Looking into starting an Age of Rebellion game, and as a first-time GM had a few questions. First of all, the players will all be new to RPGs, but want to set up their own characters. As such, I'm planning on ignoring the Beginner's version of AoR and sticking with the Core Rulebook and additional supplements. Any comments on that mindset would be appreciated (if we should stick to the Beginner's, core rulebook is too intense, etc.). Also, one of the players is a little harder to coordinate with for game sessions, and was curious if AoR is set up in a way that would accommodate a core set of four players with an extra player that may or may not be able to make it to each session. I greatly appreciate any and all feedback!

The Core book is all you need to run a proper campaign, so by all means, skip the beginner game. I would however recommend not to start with Perlemian Haul (the integrated adventure), since it's recommended to come after the 2 parts of the beginner game (or after your second homebrewed adventure) (that, and I think it's a weird way to start your campaign).
4-5 players is perfect. Your party should have a diverse enough skill set for most situations with that number of players.

Many recommend the Beginner's Set though, especially with new people, because it's practically a tutorial for how the game works. It's very linear though, so if you're not used to thinking on the fly, you could be stuck if something unexpected happens. But if you and your group do like the game, the Core Rulebook is definitely needed.

You can still do the Beginner Game with your own characters, too. I've done that twice already.

As a GM, keep in mind that fights go fast and deadly. You want to set up combat encounters so that there's a goal in mind, like having to get someplace in a few turns or something, and fights are just an obstacle. And if some characters aren't suited for combat, give them stuff to do in a combat encounter. A hacked crane dropping containers, making enemies cry with words, and rigging a speeder to crash into places are just as effective as blasters.

The Prelemian Haul can be justified as "you're the only ones we know that are in the area, good luck."

AoR is probably the best to have a player be in and out, since the Rebellion could be pulling people in and out of groups for whatever reason. Maybe your extra player is a specialist that doesn't need to be in every single mission the group does. And if that worries you, a character with 50 XP can be just as effective as one with 300 XP.

Many recommend the Beginner's Set though, especially with new people, because it's practically a tutorial for how the game works. It's very linear though, so if you're not used to thinking on the fly, you could be stuck if something unexpected happens. But if you and your group do like it, the Core Rulebook is definitely needed.

You can still do the Beginner Game with your own characters, too. I've done that twice already.

As a GM, keep in mind that fights go fast and deadly*. You want to set up combat encounters so that there's a goal in mind and fights are just an obstacle, like having to get someplace in a few turns or something. And if some characters aren't suited for combat, give them stuff to do in a combat encounter. A hacked crane dropping containers, making enemies cry with words, and rigging a speeder to crash into places are just as effective as blasters.

The Prelemian Haul can be justified as "you're the only ones we know that are in the area, good luck."

AoR is probably the best to have a player be in and out, since the Rebellion could be pulling people in and out of groups for whatever reason. Maybe your extra player is a specialist that doesn't need to be in every single mission the group does. And if that worries you, a character with 50 XP can be just as effective as one with 300 XP.

*Well, I shouldn't say deadly, since it's actually quite hard to actually kill a PC. But they could get knocked out quickly.

Hey Cab,

One idea for a character who cannot be present all sessions is having him be a more morally ambiguous member of the rebellion. Han Solo was a scoundrel first and rebel captain second, so he often ducked out to take care of unsavory business only to return afterwords and help save the day again. It also may be a fun way to incorporate a scum aspect of the game, with the rebel characters bailing the other player out of trouble from time to time. The above mentioned specialist suggestion is also a great one! And it's true, characters with low XP can be just as potent as characters with high XP. The one piece of advice I have regarding running a game is to just keep it fun and cinematic. One of the things star wars does so well is keeping the pace fast and fun, jumping from narrative action to short bursts of exposition and then more action again. As new players my group took to the idea of a narrative system well and love how it can feel like they are in a Star Wars film. Best of luck!

My suggestion would be to run the Beginner Box adventure, but do so using characters that the players have made instead of the pre-gens. I've done this with both the EotE and F&D Beginner Boxes, and it's worked out pretty well each time. As others have said, the Beginner Box adventures are designed with new players completely unfamiliar with these "funny custom dice" to get them up to speed fairly quickly while not overwhelming them with the game's various mechanics in one go, so I wouldn't poo-poo it just because your group of players don't want to use the pre-gens.

As for the fifth player not always being able to make it, the system can accommodate that, but it's a question of can the adventures you devise and plan accommodate it, especially if that player covers a niche role in the group that the other PCs aren't so good at. After all, if your fifth player is the party's slicing and stealth expert, then an adventure focusing heavily on slicing and stealth is going to be a lot more difficult if none of the other PCs are good at slicing or being stealthy.

On 2017-11-28 at 0:26 PM, Cab512 said:

As such, I'm planning on ignoring the Beginner's version of AoR and sticking with the Core Rulebook and additional supplements.

If you are a first time GM and your players are all new to RPGs, I would strongly recommend the beginner box, and also to use the pregen PCs. The beginner box is great for a new GM because it introduces the rules in a controlled way that isn't an overload. For the players, if they have to make new PCs they won't know what choices to make because they don't know how the game works. So you'll probably be in a situation pretty quickly where the players will wish they had made different decisions.

The beginner box also comes with a PDF followup adventure which is far more open. IMHO, the AoR beginner box is the best of the three, especially the PDF followup, as it gives the PCs the most freedom. The box adventure is taking over an Imperial base and not letting anyone escape, whereas the PDF that follows is a modular set of adventures that the PCs can do in any order.

One thing you could do if you want the players to make their own PCs is just run the box portion with the pregens, and then for the PDF portion let them create new PCs that come in as a "replacement team". This lets your players discover how the game works so they'll make more informed choices.

Thank you for the suggestions! I will definitely consider the beginner kit then and look into it all a bit further.