Fringe Threats is an ongoing series of articles where I will present fully fleshed out characters to throw at your party in place of generic bounty hunters/pirates/scoundrels. These profiles will include plot hooks, game stats, tactics, personality traits, sample quotes, etc. It is my hope that these characters will serve as set pieces that a GM can drop into their game, fully-formed and ready for play.
Last time we looked at the personalities that make up the Riders of the Maelstrom, a notorious band of pirates that prey on vessels traveling in and around the Maelstrom Nebula. The original adventure never detailed how hundreds of pirates got aboard a Mon Calamari cruise liner, so I developed a suitable pirate fleet that matched their aesthetic and raiding style (The only pirate ship actually featured in the original WEG adventure were the Zebra-class starfighters).
Riders of the Maelstrom Pirate Fleet
Over the years, the Riders have mapped extensive routes through the Maelstrom Nebula and use this knowledge to raid shipping and passenger transports along the Relgim Run. The pirate gang rarely commits the full fleet to a given raid unless it is a particularly big score (for example, a passenger liner or container ship). Splitting up the fleet also helps the attacks seem like isolated crews rather than an entire pirate fleet – which would draw unwanted Imperial attention.
Regardless of the target or strike force, the riders favor fast and decisive surprise attacks. By the time escort ships pick up the pirate vessels on their impaired sensors, they are already under fire. The Riders try to cripple the escort vessels on the first pass, boarding the score quickly and offloading as much cargo as possible before fleeing reinforcements. For their remarkably ruthless reputation, the Riders don’t tend to kill unnecessarily – Big Jak knows that slaughtering dozens of passengers is going to cause more trouble than it is worth and keeps his crew on a short leash.
Latest posts by Phillip Krzeminski (see all)
- Galaxy Guide – Fringe Threats: Binayre Pirate Gang - December 6, 2018
