Story Time: Veteran Gamers vs. The Long Arm of the Hutt... The Secret War Against Teemo

I’m running The Long Arm of the Hutt for my group of veteran D&D 3.5 players, and thus far it has been a blast. It has been pushing my skills with this system and ability to improvise. One note about the team: There are 5 players, but between all the real-life stuff middle-aged adults have going on, I run even if I only have 3 players. I manage this by treating individual characters as more part of a gestalt. For example, if a PC angers an NPC and then the player isn’t around the next session, that NPC is still angry at the group, in general. It also helps since my players didn’t all want to continue with the pregens, I let them build new characters mid-module without affecting the story.

The team progressed through the starter adventure and Acts 1 and 2 of the Long Arm of the Hutt with some sidetracking, but generally didn’t need much railroading. The one challenge is none of the team has a presence over 2 and they zero ranks in social skills. Despite some hints and help from me and some overly-helpful NPCs, they have missed significant plot points that would lead to being able to have a resolution with Teemo that involves clever words or blackmail. While there might be one more change for them to find things out from Teemo’s communications center, they have gone truly off the rails upon arrival at Mos Shutta .

They planned their attack on Teemo knowing they wanted to clear the bounty on their heads the only way they know how, by killing the source of the bounty and hopefully not getting caught. However, they are convinced a frontal assault would be a TPK and know they can't talk their way past even a drunken gamorrean.

Landing 2km south of the mesa, the Advent Ascension (renamed and transponder altered from Krayt Fang) is parked in a hidden spot off camera, as it were. The group then decides to scale the 100m rock face to sneak into Shantytown that night. From there, they begin a nighttime campaign of eliminating Teemo’s guards on their patrols and start a misinformation campaign trying to blame a rival Hutt for the deeds (perhaps Bargo the Hutt is looking to move in on Teemo’s turf. )

After a series of smart decisions by the players and bad rolls by Thweek (Teemo’s spy who was sent to see what was going on), the campaign seems to be working. There has also been some hijinks involving Lowrick wanting to cuddle with a drunk and another player leaving a gamorrean’s leg where it can be possibly connected to the wookie. Other than that, Teemo’s forces have nothing to work with OTHER than the rumors that are being placed. As far as Teemo is concerned, the insurgency is possibly Bargo’s mercs or a serial killing wookie, not necessarily connected to the scum that escaped his wrath a week before.

Since the team is about to start their third day of doing this, I can pretty much throw away the rest of the Module other than the maps as no sane Hutt would keep his defenses so light and Palace so open as they are presented there.

I’ve been keeping a count of forces in town and how many have been eliminated. Now I have to make some decisions about Teemo himself.

Will he call for aid? What kind?

At what threshold of threat would he panic and leave?

Just how much “fun” do I have with building this up vs. just letting this end and moving on to the next adventure? Do I just them them whittle down the forces and go for the kill?

I HAVE SO MANY IDEAS!

Teemo could call in the Imperial Lieutenant and his platoon, which would be a callback to the beginner box. I’m not loving that Imperial entanglement, but it might be his last resort if he lives that long.

He’s been constructing battle droids, which is a plot point the players are totally unaware of!

Mercenaries arrive to protect the palace and then are redeployed to go after Bargo if the players keep up their disinformation campaign.

The Gand Bounty Hunter from Geonosis comes looking for them, still after the $50K bounty.

I have to admit, my group is going about this so entertainingly and strategically, I almost want them to be able to take over the town. That might not make story sense though since this is Tatooine and Teemo is related to Jabba.

I think Teemo would notice his forces getting smaller and either bunker down or get a lot more help, like you say he is related to Jabba. Maybe have it so that you have their ship found and stolen and they lose their base.

What happened with Trex the trandoshan?

Trex, ummm, fell out of the Krayt Fang somewhere just below in the stratosphere. These guys don't like leaving evidence behind.

As for Teemo, I'm tracking what is basically a variable threat meter. A few dead guards are nothing to him. His Senchal wouldn't even bother him with that information. However, that second night of murder and the rumors that have now started will cause him to find out something is afoot and then act. I'm working out a schedule for when reinforcements might be called and when they would arrive depending on the situation. If the crew strikes before the reinforcements arrive, good on them!

I'm also playing with the idea of expanding the battle droid subplot. I mean, the town has a Slagworks, why not a hidden factory underneath the plateau? Maybe not making actual combat droids, since he wouldn't keep that so close to his home, but some essential generic parts?

Sounds good!