Tuesday, April 30, 2019

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker

The release of the trailer for Star Wars Episode IX is no longer news, but I've been taking some time to process its content. I have posted previously that I was disappointed with Episode VIII, to the extent that it changed the New Republic-oriented direction that I'd been planning on having this blog take. I must say that I am cautiously optimistic about this upcoming film.

-Nate



Sunday, April 7, 2019

The Wayward Droid

Here's a ready-made plot device that's bound to complicate the lives of anyone who find it in the sewers beneath the city.

-Nate


The Wayward Droid
It's a well-known fact that Hutts are notoriously tough on the droids who serve them. It is common for one of the crimelords to vent frustration on mechano-sapient servants, often causing considerable damage and even outright destruction. When this happens, the droids usually seem like helpless, harmless victims. Such is not the case, however, with the protocol droid known as G-3PO. 

Having served as a translator for Slarr the Hutt and his minions, the droid was programmed with subroutines to spy on its Hutt master, as well as on his associates and even, sometimes, their enemies. G-3PO was, in fact, a gift to Slarr sent by an agent of the Crimson Dawn, intended as a mole to help keep track of rival activities. Unfortunately for that agent, however, the droid upset its master one time too many, during a sail barge cruise in Coronet City on Corellia. G-3PO managed to survive, however, and found its way into the sewers beneath the city. Now it seeks a means of leaving the planet, and possesses valuable information that could let it buy such freedom.

G-3PO
Type: Protocol Droid

DEXTERITY 1D
Skill 3D
KNOWLEDGE 3D
Planetary Systems 5D
MECHANICAL 1D
PERCEPTION 1D
Con 3D
Investigation 3D
STRENGTH 1D
TECHNICAL 1D
Comp. Prog./Rep. 3D

Special Abilities:
Life Preservation Programming: See the core rulebook for details.
Force Points: 0
Character Points: 5
Move: 7
Equipment: Internal data storage and comlink.


G-3PO

Brawn 1 Agility 1 Intellect 3
Cunning 3 Willpower 1 Presence 1

Soak: 1 Wound Threshold: 11
Strain Threshold: 1 M/R Defense: 0 / 0

Skills: Computers 2, Cool 1, Deception 2, Education 2, Perception 1, Skulduggery 1, Underworld 1, Warfare 1

Talents: Codebreaker, Defensive Slicing x2, Master Slicer, Natural Programmer, Skilled Slicer, Technical Aptitude

Abilities: Does not need to eat or breathe; receives six career skills and three specialization skills

Equipment: Internal data storage and comlink.

G-3PO seems like any other protocol droid, unassuming even to the point of being timid. Behind that facade, however, is a cunning artificial brain that seeks to gain information for future exploitation by its true master.




Using G-3PO in a Star Wars Campaign
This droid can be incorporated into adventures and campaigns in many different ways; a few of the possibilities are detailed here.
  • A band of scrumrats, while engaged in other business, might find the droid in a state of terrible disrepair in the sewer tunnels.
  • A character who can help repair G-3PO would earn the droid's gratitude, and possibly even its assistance.
  • All the while, G-3PO is curious to learn more about its new owner(s), and beings in power—such as the Devaronian leaders of the Pack—might suspect that it knows more than it admits.
  • Just what information the droid has discovered could, of course, link into all manner of adventures.
  • If more powerful individuals from the surface learn what the droid knows, then they would send ruthless enforcers who want to recover it.
  • In the end, G-3PO must decide whether to aid the PCs, or to betray them for its own advantage.


Tuesday, April 2, 2019

Using the Garden in a Star Wars Campaign

It took me a long time to prepare this post, for a variety of reasons. Even so, I think it'll be the first in a series that rounds out adventure ideas for scrumrats beneath Coronet City.

-Nate


Using the Garden in a Star Wars Campaign
This location can be incorporated into adventures and campaigns in many different ways; a few of the possibilities are detailed here.
  • Rhea Eluko's garden is known as a place of sanctuary throughout the sewers of Corellia; as such, many beings who are otherwise ruthless in their dealings hesitate to do violence there. There are exceptions, of course.
  • In particular, she provides a haven for the local children—known as “scrumrats”—who are controlled by various crime bosses. For that reason, she has gradually been earning the animosity of beings such as Sedaru and Kovin, Devaronians who run the band of thieves known as The Pack. Should any Scrumrats run afoul of their employer, they could come to her for shelter.
  • Her kind nature has allowed Eluko to become a rare friend of Brond Yulira, the lost Padawan who dwells in the sewers beneath Coronet City.
  • Efforts to live peacefully become more complicated when someone finds a droid that once belonged to the notorious crimelord Slarr the Hutt. There are secrets contained in its brain that Slarr and its minions would kill to protect.
  • Finally there is the matter of the Sullustan's ship, a Ghtroc-720 freighter that, once raised from the water of the nearby sea, could provide a means of leaving Corellia once and for all.
  • If a group of characters ever brought together most or all of these elements—such as scrumrats connecting with Rhea, befriending Yulira, finding the droid and discovering its secrets, and preparing the ship for flight—then this could be the launch of countless adventures throughout the galaxy.

The Reeho
As mentioned above, the ship that Eluko Rhea abandoned in the sea near Coronet City is a Ghtroc-720 freighter. While it has suffered some damage due to being submerged, it only requires a bit of care in order to become spaceworthy once again. In game terms, this should be treated in the same manner as the Engines Down result on the Critical Hit table from page 244 of the Core Rulebook.

Ghtroc 720 Freighter: Refer to page 62 of the Enter the Unknown sourcebook for stats.

To find more information about, and deck plans for this ship, refer to the appropriate article on Wookieepedia.