I'm hoping some of you may know the lore better than I... searching for "starship show" on wookieepedia is giving me massive number of hits for starships but none of them being about a starship show as in think a "car show" where enthusiasts bring their tricked out rides to show off.

big companies (CEC) would send their popular newer model transports to drum up sales, there would probably be a lot of "small" ship construction companies, lots of tarmac (silhouette 5 and smaller ships would likely land, the silhouette 6 and larger would be in orbit but I don't envision many ships larger than a 6 being there, and most of that would be bulk transports and cruise liners). They might have a space station hotel where the uber rich get the best view of the ships in orbit. it's a very commercial affair, one the "military side of things" would be systems buying systems patrol craft, star fighters, maybe some mercenary units buying weaponized transports and star fighters, but no actual warships. I don't want a core world (including Corellia)... in terms of economy scale: this is a planet whose annual/decadal income economy may revolve around the show. maybe something in the expansion region or the inner rim, maybe somewhere in the corporate sector

If you guys don't know of any "official legends" starship shows, can you suggest an appropriate planet, as in sort of high tech but not having a galactic powerhouse economy or galactic political pull something where a corporation like Czerka could get away with causing a ruckus

Nar Shaddaa has markets for everything. Ord Mantell works for the same.

I don't know of any Legends content mentioning a 'starship show', but some possible systems in the Inner Rim/Expansion Region might be:

Bestine

Bilbringi

Yag'Dhul

Gyndine

Those all have shipyards, but aren't as big as Kuat or Fondor and could probably benefit a lot from something like a annual 'starship show'. They also have very interesting terrains.

First, this is a damned splendid idea. I think you should write it up as a scenario for the forum once you've played through. It's too cool.

A few ways to tackle this.

Is it a New Car Show, a Custom Car show, or a classic Military Air Show styled affair?

A Ship Show for New Models? That's Inner Rim or Core where the big credits are. Planet 'Sheboygan' isnt going to attract these shows, they want the cashed up Core World types.

A Ship Show for Pimped Classic Fly's? Anywhere that is cool, but I'd stick to Inner Rim. These folks aren't going to spend big bucks Pimping out their Fly's to take them to a sh*tty Outer Rim or Criminal Overlord world unless they want them stolen. Planet 'Sheyoygan' would get one of these. Smaller shows organised by enthusiasts.

Is it a Ship Show for lowlife Scum and Villains, Smugglers and Bounty Hunters? As HappyDaze suggested, Nar Shaddaa or Ord Mantell are great picks. Planet 'Detroit' might get these, a world once renowned for its product but fallen on hard times.

An Air Show type deal could be anywhere that is cashed up enough to attract a crowd to help fund the show and potential buyers to actually make some decent money and a Space Port big enough to handle the traffic.

JUST FYI - I've never been to Sheboygan or Detroit, but only know them as a foreigner exposed to certain reputations based on internet news media. I'm using them as broad stereotypes. I know good folk and great ideas to come from both. I really want to visit Detroit one day and see the place.

If you want to go 'shady as hell' but still have fun... Tatooine might work. Admittedly, that's probably a lot shadier then you had in mind, but it has the necessary components: minor trade hub, egos looking to show off their ships, and Hutts. The fact that it would serve multiple roles (advertising for ship captains, sales of new/used ships, bragging rights, etc) gives quite a lot of plot hooks, and the fact its Tatooine and filled with shady characters and undercurrents just adds another layer of them. If nothing else, it would give the PC's a chance to get their hands on... interesting ship parts.

Now, speaking a bit more from personal experience as someone whose worked the concession side of car shows: you actually don't see much of major retailers at car shows. You see a lot of body shops and insurance brokers, but at least in my part of the world, you don't see retailers. Part of that I suspect is that it is a place for fancy, old and modded cars, and the people who participate in the shows aren't really in the market for new cars, and the people who are visiting are there to see the interesting cars, not the new ones.

Mind, that's for comparatively minor shows in smaller cities. Big shows in big cities (particularly ones to showcase consumer products) are a completely different story. Those are big, flashy affairs, that are more about advertising then anything else. It largely depends what the show is there for: if the purpose is to sell ships, its going to be structured differently then one to show off ships and make revenue from the people who come to look. And if its a modder con, its going to be structured differently still.

And one last thought: anything that moves significant amounts of military hardware, even (or perhaps especially, given the time period) snub fighters is going to draw pretty heavy Imperial scrutiny, either overt or covert. Assuming this is at all on the grid. If not, well it could be a very interesting show.

BalazarLightson and Vesp have some great ideas, and really I think you could adapt them to almost any planet by adjusting the scale. A "classic collector's" speeder show is just as viable on Tatooine as it is on Corellia, but will be quite a bit smaller. A military airshow (spaceshow?) is a bit more complex given the Imperial war-machine's dominance over everything (depending on your setting timeline), but it could certainly still work in the Corporate Sector.

Really, I think Nar Shaddaa is your best bet. You've got everything from high-rollers to desperate penniless scum, a large corporate presence, plenty of R&D, and a light Imperial touch. The Hutts add a nice wrinkle in terms of who they might be supporting/bankrolling for their own nefarious purposes.

A final thought: given the Hutts' love of gladiatorial combat, it might be fun to combine the show proper with a race or dogfight contest on the last day of the show. Either one has plenty of opportunities for entertaining wrinkles and PC involvement.

Bespin.

Now hear me out; Lando, always trying to make a credit or ten decides to set up a show using a converted mining platform into a landing pad/show floor. If it doesn't work out, then Lando scrubs the idea. If it does, or players be all "player like" and the platform gets blown up, no worries.

While I'm usually loathe to suggest characters from canon to be used, the above could work.

The other option, as I do for my games, is set up your own sector of space. Remember this quote from the Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy:

Space... is big. Really big. You just won't believe how vastly hugely mindbogglingly big it is...

There is ALWAYS room for a new Moff and his sector of space.

My first thoughts were Socorro or Bespin.

I feel like Nar Shaddaa is too remote and too dangerous for a higher profile starship show. If it's a super-shady/illegal-mod/deals-out-in-the-open kind of show, then Nar Shaddaa would be a good choice. It might be a show covertly put together by some enterprising Hutt looking to discover and employ "the next Han Solo."

Socorro, on the other hand, is much more accessible of a world. With its loose government and reputation as a smuggler haven, it already attracts a lot of ne'er-do-wells as well as big industry. There also seems to be an attraction to the hot rod starship culture already in place, in Legends anyway. The wookieepedia says, "rare and peculiar modifications to starships were also a major source of planetary income." Seems like there is a lot of room for both the hot-rod/custom-cruiser show and the industry new-ship/trade show. And not just ships; really big shows might include speeders and swoop bikes. A show like that on a world like Socorro would lend itself well to any plots the PCs have going on, and plots or NPCs the GM wants to introduce to the campaign.

Bespin would also be a great place. Like Samophlange mentioned above, Lando is always looking to make deals and promote himself, and he wants to be a legit governor of Cloud City and his people. I think he would gladly offer the city as a venue for a starship (or speeder) show.However, I think he'd want to keep it to the medium or small side to attract less attention from Imperial authorities. But he would definitely see such a show as more revenue for the city.

An airshow formed part of the high festival activities on Saheelindeel; Han Solo worked at it before becoming involved in a hunt for the lost treasure cache of Xim the Despot.

-Nate

Why would a show be limited to just one planet? Auto shows and air shows travel around the US, so why wouldn't they do the same in the Star Wars universe?

And I think the Empire would do shows with their military equipment. The Nazis did, so did the Soviet Union and North Korea. The US does, as do most countries. They might not do them out in the outer rim which isn't fully under their control, but they would in various Inner Rim and Core worlds as part of their propaganda machine.

Following some ideas given by former posters, here might be a good lead...

After the astounding success of the Saheelindeel fair (Fertility of the Soil, Challenge of the Sky), the noble houses of a nearby system wanted to host their own airshow. Coming from all over the Allied Tion Sector, tourist and entrepreneurs attend the "Lianna Grand Fair" where the sky is filled with Skybarges all supported by the markets best starship constructors. Starfighters, small transports, luxury transports, yachts, luxury liners and even some cruiser will be seen by all. There will even be an Empired hosted Airshow where the best pilots of the Melford Imperial Star Academy will engaged in simulated combat with the newest TIE Fighters from the planets own industries.

Some shadier entrepreneurs might be hired to man the Skybarges or haul in the latest ships from CEC or escort some foreign nobles.... the possibilities are endless... some Rebel agents might sneak in after hearing some rumors that some secret documents about the latest TIE fighter Prototype will be exchanged between high ranking imperial officers... there might be some kind of retaliation (terrorist attack) from Saheelindeel who see the Fair has competitors to lessen their own.

Hope this might give you some ideas.

i went through every system listed under the wookieepedia page for the corporate sector (although halfway through I discovered that some systems' planets were only linked through the "orbits" field so I could go back and look for more)

I also went through every shipyards (that I didn't already know about and some that I did) and found this Tallan to most closely match what I was looking for (my PCs already have dealings in the Tapani sector (in particular the freeworlds region), so that's a good fit for another reason, I knew about the Fondor shipyards but those are off limits by imperial decree)

One of my PCs, Tal Lee,

(birth name Tal Seario as in the legitimate heir of a significant portion of stock in Czerka corporation, whose family was assasinated by a faction within czerka who installed his second cousin twice removed as a puppet ceo so they can run the company, when he was a child Tal's parents were fleeing the conflict but their ship was sabotaged and crashed, Tal was the only survivor and was adopted by the Lee family)

has a bounty on him by the Czerka faction currently in control of the company, they want him dead to ensure that they stay in power. Another faction wants to install Tal as a puppet CEO so they can take control of the faction. Tal wants nothing to do with the corporation.

Tal Lee has family and bounty as obligations, but I never roll for obligations/"side stories" my narrative expansion of "obligation" each PC has their own side-story/subplot that gets weaved into the campaign narrative, I try to work in 2 to 3 of my 7 PCs {6 players, one took over the character of another player who left the game due to schedule conflicts} every session. Anyways this session I am trying to work 5 of my PCs side stories into the plot.

My PCs need to deliver an experimental bacta tank that they stole last session from Arkanian Microtechnologies headquarters on Vohai to Baron Alto Endel, the ranking executive of Macander Heavy Ores on the planet Aleron in the tapani freeworlds region. Baron Alto Endel is a newly minted noble of House Cadriaan and the consigliere of the mythical crimelord Emil Mola (star wars version of Keyser Soze {from "The Usual Suspects"}). What the galaxy knows about Emil Mola is that he was a minor human crime lord that Jabba the Hutt fed to the Sarlacc on Tatooine roughly 200 years ago, however the Mola Cartel has continued to thrive while apparently still under his guidance/direction. How is this possible? well Jabba likes to taunt his victims saying about the Sarlacc "In his belly you will learn a new definition of pain and suffering as you are slowly digested over the next 1000 years" and Baron Endel has told the PCs that Emil Mola is still on Tatooine and he has only communicated with his employer electronically over the holonet. The PCs have also recovered a 200 year old "bload oath dagger" that supposedly has Emil Mola's blood on it and a ysalamir (I'm trying to be subtle in case one of my players reads this but do the math about Mola's plans for the experimental bacta tank) to work off a debt that 2 of the PCs incurred (as one of them's/their side story) by interfering with the theft of said blood oath dagger from Crev Bombassa on Pembric II.

So the PCs will deliver the experimental bacta tank to Endel or one of his agents on Tallan, note that wookieepedia says that

The Ministry of Orbital Commerce was widely considered the most powerful administration on Tallaan due to it overseeing the orbital stations, shipyards, and the millions of financial transactions associated with them each day, such as the massive portion of Tallaan's dockyards leased by the Thyferran government to inspect transported bacta, which by law could not be done in Thyferran space.

while their on the surface delivering the experimental bacta tank the Czerka faction trying to kill Tal will blow up their current ship in an assasination attempt (they have a beckon call, and I figure that they'll use it to warm up the ship to leave, a.l.a. a remote car starter and "boom" with Czerka agents still on board after having just set the bomb).

Thad Bane, another PC,

has an infamous Bounty Hunter uncle who will immediately comm Thad to tell him "Run Thad, Czerka agents were on the Red Talon and apparently botched an attempt to set a bomb. Sorry about that, I was planning to intercept and interrogate them about their plans, when left they left the ship. I'll thin out the Czerka hit squad that is almost certainly on their way to you now, but you need to find another way off planet fast."

queue a chase scene running blaster fight with Cad Bane sniping "bad" (short hand for wanting to kill Tal and his friends) Czerka faction's agents.

The PCs will duck into the star ship show (the pimped out hot rodders portion on the ground) and Tal Lee will use his Czerka unlimited funds credit stick (which he doesn’t normally use because it would alert Czerka to his location) to buy a new Sil 5 ship, a pimped out/highly modified IR-3F-class light frigate (page 267 of Force and Destiny core) ship that among other upgrades has a class 1 hyperdrive (class 12 backup) {the justification for it having a hyperdrive is that the enthusiast who pimped it out had to get it to the star ship show somehow} and has had its armor upgraded with Havod alloy and is named “The Redshift Raven.” Why this ship? The party's hot blue sarcastic female twi'lek pilot/scoundrel/rigger will by running by stop and say "Whoa! This one, This one, This one" when she see's it (and the party's mechanic/doctor droid will concur).

Ensuing starship combat encounter as the PC’s flee the planet. That’s the opening scene for the session, and the assassination attempt is what motivates Tal to face his past and deal with Czerka by putting the “good” (short hand for they want to seize power by installing Tal as a puppet CEO, so really just selfish but at least they don’t want him dead) Czerka faction in power. Which is the rest of the session and maybe the session after that.

How about Bazarre?

...his Czerka unlimited funds credit stick...

...buy a new Sil 5 ship, a pimped out/highly modified IR-3F-class light frigate that among other upgrades has a class 1 hyperdrive...

o.O

JUST FYI - I've never been to Sheboygan or Detroit, but only know them as a foreigner exposed to certain reputations based on internet news media. I'm using them as broad stereotypes. I know good folk and great ideas to come from both. I really want to visit Detroit one day and see the place.

On day might be fine, just don't be there once the sun sets...

...his Czerka unlimited funds credit stick...

...buy a new Sil 5 ship, a pimped out/highly modified IR-3F-class light frigate that among other upgrades has a class 1 hyperdrive...

o.O

dealing with his Czerka past is going to cause him to lose access to the unlimited funds credit stick, it's been kept in check so far (i.e. not used at all) as a "yeah you could buy anything but then a Czerka hit squad will show up within 30 minutes, well at any place where you could buy something work enough to risk using it anyway". the only reason it's going to be used now is they are in a "no win situation" that the unlimited funds credit stick can get them out of and the czerka hit squad is already here, so there is no additional downside to using it. Basically they are loosing one ship and getting a better replacement and the old one is getting destroyed so they can't sell it.

JUST FYI - I've never been to Sheboygan or Detroit, but only know them as a foreigner exposed to certain reputations based on internet news media. I'm using them as broad stereotypes. I know good folk and great ideas to come from both. I really want to visit Detroit one day and see the place.

On day might be fine, just don't be there once the sun sets...

Why would a show be limited to just one planet? Auto shows and air shows travel around the US, so why wouldn't they do the same in the Star Wars universe?

And I think the Empire would do shows with their military equipment. The Nazis did, so did the Soviet Union and North Korea. The US does, as do most countries. They might not do them out in the outer rim which isn't fully under their control, but they would in various Inner Rim and Core worlds as part of their propaganda machine.

I imagine that most worlds with an Imperial presence hold Empire Day parades (which we've seen on Lothal) and I'd imagine that the Empire Day parade(s) on Coruscant would put the mightiest Soviet or Russian May Day parades to shame.

does anyone know the name of a particularly exotic/unusual/classic star fighter that a pilot would get excited about seeing

does anyone know the name of a particularly exotic/unusual/classic star fighter that a pilot would get excited about seeing

Hard to say, empire day made a big thing out of the TIE-Advanced Prototype, and I would guess the whole advanced line v1,x1, Avenger, x7 (defender test bed chassis) and the Defender itself would be big deals, the Interceptor is awesome as well and not common enough that everyone has seen those in action either. All those ® ships are rare to check out up close, but naturally not all of them to the same degree or to the same persons. And furthermore the most exciting ships are classified and do not show up on those shows.

Centerpoint station might be a good location for a spaceship show.

A ancient space station in the correllia system that's about the size of the first death star, inside is a tiny star and a settlement called hollowtown.

Big ships could fly right up to the space station to allow those inside to get a good look. Small ships could be brought into the station, fly around the tiny star and land at hollowtown. You could let your party play with really pimped out ships knowing that they can't fly away with them because they are trapped inside the station.

It's in the correllia system so there are shipyards in the same system. There are 5 planets in the system so it could be a show where representatives of the 5 planets buy military technology and ships off each other, at the only neutral location within the system.

does anyone know the name of a particularly exotic/unusual/classic star fighter that a pilot would get excited about seeing

In some respects I guess it depends on what the pilot values (speed, utility, firepower, etc), but if I were going to include a starfighter to get my players excited I'd consider something like the Starviper, ARC-170 (I know we don't have stats for this yet, but...), TIE Advanced Prototypes, maybe some sort of Nubian-made fighter (since as I recall Nubian ships tend to be custom jobs tailored to the needs of their clients, therefore they're rather rare and expensive).

Gotta say, I love the whole concept of a starship show and your scenario.

does anyone know the name of a particularly exotic/unusual/classic star fighter that a pilot would get excited about seeing

I'd say anything with Nubian drives, like the Theed Palace Space Vessel Engineering Corps, or some other shipyards use. Nubain drives are renowned as very powerful and top-line engines. So a tricked up new version of the classic Naboo Fighter might be a curiosity a figher ace might take note of ..

I'd say anything with Nubian drives

Centerpoint station might be a good location for a spaceship show.

A ancient space station in the correllia system that's about the size of the first death star, inside is a tiny star and a settlement called hollowtown.

Big ships could fly right up to the space station to allow those inside to get a good look. Small ships could be brought into the station, fly around the tiny star and land at hollowtown. You could let your party play with really pimped out ships knowing that they can't fly away with them because they are trapped inside the station.

It's in the correllia system so there are shipyards in the same system. There are 5 planets in the system so it could be a show where representatives of the 5 planets buy military technology and ships off each other, at the only neutral location within the system.