In the first act, I have added that Mika the Hutt went to Endregaad as the light freighter that crashed was supposed to deliver him a special cargo. In this case a crate containing message pod from "Beyond the Rim". When he arrived, he found out that the ship was shot down by someone (bad guys) and the crate missing (taken by a local scavanger). Mika busied himself hiding the drugs and when the PCs came to rescue him, he ordered them to find the crate. The crate itself was in the hands of a local village scavanger, but the bad guys found it before PCs. The final takes place in the abandoned warehouse in the Tal Bolin city, where the boss of the bad guys deciphered the information from the message pod. When the PCs arrived, he runs away to the starport leaving his hired minions to hold the PCs.

Blackbird - I think that it probably would. There isn't a ton of force usage but there is a few bits. 1) Mika, the youngest Hutt, is a force user. He shows off his skills early on. There is a side quest about retrieving a light saber for him. He then uses his skills again later to make sure the PCs know he's got force powers. In the final scene, he uses those force powers against the PCs. There is also vaguely a hint that he's using force powers to control Popara's majordomo, Vago. Vago also has something connected to his head controlling him, so it could be technological, rather than force. Lastly, there are three twi'lek force sensitives that work for Popara, that Mika later convinces to join him by framing his brother, Zonnos, for the death of Popara. So some to go on, but not overwhelmingly so.

NicoDavout - what were the order of adventures that you used with Tempest Feud? How did you weave the acts in with Beyond the Rim?

NicoDavout - what were the order of adventures that you used with Tempest Feud? How did you weave the acts in with Beyond the Rim?

After the Act 1, I ran my own "Beyond the Rim" followed by "Jewel of Yavin" where the Hutts are sending the group to not allow Keltho the Hutt to get the auction. Now I will run may own variation of "Masks of the Pirate Queen" followed by the Act 2.

I am running a campaign in the Minos cluster using the Galaxy Guide 6; Tramp freighters. The Book is great with information for Tramp freighters and hauling cargo. and the Minos cluster. The "adventures" are nothing more then plot hook ideas with no meat to them or even decent plot twists.

But i did do THE TREASURE OF CELIS MOTT (from instant adventures) and had great success with it as a one off adventure, the treasure was used for a plot hook to tie into Beyond the Rim

Kinnison - would love to hear more about what you did to develop Minos campaign into something greater. While I looked the theme of the adventure path and particularly the hooks for a couple of them, I felt that the overall meat is too light to be inspiring. What did you do to spice this up a bit?

With Treasure of Celis Mott -> did you basically make the "treasure" on Celis Mott the coordinates for the PCs to track down the treasure ship?

I felt like combining Celis Mott and and Wreck and Ruin together would be something fun, but they end up being very similar to Beyond the Rim, so probably not worth doing both in my view.

I think next up will be Beyond the Rim and then probably followed by Suns of Fortune, then Masks, then Under the Black Sun, to get me up to date on the EotE material. I bought the Beta book on eBay just for this adventure, and it was worth the purchase.

CRATES OF KRAYTS

Source: Edge of the Empire Beginner Set (Beta Edition only)

Synopsis: The PCs begin play in debt to Sinasu the Hutt as part of their standing obligation. Sinasu is a moderately connected crime lord, based out of the smuggler’s moon Nar Shaddaa, which is in hutt Space. Sinasu is giving the PCs an opportunity to repay part of their debt, should they successfully take a special cargo on a smuggling run from Tatooine to Nar Shaddaa. The adventure starts with the PCs already at the pickup location, which is a small canyon outpost called Vapor Station. The small settlement is 200 kilometers outside of Mos Eisley on the planet Tatooine. The PCs ship is in a docking bay near the canyon rim, while the PCs themselves are at a storehouse at the canyon floor, ready to pick up their cargo.

The adventure opens with Jora, one of Sinasu’s Rodian associates, greeting the PCs and explaining the needs of the unusual cargo. One item is a crate of krayt dragon eggs, complete with an incubator. A much larger and stronger crate holds a very young krayt dragon, currently anesthetized. The crates require monitoring. The incubator is old and temperamental, while the dragon must be regularly drugged to keep it asleep until delivery. Transporting the creatures through Imperial space requires permits, of which the PCs have only a forgery of an outdated version.

As Jora finishes his instructions, a band of Tuskan Raiders suddenly raids the outpost. The PCs must get the cargo safely back up to their ship, battling Tuskan Raiders along the way. They blast off and head either for orbit, or back to Mos Eisley or another Tatooine city for supples.

The PCs eventually make the jump to hyperspace. Throughout the trip, the crew must work to keep the incubator functional and the dragon under sedation. They also have an opportunity to interact with one another and take care of personal gear or the ship itself.

When the PCs arrive at the city-planet of Nar Shaddaa, they find that Greentop, the docking tower that they were directed to use, is a burned-out structure littered with starship hulks. They must make their own docking arrangements and deal with unscrupulous docking bay personnel. The PCs must investigate what happened to the platform and/or figure out where to make contact with the Hutt or his people.

It doesn’t take long for the Pcs to learn that Sinasu is embroiled in a gang war with Noako the Hutt, a hated rival. To make matters worse, if the PCs become known as associates, they will soon be targeted by Cordol’s Chain, a local bounty hunter group hired by Noako. They must make contact and deliver the crates as soon as possible.

The PCs learn Sinasu is most likely hiding in an outlaw tech shop called TechTank. It is deep in the city’s lower levels, inside a massive holding tank in an enormous water processing center. They fly down to deliver the crates. After arrival (or along the way) they discover they’ve been followed by a traitor in Sinasu’s organization. Sinasu demands the PCs get him out. The battle turns into a chase, with armed air speeders pursuing the PCs’ ship until it reaches orbit.

After succeeding in their escape, Sinasu directs the PCs to a little-used starport where he takes his leave of them (or an alternate location if things have gone poorly). Sinasu disembarks with the crates (assuming that they’ve survived). He relieves the PCs of a portion of their obligation, and might even give them a bonus for the rescue.

Location: Tatooine, Nar Shaddaa

Good for: Most fringers with obligation (especially good for smugglers)

View: This is a very fun adventure for spacers early in their careers. The first scene in this adventure is its strongest, with the PCs trying to move the fragile crates during a firefight with Tuskan Raiders. The crates do a fantastic job highlighting the FFG’s core mechanic, with threat and despair rolls causing problems with the cargo. The rest of the adventure (dealing with a Hutt, Hutt is being double-crossed, bounty hunters) is a little too vanilla for me – maybe I’m getting desensitized after the many, many modules I’ve read over the last few months.

I think that if I’d include this in a campaign arc, I’d lift the first scene and change a lot of the rest. I’d make arrangements for the PCs to make a trade with some other criminal; PCs provide the krayts, and they get whatever favor / cargo that they need in return. I’m currently thinking that the PCs need some expert slicing work done (change their ship’s responder code, perhaps?). The Slicer will rig their ship transponder in exchange for the dragons. He’s located Coreward, so need to move cargo into imperial space. This will be a good chance to include Imperial customs (how can the author dangle a great teaser of “you need paperwork to move the krayts but all we have is a bad forgery of out of date versions” and not use it later in the module?). Then I’d replace Sinasu with the Slicer, and the PCs will show up at the rendezvous spot only to see that the local authorities had already raided his facility. The PCs can then track him down at the water treatment plant. The local law authorities (rather than the bounty hunters) follow the PCs and the battle ensues local planetary police and the underworld folks. Keep the armored air speeders in the final getaway, but make them planetary patrol speeders, and make certain ship actions (failed piloting checks, taking hull damage, evasive maneuvers) have a chance to disturb the crates. PCs rescue the Slicer and get him off planet, creating a recurring ally. As an added bonus, PCs could drop him off at the Wheel, where he gets mixed up with Roem / IsoTech (and can be the PCs hook to Beyond the Rim).

Rating: Very Good (4.0 / 5.0)

Excellent work. Looking forward to a review of the rest of the product line as well as the other scenarios in the SAGA edition.

Sarone - are there any other Saga adventures that you have had in mind specifically? From reading the descriptions of the books on Wookiepedia, there didn't appear to be a lot out there...

Kinnison - would love to hear more about what you did to develop Minos campaign into something greater. While I looked the theme of the adventure path and particularly the hooks for a couple of them, I felt that the overall meat is too light to be inspiring. What did you do to spice this up a bit?

With Treasure of Celis Mott -> did you basically make the "treasure" on Celis Mott the coordinates for the PCs to track down the treasure ship?

I felt like combining Celis Mott and and Wreck and Ruin together would be something fun, but they end up being very similar to Beyond the Rim, so probably not worth doing both in my view.

Minos cluster is a setting. So a lot of my adventures so far has been introducing major NPCs for the campaign. THe Major story arc is the decline of the economy in the minos cluster, due to the lack of imperial presence, increased piracy, which has affected the clusters economy badly. which leads to the revitalizing and reorganizing the efforts of the Rebellion in the cluster. The climax will be a major battle over travnin that will destroy all the major imperial assets in the area, and cause what is left to flee to the Kathol sector and kick off the Darkstryder campaign. I have introduced pirates, other tramp freighter captains, crime bosses both old and new, disorganized acts of rebellion, and the imperials. My biggest hurdle is making the players care about the rebellion, and hate the imperials.

With celis mott treasure it was much more subtle. It is a good place to put future plot hooks. It was a spacer crate with 50k CIS credit chips, and a datapad full of historical information on Battles during the clone wars. They needed to find someone to exchange the credits, and the datapad was used to give them the clue of the last known locations of the Treasure ship that helped them in getting to cholganna. The players ended up going to IsoTech to exchange the credits and got hired by Reom as part of the deal

Debts to pay was a great adventure. It was doubly so, since my players fell for the Droid ruze that the mine was attacked by pirates, which i think is the real key to make the whole adventure work. While the players dealt with the other droids (and destroying the mines assets) the Supervisor droid and r2 unit made their escape, to continue their droid revolution

WotC released a lot of one-shot adventures as free PDFs. I tracked down as many as I could, and there are a number that can be found by using internet archives and the like.

Hey folks - been a while. Got through Beyond the Rim - my notes are below. Three EotE books to go...

BEYOND THE RIM

Source: Standalone EotE Adventure

Synopsis: At the start of the adventure, the PCs receive an invitation to go to the Wheel Space Station and meet with Roem, the Twi’lek boss of a semi-legitimate tech company called IsoTech. Roem has just received an old hyperspace message pod purportedly from the legendary, long-lost treasure frigate, the Sa Nalaor. His family and his company were once involved with the ship’s captain, Rel Harsol, and schemed to smuggle Separatist designed cybernetics technology into the black market after the Clone Wars.

Roem wants the PCs to travel to the coordinates indicated in the message pod and see if the Sa Nolaor is there. The destination is the remote planet of Cholganna, known as the homeworld of the vicious nexu. If they find anything, they are to map its current condition and look for any survivors. Roem sends his droid IT-3PO along with them since Eyetee-Three knew the missing Captain Harsol, can identify him, and prove the PCs relationship with Roem. They are to depart once Eyetee-Three arrives on the Wheel and is delivered to their starship.

They are not the only interested party, however. The Imperial Security Bureau is actively following the Sa Nalaor reports, though the PCs are unlikely to know that until the Imperials try to place a tracking device on the PC’s ship and follow them to their destination.

The Rodian Yiyar clan has also taken interest in the wreck. The group is comprised of aggressive and often violent scavengers, and they become the PCs primary rivals in the search for the long-lost frigate. After failing to obtain the message pod data, the Rodians try to steal IT-3PO while it is being delivered to the PCs. If the PCs stop them, they can gain the advantage by getting to Cholganna first. If they fail, the Yiyar clan escapes with the droid and gets the jump on them instead.

Once the PCs arrive at Cholganna, they carry out an extensive search operation to locate the ship. Along the way, they discover wreckage debris, abandoned escape pods, and eventually the ship itself. The PCs must also fend off the planet’s supremely dangerous and violent predators, the nexu.

At last they discover the main hull, but time and the savage planet have taken their toll. Before the PCs get too far, they’re attacked by cybernetically enhanced nexu, who appear to be guarding the wreckage. Afterwards, IT-3PO secretly activates a homing beacon that draws the attention of Captain Harsol, who turns out to be the droid’s former master.

The next morning, the Yiyar clan catches up with the PCs and attacks them. Not long afterward, Captain Harsol discovers both groups and thanks IT-3PO’s homing beacon, and he takes the groups back to the survivors’ secret, fortified settlement called the Retreat.

There, the PCs must deal with the survivors and answer questions about the state of the galaxy before attempting to negotiate any sort of deal with Captain Harsol. Camp politics come into play, and the PCs must handle a rift between the survivors and captain. Harsol has been hiding from the Empire for so long that his paranoia has a chokehold over the camp: any who try to leave the planet mysteriously disappear. Meanwhile, the Yiyar clan stirs up trouble, giving the PCs the opportunity to earn the Retreat’s inhabitant’s trust. Just when things are about to escalate, an Imperial scout ship roars over the Retreat, sending the survivors into a desperate panic.

The Imperial arrival causes different personal crises for Captain Harsol and the Arkanian master cyberneticist, Cratala. The PCs must take sides or take control while Imperial probe droids buzz overhead. Finally, the PCs must help the Retreat defeat the Imperial scout troopers and ISB agent who are determined to take them, Captain Harsol, and Cratala back to the Empire.

The PCs deliver their findings and any survivors back to Scrapheap Point, IsoTech’s base of operations on Raxus Prime, a junkyard planet long under Imperial control. The PCs must avoid TIE fighters while descending to the planet, losing them amid canyons of junk and other obstacles to avoid leading them directly to their boss. When they land, the PCs are met by Norta, leader of IsoTech operations on Raxus Prime. He takes their report, deals with any unexpected repercussions of their trip, and asks them to stay until the next day when Roem arrives. They have the opportunity to explore Scrapheap Point and make some extra credits.

The Yiyar Clan launches a surprise attack using Trandoshan mercenaries and their own personnel. Their revenge entails stealing anything the PCs may have brought back with them from Cholganna and damaging IsoTech as much as possible. During the battle, Roem and his reinforcements appear from a hidden location within the secret base to help turn the tide. Afterward, Roem reveals that one of the junked starships, a Corellian CR90 corvette, isn’t as derelict as they led everyone to believe.

After the rivals are repelled for good, Roem and the PCs have a chance to breath. However, before they leave, IsoTech sensors detect incoming Imperial fighters. Roem is willing to cut another deal to secure the PCs’ help: IsoTech’s corvette needs emergency repair work before the ship can attempt to take off through the junk pile. It’s a race against time as the dreaded Imperial Stormtroopers converge on the smuggler base.

When IsoTech can’t wait any longer, they launch the ship. Some PCs may remain on board to help fly the ship, man the guns, or carry out emergency repairs and damage control. The rest of the PCs have to fly their own ship out of there, coming face to face with more TIE fighters and two heavily-armed Imperial system patrol craft. They must fend off their attackers long enough to escape the planet’s gravity well and make the jump into hyperspace.

Location: The Wheel (space station), Cholganna (jungle planet, home of the Nexu), Raxus Prime (an Imperial junkyard planet)

Good for: Edge of the Empire fringers or any crew focused on exploration / salvage

View: Stirling Hershey really knocked this one out of the park. I’ve reviewed a few other treasure hunt (Celis Mott, Dead Road) and a few salvage modules (Wreck and Ruin, some of the other instant adventures plots), but this one not only captures the Star Wars feel, but uses all of the needed elements of a treasure hunt while still providing the little details to make this module complete. While each act is great, I felt that the second act (on planet) lagged behind the others. The interaction with the crash survivors seemed a little drawn out for my liking, so some of that may need to be pushed along when running for less patient, chatty PCs. I thought I was going to hate the third act, but it ended up being my favorite. The chase through the junk yard (you know I love a good chase!) and the emergency takeoff of the Blockade Bandit are my two favorite encounters of the entire module. There isn’t anything I’d change in this module, but I’d recommend limiting the number of NPCs that travel with the PCs from the Sa Noalar to make the future encounters more exciting (and less burdensome on the GM). Overall, Beyond the Rim is a must-include for any Edge campaign.

Rating: Great (4.5 / 5.0)

I find the beginning of the adventure weak. Players are to walk around the station and learn the gossips, rumors, info from the past. For the beginning players, it is acceptable, but for the veterans I think that a GM should change a lot. In my games, I always made PCs to work for someone else and they had to get their way into Iso-Tech office, steal or get the data from the pod. Or first, they had to recover the pod from somewhere (a mine from GM kit adventure or the first planet from Tempest Feud mini-campaign, for example), the message in the pod was saying that planet location was in the droid left with Roem, so the PCs had to get the droid. Opposition was not a clan of Rodians, but some big company from Deus Ex HR that was after the scientist from the crashed ship. The company was supported by a private army and highly augumentated nemesis. And Harsol was a crazy leader like in Apocalypse Now. There was a second smaller village of survivors on Cholganna, made of clone soldiers that were prisoners onboard "Sa Nalaor" plus anyone else expelled from the Retreat. There could be also a dead Jedi in a sith temple, a Jedi that was captured along with the clones. When the escaped during the crash, the Jedi got seperated and found the temple and was killed by a sith ghost.

Nico - I agree that the beginning of the first act is a little slow - gossip-gathering can be a bit of time lag. Three mitigating factors, to me anyway, are (i) the waiting around has a waiting to exist because the PCs are waiting for the delivery of IT-3, so they have some time to burn, (ii) the Wheel is an interesting location, so giving the PCs some time to explore there is probably worth while, leveraging the write-up on the Wheel from Fly Casual, and (iii) the end of the act is really good, with the droid-napping and the shootout with the Rodian Yiyar Clan.

I like the idea of the PCs breaking in and stealing the pod, but then why would the PCs head to Raxus Prime?

Nico - I agree that the beginning of the first act is a little slow - gossip-gathering can be a bit of time lag. Three mitigating factors, to me anyway, are (i) the waiting around has a waiting to exist because the PCs are waiting for the delivery of IT-3, so they have some time to burn, (ii) the Wheel is an interesting location, so giving the PCs some time to explore there is probably worth while, leveraging the write-up on the Wheel from Fly Casual, and (iii) the end of the act is really good, with the droid-napping and the shootout with the Rodian Yiyar Clan.

I like the idea of the PCs breaking in and stealing the pod, but then why would the PCs head to Raxus Prime?

Cause on The Wheel Ropok is not anymore, cause somewhere between the 3rd and 4th Episode the new owner of The Wheel changes station into a place for rich tourist, pushing the unwanted underworld element away. Ropok after taking over his father buisness moves to Raxus Prime to an underground city where scavangers, smugglers and other lives (inspired by a Twi´lek city from Platt´s Starport Guide). At some point he gets on a bad side of a mercenary/slaver group that also operates in that town, so he moves to his ship base as per book. He also starts to work for the rebels, helping to bring back their comrades to operational status (the rebel base also on Raxus Prime). And then our characters come, they learn on The Wheel that Ropok is somewhere on Raxus Prime, they need to find underground city, find his base and get the droid. As a side quest, in the underground city a group of Jawas asks them to rescue their friends trapped in an old Jedi temple from Force Unleashed that is haunted by crazy-Jedi-droids. Uff.

It's been a while. I recently picked up Suns of Fortune and started working my way through. Overall I enjoyed the source book, but not as much as I did Lords of Nal Hutta (moreso due to personal preference rather than a delta in quality). Here are the first few module reviews:

SABACC GAME ON THE ROW

Source: Suns of Fortune (Modular Encounter)

Synopsis: Amidst the shopping, glamour, and crowds of Coronet City's most famous (or infamous) street, Treasure Ship row, the PCs dins themselves an opportunity to get into a sabacc game with some interesting folks. Unfortunately, the whole thing is a set-up to take advantage of newcomers with a ship and a need for work. If their luck runs bad, things could get very lucky indeed.

Location: Corellia, but could be easily adapted anywhere

Good for: Fringers, particularly gamblers

View: Not much of a lead-in (which I’m perfectly fine with) so at heart this modular encounter is a sabacc game where the other players are colluding to win a bunch of credits off of the PC. Generically, this adventure can be slotted in anytime the PCs are in an important gambling session (as the encounter provides stats for all of the players, their gambling skill, etc.). The encounter is a good one and the versatility makes it an easy include to most campaigns. I’ve got a couple of spots soft-circled to include this along the way.

Rating: Good (4.0 / 5.0)

TUNNEL DELVING

Source: Suns of Fortune (Modular Encounter)

Synopsis: This encounter features the PCs exploring some of the tunnels of Selonia, and potentially dealing with more than they expected. This encounter anticipates that the PCs have already arrived on Selonia for some reason. Enacting a trade agreement or picking up / delivering cargo for a Selonian merchant are perfectly legitimate reasons to end up in Scasmirs Den.

The encounter begins with the PCs having landed on one of the islands on Selonia, then descending below the surface to explore the den itself. At some point, they are cut off from their return route to the surface by a cave-in. They must press on through the tunnels, encountering local wildlife and finally convincing a band of more insular and xenophobic Selonians to help them return to their ship.

Location: Selonia

Good for: Any trip to Selonia (or any Selonian den on another world)

View: I wasn’t a big fan of this one. I get what the writer was trying to do – create an immersive experience where the PCs get to explore and start to understand Selonian culture. Unfortunately, the modular nature doesn’t do it justice, and it comes off as overly generic. I’m also not particularly fond of the Selonian species, so that didn’t help either. I’m sure some will like it, but not a fit for me.

Rating: Below Average (2.0 / 5.0)

HARD BARGAIN

Source: Suns of Fortune (Modular Encounter)

Synopsis: While most Duros are relatively honest, not all live up to this reputation. A duro merchant named Gorn Vorrox deals in secrets and stolen items. Any PCs looking to buy or sell illicit merchandise in the Duros system may cross paths with Gorn sooner or later. However, dealing with Gorn can come with more complications than simply laying down a few credits, especially if caught between Gorn and an unsatisfied customer with a blaster.

Location: Though this encounter is designed to be run on one of the Duro systems orbital stations, it could be transplanted to any civilized world with a Duros shopkeep.

Good for: Any PCs looking to buy some illicit gear

View: Basically this is a combat encounter sprung on the PCs while they are visiting a merchant, with ties that can create hooks into other criminal elements that may be mad at the PCs depending on their level of interference. The author does a decent job here and the NPCs are decently interesting. Compared to the similar modular encounter Deal Gone Wrong in Lords of Nal Hutta

Rating: Average (3.0 / 5.0)

LONG ARM OF THE LAW

Source: Suns of Fortune (Modular Encounter)

Synopsis: The Corellian security force upholds law and order within the Corellian system. Naturally, CorSec agents are rarely a welcome sight for those who live on the fringe. When the characters draw the attention of the law, things can get complicated for PCs and they need to use their skills and wits to avoid trouble. The GM can use this encounter if the PCs are attempting to move smuggled goods through the system.

Location: Anywhere – the adventure implies its space, but the customs inspection could take place planetside as well.

Good for: Any time you need to add a little security in the way of your PCs (murderhobos or otherwise!).

View: This is a great modular encounter, and similarly to the Sabacc game, can fit into almost any campaign. Having this one off the shelf is great and will certainly see action in my game. This adventure is three NPCs and a customs ship to throw in front of your PCs when the time is right. What would have made this an A+ encounter would be a list of things that the inspection is looking for, and the punishment related to the infraction/crime.

Rating: Good (4.0 / 5.0)

TAMING THE DRAGON

Source: Suns of Fortune (Modular Encounters)

Synopsis: Underground swoop racing is big business on Corellia. Organized by numerous semi-criminal swoop gangs in and out of the way places at odd hours of the evening, these races gather huge crowds of racers, mechanics, gamblers, and assorted hangers-on. These races are winner-take-all, and the pot is usually either a large amount of credits, one or more of the loser's swoops, or simply bragging rights. The risk inherent in this dangerous sport, as well as the possibility of great wealth and prestige among one's peers is what drives the young men and women of Corellia to race their machines against one another (and against Lady Luck herself).

Location: Corellia crystal swamps (can be modified for anywhere, but the flavor of the race is very set in the Corellian setting)

Good for: Great side adventure for any PC pilot (and can tie it in to obligation, I’m sure)

View: Loved this modular encounter, and is my favorite one in Suns of Fortune so far. The racing mechanic really stands out in the FFG system (whether it’s through the junk yard world Raxus Prime in Beyond the Rim or in the skies of Cloud City in Jewel of Yavin) and this short adventure captures it well. The lead-in to how the PCs get involved in a swoop bike gang is left to the GM’s imagination, but this one has definitely inspired me to fit this into the campaign somehow.

Rating: Very good (4.5 / 5.0)

... and here is the other half. My personal favorites are Taming the Dragon and Corellian Shuffle. Both are amazing fits for any EotE campaign.

QUICK STOPOVER

Source: Suns of Fortune (Modular Encounter)

Synopsis: A stop for a drink during a parts run to Nubia can quickly turn to trouble for the PCs at the Sleeping Rancor cantina. Problems with the locals are the least of their worries, however, when an Industrial Automation security contingent arrives to recover sensitive corporate secrets stolen from the gigantic droid manufacturer, secrets on a data pad that mysteriously ends up in the possession of one of the PCs.

Location: Nubia in the Corellian Sector

Good for: Any spacers in a cantina.

View: Encounter is a bar room shootout between two thieves, IA security agents, and the PCs, then one of the thieves lets a Ronto loose that stampedes through the cantina, crushing everything in its path. Overall interesting premise for a firefight, but nothing special here, either.

Rating: Average (3.0 / 5.0)

BEYOND THE BOILING SEA

Source: Suns of Fortune (Modular Encounters)

Synopsis: most Drall prefer a quiet, orderly life, but a few enjoy adventure or even engaged in criminal activity. A visit to the Boiling Sea on Drall can become more than the players intended for when they encounter Boffen Nibs, a Drall with sticky fingers and a penchant for trouble.

Location: Drall

Good for: A group of PCs on Drall

View: Basic premise is the son of a Drall Duchess has stolen the royal family jewels and is looking to make an escape off world, wanted by the planetary police. During his escape, he solicits the PCs for help. Similar to my critique on the Selonian adventure above, seems like they are trying to force an interesting Drall encounter. This one falls flat.

Rating: Below average (2.5 / 5.0)

CONNICAL SIX SUMMIT

Source: Suns of Fortune (Modular Encounters)

Synopsis: This encounter takes place in Centerpoint Station in the Corellian system. The encounter requires a series of Athletics and Coordination checks as the party scales Centerpoint Station's conical mountains. The party could have been hired specifically to control the vynock population, to deploy a probe to the Glowpoint for a scientist, to search for a boy who went missing, or simply enjoying some down time.

Location: Centerpoint Station

Good for: Anyone in Centerpoint Station

View: This is a very short adventure hook outlining climbing mountains with some interesting gravity twists. Not my cup of tea, but could be useful if you ever find yourself in the need of a mountainous climb encounter…

Rating: Below average (2.0 / 5.0)

THE CORELLIAN SHUFFLE

Source: Suns of Fortune (Modular Encounters)

Synopsis: the party is recruited to run the Corellian Shuffle, a famous smuggling route on par with the Kessel Run. The run requires a series of precision hyperspace micro-jumps within the Corellian System to avoid CorSec patrols, and fast in-flight cargo transfers between transports. The encounter is written as the party being hired by Guetip, a majordomo for a powerful crime syndicate based on Centerpoint Station, but the party can be hired by almost any criminal organization in the galaxy or he coerced into making the run of a favor obligation comes up. The encounter can be used to kick off a new Corellian sector campaign, introduce new NPCs, or even party members.

Location: Corellian sector

Good for: Smugglers and spacers (basically any EotE crew)

View: I love this encounter. I’ve been looking for something that gives the PCs a sense of making a smuggler’s run similar to the Kessel Run. This fits the mold very well with the mechanic that the author has set up – the GM uses structured time throughout the entire encounter as the PCs make hyperspace jumps and moves cargo (counting the number of rounds) and the PCs get bonus XP based on how fast they are completing the run. Reading this will inspire a GM for all sorts of smuggling related antics. This and Taming the Dragon are worth the price of purchase alone.

Rating: Strong (4.5 / 5.0)

ESCAPE FROM SMUGGLER’S HOLD

Source: Fan-made EotE Adventure

Synopsis: In episode one, the party is hired to locate a smuggling ship that crash landed on Mon Gazza, and recover the cargo. Things go wrong when the ship is located mostly intact, but crewless, just as Sector Rangers show up in force.

The party arrives at Smuggler’s Hold to serve their sentences in episode two. The Hold is a sprawling maximum security prison complex built in the red mountains of Min Palla, on one of Mon Gazza’s moons. After their arrival, the party runs into Kidd Kareen, who asserts he and the group have been set up, and confesses his plan to break out of prison. However, he needs the party’s help.

In episode three, the PCs make their way back to Smuggler’s Run in search of Lursk to receive payment for the job or restitution for the double-cross. When the party manages to track down the Skar’Kla representative, some startling revelations come to light. An epic battle between the Sector Rangers and the SkarKla Consortium breaks out with the party caught in the middle.

Location: Smuggler’s Run, Mon Gazza (though could be adapted to be Kessel without much work)

Good for: No good fringers employed by spice smugglers

View: Kudos to the Fandom Comics team for such a terrific fan-made adventure. The first act is an interesting encounter with the sector rangers ending in a chase through a canyon before being shot down and arrested. The PCs are then hauled to a maximum security prison on the planet, where they then have to organize a prison break to escape. Lastly, the PCs return to Smuggler’s Run (an amazing location) only to figure out that they were set-up from the start. Each act was excellent with interesting mechanics, but the second act is what makes this module special. It’s stuffed to the rafters with interesting NPCs and organizations as well as a great sandbox for the engaging encounters. My only complaint comes from the third act. I’m not sure why the PCs would be angry at their employer over being caught and imprisoned. The PCs should simply be returning to get their hazard pay, but the act is written as if the PCs are going to be barging in, guns blazing. After I got over that confusion, it seems to end nicely. After reading this module, I really want to include it in a campaign arc – it can be used as written, or you could pull Act Two out and use the module for any time the PCs end up failing a mission and getting captured by the authorities.

As a side note, for those who’ve been following my reviews, this adventure covers a lot of the same themes as other modules I’ve written about in the past. One of the reason I praised the Fell Star was because I found Point Nadir an interesting location, but I feel that Smuggler’s Run fills the same void but perhaps even more interesting (but the GM should leverage the best parts of both into one, such as the berthing bays in Point Nadir, a personal favorite of mine). Similarly, I also gave high marks to the Spice Mines of Kessel modular encounter, but this adventure covers the same idea but in an even more robust fashion. This just highlights the versatility of this module.

Rating: Excellent (4.5 / 5.0)

... and here is the other half. My personal favorites are Taming the Dragon and Corellian Shuffle. Both are amazing fits for any EotE campaign.

QUICK STOPOVER

Source: Suns of Fortune (Modular Encounter)

Synopsis: A stop for a drink during a parts run to Nubia can quickly turn to trouble for the PCs at the Sleeping Rancor cantina. Problems with the locals are the least of their worries, however, when an Industrial Automation security contingent arrives to recover sensitive corporate secrets stolen from the gigantic droid manufacturer, secrets on a data pad that mysteriously ends up in the possession of one of the PCs.

Location: Nubia in the Corellian Sector

Good for: Any spacers in a cantina.

View: Encounter is a bar room shootout between two thieves, IA security agents, and the PCs, then one of the thieves lets a Ronto loose that stampedes through the cantina, crushing everything in its path. Overall interesting premise for a firefight, but nothing special here, either.

Rating: Average (3.0 / 5.0)

BEYOND THE BOILING SEA

Source: Suns of Fortune (Modular Encounters)

Synopsis: most Drall prefer a quiet, orderly life, but a few enjoy adventure or even engaged in criminal activity. A visit to the Boiling Sea on Drall can become more than the players intended for when they encounter Boffen Nibs, a Drall with sticky fingers and a penchant for trouble.

Location: Drall

Good for: A group of PCs on Drall

View: Basic premise is the son of a Drall Duchess has stolen the royal family jewels and is looking to make an escape off world, wanted by the planetary police. During his escape, he solicits the PCs for help. Similar to my critique on the Selonian adventure above, seems like they are trying to force an interesting Drall encounter. This one falls flat.

Rating: Below average (2.5 / 5.0)

CONNICAL SIX SUMMIT

Source: Suns of Fortune (Modular Encounters)

Synopsis: This encounter takes place in Centerpoint Station in the Corellian system. The encounter requires a series of Athletics and Coordination checks as the party scales Centerpoint Station's conical mountains. The party could have been hired specifically to control the vynock population, to deploy a probe to the Glowpoint for a scientist, to search for a boy who went missing, or simply enjoying some down time.

Location: Centerpoint Station

Good for: Anyone in Centerpoint Station

View: This is a very short adventure hook outlining climbing mountains with some interesting gravity twists. Not my cup of tea, but could be useful if you ever find yourself in the need of a mountainous climb encounter…

Rating: Below average (2.0 / 5.0)

THE CORELLIAN SHUFFLE

Source: Suns of Fortune (Modular Encounters)

Synopsis: the party is recruited to run the Corellian Shuffle, a famous smuggling route on par with the Kessel Run. The run requires a series of precision hyperspace micro-jumps within the Corellian System to avoid CorSec patrols, and fast in-flight cargo transfers between transports. The encounter is written as the party being hired by Guetip, a majordomo for a powerful crime syndicate based on Centerpoint Station, but the party can be hired by almost any criminal organization in the galaxy or he coerced into making the run of a favor obligation comes up. The encounter can be used to kick off a new Corellian sector campaign, introduce new NPCs, or even party members.

Location: Corellian sector

Good for: Smugglers and spacers (basically any EotE crew)

View: I love this encounter. I’ve been looking for something that gives the PCs a sense of making a smuggler’s run similar to the Kessel Run. This fits the mold very well with the mechanic that the author has set up – the GM uses structured time throughout the entire encounter as the PCs make hyperspace jumps and moves cargo (counting the number of rounds) and the PCs get bonus XP based on how fast they are completing the run. Reading this will inspire a GM for all sorts of smuggling related antics. This and Taming the Dragon are worth the price of purchase alone.

Rating: Strong (4.5 / 5.0)

Considering my very first job for FFG included conceiving and writing Conical 6 Summit and the Corellian Shuffle, I'm flattered by the scores! I'm not sure Corellian Shuffle deserves quite so high a score, I could have probably handled a few mechanical things better knowing what I know now. Still, I definitely swung big with that one, and wanted to create an easily repeatable smuggling run that would conjure up Han Solo's famous Kessel Run. Glad you enjoyed it!

... and here is the other half. My personal favorites are Taming the Dragon and Corellian Shuffle. Both are amazing fits for any EotE campaign.

THE CORELLIAN SHUFFLE

Source: Suns of Fortune (Modular Encounters)

Synopsis: the party is recruited to run the Corellian Shuffle, a famous smuggling route on par with the Kessel Run. The run requires a series of precision hyperspace micro-jumps within the Corellian System to avoid CorSec patrols, and fast in-flight cargo transfers between transports. The encounter is written as the party being hired by Guetip, a majordomo for a powerful crime syndicate based on Centerpoint Station, but the party can be hired by almost any criminal organization in the galaxy or he coerced into making the run of a favor obligation comes up. The encounter can be used to kick off a new Corellian sector campaign, introduce new NPCs, or even party members.

Location: Corellian sector

Good for: Smugglers and spacers (basically any EotE crew)

View: I love this encounter. I’ve been looking for something that gives the PCs a sense of making a smuggler’s run similar to the Kessel Run. This fits the mold very well with the mechanic that the author has set up – the GM uses structured time throughout the entire encounter as the PCs make hyperspace jumps and moves cargo (counting the number of rounds) and the PCs get bonus XP based on how fast they are completing the run. Reading this will inspire a GM for all sorts of smuggling related antics. This and Taming the Dragon are worth the price of purchase alone.

Rating: Strong (4.5 / 5.0)

Considering my very first job for FFG included conceiving and writing Conical 6 Summit and the Corellian Shuffle, I'm flattered by the scores! I'm not sure Corellian Shuffle deserves quite so high a score, I could have probably handled a few mechanical things better knowing what I know now. Still, I definitely swung big with that one, and wanted to create an easily repeatable smuggling run that would conjure up Han Solo's famous Kessel Run. Glad you enjoyed it!

Corellian Shuffle is very good IMO. Can you share what would you handled differently now?

Love these reviews!

Thanks Jedi!

KRKappel - I second NicoDavout here - we'd love to hear what you'd do differently in the Corellian Shuffle encounter! Any tips / tricks for navigating it, or changes that you'd make to the mechanics?

I think the big thing is just that the timekeeping mechanism I used (actually counting individual rounds) is really clunky, and it's all a bit too round by round in a game that should be more narrative. I'd likely get rid of all the round by round bean counting, and instead substitute it for like, real time in hours and minutes in that final table, and change it so that each check (be it moving the cargo crates, or pilot checks to close distance and dock, astrogation checks, etc) have more firm times tied to the die results. So advantage, triumphs, or lots of successes can decrease how much time it took, while threats and despairs might mean a cargo skiff breaks down, or an airlock jams, or whatever.

It'd make some of those other checks maybe feel a bit more important and utilize all the various dice results better than I set it up. I mean, I'd really just tweak the mechanics of it all top to bottom. In my defense, I was reading the Beta rules and learning the game from the book only while writing that job, and this is a game that really comes alive and clicks once you sit down with a GM that knows what they're doing, which I didn't really have the opportunity to do.

Time-keeping is something of a theme in a lot of my adventure module work. It appears here, in Dead in the Water (AOR GM Kit Module), and I take another swing at it in Friends Like These, the upcoming AOR module.

My favorite thing about making time a factor in game is that it kills that player sense of completing every sidequest, wihch is a sort of video game mentality. Time forces choice, you can do A or B, but not both. And choice creates tension and drama, especially if the various PCs have conflicting Duties on which to go after.

My favorite thing about making time a factor in game is that it kills that player sense of completing every sidequest, wihch is a sort of video game mentality. Time forces choice, you can do A or B, but not both. And choice creates tension and drama, especially if the various PCs have conflicting Duties on which to go after.

I know that when my group ran through Jewel of Yavin, we had that issue. we spent too much time researching the bidders and ran out of time when we were prepping for the heist. It really affected how we approached the heist part of the module... of course the three or so despairs we got During the heist didn't help matters either

Personally, I would use some time tracker as per WH3 adventures. The time tracker would have a number of spaces equal to the important events in the adventure. The token on the track would be moved by a GM when they pass the event or when the players spent too much time on a scene, for example discuss for half an hour should they free the prisoner or not. When they fail astrogation check miserably, the time could also progress, but when the succeed perfectly, the token could be moved back. The idea is to let the players know that there is a time pressure without need to write rules for it. And even the players could be not told what this track means.

Enjoyed this one a lot - looking forward to reading No Safe Haven sometime soon!

SHADOWS OVER TARKINTOWN

Source: Standalone fan-made beginner game

Synopsis: The story begins with the PCs at Loathal resettlement camp 43, commonly referred to as Tarkintown. As the sotry begins, each of the PCs has ties to this small settlement, which is about to be destroyed on the orders of Darth Vadar and Agent Kallus. Luckily, not all in the Imperial Machine are comfortable with wholesale slaughter of citizens, and a contact of the PCs has passed a warning through a secret channel. The PCs will have only moments before the Empire arrives, and should quickly realize their only option is to flee by commandeering an Imperial transport. Along the way they will have the choice to engage in activities to benefit citizens of Tarkintown or damage the Imperial war machine.

Location: Lothal, but the resettlement camp could really be on any planet

Good for: Any beginning “come together” story, particularly good to kick off an AoR campaign

View: I really enjoyed the premise of this short module. The outline is simple – the PCs need to escape the resettlement camp through an Imperial checkpoint and steal a troop transport. It does a good job setting the tone and making the PCs feel the hate for the Empire (and then feel triumph with their small successes, such as saving a family and escaping the camp). While I’d recommend the module for those looking for an intro encounter, I think that the overall rating is held back by the brevity / lack of clarity in certain key areas that left me confused on a first read (with a caveat that I’ve not watched the Rebels TV show). Wookiepedia helped answer some of my questions, but for a module made for beginners, I think that some of these should have been addressed in the body of the text. Some notes that GMs looking to run this module may find helpful:

Starting off: I believe that the authors intentionally left the “contact” unnamed without background, but I think that it takes away from the adventure a bit. Giving that NPC some background and context really helps bring the situation to life.

Encounter 4A: Create a list of NPC names and races for the citizens in this encounter. It’s hard for the PCs to relate to unnamed masses, so it’s better to have Niera, the twi’lek toddler dragging her doll trying to escape the Imperial destruction than just citizens in a shanty building.

Encounter 4B: In a failure scenario with the swoop gang, it’s not clear what the authors intended for the difficulty increase. Is three failures equal to three green dice or one yellow and one green?

Encounter 5: The map of the Imperial barricade does not have any labels, so I found it difficult to understand what all of the set pieces are, which really held back this entire encounter for me. After Googling what an ITT looks like, I was able to discern that the two transports are the bottom right and center (I think, anyway). I don’t know what the other stuff is. Perhaps a hover tank? Also, stats for the AT-DP are found later in the chapter, even though they are lacking here.

Encounter 6: I felt that this encounter, while meant to be the climax, was the weakest in the module. Part of this was because I didn’t have a strong understanding about what an ITT was – I thought that it was a starship, but in reality it’s a repulsorcraft. I was confused as to why the PCs would choose to fight, when (knowing my players, anyway) the PCs would just immediately hightail off planet. I think that when running this encounter it’s important to clearly outline the win condition.

Rating: Very well done for a fan-made module. It started strong, but stumbled a bit at the end (above). I’d rate it Above Average (3.5 / 5.0) but with some of the tweaks above I’d upgrade to 4.0 / 5.0.