A brief bit of background as to how I arrived here. I have a group starting a new campaign in the next couple weeks and through our session 0 they created themselves as an illegal gun running operation. The campaign is starting on Nar Shadda and one of the players is a hutt so they elected to take a Homestead/Business as their party resource as described in Far Horizons instead of a ship. Their business is for all intents and purposes to be a front for their criminal activities.

There are some aspects of the business that I would like them to actively role play like lining up new contacts and suppliers, gun running, all the exciting stuff that makes for a good encounter. Basically anything that you would see on screen in a mafia film. What I don't want is to have them deal with the minutiae of running a business per se (read: all the stuff you would never see on film) so I was trying to figure out a way to abstract the logistics of it, i.e. bookkeeping, supply delivery, etc.

So this is where I'm hitting a snag, my players will with out a doubt try and obtain illegal restricted weapons through their business. I'm fine with this, but I want to add some structure to it so that they are just saying "we got a crate of disruptor rifles and lightsabers in this morning" and I have to break their PC hearts. So my thought right now is to have NPC characters handle the stuff that players won't necessarily care about.

The party will have a debt obligation to pay down to represent monthly business expenses (this way if they ignore it I can have the state of their business become a much bigger issue).

And for weapon shipments I will have a deck of cards that I'll shuffle up and deal out at the start of each session to show what is available that session. They will be able to improve the quality/rarity of items in the deck through game play by making contacts, running missions, etc.

Does this sound reasonable? Would you handle it differently?

Have you checked out the business and homestead rules in Far Horizons? That may just be the thing you're looking for.

Sounds reasonable to me. but I would like you to elaborate on a part.

So this is where I'm hitting a snag, my players will with out a doubt try and obtain illegal restricted weapons through their business. I'm fine with this, but I want to add some structure to it so that they are just saying "we got a crate of disruptor rifles and lightsabers in this morning" and I have to break their PC hearts.

I dont really understand that part. I think it is partially because you may not have worded it as you intended.

Can you elaborate?

Typo, should have been "aren't just saying..." but to elaborate, one of my players is a huge min maxer and I don't want them to even think that it is reasonable to be able to use their illegal weapon sales as a free pass to have access to extremely powerful weapons. IF they "got a crate of lightsabers" through their business I want them to have spent multiple sessions working towards earning that not just hand waving the difficulty of obtaining something like that.

Typo, should have been "aren't just saying..." but to elaborate, one of my players is a huge min maxer and I don't want them to even think that it is reasonable to be able to use their illegal weapon sales as a free pass to have access to extremely powerful weapons. IF they "got a crate of lightsabers" through their business I want them to have spent multiple sessions working towards earning that not just hand waving the difficulty of obtaining something like that.

Business and homestead rules covers this. If I remember correctly (away from book), it just means you reduce the rarity to obtain items to purchase by 1 or 2 ranks.

I hope someone will correct me if I'm wrong.

I thought those rules only applied to legal non restricted item? Either way, I don't want my players to have access to the entire range of restricted weapons and gear just because they have a business right at the beginning. Hence my idea about the deck of available items for any given session. Heck now that I think about it I could even have items tied directly to a specific NPC and if things soured or the NPC was killed those items could be removed.

My thought was that by working their way up the supplier ladder they will then gain access to better and more rare items as the quality of their contacts increases.

Perhaps you should establish the maximum rarity of the weapons that they can move as part of their regular business. That maximum can get higher over time or with specific actions but if they want to track down a crate of disruptors, or a hand full of lightsabers, then that needs to be "on screen". Any time they want to move product that is restricted it needs to be "on screen."

Perhaps you should establish the maximum rarity of the weapons that they can move as part of their regular business. That maximum can get higher over time or with specific actions but if they want to track down a crate of disruptors, or a hand full of lightsabers, then that needs to be "on screen". Any time they want to move product that is restricted it needs to be "on screen."

That's a good idea, i like simple solutions.

Typo, should have been "aren't just saying..." but to elaborate, one of my players is a huge min maxer and I don't want them to even think that it is reasonable to be able to use their illegal weapon sales as a free pass to have access to extremely powerful weapons. IF they "got a crate of lightsabers" through their business I want them to have spent multiple sessions working towards earning that not just hand waving the difficulty of obtaining something like that.

The problem with the crate of lightsabers is that during all eras that lightsabers were made by their user. There never was a factory that produced them, so for the PCs to claim that they have gotten a hold of a crate of lightsabers fails the canon test. One or maybe two lightsabers might be available, but no one would know their condition and if they are usable. It takes the Force to disassemble and assemble the lightsaber to begin with. Also, there are plenty of ways to prevent a non-force user from activating the lightsaber. My favorite was always that the on/off switch is actually inside the body of the lightsaber hilt and requires the use of telekinesis to turn it on. That would prevent any non-force user from accidentally activating the weapon.

Typo, should have been "aren't just saying..." but to elaborate, one of my players is a huge min maxer and I don't want them to even think that it is reasonable to be able to use their illegal weapon sales as a free pass to have access to extremely powerful weapons. IF they "got a crate of lightsabers" through their business I want them to have spent multiple sessions working towards earning that not just hand waving the difficulty of obtaining something like that.

The problem with the crate of lightsabers is that during all eras that lightsabers were made by their user. There never was a factory that produced them, so for the PCs to claim that they have gotten a hold of a crate of lightsabers fails the canon test. One or maybe two lightsabers might be available, but no one would know their condition and if they are usable. It takes the Force to disassemble and assemble the lightsaber to begin with. Also, there are plenty of ways to prevent a non-force user from activating the lightsaber. My favorite was always that the on/off switch is actually inside the body of the lightsaber hilt and requires the use of telekinesis to turn it on. That would prevent any non-force user from accidentally activating the weapon.

My OP also included distruptor rifles, however the point is moot. What the specific items in the example are doesn't make a difference, the core concept is restricting access to very powerful restricted items and not allowing the PCs to use the fact that they run an illegal weapons smuggling operation to let them hand wave the legwork that would be required normally.

If we played canon then yes lightsabers specifically wouldn't be an issue, but we don't so it could feasibly come up during play.

One or maybe two lightsabers might be available, but no one would know their condition and if they are usable. It takes the Force to disassemble and assemble the lightsaber to begin with.

This is not true in the FFG line. Anyone with Mechanics can make a lightsaber and even modify the crystal, but having the Force does make it much easier.

Typo, should have been "aren't just saying..." but to elaborate, one of my players is a huge min maxer and I don't want them to even think that it is reasonable to be able to use their illegal weapon sales as a free pass to have access to extremely powerful weapons. IF they "got a crate of lightsabers" through their business I want them to have spent multiple sessions working towards earning that not just hand waving the difficulty of obtaining something like that.

The problem with the crate of lightsabers is that during all eras that lightsabers were made by their user. There never was a factory that produced them, so for the PCs to claim that they have gotten a hold of a crate of lightsabers fails the canon test. One or maybe two lightsabers might be available, but no one would know their condition and if they are usable. It takes the Force to disassemble and assemble the lightsaber to begin with. Also, there are plenty of ways to prevent a non-force user from activating the lightsaber. My favorite was always that the on/off switch is actually inside the body of the lightsaber hilt and requires the use of telekinesis to turn it on. That would prevent any non-force user from accidentally activating the weapon.

My OP also included distruptor rifles, however the point is moot. What the specific items in the example are doesn't make a difference, the core concept is restricting access to very powerful restricted items and not allowing the PCs to use the fact that they run an illegal weapons smuggling operation to let them hand wave the legwork that would be required normally.

If we played canon then yes lightsabers specifically wouldn't be an issue, but we don't so it could feasibly come up during play.

Well the easy way to handle it is for the party to make the attempt to grab the items through a specific mission. The higher the rarity the more difficult the mission. For example, a rarity 5 item would be relatively an easy mission. The most that the party can expect as npcs are minions with maybe a rival or two. Also the difficulty should start at Average. For rarity level 7, I would add in more rivals, large minion squads, and a nemesis or two. Difficulty for their rolls would start at Daunting and have a Challenge dice. For every rarity step above level 7 add more rivals leading minion squads or have nemesis leading the squads. You could replace the minions altogether with rivals controlled by nemesis. Difficulty is now Impossible with an additional Challenge dice. Even include set back dice to add to it.

For the first successful mission, place a bounty on them using the formula of item rarity and quantity times 10,000 credits. The more rare and more items they steal the larger the bounty they have on their heads. In time, there would be pretty much every bounty hunter in the galaxy gunning for them. If they are heisting weapons from known crime syndicate, corporate, or Imperial space those factions will try to shut them down hard. If they want large quantity of extremely rare and restricted items then the price of doing business will also skyrocket to the point that any attempt to move the weapons will garner enough scrutiny that whoever controls the space will begin actively investigating them. The more rare and the higher the quantity the more resources the authorities will dedicate to eradicating these weapons dealers.

If they want a quantity of 25 or more weapons then they are going to have to go the source of those weapons. The actual factories that produce them. Unless they are willing to spend hundreds of thousands of credits for bribes to the right people they will have to plan a mission, use the above guidelines, to seize them. If they are unwilling to do the legwork then an investigation is opened by the criminal syndicate and the local authorities into these new movers and shakers of the black market goods. Above all, they must be willing to pay bribes to the right people to get them to turn a blind eye or they will be shut down hard. Usually, that means whoever else deals in these weapons will kill these interlopers.

I'm all for players wanting to do something, but they must work for it. Being a crime syndicate will be hard work with the appropriate benefits from good scores. I would, however, limit items like lightsabers from falling into their hands in more than 2. Doing so will raise the eyes of the Inquisition and could result in the players being declared hidden Jedi. Any enterprise that is illegal suffers from this. The group I'm in is facing this as we're attempting to seize control of the Tython System and reform the Je'daii Order. It's going to take a lot of planning and preparation to pull it off, but when it does succeed the payoff will be awesome.

So I'm AFB, but the Homestead/Business rules grant them 100/200 credits a session(?) or month(?), regardless, whichever it is, if they are pulling from weapons slated for sale by the business, by all means let them. They are giving you fuel for the fire, a LRB is 2250 book price, if you figure and average party number of 5, thats 4-5 sessions/months they aren't getting paid from their business. Not to mention, dipping into your own stock for personal use as a business owner is a terrible idea, just ask Tony Montana.

Also, the folks who that LRB was slated to be sold to are going to be wondering, where the frak their heavy firepower that they needed for their job, and why the hell the gun-runners they -paid- to get it for them aren't coming through on their end of the bargain.

So sure, you get a LRB or a Disruptor for a session, but if I was GMing that game, the first thing that would happen the next session, is a group of big, bad, royally pissed (having acquired a -different- LRB from another gun-runner) mercs would show up wondering where the hell their product was, and they aren't going to leave without 1. The Gun, 2. Their credits back or in lieu of credits, however much of the PC's Pain, Sweat and Blood, they consider worth the asking price.