Due to real life reasons one of my players is moving state. He won't be able to remote into games reliably and due to the actions of the other players in the first session he missed (they took the party ship [his personal YT-2400 at the start of the campaign] and abandoned him on the Wheel to carry the blame for their actions) he's interested in joining ISB.

I'm happy to run him occasional one-to-one sessions as fit into our mutual schedules and things can be fudged to maintain the concurrence of the games.

My question is, if ISB buys him out of his obligation (replacing his share of the party's joint obligation) what support would it be reasonable for them to offer. I'm thinking they will offer a ship and a couple of agents as minders/crew.

What does the Hivemind think? Any suggestions as to what model of ship to give?

What does this former PC have to offer to the ISB? How can the ISB trust him? Has the character secretly been working for the ISB all along? If not, why would they give him a ship and not instead just squeeze every drop of useful information out of him before leaving his rotting in a cell?

There was a story I once heard, the one PC became basically a janitor/mechanic of the ship and the other players were mean to him. The PC put on a fake smile and pretended to be harmless and accept their treatment, but never worked against them in any way. In fact, he kept upgrading their ship for them with new weapons and armor.

Then, when the BBEG was up against the other players in the final battle, near the end he showed up when the players and BBEG were weakened. Instead of coming to their rescue however, he revealed all the one on one sessions with the GM and held up a remote that controlled their ship. He reveals his acts of 'kindness' were the acts that would spell their own doom. He pointed the ship at the BBEG - and the players. He wiped them out and had his vengance.

It would seem very fitting to do something similar. The situation began with the ship, and it will end with it.

6 hours ago, HappyDaze said:

What does this former PC have to offer to the ISB? How can the ISB trust him? Has the character secretly been working for the ISB all along? If not, why would they give him a ship and not instead just squeeze every drop of useful information out of him before leaving his rotting in a cell?

You make up whatever reason fits the purpose of the narrative and keeping your friends playing.

I don't think the specifics ship really matters, something fast but generic so he can travel to many places and not be noticed.

Ultimately, your PC is becoming an NPC, even if the player still plays him from time to time. So really it's all up to you (yeah, I know, not terribly helpful), but what really matters is consistency (the Not-PC travels with the same guys, the ship is the same ship) and slowly building up to his revenge.

2 hours ago, CloudyLemonade92 said:

You make up whatever reason fits the purpose of the narrative and keeping your friends playing.

Or, you simply don't. It's often better to just let a former PC fade away than to artificially inflate their importance to transform them into being a villain.

Ah-HA!

Give the adversary a VT-49 Decimator! That's a right evil ship!

Obviously, an ISB agent of his caliber would need a crew so add THAT. Yeah!

The other thing to throw into the kit is some evil (inc). force powers. Make him a Sith initiate!

Also throw in a couple of ranks of Adversary so the PC's have a harder time dealing with this former crew mate.

Also, go full Mandalorian (The TV Show), and toss in MORE Stormtroopers than the Decimator could POSSIBLY ever hold.

It'll be glorious!

Start the aspiring agent out somewhat small. Don't tell the other players you are even remoting with the player.

He has to convince the ISB to trust him. First they will test him while under a watchful eye. Sending on something that will test his loyalties, but is not an important mission. Use these first tasks as prep for future sessions.

Only after he has earned it will he be let off the leash and given more resources. At first, not much at all, an encrypted comlink and a holdout blaster perhaps. Only later will he get a permanent ship, some NPC crew, a squad of stormtroopers, etc.

Once he's a full-fledge trusted agent, then unleash him on his old friends.

3 hours ago, HappyDaze said:

Or, you simply don't. It's often better to just let a former PC fade away than to artificially inflate their importance to transform them into being a villain.

I don't really see the artificial inflation here. The party dumped him on The Wheel to take the blame for whatever they did. Letting the party get away with that (IMO) will only encourage them to do worse. Showing that their actions have repercussions (in the form of someone seeking revenge on them) is a good way to demonstrate that, since the alternative (playing on their heartstrings over someone they clearly didn't think of as a friend) probably wouldn't have much effect.

1 hour ago, False God said:

I don't really see the artificial inflation here. The party dumped him on The Wheel to take the blame for whatever they did. Letting the party get away with that (IMO) will only encourage them to do worse. Showing that their actions have repercussions (in the form of someone seeking revenge on them) is a good way to demonstrate that, since the alternative (playing on their heartstrings over someone they clearly didn't think of as a friend) probably wouldn't have much effect.

Sure, he can seek revenge, but my verisimilitude gets trashed if the ISB suddenly decide to provide material assistance to an untrustworthy rando on a revenge kick. More likely, vengeful guy can provide the ISB with information that they can act upon with their own reliable assets.

1 hour ago, HappyDaze said:

Sure, he can seek revenge, but my verisimilitude gets trashed if the ISB suddenly decide to provide material assistance to an untrustworthy rando on a revenge kick. More likely, vengeful guy can provide the ISB with information that they can act upon with their own reliable assets.

*shrug* the reasoning of the ISB is not the players to know. It may seem strange that the ISB decided to work with him, but we really don't know what went on, and we don't really need to know. Your verisimilitude is not your character's.

@HappyDaze I agree it would make more sense for the ISB to interrogate him, however that would remove the PC and set NPCs after the players. This way the departing player can continue to contribute to the game and adds a sense of actions having consequences.

I feel that is the PCs have been annoyiong enough that they are going to spend money and assets on them, they would get this guy, and instead tasking him to hunt down the PCs, they would task him with trying to get back in, have him pretend everything is forgiven, use him to just lead the PCs into a well-crafted trap.

2 hours ago, micheldebruyn said:

I feel that is the PCs have been annoyiong enough that they are going to spend money and assets on them, they would get this guy, and instead tasking him to hunt down the PCs, they would task him with trying to get back in, have him pretend everything is forgiven, use him to just lead the PCs into a well-crafted trap.

That would make far more sense to me too, as long as the ISB had some way of exerting leverage (hostages, an implanted bomb, etc.) to ensure the loyalty of their new undercover operative.

Sure the ISB as whole might have issues with taking on the PC as a new recruit, but who knows. Maybe some cavalier young officer with bigger aspirations than brains could form some sort of alliance with an outsider. This new recruit gets to dirty his hands and if things go sideways, the officer could disavow any knowledge of the PC and keep his hands clean.

There are plenty of ways to make it work if you consider the ISB is made up of individuals with their own motives and goals, rather than a collection of cookie cutter personalities.

11 minutes ago, kaosoe said:

Sure the ISB as whole might have issues with taking on the PC as a new recruit, but who knows. Maybe some cavalier young officer with bigger aspirations than brains could form some sort of alliance with an outsider. This new recruit gets to dirty his hands and if things go sideways, the officer could disavow any knowledge of the PC and keep his hands clean.

There are plenty of ways to make it work if you consider the ISB is made up of individuals with their own motives and goals, rather than a collection of cookie cutter personalities.

"Disavow any knowledge and keep his hands clean" fails when there is clear evidence that ISB resources were inappropriately utilized on a rando's revenge plot. If the ISB just releases him after exchanging information and lets him use his own resources on his revenge plot, it might work as a disposable enemy-of-my-enemy approach, but the idea that the ISB provides materiel aid is what strikes me as silly.

Kill off the departing PC, their unwanted son seeks revenge on the party. Just nix the PC.

55 minutes ago, HappyDaze said:

"Disavow any knowledge and keep his hands clean" fails when there is clear evidence that ISB resources were inappropriately utilized on a rando's revenge plot. If the ISB just releases him after exchanging information and lets him use his own resources on his revenge plot, it might work as a disposable enemy-of-my-enemy approach, but the idea that the ISB provides materiel aid is what strikes me as silly.

Fair point, but the Empire is such a monolithic machine of bureaucracy and expense that it's not difficult to imagine some books getting cooked and funds redistributed.

Peeps, this is a space opera RPG. In my opinion, it does need some believability, but it just needs some . It's level of fun is much more important. Make something semi-believable to explain why the ISB eventually accepted the PC. Then have fun.

Just my opinion of course.

2 hours ago, Sturn said:

Peeps, this is a space opera RPG. In my opinion, it does need some believability, but it just needs some . It's level of fun is much more important. Make something semi-believable to explain why the ISB eventually accepted the PC. Then have fun.

Just my opinion of course.

Different people have different opinions on how much they want to emphasize the rule of cool (even if I don't find a lot of what they consider to be cool to actually be cool) over reasonable expectations. If the idea is to have the former PC come back at the rest of the group with ISB backing, the best solution would be to claim that he had always been an ISB deep cover agent and now, with his cover blown (even if the PCs didn't realize they were doing it), he's going after them to burn down loose ends.

3 hours ago, Sturn said:

Peeps, this is a space opera RPG. In my opinion, it does need some believability, but it just needs some . It's level of fun is much more important. Make something semi-believable to explain why the ISB eventually accepted the PC. Then have fun.

Just my opinion of course.

That's ultimately what I was getting at, but you put it more succinctly than I could.

Does the player expect those ISB perks? I'd agree that walk-ins wouldn't get a platinum plan right off the bat.

What if ISB makes him a CI -- you know, one of many, IA 98115054 -- except it's now his quest to slowly and carefully game the system, starting from the small but ambitious field office he's introduced through.

I don't see ISB giving him a uniform and a key to the officer's club, but he could be contacted and recruited on the down low. An ISB handler with resources provided and laundered through shell companies, the exact types of resources probably aren't known by most, if anyone, in the ISB proper for operational security and deniability. The handler has the ability to burn the whole op as well as participants and walk away, and the ISB could simply cross the handler off if necessary and all evidence of the op dies with them. Intel agencies run things like this all the time.

5 hours ago, 2P51 said:

I don't see ISB giving him a uniform and a key to the officer's club, but he could be contacted and recruited on the down low. An ISB handler with resources provided and laundered through shell companies, the exact types of resources probably aren't known by most, if anyone, in the ISB proper for operational security and deniability. The handler has the ability to burn the whole op as well as participants and walk away, and the ISB could simply cross the handler off if necessary and all evidence of the op dies with them. Intel agencies run things like this all the time.

So do many corporate HR departments that I've dealt with, but none of them invest more in randos than they are absolutely sure they're going to get back.

In ops though sometimes giving money and resources to idiots to go do idiot things where you want idiot things done that can be pinned on idiots is exactly the ROI you want.