I have been compiling a doc with GM tips to remind myself before games. I've gathered tips from here and other forums online. They may not work everyone's games, but I thought I would share them with you and see if you had anything to add to it.

GM Tips

Space Combat

• Describe what players see around them in space to give them options and choose where to fight.
  • Asteroid Field at long range to Starboard, Star Destroyer at medium range to Port, Tie fighters at short range ahead of you, etc.
• Sensors are important
  • Smaller ships with close sensors directed by larger ships with long sensors. You may not see a tie advanced until they are on top of you.
  • Disabling communication can allow you to get away or lose them or stop them from radioing back to base.
• Combat starts outside of weapons range. You shouldn't start combat with "Roll Initiative." Events lead to combat and sensor ranges definitely exceed weapons ranges. Describe what leads to the conflict.
• Make sure players know what they can do and where on the ship they need to do it
• Use narrative dice to give players something interesting to do inside the ship.
  • Two threat means a fire breaks out on the interior under incoming fire, a pipe bursts and hyperdrive is offline, the turret rotation is jammed and needs to be repaired or suffer setbacks to fire, etc.
  • Alarms going off in ship and players need Discipline to act without setback
• Players in a turret CAN aid the other turrets by working in tandem if so desired
• Always try and put the players into an interesting environment and not just empty space
• Can have pilots roll Cool in stressful situations to avoid asteroids or other things.

Ground Combat

• Always try and put the players into an interesting environment- not just sunny and well-lit
• Heavy Arms fire or fear may pin down PCs who would need a Discipline check to act normally.

Describing the Scene

• Try to hint at things players can use
  • Gantry cranes, catwalks, ladders, crates of ordinance, hanging beehives, inactive loader droids, blast doors, computer consoles, etc.
• Encourage players to describe how they see their character performing an action AFTER the results of the roll
• Some players enjoy describing how they finish off an enemy after a successful "kill". Encourage them to describe it rather than doing it for them.
• Ask players for a few details of the environment they are in as they enter.
  • "You enter a hangar and you see x, y, z. What else do you imagine you might see in here?"

Encounter Design

• Room enough for 2 characters to be a Long Range Band from each other.
• Use minion groups in almost every encounter.
• If players have fought these minions before, add a new specialist member of the squad (Heavy weapons guy) and introduce in a cinematic way.
• Use rivals sparingly
• Use Nemesis as boss fights
• Try to split the party in safe ways that allow PCs to use skills they are not good at- “Hit them in the dump stat.”
• Plan “Adventure Paths” that use subsets of underutilized skills. Wilderness, Urban, Mountains, Smuggler’s Moon, Fancy Party, etc.
• Require a cumulative number of success for a dramatic skill check. (IE: 12 success at slicing the door).
• Pre-roll Adversary Initiatives.
• Ensure combat skills aren’t the only skills that can be used in combat.
• Creative Terrain- Spilled supplies, oil slicks, standing water, toxic sludge, fire, distorted gravity – make it memorable!
• Plan out possible Triumph and Despair results ahead of time, using unique qualities of the area.
• Add elevation but make sure it’s accessible.

General

• Add at least one setback dice to any check and ask players what might give boosts
  • Encourages setback removal talents and player-aided narrative elements
• Use a 2 minute egg timer for group decision making if it takes more than a few minutes
• Remember where the dice come from. IE: Opposed red threat might be opponent skills. Black failures might hit the shields. Yellow success come from years of training. Green advantage come from natural agility. Blue success come from an ally helping you out.
• For checks with multiple skill options, don’t give difficulty until players decide what they want to do.
• Encourage players to use leadership at the start of a fight to pass around boosts to allies. (House rule)
• Players can roll Leadership to calm crew members down or combat Fear checks.
• Perception checks may allow a character to act in a surprise round if ambushed.
• Most civilian combatants strike from ambush and run when things look bad
  • Only Imperials or disciplined troops fight to the last man

The Force

• Know PC Force abilities and use narratively in a session
  • Visions, dreams, bad feelings, etc.
    

AWESOME.... I also saw another post about keeping to the spirit of the films - 'What would the audience think?' where the audience is not the players but the imaginary customers for a our script that would become a film/TV show. It took a few games to enforce the 'This Is Not a Shoot and Loot RPG'

Yup I always roll a bank of initiaves for planned encounters and any possible Threat/Despair outcomes - usually a minion group or bounty hunter sent by a disgruntled enemy, Docking bay inpectors etc definitly speeds it up

30 minutes ago, ExpandingUniverse said:

AWESOME.... I also saw another post about keeping to the spirit of the films - 'What would the audience think?' where the audience is not the players but the imaginary customers for a our script that would become a film/TV show.

This makes it easier to plan out campaign/sessions. Definitely would add to your pre-game checklist. ("Does this sound like something I would see in Star Wars the Clone Wars or Rebels? If not, what can I do to make it closer resemble them?")

1 hour ago, ianinak said:

The Force

• Know PC Force abilities and use narratively in a session
  • Visions, dreams, bad feelings, etc.

This is one I need to really work on. I think the best way to understand a type of character is to play as one. That way you know what type of situations might give them something to do where another situation might make them useless. It is hard to see these situations until its too late sometimes, but playing as a character you will remember, "I hated these situations because of x so I should probably do z so that the force users can contribute."

Great summary. Very combat and "structured time" heavy, so might I add:

• Social conflict: know your NPCs, their goals and preferences. The more important the NPC, the more goals and/or preferences:
  • The shopkeeper the PCs just met really wants to unload the crate of stolen blasters in his back room. But he's not sure the players aren't undercover cops. The more belligerent they are, the more suspicious he will be, so adjust Coercion accordingly
  • The gang leader the PCs just met wants to win a local turf war (obvious goal). Peaceful coexistence is a bonus, but obliteration is on the table. He and the other leader swapped their kids as a form of MAD (mutually assured destruction), but things are getting out of hand. Now, his ward got away, and he thinks the other side killed his kid (they tried, but didn't...yet). So his sub-goals are nuanced and dangerous to know, because knowing them could compromise his situation, but played right they will reap much higher rewards. (Totally stolen from Fargo, Season 4 )
• Chases:
  • The chase need not be in structured time, the important thing is to keep regular story beats
  • Any skill can be used in a chase, let the players be creative, but also hit them where they don't excel. Charm could be used to convince a local to find a shortcut, Negotiation says "5cr to point in the other direction", Resilience to keep up the pace, Ranged or Mechanics to blow open a door, etc

1 hour ago, whafrog said:

• • Any skill can be used in a chase, let the players be creative, but also hit them where they don't excel. Charm could be used to convince a local to find a shortcut, Negotiation says "5cr to point in the other direction", Resilience to keep up the pace, Ranged or Mechanics to blow open a door, etc

I just wanted to add to this that I generally give the PC(s) a choice between two (sometimes more) options, also telling them what the pursuer will have to do to keep up.

So: "Athletics to keep just running straight, or you can make a Stealth check to weave your way through the building on your right. The pursuer will have to make a Perception check to follow you through the building."