So I just ran "Trouble Brewing" for my roommate's gaming group a couple of hours ago, and I'm still shaking my head at how ridiculously my new players managed to jump the shark. Everything started off more or less normal, with three characters:

Jawa Pilot

Human Assassin

Wookiee Marauder

After the Jawa received an anonymous invitation to visit the cantina (From the infochant; he failed his Streetwise checks to find work but generated advantage) they found J9 in the scrap heap on their way over and managed to learn about W9's plight before the droid died. Then, after meeting with the infochant and deciding to take the Imperial bounty on Dobah the three smugglers entered and began harassing the Rodian woman.

I expected them to jump in when things got physical; maybe the Wookiee would rough a couple of them up and that would be that.

What actually happened:

Jawa: takes up a spot on the bar where he can keep an eye on all three thugs. Okay.

Assassin: rests his slugthrower rifle on the bar so that he can covertly line up a shot on the human harassing the Rodian if things get violent. Uh, sure.

Marauder: draws his sword and stomps towards the man.

Of course the man's associates notice the angry Wookiee bearing down on their boss with a vibrosword and move to intervene, urging "hairy" to sit back down and get back to his drink.

The Wookiee objected to being called "hairy". With a bar stool.

That knocked the lead smuggler on his ass and started combat. At this point the Assassin takes his shot and misses, so a slugthrower round ricochets off the bar and shatters someone's glass (He rolled enough Advantage to avoid collateral damage).

Then the Jawa climbs on top of the bar and in high-pitched Basic shouts "IMPERIAL SECURITY! NOBODY MOVE!"

I told him it would be a Daunting check to convince the crowd he was actually an Imperial spy. He rolled a net Success of 3 and five threat.

I looked my roommate in the eye and said "Everybody panics and the entire cantina slides into chaos as dozens of people jump up from their tables and try to run out at once. Nobody can fire without risking hitting a civilian."

This meant that the Assassin was basically useless, as he was on the opposite end of the cantina, but it gave the Wookiee free reign to gut all three Smugglers with his twin vibroswords. Which he did.

The rest of the session was slightly tamer: while scoping out the smugglers' safehouse the Jawa was pinched by a bounty hunter (His Obligation was triggered earlier in the game) and the Assassin had to come to his rescue, and the remaining smugglers attempted to ambush the crew at their docking bay but were trapped between the twin swords of the Wookiee and the long-range support of the Assassin and fell pretty quickly. Due to time constraints we ended the session right as they made it through Dobah's asteroid and set down next to his ship, having broadcast the passcode to bypass the hideout's defenses and trick the smugglers into thinking they were from the Formos cell. Next session another player will be joining, maybe two (No idea what they'll be playing yet) and once they finish with "Trouble Brewing" we'll jump off into my episodic campaign.

So what ridiculous stories do you guys have to share?

After the Jawa received an anonymous invitation to visit the cantina (From the infochant; he failed his Streetwise checks to find work but generated advantage)

I hope you don't mind a suggestion based on your comment, unless I'm misunderstanding it.

I listened to a Skill Monkey podcast about when not to roll. One of the suggestions is when a roll is required to help move the story forward, there shouldn't be a roll. Sometimes I like the character to roll to see if something special happens so I do a Simple check no negative dice. Allows for dice to be rolled but very little chance of failure.

That was great idea on the Jawa. I probably would of had the bad guys surrender or give up because he got 3 successes on a Daunting difficulty, the 5 threat I would have used to have real Imperials show interest in the party or maybe someone approaches them for help since they are "Imperial Security" and if they don't help their cover would be blown.

His success was "no body move" everyone moving to me isn't a success which he did get 3 successes. It's hard separating each piece of the die rolls, especially if you strictly use the examples in the book because together often they counter each other.

Try to separate each portion of the roll. Ok you succeed what does that mean, now the treat means "x" but doesn't cancel out the success.

For example, I had a Wookie chasing a droid trying to escape to a freighter as the droid was closing the cargo ramp the Wookie tried to jump in (Athletics check), he had 2 successes and a despair. I took the success as he leapt into the ship just before the ramp closed because that was his goal of the skill check, then I applied the Despair as the ramp throw him off balance and he landed awkwardly taking a critical injury.

Just sharing some thoughts, hope you don't mind.

I don't mean to be rude but my inner lore nerd is begging tom come out I just want to state jawas can not speak basic, that is all.

I don't mean to be rude but my inner lore nerd is begging tom come out I just want to state jawas can not speak basic, that is all.

I did not think there is anything that says they "can't" speak basic, and the book states any species can speak basic, its native tongue, and any other language that makes sense.

Maybe the jaws was using a translator CP voice box

I don't mean to be rude but my inner lore nerd is begging tom come out I just want to state jawas can not speak basic, that is all.

Sorry, but canon has at least one Jawa who spoke un-accented basic (http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Akial )

That was great idea on the Jawa. I probably would of had the bad guys surrender or give up because he got 3 successes on a Daunting difficulty, the 5 threat I would have used to have real Imperials show interest in the party or maybe someone approaches them for help since they are "Imperial Security" and if they don't help their cover would be blown.

I would have done the same, to be honest, with 5 Threat. Had his ruse work, with everyone stopping as per the character's demand... but have had his claim get back to real ISB agents, who then begin tracking the characters. Had the player rolled a Despair, I might even have had ISB agents (off-duty) be present at the cantina, though they probably would have maintained their cover until they could tail the characters back to their hideout/ship/etc.

A Jawa shouting "imperial security! nobody move!", awesome! I love it! I think you handled it well, I do somewhat agree archon, but as a first session decision, handled on the fly. I'm impressed. Love it!

I don't mean to be rude but my inner lore nerd is begging tom come out I just want to state jawas can not speak basic, that is all.

Sorry, but canon has at least one Jawa who spoke un-accented basic (http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Akial )

Welcome to star wars canon.

I don't mean to be rude but my inner lore nerd is begging tom come out I just want to state jawas can not speak basic, that is all.

Sorry, but canon has at least one Jawa who spoke un-accented basic (http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Akial )

Yeah, which completely contradicted the lore, from what I've read... I like that Jawas only speak Jawa... They're like tiny cloaked wookies in that aspect.

My Jawas have always spoken in British accents. And worn monocles. And sipped wine from the most extravagant of cups.

Furthermore, when travelling, they don sparkly robes, like so:

I don't mean to be rude but my inner lore nerd is begging tom come out I just want to state jawas can not speak basic, that is all.

I did not think there is anything that says they "can't" speak basic, and the book states any species can speak basic, its native tongue, and any other language that makes sense.

Maybe the jaws was using a translator CP voice box

I was just thinking how funny it would be to hear the squeaky voice of the Jawa saying they are an imperial with an accent, or better yet a deep voice interpretation coming from the Jawa's translator box. Either way it would have been entertaining.

and the book states any species can speak basic

It does? I'm pretty sure that is not what I read...

LMAO. On 3 threat, I might have had stormtroopers / Imp security actually show up, but I've been known to be slightly cruel.

I've actually got mine recorded for posterity, since I run a MapTool game:

http://www.obsidianportal.com/campaign/tales-from-the-outer-rim/wikis/long-arm-of-the-hutt-session-13

The event in question involved the party's smuggler/face trying to bluff Teemo into thinking he wanted to join the gang - a big lie, with BIG consequences for failure. Now Hutt crime lords have Nobody's Fool 3, and Discipline 5, so I ruled that Vale was rolling against 5 challenge... and the lucky SOB came up with 4 blanks on the challenge dice (for a grand total of 1 suc 1 adv). Gave the party time to do what they were there to do.

I'm currently running Long arm of the Hutt. At the spaceport my party didn't gun down Trex but the silver-tongued Bothan Politco convinced him they were associates of Teemo and there is a crisis happening and we must leave right now.

The ship is tailed by a couple of TIE fighter which gets shot down. Things cools down but the party leaves Trex alone in cockpit without supervision. Oops. Yo, Boss, whats happening? Nuthin happing? These jokers offended you?

Trex tries to make a deal with the Shistavanen Bounty Hunter who is unknown to Teemo about catching and splitting the bounty on the rest of the party. Wolfboy pretends to go along but turns on Trex. A big shootout starts. The party is in bad shape because they had another shootout with several Stormtroopers. Trex gets lucky, rolls a Triumph, remembers the Stun Grenades in his pocket. One Stun grenade later the whole party is down.

The party wakes up in Trex's holding cells. Escape proof holding cells. The Outlaw Tech wants to make an attempt using his belt buckle. Two yellow dice plus one green against 5 difficulty dice plus a couple of setback dice (forgot to upgrade to some challenge dice). 1 success, no Threat.

The party is out. A new shootout. Trex barricades himself in the cockpit. The Outlaw Tech tries to get him by slicing the life support to the cockpit. Trex thwarts him. The Outlaw Tech cuts the electricity and closes the airvalves to cockpit. A few hours later when Trex is sluggish and groggy from the cold and bad air he gets executed by Bothan Politico. The adventure is finally back on track and can be continued.

and the book states any species can speak basic

It does? I'm pretty sure that is not what I read...

Yeah, just checked. It doesn't... It states that eventhough people/other races might not speak the same language that it is agreed upon everyone within a party understands each other.

and the book states any species can speak basic

It does? I'm pretty sure that is not what I read...

I don't mean to be rude but my inner lore nerd is begging tom come out I just want to state jawas can not speak basic, that is all.

Sorry, but canon has at least one Jawa who spoke un-accented basic (http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Akial )

Yeah, which completely contradicted the lore, from what I've read... I like that Jawas only speak Jawa... They're like tiny cloaked wookies in that aspect.

I have several reasons why it makes no sense that Jawas could speak basic.The existence of Jawa trade language ( http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Jawa_Trade_language) suggests they could not pronounce basic otherwise why not negotiate with Unlce Owen in basic during Ep. 4. Also since Tusken raiders can not pronounce basic it would sense that Jawas could not as they are descended from the same species. Also the living force campaign that Akial was from was very under researched and sometimes un star wars in my opinion, the cularin system it takes place in experience a "time warp" for crying out loud!

I don't mean to be rude but my inner lore nerd is begging tom come out I just want to state jawas can not speak basic, that is all.

Sorry, but canon has at least one Jawa who spoke un-accented basic (http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Akial )

Yeah, which completely contradicted the lore, from what I've read... I like that Jawas only speak Jawa... They're like tiny cloaked wookies in that aspect.

I have several reasons why it makes no sense that Jawas could speak basic.The existence of Jawa trade language ( http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Jawa_Trade_language) suggests they could not pronounce basic otherwise why not negotiate with Unlce Owen in basic during Ep. 4. Also since Tusken raiders can not pronounce basic it would sense that Jawas could not as they are descended from the same species.

Well, Wookies aren't suppose to speak basic either because of their voice box. However, certain Wookies can because they have a speak impediment.

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Ralrracheen

Does it matter? I mean... Dudes, it's a game in a fantasy world. If jawas can or cannot speak basic is completely up to GM, story, plot and what is most fitting and fun. "Lore" can go take hike if it ruins my game, particularly minutiae of no real importance, like jawas' ability to speak basic or not. They could just be real speciesist and not normally speak or respond to inquiries in basic...

I just was throwing a statement out there didn't mean to cause a stir, personally I try and keep everything as canon as possible and the majority of the players in my group agree with this. That is just how we play I know others feel differently about this.

Well, Wookies aren't suppose to speak basic either because of their voice box. However, certain Wookies can because they have a speak impediment.

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Ralrracheen

*sigh*

Much as I like to go on about how great the Thrawn Trilogy is, this was certainly not it's finest hour. Dumb ideas are dumb.

Anyway. I don't see what the hubub about basic is. So maybe a jawa would shout in non-basic, and everyone would understand it. Done.

and the book states any species can speak basic

It does? I'm pretty sure that is not what I read...

Then you should read the sidebar on page 45 that states languages in the game are not designed to be a barrier. And every character is fluent in any language spoken by any other group member and that language comprehension should never hamper the story.

I did. It doesn't mean anyone can speak basic though.

It actually states quite the opposite.

and the book states any species can speak basic

It does? I'm pretty sure that is not what I read...

Then you should read the sidebar on page 45 that states languages in the game are not designed to be a barrier. And every character is fluent in any language spoken by any other group member and that language comprehension should never hamper the story.

Do you mean inter-party language comprehension? Because even in FFG's materials (Long Arm of the Hutt), there's a challenge based around the players not understanding Trandoshan. It's small, yes, and I'll agree that language comprehension issues shouldn't run your campaign into the ground, but I don't think that's necessarily cause for not really bothering with languages at all.

In the case of Jawas and Wookies, it's totally up to the group how they want to play it (heck, you could just say that they start with translator boxes), but I could see a lot of fun being had by one player serving as the translator, a la Han Solo.

Well, wookiepedia states that Jawas can't pronounce basic, but they cite no source for this statement - and as we all know, the canonicity of wookiepedia is sometimes questionable. Hence, as far as that source goes, its just an assumption, and is not canon or "lore" anymore than the appearances of a Jawa that can speak Basic is, or isn't.

I prefer my speciesism angle, they just hate outlanders so much they won't speak their language, despite their need to trade.

In a wrestling match who would win? An Ewok or a Jawa?