Hey all - after going through all of Wookiepedia to compile the list of relevant books for an Edge of the Empire campaign, I then pouring through the materials looking for adventure modules / hooks / plots / outlines. While I'm still in the early stages, I've been taking notes to help me think through which I'd like to include and the best order. Since I've been taking the notes anyway, I thought I'd post them here in case useful for the community.
To start, here's my scribble after reading the WEG book No Disintegrations.
GONE TO GROUND
Source: No Disintegrations
Synopsis: This adventure involves the capture of Ort Hoogra-D’en, an elusive terrorist whose bombs have claimed the lives of hundreds of Imperial citizens. Hoogra-D’en attacks with spore bombs, biochemical weapons of his own design.
Location: Celanon, an Imperial-allied agriworld and trading center ruled by the Nalroni in the Outer Rim, but could take place in any cluster of systems where there isn’t a lot of Rebel activity.
Hook: Plot assumes that the players have tracked another bounty to Celanon and the hunt has ended unsuccessfully. Assumes PCs are running low on credits.
Good for: Edge of the Empire (Bounty Hunters primarily)
View: Short railroad of a bounty hunting mission to find a Ho’Din terrorist who has been using spore bombs to kill innocent Imperial citizens. Neither the NPCs nor the locations are particularly inspiring, though the final battle between Imperial forces and the Ho’Din’s mercenaries paints a decent picture. This plain vanilla adventure may be useful in an episodic set of adventures to help other adventures with plot twists stand out in the eyes of the players.
Rating: Below Average (2.0 / 5.0)
ABREGADO-RAE INTRIGUE
Source: No Disintegrations
Synopsis: The PCs are hired to rescue Brinaloy N’Vaari, the fiancée of Provincial Governor A’jidre Skrigatov (“Skrig”). Brinaloy has gone into hiding because she is facing threats and attacks from a Rodian gangster named Malkoi, who wants to unseat Skrig in upcoming local elections.
Location: Le Yer, a small resort town on Abregado-Rae. Abregado-Rae is a shabby, sparsely populated manufacturing world in the core. It’s known for an active smuggler community.
Hook: Plot assumes that the players are in the resort town of Le Yer after successfully or unsuccessfully tracking down some other bounty, such as an errant smuggler wanted for dumping a cargo of spice. A police officer approaches the PCs and informs them that they have a warrant for their arrest.
Good for: Edge of the Empire (Bounty Hunters), but anyone could be pressed into Skrig’s service.
View: Little adventure tree rescue mission. Nothing particularly stands out as memorable, and Brinaloy in disguise isn’t very compelling. There is an emphasis on forcing the players into Skrig’s service under numerous threats and impounding of their starship, which seems too much to me at first, but later as I understood what a bad guy he was, makes it a little better. The highlight of the adventure is the Rodian gangsters and the independent bounty hunter (that could become a recurring character) having a three-way fireifght.
Rating: Below Average (2.5 / 5.0)
SEREGAR TURNABOUT
Source: No Disintegrations
Synopsis: The PCs are given a “hot tip” by an old acquaintance, Jerik Snivas, on an upcoming bounty for a dangerous gunman, Tern Ashandruk. The PCs take the tip and travel to the abandoned jungle planet of Seregar. After doing some searching of the rural encampment, they make their way to Ashandruk’s hideout in an abandoned mining facility, only to be ambushed! The PCs have been set up by Snivas in order to collect the bounty on their own heads.
Location: Kwenn Station. Kween Station serves as a gateway to the Outer Rim Territories and a great deal of business travels through it. Despite the Imperial naval base and repair facility located there, a surprising amount of black market activity takes place on the station’s lower levels.
Hook: Assumes one of the characters (preferably the bounty hunter) is wanted by Imperial authorities already, or one or more of the characters has angered a crime lord, who has placed a private bounty on the hunters head. Seems reasonable since basically all PCs do is stir up the Empire and local crime bosses. The PCs are approached by an old friend, Jerik Snivas, a onetime IOCI officer turned licensed expeditor, a man who matches bounty hunters with potential bounties. Snivas offers the PCs a special deal on a job.
Good for: Edge of the Empire (Bounty Hunters) who have made a past enemy or are wanted by the Empire.
View: I really like the intro hook to how this adventure gets introduced, and how the PCs pay for the “hot tip” on a new bounty, rather than the usual “PCs get paid for XYZ” hook. The Storrd Township doesn’t have a lot of detail to it, which could cause some complications, but the Crosswind Saloon is a rich cantina atmosphere with a number of interesting NPCs. At one point, the players will have to gamble with a grifter, Tendler Vek, in order to get important information on Ashandruk’s whereabouts, which makes for a fun encounter. The end of the adventure falls a little flat when the PCs are ambushed so that may need more customization else it will end with little more than a firefight.
Rating: Average (3.5 / 5.0)
THE BLACK SPHERE
Source: No Disintegrations
Synopsis: The PCs are hired to retrieve a fabled artifact believed to be in the possession of a prominent businessman and suspected crime kingpin.
Location: The adventure is set in the city of Iritsa on the planet Chazwa. Chazwa, with its breathable atmosphere and mild climate, is a trading world at the heart of the Empire. The planet has a bustling shipping industry because of its prime location on star routes.
Hook: There are a number of hooks for how the characters hear about the bounty, but it’s assumed that the PCs have heard about some of the dealings on planet in some way, and are heading to Landing Bay 29 at the starport without any other information. A strange alien from an undiscovered planet claims that the local Chazwa politician, Hahz Fallone, secretly enslaved her planet and stole a priceless artifact important to her culture.
Good for: This adventure works for any group of PCs.
View: This adventure is the weakest I’ve read to date. The plot doesn’t fit the Star Wars feel, and the plot of the adventure is ridiculous and it would be difficult for my PCs to suspend disbelief. Further, nothing that happens during the adventure seems particularly fun. There is a plot twist in the end, but it’s neither shocking nor interesting, likely leaving the PCs unfulfilled. Don’t bother with this one.
Rating: Poor (1.0 / 5.0)
ELUSIVE
Source: No Disintegrations
Synopsis: The PCs are hired to track down Narloch of Giju, a prominent herglic gambler. Rather than rely on battle armor or combat ability, the character must use cunning and investigative skills to succeed in this mission.
Location: Vandalar City, Reaper’s World. The Corporate Sector did a mass-harvesting of the world’s resources, pushing Reaper’s World into an Ice Age. The PCs will travel to numerous planets in the sector, and also the famed Wheel space station.
Hook: Game begins media res, in hot persuit of the swoop gang Hurt Vectors. After those are easily handled, the PCs get a commlink message from Vox, a well-known information broker, offering another job.
Good for: Edge of the Empire (Bounty Hunters)
View: I’ll start off by saying that I’m not a big fan of Herglic’s, so started off biased towards this adventure, but by the end, I thought that this was a great adventure and definitely the best published in this book. Elusive is a site-based adventure where the PCs are tracking a Herglic gambler (who is actually a mid-level crime boss and runs Jabba the Hutt’s gambling interests in this sector) across a number of unique locations. Particularly interesting will be the sabacc tournament and droid gladiatorial matches in the Wheel space station and the Trophy Chase, a sporting event played on the back of large flying beasts (nephs), on Dalos IV. While the adventure will need significant additional details and planned scenes, there are terrific bones here for a very cool bounty hunting operation that fits the Star Wars feel. Plus, there is a minor but significant role played by Boussh, the Ubese bounty hunter from RotJ.
Rating: Very Good (4.0 / 5.0)
No Disintegrations Plot Hooks
While not adventures, there are a number of bounty postings published in the back of the book as plot hooks for GMs to develop their own bounty hunting missions. Two stand out as particularly interesting:
Theol Dunoche – a charming freighter captain wanted for theft of 25 kg of ryll spice and the kidnapping of two twi’lek women. The plot twist is that in actuality, Theol actually recued the the young twi’leks who were supposed to be sold into slavery by Voorg the Thandicant. There is a tie-in to Platt’s Starport Guide (pg 135-160) and Wanted by Cracken (pg 52).
Haisha Su Bnist – a petty thief and information broker, now wanted for murder of an imperial storm trooper whom she killed while resisting arrest. She has escaped off-world and is believed to she desires cybernetic implants to improve her reflexes. There isn’t much to this adventure seed but there is a lot to work with, plus the confrontation with a femme fatale with cybernetically increased reflexes would be very cool. GM must also decide –why- does she want the implants to begin with?