Rogue Event 14 – Legendary Thief KazaaakplethKilik

DESCRIPTION

You enter a new star system and long range sensors detect a single vessel of Silhouette 4 at the far end of the system.

Do you move in to investigate?

INVESTIGATE

You cross paths with a starship of unusual design that looks to have had dozens of layers of armor-plating added over its battered hull. As the starship approaches to within sensor range, you are able to identify the vessel as a defunct Mandalorian design, previously thought long-lost. The comm systems crackle to life with an insectoid voice clicking away in the native Gand language;

“Attention alien vessel. Legendary thief KazaaakplethKilik commands you to stand down immediately and surrender your treasures. I look forward to adding your sparkling vessel to my collection.”

A wave of terror washes over the thoughts of the Crew as you recognize the name of this ruthless marauder. KazaaakplethKilik is a paranoid, xenophobic murderer and obsessive hoarder. She has collected a lifetimes worth of stolen wealth goods and hidden it in a remote outer rim location. She has a reputation for cruelty and deadliness, and as such each member of the Crew must immediately make an upgraded Average (dc) Fear check.

A successful Easy (d) Knowledge (underworld) check reveals rumors of KazaaakplethKilik’s vast, hidden treasures hidden throughout the galaxy.

KazaaakplethKilik despises all non-Gand lifeforms and adds two Setback dice (bb) to all Social skill checks made by species other than her own used to influence her. If she is not otherwise dissuaded, KazaaakplethKilik’s primary motivation is to steal all of the Crew’s possessions, including their starship.

ENCOUNTER

If the enemy ship is destroyed, the tattered scraps from the empty husk of the ship can be collected and sold, taking 50 Encumbrance and having a base value of 2,000 credits.

If KazaaakplethKilik’s ship is either disabled or boarded, she immediately signals her surrender and offers to reveal the location of one of her secret vaults in exchange for her life. One Crew member makes an opposed Charm, Coerce, or Deceit check as appropriate against KazaaakplethKilik as she tells the coordinates for nearby stashes of stolen goods, with two Setback (bb) added if the Crew member is not a Gand (see Results below).

The locations of the hidden valuables are known only to KazaaakplethKilik and are not directly recorded in any fashion. However, a boarding party may easily download the enemy starship’s databanks in an attempt to triangulate the locations of recently visited treasure caches with an upgraded Daunting (dddc) Astrogation check (see Results below), with additional Setback dice added as appropriately for external factors such as starship damage.

RESULTS

Each Success: The Crew uncover the coordinates and access codes for one hidden stash of treasures, located at a random star system in the galaxy. Each hidden stash contains one random starship component (roll 2d10; see Random Starship Component Table below), as well as a wealth of credits as determined by the number of Advantage generated, if any.

Each Advantage: Every secret stash found also has stored within a cache of an additional 1,000 credits.

Each Triumph: One hidden vault has an intact starfighter housed within (roll 1d10; see Random Starfighter Table below).  Alternatively, Galaxy Masters are encouraged to provide exotic, new, and experimental star fighters in lieu of those listed.

Random Starship Component Table

Roll (2d10)		Component Found
2		Enhanced Carbon-Durasteel Armor
3		Hyperdrive Generator
4		High-Output Ion Turbine
5		Subspace Transceiver
6		Advanced Targeting Array
7		Reinforced Shield Generator
8		Electronic Countermeasures Suite
9		Hydraulic Control Circuits
10		Auto-Blaster
11		Blaster Cannon (Light)
12		Blaster Cannon (Heavy)
13		Ion Cannon (Light)
14		Laser Cannon (Light)
15		Tractor Beam (Light)
16		Laser Cannon (Medium)
17		Laser Cannon (Heavy)
18		Concussion Missile Launcher
19		Quad Laser Cannon
20		Proton Torpedo Launcher

Random Starfighter Table

Roll (d10)		Result
1-2		BTL-A4 Y-Wing
3-5		Z-95 Headhunter
6-0		TIE/LN Fighter

H is for Hot rod

image from inside a WWII-era B-29 bomber cockpit (from http://justacarguy.blogspot.com)

I’ve been thinking a lot about how Han Solo’s space ship, the Millenium Falcon, stands apart. The very first ship shown in Star Wars, which came to be known as the Blockade Runner, was originally built to be Han’s ship, or what the film crew referred to as the “Pirate Ship.” Lucas’ model maker Joe Johnson, explained:

“It was supposed to look like a ship that had been assembled from other ships… George wanted it to look like it’d been hot-rodded, so we put we put bigger engines on it and stripped things off of it.”

The 90’s cult-classic video game Star Control had a similar way of thinking about the protagonist’s main space faring vessel. Throughout the course of the games interstellar campaign, the player is able to add , piece by piece, onto the frame of the starship. Slowly, the craft is built into a devastating warship of the player’s own design; reflecting his or her own style and the benefits granted through playing well and finding the game hidden secrets. Remembering back, this was an immensely satisfying way to play a video game and an element of game design that I often try to imitate.

Thus, for Star Wars: Edge of the Empire, I have created a set of House Rules to allow for greater depth of starship customization at character generation at the start of a campaign. I took the time to backwards-engineer the starting stats for the 3 potential starting ships in the Edge of the Empire Beta (sorry, the Silhouette 5 Wayfarer is out of the scope of this article) and created a baseline, minimalist starship which could then be upgraded outside of the realm of Hard Points by a one-time opportunity pick-and-pay method. The goal here is to foster emotional investment on the part of the players into their starship by giving them a more direct hand in establishing that starship’s abilities, much the same way that a typical character is created. Opening up this level of customization is an oft-tread path towards game imbalance and out of control build combinations. I welcome such sights and challenge readers to find out the most outrageous strategies using this system and to share them here in the comments.

OPERATION VI – Hex-Based Space Combat

This post is a summary of my most recent session of our CRUSH the REBELLION campaign, now in full swing and progressing very well; a brief list of “lessons learned” from playing in this seemingly unique campaign model, as well as a discussion of the new house rules for tactical space combat we used for this operation. I’m sure some readers are eager to take a look at these alternate space combat rules, so here’s the link to the summary page.

The Operation itself consisted of the player characters needing to stop a group of traitors from stealing prototype stealth TIE Fighters and selling them to a nearby pirate fleet. The adventure is further complicated by a Star Destroyer commander with an old grudge against one of the Agents.

I’ve made a huge mistake.

… and messed up the rules for vehicle weapon attack difficulties. Why didn’t anyone tell me earlier? What am I supposed to be doing here, reading the rules?

I think part of this is that I often mentally confuse the rules for the Edge of the Empire Beta with those that changed throughout the Beta Updates and the final Core Rulebook. This issue came up at my home game just the other day (thanks, Steven) and, suffice to say, I am embarrassed. In general, almost all the attack difficulties listed in my popular Starship Cheat Sheets need to be increased by 1.

As a service to my fans, I’ve not only updated all of the sheets to be accurate, but I’ve also added an impressive list of never before crafted Starship Sheets for some of the more popular Imperial and/or Capital starships, all the way up to the massive Imperial Star Destroyer. Enjoy!

STARFIGHTERS & SMALL CRAFT

• All-Terrain Personal Transport (PDF) (Word)
• All-Terrain Scout Transport (PDF) (Word)
• Aratech 74-Z Military Speeder Bike (PDF) (Word)
• Storm IV Cloud Car (PDF) (Word)
• Incom T-16 Skyhopper (PDF) (Word)
• TIE/LN Fighter (PDF) (Word)
• TIE/SA Tactical Bomber (PDF) (Word)
• TIE/IN Interceptor (PDF) (Word)
• TIE/D Defender Multi-Role Starfighter (PDF) (Word)
• RZ-1 “A-Wing ” Light Interceptor (PDF) (Word)
• T65B “X-Wing” Multi-Role Starfighter (PDF) (Word)
• BTL-S3 “Y-Wing” Attack Starfighter (PDF) (Word)
• A/SF-01 “B-Wing” Heavy Fast Attack Starfighter (PDF) (Word)

FREIGHTERS & MISCELLANEOUS

• Firespray System Patrol Craft (PDF) (Word)
• Ghtroc 720 Light Freighter (PDF) (Word)
• Sorosuub Luxury 3000 Space Yacht (PDF) (Word)
• Wayfarer-Class Medium Freighter (PDF) (Word)
• YT-1300 Light Freighter (PDF) (Word)
• YT-2400 Light Freighter (PDF) (Word)
• YV-929 Armed Transport (PDF) (Word)
• T-4A Lambda-Class Long Range Shuttle (PDF) (Word)

CAPITAL SHIPS

• CR90 Corvette (PDF) (Word)
• EF76 Nebulon-B Frigate (PDF) (Word)
• Imperial I-Class Star Destroyer (PDF) (Word)
• MC80 Liberty Type Star Cruiser (PDF) (Word)
• Victory Star Destroyer (PDF) (Word)

You win this round, Lucas.

Here is a wonderful print by Ralph McQuarrie, one of the many that I enjoy. An early draft of the Millennium Falcon, it depicts the starship docked on the Imperial prison planet Alderaan.

 

And then there is this:

 

Touché.

FANE OF THE SITH LORDS

by Ralph McQuarrie

Fane of the Sith Lords is a site-based adventure for use with the FFG Star Wars roleplaying game (Edge of the Empire, Age of Rebellion, Force & Destiny). In this scenario, the Rebel Alliance strikes out at The Emperor in his one brief moment of vulnerability, sending a team of assassins into his den of twisted evil where they must treat with the dark horrors of the ancient Sith.

Fane of the Sith Lords is like no other Star Wars adventure ever published. It goes beyond the realm of the normal and into the surreal. It pushes the envelope of what is and is not Star Wars, challenging your perceptions while at the same time creating a superlatively difficult game. Fane of the Sith Lords has been dubbed a “tournament module“, eschewing continuity and in-game logic in favor of maddening puzzles, nightmarish threats, and extreme roleplaying game design. Fane of the Sith Lords is not for the timid or faint of heart. It is a brutally punishing adventure that rewards fast, smart, creative play and murders characters who act foolishly or indecisively.

• Download the Players’ Handout
• Download the Adventure
• Download Illustrations & Maps
• Download the Cards (Treason, Rumor, Relic, Equipment, Nebula, Critical)
• Download the PreGen Characters & Starship

Echoes of the Past

Friend of the blog Peter ‘Maveritchell’ Thompson has once again put forth some serious blood, sweat, and tears to craft a new Edge of the Empire heist, “Echoes of the Past“. I helped work on this one a bit as well, providing editing and design feedback. The heist itself is full of secrets and puzzles, it begs to be explored and offers tantalizing rewards to clever players. It’s something that I’m proud to have helped with and a top-notch product.

• The full details and downloads can be found here.
• If you’re having trouble with Reddit, the bare PDF file is also found here.

Technological Terror

Let me start off this conversation with explaining that, while I usually take little interest in what is considered Star Wars canon, I have traditionally embraced the tenets of the Star Wars universe as depicted in the X-Wing, TIE Fighter, and X-Wing Miniatures games. They are all very well designed games that have (and will in the future) stood the test of time as classics. It was those video games of the 1990’s that definitively set in my mind what a B-Wing behaves like, or what the capabilities of a TIE Interceptor were. At least from my viewpoint, those early games defined and gave name to the starfighters of the Star Wars universe. In retrospect, however, I wish to now abandon some of these hard-baked tropes.

The status quo in Star Wars starfighters has the Rebel Alliance fly powerful, durable, hard-hitting death machines while the Galactic Empire skirts by with frail, vulnerable, nimble dog-fighters. By this standard, the Galactic Empire is clearly the David to the Rebel Goliath. In fact, that is part of why I love the TIE Fighter game so much; the odds were stacked against you from the start, allowing only the most skilled pilots any possibility of survival or victory. But having the Rebels bully around Imperial starfighters isn’t the tone that we really want here in a roleplaying game, is it? I want the Rebels to be the underdogs, scrappy and nimble, attacking the much more powerful Empire and winning in spite of their poor equipment, not because of it. While I understand that having weak starfighters implies a certain callousness for the lives of the Imperial pilots, it also implies that the Rebellion is short on cash while having few able bodied volunteers. Sort of the opposite of what you would expect. Isn’t the Rebellion a popular uprising struggling to find the resources they need to win against an opponent that outmatches them? For whatever reason, this strange juxtaposition has taken root.

Age of Rebellion: Beta Update

A quick word that all of my Age of Rebellion Beta Stat Blocks have been updated with the recently released first update.

In addition, I’m releasing my stat blocks for the Age of Rebellion Beta starships now. I’ve had these all done for quite some time now, but was holding back in anticipation of a beta update to help manage the huge amount if dice rolls implied by the rules as written when dealing with large capital starships. That seems to be pushed off onto the far horizon for now, so I’m going ahead and sharing with the word where I’m at in terms of large-scale, apital starship combat. Behold!

• Starships (PDF) (Word)

NOTES:

The overall goal of these Stat Blocks is to provide as streamlined an experience as possible, for the benefit of overtaxed Galaxy Masters, while still retaining the utmost in accuracy. The following notes should help explain my formatting design and alleviate some confusion.

1. Abilities and qualities that have a strikethrough (oftentimes the Cumbersome quality) are there to show that some effect has already been integrated into the stat block and can largely be ignored.
2. Some abilities and qualities, such as those that add Boost to certain skills, are simply eliminated entirely off of the Stat Block with their effect built into the appropriate dice pools, etc. so that the Galaxy Master need never even think about them.
3. Often on starships, multiple embankments of the same weapon are indicated. Where possible, minion group rules have been used top upgrade the attacks of these weapons instead of requiring a Galaxy Master to make multiple attack rolls.
4. On rare occasions, all in the capital starships section, an exorbitant number of combat dice are indicated for large weapon batteries. In these cases, instead of upgrading the attack via minion group rules, the attack is instead given a +1 damage increase per gun emplacement beyond the first. Thanks go to FangGrip the Consummate Gamer for the idea.

Starship Sheets – More Updates

“Hey, it worked that way in the Beta. It’s not my fault!”

Someone called me out on my mistakes, giving me a swift kick in the pants. I hate to distribute inaccurate information, and that was what I was doing with all of my Starship Sheets. Gunnery difficulties, Boost Shields, and Damage Control were all just slightly off, and this I cannot abide.

Additionally, the YT-2400 Light Freighter was specifically requested by a fan and the siren call of Age of Rebellion demanded that I provide a convenient starship sheet for that freighter and the two-seater (pilot & gunner) variant on the A4 model, the BTL-S3 Y-Wing. Also, speeder bikes.

Thus, I present:

• Firespray System Patrol Craft (PDF) (Word)
• Firespray System Patrol Craft with Boarding Action house rule (PDF) (Word)
• Ghtroc 720 Light Freighter (PDF) (Word)
• Lambda T-4A Imperial Shuttle (PDF) (Word)
• Sorosuub Luxury 3000 Space Yacht (PDF) (Word)
• Wayfarer-Class Medium Freighter (PDF) (Word)
• YT-1300 Light Freighter (PDF) (Word)
• YT-2400 Light Freighter (PDF) (Word)
• BTL-S3 Y-Wing (PDF) (Word)
• 74-Z Military Speeder Bike (PDF) (Word)