So the campaign I have ran for over a year ended tonight when the group were all killed. Long story short taken prisoner, tried to escape and died. I wasn't ready for it to happen but it has. I know a few will be going but it doesn't have to be the end. But with crits and the like there were 3/5 dead so as a group we decided to end it.

To my question. I may be going from being the GM to first time player in this system. Any advice people have to hold back on backseat GMing or knowing the enemies too well.

It all depends.

When one of your friends decides to GM the next campaign, how about using another book as the basis? If you played Age of Rebellion, and mostly encountered Imperial soldiers, Imperial starships, and what not, refresh your idea of opponents by going with Edge of the Empire, and now crossing vibroblades with thugs, bounty hunters, and other low-lifes.

Perhaps your campaign was a mix and match already. Why then not try another era? Played a rebellion era game? We now have Clone Wars stuff. And there are plenty adaptations for KOTOR era stuff on the Web (in as far as you don't simply reskin a Stormtrooper into a Sith Trooper, and a TIE Fighter into a Sith Fighter.

Other than that, backseat GMing can only be prevented by you, your own restraint plays a big part here. The new GM does something in a way you would never do that? Count to ten. Swallow. Read a short paragraph of your character background. Just don't react by 'helping' the GM.

5 hours ago, MrTInce said:

I may be going from being the GM to first time player in this system. Any advice people have to hold back on backseat GMing or knowing the enemies too well.

We have a couple GMs in our group, each using different systems. I find it's best (after learning from my younger, more impulsive days) to keep my mouth shut and let the other GM handle any situations, even if I think they're fumbling. The exception is that I'm known as the rule-hound of the group, so sometimes if a GM is unfamiliar with the mechanics they'll directly ask me, and in that case I'll try to give alternatives (because there's almost always more than one way to handle a situation). But other than that, just enjoy the ride.

If you feel like you must be more involved, helping keep track of things like initiative and other time-consuming GM tasks can be helpful; or helping the other players leverage their character's abilities more effectively is often welcome ... though maybe not so much by the other GM...

I feel like whether you are a GM as well or only play you have to be respectful of the GM who is running the game. When I am a player, I try to find out what the Gm's expectations of a player are, and how I can best stay in my lane. I think most GMs dislike metagaming but maybe I'm wrong.

On 6/22/2019 at 3:15 PM, MrTInce said:

So the campaign I have ran for over a year ended tonight when the group were all killed. Long story short taken prisoner, tried to escape and died. I wasn't ready for it to happen but it has. I know a few will be going but it doesn't have to be the end. But with crits and the like there were 3/5 dead so as a group we decided to end it.

To my question. I may be going from being the GM to first time player in this system. Any advice people have to hold back on backseat GMing or knowing the enemies too well.

Make your comments in emails instead of at the table... it'll get you to stop and think carefully about what you say and how you say it.

1 hour ago, EliasWindrider said:

Make your comments in emails instead of at the table... it'll get you to stop and think carefully about what you say and how you say it.

This really. The real trick is to resist the urge to immediately correct the other GM, they will inevitably make mistakes you thought to be so simple. Save any advice to be given until following a session, that way they will be less pressured. Sometimes they will eventually come to favour a different GMing style, or take some time to get truly comfortable.

the main exception is if they ask for your advice, then give it. Otherwise refrain and find other ways to help out, like helping assemble initiatives and take some of the pressure off that person. Personally I feel it's something that should be offloaded more often, and knowing an adversaries cool stat isn't necessarily the most dangerous thing in the world.

I will never suggest using emails to "discuss" such things. The more channels (words, tone, volume, body language, etc.) that you have available the more clearly the message is likely to be sent and received. So in-person > video chat > phone call > text only.

The temptation is to "help". As good-intended as that may be, it is not useful and sort of undermines the current GM (as well as slows the game down). For me, I say pick your times and let the small things slide. Maybe even keep track of how many times you help. Limit it to three, maybe. Save the rest for later. Quite often, people (like me) do not realize how many times they are interjecting.

Sometimes playing a 'one-trick pony' of a character helps with having too much npc knowledge. I mean, you do the same thing every time. i.e. mercenary solves every situation with a gun, a charmer talks his way out. This way you already know what you're going to try to do and do not weigh your options when recalling what their Soak of Willpower is and deciding if it is worth it.

Regarding knowing the NPCs too well... my advice is to play a quirky, flawed character. Then, when you're going up against these NPCs, you have something to focus your decision-making other than their stats and abilities. This will probably mean you're making bad tactical choices, but in my experience, that's what leads to interesting story-telling. After all, your character doesn't know those stat blocks, so stick with what your character would do. Maybe that means staying hidden, maybe it means always closing to melee, maybe it means running from anybody carrying anything larger than a pistol. I have found that the four types of motivation detailed in Genesys (strength/flaw/fear/desire) are a good way to flesh out a character during creation, and it gives a strong starting point for making decisions on that character's behalf.

As for the backseat GMing... some others have said this as well, but talk with your new GM and find out if they want any help from you regarding recalling rules in the book and whatnot. If they don't, then try to talk to them outside game sessions if there are things you have questions about how they implemented. Maybe its just a matter of house rules, and maybe they just didn't remember something from the book. Either way, it's good to clarify.

Finally, one nice thing about the FFG dice is that there's a lot of player input into what threats and advantages do, so take advantage of that to channel some of your GM creativity into really describing the results of your own character's rolls.