Below is my first session I have planned out for the group I am with. I wanted to create a back story of how the group came together and started working together. To answer those questions I came up with this session and the start of my own story arc I guess.

So considering how new I am to this feel free to tell me how to improve it or if something needs to be completely removed or added. A lot of the stats I got from comparing ships and minions from the book.

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Space port outside Ryloth

(Read to the group)

As Crix walks into the pub he sees his group was sitting at a corner table, it included the Pilot, a Falleen Doctor, a Trandoshan who is clearly the hired gun, a Tech who would probably blend in if it wasn’t for his obvious discomfort for some unknown reason and his white eyes marking him as a Arkanian Offshoot.

“You all might be wondering why I called you here. Each one of you has a particular set of skills that complement each other. What I am proposing is starting a new crew, a new organization. I am not trying to create something that will draw the attention of the Hutts but I think we can carve a bit out for ourself. Down the line.....? I have the contacts and a line on an few options on a ship for us. Thats it, simply stated.” Crix stated. Looking at the group expecting questions.(/read)

Conversation

(read to the group)

“Well now, we all have an understanding, I have a small fast packet transport at Docking bay 18A that can get us to the junkyard where we can “acquire” a ship to start our little venture. ” - CrIx

As Crix turns around starts for the door with the group behind them three men walk though the Cantina door. The first man raised his arm and shot Crix in the neck with his heavy blaster dropping him to the ground, dead before he hit it.(/read)

Encounter

Thug 1 2 3

Soak 2 2 2

W. Thresh 5 5 5

W. Damage 7 6 6

Crit 3 3 3

Brawl 4 4 4

Conversation (Short)

Looting Cris’s body gets the access codes to the fast packet.

Looting the Thugs will revile that they are connected to the Black Sun (Unsure how yet)

Only option to get off the station is the fast packet.

(Read)

As the group makes their way to the docking bay they hear the local “Law Enforcement” approaching the pub you left. A few minutes of a fast pace walk takes you to Docking bay 18A. The party comes up short when they hear two voices coming from inside the ship.

Voice 1: You know how to slice this **** computer?

Voice 2: Hell no, they didn’t tell me crap about slicing when they gave the contract.

Voice 1: Typical. Lets get out of here, We will have to let the boss know whats up.

The group can hear the first voice trying to contact the group of thugs they just dispatched.

Short Conversation (Make a choice)

Encounter

Thug 1 2

Soak 2 2

W. Thresh 5 5

W. Damage 6 6

Crit 3 3

Brawl 4 4

As the group enter the ship they quickly depart the station and do a fast jump out of the system to smugglers run.

Conversation

-Searching the ship they discover 1000 Credits. 2 Advantage reviels a hidden locker that contains....?

-Slicing the computer they get the coordinates for the junk yard that has the ships Cris was talking about.

-Other things PC’s might do?

(read)

As the ship pulls into the the system with the junk yard the scanner picks up three ships, a mostly intact YV-929 Armed freighter, a Dynamic-Class freighter, and a Barloz-Class Medium freighter in the junk yard. It seems Criss knew what he was about to arrange so many freighters in one spot. As their ship pulled closer to the yard three more ships popped up on the scanner reading as old drone ships from the clone war. The scan showed they were inactive.(/read)

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/YV-929_armed_freighter

Silhouette: 4

Speed: 2

Handling: -2

Fore: -

Port: 1

Starboard: 1

Aft: -

Armor: 4

HT Thresh: 28 (-3)

SS Thresh: 13 (-5)

Hyperdrive: Primary class 3, Backup 10

Navicomputer: Yes

Sensor range: Short

Encumbrance Capacity: 190

Passenger Capacity: 6

Consumables: Three Months

Cost/Rarity: 100,000 (used) Credits/5

Customization Hard Points: 4

Weapons: Two Twin turbolaser turrets (5 damage, Critical 3, Close range), Two destroyed Ion Cannons (3 damage, Critical 2, close range), Two destroyed Triple blasters (6 damage, Critical 3, Close Range), Four severely malfunctioning Concussion Missile Launchers (7 damage, Critical 4, Medium range).

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Dynamic-class_freighter

Silhouette: 4

Speed: 3

Handling: -1

Fore: 1

Port: -

Starboard: -

Aft: 1

Armor: 3

HT Thresh: 22 (-2)

SS Thresh: 15 (-3)

Silhouette: 2

Speed: 4

Handling: +3

Fore: 0

Port: -

Starboard: -

Aft: 0

Armor: 1

HT Thresh: 6

SS Thresh: 8

FIN

At this point hopefully everyone survived and there will be a conversation about the plan of action and their next step.

All help is welcome!

I guess my big question would be: what are the characters like? I've never been a big fan of the " So you all meet in a bar " trope for starting out campaigns. I would tie it into the characters and their backgrounds and work from there. Lets say, for example, you've got a smuggler, a hired gun and a street kid thief.

The smuggler spends his last credit getting his run-down, junkyard ship ship-shaped and spaceworthy. He goes to a bar to celebrate, gets into a fight and thrown in jail for drunk and disorderly. His cell mate, the Hired Gun helps him escape and the smuggler realizes that he needs a co-pilot and the pair ship out together.

The very first run, the pair is picking up cargo and the teenage thief stows away - who then manages to smooth things over at the other end with his silver tongue when the drop goes very wrong, catching the smuggler and gunman off balance - but hey, the kid just earned his passage, so he can stay, and so on.

That's just off the top of my head, obviously you would need to tailor it to your own group. But that's a much more organic method than "I'm hanging around you because you're the other PC".

(Oh, and a cosmetic thing? Red on gray is a stone cold ***** to read. You might want to change font color)

Yeah I'd like to read it, always fun to read others session reports, but not untill you edit the text color to something readable.

(Oh, and a cosmetic thing? Red on gray is a stone cold ***** to read. You might want to change font color)

Yeah I'd like to read it, always fun to read others session reports, but not untill you edit the text color to something readable.

*cringe* Sorry about that.

I was doing the red like the book simply to keep it simple as far as what part was read to the group, When I Copyed and Pasted it to the forum I didn't look over it. Yeah that was a bit painful to look at.

I guess my big question would be: what are the characters like? I've never been a big fan of the " So you all meet in a bar " trope for starting out campaigns. I would tie it into the characters and their backgrounds and work from there. Lets say, for example, you've got a smuggler, a hired gun and a street kid thief.

I am with you on this but I think this is pretty much the only time I plan on starting them off in a bar. I actually dont know the PC's back stories yet. I know a little, what career path and speclization they will have, but not enough where I feel comfterable making part of it up or filling part of it in. I figured the easiest way to get them all at one location is have a 3rd party bring them together to start a crew. Remove the third party and give the group a reason to stay together, be it desire to make money, on the run, debt, laying low, ect ect. I do still agree about meeting at a bar. I am simply not sure where would be better, a wearhouse? Docking bay would simply cut out an encounter and some story.

I do recommend getting some form of backstory. They are so handy to have as a GM, something nice to draw story bits from and to further draw in the players to the story you are going to tell.

Here's a good tool to use for those situations where you are gathering the party but don't feel comfortable riffing on meeting them up. Ever watch those heist movie where the experienced sponsor of the group of thieves bring in the new and up-and-comer? Across every move, the introduction of the team follows the same formula.

1) The newbie meets up with the veteran. At this point the veteran can explain what their mission will be, or he can wait from the party. In either case, the veteran explains why he needs the newbie, usually because of a unique skill that only he possesses or the newbie has a particular contact or set of friends they need to exploit.

2) The veteran will go to various locations to pick up a member (think how the party is formed in "Inception") that show off the unique skill sets of the recruit.

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Ex: The veteran takes the newbie to a swoop bike chop shop where the meet a bothan (Technician, outlaw tech) who is listening to some Rodian opera while working on a bike, sparks fly everywhere as a the torch he is using cuts through a segment of durasteel.

Veteran: "This is Jax. Some say he was born in a speeder. He certainly would rather spend time with his custom bike than with a lady."

Newbie: "What's his skills"

Veteran: "Hey Jax! Show the kid your latest toy"

Jax stands up, walks over to a common air speeder. nothing special about it. He reaches over to the control console and presses a button. The headlights slide over and the barrel of blaster rifles peak out from a hidden compartment.

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This is repeated until all of the party is formed. Usually there is an unexpected addition late in the game. Usually the Veteran knows all the people. But sometimes other party members are recruited because one of the members the veteran knows recommends him.

3) The veteran takes the group to a secluded location that will act as their base of operations (a ship or the basement of a cantina or something), and lay out the plan.

I like the idea of an NPC or even one of your PCs acting as the veteran, and another of your PCs being the newbie. You then go around the table to each of your players and ask them to describe the scene where their character is introduced.

GM: So John, what do they see when they go to find your character?

John: Ok, So you go to a really seedy looking cantina. This place is so filthy a thick layer of grime has covered most of the sign making the place illegible to read. When you walk in, a heavy haze fills the room. The patrons all seem to be into their own drink and no one pays you any mind. The general quiet seems to be broken by a shout of anger. You see a human looming over a sabacc table, he's pointing a blaster at a smug looking Dug. "I promise you Drade! this is the last time you'll ever cheat me again."

The Dug looks up at the human, his snout forming a distinct smile. "You're so bad at this game, I don't need to cheat"

<Cue the Veteran and the Newbie swooping in to help>

The above process repeats until the party is formed. Each player gets to set the tone for his character right off the bat and you didn't have to lift a finger. Just play off of whatever the players tell you.

I recommend a PC act as your veteran introducing all the characters if you plan on killing off the Sponsor. The players need some motivation to stay together and killing off the glue that brought them together isn't a great way to do it.

John: Ok, So you go to a really seedy looking cantina. This place is so filthy a thick layer of grime has covered most of the sign making the place illegible to read. When you walk in, a heavy haze fills the room. The patrons all seem to be into their own drink and no one pays you any mind. The general quiet seems to be broken by a shout of anger. You see a human looming over a sabacc table, he's pointing a blaster at a smug looking Dug. "I promise you Drade! this is the last time you'll ever cheat me again."

John sounds awesome, can he join my group? Seriously, I would kill to have a player that did that.

My john: "I'm 6'2 and weigh around 190 pounds, I'm wearing smuggler clothes and have a blaster pistol, but you can't see it because I'm concealing it."

John: Ok, So you go to a really seedy looking cantina. This place is so filthy a thick layer of grime has covered most of the sign making the place illegible to read. When you walk in, a heavy haze fills the room. The patrons all seem to be into their own drink and no one pays you any mind. The general quiet seems to be broken by a shout of anger. You see a human looming over a sabacc table, he's pointing a blaster at a smug looking Dug. "I promise you Drade! this is the last time you'll ever cheat me again."

John sounds awesome, can he join my group? Seriously, I would kill to have a player that did that.

My john: "I'm 6'2 and weigh around 190 pounds, I'm wearing smuggler clothes and have a blaster pistol, but you can't see it because I'm concealing it."

John's my dream player. Though I have a few players that do this well. If and when I do vignettes like this, I tend to start with those types first. The really good roleplayers will set the standard for the less experienced guys. The idea is that those that tend to eschew roleplaying will want want follow the example that the more experienced players set up.

Also, I apologize for my terrible spelling in my previous post. I had to go back and do some editing.

I was going to say that you should get the players to send you their back stories and disadvantages before planning out your opening game so you can tailor it to their needs, but Kaosoe has so badly trumped anything I was going to say that I'm just going to shut up now. . . .

Here's a good tool to use for those situations where you are gathering the party but don't feel comfortable riffing on meeting them up. Ever watch those heist movie where the experienced sponsor of the group of thieves bring in the new and up-and-comer? Across every move, the introduction of the team follows the same formula.

1) The newbie meets up with the veteran. At this point the veteran can explain what their mission will be, or he can wait from the party. In either case, the veteran explains why he needs the newbie, usually because of a unique skill that only he possesses or the newbie has a particular contact or set of friends they need to exploit.

2) The veteran will go to various locations to pick up a member (think how the party is formed in "Inception") that show off the unique skill sets of the recruit.

The above process repeats until the party is formed. Each player gets to set the tone for his character right off the bat and you didn't have to lift a finger. Just play off of whatever the players tell you.

I recommend a PC act as your veteran introducing all the characters if you plan on killing off the Sponsor. The players need some motivation to stay together and killing off the glue that brought them together isn't a great way to do it.

Ok ok, I think Its clear that I need to rework the start. I do like your idea of them meeting up one at a time. I think I can make that work.

I was going to say that you should get the players to send you their back stories and disadvantages before planning out your opening game so you can tailor it to their needs, but Kaosoe has so badly trumped anything I was going to say that I'm just going to shut up now. . . .

Well I do know a bit of their back story. Not enough to know where I would pick them up at though. I will have to probably ask for more info from each of them to find out more info before the game.