So, you can make up a name while you are making up stats.

That’s frequently how authors do it when they’re writing a book.

So, GMs can (and IMO should) do the same. At least, when they want to. They shouldn’t be forced to do so.

OTOH, there are a number of known companies in the business in the Star Wars galaxy, and that galaxy is far larger than what FFG has produced so far.

So, don’t feel bound by just the gaming materials from FFG — there’s a whole Expanded Universe out there that you are free to mine for your games.

Yeah, even the Google drive document I linked is just something for my players since I don't let anyone borrow books. It let's them do research in the down time and come up with shopping lists for when I break their shiny new toys they get disarmed or break their weapons.

Hey OP, is this your doing? -> http://swrpg.viluppo.net/

edit: never mind me - seems I was late with this link! Sorry!

Yes, Im very aware of the many Star Wars resources out there, my Favorites list is about 3 feet long. I do a great deal of googling and checking the Wookieepedia during prep. Im a little ashamed, based on the flavor of comments here, that I accept almost anything from the EU unless I specifically don't like it, then I ignore it. That provides a huge amount of background for the campaign but also a ridiculous of amount of research time instead of a few creative moments.

Its odd really, Im a creative writer by heart with a few manuscripts hopefully circulating out there in the publisher world and several more waiting their turn, so you would think I would prefer to conjure rather than browse. I suppose that as an amateur writer I envision an active, breathing yet undocumented world behind my storylines and see the same thing in a roleplaying game, only in the first case I have to write it myself and in the latter its already there for the borrowing.

I really appreciate that FFG has structured the supplement books in a common way. 1st third is species/specialization/etc, 2nd third is equipment/vehicles, and last third is GM guidance, including special rules or help with encounters. Some variance for settings books, but not much.

I've hardly memorized their contents and often realize that I have only really read portions of them. But when I've got a kernel of a memory to look up (such as the aforementioned industrial speeder), I can usually get it down to 2-3 books it could have been in, then just open up to the right area.

I also completely understand wanting to round out that living, breathing world too. With limited prep time around real life, I have gone down the rabbit hole to make a fully detailed and flexible encounter only to realize that the session is tomorrow and I only have the skeletons of my three other encounters.

so you would think I would prefer to conjure rather than browse.

I think some very succinct lists would serve you well. List of weapon manufacturers, list of vehicle manufacturers, yadda yadda. Short, sweet, and easy to reference during prep or at the table. My writing software has a random name generator that I can populate and have them available via hotkey at the table.

I also completely understand wanting to round out that living, breathing world too. With limited prep time around real life, I have gone down the rabbit hole to make a fully detailed and flexible encounter only to realize that the session is tomorrow and I only have the skeletons of my three other encounters.

I've been there, and I had a radical shift in my GMing philosophy as a result. What if your players don't even end up in your encounter?

Hey OP, is this your doing? -> http://swrpg.viluppo.net/

edit: never mind me - seems I was late with this link! Sorry!

What I wished for was a list of that the book abbreviations were.

e.g.; SoF, EG, Sot, DA, etc...

But this really is a good resource.

Geeze people, get a clue. Ive been GMing since 1980... D&D in the little white boxes. I think I understand that GMing requires a bit of research. Id stack any one of my 30+ years of campaigns against anyone here. I am not some 16 year old kid who just picked the beginner box off the shelf because the Xbox is on the fritz. I have a degree in pre-hospital medicine and another in Fire Protection and retired Chief and state instructor of a municipal Fire/EMS service. I know how to read, how to study and how to commit things to memory when necessary.

What I am complaining about, if it can be called a complaint rather than just asking for how others deal with the same issue, is the necessity to randomly scan a dozen or more sourcebooks to see what the publishers have come up with in order to refresh my memory each and every time I set down to prepare a session. In the past other systems published sourcebooks and add-ons certainly but they also included a more detailed table of contents or index so as to be able to pan through the book's contents at a glance. (a table of contents that lists "New Weapons" doesn't help much when you looking for something specific.)

I have a hard time believing other GMs don't find themselves setting at their desk and deciding they want to include an industrial landspeeder of some some sort in the next session, for example, and realizing they will have to paw through a dozen books to see if the publishers have already created one for the game.

Sure, I know, I know, I could just make it up myself... but then what the heck are the books for, why bother publishing them? Surely they are considered a resource for GMs like me. All Im asking is that they be a bit more user friendly.

I apologize in advance for the irate tone but please, read back through at some of the condescending comments and I think you will understand.

I use OggDude's Character Generator, scan through NPCs, vehicles or equipment then reference the book and pg number. Done and done. Takes all of 5 minutes at the most, 10 minutes if I have to alter the stats to my needs.

I also completely understand wanting to round out that living, breathing world too. With limited prep time around real life, I have gone down the rabbit hole to make a fully detailed and flexible encounter only to realize that the session is tomorrow and I only have the skeletons of my three other encounters.

I've been there, and I had a radical shift in my GMing philosophy as a result. What if your players don't even end up in your encounter?

Yeah, my A-ha moment was players taking arriving at the 3rd Act of Beyond the Rim, only to decide in hyperspace that the meet up must be a trap. A brief fight with TIEs above Raxus Prime later, they jump away and force the meet in an entirely different place. It was a whole lot of fun and a key lesson about best laid plans of a GM...

Yeah, my A-ha moment was players taking arriving at the 3rd Act of Beyond the Rim, only to decide in hyperspace that the meet up must be a trap. A brief fight with TIEs above Raxus Prime later, they jump away and force the meet in an entirely different place. It was a whole lot of fun and a key lesson about best laid plans of a GM...

My players typically go off course about 30 seconds after the opening crawl. I had to adapt my GMing style to suit and it turned out I like doing it semi-improv a lot better. There was some initial time expenditure to prepare myself for this style of play, but after that it didn't take much at all to prep for a session.

What I wished for was a list of that the book abbreviations were.

e.g.; SoF, EG, Sot, DA, etc...

But this really is a good resource.

That would be a useful addition. Maybe something that contains the line, like EotE:SoF.

My thanks for you guys clarifying the legalities. Ill admit I somehow missed some of that. I will add however that my complaint was aimed at the publishers entirely, I don't believe I've degraded anyone's work, in fact I know I praised at least a couple examples.

Again, sorry for the explosion, bad timing after a ridiculously annoying day. I do appreciate your feedback and I suppose I am forced to acknowledge that it is, well, what it is. I'll continue to browse through the books, the contents do become more familiar with each repetition. If I still feel the need for a index of sorts, Ill get off my lazy ass and make one.

This is not FFGs fault. It is a result of the licensing. The problem is you would likely need to get EA, FFG, and Disney all in a room to redefine PDF game books as not electronic gaming. But the problem is the licenses do not come up for renewal at the same time.

Hey OP, is this your doing? -> http://swrpg.viluppo.net/

edit: never mind me - seems I was late with this link! Sorry!

What I wished for was a list of that the book abbreviations were.

e.g.; SoF, EG, Sot, DA, etc...

But this really is a good resource.

I think you want this: http://swrpg.viluppo.net/books/

Ninja’d.

I also completely understand wanting to round out that living, breathing world too. With limited prep time around real life, I have gone down the rabbit hole to make a fully detailed and flexible encounter only to realize that the session is tomorrow and I only have the skeletons of my three other encounters.

I've been there, and I had a radical shift in my GMing philosophy as a result. What if your players don't even end up in your encounter?

Yeah, my A-ha moment was players taking arriving at the 3rd Act of Beyond the Rim, only to decide in hyperspace that the meet up must be a trap. A brief fight with TIEs above Raxus Prime later, they jump away and force the meet in an entirely different place. It was a whole lot of fun and a key lesson about best laid plans of a GM...

If I had a penny for every time something like this happened in one of my games... My favourite time something like this happened in one of my games was after I had outlined a series of adventures about exploring the Unknown Regions. On the day they were set to leave the PCs got ambushed by the Empire and by the end of the session they'd decided to join the Rebellion. Thus a gritty EotE campaign turned into a great big action movie of an AoR campaign.

To the OP's point - I completely get where you're coming from. I usually have a fairly decent memory as to where things are located. But about a third of the time I find myself flipping through every book trying to find something, and typically what I'm looking for is usually in the last book on the shelf. That said, I don't mind the chaotic nature of it too much as I'll tend to run across something that sparks a whole new set of ideas.