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Last Night I ran a version of the Edge of Empire RPG that my man
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mordicai has been running. I've been in plotting/game design mode for a while & while I had the itch to run I didn't have the capacity to do so, really. So I was pretty stoked when my Wednesday group started playing EoE around the same time he was running his own game - I'd seen his notes and was pretty pleased with the touches he'd come up with -hitting all the right notes & running the game as cinema instead of dungeon-crawl. So I took what he had and put my own poish on it and ran it last night.
Big Table wth 6 PCs. I resolved to start it out SW style with a shot of a planet & a ship - in this instance the red Star Destroyer of the Praetorian Vice-Moff. Pan to a scene of a luxury space-yacht disembarking & descending to the planet below where the PCs all begin in-media-res. They are running a HEIST planned in advance - they are going to steal the backedup mind of the Droid Rebellion's chief spy - a double agent seemingly working for the Black Sun crimers. The ship descends into the blasted out borehole canyon - a remnant scar of the recent Galactic War. As the yacht descends the camera shifts to The Judge A Faleen foreward agent & spy-provacateur. He watches the descent through his skywalkery viewfinder and contacts via comlink his compatriot - who the camera now shifts to - posted up near the Black Sun Casino's maintenance bay is Ony Shaar - A cyborg wastelander of the Gank species who notes in his notes that the ship is landing in bay #4 - a secured hangar that doubles as a huge, impressive bunker. The massive geared doors close with an echo and the camera shifts yet again to Ony's point of contact - PKX-88& his counterpart M7A5 both of them are former Imperial droids- repurposed & reprogrammed by the Droid Uprising itself. They are imposing metal-men studded with aftermarket modifications. They remain in the casino's interior guts - posing as workers - they watch as the Black Sun Vigo & his entourage bustle through the back room, through the kitchens & into their private booth - All Gangster - like that scene in Goodfellas. They chirp their droidly nonsense in unison & the camera shifts to Izno-Zo the Rhodian sniper who, in the libertarian pleasure-hole of Ord Mantell is armed to the teeth at the pazaak table. Sitting with him and getting ready to double down on an 11 is Billie Arr - a massive muscular & preturnaturally relaxed Nautilan - his head tentacles shaped into a mullet. Izno must drag Billie from the table as professionalism and foolishness intersect. The Eagle Has Landed.
The idea here for them is to break into the bunker/hangar - get into the space yacht, find the hidden memory core & then get out without anyone knowing what had happened. Ony starts it. Scanning data-ports & systems he discovers the duty shifts of the guards working the bunker & learns in passing about the presence of a droid that manages the great exterior doors. He also learns the schedule of the pit boss (this was how I chose to adjudicate a Triumph roll - I offered you get somethign for yourself or for the team - he said himself) and was able to easily pocket a handfull of spacebux using space-trickery. Taking a chance PKX88 approaches the droid doorman - that eyestalk thing from Jabba the Hutt's palace - it responds to the mechanical high-sign that's offered - as it's luckily a sympathizer in the Droid Uprising. It let's them all right in - but warns that inside are the Black Suns' mercenary head-crackers - a pair of foolish old brain-damaged pit-fighters. A Wookie & Trandosian - both armed up to their necks & none too easy to get along with.
For anyone but Billy Arr who immediately recognizes them and knows a goodly bit about some of their best fights. They take a liking to him and the cut of his Gaffii Stick & turn a blind eye on the others - who are all plausibly present because they're the maintenance crew. The pair - Weebode & The Zood are quickly drawn into the Nautilan's confidence & the sprading around of heavy drinks & cameraderie is sufficient to turn them to the PC's side (More Triumphs, actually). Aboard the vessel the plan springs into action.
Here I broke into a flashback scene - the party is sitting around the table & deciding on whether or not one should tip waitresses & planning their big heist. They don't like their odds of geting in and out undetected - instead they plan on false clues & trickery. They've brought with them the forged-bomb - a Hutt-looking device that wil certainly point in all kinds of false directions. Meantime Weebode & the Zood have failed to call their check in and are in a mutinous mood when their boss starts calling them on the comms. Billy Arr tries & fails to deceive the security co-ordinator mainly because the damn thing's mic doesn't work (lots of disadvantage on another roll). So klaxons start to wail & the casino entrance is about to be breached by angry gangsters. Meantime the drunken duo of Webode & the Zood, angry over their mistreatment & stirred up by their supposed co-workers - plan to rebel and get ready to attack whoever comes through the door. Billy Arr making the worst of a good situation decides to stand in solidarity with them while Izno, guarding the surreptitiously discovered trash-chute & covering the door with his sniper-gun is calling everyone to make their retreat.
Guns begin to blaze & the party is split into two teams- the fighters & the runners. Judge, Ony & PKX88 make good their escape diving into the chute & acrobatically being shunted through the massive-immaculate chute system into a subterrenean complex of caves far beneath the city. They are in total darkness illuminated only by PK's shining-flashlight eyes.
The Fighters fight a bit but eventually Izno & M7 persuade the belligerent Billy to quit the scene - which Weebode & the Zood seem to have, actually - well in hand. They make their own, far less graceful descent into the trash chute- just as the Hutt Bomb disables the space yacht - covering their exit & framing someone else for their misdeeds. They find themselves in a dark cave at the bottom of a series of winding chutes which are impressively lit & huge - but the cave they lead to is dark & empty. They press on in darkness as they recall that the Savrip denizens of the Ord Mantell Under-tunnels hate bright lights. The parallel scenes end with our two parties unable to communicate as the tunnels interfere with comms.
The next scene opens with the well-lit team entering into a cavern, seemingly uninhabited, is filled with the detritus of a galactic war - pyramidal stacks of stormtrooper helmets & rebel pilot gear seem to be arranged ritualistically. They are confused & begin searching - only to be startled by the Ape-Donkey hoots of the brachiating Savrips - which climb about on the cave's ceiling. The leader seems to speak a little Basic and it charges up on them hooting - it carries a lightsaber - an old broken one that seems to serve as its badge as leader of the scavenging cave dwellers. The team is startled & alarmed & terrified of a fight which they begin to prepare for. Certain that they're about to have their arms ripped from their sockets.
And then. Team B arrives on the scene- sneaking in darkness. They've done their homework & know quite a bit about the Savrip - they've discussed it, in the diner scene before - in fact - and they know just the thing to bribe these Savrips with - PK & Ony are both luckily prepared with a substantial quantity of the exact Space-Cakes that these benighted beast-people love. It's not too difficult to negotiate a deal and they are presently led away in peace - PKX88 up a Savrip vest - which it now wears with pride - and Izno up a real treasure- a slightly broken personal shield generator that he found and swiped from the old debris in the savrip throne. The scene fades as the party is being led through the caves & opens again on them feeding cakes down the storm drain while the donkey-ape savrips' giraffe tongues extend out to receive all of the Space-Cakes forever.
From here they all go their separate ways - leaving no trails & meeting agan halfway across the planet where their ship awaits them - ready to depart. Slave II is a fanboy's dream - a firespray painted up with a cheesecake illustration of Princess Leia choking out Jabba-the-Hutt. The PCs reasoning that after Endor - this would be a common-knowledge bit of galactic lore. It really pleased me too. The team reconvenes & they fly to the Hero-Moon, home of their current employer Eris Berserk - the cyborg pirate queen.
The pirate moon is a collection of planetoids & asteroids all in orbit around a cubic centimeter of neutron star matter - it's a small moon but dangerous to navigate & a haven for maniacs, pirates & the desperate. Eris Berserk is at least 2 of those. They arrive in time to find her in a good mood, happy to pay them off & to recieve the item. They're also suddenly looped into the state of events set off by their antics.
The newsfeeds are all showing Weebode & the Zood in a massive street fight with a variety of security forces while being helped along by the legions of their super-fans. Zood-mania is in fact Running Wild all over the streets. Bets are being placed & reckless ideas begin to form in the heads of the team. Billy Arr won't see his idols killed in the street & persuades the foolish Judge & Reckless Ony to fly back & rescue the duo. Large wagers are placed on the unlikely success of such folly.
The camera pans up from the planet to intercept Slave II as it descends to the streets below - guns blazing & with a pair of lunatics hanging from the loading gantry - shooting off guns and throwing smoke grenades (all duds, it happens) and space-cakes everywhere in a futile attempt to create a distraction. Weebode & the Zood - both in gladiatorial blood-rage and both shot to hell will not relent & will not be rescued. Billy Arr tries and fails to cajole them even as they brutalize all comers - shooting, stabbing, throwing - biting - they cannot be stopped- or helped for that matter. Meantime the cloakshape fighters of the angry black suns are on the scene - a ship-to-ship fight breaks out simultaneous with the ill-concieved streetfight.
It doesn't go well - for anyone really - and the die-rolls just keep getting dumber and dumber - nobody hits, the Zood & Weebode will not get aboard & even start fighting Billy Arr - meanwhile the cloakshape fighters are starting to attract ground-based opposition as they misfire & start causing havoc in the streets - more even than there was before as heavily armed bystanders are now involved.
Finally - a break. The dud smoke-bombs all erupt simultanously & there's a massive fog that covers the streets. Weebode & the Zood are bodily brought aboard & the reckless crew of Slave II make a mad-dash escape performing only the most reckless maneuvers past & through the debris fields of the Junk Moon to lose their pursuit & disguise their final destination - the loot-room of Eris Berserk - where the camera finds them enjoying death-sticks & gearing up with some newfound prizes just as the horns come in and the session ends.
