, with decisions to make for the pilot. The Swoop gang put up a road barrage to stop the road train, your pilot can ram it head-on or try to go around steering in a side alley.... or the chase comes to a split road, one side is a crowded street while the other is under construction... make your pilots decisions matter, have her roll impact (give boost or setback) to the other players because of good/poor driving.

Another idea (if she has some special talents like Full Throttle)... your players could meet up on a rooftop parking to get some special cargo or meet some informant... when they get there the cargo/informant is captured by a group of thugs : they can see the thugs running off with the cargo/informant on a speeder on the street below while a bunch of thugs are blocking their way to the ramp leading roadside) ... you could have her pilot a landspeeder from the rooftop parking onto another rooftop to chase after the cargo/informant, having to use Full Throttle to be able to pull off the jump.... having only one other character beside her while the other take out the thugs left behind to make sure they don't try to stop her from retrieving the cargo/informant.

I think you've got some nice ieads right there almost ready to go
Hope it helps.

The main idea was to give your pilot character a place to shine, but also make your other players feel useful. If you go in a straight chase scene where all your players are on swoops trying to catch the bad guy, the less skilled pilots will probably feel pretty useless and have less fun doing it.... keep every player engaged in the story, feeling useful and his actions having real impact on the story.

if Jedi on speeder bikes feel pretty useless and have less fun, then they should never get to have lightsaber combat... because... Fair!

And just so you don't think I am hating... as a player, some of the most fun I have had in games is when I failed because I sucked at something, but tried anyway. Learn to fail with laughter, it makes for a great game.

if Jedi on speeder bikes feel pretty useless and have less fun, then they should never get to have lightsaber combat... because... Fair!

And just so you don't think I am hating... as a player, some of the most fun I have had in games is when I failed because I sucked at something, but tried anyway. Learn to fail with laughter, it makes for a great game.

I fail regularly... my dice luck sucks

There is a speeder bike/swoop race modular encounter somewhere that can be dropped into the campaign....

Could you go a bit goofy and non standard and have the pilot be bored and play a video game... inside the RPG that was a flight sim of sorts?

In the Advanced Future-past that is Star Wars you really think they don't have video games?

Thanks for the advice, everyone!

What I am going to try is to shift some of the earlier skirmishes with the thug/informant. Probably to make the thugs more willing to cooperate with the intention of catching the PCs after the heist, gang chases them on speeders through alleyways. I'd like to have more 3-D movement, maybe having a spot where the chase can lead them through someones apartment and out the other side. That may just require ramps/jumps since I don't think star wars has much in 3-D flying planetary craft. It's more driving right?

If the players want to split up to attack different objectives, I plan to give them an opportunity for securing a vehicle for the getaway as one of the splits. There are 8 PCs now and may be more next time, so splitting might be fun.

I would like to try and give her something earlier for the recon part- since I know she's itching to use her piloting. Is piloting a drone considered the same skill? Or do you guys have ideas for how to use piloting in a stealthy way? I don't want the imperial presence to spot her piloting a craft in the city an then start locking down the city.

[...]your pilot can ram it head-on or try to go around steering in a side alley.... or the chase comes to a split road, one side is a crowded street while the other is under construction... make your pilots decisions matter, have her roll impact (give boost or setback) to the other players because of good/poor driving.

This is a really cool idea. Will definitely use during the chase.

Could you go a bit goofy and non standard and have the pilot be bored and play a video game... inside the RPG that was a flight sim of sorts?

In the Advanced Future-past that is Star Wars you really think they don't have video games?

I absolutely love this image

One thing that comes to mind when you mention basically doing a heist and being in a town is the pilot of Star Wars Rebels in which Kanan and Ezra are racing about the town with some stolen cargo in tow, dodging around corners, dealing with Imps firing on them, etc.. if the Pilot character has pilot (planetary) this is a great route to go. If you want to avoid the splitting of the party you could either have them have a vehicle ready for the getaway and the pilot takes the lead when they get to it, or the pilot can use their lockpicking skill to 'acquire' a vehicle from their heist victim's collection even, or randomly on the street.