Hello, I am very new to this game but I am going to GM a game as soon as I have everything prepared. I was just wondering how much of this book I need to actually just sit down and read before I will be ready to play. Also how much do my players need to read?

Thanks

Chargen. Combat. Wounds. Strain. I'd skip starship combat until you have the basics of the dice and how stuff works.

Alright, thanks man.

It's a very fun read, though!

Have you GMd before? I was brand new to pen and paper RPGs when I started this and found the GM section to be helpful before I started to GM myself.

I would definitely read up to and through the combat chapter, though you can probably skip over the talents. I found the skill descriptions helpful.

Okay thanks rowdyoctopus. I have GMd before but it was in DnD.

Okay thanks rowdyoctopus. I have GMd before but it was in DnD.

Unlearn what you have learned. This system is a loose, fun system, not a tight map driven system like you're used to in D&D. You'll be better off if when you do sit down to read you clear your mind of everything you think you know about RPGs and read it as if you were playing for the very first time. Really try and make it work, house rules in this system have a bad habit of cascading through the system and causing unexpected problems.

And the Pirate is right, get your head around things like the dice, basic mechanics, range system, and combat before you tackle space combat. The space/vehicle combat system is pretty decent in that it allows for fast uncomplicated encounters, but it doesn't work ANYTHING like what most people expect.

Welcome, zag09! This is a great game - I hope you and your players enjoy it! Remember to give them some say in the narrative - let them propose the effects of advantage and triumph, and be liberal with boost dice. Be liberal with setback dice too, to keep the pressure on.

Build some PCs and grab some of the adversaries from the adversary chapter and run some combats walk through the combat chapter while doing this. Think about the narrative to why and how the advantages and triumphs and threats and despairs happen.

This system is a lot of fun to "armchair", but the basic concept is pretty simple.

The dice have two kinds of results:

"Do I succeed at what I planned?" (successes vs. failures) and

"Does something unexpected happen?" (advantage/threat)

Somebody once said here that Han Solo mostly rolls advantage or threat in the movies, rarely do things go just as planned. And the fun part is that all of you, GMs and players alike, get to figure out just what happens as a result of that die roll.

If you get this right, all the other rules are more or less bonus.

Zag09,

To save you some time on reading the CharGen stuff, you can use this: https://onedrive.live.com/redir?resid=64F996180C56CE74!51582&authkey=!AByMUQvMq7KDSDU&ithint=file%2cpdf

It will walk you and your players through each step of character creation.

Once you understand CharGen, OggDude's tool is fantastic. But it is confusing prior to understanding the process, not because the program is confusing, but because you need to have a basic understanding of the CharGen process for it to make a lot of sense.

I say this a lot, but I'd strongly recommend picking up one of the beginner box sets. You get a good adventure, a free PFD download follow up, and an extra set of dice. You don't even have to read it beforehand, though it's a good idea.

Also, to reiterate Ghostofman's point, this is very different from D&D. The first main difference is the dice results: instead of just a success/fail axis, there is also an advantage/threat axis, and a triumph/despair axis. The last two are chances for the players and GM to inject a narrative flair to the results...you may have succeeded in shooting your target (success), but having to dodge flying shrapnel means your next shot might be more difficult (threat). The combat section has good guidelines on how to use the results.

The second main difference is range bands and movement are abstract. There's no grid, opportunity attack, zone of control, etc.

Third, there are no dump skills or stats. Social and non combat skills are fully effective and important part of the game, something I've always felt D&D and Saga and the like were lacking.

Hope that helps a bit!

I still haven't really read the Force section since there are no force users in the game.....what?!

I definitely would read p. 389-390, the section before the adversary list. It seems like it would be easy to skip, but it is very important for the GM to understand the differences between minions, rivals, and nemeses. Uprgading skills and applying wounds to minions as a group can be confusing, but it has been beaten to death, resurrected, and killed again more times than the emperor. Read all about it here.

Thanks for all the help everyone. I wiil definitely take all of this in mind when I start playing/reading this game. Again, thanks!

I still haven't really read the Force section since there are no force users in the game.....what?!

Same here! And funnily two of my players wereniffy about the game because it "doesn't allow for Jedi"... They are both very happy to play in my monthly game now though!

I wholeheartedly advise you to sit down with your players and make characters together. This allows you and your players both to mess up, figure it out, and face-palm the answer you all seemed to miss 10 times over!

Preludes are also a great way to practice combat rolls, knock the rust off, and practice role-playing with players in a calm setting. Once plots start getting thrown in it can be hard to slow down until a wrench gets thrown in.

Everyone else already pointed out the best advise on what sections to read up on before starting, so I won't just machine gun it back to you haha.

I still haven't really read the Force section since there are no force users in the game.....what?!

Same here! And funnily two of my players wereniffy about the game because it "doesn't allow for Jedi"... They are both very happy to play in my monthly game now though!

All the games allow for Force users. "Edge of the Empire" and "Age of Rebellion" don’t have typical Jedi player characters, that’s true. But you can be a Force-Sensitive Exile, or a Force-Sensitive Emergent.

Even "Force and Destiny" isn’t technically about Jedi, it’s about Force users in general. And Jedi would be one type of Force user.

How you bring the Jedi aspect into the game is more about how you flavor the Force-related careers and specializations, and less about "This is your D&D Style character class".

I know literally all that... I was talking about the fact that my players are so enamoured with the setting they could care less about any force powers whatsoever.

I would add use the extra symbols when they are an opportunity rather than a necessity. If you are looking at the dice and stressing out about what extra effects could possibly be included for a roll, then ignore them and move on. They are best used when you can easily come up with something (or better yet, when you get that moment of inspiration and their effect is obvious based on what is going on).

I know literally all that... I was talking about the fact that my players are so enamoured with the setting they could care less about any force powers whatsoever.

I meant "force users in our game" as well. After rereading my post, I can see how you interpreted it that way. My apologies.

Not a problem!