New to GMing EotE, but like what I see so far

By Raine, in Star Wars: Edge of the Empire Beginner Game

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Hi all!

Okay so a couple of days ago I picked up the Star Wars: Edge of the Empire Beginner Game to give it a look over and see if this RPG is what my group needs to bring Star Wars back to the table top here. I have to say, I love how the rules work and I am excited to present this to my gaming group over the next couple of weeks to get their opinions.

We've gone through West End Games (back in the day) and then the D20 thing with Wizards of the Coast, and without house rulings and tweaks...it all seemed just off a little, and didn't project that feeling you get from Star Wars, ya know? From Wild Dice Chaos and Jedi Dominations of WEG (not to mention, Droids could become gods!), to the Static Defense and strange Character/Vehicle/Starship scalings of D20, plus terrible ship combat, it was more frustrating than fun at times...especially for a GM.

So yeah, after the first night of reading through all of the books from the box set (in order, as instructed), I am impressed. I thought the specialized dice would be gimmicky at first, but after seeing how they react to one another, and what they're used for, I think they'll really add to how the characters deal with the world (worlds) around them. So I downloaded the two extra characters (loving Sasha, btw!) and the Long Arm of the Hutt Adventure, and printed them off (In glossy colour, of course. Spared no expense). And I plan on running through the entire Campaign for my group (Box and DLC). It's a rather good story from beginning to end, with only a few small improvs I'll have to come up with, as I know how some of my players think in some of these situations (Trex will not survive...this I know).

My only concern right now is if Force Users and Abilities of such overpower the game or not, as I see that the Core Book (and future books) have these things in them with the Force Sensitive Exile and such. I know the Beginner Game doesn't touch base with Force Abilities, and I have to admit I'm thankful for that. But it's my only worry that the Force will overshadow the more mundain classes and characters, as it has in past games (such as WEG). But I have a feeling that it might be highly downplayed due to the timeline that Edge of the Empire and even Age of Rebellion takes place. At least, that's my hope.

On that note, I am very pleased with this buy, and I think it's more then worth the value. I paid $34 and change Canadian for it, and with what's all in the box...that's a great deal. It's well written, and the art work is beautiful! The story is crafted nicely, and the rules & instructions are very clear. A great production all in all. Good show, FFG! I look forward to getting into this series of books more in the future (already have the Age of Rebellion Beginner Game and the Edge of the Empire Core Book on my Christmas List...and Imperial Assault, but that's another FFG product entirely).

Cheers all!

Edited by Raine
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If it worries you that much how about limiting force sensitivity to those that start off their characters as being so?

I have the Force & Destiny Beta book and if I ever ran any of these again I'd restrict it to the Force Sensitive Exile and Force Emergent on the grounds that it deals with them better even if I actually am okay with the Artisan.

Sorry for going off the forum but as long you're having fun and make sure your players know of your views on the subject of Force Users you should be fine.

Just remember to have fun though!

You never can't say that too many times! :)

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Just remember to have fun though!

You never can't say that too many times! :)

Thank you very much. Yeah, that's exactly it, right? The whole point of role playing is to have fun.

I may restrict Force Users (at least at first) when/if we delve deeper into the FFG Star Wars RPGs. But I personally haven't read over those rules yet, so that's not an issue currently. I'm more curious of other peoples opinions on how the Force was tackled with this system. So it's not so much of a worry about what I know, as much as it's a concern towards something I don't know yet. Heh!

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Lightsabers (as written in EotE and AoR) and the Move power seem to be the most concerning parts of the Force. But if you limit your force specializations/careers to only books you own*, move doesn't get that bad since a characters Force Rating would only get to 2 maximum. As for lightsabers, they are toned down in Force and Destiny with the potential to make the more powerful. If you are interested in bringing those in, you can probably get the stats for them from someone in the beta test forums.

*EotE, AoR only have two specializations for a potential maximum Force Rating of 3. Force and Destiny raises that bar substantially, but since it is still in beta, you have every right to nix that.

Edited by kaosoe
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Force and Destiny raises that bar substantially, but since it is still in beta, you have every right to nix that.

Ahh...so if I don't go down the dark path of Force and Destiny (yet) then I should remain having balance in the game. Great to know! Thank you.

It's interesting to see that Lightsabers are more powerful in the more mundain books, than in the one specified for Force Users. Is it because the EotE and AoR books have them all buffed out with no option for modifications, and the FaD book allows for crystal exchanges, hilt mods, and such to grow the Lightsaber more towards the individual Force User?

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Force and Destiny raises that bar substantially, but since it is still in beta, you have every right to nix that.

Ahh...so if I don't go down the dark path of Force and Destiny (yet) then I should remain having balance in the game. Great to know! Thank you.

It's interesting to see that Lightsabers are more powerful in the more mundain books, than in the one specified for Force Users. Is it because the EotE and AoR books have them all buffed out with no option for modifications, and the FaD book allows for crystal exchanges, hilt mods, and such to grow the Lightsaber more towards the individual Force User?

Precisely.

I wouldn't say that Force and Destiny is not balanced - it is quite balanced. There are just more moving pieces in that book when it comes to force users. You might find it more simpler to just hold off on allowing the F&D content in your game until you and your players are comfortable with Edge of the Empire.

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I may restrict Force Users (at least at first) when/if we delve deeper into the FFG Star Wars RPGs. But I personally haven't read over those rules yet, so that's not an issue currently. I'm more curious of other peoples opinions on how the Force was tackled with this system. So it's not so much of a worry about what I know, as much as it's a concern towards something I don't know yet. Heh!

There's a whole beta forum for F&D, if you're curious. In the meantime, just MHO, but I'm really happy with how the Force has been implemented in this system. Yes, eventually you can become very powerful, but it grows organically and demands a LOT of XP. For the same XP some Bounty Hunter could remain completely mundane but become just as intimidating in their own way.

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Okay as an update here...

So the group got together and we fired up the Beginner Boxed Set (plus got into the beginning of the DLC module as well) and I have to say it looks like we have a Hit here. Though it took some getting used to with the dice descriptions and each purpose there of, the group really took with it when they knew how to read everything.

As I figured the story was heavily modified towards my group's play style. And yes...Trex was not only killed, but incinerated along with the Wookiee pelts. One of the players were running the pre-gen Wookiee, Lowhhrick so it was an emotional moment for him that lead to much bloodshed. But, other than that, it went well.

We're looking forward to continuing the story on December 14th, just to finish things off, but then it's on to the actual game (which I have purchased the Core Book of). Interestingly enough, the player of Sasha wants to keep playing her. So we're going to go through the Core Book and do the best we can with converting her into a proper character. Hopefully it works out well.

Cheers!