Hi all,

First post here, and EotE is my first time GMing, so be gentle

My D&D group is about three years old, and we have a tough time all getting together every other weekend. So over the past year, we've taken to doing board game days when one or more people can't make a session, which has been plenty of fun.

A few months ago, I mentioned that I was devouring the EotE core rulebook and that the beginners' game is pretty easy for players to pick up without having read the rules. So a couple months ago we decided to give EotE a try as a B-game for when our D&D group can't all make it.

So far we've done two sessions, the first covering Escape from Mos Shuuta, and the second covering the first act of Long Arm of the Hutt. Both sessions were a ton of fun, and I really enjoyed GMing. And I *really* like the pace of the game. I could write a whole other post on that

Anyway, this post is to solicit advice and tips on GMing a game when there's going to be a rotating cast of players, and (maybe more importantly) ideas on how to GM when the players have a fairly low level of commitment to the PCs.

One issue I see is that the upcoming session(s) might have a lot of spotlight time for certain PC, but his player won't be there for a few weeks. Easy enough - create little standalone sidetrack adventures (I think "Holding Patterns" is a good term). I plan to roll Obligation in secret just for this (devious, aren't I).

A more difficult issue is specializations - my guys have made it pretty clear that they've got little commitment to their PCs (their gaming attention is focused on the D&D game). The out-of-the-box PCs aren't specialized, so I thought they might be interested in finding out that they could take a more specific path within their careers - but they all kind of went "meh - let's just play."

Anyhow, any advice you guys have would be very much appreciated.

Easiest way to run adventures for a party where a player might be missing at any given session? Make the campaign episodic. Every PC is a part of an organization like a smuggling cartel, a bounty hunters guild, an explorer's league, a mercenary troop, or any other organization where your expected to do jobs for others.

If you need an excuse to explain away the missing PC, make the organization large enough for multiple sub-groups. So while Rick is out of the game for that session, his slicer could be off doing a mission with Gundark Squadron.

Each session should be self-contained. You can have each episode be part of an overarching plot, but it's not necessary.

Thanks kaose That's what I was thinking too. I think I saw last night that you'd posted about Order 66 discussing episodic play - those guys are awesome

Episodes, as kaosoe said, but also, don't be too put off if they don't take too much of an interest in their characters or their development, as long as they have a good time. I have a similar situation with my group, they're still using the characters from the beginner box (which I've since revised to fit the core rules), and each session I have to help them spend their XP because they don't care enough about the mechanics to read up on it. They know how to assemble a dice pool, and that's about it. But they still have a great time coming up with the narratives, actions, etc that it doesn't matter. I have a feeling I wouldn't have to provide XP at all, just playing the game and the storytelling that goes with it is enough of a lark.

Develop a NPC character that is there every time you play. Make them like an Ethan Hunt type persona ala Mission Impossible who puts a team together for each mission.

Thanks for the advice, guys!

Truly I'm grateful for the advice, and I'll be back over and over again for further questions

Episodes, as kaosoe said, but also, don't be too put off if they don't take too much of an interest in their characters or their development, as long as they have a good time. I have a similar situation with my group, they're still using the characters from the beginner box (which I've since revised to fit the core rules), and each session I have to help them spend their XP because they don't care enough about the mechanics to read up on it. They know how to assemble a dice pool, and that's about it. But they still have a great time coming up with the narratives, actions, etc that it doesn't matter. I have a feeling I wouldn't have to provide XP at all, just playing the game and the storytelling that goes with it is enough of a lark.

That sucks, man.

We've got a player that can't be bothered to watch the Star Wars movies again. I'm guessing she's seen like half of them. She's like "Who are the white ones?"...The stormtroopers. "No no no, who are the other white ones?" The clonetroopers. "What about the green ones?"... Uhhh.. Boba Fett? I haven't actually figured out who the green ones are yet. She still has loads of fun, believe it or not.

That sucks, man.

Strangely enough, it doesn't. I and another GM (who is a player in this group) have run other games with the same crowd, and they get involved, but not with the same level of enthusiasm, it's usually more a social event. While they may not be classic SW fans, they love how much flexibility this game allows and they get right into the narration. If I have to introduce SW "facts", I only do so if it's plot-based, but it's kind of liberating not to have to.

My wife isn't really a fan of Star Wars at all. The only reason why she knows as much about the setting is because I watch the movies and TCW show all the time and she often shares the living room with me when I do.

The only Star Wars she really likes is the TOR MMO. Despite this, she enjoys playing EotE because it has all the elements she enjoys in RPGs.

As long as players and GM are having fun, nothing else really matters.

I have been running a game for almost a year now, and while my players are committed, things happen and often someone can't make it. It's frequently hard to work that into the story because I like to end every session with a cliffhanger. I don't enjoy playing a character in a player's absence, but sometimes it boils down to that. Other times, there's a nasty bout of hyperspace diarrhea going around to explain a character's absence.

The gist of it is that I try to run unless more than half my group can't make it, then we do board games. I have yet to find one solution that works in lieu of 5 different solutions that work in different circumstances.

I also recommend doing episodic stories. It makes it very reasonable for a player to be away for a session.

I play in a D&D game that has inconsistent players. It actually is a nice change of pace; one day the party is mostly thieves and we're sneaking around, the next session is all fighters so we're bashing our way through the dungeon. It adds variety.

I suggest prepping multiple short adventures rather than one big one. Each for a different power level and specialization. This way you have something prepared if only a few players show up. Also, don't have the adventure require a specific skill to complete and they should also be short enough to complete in one session. Let the players pick the adventure to play. A bounty board (ala Borderlands) works well for this. Easier adventures will have less payment, forex. Also, rather than have the party tooling around in one ship, give them each their own ship or, at least, give the party several. The pilot could have a tooled up Z-95, the mech a heavily modded Y-wing etc. This way if three character fly off to Tatooine one session, you have a built in reason for different characters to be there next session.

But the main thing is to design the game for the situation and go with it. Board games are for board game night.

You guys realize that this is exactly what tabletop gaming used to be. Once upon a time, it was mostly episodic content with groups adding and losing new players all the time.

Things changed at some point. Now tabletop gaming is serious business and if you aren't doing some super complicated story with a massive campaign arc, you're doing it wrong.

Screw that noise.

Are you having fun with your 'little commitment' group?

If yes, then continue having fun and don't sweat it.

I've managed to get a good chunk of my crew team to admit they're interested in the game, but few of them are deeply involved in the Star Wars universe or committed to regular sessions. I just bring dice and premade character sheets on each trip, and see who I can get to play. My biggest tip is this: don't see their level of commitment as a limitation on gameplay, but as an opportunity.

The characters aren't as tied into the universe that surrounds them, and so you can run games focused more on entertaining play than integrated storylines. The characters can change their minds on a whim with minimal consequences, ad so the players can do things they find immediately entertaining, regardless of risk to their characters.

Easiest way to run adventures for a party where a player might be missing at any given session? Make the campaign episodic. Every PC is a part of an organization like a smuggling cartel, a bounty hunters guild, an explorer's league, a mercenary troop, or any other organization where your expected to do jobs for others.

This is a great example of how to run a group like you've described.

At some point I'd like to run an episodic campaign based on the Last Chancers (a Warhammer 40k penal legion with near-100% casualty rates). I'd create a cast of pre-gen characters, and the players would trade-off control of specific characters every session, depending on which were most useful for the assigned mission. Players wouldn't be as protective of "their" characters, and so more willing to take risks for glory, but there would still be a narrative continuity for the group as a whole.

That sucks, man.

We've got a player that can't be bothered to watch the Star Wars movies again. I'm guessing she's seen like half of them. She's like "Who are the white ones?"...The stormtroopers. "No no no, who are the other white ones?" The clonetroopers. "What about the green ones?"... Uhhh.. Boba Fett? I haven't actually figured out who the green ones are yet. She still has loads of fun, believe it or not.

I think the green ones are the ones from Episode 3 if that helps.

So this reminds me of my first Star Wars game in the WotC D20 set (not saga the one before) and I had come up with a great adventure. And my players blew right past it on the first night honestly when I thought I had months and months of game play. So I had to come up with something quick and fast off the cuff. So what I did was I got them a lot of credits and they built an asteroid base and set up a shipping company. I think they were operating near Tattooine in an asteroid field nearby. So they got a lot of work from the Hutts, the Empire, and the New Republic. This made it really easy for when a player wasn't there to rotate them out. Another thing that happened was the palyers were like. Wait there only like 5 of us no way we could be running this base and running around the galaxy. So they made new characters some were to run the base and some to fly cargo. Then came the original group that could go out on adventures outside of hauling stuff. So I basically had a multi episodic storyline going with a firefly esque group (before there was a firefly), a babylon 5/deep space nine crew, and a group of explorers looking for that next big score or challenge. In that game everyone had their favorites and their key strengths and it was actually very seldom where a player had more than one character active on the session. I sometimes had it where a cargo hauler played by so and so had to interact with the station crew but I couldn't NOT have it happen either. So it became that much more of a challenge for the player not to metagame himself. Anyway that what I would suggest if you want the players to be exposed to more of the game let them multiplay characters. What will happen eventually is characters burnout (which I think works better in this edition than in mine) where they will finally be like. "Nope this is my favorite I only want a game with this character." When that happen in my game I just popped the bubble on the base. The characters hadn't been paying the hutts enough in kickbacks. The Empire found out they had contracts with the Republic. The base pretty much got abandoned and I had a core group of characters where people had found their favorite characters.

I really really really like Hedgehobbit's bounty board idea - definitely going to incorporate that. Bull's multi-layered idea sounds like a ton of fun, too.

I will admit that as soon as I hit "submit" on the OP, I regretted phrasing it as "little commitment." It's more that the A-game is D&D and the B-game is EotE, which is bound to lead to challenges. But this has been super helpful. Thanks, guys!

Anyway, this post is to solicit advice and tips on GMing a game when there's going to be a rotating cast of players, and (maybe more importantly) ideas on how to GM when the players have a fairly low level of commitment to the PCs.

You know what I would do in this instance? I would not go with the Tramp Freighter crew that EotE tends to be, and perhaps go with a base of operations game. Think either Tales of the Gold Monkey or Tailspin . Have them build characters that would be sutable hanging around this small rimworld planet, there's a pilot with a freighter (the most regular player to show up) who owns the Adventure Ship and hauls cargo. Occasionally the bar owner has to go along (he needs supplies for his nightclub) or The Kid Looking For Adventure stows away, or The Town Drunk gets plowed and falls asleep in the back.

Come up with an assortment of colorful ne'er-do-wells and villains, build a handful of interesting places to visit in the vicinity, and keep the stories more or less episodic. Just swap out the characters as necessary (Geeze, the Kid cant come because his parents grounded him. But hey, the Love Interest is feeling extra clingy this week!), and you're golden!