Star Wars RPG - Part 1 - its a cantina scene

Last Saturday after a very full day of wargaming I ran a fun game using the Star Wars Saga edition rpg system. As I was going to have a few more players than normal(ideal party size is usually 3-5 players and a game master) I had the guys email me through what they'd like to play so they would be ready before hand.

With Leon's assistance we had pretty much all the characters good to go before we played and with talking to the players throughout the day could nail down their concepts a lot better so the character could actually be functional- looking at you Joel ;)

The cast of player characters were

Cody - human male, angry Jedi close comabatant
Stu - human male Jedi specializing in force powers
Aaron - Jawa with a Flamethrower and a Jetpack
Leon - human male soldier in heavy armour with a massive gun
Mark - human male, trained in Imperial service and hunting rogue force users
Ryan - human male charismatic smuggler - Mal from Firefly/Serenity
Conan - human male, butt ugly dual wielding merc
Joel - female Wookie, unarmed fighting specialist - initial confusion of Joel wanting to be a 'priest type' clarified into him wanting to be a monk type which then made sense

So after a gaming feast of fish n chips we filled my gaming room, distributed the D20s and got started. I gave the players time over dinner to decide whether they knew each other and thankfully the 8 of them split into 3 groups. Cody and Stu being the rogue Jedi. Joel, Ryan and Conan forming an independant trio of freebooters. Mark, Leon and Aaron making a trio of pro Imperial bounty hunters. Now I will refer to the players and characters as one because I didn't actually bother to learn their character names during the game anyway.

The planet of Seeriona sits on the Outer Rim near the end of the Corellian Run. A world whose major continents are covered in jagged mountains and alpine forests. During the Clone Wars Seperatist forces took control of Seeriona whose independant city states failed in uniting to oppose them. The Seperatists landed their driod task forces and began extensive mining operations, plundering the mineral content for their war machines. With the end of the Clone Wars and subsequent rise of the Empire, Seeriona has again become independant and is now in the process of ecological and financial recovery. This has lead to a variety of enteprising businesses establishing themselves in the cities and industrial complexes left behind after the war. With this comes a variety of individuals arriving for fortune, work and whatever they can get their hands on.

In a downtown bar/cantina(yes someone did have the cantina theme on their phone, sigh) not far from Aramur City's spaceport a trio of groups busy themselves with their own business as the day grows late. A weathered Bothan with grey streaking his golden fur tends the bar doing his best to avoid small talk with his current patrons. A pair of human men in hooded jackets sit at the bars end doing their best to avoid eye contact with anyone else. A heavily armoured man sits cautiously upon his groaning seat while his table companions of a chattering Jawa and a clean cut man with military bearing converse. In the bars centre with an array of empty vessels upon their table is a pair of human men and a Wookie. The first, a square jawed handsome fellow plonks a tray of fresh drinks down. The second a scarred, hardened looking individual refills his while the Wookie wearing a yellow... polka... dot... bikini over her shining fur helps herself to more.

From the bars small lobby where a protocol droid watched over the enforced weapons lockers came cries of distress from the droid. With a crash the tarnished droids body clattered down the steps into the bar and stopped upon colliding with the bounty hunters table. A pair a men staggered down the steps, one in a very worn brown jacket and the other in a blue security uniform. Both seemed very inebriated by their manner and incoherent moaning. They stumbled into the bounty hunters table drawing am aggresive glare from Mark and Leon while the Jawa - Aaron, his golden eyes gleaming at oppurtunity slid off his stool to 'assist' the fallen droid(frakkin Jawas).

Admist jeers at the drunkards from the players, Ryan took his beer and threw it into the jacketed mans face and scooted to the far side of the table behind the swimsuit wearing Wookie. At this insult the man let out a shriek and charged at Ryan with grasping hands outstretched. Conan sprung from his seat and grabbed the assailant doing his best to restrain him while other players made their way from their seats towards the weapon lockers for fear of escalation. Joel's wookie swung at the grappled man and with a horrific crack he slumped in Conan's grip his head resting at an unnatural position. While this occured the security guard had sighted the Jawa under the table and made a grab at him, in swift retaliation Aaron drew his hold out blaster he had successfully concealed in his tattered robes and planted a shot dead in the guards chest. With a thump the man fell to the floor with a plume of smoke rising from the wound.

As the two antagonists were now apparently lifeless it was startling to see both bodies start to convulse and develop a feverish sheen. Ryan quick to take advantage as Aaron continued 'helping' the droid, knelt over the security guard and started 'looting' the injured man. As he drew a security card and a cred chip from the pocket, the guard grabbed the offending limb in a vice like grip and bit down hard into Ryan's forearm resulting in a scream of pain. Still in a grappled state by Conan the other man snapped his head about and sunk his now blackening teeth into Conan's shoulder while ineffectively scratching at his armourd chest.

Aarons Jawa retreated from the guard firing shots from his pistol as he scurried under tables for protection. Ryan threw himslef out of reach as Leon, who had now retrieved his heavy rifle opened fire at the guard raking blaster shots into him. Conan maintained his grip while Joel unsheathed his claws and ripped into the deranged man.

Quickly the two were put down... again and the Bothan bartender started hooting and hollering with a variety of colourful language for everybody to get out of his bar.
Aaron grabbed a foot of the now inoperative protocol droid and taking advantage of the confusion dragged it out into the street making for the spaceport while Leon and Mark followed past Cody and Stu who had managed to observe the fight and keep their abilities and lightsabers hidden. Ryan whose wound was unnaturally rapidly worsening found that the guard's card identified him as an employee of Cerulean Sciences, but along with Conan was in need of immediate medical attention so also headed for the spaceport A&E with Wookie escort.

As the three groups all headed for the port sounds of conflict rang through the streets and plumes of dark smoke rose from the industrial sector.

in part 2 - spaceport - getting the characters together