Fly Casual doesn't offer anything with a high Intellect; they mostly focus on more social roles.

Jawas are not anywhere official; the unofficial menagerie stats were made by a few beta players, and err on the side of conservative stats, so it shouldn't break anything.

Gadgeteer is a solid specialization, and using tech is built into the concept. The have a number of talents that focus on outfitting gear (Jury Rigged and Tinkerer), but they are indeed a very good combat specialization. But they are primarily Bounty Hunters , so that should be considered when making a character.

Species with high Intellect exist. Lords of Nal Hutta and Suns of Fortune have one each, Enter the Unknown has at least one. I know Stay on Target, Lead by Example, and Forged in Battle all have one at least. More can be found in Force and Destiny books.

Suns of Fortune has the Drall which starts with a 4 in intellect (and a 1 in both brawn and agility). If someone wanted to play a natural genius, that would be the species to start.

Sons of Fortune also has a lot of cool tech including vehicles and starships that might appeal to a mechanics-heavy group, and setting info on the Corellian System if you want to run some sessions there at some point. If you want to pick up another book later it might be a good option.

First of all, welcome to the forums as well as the hobby. You'll never find a more helpful hive of players and GMs.

Indeed. And even though you were kind of mean to me, because this is such a nice, happy forum, I will forget all that and offer helpful advice anyway. Because I'm just such a wonderful and nice lady!

Is it just me, or are Edge of the Empire species - even those IN the Technician sourcebook - unusually stupid? With such a dependence on Intellect (Computers, Mechanics), not one core species nor splatbook species starts with an Intellect over 2. Sigh...

2 is perfectly average and doesn't really make you 'stupid', I think. Also, as nobody seems to have mentioned this, I'll suggest that all of your initial XP at character creation should be spent on improving your base stats. This is because character creation is the ONLY time you can do this with XP (you can improve them later with a Talent called Dedication, but that takes a while in terms of advancement). So even if your species starts with a 1 or 2, you can easily improve that to 3 or even 4 this way. It's better to have a well-rounded character for the most part. A human, and most aliens, can start with 4 stats of 3 and 2 stats of 2, which is a pretty good spread for most concepts.

Also, bear in mind this is a narrative game, it's not like Pathfinder where you HAVE to have high stats or min-max your character. It's perfectly fine to play a Tech with a 3 Intellect as the game doesn't expect you to max everything out.

Suggestions on which may work well with the group, and suggestions on a species, too?

Honestly, the best species is the one that the player wants to play most. It's more important to enjoy what you're playing than have the 'best' character. Sure, Drall start with Int 4 but if the player doesn't want to play a fat, furry hamster-person, it's not a good fit for him. It's also fine to play against type - we have a charismatic Chiss character and a Chagrian who has a high Agility. PCs are heroes and not limited to their original stat line. If you want to play a human, Hutt, or twi'lek Tech you can do that just fine.

As an example, if you want to start with a 'genius' Human, you can take +10 XP with Obligation, put all your starting XP into Int, and begin with a whopping 5, and the rest of your stats as a 2. That's too specialised a PC for me personally, too much of a one-trick pony, but if you want the brainiac type who is average at everything except smarts, it might be an interesting role for some players.

TL;DR - play what you want, don't get too hung up on having the 'right' stats. You'll do just fine regardless.

Marcy (middle-aged mom to two furkids)

P.S. If this is a new group, may I suggest one of the Beginner Box sets? They are great for starting a new game, great for teaching a new GM and new players, and come with counters and maps and other fun stuff. Plus, they have balanced pregenerated characters, which could be good for new players who are undecided on what to play, or don't want to make something from scratch. They come with a starter scenario to ease yourself into it, and a much deeper downloadable sequel for when you're ready to step it up a bit. There's four to choose from, and you can even get one for Force Awakens if you'd rather play in the new movie era than the original movie era.

A player noticed how the Outlaw Tech has the Utinni! talent, but we have no Jawas. I searched the forums and found a pdf of the species. Are they printed anywhere else yet? Is it balanced for inclusion? Any suggestions about it, because that player has a hankerin' for Jawa after seeing the Outlaw Tech.

The Jawa thing has been covered, so I wont worry about that. I will throw in this bit of advice: don't get hung up on the names.

Utinni, for example doesn't need a Jawa to be effective. The Speaks Binary talent doesn't necessarily mean that the character can chirp and twirtle like an astromech. Bad Motivator can work any any device (and the definition of device can be pretty broad ) and not just making droids' heads pop like zits.

Same thing applies to careers, too. A marshal (from Far Horizons) doesn't necessarily have to be a lawman. Yes, they could be a Texas Ranger-ish character, or they could be a PI, or just a gunslinger.

Any other suggestions for general house rules?

oh, I got one for you: No PVP, period.

Considering the demographic you'll be running the game for, gunning each other down over an argument or an opportunity to get a leg up on the others might be on the go-to list of solutions, but - and mind you, this applies to 'mature' adults too - this way lies real life anger and bad feelings. So it's just easier to say "No fighting other players" right from the get-go.

A hopeful Jawa Outlaw Tech with the Utinni! talent, at least. Feedback requested (see above) about Jawa. If no Jawa, he'll likely skip it for something else.

My son (10) plays a Jawa Outlaw Tech, and has great fun jabbering away in Jawaese whenever he gets excited. I have used the stats from the PDF I posted on this forum, and it is working well.

Oh, one other thing I've posted around here before that you might get some use out of: my 50 questions to build a better character . (Let me know if the link doesn't work and I'll find my .doc version when I get home from work)

It's a list of questions - name, age, place of birth, and so on - that'll help you round out a character from a pile of stats on a spreadsheet into something three dimensional. Some folks around here think it's excessive, some think "hey! Spiffy!" and some use a paired down version of the list, so your mileage may vary. However if you wanted to spin their character creation into fun homework, this might be a solid start for you.

Upon reflection, with a group that age, another good house rule might be no personal electronics at the table. My son is 14, and mildly on the spectrum, as well. He plays in 2 groups that I play in (one with my wife, as well), and the one that I run. Quite by accident after his phone was broken (and still hasn't been replaced), we've found that his attention, quality of RP, and facility at translating the dice improved tremendously without a screen to shove his face in when his character wasn't actively doing anything.

Thank you! I added it as an edit to our house rules! One night a week, our family tries to have no 'screen' time, where we listen to the radio and read books. I'm a fan of the old-fashioned radio dramas now on CDs or lurking on the internet. I'm happy to see another parent with a child (even mildly) on the spectrum, share their thoughts on the game. Thanks, too, for sharing how his attention improved his game play. Kudos on welcoming you son into (y)our shared hobby!

Owing to the lack of Technicians' combat skills, one player asked if Bounty Hunter: Gadgeteer could be used. I said I will strongly consider it, and post his request to the forums. Humans, Dugs, Northern Mustafarians, Trandoshans, and Wookiees all have an option for some combat skills. Mechanics and Modders also get a rank in Brawl and Gunnery, respectively.

IMO, Bounty Hunter Gadgeteer would work very well in that kind of scenario. They could even be the primary point of contact for the kind of “Repo Man” group I mentioned earlier. They could be the one who gets the official “bounties” on the vehicles to be repo’d, and then they and the rest of the group are responsible for delivering on the bounties.

Also keep in mind that everyone is capable of performing every skill. Even if you don’t have any ranks in that skill that represents training, you’ve still got the underlying attribute to go on.

So, if you were a Wookiee with a high Brawn attribute, then you would be decent at Brawl and Melee, even if you didn’t have any formal training in those skills.

This is one of the things I like best about this game — anyone can try to do anything, and it’s always possible that all the negative dice will come up blank and a single positive dice could have the one Success that you need.

In my experience, some of the best scenes have occurred when someone was totally out of their depth, but they didn’t have a choice anyway, so they stepped up to the plate and they took a chance. And, against all possible odds, they still somehow managed to succeed!

I’ve seen some really … crazy stuff … happen that way.

Oh, one other thing I've posted around here before that you might get some use out of: my 50 questions to build a better character . (Let me know if the link doesn't work and I'll find my .doc version when I get home from work)

It's a list of questions - name, age, place of birth, and so on - that'll help you round out a character from a pile of stats on a spreadsheet into something three dimensional. Some folks around here think it's excessive, some think "hey! Spiffy!" and some use a paired down version of the list, so your mileage may vary. However if you wanted to spin their character creation into fun homework, this might be a solid start for you.

Thank you! The link worked. I copied-and-pasted it into a .doc file to print out for Saturday's Session 0.

A hopeful Jawa Outlaw Tech with the Utinni! talent, at least. Feedback requested (see above) about Jawa. If no Jawa, he'll likely skip it for something else.

My son (10) plays a Jawa Outlaw Tech, and has great fun jabbering away in Jawaese whenever he gets excited. I have used the stats from the PDF I posted on this forum, and it is working well.

Thanks! This is so inspiring, to see other parents sharing their SW & RPG love with their kids with great success! Thanks for posting the jawa pdf, too! I'm expecting to print it out, since we can more easily reference it. It looks like professional quality, which helps with buy-in from other players.

Any other suggestions for general house rules?

oh, I got one for you: No PVP, period.

Considering the demographic you'll be running the game for, gunning each other down over an argument or an opportunity to get a leg up on the others might be on the go-to list of solutions, but - and mind you, this applies to 'mature' adults too - this way lies real life anger and bad feelings. So it's just easier to say "No fighting other players" right from the get-go.

I added it as part of House Rules, third one down. Thanks- it could really messy, otherwise, and these kids are all really good friends and have known each other since elementary school. We live in a small town, too, so having hurt feelings over a game is best avoided - this is a great rule to follow!

*****OFF TOPIC ALERT****

SWMom and I chattered over a nice cup of tea as gals do, and both apologised if we got off on the wrong foot. We all agreed what a very nice place this forum was and how we all want to keep it that way!

I warned that some of us (well, Desslok and I, anyway) have a bit of a quirky sense of humour that might not be readily apparent, so she should just ignore us when we post pictures of penguins and sinking boats and other forum memes.

Also, a *cough*meanwhile back on topic!!*cough* message is quite okay when the banter gets out of hand.

I did mention that epic ErikB thread that we went off-topic for 50+ pages, but hopefully that didn't scare her off!

Anyway, beffies now

*****BACK ON TOPIC ALERT****

I'm glad we chatted, too. When my son gets overly excited, he speaks in word salad, with unconnected nouns and verbs tossed together in a jumbled mess. Just to understand how someone bullied him at school may take an hour or more until he calms down. I'm sorry- I guess I try to reorient myself when things get off topic, but I shouldn't censor others, especially if they have a good rapport and may have some inside jokes with others. While my son isn't likely to read my private messages, I do expect he may visit the forums. This acknowledgment is as much for him to see how to behave, as well as an apology to Maelora and the community at large. I may enjoy a reputation as a fierce advocate and mom, yet I don't want to be seen as a parent to others on the forum. Forgive me- I crossed a line, and then took steps to build a better relationship with helpful members.

Okay, I haven’t had the official diagnosis, but I have ranked on the Asperger’s end of the scale of the tests I have taken.

And I have no idea what either of you are talking about.

You’re both perfectly normal, nice people, neither of whom would harm a fly.

And I won’t hear a word against either of you.

So there!

Forgive me- I crossed a line, and then took steps to build a better relationship with helpful members.

Forget it - water under the bridge! And as far as some of the other folks we've seen around here and their capital offenses, one message of a snippy nature is a misdemeanor.

(At least you didnt come in claiming that the game was broken despite having never actually played it, proclaimed a house rule to fix the "problem" and then get all huffy when everyone around here went "Um, you're just making things worse with your fix". That's happened at least 3 times I can count).

We could probably do with someone telling people to cut the shenanigans out every once in a while. (Preferably without the thread locks and banhammers.)

So cut it out, everybody, whatever it is that you may or may not be partaking in.

Forgive me- I crossed a line, and then took steps to build a better relationship with helpful members.

Forget it - water under the bridge! And as far as some of the other folks we've seen around here and their capital offenses, one message of a snippy nature is a misdemeanor.

(At least you didnt come in claiming that the game was broken despite having never actually played it, proclaimed a house rule to fix the "problem" and then get all huffy when everyone around here went "Um, you're just making things worse with your fix". That's happened at least 3 times I can count).

Using multiple accounts in order to demonstrate how righteous the huffiness is.

Until they forget to log out of the "supporter's" account when responding to a post in their "own" persona.

Alas, we've had a few people come in all guns blazing. So apologies if I was a tad defensive.

And like Brad, I was never officially diagnosed (mostly because I'm old and that wasn't done back then) but I actually have a lot of Asperger's qualities. I'm an INTJ on the Myers-Briggs scale, which is pretty much a textbook mildly-autistic sci-fi fan.

Anyway, you're a cool mom, who plays SW games with her kids and their friends! I could just about forgive anything for that.

My mom was pretty cool; she helped me make Jawa Sandcrawlers out of milk cartons and sandpaper way back in 1979. That's the best kind of mom

My mom was pretty cool; she helped me make Jawa Sandcrawlers out of milk cartons and sandpaper way back in 1979. That's the best kind of mom

Dag-nabbit, woman! Would you quit, please!

You know danm good and well that I’ve already completely run out of likes for the day!!!

;)

I haven't !

Upon reflection, with a group that age, another good house rule might be no personal electronics at the table. My son is 14, and mildly on the spectrum, as well. He plays in 2 groups that I play in (one with my wife, as well), and the one that I run. Quite by accident after his phone was broken (and still hasn't been replaced), we've found that his attention, quality of RP, and facility at translating the dice improved tremendously without a screen to shove his face in when his character wasn't actively doing anything.

Thank you! I added it as an edit to our house rules! One night a week, our family tries to have no 'screen' time, where we listen to the radio and read books. I'm a fan of the old-fashioned radio dramas now on CDs or lurking on the internet. I'm happy to see another parent with a child (even mildly) on the spectrum, share their thoughts on the game. Thanks, too, for sharing how his attention improved his game play. Kudos on welcoming you son into (y)our shared hobby!

Thanks. It's (relatively) mild Asperger's. He was already planning to join in the game I'm running, which went through an overly-extended prep stage (thanks to players who took forever to put characters together). I found myself invited to join a group, and there was a session that he had to tag along for, was interested in the game, held his own in conversation with the group, and the GM invited him to create a character and join the group with the next session.

Now, he's got a droid bounty hunter assassin for that campaign, a Wookiee warrior Jedi in another, and a Mon Cal mechanic/droid tech in mine.

My mom was pretty cool; she helped me make Jawa Sandcrawlers out of milk cartons and sandpaper way back in 1979. That's the best kind of mom

Funny story - back in 1977, I didnt want to see Star Wars. It was stupid to my eight year old brain for some reason. Why? No idea.

My mom made me go. Straight up "You are going, no choice in the matter", laid down the law.

Of course eight year old me's brain was well and truly blown - but yeah, if she hadn't put her foot down, you guys would not be having to put up with me now.

(Of course now after that Pandora's box was wide open, as I made her take me to the drive-in for years after that. She sat through Friday the 13th, Halloween II, Chud, Porkys, The Nude Bomb, Jaws III, Death Ship, Invasion USA, Terror Train, Return of the Living Dead and Surf Nazis Must Die - all because she loved me so much.)

My mom was pretty cool; she helped me make Jawa Sandcrawlers out of milk cartons and sandpaper way back in 1979. That's the best kind of mom

Funny story - back in 1977, I didnt want to see Star Wars. It was stupid to my eight year old brain for some reason. Why? No idea.

My mom made me go. Straight up "You are going, no choice in the matter", laid down the law.

Of course eight year old me's brain was well and truly blown - but yeah, if she hadn't put her foot down, you guys would not be having to put up with me now.

(Of course now after that Pandora's box was wide open, as I made her take me to the drive-in for years after that. She sat through Friday the 13th, Halloween II, Chud, Porkys, The Nude Bomb, Jaws III, Death Ship, Invasion USA, Terror Train, Return of the Living Dead and Surf Nazis Must Die - all because she loved me so much.)

I can relate, but I can tell you exactly what went through my 7 year old brain: I'd just recently discovered Star Trek, and in my mind, a science fiction movie with that similar a name MUST he a rip-off. My dad dragged me to it, and I walked out forever changed.

And my parents took me to some of those in the theater, too.