I've never played an RPG before, but I'm wanting to try this game. I know people who play D&D quite a bit, so they can help me there if I decide to try it. How many people are needed to play?

Groups as little as 2 (GM and player) to many more. The average recommendation for this game mentions 4-6 players and a GM.

Hello HistoryGuy! You have just taken your first steps into a larger world.

I usually like to keep my groups around 3-5 players. Too many and not every gets a fair share of the spotlight. And if you have shy players, may feel uncomfortable.

For this game in particular, I recommend checking out one of the beginner game box sets. They're about $30 USD (or cheaper if you know where to look) and you get a set of the funky dice, some maps and tokens, and an adventure perfect for players and a GM new to this game or even new to roleplaying. Plus each beginner box has a free follow-up adventure you can download from the FFG website.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask them on these boards. We're all Star Wars nuts here.

Hello HistoryGuy! You have just taken your first steps into a larger world.

Also:

(subtitle: a big pile of money on fire, because this will be your life. God forbid you get into X-Wing too)

I usually like to keep my groups around 3-5 players. Too many and not every gets a fair share of the spotlight. And if you have shy players, may feel uncomfortable.

I've had 4 people at the table (3 and a GM) for years, and I've had as many as 7 or 8. Really, I think the sweet zone is 4 players, one GM. Everyone gets some spotlight, but it's not so unweildly for the GM.

For this game in particular, I recommend checking out one of the beginner game box sets. They're about $30 USD (or cheaper if you know where to look)

Knowing where to look consists of just buying online for about 20 bucks

But...but...what does knowing where to look consist of?

(It's also not terribly expensive compared to most hobbies. Even if the GM buys all the books and nobody else buys any, For the cost of one night out per month, you can pick up a sourcebook. Over the course of a year you can build up quite a collection.)

Other than reading and guiding the story, what does the GM do? Does he get a character as well?

My table is me (currently the GM) and three to five players (depending on who can make it on a given night), but I've run games with as few as one player and myself. (I don't normally recommend just a single player with the GM, but it can work.) I'm with everyone else; the sweet spot is between three and five players along with the GM. Any more and it can get difficult to give everyone some spotlight time. Any fewer and tailor-made scenarios might start to get repetitive, since the players will start with limited skillsets.

Also, even if you buy a starter set, do yourself a favor and pick up a second set of the game's dice, or download the Android or iOS app (it's $5, and includes the dice for all of FFG's Star Wars games, I believe.)

Welcome to the world of roleplaying games, though. I've been in this hobby for over 35 years, and don't plan on stopping any time soon.

Other than reading and guiding the story, what does the GM do? Does he get a character as well?

You can, but most don't recommend it. The GM's job might be to read and guide the story on pre-made adventures, but it's also to play the part of the characters the players will run into during the course of the adventure. And once you get done with published scenarios, the GM's job is world-building and NPC (non-player character) generation and all sorts of fun stuff. Believe me, as a GM, you end up with a LOT to do.

I've torn my hair out GMing for a table of ten players.

Some of my finest moments have come in one on one sessions where I felt more like the guy's therapist than his GM. It's all good.

Other than reading and guiding the story, what does the GM do? Does he get a character as well?

You can do it, and it's fun... but it's kind of an advanced GM skill and not recommended to begin with. If the GM plays the plucky child sidekick or helpful astromech droid, it works fine. If the GM wants to be the Hero who swings a lightsaber around and hogs the spotlight, it will go horribly wrong.

Best learn to walk before you run or fly

Other than reading and guiding the story, what does the GM do? Does he get a character as well?

I too have to echo the other replies. GMs can have their own character, but it can quickly become a disservice to the whole game.

It's easy to fall into the trap of becoming the players problem solver, wich isn't fun for anybody.

But that is also the beauty of being a GM! You have a literal unlimited plethora of characters that you can and have to embody during your campaign.

Many of them will be insignificant in the grand scheme, and some of them will become recurring characters, that the players will look forward to, or dread, to interact with.

From my experience GMing can be a fantastic but tough experience. Essentially imagine it's a video game. The players are... well the the players and the GM is the game designer. The GM is all the NPCs including allies and enemies, the the rules referee, the game designer (although depending on the group some GMs have more control than others) and story teller. I really don't want to put you off but it is a tough job at times. As GM you do end up putting a lot more work into it than the players but it can also be fun doing that, especially when players really engage. You do need to have a good understanding of mechanics but also need to plan ahead for the adventure. Like who the players will meet, what npcs are like and also plan to have all your plans go completely out the window. In one of my D&D groups we have half jokingly said that if I didn't want this tavern to burn down so it could be a major plot point I shouldn't have put it on the same continent as the players.

If all of you are new to the hobby then pick what system you want (in this case Star Wars FFG) and go for the starter set. Give the GM atleast a week to read through it all before running it. I would however recommend that if possible have someone experienced in the hobby and or specific game system GM. But also look up podcasts and youtube videos of games. Itme JP on youtube has a good Age Of Rebellion series going on as well as other RPGs. Geek and Sundry has Critical Role which is D&D and Yogscast has their own D&D stream.

Other than reading and guiding the story, what does the GM do? Does he get a character as well?

The GM having a character can be done, but it's tricky and requires a bit of a balancing act. My group has a rotating GM, tagging off every couple of weeks or so as one story arc finishes up. So there's a part time PC hanging around, so the GM has someone to play when not in the hot seat.

And you can use this character while you're GMing, but you have to take care not to have them overshadow the group or pull in one direction or another, that its the players that have the agency and your GM PC is firmly in the back seat. This often means they're guarding the ship or watching over the rescued slave children while the others go do combat and that sort of thing.

But no, I wouldn't recommend it right out of the gate. You have enough crafting the story, minding the rules and running all the normal NPCs.

Other than reading and guiding the story, what does the GM do? Does he get a character as well?

The GM having a character can be done, but it's tricky and requires a bit of a balancing act. My group has a rotating GM, tagging off every couple of weeks or so as one story arc finishes up. So there's a part time PC hanging around, so the GM has someone to play when not in the hot seat.

And you can use this character while you're GMing, but you have to take care not to have them overshadow the group or pull in one direction or another, that its the players that have the agency and your GM PC is firmly in the back seat. This often means they're guarding the ship or watching over the rescued slave children while the others go do combat and that sort of thing.

But no, I wouldn't recommend it right out of the gate. You have enough crafting the story, minding the rules and running all the normal NPCs.

Exactly.

I was quite fortunate in that, while I hope to share GM duties and so have a character in my latest campaign, one of the last players to join the group before we started just so happened to coincidentally create a character who was perfect to serve as a first officer for our ship to my character's owner. In our first session, she and the rest of the group went and performed all of the action, while my character stayed behind at our "home base" docking bay and took care of the administrative end of our Perfectly Legitimate Business Enterprises, including smoothing things over with a Hutt "off screen." (See, the players inadvertently gave me an opportunity to set up owing this Hutt a favor...I'd planned to figure out a way for them to owe the Hutt a favor, anyway, to substitute into Debts to Pay. They just happened to hand me a means to do so on a silver platter.)

So, to the OP, while the GM having a character is definitely doable, it can be a challenge, but can also be used behind the scenes as an NPC to help set up future story hooks.

So, to the OP, while the GM having a character is definitely doable, it can be a challenge, but can also be used behind the scenes as an NPC to help set up future story hooks.

So long as the focus of the game remains on the PCs and their heroic (or anti-heroic) activities, then it doesn’t necessarily hurt for the GM to have a main NPC that they use as a hook for handing out jobs, information, etc….

When the GM NPC starts overshadowing the PCs and starts being the cavalry that always comes in to save the day, that’s when you know that the game is going off the rails. At that point, the GM NPC needs to retire or die or something.

One of the big plus for having a own PC as GM is that it makes rotating GMs easier and completely eliminates the GM vs the players idea that some new RPG players bring to the table.

The big downside is that you need to be super careful not to give your own character to much spotlight, it much better to have him follow the lead of the rest of the party.

Personally I prefer not to have an active character when playing as GM.