This is going to be a long post, sorry in advance.

So I'm new to GMing and my group and myself are new to Edge, but we love this system and are having loads of fun, well at least my players are. Myself having the most experience with an RPG, I decided to jump in and do the GM thing. We have run the Beginner game and LAOTH to tie everything together. Since we are all new, this felt a bit forced and linear. Talking with my group they agreed. Now we recently got together on an odd day, so I decided to throw together, literally getting ideas from my wife the night before on what to throw at the players, a one shot.

So we came up with the idea of the players kind of coming to a realization that they had lost time, and they were headed to an unknown location via hyperspace. They had been infected with a nanovirus, we have a droid in the group so this would affect him as well, that causes them to kind of loose track of what just happened (like autopilot without realizing where you had just been). Threw in a new player for the session and he was on their ship when they came aware. They were all confused on what was going on and how they got there, especially the new player as I made the mistake of not giving him any pre-information. Now I have to say that my players don't really RP, they play the game and have a ton of fun finding ways to go sideways, you'll see what I mean shortly. So for me being new and thinking the RP side of things, I can't always keep up with what they throw at me. So the following is what happened.

So the group landed on this planet with not knowing what to do, why they where there, who this new wookie was, and where they should go. I narrated that as they flew over the ground, they saw a structure buried in the forest. So thankfully they headed that direction. This is where my lack of experience comes in as I thought with the virus, they would blink in and out of consciousness so to speak. So just as they entered into the tree line they blinked out and blinked back in somewhere in the forest, scared, running, being chased by something, and it was now dark. My players also tend to roll amazingly well, so I wanted this to be difficult and asked for a fear check, which most passed with little problem. Next it was dark so they all had to throw in a Setback for every roll. So the player that was in the back of the running group, decided to blind fire behind him, with an upgraded hard check, 2 Purple and 1 Red die, and his setback, he rolled and blasted this thing for a good chunk of health. The group decided to stop and fight, so I had a group of feline creatures all around them in the forest that jumped out and attacked them. The combat went great with a couple triumphs in play, and some crazy good rolls despite the dark. Then once there was just one left to deal with, the player decided to use his binders he had on him and capture this creature, because he wants to tame it and make it his pet. I made this very hard, 2 purple and 2 red die, plus a setback for darkness, he agreed and rolled amazing! No triumph but was able to wrestle this beast and essentially capturing this creature. I told you they like to throw things at me. So this beast is being dragged around, since it has binders on it's legs.

They make it to the structure and as they decided to hack into and unlock the door, they blink out again and blink back in separate cells, void of gear. With nothing to be able to use to get out of their cells, a woman comes in and knows the wookie, and is trying to help them out get the "antidote". They get a bit of information of what has happened, and where they must have come from and why they are here, to get the antidote for the virus they have been infected with as well. As they head out of the complex, they throw a stun grenade down the hall just as a bunch of security guards where about to turn the corner and again the amazing rolls, stunned the whole group. But they blink out once again and come to outside the complex with the woman dead and lying next to a few crates falling off a hover lift, and multiple dead guards. At this point hoping my player forgot about the stupid feline creature, he asked about it and the lack of experience me, said you don't see your cat anywhere. Oh he wasn't having that. So for the rest of the session he made it a point to be dragging this cat around with him. But looking in the crates, they find the antidote and get it back to the ship.

Now the droid doctor decides he wants to make dosages for all the players so they stop loosing time. Okay, great idea, but this will be another very hard check as he has no idea what this fluid is, what the virus is and what is a safe dosage. He agreed and rolled, 3 successes and 5 Threat, so I told him he spends time working the dosage out and does make 1 dosage, at the expense of using 1 whole container of antidote, mind you there was 6 containers for a whole planet, now there is 1 less. As they were talking about who should get the dose, I rolled a die to see if they blink out before they decided and another player wanted to flip a destiny point so as to negate the effect of the virus. Now we ended the session right there and I feel that without the antidote, a player can't just negate the effects of the virus, destiny point or not. Thoughts?

And now this is where I need your help. Any critique would be helpful, and where should I go from here? Plus I think the players are getting tired of the blinking out affecting them, and I didn't want to annoy them with that mechanic. I'm not that quick on my feet when my players throw these ideas out at me, and after talking with them I agree that I do railroad them a little, so to speak, and I need help going with the flow of the story. But where should this story go and conclude?

Thanks in advance

Let me start by saying this: I've been an RPer for roughly 20 years. Being a GM is MUCH more difficult than being a player. Players just show up with dice and a sheet and say, "entertain me". GMs have to do the prep work to provide entertainment to the group. Keeping that in mind, check out this link http://thealexandrian.net/wordpress/4147/roleplaying-games/dont-prep-plots This revolutionized how I write plots for my party. This, plus the NPC cards has reduced my prep time from days to hours.

It also sounds like you're not taking advantage of the setback dice mechanic. Instead of saying "this was very hard, here's 2 purple and 2 red" the doctor should be rolling against the virus' creator himself. So perhaps opposed medicine checks? Also, don't be afraid to give your doctor a handful of black dice. 1 for not having a sterile lab, 1 for not having the right equipment to make tests, 1 for being unfamiliar with this particular virus, 1 for having not analyzed the antidote.

Next session, you can have a table ready for this virus that has infected everyone. Right now it's a daunting check to cure (5 purple), once per day your doctor can make a medicine check of hard difficulty (3 purple) to study the virus. For every successful medicine check, reduce the difficulty to cure the virus by 1. Once they are cured, it's back to business as usual doing whatever PCs do.

As for the feline they "found", write up some stats for it, or use the stats for a nexxu. It's a very daunting task (6 purple) survival roll to tame the creature or have him roll his survival against the animal's willpower. Toss in some black dice for not having treats, the creature not trusting your player, the creature might not have eaten, etc etc. Every time the player fails the nexxu gets a free attack against the person. Eventually, he'll get sick of having his arm chewed off and either get rid of the cat or dump it on someone else.

At the end of the day, it's everyone's game, no matter how annoying they get with their side-quests and shenanigans. It's up to us as Game Masters to direct the chaos.

3 hours ago, P-Dub663 said:

Let me start by saying this: I've been an RPer for roughly 20 years. Being a GM is MUCH more difficult than being a player. Players just show up with dice and a sheet and say, "entertain me". GMs have to do the prep work to provide entertainment to the group. Keeping that in mind, check out this link http://thealexandrian.net/wordpress/4147/roleplaying-games/dont-prep-plots This revolutionized how I write plots for my party. This, plus the NPC cards has reduced my prep time from days to hours.

It also sounds like you're not taking advantage of the setback dice mechanic. Instead of saying "this was very hard, here's 2 purple and 2 red" the doctor should be rolling against the virus' creator himself. So perhaps opposed medicine checks? Also, don't be afraid to give your doctor a handful of black dice. 1 for not having a sterile lab, 1 for not having the right equipment to make tests, 1 for being unfamiliar with this particular virus, 1 for having not analyzed the antidote.

Next session, you can have a table ready for this virus that has infected everyone. Right now it's a daunting check to cure (5 purple), once per day your doctor can make a medicine check of hard difficulty (3 purple) to study the virus. For every successful medicine check, reduce the difficulty to cure the virus by 1. Once they are cured, it's back to business as usual doing whatever PCs do.

As for the feline they "found", write up some stats for it, or use the stats for a nexxu. It's a very daunting task (6 purple) survival roll to tame the creature or have him roll his survival against the animal's willpower. Toss in some black dice for not having treats, the creature not trusting your player, the creature might not have eaten, etc etc. Every time the player fails the nexxu gets a free attack against the person. Eventually, he'll get sick of having his arm chewed off and either get rid of the cat or dump it on someone else.

At the end of the day, it's everyone's game, no matter how annoying they get with their side-quests and shenanigans. It's up to us as Game Masters to direct the chaos.

Wow! This is why I love this community. Thank you @P-Dub663 ! This is awesome information. And I see where I have not been using the setback die mechanic to its full ability.

And thank you for that link. I'm going to have to start plotting differently now. This is what I was wanting to do with my plots, but couldn't get the mechanics of how to do so. That link makes it so clear now. I think my players will have a much more enjoyable time with that style of play versus a more linear track.

57 minutes ago, Ronanwild said:

And thank you for that link. I'm going to have to start plotting differently now. This is what I was wanting to do with my plots, but couldn't get the mechanics of how to do so. That link makes it so clear now. I think my players will have a much more enjoyable time with that style of play versus a more linear track.

I've had a very similar experience to you recently. I started GMing about two months ago with a group of long-time roleplayers, plus one newbie. I hadn't GMed since high school years ago. I started with the Beginner Box, but I, too, found it really railroady. But I found that "don't prep plots" column and decided to apply it to the adventure we did after the Beginner Box. And it's working!

I first followed this set of advice: the three-clue rule . I wanted my players to have to search to find the coordinates for a lost Hutt throne world, so I planted a bunch of clues in various locations that all pointed to each other. They found the coordinates they needed and set off for the planet.

Then, I wanted them to confront an evil Hutt-worshipping cult there. But instead of creating a long list of pre-designed encounters for this, I instead created the cultist compound. I found a map, figured out what the rooms and buildings all were, how the cultists kept it secure, what they had inside, and (perhaps most crucially) what their schedule was like.

The players then got complete free reign to plot how to get in there, how to get past the defenses, what time to move in, how to get what they were looking for, etc. It was totally up to them. If they decided to sneak in at midnight? I know what the cultists were up to. If they decided to go around the back? I knew what building they'd come to first and who was there. It's so much better than a rail-roady adventure.

Good luck, and have fun!

1 hour ago, SavageBob said:

I've had a very similar experience to you recently. I started GMing about two months ago with a group of long-time roleplayers, plus one newbie. I hadn't GMed since high school years ago. I started with the Beginner Box, but I, too, found it really railroady. But I found that "don't prep plots" column and decided to apply it to the adventure we did after the Beginner Box. And it's working!

I first followed this set of advice: the three-clue rule . I wanted my players to have to search to find the coordinates for a lost Hutt throne world, so I planted a bunch of clues in various locations that all pointed to each other. They found the coordinates they needed and set off for the planet.

Then, I wanted them to confront an evil Hutt-worshipping cult there. But instead of creating a long list of pre-designed encounters for this, I instead created the cultist compound. I found a map, figured out what the rooms and buildings all were, how the cultists kept it secure, what they had inside, and (perhaps most crucially) what their schedule was like.

The players then got complete free reign to plot how to get in there, how to get past the defenses, what time to move in, how to get what they were looking for, etc. It was totally up to them. If they decided to sneak in at midnight? I know what the cultists were up to. If they decided to go around the back? I knew what building they'd come to first and who was there. It's so much better than a rail-roady adventure.

Good luck, and have fun!

Thanks @SavageBob , I'm feeling more confident that I can do this. It will take a little training, but I feel this is the best way to work with my players rather then against.

14 hours ago, Ronanwild said:

Thanks @SavageBob , I'm feeling more confident that I can do this. It will take a little training, but I feel this is the best way to work with my players rather then against.

Just keep at it Ronan. It gets easier with practice. Don't be afraid to post your adventures here in the GM section to get some feedback. Infact, I'll give you a couple of my "stock" adventures that I have ready for my players.

Currently, they are laying low on a back-water planet in the Tion cluster. They found a small cave and are currently excavating it to build a proper base. Their Rebel contact, Dooma, shows up from time to time with a handful of "quests" for the party to complete. They get to pick, and away we go.

22 hours ago, P-Dub663 said:

Just keep at it Ronan. It gets easier with practice. Don't be afraid to post your adventures here in the GM section to get some feedback. Infact, I'll give you a couple of my "stock" adventures that I have ready for my players.

Currently, they are laying low on a back-water planet in the Tion cluster. They found a small cave and are currently excavating it to build a proper base. Their Rebel contact, Dooma, shows up from time to time with a handful of "quests" for the party to complete. They get to pick, and away we go.

Oh ya, I don't plan to stop anytime soon, plus my players won't let me!

That's awesome! Does your group prefer a stationary base as opposed to a Ship for their base?

I have something similar setup with a "handler" so to speak to give my players their next mission. That's got to be one of the easiest ways to introduce a new story/plot.