I play a character in an Edge of the Empire campaign as well as I am the gamemaster in another Edge of the Empire campaign. In the campaign where I play as a character we finished Long Arm of the Hutt, and unfortunately that campaign came to a halt due to personal matters. As it so happens in the campaign where I am the game master we near the same milestone. As I want to enjoy the published adventures from FFG as a player first, I now must find an alternative and thus delved into my stock of old adventures from previous publishers as I am terrible at creating my own challenging and memorable adventures.
As I thought about what could happen after Long Arm of the Hutt I stumbled over the old Scum and Villainy book from WotC. I own the book, but if you don’t have a copy you can find a virtual one on the internet.
At first I planned to intertwine the mini adventures in the book so the players have to hunt down the location of Point Nadir by getting a piece of information at the end of each mini adventure, and in the end have to puzzle together the information to find the location. But, alas, I consider the mini adventures unfit for that purpose. So I just concentrate on the “main” adventure of the book.
The characters now have their own ship as a base of operations and successfully eliminated the greatest thread so far (one way or another). But just a ship might not be enough as a permanent hideout. Sometimes the characters may need a place to hide, or they need supplies or special services. Point Nadir might be the ideal place if these situations arise.
I decided to establish Ota from Long Arm of the Hutt as a permanent contact for the characters. I will handle him as a NPC the characters never fully know exactly for whom he really works, but obviously he will have strong ties to the rebellion. As such he can be a very good contact if you want to incorporate adventures from the Age of Rebellion line, but as a bothan spy master he may even have had contacts to the now nearly extinct jedi order (Force and Destiny adventures).
My plans are as follows:
After the characters have overcome Teemo the Hutt and the dust has settled, a small figure wearing a trench coat (I love that scene) approaches the characters. Ota says that the players have done well eliminating Teemo (permanently or by discrediting him). Nevertheless Mos Shuuta might not be the safest place to stay for the characters even if some of the citizens of Mos Shuuta might be thankful and the characters might even have made some friends in the city. The Hutts will be the ruling factor in Mos Shuuta again in no time, and maybe the Empire might show interest in what happened here. At least the imperials who had dealings with Teemo. One way or another, the characters are not save here.
Also the Krayt Fang presumably still has the transponder which shows Trex as the owner of the ship. Ota suggests that the characters change that as soon as possible. Prello the Hutt might very well be the right contact to accomplish that. Ota tells the characters where to find Prello. (The players might argue, if a hacker or another character with sufficient skills is in the group, that they can alter the transponder themselves. That’s a valid point. You could allow the players a (Hard, 3 Difficulty dice, task) test. If the test fails the characters are non the wiser. If the test is a success the character doing the test, finds out that the transponder has surprisingly sophisticated safety measures which are out of the league of the character.)
The characters can contact Prello and she promises to help the characters if they help her. As it so happens the person who can manipulate the transponder is Barin Trevina, who is not only an exceptional thief but also a very crafty hacker, who unfortunately has gone missing. The adventure starts as described.
My take on tests:
To streamline game play somewhat I picked up the suggestion of another forum poster regarding tests in Saga Edition adventures. I consider tests with a DC of 1-5 as simple and no roll is necessary. You will always never stumble upon those kind of tests in WotC Saga Edition adventures. DC tests 6-10 are easy tasks (1 Difficulty dice), DC tests 11-15 are average tasks (2 Difficulty dice), DC 16-20 tests are hard tasks (3 Difficulty dice), DC 21-25 are daunting tasks (4 Difficulty dice), and DC 26-30 tests are formidable tasks (5 difficulty dice). If tests of DC 31+ are requested change one of the five difficulty dice to a challenge dice, and do so every five steps (36, 41 and so on).
Lost and Found
I plan on doing the intro as the adventure describes. But some encounters must be altered accordingly.
I assume no stats are needed for Prello. But if you need them use the ones offered in the rule book(s) (e.g. page 46 of the Edge of the Empire Beginner Game).
Page 197: You can ask for Perception checks whether or not the players perceive the situation near the apartment as described. If they succeed they witness the Sable Dawn thug at the speeder. If they roll advantage(s) they might get the drop on him and can take him out without much fuss. Depending on the roll, the thug picks up a real fight (failure), threats occurring during the test might indicate that the thug is not alone.
Favorable rolls and/or quick thinking on the side of the players might give them a surprise attack against the thugs in Olev’s apartment.
Kie’s Storage
Even when I read the adventure the first time a couple of years ago, I found it odd that only the coordinates and the word are on the pad. Any character with hacking/computer skills can shine in this encounter. Depending on the advantages I plan on giving out more information about Point Nadir, for example:
1 advantage: Point Nadir is a secret place shrouded in mysteries and maybe more about its founding.
2 advantages: Point Nadir’s location is not part of any star chart and the reasons why.
3 advantages: It is said that Point Nadir is ruled by three factions and which they are.
If more advantages are rolled you can give out more information about Point Nadir if you want. If needed you can even lay seeds for future adventures here if desired. Barin Trevina might be a man of many talents.
Threat(s) might destroy the pad altogether.
Anyway the characters can find out (success) that Barin programmed an algorithm with which he can pinpoint Point Nadir’s location. If the roll is a failure the characters must find the location via Prello as described under The Woodoo Dunes Cantina.
Phellip and the Mad Line
For Gather Information you can use Streetwise, and for Use Computer you can use Computers. You can use Perception for the suggested Perception test. You can use Medicine for Treat Injury.
Mine Droid Mishap
Use Mechanics for the Mechanics test.
Fische’s Legacy
I only own the Edge of the Empire core rule book and did not find a substitution for Use the Force. You might use the universal Perception skill instead.
You can find an endless number of NPCs to substitute the ones found in the adventure here:
https://community.fantasyflightgames.com/topic/221186-thedearth-presents-npc-cards/
ENCOUNTERS
Olev’s Apartment
I think you don’t need stats for Olev.
I dislike the approach that every second NPC the characters meet is force sensitive. Nevertheless the Sable Dawn members in this adventure are assumed to be force sensitive. My take on the matter will be that only some of the members know to use the force. You can use the stats of the Bounty Hunters from Long Arm of the Hutt (page 15) for the Sable Down thugs. Depending on your group you might subtract 1 from the soak value. To give the characters an inkling of whom they are up against I’ll give one of the thugs a force power. Telekinesis might be a good one, and depending on the roll of the Force dice that thug throws objects against the players. An alternative might be to handle it narratively and give the thugs a Boost dice for all their rolls and tell the characters that their opponents are very fast and agile. Thus the thugs are not force users themselves but maybe trained by one and so very challenging opponents. If you have the Force and Destiny core rule book you can, of course, look up for substitutions for the listed force powers and follow the adventure as written.
Kie’s Storage
No additions to the above said.
The Woodoo Dunes
I think you don’t need stats for Cel N’ero.
For the Hooligans you can use the stats of the Human and Aqualish thugs from Long Arm of the Hutt (page 21).
Stopped by Epsis
For stats you can use … If you want to progress the “intended” way, you can add something more threatening than the force of numbers, like a turret for example.
Evad Court Rescue
For the Security Guards you can use …
Mining Droid Mishap
For the Mining Droids you can use…
I plan to offer a non confrontational way to solve the encounter. I am looking for some kind of puzzle the players have to solve to evade a fire pattern or something along this line.
Step into my Parlor…
For Nadir Spiders you can use… For the Mynocks you can use…
I am not sure if another fight encounter is really necessary. I am toying with another encounter but am not sure which one.
Fissures Ambush
For the Sable Dawn Lieutenant you can use…
Depending on how the adventure ends Barin Trevina manipulates the transponder. Both groups I play with started a discussion who is the new owner of the ship. I am very excited how this will end with my group. If they aggravated Barin, the problem with the transponder will stay a bit longer.
I also will offer my players that they can change the interior of the ship (get rid of one or all of the holding cells for example). They can search the internet and can present me with the new deck plan. This might be a good sink for the credits they have or will earn in the future.
Any hints and advice are welcome!