Goodness I ask a lot of questions. But I have another! Is it normal for new PCs/players to not really describe the things they want to do? does that come with lots of prodding on the gm's part? So for example, I am GM, and am GMing for plays 1,2,3.

GM: There are three storm troopers in each group, and two groups, The Leader of One groups yells out a command, causing the group that is at long range to ready rifles, while the second group unsheathes vicious vibroknives and breaks into a charge.

PC 1: I pull out my vibro axe and prepare for combat.

PC 2: I shoot with my blaster rifle at the farther group

*rolling of dice* I fail. But with two advantage.

GM: Well what happens? how did you shoot? where did the shots go?

PC 2: they missed.

They also can never figure out what to do with their advantage, (but then neither can I. I usually let them spend it on strain or advantage dice)

So how do I get them used too the cinematic nature? and how do I spend the advantage and threat cinematically? does that come with practice?

The dice are the hardest part of the game to wrap your head around (and the funnest, too). Here I am 2 years into playing and I still occasionally slip into "You miss. Next PC?" mode - it's a hard habit to break.

I find that asking the players what they did and why they are awesome works the best:

"I hit the first group of NPC's and I want to take my triumph and upgrade the next NPC's check"

"Fine. Why?"

***EDIT***

Also, you might want to hand them GMHooly's Big Sheet of Spending Threat and Advantage.

Just do your rolls, maybe they catch on, maybe they don't.

No worries, all of us do. Or at least I do too.

Well first off: you can't enforce creativity. Encourage them to describe what is happening through a couple of examples, but if they don't care to do that.. that is kind of their deal. If this keeps bothering you, I'd suggest talking to them about that, they'll probably at least give it a shot.

However, I have a quick question: How do you set the scene? Do you describe their surroundings in details or more or less let them enter a room and let them fill in the blanks? A lot of people struggle with the utter vastness of possibilities and kind of zone out, keeping to what they know, which is usually the mere rules by themselves. If you add little details like "the stormtroopers stand under a fire suppression system" or something like that, they'll probably come up with something to get them going. After a while they may ask questions like "is there a blast door that can be shut?" or something like that and you won't have to give them as much. Just ease them into the whole thing with a little help.

Give listen to the skill monkey bits at the mad adventurers society. Make your players listen to it. Describe them for them and ask for their buy in...Listen to episode 24 of the Order 66 podcast.

Ask all the questions you like, we like to help!

In addition to the excellent advice already offered, I will oftentimes reward good RP with a boost die or even extra XP. I think the biggest hurdle for a lot of experienced gamers is believing they have permission to narrate their actions, so I often ask leading questions or try to add a little flair without seeming like I'm playing the character for the player. Once players are granted that license, it's fun to see how they take that back to other games they play as well.

I found the Campaign podcast from OneShot to be a huge boon to my players insofar as it encouraged them to pick up the narration mantle and run with it.

Build it and they will come......

If your players a struggling with the "window dressing" of their actions try leading by example, if they dra on a blank on describing the action do it for them, make them see what's possible with a little bit of effort, my players love describing ho wtheir actions efect enemies or triumphs. It takes time and confidence but lead, and they shall follow....

We have two topic

How about if you miss your shots but gain enough advantage, you can use it to add a boost die to the next attack vs target or something? Or being able to slip into nearby cover?

Oh, you have to get your players into interpreting their rolls into a good description of what their characters are doing. It makes the game so much more fun and like a movie! You might go into your action with just a, "I'm attacking the pirate minions and ducking for cover near the junk pile." but you don't know what actually happens until you read the dice.

Advantages, threats, triumphs and despair are your opportunities to do more than say, "I hit for 9 damage. Add a setback to attacks against me." That boring stuff is for other games. If you're not using your roll to show how you sent a hail of blaster fire at the pirates with such accuracy that they abandon their cover (advantages!), while diving behind the nearest pile of junk only to find it includes a volatile fuel cell (despair!), you're missing out.

In our game, it took a while for the pathfinder players in the group to get that. They'd just look at the charts like they were menus of mechanical modifiers they could order with advantages as mone to pay for them. At first, our GM supplied the flashy elements to explain the results. After a while, they'd give the mechanical effects of their rolls and the GM would just ask, "How?" As they came out of their shells, they started asking for effects other than what they found on the charts.

Oddly,as the newcomer to the hobby (I tried Pathfinder for two sessions and that was almost the end of rpg's for me), I didn't have that same tether that the others in my group seemed to have. Maybe part of their motivation for un-pathfinderizing was how they saw my turns were more fun. So the old, "You must unlearn what you have learned." thing seems to apply.

This could be a good thing to have as one of the compiled resources, a Threat/Advantage Triumph/Despair Cheat sheet that GM's and players can quick reference or print out. People can submit things they have done with e.g 2 threat or 5 advantage to help new GM's find their footing.

This could be a good thing to have as one of the compiled resources, a Threat/Advantage Triumph/Despair Cheat sheet that GM's and players can quick reference or print out. People can submit things they have done with e.g 2 threat or 5 advantage to help new GM's find their footing.

Very good idea, imo.

So what are some good ways I could use threat or advantage? I have a hard time coming up with stuff myself.

The basic ones you outline mechanically are fine, Strain or adding benefits to subsequent rolls. The trick is to describe that.

So recovering Strain might be, 'your shot punches a hole in an overheard sprinkler pipe and you're dowsed with cool refreshing water' or ' you hit him in the junk and he doubled over which made you laugh'...etc

The upgrades can be thought of as, you knocked him slightly off balance so he was easier to hit with the next shot, you shot the crate to pieces they were behind making it easier to draw a bead on the target as well as removed some cover, etc.

I live a cloistered life. I had no idea what hitting someone in the junk meant. Now I know. And my father read these messages to see what the hell these people are putting in my head.

Except what he actually said was what kind of junk they were putting in my head. It has been very awkward since that.