so skills minus setback dice.. what do you do if there is a situation with no setback dice?

can you downgrade difficulty dice? say 2 setback dice = 1 difficulty dice?

It makes no sense to have a removal of a dice that may or may not be in a roll... there are always difficulty dice.. there should be some conversion to allow all talents to matter

The game's intent is for there to be Setback dice commonly. Dark out? Setbacks. Windy, dusty? Setbacks. Explosions nearby? Setbacks. Middle of any pitched battle? Setbacks. By standers? Setbacks. Talking to someone you've had bad blood with? Setbacks. Secret distrusting society? Setbacks. Any criminal that doesn't know you? Setbacks. Tell a sh*tty lie deceiving? Setbacks. Try to coerce when you look like a low rent wimp? Setbacks.

Once a GM gets in the habit of adding them routinely the Talents make sense.

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It makes no sense to have a removal of a dice that may or may not be in a roll... there are always difficulty dice.. there should be some conversion to allow all talents to matter

No, there should very often be setback dice. Keep in mind, these talents don't represent greater skill, they represent being able to use the current skill despite adverse conditions. You aren't more skilled, but you aren't rattled as easily.

I suppose that it's important to point out that there should be situational Boost dice too. The base roll isn't for optimal conditions, just for average conditions. Just as things can get worse (as 2P51 points out), they can get better too.

Yah absolutely, same race, Boost. Favorite sport team Tshirt on, Boost. 'Lemme buy you a drink first', Boost, etc.

Boost is where I fit in all of those unrepresented species abilities.

Wookiee climbing something soft enough for his claws to sink into? Boost.

Trandoshan looking for something in the dark that has a high heat signature? Boost.

Etc.

Here is a simple rule for GM's still finding their way with the system:

When a PC asks for a difficulty make in 1 easier than your gut reaction, then add at least 1 setback for any reason you can think of.

Soon enough you will be thinking more about the locations for encounters and creating the setback conditions 2P51 described during your session prep.

The game's intent is for there to be Setback dice commonly. Dark out? Setbacks. Windy, dusty? Setbacks. Explosions nearby? Setbacks. Middle of any pitched battle? Setbacks. By standers? Setbacks. Talking to someone you've had bad blood with? Setbacks. Secret distrusting society? Setbacks. Any criminal that doesn't know you? Setbacks. Tell a sh*tty lie deceiving? Setbacks. Try to coerce when you look like a low rent wimp? Setbacks.

Once a GM gets in the habit of adding them routinely the Talents make sense.

This probably by far the biggest hurdle for GMs new to this system, especially those with experience in other systems.

Richardbuxton's advice is probably some of the best for how to begin getting over that hurdle, since the initial response of the GM to "things are making this task harder" is to increase/upgrade the difficulty rather than adding setback dice.

Also keep in mind that Boost/Setback dice have greater effects on the dice pool than Upgrade/Downgrade and the designers specifically put that greater effect mostly in the hands of the GM (and in the hands of the PC with some rarer Talents which add Boost and the more common ones which remove Setback).

If you upgrade the difficulty of a check you are increasing the likelihood of Despair (something "disastrous" happening), if you add a Setback then you're making success less likely (upgrading the difficulty will make success less likely too but less so than adding a Setback).

This makes Setback removing Talents really useful for having a significant impact on increasing the chances of success.

As others have already mentioned, a GM who is mindful of adding Setback dice is one who is really creatively engaged in making the encounter more interesting and the narrative more rich with detail.

If your GM isn't showering you in blues and blacks, then they're doing it wrong.

Boost is where I fit in all of those unrepresented species abilities.

So much this.

THIS is why we don't need a hundred different rules for species.

You should think of handing out blues whenever the character is of a suitable race, occupation, or has an appropriate background.

A wookiee doing stuff that wookiees would be good at? Blue dice. A squib trying the same thing? Black dice.

A twi'lek auditioning for a dance club? Blues. A Hutt? Blacks (unless the dance club caters to very jaded tastes!)

A character who's background involves them growing up around a pod-race circuit should get blues when building or driving a pod-racer, or talking to pod-race enthusiasts.

It's great because you can take into consideration all the little personal elements like a character's homeworld, occupation, background, even Obligation, Duty and Motivation. A character with Addiction would know a fair bit about the drug culture. A Placard Hunter would know all about worthy enemies to hunt down. A Bounty Hunter knows about high-ticket acquisitions, or gets bonuses for trying to get his illegal gear through customs.

I take into consideration even small details like a character's appearance and politics.

You should think of handing out blues whenever the character is of a suitable race, occupation, or has an appropriate background.

Also another point of consideration? I try and hand out ups and downs where and when I can, but I've got a lot on my plate. So pointing out appropreate blues and blacks shouldn't only be the jurisdiction of the GM.

Oh sure, the GM has the final say, but the players should try and help the overburdened GM and point out "Hey, my Verpine would probably have a blue for starship repair" or "My generally odoriferous character would have a black charming that female guard" where appropreate.

I play with 3 other gms and we do this all the time and it makes the game go much better. Whoever is currently running the session has last say of course, but we don't just suggest boost dice we suggest setbacks both for ourselves and the enemies. We also spend advantage/triumph to create enviormental effects which give potentially everyone in the scene setback.

Also while some random combats do happen most of the set pieces happen in interesting locations where everyone faces some setback from the scene. The base setback and scene are explained at the begining and we work from that.

Its everyone's responsibility to notice boost/setback and its also on the players to use destiny points to alter the situation to their advantage from time to time. Its a cooperative story.

If your GM isn't showering you in blues and blacks, then they're doing it wrong.

I shower them with setback dice; I think about 8 out of 10 rolls at my table would include at least one setback die. For the boost dice, however, I have a slightly different policy: I'll happily give them out, but the players have to tell me a reason why they should get one. And for every (good) reason they can come up with, they get a boost die. The idea is that players who are bothered to put in a bit of thought and effort get rewarded with tangible benefits to being "present" in the game.

Its everyone's responsibility to notice boost/setback and its also on the players to use destiny points to alter the situation to their advantage from time to time. Its a cooperative story.

In all the games I play, I try to be aware of these sorts of things and I’ll usually be happy to jump in and make suggestions. But I do try to allow others time to do the same, so that I’m not hogging the spotlight on that.

IMO, this is a mental muscle that everyone should be encouraged to exercise frequently, and that can be difficult if you’ve got this one guy who keeps jumping in all the time. So, I try not to be that one guy.

For the boost dice, however, I have a slightly different policy: I'll happily give them out, but the players have to tell me a reason why they should get one. And for every (good) reason they can come up with, they get a boost die. The idea is that players who are bothered to put in a bit of thought and effort get rewarded with tangible benefits to being "present" in the game.

Agreed. If players can narrate why they should get a boost die, I’ll almost always give it to them.

When I’m starting a new campaign, I’ll try to ask the players to narrate how their Advantage can be turned into blue dice, with the encouragement that I’ll give them an extra blue die if they can do that.

After a while, once they get good at narrating things like that, I’ll stop giving them the extra blue die. However, they can more than make up for that by giving me narrative reasons why they should have additional blue dice in certain circumstances.