I try 😂

I just recently had my players plan and execute a "prosperity gospel" give us your money and we'll double it scam. It was exceptionally well thought out and one player even wrote a speech he gave, and because it was a bustling space station (Glavis Ring Station) I decided about 10k people attended or were in the immediate vicinity. They rolled exceptionally well in scamming the people and made off with like, 40k credits split down the middle for both players.

To punish them and show consequences for actions, several of the gangs and people started searching for them and they were spotted in a busy area, and they got into an altercation. One player forgot the scene was a crowded transit station, and then he got grappled he panicked and punched off a 20ft point blank AoE around himself that dealt 6d8 damage, vaporizing four enemies and a dozen innocent civilians. They then ran on a train where the thugs chased them, where the other player shot a direct line AoE that hit the train engine compartment, which exploded and caused the train to derail presumably killing all the civilians on board.

My players had a blast (literally!) And now security forces are scrambling, scouring the space station for them. They keep joking about how you either die a hero, or live long enough to become the villain.

They are going to see several holonews reports in the next session about the political blowback, and this will result in a serious escalation of the conflict between both factions. One side will accuse the Republic of terrorism and destabilizing a "neutral" safe haven and retaliate, and the republic will suspect the separatists of staging something to give an excuse to attack, and will stockpile and prepare for conflict.

We are playing a Star Wars 5e scenario, set about a thousand years before the movies.