In all(?) the current published adventures, the way they suggest to get the player's involved is to leverage their obligation in some way or to do a hand wave and say, "this person you know contacts you about a job."

I find this to be unsatisfying, especially the further into the game you go. I would much rather have adventure opportunities come from NPCs that the PCs have actually met over the course of the game.

What tips do you have for introducing and maintaining these NPCs and what successful examples do you have from games you've run?

Just to head off something that I'm sure will derail the conversation, I'm not looking for advice on creating memorable or interesting NPCs; there's plenty of advice online for that. What I'm looking for is what ways you've found to introduce the NPCs and develop the relationships with the PCs such that it makes sense to the players that this person would trust them with a job.

That can be tricky. I am blessed with players that do a fantastic job fleshing out their backgrounds, including NPC contacts. That being said, I also introduce NPCs that have little to nothing to do with the current plot. That introduction is normally either through direct contact or just being mentioned. In that regard, I am planting a seed. Then nurture that seed so that it grows into a story line that originates with the character that was formerly a casual mention. I also do that with my plots, for example, there is a Trandoshan slaver that one of my players created as part of her obligation. In the first couple of sessions, the group encountered an NPCs that has a distant connection to the slaver, and he was never mentioned by name. But, the player immediately recognized his MO. It's kind of a foreshadowing.

39 minutes ago, ddbrown30 said:

In all(?) the current published adventures, the way they suggest to get the player's involved is to leverage their obligation in some way or to do a hand wave and say, "this person you know contacts you about a job."

I find this to be unsatisfying, especially the further into the game you go. I would much rather have adventure opportunities come from NPCs that the PCs have actually met over the course of the game.

What tips do you have for introducing and maintaining these NPCs and what successful examples do you have from games you've run?

Just to head off something that I'm sure will derail the conversation, I'm not looking for advice on creating memorable or interesting NPCs; there's plenty of advice online for that. What I'm looking for is what ways you've found to introduce the NPCs and develop the relationships with the PCs such that it makes sense to the players that this person would trust them with a job.

Use NPCs over and over. That's pretty Star Wars actually and its small universe style. Everyone knows everyone. You could hand wave it to a certain extent when you intro an NPC have them refer to one the PCs already worked for, so when they're in front of Bobo the Hutt and he says he heard from Doug the Dug they could be trusted....

On 5/30/2018 at 3:26 PM, ddbrown30 said:

In all(?) the current published adventures, the way they suggest to get the player's involved is to leverage their obligation in some way or to do a hand wave and say, "this person you know contacts you about a job."

I find this to be unsatisfying, especially the further into the game you go. I would much rather have adventure opportunities come from NPCs that the PCs have actually met over the course of the game.

What tips do you have for introducing and maintaining these NPCs and what successful examples do you have from games you've run?

Just to head off something that I'm sure will derail the conversation, I'm not looking for advice on creating memorable or interesting NPCs; there's plenty of advice online for that. What I'm looking for is what ways you've found to introduce the NPCs and develop the relationships with the PCs such that it makes sense to the players that this person would trust them with a job.

This is a simple problem to solve. If the PCs are on good terms with an NPC, that NPC is a potential contact for future plot points. You don't have to do anything fancy; just say that NPC "Joe" who they met on Planet X has a potential lead for them.

NPC-PC relationships are dependent on the players. My players aren't particularly good about remembering who they've met in the past, let alone using who they've met as a contact to solve a problem. However, I keep the Good Relationship NPCs in my back pocket as "Get Out of Jail Free" cards in case the PCs get nabbed by the authorities or as leads on unique items.

Much of the time, I dog-ear any NPC with weight to offer the PCs work or at least mention it, if I don't have something right prepped.

As for why NPCs would hire the party -- if this is Edge, jobs are about rhymin' and stealin', not saving the galaxy. Furthermore, if the work is more danger than pay, it's a very plausible entrance exam.

On 5/30/2018 at 2:26 PM, ddbrown30 said:

Just to head off something that I'm sure will derail the conversation, I'm not looking for advice on creating memorable or interesting NPCs; there's plenty of advice online for that. What I'm looking for is what ways you've found to introduce the NPCs and develop the relationships with the PCs such that it makes sense to the players that this person would trust them with a job.

I've had most success starting locally, adding more in easily digestible chunks. Nothing kills interest like a monologue of all the people they know or how they should trust this person because XYZ, so I find it important that they only have to deal with one NPC at a time, at least at first.

Example from my first EotE campaign: the PCs are in the "import/export" business, running the show from some land they have purchased on the edge of their home town (using homestead rules from Far Horizons). Things are tight, so they do a bit of smuggling here and there. That's the main premise.

But this time there's a stowaway, who they don't find until they hit hyperspace: a young girl fleeing an abusive step-dad. Being from the local town, they know the family, and know the step-dad has a bad rep. The kid has been seduced online by "gentlegiant234" who has promised to save her from step-dad. All this info comes out only during conversation, like "Who are you?" "Mary Sue..." "Where do you live? (roll Perception, success) You look familiar." "Please, you can't take me back! He's crazy!" "Why not? Who's crazy?" ... etc.

Ideally the PCs will take the kid's side. My group (since we're all dads) had great motivation to deal with both "gentlegiant234", and the step-dad on return. However, they had to deal with customs, smuggle the loot, make a new deal, and hack into "gentlegiant234"s email and send it all to his wife, etc all while keeping an eye on Mary Sue. By the time they got back home and dealt with everything, they got introduced to several NPCs in a digestible way, and it felt like they'd known them all along. By session 3 they knew most of the major players and had some rivalries and nemesis going.

Much later on I did leverage connections that the PCs had from their Obligation backstory. But since I'd been referring to them casually already (or maybe they made a quick call to a connection for a tidbit of info), it didn't feel jarring when they finally met for a mission.

If there's a takeaway from this, it's to not be in a hurry, and make meeting NPCs part of the story itself, not the premise.

My PCs met their main contact in the Rebel Alliance purely by accident.

They'd been on Naboo for an unrelated matter; and as they were getting ready to leave, they were approached by a young woman who owned a farm which raised these cute little rabbit-like creatures. She had a pilot who regularly took batches of them to a pet store on Eriadu; but he hadn't shown up in a few months, her pens were getting crowded, and she was trying to find someone to fly out her 'backlog'.

Well, what neither she nor the PCs knew was that this pilot was actually a Rebel operative who'd been using the rabbit runs as a cover for smuggling Rebel fugitives into Naboo. His contact on Eriadu had been notified that a replacement would be sent but, they weren't able to give any details at the time. When the PCs showed up on Eriadu with a cargo hold full of rabbits, the local Rebel agent thought that they were the replacement operatives.

So very carelessly, this person walks right onto the PCs' ship and quickly outs herself as a Rebel; but rather than freak out or try to turn her in for a quick buck, the PCs heard her out. They've now worked two jobs for the Rebels and will likely continue to in the future.

I’ve used a mix of techniques, often in the same campaign.

In one of the two I currently run, a few NPCs were introduced as already being long-time contacts of the part of the group that had been (backstory-wise) working together for a while. One was a local low-level gangster working with a Hutt clan, and she’d hired the pre-existing group quite a few times. (In fact, it was while doing a job for her that they met the rest of the group in Session 1.) Another was the head of a Blackwater-type private paramilitary corporation (that just so happened to be a cover for a Rebel cell).

Meanwhile, another contact was a Hutt (unrelated to the low-level gangster’s group). Session 1 began with the players smuggling a new spice for the low level gangster, but also providing transport for this Hutt to his new holdings on Naboo, where the group operates from. One of the players, all on his own, created ties to this Hutt by stealing from him when they were given a tour of his new estate. The stolen item was returned, but the Hutt let them know that his mercy came with a price....

They've made others in their travels, too. And that’s going to be a good thing in the upcoming sessions, because part of their network may get thinned out...and if so, it will (hopefully) benefit them to have a few people they can turn to as the poodoo hits the negative power coupling.