I'm running a campaign which I started with the adventure from the GM's Kit involving Bargos the Hutt. My players have done a few jobs for him and every time have gone above and beyond. They're doing their very best to win the Hutts favor and it's working: He likes them and they enjoy working for him.

I would like to honor Star Wars by eventually having this Hutt bring trouble down upon them some way. Bargos has no reason to cut them off suddenly... at least not that they are aware of. But I'd like the old adage "don't get involved with a Hutt" to carry some weight. Any ideas how? Below are some details that might help.

Before I say anything, I feel it's important to note that my players have a great knowledge and passion for the Star Wars universe. Okay. Carry on.

The initial adventure was to bring them 100,000 credits from a mine. In it, the heroes find 160,000 and basically have a moral choice to make: take the 100k to pay to the Hutt and leave the mining community high and dry OR leave them with some of it and negotiate with Bargos on their behalf. They also have the opportunity to keep the extra 60k if they don't mention it to Bargos.

THEY GAVE HIM THE WHOLE FREAKIN LOT OF IT! He was obviously very pleased and released them to pay off their ship upgrade debts to IsoTech industries (que Beyond the Rim Adventure Module)

When the heroes got to Cholganna, the planet where that adventure takes place, they opted NOT to pursue the missing capital ship for IsoTech and INSTEAD kidnap a large captured Nexu from a pair of Trando Big Game Hunters and deliver it to Bargos as a gift.

THEN I ran the adventure in the back of the CB... saying Bargos wants them to kill a pair of smugglers on Formos who work for his rival. That linked into the adventure as written... and instead of killing the smugglers, they poached them from the rival... getting them to agree to a business sit down with Bargos. The heroes then went on to complete the adventure as written and in addition turned over the three crates of Glitterstim to--yup, you guessed it--Bargos the Hutt.

OKAY. So I'm in a tough spot. On the one hand, I'm incredibly impressed with my players loyalty to their employer and as a GM I love to see that. I love to see that they're doing all this work both out of fear and out of their own interests. I don't just wanna throw it away with a stereotypical betrayal. I feel like that would cheapen their work and our sessions so far. HOWEVER, I don't want everything to be paradise forever.

The character of Bargos is written as skinny and poor: A down on his luck Hutt who actually isn't all that bright. I've stayed true to that and in my sessions I've established pretty well that he is very fond of the heroes and all their work. In the campaign, Bargos is somewhat flattered by the blind loyalty and dedication as it is rare in his palace and something he's envied of the other, better known Hutt Crime Lords.

In the game his Majordormo, a Toydarian (can't remember the name--in the GM kit adventure) is actually beginning to double cross him. The heroes noted that he propped up the mine from the adventure but asked the heroes to not report its new status to the Hutt. I'm thinking that the Toydarian has noticed his boss's struggling state and is just setting up a back up business. But that end is pretty much open.

I guess what I'm asking for is ideas on how and why working with this guy would actually come back to bite them--without him just blindly feeding them to his Nexu and without them losing EVERYTHING.

Thoughts, comments, criticism... all welcome. Thanks

Have them form a long-lasting intimate bond with their employer.

Then kill him.

Have his entire business empire be assimilated into a much bigger, stronger Hutt's, that doesn't care for his old rival's business associates at all.

C'est la vie, they shouldn't have put all their eggs in one basket.

Have them form a long-lasting intimate bond with their employer.

Then kill him.

Have his entire business empire be assimilated into a much bigger, stronger Hutt's, that doesn't care for his old rival's business associates at all.

C'est la vie, they shouldn't have put all their eggs in one basket.

Have them form a long-lasting intimate bond with their employer.

Then kill him.

Have his entire business empire be assimilated into a much bigger, stronger Hutt's, that doesn't care for his old rival's business associates at all.

C'est la vie, they shouldn't have put all their eggs in one basket.

Alternatively demonstrate Bargos' incompetence.

Ha! These two ideas reminded me of Joe Pesci's character from Goodfellas. And then it occurred to me that that would be an awesome premise for a campaign, if the players fell for it.

I think I read somewhere that there's a law among Hutts that they don't kill each other. If the PCs are so willing to do Bargos' bidding, I wonder if they would be so bold as to eliminate a rival Hutt on his command. If they do pull it off without getting caught, give them a couple adventures to help Bargos fill that power vacuum and set him up to be a rising star in the cartel. Let both Bargos and the party think they got away with murder. Set the stage for his big promotion (perhaps with a trip to Nar Shaddaa or Nal Hutta). Then, bam. The Hutts settle the score. Bargos is out of the picture and the players have to make it out of Hutt Space alive.

I imagine it could get pretty thrilling if the players took the bait.

Sweet! I like that idea for sure. One thing that comes to mind as I read all of these is this:

Having Bargos killed (perhaps for first killing a fellow Hutt) and his cartel absorbed... then his former Majordormo (the toydarian), now an underling employee of the new Hutt, leaning on the heroes to undermine their new employee and start sort of a internal revolution inside new Hutt's criminal enterprise. Yes yes yes.

That is fantastic. Love it. Thanks guys.

I think anyone who trusts a Hutt probably deserves everything they get...

oh man, that was a great suggestion.

the only other thing i thought of was trying to put them in a moral dilemma. would they have handed the money over as easily if one of them needed it for their family's medical bills? or if they had the opportunity to save a large group of people - but only were able to return 60,000 to the hutt instead of the target 100,000? sometimes you have to set up the tug of war.

but even saying this now, i don't like these options as much as the one already suggested.

just thought i'd throw it out there though, to file away for the future...

I was going to suggest killing the Hutt as well, but make it look like the Crew did it. Now they're on the run.

Check out the WotC module Tempest Feud, or the novelization Scourge, on how to off a Hutt with poison.

I concur, get them in deep with the Hutt, let it be widely known that they are his darlings, then have something happen to the Boss. Watching them scramble to pick up the pieces, especially when all of Bargos' rivals know that the PCs were his most loyal employees should provide a lot of fun. When you lie down with a pig, don't complain about covered in mud come morning...

I dunno, it sounds like the players really enjoy playing as part of this operation, what's the harm in keeping Bargos as their primary employer?

If you did want to shake things up or get rid of Bargos, something that may fit with how you've described the setup (his incompetence, the Toydarian's scheming, etc) would be to give your players the opportunity to take over the cartel themselves. Have more and more flaws appear with how Bargos runs things and provide openings for your players to step in and take charge.

Don't kill him thats too easy plus it seems your players really enjoy working for him.

Maybe how Bargos manages his buisness appears weak and looks like easy prey for local crime lords ..

Maybe Bargos gets too ambitious for his own good and makes some powerful enemies...

Maybe Bargos is down on his luck because he is addicted to something (gambling, spice, etc)?

Maybe rival hutts are paying Bargos's Majordormo to sabatoge the PCs?

Maybe Bargos is force sensitive...(This could lead to all sorts of crazy stuff so maybe not)

Maybe Bargos wants to go on a tour of the galaxy with the PCs as guides?

Maybe Bargos wants to make his own army or join the Rebellion to command some troops?

Hutts are too ambitious and confident for their own good that's the core of the problem with working for them.

If your players are still content with working for him after all that drama and power accumulation then It might be time to kill him. OR Better yet make him an enemy by having rival employees frame the PCs for something that would cause them not only fall out of favor with Bargos but earn his wrath ( which by that point should be quite deadly. Coincidently the PCs would have been the ones to make him that strong to begin with...)

That's my two cents but then again I'm the kind of GM that would let PCs keep a Death Star if they enjoyed it and give them more planets to blow up, or another Death Star to fight, why let the fun stop!

Have someone frame the PCs so that Bargos thinks they've turned on him.

Better yet, just have Bargos turn on them for more prestige/power. He's a hut after all. Him dropping them at the first convenience would really sink in the true mentality of a hutt. And the betrayal will be all the more bitter by how casually he drops them as soon as something better comes along.

I hope the players are planning on double crossing the hutt themselves. The players being the masterminds and the hutt being nothing more than a figure head.

I dunno, it sounds like the players really enjoy playing as part of this operation, what's the harm in keeping Bargos as their primary employer?

If you did want to shake things up or get rid of Bargos, something that may fit with how you've described the setup (his incompetence, the Toydarian's scheming, etc) would be to give your players the opportunity to take over the cartel themselves. Have more and more flaws appear with how Bargos runs things and provide openings for your players to step in and take charge.

I really like this idea--revealing Bargos incompetence especially. However I'm sort of at a loss for ways to do this in a way where the characters are noticing rather than being told by the GM "you notice this."

Don't kill him thats too easy plus it seems your players really enjoy working for him.

Maybe how Bargos manages his buisness appears weak and looks like easy prey for local crime lords ..

Maybe Bargos gets too ambitious for his own good and makes some powerful enemies...

Maybe Bargos is down on his luck because he is addicted to something (gambling, spice, etc)?

Maybe rival hutts are paying Bargos's Majordormo to sabatoge the PCs?

Maybe Bargos is force sensitive...(This could lead to all sorts of crazy stuff so maybe not)

Maybe Bargos wants to go on a tour of the galaxy with the PCs as guides?

Maybe Bargos wants to make his own army or join the Rebellion to command some troops?

Hutts are too ambitious and confident for their own good that's the core of the problem with working for them.

If your players are still content with working for him after all that drama and power accumulation then It might be time to kill him. OR Better yet make him an enemy by having rival employees frame the PCs for something that would cause them not only fall out of favor with Bargos but earn his wrath ( which by that point should be quite deadly. Coincidently the PCs would have been the ones to make him that strong to begin with...)

That's my two cents but then again I'm the kind of GM that would let PCs keep a Death Star if they enjoyed it and give them more planets to blow up, or another Death Star to fight, why let the fun stop!

Lots of good ideas here! Thanks. Me too!! Maybe following ye idea above of making him look weaker will bait them into that...

I hope the players are planning on double crossing the hutt themselves. The players being the masterminds and the hutt being nothing more than a figure head.

Have him lose ground to a rival. Have him attempt a coup on a new world that utterly backfires. Have a smuggler drop his cargo at the first sign of an Imperial cruiser, putting him in serious debt to someone else (or he opts not to punish him too severely, leading to dissension or other smugglers attempting to "lose" cargo for their own profit). Things like that.

Better yet, have another Hutt make an offer the party can't refuse to work with him to take over Bargos's empire. The other Hutt has set the party up to make it look like they have turned on him so if they go to him with it they will still have all this doubt and the relationship will begin to fall apart.

Though I agree that if the party like working with Bargos let them. Eventually, the party will get bigger aspirations or other Hutts will see Bargos as a threat and go after him.

My team was terrible at the mission and only had a few thousand credits left over, most of which ended up going to repairing their ship which was in the single digits of wound points.
I actually wrote a follow up to the adventure and called it Thick skinned: A guide to hutt politics. In which the PC's learn of Bargo's reputation as an idiot and child amongst the other Hutt crime lords. Bargo's wastes any money he got from the PC's in the previous adventure on frivilous things, twilek dancers, glitterstim, spice, entertainers, and his very own pet gundark (cannot afford a rancor yet, suckers eat a bantha a day).
The adventure has Genko reveal himself as more of the brains behind Bargos, but Bargos wants the Hutt who betrayed him (sold him the defunct mine) to pay for Bargo's humiliation. Word has gotten out that Bargos is a soft target for other Hutts to take advantage of and Bargos is getting laughed out of business deals. Bargos (Genko) spent alot of time any money gathering information on a shipment that is going from his rival to another Hutt who is very powerful. Bargos intends to have the players steal the cargo so that he can sell it to the powerful hutt. Bargos offers them 10% of the total profits from this venture. What he doesn`t tell them is that the profit margin for them is very small, he is going to deduct everything he can before calling anything the profits. If they ask he will say that the cargo is worth hundereds of thousands of credits, feel free to let them haggle a bit. There are several hints at the Hutts need for greed, his busted ass ship is barely space worthy he asks the PC's to fix it, for free. Makes the PC's pay for their own bed and lodging once they arrive at the planet.

After that there is a fair bit of PC's trying to survive hutt politics, even a holo-appearance by Jabba. Let hilarity ensue. Then they have to make a plan to steal the goods, Genko has good info but they'll need to come up with a plan on their own. In the end out of the hundred thousand of credits worth of goods Bargos might pay them a few hundred. There is even a bonus section in their for players who go above and beyond for their employer.

In other words if you want to make them break ties with Bargos, or any hutt for that matter, use one of the Hutt's vices to hurt them. Hutt's are notoriously greedy, power mad, and cruel especially if they think they can get away with it. If you want the PC's to resent their employer it's a good way to do it. Have him kill a smuggler or group who failed him while they watch.

I also have this adventure linked to futher adventures through the use of the cargo being transported. Maybe there is some extra cargo that the players find that the Empire and Rebels both want, maybe a Jedi/Sith artifact is in with Bargos rival's stuff. It's a good hook for players later.

Anyways would like to see what you come up with for dealing with your 'extra-loyal' players.

My team was terrible at the mission and only had a few thousand credits left over, most of which ended up going to repairing their ship which was in the single digits of wound points.

I actually wrote a follow up to the adventure and called it Thick skinned: A guide to hutt politics. In which the PC's learn of Bargo's reputation as an idiot and child amongst the other Hutt crime lords. Bargo's wastes any money he got from the PC's in the previous adventure on frivilous things, twilek dancers, glitterstim, spice, entertainers, and his very own pet gundark (cannot afford a rancor yet, suckers eat a bantha a day).

The adventure has Genko reveal himself as more of the brains behind Bargos, but Bargos wants the Hutt who betrayed him (sold him the defunct mine) to pay for Bargo's humiliation. Word has gotten out that Bargos is a soft target for other Hutts to take advantage of and Bargos is getting laughed out of business deals. Bargos (Genko) spent alot of time any money gathering information on a shipment that is going from his rival to another Hutt who is very powerful. Bargos intends to have the players steal the cargo so that he can sell it to the powerful hutt. Bargos offers them 10% of the total profits from this venture. What he doesn`t tell them is that the profit margin for them is very small, he is going to deduct everything he can before calling anything the profits. If they ask he will say that the cargo is worth hundereds of thousands of credits, feel free to let them haggle a bit. There are several hints at the Hutts need for greed, his busted ass ship is barely space worthy he asks the PC's to fix it, for free. Makes the PC's pay for their own bed and lodging once they arrive at the planet.

After that there is a fair bit of PC's trying to survive hutt politics, even a holo-appearance by Jabba. Let hilarity ensue. Then they have to make a plan to steal the goods, Genko has good info but they'll need to come up with a plan on their own. In the end out of the hundred thousand of credits worth of goods Bargos might pay them a few hundred. There is even a bonus section in their for players who go above and beyond for their employer.

In other words if you want to make them break ties with Bargos, or any hutt for that matter, use one of the Hutt's vices to hurt them. Hutt's are notoriously greedy, power mad, and cruel especially if they think they can get away with it. If you want the PC's to resent their employer it's a good way to do it. Have him kill a smuggler or group who failed him while they watch.

I also have this adventure linked to futher adventures through the use of the cargo being transported. Maybe there is some extra cargo that the players find that the Empire and Rebels both want, maybe a Jedi/Sith artifact is in with Bargos rival's stuff. It's a good hook for players later.

Anyways would like to see what you come up with for dealing with your 'extra-loyal' players.

That sounds absolutely awesome! Is there material out there somehwere?

Either way, that sounds awesome.

Here's a few thoughts on the vindictive side of a Hutt:

--The party did a job, but in reality it harmed Bargo in some way. For example (and using one of your stories), taking the entire 160k could be a problem, as someone else was supposed to come by for the other 60k; you now have an unpaid Bounty Hunter or worse, an Imperial Bribe that is no longer there for pickup. This can be seen as a betrayal or as a mark of stupidity on behalf of the party, and sink them fast.

--Lose the cargo somehow. This got Han into some serious trouble when he ditched a cargo instead of getting boarded and caught with Glitterstim.

--More cargo issues! Perhaps the spice they picked up and gave to him had a tracking beacon that just lead a large force to his door. Perhaps the cargo they gave as a gift and/or picked up at his request was poisoned. Maybe there was a device there that copies all of his security measures and sends it to another party. Boom, problems galore!

--Collateral Damage. What if the party went to do a job, and just so happened to damage something prized and/or expensive? How about if they accidentally killed a favored minion?

--Ship "loan". This one is a bit of a jerk thing, but can create an interesting bit of roleplaying. Have the party take a ship to a set location for whatever reason (delivery, the ship is the cargo, it's the only ship with a registered transponder to get to a certain location, the ship will frame someone else, etc). Have something happen to the ship; minor damage, boarded and sacked, stolen, or even committing a an action that he DIDN'T want done (shooting down a TIE, rescuing a party member, etc). Boom, vindictive Hutt, right there.

--Obligation. Use the party's Obligations to your advantage and make them choose between doing their job well or working on the Obligation. Remember, if they ignore the Obligation often enough, it gets worse.

Just saying, because if a party member has an addiction and ends up trading some "excess" cargo for spice, or decides to skim off the top. . .

You could always have false information sent to the group by a rival Hutt lord, that thwarts Bargos. After all, with all the PCs are doing for him, he's beginning to gain some rise in power in the Hutt Cartels. A rival could use that loyalty to their advantage, pitting the group with a false transmission, or alteration in a mission and end up doing something that harms Bargos accidentally... But Bargos doesn't see it that way, in fact he believes he's been double-crossed and comes down hard, with an attempt to make an example out of the group.

Basically, have Bargos send them a message about running a mission for him, like move a shipment and hand it off to a contact - but the thing is, Bargos didn't setup the mission, another Hutt did. The other Hutt actually has the group steal something for Bargos, but don't make it obvious. Maybe their moving arms, or other contraband that Bargos would allow easy access to with all the work they've done for him. Then the group delivers it to another location, or agent of the other Hutt. Obviously this is just a simple idea, you can be more creative if you'd like.

Make the information sliceable, but don't let the group know that it is. If they've got a slicer, they could possibly find a trace of false information; if they believe the ruse and don't think anything is fishy/don't care to slice the transmission, then well your problem is solved. This creates a story revolving around Hutt politics, is believable and gives them way out, if they can find it. But at the same time, they players have no reason to believe they are being double-crossed, as Hutt back-stabbing is fairly subtle.

Bargos may not be so bright, but he probably still has the cunning and paranoia of a Hutt. The party might actually be doing TOO good of a job for him. Bargos probably understands his own limitations and could be worried that the party is far to capable and smart for their own good. He doesn't want them muscling him out of his own operation. Of course, his response to his paranoia will probably be rather transparent, since he's not so clever.

Another possibility: His majordomo, jealous of his boss's affection for the group, could start feeding Bargos these delusional suspicions Wormtongue-style, trying to get the party out of the picture. The characters would find out that the majordomo is responsible for their boss's change in attitude and that he's being manipulated. That way, Bargos can act Hutt-like without being a walking (er, slithering) stereotype, and still remain sympathetic to the characters as the majordomo becomes their #1 enemy. Of course, as others have mentioned, the majordomo could be secretly working for a rival Hutt, and/or have ambitions of his own when it comes to his boss's wealth and holdings. The intricate plot will unfold as the adventure goes on and the web of deceit and betrayal will slowly unravel...

I actually wrote a follow up to the adventure and called it Thick skinned: A guide to hutt politics. In which the PC's learn of Bargo's reputation as an idiot and child amongst the other Hutt crime lords. Bargo's wastes any money he got from the PC's in the previous adventure on frivilous things, twilek dancers, glitterstim, spice, entertainers, and his very own pet gundark (cannot afford a rancor yet, suckers eat a bantha a day).

....I also have this adventure linked to futher adventures through the use of the cargo being transported. Maybe there is some extra cargo that the players find that the Empire and Rebels both want, maybe a Jedi/Sith artifact is in with Bargos rival's stuff. It's a good hook for players later.

Anyways would like to see what you come up with for dealing with your 'extra-loyal' players.

That sounds absolutely awesome! Is there material out there somehwere?

Either way, that sounds awesome.

Now it is:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B-1UZe2YI93mRkR1aWZCYlBLRUE/edit?usp=sharing

Feel free to let me know if you like it. I purposefully made it very open to adaptation. I came up with most the valid plans I could think of that players may take and gave some details related to it. I`m sure players will come up with something. There are also ideas to increase the difficulty for players like tossing in an imperial inspection. The only downside is there is not very much for a space combat oriented player. Ground vehicles there is plenty of room for the pilot however.

You can't get better use out of a beloved NPC than killing it. Fgdsfg nailed it.

If you aren't willing to pull the trigger, I found the "Star Wars Galactic Phrase Book & Travel Guide" by Ben Burtt surprisingly insightful about the attitudes of Hutts concerning anyone who is not a Hutt. I have referred to it for all the Hutts used in our campaigns.

I vote you have your most Presence-heavy character wake up in bed with Bargos' sister! Hilarity ensues!