A little confused about advantage and threat

By Chimpy, in Star Wars: Edge of the Empire RPG

Posted at

Howdy, I hope this is the correct forum to post in

My core rulebook has just arrived, and I'm looking forward to running my first game as soon as I can.

However I'm a little nervous about the advantage/threat mechanic. I really like that the idea of not necessarily having a black and white success or failure, but are the results of this normally improvised? I'm very much a GM who likes to have as much detail written down beforehand - I like to be prepared.

I'm curious as to whether published material makes it clear the consequences of advantage or threat when a check is called for?

Cheers

Posted at

Howdy, I hope this is the correct forum to post in

My core rulebook has just arrived, and I'm looking forward to running my first game as soon as I can.

However I'm a little nervous about the advantage/threat mechanic. I really like that the idea of not necessarily having a black and white success or failure, but are the results of this normally improvised? I'm very much a GM who likes to have as much detail written down beforehand - I like to be prepared.

I'm curious as to whether published material makes it clear the consequences of advantage or threat when a check is called for?

Cheers

It is very much a situational, improvisational thing, yes. For example, Threat could trigger very different consequences if a player were firing at a stormtrooper in the middle of a crowded marketplace vs. in the middle of a plasma reactor chamber.

But don't worry, all is not lost! The book (and GM screen) both include a sort of framework for how much Threat and Advantage are 'worth' to the narrative. For instance, in the plasma reactor scenario above, a single Threat might warrant a setback die to the slicer who's trying to shut the thing down, whereas 3 Threat might result in a much more hazardous coolant leak.

Posted at

It is very much a situational, improvisational thing, yes. For example, Threat could trigger very different consequences if a player were firing at a stormtrooper in the middle of a crowded marketplace vs. in the middle of a plasma reactor chamber.

But don't worry, all is not lost! The book (and GM screen) both include a sort of framework for how much Threat and Advantage are 'worth' to the narrative. For instance, in the plasma reactor scenario above, a single Threat might warrant a setback die to the slicer who's trying to shut the thing down, whereas 3 Threat might result in a much more hazardous coolant leak.

"Hey, Ryan, be careful what you shoot at. Most things in here don't react too well to bullets."
To the point of the OP, yeah, it can be a bit daunting at first when you're used to stuff like D20, as I am. But, as you read more examples, you start to get the hang of it. In the beginner, game, I had a guy using a male-ified Sasha as his character. He stood on the stage near the stage right wall and started firing at the gamorreans with his slugthrower rifle. He rolled a net success and a single threat. So, I said that he tagged the guard, but he didn't take care of his position, and, when the rifle ejected the casing, he was too close to the wall. The hot casing bounced back and hit him in the face (take 1 strain).
I highly recommend the Order 66 podcast (even if I never listen to it). The Skill Monkey segments and Episode ... 10, I think, are all good things to listen to in order to get some ideas and "prime the pump" as it were.

Edited by Lickintoad