So Im going to semi stat up the big six. What talents would you be sure to assign? Also, what tactics would you employ against your PCs?

Depends. Are they supposed to work together, or solo? Are they supposed to beat the players, or not? Are they players specced and geared in specific ways?

You're basically asking for encounter design as much as npc design.

So here's why Im doing this. I copied the text wall from my Facebook post.

So in our last episode, the crew was on NarShaddaa installing weapons on their new ship. While eating dinner, they got involved with stopping a slave deal between 2 hutts, which ended up with the death of the 2. They are now leaving for their next objective, but of course it cant be that easy. I've done "fight to get back to the ship" and "escape to hyperspace before getting shot down" many times before, so Id like to come up with something new and different for this coming episode.

Offing 2 hutts cant go unpunished. I need to send a message before they get offworld. Gametime t-minus 4 days...

You're going to have some timeline issues. Ventress is dead by then, canon and legends, and wouldn't work with them again anyway. Likewise, Latts would have aged a bit, and Boba seemed to get more independant with experience. Plus Boba Fett will, 100% chance, succeed in defeating the party, because HE IS BOBA FETT.

16 hours ago, Yaccarus said:

You're going to have some timeline issues. Ventress is dead by then, canon and legends, and wouldn't work with them again anyway. Likewise, Latts would have aged a bit, and Boba seemed to get more independant with experience. Plus Boba Fett will, 100% chance, succeed in defeating the party, because HE IS BOBA FETT.

Fett, Dengar, IG-88, Bossk, Zuckuss 4-LOM.

18 hours ago, Yaccarus said:

You're going to have some timeline issues. Ventress is dead by then, canon and legends, and wouldn't work with them again anyway. Likewise, Latts would have aged a bit, and Boba seemed to get more independant with experience. Plus Boba Fett will, 100% chance, succeed in defeating the party, because HE IS BOBA FETT.

This is game play so there is never a 100% chance that the Fett wins. Plus in several of the older novels (or short stories) Solo managed to evade Boba on several occasions.

Game play doesnt mean that there is never a 100% chance the Fett wins. That is entirely up to the GM. Plus, evade is alot different than defeat.

If I were doing it, I would make it very plain to the players that there are six of the best hunters ever, and fighting them is really out of the question. At that point it should be mostly a chase scene. I would also make it only semi-structured, in that the players really dont need to know how the hunters are doing what they are doing, and I doubt I would even bother with dice rolling for alot of it. First shot misses, second doesnt sort of thing. Also dont have all the hunters on the field at once. Have two trade shots then a different two and keep rotating them out. Let them get to their ship just in time for it to blow up. Then get them to whatever ship they want to steal just in time to escape. Preferably with more crits than wound points in the group.

The point is to get the suspense and fear up and keep it there, without letting the rules be an anchor.

They got their ship 2 episodes ago and armed it last time. They would kill me!

4 hours ago, ThreeBFour said:

This is game play so there is never a 100% chance that the Fett wins. Plus in several of the older novels (or short stories) Solo managed to evade Boba on several occasions.

They're not Han Solo. Regardless, a few points:

This is by no means a crew. Fett, Bossk, Dengar, IG-88B, Zuckuss, and 4-LOM aren't likely to work together. Getting all 6 is only going to be an option if:

a. The hirer is of extreme wealth

b. After all other options have been exhausted. Sending these 6 is overkill for pretty much anyone other than Vader, Tarkin, or Palpatine.

c. They have a reputation for being uncatchable. Fett in particular isn't likely to take anything that is too easy.

These guys are going to be absolutely insane. Here is my advice:

a. Keep in mind that they probably won't work together. They will likely attack one at a time. (With the exceptions of Zuckuss and 4-LOM)

b. Use careful Wookieepedia research for each one's arsenal, and be generous with the stats. 5s and even 6s for some of their best characteristics, 4s and 5s for the best skills. Should the party get in a fair fight with no escape against any one of these, it's pretty much over.

c. These guys will plan well. Boba is probably going to be the best here, but Zuckuss's foresight/findsmen abilities and 4-LOM's odds calculation will also be pretty good. Bossk, IG-88B, and Dengar and in their spot for a reason, and aren't slouches in this department either.

I see a few avenues for party success:

a. Exile, hide, secret identities, whatever. This will take an adventure to set up, and will be a race before they are found. But, eventually, they will be found. Perhaps a time-skip of a couple years before Fett/Zuckuss and 4-LOM find them. So basically, they bought some time...

b. Turn the hunters against each other. It won't be easy, especially as they would likely attack at separate times, but good planning and some luck with social checks could grant them a victory this way. However, it will only buy time...

c. Ambush the hunters. It will be EXTREMELY difficult, and pretty much impossible to do for all six, but they could fight when they have the advantage and turn the tables. Still, they won't win without carefully planning some sort of advantage. Even this might be temporary, however, should anyone escape. (And, especially in Fett's case, he will) So, again, they only bought time...

d. Run. But it will only buy time...

So basically, you have chosen to kill every member of the party. I hope you're happy with what you've done.

1 hour ago, Yaccarus said:

They're not Han Solo. Regardless, a few points:

...

So basically, you have chosen to kill every member of the party. I hope you're happy with what you've done.

Pshht...

The players are the heroes of their own story. If a player can't tackle the things the movie heroes did, then they aren't the heroes, and the GM is just yanking them. Yeah, they might not always "win" but to just say outright "you'll die" in a system where death is pretty frelling tough is essentially canning the entire idea of playing a big gorram hero.

Besides, if you look at the players the same way as the Obi-wans and the Lukes, you realize the difficulties aren't the part that's big, it's the story. Doors open, and suddenly the players are doing more.

9 hours ago, bsmith23 said:

Fett, Dengar, IG-88, Bossk, Zuckuss 4-LOM.

Ok, so we know from other current sources these guys didn't usually team up, but they also would if the price was right.

Fett's build will be for a good balance of mobility and firepower. We don't see Fett personally do a heck of a lot, but we see Jango, and seeing as how Boba uses a lot of the same gear it's probably safe to assume that Boba's core tactics will be a lot of what Jango did. Overwhelming firepower, and plenty of jetpacking to keep the targets at arms length while tossing out a mix of damage and debilitating effects to support the greater plan. Fett, with his fearsome rep would be a good driver. They players see him first, he opens up with heavy firepower and pushes them toward the place where the rest of the hunters will lay on the hurt. Stat-wise he'll be rigged with a combination of talents to support that.

Dengar will be the front man. The hunters would probably set up some kind of ambush situation where Dengar would be set up in a good position and dump fire on the targets. Hitting what he can, and driving them into a killzone set up by other if he can't.

IG-88 is a pretty 2D character, he'd probably be statted as little more than plenty of WT, Soak, and guns. Remember that killzone? IG-88 would probably be a fulcrum of that.

Zuckuss and 4-LOM seem like a weaker set of the crew. So they'd probably be on the outside picking off any players that try and escape, and suppressing any backup the players try and call in.

Bossk with his preference for what amounts to a grenade launcher, would be a good supporter for IG-88. He'd likely try and get in a good high flanking position Fett pushes the players into the ambush, Dengar opens up, intentionally driving the players into cover, where IG-88 pops up. Every time the players try and get clear Bossk pops a grenade their way and pushes them back into the grinder.

The organics, I'd base on the Master Hunter, beefed up slightly to considerably (Fett of course), IG is definitely an Assassin Droid, beefed up as well.

The most important talent Adversary: Boba Fett 5, the others 3 to 4; there are a few unnamed NPC with 3, so at least the same.

6 to 10 extra Wounds/3 to 5 extra Strain (Grit/Toughened); up to 5 Durable (Boba might be houseruled Massive; especially against glowsticks).

Sorry, the brood is pestering, perhaps tonight...

Heres something I tried. For characteristics, I went with what felt right. Next I bundeled their skills into their characteristic groups and thought, "what would be a good rank", so basically each has 6 different dice rolls they could make. I then selected 6 abilites: Precise Aim 2, Targeted Blow, Critical Blow, Parry 3 (because I have a monster Wookiee Marauder), Heroic Fortitude, Nobody's Fool 3 (plus Adversary) that they can all pull from. Weapons, wookieepedia is my friend. Game in 30 hours, so ive got a little more time.

Half the pcs are already on the ship, the misbehavers are on their way there in the ex-hutts sail barge. So Ive got to get the rest off the ship so they cant use it, maybe a volatile gas leak at the hangar. I was thinking of starting with Zuckuss and 4LOM, then see how it goes from there.

As for the 6 working together, I dont think I see my players calling me out on that. I think theyll more likely question how they got together and found them so quick.

The players ended up meeting back up in a mall on Nar Shadda. Once there, Dengar was the first to show up, snipering the team. 2 rocketed up to confront him while the rest helped to get innocents to safety. The 2 taking on Dengar were joined by Bossk, since one was a Wookiee it seemed to work. Dengar lobbed a concussion grenade down to the mall floor, failure and 4 threats. The blast activated security droids, with IG88 hiding among them. The combat took the majority of the time, but itwas intense, and the players enjoyed it, eventually incapacitating all three. They still have to get off world.

As far as them all showing up, i figured there are multiple bounties out on them: Hutts, Empire, and a third they do not know about...

Found myself thinking of this poster:

When you look out the cantina window up the street and know you dun goofed, boy.

My advice is don't buy into the fan-fueled masturbatory stats. If you want them to be detailed you could build them under PC rules with 125%, 150% or even up to 200% of the XP your party has. If you want some tough but less defined NPCs just give them the talents they would place them as threats at the above XP levels.

Don't buy into the Boba has a 92 Agility and Vader must have a force rating of a gajillion!!11! Every character in the books and movies has plot armor. Of course they succeeded, they were written to succeed. We're watching/reading the excerpts of a successful campaign, not characters that are so uber-tastic that they can never fail.

I know I'm late, but I'll publish this in case this might offer something to someone else.

I would send bounty hunters against PC, starting from apprentice bounty hunter, and constantly raising the skill level, ending up with multiple master bounty hunters. This way PCs would feel the consequences of their actions, and I'd always have potential encounter in my sleeve, and still have the threat of famous ones. Also, PCs would have a incentive to get rid of their bounty (obligation?) before they encounter the famous hunters. After all, "threat of a weapon is more terrifying than weapon itself".

On 19.8.2017 at 2:39 AM, Ahrimon said:

My advice is don't buy into the fan-fueled masturbatory stats. If you want them to be detailed you could build them under PC rules with 125%, 150% or even up to 200% of the XP your party has. If you want some tough but less defined NPCs just give them the talents they would place them as threats at the above XP levels.

Don't buy into the Boba has a 92 Agility and Vader must have a force rating of a gajillion!!11! Every character in the books and movies has plot armor. Of course they succeeded, they were written to succeed. We're watching/reading the excerpts of a successful campaign, not characters that are so uber-tastic that they can never fail.

To be clear, I don't disagree with you, and your tips and IMO example XP levels are good.

Canonically Vader is one of the toughest bad guys in galaxy (same goes for Fett at some level). How do you simulate that with stats, when we don't have plot armor as in books. Personally I mostly don't use named characters because of this, as I cannot see a way to make it work well enough. Either Vader/Fett/?? is too easy to win, or they beat the crap out of PCs and that's not fun (the threat of this happening is the fun part). The balancing act is too tough for me.

1 hour ago, kkuja said:

The balancing act is too tough for me.

Which is why, when I use them, their stats are generally "you will lose, but you can maybe run away".

Half the time, your players won't need much encouragement. The most recent time I've used a notable big name, the players in an AOR game were trying to extract a prisoner (a comms officer previously assigned to Home One who'd been captured by pure accident) before Imperial Intelligence realised who they'd caught and turned up to drag them off to sith-knows-where. They thought they were in time. They weren't.

An unscheduled shuttle flight turned up halfway through the mission. They went from "I guess we're on the clock, now" to "runrunrunrunrun!!!" in about five seconds after catching sight of the ST-321 flight number on the shuttle.

The best way to shock them is to have the opponents do something unexpected. In one of my games, I had a hunter slice his way on their ship when they weren't there, and wait on the cockpit with a thermal detonator. They could run all they want, if they abandon the ship, but if they kill him, the detonator probably hurts them, and definitely destroys the cockpit. Better start negotiations now ...

On 8/21/2017 at 4:25 AM, kkuja said:

To be clear, I don't disagree with you, and your tips and IMO example XP levels are good.

Canonically Vader is one of the toughest bad guys in galaxy (same goes for Fett at some level). How do you simulate that with stats, when we don't have plot armor as in books. Personally I mostly don't use named characters because of this, as I cannot see a way to make it work well enough. Either Vader/Fett/?? is too easy to win, or they beat the crap out of PCs and that's not fun (the threat of this happening is the fun part). The balancing act is too tough for me.

Vader is definitely one tough dude. But how tough is a tough dude without plot armor? Because, to me, the moment something enters the game, whether it's Vader or Boba, it loses it's plot armor and is kill-able by the characters.. So it really depends on the game. In some games a 600XP character is super powerful. In others a 1000+XP game might be where the players/GM start to feel really powerful. So it's pretty hard to suggest what to give him or any named villain without knowing what is considered powerful in your game. There's always the rocks fall everyone dies type of NPC, but where's the fun in that?

11 hours ago, Ahrimon said:

Vader is definitely one tough dude. But how tough is a tough dude without plot armor? Because, to me, the moment something enters the game, whether it's Vader or Boba, it loses it's plot armor and is kill-able by the characters.. So it really depends on the game. In some games a 600XP character is super powerful. In others a 1000+XP game might be where the players/GM start to feel really powerful. So it's pretty hard to suggest what to give him or any named villain without knowing what is considered powerful in your game. There's always the rocks fall everyone dies type of NPC, but where's the fun in that?

Your words are so true. For me the problem is in difference in expectations. Some players see Vader as he is in e.g. Vader Down, where he single handedly destroys part of rebel army, and some see him less powerful (New Hope where he kills individuals). I also like to keep PC away from highest power levels until the end of the campaign. That way there is always something above them creating tension, and the final victory tastes better. IMO giving general stats for big bads is bad idea, because as you said, they may be too tough for some groups, and too easy for others. Character XP level is not only thing which affects how hard the NPC is to win. How that XP is spent also has huge effect. Social combat force dude in our group needs totally different encounters than light stick wielding force dude in same group, even though they have approximately same earned XP (600). Also the encounter where PCs encounter NPC is very important. If PCs have advantage and they can plan the fight, they have much better changes to win than if NPC can surprise them.