New Adventure Heist! GM tips please

By GhostDS, in Game Masters

Hi guys, I recently just got into SWFFG RPG and I've been loving the story campaign creation and learning about all the small details to not look over rules in game. Anyway, I am planning on doing a Mag-train Heist similar to the Star Wars Solo Movie Train Heist as that was what inspired the adventure. Not only that, classic western movies have used this for outlaws and deplorables for years. So here is the the general layout of the adventure. I still have lost of ideas floating around that I need to work in but any tips or suggestions to enhance the adventure is greatly appreciated. To be honest I actually pulled a lot of the idea from another GM starting at "The Train" heading so credit where it's due thanks unknown GM!

Episode?: Midnight Mag-T rain Heist

Meet Ran Starrover and plan heist.

Your contact informs you that you will have to rob a mag train on the planet of Bracca. Bracca was a poor Mid Rim world dominated by rocky plains. Large swathes of the planet's surface were comprised of junkyards, with countless decommissioned starships and other machinery spread haphazardly, awaiting destruction. It was orbited by one moon. Given the generally inhospitable nature of the world, the majority of its population was comprised of s crappers , who made their living breaking down and selling the trash left on the world.

Bracca's surface was crisscrossed by high-speed transport trains that delivered supplies from the scrapyards to the spaceports, where they would then head to the core worlds. The average shipment would pass through twenty-five checkpoints before reaching its final destination. It is heavily occupied by imperial forces but your contact says he has an inside man that can help you make it to the surface unnoticed. The hard part will be making it out unnoticed.

THE TRAIN -

The train is a high speed mag-train that travels from City A to City B, a four hour journey. There are several stops along the way at smaller outposts where passengers and cargo are loaded.

The train is configured so:

Engine - cargo car - cargo car - dining car - passenger car - passenger car - passenger car - lounge car

The target crates are in the second cargo car, unguarded, save for a conductor doing paperwork at a terminal at the other end of the car. There are 110 civilian passengers on-board scattered throughout the train, 20 crew members (engineers, porters, conductors and so on), 12 imperials of various stripes, one imperial officer and 12 stormtroopers- two with the officer, 10 guarding a completely unrelated cargo in the first cargo car.

HOW TO BOOST THE CARGO?

* Uncouple the cars behind it

The team might remove most of the imperial entanglements by simply detaching the cargo from the rest of the train. That might take get the 100+ passengers out of the line of fire and cut the Imperials on board by half, but it does nothing for the significant force in cargo car 1. It also doesn't stop the detached imperials from calling in reinforcements when they figure out something has gone wrong

* Hijack the entire train

At one of the stops along the route, the team might sneak into various key positions on the train, take out certain personnel and highjack the train. It could be interesting, if no one has the technical aptitude to actually operate the engine.

* Steal the train car with the ship

This would require precision flying and coordination on the train, but the team could employ a heavy lifter or their ship (if it's capable of lifting enough mass) and simply steal the entire car. Not a very subtle method, but effective. There are long stretches of open railway where a team could attempt this high risk stunt, peppered with dramatically appropriate landmarks and tunnels.

* Steal the cargo with the train in motion

A simpler variant on the above method would be hiring a speeder truck, pace the train and transfer the cargo. This is more subtle than stealing the car, but it requires longer to actually steal the goods. No doubt that an Imperial will stick their nose into the car at just the wrong moment. Plus - lots of skilled driving checks.

* Brute force

Possibly the most risky approach - simply pull out the blasters and start gunning the imperials down. Civilians might be injured in the exchange, and while they'll have the element of surprise on their side, if one part of the attack goes slowly, the rest of the Imperials will fortify their positions making stealing the cargo more difficult.

* Sleeping gas

The avenue that will offer the least resistance, but require the most set up: pumping some kind of knock-out gas into the train, incapacitating the Imperials aboard. This would require acquiring the gas, sneaking onto the train before the cargo and passengers are loaded, installing the delivery system undetected and then deploying the gas mid-trip. Also, the Stormtroopers have filters that may or may not keep them safe. A fight may ensue anyway).

GETTING AWAY -

Depending on how they pull the heist, there might be an exciting escaping with the guns. The Empire had some speeder bikes nearby and now chase the repulsor truck or there was a TIE patrol nearby and the team now gets to dogfight with a cargo car strapped to the bottom of their ship.

COMPLICATIONS -

The cargo was indeed munitions and supplies, but one of the crates also contains medicine critical to treat Conklin's Fever, a disease that's hit a small mining town along the train route. The cargo - or at least that portion of it - was scheduled for delivery - and now innocent people will suffer and die because the team stole their medicine.

Well, crap - now what?

NOW WHAT?

* Proceed with the deal as planned

Give all the crates to The General. Obviously this is the most cold-hearted option to take, but the team receives full payment and kudos from the General with no complications.

* Return the medicine, deliver the weapons

This is probably the most optimal solution all around. The villagers get the supplies they desperately need, The General gets his weapons, and the team still gets partial payment. The problem, of course, is how to get the supplies back to the villagers without them instantly fingering them for the bandits?

* Deliver nothing to The General, give it all to the villagers

Shockingly noble, and the villagers would be grateful for the weapons - but they will have made a powerful enemy and they dont get paid.

* Keep everything, sell it all later

This option will provide maximum profit but maximum screwing for everyone but the team. The blood of dead civilians will be on their hands and a powerful enemy will be at their backs - but they could make some sweet, sweet money doing so.

DELIVERING THE GUNS -

Knowing the type of person The General is, odds of a double cross at the exchange of weapons are probably extremely high. This means that they should devise a way of bringing him the stolen weapons without him being stabbed in the back.

Any precautions should do - simply hiding the deliver out in the wilderness, riding into the General's compound and exchanging payment for cargo location would work. This would work especially well if they do it in several stages, with the cargo in multiple hidden locations.

The team could also simply roll into the Generals compound with a show of strength and firepower, making the exchange with brute force. Lastly, they could go through a third party to make the exchange, an underworld Escrow, if you will.

DELIVERING THE MEDICINE -

The team could simply roll into the town with a show of force, drop off the medicine in the town square and leave before someone could come catch them and/or stop them.

They could leave the cargo in the nearby wilderness and radio the town that their goods are nearby and to pick it up.

Lastly, they could be charming and diplomatic, roll into town with their hats in their hands saying "We didn't know it was medicine, sorry". The villagers still might take it the wrong way or be impressed enough that the bandits did the right thing that they let them go - depending on the tragedy or triumph rolled.

HEROIC VARIANT -

The players deliver the entire cargo to the villagers, guns and medicine, and inspire them to stand up to The General. Use the new arms, take the fight to him, and deal with his marauding ways once and for all.

EVIL GM VARIANT -

Remove the ambiguity of the guns from the equation and make the cargo consist of nothing but strictly humanitarian supplies. The players now have the choice of who gets the cargo. Do they screw the civilians by giving the General the supplies or return the medicine and make a powerful enemy?

As this forum is gonna close tomorrow, I'd recommend you repost it at one of the successors.

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