To help your brother, you could grab a white board and place it on the table. I use white board markers to roughly sketch out an abstract map, then use minis to track characters and NPCs. I then describe the distances in an abstract manner, players simply indicate where they want to move to or shoot and I tell them how far it is.

I like that idea. Totally stealing it.

Alright. I'm back again. My brother (ever the sceptic) is still unsure about this game. To that end I have some more questions:

1) He wants to know what the classes' closest DnD styl equivalents would be.

2) He wants to know if there is any equivalent to a ranged spellcaster in this game.

I've almost convinced him to join the forum to ask his own questions. Hopefully this will happen soon.

I don't know D&D well enough to come up with analogs between the two classes, so I'm no help there - but as far as spellcasting goes, you're limited to the AoR or EotE Jedi. And even that's not a perfect fit - but it's the closest you'll get to it in the system.

(Another thought - perhaps describing the careers as pop culture archetypes. Archologist = Indiana Jones, Scholar = Indy's Dad from Last Crusade, Thief = Lupin III, Outlaw Tech = MacGuyver and so on might help)

The most important tidbit for a new GM (sometimes referred to as Rule Zero) is: this is a GAME meant to let people have FUN. Every rule, every plot point, every character, every everything should have an aim toward the goal of having a good time with friends and fellow gamers. If your group all has that mindset, a lot of things get easier.

I highly recommend having what we call a Session Zero, where before you start telling the story and rolling dice, you have a discussion about group expectations and lay some ground rules: what kind of characters do they want to play and how will they work together? what sort of stories/encounters are you looking for (combat, social, intrigue, space combat, trading/commerce/smuggling, etc.)? Check out this thread for some good ideas: http://community.fantasyflightgames.com/index.php?/topic/90270-group-character-creation-before-pencil-touches-paper/

Also, as has been repeated often, this game is about the narrative over the rules. The Corebook repeated notes that the rules are more like guidelines, and the GM (and the players, to some extent) should use common sense often. There's also the Rule of Cool: if it sounds awesome, find a way to make it happen, even if you have to bend things a little. Along that line, as a GM, it's often good to answer your players with a "yes, and..." or "yes, but..." instead of just nixing something.

If you have some time, consider perusing some of the below threads, where other new GMs have collected a lot of advice.

http://community.fantasyflightgames.com/index.php?/topic/103945-first-session/

http://community.fantasyflightgames.com/index.php?/topic/102208-starting-different/

http://community.fantasyflightgames.com/index.php?/topic/100618-starting-soon/

http://community.fantasyflightgames.com/index.php?/topic/87990-first-time-gmer/

Above all, welcome to the GM club! Have fun, and if run into crazy stuff, know the community is here for you.

Alright. I'm back again. My brother (ever the sceptic) is still unsure about this game. To that end I have some more questions:

1) He wants to know what the classes' closest DnD styl equivalents would be.

2) He wants to know if there is any equivalent to a ranged spellcaster in this game.

I've almost convinced him to join the forum to ask his own questions. Hopefully this will happen soon.

This is Star Wars, not D&D. If he's not already excited by the likes of Luke, Leia, Han, Ben, Chewbacca, R2-D2, C-3PO, etc... then he's not likely to have much fun with this game.

Once he gets past that issue, he needs to explore the Careers and their Specializations. Hired Gun/Maurauder is great at melee weapon combat, and Hired Gun/Heavy is great at Ranged combat. But there's also other Hired Gun specializations, and other Careers/specializations that are also good at combat.

And this game isn't just about combat -- we have plenty of non-combat skills, talents, Careers, and Specializations, too.

But ultimately, this game is more about "the narrative", epic storytelling, and having fun. If he just wants to hack and kill tings and get XP, then this isn't a good game for him.

1) He wants to know what the classes' closest DnD styl equivalents would be.

2) He wants to know if there is any equivalent to a ranged spellcaster in this game.

Gah! For real? Don't waste any more time, just run the beginner game already Definitely do NOT let him create a character beforehand. Instead he can just grab a pregen he kinda likes and go with it. All his questions will be answered, and if he doesn't like it, well, it's one game session lost and he can go back to his trolls and fairies.

If he does like it (and I think the success rate I've seen so far is about 99%), then he'll know the following:

1) this is not D&D, and trying to map SW to D&D is pointless, and hopefully he'll give himself a well-earned smack upside the head

2) yeah, but it's not a class, it's called "using a blaster pistol", and everybody can have one.

In addition, he'll have a much better idea of the kind of character he wants to develop. If you want to continue from the beginner box after the krayt fang is stolen, his new character can be "found" in the back, maybe a former captive of Trex.

The beginner box solves eeeeverything.

Thread necro time!!!!!

Got the CRB and am about 1/3 through reading that. My brother is now hooked and really likes the gaming system that it uses. My plan is to use the Beginner Box, and then after each session help to design the characters for the "real" campaign. Some of the players already have an idea what they want to play as. So far the party consists of:

1) My brother, the face of the group. He is going to be a former Drug Lord who got put out of business by Black Sun and is trying to claw his way back up (or down) the underworld totem pole. He is not sure if he should be a Trader or a Scholar as his spec though. Any suggestions?

2) My mother, who wants to play as she put it "a girl Han Solo." Scoundrel or Pilot it will be.

3) A friend who will probably end up being a Assasin Droid (the one I am worried will become a murderhobo).

I have at least one more player, maybe two who will be playing as well. Are there any classes that I should suggest to these to fill gaps we are deficient in?

Something techie. Maybe a Dr./medic.

I agree with everyone else, grab the Beginner Box and run through it with your group. Really, to get started, that is ALL you need. You don't even need to read it before you start playing. Just sit down with your group and turn to page 1 of the Adventure Book.

On Ranges:

If you're not using maps, minis or tokens, a good way to keep track of it is to continually describe the ranges in your narration.

"You turn the corner and you're confronted by a group of 5 Stormtroopers at Long Range. One of them points at you and shouts 'Halt!'".

"Two of the Stormtroopers move forward to Medium Range and take cover behind some crates. The remaining 3 at Long Range duck down behind the corner of a wall and fire at you."

"Okay, Lowhrick, you've moved forward to Engaged Range with the group of 2 Stormtroopers, you're now at Short Range from the group of 3. The rest of you are still in cover at Medium from the group of 2 and Long Range from the group of 3."

...and so on.

It gives you a lot of flexibility to say "There's a shop window here you can dive through to take cover", or "there's a speeder bike parked in an alley that gets shot and explodes". Lots of times the best stuff in this system happens on the spot, without having been planned.

On Overpowered Characters:

I guess it's possible but it takes a real min-maxer's mindset to do it.

As a GM, it's pretty easy to adjust encounter difficulty on the fly, to provide the right kind of challenge for your party.

Is your nemesis getting shot more than you expected? It's easy to add a few more points to their Wound Threshold, or adjust the damage their weapon does, or to create new environmental effects to make it harder or easier on your group.

Often with my group I find that I barely need to write down stats for a character. I just need a general idea of their wound threshold, soak, and damage they do. I tend not to create super-detailed Nemeses for the characters, in order to keep the game flowing smoothly.

For the remainder of the party you described, probably either a Doctor or a Mechanic type character would be useful.

If you have a player that would prefer to be a Mechanic, then you might throw a medical droid on their ship to give them the option to heal up in between sessions.