Smuggler Archive

It may seem like an unusual combination but could prove for some fun group activities. First I must say that this post is partially inspired by another thread on treasure hunting, that I read earlier. They had reminded me of how much fun treasure hunting used to be in Ultima Online. Thus I started thinking about what would make treasure hunting fun to me in SWG, and how to make it a true group activity. Now I do think that some of the aspects of UO treasure hunting should be added, but SWG T-hunting would have to be a little more story driven. So here is my idea.

Obviously right now Treasure Maps are totally worthless. However, with a few changes they could be a great source of fun for the game. Okay so first thing you would need to do is actually find a treasure map. The obvious solution would be to kill NPCs, however it would no longer be only meatlumps that drop maps. Every level of NPC in the game would have a chance to drop maps. Obviously the higher level the NPC the rarer the drop would be but would also constitute a higher level map.

So now let's assume you just looted a map, next you would need to get it deciphered and build your hunting group. Now for the higher level maps you will need to have a Smuggler and a Bounty Hunter available to help with specific functions, as well as a few hunters to take down any resistance you may find. To get the map deciphered you would have to locate a scholar in one of the NPC towns that would look at the map and give a clue about the possible location of the treasure. Basically the scholar is going to give you a planet name and an NPC's Name.

This is where the Bounty Hunter would come in; it is his job to find the actual location of this NPC using his various tracking skills. So let's say the grouptravels to Endor and the BH leads the group to the NPC in question. There would now be a small base that spawns in once the group gets within 500m of the NPC's location. The base would be sealed, with only one door to get in. Cue up the smuggler, he would now have to slice the door's lock to get the group inside.

Once inside you now havea large number ofNPCs based off of the level of the map. So you could get swoopers, or tuskens, or Night sisters, etc. It would all depend on the level of the map. Once the room is clear, the smuggler would have to slice open the mag-seals in the room and the group would remove the contents.The higher the level the map the more loot in the chests. Now most of the loot would at first be unidentifiable, this would apply to weapons, armor, attachments, etc. You would be able to tell the type of item just not the stats. All unidentified items would be listed as contraband. After all the Empire does not want you to go just loot anything without getting their cut. So now you would need to take the unidentifiable items back to a scholar who would determine the stats and return the items to their non-contraband status. Really the only purpose of the items being unidentified is so the smuggler has a chance to smuggle the items back to the scholar. It's not smuggler content but it's something.

In closing, I realize that the idea follows very closely to the original UO treasure map concept, but in that aspect, it was a great system and a lot of fun so why not incorporate the aspects that made it fun. Secondly I can see some Smugglers object to the loose comparison to the Fantasy Thief. This was just mostly an attempt to force groups to find certain character types that they would HAVE to bring with them to accomplish the task. Thus the need for the BH to track the location and the Smuggler to slice the locks. Obviously the idea would need a good bit of work and refinement, but if done it could really provide a need to group again. Of course more than likely none of this will ever get added, but like with all my threads I enjoy just discussing different ideas even if they do not produce anything useful.