The Ghtroc Empress Super Freighter

[Kytross]

The Ghtroc Empress Super Freighter is the ship that drove Ghtroc Industries out of business. I have a plot hook for it, and I think this is the right forum.

It starts with the Players needing a new ship, for whatever reason. They come across a squib starship merchant who has some great ships on the lot. Nothing the players can afford. The only thing in their price range is an old Ghtroc Empress.

It's old. It's been well used. It's ugly. It seriously needs a paint job. And worst of all, it's been in the Squib's inventory for two years and he's been paying taxes on it for way too long. He wants to see this thing gone, so he's dropped it down to how ever many credits he can wheedle out of the players.

The ship has been sitting idle for two years. Stat wise, there's nothing wrong with it, but the group's tech guy is going to have to put in a solid fifty hours of overdue maintenance work just to get the thing spaceworthy. Once that's done they have a working starship.

And now the players are stuck with a ship no one wants to buy, that has some of the worst stats in the game. Low speed. No maneuverability. Okay hull code. Weak shields. No weapons. You would have to modify it just to fight in this thing.

HUGE CARGO BAY. That's the one thing it's got going for it. If they could fill the cargo bay, and not run into any pirates, they could make a fortune... If...

It has the potential to be a great pocket carrier. If you're looking to run some starfighter missions down the road, this could be your ship. You could fit at least a half dozen star fighters in this thing and have room for a repair bay. But if you could afford starfighters, the players never would have bought this thing.

They could always pull a Wraith Squadron move and steal the snubfighters they need.

The ship itself works as a plot device for the players. It has potential. Lots of potential. But in the mean time they find out that this ship is more trouble than it's worth.

They should have named it the Albatross instead of the Empress.

[cheshire]

I'll bite. It sounds interesting.

If you want to make it REEEALY interesting, you could have a few things snuck into nooks and crannies in the cargo bay. A nest of something nasty could easily be making a family of vermin in there. One that might even violate a local quarantine.

There could be something illegal tucked below some loosely secured hull plating. Like an improperly "liberated" artifact from an archeological find. Now that the ship has resurfaced, someone will be wanting it back.

This has a LOT of options open to it.
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Before we take any of this too seriously, just remember that in the middle episode a little rubber puppet moves a spaceship with his mind.

[Kytross]

Cheshire, you are devious. So wonderfully devious. The exact kind of devious that makes a wonderful GM. I love it.

"Sure officer, you can search it. There's nothing illegal in that ship."

[Kytross]

Or the Storini Crystal Deceiver and Storini Glass Prowler from Wraith Squadron

[Sutehp]

Or it might have been owned/used by a smuggler and the PCs get wind of a rumor that the Empress might still have some valuable contraband still stashed in a forgotten smuggling compartment somewhere...

And some of the smuggler's old partners who he betrayed to the Sector Rangers have just finished paying their debt to society and are now looking to get their share of the loot still stashed in the Empress....
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Sutehp's RPG Goodies
Only some of it is for D6 Star Wars.
Just repurchased the X-Wing and Tie Fighter flight sim games. I forgot how much I missed them.

[Kytross]

[garhkal]

[Kytross]

[Pel]

I agree that it's big enough. Your problem might be with the doors, which appear to be about 4m tall. It's enough room for an X-Wing, but just barely. TIEs I'm not sure about since they look taller.

If you really want to make your players live in "interesting times" how about a Squib stowaway or ten who have "claimed" the ship and are perfectly happy with its current non-functional status? Talk about gremlins in the machinery! The starship dealer could know about them and list a "Squib Colony, Slightly Used" in the very fine print of the ship's accessories, somewhere between "Paint, multi-colored vintage", and "Stairs, sturdy!".
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Aha!

[garhkal]

Worse.. It already has an ownership claim from some Uganoughts.
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Confucious sayeth, don't wash cat while drunk!

[Kytross]

"Paint, multi-colored vintage" makes me think of Bernie Mack in Transformers.

Imagine all the repair work had been done over the years by Jawas. It works just fine, but there's not a single standard part used in any repair.

[garhkal]

[CRMcNeill]

If you're going to use that side-profile shot from the Empress, you really should go to The Source.
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"No set of rules can cover every situation. It's expected that you will make up new rules to suit the needs of your game." - The Star Wars Roleplaying Game, 2R&E, pg. 69, WEG, 1996.

The CRMcNeill Stat/Rule Index

[CRMcNeill]

Or, if you're looking for something mid-range, between the 720 and the Empress, there are a couple options.
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"No set of rules can cover every situation. It's expected that you will make up new rules to suit the needs of your game." - The Star Wars Roleplaying Game, 2R&E, pg. 69, WEG, 1996.

The CRMcNeill Stat/Rule Index

[Kytross]

Nice CRMcNeill, thanks!