Hi everyone. I'm new here and to tabletop gaming. I've never played a tabletop RPG before, so I'm jumping into this new hobby head first with no prior knowledge of what I'm doing. I've watched a tabletop RPG being played at a local game store. It was entirely too loud in there which made it incredibly difficult to really follow the game and what was going on. "Star Wars: Edge Of The Empire" caught my attention while I was browsing the aforementioned local gaming store. I'm a huge fanatic of the seedy underworld of Star Wars so this game seemed like an obvious jumping on point for me to learn something new and fun. I'm here to ask what I need to get started with that game and any constructive advice. I plan on playing this with my family and it's up to myself to pass on any information I learn here as I will be the GM. If someone could take the time to break down the concepts and mechanics of RPGs that would be great. I just need a basic overview of how these work. Since I'm coming in from the cold on this one, I would appreciate it if we could keep explanations as simple as possible. I don't want to get overwhelmed and burnt out before I get the chance to get in on the action. Anyway, thanks in advance everyone.

There are two products that you should consider:

1) the Edge of the Empire Beginners Game :: https://www.fantasyflightgames.com/en/products/star-wars-edge-of-the-empire-beginner-game/

This is a self encapsulated rules, adventure with pre-made characters and 1 set of dice. Getting and studying this relatively inexpensive kit will be a VERY good starting point.

And with that said, I've never used the Beginners' game (but there's good talk about it in general and I did incorporate some cool ideas with my other Star Wars Role Playing Games).

Yeah, start there. Also note that the Star Wars Role Playing Game is mechanically a bit different from most other RPG's. However, this game should be a good introduction into RPG's in general.

I should probably mention the other product, shouldn't I.

The other thing to start with is the Edge of the Empire Core Rule book

https://www.fantasyflightgames.com/en/products/star-wars-edge-of-the-empire/products/star-wars-edge-of-the-empire-core-rulebook/

This was the resource that I started with. However, I was pretty experienced with RPG's going in and this book explains the rules fairly well.

@Mark Caliber Thanks for the help bro. I already have one set of Star Wars RPG dice. I didn't know the beginner's game had a set that comes with it. Should I have more than one set of these dice if my group is up to four people? My local game store should have them if I need them. I'm fairly certain I spotted more on the shelf after I bought mine. It's been a week or two since I've been at this particular store, so someone could have bought the other set of dice out from under me. In the off chance that I can't find the beginner's game there, should I just purchase the core rule book? I know they will have that in stock. I'm really not big on ordering merch over the internet. If I can't find what I need, I guess ordering online would be my only option. This is a bit off topic, but I live in a very dangerous neighborhood and theft of delivered goods is a huge thing to worry about. It's quite common but has never happened to me, and hopefully it never will. Also, is the GM screen needed? That is another item that they should have in stock. If I talk to them and explain my situation with ordering online, maybe they could order what is needed for me. They seem to be easy going folks and I doubt they, as merchants, would decline the chance to make money.

EDIT: Does the core rule book contain a character sheet page that can be photocopied or are they distributed through pdf format?

You can download character sheets from the internet. There's a fillable PDF one floating around here on the forum somewhere.

The more dice, the better, since dice pools routinely get large enough that you're going to want more than one set fairly quickly. The beginner boxes are great value for the dice alone, with the EOTE one being the least on the rails adventure of the bunch and since it's set in a town, it leaves lots of room for improvisation for social encounters. Great introduction to the system.

The GM screens are pretty decent values as well. I like the adventures and additional rules that come bundled with them.

Also, the dice may seem daunting at first, but you'll get the hang of them real fast. Don't get discouraged.

Greetings Scruffy!

Welcome to the hobby, and to one of the most supportive forums I've seen on the internet! I'm relatively new myself, so I'm sure there are plenty of old hands that have more to add.

A tabletop RPG is a collaborative storytelling activity that where a Game Master creates and manages a world, and presents a group of players with situations that they react to. Their job is to build the world, populate it with NPC (non-player characters) and arbitrate the interactions that the players have in the world. If you're familiar with video game RPGs, think of the GM as the computer.

The players each control one (or more, but usually one) Player Characters, who are the leading roles in this story. They assume the identity of this character and react to the world in the way that their character would react. It is expected that the players will compartmentalize somewhat and separate their knowledge (of the game mechanics and background) from their characters.

The heart of any RPG is the skill check. This is the mechanic that determines whether a PC will succeed or fail at the task they are presented. It covers all circumstances, from shooting someone with a blaster, sneaking past a security guard, convincing a hutt to do business with you, etc. SWRPG differs from many systems in that instead of a binary "Pass/Fail" system, instead it relies on a 3 axis system. There is the binary "Pass/Fail" represented by success and failure, the "incidental circumstances" represented by threat and failure, and the "amazing/terrible things happen" represented by Triumph and Despair. For a really great and simple explanation of the dice, I recommend reading (and showing your players) this comic: http://www.uptofourplayers.com/comic/edge-empire-rulez-pt-1/ (There's second part, so definitely check out the second page).

A few answers to your questions:
2 pairs of dice are fine to start out with. At low level parties, that should definitely be enough, and you can expand as you go!

I definitely second the idea of the Beginner Game (which would net you those dice), the adventures are set up to teach you different types of encounters one step at a time, and apart from a fairly "meh" vehicle section, the EotE one is great! There's also a bonus adventure you can continue the beginner game from if your players want. It also includes 4 pre-generated characters, which can be very helpful if you have people who want to get to the action and don't want to build characters off the bat.

I've found the GM screen to be valuable, but not necessary. It includes many useful tables in one consolidated place, and includes an adventure, I'd hold off on buying it until you've played a game or two.

The Core rule book does include Player sheet that can be copied.

Rule (0? 1?): As GM, your word is LAW. Deal with rules lookup and arguments away from the tale. Make a ruling and roll with it. You can look up the rules after the game.

Last call: These forums are great, and most everyone is very helpful. However, you'll get a better reception if you learn to use the search function (top right of the screen) before you ask a bunch of questions that have been asked before!

Again, welcome!

Hi all,

First time posted, long time lurker....

I am also very new to RPG. I have a couple of young boys (9 and 7) and I thought this might be good way to get them away from the television and use their imagination.

We had our first game today with me (GM) my wife and our two boys. I scanned in copies of the maps and projected them up on the wall with our digital projector so everyone could see where were were. It was so much fun. On the dice, we downloaded the FFG Dice app on the tablet and used that, work so much quicker and easier that actual dice. The family was sitting on the couch at home while I walked around pointing to the map on the wall.

It was such a great afternoon and even the wife said she enjoyed so much, she had no idea what was involved and was a little sceptical at first at what was involved. We used the pre-gen character sheets from the begineers game and it was great having a visual guide as to what they looked like.

Quickly a couple of things that came out of the game, my 7 year (playing as a Wookie) decided that start his attack by picking up a civilian standing next to him and throwing him across the room at the bad guys. His reason was "Dad, I'm a Wookie...."

My 9 year old then "hacked" a security droid. I mad it a 3 purple difficulty and even threw a setback die in there, but he somehow managed to jag a success. He then had a droid (called Jeff) following him around for the rest of the game.

I was playing to the group, being children and my wife who had never even seen an RPG before, but the whole family had a blast.

It's always a good sign when everyone want to play again tomorrow to see what happens.....

Thanks for listening guys

Mike

16 hours ago, ScruffyHanSolo1987 said:

I'm really not big on ordering merch over the internet. If I can't find what I need, I guess ordering online would be my only option. This is a bit off topic, but I live in a very dangerous neighborhood and theft of delivered goods is a huge thing to worry about. It's quite common but has never happened to me, and hopefully it never will. Also, is the GM screen needed? That is another item that they should have in stock. If I talk to them and explain my situation with ordering online, maybe they could order what is needed for me. They seem to be easy going folks and I doubt they, as merchants, would decline the chance to make money.

If your local game store is anything like mine then they should be able to order anything you would need. That's how I got most of my stuff.

The GM screen is a good idea as well. It comes with a good adventure and some ideas on how to make a common Nemeses for your PCs. As well as organizes a lot of common information for you and puts it right at your finger tips like crit tables, medical checks, weapon stats, and how to spend advantage/threat in combat. Its a life saver.

On 2017-12-29 at 5:01 PM, ScruffyHanSolo1987 said:

Should I have more than one set of these dice if my group is up to four people?

Yes, the beginner box is handy that way. It's also a great way to get introduced to the rules, plus it has a downloadable PDF followup that is pretty good, and makes for 3-5 more sessions. So it's a pretty good deal. Plus your players will get a chance to see how the rules work before committing to making a character before knowing what talents and skills will be useful to them.

On 2017-12-29 at 5:01 PM, ScruffyHanSolo1987 said:

Also, is the GM screen needed?

Not needed, but pretty useful, plus it comes with an adventure. If you're new to GMing you might want to try a few published ones before creating your own.

On 2017-12-29 at 5:01 PM, ScruffyHanSolo1987 said:

EDIT: Does the core rule book contain a character sheet page that can be photocopied or are they distributed through pdf format?

Yes, but...if you get into this game at all, it's well worth your time to get OggDude's character generator. It's an amazing tool, and has a lot of add-ons for making the GM's life easier. Here's the main thread:

https://community.fantasyflightgames.com/topic/89135-another-character-generator/

On 12/29/2017 at 6:01 PM, ScruffyHanSolo1987 said:

@Mark Caliber Thanks for the help bro. I already have one set of Star Wars RPG dice. I didn't know the beginner's game had a set that comes with it. Should I have more than one set of these dice if my group is up to four people? My local game store should have them if I need them. I'm fairly certain I spotted more on the shelf after I bought mine. It's been a week or two since I've been at this particular store, so someone could have bought the other set of dice out from under me. In the off chance that I can't find the beginner's game there, should I just purchase the core rule book? I know they will have that in stock. I'm really not big on ordering merch over the internet. If I can't find what I need, I guess ordering online would be my only option. This is a bit off topic, but I live in a very dangerous neighborhood and theft of delivered goods is a huge thing to worry about. It's quite common but has never happened to me, and hopefully it never will. Also, is the GM screen needed? That is another item that they should have in stock. If I talk to them and explain my situation with ordering online, maybe they could order what is needed for me. They seem to be easy going folks and I doubt they, as merchants, would decline the chance to make money.

EDIT: Does the core rule book contain a character sheet page that can be photocopied or are they distributed through pdf format?

I have I think 11 sets of the dice, and I've set aside 4 for a gift once the game is out of print. I think 6 sets of dice is the sweet spot in terms of cost to benefit (for my use case and gaming budget), but you definitely want 2 or more sets of dice, I think most groups have 3-5 sets.

Edit: BTW I like the AoR GM screen the best, but color contrast on the tables and the the adventure introduce squad/squadron rules which you will likely want to use to protect your BBEG (Big Bad Evil Guy)

@EliasWindrider Wow bro. That's a lot of dice. I paid sixteen dollars for one set. Albeit the taxes were already built into the price and the store owners round up to the nearest dollar increment. It's nice to know what the price is up front by just looking at the tag. I wish more stores would do this so I don't have to do math in my head to figure out the tax.

@Mark Caliber I called my local game store and they were out of the Beginner's Game. They do, however, still have the Star Wars RPG dice. I can pick up a second set, so I'm ready for action on that aspect. They also still have the core rule book, so it looks like I get to start with the core rule book too. I guess my family and I get to create our characters from scratch. That's a bit of a bummer. I wanted to see what the pre-generated character sheets looked like.

@ghatt I did some research and I've already gotten the basics of the dice down. It didn't seem too hard. They are very intuitive. I can really see where they are narrative driven. I also downloaded the character sheet to my Samsung Galaxy S8 Plus. It seems interesting and I can print it from my Google Drive at a local library. I don't own a computer. My phone does most of what I need to do. As I stated in my reply to Mark Caliber, my store was out of the Beginner's Game and they weren't able to get a copy for me. They do have the GM kit in stock, so that's great. Are the adventures that come with the GM screen in pdf format or are they physical. Sorry for my ignorance. This is very new to me.

@oneeyedmatt87 Thanks man. That was really informative. I'll use that search feature more often. Your summarization of an RPG fits the bill of what I witnessed at my local game store. This is something my family and I can get into.

@Aussie Mike Cool story bro. It really is nice to get the youth away from the Xbox, PlayStation, and Nintendo. I have the dice app in my Google Play wishlist in case I need more dice and can't find them. I love your seven year old's response regarding throwing a guy across the room. Wookies are awesome. I laughed at "Jeff The Droid" following your other son around and helping out.

@HistoryGuy I will definitely be purchasing the GM screen. My local store said they couldn't order a copy of the Beginner's Game because it wasn't something they could get. The GM screen is a life saver? I'm going to do my best to buy it, along with the other stuff, on payday.

@whafrog Thanks for the character generator!!!

PS: It's New Years Eve and I've had a bit of bourbon. I hope this post was coherent enough to read. XD

Happy New Year folks!!!

I really think that you'd be better served with the AoR GM kit, this is coming from someone who has all three and ran a primarily edge bounty hunter campaign for a few years. The AoR GM screen is just easier to read because of the color contrast, and the adventure has squad/squadron rules that will make your bbeg a lot more survivable. Yeah, PCs focusing their attacks on any one npc will quickly wipe them off the face of the game world, squad rules let's them stick around a little longer

That screen is the only one I don't have. I keep looking for it but I have a hard time finding it. I may just have to break down and order it from my local game store or online. Lol

10 minutes ago, HistoryGuy said:

That screen is the only one I don't have. I keep looking for it but I have a hard time finding it. I may just have to break down and order it from my local game store or online. Lol

That might imply it sells better than the others, which could be interpreted as evidence supportin my assessment of it being the best of the 3. But "might" and "could be" leave quite a bit of room for supposition and interpretation.

Right but it come with a mission which is always good and I have the other two I might as well complete the set. Lol

Along with the good advice here, check out this thread:

Welcome to the hobby, man... some of us have been doing this for 30-40 years, so you can get some really good input here.

For my money, and speaking as someone who did this professionally for more than a few years, the most important thing to remember is that this is essentially collaborative story telling.

That means that everyone at the table is telling the story together. The players aren't just playing in the GM's story, it's being crafted by the table as a whole. Don't get too attached to the narrative that you've planned out, feel free to move story elements or characters or plot points around to better suit what the party is up to, and when they come up with some brilliant or hare-brained idea, roll with it like it was what you planned all along.

I can't tell you how many times I had players come up with much better explanations for a mystery than I ever could have, and I just smiled and nodded like the old sage I was pretending to be... made me look cool, made the players feel like they had uncovered a sinister plot, everyone wins...

Given you post you are new to the hobby entirely, and are planning on GMing this system, I'll give you a few generic bits of advice about trying to herd a group of cats, I mean gamers.

1. Most players will eventually try and go against whatever planned encounter you have set up for that night. You've sculpted this really cool bar scene, that will end in a brawl across the walkways of Coruscant Upper, but they want to go rob a local bank instead. You have this cool NPC that will subtley introduce the party into a daring plot of betrayal and intrigue at the highest levels of local government!!.....and they want to go podracing instead.
This is just something gamers do, and it's ok. This system, more than a LOT of others, is designed to be very GM friendly, and flexible as heck. My advice, is to not try and fully sculpt big scenarios, but instead keep things modular. Have little plot elements that you want to introduce, but set them up so they could be presented to the party in 3-4 different ways. It doesn't HAVE to be the hooded panhandler that's secretly a Jedi Master, it could be the random kid they bump into that's a fan of pod racing, and makes a comment about something going on, giving them the plot hook. Be prepared, by not preparing. I know that sounds counter-intuitive, but it's really not. If you want to tell a specific story, break it up into bite size chunks, and shape those chunks to be interchangeable as much as possible. If they don't get the plot thread before leaving Tatooine, have them bump into a starport floozy in the next sector that is tied to the events more directly. Stuff like that.

2. If your players just completely jump the rails, hook on and go with them. Again, this system is VERY easy to improvise with, and if there is any one skill I think benefits an FFG Star Wars GM more than anything else, it's the ability to roll with the unexpected. If you can become comfortable with what the dice represent, as far as difficulty, and how to add/remove dice based on the changing circumstances, you're 99% of the way to rolling with whatever crazy plan your table goes with.

Update: I've now purchased the Edge of the Empire core rulebook. I have also invested in an additional two sets of dice, plus a copy of Fly Casual and No Disintegrations. Sadly, my local game store did not have the GM screen, nor the beginner's game in stock. However, the books I now own are of the highest standard. The various works of art contained within these fine tomes are simply vibrant and palpable. To my surprise, there are Firespray 31 Patrol and Attack Craft, plus Corellian YT-1300 Light Freighters. This was an equally exquisite inclusion. Also, the galaxy map is gorgeous, which was a excellent addition. I'm incredibly impressed with Fantasy Flight Games and their production of such amazing merchandise. Once again, thank you all for your assistance. I appreciate it immensely. If it had not been for the individuals of this forum, I would have been blissfully adrift in the vast cosmos, never quite confident in what to obtain. Anyway, happy gaming and: May the force be with you...always.

I'm a new GM who ran an interesting begginers game of EotE and Force awakens a little while back and I'm not sure where to go from there. I have the other 2 begginers games too (I may have sprung for everything).

I have a few questions myself about where to go and what to do next. I'd like to run an epic with taking down organizations and major villians, but I think that's a bit much to chew at first... What type of campaign would you recommend I start with? Should I just run the other 2 begginers games? Should I start with AoR, EotE, or F&D? What do you all recommend for a begginer GM and group?

42 minutes ago, ScruffyHanSolo1987 said:

Update: I've now purchased the Edge of the Empire core rulebook. I have also invested in an additional two sets of dice, plus a copy of Fly Casual and No Disintegrations. Sadly, my local game store did not have the GM screen, nor the beginner's game in stock. However, the books I now own are of the highest standard. The various works of art contained within these fine tomes are simply vibrant and palpable. To my surprise, there are Firespray 31 Patrol and Attack Craft, plus Corellian YT-1300 Light Freighters. That was an exquisite surprise. Also, the galaxy map is gorgeous, which was a excellent addition. I'm incredibly impressed with Fantasy Flight Games and their production of such value. Once again, thank you all for your assistance. I appreciate it immensely. If it had not been for the individuals of this forum, I would have been blissfully adrift in the vast cosmos, never quite confident in what to obtain. Anyway, happy gaming and: May the force be with you...always.

Fly casual is in my opinion the best career book in any of the three lines, no disintegrations is also a good deal better than average despite the fact it doesn't live up to the hype we all gave it (myself included), but imho the only ffg sw book that wasnt consieerably better than industry average is leaf by example (commander book from the aor line) but even that was "solid". The next eote books you want are special modifications (one of the better career books in any line) and lords of nal Hutta (totally awesome).

2 minutes ago, SacredRebirth said:

I'm a new GM who ran an interesting begginers game of EotE and Force awakens a little while back and I'm not sure where to go from there. I have the other 2 begginers games too (I may have sprung for everything).

I have a few questions myself about where to go and what to do next. I'd like to run an epic with taking down organizations and major villians, but I think that's a bit much to chew at first... What type of campaign would you recommend I start with? Should I just run the other 2 begginers games? Should I start with AoR, EotE, or F&D? What do you all recommend for a begginer GM and group?

Start with a concept for the campaign, share that with your players, ask them what they want for their characters early and often. I used obligation (on steroids) without rolling for it.... each character had their own side story/subplot and I tried to make progress on the campaign plot and AT LEAST 2 sidestories EVERY session.

One thing that eote has going for it over the other 2 lines is it's perfect for running heists.

Here's the thing about heist adventures, YOU should NOT be planning them, YOUR PLAYERS SHOULD PLAN HEISTS DURING THE SESSION. What you need to do is come up with an objective, a way to introduce the heist objective to the player (quest givibg), the quest giver can also provide them limited info about things protecting the heist objective (the reason the quest giver didn't just walk in and take the heist objective themselves). Then the there are about 3 more acts to the heist: recon (can involve seeking out an individual who has the info/resources that they need), overcoming/circumventing defenses (which are secondary objectives that makes accomplishing the primary objective easier), and then the accomplishing the primary heist objective.

Your job is to plan the defenses, in universe communicate them to the players and then go with whatever semi plausible but hair brained (just crazy enough that it could actually work) plan they come up with to overcome the defenses and accomplish the primary objective, you can even kibitz with them suggest embellishments to their plan. Here's something that may not be as obvious to new GMs, the PCs are supposed to win most of the time, so don't make their opponents and obstacles insurmountable, they can "look tough" but not be impossible for your PCs who are a cut Above the galactic riff raff by the virtue of them being PCs, i.e. the protagonists in the story.

Remember, the game/story belongs to each of your PCs just as much as, if not more than, it belongs to you. NPCs are there to be a foil for the PCs to play off not to upstage/outshine the PCs. While nemesis NPCs can be impressive, they are not the protagonists/the central characters.

Also your campaign doesn't have to involve galaxy shaking events/epic for your PCs to be big honking deals. The Pirates of the Caribbean movies are great examples of grand adventure that is NOT epic (the consequences of the proragonists failing/dying affect very few people)

Wow, thanks Elias! That is some really good stuff there!

9 minutes ago, SacredRebirth said:

Wow, thanks Elias! That is some really good stuff there!

You're welcome. My players really enjoyed this format of heist adventure, some of their favorite sessions, and I think I'm pretty decent at coming up with engaging plots/plot twists. The moral of the story is that player engagement is highest when they have a large creative impact on the story you're collectively telling. In a heist adventure the GM's primary duty is to provide a bare bones narrative structure for players to build off of.

Something like hijacking a slaver convoy, raiding a munitions cache, or a literal heist to steal something... definitely got me thinking!

So, I need is an objective with a hook, a method to introduce the objective, optional secondary objectives to help with main objective(always open to ideas from the group I assume), and defenses for the objective. I then let the group figure out how they want to tackle the objective.

Another burning question I have is about maps. I'm not sure how to handle them (or the lack thereof). Because the beginners game had one, I've never run a session without one, but I'm really bad at drawing. How necessary is it to create and use a map?