There are rules for holding your breath. That's a start.

There are rules for resisting poisons & diseases (whichever one you're going with) using Resilience.

If the transformation is not instantaneous then there might be something someone with Medicine can do to delay the transformation. Here have it work in stages; even if the stages normally only take minutes to progress through, with treatments those could be extended to hours. Hopefully the guy that made it also has a reversal agent that can be found when/if he is defeated.

In both KoTOR and TOR a 'Rakghoul Serum' is developed that can immunize and cure the Rakghoul Plague. In both instances, however, the plague eventually mutated and rendered the serum useless.

Having a new version of the serum available for the PCs could allow you to run a Rakghoul encounter without excessive fudging, excessive character death, or excessive deviation from fluff. Of course, you don't want to completely remove the tension from such a situation, so that's where the mutation could come in. The serum is protection against a bad roll dooming somebody, but caution is still necessary because if the disease is exposed to the serum too frequently, it will stop working and make staying alive much harder for everyone.

Also remember that horror scenarios work best if at least some of the protagonists meet grisly ends. I wouldn't enjoy this scenario if the expectation was that everyone was going to survive it.

16 minutes ago, HappyDaze said:

Also remember that horror scenarios work best if at least some of the protagonists meet grisly ends. I wouldn't enjoy this scenario if the expectation was that everyone was going to survive it.

Given how difficult it is to kill a PC, we could say it is Star Wars FFG expectations that everyone survive a scenario.

5 minutes ago, WolfRider said:

Given how difficult it is to kill a PC, we could say it is Star Wars FFG expectations that everyone survive a scenario.

Killing PCs can be done. It might take a little effort, but it's worth it!

Edit: Worth it for a horror-themed scenario. I think it's worth it being on the table for almost all high-action combat scenarios too, but not everyone agrees. I won't pass judgement on them for playing like that other than opting not to play in such games myself.

11 hours ago, WolfRider said:

Given how difficult it is to kill a PC, we could say it is Star Wars FFG expectations that everyone survive a scenario.

Well, given that Star Wars generally doesn't do the horror genre (Death Troopers and Red Harvest being notable exceptions, with the reactions being mixed), I wouldn't call that a failing of the system.

Doing "horror where at least some of you are going to die" in this system is akin to trying to cut a piece of steak with just your fork, you can do it but it's not going to be as easy as using something dedicated to the job, such as a knife for the steak or a horror-based RPG for a full-blown horror-themed scenario.

So with regards to the rakghouls, I'd suggest taking a gander at this article from the d20 Radio blog:

http://www.d20radio.com/main/the-workshop-rakghouls/

Ben's treatment of the rakghoul plague/virus is pretty solid, and it's not a "one hit KO" as the PCs have a few chances to "fight off" the disease via Resilience checks, and thus providing an opening for an enterprising/inventive medical expert to devise a new serum to deal with this particular outbreak that can either outright cure the infected (so long as they've not mutated) or at least give them a better chance to fight off the plague.

It's worth noting that at no point does he say "a Despair result means the victim instantly turns into a rakghoul, which is good as it averts the failing I've seen with a few other attempts to mimic the rakghoul plague which could enable taking an infected PC right out of the game on an unlucky roll.

Love the approach, I wish more interest was given to the horror niche in this RPG. I don't need a full blown Horror RPG but there should be at least an adventure that deals with these themes, just like there are adventures dealing with war, politics, romance etc. It's a big universe, and a lot of it can kill you.

26 minutes ago, Khazadune said:

It's a big universe, and a lot of it can kill you.

Not with this ruleset.

3 hours ago, Khazadune said:

Love the approach, I wish more interest was given to the horror niche in this RPG. I don't need a full blown Horror RPG but there should be at least an adventure that deals with these themes, just like there are adventures dealing with war, politics, romance etc. It's a big universe, and a lot of it can kill you.

Unfortunately, one of the core themes of horror is how the PCs are varying degrees of helpless against the major threat, ranging from Ellen Riply fending off the xenomorph in the first Alien film all the way down the teen cast in your average slasher flick.

Conversely, one of Star Wars' core themes is that the heroes are never truly helpless and can eventually pull through with some combination of pluck, noble intent, and good fortune; there may be points where things look bleak, but when it's all said and done, the heroes have triumphed and the evil threat has been squashed.

With this system, the core problem is that the PCs are generally very capable at what it is they do, being exceptional individuals in their area of expertise even at the starting XP mark, and only going up from there. And that alone thwarts the core theme of horror with the protagonists being generally helpless or at the mercy of a foe they can barely comprehend much less fight.

There's also the matter that horror stories require the leads to make stupid decisions, both in the early going and as the plot progresses, something that generally won't happen to players given they're removed enough from the horror setting, and most RPGs are geared to allow the players to have characters that are to some extent or another "larger than life" with traits or abilities or special rules that set them apart from the faceless masses and take on the sort of challenges that said masses would just go "Nope, not dealing with this!" and walk away.

For instance, The Call of Cthulhu RPG (one of the classic horror RPGs and still going) runs afoul of this, and settles for allowing the PCs to score minor victories against the unspeakable horrors of the universe before those characters invariably go insane or finally pick a fight with something too nasty for them to defeat. Even Deadlands, itself a "wild west horror" RPG that I love dearly had this issue, as the PCs were not the sort of folks to just simply roll over and pushin' up daisies easy as you please; yes the PCs would face off with some truly horrific things, but said horrors could be defeated, and the major villains behind all the nastiness of the setting could eventually be thwarted.

There was the Galaxy of Fear series, which did have more horror themes than typically found in Star Wars, but it also centered around a couple of kids/teens who were not broadly-capable galaxy-hopping adventurers, and were more often at the mercy of whatever threat they'd stumbled across in the current story. But again, those stories really only work because the kids make just the right (or wrong, depending on how you look at it) decisions to keep the story progressing the way the author wants. And most GMs with just a bit of experience will tell you that players will invariably find ways or make choices that run totally counter to whatever outcome they as the GM had desired. I've done it to a number of GMs, and I've had it done to me by a number of different players over the decades.

17 minutes ago, Donovan Morningfire said:

Even Deadlands, itself a "wild west horror" RPG that I love dearly

It must be the holidays for Donovan and I to truly find common ground on something.

On 12/23/2018 at 8:43 PM, HappyDaze said:

It must be the holidays for Donovan and I to truly find common ground on something.

It’s a Life Day miracle!

The Rakghoul transformation should probably be slowed down to allow for more tension, and so it’s not an instakill. Which also means you need some way of allowing the crew to transform before the PCs contact them.

Possibly the solution is for the PCs to reach the pirate ship and try to infiltrate it, but instead of that they find the crew have already been turned. Even better, an entire fleet of ships that are all filled with rakghouls. The PCs need to board all the ships for some reason(fix their own hyperdrive, fuel, etc...) before they can escape.

Ohhh, the pirates stole an interdictor star destroyer, and turned the device on, but then all turned into Rakghouls because the BBEG booby trapped the ship. So now it’s basically a zombie fleet that continually traps unsuspecting ships.

For mechanics for the disease. I would make it a progressive series of checks. Perhaps a series of 3 average resilience checks after first exposure. If all are passed the disease never took hold. If any are failed the disease begins to progress. Make a hard resilience check every 20 minutes. 2 passed consecutive checks sends the disease into remission. 3 failed checks turns you into a rakghoul. Each failed check also causes you to suffer 2 wounds and strain for each failure on the check. 2 despair on a check could transform you immediately.

If you want to go all out horror, I've only come across one RPG that does this really well. Dread .

It could be easily used in any setting, but pretty much requires one-shot scenarios with characters adapted to it, so making it a part of your regular campaign might be a little tricky and probably not advisable.

BUT, if your players are fine with a "Now for something completely different"-episode, set up a Dread scenario where the players take the role of some of the pirate crew and turn it into a merciless survival horror against the rakghouls. Then use the moment where this scenario wraps up be where the regular PCs arrive (coming to the rescue) and enter the story. The perspective then changes, the players take control of their characters again and the game reverts to a more straight forward, but horror-themed, action adventure. With the dread scenario acting as a prologue, you should be able to throw the PCs right into the mix with a minimum of set-up.

As for the rakghoul plague itself, the suggestion to slow it down is a good one and can be a fun way to use destiny points, by either the GM flipping one to progress the disease (or outright turning an infected NPC) or just advance it at fixed intervals where the players can spend DP to hold it back. Alternatively let the players flip a destiny point when getting injured to not get infected (turn out the injury was not a bite, but merely being slammed into a wall or something) forcing them to keep a paranoid eye on the destiny pool. Any rolled despair is also, of course, worth it's weight in gold here.

When it comes to a cure, my suggestion is to be coy about it. Have some people insist that there is no cure while others express disbelief that someone would deliberately release rakghouls with no cure for themselves. Maybe they get access to cure early on, which turns out to merely slow the process down letting you both have your cake and eat it when it comes to fast and slow transformations. Maybe rather than flipping destiny points, they have a finite number of "cures" to slow down infection. Also, be vague about the details of the plague. Does every bite infect? Does a claw scratch? How close is and infected PC/NPC to turning? How many stages does the infection have before turning. By all means, figure this out beforehand, or just claim you did and play fast and loose with the exact conditions to create the appropriate amount of tension.

Remember, you don't need to kill any PC's to build tension, only convince them that there is chance they might die.

So, having written my own horror adventure, I can offer a few of points of advice.

1. First, use the Pirates.
As NPCs, they can provide the mood and spectacle of the horror. They can make the bad decisions, stupid moves, and provide setting and warnings to the PCs to convey the threat level of the situation. The PCs don't necessarily need to able to be one-shotted if they believe they could be. I introduced an NPC team of salvagers alongside the PCs in my adventure, and basically made them die off without massive intervention from the PCs. One of them didn't even have a chance of survival, and it provided the PCs with the feeling that they were one bad roll or decision away from a TPK at all times - this is exactly the mood you want to engender. Remember, the illusion of normalcy being stripped away is what causes terror, that means you can get the players to that state by implying the rules of the game have changed as much as making the setting horrific.

2. Don't be afraid to sacrifice your plans.
When using NPCs to invoke mood, don't be afraid to set up a recurring nemesis or ally to die horribly to prove the point. The ISB agent that has been a thorn in their side sounds perfect for this. Have them die horribly and messy in a way that implies any of the PCs are just as vulnerable. The association that the players have with this person that they see "on their level" is a great psychological trick - the empathetic association of an equal will lead the PCs to subconsciously conclude "this could happen to me!" It's infinitely harder to build horror in Star Wars thematically than it is to create another foil or ally for the PCs, don't be afraid to sacrifice someone that means something to the Players to get them on board with the fear.

3. Change the rules of the game subtly to keep the PCs off-balance.
Increase your use of setback dice and upgrades, making normal rolls harder. Occasionally make the PC roll for something incredibly innocuous like opening a door. If pressed for a reason for the upgrade or roll, describe the reason as something elusive, like "as you reach for the door controls, all the hair on your arm stands on end and a cold, nervous feeling creeps into your core." Stop describing setback modifiers as "because of the darkness" and start describing them as "you're finding hard to focus as shapes seem to be constantly moving in the blackness of the room, as if your mind were playing tricks or someone was waiting in the dark for you." Whether PCs succeed at opening the door isn't important ... it's the fact they never had to roll just to hit the button before. It will keep them off balance and increase the strain the characters accrue - this by itself has an unsettling effect as they Players will think that they are "weaker" or more "stressed" and the effect will carry over. If they fail to open the door, describe it as the character stops suddenly, unable to bring themselves to open the door from a sudden feeling of dread about what's on the other side, shrugging off the notion they press the controls to open the door and .... then make them roll initiative. On the other side you can choose to input a rakghoul or not, vary your decisions, but soon you'll have every player associating any innocuous roll with a danger, and that's where you want them.

4. Constantly set time limits.
Make the PCs feel as though they are under pressure to move fast. Establish that time is not on their side, and they need to beat the spread of the gas through the ship, because it is spreading, and if they take too long to accomplish their goals they will inundated with contagion and no amount of Resilience checks will stop the transformation. This will establish the need in the PCs to be quick in their movements and judgments. Then, to reinforce it, if they take too long discussing or talking and not doing, flip a Destiny Point from light to dark to show the "odds stacking against them." This is another subtle change in things like in point 3, and will get them moving fast and not working out every detail. Make these missed details matter, causing them headaches and problems along the way. Let the threat of a single bad decision killing them be on their minds, then when they make bad decisions hit them hard but let them get out with a papercut ... call them "lucky" when it happens ... then let them wonder when their "luck will run out." You want them worrying about screwing up, its a mental condition I call "quicksand" - they try so hard not to mess up, they start messing up more often, which just reinforces the stress. The longer they go without dying, the more they'll fear they will die the next time they mess up.

5. Make sure the players get out alive unless killing them would benefit the story more.
Once the players are convinced you are totally unfair and going to wipe them all, you have them exactly where you want them. Don't be obvious about the fact that you aren't trying to kill them, but make sure that "lucky rolls" resulting in failure at key moments lets the PCs barely survive. If the PCs rolls put them in a position where you would have to dispel this illusion, don't - but don't outright kill the PC either - add more hoops they must go through in order to live. For instance, if you've implied that a roll is guaranteed death should they fail it, and the PC fails the roll (a yawning chasm the PCs must jump over while being chased by overwhelming numbers of Rakghouls for instance) alert the players that the character isn't going to survive, and offer them a chance to flip a Destiny in order to get a single maneuver and action to alter the course of the character's fate. It puts the impetus on them, and allows you the excuse that you are getting a valuable resource from them (the Destiny Point). In this situation, the PCs will explain it away as you "getting greedy" and going for the Destiny Point, which they can then use to escape the death of the PC, but in reality, you couldn't care less, but are continuing with the illusion. Finally, if you know a Player is dissatisfied with their character, then use this opportunity to really go after that character, the death of a PC can really ratchet up the story and fear of the other players, and take the player aside, and offer them a benefit on their next character, explain that you really want them to love this next character, and will work with them on what they play to make it special as thanks for being a good sport about dying to the "impossible" adventure. The player gets what they were waffling about, and you get the rest of the players terrified that "they'll be the next one to go."

Anyway, that's what I would suggest as far as maintaining the feel of it, the rules for rakghouls that Donovan mentioned are really good, too. Good luck on your game, let me know how it goes!