So my group has played through the beginner box using the pre made characters to start off. After almost getting slaughtered by stormtroopers and killing Trex, they sold his Wookie pelts in Mos Shutta and headed off world.
In Long Arm of the Hutt they went on to help free the Twileks on Ryloth and returned to Tatoonine to kill Teemo. They left behind a group of Gamorrean guards and freed slave-gladiators they failed to kill using a thermal detonator I mistakenly gave them as payment from the Twilek cell on Ryloth. Killing Teemo brought on a debt obligation to Jabba for not allowing the Hutts to exact justice on him themselves.
After that we were about four sessions in and we based our custom characters off the pre mades and just reworked them, this allowing us to keep all the backstory and contacts we made to that point. Bringing on obligation, motivation and backstory helped to guide storytelling at this point.
Bargos called on the obligation to Jabba in Debts to Pay. They traveled to Gavos to scout the mine, missing a lot of the story line. Threatening and Despairing themselves to death, they almost brought the shield generators down on themselves before even finding the money. Thankfully by dumb luck they uncovered the safe and moved on. They never stepped foot in the mine and almost got themselves killed twice by the droids. They disabled the droids getaway ship and hightailed it out of there. They went back to Bargos with the money and a story to boot. They had previously bargained with him for bandleader sum than the adventure requires which left them a handsome sum of loot.
I looked to Under the Black Sun to tie in some of their motivations and obligations. Only problem was that this required a believable tie in. That adventure is made to be used with pre made characters much like the beginner box. The Pyke family was never a part of our storyline, I instead used a mutual blackmail obligation from a made up associate of our Wookie and Duros based on the sale of Wookie pelts, tied back to the new boss they helped to create in place of the void in the wake of Teemo's death.
It was time to make them pay out, so I required them to pay to change the ships signature to clear it of Trex's ownership, which they bargained down with talent and great rolls. Then they negotiated with their obligation owner for a stockpile of consumables which came to them tainted and required resilience checks twice throughout the night for each character due to a threat rolled. That added some great toilet humor and fun to the night. It came up at the worst of times.
They also secured docking fees and a fuel cell recharge mid journey from Geonosis to Coruscant from the obligation owner. So much for using up their credits. But now that they are so far away from their base of operations, they'll have about a 6500 credit journey back to the outer rim. They have vowed to take down the inhabitants in Teemo's palace and Cedrick, their current obligation owner.
Once on Coruscant they had to securely break in to the Black Sun data facility, which they employed their previously acquired surveillance droid to help them do. After a series of great and botched rolls: they stole a ton of intel, killed about five BS operatives and three more droids, made a guy strip (don't ask) and took off with a couple of speeders. A BS speeder caught up with them and a battle ensued in the fast lanes of the Coruscant underground. Tricky maneuvers were pulled off, dead shots were made and the action was halted shortly after ten tonight when both BS operatives were gunned down and the BS speeder was left speeding through the air on Coruscant with nothing but a promise to pull off an jump ala Anakin from AotC when we start up next session.
The group really started to come together this session. Our smuggler really started playing in game like a true Han Solo-esque rogue and our Wookie slashed through foes like butter. The foes are going to have to beef up if the group is going to have a fair fight in their hands. The computers expert and Duros BH played as you would expect slicing into computers like a pro and thinking on their feet like regular R2 units.
One of the players mentioned that the speeder chase felt just like we were in the movie. The decisions and rolls were fast and the first things that rolled off players tongues were what we went with for advantage, threat and triumph. They quickly caught on that they were creating and molding the story real time and held their tongue when things got thick.
We are by no means experts, and dont pretend to be. I am the only be with the CORE and some of our players take some coaching when it comes to SW terms and worlds but we have a blast and the characters are taking shape. I can't wait to see how they handle themselves in the Coruscant Underground next session and hope to pull out some sabacc cards to play a few hands.
What do you all think? Praises, critiques? Let em rip!