I'm gunna be straightforward here. I'm a new GM. I have very little experience with tabletop RPG's. I decided to GM this system because a) I love STAR WARS more than most things, and b) I liked the narrative element.

So when it comes to tracking combat, I can be sometimes so focused on the narrative explanation I have for what could happen that I neglect to keep the most accurate stats for the enemy NPC's. Alot of times, what I care about most is narrative flow. What are your opinions of this type of GM-ing?

Also, I haven't explicitly told my players this. But as long as they're having fun, does it matter? ('m still figuring out the ins-and-outs of the rules)

If your players don't notice and everyone has a good time; I say no harm no foul.

I'm not a GM but as a player I keep VERY close track of the game!

And I'm also the group chronicler.

On my "on" days I can reconstruct and entire battle based on my notes with such details as who did what to whom with what implement. Including damage dealt and taken.

That said, you'd probably still get away with your style of GM'ing up until I audit a battle. "Wait a minute, that squad of 3 Stormtroopers had 47+ hit points?"

The Star Wars rules promote that exciting narrative storytelling style (probably better than most RPG's IMHO) and that is a very desirable thing.

So as long as the group is happy with your style of GM'ing keep up the good work.

I keep track, making use of the encounter printouts available from OggDude's GM Tools, but, I also fudge here and there to make for a game that's more fun for my group.

This past Sunday's game, for example: at one point, they were up against 120 (10 groups of 12) antiquated battle droids that had been reprogrammed for farming, but a lightning strike reset to factory defaults. The PCs ended up making much shorter work of the droids than I'd anticipated, but they were doing it smartly and having fun. So, if an attack roll was just 1 wound shy of taking out another droid in that particular minion group, I gave it to them.

If everyone is having fun, that is key. The only caveat to add is that you have to be consistent. One of the main reasons the rules are what they are is to build an expectation for the players about what they will encounter in your world and how their PCs will interact. So long as your fast and loose style contribute to a world where you all know what to expect, that should lead to a really fun game.

I tend to agree with previous posts here. During combat, I try to keep accurate track of NPCs' wound and strain damage, along with conditions that affect the flow of battle--essentially, different characters' contributions to the fight.

As long as the action flows smoothly and players have fun, though, it's all good.

-Nate

I'm not very exact, however I am consistent. That seems like a contradiction Really it comes down to having a feel for damage input/output, soak, etc. The adversary decks are great tools, but when it comes to tracking wounds and minion counts, I usually only end up needing about 2 square inches of graph paper. I know that feeble minions have soak = 2 and wounds = 4, while tough minions have soak = 4 and wounds = 8. Meanwhile, feeble rivals have soak = 3 and wounds = 10, while tough rivals have soak = 6 and wounds = 16. (Nemeses are custom, I usually have them printed out and treat the more like a GM PC.) When the battle starts I pick suitable numbers and write them down, and simply start counting down. The whole thing takes about 2 square inches of graph paper, and I can end up with several sessions' worth of battles on a single page. It allows me to be consistent within a battle, but I'm not that fussy about the numbers I pick when it starts.

I treat NPC abilities in a similar way: just pick a number between 2 and 4 for the base dice, and upgrade for minion counts or rival skills if I think it's a core competency.

I should back up and say the most important thing I do is have a pause before the battle and settle the initiative order. But that's simple too, just tally up the results and write, say, "PC, GM, PC, PC, GM, GM, GM" at the top of my 2 inch square. I can track progress through the round with a simple dot over the PC or GM note, so by round 3 each one will start having 3 dots above...and I will be starting to think how I can end the battle soon because I don't like them going more than 5 rounds.

My players do help, so perhaps I've settled on this system because I know they'll remind me if I miss something, but I can't say that happens a lot.

One thing I've found to be very useful to track conditions, bonuses, etc: each player gets a small bowl, into which I can toss boost, setback, upgrades and downgrades. When it comes to their turn it's easier to keep track of what is affecting them. I've been toying with the idea of adding tokens for conditions, but I haven't worked that out yet.

Note there are several good initiative tracking sheets in the resources sticky thread. Try a few of them out until you settle on a system that works for you. Maybe the most important thing is to learn to put the narrative on pause for two beats: once before the battle so you can settle initiative; and once at the end of each turn so you can make a quick tally. But all that really matters is the players feel you are keeping good track, however you do it.