Hey folks,

So I've been Co-GM'ing an EotE campaign for over a year now, and we've now run over 20 sessions with the group. While there have been a few long term story arcs, they were always meant to have an ending in sight. Right now, the group is in a mode where they're simply taking a variety of jobs that pays them well and doesn't go against their (loose) morals.

What I want to do is establish a "higher purpose" overall theme for what the group as a whole wants to accomplish with their life. What's the end goal for them? I have a few ideas on what these could be, but I'm not sure how to get the group to establish that themselves within the story. (I could just ask the players out of game to help decide what they want to do, but that seems less immersive and like cheating a bit.)

Some of the ideas for things that fall into this category:

- Aiding the Rebels. (Though that starts to venture into AoR territory.)

- Starting their own crime ring and becoming crime lords. (Inspired by the Lords of Nal Hutta preview.)

- Becoming colonists and aiding/settling communities around the galaxy. (Inspired by the Far Horizons book.)

- Establishing themselves as high ranking members of some other organization. (No clue what that organization is though. Some planetary government or an established crime syndicate like Black Sun maybe.)

Any tips or guidance highly appreciated.

Thanks,

-Jaspor

You probably should just ask them what direction at least they want to go, if you don't you run the risk of putting a lot of effort into something they aren't interested in doing.

Yeah, I'd definitely ask your players what they want to do.

Have a session where you just sit around and brainstorm about themes. Ask them what some of their favorite movie scenes or action sequences are, what they think some of the coolest stuff characters do in movies is.

In our case, we were really inspired by Enter the Unknown and the characters formed a party based around exploring. My wife was very vocal about wanting to experience ancient tombs and discovery of alien civilizations and I incorporated those things into the campaign.

Thanks for the feedback. Maybe it does require a discussion with the players (and not just decided in-game with the PCs).

I do like the Enter the Unknown exploration idea, that's another good one!

Yeah, if you talk to them and they say their favorite parts of the Star Wars movies are the super-fast and dangerous chase scenes on exotic planets, or the tough moral choices and temptation to the Dark Side, or the seedy underworld and life of the bounty hunters, those are all great clues as to where they might enjoy spending most of their time.

If they say they love the spaceships and starship combat, or if they don't really care about space combat but love the idea of life on the uncivilized frontier, you can focus on those areas.

If you want to be as low key and sneaky as possible just talking about your favorite books, or parts of the movies and cartoons might lead them to talk about theirs, at which point you just make mental notes.

I have found having a rival escape, the players making friends and helpinig people and the players making enemies the game tends to take on a rather organic process that adds complexity and depth if desired.

What if that rival comes back a few times and then when he is finally defeated he reveals that he had an obligation to a greater power.

For the best hint at what the players want you should get them to create their own obligations during character creation and run a few sessions that play to those. Then as you play through the obligation and develope the story of what it is with the player, you and he will discover that the organic growth of the story of the obligation will see quite a deep theme develope that speaks to that player.

For example a player has a love interest, I have had her join the players and she participated in saving a rebel base. Her father is a Moff and I think it is time the player meets dad. He knows the players fall on the shadey side of things and he wants them to have them help with something. A simple bounty it may be but if I play to the players sympathetic nature who knows what may happen. Perhaps here she runs a soup kitchen and feeds the poor, can the players hand her over to a Moff?

Thanks for the feedback. We do have a few Obligations going that have led to some interesting adventures and plots, but nothing I'd consider "big enough" to give the group a greater purpose as a whole. And there have been some recurring characters and enemies who have been interesting enough.

The Moff example sounds like a cool idea and could lead to an interesting moral dilemma for the party that has lasting consequences. I'm not sure I'd consider that something big enough to be the overall story arc of what the PCs want to accomplish in life, but I can see how it helps guide them towards character development and maybe learning more about what is meaningful to them.

I just still feel like there's no clear end game for my group. But maybe there shouldn't be in this type of setting.

There might be ways to extract a bigger purpose from the adventures your PCs have already had.

In the first few James Bond films, Bond faces against a variety of enemies and defeats them. They could have seemed like unrelated cases, but he learns they were all related to a single enemy organization led by a single mastermind.

Thanks for the feedback. We do have a few Obligations going that have led to some interesting adventures and plots, but nothing I'd consider "big enough" to give the group a greater purpose as a whole. And there have been some recurring characters and enemies who have been interesting enough.

There is a line in ep1 that speaks to me on this. "There is always a bigger fish."

That bounty hunter can be linked to a crime lord that then gets linked to a currupt politician who gets linked to a ....

You don't have to have the whole story worked out, just the next part of it.

This is a great question, I'm wrestling with something similar as we're starting a new EotE campaign in a few weeks.

Fortunately you've already had quite a bit of experience with your group. Think back on the 20 session you've played; which story arcs were the most memorable? What tasks did the group gravitate toward and enjoy the most? Did they revel in solving most situations with diplomacy or a blaster? Did jobs get accomplished using stealth and cunning or bribery and veiled threats. Where have the players spent the most experience in (this is a big hint of what kind of game they want to play)?

I think sitting down with players and just being real is always the best course of action. You could start the conversation by asking for favorite movie scenes, have them recount what one experience they each found most fun so far or just be blunt and say you're coming up with some ideas for the campaign and want to get their input. I know when I'm a player in games like this I really appreciate it when the GM involves the players in decisions affecting the story.

I'm a big fan of player choice and so my suggestion is to lay out a few options for the PCs (not the players) to decide what to do next. This choice would lead them down the road to the eventual meta-plot. For example:

The party has just saved a Moff's daughter and is owed a huge favor, pretty much whatever they want. The Moff offers them a settlement on a newly discovered planet, high ranking positions in X government agency, a huge shipment of spice confiscated by the Imperials large enough to start a crime empire or secret information to help the Rebels (perhaps he's a rebel sympathizer?). Depending on what they choose the campaign turns in the direction the players want to go. You just have to be clear if they players don't already understand this, that the choice they make will have lasting consequences.

Hope that helps!

There is a line in ep1 that speaks to me on this. "There is always a bigger fish."

That bounty hunter can be linked to a crime lord that then gets linked to a currupt politician who gets linked to a ....

You don't have to have the whole story worked out, just the next part of it.

And there are always allies and enemies on both sides of every situation.

Would you willingly place yourself between two Asteroid-size Sumo Wrestlers? What if you were already caught in the gravitational pull of one of them?

So am I the odd man out here, when setting up a new game? That getting players together for an Episode 0 session where we hash out what everyone wants to play (you know, make sure we're not all doubling up on skill sets) and brainstorming out what the game is going to be like (Rebels vs Empire, Tramp Freighter trading, Old Republic Jedi or whatever)?

It seems that getting everyone on the same page is essential to managing expectations later on in the game.

There might be ways to extract a bigger purpose from the adventures your PCs have already had.

In the first few James Bond films, Bond faces against a variety of enemies and defeats them. They could have seemed like unrelated cases, but he learns they were all related to a single enemy organization led by a single mastermind.

This has me thinking about how to connect a bunch of seemingly unconnected people from the past. I like that idea a lot, thanks.

Thanks for the feedback. We do have a few Obligations going that have led to some interesting adventures and plots, but nothing I'd consider "big enough" to give the group a greater purpose as a whole. And there have been some recurring characters and enemies who have been interesting enough.

There is a line in ep1 that speaks to me on this. "There is always a bigger fish."

That bounty hunter can be linked to a crime lord that then gets linked to a currupt politician who gets linked to a ....

You don't have to have the whole story worked out, just the next part of it.

Another good point. That's kind of how I've been operating to this point, but hadn't really thought about the connections, which is why it sort of feels like a bunch of "one off" jobs with no overall goal or purpose.

This is a great question, I'm wrestling with something similar as we're starting a new EotE campaign in a few weeks.

Fortunately you've already had quite a bit of experience with your group. Think back on the 20 session you've played; which story arcs were the most memorable? What tasks did the group gravitate toward and enjoy the most? Did they revel in solving most situations with diplomacy or a blaster? Did jobs get accomplished using stealth and cunning or bribery and veiled threats. Where have the players spent the most experience in (this is a big hint of what kind of game they want to play)?

I think sitting down with players and just being real is always the best course of action. You could start the conversation by asking for favorite movie scenes, have them recount what one experience they each found most fun so far or just be blunt and say you're coming up with some ideas for the campaign and want to get their input. I know when I'm a player in games like this I really appreciate it when the GM involves the players in decisions affecting the story.

I'm a big fan of player choice and so my suggestion is to lay out a few options for the PCs (not the players) to decide what to do next. This choice would lead them down the road to the eventual meta-plot. For example:

The party has just saved a Moff's daughter and is owed a huge favor, pretty much whatever they want. The Moff offers them a settlement on a newly discovered planet, high ranking positions in X government agency, a huge shipment of spice confiscated by the Imperials large enough to start a crime empire or secret information to help the Rebels (perhaps he's a rebel sympathizer?). Depending on what they choose the campaign turns in the direction the players want to go. You just have to be clear if they players don't already understand this, that the choice they make will have lasting consequences.

Hope that helps!

Excellent advice here, thanks! I've already sort of done something along those lines to try and get the to stick with one type of general line of work, but haven't applied it towards a larger "end game" type goal.

As far as what the players like most and consider their favorite moments, well, we have a diverse group so some prefer the action and some prefer the social interactions.

So am I the odd man out here, when setting up a new game? That getting players together for an Episode 0 session where we hash out what everyone wants to play (you know, make sure we're not all doubling up on skill sets) and brainstorming out what the game is going to be like (Rebels vs Empire, Tramp Freighter trading, Old Republic Jedi or whatever)?

It seems that getting everyone on the same page is essential to managing expectations later on in the game.

That's absolutely what I'd do for the next campaign. In this situation, we were all fairly inexperienced with tabletop RPGs and brand spanking new to this system. While we did get together and talk about what the characters would be to make sure there was minimum overlap and a decent spread of skills, we totally did not talk about what the group's goals would be or why they'd be together. Heck, we didn't even know if we'd really like it and play very long. After using the Starter Kit as an intro, we made characters jumped right in with "Under A Black Sun" (which starts in the middle of action as is). So it was just a very vague "Hey, we're a diverse crew just trying to make it on the fringe of the galaxy" purpose.