Watching Rebels and I like the idea of a Hondo like character. A schemer/pirate who works with the PCs but keeps screwing them over.

What are the incentives to keep working with someone so obviously dodgy? Other than credits.

Having something that he couldn't reliable get elsewhere. Maybe he's got an extremely useful list of contacts, a reliable charter of safehouses. Maybe everybody else they could get things from is in league with the local Big Bad. Perhaps he's got too many 'friends' who'd come and make the PC's lives **** if they just gave up and put a blaster bolt through his head. Having a ship in the first place would actually be a good incentive.

33 minutes ago, MrTInce said:

Watching Rebels and I like the idea of a Hondo like character. A schemer/pirate who works with the PCs but keeps screwing them over.

What are the incentives to keep working with someone so obviously dodgy? Other than credits.

BLUF: Don't do it because RPGs are not TV shows.

To be honest, this usually doesn't work in RPGs. In TV, the script can force the protagonists to keep the character around long after anybody in their right mind would have nothing to do with them. In an RPG, particularly one where violent action is so commonly taken, an NPC that takes action to deprive PCs of safety or gear is likely to be met with violence sooner rather than later. If the GM uses the same type of contrivances to keep the NPC around that show up on TV, it's far more likely to annoy players than to entertain them.

1 minute ago, HappyDaze said:

BLUF: Don't do it because RPGs are not TV shows.

To be honest, this usually doesn't work in RPGs. In TV, the script can force the protagonists to keep the character around long after anybody in their right mind would have nothing to do with them. In an RPG, particularly one where violent action is so commonly taken, an NPC that takes action to deprive PCs of safety or gear is likely to be met with violence sooner rather than later. If the GM uses the same type of contrivances to keep the NPC around that show up on TV, it's far more likely to annoy players than to entertain them.

I partially agree. In fact in one of my Old Republic time period games, I introduced Konda who is a distant relative to Hondo. He had information related to an assassination attempt that they were investigating and I left it open to the players how they would gain that information. After an initial disagreement with them fighting some of Konda's goons, the stopped and talked. They left the encounter with a potential contact that they could use for information. He made it clear that he would help when and where he could but he was his own first interest. I'm sure he will be making other showings in future games just because he's a fun NPC to play. He will be helpful (to an extent) but the players know that he has other interests or other reasons for working with them

That being said, I do not see this working as a PC. It will quickly get irritating to the other players if this is a constant thing. It's hard to tell in the OP if he is referring to creating a PC or NPC.

1 hour ago, MrTInce said:

Watching Rebels and I like the idea of a Hondo like character. A schemer/pirate who works with the PCs but keeps screwing them over.

What are the incentives to keep working with someone so obviously dodgy? Other than credits.

First and most important step is make sure the rest of the group is on board with you playing someone that's willing to screw them over. If the rest of the group aren't onboard, you may find this character has a short shelf life, and if you go really overboard, you may find yourself uninvited from future sessions with that group. So if any of the players are not on board with this idea, then jettison it and come up with a different character concept.

Secondly, keep the 'betrayals' minor. Ensure that the betrayals might cause hindrances for the rest of the group, but it shouldn't cause actual harm or completely sabotage whatever it was they were trying to accomplish. For instance, you might negotiate with a crime lord to get yourself a better cut of a deal while making it so that your fellow party members don't get as much of a payout as they thought they'd get.

I'd do some web research and look up instances of Kender PCs (a D&D/Dragonlance race that are best summed up as kleptomaniac halflings) and the trouble those sorts of characters can cause in groups when not played right (which is far more often than not). At it's core, what you're planning to play falls into the realm of a bad Kender PC, especially if you go too far.

Honestly, rather than going for a pure Hondo, I'd suggest limiting the "betrays others" aspect of the character to your adversaries, with only brief and sporadic forays into betraying the other PCs. But again, make sure your fellow players are on board with this, so that even when the minor betrayals pop up between the characters, none of the players will feel personally betrayed.

I should say that I am the GM so it's more of a returning annoyance. I can see how it would annoy the players but I was thinking the players lose out on their target but get a smaller boon in return.

Check out this series and look at how he plays with the reoccurring character of Captain Kompnor(sp).