How you want to run things will be up to the GM as always. All the established lore in the universe isn't going to make a lick of good if the GM wants to go in a different direction.

My best word of advice is to look at real world examples and "in spess" them. This not only fills out logic solutions, but can also really add flavor and ideas you may not have thought about.

At he end of the day, smuggling falls into three rough categories: Stealth, Speed, and Subterfuge.

Stealth: The smuggler, through various means, attempts to avoid all detection. Real world you're looking at flying below radar, homemade submarines, heck there was even a former high school swim team that would just swim the product out to sea and back under the cover of darkness.

Speed: You get a fast aircraft or boat and blow past the customs people so fast they can't catch you. You see this one in the form of cigarette boats in things like Miami Vice. They meet a freighter out at sea, move product to the go-fast boats and they all blast in at top speed to different places. No way customs can stop them all, and if customs doesn't have go-fast boats of their own they may catch nothing.

Theres also an endurance version, where you don't go faster, just longer than customs can. You just keep flying till customs has to give up and go home to refuel.

Subterfuge: Probably the most common method. Here's where you hide the goods in secret compartments, Camouflage them to look like something else, or use bogus papers to looks like a legal transporter.

And there's mixing and matching. A crew got picked up last year using a vehicle they'd done up to look like a border patrol truck, running a stealth/Subterfuge hybrid.

So when you take those ideas and put them in space you can do some really fun stuff.

Another thing to consider on Hyperspace routes, smuggling and customs, is that customs (traffic control by extension) of any system with law enforcement or under empirical control require most ship's to come out of hyperspace in designated areas. Like flying in from out of country, they do spot checks, anybody acting out of the ordinary gets automatically flagged. In universe version of this would be coming out of hyperspace outside one of the required lanes, coming out too close to the destination planet (some in universe jumps come out near the system boundary, just inside the Kuiper Belt for the system (read it in one of the books) , for the designated lane.), not following the speed limits, micro-jumping, etc, etc. Do anything like this is probably going to get as visit from customs ships and definitely a fine and tongue lashing from traffic control.

Smuggling is mostly only dangerous or exciting near the departure/arrival point. The only reason you should have a problem out side of those times is if pirates do show up or if something truly unexpected happens.

As with most things in the universe long periods of nothing with the occasional moment of complete chaos, which is where the story lies.

I've found that I prefer smuggling to be relegated to a background task most of the time because, if you're doing it right, it makes for unbelievably dull gameplay. If you're doing it wrong (like PCs are known to do), the complications get really bad really quickly. I feel the same way about lots of "career tasks" like bounty hunting, flying patrols as an Ace, doing repairs as a Technician, or pulling guard duty as a Soldier. Needless to say, I am looking to make adventures that are something that takes all careers pt of these comfort zones.

There is a fair amount of info on this subject in Fly Casual and Lords of Nal Hutta. As well as info on space combat in Stay on Target.

I've read through this thread a couple of times over the last few days. Good ideas, and information but mostly pretty general with a lot of interpretation involved. Getting down to the nitty gritty, if a group of PC's were going to be doing a lot of smuggling as part of their gameplay would you say that every single time they leave a planet or approach a planet they would have to evade authority? (cruisers, Tie Fighters, or whatever planetary authority ships were there)

It seems like you could just land out in the middle of nowhere to pick up your cargo, take off and make a run for outside the gravity well to make the jump to hyperspace. Exit hyperspace at the destination planet, head straight in ignoring spaceports and any "air traffic control" calls and eventually get down low "under the radar" (as per your delivery instructions maybe?) and then navigate to the drop off again in the middle of nowhere, land and off load your cargo. Then take off and either fly overland low to a spaceport to hit a cantina or whatever and enjoy your new found wealth, however temporary, or just head for hyperspace again to get completely away to somewhere they consider safe.

Things could either go smoothly like that or you could get ambushed by anyone at the drop off site, or double crossed or......

I'm thinking of doing something like a list of 10 or 20 "consequences" or things that could happen at each stage and doing a dice roll to see which one comes in to play. Spread throughout the list would be some blanks meaning with that roll, nothing happened, things went smoothly. I'm trying to figure out ways to make things interesting and variable without having to script each one by hand every time.

Other thoughts:

It seems like on any day other than the day the Empire is there looking for the droids in a place like Mos Eisely you could just have your illicit cargo delivered right to your docking bay and then just depart. No one would care. BUT... what kind of contraband would originate on a world like Tatooine? Their biggest product is water. :| I'd say Mos Eisely is mostly a destination planet for things like spice.

So... if you are actually using the star map to find pick up and drop off points what places make sense to originate spice runs? Even Kessel, seems weird for that. Aren't the Kessel spice mines Imperial controlled? How would smugglers get any spice to make the famous Kessel Run?

I'd have to look back at the various descriptions of spice. IIRC, seems like a few had planets of origin listed, so maybe there are some that have obvious points of origin.

In Sons of Fortune there is Corellian whiskey and specifically a rare one called Whyren's Reserve that seems worthy of smuggling to places so that would definitely come from Corellia or the Corellian System and could go anywhere. (also, that book details a modular encounter called the Corellian Shuffle which details a kind of smuggling routine involving micro jumping around the system to meet other ships in space for drop offs.)

Another specific one I've planned on using for a long time is several cases of Riot Guns stolen from Corporate Sector Authority. They were mentioned in the first Han Solo Trilogy books from around 1979 and are the weapons listed for Corporate Sector Authority Security Police minion and Captain in E:CRB page 401. (just something out of the ordinary to smuggle rather than Imperial blasters and would come from a specific area, The Corporate Sector Authority.)

Does anyone care to post a detail of what they consider a typical smuggling run, start to finish? It'd be helpful to make sure we aren't leaving out or overlooking some critical piece and just to see if I'm interpreting the game in the same way.

Thanks for reading all that. I've been trying to formulate what I wanted to say for days and finally just put something down to get the ball rolling.

2 hours ago, Typherian said:

I seems like you could just land out in the middle of nowhere to pick up your cargo, take off and make a run for outside the gravity well to make the jump to hyperspace. Exit hyperspace at the destination planet, head straight in ignoring spaceports and any "air traffic control" calls and eventually get down low "under the radar" (as per your delivery instructions maybe?) and then navigate to the drop off again in the middle of nowhere, land and off load your cargo. Then take off and either fly overland low to a spaceport to hit a cantina or whatever and enjoy your new found wealth, however temporary, or just head for hyperspace again to get completely away to somewhere they consider safe. 

This is the speed approach. It CAN work. But that is assuming a lot of things for this approach to work:

1.) You assume there are not orbital customs assets, be it a patrol vessel, flight of starfighters, or a full-blown Star Destroyer. If there are orbital assets, consider that
A.) Flying "below" radar won't help. The orbital assets can track you just fine in most cases.
B.) You, in a freighter, might not be able to fly faster than the fighters. The orbital assets are going to know which directions the hyperlanes are cleared, so their forces WILL be relatively nearby where people drop out of hyperspace, for the most part.
C.) While you land and make the exchange, if you're in the open, orbital assets can find your ship. You need a pre-arranged concealed location, like a cave big enough for a freighter, which requires its own fancy flying to get into. This might not always be the case on certain types of planets (water worlds, endless dune deserts, etc)

2.) Even if there are not orbital assets, trying a speed runs means you WILL be detected by ground-based sensors or satellites when you come out of hyperspace, and once it is clear you are ignoring hails and making a run for wilderness or whatever, they're going to scramble alert airspeeders or fighters, and send them on an intercept course before you can get below. There's a good chance they can spot you before you get to concealment.

3.) Your cargo might not lend itself to such rough flying. Living cargo or other fragile items stand a good chance of injury or otherwise being ruined if you're making crazy full throttle checks and such (great way to spend negative dice results).

4.) Whoever you are meeting might not be in place yet. The idea of rushing down there with no confirmation, only to have to wait and wait while customs is searching for you overhead is not ideal.

5.) Even if they didn't scramble orbital assets when you went down, they'll sure have them in place defending the hyperlane for when you come back up, complete with an interdictor if they have one. The speedy approach is unlikely to work both going in and coming out of a drop. Planetary forces are going to react. Busier systems that deal with lots of smugglers just have these assets in place permanently.

In summary, the speedy approach is probably best just for leaving, assuming you snuck or bribed your way in. And it's best on worlds that have limited anti-smuggler/customs assets. Obviously, if they have next to no assets, you can probably just land or offer traffic control a small bribe to "not see you". If it's a big busy world like Coruscant, you're going to need a different plan, probably. There's no way you're just doing a speed rush through their orbital traffic lanes and not getting torn up. Places like that require a more sneaky or bribery based approach.

Of course, if you accept the new hyperspace "rules" you can just jump in and out from just above a planet's surface and bypass just about everything. I don't reccomend GMs go with the new canon on hyperspace for this and many other reasons.

4 hours ago, Typherian said:

It seems like you could just land out in the middle of nowhere to pick up your cargo, take off and make a run for outside the gravity well to make the jump to hyperspace. Exit hyperspace at the destination planet, head straight in ignoring spaceports and any "air traffic control" calls and eventually get down low "under the radar" (as per your delivery instructions maybe?) and then navigate to the drop off again in the middle of nowhere, land and off load your cargo. Then take off and either fly overland low to a spaceport to hit a cantina or whatever and enjoy your new found wealth, however temporary, or just head for hyperspace again to get completely away to somewhere they consider safe.

That's all well and good for the people making the delivery, as long as the people picking it up don't mind the 'smugglers' drawing the attention of the entire planet's space traffic/customs to them. The characters may be able to do everything you suggest, but if I'm the person meeting them I'm not showing up since they just set off alarm bells everywhere. Then I'm telling Jabba he can write off the money he was counting on as I don't do business with amateurs that bring massive heat down on me......

Something rarely done by PCs is using different vessels and crews for different legs. A fast ship with a top-notch hyperdrive for long hyperroutes meeting a nondescript vessel with smuggling compartments at the outskirts of the system and letting them take it planetside. Not every run goes from cargo origin to final destination, and for those working with smuggling cartels (or XTS/Black Sun), it's safe to say that most jobs will be pieces of the route rather than the whole thing.

Alright, alright, alright... everyone seems to be focusing in on that one paragraph. 😏 I'm not necessarily interested in a "speed" run, I just figured out of all the bajillion planets in the Star Wars Universe there'd probably be a fair number that didn't have a lot of planetary assets or air traffic control. (Plus... it'd probably be nice if sometimes things did go smoothly and they had an easy run. /shrug)

For instance... say a week before the scenes in ANH I doubt anyone cared who landed on Tat. From all I can tell all those imperial assets showed up to look for those droids with the imperial plans. They weren't there before or after. (Am I wrong about this? It's possible.)

Anyway, I wrote a lot of other things in that first post. Any comments on anything else?

I'd still like to see a sequence of events in what anyone thinks is a typical smuggling run.

It sounds like everyone thinks they involve having to sneak, bribe or otherwise get past authorities both coming and going. (How do you bribe someone while you're still up flying? Someone mentioned bribing air traffic control to "not see you" or something like that)

On Hyperspace travel: it's always appeared that all you have to do is get beyond any gravitational pull and have a navicomputer or droid make the calculations, then you can jump from anywhere without having to go to a specific spot.

Then you hear it referred to as hyperspace "lanes" and there are references to hyperspace beacons and there are references to something like known junctions where you exit and recalculate and jump again (conveniently where pirates and/or authorities pounce on you) not to mention being pulled out of hyperspace buy Interdictor cruises or asteroids towed near hyperspace lanes.

So....? How do you correlate being able to escape into hyperspace from anywhere outside of gravitation pull to being locked into "lanes" with specific junctions and exits?

(it's almost as if hyperspace isn't real and someone didn't think it all the way through before implementing it in various ways in movies and books...) 😇

(... how about when ships can one time come in, hover and land perfectly... another time they land like an out of control 747 with not enough landing strip.) 😎

36 minutes ago, Typherian said:

bajillion planets in the Star Wars Universe there'd probably be a fair number that didn't have a lot of planetary assets or air traffic control. (Plus... it'd probably be nice if sometimes things did go smoothly and they had an easy run. /shrug)

For starters if it's easy to get something somewhere, why would I hire anyone? That's not smuggling, it's giving a box a ride. If there aren't problems, why do I need you?

37 minutes ago, Typherian said:

It sounds like everyone thinks they involve having to sneak, bribe or otherwise get past authorities both coming and going. (How do you bribe someone while you're still up flying? Someone mentioned bribing air traffic control to "not see you" or something like that)

If you're an actual smuggler you're doing more than just giving packages a ride, you'd be putting effort into knowing how things work somewhere you are running contraband.

You'd be greasing the palms of people who may be a problem ahead of time.

You'd be arranging for some sort of legal cargo to hide the contraband in.

You'd know when 'shift change' is.

You'd chat people up in the bar ahead of time and find hear about how the southern hemisphere scanners have a blind spot above the super volcano there.

Those are all things a group of players could work through during a session. Just flying in and out with no problems doesn't sound like something someone would need to hire smugglers for, and it would also be a boring-short session.

41 minutes ago, Typherian said:

On Hyperspace travel: it's always appeared that all you have to do is get beyond any gravitational pull and have a navicomputer or droid make the calculations, then you can jump from anywhere without having to go to a specific spot.

Then you hear it referred to as hyperspace "lanes" and there are references to hyperspace beacons and there are references to something like known junctions where you exit and recalculate and jump again (conveniently where pirates and/or authorities pounce on you) not to mention being pulled out of hyperspace buy Interdictor cruises or asteroids towed near hyperspace lanes.

Like I wrote before, it isn't just an exercise in plotting a hyperspace jump. If you blast in and blast out you may get away, but the people you're meeting aren't going to be very happy with the level of service if your behavior brought a bunch of attention they then have to deal with.

43 minutes ago, Typherian said:

So....? How do you correlate being able to escape into hyperspace from anywhere outside of gravitation pull to being locked into "lanes" with specific junctions and exits?

I don't, because that's not even close to the hard or most important part of smuggling. The smuggler doesn't want attention, so they use designated routes, follow the speed limits, say hello to the nice inspectors, and don't draw attention to themselves. When you draw attention the angry inspectors launch fighters, and/or fire planetary defense weapons at the dirty speeders or those not following assigned routes.

The question about hyperspace wasn't just in regards to smuggling. It was just for general using hyperspace to go places.

You can apparently get into hyperspace anywhere (outside of gravitational pull) pointed in any direction going anywhere. I mean you never see them cruising around looking for the on ramp to the hyperspace lane, right?

But after we get in hyperspace, suddenly we have to conform to lanes, junctions, and specific known exits that are all patrolled?

But back to smuggling. I never said it had to be easy or without problems. I was just thinking that for variety if no other reason that not every place you went would be an imperial type controlled world with star destroyers and Tie Fighters in orbit, speed limits, tractor beams etc.

In my first post in this thread right under the paragraph that got the most focus I said that some complications could be a double cross by who you're delivering to, or ambush by thugs or authorities. (It was a shorter less detailed sentence)

I'm also a little confused 2P51. You say my fly in, fly out scenario would cause my client to be unhappy with the level of service and all the attention. Then you indicate it would be a short boring session.

Then you say a good smuggler obeys speed limits, says yes sir and tries not to draw attention to himself. <--- if that all works wouldn't that be a short boring session?

And if it doesn't and you have to run and/or shoot your way out of a situation wouldn't that draw a lot of attention, thereby making your clients unhappy? 😇 Just wondering.

When you talk about greasing palms and knowing when shift change is, etc, etc.... are you thinking if PC's got a job to haul something going 3-4 days through hyperspace away, they'd first fly there 3-4 days in hyperspace, recon, bribe etc, then fly back 3-4 days in hyperspace load cargo, then fly again 3-4 days to deliver? I'd think maybe that stuff could only be done on the loading end and then you just have to wing it when you get there other than information you could gather by chatting someone up in a cantina before you left. /shrug

Thats why I was hoping to see a smuggling scene described so I could see how it might play out, when dice would be rolled and to what end.

Other than the Corellian Shuffle in Sons of Fortune, I don't know of any canned smuggler scenes to use as a base or starting point.

On 12/19/2018 at 6:28 AM, vernar said:

However I have trouble to understand how these adversaries are going to stop any smuggler from any run.

Oh man, you're asking the wrong questions in most of your post here.

First, start here

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smuggling

For some more in universe stuff I'd watch any Hando Episode of The Clone Wars or Rebels. Then watch Firefly and Serenity. Then watch Blow, Lord of War, American Made, Scarface, Probably that new Movie with Clint Eastwood where he's a drug mule, Jackie Brown and Seasons 1-4 of the Wire.

Smuggling is just transporting cargo in a way that people don't know what you have. The last mile is always the hardest part. That's where everything goes wrong. Cops, informants, rival gangs, breakdowns, getting burned on the deal......that's where all these stories come from.

Also keep in mind, smuggling means you deal with shady shady characters. You don't always get a nice suit of plot armor to protect you from the crime lords bounty hunters when you burn them on a deal. You're probably going to move cargo that's going to get a lot of innocent people hurt, addicted or dead. Don't skimp on that part of the story.

More Media:

War Dogs

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2005151/?ref_=ttls_li_tt

*edited because of century link*

13 hours ago, Typherian said:

BUT... what kind of contraband would originate on a world like Tatooine? Their biggest product is water. 😐 I'd say Mos Eisely is mostly a destination planet for things like spi  ce.

Tatooine is the seat of one of the most powerful Hutt Crime Families in the galaxy. Jabba is like the Sinaloa boss. He doesn't need to be in the center of the universe, everything he needs comes to him and he's in a place where he doesn't have to worry about trouble.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinaloa_Cartel

Spice, other drugs, slaves, weapons, all manner of contraband comes through his people.

13 hours ago, Typherian said:

Aren't the Kessel spice mines Imperial controlled? How would smugglers get any spice to make the famous Kessel Run?

The same way heroine production wasn't hindered by the primary grower of opium poppies being controlled by the Taliban or the US, good old corruption. That said they didn't really think the idea of glitterstim, how it's made and where ti comes from through very well.

6 hours ago, 2P51 said:

For starters if it's easy to get something somewhere, why would I hire anyone? That's not smuggling, it's giving a box a ride. If there aren't problems, why do I need you? 

If you're an actual smuggler you're doing more than just giving packages a ride

Sometimes. Sometimes though you're just expendable, or you can find a lot of people who are expendable. Those condoms full of heroin aren't going to swallow themselves and then get on a plane.

7 hours ago, Typherian said:

I'd still like to see a sequence of events in what anyone thinks is a typical smuggling run.

1) Get job

2) Go do the pickup

3) Travel to the destination

4) Give the goods to the proper person

5) Get paid

Adventure (and everything else) happens in between those steps.

Don't get seen. If you get seen don't get identified. If you get identified don't get followed. If you get followed don't get stopped. If you get stopped don't get searched. If you get searched don't get arrested. If you get arrested, don't say a word. If you can't keep your trap shut, don't let us find you.

Sometimes you've got to sneak past someone, sometimes you've got to distract them, sometimes you've got to bribe them, sometimes you've got to charm them, sometimes you've got to intimidate them, sometimes you've got to outrun them, sometimes you have to kill them.

Sometimes you have to do all of that at the same time.

Sometimes you go through the normal way

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Border_checkpoint

Sometimes you go in other ways

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_America_(airline)#Drug_smuggling

12 minutes ago, Zrob314 said:

Sometimes. Sometimes though you're just expendable, or you can find a lot of people who are expendable. Those condoms full of heroine aren't going to swallow themselves and then get on a plane. 

Heroine - a woman admired or idealized for her courage, outstanding achievements, or noble qualities.

Heroin - A popular recreational opiod.

You really wanna get the two things straight before you bring up the topic and/or give advice on swallowing condoms...........

1 minute ago, 2P51 said:

Heroine - a woman admired or idealized for her courage, outstanding achievements, or noble qualities.

Heroin - A popular recreational opiod.

You really wanna get the two things straight before you bring up the topic of swallowing condoms...........

wow.

thanks.

😐

3 hours ago, Typherian said:

The question about hyperspace wasn't just in regards to smuggling. It was just for general using hyperspace to go places.

You can apparently get into hyperspace anywhere (outside of gravitational pull) pointed in any direction going anywhere. I mean you never see them cruising around looking for the on ramp to the hyperspace lane, right?

But after we get in hyperspace, suddenly we have to conform to lanes, junctions, and specific known exits that are all patrolled?

There is a huge, round room full of swinging axes, large boulders and flowing lava with earthquakes. At a given time you probably cannot go through straight without hurting yourself in any direction so you have to take maybe 2-3 small sprints to go through. But there are spots, which are realtive safe for example a huge basalt island, so good chance most ppl will go through that. I would start my lemonade stand there.

That's patrolled hyperspace.

4 hours ago, Rimsen said:

There is a huge, round room full of swinging axes, large boulders and flowing lava with earthquakes. At a given time you probably cannot go through straight without hurting yourself in any direction so you have to take maybe 2-3 small sprints to go through. But there are spots, which are realtive safe for example a huge basalt island, so good chance most ppl will go through that. I would start my lemonade stand there.

That's patrolled hyperspace.

What?

(The question about hyperspace wasn't just in regards to smuggling. It was just for general using hyperspace to go places.

You can apparently get into hyperspace anywhere (outside of gravitational pull) pointed in any direction going anywhere. I mean you never see them cruising around looking for the on ramp to the hyperspace lane, right?

But after we get in hyperspace, suddenly we have to conform to lanes, junctions, and specific known exits that are all patrolled?)

That was the question. If we have to, let's take out the word patrolled and just stop the question at "known exits".

I guess the problem I'm having and the one I'm trying to illustrate is like this. (Galaxy map, E:CRB) If you are trying to jump to Alderaan from say Bonadan and someone else is coming in from the complete opposite direction from Bespin you'd have to come out at Alderaan at different locations. Now draw a line to Alderaan from planets around the map and it would seem like there would have to be many multiples of hyperspace exits.

So... unless a planet is blockaded where they WOULD have ships covering the whole planet, or like Coruscant with no open spaces and a tightly controlled air traffic set up, or like Scarif with a controlled shield gate.... if it were an average planet it seems like it would be possible to come out of hyperspace with at least a dice rolls chance of avoiding detection immediately.

Do you all picture it like there is just one hyperspace exit at each planet and pirates and/or authorities just wait right there to see who pops out?

5 hours ago, Zrob314 said:

1) Get job

2) Go do the pickup

3) Travel to the destination

4) Give the goods to the proper person

5) Get paid

Adventure (and everything else) happens in between those steps.

Don't get seen. If you get seen don't get identified. If you get identified don't get followed. If you get followed don't get stopped. If you get stopped don't get searched. If you get searched don't get arrested. If you get arrested, don't say a word. If you can't keep your trap shut, don't let us find you.

Sometimes you've got to sneak past someone, sometimes you've got to distract them, sometimes you've got to bribe them, sometimes you've got to charm them, sometimes you've got to intimidate them, sometimes you've got to outrun them, sometimes you have to kill them.

Sometimes you have to do all of that at the same time.

Sometimes you go through the normal way

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Border_checkpoint

Sometimes you go in other ways

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_America_(airline)#Drug_smuggling

I probably sound pretty dumb, asking all these questions.... but I did know the obvious stuff you posted here. To be clearer I was hoping someone had a smuggling run (modular encounter?) that they had used and wouldn't mind posting so we could see obvious steps 1 through 5 up there written out in gamespeak. If these are trade secrets, or someone's intellectual property, then I apologize for asking to see them. :| I'll eventually figure something out and write one, but I'm not a great writer and am having a hard time getting started, so was hoping for a catalyst like that.

Thanks.

1 hour ago, Typherian said:

I mean you never see them cruising around looking for the on ramp to the hyperspace lane, right?

Now that you mention it, in any of my future games, you absolutely will see this. Each system will have specific entry & exit paths, and deviation from them will increase the challenge of Astrogation checks to make the trip.

3 hours ago, Typherian said:

I probably sound pretty dumb, asking all these questions.... but I did know the obvious stuff you posted here. To be clearer I was hoping someone had a smuggling run (modular encounter?) that they had used and wouldn't mind posting so we could see obvious steps 1 through 5 up there written out in gamespeak. If these are trade secrets, or someone's intellectual property, then I apologize for asking to see them. 😐 I'll eventually figure something out and write one, but I'm not a great writer and am having a hard time getting started, so was hoping for a catalyst like that.

Thanks.

You're not dumb and don't sound like it, but what you're asking for is kind of a very "mission specific" example. That's why I threw up all those media examples.

Think of it this way. the 1-5 flow chart is like the Joseph Campbell Hero's journey. Then the bit I put after that "Don't get seen...." is all the points that you can put specific story beats and add conflict to the story. As the GM you should kind of decide where things will happen on an particular run.

Han got a job to get Rathtars

Han borrowed money from the Guavian Death Gang to get crew and equipment to capture rathtars, he didn't get enough.

Han then borrowed more money from Kanjiklub. He's burned both gang's before, Kanjiklub twice. Probably lots of charisma rolls, fast taking, intimidation (on Kanjiklub's part) maybe some sabbacc games. Probably similar in the dealings with GDG.

Han got the rathtars. Everyone involved died but him and Chewie.

Everyone happens to show up at Jakku. Let's not think about why everyone happened to be there that day when there was a giant First Order Star Destroyer in the vicinity with Ben Solo on board too. Basically all the obligations came up all at once.

Han happens to pick up the Millennium Falcon. During this GDG and KK confront Han about the money he's borrowed. These two factions probably hate one another and are incredibly angry that one of their subcontractors is taking money from both of them. He's probably offering a bigger payout than he could possibly offer (see: The Producers). So they decide to put aside their differences and go after Han. He's probably worth a pretty big ransom, right? Friends in the republic government.

Well, that doesn't work out. Partially because Han just made some new friends and partially because this GM doesn't know not to underestimate the insanity of PCs and doesn't know when to say no. So he's got a lifetime of stored up destiny points. First the new player is trying to help. The GM rolls a couple despair and that means the Rathtars are running loose. That's the last time any of this works out for the GM.

Later the gang decides to make a blind hyperspace jump from inside a structure before they've even taken off. The GM allows it. Han cashes in like 50 destiny points and the GM realizes that if he doesn't let this happen that he has to flush the entire adventure and everyone has to make new characters so he creates a hyperspace travel precedent that surely no one in his game will ever exploit again...right?

"Laura, you can't possibly do that."

"Hey, two years ago you let Harry do all these hyperspace shannanigans. Yes, I want to hyperspace jump this ship through their fleet. Are you gonna tell me what dice I need or not?"

...Anyway.....

So a bunch of Guavian Death Gang and Kanjiklub leadership is dead which is going to lead to a power struggle around lieutenants and turf and someone never got their rathtars.

Chewie is going to have to answer for a lot down the road.....

Sorry, something I forgot in the big example.

So, remember that your players aren't criminal masterminds. We all want our games to be Ocean's 11, but really they're more like It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia.

If you need them to break into a place, have some plans for that figured out for them in case they get stumped. You don't have the benefit or writing a script and an audience that can watch it unfold. I think a lot of crime based adventures get bogged down in this problem.

5 hours ago, Typherian said:

You can apparently get into hyperspace anywhere (outside of gravitational pull) pointed in any direction going anywhere. I mean you never see them cruising around looking for the on ramp to the hyperspace lane, right? 

But after we get in hyperspace, suddenly we have to conform to lanes, junctions, and specific known exits that are all patrolled?)

Okay, so you're talking about 3 dimensional travel among moving interstellar bodies.....however all of these bodies move in relation to one another.

Sadly our human experience doesn't completely account for this, but here is the closest approximation we have:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sea_lane

These aren't highways, but one does have to get from one place to another and knowing where the black holes, nebulae, debris clouds and such are is incredibly important.

Alternately....I can go from one side of Denver to the other in a variety of ways. I can take bike paths, I can walk, I can take surface streets, I can take transit, I can take the highways. Each of these ways will bring different challenges and avoid other challenges. Some of them will be faster, some shorter.

So yeah, you can go your own way, but how good are your charts, how good is your astrogation? Is your GPS (Galactic Positioning System) up to date?

Are you using Waze?

Smuggling Examples . . .

This hasn't been a key fixture to my campaign as the PC's are spec for operatives, but their first mission comes about as close as any to a smuggling operation and may work for the purposes of this discussion.

PC's were briefed to proceed to Sulust and to make contact with a deep cover agent. That agent had communicated via dead drop to their contact that they had four recruits who needed to be picked up. The PC's were given the description of the emergency contact for the agent (a local doctor working at Keloresh) and had the name of the Rebel Agent.

The PC's made it to Sulust and the world was under Imperial control with an I-II in orbit. The PC's played nice and requested clearance to land at the Keloresh starport. They were escorted into the system by a pair of TIE Fighters. It was a quiet trip and the PC pilot followed directions.

In the starport at Keloresh, the PC's were approached by a Sulustian customs agent who inquired of their inbound cargo and offered routine ship services. He was a bit perplexed that the PC's came in empty. The Sulustian agent mentions to the PC's that his Imperial counterpart has "wandered off" and that he would be willing to "skip" the inspection phase for a $50 'gratuity.' (In context ISB agents were busy rounding up another suspect and had pulled their staff to make the arrest).

The PC's DID stumble upon the arrest by the ISB, but kept their heads down and kept moving.

They quickly and quietly located the Hospital where the Doctor worked and made some general inquiries. They located the doctor and once in a private exam room asked about the Rebel Agent's identity and location and informed the Doctor that they were part of the Rebel Alliance.

Unfortunately, the Doctor was actually pro Empire and unaware that their friend was a Rebel Spy. The Doctor freaked out and called for security. A fight broke out and the PC's quickly took down the responding Security Agent. They learned that the Rebel Spy was one of the Ambulance drivers and then quietly dispatched the doctor into "early retirement."

The PC's fled the hospital as additional local security agents descended upon the crime scene.

Going to "Plan B," the PC's located their agent and the Ambulance Driver called in for a lengthy leave of absence.

Their Sulustian Contact, then took the PC's to a safe house and introduced the group to the four recruits. Three of the recruits were young and eager Sulustians eager to get off world and to contribute to the Rebel Cause.

The last recruit was a wealthier Sulustian who was also a Rebel Sympathizer. In exchange for passage off world, He had promised to deliver two tones of gold to the Rebellion, but his brother had outed him and stolen the Gold. So, the PC's were asked to steal the gold back . . . Rumor had it that the Brother was planning to "donate" this shipment of precious metal to the Empire for a substantial "Finder's Fee" and was awaiting the arrival of Imperial Agents to broker the deal.

The PC's learned that the Imperial sympathetic Brother was housed in an exclusive side cavern and that location was fairly remote. Further intel from the family indicated that the gold was being stored at that home.

They then started their Ocean's 11 style mission and began procuring cargo speeders and cargo boxing to haul their cargo. They also rented warehouse space so that they could load up the gold into the boxes without anyone observing their subterfuge. Yes the new feeds did report that a certain Ambulance Driver was "wanted for questioning." So the PC's are looking to get off 5 PAX & 2 Tones of cargo.

Part of their plan involved meeting up with the earlier customs agent who agreed to help them load the cargo "off book" for a small contribution. (Done).

And much to my chagrin (as the GM) the PC's then conducted a quick raid in the dead of night on the Imperial Brother's household. It was a haphazard and chaotic fight, but the PC's prevailed, packaged the gold at the warehouse (yes they mislabeled the boxes) and took off to the starport.

With the help of the Sullustian customs agent, they achieved flight clearance and the Empire learned little about the details of the operation. However the Rebel Agent was burned, and the Rebellion lost any contacts that had been developed in Keloresh as the ISB rounded up all of the Sulustian Rebel Agent's associates and friends and rounded up several rebel sympathizers.

I'll check my notes later to see if there are any other "smuggling" missions, but that was Operation Graceful Battery .