I had initially set out to run the Beginner Box for EotE. I've not been a Game Mistress before, and didn't know if my players would like what I'm doing or whether I'd enjoy the responsibility.

The session went well, even if they did try to go off-supplement and, upon noticing how confused I was, went back on supplement. Despite my clumsy readings of the red text that FFG so graciously provided, the event was fun! We decided to do another.

I have trouble remembering things - I created an Obsidian Portal site for my Edge of the Empire campaign and began voraciously posting wiki entries, largely truncated versions of Wookiepedia. I wanted to have the details of the game on my site so I could refer back quickly. The players began making their characters and as each session occurred, I would un-check the "GM Only" box and new NPCs, locations, ships, and other details would spring to life on the site.

Then something happened that I did not expect.

Post-session journal entries started to appear from Zet'nuri's perspective. Then Santos started making journals. Each of them relating by wiki link, the pages I created. Zet and Santos began slice of life role play off session as well. Callia joined in by meditating the creation of her light saber. Rakine, a cameo PC antagonist joined the fray as well.

We have had 5 sessions in person. Currently there are almost 40 adventure logs: journals, role plays, origin stories, transition and aftermath vignettes, and galactic news bulletins I post to tease upcoming story ideas and detail how things panned out for the NPCs they leave behind.

It absolutely boggles my mind how this campaign has grown and taken flight. Well beyond the expectations I had of a one-off lark trying the system's beginner box.

i'm gushing. I apologize if it is inappropriate. I'm simply stunned.

Is this normal? Tell me your stories!

That's fantastic! We had one player post one short story from his PC's perspective, but otherwise it hasn't happened in my campaigns.

That's a great sign your players are having fun!

I like that your Players write entries post session. I tried to get my Players to do that on my blog and the most I got was a 1 line comment 3 months ago.

I have had my Players come to me between sessions and suggest story ideas or run story arcs of their characters by me. I actually am about to put in motion a story suggested by one Player that was worried I wouldn't accept.

You must have a great group. Whatever it is you are doing, keep it up. It sounds like everyone is having a load of fun.

Thanks all! I'm so happy my players are enjoying the game.

I didn't know I had it in me to make something like this. Being GM seemed so daunting before.

One thing I've done to continue the trend is rather than hand-waving or discussing with the book open what the PCs are buying/building/healing/repairing at the table, I wave the risk of failure via dice if they post it as a slice of life role play on the site. Medicine checks during session aren't included in this (Zet rolled 4 threats on her heal of Callia - Callia now has a lower wound threshold until she sees an actual Doctor) but Callia is role playing being in the hospital on Corellia to recover from her several crits. Zet wanted to get some equipment so I had her role play a market scene rather than rolling to see if she found a black market dealer.

This all has to happen within reason, but I'm so spell bound by how rich and vibrant our campaign site is becoming - and it is only a 5 session old game!

My players also do post session write ups after our games. I encourage them do it, but it is not mandatory, although I do hand out 5 XP for the post.

My only thing is that I ask of them, (mandate, really) is that the logs are about the sessions. One player went and did a little side stuff early on, like buying an Astromech droid, and I was ok with that, but I would be leery of them "writing their own adventures". I know by the FAD book, building a lightsaber does not require a roll, but I would definitely make that part of a session, not something that happens in down time. I did make my player give me an easy mechanics check that was a red die, I just told him don't roll a Despair. I also let him use his Force Die in the roll.

So for me and my group, it is great that they write a log of what happens, many times I tend to drink too much, and make stuff as I go, then forget about it...sheepish grin...

It's great that your group is enjoying your game, and that you are too. Being a Game Master can be daunting, and sometimes overwhelming. But a good group can make it worth while, while a bad group can make it feel like a chore. Sounds like you are doing everything right, and your players are having a good time. But remember, the best part of GMing is being able to be vindictive to your players and punish them for using their character sheets and changing the scene on them to make them kill innocent people. sorry, I'm done being snide now (for the moment).

Well congrats on becoming a Game Master, I believe that the ability to buy and read a rule book does not make one a Game Master, I can go buy and read a book on welding, but that does not me a welder...

I think you found the secret to a good game, ensuring the players are having fun. If they are having fun, then by default, the GM will too.

Cheers!

I’m kind of envious, actually.

I wish we had a place to do this kind of thing for the games I’m in.

Mr. Knowles, try Obsidian Portal. My old GM for DnD had us keep Adventure logs and it really added to the campaign.

@OP: I've continued this trend, I have an obsidian portal site for our campaign and encourage my players to participate. No bites so far, but I've made it clear there will be an in game benefit, whether that's XP or items, or something else.

Mr. Knowles, try Obsidian Portal. My old GM for DnD had us keep Adventure logs and it really added to the campaign.

I’m just a player, not the GM. I imagine I could open an ObsidianPortal account as just another player, and I even might get some of the other players to join in the fun. But without having the GM involved in that process, I don’t think it would go very far.

@OP: I've continued this trend, I have an obsidian portal site for our campaign and encourage my players to participate. No bites so far, but I've made it clear there will be an in game benefit, whether that's XP or items, or something else.

Yeah, I do like that idea. I might see my GM tonight at the FLGS, so maybe I can try to talk him into trying this out, once the current craziness in his life is over.

Welcomes! Sounds like you're having a great time! And we need more female GMs in general

I award small XP bonuses for stories, session write-ups etc. Seems like a nice thing to do and encourages everyone to get involved.

Several of the players want me to use Obsidian Portal - I suck at internet stuff (old dog, new tricks...) but eventually I guess I'll have to take the plunge. It sounds so awesome!

Omigosh it totally is awesome.

My obsidian portal page is in my signature. The service for free is fantastic but I'm subscribing for the extras. The world we are creating feels alive with the site.

@BradKnowles: Bummer. Yeah without GM help that becomes difficult to do.

@bubblepopmei: Are the subscription extras worth it? They seemed interesting, but not necessarily worth the cost.

@BradKnowles: Bummer. Yeah without GM help that becomes difficult to do.

@bubblepopmei: Are the subscription extras worth it? They seemed interesting, but not necessarily worth the cost.

You get a lot done with the free version. Subscription did a few things that I really appreciate:

1. Vastly increased the image storage limit per campaign (from like 5mb to 5gb!)

2. Forums - this is handy for off-session roleplay, rules questions, etc.

3. Calendar - you can now create events, set reminders, all within OP

4. GM secrets between players - this is the most important, players and GMs can share secret details on their pages.

Considering all it cost me was 39.99 and I get a year of it for that it is overwhelmingly useful.

Also - as a player on another campaign, I just went ahead and started carving the other campaign out on OP. Now the GM is inspired to start the game back up again and we'll be using OP for that too! I'm just a player on that game but it doesn't prevent me from building the wiki, keeping logs, etc.

I was okay paying for the sub myself. It's proving to be a fantastic resource.

Back to the topic, I -wish- my players would do this. Amazing. I set up OOC and IC forum threads on my OP site for them - They haven't used 'em yet (though we only had our first session last week, so who knows?).

For the Wiki part, I find that Red-links are very tempting to people. If you put the [[brackets]] to make something a link (or w/e they use on OP, I don't recall) and leave it blank, it encourages someone to come along and put something there.

It absolutely boggles my mind how this campaign has grown and taken flight. Well beyond the expectations I had of a one-off lark trying the system's beginner box.

i'm gushing. I apologize if it is inappropriate. I'm simply stunned.

Is this normal? Tell me your stories!

Yes.

I've had just a few campaigns on Obsidian Portal, including my current campaign, Another Longshot. "AL" is the first game I've run where I'm rewarding my PCs with XP if they contribute to the ObPort page, or by helping me out with other aspects of the game (Logistics). While I left the door open for my PCs to contribute before, usually only one or two of them bothered to update the site or to write player journals from their character's perspectives.

My current crop of PCs don't seem to have that issue. Half of my 11 PCs are what I'd call "heavy contributors", and the others are helping out here and there for additional XP. Sure it's bribery, but help should be rewarded and encouraged. I do have a cap on the amount of "post-session" XP they can earn, likely somewhere around 10-15. Considering we likely only get to play every 2 months or so this actually seems like a fair limit (not too much, but not too little either).

You've got a great group of PCs there, and I hope their contributions to your game continue. It's really easy to GM for a group of rabidly fanatical players, and it's a real joy too.

May the dice be with you,

This is all great to read! My recent experience isn't quite on par with this in terms of player engagement, but our group were talking today about how we're finding RPGs (with Edge and Age in particular) to prove so much more enjoyable than our customary board game nights. I too have grown to love GMing - it's a way to build a gaming experience that leads to everyone winning, rather than a victor as determined by a rulebook. GMing lets me shed my slightly knobbish competitive streak in favour of collaborating with my family and friends - which leads to sessions were we WANT to stay up till the small hours (and we forget that it's way past our kid's bed time) as opposed to having to stay up because the game won't bloody end and we haven't determined a winner yet (I'm looking at you, Talisman - no offence).

I wish my players would do stuff like this. That's great!

The only time any of my players did anything outside of a gaming session was to hire an assassin to kill one of the other PCs. Seriously. I was running a Rolemaster game. I was having lunch with one of my players and he was telling me how much he hates the character of one of the other players. Then he reminded me still had all of the party treasure from the last dungeon crawl; it had not been divvied up yet.

So, over Chinese buffet, he hatched a plot whereby he contacted an assassin and paid 900 gold to have the other guy killed. I told my player I would allow this, but I'm going to give the target player a fighting chance. It would not be a sure thing.

As it turned out, the target PC ended up getting killed by the assassin because he refused to take anyone with him to the mysterious meeting down at the wharves (other players offered to go with him), and he refused to run when it was evident he was in a bad situation. Meanwhile, the player who arranged the hit got his too. The other PCs discovered his complicity in the murder and that he used party loot to pay for it.

That was actually a really fun couple of sessions! But yeah, I'd rather have your players.

I had initially set out to run the Beginner Box for EotE. I've not been a Game Mistress before, and didn't know if my players would like what I'm doing or whether I'd enjoy the responsibility.

The session went well, even if they did try to go off-supplement and, upon noticing how confused I was, went back on supplement. Despite my clumsy readings of the red text that FFG so graciously provided, the event was fun! We decided to do another.

I have trouble remembering things - I created an Obsidian Portal site for my Edge of the Empire campaign and began voraciously posting wiki entries, largely truncated versions of Wookiepedia. I wanted to have the details of the game on my site so I could refer back quickly. The players began making their characters and as each session occurred, I would un-check the "GM Only" box and new NPCs, locations, ships, and other details would spring to life on the site.

Then something happened that I did not expect.

Post-session journal entries started to appear from Zet'nuri's perspective. Then Santos started making journals. Each of them relating by wiki link, the pages I created. Zet and Santos began slice of life role play off session as well. Callia joined in by meditating the creation of her light saber. Rakine, a cameo PC antagonist joined the fray as well.

We have had 5 sessions in person. Currently there are almost 40 adventure logs: journals, role plays, origin stories, transition and aftermath vignettes, and galactic news bulletins I post to tease upcoming story ideas and detail how things panned out for the NPCs they leave behind.

It absolutely boggles my mind how this campaign has grown and taken flight. Well beyond the expectations I had of a one-off lark trying the system's beginner box.

i'm gushing. I apologize if it is inappropriate. I'm simply stunned.

Is this normal? Tell me your stories!

I've got links posted in my signature to our Star Wars and D&D Obsidian Portal sites. We engage in a lot of the same stuff as well. Character stories, backgrounds, villains/monsters faced, organizations, places, timelines, equipment, etc.

I have been using Obsidian Portal for over a year now, it has been the home of both of my SW EotE campaigns. I am a premium member and it is worth for me. I get a ton of additional space to put all our crap on it. I love the sound clip link feature in it. I have a soundcloud membership (free account) and I can quickly put a sound in there and then in the Portal link the sound. I have some voices and vehicle sounds. I love to play the voice of a NPC for the players, so they know what the NPC "should" sound like, then I try to imiate the voice the best I can. By me hearing it as well, it helps me to try to emulate it. I like to use my Portal as a guide of where my players have been, and who and what they have met. I only put planets on there where they have been to and aliens that they have actually had encounters with. I do put stuff on there if I know they will be encountering it in the next adventure.

I have one player is great about about writing journal updates. So for anyone that might even be debating on the usefulness of this net based utility, I urge to to try it out. The basic version is free and is still awesome. When I created mine there were about 200 EotE pages, now there is close to 900!!

I also follow and keep tabs on the EotE pages out there. It is great for inspiration and ideas. And if anyone out there wants to borrow from my page, feel free to.

@DarthGM, what is this "Pod Cast" thing you speak of? Whatever it is it can not be good, and is probably a poorly executed thing and one which I would never listen too.

*huge fan of the show!

Lucky

I had a hard enough time getting my players to write a background.

But they have really loved the face I use OP, especially since the sessions are once a month. I just wish they provided more content. Compared to the other OP sites I have seen i feel mine is quite full of content

I try to run my Sunday Star Wars group as a saga with a fairly rich plot weaved through about 300 pages worth of adventure material prepared. In turn, my players feel very engaged and frequently email me "between game actions" (BGAs) that their characters are up to between episodes. I really enjoy it because I get to write new material around things that I know interest my players from their BGAs. I always provide 3-4 weeks of game time between episodes so they can engage in financial, repair, or modding actions. It's worked out well and it keep everyone excited between sessions.