34 minutes ago, panpolyqueergeek said:

But I def think it's reasonable to expect them to not play "Wacky Fun Time Fondling Myself in the Mirror"  at the table.

I have no issue with saying "Hey, don't do that stupid ****", unless everyone is on board (and then that's a whole new world of role playing. Remember your Safe Word, kiddies). Lay out those expectations at the start. And no, I don't particularly care what anyone else does at their table (although the notion that I'm butt hurt over this makes me laugh hard. Son, I've been on the internet long enough that I have account passwords old enough to drink. You are incapable of making me butt hurt).

I'm just saying that it seemed heavy handed and that **** behavior can come from any gender playing any gender.

I enjoyed reading about the adventure, and have been quite capable of such antics myself as a player being completely sober.

I do think that the thread of this topic got lead WAY off track with all the arguing about gender swapping of players verses characters. I am not going to give my opinion on this other than to point out it's The Mercenary's right as a GM to make that House Rule for what ever reason he wants and his Players' rights to question it if they want to. Everyone has their own opinion of what is correct in this regard, so let's get back to the topic at hand and quit wasp-scratching about what should have been another topic completely.

What happened next? Or yet to play again?

1 hour ago, panpolyqueergeek said:

"You can play a space wizard or a cyborg alien assassin a long time a go in a galaxy far, far away, but heckin no you can't play a different gender."

...

I also think being the judge of which is the "right way" to "think and act like the opposite sex" is sexist and harmful, because that means you have expectations of how they play their assigned gender. It could be liberating for a woman gamer to play a male character with stereotypical male traits, and not have to rationalize it to you where she might have to if she exhibited the same behavior with a woman character. And vice versa. That's not a best case scenario, but it is another valid reason that someone might play a character of a gender different from their own.

These two in particular. Also, I will note, the last time I heard of a female character who was big-breasted and generally "got around" in my vicinity (as in, among the people in my area who game)... the player themselves was female. Such behavior is not entirely dependent on one's IRL gender.

I believe all of us here agree that such behavior should be frowned upon in gaming in most cases... the issue seems to be that banning players from playing the other gender is overreaching and doesn't really fix the problem.

I do think that the thread of this topic got lead WAY off track with all the arguing about gender swapping of players verses characters. I am not going to give my opinion on this other than to point out it's The Mercenary's right as a GM to make that House Rule for what ever reason he wants and his Players' rights to question it if they want to. Everyone has their own opinion of what is correct in this regard, so let's get back to the topic at hand and quit wasp-scratching about what should have been another topic completely.

I mean... I don't feel good helping to sidetrack it, but it happens to be something I have thoughts about. And I'm notoriously unable to keep my thoughts to myself.

I read the OP and thought this was going to be a great discussion. Would those wishing to speak about sn@tches and Richards please take it to a new thread if you must?

On ‎7‎/‎26‎/‎2018 at 1:28 PM, the mercenary said:

I should also add that both players had had a few beers prior to the start of play, and kept drinking throughout. They didn't get trashed but they had to have at least been buzzed. OK, on to the hijinks.

While I would prefer no excessive drinking at the table, I must admit that in the past some drunk friends have made some of the most memorable moments. Have I ever mentioned how one PC cut off the arm of another PC with a Sword of Sharpness? I had to make up some house rules regarding adjusted number of attacks for a Monk missing an appendage.

On ‎7‎/‎26‎/‎2018 at 1:28 PM, the mercenary said:

Initiative is rolled (I called it an ambush, gave them a free attack due to surprise...I'm not experienced with running this system, and I don't let rules get in the way of fun and a good story if I can help it, so maybe that wasn't the absolute right thing to do but I decided to reward them for a fun and entertaining plan)……..

I'm completely fine with this interpretation. This system kind of begs you to break the rules if it makes sense.

On ‎7‎/‎26‎/‎2018 at 1:28 PM, the mercenary said:

The PC's see this as a perfect opportunity, and roll (float?) up to the courier and the remaining thug, intent on performing a "space drive-by". ……...and Tuvok blasts the remaining thug into oblivion with a critical hit...…...He fires and scores a hit on the target, scoring another crit and crippling the man's leg (he rolled 00), dropping him to the ground......Yep, Tuvok blasted his partner in the back with a blaster pistol...…..The courier manages to pull his own weapon and fires at Tuvok. Net of no successes, but he did get a Triumph. And with that, the PC's stolen speeder is disabled...…..

And this is why I love this system. In a d20 session (without a creative DM), this may have went down instead as, "The PC's pulled up their speeder adjacent to the thugs......and play consisted of trading shots for the next 10 minutes".

On ‎7‎/‎26‎/‎2018 at 1:28 PM, the mercenary said:

Thus ends the first installment of the insanity of Tuvok and Leoni...……..I know they're going to want to play again before Sunday, when I have to leave for work, so if anyone has any ideas for adventures, I'm all ears. Or eyes, since we're writing, not speaking.

I would not immediately jump into another session which has their new contact sending them to a new job. That's too expected. Possibly have their new contact grab them for a job during the 3rd session or later. Better yet, for more dramatic effect, wait until the PC's are literally in the middle of something and they get told they have to immediately drop everything to go work of their debt?

The first session was primarily combat. This is fine. Combat typically breaks out in every session I run. But, these are new players. So, I would suggest to have the next session involve more of their other skills, whatever they may be. I'm sure some sort of combat will break out anyway since that seems to be their primary method of operation. But, also have ready something that requires social skills? Skullduggery? Sneaking in or out of someplace with skulduggery or social interactions (Intimidate and Deception seems up their alley). Then throw in something completely different like a chase if possible. Show them the system is more then just fighting.

Well done!!

So we played again last night, and they're pestering me to play again right now.

Last night, healed from the slight wounds they took in the first session, they started off busking (sp?) to pay for whatever cheap lodging they we're staying at. I'm not super militant about making players account for every coin, every meal, etc, but I like them to keep in mind the fact that there are no save points where your health is restored and you can pick up right where you left off. I think that making them come up with some kind of story or explanation for where they're sleeping and getting their meals from helps get them in the head of their character a little better. Especially inexperienced players. Just my opinion, your mileage may vary, etc.

So Tuvok is playing some kind of drum or something while Leoni shakes what her momma gave her in a skimpy little outfit. Yes, this is the idea that the players came up with. I'm not going to deny that alcohol may have been a factor. Again.

A successful Perception check clues Tuvok in to the fact that there are some thugs across the street showing more than casual interest. This becomes apparent to Leoni also when the thugs cross the street and pull weapons (a couple clubs, brass knuckles, and a blaster pistol).

Leoni had left her equipment in the (second) speeder they stole last session, so she books it to go get her stuff. The thugs follow, one of them stopping to take a shot at her. He misses, and Tuvok drops him with a blast from his pistol. Leoni gets to the speeder before the thugs get to her, and drops a well-placed stun grenade into the group, taking them all out. They decide they need one survivor to question, so they put binders on him, throw him in the speeder, and flee.

Upon questioning the thug, they learn that Tarja (the employer of the courier they intercepted) sent the thugs. So now they know that he's after them. They also learn that he's sent a bounty hunter after them.

Lacking any better idea, they contact Kazic and tell him what happened and ask for advice. He tells them that there's no profit in revenge, so make it unprofitable for Tarja to continue pursuing them and he'll leave them alone. They ask for some ideas and he declines to comment further. They ask where they might go to make things unprofitable y Tarja, and Kazic smiles and says he'll send them an address.

While waiting for the info from Kazic, they decide to find an arms merchant so they can restock on grenades. Frags, this time. The merchant is a Bothan, and I think you can see where this is going. At the end of the conversation they've peddled some info for a discount on the grenades, given him some info that he'll want to verify before he pays them, and learned a little more about the bounty Hunter that's after them. Crev Ssauhk (an online Star Wars name generator gave me that name for a Trandoshan), who's nowhere near the league of such notables as IG-88, Boba Fett, or Bossk, but still plenty of a threat for the likes of them.

After leaving the merchant, they receive the info they were waiting for from Kazic, so they travel to the location. It's a sleazy dive bar that is apparently also a drug den, based on the lighting, clientele, and smoke pouring out thru the swinging doors.

Discretion being the better part of valor, the duo decide NOT to go inside and shoot the place up, instead electing to throw grenades through the doorway (think Old West swinging saloon doors) and then drive away.

More communication with Kazic (they're getting themselves deeper in his pocket with every comm call) gives them the names of three workers at the docks, men for whom having a sudden change in loyalty would cost Tarja and result in profit for Kazic. So they head to the spaceport to 'convince' the port workers to change their loyalty.

Tuvok fails to break into a locker and steal a uniform (again), so they find one of the targets and Leoni tries to sweet talk him and distract him. A failed Charm check means he's either unattracted to Togruta (he's human), she's too young, or he's suspicious of a young, pretty Togruta girl that appeared from out of nowhere and started flirting with him. I let the players fill in the blank with whatever they thought. Tuvok tries to knock the guy out by pistol whipping him, and almost succeeds. A brief scuffle ensues, and the target is subdued.

Our protagonists drag him behind some cargo containers and wake him up, then proceed to give him their 'recruiting speech'. A vibroknife held to very tender, sensitive parts of the prospect's body does wonders for the negotiations. I'm going to have to remember that trick, though I doubt it will work as well on the job IRL for me. They conclude the recruitment process by making him contact the other targets and tell them he needs an emergency meeting in the nearest break room. Once that's done, they bind him, stun him, and put him in a cargo container, then head for the break room.

When the first target enters, they have the drop on him and he surrenders without incident. Leoni pulls the pins on two grenades and holds the grenades next to his head, straddles him, and launches in to the recruitment spiel.

The second target arrives, already looking nervous and scared. He doesn't come past the doorway. The PC's talk to him, trying to recruit him, and he points over his shoulder and says "He won't like that". At this point they can't see who "he" is. After a little more talk, there's the sound of a blaster firing, and the target drops to the floor, stunned.

Enter a two meter tall Trandoshan wearing laminate armor and carrying a blaster rifle. He sees that Leoni has two live grenades, and instead of shooting he takes a minute to size up the situation. Leoni takes this as an opportunity to talk, and tries to convince the bounty hunter to work for Kazic, pointing out that her and Tuvok have eliminated seven of Tarja's people, stolen an important package, blown up one of his businesses, and now pirated three of his employees, and Tarja has been powerless to stop them.

A successful Perception check allows Tuvok to hear running footsteps in the hallway. Crev hears this too, and asks who they (the PC's) called. They said they don't know anyone *to* call, and again try to recruit Crev. He informs them that he's seen dozens like them pop up, make trouble, and get crushed by Tarja.

Since Leoni still hasn't put the grenades away, and the sound of running is getting closer, Crev starts backing out the door. As the sound reaches it's climax, he glances so his left, shouts "Sssstormtrooperssss!", and fires at Tuvok (missing badly), then flees down the hallway opposite from where the troopers came.

Now, here is where I couldn't believe the luck my players had started....

Leoni moves to the doorway, sees the Stormtroopers, and throws one of her grenades. She takes out the entire group of troopers!

Unfortunately, the sergeant (who I identified as such by describing the shoulder piece that denoted his rank) wasn't in the blast. He fires his heavy blaster rifle, missing.

Leoni throws her other grenade, inflicting 10 damage to the sergeant.

Tuvok fires his pistol, inflicting 8 damage on the sergeant.

The trooper fires, hits Leoni, resulting in 14 damage. That put her at zero, she drops. Tuvok sticks her with a stimpack, then throws a grenade at the trooper.

It's at this point that my players started getting a little bent about how this stormtrooper wasn't dead yet.

The trooper fires, hitting Tuvok for 12. Tuvok has ONE wound remaining, but he's still up. The trooper got a Triumph, so he inflicts a critical wound on Tuvok, but he also got a LOT of Threat (5 or 6), so he falls prone due to the wounds he's already taken and the effect of the concussion from the explosions on his inner ear.

Leoni produces *yet another* grenade and frags the sergeant one final time. They grab weapons from the troopers and high-tail it out of there.

I think they have a new appreciation for how tough Stormtroopers can be. I suspect that they haven't thought about WHY there are Stormtroopers getting involved in what they thought was a power play within a syndicate, nor who tipped the Imperials off about heading to the spaceport.

I'm posting from my phone, otherwise I'd put in a devil smiley. Maybe it will still work: ?

Very nice. They're very lucky bastard to still be alive. And now with the Empire involved and after them, they'll need every bit of this luck. Is it the devonian who is responsible of the involvement of the Empire ?

@the mercenary , I've gotta ask, What species is Leoni? She sounds like a Zeltron .

45 minutes ago, Tramp Graphics said:

@the mercenary , I've gotta ask, What species is Leoni? She sounds like a Zeltron .

Togruta, he said.

Quote

A failed Charm check means he's either unattracted to Togruta (he's human), she's too young, or he's suspicious of a young, pretty Togruta girl that appeared from out of nowhere and started flirting with him. I let the players fill in the blank with whatever they thought.

1 hour ago, WolfRider said:

Very nice. They're very lucky bastard to still be alive. And now with the Empire involved and after them, they'll need every bit of this luck. Is it the devonian who is responsible of the involvement of the Empire ?

I was thinking it has more to do with the PC's blowing up that bar/drug den. A friendly firefight here and there, a bloody body in the street every now again, these are things that are easy for the Imperials to overlook, especially when it's criminals doing the dying.

But when they start blowing buildings up, that's another level entirely.

I'm still putting everything together in my mind but I'm thinking that blowing up the bar either got the attention of the local Imperial officials and they decide to investigate due to the possibility of this being Rebel activity, or an undercover agent was present and is now dead or badly injured.

I used to be a lot better at just improvising everything and still coming up with good stories. Maybe I can get that back with a little practice.

Just an idea:

When, eventually, their actions get them captured by brute Imperial force, throw a curve. Have an Imperial Agent come in to interrogate them after clearing the room of guards. The agent offers that he can keep them from being sent off to a penal planet if they start secretly working for them on the, "inside", against their current employers. They receive some more obligation which is directly in conflict with their earlier obligation.

3 hours ago, Sturn said:

Just an idea:

When, eventually, their actions get them captured by brute Imperial force, throw a curve. Have an Imperial Agent come in to interrogate them after clearing the room of guards. The agent offers that he can keep them from being sent off to a penal planet if they start secretly working for them on the, "inside", against their current employers. They receive some more obligation which is directly in conflict with their earlier obligation.

Nice.

They're already at 30 Obligation each though, between what they started with and the 10 they got for Kazic not killing them for opening the box.

Maybe I can find a way to reduce that, and then increase it like you suggested.

We played again last night, I'll post the most recent shenanigans in a bit.

I didn't understand those two psychopaths destroyed the building. It's logical to see the Empire going after them, then. And now they destroyed a platoon of Stormtroopers, imo, next time they meet imperials will shoot first then ask questions to their dead body.

Just a squad of Stormtroopers so far. I still don't get how four Stormtroopers is a squad, when it should be a fire team, but oh well.

And the building wasn't destroyed, I should have phrased that differently. A couple of frag grenades are going to ruin the day of whoever is inside, but not completely destroy the building. Still, an explosion in an occupied structure, which *could* have been a bomb, and *could* be Rebel activity, is going to get the attention of some Imperial. Right now there are Imperial soldiers (regular army) manning checkpoints and patrolling the streets, though the Imperial presence is still pretty light.

A squad of Stormtroopers is 9 troopers+1 sergeant.

33 minutes ago, Yaccarus said:

A squad of Stormtroopers is 9 troopers+1 sergeant.

I stand corrected.

1 hour ago, the mercenary said:

Just a squad of Stormtroopers so far. I still don't get how four Stormtroopers is a squad, when it should be a fire team, but oh well.

And the building wasn't destroyed, I should have phrased that differently. A couple of frag grenades are going to ruin the day of whoever is inside, but not completely destroy the building. Still, an explosion in an occupied structure, which *could* have been a bomb, and *could* be Rebel activity, is going to get the attention of some Imperial. Right now there are Imperial soldiers (regular army) manning checkpoints and patrolling the streets, though the Imperial presence is still pretty light.

1 hour ago, Yaccarus said:

A squad of Stormtroopers is 9 troopers+1 sergeant.

37 minutes ago, the mercenary said:

I stand corrected.

Yep, and a Fire team is typically a group of three soldiers, normally in a delta formation.

Sounds like a pretty average group of players for a Tabletop RPG to me. Can't wait to hear more of their saga .

I've been meaning to update this. Hopefully I can remember enough for it to make sense.

Leoni and Tuvok still think the Bothan sold them out to the bounty Hunter, but they were willing to let that slide for now. And continue working for him, since they need cash and he's a good source of information. So he puts them up to checking a few locations that the guy whose courier they robbed is allegedly storing some military-grade hardware. Weapons, vehicles, possibly droids. He gives them a couple of addresses and they head out.

The first place is a bust. Derelict warehouse, it's been vacant for quite some time. There's no longer any of the fence standing, and one of the large sliding doors is hanging at an angle.

The second place looks promising. Another warehouse, this one is in use and personnel are present. Leoni sneaks in and starts going through crates. Through a mixture of lucky rolls on the player's part, and not so lucky on mine, she manages to remain undetected and check numerous boxes and crates. It's looking like this place is a bust too, until she finds Droid parts, a crate of blasters of a design she doesn't recognize (she wasn't even born yet when the Clone War ended), and an empty container that looks like it held droids. She considers the mission accomplished at this point and sneaks back out.

The two decide they need to deal with the bounty Hunter, so they tell the Bothan to tell him that they'll be at that abandoned warehouse in a couple hours. Then they go set up an ambush.

I didn't think this next part was going to turn out the way it did....

The bounty Hunter shows up. He enters the building through a back door. He's out of range of Tuvok, who's hidden in the wreckage of a formerly-overhead crane. Leoni is hidden on top of a small structure, probably an office or something, on the catwalk that goes all around the building.

These two *love* grenades. Leoni frags the hunter, does some damage. Bounty hunter shoots at her, misses. Tuvok closes the distance so he can actually shoot the hunter. Scores. Hunter is still up. Leoni tries to frag him again, barely avoids fragging herself (sweet, sweet Despair). She fumbles the grenade off the tips of her fingers, and when it explodes it takes out some of the supports for the structure she's hiding on. Said structure tips toward the floor, thoughtfully delivering Leoni almost at the bounty hunter's feet. He sees Tuvok as the primary threat now and fires at him, missing. Tuvok throws a grenade and while he succeeds, he also rolls a Despair....

The explosion from the grenade takes out one of the support beams, and the entire structure groans ominously before the roof starts collapsing in a shriek of tortured metal. Tuvok grabs Leoni and books it for the door. A section of roof narrowly avoids landing on them, instead burying the bounty hunter in a pile of structural metal. Our protagonists make good their escape.

And now they may have a bit of an ego. It will be fun to see what happens when they have the climactic battle that I've got listed as one possible way that this chapter of their story ends. I have a feeling that Tuvok will somehow luck his way into surviving an encounter with a droideka.

It's fun to read the adventures of these two. Obviously they have a thing against building and make a point to destroy those they visit. ? I hope the bounty hunter survived the encounter and will continue to make their life interesting. ?

2 hours ago, WolfRider said:

It's fun to read the adventures of these two. Obviously they have a thing against building and make a point to destroy those they visit. ? I hope the bounty hunter survived the encounter and will continue to make their life interesting. ?

And the fun part is, they didn't go sifting through the wreckage to find his body and confirm the kill (surprisingly enough.... with these players, and these characters, I'd have expected them to do *exactly* that).

So I may just have to bring him back eventually. Trandoshans regenerate, after all...