I am running the beginner game in a few weeks with some friends. One or two of them has played a role playing game but the rest including myself who will be the GM have never done this before. I was wondering if anybody had any tips to run this thing? I am planning on just running it like the adventure book says since it adds the layers of mechanics nicely to teach everyone the concepts at play. I just want to make sure this is fun so they would be interested to play the full version.

Well I can't offer much advice in terms of running Star Wars Edge of Empire specifically since I just recently joined a game as a player. That said I have been running a variety of games, even other Star Wars games for years.

Rule of thumb is, relax. Role-playing games aren't board games, its not about the rules, its not about keeping pace or trying to get "done", the GM doesn't win or lose, neither do the players. Its a social game and its all about enjoying the company, getting into the spirit of the game by jumping into character, seeing and thinking through their eyes and above all else its about being heroic rather then tempered. This goes for both the GM who runs the NPC's, in particular the bad guys and the players running the heroes.

As a Star Wars game you want to make sure your players understand that Star Wars characters and the Star Wars movies are the inspiration for their characters, in fact, in many ways, the beginner set adventure is an extended scene right out of the movies and the pre-made characters are made in that spirit. They should be bold risk takers. In a way Star Wars as a setting is a bit over the top, with relatively unrealistic scenes and results, which the rules for this game support. Blowing up a death star is all in a days work in the Star Wars universe and you should use that as a reference when GMing.

I'm sure your also looking for more practical advice. My own personal checklist would look something like this.

1. Be prepared, know the material like the back of your hand.

2. Keep all the players engaged, if someone is looking bored, pull them in by involving them, or better yet making them the center of a scene.

3. Be ready to diverge from your prepared adventure, never railroad players.

4. Remember its a game about encounters, hence keep the encounters coming. Encounters are not just combat however, in fact they usually are not. Good GMing is all about creating encounters with interesting characters, challenges and situations.

5. Write things down. When a player does something that might be useful for you in a future adventure write it down, since you don't know what that will be, write lots of stuff down and figure it out later.

6. Let players direct scenes, you don't always have to be the one that tells them what the results of a roll mean. When they succeed, or surpass success, let them describe the scene and the results.

That's the short version.. I could probably make a 100 of these.

If this is infact the beginner guide you're going to play, there is a point where they can avoid a fight with the spaceport droids outside and inside the control center, the stormtroopers outside, as well as the droids and the slaver, either because they're really crafty or sneaky.

I would force an encounter with the stormtroopers if they've been combat-lite thus far.

Why?

My players played very sneakily and avoided most of the combat, then ended up saying it was "combat-lite" - which was in the end their own fault, but it made me wish I had forced a couple other combat encounters.

Lastly, just have fun and let the dice help tell the story.