The Rik Duel Gang was introduced in issues 70-72 ("The Stenax Shuffle", "Return to Stenos", and "Fool's Bounty"). They had several other appearances throughout the remainder of the series, but the Stenos stories are definitely a highlight. Dani became a major character in her own right later on and earns her very own entry. Most recently, a young Rik Duel played a small role in A. C. Crispin's Han Solo novel The Hutt Gambit. As I've interpreted these guys, they work best not as villains, but rather competitors, rivals or uneasy allies of the player characters.
A few notes: Most of the background comes from the comics, except for Chihdo's, which I thunk up on my own. Chihdo's attributes were derived from the Outlaw Tech template from an issue of the 'Adventure Journal' and wildly contradicts a Rodian's allowed min/max's. Oh well.
Rik, Dani and Chihdo's first adventures have been reprinted in "Fool's Bounty" volume 5 of Star Wars: A Long Time Ago..., Dark Horse Comics' reprint series of the entire Marvel run. The gang appears throughout the remainder of the Marvel run in stories reprinted in volume 6, "Wookiee World" and volume 7, "Far, Far Away."
The Rik Duel Gang
From the Apocrypha of Voren Na'al
When the official history of the Heroes of Yavin is written it's unlikely that the Rik Duel Gang will receive much more than a passing mention. Nevertheless it can be telling to examine the lives of those who fell through the cracks during the Rebellion against the Empire.
Rik Duel is like many a Corellian smuggler, fiercely independent and apolitical. Duel lacks any driving ambition and prefers to live by his wits. Not half as smart as his notorious Corellian ego has convinced him he is, Duel wanders from one get-rich-quick scam to another leaving angry lovers and unpaid bar tabs in his wake.
Rik Duel's carefree, journeyman lifestyle attracted others into his orbit. Rik's closest friend is Chihdo, a renegade from the Rodian Underground who barely escaped his homeworld when the Empire crushed the last of the resistance there. Convinced of the futility of fighting the Empire, Chihdo signed onto Duel's freighter Moonshadow as engineer. Chihdo has a ruthless and greedy streak, but, in fairness, is capable of more consideration and intelligence than many would expect from a Rodian. In fact, during the infamous "Stenax Shuffle" incident, it was Chihdo who was first interested in the lost sculpture of Vol, a religious artifact of the sky god revered by the natives of the planet Stenos. Moreover it was Chihdo who chose the timely moment to inform the Stenaxes that the sculpture had been found so that they could recover it from Stenos' Imperial Governor Matrin.
The final member of the Rik Duel Gang is Dani, an adventurer from the planet Zeltros. Rik's promises of riches and excitement were too much for Dani to resist and for a time she lent her formidable combat skills to the group. Once she learned that Rik's schemes rarely paid off, Dani eventually lost interest in Rik Duel and followed her frivolous nature towards friendships with Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia Organa. Dani's subsequent, tragic history during the Nagai conflict is beyond the scope of this article and will be discussed elsewhere.
The Rik Duel Gang's two most famous adventures both took place on the planet Stenos and involved the Heroes of Yavin. Shortly after the destruction of the first Death Star, Princess Leia, Luke Skywalker, Han Solo and Chewbacca investigated the disappearance of a Rebel cell on Stenos. There they encountered Rik Duel and company, old acquaintances of Solo. Claiming to be working for the missing agents, Duel engineered a double bluff, playing the Rebels off of the local Imperials in order to locate and escape with the valuable lost relic of Vol. As mentioned above, the local race, the Stenaxes, fierce winged warriors, intervened. Fortunately when the Stenaxes arrived, Duel had just handed the artifact to Governor Matrin who became the object of the Stenaxes' revenge. In the confusion, Duel and the others escaped.
Sometime later, while following a lead concerning the location of the carbonite frozen Han Solo, Luke Skywalker, Chewbacca, and Lando Calrissian returned to Stenos and again encountered Rik Duel. Duel's hatred of the oppressive Empire and respect for fellow Corellian Solo overcame his greed, and Rik offered to aid Skywalker. As it turned out, bounty hunters Bossk and IG-88 had frozen Chihdo in carbonite as bait in a trap for Skywalker and Calrissian. Rik Duel and Dani were instrumental in the rescue of the two heroes.
Time and time again Rik Duel has proven to be a boorish scoundrel motivated solely by self-interest, yet every once in a while he can surprise everyone and do the right thing. Just don't count on it very often.
Rik Duel
Type: Corellian Con Artist
Height: 1.8 meters
Species: Human
Sex: Male
DEX 3D PER 4D
Blaster 5D Bargain 5D
Dodge 5D Con 6D
Gambling: 5D
Persuasion 5D
Sneak 6D
KNO 2D+1 STR 3D
Cultures 3D+1 Brawling 4D
Streetwise 5D
Value 3D+1
MEC 3D TEC 2D+2
Repulsorlift Ops 3D+2 Security 4D+2
Space Transports 4D+2
Starship Gunnery 4D
Force Points: 1
Move: 10
Equipment: Two blaster pistols, Modified Light Freighter, "Moonshadow", comlink,
1000 credits, lockpicks.
Description: Rik Duel is tall and rakishly good looking with brown hair and
short goatee. He usually wears a black vest over his brown flight suit.
A Quote: "This has been a really sweet caper! There's nothing like dumb allies
to boost the profits and reduce the labor!"
Chihdo
Type: Rodian Outlaw Tech
Height: 1.7 meters
Species: Rodian
Sex: Male
DEX 2D+1 PER 3D
Blaster 4D Hide 4D
Dodge 4D+1 Search 5D
Sneak 5D
KNO 3D+2 STR 2D+1
Alien Races 4D+2
Bureaucracy 4D+2
Cultures 5D+2
Streetwise 4D+2
Value 5D
MEC 3D TEC 3D+2
Astrogation 4D Computer Programming/Repair 4D+2
Communications 4D Demolition 4D+2
First Aid 5D
Starship Repair 5D+2
Force Points: 1
Move: 10
Equipment: Blaster pistol, pocket computer, comlink, 1000 credits.
Description: Chihdo is your basic looking Rodian kind of guy.
A Quote: "I never question the judgement of my betters... But I will say, I'd
hate to have a Stenax as an enemy."
Dani
Type: Zeltron Adventurer
Height: 1.7 meters
Species: Zeltron
Sex: Female
DEX 3D PER 2D+2
Blaster 6D Persuasion 4D+2
Brawling Parry 6D Sneak 5D
Dodge 6D
Pickpocket 4D
KNO 3D STR 4D+1
Willpower 5D Brawling 6D+1
Survival 5D Stamina 6D+1
MEC 3D TEC 2D
Repulsorlift Ops 4D Security 4D
Space Transports 4D
Special Ability: Stamina: Zeltrons are notoriously hard to kill. Their natural
endurance gives them +2D on all Stamina, Survival, and Willpower skill checks.
These bonuses have been included in Dani's stats.
This character is Force Sensitive.
Force Points: 2
Move: 10
Equipment: Two blaster pistols, 2000 credits.
Description: Dani is tall, purple and gorgeous.
A Quote: "Hi. I'm Dani. What do your friends call you?"
"Ah... ah... Luke."
"Nice Name. I like men named Luke. Young blonde men named Luke..."
Rik, Dani and Chihdo were created by Jo Duffy, Kerry Gammill and Tom Palmer.