Actually I think this would be the perfect opportunity for a player in my EotE campaign who is thinking of GMing to give it a go!

I just hope they make it more CB rules rather than what almost seems like another game. The characters in EotE BB weren't even full characters.

What do you mean "not full"?

The characters have some mutated form of Career/Specialization type thing.

They are built to make people learn the game quickly so of course they would be different from final characters...

I'll be buying at least two copies. This is perfect, because it'll give me another opportunity to try to sell my gaming group on FFG Star Wars.

Well, I was thinking of getting an extra set of dice, but I guess that I will wait to get dice and an adventure and a map and other fun stuff, cool.

Will I buy the BB ? Certainly.

But while the BB in the ruleset is fine for teaching the game, I think that the one used in the Free RPG Day adventure gives a more accurate taste of the core game.

What I'd at least wish FFG to add to the AoE BB is a simple conversion folio that ease the transition from BB characters and rules, to core game.

My group wanted to keep the EotE BB characters and we had a full session dedicated to applying the necessary changes with the rulebook. It was almost as complex as a full character creation process due to the lack of suggestion and the goal of keeping the character's background intact.

Interesting especially interested in knowing what maps are included.

I'm about to try and rant in a matter-of-fact, neutral but still soap-boxy kind of way. This is intended as a gentle reminder that everyone needs to start somewhere, and FFG is trying to sell those people something.

So...

Speaking as someone who led my group through the EotE BB, continuing into Long Arm before finally making the transition to CB Rules, I liked the way FFG approached this.

Viewed as a "gateway" game for people who are not as experienced at RPGs as some of us are, this presented a really good skeleton of the system in a format that was easily digestible. Yes, it's on a rail, and yes there is hand holding, but if you really think about what a fundamental shift this is in system approach, there are folks out there who need that to get into this game. Veterans included.

My group is a good cross-section of the community. We have veteran gamers, a true noob and a tabletop guy who has just gotten into RPGs after years of circling the hobby.

When I brought this to them, they were excited, but when I started to talk about the system, their faces grew somewhat...distant...

We ran the BB, and we continued into LAotH. They absorbed the core mechanic and got used to the level-less XP advancement system as well as talents, etc. Hunky-dorey. The BB approach worked.

When we finally sat down to create our own party, they had it all figured out, and I just sat there as a reference.

The benefit of the simplified system is such that I expanded on critical hits and healing, introduced the few expanded skills, and then got down and dirty into Obligation. They were able to absorb all of this quite easily because they already had the fundamental knowledge of the game and its approach. Again, the BB did its job.

The point of all of this is that I have noticed a little bit of...whining about how this AoR BB will likely mirror the EotE BB in terms of simplified rules and modified pre-gens. I hope it does, and I trust that the FaD BB will do the same.

This makes sense when you consider that the title of the product reads BEGINNER.

FFG gets three shots at pulling new players into their game. And I mean NEW. Players who have perhaps never played an RPG before. This is obviously what they hope for, since both the EotE BB and CRB have those introduction stories which explain what an RPG is, and how this particular iteration works, as if they are speaking to someone who really has no idea what all of this stuff is about in the first place. When you consider that this is a new Star Wars product, there will be a lot of new customers out there who are picking up those boxes and considering getting into a whole new world with a new fantastic point of view (heh heh).

I think that we as a consumer base have to maintain perspective here. Each game is created as a stand alone product which may be integrated if you choose. That means that each game gets a BB, and each game gets a CB that will likely have a lot of the same information as its siblings. Everything written three times, likely with almost exactly the same layout and phrasing, modified only slightly to reflect the setting.

If you are like me, and now have a grasp of the system and how it works, and your group has gleefully plunged into the depths of the Core system, then skip this and wait for the AoR CB. Simply put, they are not making these BBs for you. They are making them for the guy in front of you in the grocery store. The one who grew up on SW, but never tried D&D. The one whose kids grew up on all six films and the Clone Wars, and have just noticed this shiny new box at the FLGS where they get family board games and Poke-Yu-Gi-Digi cards.

I will buy this because I want the maps, tokens and adventure. I want the additional set of dice and shiny pre-gen folios which I will likely use as NPCs later on. I will buy it because I really like this new system and setting, and I went squee when I saw the announcement. I do not however, feel entitled to some sort of "Intermediate box," because I can accept the business strategy that FFG has decided on, and understand that as a now experienced EotE participant, I am no longer the person they are trying to sell this product to.

I will agree that a transition/conversion sheet or support PDF would be great, to help those who want to move pre-gens into the full version would be extremely helpful. I do feel that would be better suited as an inclusion with the Core game system, as opposed to inclusion in the BBs. That is a platform better left to plugging the core system.

I mean no offence in the above rant, but I felt the need to express my frustration at some of the observations made about this new product. I'm done now, and hope that for those who held on til the end, that this has offered a bit of perspective to help keep this great new system a positive experience for all who are playing, and those getting involved in the future.

whew.

Hi polyheadronman,

I appricate what you have wrote and think that it boils down to starter sets philosophy, with no right or wrong - rather personal taste.

The FFG approach sounds similar to the D&D 4th starter sets in spirit - i.e. limited ruleset with pre-gens and mainly support for the GM to run the game and teach the players.

On the other side is the Paizo approach, like the D&D basic set, which offers character creation, as well as pre-gens, with limited advancement.

Each one of those approachs (D&D4e/FFG starter vs. Paizo/Red box) has its merits.

I would prefer to see a slightly expanded box, like Paizo/red box with character creation - since I can sell it to all potential players I know.

While the limited BB will appeal mainly to newb's / less picky gamers.

If the reviews are positive, i will buy it in any case (if as said here the rules are not beta version rules) - but I would have been willing to pay an extra 5$ to get character creation rules, as well as pre-gens.

In that aspect the paizo beginner set seems to me like the modern holy grail of beginer sets (and perhaps dragon age set 1)

Hi polyheadronman,

I appricate what you have wrote and think that it boils down to starter sets philosophy, with no right or wrong - rather personal taste.

The FFG approach sounds similar to the D&D 4th starter sets in spirit - i.e. limited ruleset with pre-gens and mainly support for the GM to run the game and teach the players.

On the other side is the Paizo approach, like the D&D basic set, which offers character creation, as well as pre-gens, with limited advancement.

Each one of those approachs (D&D4e/FFG starter vs. Paizo/Red box) has its merits.

I would prefer to see a slightly expanded box, like Paizo/red box with character creation - since I can sell it to all potential players I know.

While the limited BB will appeal mainly to newb's / less picky gamers.

If the reviews are positive, i will buy it in any case (if as said here the rules are not beta version rules) - but I would have been willing to pay an extra 5$ to get character creation rules, as well as pre-gens.

In that aspect the paizo beginner set seems to me like the modern holy grail of beginer sets (and perhaps dragon age set 1)

The Paizo box is definitely where the bar sits. I'm not even a huge Pathfinder fan and I can't help but analyse "red box" style products without that as a comparison. That may not be fair, but for $25 bucks there's not a better intro set on the market, imo.

I wholeheartedly agree with the fact that these are Beginners products. And I'd add that they make perfect demo games to run at conventions or at your FLGS.

But as a home game they fail at one point: bridging with the Core Rules.

Mind you there is nowhere in the BB or the CR a page telling you what the major changes are between the two rulest. The pregens are built so differently from the CR that it is often better to ditch them and recreate new ones from scratch.

These flaws are imho easily countered by just releasing a PDF with advice on turning the pregens into CR valid PCs and outlining the main changes from the BB to the CR. All in all it can be done in 2-3 pages, maybe 4 if the add art & tables.

Now on the abridged ruleset, I feel that while being nice, I would have preferred them to be more CR accurate like what they have done in Shadows of a Black Sun. While we may not be the main target audience for the BB, if the BB rules where more in line with the actual rules, it would make the abridged book a great book to keep at the table for the PCs to refer to a rule or even to bring with you at holidays for an impromptu game !

Boxed Starters are ALWAYS a great deal.

I honestly didn't expect to see this, but am delighted they are doing it!

While I love BB sets, to an extent, you basically are telling newcomers that only part of the rules apply, the rest, ignore because the rules are actually different.

They could've used a standard character, just not filled in all the blanks. Once the player gets what was presented previously, then they can start taking in additional rules.

When I ran the EotE BB for my group, the only pretty new person to RPGs was my girlfriend, and she was able to pick it up pretty easily despite me trying to implement the CB into the BB, she was still following along. Even though her only other experience in RPGs was D&D 4th. So what I did, was used the BB adventure and had my players create their own characters, then tried to incorporate as many actual rules as I could, barring the time I wanted to keep the story moving.

Regardless, I still plan on purchasing AoR BB.

I remember getting my D&D Blue box for the first time.

I thought this was the coolest (even though mine came with chits and not dice). Fighters, mages, elves (the race/class) and more. Fun times. I'm not looking for character creation and such in my beginners box. It's nice and all, but realistically, once the CB releases, the BB won't be useful for its mechanics anyways. Now I can't comment on the Pathfinder BB, but D&D's older ones and newer ones became irrelevant once you got into AD&D (or later D&D). So I'm not seeing much of a difference between any of them.

I have the EotE BB and the EotE core rulebook, but haven't been able to play any games just yet. My current gaming group is still heavily embroiled in the Warhammer RPG and I have stitched together all the published adventures into an overall story arc that ties into my own story arcs I started them with.

There wasn't a BB version for WFRP, but I apparently did something similar when we first started playing it. I had everyone make their characters, but they didn't play them at first. I was not familiar with the game and how exactly to run it and I didn't want all their effort into crafting these characters to get fouled by either my fumbling of how to play or theirs. So I made up a cheesy prologue to the start of the game I called "You're in a bar..." internally in my notes. Even worse, they wouldn't know "it was all just a dream" until the end of the prologue. One of the characters was a priest of Morr who may receive prophetic dreams, so I thought maybe this could work just to get all the kinks worked out before we started playing 'for real'.

I basically gave everyone control of a stereotypically archetype in a tavern: a thief, a bartender, a wench, a thug, etc. I didn't bother giving everyone stats except to simply state, "Everyone has 2's in all their stats". I simply handed them the career cards for those archteypes for a visual reference of the kind of person they were playing and gave them all their initial motivation.

Unfortunately it worked great. I say unfortunately because, in my opinion, we all had a great time playing that first game. When they play their actual characters now they seem to behave less like characters and more like grognard D20 min maxers. That is a completely unfair assessment on my part, but my point in saying that is the convey a point about pre-gen characters:

I have used this technique several more times since then, and each time I think it helps the players re-learn what it is like to play for fun. They know they are helping to resolve story elements on the periphery of their main character's story, but they get to do it in a more interactive way then to just have something read to them. I think the Beginner Boxes the FFG is doing for each SW rulebook will be great for this very purpose: Setting the scene, history/backstory, getting familiar with the game mechanics in a way that is non-destructive to the characters they decide to put time and effort into making, and in some cases just giving them a break from the characters they decided to put so much time and effort into making.

So if the pre-gen characters are a bit simplified and running on simplfied rulesets, perfect. It works great to get people into playing the game and it also works for people who are already familiar with playing the full game by giving them a simple linear diversion to play as a means to build backstory or whatever else the GM decides it can be used for.

Several game sessions later in the WFRP game the preist of Morr and the rest of the party came to a small village that was ransacked by Beastmen maybe a day or so before they got there. The bar was there. The front door was busted open, just like what happened in the dream. The side window broken out where the wench escaped and ran for her life into the woods. Many other things hinted at during the dream sequence seemed to have played out there. Not exactly as he dreamed it, but enough to realize that what he had was more than just a dream. Morr must have blessed him with this vision, and now he had to figure out what his god was trying to tell him.

Now once I get my player base to play EotE, whatever happens in the beginner box game will be something I can anchor the story to when the make their full core rulebook characters. Or maybe play for beginner box games for EotE and AoR back to back and then I can try to come up with a narrative that somehow ties the two events together for their main characters to be a part of.

Just like maps, tokens, and other gaming aides, I think these beginner boxes are great for everyone.

all that and a bag of extra dice.

I remember getting my D&D Blue box for the first time.

I thought this was the coolest (even though mine came with chits and not dice). Fighters, mages, elves (the race/class) and more. Fun times. I'm not looking for character creation and such in my beginners box. It's nice and all, but realistically, once the CB releases, the BB won't be useful for its mechanics anyways. Now I can't comment on the Pathfinder BB, but D&D's older ones and newer ones became irrelevant once you got into AD&D (or later D&D). So I'm not seeing much of a difference between any of them.

Mine had a full color box but the manual inside was blue. I remember losing some of the chits lol Thanks for the flashback...I remember bustin that badboy open for christmas and my life was different from that day on. Man I miss that simplicity sometimes.

FFG's Star Wars RPG has become my new money sink. I buy everything that is released. This BB will be no different. I like having all these nice looking pregen folios, the maps, the tokens... even if I'm never going to use them.

Plus it comes with dice. You can never have enough dice. Ever. As a matter of fact, I don't see this product as a BB that comes with dice, I see it as a slighty more expensive dice pack that comes with all these nifty cool extras.

FFG's Star Wars RPG has become my new money sink. I buy everything that is released. This BB will be no different. I like having all these nice looking pregen folios, the maps, the tokens... even if I'm never going to use them.

Plus it comes with dice. You can never have enough dice. Ever. As a matter of fact, I don't see this product as a BB that comes with dice, I see it as a slighty more expensive dice pack that comes with all these nifty cool extras.

Precisely my view, and why I bought two EotE BB's. For a little more than a dice set, I got the extra dice, tokens, and a spare set of maps and character folios that I wouldn't be annoyed if they got coffee all over them. Yes, the woes of a collector

I was going to get some more dice soon, but now I know this is coming I'll wait.

Precisely my view, and why I bought two EotE BB's. For a little more than a dice set, I got the extra dice, tokens, and a spare set of maps and character folios that I wouldn't be annoyed if they got coffee all over them. Yes, the woes of a collector

I was going to get some more dice soon, but now I know this is coming I'll wait.

Hah, I did exactly the same thing! Seeing as how we've started playing the full version, I'm not sure if I'm going to be buying a 2nd AoR BB though.

I never got the EotE Beta book when it was out in general, but my girlfriend and I went to check out a gaming store by my parents and saw it and bought it. Was so happy. Yes FFG Star Wars RPG is my new money sink as well.

I had the D&D Blue Box as well, along with the Core books (PHB, DMG, MM), inherited from my aunt and Uncle when I was eleven or so... Thanks for the memories!

I have never played Pathfinder. My longtime group split up around 3.5 ish, and I took a break from gaming until year before last. It's been great getting back into playing, and I don't have nearly the same problems with 4E as so many others seem to, so my "new" group has never bothered. 3.75 has no real interest for me, and now that this new narrative system has emerged, I will give them all of my monies...

Wait till i get home and i'll try to scan the front of my The Dark Eye Box ...

And that horrible, horrible first adventure in the box.

Just reading through the opening smashes any rose-tinted glasses instantly an reliably.

First adventure? Keep on the Borderlands. Ran it for my friends and have been GMing pretty much since then.