"...a big shadow approaching from behind the ship. A large wookie, wearing a wide red coat, a menacing looking multibarrel gun leaned shouldered. His red-brownish fur blows freely in the wind as he steps into the center of the landing plattform. He bares his teeth and growls an unfriendly greeting."

"How tough does that wookie look like?" - "Is he armored?" - "What gun is it, is it bigger than mine?" - "Does he look like he can hande a gun?"

How do you approach such question? What determines a PC's ability to gauge his opponent, his armor, the quality of his weapon? In my opinion Brawn is something thats pretty easy to guess.

"He looks quite buff, but its hard to tell with the Coat"

- So they know its probably between 3 - 5, something they could've easily guesses if they see a wookie, If somebody has brawn 6 - aka built like a bantha - you kinda notice that rather early in the conversation. If they want more then that

- Being armored is covered in the rule book as a perception roll, thats no problem. Roll good, good info, bad roll, terrible info (like seeing a gun that isnt there, mistaking blast vest for dinner garment etc.)

I try not to make the Perception skill too omnipotent, because that happens very fast in a lot of games, leading to a player "percepting" everything and pretty announcments similiar to "I percept the room" =(

- Now how about the gun?

Perception would be a good choice but so would Ranged (Heavy ) or possibly Gunnery, since those skill include knowledge about those sort of weapons. And if I choose a combat skill...what's the difficulty?

"...a big shadow approaching from behind the ship. A large wookie, wearing a wide red coat, a menacing looking multibarrel gun leaned shouldered. His red-brownish fur blows freely in the wind as he steps into the center of the landing plattform. He bares his teeth and growls an unfriendly greeting."

"How tough does that wookie look like?"

"As tough as a $2 steak."

"Is he armored?"

Armoured Clothing is (I believe) Diff.2 Perception to spot. If it's Heavy Clothing armour, just describe it as bulky (perhaps oft-patched or weathered or worn or scarred - unless it's new, obvious armour's going to show scars).

"What gun is it, is it bigger than mine?"

Ranged (Heavy) on Intelligence, not Agility. Mechanics if they ask specifially about inobvious Attachments/Modifications.

"Does he look like he can hande a gun?"

Is the Wookiee's Ranged (Heavy) or Cool or Discipline 2+? Then yeah.

"He looks quite buff, but its hard to tell with the Coat"

- So they know its probably between 3 - 5, something they could've easily guesses if they see a wookie, If somebody has brawn 6 - aka built like a bantha - you kinda notice that rather early in the conversation. If they want more then that

Absolutely how I'da done it.

I try not to make the Perception skill too omnipotent, because that happens very fast in a lot of games, leading to a player "percepting" everything and pretty announcments similiar to "I percept the room" =(

Dice rolling slows down any roleplaying moments. Less in this system than others, but it's still there. Where possible (when it's not part of the story that they don't know something) tell them stuff based on what you'd expect them to know anyway. (The mechanic just "knows" good tech and the muscle just "knows" badass when they see it.)

Armour is kinda easy to see (if it doesn't cover, it doesn't protect ), unless its concealed (skill check as appropriate), that is the kinda thing that should be in a description, before "His red-brownish fur blows freely in the wind " and " He bares his teeth" because its going to be easier to see from a distance. So that shouldn't require a check

Is it bigger is kinda obvious, its easy to see. So that shouldn't require a check either. What kind of gun probably would <gun skill> int check

"A large wookie" Honestly thats kinda as much as i'd expect unless it was a brawn 6 aka. "A REALLY BIG WOOKIE"

"Does he look like he can handle a gun?"

Discipline check, but doubt it would matter, this is usually a stupid question the answer is yes, unless he's hitting them in the face with it.

If you really want them to roll for knowing the gun, I'd say either Underworld or have them roll their favorite Ranged skill, but with the defining characteristic as Intellect rather than Agility.

Otherwise, I fully support the "tell them if you think they know, don't if they don't" rule.

If they are observing from a distance I would allow the use of various Knowledge checks to try and pick out weapons or armor specifically. If it is in the process of a fight about the break out there is no rolling, just let them know the basics.

"There are three of them, by the look of their garments you assume they have some kind of armor on."

"A pair of humans and a Wookie. What? All Wookiees look big when they are mad coming towards you."

"Two have pistols, the Wookie has a long gun, you think a blaster rifle."

Stuff like that, I don't want to muddy up potential combat with a lot of extra dice rolling.

I'm saying the difference between these two is kinda noticeable. At distance.

And the thing you notice isn't that one has a frowny face