I know they have tips in the core rule books but I would like to make a thread for new GMs including myself who are interested in creating their own campaigns. Now obviously this is a very group specific process/ project. Every PC wants something different, but there are many things that apply to everyone and every group. These may include:

basic Plots

fighting encounters

space battles

fun side encounters

unfinished mini-campaigns in case the group derails

And yes, even those can be group specific. I would like everyone's input, players and GMs like, even though mostly GMs will be on this part of the forum. I find creating campaigns to be fun, but hard, and it can make it easier to have ideas.

So I will start off by giving an encounter Idea I had a while ago using a Hutt, some thugs, and a lot of murder.

The group is in a cantina or bar of some sort when two men walk in and survey the crowd. The group has to pass a perception check (average) to see them marking certain tables with a tag of some sort. After 10 or twenty min of doing this (depends on cantina size) the men leave, no words, no drinks.

After a short while longer the must pass a discipline check to hear a small scuffle outside. If they do, they gain a boost die on their net check. Also, when they do they realize that the tags that were placed are reverse repulser-lift devises, pushing the table down, making it many times heavier. As soon as I tell them this the door opens and two men carrying heavy blasters step through, killing everyone they see, the PCs, don't have time to react, and if they try to fight make the check really hard. The idea is to find a way to hide. if they are determined to fight, then use the stats from smuggle in the EOTE CRB and replace ranged light with ranged heavy and their blaster pistol with a heavy blaster rifle.

no matter what they do, everyone else in the cantina should be killed. Then the men should come deeper into the cantina calling out for survivors, and a Hutt crime lord of your choice can come into the door. the Hutt should end up talking to the players about some job of the GMs choice, and with a good negotiation roll might even give a even better reward.

From here the GM leads the players onto the start of an adventure.

I'm 3 sessions into my first Edge of the Empire campaign. I used the module from the back of the core book as my starting point, but I gave it some of my own flavor. I ruled that the PC's were employed by Thakba. Their obligations are tied to Thakba. Half of them owe him debt or favor, the other half owe people who want them to spy on him or manipulate his organization.

I have added some factions of my own, as well. There is a group of political activists called the Anti-Human League. On the surface, they protest the Anti-Alien policies of the Empire, but the players will later discover that their demonstrations are being used to cover up criminal activities. Bandin Dobah was affiliated with their leader, so by having cashed in the bounty, the players have drawn their attention.

There is a cult, the Brotherhood of Light. They are assassins who roam the streets, occasionally slaying people who they perceive as sinners. Their calling cards are daggers left in the bodies of their victims, with inscriptions like, "Have a nice day," or "Walk in the Light." The cult is just starting up, but their presence will build throughout the campaign. The leader turns out to be an ex-Inquisitor who fled the Empire after failing to capture an important group of rebels. He was the nemesis from our old Saga Edition campaign.

The heroes from our previous game live on Formos, where they are hiding from the Empire after gaining too much reputation. At least one of the players has picked up on the easter eggs that I have been dropping, such as the appearance of a very distinct ship. at the spaceport.

They spent the first two sessions running through the bulk of the module. They started the third session by cashing in the bounty on Bandin Dobah, then they spent the rest of the time exploring the streets of sleheyron. They went shopping, did some fine dining, and had a run-in with the Anti-Human League.

Also, I keep combat to a minimum. One or two encounters per game session. I have stressed to the players that combat can be very lethal in this game, and that I am more focused on providing a story than a dungeon crawl. Our old campaign was one dungeon crawl after another, but the character progression in that system (Saga Edition by WotC) was quick, and they easily survived whatever I threw at them.

From here the GM leads the players onto the start of an adventure.

You probably should define what you see as a campaign, because what I'm reading from your description that's just one game in my book and the two have very different answers.

The group is in a cantina or bar of some sort when two men walk in and survey the crowd. The group has to pass a perception check (average) to see them marking certain tables with a tag of some sort. After 10 or twenty min of doing this (depends on cantina size) the men leave, no words, no drinks.

After a short while longer the must pass a discipline check to hear a small scuffle outside. If they do, they gain a boost die on their net check. Also, when they do they realize that the tags that were placed are reverse repulser-lift devises, pushing the table down, making it many times heavier. As soon as I tell them this the door opens and two men carrying heavy blasters step through, killing everyone they see, the PCs, don't have time to react, and if they try to fight make the check really hard. The idea is to find a way to hide. if they are determined to fight, then use the stats from smuggle in the EOTE CRB and replace ranged light with ranged heavy and their blaster pistol with a heavy blaster rifle.

no matter what they do, everyone else in the cantina should be killed. Then the men should come deeper into the cantina calling out for survivors, and a Hutt crime lord of your choice can come into the door. the Hutt should end up talking to the players about some job of the GMs choice, and with a good negotiation roll might even give a even better reward.

From here the GM leads the players onto the start of an adventure.

Well... just commenting on the above scenario...

As a GM, I have found that I cannot count on the players to merely roll over and be captured. Players are persnickety like that, and if one escapes, or two, then you may waste a lot of time dealing with that. Also, what will your enforcers with heavy blasters who are shooting the place up do when PCs start returning fire? Ignore them? You state "if the PCs are determined to fight", but I don't think I know of a single character who will just sit there and wait his turn to be shot as you are, I believe, attempting to make them think. I might suggest, that if the Crime Lord knows who he wants to talk to, that there are other ways to set up a meet. And if he's just looking for "whoever survives", you're going to have to have a plan for what they do when the PCs start returning fire. Because they probably will. However if you're going to simply tell them that they cannot, no matter what they do, be prepared for some player to ask, "Well, why do we need to be here?", or "Well why were we saved when we were laying on the floor like everyone else?"

I guess I would ask, what is the Crime Lord's purpose in murdering a whole lot of people in this cantina?

I agree, just read everything you can get your hands on and pick out a starting encounter. Then find another one you like, then find a reason to link them together. Your players are the heroes but if you have a ace pilot not every encounter has to include flying. But if you have a gambler hero don't have everything in the back woods and no chance to find a casino.

I'm currently running a mixed campaign, I started with the introduction module from edge of the empire, but one of the reasons they went there was to buy droids that links dead in the water module that I ran next. If you have a favorite dungeon and dragon encounter just replace the Orcs with storm troopers.

Only concern for what you listed is what if the players try to gun it out or try to escape . It's better to set the stage and give a direction but what happens when they go off another way you are not ready for. If you want to tie them to a hutt mob boss, start with a simple encounter of delivering a package or another activity only to find out they just smuggled something or whacked an important member of an opposing gang. Making the hutt boss happy with their work.

Players will do crazy things and you have to think on your feet. But remember they are the heroes of your game. If they don't enjoy it's worse than going to a bad movie.

Here are some plots EotE-specific plots I developed for my current campaign:

Plot 1: An Outer Rim world is hit with a rash of swoop gang violence. In order to prevent the Imperial governor from calling in stormtroopers, which will result in a lot of civilian deaths, the overtaxed local police have requested five days to investigate the matter. The PCs are hired by the police to investigate as the police themselves are busy trying to keep order. The PCs investigate the scenes of several incidence of violence against the three local crime bosses. After their investigation, they determine that the instigator of the violence isn't one of the three local bosses but a mercenary outsider working on behalf of the political rival of another former local crime boss who has gone "legit." By sparking a crime war on the planet the political rival hopes to discredit the former mobster and move in on his political territory.

Plot 2: The lead kloo horn player of a popular jatz band has been found dead and his patron, a local crime boss, wants to know how and why. The investigation makes it appear that the musician was addicted to ryll spice and died in a fire after overdosed in a slum but the PCs discover the body is a fake. While doing background checks, the PCs find that a local holonet music station just announced that they bought the rights to the musician's entire catalog of music, despite the musician's historical insistence that he would never "sell out." He's just about the jatz, man... Anyway, while all this is happening, the PCs are being attacked my assassins. Investigating the holostation leads to the musician's mate who is living high and well in a luxury hotel. She informs the PCs that the musician is actually alive and well but being held hostage by another local crime boss. Apparently, the musician's brother embarrassed himself before the crime boss and in order to make it right, staged his brother's death, got the rights to the music (he actually co-owns the holonet station), and is planning to pay the crime boss with the profits from the jatz songs. The brother also hired a bunch of assassins to take out anyone sniffing around. The PCs have to break into the crime boss's lair, rescue the musician, and return him to his patron.

Plot 3: The PCs are hired by a powerful and frightening stranger - I had the patron be a Dark Jedi-turned-mercenary but it could be anyone - to recover a chemical formula on behalf of her employer. Apparently several locals were invited to an auction where the formula was being bid on but nobody took it seriously, with the exception of one local musician. The PCs track the musician to a gig at a large local venue where they sneak into his dressing room and steal his pocket computer. There is little information on the pocket computer, other than a name - a chemist long believed dead. Following up on the name, the PCs discover that he was a legendary death stick chemist who's product was considered the best in the sector. Investigating the chemist's former employer, a chemical company that produced death sticks in the back room, the PCs discover the late chemist had three partners, one of who is also dead. One partner, a death stick addict living in the slums, share's the chemist's back story, and the other is now a Dim-U monk living in a monastery, who reveals that the chemist left all his notes to the third, dead, partner. However, the dead partner left all his stuff to his layabout son who runs a scrapyard. The PCs track down the son and have to fight off bounty hunters who are also trying to grab the son. It turns out the son was trying to auction off the formula. After the PCs recover the formula, they are contacted by someone else who is looking to get a hold of it - and they're offering 3x the money the original patron offered. So the PCs have a choice - betray the patron and face her wrath or turn down the offer and get hassled by the mysterious stranger. Epilogue: the mysterious stranger is the original chemist, who is actually still alive.

Okay, this is great feed back and some of you have given a few great encounter Ideas. I really like those. I guess my Idea was that the PCs when they take cover they become immune to fire, and everyone else dies because the cantina is caught off guard. The PCs were near the back so they had time to take cover. So I guess maybe I could make it no matter what happens, if they kill the soldiers or not the Hutt is pleased. After all, he has more men to take their place.

A few points:

1. You need to assume that PCs will attack an obvious threat.

2. NPCs gunning down a bar full of patrons is shock for the sake of shock. It doesn't seem particularly relevant to the story.

3. It makes the Hutt instigator a complete sociopath and provides zero reason for the PCs to trust that he will keep his word or be willing to pay the PCs what they're owed.

I would suggest the following:

1. If you're trying to establish the Hutt NPC patron as a dangerous individual, have the PCs make a Knowledge (Underworld) test to see what they know about him. Establish a backstory that illustrates he's not to be trifled with. During the actual meeting, have the PCs make a Fear Test.

2. If a bar full of murder victims is an image you want to play around with, have the PCs be brought in after the deed is done to investigate who did it and why.

3. Since this is the start of the campaign, have one or more of the PCs have a pre-existing relationship with the Hutt patron. If the Hutt does try to pull a double-cross, it will, narratively speaking, be more of a surprise.

The rest of my campaign was adventure was going to be running with the PCs having to help the Hutt get something off a ship that was shot up, a special cargo worth millions or even billions of credits. some sort of ancient artifact. He is desperate to find someone, because everyone he has gone to has turned him down when they find out that the black sun is involved, and a space battle is still raging around the derelict. The PCs don't know it but the Zann consortium is also interested, and has sent their own people to raid the derelict. All parties are avoiding shooting the derelict but instead trying to board it.