OK, this post might run on a bit, but please bear with me, it might be worth it.

So… as I see it, there are a few categories GMs fall into;
A: The Free Wheeler
B: The Planner
C: The Director

OK.. I'll elaborate.

The Free Wheeler.
This is probably the GM style everyone aspires to be (I know I do). This is someone who sits down at a table of players, with either no, or an incredibly vague idea, and just runs with it… making it up on the spot, from what the players need to do, to NPCs to places and encounters, and makes it up ON THE SPOT.

The Planner
This is someone who pretty much sits down and plans an adventure, it might be an adventure planned from start to end, or it might be a vague outline, and they ad lib or free form the filler based on the player actions.

The Director.
Much like a film director, they take a script (Pre written adventure), and run it from the book/pdf/magazine, and try and accommodate when things go off track.

Now, of course, these are not fixed, I am sure the majority of people are a mix of two or all of these styles, (tweaking a pre write, using a pre write to inspire a free form, or free forming within your own plan/adventure, etc).

But some of us are very much stuck in the Director position. Myself included. We struggle to develop our own adventures, and ad lib our way out of issues when our players go in random directions.

Now, a friend of mine, also a GM, told me how he develops his own games by Sandboxing them. Basically, he creates a place, with locations, populates those locations with named NPCs or Groups and their motivations and then develops connections and them between those groups and how the PCs might interact with those connections… giving him the freedom to allow the PCs to go different places and do different things, without "going off the rails" as such, and leaving him in a situation where he usually does not need to "create something" off the top of his head.

All well and good, but my head goes blank when I try this. Occasionally, I come up with an idea, but at the speed at which my broken brain operates, it would be years before I have sufficient pieces, and THEN I have to try and put them together….

SO.. To my point.

Let's makes some pieces. Any given piece might be the spark that ignites an idea that leads somewhere… the next piece might fuel that, or it might simply provide another idea to add to your own worlds.

Now, I don’t expect full stats for things, this is more a narrative idea. We have plenty of NPC stats provided in the books and on cards to pull out something suitable, but it’s the narrative and ideas behind those that drive the story.

Now, you may only have a couple of ideas, and that’s fine, that’s all you need to add… someone else's idea might spark another, so add that to the pot. No idea is too small, it might be the lynchpin to something bigger from someone else… and THAT might be enough to develop an even bigger idea… and thus, worlds grow.

So,.. Give some simple (and I mean simple, they don’t need to be very developed, but can be if you want.. Just leave room to modify them to peoples uses) details on a person (NPC), a place, location, organisation etc., and hopefully people can piece them together into something that drives something bigger.

EG:
Sharm Geblis, Chandrillain.
Legal Arms Dealer.
Licensed Dealer for BlasTech.
ONLY sells LEGAL (Non Restricted, Non Military grade) personal arms.
Experienced weapon engineer. Offering Repairs and Modifications (so long as they are legal, and made by BlasTech)
STICKS TO THE LAW! (Will report people asking for Restricted items to the authorities, quietly)
VERY good at what he does, but will ONLY deal or work on BlasTech products.
Sticker for legality. Quite profitable.

A place.
Sharms Emporium.
A small shop, with a larger warehouse attached.
A small showroom, displaying (Non charged) display pieces of BlasTechs finest personal protection items and attachments. Nothing live on display for security reasons.
Two security droids stand in the corner, and Sharm is generally found behind the desk.
A workshop is behind the shop where Sharm does attachment and modification work (but only on BlasTech items). Warehouse where he keeps his stock for sale. Licensed BlasTech maintenance and reseller.

Now, granted, the above examples are connected, but they could be placed on ANY planet the GM requires. You could change the brand Sharm deals with, or smaller details (such as he will, if pushed, deal with illegal or restricted goods).

Someone could add an optional detail covering his dodgy dealings, and you could use it, or not.

Details covering towns, settlements, farms, gangs, gang leaders, gang members, corporations, businesses', cantinas, smuggling rings… etc.. All can be pieces in a puzzle that lead to a larger picture.

If this takes off, and enough content in generated, I can draw up some kind of document, nicely formatted, that can provide a quick "pick up and use" tool for GMs who need something in a rush, at hand a pile of people, places, their drives and motivations, personalities and abilities and such, than COULD drive greater stories at your fingertips… or can populate your planned adventures.

So… who's interested? Anything you want to add, just put it in a post, and I will pull it out and save it. Once I have enough, I can look at formatting a document with everything, and then keep it up to date as I get enough additional material… it benefits everyone. Even if you don’t use it, but contribute, you can know you have helped someone, somewhere, drive a story and enjoy some good Roleplay. (Except maybe me.. as I don’t have a group.. But that’s my problem!)

So... anyone who wants to.. add something!

RD

Kolsshyka female wookie, very dark brown with a streak of black down her right arm. Usually wears a trenchcoat with the arms cut off.

Information broker and enforcer. Partial to the alliance, but not allied.

Cold and collected, speaks through a modified imperial interrogation droid.

Information bought often comes with strings attached usually asking the pc's to investigate something or bring back information.

Grod'Ubb

Gamorrean

Spy, Infiltrated various Hutts usually as a guard, or a middle league supervisor of security.

A thick metal plate in the back of his skull presumably a bad fix for the injuries of his early days as a gladiator, actually houses a cybernetic brain enhancement.

Smart but plays dumb, disciplined ruthless, calculating.

Location:

Tibana Gas Mine FD-413 (Decommissioned)

Located on Bespin in a region that's regularly subject to storms and large pockets of rising gas. Access to this region is restricted by the Winged Guard due to the dangerous weather, so getting there requires a permit.

The mine is a floating platform typical of the rest of Bespin, it is owned by a gass mining company called KatGas who shut down operations quite some time ago. The shutdown was due to constant damage to the structure from the regular storms and attempts to tow the mine out of the region have been hindered by red tape. So KatGas use the site as storage for spare parts while dealing with the politics of Cloud City.

Due to its remote location an entrepreneurial Human smuggler by the name of Sirrat has started using the mine. With a modified Wayfarer the smuggler and his crew make fortnightly trips to fill the tanks and ship the gass to his buyer (in my game it's the First Order )

The only regular occupant is an old protocol Droid KC-G24 "SeeGee". Faded blue lettering across its chest indicate it's the property of KatGas. Whenever it first meets visitors it will inform them:

"You have entered corporate owned property, you are required to leave immediatly and report to your nearest KatGas' office, in this sector that is on Cloud City, level 108, quadrent 14, corridor 83, office 6b."

This is actually a front, the smugglers have reprogrammed the Droid to act as a deterrent to any unexpected visitors. They have a tiny office with a single human "receptionist" at the address who delays anyone further.

A nightclub on a space station.

Creative use of grav-plating allows for usable space on all six cardinal surfaces.

Could be a simple cube or something like a high-tech MC Escher print.

Either way, would be a bewildering place to get into a big fight.

The Upper Crust

An expensive revolving restaurant atop a tall tower that almost reaches out into orbit. A place for meeting the high society, savoring haute cuisine, having a grand view of the city below and enjoying the house band, a bith ensemble. Getting a reservation takes time, money, or connections and of course, droids are not allowed. The only exception is Jeeves, the butler droid of the owner of the establishment, Lady Lira Sterling.

Lira, a human hailing from a rich house of Coruscant, was sent off with some of her families money to start her own enterprise somewhere not as crowded as the Imperial Center. Though snobby, she has a way with words and can be very convincing, not knowing that this actually comes from having a slight connection to the force. Lady Sterling is also easily upset by the actions of others, which is why Jeeves always carries her rapier, should she ever demand satisfaction.

In times before modern hyperspace beacons, the tower was used as a lighthouse of sorts to guide starships, and even today, the imperial holo-net relay is fixed at the very top of the tower, connecting the city to the rest of the galaxy. Prior to being acquired and turned into the Upper Crust by Lady Sterling, the tower housed a flight school, with many of the graduates either recruited by the Empire or still serving the planetary defense forces. Rumor has it that some of the pilots even joined the Rebel Alliance, which is the reason the school got closed down, and that a few of these individuals still frequent the Upper Crust.

Ulnz Xilv

An Omwati and one of the casualties of Tarkin's super weapon program which attempted to develop engineers under torturous conditions. Doomed to death, she was kept barely alive and smuggled out by two enterprising officers. She and others ended up sold as slaves to the Hutts and Black Sun as living computers to be used to slice rivals.

She eventually killed her owner and had infiltrated their computer network. She used all the Hutt's secret does on their employees and vassals as blackmail to make them loyal to her. She took over.

Ruthless not cruel, with the morality of a slave having become the enslaver.

134323

Cybernetic reflexes, implanted cyberjack.