Have people succeeded in having many conversation only sessions?
I think puzzles or talking to characters can be interesting and especially necessary to people who would have chosen colonist careers etc.

And i think it does alot for pacing and of course establishing characters.

I can make compelling characters but it takes me a long time to make characters i am happy with.
If people have any references or inspiration you like to use, or a link to a similar thread feel free to share. Or perhaps rules to how much NPC conversation you might include.

We have had sessions in various games that were all investigation, conversation, and not a lick of combat. You may find that it can bore those players that are interested mostly in combat, but there are ways to have some fun chase scenes that can still highlight their physical prowess.

I think it just comes down to reading the players (to see if everyone is tuned in) and keeping everyone engaged (intentionally "passing the ball" to that person who's been quiet)... Basically just good group discussion leadership!

I can't say I've had "conversation only" sessions, but I've had plenty of "everything but combat" sessions with a strong emphasis on social skills. Last session required a lot of charm (to get the stowaway to come out of hiding and spill the beans on who she was and where she wanted to go); deception and coercion (to get the Imperial customs agent to stop asking for a bribe); negotiation (to get the merchants interested in buying the cargo to up their bids); athletics (to catch a pickpocket and recover a blaster); and lots more besides.

One thing you can do is encourage players not to be too one-dimensional. Sure, you can have a wookiee with Brawn 5, but that makes them pretty useless for anything else. You can't even use them for Coercion because people will just discount them as a big teddy bear. Most of the combat careers do have at least one social skill and/or knowledge in their career list, and I encourage players to develop those at least, which means also probably boosting the underlying stat(s).

One of my favorite sessions was what you could call a 'bottle' episode, all set on the PCs' ship.

After the previous big season-finale-climax type episode, the PCs had rescued a variety of refugees from a planet, with limited fuel and food supplies and tensions between the various members of the refugee group.

So over the course of a 2-week or so journey, the PCs had to keep the refugees from fighting when they could, determine how to ration out the food without sparking a mutiny, and then try to solve a murder when one of the refugees got killed.

It was a really tense session and a lot of fun. There wasn't any actual combat, per se, but there were social checks for Discipline, Leadership, Charm, Coercion, etc.

Nearly every EotE game has had at least one combat in it, though on occasion they've been very short, and in most cases it's only one or two in an 8 hour session. In the case of one game I ran, the combat was only during the 'hot' opening. I agree with What, I think it's important to make sure every character has some kind of non-combat skill(s) they can use during the other parts of the game, even if it's just Athletics or Stealth. In our group, for example, we have 4 good combat characters (50%) but one is a pilot/mechanic, one is a pilot/survivalist, one is an abrasive stalker, and one is our Jedi. So even if combat doesn't come up, there is something they can still do.

It was a really tense session and a lot of fun. There wasn't any actual combat, per se, but there were social checks for Discipline, Leadership, Charm, Coercion, etc.

That right there is your key. Tension. Combat automatically supplies tension (or should at least). But other encounters types certainly can do so as well. Here are some archetypes that involve tension:

• Defusing the Bomb - Basically anything that has a time limit and a catastrophic consequence. Repairing the reactor core, shutting down the self-destruct, stopping the execution order before it's transmitted, catching the poisoned food shipment before the schools receive it, etc.

• Chase Scene - Doesn't have to involve shooting or combat at all. Usually the PCs are the ones trying to get away, but for a good twist you can make them the ones doing the chasing. Here again, it's dire consequences that make for tension. Being caught by enforcers is bad, but with the flip you can make it critical to catch someone before they can report in, deliver their message, etc.

• Mediator - The PCs are responsible for keeping the peace between two opposing parties. Whether that's a potential bar-clearing brawl, or a planetary civil war doesn't matter. The PCs should have something at stake in keeping the peace. Having a fourth party be responsible for the conflict for extra fun. Two sides are moving toward conflict, the PCs are a helpful third party for peace, but need to discover the secret underhanded dealings of a mysterious fourth party to succeed.

• Solving the Puzzle - This is functionally similar to Defusing the Bomb. The major difference is the time scale. An episode of Sherlock is a Solving the Puzzle session, though it might span days or even weeks. The consequences probably aren't immediate destruction, but something more subtle. Preventing the passage of a terrible piece of legislation with mysterious support, Finding a cure for a new form of a disease, tracking down a thief or thieving ring that is stealing culturally artifacts that may spark an an insurrection. Solving a series of murders before the PCs friend/contact/patron becomes a victim.

One of my favorite sessions was what you could call a 'bottle' episode, all set on the PCs' ship.

After the previous big season-finale-climax type episode, the PCs had rescued a variety of refugees from a planet, with limited fuel and food supplies and tensions between the various members of the refugee group.

So over the course of a 2-week or so journey, the PCs had to keep the refugees from fighting when they could, determine how to ration out the food without sparking a mutiny, and then try to solve a murder when one of the refugees got killed.

It was a really tense session and a lot of fun. There wasn't any actual combat, per se, but there were social checks for Discipline, Leadership, Charm, Coercion, etc.

I like this idea, how you have to all of the sudden spread your resources out. I guess it makes me think of "Walking Dead" where its more just general survival the characters are combatting rather than specifically zombies.

Though i guess in Star Wars a problem can be if there was some terrible problem on a planet everyone can get just get on their ship, fly somewhere else and forget about it. So just have to inventive with the PCs barriers eg.

The Empire is looking for them in Sector X

They havent got credits to buy Item B

They dont accept credits on Planet Z

This character cares too much about this person/place/problem to leave until it is solved

I am sure i will remember this thread when i need to keep my focus when sorting out non-combat conflicts.

I do have one Pacifist-Colonist- Scholar in my group with no combat skills so I do predict I will have to make ample light-combat encounters

This forum has got to be the highest quality replies I have ever seen lol.

"Why do you take this apart now! I'm trying to get us out of here and you pull both of these... Put them back together, right now!"

-Han, ESB

Have people succeeded in having many conversation only sessions?

I have found that most "conversation only" sessions happen in games that have no real mechanics for social scenarios.

D&D is infamous for it, as most rules revolve around combat and magic.

Games like Edge have a way to explore nuanced encounters via conversation and still involve mechanics.