Hey, I've been GMing for a while now and have been loving the whole narrative system. The only part that seems to throw a wrench into all of me session plans seems to be combat of all things.

Combat rounds tend to drag on FOREVER, despite me trying to keep a cinematic atmosphere. We have had some great experiences:

1. A build-your-own dungeon in Beyond the Rim that went really well and was a ton of fun.

2. An entire escape sequence including a rafting trip on the lockness monster, and speeder bike getaway, knocking out a VIP and sneaking him away under fire, and getting past and imperial AND bounty hunter blockade of sorts. Action hero sequences, sneaky drama, and the death of a beloved lockness monster.......and we did this all in 3 rounds of rolling dice. Yes, that's right 3 dice rolls for each PC, and 3 dice rolls for each of the NPC groups. And was a TON of fun for everyone.

The above two were fantastic fun, but as soon as we actually set down for combat (even something like a small), the rounds drag on and the whole experience gets tedious as all hell. Many of the PCs love just getting into fights and having massive shootouts....but even they admit that combat gets really boring and very tedious in after about two rounds or so. And when combat can last 4+ rounds.....meh....nobody has fun.

How have you all been de-bogging combat? I'm interested in hearing from both players and GMs.

How do you keep combat quick, cinematic, and interesting without being bogged down in multiple DnD/Pathfinder rounds of combat that get boring fast?

And yes, I know about the 1-roll combats, but that also get boring and doesn't keep the suspense going or have a risky feeling for the PCs.

The unattractive but honest answer: get bigger guns. If you want fast combat, just mow down your opponents faster with things like heavy blaster rifles. Nobody should be using a pistol if anyone is using a rifle (and don't let the skill issue bother you - the Pistol Grip attachment can take care of that). Group fire and drop opponents one at a time. It'll go quick.

That takes care of making combat faster. Now worry about making combat more interesting.

How many characters and are there any Joe Guns in the group? If you have combat characters and aren't throwing 3 or 4 target sets per character combat shouldn't take that long.

Combat actually goes pretty quickly in my games. It's basically no more of a workload than any other RPG.

One thing I have noticed is that a lot of people make combat about mowing down the entire enemy force rather than including some other objective (usually escape in EotE), and that can become tedious in any RPG.

The unattractive but honest answer: get bigger guns. If you want fast combat, just mow down your opponents faster with things like heavy blaster rifles. Nobody should be using a pistol if anyone is using a rifle (and don't let the skill issue bother you - the Pistol Grip attachment can take care of that). Group fire and drop opponents one at a time. It'll go quick.

That takes care of making combat faster. Now worry about making combat more interesting.

The whole you roll, I roll is a bit boring, definitely. Have done some stuff to spice things up, but still trying to really make it part of the cinematic experience. What's worked well for you? Any examples would be great!

How many characters and are there any Joe Guns in the group? If you have combat characters and aren't throwing 3 or 4 target sets per character combat shouldn't take that long.

Most combats usually have 3-5 groups (say 1 rival, and two groups of two to three minions for a smaller skirmish). One joe gun (blaster rifle with scope and under-slung grenade launcher and two beatsticks (forcepike and vibrosword, both of which are heavily upgraded).

Combat actually goes pretty quickly in my games. It's basically no more of a workload than any other RPG.

One thing I have noticed is that a lot of people make combat about mowing down the entire enemy force rather than including some other objective (usually escape in EotE), and that can become tedious in any RPG.

And this is partially on the players as well. I usually have other objectives, but all but 1 will run from a fight until everyone is dead or knocked out.

I think maybe I should actually spring something deadly on them to force them to retreat every now and then.

Everyone always needs to be able to contribute meaningfully to combat I think. Not everyone needs to be a commando but they need to have some skill, so making sure everyone has some skill is important.

If you have the opposition fight to the end every time, that isn't realistic. Most people are going to surrender or run away long before they're all dead, that's one way to speed things up.

Everyone always needs to be able to contribute meaningfully to combat I think. Not everyone needs to be a commando but they need to have some skill, so making sure everyone has some skill is important.

If you have the opposition fight to the end every time, that isn't realistic. Most people are going to surrender or run away long before they're all dead, that's one way to speed things up.

Very true, and I've done this as well. In hopeless cases, or already in fighting retreat, or luring into a trap. A few things like that that seem like they'll be fun and interesting, but the mechanics end up slowing or bogging things down.

I'm not sure what mechanics you mean when you say they're slowing things down? HD pointed out if they are using cap guns, get some better firepower.

You can also use Triumphs to cut short combats that are otherwise dragging with no point. A PC can spend a Triumph and have a Speeder crash, blocking the road and separating the combatants long enough for the PC's to move on. (Or turn it into a Chase scene)

The only time I have found combat boring is when I tried to run a game with 7 players, but then I find that to be true with most RPG's.

If the PC's are fighting some sort of troops, like Stormtroopers or Black Sun goons, more can keep showing up until the PC's have to retreat. You can also spend despair to have PC's run out of ammo, etc.

Add a lot of movement and variance to a fight. The two sides shouldn't just sit behind cover firing at one another. People try to flank, charge, or toss a grenade to chase enemies out of cover.

Make it exciting. Use the films as inspiration,

I can't say I've had this experience with this game, certainly not compared to every other rpg I've played.

Part of it is that this game is less tactical, and the advantage/threat system combined with the variable initiative slots really allow for some creative thinking. Need to take someone down in a hurry? Pass boost dice to the best shooter, and when it's their turn they can really nail the target (one time we got massive damage and 9 advantages...the players were so enthused, and the benefits of the various boost die narrated so amusingly, I let them bend the rules a bit and crit 3 extra minions).

Another part is that the narrative nature has made me rethink what fighting is all about. No more DnD everything-fights-to-the-death, there should always be purpose and motive informing a fight. This means every fight needs to have some level of urgency, and if the PCs fail to meet that, they've really failed at their task. Eg, if they have to take out the stormtrooper patrol before they call for reinforcements, the players will have to spend a little more time planning to make the fight short and sweet. Fights that go on too long should have consequences.

• Figure out what your character is going to do when it is not your turn
• Know your dice pools
• Have dice (or apps) within reach
• Let players help you figure out results if needed.
• For complex rolls (example: Sniper with inferior slug thrower rifle, scope, and aiming, while shooting at someone taking cover) saved ahead of time using the SW Dice app. So i just have two or three taps on the screen and have the results.
• If your turn takes longer then 2 minutes, it is taking TOO LONG
• I also have the dice pools on character sheets or NPC cards
• If you know what the result of the battle is going to be in another few rounds, speed it up. have NPCs leave, surrender, or do stupid desperate things to end it. Nobody likes having to ground out 6 rounds of combat just to get one last guy.
• If needed, call the end to combat by evoking "Slaughter rules"

With three players, and about 3 for four groups of minions, or Rival/nemesis my combats don't last more then 4 rounds and each round takes under 10 minutes easily

space combats are another matter

Everyone has given good advice - keep things cinematic, have minions run or surrender, keep things moving. D&D or MMO style wars of attrition against foes who are just big bags of hit points isn't Star Wars. I took a leaf out of the 'One Ring' game where combats all have a purpose - holding off foes until reinforcements arrive, or fighting your way to a particular location. 4E-style combats that are hour-long grind-fests really don't suit the genre.

I really don't like the idea of everyone having to have 'bigger weapons' though. We play EoE like Shadowrun, where toting around bigger armaments will get you noticed real quick. And in the movies, Han and Luke and Leia seemed to do okay with pistols.

So we went the other way - no armour allowed for anyone. The heroes in SW never wore armour unless it was part of a disguise, and even stormtrooper gear felt like it was for intimidation purposes, protecting more against environment rather than blaster fire. That speeds things up a bit when you're not doing tiny amounts of damage each round.

I'm not a huge fan of the soak system and flat damage to be honest. I kind of wish any hit did at least some damage. It feels weird if our 8 soak Hired Gun is naked out of the shower, but can get shot with a blaster pistol for hours without being hurt (unless a ton of extra successes are rolled). However tough a person is, it strikes me that being hit by blaster fire should actually hurt...

And in the movies, Han and Luke and Leia seemed to do okay with pistols.

Han, Luke, and Leia use blaster rifles while aboard the Death Star.

As for the rest of your post, many people have expressed dissatisfaction with the Soak mechanics of the Star Wars RPGs. However, the entire game is based on getting hit and Soaking the hit. It's really easy to hit a target and very hard to avoid being hit. If you only adjust the Soak side of the game, then it may quickly become too lethal.

Yes, that's why I'm not advocating changing that... but maybe letting at least one point of damage to get through per hit, so the soak 8 naked person can't absorb blaster bolts for hours.

It may help to run your opponents like they are living beings, unless souless battle droids of course, in that very few people want to die. After a few hits, or allies dropping, have the opponent run away or surrender.

All too often people run their npcs like they ste enemies in a video game. Except in extreme cases, fighting to the death is a last resort.

Thats a good idea.

If you are in a gun battle with a dozen enemies and you've slaughtered all but 3 of them, those last 3 are probably going to turn tail and run unless they're elite soldiers or droids.

We had an encounter with us running away from the Black Sun, we crashed our speeder and 4 Thugs landed nearby. We killed 3 of them, 1 of them got bisected by a Vibroaxe, and the last guy hopped back on his Swoop and ran off.

I don't know if still happens the same to you, but I still have the d20 6 second "glitch". I use to make scenes to quick and short like thinking that every attack is a small sequence of two or three attacks instead about a "narrative scene" that can be easily 1 oor 2 minutes above.

I have to improve that.

At my table combat seems to take forever (less than D&D 4e) when people aren't paying enough attention. Players should pay attention and when it's their turn to go they should say what they do, roll their dice, and announce results. Too often people start hemming and hawing over what to do, building dice pools, reading the results, and thinking of how to spend Advantages. It all adds up. My group often seems to take a while to finish a simple combat, but yet when it's the end of the night and everyone is focused because we need to finish quick before the session is over we can speed through fights. If people were paying attention and knew what they were planning on doing, then fights wouldn't take so long. Almost makes me want to bring a chess clock and start timing players.

This is an exagerated example of what seems to happen in gaming tables. This is why combat can seem to take forever, because players aren't paying enough attention or don't understand the rules or remember what their character can do.

While rolling initive dice - PC1: I want to go first.

Party: Sure, you can go first.

GM: First PC slot. Bad guys are at medium range. There are two minion groups with rifles and a leader with a pistol.

PC1: Can I go?

Party: Yeah, we said you can go first.

PC1: Ummm... What do I want to do? hmmmm... I'll shoot them. Can you describe the groups again?

GM: Sigh, There are two minion groups with rifles and a leader with a pistol.

PC1: I'll shoot the closest minion group. What's the difficulty?

GM: Medium range, that's average difficulty.

PC1: So, two purple dice?

GM: Yeah, two purple dice.

Assembling dice pool - PC1: So, that's two purple dice. hmmm... My Agility is 3 and skill is 2, so that's 2 yellow and 1 green right?

Party: sigh, yup...

PC1: Oh yeah, I have the blue die for going before my enemy has gone.

(Fiddles with his character sheet, marking down strain.)

PC1: I'm going to aim twice. Gotta mark down the strain for the second maneuver.

(Rolls dice and takes a minute looking over the results and comparing symbols.)

PC1: OK, I got 2 successes and three advantages. That'll be... ummm... (does some math) 10 damage. Do I have any talents that add to that? (spends some time looking over his sheet)

GM: I don't know, do you?

PC1: I think I'm good. I haven't taken Point Blank yet. 10 damage it is. Anyone have the sheet for what to spend advantages on?

(Someone passes over the quick reference sheet for advantage expenditure.)

PC1: ummm.... I guess I'll give a blue die to PC3 and recover a strain.

GM: You kill one of the minions and another in the group doesn't look too good. Doing anything else?

PC1: Nope, I'm done.

GM: Alright, second player slot.

PC2: I'll go. GM, can you describe the scene again? I forgot where the enemies are...

What Jamwes describes above is _exactly_ what will kill any combat system. It is what I am running into around my table, I also get the bonus headache of the players always asking me how the Advantage/Disadvantage results are spent.

We are converting over to new character sheets (which list the dice pools, rather than needing to have them built each time), and starting to utilize cheat sheets that the players built for their skills, so they know how Advantage/Disadvantage/Triumph/Despair are spent for their focused skills. I am hoping to see some improvement over the next couple of sessions.

Thats not a problem with the system, its a problem with the players.

Its not that hard to remember what your skill dice will be. Especially if you print out the interactive character sheet.

The only question you should need to ask would be what the difficulty is.

Yes, that's why I'm not advocating changing that... but maybe letting at least one point of damage to get through per hit, so the soak 8 naked person can't absorb blaster bolts for hours.

Soak is for combat situations. It shouldn't replace common sense.

If a player character walks out of the shower naked, stands still, and says, "Go ahead, shoot me!" I would rule that he gets shot and goes down. Critical Injury and all. Possibly with a big fat bonus because he allowed his opponent to "take his best shot." Soak does not play an issue here.

Similarly, if a Soak 12 PC sticks a blaster to his head and pulls the trigger, he dies.

Blindly following the "RAW" in any system can lead to some pretty stupid conclusions, and this is why we have human GMs rather than computers executing the rules.

I like Soak and armor how it is in the game. If your character doesn't usually wear armor, then don't have him/her wear armor unless you're going into a situation where he thinks it might be prudent to have a blast vest or something. But it's not like armor is anti-thematic to Star Wars.

Give your NPCs less Damage Thresholds

This is an exagerated example of what seems to happen in gaming tables. This is why combat can seem to take forever, because players aren't paying enough attention or don't understand the rules or remember what their character can do.

While rolling initive dice - PC1: I want to go first.

Party: Sure, you can go first.

GM: First PC slot. Bad guys are at medium range. There are two minion groups with rifles and a leader with a pistol.

PC1: Can I go?

...

At our table I as the GM pretty much decides what to do with any advantages or threats, even if rolled by a player. I must admit that this came up because of a misconception to the rules on my side. I thought in general the GM would be the deciding instance with players giving suggestions on how to spend advantage (naratively or via game-mechanics)

Anyway, I found my group to be somewhat uncreative in combat, also some players really fail to remember some basic rule-sets. So on our table the fact that most things are GM decission speeds things up and gives me the opportunity to bring more cinematical elements to the encounter. On the other hand: Having 3-4 very creative pülayers will most likely beat even the most creative GM in terms of awesome encounter situations.

Also I think that maybe because I'm handling the player-advantages it keeps my players from being more creative maybe? So I guess we will give it a try next session so they can determine theier advantages. But I'm afraid my guys will only try to spend them on strain recovery and extra maneuvers, which will sooner or later force me to intervene, when I want to see advantages resulting in more narative outcomes.

Maybe an idea:

If a player can not come up with a solution for his advantages after maybe 30 seconds. The GM decides what happens?

If your players have a 12 soak it is time to break out the e-webs and cut them down to size.

Maybe I'm coming from slogging through hour long 4e dnd combats but EotE combats are usually pretty quick. 3 or 4 rounds and normally you either have won or are dead (well down with really big boo boos).

I do like that characters don't immediately die. It lets me go all out as a narrator and put them down without the need to have a stack of character sheets ready for the next character.