What's up guys, my first post here so be easy on me!

I am coming into the Star Wars RPG after years of "meaning to" play the WoTC version. I always admired the depth of their books when I flipped through them, I was just never a fan of the "rules heavy" 3E /d20 / D&D. That said, I have been a long time player of old school D&D, and am already a huge fan of what is going on with EotE.

Right now we have downloaded and printed the Free RPG Day adventure, Under the Black Sun. I've got the dice, and understand them just fine. I also bought the Core Rulebook, hoping my RPG experience would allow me to side step the training wheels a little bit.

Truth be told, I am a little overwhelmed. I went through character generation with my son, but as much of a Star Wars fan he is, even with his immense imagination, he is also eight and the whole process bored him to pieces! We scrapped the new character stuff and are half way into the Black Sun adventure. Total party includes 4 PC's. We had a lot of fun interactions, and I am just hoping I am doing everything right! One of the things I had to do on the spot was railroad my players into the major plot points. Here are two examples:

1) After successfully evading police droids, I needed the com link message to come in and arrange for the party to be picked up by an NPC to get to the next section. They distrusted the message, and chose to stay in the crowd. Not only was I going to run out of ideas for them, but the rest of the mission hinged on them getting to Chopper's garage! I decided a Streetwise check made sense, to separate player knowledge from character knowledge. The check was successful, and the character trusted the incoming comlink message, and away they went onto the next plot point.

2) When trying to decrypt the Black Sun data stick, my slicer character decided she didn't trust chopper, and wanted to hack the file herself. Possibly my fault for not making it abundantly clear that he is on their side... With a positive computer check, she landed two advantage points for the "additional data", which would have made no sense without Chopper revealing the name of the bounty hunter, Ka'ato. Having already used the Streetwise device in the previous section, I basically paused the game and told them that Chopper was a trusted friend, and that the computer hacking job was definitely a cooperative effort.

So... We ended up pausing after the hack job and before the next part of the mission, and overall I feel it was not only a bit forced but the idea of a true sandbox within the Star Wars universe just seems immense. I am looking for some ideas on how you guys (and gals) flesh out your stories, and possibly advice on the next mission to run. I want to let the players work on new characters, but I also want the game to run smoothly. It appears that I am supposed to be such an expert storyteller as to use their own backstories to generate plot devices. Obligation and Strain are fun concepts but not fully realized in my head. Do I take a step back, get the beginner game, and run that mission next?

Sorry for the wall of text, thanks for listening!

I would say, fear not, it sounds like you are doing great.

One thing noobie GM's like you and me tend to do is stick a little to closely to a written story. Players like to be RIGHT. Whenever you can, reward their instincts, if they get successful rolls. I'm not clear why they couldn't get all the info they needed from the datapad themselves and forgo the need for Chopper?

One of the main rules of GM'ing in my opinion is, NEVER LET THEM SEE YOU SWEAT. Do not be afraid to change things up and react to the players. If they don't trust Chopper, you could decide that Chopper IS a double agent, and the PC's discover it, by hacking the datapad themselves. They could confront him about it then, or deal with it later, either way, they will eventually get their mission to find Ka'ato. You might have to invent another dude from the Pike Crime Family on the fly, but so be it.

I think it's awesome you are playing with your son. My boy is 5, so a little early, but I still gm "games" for him and his sister, that are basically freeform imagination sessions, mostly consisting of epic fights.

Edit:

Also yes, I think the starter game is worth the money, especially for kids.

Congrats on starting the game. GMing is hard, especially when you're also learning a new ruleset, so try not to get discouraged. Sounds like you're doing fine. Don't be afraid to be honest with the players about how you feel the game is going, and on occasion it's okay to step outside the game and explain where something might have been miscommunicated.

I haven't played the Black Sun adventure yet, so I don't know how it flows, but I do know the beginner set is a fine introduction to the rules. There's nothing wrong with explaining that you're going to keep them on rails until you get a better handle on everything. Definitely don't start with character creation, IMHO, even old hands at RPGs will be faced with too many choices, and won't be able to predict the impact of the character choices they make. A session or two of on-rails games can help clarify for the players what they need to focus on to get the character they want.

As for stories, everybody is going to give you different advice. Some people plan and plot meticulously, but are able to present the story in such a way that the characters think they have free will. Others, like me, set up general plot points or encounters, and then spend the game trying to find ways to insert them seamlessly into the narrative so the players feel like they happen naturally. Others (true sandbox) will have a list or book of places and people they can introduce as the need arises. You'll have to find what works best for you, and this really only comes with experience.

But the most common advice will probably be to listen to your players. I don't mean what they say when you ask them a question about their characters, I mean what they say to each other when they're trying to puzzle out a problem. Just sit back and be a fly on the wall while they generate great ideas. Most of the time I end up riffing off what they say to each other (and the results of their dice rolls) more than sticking with what I originally had planned.

EDIT: Conviction beat me to it, but what he said is basically what I'm saying here.

One of the potential pitfalls of pre-made adventures is they cannot possibly take into account every variable involved in every group of players out there. Sometimes you have to be willing to see where the current takes you. It could be a couple of scenes worth of detour or a whole other adventure entirely.

Specific to your two mentioned situations:

(1) Did you make it clear the call was from the contact who hired them to be stealing the data they start the adventure having just acquired? If they understand that it's the person who hired them telling them where to go next to ensure the job concludes and they get closer to paying off their debt to the Pykes, there should be less suspicion.

(2) Did you clearly establish that the person they got directed to see (aka Chopper) is a card-carrying employee of their employer (Pyke Syndicate)? He has a vested interest in finding out who double-crossed his bosses. The players' characters were "hired" to get the data that would reveal the traitor that the group will then be sent off to hunt.

One of the things about starting en media res as this pre-written adventure does, is that it relies upon a certain degree of buy-in from the players as they get the big picture of what's going on in little pieces. There are aspects you could have made more clear to your group such as why and what they are doing in the first place that would hopefully allay enough of their suspicious so that you won't have to railroad them.

I suggest you check out these two threads for some good discussion and tips from several experienced GMs on how to get set up now that your group is making their own characters:

http://community.fantasyflightgames.com/index.php?/topic/98105-have-gmd-beginner-box-twice-next-adventure-number-of-players/

http://community.fantasyflightgames.com/index.php?/topic/98432-help-with-preparing-for-1st-session/

http://thealexandrian.net/wordpress/1118/roleplaying-games/three-clue-rule

This might help you in the beginning.

Hey guys, thanks all around for the replies so far. I'm posting by mobile so please excuse me if I don't quote in reply to everyone individually just yet. I definitely see two flaws with yesterday's game, that I will take as a learning experience. First, my downfall for not being descriptive enough, and second, a lack of quickly changing the story on the spot. I think the above discussion helped ease my mind a little and gives me some inspiration for when we finish the sample mission tonight. I'll definitely check out the linked threads as well.

As a side note to Conviction, here is a very rules light (and free) D&D-ish rpg from a guy named Jimm Johnson aimed directly at kids.

http://cubeofquazar.blogspot.com/2010/11/homebrew-d-for-kids.html

Like the others have said: relax and enjoy it! You're doing fine from the sounds of it; and on a related, side-note, welcome to game as it's seen from THIS side of the table.

GMing becomes easier the more you do it. The hardest thing to learn is how to improvise: players are notorious for leaving the rails of your game and going off on a tangent. When this happens, don't panic! There's 1001 ways to bring the game back around, and let them have fun with what they're doing at the same time.

Here's hoping you have many good adventures in a galaxy far, far away, mucker.

http://thealexandrian.net/wordpress/1118/roleplaying-games/three-clue-rule

This might help you in the beginning.

I really liked this article.

As much as I enjoy running the canned campaigns, I have noticed after running my own encounters that I can handle my group going off the tracks easier. I think it has to do with fact that I know where I want my story to go, or thereabouts, so even if the group throws something crazy at me I can more or less get them back on track without it seeming to railroady.

When you are running a canned campaign, unless you know all the encounters and all the dialogue inside out, as well as have a great grasp of the purpose of the encounters, the motivations of the NPCs and at least a general understanding of the lore being used, it's harder to change on the fly. As you get better this too becomes easier. But the real beauty of this game is when you come up with your own set of encounters with your own NPCs and do your own research on the lore you will be using.

http://thealexandrian.net/wordpress/1118/roleplaying-games/three-clue-rule

This might help you in the beginning.

This is great! I'm planting clues now for ongoing mysteries in my new campaign, and it's given me a lot to think about.

Very cool article indeed. I had looked at some fan made murder-mystery plots for D&D campaigns, and I always wondered what the story would look life if that one clue was not discovered, or interpreted correctly.