Okay, maybe that's too much but...

I had the pleasure of introducing this game to some casual gamers last night, and it was a rousing success. We all saw E4 when we were 14, so you can imagine how old we are. Nobody but me is really into SW, but obviously the basics are known to everyone...there are Hutts, and the Empire, and those ball-and-wing fighters, and Luke I am your father. So far so good.

One of my friends is a little more open than the others, and we'd already played through the beginner set up to the point of capturing the Krayt Fang. It was probably his enthusiasm that helped sell it to the others. I decided to start with them just taking off in the Krayt Fang with the TIEs bearing down: no decisions, just survival. A bit railroady, but "learning by doing" seemed better to me. In any case, these guys went from "what are these numbers for on my character sheet" to assembling their own dice pool and pondering a destiny point flip fluently in about 30 minutes. What they most enjoyed was everybody got to do something, everyone was interested in everyone else's results, but the best part was seeing it click when they realized they got to decide what happens with Triumphs and Advantages. When the mechanic got a net failure, yet a Triumph, when trying to repair the hull, and the player decided he'd "found a secret stash of something nestled between two hull plates", I knew they were hooked.

What I loved about this is how the stash became a plot device. They found Bura Ban in the ship and freed him. Later, when they discovered the stash was a small amount of spice, the Pash player decided to try and Charm Bura Ban to see if he knew anybody who could distribute it. (my only secret GM roll of the game...he didn't want any part of it, but did know someone) Net roll: Failure, but with both Triumph *and* Despair. So over the course of the trip to Ryloth Bura Ban warms up to the characters and slowly Pash zeroes in on who might be able to help, but then Bura Ban gets wise to what he's up to, and warns them there will be fatal consequences if they try to use that contact...if they figure out who it is. Oskara has a suspicion which if correct will get them a good price (Triumph), but their whole "sure, we'll repair your ship if you return me to Ryloth" alliance is in question (Despair).

Post game there was a lot of talk of how refreshing this system is, and there were a lot of unflattering comparisons made against other games. For these casual players who just want to jump in, it's perfect. No "opportunity attacks unless you make a certain kind of move", no waiting forever while somebody else rolls to hit, no "oh, it's space combat, I don't have anything to do". I've never seen a game get this kind of reaction. And the fact that it was SW wasn't even a negative for these non-fans. They even got into the difficulties of Bura Ban missing half his lekku, and the Kubaz preference for insectoid lifeforms.

EDIT: I missed a part, a concept which will seem alien to those who are into character development and advancement. These casual players don't really care about that, and it occurred to me that other than maybe some skill advancement here and there just to get a sense of progression, we could keep playing at the current level of skill and still have a rousing good time. The plots, descriptions, and shenanigans are what make it fun.

Okay, end fan rant...but the system greatly contributed to an enjoyable evening hosting, and I appreciate the favour.

I had the same thing happen. Two people who enjoy Star Wars but are by no means major fans really got into it with everyone else. So much so that one player who was just filling in for the second Beginner Game session is now joining our soon-to-be full game.

I have a mix of experienced and new/inexperienced roll players and there was never a disconnect between them. Everyone learned the system at the same rate and had a blast doing it.

Most of my players are actors or filmmakers so we really get into detailed cinematic descriptions of actions. It's great fun.

I had ran the Beginner adventure myself, but it was clearly too railroady for my tastes. I started them at side room at the Hutt Palace. A protocol droid walked in and began talking, "Teemo the Hutt has called you here to collect on what you owe him. He intends to turn you over to imperial troops as soon as they land. The bounties on your heads do not specify whether you must be turned over dead or alive... *wall with Gamorean guards behind it slowly rises* As Teemo is a gambler, he will allow you a small head start before sending his guards to subdue you." The players looked at each other, "We run!"

The players had a blast with the adventure and enjoyed how it ran. I railroaded them to Cantina. *sigh* But other than that they went along, and did it their way.

When I played in beta I also found that ALL the players (not just whose turn it is) were more engaged and less checking phones/laptops etc. I love the advantage/threat & triumph/despair systems so that its not just binary pass/fail system, and that makes for some really FUN cinematic moments. Lastly the assist system also works great and helps foster teamwork.

Awesome Story.

Good post, Whafrog! I love reading these. I think we can all agree this is a pretty awesome game. No offense to Iron Kingdoms but this is my RPG of the year, i don't care what the ENnies say.

Awesome story

Until the moment, from my point of view, Edge represent more SW scenes than any other RPG game. FFG tried to create a system that fits on most SW scenes to create a more accurated experience.

Classical d20 isn't a good SW scene adaptation because only was a "D&D Jedi versión". Saga went a bit further with an specific system for SW but based on a d20 system. Much better than d20 but not enough.

Also we've got the old D6. Well, in that era RPG where too young XD D6 had a lot of great ideas and the thing I loved from him: Absolute flexibility. I camed from WEG LotR where everything was calculated and stated or almost.

No true simulators until now. I have to say that the cinematics aspects from Edge gives tons of advantage because "some scenes must have a cinematic interpertation" but, until the moment, made me feel more immersed un SW "mechanics" than other ones.

I've been a fan of this narrative-with-cool-dice system since Warhammer. The Star Wars edition really cleaned it up and made it much stronger and easier to grasp for a newb. I so HOPE the awesomeness of this system catches on a much larger scale. It would be great for the dying RPG industry if this system became nearly as well known as d20. This system encourages role-playing versus roll-playing. Thus, it has the ability to get some of the old enchantment of RPGs back to the forefront and help out the RPG industry in general that is being battered by MMOs changing what most people think an RPG is. If a younger generation is fed on this system, or even clones of it, they might get what a true RPG is supposed to be more easily as opposed to expecting and receiving a non-computer form of WoW, trying it for a minute, then going back to the MMO.

FFG get your marketing campaign rolling!

I agree the whole advantage/threat system is great fun. Last night night our little band on Ryloth were flunking attack rolls but with shedloads of advantage. I could easily picture our opponents frantically diving for cover to avoid barrages of wildly inaccurate blaster fire!

I love this system but it isn't the only system I love. There are other great systems out there op.

One thing this game does is really speak to the casual player. Unfortunately the big two games recently (D&D and Pathfinder, and the Star Wars Saga edition falls into this camp as well) aren't really casual player friendly. I think game companies are starting to take more notice of the casual player.

I had ran the Beginner adventure myself, but it was clearly too railroady for my tastes. I started them at side room at the Hutt Palace. A protocol droid walked in and began talking, "Teemo the Hutt has called you here to collect on what you owe him. He intends to turn you over to imperial troops as soon as they land. The bounties on your heads do not specify whether you must be turned over dead or alive... *wall with Gamorean guards behind it slowly rises* As Teemo is a gambler, he will allow you a small head start before sending his guards to subdue you." The players looked at each other, "We run!"

The players had a blast with the adventure and enjoyed how it ran. I railroaded them to Cantina. *sigh* But other than that they went along, and did it their way.

Nicely done, I too found the beginner adventure too railroady. For new people to rpg's it is great, but for experienced gamers, not so much.

I like your changes, and given Teemo's love for gladiatorial combat, make total sense. Picture the movie Running Man, Teemo could be taking bets on how long the group can last, never expecting them to make it off the planet. Suddenly his sporting event becomes a personal vendetta, as the PC's have embarrassed Teemo by outsmarting him and cost him easy credits(payouts to those who bet in favor of the PC's)

Speaking of other games being sad, I came back from GenCon with both Numenera and 13th Age in hand, and it's amuzing for me to note that both games use almost the exact same abstracted "range-band" system that first appeared in WFRP3E and is now in EotE.

Also, 13th Age has a mechanic in which, at the start of each session, there's a dice roll to see if any player's icon relationship might effect the game and cause a complication or some other interaction, very much like how Obligation works in EotE.

Now, I don't know which came first in these observations so I'm not crying copycat, but maybe the way for other games to not be sad is by doing similar things to EotE. It seems like Edge of the Empire is a vanguard, or at least an early herald, of a whole wave of narrative-driven triple-A RPGs that we're seeing now. It's a trend I'm personally thrilled to see.

I think the trend in the past few years has been to move to more abstract than the overwhelming details of the d20 systems, for example. Dungeon World and Numenera, for example, don't even have the GM rolling. So, I think it's more of a case of the industry as a whole moving away from mind-numbing / roleplay stifling rules heavy rulesets to more freeform and abstract. I'm sure in a few years it'll swing a bit back the other way when the industry wants more exacting and tactical games.

They want to sell miniatures XD

That too Though hopefully we won't replace miniatures with special dice required for every new system.

I think the trend in the past few years has been to move to more abstract than the overwhelming details of the d20 systems, for example. Dungeon World and Numenera, for example, don't even have the GM rolling. So, I think it's more of a case of the industry as a whole moving away from mind-numbing / roleplay stifling rules heavy rulesets to more freeform and abstract. I'm sure in a few years it'll swing a bit back the other way when the industry wants more exacting and tactical games.

This is a good shift! I play in a weekly pathfinder group, and GM in a different EotE group, so I can appreciate both styles of play. However d20 is extremely challenging for new players, and I doubt I would of stuck with it if my best friend from high school hadn't invited me to join their group. We also have a great DM, who helps a lot with suggestions and useful info. But as a system on itself, d20 doesn't do new players any favors.

No, they were basically trying to get all the people that played D&D in it's heyday back, and so they didn't want to make changes that were too drastic from the old system, so right off the top it was meant for experienced players, not new ones. One of the things that I remember they were trying to do (could be wrong here as my memory is starting to suck) was to make sure that the gameplay was consistent across the board (ie, you could play at someone's house and then go to someone else's and the rules would be the same). Since the earlier editions were much more freeform, there were a lot of houserules so they decided to basically put in rules for EVERYTHING so there was consistency. While I applauded that at the time, in the end, one of my players who had been playing D&D since the beginning like me, just gave up as he felt he couldn't roleplay anymore as there were too many rules to follow. He is enjoying this system a lot

I never understood the need to tear down other games to say how much you like [insert new game].

Sorry, I'm not trying to do that and apologize if it seems that way. I can (and DO) enjoy the aspects of different systems, and actually that was something that made me a little sad in the d20 days - everyone was converting to it. I liked having different systems for different games because then it felt like I was playing a different game, not reskinned D&D. Also, different systems had different strengths and weaknesses that one could try to steal / convert for other games.

I never understood the need to tear down other games to say how much you like [insert new game].

I think just by nature, human beings are competitive. Maybe that instinct is a holdover from when we were competing over food and it literally meant life or death.

The comparing of favorite games, and the resulting tear-down that usually follows, reminds me of how sports fans say their favorite team is the best and yours sucks. Perhaps RPGs compete against one another for your interest and your money in the same way sports team compete against each other for victories?

Okay, that's a terrible analogy, but I'm trying

OP, you give me hope with this game! Yesterday I bought the Beginner Game without even knowing if my group will play and without having any experience in RPGs whatsoever.

But EotE caught my eye and being FFG I was more than tempted. So I bought it, 30 bucks is a nice entry price to try a game. The starter box is filled with useful stuff and the "learn as you play" scenario is a great idea.

In a couple hours when I get off work i'm going to grab the HC book. I still didn't played the game but just want to own it. It looks like a great book just to watch lol. I also ordered the GM set so I'll have everything EotE there is...without even knowing if i'll play a single game.

Lol thanks FFG

Awesome story

Until the moment, from my point of view, Edge represent more SW scenes than any other RPG game. FFG tried to create a system that fits on most SW scenes to create a more accurated experience.

Classical d20 isn't a good SW scene adaptation because only was a "D&D Jedi versión". Saga went a bit further with an specific system for SW but based on a d20 system. Much better than d20 but not enough.

Also we've got the old D6. Well, in that era RPG where too young XD D6 had a lot of great ideas and the thing I loved from him: Absolute flexibility. I camed from WEG LotR where everything was calculated and stated or almost.

No true simulators until now. I have to say that the cinematics aspects from Edge gives tons of advantage because "some scenes must have a cinematic interpertation" but, until the moment, made me feel more immersed un SW "mechanics" than other ones.

I completely agree. I think Edge feels more like Star Wars than any of the previous games. I'm currently in a d20 Star Wars game with a group and I just hate the system. It just does not capture the feel of Star Wars for me. I did like WEG d6 game back in the day but was never completely happy with it. I absolutely love Edge.

I wouldn't go so far as to say other games are sad... other games have their uses too.

But its pretty clear to me that EOTE has nailed narrative play.

I never understood the need to tear down other games to say how much you like [insert new game].

You're probably referring to my OP, and for a bit I'm going to pretend I don't get your point. All experience is relative. I've tried plenty of other games, and enjoyed them as well, but the reaction to this one has been unanimously positive, and most importantly, the players want more. In my experience that's unprecedented. Usually, after hours of bogging down on one fight, or casual players having to make myriad pointless and minor decisions about character development (do I pick Point Blank Shot, or Power Strike?) the interest wanes.

There's another side context you wouldn't know about, and that is that myself and one friend are always exploring new rulesets and shifting our campaigns to incorporate them. This has caused no end of consternation among our more casual-gaming friends because they don't want to have to learn a new ruleset every time, and yet everyone remains dissatisfied with what we're running.

So in the context of my experience, comparison to other games is a necessity.

That said, I do get your point, my title was a bit hyperbolic...chalk it up to enthusiasm. Plenty of people enjoy other games, I'm certainly not judging them or their tastes.

This system encourages role-playing versus roll-playing.

I agree with most of what you said - especially about the system being friendly to new/casual gamers - but this statement is just so absurd I had to point it out. If it takes a system of rolling dice to get you to put role before roll, well...