This might be quite a long post, so please bare with me.

My group have just gotten a new player.

I am running them through Pirates of Prexier, to recover some supplies.

They do NOT know the supplies are for a covert Rebel Operation, as I am setting them up for something later.

I have given the Pirates a Gozanti transport, with upgraded engines, so hopefully give the new player some experience with Space Combat.

They have snuck into the camp, and found the supplies.

The new player has decided to sneak onto the ship, and either sabotage it, or subdue (Specifically NOT kill) the crew, potentially forcing them to take the ship, and him, to the authorities, so he can turn them in, and allow the rest of the group to escape.

This means it splits the party in a bad way.

I would prefer he do not succeed.

The Big Bad pirate boss is NOT on the ship. (They do know this in character, but I think they may have forgotten... which works for me)

I was going to have a 8-12 pirates on the ship, one of which will retreat to the cockpit and call for help from the pirates in the camp.

This prevents him forcing the ship to depart with him on board, but does not stop him sabotaging it.

What kind of adversaries should I throw at him, to give him a beating, and make him think retreat would be a better option at this point, and fleeing with the rest of the group?

Side note. The players will be ambushed at their own ship as per the printed adventure (im scrapping the ATST ambush entirely), so the rest of the group might need his help, but if he is not with them, they might have a hard time of it.

The pirates will have some Cloakshape Fighters to harrass them as they leave, but having the party split in such a manner could cause me some significant headaches, as narrativly, the characters would have no drive to find the new guy and retrieve him, as they hired him for this job specifically.. and I presumed he would remain with the crew after the fact.

(Although I am sure they would find him, as my group are reasonable, but it feels abit forced)

I have chosen from the adversay decks, the Pirate Crew, Pirate Captain, Shipjackers and Swoop Gangers to use as stats for the Pirates. But what else can I throw into the mix to make this new player think twice?

Note: The player is a Zabrak ShiiCho warrior, with a Vibrorapier, formerly a padawan but has not used his powers in 10 years. Only has access to Force Enhance and Move, and nothing over the top on either. FR1, but uses Enhance to boost his brawn to make him more effective in Melee. The player has stated he would always try and disarm and subdue over maim and kill.

Suggestions?

Glop grenades.

.... This could go very badly. If the player has the typical player mindset, he's not likely to retreat unless faced with overwhelming odds. Even then, he might give in to the Hero complex and expect to win.

I'd let him find out something while on the ship that forces him to leave it. It's already booby-trapped and they're about to take off, the group is about to ambush the rest of the party and he has to go help, same with some NPC or group of which the party is fond, they just moved the MacGuffin -off- the ship to Area 51 and now he has to go -there- to get it back, the NPC in charge says they're not leaving for several weeks...

Something to make him want to leave immediately or ASAP. Make his being -on- the ship and -away- from the party actually advancing the plot of the enemies. Then he'll group back up right quick.

2P51: I was going to have NO grenades on the ship, as the player has told me in private, that if he found any, he would rig them to explode, destroying the ship, or sufficiently damaging it to prevent it being an issue.

Glop grenades however, would simply slow him down, and possibly not prevent him carrying out his plans.

I was going to have at least 2 or 3 minion groups, and maybe a couple of Rivals, that can call in help, or lock him out of critical areas, forcing him to pull back to the rest of the group.

.... This could go very badly. If the player has the typical player mindset, he's not likely to retreat unless faced with overwhelming odds. Even then, he might give in to the Hero complex and expect to win.

I'd let him find out something while on the ship that forces him to leave it. It's already booby-trapped and they're about to take off, the group is about to ambush the rest of the party and he has to go help, same with some NPC or group of which the party is fond, they just moved the MacGuffin -off- the ship to Area 51 and now he has to go -there- to get it back, the NPC in charge says they're not leaving for several weeks...

Something to make him want to leave immediately or ASAP. Make his being -on- the ship and -away- from the party actually advancing the plot of the enemies. Then he'll group back up right quick.

The Hero Complex, I find, can never be dissuaded until they Learn Differently from severe failure.

You say there are 8-12 pirates on the ship? Let him have at it.... and when the alarm goes up, the ships crew is going to come down on him. Let it happen.

At this point You, as the Gm, If he doesn't Back off when the numbers start piling in, and he is knocked out, can either have him killed and He learns his lesson the hardest way from needing to make a new character.

Or have him taken captive, to be sold as a slave, requiring the rest of the group choose whether they want to rescue him or not... and If not... again Player learns the hardest lesson by having to make a new character as his previous one is removed from the game into slavery.

Hopefully the player backs off... But I as a GM don't hold back due to player stupidity.

The player isnt being stupid, or pig headed.

He has a valid reason for doing what he is doing, and I cannot argue with him short of saying "this is a pain for me, do something else"

I just need something I can use to make him... decide this course of action is going to be too hard... best rethink... "IN Character"

The PLAYER is a VERY good RPer by reputation, and goes out of his way NOT to break games and GMs.

2P51: I was going to have NO grenades on the ship, as the player has told me in private, that if he found any, he would rig them to explode, destroying the ship, or sufficiently damaging it to prevent it being an issue.

Glop grenades however, would simply slow him down, and possibly not prevent him carrying out his plans.

I was going to have at least 2 or 3 minion groups, and maybe a couple of Rivals, that can call in help, or lock him out of critical areas, forcing him to pull back to the rest of the group.

Glop grenades followed by a hail of blaster fire. Stun grenades. Bola launchers. Noise grenades. Static pistol.

I dont want to kill him or capture him really.. I just want him to look at the situation and think "Yeaaaaa.... Plan A is not happening.. Plan B.. RUN!"

So... the guy is going to sneak aboard a crewed pirate ship by himself, non-violently subdue the crew and then steal the ship.

Maybe increase the number of actual pirates. 8-12 minions. Another 4-6 rivals. I don't know the pirate's modus operandi, but if they operate anything like the pirates from Welcome Aboard (luring unspuspecting peoaple aboard then ambushing them), have some internal heavy weapon pits to handle boarders -- then he'd have to throw himself at a couple of heavy repeating blasters. Think like a pirate: I'm want to be as dangerous as possible without compromising my capablities, and I want to prevent anybody from getting the upperhand on my own ship.

If he's going to try to knock out the pirates, one lousy roll will hamper his success, and you can have a pirate sound the alarm. Have the ship modified to go into emergency lockdown and drop the blast doors on the cockpit and engine room. Sure, he might cut through it... eventually... but by then somebody might wake up, or reinforcements arrive, or, or, or.

I dont want to kill him or capture him really.. I just want him to look at the situation and think "Yeaaaaa.... Plan A is not happening.. Plan B.. RUN!"

OK, then three Assassin droids greet him at the door carrying heavy blaster rifles....

I dont want to kill him or capture him really.. I just want him to look at the situation and think "Yeaaaaa.... Plan A is not happening.. Plan B.. RUN!"

OK, then three Assassin droids greet him at the door carrying heavy blaster rifles....

Interesting... but I dont think he would baulk at killing droids... hmm.... connundrums..

Maybe the key is to disinterest him form the beginning. Leak some information about how this stuff is heavily, unneecessarily armed, guarded etc. He might not even go there. I realize this tends to be futile, but throw something menacing at him. Imperial involvement or something like that. Just anything he wouldn't touch.

Alternatively: Nets. Netguns. Globby stuff. Anything non-lethal. Is there such a thing as pepper spray? Anyway, stuff like that. If he gts maced it the nose, let him retreat. You shape the world, let him learn his lesson. But make it harder to get into afterwards, don't make it feel like the PC iteraction has no impact.

The group HAVE the target cargo, they load it as he enters the ship (Session ended there, and I plyed the PCs plan from him later)

I need to figure out how to make it narrative suitable for him to retreat WITH the rest of the group, rather than force the pirates into submission, or sabotaging the ship so it cannot chase them on their way off the planet.

Ideally, without killing him, or getting him separated from the group as they leave the planet.

again, Just seeing a suitable number of Pirates to have to deal with right off.... working in pairs... making it "narrativelly" obvious that it will be Extremely difficult to take any out without setting off an alarm,

Should suffice for any Decent player with their head on straight.

Even security traps like laser trip wires and such could help set off the alarms..

Ships Pilot is monitoring # of life signs on the ship with sensors and so forth.

Often times I find that the key to losing power is not understanding what is happening. Show bombardment from a far of place. Make lasers hit for reasons. Just leave him hurt and in the dark. If suddenly **** goes down for reasons the PC can not fathom, he will retreat, just how any sensible being would react. Wound him. Go boom. Make it scary. He'll probably look for his mates soon enough, if only to pay 'em back.

I dont want to kill him or capture him really.. I just want him to look at the situation and think "Yeaaaaa.... Plan A is not happening.. Plan B.. RUN!"

OK, then three Assassin droids greet him at the door carrying heavy blaster rifles....

Interesting... but I dont think he would baulk at killing droids... hmm.... connundrums..

Ok then I am lost, because if 3 targets shooting at him with heavy autofire weapons gives him no pause I doubt much will.

Not all a waste 2P51, its all helpful, and food for thought!

Thanks for the ideas

"Roll perception as you board the ship"

Success "there's 2 auto blaster turrets in the entrance, thankfully there not active, but who knows"

Failure "there's 2 auto blaster turrets in the entrance, they are tracking your every move..."

"Roll perception as you board the ship"

Success "there's 2 auto blaster turrets in the entrance, thankfully there not active, but who knows"

Failure "there's 2 auto blaster turrets in the entrance, they are tracking your every move..."

Range(H)-5, Nemesis Assassin droids with LRBs are turrets essentially....

Is there any reason the pirates aren't already alerted to their presence, or could be at a moment's notice? That seems like the easiest way. Nothing like a modified probe droid to find them...

Anyway, I would balk at the idea that one guy could subdue an entire crew, it's possible the player has an inflated idea of how much his character can take on, and doesn't know how far he can expect to get, so you might want to point out the difficulties. The entrance is only going to get him to the base level, and each section has it's own set of doors that can be closed. The bridge is probably closed by default, it's a Sil5 Gozanti after all.

Also, the crew knows the ship, where all the buttons are, how to lock sections off, etc. His vibrorapier isn't going to cut through the blast doors, and that will give the crew time to call for help. If they fight hand to hand, defending a doorway provides cover (one setback), and I'd argue hard cover (2 setback) because of the knowledge of the ship.

But if you want to dissuade him from even making the attempt, only a show of power that the player can respect in-game is going to deter him.

I was thinking something similar as mentioned above ... having 3, or 6 security/assassin droids waiting in the wings, inactive. Although you might consider using them on a of a Threat or 2 to have one of the guards be able to activate them (or maybe use one of their Advantages to activate them as well by pressing an alarm). Another idea is to have the ships sensors activate in some way. Maybe then he might rethink his idea and flee ... of course, as the odds stack against him he could be reminded that the rest of the group is still within distance to catch up to.

My plan is to have (to start) two groups of crew, in communal areas on either side of the ship.

Whichever way he goes, the others are going to be alerted by the noise. One will dive for the bridge and seal it off (its locked to the PC). And call for help.

Deeper in the ship are more Pirates, who can reinforce the others. Hopefully penning the PC in the forward sections, with easy access to the exit, so he can fall back to the group to flee is needed.

But I need something (Rival, stat wise I think), to push the PC back, either by a show of force, or by beating him hard enough to decides to best to leave.

Here's a radical idea.

Just take the player aside and tell him the issue and ask him not to. If he's a good player, he shouldn't have an issue, and if he insists on being a PITA about it, the have him get knocked around a bit.

I still haven't heard a peep about the idea of re-targeting him. Sure, the cargo they want is on the ship (apparently). However, make him want to be -OFF- the ship in some way other than combat. He gets word that they're going to carpet bomb the place the rest of the PCs are hiding out and the pirates are operating on 'com-blackout' protocol which means they turned on a bunch of jammers....

Overwhelming force seems a pretty big hammer with which to hit this poor fellow who's just trying to be the scout/saboteur his character is based on...

there have been a plethora of good suggestions, that is for sure..

Not sure why your so focused on the "Beating the crap out of him" option.