Dal and the Bugman

"First of all, the concept of this series is to capture the 1970s feel of Episode 4 and make light of the detective shows common to the era. "Dal and the Bugman" is set just after the Battle of Yavin. The emergence of the Rebel Alliance as a significant force has not yet been excepted by the inhabitants of Tatooine, though many of the passing freighters and their crews bring rumors of change. It is important to keep true to both the classic Star Wars setting and the detective story theme of this campaign to truely capture the original intentions, though as a GM I encourage you to run these games in a manner that suits you and your players.

Primary sources: core book (revised and expanded), Cracken's Rebel Field Guide (for Dal's implants), Pirates & Privateers (for Y-TIE Ugly stats), Alien Encounters (for stats on Gand), Galaxy Guide 7: Mos Eisley (a wealth of locations and NPCs), Adventure Journal 11 ("Spare Parts" story, essentially an expansion for Galaxy Guide 7)"

MAIN CHARACTERS: as a storyteller myself, I know the difficulty of organizing a party. The adventure is to be played with two players. Future adventures will include the option of playing supporting characters, allowing you to add one to three more players as needed in order to incorporate the extra members of the party who may not be able to attend every session.

Ruttzo Dal

Type: human cyborg veteran
DEXTERITY: 4D
KNOWLEDGE: 2D

law enforcement: 3D, law enforcement (Tatooine) 4D, languages 4D, streetwise 5D*

MECHANICAL: 4D

starfighter piloting (Y-TIE Ugly): 5D, starship gunnery (laser cannon): 5D

PERCEPTION: 2D

con: 3D

STRENGTH: 2D
TECHNICAL: 4D

computer programing/repair: 6D*

Special Abilities:

Implant: Dal's body has been modified with a "borg brace" nearly identical to the AJ^6 [p .31 Cracken's Rebel Field Guide]. Currently, it provides a permanent stat increase to his streetwise and computer skills *. His implant also includes a cyborg/droid interface. The additional bonuses provided are listed on page 33 of Cracken's Rebel Field Guide. As plot processes, additional bonuses may become available as a story point or a high ticket reward for excellent role playing.

Force Sensitive: No
Force points: 1
Character Points: 5
Move: 10
Gear: blaster pistol 4D, "The Dayrider" (a Y-TIE Ugly) [p.53 Pirates & Privateers] technically property of the police department, blast vest, military comlink, 40 Imperial credits.

Some of Dal's skills, such as his specialty in Tatooine law enforcement or his ability with the Y-TIE reflect his experiences on the planet. It is OK to simply start him with these skills. Dal is a fast learner and by the time he has an opportunity to role the skill, he may have picked them up. This campaign is focused on a smooth role playing experience rather than an exercise in bookkeeping.

Capsule: Ruttzo Dal left his father's moisture farm on Tatooine in the heat of an argument. His parents were getting older and needed help with the workload. His family had no love for the Empire or their military tradition. This did not stop the lad from wanting to pilot a starfighter. During his stay at the academy while training to fly a TIE, Ruttzo received a garbled message of his mother's death. He remembers little of the years after.

These days, he carries three medals in an ornamental case, and his reputation proceeds him. Apparently he was quite a hero. Dal doesn't like to talk about it much, but truth is he simply can't remember details. He was involved in a major skirmish of some kind where he barely made it back to the dock in his damaged fighter. Due to a head wound, he must now live with a cranial cybernetic implant. He has also lost much of his training because of the procedure. Dal's father was willing to send for him and pay transportation costs, as well as reimburse his medical debts, so Dal is on his way home aboard a military transport. He doesn't know where the future will take him except that he still has no intention of working on a farm for the rest of his life.

"The Bugman"

Type: orphaned Findsman apprentice
DEXTERITY: 2D

melee combat: 4D, melee parry: 3D

KNOWLEDGE : 4D

intimidation (bullying): 5D, survival (desert): 5D

MECHANICAL : 2D
PERCEPTION : 4D+2

hide: 5D+2, investigation: 5D+2, search (track): 5D+2, sneak: 5D+2

STRENGTH : 4D+1
TECHNICAL : 1D
Special Abilities: this particular subspecies of Gand has access to only the abilities listed below, which were selected from p. 58 of "Alien Encounters. "

Lungless: "The Bugman" does not respire.
Findsman ceremonies: ritual takes at least 3 hours. Grants a +2D to track a target.
UV vision: "The Bugman" can see in the ultraviolet spectrum.

Force Sensitive: No
Force points: 1
Character Points : 5
Move : 10
Gear: vibroaxe, knife, military comlink, blaster pistol 4D, 15 imperial credits
Capsule: This Gand has not yet "made his mark" and so he has no name. (He earned his unwanted nickname after getting his promotion on Tatooine). He was raised to be a Findsman by his uncle. During "the Bugman's" childood his uncle found much work on Shesharile 5. "The Bugman" grew up strong, not only in a physical sense, but also amassing great wisdom from both data files and the lessons of the street. "The Bugman" had thought he had seen it all. Dean Lado and the Spiders changed all that.

Before Lado had completed his ascension to king of Zone 5, there were many attempts on his life. He was wanted both by law enforcement and by peers on the fringe. Lado made no attempt to hide. This job would have been better suited to Iceman and even he would not have been certain to succeed. The gang leader ambushed "the Bugman's" uncle from his vehicle, running him down like a dog. The Spiders road circles around his stocky nephew, easily out maneuvering his clumsy blaster fire. "The Bugman" hasn't forgotten that Lado took the time to laugh in his face.

Incomplete in his training, broke, and mechanically incompetent, Shesharile was no place for the young Gand. Unable to pick up his uncle's torch without more experiance, "the Bugman" found a listing for a detective position while at the Imperial bounty office, the only problem is that he would have to locate to Mos Eisley, Tatooine. Lieutenant Harburik is glad to have "the Bugman" working under him. The lieutenant is power hungry, and is pleased to have someone more experienced than a trainee from the local militia in his corner. Not only is the "Bugman's" sense of duty/loyalty greater than that of the other detectives, but he also does better work. For now he is living in his office, but his skill set and by the book mentality might take him far.

Story 1: Episode 1

The game starts from Ruttzo Dal's perspective, and he has yet to meet his partner, "the Bugman." As stated on his sheet, his memory of any events before a few weeks ago when his surgery was completed are hazy. Full knowledge of his childhood home has not quite returned, and it may never will. He is abord an imperial shuttle in the custody of a pair of navel troopers, quite possibly the most boring men he has ever met. The ship touches down in Docking Bay 87, due to the extra space to accommodate large shuttles. The locals are never delighted to see Imperial law in these parts, and recent events have made them even more wary. Their needs are met by a lone and terrified labor droid who is nonetheless completely inept. With only mere minutes before the transport must embark on another leg of its journey, Dal must retrieve his equipment (not including "The Dayrider") before fending for himself.

As he leaves the landing bay, Dal is greeted by an official who introduces himself as Prefect Talmont [p. 24 Galaxy Guide 7 : Mos Eisley.] Talmont has heard about Lieutenant Harburik's new Gand detective, and secretly wants to recruit a man that might ally with the Prefect's own interests. Talmont masks his motivations in praise for Dal's heroism. The prefect offers Dal a job as detective. If Dal chooses not to, or decides to wait, no big deal. This opportunity will present itself again. Talmont is accompanied by two stormtroopers [p. 22 Mos Eisley] and a protocol droid.

Dal is free to poke around the spaceport for a moment or two. (Don't delay, you still have the other player waiting.) Before long, Sert Rasow [use police officer stats, p 23 Mos Eisley] finds and recognizes Dal. Dal remembers Sert as a common thug when Dal left Tatooine, but Sert must have somehow he found his way onto the militia. With the recent influx of militiamen to the police force, Sert bullied his way into an unofficial position of authority over the other lawmen. He is eyeing a detective position to make it official. Sert greets Dal very fondly, feigning his motivation is that Old Dal Senior holds a fair amount of local influence. Sert will discuss his position on the police force, but not his agenda. If asked, he will try to talk Dal out of the Prefect's offer. Sert has already struck the deal that is getting Old Dal Senior killed at this moment, and he wants to keep Dal junior out of the picture. He alone drives Dal out toward Old Dal's homestead on the outskirts of town. He is piloting an armored land speeder [p. 44 Mos Eisley.]

About the same time, "the Bugman" gets a crazy tip from a wild eyed hermit who barges into the police station. The hermit claims there is a group of Sand People causing havoc in a land speeder! The story sounds incredible, but the detective doesn't have much choice but to investigate. The hermit offers to let "the Bugman" borrow his dewback [p.24 Mos Eisley. ] The journey out there is short but moderately difficult. Eventually the Findsman locates speeder tracks to follow.

Dal and Sert Rasow's trip is cut short. Sert had plans of his own for the Dal homestead. After hearing of Dal Ruttzo's eminent arrival, Sert decided to say behind and delay Old Dal's son from witnessing the crime. As planned, he has a lookout with a scoped sporting blaster about half a mile out from the farm. Like all the Sand People (actually imposters), the lookout is a friend of Sert. (Use police stats on p.23 Mos Eisley) Also part of the plan, when Sert's speeder passes within long range of the lookout's blaster, the lookout fires causing damage to the vehicle.

If Dal investigates, the sniper is long gone leaving what looks to the untrained eye like a boot print from a raider. Depending on any dice rolls, Dal may or may not have suspicions. Also what might or might not raise any alarm is the strange fact that the "raider" was firing a sporting blaster, not a traditional "cycler" weapon of the Sand People. Regardless, Sert tells Dal to finish the journey on foot and without him. Sert says he will catch up if he can get the speeder working. Once Dal is out of sight, Sert will put on his disguise (see below) and retrieve his hidden microweight (galladinium's fantastic technology p.15.) If you don't have the stats on the microweight, it is essentially a glider that uses the repulsorlift skill and has a move of 80. There is an abundance of rising heat across the sands of Tatooine. Finding lift is not difficult.

By the time Dal reaches the farm, the Bugman is already there. The Bugman is investigating the "Sand People" he was following the repulsor tracks which brought him here. Of course, Dal doesn't know that. He sees the dewback, a strange armed alien, and that the farm has been attacked. This can lead to a very tense situation.

This is the point where Dal is forced to take the law enforcement position he's been offered. Without Dal's promotion, the investigation lies solely in the hands of the Bugman, and Dal isn't likely to allow that. Plus, Dal now has nowhere else to go now that the farm has been destroyed. He can use his comlink to contact the Prefect's office in order to do so.

The attack was sloppy and employed light blaster pistols, again not signs of a true Raider attack. They will also find: Old Dal Senior (very recently killed with a blaster), signs indicating that a datapad was stolen, and a recently disturbed secret door/cabinet (now closed). Other than that, there is some blatant destruction, but little else has been tampered with.

When they get the secret door open, the detectives are immediately fired on by a blaster pistol. The room behind the cabinet is a hidden study, and the recent attackers did not find it. A younger brother who Ruttzo Dal never met and barely remembers hearing about is the one with the blaster. He's sure his father was killed and he's scared. Lon Dal, the little brother, has seen images of Ruttzo and will stop firing if he can be calmed down. Also inside the secret room is T-3P, a protocol droid. All indications in the room show that Old Dal was secretly a retired smuggler. It was actually T-3P who found out about this secret a month ago and worked a deal with Sert to kill Old Dal for some valuable secrets regarding how to beat Tatooine customs. Sert promised to liberate the droid in exchange for the help. Only as Old Dal distracted the attackers, Lon took the Droid with him and hid in the secret room, unaware that T-3P was the betrayer. T-3P did want to interfere with the escape and call out to the attackers, but somewhat functioning safety programming prevented him from such a direct betrayal of his master. T-3P is not aware of Sert's true identity, and has only met him while Sert was disguised.

After they finish searching the crime scene, Sert still hasn't arrived (he never will, see below), but there are at least tracks to follow left by the attacker's vehicle. The attackers were low life thugs from the militia who were left out in the transition to the police force due to their bad behavior. They have been looking for a meal ticket ever since, and now they work for Sert though Sert has used his disguise to keep them unaware of his identity. (All use same police officer stats p.23 Mos Eisley). Two are armed with blaster pistols 4D, one with a scoped sporting blaster (the lookout from before). They have halted to meet with a buyer for Old Dal's recently stolen datapad out in the desert. The buyer is Sert wearing a disguise, a jet black vacuum suit with a tinted visor. His voice, face, and scent are masked by the suit. He is still wearing his glider, ready to make an escape. The "Raiders" arrive in an XP-38A (almost identical to the one on page 33 of Mos Eisley).

After the exchange a cloud car with a flat red paint job and no markings swoops in from nowhere and attacks the "Raiders". The could car attack covers Sert's betrayal and his escape. Sert now has the datapad, no strings attached, and nobody will miss the "Raiders." After Sert escapes, no one is left alive.

The players must return to make a report. They can either repair the "Raiders' " speeder or they can ride the Dewback. If they are foolish enough to incur the wrath of the could car, the crew fires upon the players. On the open sand, escape is very difficult. The could car will destroy the remains of the speeder and kill the dewback before escaping if it can't defeat the players. Above all, the crew will make sure the players do not apprehend their client, Sert. The crew of the cloud car are mercenaries oblivious to Sert's identity. Valarian (p. 69 Mos Eisley) found them, and they have been staying at the Lucky Despot (which the players will determine later in the adventure.) The crew has vehicle blasters: 4D and repulsorlift operation: 4D. Stats for the cloud car are on p.244 of the core book. The cloud car can not safely travel faster than cruising speed at this low altitude. Flying so far below normal altitude increases their terrain difficulty to moderate, not adjusting for any other obstacles. The cloud car will break chase to regroup rather than be shot down or crash.

Story 1: Episode 2

The players arrive back in Mos Eisley by sundown. The open desert can be even more dangerous at night. If they do not immediately return to the police station they are told by a patrolling officer (p. 23 Mos Eisley) that the chief wants to see them. The patrolling officer will then radio the chief himself and inform him of the player's return. The chief has not informed the rest of the station, but another officer followed up on "the Bugman" and found out about the Dal homestead. If Lon Dal (the little brother) stayed behind with the droid, (luckily he will be perfectly safe) the boy tells the officer everything. The chief also has paperwork from the Prefect about Dal's promotion.

The players may take time to go shopping before most of the businesses close for the night, or perhaps they investigate a lead which they have discovered on their own. If they make more than two stops on the way to the station, two officers (p. 23 Mos Eisley) arrive and inform them that the chief is now demanding their presence immediately. Don't let the players deny the request. The chain on command is an important part of the structure of this and future stories.

Harburik (p.25 Mos Eisley), the chief, is waiting to speak to them. He orders them to enter one at a time. You may even want to have each player to take turns waiting outside of your gaming area to create tension. He questions them throughly regarding the events of earlier today. He does not and will not suspect Sert, but he smells a rat and needs to clear the players' names. Assisting him is a Nimbanel clerk in civilian clothing. The clerk is from a clan of nearly identical cousins who serve Jabba. They are all essentially the same character. If one is killed or captured, another will pick up right where his cousin left off. They all have the same stats as Lhojugg (p.108 adventure journal 11.) These characters are essentially non combatants who use their knowledge and perception related skills to enforce Jabba's will. Of course, the chief refuses to answer questions about the clerk. The clerk himself remains completely silent.

Once the questioning is over, they are ordered to get cleaned up and hit the streets until they have better answers for the chief's questions. When they go to use the showers, they walk in on Sert bad talking them. He mentions how they walked in less than an hour ago completely empty handed. He is still angling for a detective promotion, and as of now there are no more openings. Also, and more importantly, he wants to deflect the investigation away from himself. If confronted, he will play it cool. It will take some social skill for the players to redeem themselves in front of the men.

The players begin the proper part of the investigation that night, or perhaps next morning if you feel the characters have greatly exerted themselves. Allow them to get to know the lay of the land, this will plant seeds for future sub plots and allow Mos Eisley to feel like a living place rather than a series of encounters.

Possible minor plot threads:

-Mace Windu the local Squib (p.57 Mos Eisley) is up to his old tricks. He's haggling with the customers at Gep's Grill (p.41 Mos Eisley), one of the many actions the Whiphids who run the place have warned him not to do. If the players can diffuse the situation quickly and without hurting any feelings, they may make friends all around.

-Beeyon Nace (p.56 Mos Eisley) accuses Ajorn F.M.P. (p.30 Mos Eisley) of taking his last credit chip. Nace is quite drunk and has spent most of his wages. He was saving his last chip to buy some cold suds and a hot meal. The chip is worth twenty imperial credits. He has chased Ajorn through the alley and onlookers are starting to gather. What Nace doesn't realize is that Ajorn's chip is identical to his, but it belongs to her. Just like him, she is counting on it for her next meal. Nace's chip is still in his shirt pocket. He is just drunk and keeps only checking his belt pouch, where he normally keeps his currency. He's not totally crazy to assume that Ajorn might steal from him, however he is completely in the wrong in this particular case. Still Nace is one of the closest things to an upstanding citizen in Mos Eisley, so the players are smart if they don't embarrass him. This scene has become very public and will affect their reputation.

Once the players have had some fun, it is time to advance the plot with an ambush. Three young men with knives jump out the minute the players are relatively alone with their guard down. If this chance occurs before you are done running subplots, then run this encounter earlier. The element of surprise is more important than milking every last ounce out of a typical trip around town. If the players are cautious and do not give their assailants any good opportunities, they may notice the attackers beforehand. Consider it their reward for smart police work. The attackers are normal Lucky Despot Employees (p. 71 Mos Eisley) armed only with standard knives. They underestimate the players and are very likely to regret it. If questioned, they mention their place of employment, but claim that Valarian is not who put them up to this. They are unaware of Valarian's involvement is this scheme. They are not aware of any details about the greater scheme in general. What they do know is that they are barely scraping by on their normal wages and that a droid who's description the players recognize paid them 50 imperial credits each to "deal" with the detectives. The players should feel pretty certain the droid is T-3P. They may or may not learn that T-3P is currently at the Lucky Despot Hotel. They will find out soon enough anyway.

Even if the players blow the rest of the investigation, perhaps by killing their attackers before asking questions, they find that one of them has a pay slip from the Hotel. Upon further investigation they see the could car from their earlier battle docked outside the Lucky Despot. They have obviously picked up an important lead.

Story 1: Episode 3

The player characters raid the Lucky Despot. This can go a lot of ways which depend on the players' choices. The two smartest options, options which Harburik will demand if consulted or asked for aid, are to go undercover as a guest, or simply bite the bullet and walk in and start asking questions. The players are quite new in town. If they haven't made a fuss, a simple cover story will appear to work. Of course Sert Rasow and T-3P have given all of their allies ample warning of the detectives' identity, but the criminals wait until the detectives play their hand. Valarian is smart, if the characters come in guns blazing, she simply lets some of her ill prepared and under equipped staff fall prey to the detectives' reckless behavior. The staff are mostly innocent and she can use the detectives' behavior against the department later. The chief will not be happy. All stats for Valarian, the staff, and the Lucky Despot Hotel can be found on p. 67 - 71 of Mos Eisley. Remember the Despot used to be a functional ship. Some of its original functions have been adapted to its current environment. After dark, a blast shield similar in function what was used at the Rebel base on Hoth seals the hotel. Nobody enters or leaves unless the generator is powered down. The criminal element that frequents the hotel utilizes this function to arrange secret meetings or commit crimes free from scrutiny.

As with their time in town the characters may encounter minor plot threads at the hotel. The nature of these encounters can vary greatly depending on the methods the detectives use. These encounters will give the players point of reference when plots too large to be confined to Tatooine itself begin to surface.

Encounters:

-Zern Spurheel is an advanced bounty hunter (p. 210 in the core book). She is equipped only with a holdout blaster which has been upgraded to do 4D damage. She is an older woman with a taste for liquor and wearing a worn duster. She pretends to be a reckless and seasoned tramp freighter pilot from the Broxx Sector (see later adventures,) but in truth she workes for the Tagge family. She has no reservations about getting someone alone, shooting them with her blaster set to stun setting, and smothering them to death while they are unconscious. If her target appears better equipped to defend itself, Zern will change her methods. Just over a week ago her employers, members or the Tagge family and rulers of the Broxx cluster (with the Emporer's blessing of course,) received a message from a buyer looking to purchase a case of precious alloys from their facilities. The members of the Tagge family suspected the buyer's motives and hired Zern to investigate. Zern has already determined through reaching out to her contacts that the Rebels are building a new line of fighters which will utilize the alloys in question. Her employers would greatly prefer not to draw Imperial attention to their part of space, so they sent Zern to meet with the buyer, a rebel agent, and kill him discreetly. Zern has all of her Imperial paperwork in order, but she will try very hard not to reveal her true nature even to the detectives. Her methods rely on surprise and she would have had to change them long ago if she made a habit of revealing herself. For this reason she also prefers bringing in her bounties dead.

-"Codename: Runner " is the Rebel agent. He uses the stats of a rebel soldier on page 209 of the core book. He is unarmed and unskilled in deception. He pretends to work in starship repair. He is probably going to die.

-The crew of the cloud car should bring the players back on track if they have not yet found Sert or T-3P. The crew are a Twi'lek brother and sister who can fly and maintain the cloud car, but have few other talents. Still, business is fairly good here on Tatooine, and they have found much work. Most of it has been legitimate work guarding desert expeditions, but they are perfectly willing to do just about anything if the money is right. They haven't lost any sleep over shooting up what they thought were a few sand people, and they are quite shocked when the players (who the Twi'leks do not recognize) return to haunt them. They will instantly cave, giving the room number of the man who hired them, the man in the black vacuum suit.

When Sert is found, he and T-3P are waiting in a private room for a contact to come and buy the stolen datapad. T-3P looks forward to be liberated from the last of his programmed inhibitions, but Sert plans to destroy the droid out in the desert once he is quite sure nobody will miss it. Sert has been in his disguise for a day or more and he is becoming very uncomfortable. He expected to get paid and be on his way by now. He has no idea exactly who his contact is, since the buyer hired discreetly through word on the street. Valarian is the buyer. She has a shipment of stormtrooper rifles coming in and she would like to skip customs since they are illegal. She was hoping the rifles would give her an edge against Jabba, but she was aware that the detectives are on to her. She is in a rare position to cut her losses. She has no connection to Sert and she has yet to pay him. She may not be aware of the employees from the Lucky Despot who attacked the detectives, but that leads back to T-3P, not her. T-3P is only connected to Sert. The blaster rifles will never be delivered if they are intercepted by the authorities, so she is free to walk away from that deal. If the shipment makes it through customs without the assistance of Old Dal's master smuggling codes (the contents of Old Dal's datapad) which is very unlikely since the large collection of weapons will alert even the most lax of scans, she can still buy the blasters as if nothing happened. With the attention from the detectives, she refuses so much as reach out to the sellers of the blasters to alert them something is wrong. Sert will likely not go down easy. He is equipped with a blaster pistol and his vacuum suit when they find him. Once they get the datapad, either the detectives or the police department will determine what its contents are. Harburik will apologize if he was hard on them earlier, and he will make them partners. He finally issues them their fighter, "The Dayrider." (Y-TIE Ugly) [p.53 Pirates & Privateers] Harburik tells them he has a plan. He will contact the Mos Eisley Spaceport Control Tower and have them pretend to malfunction as if Old Dal's codes have been used. The detectives will wait in orbit and pursue any ship who appears to be waiting to take advantage of the opportunity.

It's only a matter or time before the players are in orbit. Allow them to use their own tactics to conceal their presence. Depending on their creativity, you will want to determine if they might receive any advantages in noticing or apprehending the smugglers. After a short wait, the players receive a encrypted communication from Mos Eisley Control. There is a ship, named "the Double-Dip," loaded with contraband blaster rifles showing up in the scans. The ship itself and likely it's cargo has been stolen from the salvage operation of the Death Star over Yavin. It is attempting to land as normal, having every confidence that the customs equipment is malfunctioning.

How the players bring down the smugglers (a scout ship p. 256 core book, use crew stats) is up to them, but remind them that they are detectives not military pilots. Arresting the smugglers is a priority. If the players board the ship, they find the crew to be several cowardly Rodian thieves who don't put up much of a fight. If the ship is destroyed, some of the crew and all of the cargo is jettisoned in an escape pod. The players make an arrest and the department comes to confiscate the rifles. The Nimbanel clerk shows up in a small skiff. He has a droid with him to pilot the vehicle. Harburik shakes his hand and turns the rifles over to him before they are taken to the station for inventory. If the players choose to investigate, at this point it won't take them very far, but it will hint at deep corruption and stories yet to come.

Award the players with between 6 and 10 experience