HoloNet Uplink – Cloud-Riders + Skyblade-330 Swoop Bike (Solo Content)

Welcome to the HoloNet Uplink, citizen. This series focuses on Fantasy Flight Games’ Star Wars Roleplaying Game, with content aimed mostly at the Gamemaster. Threats, adventure seeds, rules supplements, and more are all to come for those who access The HoloNet Uplink.

I’m back in the saddle this week with more Solo content. This time it’s a swoop bike saddle. While I’ve already given you Imperial patrol troopers with their police speeder bikes, its time to fly on high with the Cloud-Riders and their Skyblade-330 swoops. Hop on, power up your rider traction field, and punch it.

Cloud-Rider Marauder [Minion]

Dreaded pirates led by the mysterious Enfys Nest, the notorious Cloud-Rider marauders are the scourge of the Outer Rim. They strike from the skies, mounted on modified swoop bikes, conducting lightning raids to snatch and grab valuable cargo. The speed of these assaults often means that by the time security forces are alerted to what is happening the marauders have already escaped. Clad in a mixture of scavenged, or looted, flight suits and local animal leathers, most marauders conceal their identities with masks or helmets. Most see the Cloud-Riders as pirates to be feared, but whispers of support can be heard in some quarters. Although fearsome in appearance and tactics, some have noticed the marauders almost always target the Imperial military or rival criminal gangs, rarely accosting innocent civilians. While the motives of the Cloud-Riders are as unknown as the true identity of their leader, the threat of a surprise attack by these marauders is well known to Imperials stationed in the Outer Rim.

Br 2, Ag 3, Int 2, Cun 2, Will 2, Pres 2

Soak 3, W. Threshold 4, Def M/R 0/0

Skills (group only): Athletics, Coordination, Melee, Piloting (Planetary), Ranged (Light).

Talents: Physical Training (Add a Boost die to Athletics and Resilience checks).

Abilities: Look Before You Leap (Downgrade the difficulty of checks to jump or avoid falling once).

Equipment: Tibanna-jacked DH-17 blaster pistol (Ranged [Light]; Damage 8; Critical 2; Range [Medium]), vibrobayonet (Melee; Damage 3; Critical 2; Engaged; Pierce 3), flightsuit and animal hides (soak +1), grappling hooks.

Skyblade-330 Swoop Bike

Copyright LucasFilm.

Favored by outlaws and marauders, the Skyblade-330 is a stripped-down swoop bike capable of high speed maneuvers at considerable altitude. Originally designed for long range patrols on newly settled worlds, the Caeli-Merced engineer envisioned these swoops piloted solely by security droids. With the end of the Clone Wars and widespread distaste for combat droids, the manufacturer adjusted the design to account for the needs of a biological pilot. Acceleration governors and a rider traction field using low-powered tractor beam technology provide safeguards against the swoop’s raw power. Struggling to compete against Mobquet’s line of Flare racing swoops, Caeli-Merced has found a ready market in sales to “unconventional buyers” in the Outer Rim – buyers with motives best left unknown to the repulsor company.

Sil 2; Speed 4; Handling +0; Def 0/-/-/0 Armor 0
Hull Trauma 3; System Strain 3

Vehicle Type/Model: Swoop/Skyblade-330.
Manufacturer: Caeli-Merced.
Maximum Altitude: 1,000 meters (max climb, can operate higher if launched from altitude).
Sensor Range: Close.
Crew: One pilot.
Encumbrance Capacity: 5.
Passenger Capacity: 0 (officially, doubling up is common among swoop gangs).
Price/Rarity: 5,250 credits / 4.
Customization Hard Points: 1.
Weapons: None.

Additional Rule: Rider Traction Field (Add 2 Boost dice to checks to remain seated on the swoop).

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Christopher Hunt

Staff Writer at d20 Radio
Christopher Hunt is a long-time gamer and has recently broke into the world of RPG freelancing. Chris’ unofficial Star Wars RPG blog ran weekly on d20radio.com for the past three years. He has written for Rusted Iron Games, Raging Swan Press, and most recently Fantasy Flight Games’ Star Wars RPG. Chris is currently pursuing a Master of Arts in Political Science. Always the gamer, his thesis, which explores conflict short of war by uniting current threats to historical events, was inspired by a historical board game.

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1 Comment

  1. You magnificent Manitoban! Great now I gotta put me together a swoop crew to haul 100k units of hyperfuel.

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