I am currently playing IA with my group and we are looking to get our feet wet in the RPG genre. These beginner sets look great. I know that they come with maps/icons to be used as a loose reference but I was just curious if anyone has incorporated the IA components into the game play?

Also I took a look at the stickies and there are a ton of out dated links on there, instead of going through the entire list (which needs a culling!), could you guys suggest some websites and/or youtube videos with great tips to help me make the jump from the Imperial player in IA to the DM in the RPG? I have been able to find a tonne of content on D&D material, which I am sure a lot of which can be transferred over in terms of being a good DM, but I always do well looking at some visual examples that in this case are Star Wars specific.

We will most likely start with EotE and then work our way through the beginner boxes before choosing which core rulebook we want to base our first campaign off of. What do we need to get started? Just the first box and go or do you recommend picking up the class cards or some of the accessory deck? I don't see us not liking this, but there is always a chance. However that being said my understanding is that these decks are universal and can and will be used in all three of the RPG .. uhmmm what is the official term, categories? Story lines?

The minis from Imperial Assault will work pretty well with any map resource of your choosing (I prefer maps from Armored Cartographer or Maps of Mastery). Of if you won't want to use maps, you could just use the minis for spatial representation.

I don't recommend using the tiles from Imperial Assault. The rooms and such build with those tiles are quite confined. This games works best when you incorporate long ranges into the game. This can change the dynamic of a fight for your snipers and melee users.

I'm not aware of any resources specifically for transitioning from Imperial Assault to FFG Star Wars.

Thanks for the tips, I more just meant what kind of resources could a new GM use that would help him understand his role. Like I said, a lot of examples draw on D&D or Pathfinder material I just wasn't sure if there was like a specific person or website that was centered around this material.

I imagine by the time I get through the Beginners books I will have a much better idea of what is expected of me though.

Thanks for the tips, I more just meant what kind of resources could a new GM use that would help him understand his role. Like I said, a lot of examples draw on D&D or Pathfinder material I just wasn't sure if there was like a specific person or website that was centered around this material.

I imagine by the time I get through the Beginners books I will have a much better idea of what is expected of me though.

Don't stress it too much then. You really only need character sheets (or the folios provided by the beginner box), dice, and pencils. And of course some semblance of a story.

If you decide to step into the Core Rules, there are plenty of resources that focus more on the full set of rules, such as OggDude's character generator.

Edge of the Empire is a lot more abstract than Pathfinder in terms of spatial awareness. Maps aren't necessary but they prove useful the larger your group. I draw simple overhead maps for my groups, upload them to my dropbox and just set my tablet in the middle of the table for them to pick up and examine when needed. I only do this for areas that have planned encounters; the other areas they visit are described when needed.

I wouldn’t recommend using miniatures with this RPG. Using miniatures tends to encourage people to think tactically and not imagine anything that they can’t see in front of them.

IMO, this game shines best as “theater of the mind”, when there is very little in the way of boxes presented to the players that they should be thinking outside of.

If you need a map, then I’d do a quick sketch on a piece of paper. Use letters or numbers to represent the players, and put circles around them. Then use numbers or letters to represent the NPCs, but no circles. On the sketched map, a large X could represent a ship or a Rancor or a boulder or a door or whatever you want.

Guesstimate the ranges between things on the map, or ask the players how far away they want to be when they do something, and then put the respective mark(s) on the paper as appropriate.

Detailed maps look pretty, but the more detail that goes onto the map, the more details that the players can’t fill in for themselves and help make the story their own.

Yea I hear what you are saying, I think this will be our biggest barrier coming from Descent/IA into the RPG genre. The IA campaign has a great story with little blurbs to read out before after and during the mission depending on what transpires. But it is very planned and rigid with hard edges, we need to get into the mind set of things being wide open. Don't worry about counting 5 spaces between you and the target things like that. I am just trying to figure out the easiest way to transition from one to the other without shocking my PC's or turning them off of the RPG if it isn't quite what they expected it to be.. I figured throwing a few minis out on a paper map would be good for a start with the beginner boxes, then once I start making my own worlds and missions we can leave it to their imagination.

I think minis are helpful in big fights with lots of opponents. A non gridded map, blown up floorplan, photo overlay, with some props and such, can be helpful for PCs and GMs alike in keeping where everyone is in relation to one another straight. A shootout in a ship corridor, not necessary imo.

Yea I hear what you are saying, I think this will be our biggest barrier coming from Descent/IA into the RPG genre. The IA campaign has a great story with little blurbs to read out before after and during the mission depending on what transpires. But it is very planned and rigid with hard edges, we need to get into the mind set of things being wide open. Don't worry about counting 5 spaces between you and the target things like that. I am just trying to figure out the easiest way to transition from one to the other without shocking my PC's or turning them off of the RPG if it isn't quite what they expected it to be.. I figured throwing a few minis out on a paper map would be good for a start with the beginner boxes, then once I start making my own worlds and missions we can leave it to their imagination.

Sounds like you already have your head in the right places.

The beginner box adventures are pretty linear. They put the story on rails, but they do so in order to teach the players the rules of the game. At least for the first beginner box, be honest with your players and let them know the story kind of forces you down a single path for the first part in order to teach the rules. Encourage them to focus on learning the rules first. Once they pick up how the game is played, then they can step out of the bounds of the story.

In fact, the Edge of the Empire beginner box is written just like that. About the point in the story in which the Destiny Point mechanic is introduced, your players have a few more options in how they want to proceed. But more importantly, the adventure does not hold your hand into each of the subsequent encounters after that point.

The free followup adventures for each beginner box are far more loosey goosey.

I would make the distinction between flavor and boxing the players in.

This game definitely encourages as much flavor as you can bring to the game, whether that be a custom crawl projected on the big screen, or pictures to show off the city or starships, or a gameroom with lots of helmets and weapons all around in display cases or available as props, or whatever.

But maps, especially those with grids, tend to box the players in. And figures tend to box the players in, especially if they’re put on maps. The more representational you try to make the table in front of you, the more likely it is to become tactically intertwined with the game and the players won’t be able to see anything “beyond the edges”.

Our group made the jump from Imperial Assault to Age of Rebellion and now I can't get anyone to play my new IA expansions.

We have tried using the map tiles and sometimes they can be useful but often they are too confining as Kaosoe mentioned. For a lot of encounters we won't use any props but for a serious combat encounter where range bands are going to be an important consideration I will lay out large sheet of butchers paper and draw a crude map on it and then use our IA minis. I will let everyone know at the start how the range bands relate to the map. It is certainly easier to run the combat if the players can visualise the range bands by reference to the minis. I try and describe the environment as richly as I can to hopefully get them thinking beyond the map.

I play only online on Roll20. I have made some specific maps for my games by scanning my IA tiles then building a map. In roll20 i add dynamic lighting and it works great.

I only do this periodically when i have a very specific idea/concept i want to get across.

Great information in this thread thanks again for all the the advice. I know that right now we have two slightly different ideas of what this RPG really is and until I immerse myself and my group in it I won't be able to fully understand or comprehend all of the help in this thread. I will definitely be referring back to this as I go.

I have a feeling that once we do start with this group we also won't want to go back to IA, and I am fine with that. This seems like the logical next step for our group based on our new found love for table tops and our history of RPG gaming with the Ultima's and Baldur Gate's etc..

If I can bother you all for one more thing, as I said I have traversed the sticky thread and there is a lot of good stuff in there but also a lot of dead links, if there is one piece of advice or link or video you could share with a new GM star wars related or not, what would it be?

We use a load of IA,WoTC and converted minis along with maps we've d/l. We're really using the minis to express location on the maps relative to enemies and friends, rather than as a tactical simulation - we do add some small scenery items like boxes etc to remind us we've gone into cover as that's something we seem to forget often. Also we're not really a group that uses a lot of tech to play our games (we're all techies in our 9-5s so like to go analogue in downtime), so old fashioned models help visualise rather than artwork on tablets etc.

I wouldn’t recommend using miniatures with this RPG. Using miniatures tends to encourage people to think tactically and not imagine anything that they can’t see in front of them.

IMO, this game shines best as “theater of the mind”, when there is very little in the way of boxes presented to the players that they should be thinking outside of.

Definitely this. The game is expressly intended to be abstract in terms of distances. I can see the appeal of using minis but we've never used them in the game itself.

Something like D&D3/4 or Pathfinder has more in common with board-games (detailed tactical combat, emphasis on 'winning') while the FFG Star Wars game is meant to be more narrative and abstract.

Don't get me wrong, I like Imperial Assault, but only as a 'beer and pizzas' after-game activity when we're all emotionally tired and need something less intense to round the day off!

I use the FFG Assault tiles and miniatures, most of the titles are great quality, but they are really small, so i scan them and blow them up. I have done a few so far and they work well, but really printing them out again kinda of defeats the advantage of titles in the first place.

I would make the distinction between flavor and boxing the players in.

This game definitely encourages as much flavor as you can bring to the game, whether that be a custom crawl projected on the big screen, or pictures to show off the city or starships, or a gameroom with lots of helmets and weapons all around in display cases or available as props, or whatever.

But maps, especially those with grids, tend to box the players in. And figures tend to box the players in, especially if they’re put on maps. The more representational you try to make the table in front of you, the more likely it is to become tactically intertwined with the game and the players won’t be able to see anything “beyond the edges”.

The big issue with those minis is that they can hardly represent the flux of a turn in EotE, you usually do not shoot once in a round, you shoot plenty of times, duck incoming fire, draw your two HH-50 Blaster Pistols, run towards them while aiming and shooting down a complete group of 6 stormtroopers in a single attack action and say a one-liner or 5 about how much that Gunslinger is looking for a real challenge. That is just one turn of one character.

Or jumping into such a group, swinging the two lightsabers and killing the whole group in a single turn and then force jumping back behind cover, etc

It get even more fluid vehicle combat when the positions of the vehicles are in constant flux and you just take not of a roughly relative position to each other.

The game can definitely be played without miniatures. But, our group has fun having a map of the place we are in (maybe not even to the scale of the minis) and we place the minis where we are at for reference. Maps to the wrong scale or without grids work great, since the make it obvious the mechanics of the game are handled via the narrative and not by the game pieces.

There are a wealth of prepainted Star Wars minis out there (Unfortunately all pre TFA) to choose from. I get the "Theater of the Mind" concept of not giving a visual to corrupt a players imagination, but this IS Star Wars. The movies have already surplanted some very strong imagery we are basing the game on. Adding some bobbles that we created to represent that universe really don't detract from people's imagination and help keep everyone on the same page about what is currently going on.

The big issue with those minis is that they can hardly represent the flux of a turn in EotE, you usually do not shoot once in a round, you shoot plenty of times, duck incoming fire, draw your two HH-50 Blaster Pistols, run towards them while aiming and shooting down a complete group of 6 stormtroopers in a single attack action and say a one-liner or 5 about how much that Gunslinger is looking for a real challenge. That is just one turn of one character.

Or jumping into such a group, swinging the two lightsabers and killing the whole group in a single turn and then force jumping back behind cover, etc

It get even more fluid vehicle combat when the positions of the vehicles are in constant flux and you just take not of a roughly relative position to each other.

Personally, I've found minis to be most useful in vehicle (especially starship) combats. Since the game places an emphasis on facing (fore/port/starboard/aft) with an actual in-game effect, I find that using X-Wing and Armada minis - sometimes on the same table - really helps my players visualize the action. The Armada rules & minis seem to dovetail with the RPG particularly nicely; I can use the existing speed ruler, my players like the way the Armada yaw system simulates mass & momentum, and I can use the minis' shield counters to indicate a ship's defense in each zone. That's probably more of a wargames mindset than the rules intended to support, but it helps us suspend a little disbelief.

And really, who doesn't like seeing an ImpStar on the table?

And really, who doesn't like seeing an ImpStar on the table?

Most likely people who use 1:270 X-Wing scale models

Besides, as fighters and even up to sil 4 ships, defenders always decide on which defensive zone they get hit, the whole positioning via minis thing becomes not that helpful, and gain the advantage brings you always into the arc you want as well, so you move and teleport around a lot. If you keep this in mind the minis for sure help to keep applied shield zones, fire-arcs and such in mind.

I know to most FFG SWRPG purists it's sacrilege to use maps, but I find them to be quite useful in certain situations. Also, I have a few players who are not good at the "theater of the mind" aspect of RPGs and need some sort of visual example to draw them into the game. We use a variety of maps, either ones from the adventure models if running pre-mades or ones I bash up in Photoshop depending on the situations. I also use IA map tiles as well for combat that takes place in confined areas (such as on a ship or in a building). We use the various tokens that came with the beginner boxes to represent PCs and NPCs. I thing I like about using the IA map tiles is that I can build a map on the fly with them and allow the PCs to explore while indicating which areas are explore-able. I start with few tiles at first and then add more as the PCs explore the area and reveal more of the location they are currently visiting. I am a firm believer that a GM and their players should use any and all tools available to them that they feel adds to the fun and enjoyment of the game.

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1 hour ago, Otakuon said:

I am a firm believer that a GM and their players should use any and all tools available to them that they feel adds to the fun and enjoyment of the game.

I occasionally use maps. I've got a bunch of WotC figures from their game and a couple of really big wet-erase maps. I tend not to get super-detailed in the settings on the map, throwing out building and major landmarks, then ballparking where the bad guys are - this seems to work well enough for us, keeping track of who all is left and whats nearby (and occasionally informing the story as someone falls down a well or something).

Necessary? Nope. Cool? Absolutely.

On 4/26/2016 at 9:13 AM, bradknowles said:

I wouldn’t recommend using miniatures with this RPG. Using miniatures tends to encourage people to think tactically and not imagine anything that they can’t see in front of them.

IMO, this game shines best as “theater of the mind”, when there is very little in the way of boxes presented to the players that they should be thinking outside of.

No what I love about this game is I COMPLETELY DISAGREE with this statement. and thats ok.

As GM I love to use minis for combat (I think my group does too, or they at least tolerate my obsession). and FFGs range caters for all scales.

I use Rebellion (and soon legion) for ground combat, with my PCs each having their own WOTC mini that I have kitbashed and repainted (The Wookie with the crossbow (with a string!) was fun).

X-Wing Mini's for dogfights. Armada for Fleet actions or when that IMPSTAR jumps in as the NEMESIS at the end of thedogfight.

I love it.

For maps I try to get high res scans of any prewritten stuff and print at A2, otherwise the trusty whiteboard comes out. Soon my Legion terrain will come into play to make the encounter THHHREEE DEEEEE

2 hours ago, Funk Fu master said:

No what I love about this game is I COMPLETELY DISAGREE with this statement. and thats ok.

As GM I love to use minis for combat (I think my group does too, or they at least tolerate my obsession). and FFGs range caters for all scales.

I use Rebellion (and soon legion) for ground combat, with my PCs each having their own WOTC mini that I have kitbashed and repainted (The Wookie with the crossbow (with a string!) was fun).

X-Wing Mini's for dogfights. Armada for Fleet actions or when that IMPSTAR jumps in as the NEMESIS at the end of thedogfight.

I love it.

For maps I try to get high res scans of any prewritten stuff and print at A2, otherwise the trusty whiteboard comes out. Soon my Legion terrain will come into play to make the encounter THHHREEE DEEEEE

Yes, with how FFG has built upon their Star Wars license, we have quite a lot of options when it comes to drawing on "outside resources" for our RPG sessions. I also use X-Wing and Armada miniatures to help PCs visualize space combat. In that case, I usually just throw down a generic space battle-mat and let the RPG's range and combat system do all the work. The miniatures are used to show the relative positions of the NPC and PC ships.

17 hours ago, Otakuon said:

Yes, with how FFG has built upon their Star Wars license, we have quite a lot of options when it comes to drawing on "outside resources" for our RPG sessions. I also use X-Wing and Armada miniatures to help PCs visualize space combat. In that case, I usually just throw down a generic space battle-mat and let the RPG's range and combat system do all the work. The miniatures are used to show the relative positions of the NPC and PC ships.

I agree, though I've found that Armada works better for me to illustrate a suitable sense of scale. Unless there's only a very few ships involved, we rarely have the table space to use the X-Wing minis. Plus, with Armada it's easy to drop in capital ships (even "small" ones) as terrain.