Hi

I had a thought about creating a Hub world, that the heroes travel to inbetween missions. I was thinking of using a Skirmish playmat like Ancorhead Cantina or a jabbas palace. I already have been using the idea of Spaceship combat to try redrawing side missions. and that is working well. maybe it could be in cooperated.

Though i need some ideas.

this area, will be for purchasing weapons, and xp. (rebel upgrade stage) maybe even re-spec'ing your hero (for a cost) maybe you could do some gambling, (using attribute tests.) to get coin. or maybe even meet and talk to locals, to get certain side missions. or re selecting side missions.

does it have a round limit? could i have enemy encounters? bar fights? stormtroopers storm the place? bounty hunter comes to claim?

any ideas and discussion will be great.

*the idea came to me, when my players were purchasing weapons in my campaign, and a weapon didnt come up for a hero, and they were pretty frustrated. so i said 'you can see this merchant is pretty slow, Diala (the jedi) roll your insight to try a mind trick on the store vendor. how ever many successes, i will draw an additional card. ' ' they rolled 3 successes and then their attitude changed. it was a fun bit of roleplaying and i want to try more of it.

**EDIT** (some ideas collected so far.)

use a Skirmish mat.

it is played Inbetween missions and side missions.

Damage and strain carried over to next mission. no resting to regain strain or health

If use 3 intimidate tests on three different activities. Stormtrooper patrol arrives

ACTIVITIES

- two vendors for items. (Scum,rebel,imperial) maybe more specific cards at the vendors

Drink at the bar.

Regular drink :One strain for 1 power token (dont need to tell the heroes the rewards, but can suggest through roleplay)

Rodian ale : fully strained, gain focus token.

Ask barman for info : insight or strength test.

3-4 success = draw a side mission card

2 success = surge power token

1 success = nothing happens

No success= body guards attack. (Piggies or weequays) damage taken stays to next mission.

Npcs : two npcs on map. Each will draw one side mission.

(Intimidate or insight. 3-4 successes. Redraw side mission card)

Jawa junk dealer: has a few droids with him. If the heroes distract the jawa and use a tech test on on droid.

2-3 successes. Draw two side missions.

Jawa = 5 credits to buy a random supply card. (Intimidate. 2-3 successes get it for free)

This just seems like roleplaying to me, but I do it too. Sometimes when the Rebels suck I kind of... bend the rules for them. A hub world is a unique idea, but I don't know why you would want to make a map for it. They could just imagine it playing out.

Then I kept reading and I saw the part where the Imperials might invade or a bar fight happens. This would be fun to watch played. I just don't know what the penalty would be if they died. You should set up a random encounter system where it's either a cycle, a completely random selection, or a combination of both. This would be used before entering the cantina to see whether it's a friendly encounter or hostile.

It's like in Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga, where between levels you can break all the things in the cantina, but they don't respawn unless you leave the area. Try putting out all the crates and they have 3-6 rounds to:

Talk to Shopkeeper for items.

Talk to Bartender for maybe extra health of some house-rule health/strain benefit.

Collect all the crates and they can bring the items they find to the next round or just get credits for the card if that's what it says to do.

On a regular encounter (where there are no baddies) only give them 3 rounds (the map should be small enough for them to get across in 1 round if need be). On a hostile encounter they have up to 6 rounds to kill the baddies and maybe earn a side mission depending on what they fought or credits or extra items as a reward from the Shopkeeper for protecting his wares. Or maybe the Imperial player gets a disadvantage the next round: 2 fewer threat, can't bring a specific card as an open group, cancels one ongoing Agenda card maybe, something like that.

Cool idea.

I think the key here is not upsetting balance. Ideally, as a minimum, you don't want to take away from what the heroes would otherwise earn. However, I think there are a couple of ways that you can add in some flavor with minimal effect on de-balancing the campaign.

-As you mentioned, you could have a sort of "refresh" of the items available (though, some of the post-JR campaigns wouldn't be a problem with this anyway, since half of an act's items are available for purchase). Maybe as a refresh, the heroes can journey through an enemy infested alleyway, and get rewarded if they make it, or possibly they can pay a small fee to unlock the "under the table items".

- They could make a deal with a shady buyer. For example, this could grant them credits or an item, but it would give the Empire a bit of influence for the trouble.

- DO NOT tinker with XP. Just let that one be.

- Maybe check out the Descent 5e travel cards for more inspiration. This could be stuff like small buffs/debuffs at the start of the next mission (maybe like a player might start with a strain, or a focus condition), small item giveaways, slight threat increases, etc.

This is straight up 100% roleplaying and you should lean into that. Why make it a skirmish map? Why not make it something that they may actually have to deal with in the campaign? Maps for Breaking Point, Wanted, Under Siege, and Incoming are all great choices, and that's just in the Core Box.

I'd say look to the app for ways you can incorporate NPC's to interact with.

Bring in other games for gambling. Have an NPC who offers to play dice or cards, and then when they accept pull out some casual game like Sushi Go or Zombie Dice. Call the Sabacc or Pazaak or Canto Rollers if they demand some token immersion. Or buy the actual sabacc game. I haven't played it so I can't say how good it is, but it does exist.

Enemy encounters and bar fights are great, especially if they provide a sort of prologue to a potential mission.

I would discourage a round limit. That time between missions is supposed to be just that - down time. It's time when they can collect themselves and make decisions about character development for the next big thing, safe in the knowledge that there's no real danger lurking. Until of course there is. Enjoy the moment when they think they are about to have some pleasant down time moment and then realize "Oh wait, he's got the book out. This IS the mission."

2 minutes ago, subtrendy2 said:

- DO NOT tinker with XP. Just let that one be.

I respectfully think you should not tinker with it... at first. You've got a whole canvass here to explore. Don't mess with XP right away. And when you do, be careful.

The game should be a challenge no matter what XP cards the players choose. So if they lose XP, they should (in theory) be okay with it so long as you provide them a pathway to gain it back, you nerf yourself accordingly, and so long as the game is still fun.

If you play the early campaigns strictly by the book, snowballing is highly likely. Even JR, HotE, and ToL, it is merely less likely. So I'd be more wary of giving extra XP than taking XP away. Maybe make a rule where they can earn more than 12XP, but they can't bring more than 12XP on a given mission.

I'll also add that while I discouraged round limits in my initial post, I think the ones you suggested are great, low-stakes ideas. It just depends on how much of a "safe space" you want this place to be.

23 minutes ago, subtrendy2 said:

I think the key here is not upsetting balance. Ideally, as a minimum, you don't want to take away from what the heroes would otherwise earn.

I would argue that you can take away hero earning as long as the balance is kept. If I'm steamrolling as the Imperial, I have been known to edit a mission to assist the rebels. The same is true is the rebels are steamrolling the empire. Nobody likes a lopsided mission, I do what I can to keep it close. Whether that is adding an ally to a mission that otherwise wouldn't have one, or subtracting surges during an attribute test.

From a hub world standpoint, this may be as simple as having the rebels get more or fewer items to potentially purchase. Or changing the tier of item they may purchase.

23 minutes ago, subtrendy2 said:

- DO NOT tinker with XP. Just let that one be. 

We've already seen the XP system tinkered with in a couple of iterations (HotE and ToL). I think as a base rule, XP for each side should be within 1 of each other.

If we're in a hub world, allowing the either team to re-spec in case of a steamroll. Or just letting a particular character make some XP card changes because they're always the first to get wounded or always having to withdraw.

2 hours ago, Pollux85 said:

Why make it a skirmish map?

it was mainly to do with setup time an building with the tiles, with the skimish map there is little to no set up time,

inbetween missions. clear the board, the roll out the skirmish mat. presto hubworld

Thanks, some great ideas

2 hours ago, subtrendy2 said:

- Maybe check out the Descent 5e travel cards for more inspiration. This could be stuff like small buffs/debuffs at the start of the next mission (maybe like a player might start with a strain, or a focus condition), small item giveaways, slight threat increases, etc.

So I had to rush off to a lunch meeting, but I did want to expand on this a little bit. It would be a lighter roleplaying experience than an sandbox tabletop game, but could mesh pretty well with what IA already has available.

This is what a typical travel card in Descent looks like. The heroes follow a map to get to a quest, and must draw one card for each landform they encounter.

So for instance, if they drew this card when they encountered a forest, they'd resolve the "You become lost" condition.

I think stuff like this could really streamline some RP experiences, and still allow you to build on them if you'd like. Consider replacing the landforms with things that the heroes could do in the hub world (for the purposes of this, let's assume it's a Cantina), and they each get one action.

Maybe these are the possibilities for Hub actions:

-Pursue Rumors

- Meet a vendor

- Rendezvous with and informant

- Gamble

-Spy on Imperials

Each category could have its own icon, like the landforms for Descent, and the situations on the cards would reflect what happens. For example, based on a situation from the card above, the "Meet a vendor" option on a card could be:

Quote

This hero tests insight. If they pass, they may draw one crate item card from that deck for use in the next mission.

So there's some room to RP the dialogue there if you want , but it's hardly necessary. The other heroes then take their action, and voila, that's a hub world encounter.

25 minutes ago, subtrendy2 said:

So there's some room to RP the dialogue there if you want , but it's hardly necessary. The other heroes then take their action, and voila, that's a hub world encounter.

thanks man that sounds like a great idea. i like the idea of them bringing stuff into the next mission. (like Drink at the bar, become fully strained for the next mission, but gain a focus token for the next mission.)

i want them to do their shopping, and the Xp purchases in the hub world, and maybe find npcs, that have side missions. or they could persuade or interrogate, to get to re-draw a side mission card.

the imperial player will need some rewards also

On 3/23/2019 at 4:34 AM, Spidey NZ said:

Hi

I had a thought about creating a Hub world, that the heroes travel to inbetween missions. I was thinking of using a Skirmish playmat like Ancorhead Cantina or a jabbas palace. I already have been using the idea of Spaceship combat to try redrawing side missions. and that is working well. maybe it could be in cooperated.

Though i need some ideas.

this area, will be for purchasing weapons, and xp. (rebel upgrade stage) maybe even re-spec'ing your hero (for a cost) maybe you could do some gambling, (using attribute tests.) to get coin. or maybe even meet and talk to locals, to get certain side missions. or re selecting side missions.

does it have a round limit? could i have enemy encounters? bar fights? stormtroopers storm the place? bounty hunter comes to claim?

any ideas and discussion will be great.

*the idea came to me, when my players were purchasing weapons in my campaign, and a weapon didnt come up for a hero, and they were pretty frustrated. so i said 'you can see this merchant is pretty slow, Diala (the jedi) roll your insight to try a mind trick on the store vendor. how ever many successes, i will draw an additional card. ' ' they rolled 3 successes and then their attitude changed. it was a fun bit of roleplaying and i want to try more of it.

Have you been playing Shadows of Brimstone, lately? I kid. It isn't actually a bad idea. One thing I like about the app is that there is a sort of Hub world, as well as missions that are based solely on attribute test, like an impromptu dog fight. I think those kinds of random events, like are in SoB, and which I enjoyed (mostly, if it wasn't getting me killed).

8 hours ago, Spidey NZ said:

thanks man that sounds like a great idea. i like the idea of them bringing stuff into the next mission. (like Drink at the bar, become fully strained for the next mission, but gain a focus token for the next mission.)

i want them to do their shopping, and the Xp purchases in the hub world, and maybe find npcs, that have side missions. or they could persuade or interrogate, to get to re-draw a side mission card.

the imperial player will need some rewards also

Perhaps there could even be an area where the players can change heroes. They'd lose all their XP, so it would be a bad idea to do this late game. If your original hero is getting whaled on by the hordes of the Empire and isn't contributing to the team, early on (like after the first or second mission) the players could swap that hero out for a different one.

Or maybe the Rebels have to help that hero with their side mission first before they join the party and you can play as them.

I like the idea of (de)buffs from the bar. Like the focus with a cost of being fully strained at the start of the next mission.

I personally don't think the Imperial player needs any extra help. I've always thought of the campaign as a game for the heroes and whenever I've played, the Empire does really good and the Rebels barely scrape by, losing the majority of the missions. The Imperial player isn't really supposed to win in my opinion, but if things are getting too easy you could always spice it up a bit. Maybe there will be a random encounter and if the heroes get wounded they go into the next mission wounded or at half health maybe. If they are fully defeated they would either miss the next mission or go into it wounded. What do you think?

8 hours ago, GuillotineTE said:

Perhaps there could even be an area where the players can change heroes. They'd lose all their XP, so it would be a bad idea to do this late game. If your original hero is getting whaled on by the hordes of the Empire and isn't contributing to the team, early on (like after the first or second mission) the players could swap that hero out for a different one.

Or maybe the Rebels have to help that hero with their side mission first before they join the party and you can play as them.

I like the idea of (de)buffs from the bar. Like the focus with a cost of being fully strained at the start of the next mission.

I personally don't think the Imperial player needs any extra help. I've always thought of the campaign as a game for the heroes and whenever I've played, the Empire does really good and the Rebels barely scrape by, losing the majority of the missions. The Imperial player isn't really supposed to win in my opinion, but if things are getting too easy you could always spice it up a bit. Maybe there will be a random encounter and if the heroes get wounded they go into the next mission wounded or at half health maybe. If they are fully defeated they would either miss the next mission or go into it wounded. What do you think?

I wouldn't make a hero lose all XP just for a swap- that'd be pretty game-breaking, especially late campaign.

Maybe you could have a function where the party could hire a new hero for a certain amount of credits.

The new hero would have the party's current XP level, and the old hero's gear (outside of starting items) would stay with the party.

Not sure how much to charge for a new hire, though. Something like 300 credits seems kinda steep at first, but considering how it basically allows for a player to respec whatever hero they'd like with the current campaign situation in mind , it almost feels like 300 isn't close to enough.

A couple other thoughts:

- Maybe a more fair way of rebalancing is to distribute XP like the app does. Hero chooses one 1 XP skill, then one 2 XP skill, and so on until they cannot purchase anything else. The remaining XP can go toward a more standard purchase after the next mission.

- Depends on the playstyle (and how much the Empire will metagame it) but I could also see this being good for when a hero is forced to withdraw. This could be pretty flavorful, but again- if the Empire could effectively cost the Rebels 300-500 credits per hero withdrawn that could really change their strategy. Would probably have to either respec the cost on that, or just not use it for some Imperial players.

On 3/23/2019 at 4:34 AM, Spidey NZ said:

this area, will be for purchasing weapons, and xp. (rebel upgrade stage) maybe even re-spec'ing your hero (for a cost) maybe you could do some gambling, (using attribute tests.) to get coin. or maybe even meet and talk to locals, to get certain side missions. or re selecting side missions.

Have a couple of bounty hunters on the map. The heroes can interact with them. They could pay a certain amount of credits to gain them as an ally for the next mission without increasing the threat. You could even do something like how Obi-Wan hired Han Solo in ANH. The heroes pay X credits before the mission with the promise of paying an extra amount of Y credits after the mission. Then the heroes could decide not to pay the promised Y credits after the mission, but then the imperial player could spawn the bounty hunter for free (or at a threat discount) during an upcoming mission.

For the upgrade stage, have 2 or 3 sellers selling different stuff that the heroes can visit. Maybe it's Saska Teft (should be avaliable ... who plays with her anyway 😉 ), the Alliance "official" trader who will sell random stuff at the price printed on the card. Maybe it's an ex-imperial officer who will sell exclusively imperial tech (you could even but some higher tier weapons in it to have your heroes drooling) but at a higher price than the one printed on the card. Then the heroes can try to lower the price by bargaining with the officer (insight test) or by intimidating him (strength test). Maybe the Imperial officer is standing next to a malfunctioning astromech droid and the heroes can offer to have a look at it in order to help fixing (tech test) resulting in the heroes gaining the officer's trust and hence lowering the cost of the weapons for sell. The discount could be based on how many successes.

Maybe at some point, the heroes hear noises coming from outside the cantina. It appears 2 full squads of stormtroopers led by Kayn Somos are pursuing a Jedi ... could be Ahsoka Tano ... and there is a Grand Inquisitor too! Will the heroes join the fight (in which case if Ahsoka survives, the heroes could earn her as an ally for free or at a lower cost for an upcoming mission) or will they leave the jedi to her own faith? If they decide to fight, during the skirmish, any damage suffered AFTER a hero has been wounded could carry over for the next mission. So joining the fight could have consequences.

Or maybe there are a number of npc to talk to that will determine which side missions the heroes can attempt next (instead of randomly drawing side mission cards)

4 hours ago, IanSolo_FFG said:

Or maybe there are a number of npc to talk to that will determine which side missions the heroes can attempt next (instead of randomly drawing side mission cards)

thanks man, great ideas. the redrawing side missions, or finding secret hero side missions could be fun.

**Edit** some ideas on OP