I am looking into getting into this game, as it looks fantastic and I love Star Wars. Since there are now all three books available, I was going to purchase all the core books so players have a full range of thematic character builds from the star wars universe!

Here are my questions. Which GM kit/Screen would be most useful if I am using material from all 3 core books? Are there significant differences in the materials offered in each of the three kits other than art? If so, should I get all three in addition to the core books?

I don't know what will be in the F&D GM Screen but if you're only going to get one I'd get the AoR one because it comes with all the same stuff plus Squad rules. The EotE one is fine just theres really nothing especially special in it.

The content of the screens aren't different, but the included stuff is. Each has a unique adventure, and as FG noted, AoR has squad rules.

The EotE GM Kit has rules for advancing NPCs, which are highly useful for those NPCs you really want to develop (both adversaries and allies).

The AoR GM Kit, as mentioned earlier, does indeed have squad rules.

Both are useful in their own right...if you're going to be doing lots of space combat in starfighters, I highly recommend using squads.

From the sounds of it, if I were to only get one, AoR is the one I should get with the squad rules benefit. Thanks guys!

Are squads different from minion groups?

Yes. Squad rules allow characters to command groups of minions in specific ways, not the least of which is a type of ablative plot armour, but there's a lot of benefits that come out of the squad rules. Both GM kits released so far are excellent additions to the game.

Also the announcement for F&D says that the GM screen kit is where Knight Level play will be covered. How much mileage you'll get from that will vary depending on what the finalized rules say and what you consider "Knight Level" to be.

Squad/Squadron rules allow a Player (and potentially a Rival or Nemesis) to pair up with a large group of minions. How useful that will be depends on your campaign design and themes.

So for example a ground war themed campaign it will be handy.

In a Starfighter campaign it will be vital especially at lower levels, just understand that most major space battles at first will come out like the Battle of Yavin, with Luke, Han, and a couple of squadronmates surviving, but Biggs, Porkins, ect. not.

In a smuggling campaign... probably not that important...

In a spy thriller campaign... really not needed except for a rather specific encounter or two at most.

Also, the adventure packaged with the Age of Rebellion screen is a lot more interesting than the one for Edge of the Empire.

Aww, I liked the EotE adventure. The cook droid was great. Sounds like I'll need to pick up the AoR screen as well, though!

The content of the screens aren't different, but the included stuff is. Each has a unique adventure, and as FG noted, AoR has squad rules.

Actually, the content of the screens themselves are slightly different. When the new AoR screens came out, I bought one and carefully compared it to my EotE screen, and we found a couple of things.

But the differences are quite minor.

I don't know what will be in the F&D GM Screen but if you're only going to get one I'd get the AoR one because it comes with all the same stuff plus Squad rules. The EotE one is fine just theres really nothing especially special in it.

The Edge GM screen has info on designing Nemesis' and an adventure. The Age one has an adventure and squad rules, We don't know what we are getting in the F&D one. But I am guessing inquisitor rules.

I don't know what will be in the F&D GM Screen but if you're only going to get one I'd get the AoR one because it comes with all the same stuff plus Squad rules. The EotE one is fine just theres really nothing especially special in it.

The Edge GM screen has info on designing Nemesis' and an adventure. The Age one has an adventure and squad rules, We don't know what we are getting in the F&D one. But I am guessing inquisitor rules.

http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_news.asp?eidn=5359

The info we have so far on the FaD GM Kit is as follows:

"The GM Kit also features detailed guidelines for knight-level play, in which PCs start an adventure with advanced capabilities, and for crafting custom lightsabers from materials that characters may encounter in their adventures. Above all, it contains a complete two-to-three session adventure, Hidden Depths, which can either stand on its own or tie in with the adventure in the Core Rulebook."

So not necessarily that Knight Level Play will exist only in the GM Kit, but it seems to me that there will be detailed info on how to do Knight Level Play.

I actually turned the robot liberation front into recurring villains. They have been fun.

The content of the screens aren't different, but the included stuff is. Each has a unique adventure, and as FG noted, AoR has squad rules.

Actually, the content of the screens themselves are slightly different. When the new AoR screens came out, I bought one and carefully compared it to my EotE screen, and we found a couple of things.

But the differences are quite minor.

I know of the page number differences, AoR page numbers as opposed to EotE. What are the other differences? Was it just the new gear? Which is just new grenade(s), right?

The content of the screens aren't different, but the included stuff is. Each has a unique adventure, and as FG noted, AoR has squad rules.

Actually, the content of the screens themselves are slightly different. When the new AoR screens came out, I bought one and carefully compared it to my EotE screen, and we found a couple of things.

But the differences are quite minor.

I know of the page number differences, AoR page numbers as opposed to EotE. What are the other differences? Was it just the new gear? Which is just new grenade(s), right?

A couple of weapons are different, they changed the font slightly (half a point) on the crits table, and added in 1 to 2 new weapon/armor qualities to the list at the bottom. That alone makes the AoR slightly better in my book - but I have both kits, because one screen I keep up and the other stays flat on the table for player reference.

I also like the Edge art better than the Age art, but that's personal preference.