I need help figuring out what to do on The Wheel.

By gdotbat, in Game Masters

I have my group going through Debts To Pay right now, but I've changed it up a bit. Bargo sent them on the mission to the mine to "asses the value", but I had my main NPC intervene before they left letting them know that he was "buying out" Bargo and forcing him to an early retirement (because he's such an awful crime lord), and he told them to meet him on The Wheel from 'Beyond the Rim' after they complete the mission at the mine. They will eventually find out that the Debts To Pay missions was not about the mine finances at all but what was found at the mine, an ancient artifact of some kind, that will quickly find its way to the auction from Jewel of Yavin, rather than the silly jewel being the object that’s auctioned it will be this artifact.

But before that they will head back to The Wheel. I really like the idea of the station and will likely make it the main "HQ" so to speak, or at least where my NPC will be working from. I want something really cool to happen there before they figure out the artifact is on Bespin being auctioned, but I can't think of anything cool enough! Investigating the Artifact and who took it from the mine and where it went is part of what they will do there, but I want something else to make it more of an adventure rather than just an investigation.

Any ideas?

EDIT: I meant The Wheel, I originally said The Ring, I updated my post.

Edited by gdotbat
EDIT: I meant The Wheel, I originally said The Ring, I updated my post.

The wheel is controlled by an AI or droid of some kind called Master-Com. All kinds of droid gone crazy scenarios could play out. Maybe some organization is attempting a hostile take over of the station by reprograming or hacking Master Com. Entire areas of the station are being locked down. Some are being randomly depressurized, losing power etc. Master Com is holding every sentient hostage. Why? The PCs need to find out to survive.

The Wheel is famous for its many many large casinos. Hi stakes sabaac game perhaps. And unknown to the winner (Hopefully a PC) the prize is the losers royal daughter/sons hand in marriage.

There is also to the death Gladiator fights on the station.

The Wheel is a mashup of an interstellar bus station, sea port, and Las Vegas. You can set any kind of heist or mystery story there and it will probably work.

I'd suggest looking at a generic RPG supplement like Eureka: 501 Adventure Plots to Inspire Game Masters and re-skinning an existing mystery or crime plot with a Star Wars theme.

We had a high-stakes gambling event lead to gladitorial arena combat and a shootout in the spaceport. Some clever actions on the PC's part got them off without consequence.

Well, one of my PCs got into a boxing match against a huge Herglic dude.

They also assassinated a man while there.

  • Have them visit a shady dealer to "authenticate" the artifact. Who then sells them out to: have it get stolen or have them ambushed. If they loose it maybe have them have to travel to the "lower levels" to retrieve it.
  • Have a murder happen while they are nearby, a PC gets blamed. Group has to track down evidence to prove innocence.
  • Sabbacc tournament. Thugs stage an armed robbery to take all the winnings. PC's have to defeat them or get their stuff back.
  • Find a reason to have them go to the Engineering and or/waste recycling areas; fight some ugnaughts or dianoga.

Few random ideas:

PCs trapped in a section of the station as an emergency locks of that part of the station. The contact they were to meet is dead. They need figure out what's going on as the emergency intensifies, and it soon looks like the incident causing the lock down will kill everyone there. PCs need to find way out or to stop whatever it is, while solving the murder.

PCs get caught up in a conflict by two local casinos. Small hole in the wall type places like you find well off the beaten path in Vegas. Have fun with it where the two owners keep hiring the PCs to do various bits of sabotage/drive away customers. Then a third casino owner does something worse than the PCs have been doing and the PCs get blamed and have to prove their innocence (this time).

A slicer has figured out how to hack the droid dealers in order to have them count cards in the slicer's favor. But things soon spiral out of control and the hack spreads like a virus and soon everything is paying out big time and then the entire station starts to go offline as people are fighting over cash and casino owners are going ballistic. PCs can either be the person responsible or need to find the person responsible and fix the mess, which means getting to the main AI and doing some techno-babble solution (or just turn it off and back on). Maybe even have the AI trapped in a droid body accompanying the PCs and adding all the damage they do in the process to their tab or deducting it from their payment to help fix everything.

Some great ideas here! Thank you all for the input!