Hi folks. I GM'd my first adventure session last week, with a thus-far TableTop group that has never RPG'd before. We played through the Escape from Mos Shuuta adventure and it all went pretty well. Everyone got on with the rules, and it's all guided through nice and simply for both them and me.

As our first 'real' adventure, I chose Debts to Pay, as it seems a nice straight-forward place to start. Things mostly worked out okay, although I didn't prepare quite as much as I should have (I was spoiled by the guidance in EfMS) so I gave a couple of clues out of the "backstory for the GM" sort of text much earlier than I should have, but the players were good sports and didn't let their characters act on info they shouldn't have had.

One confusing thing that stood out for me is that at one point of the adventure, our intrepid protagonists are in a social situation talking to Bargos the Hutt. The GM notes says

The six Gamorreans enter the mansion and assault the two Gamorrean guards in the lobby. If the PCs do not intervene, they finish pummeling the loyal guards unconscious in two rounds, then take one round to get to Bargos' office. The PCs may hear the fight in the lobby if they pass an Average Vigilance Check.

1. If the PCs don't intervene, how do I measure "two rounds"?
2. Should I just drop in a random ooc "Make a vigilance check!" into the description to trigger them noticing in the first place? After all, there's nothing for them to hear if they haven't noticed it yet. I suspect that if I say something like "You hear an odd noise from outside" [they fail the check] "You decide it's nothing" would make it hard for them not to insist on going to look anyway. I guess I could follow the failure with Bargos shouting at them to pay attention or something.

In this particular case, I contrived for them to notice the fight. They also noticed the fact the Guards were fighting brawly and not to-the-death so they joined in with stun-set guns. That is until our Toydarian trader got hit a bit, got pissed off and drew his knife, subsequently getting knocked unconscious by the now-Axe-equipped guards

One method would be to roll initiative for each side and play it out as normal, but that seems like too much work. I would split it off into 3 segments. On the first segment, the Gamorreans enter and begin to harass the others. You then narrate to the PCs what's going on, which will allow the PCs to intervene if they want. The second segment, I would continue to narrate the beating these two guards are getting. Again, pause for a few seconds to allow the PCs to step-in. Finally, describe how the 2 guards were pummeled into submission.

I wouldn't ask for a check to see if they notice. If they're in the area, they notice. Do not be explicit that the PCs should step in. Just pause every few sentences to see if the PCs want to step in. From there you can roll initiative. Once the bigger threats step up, they'll likely forget about the other 2 Gamorreans.

Anytime you get some kind of timing cue like 2 rounds etc, its really asking- how do the players react?

They will generally either:

-attack

-hold back and wait for some trigger to do something else

As kaosoe described, just describe things in excited tones (like you would any epic combat) and pause at some point(s) you think they might like to jump in. Cue them by giving them something directly interacting with them.

-Maybe after the first guard is roughed up, the thugs notice the PCs and tells the toughest looking one to move along.

-Or after the first attack is landed, a child that is able to witness it lets out a sharp cry of alarm and turns its horrified expression, locking eyes with a certain PC.

This kind of thing helps make it clear that they have to CHOOSE to either get involved, or CHOOSE not to get involved.

Once the group establishes they've made a choice, then you take it from there what the NPCs do

(Minor Spoilers below)

1. If the characters do not even notice (see 2.), simply have the Gamorreans enter at some convenient point. There is no need to track combat rounds for this combat. I can think of times when it could be interesting to do off-screen combat, this is not one of those instances.

If they notice but do not act, you stay in narrative action and describe what happens. No need for dice rolls or rounds, really, except for the latter to be points at which the characters can intervene. If you guys are new to RPGs, just ask them directly what they want to do when it first goes down. If they investigate, describe what happens and give them an opportunity or two to intervene, again probably just asking them "what do you want to do?".

2. The adventure calls for a Vigilance check. You do not say for what, just ask them to roll Vigilance. If they succeed, give them the info, if they fail, do not tell them (just smile faintly ). Sure, the players will know something is up, but separating player and character knowledge is part of roleplaying.

Perception in general is a tricky issue because having to roll it, players will know that there is something they could perceive even if they fail. In ye olde tymes, some GMs made players roll Perception randomly, so that they could never be sure. But luckily, this set of rules assumes that players and GM work together to create an awesome narrative. Dice rolls are usually reserved for times when they actually mean something.

In regard to perception checks I've seen a few good alternatives-

1) Roll in secret. You need their stats in order to do this. In fact, you could make several rolls as part of your prep and then when it calls for it, you just tell them if they noticed by your rolls.

2) Come up with something interesting, but not particularly useful for every perception roll. If they fail- give them that. Only tell the person that rolled best of the group- then the rest assume they failed and that person passed.

Oh I forgot a third perception option, best utilized when you want a perception check, but honestly it would screw up the game if they didn't discover it.

3) Just like 2, but instead give them that interesting bit on a success AND the information they need for the game, on a fail only give them the information they need so you can progress.

The thing about dice rolls is that you can’t make critical aspects of the story or game hinge on success.

Instead, what success versus failure should mean is how much time it takes them to accomplish the goal. More success = less time, whereas failure would mean that some sort of complication arises. Maybe they run into a guard doing his rounds, or somebody suddenly comes out of the door they’re trying to break into, or who knows what.

For things that are important to the story, make sure that they happen. Period. If there are any dice rolls to be involved, let those rolls be about how fast the players notice, or some other factor that could enhance or detract from the situation, but not completely prhibit moving forward.

Thanks for the tips folks. I think I'll just be a bit more liberal with the descriptions suggested and go with the narrative flow. It's probably just a temporary problem caused by going from a detailed and chronologically-forward description in the Beginners guide, to a "read the whole thing first to build up an overall concept" style in a 'real' adventure.

Some of the characters are pretty daft though, even if driven by cunning players Tempted to print out a page from Fighting Fantasy. "Turn to page 21... You all die"

Now all I need to do is subtly prevent my Bounty Hunter from stopping in every single location that contains any seating furniture and rolling a D100 for spending-money found behind the cushions Any upholstery bugs in Canon?

The thing about dice rolls is that you can’t make critical aspects of the story or game hinge on success.

Yes, try to avoid brick walls built out of "do or get stuck" rolls.

I really like the Three Clue Rule, which is connected to that: Always place (at least) three opportunities for vital information to be found. Information gets lost, misunderstood or simply not heard during chatter. Giving three opportunities to get vital information lowers the risk of frustrating dead ends in the adventure.

As our first 'real' adventure, I chose Debts to Pay, as it seems a nice straight-forward place to start.

Since your question has been pretty thoroughly answered, I shan't bother. Which just leaves me with the question of why didn't you follow up with Long Arm of the Hutt? It's designed to be a Part Two to Escape from Mos Shuuta.

Why didn't you follow up with Long Arm of the Hutt? It's designed to be a Part Two to Escape from Mos Shuuta.

It's a bit convoluted, but the intention was to start a full-sized adventure, but when one player dropped out for a week, we thought we'd play something a bit smaller without him so the other players could test-run their own characters. Of course, they're now intrigued by the plot, so have called in a bodyguard to help out, so it'll be finished off with the full four-person crew

I did completely fail to realise the part about the droid sabotaging the weather shields, but fortunately due to the Bounty Hunter coming along, that gives me an excuse for them to go to the landing-pad and 'notice' the weather again!

Now all I need to do is subtly prevent my Bounty Hunter from stopping in every single location that contains any seating furniture and rolling a D100 for spending-money found behind the cushions Any upholstery bugs in Canon?

Well, I would think that most money would be in the form of cred sticks. And you never know what’s on a cred stick, or who the previous owner might be. Maybe this would be a way to pass around a Star Wars version of the BadUSB or Thunderstrike hardware viruses.

Or, once you plug in that cred stick to see what’s on it, you set off an alarm that the Prince of Purrzia has had his Royal Bank account robbed, and you suddenly get put on the “most wanted” list in every guild hall in the galaxy?

Or maybe certain people tend to leave behind prank exploding coins?

I can see lots of different ways to discourage that kind of thing.

Now all I need to do is subtly prevent my Bounty Hunter from stopping in every single location that contains any seating furniture and rolling a D100 for spending-money found behind the cushions Any upholstery bugs in Canon?

Well, I would think that most money would be in the form of cred sticks. And you never know what’s on a cred stick, or who the previous owner might be. Maybe this would be a way to pass around a Star Wars version of the BadUSB or Thunderstrike hardware viruses.

Or, once you plug in that cred stick to see what’s on it, you set off an alarm that the Prince of Purrzia has had his Royal Bank account robbed, and you suddenly get put on the “most wanted” list in every guild hall in the galaxy?

Or maybe certain people tend to leave behind prank exploding coins?

I can see lots of different ways to discourage that kind of thing.

Also you could tell the player to stop because its annoying and detracts from the atmosphere of game you're trying to play.

I had a player constantly looting bodies which while a smart move in video games, really didn't fit with my vision of the setting. We talked it out and he stopped.

It could be due to the player feeling like they're not getting enough credits to do the things they want to in game, which is a worthwhile thing to talk out too. But it sounds like silly play for silly play's sake.

Nah, it's fine - I meant it more flippantly than it probably came across.

The last comment about body-looting is interesting though. It came up in the Beginner Game after a bunch of Storm Troopers were killed - they all wanted to loot them for all the blaster pistols and grenades and whatever. I just told them that in a busy hive of scum and villainy, valuables probably wouldn't be around long enough to even run up to a medium-ranged body before it's cleaned of anything useful.