My friends and I just started an online group. We all live apart and only have time to play 2 hours a week. We started with the beginner game and then this week we started the long arm of the hurt campaign to continue the learning process. We are a rather immature group and we love joking around and don't take it too seriously. We do a lot of really weird stuff haha. The first part of the long arm of the hutt campaign frustrated a lot of the group. Going around exploring the ship for 2 hours was not the most exciting thing ever for us. Some of the members of the group are frustrated at this point. Any tips to keep us engaged? What would a good fast paced campaign be? Beyond the rim, jewel of having, the one in the core rulebook, or the gm pack one? For most of us this is our first roleplaying game.. So something that might not be too hard to wrap our brains around would be good. Should we stick with long arm of the hutt and continue to use our pregen dudes? Any advice or tips would be greatly appreciated, as I don't want the group to fall apart.

PS. Sorry for any spelling or grammar mistakes.. I am on my phone.

Anytime I see the fun begin to slow down, especially during in-game down time, I try and quickly wrap up the boring scene and move on to the next scene.

Watch the Original Trilogy, Lucas uses each scene to tell us what we need hear and he wipes to the next scene. For the most part, there's no 5 minute conversation about what the quarter-pounder is called in France*.

Younger players tend to come from a background in video games. This means that they tend to have a certain level of "action", whereas veteran players may tend towards the talking and roleplaying. There are times where I see my players start to fade on me, that's usually when I try and find a place to create some drama and maybe throw some combat in there. Be warned, try not to throw in combat for combat's sake. If it doesn't make sense, don't do it.

*I love Quinten Tarantino, especially his dialog, but it's a good example for what I am trying to convey.

You might just look at trying to keep your group on track or something. The group I played Long Arm of the Hutt with took, I think, 4 sessions of 3 hours each to complete it, but we definitely didn't spend 2 hours just looking around the ship.

I'd recommend talking to your group and getting a feel for what they're interested in experiencing. Or maybe just talk about your favorite parts of the Star Wars movies, or cool scenes from films they like.

Do they like the swashbuckling adventure? Gritty combat? Roleplay and social engagement?

If you can work out roughly where their interested lie it might help to emphasize those aspects in your future games.

For example if your group really doesn't give a crap about socializing and roleplaying, you might look for a way to tone down the "Geonosian party" sequence of Long Arm of the Hutt. If they prefer stealth and investigation, maybe have them find the information they need that way.

Thank you so much for your advice...I wish I had another group to play with who is more experienced.... That way I can get more of an idea of flow and a better understanding of mechanics. Unfortunately I work all t.. Unfortunately my job has put me in an area where not many people game... Its sadly more of a NASCAR area If you get my drift.

I work all of the time* darn phone

One thing that helped me in getting better and DMing was listening to actual play podcasts. The Mad Adventurer's Society has a few sessions of Star Wars liveplay, as well as Begging For XP (I think), but I haven't checked those out yet.

Thanks! I'll check it out

You want them engaged? What range bands are they at, now?