Someone is helping me with running a game, since I’m new at this. Me and a friend just finished a mission where we transported some cargo for an ugly droid named Homer. The truck that me and my friend borrowed was attcked by a bunch of droid bandits. However we did it by ramming the truck into them. This obviously, made Homer not to happy with us, but still did give us some parts to repair the coms of our ship (the two of us crash landed on to the planet).

They guy who is helping me said that the next session could focus on repairing the damage we did to the truck. Any tips to make it more interesting?

Star Wars Resistance had an episode which is an old trope about repair and favors. There is one person in the area who has the part you need but in order get it, he needs you to do a favor for him. The person who has what Part Owner needs is willing to help but only if you do something for him. Continue this for about 10 people deep, have a couple of them link in some way or have the last favor be to get something from Homer who already has a dislike for the PCs.

As Varlie said you can turn it into a treasure hunt. The danger is it becomes a "job". Everything should service the larger plot. If the treasure hunt introduces important locations, and/or has the PCs meet important NPCs (allies or adversaries), and involves at least one chase/shootout/diplomatically tense moment, then you've done your job.

Really, the session shouldn't be about "repairs". It should be about "we have to get off the planet, but we can't until we...do X". Personally I prefer to either make repairs part of some urgent scene ("the Imperials are performing search patterns, it's only a matter of time until they find you"), or hand-wave them entirely ("two weeks go by, giving you lots of time to do repairs. Make a single Mechanics roll to see how much you get done in that time").

Probably the single most important thing you can do to make any session feel like a Star Wars session is to add a clock or some other pressure point to make sure the PCs understand the urgency of the situation. Even something as simple as "Homer can't do his deliveries if his truck isn't working, and he'll lose his job" can be enough. Maybe the boss is a real jerk, just waiting for an excuse to fire Homer (or decommission him). If there is no hurry, if there is nothing at stake, there is no need to role-play.

It's fine to have the occasional planning session without too much at stake, but most sessions should require the PCs to act swiftly, and it's even better if they have to make uncomfortable decisions

To expand on what @Varlie and @whafrog said (I hope), the repairs should take a very distant backseat to what happens because they're trying to do the repairs.

So they need a can of steam with left-hand threads...great. Just so happens that Sluggo the Space Bug Thing has one...but he wants six fleet of flight line. He says that someone else has that. PC's go to talk to him, but along the way they stumble across (insert plot here). While they're handling (plot), they run afoul of (antagonist) or manage to offend (powerful, useful, or both, NPC). So now they've got to figure out how to get the flight line, deal with (antagonist), and mollify (important NPC). All while the meter is running on their pad at the space port because Ooops, they parked on one of the "By The Hour" pads.

So for what you mentioned above, they've got Homer irritated at them. My twist: Homer is schizophrenic or has Multiple Personality Disorder. On one of his bad days, he might not remember that he's mad at them, might not remember that he has the part they need, might not even remember that he knows them. What do you do when a droid has mental health problems? It's not like you can give it a pill like an organic. And he'll fight anyone who tries to fix his programming. And he used to be a commando/assassin/whatever kind of hard@$$ you can think of.

The ship crashed on the planet....right into a farmer's field. Sure, it may have *looked* like a forest, but it's where he grows his (special mushroom/hallucinogenic plant/other high value crop). And now he wants the characters to compensate him for what they damaged/destroyed. It might be that instead of credits, he wants them to deliver his special crop....to Coruscant....where it's highly illegal. Oh, and his brother (and partner in the family farm) just happens to be a local judge/Imperial official/crime lord.......

21 hours ago, the mercenary said:

To expand on what @Varlie and @whafrog said (I hope), the repairs should take a very distant backseat to what happens because they're trying to do the repairs.

So they need a can of steam with left-hand threads...great. Just so happens that Sluggo the Space Bug Thing has one...but he wants six fleet of flight line. He says that someone else has that. PC's go to talk to him, but along the way they stumble across (insert plot here). While they're handling (plot), they run afoul of (antagonist) or manage to offend (powerful, useful, or both, NPC). So now they've got to figure out how to get the flight line, deal with (antagonist), and mollify (important NPC). All while the meter is running on their pad at the space port because Ooops, they parked on one of the "By The Hour" pads.

So for what you mentioned above, they've got Homer irritated at them. My twist: Homer is schizophrenic or has Multiple Personality Disorder. On one of his bad days, he might not remember that he's mad at them, might not remember that he has the part they need, might not even remember that he knows them. What do you do when a droid has mental health problems? It's not like you can give it a pill like an organic. And he'll fight anyone who tries to fix his programming. And he used to be a commando/assassin/whatever kind of hard@$$ you can think of.

The ship crashed on the planet....right into a farmer's field. Sure, it may have *looked* like a forest, but it's where he grows his (special mushroom/hallucinogenic plant/other high value crop). And now he wants the characters to compensate him for what they damaged/destroyed. It might be that instead of credits, he wants them to deliver his special crop....to Coruscant....where it's highly illegal. Oh, and his brother (and partner in the family farm) just happens to be a local judge/Imperial official/crime lord.......

And don't forget the cans of lanyard oil or the boxes of grid squares. 😈