So through a long string of circumstances involving child kidnapping, two of my group saved a force sensitive child from pirate slavers while the third of my group wanted them to return the kid for a reward from the Pirates.

Now the third guy has been left behind with the Pirates and the other two have hijacked the groups ship and are now out of fuel and stranded on mustafar where the Pirates are following them ready to go to war.

So basically, any advice on how to deal with this situation? I don't want my players dying to one another.

Talk with the player and try to discern his intentions.

My opinion is that, once a PC betrays his crew and there's no turning back, he ceases to be a PC. Turn him into an NPC if he's intent on having his PC be adversarial and actually trying to kill the other PCs. If he remains open to redeeming himself, maybe let the situation play itself out.

Edit: Not that you should just take the character sheet away...but rather work with the players out of game to make sure that the resolution in-game is something everyone can get on board with.

Might be worth considering if the actual players have a problem with the situation, or with which direction the campaign turned. If they do, you might have to just sit down and discuss the scenario OOC, agree to work out some reconciliation and maybe think of some resolutions one-on-one with the different 'factions' (to preserve some drama). If they're having fun roll with it. Not to say I would discount your, as the GM, fun. If you're not having fun, say as much.

Talking goes a long way to solve problems and to prevent them from happening in the first place, sometimes.

The classic twist on this is to have the pirates betray guy #3 so that he realizes who his real friends are. If the character then has to perform some act that helps put him in the good graces of characters #1 & #2, so much the better. Of course, if the pirates have an Imperial informer that somehow let an Inquisitor know about the force sensitive, you could get an even crazier three way mess to deal with...

The classic twist on this is to have the pirates betray guy #3 so that he realizes who his real friends are. If the character then has to perform some act that helps put him in the good graces of characters #1 & #2, so much the better. Of course, if the pirates have an Imperial informer that somehow let an Inquisitor know about the force sensitive, you could get an even crazier three way mess to deal with...

HD beat me to it.

The guy is hanging out with pirates who kidnap kids; they'd be just as willing to betray the PC if it meant easy credits.

Alternatively:

Is there a way to work in the rouge PC's Obligation?

Are they having fun doing it or just mad at each other? If they're enjoying it I wouldn't do anything.

This kind of thing can destroy your game — it almost destroyed the first EotE game that Stuart was running.

In our case, I was doing the very best I could to try to keep our party together and to protect everyone from the bad guys, and what I didn’t realize is that a couple of the players had decided they wanted to change characters and have the old ones go out in a full-on Dark Side flame of glory.

Had I known in advance, I wouldn’t have taken things so personally, and there wouldn’t have been such negative fallout and scarring that still hasn’t fully healed.

If the players are taking it personally, and it becomes a player versus player thing, that’s bad news.

If the players are all having fun and they’re able to keep player knowledge (and feelings) separate from PC knowledge and feelings, then maybe there’s no harm in letting them fight each other — at least, for now.

They seem to be enjoying it immensely judging from the positive feedback I've gotten. They were shocked when they found the kid but acted accordingly for their characters. Since the guy who got left behind has a previous relationship with the pirates he was fine with being left behind. He tried several times to convince the others to come back too.

If the players are happy with the situation then there's no need to do anything drastic about it. I'd go for HappyDaze's suggestion and have some kind of outside even bring them together again, like the pirates betraying player #3. Or have an outside enemy show up so they all have to join forces against those.

You can spin it so the pirates become allies. Could probably make all sides happy, at least somewhat, and you can introduce some new avenues into the game.

If everyone's having a good time and nobody is getting upset with one another, you might not have to do much of anything. However, I would highly recommend that you check with everyone on how far they're willing to go. Is the rogue character willing to die or harm his fellows? How about the ones with the kid, are they going to be willing to stand form or harm their rogue compatriot if necessary? If any of the answers are 'no', you'll need to factor that in.

If you do need to do something, look to Obligations. Does the rogue have a bounty or criminal past that the pirates might take advantage of, betraying the rogue? Do the ones with the kid have a bounty on their heads, and the rogue hears the pirates talking about sending his friends to a fate worse than death, encouraging him to betray the pirates?

You can spin it so the pirates become allies. Could probably make all sides happy, at least somewhat, and you can introduce some new avenues into the game.

Yes! And have your friendly pirates led by a Zabrak who looks a lot like Michael Rooker.

Have the pirates catch up with the rest of the party and in the shootout kill the kid, the pirates would withdraw because there is no profit in continuing the fight. If the rogue can be blamed for the death the pirates have a reason to ditch him with the rest of the party.

The party can then try and work things out and see if they can still work together.

Make them work it out quick before force sensitive mommy and daddy arrive for revenge.

They seem to be enjoying it immensely judging from the positive feedback I've gotten. They were shocked when they found the kid but acted accordingly for their characters. Since the guy who got left behind has a previous relationship with the pirates he was fine with being left behind. He tried several times to convince the others to come back too.

Then I would go with the excellent suggestions of letting it play out while having the pirates turn on the lone PC in a pivotal moment. You know your players best so pick whether it's the lone PC making the right decision and saving the other PCs, or the other PCs coming to rescue their wayward friend.

You could end up with a truly epic moment of RPG goodness. Try not to squander the opportunity. No pressure.

Be careful with this. At the very least you're going to be splitting your attention between two parts of your group. It might seem fun for a bit, but in my experience tabletop RPGs work best when the party are all acting together, even if some of the characters don't like it.

I think that's the time when you put the session on hold and talk with everyone about why they're fighting

Yeah, PVP is generally a no-no around my group. Well, at least seriously - we've had war games and sparing and what not, stuff in fun. But something serious that could cause real-life bad feelings? Absolutely not.

I'd see every single one of my RPG books burn before I gave up just one of my real life friends.

Well the group managed to regroup and ended up fighting off the pirates. Unfortunately one guy burnt to death and another lost his leg. Don't know what's gonna happen now

Well the group managed to regroup and ended up fighting off the pirates. Unfortunately one guy burnt to death and another lost his leg. Don't know what's gonna happen now

Lost leg = new adventure for cybernetic leg = character depth.

Burnt to Death = Burnt to Death? Did the player like this character? If the answer is no, then this is a boon. Reroll. A relative or friend of Crispy shows up to take his place. The player loved this character? Yep you have a problem. I don't know the exact circumstances of the death. Could there be a twinkling of life inside ala Annakin Skywalker falling in the lava pit? Shove him in a deep freeze or bacta chamber to preserve him. Next session is a grand burglary of cybernetic parts from a clandestine lab while kidnapping one of its scientists to put Wobbly and Crispy back together again?

From my experience, OH NO! often can lead to AWESOME! with a little imagination.

Well the group managed to regroup and ended up fighting off the pirates. Unfortunately one guy burnt to death and another lost his leg. Don't know what's gonna happen now

Lost leg = new adventure for cybernetic leg = character depth.

Burnt to Death = Burnt to Death? Did the player like this character? If the answer is no, then this is a boon. Reroll. A relative or friend of Crispy shows up to take his place. The player loved this character? Yep you have a problem. I don't know the exact circumstances of the death. Could there be a twinkling of life inside ala Annakin Skywalker falling in the lava pit? Shove him in a deep freeze or bacta chamber to preserve him. Next session is a grand burglary of cybernetic parts from a clandestine lab while kidnapping one of its scientists to put Wobbly and Crispy back together again?

From my experience, OH NO! often can lead to AWESOME! with a little imagination.

Wobbly says next session he's going to be traumatised at the loss of his favourite leg and Crispy is just gone. They were forced to leave his body behind. He tried attacking their boss (a Hutt) and as much as I wanted to go with stun and keep him alive it seemed out of character for this hutt to allow such blatant treachery to stand.

I mean I doubt Jabba would have let one of his guys try and shoot him and get away with it. I just hope killing him doesn't make me a bad GM

Well the group managed to regroup and ended up fighting off the pirates. Unfortunately one guy burnt to death and another lost his leg. Don't know what's gonna happen now

Lost leg = new adventure for cybernetic leg = character depth.

Burnt to Death = Burnt to Death? Did the player like this character? If the answer is no, then this is a boon. Reroll. A relative or friend of Crispy shows up to take his place. The player loved this character? Yep you have a problem. I don't know the exact circumstances of the death. Could there be a twinkling of life inside ala Annakin Skywalker falling in the lava pit? Shove him in a deep freeze or bacta chamber to preserve him. Next session is a grand burglary of cybernetic parts from a clandestine lab while kidnapping one of its scientists to put Wobbly and Crispy back together again?

From my experience, OH NO! often can lead to AWESOME! with a little imagination.

Wobbly says next session he's going to be traumatised at the loss of his favourite leg and Crispy is just gone. They were forced to leave his body behind. He tried attacking their boss (a Hutt) and as much as I wanted to go with stun and keep him alive it seemed out of character for this hutt to allow such blatant treachery to stand.

I mean I doubt Jabba would have let one of his guys try and shoot him and get away with it. I just hope killing him doesn't make me a bad GM

It doesn't make you a bad GM at all. If you get through it your campaign will be better for it. NOW players know their characters CAN die. So, much more tension and realism just got added to each combat session. Now, when they survive, it's an accomplishment, not just something they feel was guaranteed anyway. From experience, campaigns where the players know you will save their asses everytime can lead to huge problems and eventually boredom. A campaign killer. From the launch of a new campaign I always tell my players up front I will go with what the dice say and will not, ever, tweak things to save them. I'm not saying I don't ever violate this rule but I do my utmost to ensure my players never realize I have.

But, you now have to deal with the player whose character just died. Hopefully he is mature about it, rerolls, carries on. Try to make him see it as an opportunity. Try to make the new character showing up not be suddenly random, but caused by your last adventure or someone's obligation, etc. Make the session the new character shows up be more about this character then the others. Give him the spotlight as an introduction for the new entry. How he becomes part of the group can be the adventure during the next session. If he throws a fit, try to correct it quickly because you don't want a disgruntled player at your table weekly.

One last thing you might want to use. The body of Crispy was left with the Hutt? Wait a while. Wait several sessions. Wait until the players are no longer employed by the Hutt because they made him angry, perhaps. Then, the Return of Crispy. As an NPC. Perhaps a scar covered cyborged near-mindless killer used by the Hutt to hunt down the PCs? Perhaps they can appeal to Crispy's inner dormant memories and have him turn the tables at a pivotal moment sacrificing himself to save his old friends and kill the Hutt? Lots of cool angles to take with the Return of Crispy as a nemesis. But, I would consider if this could make Crispy's old player angry? If you think it won't, then let him be surprised too when CrispyBorg strolls in the room. If you think it could piss him off, then give him a secret warning in advance - "Hey I got this idea about your old character Crispy returning as a nemesis...." and see how he reacts. He might love the idea. Just don't do it too soon. Make it a surprise.

Well the group managed to regroup and ended up fighting off the pirates. Unfortunately one guy burnt to death and another lost his leg. Don't know what's gonna happen now

Lost leg = new adventure for cybernetic leg = character depth.

Burnt to Death = Burnt to Death? Did the player like this character? If the answer is no, then this is a boon. Reroll. A relative or friend of Crispy shows up to take his place. The player loved this character? Yep you have a problem. I don't know the exact circumstances of the death. Could there be a twinkling of life inside ala Annakin Skywalker falling in the lava pit? Shove him in a deep freeze or bacta chamber to preserve him. Next session is a grand burglary of cybernetic parts from a clandestine lab while kidnapping one of its scientists to put Wobbly and Crispy back together again?

From my experience, OH NO! often can lead to AWESOME! with a little imagination.

Wobbly says next session he's going to be traumatised at the loss of his favourite leg and Crispy is just gone. They were forced to leave his body behind. He tried attacking their boss (a Hutt) and as much as I wanted to go with stun and keep him alive it seemed out of character for this hutt to allow such blatant treachery to stand.

I mean I doubt Jabba would have let one of his guys try and shoot him and get away with it. I just hope killing him doesn't make me a bad GM

It doesn't make you a bad GM at all. If you get through it your campaign will be better for it. NOW players know their characters CAN die. So, much more tension and realism just got added to each combat session. Now, when they survive, it's an accomplishment, not just something they feel was guaranteed anyway. From experience, campaigns where the players know you will save their asses everytime can lead to huge problems and eventually boredom. A campaign killer. From the launch of a new campaign I always tell my players up front I will go with what the dice say and will not, ever, tweak things to save them. I'm not saying I don't ever violate this rule but I do my utmost to ensure my players never realize I have.

But, you now have to deal with the player whose character just died. Hopefully he is mature about it, rerolls, carries on. Try to make him see it as an opportunity. Try to make the new character showing up not be suddenly random, but caused by your last adventure or someone's obligation, etc. Make the session the new character shows up be more about this character then the others. Give him the spotlight as an introduction for the new entry. How he becomes part of the group can be the adventure during the next session. If he throws a fit, try to correct it quickly because you don't want a disgruntled player at your table weekly.

One last thing you might want to use. The body of Crispy was left with the Hutt? Wait a while. Wait several sessions. Wait until the players are no longer employed by the Hutt because they made him angry, perhaps. Then, the Return of Crispy. As an NPC. Perhaps a scar covered cyborged near-mindless killer used by the Hutt to hunt down the PCs? Perhaps they can appeal to Crispy's inner dormant memories and have him turn the tables at a pivotal moment sacrificing himself to save his old friends and kill the Hutt? Lots of cool angles to take with the Return of Crispy as a nemesis. But, I would consider if this could make Crispy's old player angry? If you think it won't, then let him be surprised too when CrispyBorg strolls in the room. If you think it could piss him off, then give him a secret warning in advance - "Hey I got this idea about your old character Crispy returning as a nemesis...." and see how he reacts. He might love the idea. Just don't do it too soon. Make it a surprise.

This is great stuff. I love how helpful everyone is on these forums. My campaign starts Sunday with my first group. I was a tad concerned with the younger players being overly aggressive, now I have ways of solving that.