First, SPOILER alert: If you think you might or are about to play in the EotE Core Rules prebuilt adventure Trouble Brewing, you might not want to read this. Following session reports will be based around custom adventures so should wreak no havoc on your spoiler-free lives.
Second, this will be the layout for the session reports from this campaign. Feel free to scroll to whatever interests you (though the mechanics part is really in context to the story, so you might want to at least read the portions that apply to the footnotes if you're just looking to see how it went mechanically).
The Players
The Story
The Players
The Story
Mechanical Footnotes
End Result
XP Handed Out
The Players
Ashley - Ama'reeha, a Twi'lek Colonist (career) Doctor (specialization) with a major (35 Obligation) addiction to Glitterstims.
Paul - Xavin, a Human Smuggler (career) Scoundrel (specialization) with a good (25 Obligation) Debt and a minor (5 Obligation) addiction to gambling (and cheating at said vice)
Sean - Cole Zannah, a Human Hired Gun (career) Mercenary Soldier (specialization) with a large (30 Obligation) bounty on his head and a minor (5 Obligation) addiction to alcohol.
The Story (Please note, any bolded numbers in parentheses are mechanical aspects I will discuss in the footnotes section)
After fleeing Tatooine in the Krayt Fang, a YT-2400 freighter (see the Beginner Box adventure, though I switched the Fang from a 1300 to 2400 because my players didn't want to fly in a M.F.-lookalike), Xavin was contacted by Teemo the Hutt and threatened that if he didn't pay for the ship, the smuggler would be hunted to the ends of the galaxy. So, after Xavin got Teemo to change the registration on the ship to be registered as the "Virtuous Sparrow," that is exactly where they went.
After stepping out onto Formos for a breather and to lay low while planning their next move, the group spotted a seedy rodian doing a not-so-great job of shadowing them. While Xavin and Ama'reeha walked down a side alley towards the local cantina, Cole stepped off to the side, switching his blaster carbine to stun and waiting for the rodian. One shot all but dropped the rodian. It was immediately discovered that the rodian was expecting a group much like theirs to deliver cargo to his boss. After realizing the group was not, in fact, that of Dash Rendar's, the three companions sent him on his way (after extorting 100 credits in drinking money from him).
Continuing towards the cantina, the group hears noises coming from a trash compacter off to the side of the building. Within they discover J9-B8, a protocol droid that has been torn apart and all but destroyed. Ama'reeha checks the extent of the damage and discovers the droid is irreparably damaged. However, it does tell them that its companion, R4-W9 had a restraining bolt placed on it and was taken away by a group of thugs. Before permanently deactivating, the protocol droid begs them to find its friend. The group does so and once the droid has passed, they promptly have Ama'reeha dismantle it for what parts might still be resellable.
Inside the cantina, the crew sees bustling activity, as well as a holovid announcing an Imperial bounty on Bandin Dobah, an Aqualish pirate to the tune of 10,000 credits (dead or alive). Grumbling murmurs happen throughout the bar and it appears this pirate has been making life difficult for the local smugglers as he's put a chokehold on all good local jobs and intimidated any who stand against him.
A local information broker, a Devaronian named Snoo, pulls Xavin aside and for 50 credits, gives him information about the Aqualish, as well as stating that there is also a 5,000 credit bounty on him (alive) from Thakba Besadii Diori, a minor Hutt kingpin who wants to keep a good relationship with the spice smugglers of Formos. This is an alternative for those who don't want to be caught up in Imperial red tape. Xavin returns to the crew's table and informs them of this.
Zukata, a rodian girl, enters the cantina and approaches the bar, flashing a smile at Xavin as she passes. Soon after three thugs (two humans and a weequay) walk in. Two of them sit while the third immediately begins hitting on the rodian. Xavin stands and tells the thug to leave her alone. Spir (the thug) starts bragging about how the smuggler doesn't want trouble with him because of his boss. In the middle of his tirade, Xavin punches the man, taking him more by surprise than actually hurting him (1).
At this point, a bar brawl breaks out. Ama'reeha escorts Zukata to a private, curtained booth to keep her safe while Cole takes a shot at Spir, dropping him to the ground. Then, the Weequay thug stands and attacks Cole with a vibroknife, getting a good shot in. At this point, the second human (Daro, obviously the leader) grabs Spir's unconscious form and drags him out of the cantina while the weequay continues to battle the crew. Ama'reeha rushes forward to inject Cole with a stimpack and takes a shot at the weequay herself, knocking him unconscious. Cole punches the unconscious form several times, scoring a critical during which the weequay's head smashes into a barstool, killing him.
As the crew checks that Zukata is ok, she informs them that though she is here to map out routes for the rodian Bounty Hunters Guild, she is also concerned about her brother, Godon Nekatta. He supposedly arrived on Formos several weeks ago looking to cash in on Bandin Dobah's bounty and hasn't been seen since. The crew says that they will keep their eyes peeled as they are now also planning on cashing in on the bounty. This is when Cole notices a Toydarian eavesdropping on them. The alien flashes Cole a toothy grin before fluttering quickly out of the cantina.
The crew follows the Toydarian to see where he is heading. Cole and Xavin easily remain hidden, but the drug-addled doctor would have given herself away excep Cole dragged her into hiding with him (2). They follow the alien to a warehouse and go inside.
Cole sneaks up to a window to listen in and discovers the Toydarian spilling the beans on them to Daro, who wants payback against the crew but doesn't want to anger the "Big Boss," Dobah. Spir sits sullenly next to him while a group of three thugs and another smuggler are in a far corner. This is when Cole tosses in two stun grenades. Both find their mark (3). The Toydarian, Daro, and Spir all immediately drop to the ground, unconscious. The remaining four race out the back door and flee.
Inside the base, the crew finds R4-W9 hooked up to a computer, inactive. They use a tool found on Daro to remove the restraining bolt and reactivate the astromech droid. The droid begins to wail at Xavin when it discovers that its companion is gone, swearing revenge against Dobah. Xavin invites it to join them and it agrees, at least until Dobah is neutralized.
While this conversation is going on, Cole removes anything of interest from their unconscious opponents and bound them. Ama'reeha examines the computer that R4 was hooked up to. She is distracted by information about a glitterstim shipment and doesn't find anything immediately pertinent, but does find some file called "Pass" that is meant to be some sort of radio frequency code intended to transmit from a ship (4).
The crew drags Daro back to their own ship after leaving Spir and the Toydarian to a group of angry fringers and question him violently (5). After one blow he immediately gives up the details as to where Bandin Dobah keeps his base hidden and informs them of a sentry droid patrolling it that requires a ship transponder code to get by without hassle. Cole calls the local constabulary and gives the minor smuggler up for 300 credits.
Once they arrive at Dobah's asteroid, Ama'reeha make runs sensors and finds life forms on the planet, as well as a several ships and the sentry droid. They use the Pass file and the droid lets them enter unaccosted. The Virtuous Sparrow docks with the landing bay and the crew prepares a crate as a ruse. Three guards meet them in the bay and ask to inspect the shipment. As they are opening it, Cole, Xavin, And Ama'reeha open fire and drop them. (6). The ambush works but sets off the alarms in the base.
The crew first heads to the escape pod, where one of the two remaining life forms was discovered by Ama'reeha's sensor use. They want to make sure it isn't Dobah preparing to escape. Instead, they find Godon Nekatta. His ship was damaged as he was coming to take Dobah in, but the Aqualish showed him mercy and offered him a position on his ship instead. The young rodian is obviously torn between loyalty to the pirate who saved him and his duty to his Guild. Xavin talks to him about his sister, Zukata, and begs him to do the right thing (7). Nekatta agrees and waits on the Sparrow, which Xavin is certain to lock down in case the rodian gets any funny ideas.
Then the crew makes their way to the cockpit. They open the door and Cole chucks in a grenade, missing by a mile. Dobah then charges forward with a vibroaxe, doing a great amount of damage to the merc. Xavin and Ama'reeha both attempt to get shots off but fail (8).
Cole attempts to grab Dobah's axe and knee him, but misses and injures himself against the metal haft of the axe instead (9). Xavin hits the Aqualish, as does Ama'reeha, almost dropping him. Then, the pirate raises his axe for the killing blow against the badly wounded Cole. The mercenary dodges out of the way and Dobah hits a sturdy metal pylon, shattering the axe (10). Cole quickly turns things around and drops the pirate with a stun blast from his carbine.
The crew hauls Dobah away, deciding to turn him over to the Hutt after reuniting Nekatta with his sister. They turn Dobah over to the Hutt for 5,000 credits and watch him die in an arena battle. They also sell two of the three crates of glitterstim they found in Dobah's hideout to Diori for a total of 5,000 credits (keeping one to feed Ama'reeha's addiction for awhile). On their way back to Formos, , Teemo contacts Xavin and expects his first payment of 5,000, which the smuggles send him (11).
Formos hails the crew as freedom fighters and heroes, inviting them to stay as long as they would like and welcoming them to the refuge as one of their own. However, the crew of the Virtuous Sparrow has other ideas in mind...
Mechanical Footnotes
1 - EotE talks about what each die type means when interpreting a roll. Basically, a boost die success is attributed to environmental factors, or dumb luck. Since Xavin's only success came from the boost die, I ruled that the only reason he got the punch in is because Spir was taken completely by surprise instead of due to any skill on Xavin's part.
2 - I allowed a Triumph Sean rolled on his Stealth check to act as allowing his stealth roll to cover them both.
3 - Dual wielding in EotE is pretty cool. Assuming both skills are the same, you up the difficulty of the attack by 1. If you manage to hit, you may spend a Triumph or three Advantage to hit with both weapons, adding your net successes to both. In this instance, Cole hit with a Triumph, enough to activate damage on both stun grenades.
4 - If Ama'reeha had gotten any successes, she would have received the information Daro gives the crew later on in the ship. Since she netted 3 Advantage, however, she did find the Pass file, though had no context with which to understand it until Daro gave them that info as well.
5 - Sean wanted to use violence, so I allowed him to pair Coerce with Brawn instead of the normal Will. Ashley and Paul both had their characters assist, thus adding 2 Boost dice to the roll.
6 - My first use of minions went well, although they didn't get an chance to attack prior to dropping. This is probably the most bookkeeping I've had to mess with in a session. Minion groups base their skills around the total present in the group.
7 - A very successful charm roll assisted by Ashley and Sean.
8 - This is the first time PCs have gone up against a Nemesis and have to face the Adversary talent. Dobah has Adversary of 2, which upgrades the difficulty of ALL attack rolls against him by 2. Factor this in with the fact that they are firing blasters at an opponent engaged with an ally, and that's a total of 2 purple dice and one red added to the difficulty. Basically, EXTREMELY B.A.
9 - Sean netted 2 Threats on his roll, causing him to take 2 Strain.
10 - He rolled a Despair on a difficulty die that had been upgraded by use of a Destiny Point, thus causing something very bad to happen.
11 - Each point of Xavin's Debt Obligation costs 5,000 credits to buy off, I've decided
End Result
This was Ashley and Paul's second very successful session (the first being the Beginner's Box) and Sean's first (he played in the GM Toolkit adventure, which left much to be desired). I wanted to make sure all three of my players had a good feel of how a session SHOULD go, so they would know what to expect from the campaign. Everyone had a great time, Sean got to see what an adventure that played out well looks like, and everyone is excited to come back for Episode 2 in two weeks!
XP Handed Out
25 per character (20 for taking care of Dobah and 5 for finding and dealing with the glitterstim shipments)
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