...I'll start off with just a simple one.

My group just played three adventures from the beginner set. Even though we are all avid board gamers, none of us have ever tried an RPG. We got the basics of the game fleshed out but couldn't agree on when an actual adventure was over and if you could do anything once the goal has been achieved.

Example: We kill the Gamorreans from the catina in mission one, which would end the mission. However, we want to loot the bodies. Can we do this even though technically the mission is over? Are situations like this usually left up to the GM?

Thanks

It's all up to the GM. It's not like in video games where you're done with a quest and move on. This all story based. You can tell your gm that you chose to loot the bodies. It is then up to the gm to allow or deter the pc.

It's all open ended. Rather than thinking of it as a game, think of it as a story that is told using a set of rules. So if you take out the Gamorreans in the cantina, then the GM decides how much time you have before the next group come knocking. You as players then work out your next move. And if your next move is running at the gates and out of Mos Shuuta, rather than going for the ship in the hangar, so be it!

As others have said, this is not a linear and limited form of gameplaying, it's quite the opposite. For example, there is nothing to stop the players from trying to convince the Gamorreans to join them and run straight to the Hutt's palace and try to loot the place. Of course, if they succeeded that would be a nightmare for the GM, who probably isn't prepared for that...but the point is that many possible options other than what is written in the module are possible. What is being told is a story that has yet to unfold completely. The GM is responsible for setting the initial scene and the broad plot, and ideally has goals in mind for the players; while the players are responsible for trying to fulfill their character's goals and contribute to the story in their own way.

One of the main challenges of being a GM is keeping the story from being derailed as the players all pursue their own ideas. You can't force them to do what you want, you just have to make it seem like the best possible idea

I adapted the Beginner Box fully aware that my players were going to deviate from the proper story. They decided ... to steal ... the Lambda shuttle. But I was prepared!

As far as finding a time/place in a game to stop or take a break before the next episode, a good rule of thumb is to have a rest after a major encounter, a point when there will be a lull in the story, or when the characters need some down time. This needn't be IRL down time required. I have run sessions as short as three (3) to five (5) hours in length to as long as ten (10) to twelve (12) -- yeah, those were epic times in college!

If you're playing episodic storylines, then you want the stopping point to be when the events in the episode feel at an end, prepping for the next adventure, or at a cliffhanger! Use the original trilogy as a guide, or even the Clone Wars CG series for two distinctively different story styles.

Thanks for all of the replies. We actually ended up doing basically what everyone suggested. Once we get more comfortable with having endless possible play options, I can see our group doing some ridiculous stuff. (Which is going to be a nightmare for a new GM).

@deeachur, we played for three hours and thought that was a long time. Now I feel old.