Hey, everybody. I know most of us GMs try to build an overarching story with our Players as the protagonists. That said, sometimes, the Alliance doesn't need you to save the day. Sometimes, they just need a few extra MREs or tibanna cartridges. How do you work in the "side quests" that are so ubiquitous in other games?

Depends on well.... everything.

First off, remember the point of side quests and ask if you even want one.

The point? In most games (of the video variety) that include side quests the point is almost always to extend the game. It adds little no no material, no furthering of the story, no important information, or character development, not seeming worthless item that will prove the key to convincing the Dark Lord to give up the dark side and open a kitten orphanage. All it does is add a few more bad guys, a puzzle or two, and some XP for the player.... that's about it....

In the conventional tabletop RPG dead end combat encounters can get a little old a little fast. You probably don't want to do that, better to just move the story along or you'll likely never complete campaign. If you want to can certainly drop in something, but anything more then a an encounter, or maybe two in length is probably too much.

Now... what you can do is make the main quest appear as a side quest. Have the adventure start with something very mundane, like say liberating a shipment of ration packs, only to learn that while the crate say "rations" they actually contain something vary more interesting...

Yeah, see if you players even want to have things not related to the main plot, but nevertheless, if you want a wind down RP session of them just trying to relax and such an R&R session can always be fun especially when you want to get their past involved somehow like the gangster from Taris getting a run in with some people he wronged and now he and the rest of the party have to handle the fallout from that. Heck, they can try and impress whoever they want to serve for in the next Tour of Duty and thus try and get those rations extra well until they realized they are being chased by Vader's Flagship.

No reason that side missions can't have an impact on the main arc. Maybe their impact isn't seen or felt until sometime later.

That heist for the blasters that the PCs chose not to go on... well, a different team went and (failed/succeeded), but the complication is that some other resource isn't available later to the PCs that could have helped them in their "main" mission.

To be honest, I use Obligation, Duty and Morality to provide the impetus for most of the player's personal side-quests.

It's fun trying to tie them together to include other PCs.

I particularly like those last two posts about having delayed impact on main missions and using Motivation or Duty to provide the hooks. I've been throwing hooks at my Players for side quests since day one, and I let them decide whether or not to bite.

Yeah, see if you players even want to have things not related to the main plot, but nevertheless, if you want a wind down RP session of them just trying to relax and such an R&R session can always be fun especially when you want to get their past involved somehow like the gangster from Taris getting a run in with some people he wronged

Gangster from Taris... are you one of my players (Chris?)

Yeah, see if you players even want to have things not related to the main plot, but nevertheless, if you want a wind down RP session of them just trying to relax and such an R&R session can always be fun especially when you want to get their past involved somehow like the gangster from Taris getting a run in with some people he wronged

Gangster from Taris... are you one of my players (Chris?)

Nope, my player came up with him being a Tarisian gangster. He's been enjoying the concept so far in trying to be a legitimate soldier who was a criminal. He also blinded a Devaronian who is definitely going to come back and die in fear from him.