Happy Thanksgiving folks.

One thing that my group of PCs is NOT thankful for is their 10pt (each) “Bounty” obligations that they “earned” as a result wanton murder and destruction of imperial property across two planets during the events of “Beyond the Rim.” Most of them already had a 5pt Imperial bounty from their Imperial entanglements in the “Dead Mans Hand” adventure from the guys at Order 66, so this new misbehavior only increased the Imps’ ire.

If these were bounties from underworld figures, I figure they could have perhaps bribed their way out of them - or performed a difficult quid pro quo task.

But other than slicing into the holonet and erasing the records of their bounties, or perhaps turning on one another, I’m struggling to think of options for them. We’ve been on a short hiatus; we’ll be starting up again soon and I expect that this will be a point of discussion, as these obligations have pushed their group total close to 90.

Any thoughts on how to make this particular Obligation go down or go away?

- GM Khyrith

Have a corrupt Imperial* approach them and offer to take care of the bounty if they do a couple jobs for her.

*but I'm repeating myself here

One method to have the Imperial bounty reduced (if maybe not removed entirely) is that the PCs are indeed captured and imprisoned by the Empire. The Empire's not going to spend resources tracking down fugitives that they know are incarcerated in a "secure" Imperial detention facility or penal colony, especially if the bounty was collected by a registered bounty hunter.

In terms of how to run such a thing, just have a time skip where the PCs have been jailed for anywhere from a couple weeks to a couple months, with the assumption that during this "downtime" they've been working on a means to escape.

It also depends on who put the Imperial bounty on their heads on the first place. Going by the lore (especially Legends) Palpatine built the Imperial bureaucracy to be rather adversarial, with various government figures jockeying against each other for favor and influence. So if it was a specific Moff, Governor, or even a high-ranking officer, odds are that person as enemies within the Imperial hierarchy that might be willing to help the PCs out if it means making their rival look bad. It might even just be a flat exchange of Bounty Obligation for Favor Obligation, with the Imperial that got their bounty rescinded having the PCs do little side jobs "off the books" for them.

There is always slicing the Imperial data records, either to remove the bounty or alter the PCs' own files so that the bounty data is no longer applicable. There's also exchanging the Bounty Obligation for Favor Obligation by going to a major criminal figure with the means and influence to have Imperial bounties rescinded or modified, and again doing one or more jobs for that criminal figure to pay off the debt. After all, it's the rare Imperial official that has a perfectly clean record, and the Imperial official that issued the bounty might be 'convinced' to rescind it to avoid shady details about their own illegal doings coming to light.

Of course, the PCs could do the dirt digging themselves, and simply have the Bounty Obligation reduced or removed by threatening the Imperial who issued it that if they don't rescind that bounty contract, then the PCs are going to release the dirt (whatever form it might take) to the various media outlets and most importantly to that Imperial official's own rivals.

The bounty could be too "hot" to handle. If they kill, capture and rabsom or maim enough hunters while not pissing off the Empire further, then the hunters could decide that it's not worth it. Gotta be alive to spend those credits after all.

A lot of times, the bounty will only attract one or two hunters. Killing those particular ones can reduce it to an extent, as there might not be anyone else who would really want it.

Happy Thanksgiving! I'm a bit confused, so forgive me if I get this wrong. Do they have bounty contracts on them and they have imperial warrants? Because I think those are two different things. The Imperial warrants aren't going away in my opinion unless they get their deaths faked and someone records it in the appropriate Imperial database. The bounty contracts are a separate thing that goes out and either gets picked up or not as I understand it. If they can slice that much of the HoloNet then I would say that the Galaxy is their oyster, as that is tantamount to making their own reality. I portray the HoloNet the way one of the users on the forums described it, as not being the internet and not being de-centralized. So in order to wipe out those bounties as I see it, they would have to go to a lot of main HoloNet nodes in different systems and start erasing their info, all the while evading COMPNOR cyber operatives. If that Obligation is really bothering them then you could construct a scenario in which they capture an Imperial Comm station and order other nodes to perform the erasure. Probably the best answer I can think of is to make erasing that Obligation an adventure or series of adventures with that as the goal.

Fake their own deaths? I'm certain that will have zero other complications

Could establish a rival group similar enough they could be tricked into claiming they are them then bringing them down and handing them over for the reward?

A mite nasty bug, but you know your players I don't!

The first thing would be to establish an individual they can deal with. "The Empire" doesn't put out bounties, individuals representing the Empire do, and dealing with the monolithic idea of "The Empire" is most likely impossible for all but the most well connected or lucky. Abusing the combative and bureaucratic nature of the Empire to target a single individual or sub-group responsible would be the best course of action for a session of this type. A high-level concept outline for something like this could be:

1. Figure out who's responsible (Options):

• Slicing -> Risk: High (Must find appropriate terminal which is restricted, Combat likely, Potentially to leave evidence adding difficulty to later steps or bounty) Precision: High (Gain access to information in officer or group responsible name, location, ect, ID BHs that have taken job, Detailed Dossiers available)
• Interrogate Official -> Risk: Moderate (Must abduct Imperial agent, cannot leave witnesses, combat assured, Force user conflict likely, risk for added bounty) Precision: Moderate (Gain access to officer or group identity, Location on advantage, Imperial login credentials on triumph)
• Contacts -> Risk: Low (Little risk of contact with imperials; small group on threats sting operation by BH on despair, risk of betrayal, need multiple contacts) Precision: Low (Will need multiple contacts to get full picture I.E one has location other has names, No Dossiers available, Limited knowledge of BHs on job

2. Planning/Prep Stage

• Determine Objective (Slicing to remove, blackmail, Assassination and replacement, ect) Players should take steps to acquire items and information needed
• Slicing -> Find appropriate terminal locations, Slicing gear, Possible use of login credentials if earned, learn guard posting information, and plan for access, require eliminate active BHs if bounty record deleted rather than canceled
• Blackmail -> Require dossier, or hard Skullduggery to find informant, type of informant depending on roll (Disgruntled worker with advantage, loyal soldier with threat) if they set up failsafe during this time set to remove full bounty, otherwise only partial removal, establish plan to access individual
• Assassination -> Require benefactor for successful bounty removal else increase bounty, Modify difficulty depending on location chosen for assassination, partial bounty removal if benefactor replaces assassinated individual, full removal on punctuating threat toward benefactor

3. Execution stage

• Hold players to order/chaos they established in prep phase
• Prep enemies they may face ahead of time
• Prep map for planned location(s), have maps ready for locations that may be stumbled upon in absence of strong planned location
• Prep static enemies guard posts, patrols, BHs, Agents, Officers, ect...
• Prep reinforcement enemies to call with appropriate threat/despair
• Prep Failure point, and exit scenario (how to drive them out if they fail)

I would use something like that to plan a session(s) around that objective. Using it as a guide for the assets, individuals, location ect. that would be needed. Obviously I wouldn't tell them "This is what you have to do" but it would tell me what I need to have prepped for a lot of possible options that they may take and keep me ready for either an organized or disorganized attempt.

I've run similar situations in a V:TM and Saga, and I remember them being pretty fun. Just remember 10pt bounty isn't Vader or Tarkin calling for their head, have fun with it and considering they seem to enjoy messing with the empire they'll likely love something like it too.

1) Find the current location of the wandering underground cloning clinic run by infamous rogue cloner Su Wei, who was exiled from Kamino for her unorthodox practices.

2) Pay her fee: fresh genetic samples of an albino Hutt, a Geonosian queen, and a rancor suffering from gigantism.

3) Have her quick-grow mindless clones of the PCs and arrange for their injured bodies to be found after a staged shootout.

4) Get some drinks.

On 11/23/2017 at 0:47 PM, Archlyte said:

Happy Thanksgiving! I'm a bit confused, so forgive me if I get this wrong. Do they have bounty contracts on them and they have imperial warrants? Because I think those are two different things. The Imperial warrants aren't going away in my opinion unless they get their deaths faked and someone records it in the appropriate Imperial database. The bounty contracts are a separate thing that goes out and either gets picked up or not as I understand it. If they can slice that much of the HoloNet then I would say that the Galaxy is their oyster, as that is tantamount to making their own reality. I portray the HoloNet the way one of the users on the forums described it, as not being the internet and not being de-centralized. So in order to wipe out those bounties as I see it, they would have to go to a lot of main HoloNet nodes in different systems and start erasing their info, all the while evading COMPNOR cyber operatives. If that Obligation is really bothering them then you could construct a scenario in which they capture an Imperial Comm station and order other nodes to perform the erasure. Probably the best answer I can think of is to make erasing that Obligation an adventure or series of adventures with that as the goal.

Hi folks. Thanks for the replies thus far.

A few clarifications / points as I read through the posts:

(1) Who: the bounty or warrant (see next) was issued by the ISB. Initially in response to the PCs’ discovery of the Imp facility and tech in “Dead Man’s Hand.” It was increased by the ISB after the ISB-thwarting events in “Beyond the Rim.”

(2) Why a Bounty / Warrant. My thoughts were that the ISB issued it because they wanted to know just how much the PCs had figured out, and what they had done w that information BUT... the ISB didn’t have sufficient resources to chase them down because of other priorities (like blatant rebels and rebel sympathizers).

(3) I suppose maybe I could frame it as a “warrant” instead of a “bounty.” Albeit, I think the difference is a lot of simantics when it comes to a government body. ie: the “bounty” is the government-issues “reward” for bringing in a wanted criminal. Even in “real life”, bounty hunters chase down wanted criminals because there is a reward attached to it - just look up the FBIs Most Wanted and take note of the rewards (bounties) listed. And weren’t we all introduced to bounty hunters because a criminal was wanted by an Imperial official??? Not to mention, the issue of “Imperial Peace Keeping Certificates” to BHs kinda suggests the Empire uses / sanctions “bounties.”

All of which brings me to a related item for group discussion:

One of the PCs *is* a licensed BH with an IPKC. My thoughts are that the Empire would revoke the IPKC - realized by the PC at a most inopportune time. Is there any other consequences I might consider?

thanks for the replies this far

GM Khyrith

9 hours ago, Khyrith said:

Hi folks. Thanks for the replies thus far.

A few clarifications / points as I read through the posts:

(1) Who: the bounty or warrant (see next) was issued by the ISB. Initially in response to the PCs’ discovery of the Imp facility and tech in “Dead Man’s Hand.” It was increased by the ISB after the ISB-thwarting events in “Beyond the Rim.”

(2) Why a Bounty / Warrant. My thoughts were that the ISB issued it because they wanted to know just how much the PCs had figured out, and what they had done w that information BUT... the ISB didn’t have sufficient resources to chase them down because of other priorities (like blatant rebels and rebel sympathizers).

(3) I suppose maybe I could frame it as a “warrant” instead of a “bounty.” Albeit, I think the difference is a lot of simantics when it comes to a government body. ie: the “bounty” is the government-issues “reward” for bringing in a wanted criminal. Even in “real life”, bounty hunters chase down wanted criminals because there is a reward attached to it - just look up the FBIs Most Wanted and take note of the rewards (bounties) listed. And weren’t we all introduced to bounty hunters because a criminal was wanted by an Imperial official??? Not to mention, the issue of “Imperial Peace Keeping Certificates” to BHs kinda suggests the Empire uses / sanctions “bounties.”

All of which brings me to a related item for group discussion:

One of the PCs *is* a licensed BH with an IPKC. My thoughts are that the Empire would revoke the IPKC - realized by the PC at a most inopportune time. Is there any other consequences I might consider?

thanks for the replies this far

GM Khyrith

I guess I would view the Warrant as an internal order of apprehension superseding the bounty, or essentially being the cause for, or the originating circumstance of, the bounty. I don't see the Empire dealing internally in bounties except maybe to pay it out upon completion. So a character could have an Imperial Warrant and not have a bounty if for instance the Empire doesn't want someone killing, coercing, or interrogating the subject and wants them handled only by Imperial hands. This may also be the case for dealing with high profile criminals such as diplomats and senators unless they flee and the Empire feels it needs to employ bounty hunters.

What is an IPKC ? lol

49 minutes ago, Archlyte said:

I guess I would view the Warrant as an internal order of apprehension superseding the bounty, or essentially being the cause for, or the originating circumstance of, the bounty. I don't see the Empire dealing internally in bounties except maybe to pay it out upon completion. So a character could have an Imperial Warrant and not have a bounty if for instance the Empire doesn't want someone killing, coercing, or interrogating the subject and wants them handled only by Imperial hands. This may also be the case for dealing with high profile criminals such as diplomats and senators unless they flee and the Empire feels it needs to employ bounty hunters.

What is an IPKC ? lol

in setting i would treat an imperial bounty as something set by either a specific ministry or more likely a high ranking individual within the empire, and only applies to bounty hunters, whereas a warrant is something that although might be be initiated by a specific individual is always issued by an appropriate ministry and is empire spanning. What this functionally means is that they are on the empire's most wanted list, every police force within the empire, every fleet officer, every star destroying knows about the warrant, they probably aren't all looking for the people, but if they run across them then they will know who they are and that they are to be held, and it is likely that they will also have bounty hunters who are aware of the warrant and try it out as either an officially or unofficially sanctioned bounty.

what this means effectively is different areas of control as well as different levels of difficulty in diffusing. The warrant casts a much tighter net, but it is not as wide, and leaves little opportunity for cover up, the empire after all does not have great control of the outer rims of the galaxy. The bounty can be effective in much larger areas, but it has a lot of holes in it for the hunted to sneak through, namely that not everyone would be aware that the wanted individuals are wanted, and not every bounty hunter is going to want to pursue the wanted individuals. people have already listed some good means of getting out of both these situations so i don't think i need to rehash them, they will prove useful for my crew as well and i'm grateful for the posts here.

as for whether the empire would themselves get their hands dirty, that is an interesting point, because in our game, the empire had a series of bounty hunter teams that they had on retainer and were effectively imperials with bounty hunter credentials, which meant that they could carry out certain jobs under the guidance of the empire while not having them be directly connected to the empire. The bounty hunters benefited from being paid well for jobs and having a form of diplomatic immunity that went beyond the range provided from simply being licensed bounty hunters. this was however dissolved when the empire needed a scape goat for something and my crew who was one of these teams was not very well liked by thier boss caulifore. as a result of the scape goating they were able to blame their mistakes on the existence of the bounty hunter core and say they were amending them by disbanding the groups, while placing an imperial warrant on the specific team in question. This has now resulted in the empire having to contract bounty hunters in the normal maner

for my team this could theoretically be solved through finding a way to caulifore, or his commander auberge, or by exposing the plot to frame them publicly, or a number of other ways, i'm looking forward to seeing what they try to do, and i will likely start hyping up the difficulty of their situation in order to encourage them to do something.

On ‎23‎.‎11‎.‎2017 at 0:49 PM, Stan Fresh said:

Have a corrupt Imperial* approach them and offer to take care of the bounty if they do a couple jobs for her.

*but I'm repeating myself here

Or a not so corrupt ISB agent coercing them into snitching. A PC in my campaign once contacted Them actively and traded the whereabouts of a retired Jedi for a clean slate; he got a new Obligation (albeit much lower) with the ISB themselves as an Unofficial Collaborator for a bonus, of course.