Sadly I mostly play online these days (players in London and Vancouver when I live in the South west of the UK) but we started the game face to face like this:

I am one of those people who uses Lego. Mostly because I already have them and I might as well use them, but if you didn't already have way too much Lego then it's an expensive way to buy models. I've been doing it since playing the old Star Wars Saga (based on 3.5) where I also used the old Star Was Galaxy Tiles (I got two packs because you don't get a lot of tiles per pack):

Nice!

That round table is cool, reminds me in a vague way of the gaming table on the Falcon.

Using Lego can be a blast, but I personally own very few, and I'd have to rely on raiding my kids' toy room. Thus, I'm going traditional minis.

Finally, our first evening with the full team. Starting at the top, and going clockwise around the room: Mike (playing a Trandoshan Hired Gun/Heavy), Paul (playing a female Twi'lek Explorer/Fringer), Brad (a human Technician/Outlaw Tech with the added specialization Doctor), and my wife Lisa (a human Sentinel/Shadow).

I have been sitting at left, a holdover from playing Traveller, when I needed to be close to the tv so I could plug the laptop into it. Next game, I'm going to switch seats. Why? This may sound silly, but where I am now, I'm looking perpendicular to the room's length. Thus, I can't see all the players at the same time. Should I change seats and sit on the short axis, then everyone is in eyeshot. Maybe it is an artifact of being used to sitting around a table, but I do like to be able to see, and judge, all the players' reactions at once.

The game went well, but it really is going to take some time to get used to the dice.

The action thus far centers around a cargo container, mistakenly brought to the PC's ship in docking bay 23, as opposed to it's intended destination in docking bay 32. Long story short, being the inquisitive types, the characters decided to open the crate. Inside were ceramic statuettes of the Trandoshan diety, the Scorekeeper. Inside those were baggies of avabush spice. As they discover this, the thugs return, wanting the crate. The Twi'lek recognizes the main thug as being from the gang the Trandoshan is seeking vengeance against. Weapons are drawn (mostly knives, and the Trandoshan's vibro-greatsword). The thugs defeated. And the players blast out of the docking bay as the captain and crew of the intended transport ship arrive on the scene.

One of my friends sent me some pictures from when we played the beginner's game. Bonus points if you can identify which four characters they picked. I was proud of what I managed to pull together.

That's awesome! Looks like you had a blast, in more ways than one!

Is that deck plan for the Beginner Game? I don't own it, but if it is, I'm now tempted to buy it.

That's awesome! Looks like you had a blast, in more ways than one!

Is that deck plan for the Beginner Game? I don't own it, but if it is, I'm now tempted to buy it.

It is.

That's awesome! Looks like you had a blast, in more ways than one!

Is that deck plan for the Beginner Game? I don't own it, but if it is, I'm now tempted to buy it.

I'm tempted to get the Beginner's box just because of the deckplan.

My player rolled this trying to climb a cliff last night. Thankfully he had the reroll talent.

My player rolled this trying to climb a cliff last night. Thankfully he had the reroll talent.

Wow! Why so daunting?

My player rolled this trying to climb a cliff last night. Thankfully he had the reroll talent.

Wow! Why so daunting?

More like Formidable. Must have been some cliff!

My player rolled this trying to climb a cliff last night. Thankfully he had the reroll talent.

Was it this cliff?

Because that is one difficult roll...

Was it this cliff?

Because that is one difficult roll...

Nah. In that picture, Stallone has a safety rope that is attached to multiple carabiners.

Please guys, there can only be one set of cliffs with that difficulty...

Also yes, as others have pointed out, the deck plan is from the beginner's game. But it's not a standard YT-1300 so you might be better off printing out some of the west end games floor plans.

Compared to:

Yeah, not to take another topic of rails, but what on earth kind of cliff was that??? Formidable and upgraded?

Was it this cliff?

Because that is one difficult roll...

Nah. In that picture, Stallone has a safety rope that is attached to multiple carabiners.

Stallone?

That's an actual rock-climber, not some goofy movie.

My player rolled this trying to climb a cliff last night. Thankfully he had the reroll talent.

Wow! Why so daunting?

Formidable actually. It was a sheer cliff that the players were not supposed to be able to climb, but getting up there would not have ruined the story. It would have just circumvented several other things in place to help them before they got up there.

Yeah, not to take another topic of rails, but what on earth kind of cliff was that??? Formidable and upgraded?

It wasn't on earth .

Do people never see formidable rolls or something?

The cliff was part of a mesa (something like this http://images.summitpost.org/original/889708.JPG but larger), the top of which was heavily bombed from orbit years ago and now houses some secrets, secrets that the keepers of do not want the locals to know about. There is an easier way up there, but it involves going through the local town that has risen up at the foot of the path leading to the top. Anyone who goes up there never returns, so the locals tend to stay away. Resources are scarce, however, and there is probably salvage up top.

The upgrade was for a destiny point flip. Success and despair: you get ambushed at the top. Failure and despair: you fall.

Time to break out the jetpack...

Do people never see formidable rolls or something?

I used a formidable in our game last Friday. The PCs had killed a thug who had cybernetic eyes. They lugged the body back on board their ship, and blasted out of the starport. Not really sure who had sent the thug, my wife offers, "Maybe we can recover some sort of record of what he has seen lately from his eyes." Well, that was just whacky enough that I had to say yes, but in order for their Outlaw Tech/Doctor to salvage the eyes (which were damaged by a 'blinded' crit during the fight) and recover data, I told him he would need to make a formidable roll. Which he did. And we all agreed that was fun, and in the spirit of the game.

Formidables rarely come up in my games... As per RAW they shouldn't either. The example they give is "finding food and shelter on a planet with no atmosphere" (I am paraphrasing) which is something that I would not use lightly and even if I would I wouldn't upgrade it. But whatever works at your table of course, there is no such thing as bad fun.

Yep. At the end of the day, it's all about having fun.

From last night's session. We normally don't have music playing in the background while we game, but this time I popped the "Episode IV" soundtrack into the PS3, and my friend Mike found a suitable background, some sort of revolving planets seen from space screensaver.

From last night's session. We normally don't have music playing in the background while we game, but this time I popped the "Episode IV" soundtrack into the PS3, and my friend Mike found a suitable background, some sort of revolving planets seen from space screensaver.

I highly reccomend the "Elite Dangerous: Wonders of the Galaxy" series of youtube videos (with the sound muted, of course, and star wars music playing instead) for backgrounds.

Sure, the ships might not look like SW ships, but the vids mostly feature planets and stars.

Here's the playlist:

Cool! I'll give it a try! Thanks!