Hey folks,

I've just posted my video review of Edge of the Empire and I wanted to share it here. You can check it out at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3rB9zoVFpec !

Feedback is appreciated.

Two thumbs up. Short, to the point and humurous without becoming corny. I even learned something (about the Tie fighters).

I have run through the begginer game with two groups and both got through the last scene. It was hairy and edge of the seat stuff as the tie fighters were getting the upper hand but they managed to get into hyperspace before getting blown up. I think the scene was meant to be tougher to give them that sense that they shouldnt be sticking around to fight it out. Did your groups pilot use the available maneuvers? We found those gave an edge to their ship. Also the mechanic was good at repairing damage, keeping that nucket of bolts flying. So good review but respectfully disagree about the last scene.

My experiences line up with DVeight. My characters actually offed the TIEs pretty quickly. We had three PCs. The book advised using two TIEs (a single flight) for that number of PCs. However, since I know that a full flight of TIEs is actually three TIEs, they went up against three. I was rolling like crap, too, so that helped. The lead got blown up pretty fast, and it was actually the TIE in the second position that was the hero of the day, scoring the only hit against the PCs, and activating its linked system for more damage. Of course, it blew up shortly after that.

The book mentioned running them like minions, but I ran them separately. So, they didn't get any proficiency dice, but they got more opportunities to hit the ship. Honestly I just wanted to use my X-Wing minis as visual aids.

Also, in part 2, you mentioned that PCs and NPCs can switch slots only at the start of combat. In fact, initiative slots are not claimed by a specific character until that character acts. PCs and NPCs can shift their order every round if they want. Every round, the team will determine themselves who goes in which slot, so the combat is somewhat fluid in that regard.

We had a full group of four, so every 'slot, was taken up. The pilot and mechanic did everything they could, too.

We were really specifically following the rules to the letter - mostly to simulate a group of total newbies playing an RPG for the first time. If we weren't, I'd of changed things up midway through the encounter. When the Tie fighters got the jump on them, the first shot they fired rolled 3 extra successes. That was reduced by armour, and became 6 damage. The linked special rule meant they got a second hit which inflicted the same damage.

thats pretty horrific given the players only have 22 wounds! Basically, the gunners failed to kill a squadron in their turn and were blown away to kingdom come in response. They couldn't have escaped if they'd tried. Despite all that, I thought space combat seemed really fun.

I wasn't aware that initiative could be traded like that - does it say that in the beginners rules, or is it in the beta book?

ThatGrumpyScotsman said:

Both, actually. Since you were using the Beginner Game, I'll cite that. In the Adventure, it's on page 18 in the Determine Initiative sidebar. It's expanded in the rulebook on page 13. Steps 3 and 4, specifically. It's kind of easy to miss, as it's worded a bit ambiguously. Step 1 is to create the initiative order. Step 3 is to go through the initiative, with PCs and NPCs choosing who goes when. Step 4 says to go back to step 3 on the next round, so everyone gets to choose again, but the PC/NPC order remains the same.

Cool. I like that.

7.5/10. Nothing special.

I was playing in that session and it really was a case of being blasted by a couple of good dice rolls by the GM, our players were also struggling to hit in return.

We are going to do a podcast, hopefully today, discussing the session. When thats out we will post a link.

Kaihlik

It was an amusing review, and presented the material in an interesting way for folks that aren't already familiar with the system.

As for the TIE fighter encounter, I've heard of other GMs having it be a serious nail-biter, a total death trap (like yours), or the PCs having an easy time of it.

I've run the adventure twice so far (once with five players using the pre-gens, once with five players using PCs made via the Beta+Update rules), and both groups survived the TIE encounter, with the second group having a much easier time of it, possibly as the second group had already played an EotE session (I ran an EotE-updated version of "Rendezvous at Ord Mantell") so they already had a decent grasp of the rules. Of course, I ran the TIEs in minino groups of two, and I think the Krayt Fang as a Linked laser cannon of it's own, so the PC manning the guns managed to slag one of the two TIE groups in the opening round. I think also I had the TIEs start from Medium range in both sessions, and so their "surprise round" was moving to Close Range so that they could shoot the PCs' ship on the next round.

Of course, what probably also helped the second group is one PC was playing an Astromech (check out the GSA and look for Heroes on Demand: R2-B08 for a pretty good idea how this PC was made) and he was able to install the HRMI in no time flat with a pair of Triumphs. Then again, I also didn't spend any Destiny Points as the GM, as the PCs had already had their climactic encounter (Encounter 6) previously.

So I guess that last encounter can fall into "your results may vary."

I really enjoyed your review. As for the TIEs, the rebel pilots learned quickly not to get hit. The Falcoln almost didn't survive a similar encounter in Episode 4. My group had some tense moments but a well rolled Triumph was spent to have the ship from Firefly show up and knock out a T"IE fighter. The odds improved.

Garrett

I really enjoyed your review. As for the TIEs, the rebel pilots learned quickly not to get hit. The Falcoln almost didn't survive a similar encounter in Episode 4. My group had some tense moments but a well rolled Triumph was spent to have the ship from Firefly show up and knock out a T"IE fighter. The odds improved.

Garrett

Donovan Morningfire said:

It's the Linked trait that does it, imho, I think rather than autodamage, it should just give another attack die roll. My son's crew ended up with 1 HP left on the ship, then Oskara rolled a triumph, which I allowed to be spread across the two remaining TIEs…otherwise I'm sure they wouldn't have escaped.

We finally made podcast discussing the session from the OP. Due to schedules it took us alot longer than we anticipated to organise. Let us know what you think as we want to try and do more of these.

Kaihlik