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First time running a 1E adventure: Tatooine Manhunt
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Raven Redstar
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PostPosted: Tue Mar 14, 2017 8:17 am    Post subject: First time running a 1E adventure: Tatooine Manhunt Reply with quote

So, this week I'm going to be running my first 1E game. Although using the Classic Adventures reboot.

It's going to be a solo game, and I was trying to figure out a decent way to introduce the player to the game system. I decided, rather than putting in a boatload of effort to custom designing the adventure from the ground up, I'm going to give one of the canned adventures a shot.

My player has expressed interest in playing a bounty hunter in the Classsic Rebellion Era, but he's expressed little interest in joining up with the Rebellion, at least so far in our discussions about his character. So, I was thinking about possibly having the Empire make him a rebel through some gentle off-screen guiding.

So, I've decided that I'm going to run Tatooine Manhunt, where he's attempting to "capture" Tallon without realizing that he's working for the Rebellion. His bounty which (will be significant) will be under the stipulation that his mark be brought in alive and unharmed. And, as such he will be competing with Imperial Bounty Hunters which are trying to bring Tallon in to ultimately be tortured and killed.

Being that First Edition was much less gear oriented than later editions, I was wondering what advice any more experienced 1E GMs have found with regards to giving players a decent amount of money pretty early into the game.

I was thinking that I'd give him enough to possibly get a freighter so he can operate in the galaxy at large by simply doing a huge service to the Rebellion in the first place.

Any ideas or suggestions for running Tatooine Manhunt for a single bounty hunter with maybe an NPC side kick?
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Whill
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PostPosted: Tue Mar 14, 2017 7:15 pm    Post subject: Re: First time running a 1E adventure: Tatooine Manhunt Reply with quote

Raven Redstar wrote:
So, this week I'm going to be running my first 1E game. Although using the Classic Adventures reboot.

It's going to be a solo game, and I was trying to figure out a decent way to introduce the player to the game system. I decided, rather than putting in a boatload of effort to custom designing the adventure from the ground up, I'm going to give one of the canned adventures a shot.

My player has expressed interest in playing a bounty hunter in the Classsic Rebellion Era, but he's expressed little interest in joining up with the Rebellion, at least so far in our discussions about his character. So, I was thinking about possibly having the Empire make him a rebel through some gentle off-screen guiding.

So, I've decided that I'm going to run Tatooine Manhunt, where he's attempting to "capture" Tallon without realizing that he's working for the Rebellion. His bounty which (will be significant) will be under the stipulation that his mark be brought in alive and unharmed. And, as such he will be competing with Imperial Bounty Hunters which are trying to bring Tallon in to ultimately be tortured and killed.

Being that First Edition was much less gear oriented than later editions, I was wondering what advice any more experienced 1E GMs have found with regards to giving players a decent amount of money pretty early into the game.

I was thinking that I'd give him enough to possibly get a freighter so he can operate in the galaxy at large by simply doing a huge service to the Rebellion in the first place.

Any ideas or suggestions for running Tatooine Manhunt for a single bounty hunter with maybe an NPC side kick?

Sounds like a cool idea. I've ran this adventure several times. It's a lot of fun.

I don't recommend giving the PC a whole lot of cash because creative players can use that to circumvent some of the intended adventure (For example, pay the competition off to give up the bounty, put out a bounty on Jodo Kast, or enlist the aid of a bunch of hired hands thus requiring you to control a lot more NPCs than you intended). If the motivation of the character in the adventure is money, then the PC shouldn't already have a lot of excess cash.

You already have to scale down the adventure since the game was designed for 6 new PCs, so you should also consider allowing your solo PC to start out with some extra allocation skill dice to beef the PC up to make up for having one PC. Yeah, you could say Alliance loans him the ship with the stipulation that he can keep it as part of his reward for rescuing Tallon. I also suggest the ship comes with an astromech droid with some good repair and co-piloting skills, and maybe also medical droid for healing wounds, but the droids may normally stay on the ship. (Droids free up skill dice needed by the live characters for other stuff). While he could help in a blaster fight, I would suggest the NPC sidekick be a general pilot (starship and repulsorlift) which allows the PC to be center of the action as the gunner. Giving them some good equipment and weapons to start out with would be a good idea.

Please let us know how it goes!
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Raven Redstar
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PostPosted: Tue Mar 14, 2017 8:00 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thanks for the reply, Whill!

I was thinking that cash payout would be the carrot at the end of the adventure to kind of kick start the campaign.

So far, I've sort of decided that Alliance payout will be either 40,000 credits in cash or a used VCX-100 Freighter (valued at approx 65,000). Versus 20,000 for the Imperial bounty with half of that being taken up in administrative fees. (My way of deterring him from breaking faith on the contract.)

Right now, I'm going back and forth between a servant droid (with some skill upgrades) or a Loyal Retainer type NPC sidekick. Either will have adequate (Professional level) piloting skills along with some supportive skills like computers and medicine. I've been leaning a bit more toward the droid, because it feels more Star Wars. Not to mention, the droid can be rebuilt by the PC if he happens to be unceremoniously gunned down.

I'm looking forward to having some of the Imperial Bounty hunters end up as recurring rivals in future games.

I hadn't really thought about upgrading the template's gear, but I may give him a suit of Bounty Hunter armor to increase his chances of survival.
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PostPosted: Tue Mar 14, 2017 9:16 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Raven Redstar wrote:
So far, I've sort of decided that Alliance payout will be either 40,000 credits in cash or a used VCX-100 Freighter (valued at approx 65,000). Versus 20,000 for the Imperial bounty with half of that being taken up in administrative fees. (My way of deterring him from breaking faith on the contract.)

I get what you're going for as far as player motivation, but there's another other end to that. If the Alliance is paying so much more than the Empire, why wouldn't the Alliance post that bounty more openly to deter hunters to even turning Tallon over to the Empire? In the adventure as designed, the PC group is part of the Alliance so their motivation is not money at all. If the Alliance doesn't have any agents available for this mission I can see your general concept of the Alliance paying someone to rescue him, but I have a hard time accepting that the Alliance could outbid the Empire so drastically.

This player couldn't just accept a lower payout because it is the right thing to do? If not, maybe add some extra motivation, like Adar Tallon is the PC's uncle and he just doesn't want to see him go to Empire? The PC doesn't have to agree with his uncle's political beliefs and can still be like Jango who is just trying to make his way in the universe.

Raven Redstar wrote:
I'm looking forward to having some of the Imperial Bounty hunters end up as recurring rivals in future games.

In a couple of my campaign worlds, Jango Fett did become a recurring antagonist after this adventure.
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Raven Redstar
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PostPosted: Tue Mar 14, 2017 11:52 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Quote:
This player couldn't just accept a lower payout because it is the right thing to do? If not, maybe add some extra motivation, like Adar Tallon is the PC's uncle and he just doesn't want to see him go to Empire? The PC doesn't have to agree with his uncle's political beliefs and can still be like Jango who is just trying to make his way in the universe.


I'm not exactly sure, since I've only gotten some broad strokes as far as character background goes.


Quote:

I get what you're going for as far as player motivation, but there's another other end to that. If the Alliance is paying so much more than the Empire, why wouldn't the Alliance post that bounty more openly to deter hunters to even turning Tallon over to the Empire? In the adventure as designed, the PC group is part of the Alliance so their motivation is not money at all. If the Alliance doesn't have any agents available for this mission I can see your general concept of the Alliance paying someone to rescue him, but I have a hard time accepting that the Alliance could outbid the Empire so drastically.


Well, initially, I'm hoping to appeal to the character's sense of greed. However, by taking the large payout, he paints a target on his back forcing him to either join up with the Rebellion proper (far less lucrative) or try to take on the entire Empire single handed.

Either way, the character will end up with an Imperial bounty on his head, simply for gunning down Imperials in the adventure.

I guess the carrot is my way of lessening the sting of the railroading him into a rebellion oriented game. But, I see your point. I'll try to be a little more fluid since this will be the first session of the game, and we've not even sat down to do character creation. It may well turn out that I don't need to worry about it as much as I have been. I guess I've just been disappointed with the last few characters proposed to me, and I'm preparing myself for the worst.
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PostPosted: Wed Mar 15, 2017 8:37 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Here is what I would do.

The Rebels offer a ship as their bounty. They don't have cash, but they can offer something in trade. The Imperials offer $$$. They players picks which is more attractive to their character.

If they go with the Imperial offer, now *you* have a choice. You could either play the long game for getting them to support the Rebels by having the bounty hunter get a series of increasingly awful jobs hunting down subversives and terrorists. Hopefully the player starts to balk a little, and their Imperial contact points out that these concerns are the kind of things he'd expect to hear from some kind of bantha-licking traitor ('You're not a traitor, are you, citizen?') and on it goes until the player probably decides the Imperials are terrible and/or are about to execute him and flips.

If you don't mind being more railroad-y (and you think your player will forgive you for it; some players *hate* being railroaded) then you just tack on something at the end of Tatooine Manhunt. Adar Tallon has been brought in and turned over to the Imperials, and now there's one last part of the orders to carry out. Tallon worked much better for the Empire as a dead war hero than a dissident who faked his death and went into hiding over his objections to the New Order, and the Imperials would like to keep it that way. Therefore all knowledge that he was ever alive, and had to be brought in by bounty hunters, needs to be erased. Including this successful bounty hunter.

After some kind of desperate escape from the Imperials (possibly including rescuing Tallon after all?) this character/player has learned something about the Empire and, again, maybe wants to join the Rebellion, and in any case you can now drop that sweet Imperial bounty on them.
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Raven Redstar
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PostPosted: Wed Mar 15, 2017 2:19 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Great ideas. Maybe I will just let the player choose, and see where it leads us.
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Zulgyan
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PostPosted: Fri May 19, 2017 7:43 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I am prepping this adventure for tomorrow's game. Should I give the party the 10,000 credits suggested by the module in addition to the starting credits provided by the character templates??
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Wajeb Deb Kaadeb
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PostPosted: Fri May 19, 2017 8:14 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Zulgyan wrote:
I am prepping this adventure for tomorrow's game. Should I give the party the 10,000 credits suggested by the module in addition to the starting credits provided by the character templates??


That's up to you. I haven't read that adventure in a long time, but IIRC, the 10,000 serves a couple of purposes. First, it's the reason the PCs are sent to Kween Station in the first place. They're there to pick up some piece of equipment for their base.

Or, you can get more creative and have them pay off some Imperial bribes, or maybe pay informants.

Practically, I believe the money is mentioned because there's a lot of credits being thrown around in that adventure. The PCs may have to buy a landspeeder. And, it's a tough, action-packed adventure.* The PCs may want to buy themselves some better equipment from the Mos Eisely market--weapons, armor, and things. Plus, there's lots of fees and bribes mentioned, here and there, in the adventure.





*I'm surprised that you started your first game with this adventure. It's not an easy one to master. There's A LOT going on, with A LOT of NPCs. And, the adventure is very combat heavy--which may be too dangerous for first-time players.

I know that you are an experienced GM with other RPGs, but you are learning a new game AND you have inexperienced players. I would have encouraged you to play something short, too-the point, and simple first, as you and your players get used to the rules.

I've always thought of Rebel Breakout (the adventure in the 1E core book) to be an excellent scenario for first-timers. It's short. To the point. A GM can beef it up a bit, if he wants, with story or obstacles. For example, you can add a TIE fighter dog fight at the end when the Rebels get the Y-Wings.

That adventure is contained, in one location, and there's basically one enemy--the stormtroopers. And, it can be expanded to include starfighter dogfighting, if you want.

Tatooine Manhunt is designed for experienced Star Wars players. I think it's a lot to chew the first time at bat.
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Zulgyan
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PostPosted: Fri May 19, 2017 8:35 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Yeah, I'm realizing it's quite an involved adventure. The thing is, its the one included in the Classic Adventures package and all is there conveniently laid out run it. The adventure is quite railroady in many sections, so I don't think new players will be at a total loss. They'll just react to what happens as I guide them along. 2 players have joined the game that have more experience with RPGs. I think that with 18+ years of D&D DMing I can pull it off. But it's challenging start for sure.

Thanks for the tips. To make things easier for them, I'll give them the 10,000 credits.


Last edited by Zulgyan on Fri May 19, 2017 9:08 pm; edited 3 times in total
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Wajeb Deb Kaadeb
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PostPosted: Fri May 19, 2017 8:41 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Zulgyan wrote:
I think that with 18+ years of D&D DMing I can pull it off. But's it's challenging start for sure.


I've been a GM since 1982, and, to this day, I always start "simple" when running a new game using new rules.

Things always pop up. Players are crafty. It takes a while to "find your speed" with a rule set. To really get to know it.

All my opinion, of course.
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PostPosted: Sat May 20, 2017 12:32 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I do agree that "Rebel Breakout" is a good simple basic introduction to the game. I've ran that a couple times for first time players of the game.

Wajeb Deb Kaadeb wrote:
I'm surprised that you started your first game with this adventure. It's not an easy one to master. There's A LOT going on, with A LOT of NPCs. And, the adventure is very combat heavy--which may be too dangerous for first-time players.

I know that you are an experienced GM with other RPGs, but you are learning a new game AND you have inexperienced players...

Tatooine Manhunt is designed for experienced Star Wars players. I think it's a lot to chew the first time at bat.

In the Classic Adventures introduction for the 2e "Tatooine Manhunt", it states "The adventure in this book is designed for four to six beginning characters." In the 1e module, it only indicates it is designed for four to six players. There is no explicit indication about experience level of the players in either version, but stating it is for beginning characters does seem to include beginning players, which definitely would be very common in 1988. I realize your statement on player experience level may be your own commentary, so I'll share my experience.

TM was the very first published adventure module. My first campaign had already had nine adventures by the time we played the TM, but I have also twice ran it for about six 18D/7D beginning PCs played by an entire group of first time players of the game with no issues. I also successfully started a major campaign with TM for 5 beginning PCs ran by a mix of players with moderate to minimal experience with the game.
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Wajeb Deb Kaadeb
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PostPosted: Sat May 20, 2017 7:37 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Whill wrote:
In the Classic Adventures introduction for the 2e "Tatooine Manhunt", it states "The adventure in this book is designed for four to six beginning characters."


Is that the fan made Classic Adventures, or the bundle of 1E adventures that WEG put out, upgrading them to 2E?



I just think it's a lot to handle for a GM new to the game and newbie players. The adventure can take off in a lot of different directions--so the GM has to be ready to explore what's not in the adventure. And, there are tons of bad guys and NPCs for the players to interact and do combat with.

It's a BIG adventure.

I wouldn't have picked it for my first at bat.
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Zulgyan
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PostPosted: Sat May 20, 2017 8:37 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

What about the cut scenes to the Star Destroyer Relentless? I'm used to D&D where the "camera" never leaves the party. How do this scenes not really known by the characters work in practice? I do see the added tension of knowing as players what the bad guys are up to, but what about roleplaying the characters with information they do not have? Maybe it will be just a case of "having a bad feeling about this..."
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Wajeb Deb Kaadeb
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PostPosted: Sat May 20, 2017 9:34 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Zulgyan wrote:
What about the cut scenes to the Star Destroyer Relentless? I'm used to D&D where the "camera" never leaves the party. How do this scenes not really known by the characters work in practice? I do see the added tension of knowing as players what the bad guys are up to, but what about roleplaying the characters with information they do not have? Maybe it will be just a case of "having a bad feeling about this..."


I usually don't use those cut scenes, but you can. It depends on your narration style.
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