I'm not an expert on the Beta book, I don't particular care for Beta testing but its worth noting that there is about 200 pages in the Beta version of the game and over 400 pages in final product. I don't know how much of the rules have changed, but that's a significant page count so I think its safe to assume their was at least a lot of additions.

As for advice, pretty much the same GMing advice that applies to any RPG applies here. I think the only unique aspect of Star Wars Edge of Empires in terms of things you might not be accustomed to is the narrative dice and learning to interpret them and use them for the narrative purpose they are designed for. If you have played Fantasy Flights other system using a similar mechanic (Warhammer Fantasy Role-play 3.0) you will find it familiar, but other then that I'm not aware of any other game that does anything like it.

Perhaps other advisable things might be.

Remember that Edge of Empire is a unique perspective on the Star Wars universe. There might be an instinct to push towards Star Wars story plots involving the foundation of the Star Wars movie stories, but really Edge of Empire is more about all the things you only get a glimpse of in the movies. In many ways books have likely been the primary source of the story content of this particular take on the Star Wars universe. The force for example is really not covered from the Jedi perspective, the Rebellion and Empire aren't really dealt with much. If you try to breach these topics you'll have to draw from other sources and you might find some short comings in terms of class's and class abilities covering such topics. For example their is no Starfighter or Imperial pilot classes, there isn't much coverage for diplomats or politician classes. In essence topics that will/are covered in the Rebellion Era book.

I would also say that the obligation system is really a key function of Edge of Empire and in a way at the heart of core motivation for characters and groups, which is why its one of the first choices you make when creating a character. Unlike most role-playing games where your background is a strictly narrative thing, or is the function of a perk/flaw system that suggests but does not obligate narratives, usually used for mechanical bonuses and penalties the obligation system is at the core a purely narrative mechanic crutch. Almost all obligation are driven by economics where some form of currency is demanded whether its actual credits, or social currencies to some entity like family, obligations of duty or even vengeance. In a sense the obligation mechanic represents an outlining task that you must continually pursue or be pursued by and this should be a very permanent condition for all characters and as a group, one players can never truly escape. I think its important to put obligations center stage, it should be almost disruptive to the players, creeping up at the most inopportune times, always forcing their hand to deal with it.

Finally I would say that Star Wars Edge of Empire story style should be run like a movie rather then an episodic tv show. Now this is just a preference, but Star Wars is a franchise founded in long and wide reaching story where the many characters play roles in a variety of key arcs of the Star Wars tale as a whole in my opinion. Characters should always have long term ambitions that constantly draws them to some grand goal and while in Edge of Empire those goals are more selfish and driven by personal agendas and gains (Obligations), ultimately Star Wars is a story about a Civil War and as such Edge of Empire is the prelude story to a grander adventure. I think for a good Star Wars campaign to have longevity you kind of need to always keep that core arch in mind and in a sense push players slowly but surely to a point where they must eventually choose sides. Else you will end up with a group that will eventually be well equipped, rich and able to overcome their obligations with nothing more on the horizon to strive for. At some point the Empire and the Rebellion must become part of their story which can take some time for you to reach that point but you won't have the luxury of writing new backgrounds for existing characters, their background story will be the one you are running Edge of Empire and so you want to start early. Get them to take a side overtime.

That turned out to be more advice then I expected to give, but that's my two cents.

I'm in the UK, but not England

No advice on the beta itself. As BigKahuna noted, the dice and the interpretation of them is a big change. Here's the thing: now the players get to say what happened. If you're the GM, they get to say how the Threats and Despairs you roll are interpreted, while they get to interpret their own Triumphs and Advantages; vice versa for you.

Recent example: the mechanic in our group was trying to fix the hull of the ship. He failed his roll, but still got a Triumph. His interpretation: "I found a stash of something from the previous owner wedged between hull plates."

Recent example #2: player droid with a flame-thrower is being chased by a clerk droid...imagine 2 C3POs jiggering along at what, for them, is full speed, arms in the air, vocabulators howling. Player droid, losing the chase, turns and fires flame-thrower, massive # of success, plus Advantages, plus a Triumph. The clerk droid is engulfed in flames and careens into traffic where he is hit and explodes into pieces. Droid player says, because he's concerned about he and his group being identified: "I want to spend my Triumph so that the speeder driver who hit the droid thinks it exploded because he hit it." Ergo, no police followup, and later in the news: "Droid explodes on impact, manufacturer pressed to recall the model."

If you've never done this, it will take some getting used to. Some players may try to get more out of an advantage or triumph than is reasonable, so use the handy reference chart to get a sense of scale.

One other thing that I've found difficult to get used to is setting a difficulty. Other games (like D20) you pile on environmental factors until you arrive at a final number. In this game you have to separate the inherent difficulty (purple dice) from environmental effects (setback or boost dice). The reason is some Talents mitigate environmental effects, and if you never use setback dice the Talents become worthless.

Anyway, hope you enjoy. We've been playing roleplaying games since the first D&D boxed set, and I've never seen the kind of enthusiastic response I got from this game, and most of the players aren't even Star Wars fans.

Space hulk and Advanced Heroquest, I remember those, still got my Adv. Heroquest!

I'm in England but in the Midlands.

Can't help with beta book, never had it.

One of my players and I played the beginners game at another group, which is a good way to learn.

Had to teach the system to 5 new players, we created the characters then played with the dice for a bit, practising which dice to pick, what symbols cancel others. Made some example roles out of the game. This helped.

Print out the advantage table for players/ players side of screen, it really helps.

Once you play the basics of the dice are quite easy, most of us understood the dice by our second session.

Have fun!

Hi Guys

Thanks for all the advice I'll address each bit one by one here just to keep it simple.

@BigKahuna - Beta books about 280 pages but has zero artwork or stories so hoping for now its not too different. From reading the black sun adventure I downloaded from the site last night there isn't too much changes but yea I think picking up a core book once we know we like it will be first order of business.

Never played a FFG game before so will take a little getting used to but I love the principle of the system.

And yea totally understand RE Empire/rebellion and movies. To be honest it never entered my head to bring them in other than maybe the odd patrol or smuggling mission. A bunch of us in the group used to play a MMORPG called star wars galaxies that in the earlier days focused more on the general people and not the galactic conflict so they will want me to leave the conflict out mostly and just do general missions anyway. Which works in everyones favour. Once they get more powerful I can sneak in the odd mission.

@Maelora Wales huh? Not to far from me Cardiff's about a 90min drive.

@Whafrog Thanks that's great advice. I'd been thinking about how me as the GM am supposed to interpret the dice with a narrative but hadn't thought about the players doing it. Need to press that home. And yes I can see setting the difficulty to be far more harder in this game. Will take some fine tweaking. Especially as I plan to create a lot of my own scenarios.

@DoctorWhat I thought about getting the beginner game but I figured it'd be just as easy to download the free black sun scenario and do it that way. Its a slightly abridged rule version so should make learning the mechanics nice and fast. We'll play through that then let them start genning characters. The advantage table/players side of the screen, can I find that somewhere to print out? or is it a case of copying/scanning it myself?

After a lot of hunting yesterday I managed to find a copy of the GM set over here so that should help out a lot.

My initial thoughts are actually mirroring a bit of something we used to do in star wars galaxies and a bit of a "campaign" a DM is running for my friend playing D&D in the states. The D&D campaign pits them slightly as mercs for a guildhall taking "jobs" which sometimes are short or sometimes spawn into longer story lines. But this also gives them the ability to chop and change a bit keeping things fresh.

So my idea was to create a "mission terminal" like we had in SWG that will list jobs for them with basic info. Each time we play they will pre choose a job and then play will continue from there. The type of jobs will vary based on their current obligation/criminal standing etc. IE if they have high obligation to gangsters they will be offered more criminal jobs or bounty jobs etc but if they keep their obligation lower they'll be offered jobs more on the level like clearing out dangerous animals, protecting settlements, etc etc. I will also throw in the odd job to allow them to "prove" themselves to people/organisations. IE say they have a high criminal standing but not entirely by choice I'll throw in a short job or two with really low pay to allow them to "prove" themselves to a less criminal bunch of people. If they are willing to do these jobs at discount it'll then prove they aren't all their reputation suggests and then open up jobs from other groups of people or guilds. In time I hope to open up a bunch of mission terminals from various guilds. IE hunters guild, political guild, bounty guild, and so on.

Do you guys think that'll work as a story line? or at least the basis to introduce some?

I'm in the UK based down on the Devon / Dorset Border not far from the Somerset border. Always looking for new people to play with. Have the core book, played a couple of sessions so far and really love the game.

Do you have a regular group going bsycamore? how often do you guys meet? and roughly where are you based?

I printed out on of the cheat sheets I'd found on this forum and used the advantage table from it.

is that one of the ones in here http://community.fantasyflightgames.com/index.php?/topic/85616-compiled-resources-list/ doctor?

I'm from Edinburgh. I've played 5 games with a group of friends so far! I picked up Beyond the Rim today and I can't wait to play it at our next round of EotE this weekend. We just finished the last of the other pre-made campaigns and a small one of my own design.

Luckily, with the Imperial influence in Beyond the Rim, I get to keep my Imperial focus on the game. Nothing like GMing a group of thugs working under the table for an Imperial Officer. There have been so many twists and turns in the game that I had to really think fast on my feet to keep scenarios from completely derailing.

It's been amazing so far and if we keep it up over the next year, they may get a chance to deflect over to the Rebel Alliance with AoR.

It's the Reference Sheets link in Gribble's signature.

I'm in Weston Super Mare. I haven't tried EotE yet but have the rules and the Beginner Box. I definitely want to try playing or running it. My gaming group are currently playing in a saga campaign set pre A New Hope.

At the risk of repeating what you've already covered, I'd still suggest the Beginner Box. The mission is specifically created to gradually ease players into the rules, whereas the one you've download doesn't (or not in my opinion). I played the BB with my Pathfinder/D&D veteran friends, and they all really enjoyed it.

Easy learning curve, yet fun and forgiving.

Just my two cents, mate!

Oh, lastly, let the dice help tell the story.

thanks guys all great advice. And thanks Psychman always good to know of other groups in the area. We only get to play once a month so I'm always on the look out for other groups should I get time to play more.

Watch a abit of this series, they do a good job of playing through the beginner box:

Good luck!

I'm in the UK, in the Midlands currently (Stoke-on-Trent), though might be moving up to Scotland if I manage to net this job I'm after!

I rotate this game with The One Ring, and I think EoE is a slightly better fit for my group. They really like the action and how the dice amp things up. It keeps fights fast paced and interesting. It is a little easy for me to riff off of than tOR anyway.

I live up in Oundle in Northampts at the moment, but probably off to Japan next June.

Based on South Coast Nr Lyme Regis. Current group plays as and when time permits (once in last month).

Another UK player. Based in Pontefract, but regularly game with players in Leeds, Bradford and Shipley.

thanks for the demo video. Sounds like theres a fair few of us about. We'll be playing a game sunday as a trial either the beginners box or the black sun download and then seeing how we go from there.