I'm sure there's been a discussion on this before, and there's even a sidebar about it ( IN MEDIAS RES) on page 304 of the Core Rulebook.

I recently started GMing an open to the public game at my FLGS, and I've been alternating between a more open, sandbox, style and more structured, module style adventures. More and more, I find myself wanting (and sometimes being encouraged by the players) to begin right with the action.

I have one in particular coming up, a Halloween Special adventure, that I plan to start in medias res in order to get to as much of the adventure in the time allotted. Not to mention, it's not the type of situation that careful characters like my regular players would walk into, or even stumble into without it being the result of several Despairs. So, apart from setting up some grossly weighted checks in hopes of generating some Despair, or hoping for an Obligation trigger to get them to the result, my best option is to just open the game where the action begins.

From the many helpful posts on this forum, I already know that the biggest key to making this work is to talk with the players beforehand. Of my current regular players, I think all of them would be fine with it, and a few will welcome it.

But dumping the characters directly into a "bad" situation is a bit of railroading. I hope that in the end, they will see it as more of a roller coaster. You know, "I'm gonna be sick, get me off this thing... hey let's do that again!"

So one thought I have to help alleviate the railroading is to start the game by immediately flipping 2 Destiny points. And in the rare case that the Destiny pool is all Light Side, I would just put out 2 special Destiny Tokens that they can spend (they don't become Dark Side when they use them, they're just gone) both as a means of cinematically wiping the "how to get the characters there" part, and to provide a means of ret-conning any preparation that they would not be able to do before hand. "Whew, thank goodness I brought a fusion lantern. This would be much creepier in the dark."

Having said that, I will probably only use this type of beginning rarely. Even in more pre-set adventures, the players have the opportunity to turn down a mission - although it's usually not in their best interest to do so. But most of the time, they have a lot of options for how to proceed - calling on allies, spending time on a computer gathering intell, etc.

I guess I don't really have a question, just wanted to share. But if you've encountered challenges with this type of opening, or found other solutions, I'd love to hear about it.

Other than that, I'm just looking forward to October.

edit: as an added note, the working title of the Halloween adventure is "The Rocky Horror Space Opera."

Honestly, I don't see a problem with it. It's not much different than an ambush mid-session, and as GMs we don't seem to shy away from those. Presumably they will still get Vigilance checks to react and make the most of it so...

My players have complained about railroading, but yet they don't do anything or look for trouble, in fact they rather AVOID trouble.

Which means unless obligation is triggered, i have to dangle a fairly obvious plot hook in front of them.

Sandbox isn't working. So I do have to resort to in medias res , but I need to make sure my players are okay with it.

I really want to do a "Hangover" type adventure, where they find themselves with a wreck ship, or surrounded by dead bodies, and need to figure out what happened.

You can also do like every James Bond movie, start in medias res, but the action has nothing much to do with the eventual story.

Honestly, I don't see a problem with it. It's not much different than an ambush mid-session, and as GMs we don't seem to shy away from those. Presumably they will still get Vigilance checks to react and make the most of it so...

I'm tempted to ask what you mean by "we." Technically, I do shy away from it, but that's probably a holdover from past groups and other games. I need to remind myself, and my players, that this is Star Wars.

My players have complained about railroading, but yet they don't do anything or look for trouble, in fact they rather AVOID trouble.

Which means unless obligation is triggered, i have to dangle a fairly obvious plot hook in front of them.

Sandbox isn't working. So I do have to resort to in medias res , but I need to make sure my players are okay with it.

I really want to do a "Hangover" type adventure, where they find themselves with a wreck ship, or surrounded by dead bodies, and need to figure out what happened.

I've come across this one disconnect when it comes to playing "in-character." Players say their characters want to play it safe, or it's the character that wants the big payout right off the bat. And that's true if that's what they put under motivations, but these generally make for pretty unheroic characters. Granted, this was mostly the challenge with a previous group of players, and it's probably not fair of me to project that onto my current group.

I hear what you're saying though, Kinnison. They want to avoid 'trouble' and in so doing, pretty much avoid the adventure. And if you try to direct their characters into the adventure, or god-forbid, have trouble come looking for them, then you're accused of railroading.

Again, talking with the players is a good idea. In the case where they don't want to get railroaded, but don't pursue anything adventurous because it's "trouble", then compare the game to a Sandbox video game like GTA (which I haven't actually played) If you don't pick up the controller, and just stand there, none of the cool things in the game are going to happen. You have to go out and look for it. And you generally have to do something difficult in order to 'unlock' new abilities, stuff, etc. Likewise, if the players want an open game where their characters have all the choices, then they need to engage and make things happen.

"You're at the Cantina looking for a job with no risk? OK, the bartender offers you a credit to run to the basement and bring up a case of Tulaccan Ale. No you can't negotiate because the Chadra Fan next to you says he'll do it for 3/4 of a credit."

Sometimes there's no way around it. I really don't GM for the previous group much anymore. Partly because most of us moved to different cities, and I don't care for online tabletop, and partly because we had different styles of play. I didn't think I'd find a different group, but I got out there and lo and behold, there were people who wanted to play. It might be time...