Help me piece together my next Star Wars adventure? [SWSE]

[treebeard25]

Hello all,

I'm having trouble putting together my next adventure for a Star Wars Saga Edition game I'm running, and I was hoping the internet might help me work through it...

Here's what I've got so far. I want the focus of the adventure to be about the corruption and militarization of local government under the early rule of empire. I want what starts as an entirely innocent task (the heroes will be contacting a history buff to appraise the mcguffin they discovered in their last adventure) to lead into the party stumbling upon a corruption scandal in the works. Essentially, the Empire wants to establish a major military outpost on the planet, but the current government isn't enthusiastic about the idea. So the Empire found an individual who IS accommodating to the idea, and plans to put that individual into power.

I've got the set-up of this adventure pretty well envisioned. Everything's going just dandy, they bring their artifact to the history buff, he says I'll need to run some tests and do some research but I'll get back to you tomorrow. In the meantime, the party gets some free time to go shopping around the town (they've got a bunch of money to spend from their last mission and haven't had a chance to visit a major city in a while) and then suddenly, when they least expect it... something... happens... This is where I'm starting to run into some writer's block.

The idea I've been going off of so far has been that the PCs have a chance encounter with a scoundrel in distress while in the market (he's cornered by thugs or something.) He's dead broke, so after the PCs save him, since he can't offer them money, he offers to share the loot in a heist he's planning, which just so happens to be against the Empire's soon-to-be puppet. (maybe the scoundrel somehow found out about a massive payoff this guy is getting to allow the empire's new base, and plans to steal it.) But I don't really know where to go from there. Not to mention getting my PCs to commit to this heist might be a tough sell, I don't think they'd rob from this guy unless it's already established that he's a bad guy.

So anyway, I guess I'm just hoping people will maybe throw some random ideas at me.

Other information that might help you get inspiration to inspire me:


Most of the characters pretty much have the classic Han Solo mentality. They're no friend of the Empire, but they aren't going to stick their neck out for someone else unless they're given good reason too. (With that said though, they aren't the completely merciless/amoral type of scoundrels either.)
It's been a while since we've had a good starship battle, so I'm hoping to build one of those in at some point along the way.
My players tend to gravitate more towards blowing stuff up, rather than nuanced persuasion/deception checks and roleplaying in general, but I do still try to keep it varied.
The players are still pretty new to the game, and they're still a pretty low level. worth keeping in mind.
Feel free to throw ideas going completely in another direction at me. I'm really just looking for some inspiration right now, anything helps!


Thanks friends!

[Pleh]

I feel like one of the things you might be struggling with is not having enough information set up to inform yourself about what to expect in this world you're building. Let me ask you some questions and see if it doesn't knock something loose for you.

We already have the When answered: during the early days of the Empire.

We already have the What question answered: you want a story of Galactic Intrigue with espionage and car chases. Even though the players tend to use the James Bond/Commander Shepherd/Vault Hunter tactics for their "espionage" and "diplomacy," you still want to set it up right. I would try to think of it like wrapping a present. It isn't meant to be hard to open and they aren't meant to feel bad for ruining something delicate, but to have fun opening it in whatever way they see fit.

Question 1: Where?
Half the fun of Star Wars is the locations, both the nostalgia of visiting familiar places and the excitement of discovering new places. The Early Days of the Empire operate under a rather particular set of rules, though, so you need to be a little careful in choosing where all this stuff is supposed to be taking place.


Why is the Empire trying to be underhanded when their typical policy is already to do what they want through force? (Seriously, some planets in the early formation of the Empire had bloody conflicts when they tried to opt out of the system when it converted from Republic to Empire)
By what methods are the planetary governments preventing the dictatorial Empire from putting a military installation on their planet, wherever they would like?
The heroes came to get their artifact appraised. Most of the big academies and advanced knowledge tends to be deeper in the richer, more affluent Core Worlds, where the Empire's hold is always the strongest. What is so special about this planet that it has an independent academy somewhere deep in the Mid to Outer Rim (or even the Unknown Regions) with an expert who can identify the relic?
What else is going on here? What kinds of business or trade is the planet known for? What is their black market like? The people you pass on the street in their daily lives: what are they coming and going to be doing? On Bespin, it would be Gas Mining. On Tatooine, Moisture Farmers, Hunters, and Scum and Villainy. On Naboo, Fisherman, Merchants, Bankers, and Politicians (etc).


Question 2: Who? When you're running a story about intrigue, you gotta dot the I's and cross the T's on your political motivations and that means digging at least a few feet on each primary character to figure out what stakes they have at the table.


Who is currently running the show around here (that the Empire wants to depose)? What's their angle and their leverage? What's stopping or dissuading the Empire from simply defying this individual and doing what they want?
What is their race? Are they native to the planet? Any Heroic Levels?
What about the Puppet Governor? Probably either Human (because the Empire is racist) and/or a native (because the Empire is exploitative). Who are they besides an Imperial Sympathizer and pawn? What are their interests and side hobbies? Where did they make their money, Imperial Favors or through personal business? Was the business legitimate or off the record? Ethical or exploitative?
Who is SiD (Scoundrel in Distress)? What's his story, how did he come to be here, and what is his job?
What about the Academy Appraiser? Native or did they move here for their job? How involved in politics are they? How involved in the criminal network are they? How involved in the early movements of the Rebellion are they? What secrets, if any, are they hiding while operating in their profession?


In answering the question of "why," we need to go a little deeper. The truth is that you REALLY want to sic the party on this puppet governor figure, but since its an Intrigue scenario, you're looking to be a bit less direct about it. This is the function SiD provides: an indirect tie-in with the plot. Now, you have a reliable bait laid out: there is an active combat where a sympathetic figure is in need of assistance. That will almost certainly work in drawing the Party to meet SiD. What is less certain is exactly how SiD could convince them to assist further in the bigger goal.

You see, volunteering to spontaneously win a combat to rescue SiD is an easy choice for a bunch of trigger happy well meaning mercs. In that moment, you are reacting to someone else instigating something that is clearly wrong. Joining SiD on the heist is asking them to become the instigators that could be then likewise attacked. What you want is to make it feel more like following SiD is their own original idea rather than a favor to help SiD.

I would suggest being ever so slightly more duplicitous with SiD. Maybe SiD thanks the heroes for their help, but tells them there won't be any compensation until SiD finishes the contract they've been hired to complete. Play your cards right and they might feel inclined to help SiD finish the contract (I mean, we are stuck in town til the appraiser is finished anyway). SiD is trying to "make a delivery" at this one address (belonging to Puppet Governor) and SiD is being hounded by some former coworkers who wanted to steal the data chip instead of delivering it.

The heroes might sense the lie and roll Perception to catch it. If they succeed, SiD confesses that they are actually smuggling (delivering illegal contraband), which is why SiD couldn't call the police to help when attacked in the street.

Hopefully at this point, SiD will have convinced the party to do the only truly important thing: trespass on the Puppet Governor's property.

Bonus points if you have SiD betray the party, turns out it was a Heist after all, not a Smuggling operation. ("Hey, I *AM* delivering contraband. I just needed help picking the package up before I could deliver it...." and the Data Chip was actually a security slicer to help retrieve the illicit goods) Then SiD flees with the stolen goods and leaves the heroes to face the authorities for breaking/entering and theft.

You want to add a Starship battle, but something often overlooked in Star Wars is the Airspeeder/Speeder Bike scenes (like the Swoop Bikes on Endor in RotJ). Basically run a car chase through the city streets with flying cars/motorbikes, shooting at police and trying to lose the chase.

Bonus points if they fly through the museum to shake the tail.

[redwizard007]

Bonus points if you have SiD betray the party, turns out it was a Heist after all, not a Smuggling operation. ("Hey, I *AM* delivering contraband. I just needed help picking the package up before I could deliver it...." and the Data Chip was actually a security slicer to help retrieve the illicit goods) Then SiD flees with the stolen goods and leaves the heroes to face the authorities for breaking/entering and theft.

I was 100% on board up to this point. As tempting as this is, you need to be very careful with NPCs betraying the PCs. It is very easy for this sort of thing to result in OOC saltiness, and PCs not trusting any NPC ever again. Having said that, done well it can create a Solo/Fett rivalry or even a Solo/Calrisian friendship.

If your players are new to TTRPGs, or to playing with you as GM, a small betrayal is as far as I would go early in a campaign. You are building trust at this stage. Even with a small betrayal, plant seeds of doubt in the RiD early on. Ask for Sense Motive checks or their equivalent. Have him end holonet calls as soon as they enter the room, or become secretive and withdrawn as you get closer to the betrayal. You basically want the players to know this guy is bad news even if their characters don't. That will cut you some slack when the big reveal goes down.

If you and your players are 20 year vets of the hobby then all bets are off. You twist those SOBs up like Palpatine with the Jedi council. Spring traps, twists, and betrayals like it's your job description. Let these guys know that they aren't on Alderan anymore.

[Pleh]

I was 100% on board up to this point. As tempting as this is, you need to be very careful with NPCs betraying the PCs. It is very easy for this sort of thing to result in OOC saltiness, and PCs not trusting any NPC ever again. Having said that, done well it can create a Solo/Fett rivalry or even a Solo/Calrisian friendship.

If your players are new to TTRPGs, or to playing with you as GM, a small betrayal is as far as I would go early in a campaign. You are building trust at this stage. Even with a small betrayal, plant seeds of doubt in the RiD early on. Ask for Sense Motive checks or their equivalent. Have him end holonet calls as soon as they enter the room, or become secretive and withdrawn as you get closer to the betrayal. You basically want the players to know this guy is bad news even if their characters don't. That will cut you some slack when the big reveal goes down.

If you and your players are 20 year vets of the hobby then all bets are off. You twist those SOBs up like Palpatine with the Jedi council. Spring traps, twists, and betrayals like it's your job description. Let these guys know that they aren't on Alderan anymore.

Fair enough that "betrayal" arcs have to be conducted carefully with the Group Dynamic in mind. If you aren't confident that they would have just as much fun being betrayed as everything being on the level, best to err on the side of caution and not employ the betrayal arc.