Vagrant Hearts (Season 1: Complete), The Smuggler's War (Writing: Episode VII)

[masshysteria]

In the foothills of Roon, Toth watches the guards through his scope. He can count four of them. Two at the gate, two behind the security walls. Toth settles his aim on one of the gate guards, the one manning the e-web. Tam sits on a speederbike, in the gully next to Toth, watching the skies.

Meanwhile, the Vagrant Heart circles Roon in a near orbit. Kaldo checks the scope. He’s approaching the preprogrammed nav point.

“Hang on” Kaldo shouts over the comm pushes the Vagrant Heart into a suicide dive.

Rowintha looks up the ladder to Xule sitting in the other gunner’s chair. Xule looks nervous. The Wookie roars some encouragement and hopes the princess is a good shot.

“There’s our sign.” Says Tam. A red-orange streak burns through the atmosphere heading straight towards Faynor’s compound.

Toth lets the air escape from this lungs, he draws even pressure along the trigger. A red lance pierces the air. Toth doesn’t bother to follow his shot, he leaps to the back of the speeder bike as Tam guns the engines.

The duo flies at breakneck speed at the compound gate. Overhead, the Vagrant Heart makes an attack run, knocking out Faynor’s comm array and blasting the guards patrolling the ground. Tam reaches down adjusting the repulsor lift controls. The speeder bike nearly drags on the ground, then leaps in the air and over the gate. The remaining panicked gate guard can do little to stop them.

The speeder bike comes to halt at Faynor’s door just as three more guards exit a security outbuilding, among them a heavy set Rodian. The Rodian is Keelo, Faynor’s slave raid leader, he levels his carbine at Toth and fires. The blaster bolt smashed into Toth’s shoulder, dropping him off the speeder bike to the ground.

In her turret, Rowintha sees Toth fall. She roars in anger and swings the turret around, opening up on the cluster of guards. Only a crater remains where the guards once stood.

Tam rushes to Toth’s side, slapping a medpack on the Bothan’s wounded shoulder. Toth opens his eye’s to see Tam over him and the Vagrant Heart setting down in Faynor’s front yard. With the aid administered, Tam offers his hand to his wounded comrade. Toth brushes it off preferring to get up on his own. He takes a deep breath, stands up straight, and meets Tam and Rowintha at the front door.

“Faynor!” Tam yells at the security console, “You have four seconds to open this door and hand over a bottle of Chateau ’77.”

Tam waits four seconds.

“Toth, Rowintha, open the door.” He orders.

“Can’t,” comes the Bothan’s reply over the clatter of a Wookie slamming her fists against a door, “This is a hardened security door, only the right key card can open it.”

“So, where’s the key card?”

“Keelo was supposed to carry one, but he’s just a big pile of goo right now.”

Tam walks over the goo. He nudges it with his toe. “Kaldo, make us a door.”

The new docking gun pops out of the bottom of the Vagrant Heart and swivels over to point at the door. When the dust clears, Tam, Toth, and Rowintha walk through the hole in the wall into an entryway. At the far end of the entryway is another hardened security door.

In unison, they turn around. Toth raises an eyebrow at Tam. Tam shrugs and shouts, “Again!”

 

[masshysteria]

A second volley reveals Faynor’s living room. The trio of smugglers head straight for the kitchen where a wine rack and a number of bottles sit. Despite tossing the kitchen, there is no Chateau ’77. Never one to pass up an opportunity, Tam and Toth each grab a bottle and take long draws. Tam throws the bottle, watching it shatter against the wall, “Next room.”

Their search eventually leads them to a final security door. Despite Toth and Rowintha’s best efforts they can’t override the controls. Tam, losing patience, is about ready to shoot the controls when Toth has a brilliant idea, “The Jawa!”

A few moments later, Set is coerced out of the ship and through the house. He stands at the door, staring at it for a little while, then goes to work. Toth reaches in to assist, but is batted away by a hydrospanner to the knuckles. It doesn’t take long and the Jawa get the door to slide open.

“My master says he expects a discount on his fare.”

“Done.” Tam replies happy to be done with security doors.

The inner sanctum of Faynor’s house is decorated with artwork from a variety of species and strange artifacts from Sith torture devices to a Jedi’s lightsaber. And in one corner is a wine rack and the other cowers Faynor.

But something seems off to Tam, he hears voices. Hushed whispers coming from beneath him. Kicking back a carpet, he sees a hidden door.

“Stop, you can’t open that.” Faynor shouts.

“My Wookie says otherwise. Rowintha?” Tam replies gesturing to the door.

“That Wookie belongs in chains!”

Rowintha turns, rushing the vile looking Cerean. He evades her attempt to grab him.

“Get your hands off me, beast!”

Rowintha, not fooled twice, grabs the slaver as Tam opens the door. What he sees shocks and amazes him. Underneath Faynor’s chambers, slaves work cutting and processing Roon spice. A mournful Wookie howl drifts up.
It’s too much for Rowintha to take. She goes into a rage and pulls on the slavers arms. Tam and Toth look away. When their stares return, the slaver is slumped in the corner, arms pulled from his sockets.

Rowintha rushes down the stairs, tearing the shackles from the slaves. Tam and Toth lead the free slaves back to the Vagrant Heart. Xule is waiting for them at the ramp.

“Oh my,” she stammers out.

“Princess! These people need—“ Tam begins.

“Send the worst of them to the infirmary.” Xule interrupts, “I’ll take care of them there. The rest will have to go to the cargo hold.”

Tam is a bit taken aback, but smiles at the Princess. He catches Toth’s eye, they still have work to do.

 

[masshysteria]

Next to the wine rack is the original crate the wine came in. Tam fills it with four bottles of Chateau ’77 and Toth starts tearing artwork off the walls. With one last look, Tam grabs the lightsaber and Toth takes some spice. They race back the YT-2000 and stow the goods.

“We’re done here, Kaldo.” Tam says slumping into the copilot chair.

Kaldo guns the engines and takes off at a near vertical trajectory. The sublight drives win the fight against gravity and the Vagrant Heart leaves atmosphere.

“We’re not out of it yet!” Kaldo says, pointing out the viewscreen.

A Victory class Star Destroyer exits the Cloak of the Sith and begins firing it’s turbolaser batteries at the asteroid field trying to create a hole for itself. From its hanger two flights of TIE fighters burst forth.

“Rowintha, Toth you better get up here.” Tam yells over the ship wide comm.

The Vagrant Heart snap rolls and races off in a perpendicular course from the incoming TIEs. Plunging into the asteroid field, daring the unshielded TIEs to pursue. The pilots of the Empire show no fear following the insane course.

“Rowintha, get those defelctor shields back up!” Tam orders, “Another direct hit from a meteor and we’ll be floating home.”

“Let’s see if they can follow this!” Kaldo puts the Vagrant Heart through a twisting loop narrowly missing three different asteroids.

Outside, one of the TIE pilots isn’t able to match the move. He slams into an asteroid, ending his career in a shower of sparks and rocks. The YT-2000 punches through the far end of the asteroid belt. The Star Destroyer moves to bring its turbolasers to bear on the transport too late.

Tam completes the calculations and Kaldo pulls the lever to engage the hyperdrive and makes the jump to lightspeed.

End Episode II: Big Damn Heroes

 

[masshysteria]

GM Commentary

Each session has so far has been broken into an episode. My original idea was to make the game much more episodic, jumping around time frames and story lines like a TV show. Instead, I've adopted a tighter approach, linking each episode to the previous one.

Episode I: Scum & and Villainy got its name from a a grat Star Wars quote that later became a RPG book I'm using in the game. It was also so named because it was mean to introduce the different underworld character the players would meet and the treachery they would face.

Episode II: Big Damn Heroes comes from a Firefly quite, another source of inspiration. It was named Big Damn Heroes because the players would meet heroes of a secret rebellion and become heroes themselves through the rescue of the slaves and aiding the rebellion.

Each episode also started with an opening crawl, this is Star Wars after all! The crawls were done in Windows Movie Maker. I start with "a long time ago in a galaxy far far away..." screen capture, then the main score starts and a "Star Wars" screen capture blazes onto the screen. It zooms out while fading out and the scroll begins. Finally, the scroll finishes and a planet fades in. It zooms in, filling the screen, while the music reaches its conclusion.

The planet is usually found via a google image search. And the scroll text is easy to edit for each session. The original movie took some time to put together, but now that I have a template, updating it takes only a couple minutes and is a great way to kick off the session.

The crawl text is included below:

Episode I
SCUM & VILLAINY

The EMPIRE is at the height of its power. Imperial Moffs and Governors control system upon system as the Imperial military machine grows to unimaginable strength.

But amid this tyranny, there are those who seek the freedom of the space lanes. The crew of the light freighter VAGRANT HEART is one such group. Using money from the Quarren loan shark, Haji, to purchase a ship they have taken to smuggling to pay off the loan and keep a bounty off their heads.

Now with a cargo hold full of precious Mandolorian Ore they seek a payoff on the refining moon of RAXUS VI.


Episode II
BIG DAMN HEROES

The crew of the VAGRANT HEART heads to the planet Alderaan, by way of Raxus VI, with the Jawa wanderer, Set, and two mysterious women passengers.

Despite selling their ore to the unscrupulous Hutt, Ming, and pulling in enough money to make payment all is not well. Bounty hunters attacked the freighter without warning or reason and put everyone on edge.

Now mere hours before the deadline, the crew goes to meet Selene.

Continuing with the trend of choosing interesting and themed names, episode III will be titled Fool's Fortune. I'll let you guess as to what it means for the next 10 days until we get around to playing again.

 

[Toric_Arthendain]

You guys need to play more often so we can get more frequent updates!

As for Fool's Fortune, could it be from Shakespeare? He is generally considered to be the inventor of the terminology Fortune's Fool. Both Romeo and King Lear mention being Fortune's Fool. Otherwise, I have no idea.

How about a little GM commentary on how you have come up with the first two adventures, how much preparation went into each one. Also, the Dark Times generally are considered to have started 19 years before the battle of Yavin and ended with the formation of the Rebel Alliance. When in this span of time does your campaign take place?

 

[masshysteria]

GM Commentary

How about a little GM commentary on how you have come up with the first two adventures, how much preparation went into each one. Also, the Dark Times generally are considered to have started 19 years before the battle of Yavin and ended with the formation of the Rebel Alliance. When in this span of time does your campaign take place?

Good questions on good topics. I'm more than happy to share. We'll start with setting concerns.

The game takes place approximately 3-4 years before the events of A New Hope or 3 BBY for the Star Wars die-hards. However, the time frame is purposely vague. It give us some wiggle room for introducing characters and events from the Star Wars universe.

Setting the game in the Dark Times gave me a game with the themes and enemies I was looking for.

The Empire is at its height so I can have plenty of Stormtroopers and TIE fighters and other villains to throw around and all players are familiar with the look and feel of the Empire from the movies. This is in contrast to the Legacy or Old Republic eras where I would have to give more descriptions and histories to get that same feeling of familiarity.

Due to the political landscape of the galaxy, it is a perfect time for smugglers and proto-rebels. These small groups of people without large supporting networks really fit the feel of a PC Party.

The one drawn back of this time is the lack of Jedi. Fortunately none of my players were set on being a Jedi. However, I did have a back up plan. If there was going to be a Jedi, I would propose this background to them:

You know nothing of your parents, being raised by distant relatives. All that was left to you by your father/mother was a simple set of hyperspace coordinates.

Now, a young man/woman you leave your relatives behind taking a job as a crew member aboard the Vagrant Heart. One day you hope to convince the captain to take you to the coordinates.

The idea would be to find a lightsaber and a training manual hidden by the PC's father or mother. From that point forward, I'd allow them to start taking Jedi class levels. As an added bonus, I would play out a flash back where the parent places child PC on an escaping transport. Then Vader shows up and duels the Jedi parent with me running Vader and the player running the parent.

A final setting concern was transportation. I wanted the PC's to have their own ship, but just dropping a starship into their lap wasn't an option. So, I gave them one, but at a cost: they owe money to some bad people. This took care of two birds with one stone. They got a ship and were given a reason to smuggle goods and take dangerous jobs to make money.

 

[masshysteria]

GM Commentary

Game prep is one of those funny things: certain aspects I hate and certain aspects I love.

I love coming up with NPC's the evoke strong feelings from the players or interesting location descriptions or fun plot lines. I'm really not a fan of writing up a bunch of stats or making sure encounters are balanced or paging through rules. But, I enjoy running a good game so I put up with the bad and really try to minimize it.

I keep all my notes and stats in Microsoft OneNote. Every computer I use on a regular basis has OneNote, so I keep the files on a flashdrive and work on any of the computers. I've adopted electronic note keeping because I'm a poor organizer of papers and I like the ability to easily edit my writing. I also find with OneNote it is easy to type in a few notes as the game is unfolding. This is the main reason I ditched TiddlyWiki for GMing purposes.

My adventures get broken into scenes. Each scene is prewritten and includes cut-aways for PC Interaction, skill checks or fights. I make sure to add in interaction breaks so I'm not just telling the players a story. But, I've found if I write good dialog the players just jump right in like a normal conversation.

Here's an example scene from Episode I: Scum & Villainy where the PC's meet Selene:

As you head back to your ship, mulling over the bad deal and thinking up new ways to make money--taking on passengers, selling spare parts from the ship's inventory, trying to collect on a bounty--you are greeted by your loan shark Haji in an unexpected way.

He sails through the air and lands in a crumpled heap at your feet. He smiles weakly at you and says, "Heh, hi guys. I don't suppose you have that payment?"

A number of thugs from a variety of species surround Haji and block the entrance to your ship.

"Your poor business sense has caught up with you Haji. You said you'd have the money." One sneers.

"It isn't good to owe the lady money, Quarren." Another adds.

As if on queue, a Twi'lek walks through the crowd of thugs, her head tails wrapped suggestively around her body. She glances at Haji before setting her gaze on you.

// PC with appropriate background

Selene. You know her. You used to run with her crew. You made a pretty good team. She had a thing for you. And while most men salivate at Selene's appearance, you always kept your distance. Something in the back of your head told you she was like a mantis and would kill her mate. When you left to crew the VAGRANT HEART, you left a woman scorned. And well, you know the saying.

// End PC background information

"Ah, if it isn't Captain PC NAME. It seems fate has brought us together again." She smiles broadly. "It seems poor Haji made a few bad business decisions and now owes me money. And now what's this? You owe this nerf herder money?"

Her smile quickly fades and she glares at Haji.

// PC Interaction

Haji is the first to voice the politics of crime. "Heh, why not just cut out the middle man?"

Selene looks at him, "What do you mean?"

"Heh, well these guys owe me more than I owe you. So, tell ya what. I'll sell you the debt for the price of my debt. Heh, these guys even pay on time. It's a good business decision."

// PC Interaction

"Get up, Haji." Selene says, "Okay, you have a deal. I don't want to see you again."

Haji gets up and brushes himself off. He catches your eye as he scurries away and sheepishly mouths "Sorry."

"Well now, Captain PC NAME, it seems you owe me money. For my payment terms, lets start with a fifteen thousand credit good-faith payment in 48 hours. You make that and you'll find my future terms are quite reasonable."

// PC Interaction

Haji was about the best kind of loan shark you could have. He was lazy so you could always sneak in a late payment before he stuck the bounty hunters on you. And provided that late payment came with a little extra padding or a night of drinks, all would be forgiven. You doubt Selene will be that forgiving. She already probably has a couple bounty hunters on retainer for the first missed payment.

A few scenes play out almost exactly as planned, that's the benefit of knowing your players. Most I have to improvise a few lines, like I did with the above scene. And still others take off in a different direction and I have to come up with a new ending on the fly, like I had to do with the Deal with Ming. (I expected the players to fight and kill him!) But I've found if I keep my encounters/scenes focused I can take it in a new direction pretty well.

I've also found it easier to get the players "back on the tracks" if the scenes are focused and not too long. Of course one of my GMing philosophies is some railroading is fine as long as it feels like riding a roller coaster and not a rail car.

Some scenes take awhile to write, others fly by as my fingers struggle to keep up with my brain. But I try to add a lot of flavor to these writings. It keeps the game interesting and I enjoy writing a good scene.

But, I don't really care for writing up stats. This had led me to three things: One, all my mooks and nameless NPC's are stat blocks from the books. Two, I reuse my NPCs creating colorful reoccuring characters. Three, if I don't need stats for a character, like in the case of Nakko, they don't get them or get made up on the fly.

NPC stats are also the one exception to my all electronic notes rule. It is a pain to keep bouncing between two windows or tabs to check the story and some stats, so I've started printing out the NPC stats.

I haven't really tracked how long I prepare for each session. I usually spend a few nights thinking up plot lines, cool scenes or characters, and paging through books. I then spend a few nights typing everything up.

 

[Toric_Arthendain]

Interesting reading on how you prepare. Thanks for posting that.

Time for a new installment of the game!

 

[masshysteria]

Interesting reading on how you prepare. Thanks for posting that.

Time for a new installment of the game!

No problem. Feel free to ask all the questions you want.

We play again on Sunday. So, look for the story to continue next week.

 

[masshysteria]

Episode III: Fool's Fortune

The space around Alderaan is a flurry of activity. A Star Destroyer and its two escort frigates rest in geosynchronous orbit while shuttles ferry Imperial assets off-world.

Xule approaches the cockpit and waits permission to speak.

“Hey Xule,” Kaldo calls over his shoulder, “What’s up?”

“I have the sequence for a secure communications line with Jurasco. I’m sure he’ll want to meet again and will have an idea what to do with our passengers.”

Tam punches in the sequence and transmits to planet side. The holonet sparks to life and Jurasco’s image fills the blue glow. “You’re back. I must admit, I half expected you to run for it and try to stay out of reach of the long arm of the Empire.”

“That’s not how I operate.” Tam replies, “I made a deal and I’m going to keep it.”

“It seems you’re a man of honor. The galaxy seems far too short of those at the moment. I’m sending you the coordinates for our new hideout. I’m afraid it isn’t quite as nice as the last one, but it will do.”

This time the docking bay is in an agricultural processing center, surrounded by a number of fields. The Vagrant Heart rests between two harvesters near a large grain silo. The freed slaves mill about, grateful and excited to be free. For many of them, a core world like Alderaan is a paradise and great place to start a new life.

“The farms here are always looking for more labor.” Jurasco explains, “Of course, after we set them up with identification cards, they are free to do and go where ever they want. Unfortunately, that may take us some time to do.”

“But you are going to take care of them, right?” Tam pushes, not wanting to have to deal with a bunch of slaves.

“Yes. Of course.” Jurasco replies.

Xule frowning, interrupts, “Why is it going to take so long to get them new identification?”

“Money mostly. Moving to a new facility has left us scraping to get by.”

“If that’s the case, I can transfer funds from House Thoreen—“

“No. We can’t risk the transfer linking you to our operations. Besides, we need hard currency to do the things I’m planning.”

Tam, worried about where the conversation is going and the 20 bars of Imperial currency in his hold, starts to slowly back away. Toth catches him by the shoulder, “We need to pay Selene right? Why not sell the bars to the Princess? She can then give them to Jurasco and everyone is happy.”

Tam sees the wisdom in Bothan’s plan. He clears his throat, “Xule, can I talk to you for a moment?”

Tam leads Xule away from Jurasco and says, “What do you say to a little transaction? We’ll sell you the currency that you need to fund this operation. Twelve bars at 1200 per bar.”

Xule shakes her head in disbelief, “You’re quite the mercenary. I thought after freeing the slaves you’d be grateful to help. I’ll give you face value, no more.”

Tam swagger diminishes a little and he accepts the deal. He gets the bars and presents them to Jurasco and Xule.

“This is wonderful.” Jurasco says, “Not only will we be able to take care of our new arrivals, but I can start figuring out how to free Hull and Nali. My sources say they will be arriving in Kessel in approximately one week.”

Jurasco pauses and looks each crew member in the eye, “Tell me. You’ve done work for my organization in the past, would you care for a larger role in things to come? We could use people like you.”

The crew members exchange noncommittal glances.

“We don’t really hold with a rebellion, if that’s what you mean.” Tam explains.

“But we’ll stay in touch. For future jobs.” Kaldo is quick to chime in.

“We really need to get going, we have business to conduct.” Tam ends the conversation.