RangerWickett
Legend
My group has a rotating GM policy, where the 5 players take turns running the game. Their PC stays on the ship for the session, and the only guideline is that the party needs to be back on the ship and on to their next adventure by the end of the session. The time period is five years or so after Revenge of the Sith.
Our PCs are:
Bismeu - a Kel'Dor agitator focused on scathing tirade
Michael - a human force-using Jack of All Trades
Scy - a human sword-wielding assassin
Bentley - a dug mechanic
Karpov - (my character) a Kel'Dor former Jedi padawan, lightsaber focused
We're all beholden to Jobunta the Hutt in one way or another, and he sends us on missions.
Where We Stand
In the last session I ran (5 weeks ago) I had the party rob an art gallery to recover a mask made of black crystal. It functions as night vision goggles, a communicator, and just happens to be resistant to lightsabers. Also, I've asked the other GMs in each of their sessions to mention that wherever we go, there has been intermittent comm static reported across the entire system. Scy is using it.
I have a small meta-arc planned around some dark side force-users trying to get ahold of Sith artifacts to locate a lost warship from thousands of years ago.
Last session the GM ended by having an Imperial hand us a droid that he wants inserted among the Rebellion as a double agent. The Imperial knows our base of operations and is basically blackmailing us to do as he says or else he'll hunt us down. So far we have no connections to the Rebellion, so I'm hoping to add some conflict to the mix.
My Session
My idea is that the PCs get wind of a Rebel operation in the Rekkiad system, where there's a trading hub near the north pole of the only habitable planet. Strong aurorae around the poles make blasters unreliable, which long ago made it a preferred place for illicit business deals. A city of a million people or so has grown out of a glacier, nearby the only real landmark - the Twin Spires, a pair of icy mesas hundreds of feet high.
The locals aren't friendly to the Empire. A Psadan (rock-looking alien) merchant is the business front for the Rebels, who are trying to acquire ships and weapons here. The party can't just sell their droid, because the Rebels won't trust them. They need to prove they're also against the Imperials.
Recently an Imperial transport with a half-dozen TIEs aboard entered orbit, and the Rebels want it. It sent a Lambda-class T-4a shuttle and an AT-ST walker down to the planet's surface, then set up an encampment on the edge of the city, near to the spires. They've been excavating out the glacier, like they're mining or looking for a ruin or something. They're just at the edge of the city, and have enough storm troopers that none of the locals have picked a fight.
Well, the Rebels want Imperial ships. At least the shuttle, better yet the whole transport. All the Rebels on this planet are pilots and deal-makers, not fighters, so it's up to the party to steal the ships. There's an imperial archaeologist in charge of the project, and he occasionally leaves the Imperial encampment to visit a grassy hot spring resort in the city.
He's actually going to visit a historian who is helping him decipher the language in the ruin here. At some point I want to try to drop the info that the transport in orbit has orders to bomb the dig site if they lose control of it, which the archaeologist wants to avoid because he still values knowledge.
The Imperial Encampment
There are snowy cliffs and crevasses surrounding a blasted out ice quarry where the Imperials did some digging, and the ground-level camp is patrolled by the AT-ST, but their main camp is actually on top of one of the ice mesas (the spires). They have a very noticeable scanning dish, which makes flying in and directly attacking a challenge, since they'd have time to scramble two TIEs on site.
(I sort of have in mind them using the other column for cover, flying in, and then ziplining or hang-gliding across the gap. This might give the Dug mechanic a chance to shine by creating something ridiculous.)
The archaeologist, Rugon, is not a warrior. The storm troopers at the base have blasters, but also carry vibro-axes. The leader of the encampment, Commander Agon, has black storm trooper armor, a vibro sword, and a rocket-launcher/flamethrower hybrid.
At the base of the column the Imperials unearthed a mass grave, the bodies all frozen but showing signs of radiation poisoning. On the top of the column there’s a durasteel door that’s sealed, and beside it a console with symbols in an unfamiliar language. They can’t get through it yet.
It's winter time, in the 'arctic circle' of the planet, and so it's a prolonged period of night. The Imperial transport loses contact with the encampment for half of every 90 minute orbit, so they commandeered a transmitting station in the city that is powerful enough to communicate through the aurora to a network of satellites in orbit. There are four storm troopers at that station all the time.
The Complication
While the party plans and scouts, they're shadowed by a pair - Thoon and Siren - who claim to be bounty hunters on vacation. They want to steal whatever it is the Imperials are after. If pressed, they reveal that they're actually from a remnant of a Mandalorian clan, and there's a relic of their people buried here that they want to keep out of Imperial hands. They'll offer to help the party, but there's a risk of betrayal and back-stabbing.
The Mandalorians’ plan to backstab the party is that they have an ion bomb that will knock out the lights at the Imperial dig site. (This is to give the party assassin and Kel'Dor a chance to make use of darkvision.)
Maybe there's a full frontal assault. Maybe they sneak in. Maybe they cause a commotion to lure away some of the guards. Maybe they nab the archaeologist while he's out in town, learn what he's looking for, then interrogate his passcodes out of him so they can steal the shuttle and fly it to the transport.
The Climax
What I expect will happen is that they’ll want to strike while the Imperial transport is out of communication, where I’ll push for Michael or Scy to go with the Mandalorians to take out the communication outpost, and once the Imperials are cut off they’ll send some forces to investigate, reducing the defenders at the main encampment. The Mandalorians will backstab whichever PC is with them -- a poison dagger that causes intense pain for a bit but can be recovered from, so that PC can try to catch them as they head to the outpost. Hopefully they arrive after the party has caused a commotion and is in the thick of battle, and then they blow their ion bomb to knock out the lights.
Oh, and what are the rules for flamethrowers in Star Wars?
During the fight the archaeologist hides, and I’ll try to have the Mandalorians unlock the doors and hop into the tomb. This awakens an acklay-esque monster from stasis, and in the chaos the Mandalorians try to open a sarcophagus and retrieve a holocron. As the power comes back on, they’ll try to hop into the shuttle and skedaddle.
There are handy TIE fighters for the party to pursue in, if they want to risk it. The shuttle and fighters’ hyperdrives are locked as a security measure, so the Mandalorians might stay in atmosphere to try to crack the security and then leave, but if the party follows they’ll head into space and try to use the transport to shake the PCs off of them. Blasters on ships also have trouble shooting because of the aurora, and my dream would be for the party to try a mid-dogfight boarding action on the transport to seize its ion cannon, which can take out the transport.
If they get the holocron, it has coordinates to an ancient Sith treasury station (but decoding those coordinates will take some time; i.e., until I run my next session).
And I’d like to have the archaeologist get haunted by the Sith force ghost in the tomb, but that’s for part four of my metaplot. If he dies, no big.
So, what do you think? Any suggestions, particularly areas I could work in more options for the players. What should a Star Wars hot spring be like?
Our PCs are:
Bismeu - a Kel'Dor agitator focused on scathing tirade
Michael - a human force-using Jack of All Trades
Scy - a human sword-wielding assassin
Bentley - a dug mechanic
Karpov - (my character) a Kel'Dor former Jedi padawan, lightsaber focused
We're all beholden to Jobunta the Hutt in one way or another, and he sends us on missions.
Where We Stand
In the last session I ran (5 weeks ago) I had the party rob an art gallery to recover a mask made of black crystal. It functions as night vision goggles, a communicator, and just happens to be resistant to lightsabers. Also, I've asked the other GMs in each of their sessions to mention that wherever we go, there has been intermittent comm static reported across the entire system. Scy is using it.
I have a small meta-arc planned around some dark side force-users trying to get ahold of Sith artifacts to locate a lost warship from thousands of years ago.
Last session the GM ended by having an Imperial hand us a droid that he wants inserted among the Rebellion as a double agent. The Imperial knows our base of operations and is basically blackmailing us to do as he says or else he'll hunt us down. So far we have no connections to the Rebellion, so I'm hoping to add some conflict to the mix.
My Session
My idea is that the PCs get wind of a Rebel operation in the Rekkiad system, where there's a trading hub near the north pole of the only habitable planet. Strong aurorae around the poles make blasters unreliable, which long ago made it a preferred place for illicit business deals. A city of a million people or so has grown out of a glacier, nearby the only real landmark - the Twin Spires, a pair of icy mesas hundreds of feet high. The locals aren't friendly to the Empire. A Psadan (rock-looking alien) merchant is the business front for the Rebels, who are trying to acquire ships and weapons here. The party can't just sell their droid, because the Rebels won't trust them. They need to prove they're also against the Imperials.
Recently an Imperial transport with a half-dozen TIEs aboard entered orbit, and the Rebels want it. It sent a Lambda-class T-4a shuttle and an AT-ST walker down to the planet's surface, then set up an encampment on the edge of the city, near to the spires. They've been excavating out the glacier, like they're mining or looking for a ruin or something. They're just at the edge of the city, and have enough storm troopers that none of the locals have picked a fight.
Well, the Rebels want Imperial ships. At least the shuttle, better yet the whole transport. All the Rebels on this planet are pilots and deal-makers, not fighters, so it's up to the party to steal the ships. There's an imperial archaeologist in charge of the project, and he occasionally leaves the Imperial encampment to visit a grassy hot spring resort in the city.
He's actually going to visit a historian who is helping him decipher the language in the ruin here. At some point I want to try to drop the info that the transport in orbit has orders to bomb the dig site if they lose control of it, which the archaeologist wants to avoid because he still values knowledge.
The Imperial Encampment
There are snowy cliffs and crevasses surrounding a blasted out ice quarry where the Imperials did some digging, and the ground-level camp is patrolled by the AT-ST, but their main camp is actually on top of one of the ice mesas (the spires). They have a very noticeable scanning dish, which makes flying in and directly attacking a challenge, since they'd have time to scramble two TIEs on site.
(I sort of have in mind them using the other column for cover, flying in, and then ziplining or hang-gliding across the gap. This might give the Dug mechanic a chance to shine by creating something ridiculous.)
The archaeologist, Rugon, is not a warrior. The storm troopers at the base have blasters, but also carry vibro-axes. The leader of the encampment, Commander Agon, has black storm trooper armor, a vibro sword, and a rocket-launcher/flamethrower hybrid.
At the base of the column the Imperials unearthed a mass grave, the bodies all frozen but showing signs of radiation poisoning. On the top of the column there’s a durasteel door that’s sealed, and beside it a console with symbols in an unfamiliar language. They can’t get through it yet.
It's winter time, in the 'arctic circle' of the planet, and so it's a prolonged period of night. The Imperial transport loses contact with the encampment for half of every 90 minute orbit, so they commandeered a transmitting station in the city that is powerful enough to communicate through the aurora to a network of satellites in orbit. There are four storm troopers at that station all the time.
The Complication
While the party plans and scouts, they're shadowed by a pair - Thoon and Siren - who claim to be bounty hunters on vacation. They want to steal whatever it is the Imperials are after. If pressed, they reveal that they're actually from a remnant of a Mandalorian clan, and there's a relic of their people buried here that they want to keep out of Imperial hands. They'll offer to help the party, but there's a risk of betrayal and back-stabbing. The Mandalorians’ plan to backstab the party is that they have an ion bomb that will knock out the lights at the Imperial dig site. (This is to give the party assassin and Kel'Dor a chance to make use of darkvision.)
Maybe there's a full frontal assault. Maybe they sneak in. Maybe they cause a commotion to lure away some of the guards. Maybe they nab the archaeologist while he's out in town, learn what he's looking for, then interrogate his passcodes out of him so they can steal the shuttle and fly it to the transport.
The Climax
What I expect will happen is that they’ll want to strike while the Imperial transport is out of communication, where I’ll push for Michael or Scy to go with the Mandalorians to take out the communication outpost, and once the Imperials are cut off they’ll send some forces to investigate, reducing the defenders at the main encampment. The Mandalorians will backstab whichever PC is with them -- a poison dagger that causes intense pain for a bit but can be recovered from, so that PC can try to catch them as they head to the outpost. Hopefully they arrive after the party has caused a commotion and is in the thick of battle, and then they blow their ion bomb to knock out the lights.
Oh, and what are the rules for flamethrowers in Star Wars?
During the fight the archaeologist hides, and I’ll try to have the Mandalorians unlock the doors and hop into the tomb. This awakens an acklay-esque monster from stasis, and in the chaos the Mandalorians try to open a sarcophagus and retrieve a holocron. As the power comes back on, they’ll try to hop into the shuttle and skedaddle.There are handy TIE fighters for the party to pursue in, if they want to risk it. The shuttle and fighters’ hyperdrives are locked as a security measure, so the Mandalorians might stay in atmosphere to try to crack the security and then leave, but if the party follows they’ll head into space and try to use the transport to shake the PCs off of them. Blasters on ships also have trouble shooting because of the aurora, and my dream would be for the party to try a mid-dogfight boarding action on the transport to seize its ion cannon, which can take out the transport.
If they get the holocron, it has coordinates to an ancient Sith treasury station (but decoding those coordinates will take some time; i.e., until I run my next session).
And I’d like to have the archaeologist get haunted by the Sith force ghost in the tomb, but that’s for part four of my metaplot. If he dies, no big.
So, what do you think? Any suggestions, particularly areas I could work in more options for the players. What should a Star Wars hot spring be like?
