So, after lurking for a while and getting the Beginners Game, I've decided to take the plunge. Besides the core book and the GM kit, what expansions do you guys suggest for new players?

Really depends on what you want. All the books are useful to some extent but ..... are you a player? Are you the GM? Do you run pre mades? What type of game are you looking to do? Without real details the best we could say is .... all the books because frankly, they're all really solid.

Yep, all the books are good (so far), so it very much depends what you're after. Note also that the other game lines (EotE and F&D) have equally good sourcebooks and in some ways the EotE books are more fundamental. As an example, Far Horizons (for EotE) has a great section on how to handle social conflict/encounters...and while Desperate Allies (for AoR) also has some good information, it doesn't quite give you the basics like Far Horizons does.

Sorry, I should have been more specific. I plan on being the GM and hopefully making my own adventure.

I always ask: do you have a pretty good head-knowledge of Star Wars and check Wookieepedia/Database often? Or are you ignorant to a lot of the smaller details of Star Wars? If the latter, I would suggest the area books. They're a nice resource as they offer a lot of setting details and story hooks for groups and GMs, along with gear vehicles, and a few more species. Strongholds of Resistance is the only Age of Rebellion book in this vein released so far, but the others (Suns of Fortune, Lords of Nal Hutta, and Nexus of Power) are similarly useful. I still suggest them if you do know a lot of stuff about Star Wars, as they're really nice.

The career books offer a lot of material, but it's really dependent on what you're advancing towards. Stay on Target is the Ace book, and features several more starfighters, animal riding rules, advice for vehicle encounters. Desperate Allies is pretty solid as well, with a nice gear selection (although weapons are slimmer), as well as expanded rules on social encounters and base building rules, which some groups may want to use. Lead by Example features a rather slim selection of player equipment, but offers a lot of tools to GMs for building big war settings, and mass combat rules. Forged in Battle has a good selection of gear, building fortifications (like trenches and blinds) as well as advice on combats in different environments, like cities and boarding actions.

This advice is assuming you're going to stick more to Age of Rebellion than the other games. If not, there's a much wider selection available to you. Even if you are sticking close to AoR, there are still a few Edge of the Empire books you might want to pick up. A lot of nice gear in Dangerous Covenants (lots of weapons) and Fly Casual (lots of starships). DC has explosives for a Saboteur, while FC has expanded rules on space travel, which might crop up. If you have an Engineer or players interested in crafting, Special Modifications is an excellent resource. Likewise, if you are playing mostly Age of Rebellion, I would still get the aforementioned region books for all games, as they offer many, many different settings and ideas no matter the game.

If you're in the habit of making your own adventures, you may want to pass on the adventure modules, but they do occasionally offer some nice player options. F&D's Chronicles of the Gatekeeper offers a playable species, and the upcoming Friends Like These will do the same (or similar). And you can always strip mine them for details.

The adversary decks are a GM's bestest friend. Get them. The critical decks have their uses, but that really depends on your group; I do have them, and I can see how they would be useful to some or not. Ignore the specialization decks. The AoR game master's kit offers rules on squads and squadrons; probably the most useful for any group.

Definitely get the adversary decks, because you'll find the players will often go in unexpected directions and you'll have to invent an encounter out of thin air. If you're new to GMing, the adventure modules are a good resource to learn how to craft your own. Also, the regional modules all have a series of mini-adventure/ set-pieces that you can often drop into your own campaign as-written.

Just a note about the modules: don't be afraid to customize them to your needs. Add characters, drop or replace whole sections, reorder events, etc. They have great value in showing how to manage encounters of all types (combat, social, information flow), but they aren't perfect. Treat them like idea-mines and you'll get more out of them.

I'm new here, and in a similar boat. Our local comic book store staff suggested the CRB to whichever system I prefer as GM, and some Adversary Decks for more NPCs without the need to buy lots of splatbooks. I also bought Special Modifications since a lot of my intended players have a preference for this aspect, like making droids. I have a good understanding of the generalities. I know Hutts are crime lords, but not necessarily which Hutts are which. For our games, this is far less important than keeping players happy and on-track. I expect some of them would fact-check me or research Wookieepedia if I named dropped any specific canonical characters or events. For my tribe, just knowing Hutts are bad news is sufficient for now.

I am not an actor, and this is not a paid endorsement. You should buy all the books, if you can afford to. They all offer something, even if they are not for the core book you are using. I only have two books left to get plus keeping up with the new releases, and don't regret spending for any of them.

I am not an actor, and this is not a paid endorsement. You should buy all the books, if you can afford to. They all offer something, even if they are not for the core book you are using. I only have two books left to get plus keeping up with the new releases, and don't regret spending for any of them.

Same here, but it's three books for me. Ideally, I'll be picking up two of those this weekend.

I would love to see the FFG developing revamp a SWS modular that I played over and over it was called ' The Crypt of Sallos Morn'

I would love to be on the team that revamps that one for either EOE ,AOR, FD or for the Imperial Assult game system. If it gets done plz !!! Let me know!!!

Orcface is actually on the right track with his advice. No matter what 'setting' you pick, you can get just about any sourcebook and there will be something useful in it. As a GM, I'm going to recommend that you pick up the Edge of the Empire GM kit. The module in it can be dropped into just about any setting, but it also has ideas and suggestions for making Nemesis-class enemies. While your group may be just starting out, planning ahead and having some Big Badass that they have to deal with or defeat is never a bad idea.

Adversary decks has made my life a lot easier, highly recommended. Just get all of them.

I'm focusing mainly on AoR books for this post:

For career books, I would recommend Forged in Battle, but also Lead by Example - while the latter may seem lacklustre on gear and stuff, its got some nice specialisations, and the mass combat rules are a bit more refined than in Onslaught at Arda (or what it was called). These books will let you do ground combat on all scales (with the GMs kit you've got squad rules covered too, so all levels of abstraction covered).

If you intend to do space combat and similar things, then Stay on Target is a must buy, not question about it. It provides cool guidelines for space combat, new droids, fighters, but also stuff that could benefit a ground campaign - the Beast Rider while narrow in scope, is a cool spec if you go ground based combat. Will enhance any recon team of trailblazers, scouts and so on.

Strongholds of Resistance is also just a nice book. Great gear, great species, lots of locations.

Depending on your focus this list could be reversed, but I put Desperate Allies at the bottom, as it offers little for combat heavy campaigns in the jungle - of that is what you're going for. If not, this could easily be on top of this list and FiB at the bottom.

I am not an actor, and this is not a paid endorsement. You should buy all the books, if you can afford to. They all offer something, even if they are not for the core book you are using. I only have two books left to get plus keeping up with the new releases, and don't regret spending for any of them.

Although one might point out that if you've lasted this long with little to no books, you might want to hang on a couple more weeks. That's when all the seasonal sales start, and you might be able to pick up some backlog for a song.

I am not an actor, and this is not a paid endorsement. You should buy all the books, if you can afford to. They all offer something, even if they are not for the core book you are using. I only have two books left to get plus keeping up with the new releases, and don't regret spending for any of them.

Although one might point out that if you've lasted this long with little to no books, you might want to hang on a couple more weeks. That's when all the seasonal sales start, and you might be able to pick up some backlog for a song.

I know that I'm certainly looking forward to a local game store's annual buy 2/get 1 free sale that runs through most of December.

Not a purchase per se (worth donating to!), but I highly recommend Oggdude's Character Generator if you and your players don't already have it! It's a fantastic tool that tons of us use!

I am not an actor, and this is not a paid endorsement. You should buy all the books, if you can afford to. They all offer something, even if they are not for the core book you are using. I only have two books left to get plus keeping up with the new releases, and don't regret spending for any of them.

Although one might point out that if you've lasted this long with little to no books, you might want to hang on a couple more weeks. That's when all the seasonal sales start, and you might be able to pick up some backlog for a song.

My FLGS is running a 20% off all gaming sale for the entire month. That's bad for my wallet, but good for my SW RPG collection. Already picked up Forged in Battle and Special Mod.

I would love to see the FFG developing revamp a SWS modular that I played over and over it was called ' The Crypt of Sallos Morn'

I would love to be on the team that revamps that one for either EOE ,AOR, FD or for the Imperial Assult game system. If it gets done plz !!! Let me know!!!

Hey symmetric matrix of mixed partial second derivitives, or gradient of the gradient if you prefer that, can you tell us more about The Crypt of Sallos Morn

I thought that this was going to be a thread about what gear new players should buy for their characters. -

1) Always buy Heavy Clothing unless you can afford even better armor. The +1 soak to most hits is, so, so, worth the credits.

2) You do own a cell phone [comm-link] right?

3) Stun blasters are half cost, and might be legal in places where lethal weapons are not.

4) You need at least one stim-pack.