I've been playing this game for a little while with a group and I've decided I want to try my hand at GMing. I've never GMed a game before of anything and don't even have that much RPG experience.
I have the game master's kit, core book, and beginnner's game coming in the mail.
I've found some players, none of which have played EOTE before.
I figured we'd do at least one session with the beginner's game to get everyone comfortable with things.
Any tips?
Go to d20radio.com. Listen specifically to the list episode and the GM holocron episode. Those 2 episodes give a lot of advice on making your life easier and more fun.
Have a look at the Order 66 podcast, they have already posted a couple of games which you can listen to at your leisure which may help and there are a few videos on you tube on other attempts to run the beginner game.
Take it easy, have fun and remember the rule of cool, if your players come up with something more interesting take advantage of their creativity and most importantly have fun!
Well its worth saying twice after all!
Edit: Beaten to the punch!
I would suggest you track down the Order 66 celebrity game with GM Chris. Then just play the box set game.
Don't read the rules, play from the hip, the begginer box will hold you hand and give you the rules you need as you need them. Just concentrate on telling a great story with your friends.
Go to d20radio.com. Listen specifically to the list episode and the GM holocron episode. Those 2 episodes give a lot of advice on making your life easier and more fun.
How do I find those episodes?
It only has a handful listed and I can't figure out how to view all episodes. It's not a great website...
The only address you need if you want to find the Order 66 stuff (not really a fan but everyone seems to spew their name out every comment, so whatever) is http://feeds.feedburner.com/Order66
Hopefully you get more out of it than I did.
You can find then on iTunes as well. Both version of the podcast. There is an app I use on my phone called Podcast Addict. That will have them all listed as well.
The only address you need if you want to find the Order 66 stuff (not really a fan but everyone seems to spew their name out every comment, so whatever) is http://feeds.feedburner.com/Order66
Hopefully you get more out of it than I did.
Thank you. We'll see what I think of it.
When I set up my game, I picked players that were strong role players and liked having a good time at the table. I ran through the scenerio in the core book and then went into Beyond the rim with a story line tying the two locations together. This let them work with the system and let me have a chance to understand how to build an adventure for the system. What I didn't expect is the groups desire to get into their characters and create the games storyline themselves. Meaning, I ended up letting them lead the way through things and I just had to sit back and redirect them to form a story.
The best advice I can give is learning to listen to your players and figure out what they want from the game. Different people will want different things. talk to them after the first couple games and ask them what they want from the game. Start another adventure like beyond the rim and rework various portions to meet those desires. Watch how the players react and learn to predict what they may do. After that, theres a whole galaxy to play in. Write up a tiny adventure that will last a session or two that plays with those predictions. If your on target your players wont even notice, they will just have a good time. When you get to working a story in a longer campaign, ask your players from time to time where they want the game to go.
The other bit of advice I can give is dont fall into the trap of always giving your players what they want. Challange them to change a little. Perhaps have no combats for a couple sessions if they are swaying towards that route. Throw in something that changes the way they play the game a little here and there. Nothing drastic, but enough to make them pay attention to skills they normally ignore both on their sheets and as players.
Have a good log/savegame of your sessions. In a future will be pretty useful
My own is an above 10 pages savegame XD
(Is this the good one or the other one? XD)
I have two suggestions I stand by that will seem contradictory.
1) Don't be afraid to keep things going.
2) Don't be afraid to pause for a moment.
The essence of the first one is to keep the story, plot and world moving. Alarms are activated, patrols move, officers make decisions. The world will happen even when it's off screen. This is particularly important if the players become unsure of how to advance the plot or continue along the story. A clue that was obvious to you when you read the adventure may be missed or misinterpreted by them. If they're going to de-rail the plot, make sure they do it by action, not by inaction.
The essence of the second one is for when your players do something truly unexpected. Not if, when - it will happen eventually. Don't block it, don't stop it. However, if you're really at a loss for how the world would react or the effects their actions would have, don't be afraid to ask the players for a minute to check your notes and come up with a coherent, logical reaction. A lot of the worst and most plot-hole things I've run into as a GM or Player have been a GM has made a quick reaction to unexpected players without really considering how it effects things down the road.
Also listen to Skill Monkey, they're only a few minutes each and although they can be a bit goofy at times they have some really good ideas for handling rolls and such.
http://www.madadventurers.com/category/field-recordings/skill-monkey/
Edited by FuriousGregHave a good log/savegame of your sessions. In a future will be pretty useful
My own is an above 10 pages savegame XD
(Is this the good one or the other one? XD)
Lots of good advice I don't need to replicate (but I'll throw a +1 to the Order66 Podcast)
There are several good books on the subject, but I'll share with you the scant few that have really helped me over the years, all of which can be found online for dirt cheap.
Robin's Laws of Good Gamemastering
You could bust through 2/3 of these in an afternoon and pick up some tips it took me years to figure out on my own!
And of course, the one rule: You're all there to have fun, chuck any rules that get in the way of that.
Let the players narrate their own results and get creative.
I've had quite a few times where I got some great results and my GM narrated them for me or would tell me my great idea, which is supported in the book by the advantage/threat options, did not work that way. Let the PCs narrate their their own advantages and the enemy threats/despairs too.
Also, I'm giving my players roles: Ship maneuvers and stats; group sheet; group stims/critical injuries; note taking. Less tracking for me and more player participation for them.
I owe 80% of my GM and player skills to Skill Monkey.
Also listen to Skill Monkey, they're only a few minutes each and although they can be a bit goofy at times they have some really good ideas for handling rolls and such.
http://www.madadventurers.com/category/field-recordings/skill-monkey/