So recently a group of my friends had gotten tired of their Pathfinder campaign and wanted to move on to something new. One of them remembered that I had gotten the beginner game for Edge of the Empire and asked if I could run them through that. They liked it well enough and wanted to start an actual campaign with me as GM so we did. Tonight was our first session and I feel it went fairly well but it did have a few points that I felt could be smoother.

A little bit of background on my experience as a role player. I am a pretty big roleplaying novice. I have played in a few random one shots here and there and am currently involved in a friends heroes system campaign. I have never been a GM until the start of this campaign. So I really need practice and some advice from those of you that have done it for some time.

I find improvising to be one of my biggest challenges. It's not that I'm not imaginative but rather that I have a bit of a hard time being put on the spot and attempting to make a situation plausible and more importantly fun for my players. For instance I had assumed that the players would storm this building that they needed access to. Instead they concocted a scheme to put poison into the food of the guards that would be periodically brought in by a henchman. They decided against it but I was scrambling to imagine a scenario that would make it work. instead my players decided to kidnap that guy and interrogate him thus finding out that rather than a gang hideout it was an undercover imperial outpost which I had planned to reveal after they had already broken in and engaged the enemy. Now they are going to question their employer about the place rather than be thrust into an extreme situation as I had planned. Don't get me wrong this is interesting and fun but I really want to be able to make whatever choice they make have impact without totally destroying my general plot arc.

Another issue was that I felt like I could have let them make their own decisions more. Basically that I kind of set the scene for them too much and deprived them of a bit of choice. This wasn't done too often but I my goal is to make this as much of a fun time for my group as possible and I don't want to tell them how things are too much and leave them without the ability to make decisions for themselves. How do you balance improv with the basic plot?

I know this is kind of long and rambling but I am kind of excited about this game and just want to make sure my friends have fun. Do you have any good advice for a total rookie? Hell even links to very informative articles and videos would be helpful.

I plot out my sessions as an outline but it could as easily be a flow chart. Following the structure set out by the pre fab content like the beginner's box, I decide the scope of the adventure, divide it into encounters, and develop likely scenarios for how the players will behave.

Example: Tibana Sunset Casino

Scope - The players are hired to steal important information from a personal computer on the penthouse suite of the Tibana Sunset Casino on Cloud City.

Encounters

1. Meeting their contact

2. Planning the heist

3. Getting in

4. Getting up the secured elevator

5. Sneaking through the penthouse

6. Hacking the computer - climax

I develop a bunch of encounters like that because the players might skip some altogether or at the table they might seem inconsequential and be discarded or dealt with in an instant.

Fleshing out the possibilities.

3. Getting in.

- They could go in through the loading docks and pass through the kitchen.

- Labour droids a the docks. 1 Foreman (Rival)

- Chefs in the kitchen

- Boxes large enough to hide in and be carried inside

- They could charm their way through the front door and behave like casino customers

- If not human, hard to do. Be persuasive.

- Disguise kits or deception/charm rolls to not be identified as known thieves

That's just an example. I flesh it out a lot more and then I can go in to a session confident that at least some of the type my players will behave as expected.

In the Tibana Sunset Casino session I just provided as example, two characters went in through the loading docks and the other two literally bought ziplines and went up the adjacent skycraper, ziplining to the roof of the casino. I planned for repelling from a ship they might try to charter but not ziplining. It was awesome.

Welcome to the world of GMing, where your players will always do what you lease expect them to do.The best way to approach this is a trial by fire, jump in and just get your hands dirty.

-I like to start by watching movies. I look at the scene in the movie and try to imagine what roll, in this system, led to that outcome.

-It's always a good idea to go in with a few lines written down of what you would like your players to do. IE group wants to get info on building, A, they storm in and run into? B, they don't rush in, so I do this.

-If the group has made more than two rolls without moving the plot forward, you need to force them forward into the next scene of the plots. Don't let them have all the free time in the world to walk around and set stuff up. Put pressure on them, whether it's a time restraint, money, or big fat hutt (are there other kinds?)

-create a notebook, and inside that notebook drop-down little modular encounters. The more general the idea, the easier it will be to implement it into your campaign on the fly. The back of Suns of Fortune has some great examples of modular encounter.

GMing is an art, it's the illusion of choice. Sure as a human being you want to give everyone a choice and let them decide for themselves. However as a GM you are not a human being, you are a narrative storyteller. You must find a balance between giving your players as many options as they like, yet still have them focused on the scene you want them go to.

Magicians do it very well, they give you two cards; one of the left, one on the right. He will ask you which card do you pick, if you pick the one on the right and he wants you to have the one the left you'll give him the one on the left (what you wanted them to choose). Make it seem like they picked the one they wanted eliminated. Vice versa if they want the one on the right and you want them to have the one on the right (both want the same one) you make it seem like they picked the one they wanted to have when in reality you wanted them to have it This making sense?

Well the system does not require a lot of prep time, it does require some if you want things to go smooth. Just make sure it's not specifics, is very general. The more specialize you made the encounter the more likely the chances will be that your players will railroad it to something completely different than what you had previously imagined. If you only count on that to happen for sure, and let the rest be flexible, you'll do well.

Also, if your players go completely left field (which happens to the best of us), don't be afraid to say, "alright, um, one minute." and walk away from the table for a little bit to think about what just happened and where you're going. In many cases you'll find you can come up with a path that gets you to important story points, or otherwise logically flows. Trying to just run right through can often result in either breaking the illusion of (or real) choice by forcing players back on to the previous methodology, or the story falling apart because of being unable to generate a reasonable path and challenge.

You're mistake lie in the storm the building scenario. You just craft the obstacle. Let them craft the solution. PCs are meant to concoct, it's what they do.

You're mistake lie in the storm the building scenario. You just craft the obstacle. Let them craft the solution. PCs are meant to concoct, it's what they do.

This is true - I used to do this all the time in D&D, create problems/traps/obstacles that I had no idea how could be bypassed.

I find improvising to be one of my biggest challenges.

You should read some of the posts in this forum started by RebelDave (start early and work forwards), as he has previously expressed having a similar issue. You might find some of his thoughts and the responses helpful.

Partial answer: by not making the plot dependent on specific scenes. Example might be my current campaign: all I really have fleshed out are the major (and lots of minor) characters and their motivations. The fates of all but one NPC is up in the air, and the PCs have already messed with a few of them. But one of the major players is, of course, the Empire. The PCs, no matter what they do, aren't going to change its gradual takeover of their home system. In the end, depending on events, they might have the option to do something drastic, like block off the system entirely. The conundrum they'll have to face is whether avoiding the Empire is worth the price of also losing contact with the rest of the galaxy (and facing the wrath of local Imperial sycophants...).

So the "plot" is really about bringing that decision to a head, but all the rest of the NPCs can come and go as needed or as determined by the PC's actions.

My #1 advice to aspiring GMs is to listen to other (good) GMs. And take notes. Here's a few links to some live-play podcasts with some (IMO) "good GMs"...

Takeover at Whisper Base (AoR Beginner Game), run by @Fiddleback: The Entire 4-part Series (it's presented in "most recent first" order, so scroll all the way down for the first episode)

The Clanker Trail by @Vladepsyker: The Entire 10-part Series (again, scroll all the way down for the first episode)

Forgotten (The Celebrity Game): Part 1 and Ghosts of Memory by @GMChris: Part 1 & Part 2

There are other live play examples out there, but I haven't been able to find any as well edited, played, and GM'd as these. They were a pleasure to listen to (and, in the case of the Clanker Trail , to play in).

Try listening with a critical ear and with a rules book & notebook handy, so you can reference obscure rules, on-the-fly rules calls, and other things. There are two main takeaways for me after listening to these guys:

1. When you're GMing, it's easy to get bogged down by rules minutiae, but the key is to keep the game moving so that everyone keeps having fun! There are some glaring examples in each of these games where the GM totally ignores the rules, whether intentionally or not, and (surprise!) everyone still has tons of fun.

2. Also note that these GMs all accept tons of narrative input from their players, and try their darndest to allow the player's plans to come to fruition (there isn't a whole lot of "no, you can't do that"). So the second key would be to keep the game collaborative . Some people call this "yes, and..." GMing, but "Yes, and" is a loaded phrase with lots of unfortunate (and misapplied) baggage, so we'll just use the developer's phraseology: collaborate with your players and allow them to collaborate with you.

I'll second Awayputurwpn. Listening to how other people GM really helped me re-examine my own skills and allowed me to pick and choose methods that worked for me and my group. I'm a loads better at GMing now than I was then.

Planning ahead and the creative use of "Choice" for your players is an underrated skill. Once I setup an entire campaign arc to happen on a city on an island on one side of a continent and left clues (that they figured out) on where one of their NPC team had been taken. Somehow they ended up buying a transport full of manure to hide the mysterious item (found with the clue for a longer portion of story arc... but later on) and driving it the opposite way across the entire continent. I evaluated their choice response poorly and eventually shelved several months of work that we never ended up resolving. We still had fun, but I had several weeks of wide-eyed seat-flying trying to stay one step ahead of where they were going.

I've since learned to be more careful in the obvious choices I present, but also to have tangent material I can pull in on the fly. Be prepared! Which really means 1) Be prepared with lots of material 2) Be prepared for it all to go wrong 3) Be prepared to have fun telling a story WITH your players as it is easy to think of yourself as against them. I really like how this system works on allowing the players to have input on how the story plays out. Others have been much less forgiving along with being difficult to adjust on the fly.

You're mistake lie in the storm the building scenario. You just craft the obstacle. Let them craft the solution. PCs are meant to concoct, it's what they do.

This is true - I used to do this all the time in D&D, create problems/traps/obstacles that I had no idea how could be bypassed.

This...

Here's an objective, here's a location, here's what the PC's know about obstacles... let them figure out how... chances are they'll ask a question like "is the facility undergoing any construction at the moment" and your answer is "why yes, one of the doors is being worked on" (which you had never planned, but they never knew that you didn't plan it).

My last sessions my PCs had to breaking into a Gowix computer facility (not the main one) on Corellia and obtain the name of the planet that the Gowix computers headquarters will be moving to, plus their next years product line, plus a list of all major sales in the last 2 years, and all major scheduled orders for the next year, and they have to get this information without being discovered. The PCs went about casing the place from the outside, discovered that a door was being worked decided to get the work crew diverted to another job, and 3 PCs took their place at fixing/upgrading the door. They had to figure out how to get uniforms and the hover van. The brought 2 more PCs in totes, to infiltrate the building while the 3 were working on the door, and the 6th PC posed as a secretary from a temp agency, and the made sure that Gowix needed to call the temp agency by sending the secretary flowers with a little device that puffed up aerosolized "space flu" they sliced the temp agencies computer, and planted a program so that a real blue twi'lek employee who was on vacation would get assigned the job by the computer, and inserted the PCs (a blue twi'lek) photo into the temp agency's computer and got a new temp agency badge issued. The PC pretending to be a temp agency secretary cased the facility from the inside, was able to show the gowix computer badge for a temp employee to the other PCs for them to fake badges for the two who infiltrated, etc. etc.

My tip in this thread ( https://community.fantasyflightgames.com/topic/179245-materials-for-starting-out/?p=1679929 ) will help you to.

TLDR - re-skin encounters to fit your narrative and keep some templates to improvise fluid scenes like city crawling.

The most recent episode of the Order 66 Podcast (a long one, since Sam Witwer was on it) contains a meaty discussion on campaign crafting. If you have 3+ hours, I'd recommend giving it a listen, and take some notes...

cant recommend Order 66 enough, instantly one of my favorite podcasts when I started playing

I have found that you have very little control over the group and that allowing them as much freedom as possible is often more enjoyable.

What you DO have control over is the NPCs. So where i spend the majority of my development time is creating the "Bad Guys" and what they are doing often including a time line. As the PCs encounter the NPCs and change the course of events I simply ask myself how would the Bad Guy or Evil Organization respond to their actions? I ran a year long D&D campaign using this method and it worked great. Each time my evil plans were thwarted I would decide how to respond which would then enhance the story. My Players actions altered and enhanced the story but were never able to fully derail my plans until they took out "Red Wizard" organization they were hunting.

I am not using this method with my two Star Wars games (2 PbP, one Live), but that is because I'm trying to let the PCs have a large amount of control over the story. I.e. I have nothing planned but let the PCs actions dictate the story. The nature of these campaigns lends itself to that, but most do not.

So recently a group of my friends had gotten tired of their Pathfinder campaign and wanted to move on to something new. One of them remembered that I had gotten the beginner game for Edge of the Empire and asked if I could run them through that. They liked it well enough and wanted to start an actual campaign with me as GM so we did. Tonight was our first session and I feel it went fairly well but it did have a few points that I felt could be smoother.

A little bit of background on my experience as a role player. I am a pretty big roleplaying novice. I have played in a few random one shots here and there and am currently involved in a friends heroes system campaign. I have never been a GM until the start of this campaign. So I really need practice and some advice from those of you that have done it for some time.

I find improvising to be one of my biggest challenges. It's not that I'm not imaginative but rather that I have a bit of a hard time being put on the spot and attempting to make a situation plausible and more importantly fun for my players. For instance I had assumed that the players would storm this building that they needed access to. Instead they concocted a scheme to put poison into the food of the guards that would be periodically brought in by a henchman. They decided against it but I was scrambling to imagine a scenario that would make it work. instead my players decided to kidnap that guy and interrogate him thus finding out that rather than a gang hideout it was an undercover imperial outpost which I had planned to reveal after they had already broken in and engaged the enemy. Now they are going to question their employer about the place rather than be thrust into an extreme situation as I had planned. Don't get me wrong this is interesting and fun but I really want to be able to make whatever choice they make have impact without totally destroying my general plot arc.

Another issue was that I felt like I could have let them make their own decisions more. Basically that I kind of set the scene for them too much and deprived them of a bit of choice. This wasn't done too often but I my goal is to make this as much of a fun time for my group as possible and I don't want to tell them how things are too much and leave them without the ability to make decisions for themselves. How do you balance improv with the basic plot?

I know this is kind of long and rambling but I am kind of excited about this game and just want to make sure my friends have fun. Do you have any good advice for a total rookie? Hell even links to very informative articles and videos would be helpful.

I don't know if this will help, but I can tell you where the difficulty lies with coming up with perfect stuff on the spot. You can't - no-one can.

Best thing to do is when you put the adventure together, get a good feel for what the NPCs in your game are like and what they want and then just go with what makes sense logically as you go. It can lead to failure on the players' part but that's okay so long as it's a recoverable failure. And often they'll surprise you. Take what they give you, go with it and give it back, see what they do next. So long as your characters and world are functioning in a way that makes sense to you, you can let the story emerge from that.

Trying to make up plots on the fly is hard . Going with the flow and accepting that even you don't know what will happen next, is a lot easier.

I've been working on this one method. Honestly, I pretty much yanked it from every Bioware game I've ever played.

So, let's say you have this idea in your story. You want your players to reach a character named Brett Wonderbone, who in your world, is a really important NPC, because he's going to hit them with some plot.

So, they're going to write that in their quest journal or whatever - "Talk to Brett Wonderbone." This guy is obviously important, so you wanna make sure you write at least some backstory on him. Maybe stat him out as a Rival or Nemesis, while you're at it.

Then you're going to think about what kind of guy Brett Wonderbone is. Let's say he's a crime boss somewhere on Corellia. Okay, Corellia - we're going to need some Core Worlds information about that place. Maybe Brett runs a racket specifically in Coronet City? Alright... we're gonna need some Core Worlds info on Coronet City, too. I'm pretty sure you could find this stuff easy enough on a Wiki or something.

So, now you have to think about the main challenge. The main challenge is for the players to actually get an audience with this dude. How is this going to happen?

Well, they first have to learn if anyone knows about him - Challenge 1. How do you tackle this? Simple. Look inside your CRB. Go to the Skills section. Go through all the skills that you think could be useful that would immediately resolve this challenge. Probably Streetwise, maybe Computers, Underworld perhaps.

Think about Brett. How hard would it be to find some info about where he is:

Streetwise - Asking around isn't so tough. But, people might be afraid to answer. Keep in mind your player's skill level. You don't want this to be impossible. Let's say it's a 2 Difficulty. Now let's think about Coronet. Cor-Sec is all over the place. They probably have some undercover Joes just looking for anyone who even remotely looks like they are getting into some bad joo-joo. So... change one of those Difficulties to a Challenge. If the team gets a Despair - they get pinched. Or maybe they get into a fight and don't get pinched. Either way, they're in trouble with the Law now. <- Automatic story possibilities, here. By the way, you might want some Cor-Sec guard information handy. Just some minions, maybe a Rival will do. Nothing fancy.

Computers - This isn't too tough either, but it's probably a little more obscure. 3 Difficulty. But, maybe looking up info on Brett causes some red flags on Cor-Sec's online division. So... 2 Difficulty, 1 Challenge. Maybe the team doesn't have to deal with a Despair right away, but at some point in the future, the cops ambush them.

Underworld - This is sort of like Lore or a Knowledge check, specifically dealing with criminal stuff. 2 Difficulty, no Challenge. Cops can hound you for stuff you already know.

So, let's say they get that information. They now know that Brett Wonderbone manages a casino underneath an old, quarantined shipyard.

They could go directly there, but... most players like to explore a little. That's why you're also going to tell the team that they have set up shop in a nearby hotel and that there are about 2 or 4 notable establishments of interest.

1. A hospital.

2. A grocery store.

3. A cantina.

4. A garage.

These are pretty common, and they never really get old.

You're going to create at least 1 somewhat important NPC for each of those places. You can get as creative as you want with them, but at least 1.

They're going to need at least Rival stats, and they're going to need some kind of a story.

1. Hospital - Nate Brokaw - a junkie med student who can't shake the habit. He's looking for someone to break into the pharmacy at the grocery to get him some "specific stuff" so he can cook his own Moun Gold.

2. Grocery Store - Grisham Hardwin - a no nonsense Pharmacist who owes a gambling debt. He's looking for someone to take care of some goons that have been giving him problems. They're probably at the cantina right about now.

3. Cantina - Suga' Delish (Havery Noletha) - a young dancer who is working overtime to pay for her classes at the nearby Tech Institute where she learns ship design and architecture. She's looking for someone to help her "send a message" to an old boyfriend at the garage who just won't leave her alone.

4. Garage - Graham Ogret - a hulking brute of a guy who ain't too smart, but sure know's how to rig a V-Slide onto a Power Converter without bypassing on the Quantum Exhaust (<- Makes sense? Nope. But it sure sounds like it does.) He needs someone to help him pay for his mom's liver surgery. She's over at the hospital, being jerked around by some dope-head med student as her physician.

See how these lead to one another? Good.

Let's say they bypass all of this, crap. I spent about 15 minutes writing all of that out, and I guarantee it's enough information to improv my way through it. So, if they skip it - no big deal.

Let's say they go straight for Brett. Maybe they force their way in. Maybe they Coerce. Maybe they do whatever. Either way, it doesn't really matter.

You're going to want some kind of a map for the inside of this place. Don't go nuts. It doesn't even have to make logical engineering sense. In fact, the more "maze-like" the better. This is a game, afterall.

This place is a gambling hall. It's going to need:

1. 1 Bathroom - "This thing's got a ventilation shaft in it. What is this, Deus Ex?" - Yep.

2. 1 Weapon Hold (like a coat closet for weapons.) - "I bet I could get my guns back through that vent." - Yep.

3. 1 Chips/Credit desk (I don't know what it's called - the place where you buy chips to bet with.) - "This place is pretty tight. If things go wrong though... I bet I could grab some easy money." - Yep.

4. 1 Control room. - "I should probably take out all those cameras I've been seeing, first." - Yep.

5. 1 Big room for all the gambling. - "Couldn't hurt to keep a low profile while some of my team mates do some work." - Yep.

6. 1 main office room where Brett stays. - "I bet there's another, secret way into this sleezy room." - Yep.

7. 1 back entrance (because... options...) - "I wonder where this secret door I just found leads..." - Yep.

And that's good enough.

Now, your players are gonna do, what they're gonna do. You can't possibly account for all of it. All you're doing is building a world. If they get through the main stuff way too soon - don't worry.

Player 1 - "Brett - you tell me what I gotta know!"

Brett - "Hey look... I wanna help you guys, honest. But, business is business. Look - you do something for me - I'll tell you what you wanna know!"

Player 2 - "No dice, tell us now!" (Coerce - Success)

Brett - "Look - you got me alright... look - you do this thing for me, I'll even throw in a bonus. And GUNS! I'll give you a discount at my gun store. Please! You want information - I NEED this thing done for me."

Player 1 - "Fine, but you better not screw us. What do you need?"

Brett - "There's this guy.... a-a-at the Hospital..."

So... now you have the major premise. EVERYTHING they do, no matter what - you can always go back to what you have written if you need. Not every Joe Blow the team talks to has to have a unique story that needs to be talked about. If you didn't write it already - it ain't important. And it's not rude for a random NPC a player talks to to just say, "Shove off, dude." "EWWW Get away from me!" - See?

Simple. Easy.

Obviously, your story is going to be more complicated and more interesting than the crap I threw up here. This is just a demonstration. But, with a little work - you could use this same method and make something really great.

This is just something to get you pointed in the right direction. Don't be afraid to rail-road a little if you're nervous. If you don't know how to respond, just tell your players, "Give me a minute to think about this." I promise you they will have something that they could do to keep them occupied.

The reason you're nervous about improv, is because you don't have your ground work covered. If you have your ground work covered - your main arc is secure and well thought out - nothing you do with improv is going to effect it negatively, because you never even have to talk about your main arc if you don't want to.

If you're stuck in improv - don't force it back to the main arc. Just wait. Take your time. Think. A solution WILL present itself eventually. As long as you don't point toward the main arc until you're ready - you won't be screwing up your story.

I hope this helps

I've been working on this one method. Honestly, I pretty much yanked it from every Bioware game I've ever played.

So, let's say you have this idea in your story. You want your players to reach a character named Brett Wonderbone, who in your world, is a really important NPC, because he's going to hit them with some plot.

So, they're going to write that in their quest journal or whatever - "Talk to Brett Wonderbone." This guy is obviously important, so you wanna make sure you write at least some backstory on him. Maybe stat him out as a Rival or Nemesis, while you're at it.

Then you're going to think about what kind of guy Brett Wonderbone is. Let's say he's a crime boss somewhere on Corellia. Okay, Corellia - we're going to need some Core Worlds information about that place. Maybe Brett runs a racket specifically in Coronet City? Alright... we're gonna need some Core Worlds info on Coronet City, too. I'm pretty sure you could find this stuff easy enough on a Wiki or something.

So, now you have to think about the main challenge. The main challenge is for the players to actually get an audience with this dude. How is this going to happen?

Well, they first have to learn if anyone knows about him - Challenge 1. How do you tackle this? Simple. Look inside your CRB. Go to the Skills section. Go through all the skills that you think could be useful that would immediately resolve this challenge. Probably Streetwise, maybe Computers, Underworld perhaps.

Think about Brett. How hard would it be to find some info about where he is:

Streetwise - Asking around isn't so tough. But, people might be afraid to answer. Keep in mind your player's skill level. You don't want this to be impossible. Let's say it's a 2 Difficulty. Now let's think about Coronet. Cor-Sec is all over the place. They probably have some undercover Joes just looking for anyone who even remotely looks like they are getting into some bad joo-joo. So... change one of those Difficulties to a Challenge. If the team gets a Despair - they get pinched. Or maybe they get into a fight and don't get pinched. Either way, they're in trouble with the Law now. <- Automatic story possibilities, here. By the way, you might want some Cor-Sec guard information handy. Just some minions, maybe a Rival will do. Nothing fancy.

Computers - This isn't too tough either, but it's probably a little more obscure. 3 Difficulty. But, maybe looking up info on Brett causes some red flags on Cor-Sec's online division. So... 2 Difficulty, 1 Challenge. Maybe the team doesn't have to deal with a Despair right away, but at some point in the future, the cops ambush them.

Underworld - This is sort of like Lore or a Knowledge check, specifically dealing with criminal stuff. 2 Difficulty, no Challenge. Cops can hound you for stuff you already know.

So, let's say they get that information. They now know that Brett Wonderbone manages a casino underneath an old, quarantined shipyard.

They could go directly there, but... most players like to explore a little. That's why you're also going to tell the team that they have set up shop in a nearby hotel and that there are about 2 or 4 notable establishments of interest.

1. A hospital.

2. A grocery store.

3. A cantina.

4. A garage.

These are pretty common, and they never really get old.

You're going to create at least 1 somewhat important NPC for each of those places. You can get as creative as you want with them, but at least 1.

They're going to need at least Rival stats, and they're going to need some kind of a story.

1. Hospital - Nate Brokaw - a junkie med student who can't shake the habit. He's looking for someone to break into the pharmacy at the grocery to get him some "specific stuff" so he can cook his own Moun Gold.

2. Grocery Store - Grisham Hardwin - a no nonsense Pharmacist who owes a gambling debt. He's looking for someone to take care of some goons that have been giving him problems. They're probably at the cantina right about now.

3. Cantina - Suga' Delish (Havery Noletha) - a young dancer who is working overtime to pay for her classes at the nearby Tech Institute where she learns ship design and architecture. She's looking for someone to help her "send a message" to an old boyfriend at the garage who just won't leave her alone.

4. Garage - Graham Ogret - a hulking brute of a guy who ain't too smart, but sure know's how to rig a V-Slide onto a Power Converter without bypassing on the Quantum Exhaust (<- Makes sense? Nope. But it sure sounds like it does.) He needs someone to help him pay for his mom's liver surgery. She's over at the hospital, being jerked around by some dope-head med student as her physician.

See how these lead to one another? Good.

Let's say they bypass all of this, crap. I spent about 15 minutes writing all of that out, and I guarantee it's enough information to improv my way through it. So, if they skip it - no big deal.

Let's say they go straight for Brett. Maybe they force their way in. Maybe they Coerce. Maybe they do whatever. Either way, it doesn't really matter.

You're going to want some kind of a map for the inside of this place. Don't go nuts. It doesn't even have to make logical engineering sense. In fact, the more "maze-like" the better. This is a game, afterall.

This place is a gambling hall. It's going to need:

1. 1 Bathroom - "This thing's got a ventilation shaft in it. What is this, Deus Ex?" - Yep.

2. 1 Weapon Hold (like a coat closet for weapons.) - "I bet I could get my guns back through that vent." - Yep.

3. 1 Chips/Credit desk (I don't know what it's called - the place where you buy chips to bet with.) - "This place is pretty tight. If things go wrong though... I bet I could grab some easy money." - Yep.

4. 1 Control room. - "I should probably take out all those cameras I've been seeing, first." - Yep.

5. 1 Big room for all the gambling. - "Couldn't hurt to keep a low profile while some of my team mates do some work." - Yep.

6. 1 main office room where Brett stays. - "I bet there's another, secret way into this sleezy room." - Yep.

7. 1 back entrance (because... options...) - "I wonder where this secret door I just found leads..." - Yep.

And that's good enough.

Now, your players are gonna do, what they're gonna do. You can't possibly account for all of it. All you're doing is building a world. If they get through the main stuff way too soon - don't worry.

Player 1 - "Brett - you tell me what I gotta know!"

Brett - "Hey look... I wanna help you guys, honest. But, business is business. Look - you do something for me - I'll tell you what you wanna know!"

Player 2 - "No dice, tell us now!" (Coerce - Success)

Brett - "Look - you got me alright... look - you do this thing for me, I'll even throw in a bonus. And GUNS! I'll give you a discount at my gun store. Please! You want information - I NEED this thing done for me."

Player 1 - "Fine, but you better not screw us. What do you need?"

Brett - "There's this guy.... a-a-at the Hospital..."

So... now you have the major premise. EVERYTHING they do, no matter what - you can always go back to what you have written if you need. Not every Joe Blow the team talks to has to have a unique story that needs to be talked about. If you didn't write it already - it ain't important. And it's not rude for a random NPC a player talks to to just say, "Shove off, dude." "EWWW Get away from me!" - See?

Simple. Easy.

Obviously, your story is going to be more complicated and more interesting than the crap I threw up here. This is just a demonstration. But, with a little work - you could use this same method and make something really great.

This is just something to get you pointed in the right direction. Don't be afraid to rail-road a little if you're nervous. If you don't know how to respond, just tell your players, "Give me a minute to think about this." I promise you they will have something that they could do to keep them occupied.

The reason you're nervous about improv, is because you don't have your ground work covered. If you have your ground work covered - your main arc is secure and well thought out - nothing you do with improv is going to effect it negatively, because you never even have to talk about your main arc if you don't want to.

If you're stuck in improv - don't force it back to the main arc. Just wait. Take your time. Think. A solution WILL present itself eventually. As long as you don't point toward the main arc until you're ready - you won't be screwing up your story.

I hope this helps

One thing to add to this (Which is great BTW) is a basic idea of where the checks can be made. Sure it may be a hard computers check but if you make that check on your datapad which is not connected to a network you arn't going to get anything even with a successful roll. Getting to a terminal that would have the information is a great story opportunity. LIkewise with the streetwise roll, you need to be somewhere that has people who could know the information. (you can cover all of this with the roll by saying they search around and go to various places, or you can use these to develop the story more.)

To add to what I've already written:

Don't completely scrap any unused material. The best advantage a GM has is the ability to cannibalize their own material - especially if it hasn't been used.

In the above scenario, I mentioned making 4 points of interest. Suppose the team never goes to the Hospital. Don't scrap it! Use it later. They'll never know the difference, because you never talked about it.

Your second best weapon in your arsenal is to understand the Skills. Personally, I get really nervous when it comes time to do combat, because there are so many rules and minutia... it's really overwhelming. I have a hard time remembering stuff in general. But the Skills - the Skills do half the work for you. Always remember - everything a player wants to do, there is probably a Skill associated with it. So, knowing how to use the Skills and what they can and cannot do, is really, half the game.

The Dice system should help you consider how to resolve a situation, and is there to help you with your improv. It will tell you if something good or something bad happens. Use that as a means to center your thoughts and organize possibilities. If there is an Advantage/Threat - great... just take your time and think of how that affects the story/situation. But, don't overburden yourself. Let the players help you tell the story in these situations. If you've built your story correctly, these things will not screw it up.

An Advantage/Threat is hardly enough to create some universe, plot altering scenario, and you shouldn't think of them as such. A Triumph will usually just yield fantastic results. A Despair, however, does have the potential of altering things a great deal. But you are the only person in control of when that is even possible. YOU choose the Difficulty, and only YOU can create a situation that requires the Challenge Die. They don't roll it, lest you tell them. That doesn't mean to avoid using it. It just means consider the possibilities before hand.

It's not a bad idea to have a list of names of people and places. Just think of these in your off-time and jot them down. Keep a list with you when you're at the table, and call upon it when a players asks you what someone's name is.

Consider having a companion for the team that sort of travels with them. Create this character as if it is another PC. Give it a cool backstory. Usually, this person is engaged with one thing or another during normal gameplay, but if a player can't make it or whatever, the team has an extra gun if they feel they need it. Don't do anything special with this character as far as resolving solutions - leave that to the players. It's just there to act as an extra gun, to soak damage, and maybe if they really, really need something hacked. It's also there for you to casually influence the tone and direction of the story as a mortal being through RP.

Also, this Character is useful as an info dump. If you built your story, and for whatever reason, some vital piece of information was overlooked or you really need to tell them something you forgot - this Character can be used to relay that information, without too many questions being asked. This character is also great for basically telling the players what they need to be focusing on, without you as the GM telling them out-of-character. Don't let this character roll Knowledge checks or things like that. This is not a PC. The character only knows what it knows and only what you have built for them TO know. They aren't there to solve problems. They're there to provide RP support, and some minimal mechanical support.