The Outer Rim Blues: Agents of the Black Sun EP02
Prepping and playing Star Wars: Edge of the Empire.
Previously:
The best lead on finding the lost Iktotchi refugees has our crew make a deal with Thane Rook, a Mandalorian. He put them in contact with Lyra Dax, an agent of Black Sun. She helms the pleasure ship Othello on Eriadu’s moon, our next destination.
On the Pleasure Ship Othello
Our crew, escorted by the protocol droid L3-NA, carouse the main hall of the Othello, where all the high society guests are. Drace, our pilot, could tell they were among some heavy players and haters at this party but couldn’t put names to faces. Huurach takes an interest in the various Imperial guests present, and Darro babysits his former co-worker Korrin (retconned to be Mon Calamari). Huurach later encounters a baroquely dressed guest named Kael. Kael was eyeing Huurach and a conversation ensued. Kael was very familiar with Huurach, but Huurach didn’t remember him. (Obligation: Betrayal)
Meeting with Lyra Dax
The meeting with Lyra Dax was flawless. No dice rolls needed. She knows where the refugees are and why. She offered a trade; that information for an extraction job. A derelict Nebulon-B class frigate adrift contains a unique data core in cargo; bring it back. And, of course, the table talk turns to restoring or salvaging the ship!
The Lost Frigate
Huurach skillfully navigated to position the Blue Harvest to observe the abandoned frigate at the coordinates Lyra provided. Rolled successes and a Triumph on Astrogation! The derelict frigate had activity aboard it and ships dogfighting outside it. Time to go to work!
Session thoughts
I love the “Star Wars Screen Wipe”. I use it to EZ wrap up a scene or encounter. Reading the custom dice is very much like oracle entrails. I think the success-failure and advantage-threat axis are very much like PBTA 7-9 results, were you’re working out the success and complications of an action. It feels like the EotE dice are easier to interpret. I was caught off guard that the meeting with Lyra resolved itself by just roleplaying the conversation; we got to an easy accord, no dice needed. I had her statted out and ready to dominate!
GM Prep - Into The Nebulon-B MEGADUNEGON!
This is all about shenanigans on the lost frigate. At the very least, they must find and bring back the data core that’s in the cargo hold. The Obligation roll came up for Drace, Ship Debt. Mechanically he’ll lower his Strain Threshold by two for the session. Different than “take two Strain”. I will likely ask questions about this debt to fill in the fiction and see what Drace is worried about. Letting the Betrayal obligation thread from the last game drop this session was hard. This is the long game for EotE; these threads develop as they reappear. I don’t need to push or pace them.
The ship map is COLOSSAL. I’ll run it like a point-crawl and have a few points of interest detailed. Based on the player's approach, we’ll break up
the navigation into a series of checks. I want to know if and when do they run into trouble. The factions on the ship are other scavengers, a party of droids. Hazards are breached hulls, locked blast doors, and collapsed structures.
We’ll likely engage with the combat rules for the first time. The other scavenger parties are Minions in the Edge of the Empire rules. The droid party will be Rivals after the data core.
Stealing RPG tech, I’ve started an Apocalypse World-styled clock. It’s called A Remnant Moff Arrives. Four ticks. I’ll spend Threat results there. When it shows up, it starts destroying the lost frigate —like shining a light in a roach-infested kitchen! I’ll tell the players about the clock, the name of the clock, and when I mark a tick. I won’t share how many ticks there are.
Everything else is playing to find out!
Here’s session three’s Now Sheet.
Drace Laga, Pilot
Find the lost Refugees
Owes Bounty Hunter
Debt: Ship Repairs
Darro Vane, Tech
Find the lost Refugees
Sister
Black Science
Huurach, Explorer
Find the lost Refugees
Owes Gorm
Betrayal - Kael (Nebula)
Blue Harvest (YT-3000)
scrapped one gun.
1/2 cargo load of swamp gas and mold.
Gelgelar Free Port
Gorm (Duros) contact
Gav, Landing pad owner
Thane Rook - Mandalorian.
Traded info for future Corellian run job.
Korrin (Mon Calamari) tech worked on the Bad Thing, pursued by droid assassins. Bailed on crew at Free Port.
Eriadu
Lyra Dax, Twi'lek Black Sun agent.
Othello, Sail barge.
L3-Na, protocol droid on Othello.
The Lost Frigate
Droid scavengers want the data core.
Other scavengers
Derelict ship hazards: Blast doors, broken tech, vacuums.