One of them actually said, and I quote, "Nobody do anything interesting" to the rest of the party.

My response would be, "Then why are we wasting our time playing a role-playing game together? I'll do my best to make it fun for you but you have to do your part and make it interesting for me too. Otherwise, let's just play a board game or chess."

Well...because I asked them if they wanted to.

I think this is probably really good advice, which I will be endeavouring to do more of.

Aye, for them encounter based exp is probably better, especially if they operate on the assumption that "they are gonna get it anyway". Keep in mind that these encounters don't have to be combat based, finding information, making a trade, hitting a checkpoint on a epic smuggling run or diffusing a tense sitation is all part and parcel of what could be achieved.

Heck, the Jewel of yavin has very few combat encounters and is 80% planning. That is a good model of an adventure with high risks, and not all of it from direct conflict, yet forces the player to deal in if they want to get a pay day. It's fine to want to avoid direct conflict, which is sometimes it's alright to just Spring one on them, specially from business rivals to keep things spiced up during the session to show how dangerous it is to be a bounty hunter/smuggler/hiest master/Pokemon trainer.

Why are they playing?

Well...because I asked them if they wanted to.

Hmm. It sounds like you have a bit of an uphill battle.

2P51, on 08 Nov 2016 - 5:40 PM, said:

Why are they playing?

Well...because I asked them if they wanted to.

If they want to play then I think I'd just have the blunt conversation that involves explaining they are heroes in a galactic struggle and not CPAs studying for a certificate at their local community college.....

2P51, on 08 Nov 2016 - 5:40 PM, said:

Why are they playing?

Well...because I asked them if they wanted to.

If they want to play then I think I'd just have the blunt conversation that involves explaining they are heroes in a galactic struggle and not CPAs studying for a certificate at their local community college.....

And if that's how they want to play, then tell them that suddenly an Inquisitor has arrived at the college as one of the professors is suspected of being a Jedi. Of course, all of her students are now under suspicion too, and the Empire isn't really known to be one for particulars...

In other words, force them into situations they MUST respond to, and don't be afraid to deal out serious consequences if they don't respond appropriately. I had to do that a couple of times, and my players got the message fast. When they realize that Stormtroopers will kill you in two shots, they will plan a lot better.

Can you give some more specific examples of what they passed up, and the context of the "No one do anything interesting" quote?

I'd still like to hear about this, it's hard to give much more than general advice without knowing.

Don't make an Obligation roll... just choose one player's Obligation and create a dilemma around it. Works for our group every time we pass a gambling den/casino my character makes a roll... each uncancelled fail means he plays for that amount of rounds, then makes another roll.. 600 credits (won 1st round) to 100 credits (lost 2nd round) in two rounds of Hintaro

*mumbles under breath: stupid gambling addiction Obligation...*

You know, I'm starting to wonder if these players really have any interest in playing an RPG, much less a Star Wars one?

I know quite a few Star Wars fans that have zero interest in RPGs; if the players are only playing because the GM asked them to, part of the issue is they might feel like they've been roped into playing (even if that's not the case), and such have no real desire to be proactive or to not hide from dangerous situations. Could also be that they've conflated "winning" in RPGs with surviving, and best way to survive a dangerous galaxy is to stay indoors and mind your own business.

Could also be that they've conflated "winning" in RPGs with surviving, and best way to survive a dangerous galaxy is to stay indoors and mind your own business.

This. This is the problem in a nutshell. Hadn't realised that until you wrote it down though. Thanks.

Could also be that they've conflated "winning" in RPGs with surviving, and best way to survive a dangerous galaxy is to stay indoors and mind your own business.

This. This is the problem in a nutshell. Hadn't realised that until you wrote it down though. Thanks.

Sounds like the main thing you need to do is have a chat with the group and find out what they want out of the campaign as a collective group. It may just boil down to Star Wars not being a setting they really want to play in, or maybe they just don't want to game using this system after hearing how "dangerous/lethal" it is (with most such stories being fairly exaggerated).

You can also refer them to the following blockbuster movies:

The one where the wizard visits the hobbit and invited the hobbit on a journey with some dwarves. The hobbit then refuses and spends the rest of the movie doing dishes

the one where the kid gets bitten by a radioactive spider and then spends the rest of the movie doing school work and crushing on the read head and not fighting crime.

The one where the pesant squire forgets his brother's sword and runs and pulls the sword of kings from the stone and gives it to his brother and spends the rest of the movie shoing his brother's (now king) horse

You can also refer them to the following blockbuster movies:

The one where the wizard visits the hobbit and invited the hobbit on a journey with some dwarves. The hobbit then refuses and spends the rest of the movie doing dishes

the one where the kid gets bitten by a radioactive spider and then spends the rest of the movie doing school work and crushing on the read head and not fighting crime.

The one where the pesant squire forgets his brother's sword and runs and pulls the sword of kings from the stone and gives it to his brother and spends the rest of the movie shoing his brother's (now king) horse

Or the one where a young farm boy is invited on a space adventure by some old magic monk but he refuses and takes over his deceased uncle's farming buisiness. The rest of the film he spends fixing vaporizers on some desert farm.

Or the other one, where a young slave boy is freed by a space wizard and invited to his magic school (space hogwarts, I think). But the boy decides to stay with his mom and spends the rest of the film building walking google translators.

Just venting after a recent session with my primary group, who have become...well, just really really boring. One of them actually said, and I quote, "Nobody do anything interesting" to the rest of the party.

I'd like to say that there's a reason for them to be cautious, but so far none of them has dropped below half wounds.

Have you actually asked them why they act the way they do? If not, I'd advise you to do so. There is a possibility there is a difference how you see the game.

Could also be that they've conflated "winning" in RPGs with surviving, and best way to survive a dangerous galaxy is to stay indoors and mind your own business.

This. This is the problem in a nutshell. Hadn't realised that until you wrote it down though. Thanks.

Sounds like the main thing you need to do is have a chat with the group and find out what they want out of the campaign as a collective group. It may just boil down to Star Wars not being a setting they really want to play in, or maybe they just don't want to game using this system after hearing how "dangerous/lethal" it is (with most such stories being fairly exaggerated).

It's also important to understand that when everyone at the table is contributing to the story, is entertained, and is engaged - including the GM - that's the win state of a narrative RPG. Narrative games are the design direction that a lot of RPGs are going so it's not like FFG SW is an oddball.

If they want a more trad game but are still willing to play an RPG, you can try and hunt down D20 SW Saga or even the D6 West End Games version. They are very traditional game experiences. The Saga campaign "Dawn of Defiance" is basically a D&D Dungeon Crawl with the serial numbers filed off.

If I want to play a dungeon crawl, I rather would play imperial assault or descent.

You don't create your own characters in those games.