A Rookie GM's First Outing!

[Ninjaxenomorph]

Ok, ran the first session yesterday. Here's a rough rehash of the session:

After we finally sorted out the two Trandoshans, I started the adventure. The Astromech player was absent, so I had him on the Hunter's transport running comms. The hunters started out having already captured Percival Blemk, the son of a pirate admiral who was menacing Ord Mantell. The Smugglers had their meeting broken up, and Church was fleeing pirates because he stole their salvage.

One of the Trandos, Mrash, held his ACP array gun up to the kid's head and used their acquisition as a human shield. Worked until he realized the pirates were stupid.

Povra (the Togruta smuggler) and Gozu, the Jawa, were fleeing their share of pirates, trading shots. Gozu managed to run into a bolt hole and slip off, hot wired a swoop, and drove down the street to the bar that was their destination, the Classica (a cantina built in the remains of a Venator's bridge) and hung out there.

Church got his first taste of the wild die sucking, and tumbled to the ground trying to dodge; he got off stunned. Fortunately, he has a grenade launcher and knows how to use it. With stun rounds.

Everyone made it to a city square, a hexagonal clearing with an art installation/crashed space junk in the center suitable for cover. Everyone managed to reach the installation, where there was some banter before they agreed that everyone was against the pirates. By this time, they were surrounded by 12 pirates: ten on foot, two operating an armored landspeeder with a blaster mounted on the back.

There were a few tense moments of standoff, before Percival shouted "They have a grenade launcher, you idiots!" Church opened fire on the speeder, and blew away the gun, the gunner, and wounded the driver, and stunned a few standing around it. Mugask (I think), the other trando hunter, opened fire on the stunned pirates and pulped them with his ACP heavy repeater. Mrash kicked Percival in a most ungentlemanly fashion ("Well, I hope Admiral Blemk doesn't want grand kids..."), while Povra opened fire on several pirates heading for melee with her hold-out pistol, and missed. Horribly. She had better luck next round when they started to close; also, she no-selled a durasteel pipe.

After they pirates started to bolt, the group made their way to the cantina (after looting the bodies). As soon as they walked in, Gozu left. Oy. After a short time of awkward interaction and character description, the holoscreen was interrupted with a message: Admiral Blemk placed bounties on the trandos, while his underlings stated the rest of the party was wanted as well. After this, the cantina quieted down (before, they had been laughing and congratulating them). After a short bit, the party wished up and left. The Jawa tried to hook up a cable to the weapon check locker to steal it with the swoop, but that attempt failed (I ruled it was a locker that was built into the deck, and thus immovable with a swoop, much to that player's chagrin). Everyone took off to the starport.

At the starport, the smuggler found her ship being loaded with the parts that she was making the deal for, with mercs having killed the pirates that showed up. The first hint that the smuggler is working for powerful forces. The hunters found that the ship they chartered (and their droid) were gone, and quickly hid from the elite pirates that showed up. They managed to sneak themselves onboard the ship, a Kazellis Light Freighter named the Proximo.

Church just walked up, and Gozu tried to charge him 1000 credits. Having only 500 on hand, he handed over the memory core. The payment ended up being the memory core and the 500 credits; Church got the personnel list he was after, while the Jawa found an Imperial transceiver code that could be used to call the Navy to orbit; Gozu in his infinite wisdom decided to let the captain (or as he called her, the 'pilot') know he had such a way out of they situation... For 1000 credits. This never happened.

*throws out two pages of notes*

Fortunately, I underestimated the smugglers ingenuity. Upon being scanned by a boarding fighter, who said there were two Trandoshans on board:

"Oh, crap! Thanks, these must be those guys that are trying to hijack my ship! Can you help us?"
"Oh, sure. Where your docking hatch?"
"At the front."
"Got it, were coming in."

At this point, she told the hunters that they had better come on out and hop on a turret, since shooting was going to start. When the ship was at point blank range, she fired her dual ion cannons, disabling the ship. Then she sped off, pursued by two TIE-Y uglies. The firefight was pretty fun, everyone contributed (the ship even withstood the fighter's powerful lasers). Then, the LOST MAIDEN showed up. With appropriate fanfare. The Lost Maiden is Blemk's flagship, a Corellian Corvetted modified with illegal weaponry. Fortunately, the Proximo jumped to hyperspace before more salvoes could be fired.

On the trip, Gozu decided to extort the stowaways for fare. He was haggled to 500 per person, 1500 total, with the acquisition. While turning down the atmosphere controls. The hunters offered everything from life debts to signing on, and the Jawa refused to negotiate; they haggled to offer the full fare, paid later.

They then arrived at the deep space way station, held by Imperials. After an encounter with an overly anal customs inspector, we called the game for the night. After Gozu's player (and Church's player) left, the hunters expressed their... Displeasure with Gozu. How he was basically trying to take over and extort the party. I am inclined to agree. Whatever happens between them next session in two weeks, I'm allowing it.

[Raven Redstar]

Yeah, pissing off a pair of Trandoshan hunters is not a wise move, he may find himself in an airlock with one of them ready to push the eject button.

I can understand a certain degree of extortion, since Jawas are known for being little swindlers, so that is appropriate, but so is any retaliation for pissing off members of an ill-tempered species. Not to mention he's going to be locked on a ship with nowhere to run, it's one thing to swindle someone if you have some chance of getting away, something else if you're trapped with the vacuum of space keeping you in close quarters.
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RR
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[Ninjaxenomorph]

I completely understand the extortion, and it was amusing. The part which annoyed the other players (and me) is that he never backed down. Gozu's character quote was "**** you, pay me!".

His intention is to never ever leave the ship, which I don't blame him for. The Trando solution they are suggesting is shotgun to the face when they reach solid land. Conveniently, the astromech shares many of the jawa's skills, so he could serve as a replacement.

Speaking of quotes, the players came up with some good ones. I can't remember all of them now, but one I do remember, from Mugask, the Trandoshan Heavy: "Wookie? What wookie?"

[Raven Redstar]

In an old group of mine, there was a character who ended up getting his hand cut off because he pissed off a merc PC when they first met. He trash talked the Merc's vibro-sword that he wore across his back. Quick initiative later, the trash talker's hand was severed. The merc paid for the wounded man's hospital bill, but the lesson stood: Don't insult people you've only just met, you have no idea what they're capable of doing to you.

Sometimes the trouble players need to get knocked down a notch, occasionally, it's best to just wash your hands of it as a GM and let the players sort it out. This is Star Wars: it's dirty, it's gritty, it's ugly, and Han shoots first. Just try not to let the game degenerate into too much player versus player fighting. It ruins some games.
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RR
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[DougRed4]

Yep, I agree with everything Raven said. I imagine Gozu will get put in check next session. Hopefully he'll back down before being spaced.

Great recap, Ninja! 8)
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Currently Running: Villains & Vigilantes (a 32-year-old campaign with multiple groups) and D6 Star Wars; mostly on hiatus are Adventures in Middle-earth and Delta Green

[Ninjaxenomorph]

Time for another player backstory!

The Saga of R2-D2.477 “Short”

Born in War

​Coming off the line in 22 BBY (first year of the Clone Wars), 477 was one of five hundred astromech droids that made up the 45th Repair Corps, an elite group tasked with the supply, augmentation, repair, and salvaging of Trade Federation troops on any field, on any world, at any time. 477, in particular, served tours of duty from the Outer Rim to Coruscant, and all the space between. In these tours, 477 saw millions of fellow droids march, fight, and die – including all but six of his fellows in the 45th, himself the seventh. Somewhere in the booms and blasts of this war, 477 and the other six developed some odd quirks – personalities, friendships, even the bond of brothers-in-arms.

​As the war wound down, the Seven decided to desert rather than wait for the inevitable decommissions and memory wipes. Considering the fact that the Separatists were collapsing in on themselves by this point, the Seven practically rolled off the radar and into the stars – mostly on freighters and support ships crewed by organics bent on desertion as well.

The Separation

​About a year after the Emperor was granted his title by the Galactic Senate, the Seven met one last time in a chop shop in the underbelly of Corellia. R2-D2.22, the most senior of the Seven and the “leader” of the group, presented a “black box” memory core to each of the others. This black box would provide a backup system for each of the Seven, so that memory wipes, meltdowns, even obliteration, would not truly kill them. With that, they went their separate ways.

​477 hitched a ride back to the Outer Rim, letting homeless drifters, orphan children, and whatever others “play master” for a time to get past Imperial scrutiny. Somewhere in the “saga of the drifting tin can” that was R2-D2.477's existence, he wandered into a master-droid relationship with some Rodian loser kicking sand on Tatooine.

Tall and Short

​That loser seemed to owe some debts to the Hutts – big enough to earn him a bounty. 477 held no love for that loser, and rather enjoyed watching him get hosed in gouts of flame. Even more funny, however, was the bounty hunter who cooked that organic – an IG-88 Assassin Droid. Some Binary chatting and chortling later, and the two formed a droid team – nicknamed Tall and Short – and spent the next decade hunting down everyone and everything that pissed the local Hutts off.

​The fun ended, however, as Tall and Short were sent after a rival warlord attempting to muscle in on Jabba's interests in Mos Eisley. That mission was a disaster – the security system to that compound was retooled to cover anti-droid measures, and a pair of old Droideka Destroyer Droids were brought out of mothballs for the party. Even with his knowledge on the tech, Short could not process a way past their personal force fields before Tall was cut down in blaster fire. Short sawed through the torso, grabbed Tall's core, and sped away, hoping to save him. However, the rescue was cut short – the blast from an EMP grenade one of the Destroyers spat out fried them both. Although Short would quickly come back online, his core still shielded, Tall was vulnerable – and his core was destroyed. That's when Short experienced another quirk of personality – grief. The will to keep going, the programmed self-protection protocols...just stopped working. Short, with Tall's core still clutched in his grasping claw, powered down in his sad corner while the Destroyers rattled off blasts overhead.

The Guild

​477 awoke after a signal ping forced him from his shutdown cycle, the amber orbs of a Jawa staring back at him. He no longer held Tall's core, and would have raged at the Jawas except that they had already restrain-bolted him. Closed off, not even able to communicate unless those little organics allowed it, 477 played the good little astromech droid – it was easy, as he was so hollow.

​Then, after some indeterminate time (the Jawas seemed not to care that 477's chronometer had stopped functioning, and neither did 477), the Jawas sold him and a few others to a representative of the Guild. The representative, an Ithorian who enjoyed speaking about everything that came to his mind, would fill 477's receptors with warbles about time and space. 477, desirous for some distraction, would actually respond back by screen readout. Powolo Joon, the Ithorian, hit upon the idea that 477 wanted to learn philosophy, which would prove his theory that droids could become sentient beings. 477 never quite understood philosophy, but Joon had a lot of fun trying to teach him anyway.

​During the trip, Joon reviewed some of 477's recent recordings, notably the loss of Tall. Perhaps because Joon was an eccentric, he actually tried to counsel 477 through his feelings – if nothing else, that session taught 477 what names organics gave to such processes, although he did not feel “better.” Of course, Joon tsk-tsked 477 on his penchant for violence, and 477 suggested Joon try it on the next guy who hurt him – as “therapy.”

​When Joon delivered 477 to the Guild, he specifically requested that he not be memory-wiped, citing that the droid had precious experience not attainable by programming. He was an astromech droid – he couldn't talk, and no one but an eccentric crank like Powolo Joon would listen anyway – so the request was honored because no one wanted to take the time. He now serves aboard some no-name freighter, wondering what to make of his existence. He would still miss Tall, and expect favorably – hope, as Joon calls it – to one day be reunited with the others of the Seven. Until then, Short will just have to roll his can wherever that freighter goes.

[DougRed4]

That was an awesome (and well-written) backstory, Ninja!
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Currently Running: Villains & Vigilantes (a 32-year-old campaign with multiple groups) and D6 Star Wars; mostly on hiatus are Adventures in Middle-earth and Delta Green

[Ninjaxenomorph]

The player doesn't have the best grasp of the system, but I'll be damned if he doesn't have good ideas. Also, this is the busy player, so if he's gone, him playing a droid leaves it easier for me to deal with it.

[garhkal]

Great back story, but some of what he is coming up with streches the rules bad.. Like that black box that retains full memory even in event of being destroyed, and working with IG88
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Confucious sayeth, don't wash cat while drunk!

[Ninjaxenomorph]

I'm fine with the black box, and he said a IG-88. I guess he doesnt know there are only 3, I told him I'll say it was one of the other models.

[garhkal]

So you are fine with him having an item that practically makes him immune to ever being destroyed.. all he needs to do if his body gets blown up is get the box put in a new body and bang he is back up and running?
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Confucious sayeth, don't wash cat while drunk!

[Raven Redstar]

That's assuming that he trusts his current companions enough to inform them of his little box. Or, someone looking through the wreckage gets curious enough to investigate it in a way that allows the character to get resurrected. I don't really see too much problem with it, droid characters suffer all kinds of stigma in the game, they should have an upside.

I think the box is more intended for keeping the character saved from memory wipes if he falls into enemy hands than saving him from complete destruction. If the black box was inside the droid when he suffers destroyed damage, there's a good chance that the black box may have taken severe damage as well if not completely destroyed as well.
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[Ninjaxenomorph]

It's also insurance against friendly memory wipes.

[garhkal]

Other than basis in novels though (such as with Whistler, the R2 of Corran Horn), is there any basis in any of the WEG books for such a device to exist?
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Confucious sayeth, don't wash cat while drunk!

[Raven Redstar]

Assassin droids have access to similar backup systems, if I'm not mistaken. These astromech droids would have been able to have access to all sorts of military & criminal droid technology throughout the duration of the Clone Wars, perhaps the droids as they achieved self awareness squirreled away a little bit of the tech for themselves and their comrades to help increase survivability.
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RR
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