This idea is what I'm brewing to potentially side-step the no violence edict I've been given as GM by a teenage player's parents. We can assume droid may talk among themselves at the water cooler, as you do. Sure, some may have their memory wiped, but we know droids have personalities and other emotional/mental-like quirks. When Amidala passed away from a broken heart, very few people witnessed it. Droids who cared for her in labor would have been some of the finest available for her, given her station, despite the sudden galactic government coup. Would these droids have checked all vital statistics for her? I think it's a reasonable outcome. What about her babies? Would they have gotten a medical scan? Could Obi-Wan have requested a midichlorian count of the children? If this could be even rumored history, and we expect that at least one droid didn't have its memory fully cleared (or passed along this story before it did), we have our hook: The PCs are on a mission to end this Galactic Conflict by returning R2D2 and C3P0 to their rightful owner - Darth Vader. As mechanics, they won't be keen on the Force, nor interested in the Rebellion who stole droids in the first place. Are you telling me Vader WOULDN'T want 3P0 back in his service (or at least out of the hands of known rebels)? If we accept the Skywalker Paradigm, and think that Princess Leia is working with her known Dark Lord father and has the droids on loan, they need to get back to Vader at some point. They're priceless heirlooms. A gold-plated protocol droid built by the Galactic King as a child should surely bring about some attention among technicians, like droid techs. The Gadgeteer has a bounty hunting licence...signed by Darth Vader himself, citing, "No Disintegrations." Vader - not the kid's parents - want NO violence because something may happen to his daughter (with 3P0 around) or Luke (with R2 around). Even when the Wookiee roared as his best friend was lowered into freezing carbonite, Vader forcibly lowered Fett's rifle (to avoid hitting Leia by accident, and/or his droid?). Do I ever expect the characters to encounter Vader? No- this is all the backstory and buy-in we need. Will the PCs flip once they have R2 or 3P0? Well, even finding those two droids should take a long, long time. I expect a comedy of errors with enough movie references of where they JUST missed either one of the droids when the visit their location clues. We get an over-the-top patron (Vader), let the PCs juggle with disobeying his orders of no violence (which will loom more for the group than a parental request, I assure you! Angry Vader > angry parents in player's minds), revisit iconic scenes and stories from the movies, and have lots of scrap to play with at evacuated battle scenes (with some droid survivors- no one ever considers droids, said 3P0). This encourages ion weaponry, or tools as weapons in a pinch. Self-preservation as violence is something to discuss with the player's parents. Many major causes are rooted in some elements that could otherwise be (mis)construed as high fantasy or otherwise unrealistic, illogical yet deeply held beliefs when held up to societal scrutiny. So, Vader wants his droids back. The backchannel information route to even know these are his droids is suggestive of a good droid tech or slicer, or bounty hunter known for reacquiring droids without violence. This also suggests all players having access to Mechanics, because they may be the last line of defense in rebooting either droid. We'd begin immediately following the Battle of Yavin. Would this idea float, do you think?

Thanks for your collective encouragement and suggestions! I really think Marcy nailed the point about inter-parental conflicts. I went to the fruit market with a mug of cinnamon apple cider and thought about the 'no violence' clause. Despite what I knew about those folks, their interest in a new church (or revisiting an older church, whatever past affiliations might have been) changes some variables. In their religious texts, are there no examples of violence? Do members of their church not serve in military due to their beliefs? In addition to caffeine, are there other explicit prohibitions? I'll do some investigation on general church edicts, and call the parents later tonight with an outline for their consideration. Frankly, and waaay off topic, I don't care who or what anyone chooses as their spiritual journey as long as they don't hurt me, themselves, or anyone else as a result. End religion discussion by saying that I respect their choice to be free as much as they respect my choices, too. I really don't think it'll be a problem, but the newness of their sudden zeal is the curve ball for which I'm unprepared.

Yeah, a dice tower like this might be the solution to a great many rolling issues. Since these players go to a vocational technical school, I'd bet they could build something like this for our group! Thanks!

Everything for the Jawa got printed, so we can access it. I can copy-paste stuff from OggDude's character generator for ugnaughts or other species so we can reference them if needed. I won't have a spiffy template for the look, but if there is a formatting link...?

Knowing players will read this forum at some point, I have judiciously cut some personal conflicts and chose to focus on game play issues only. As a parent, more obviously in communication with other gaming parents, I think I can handle jokes in poor taste and emotional outbursts like swearing (in and out of game), among other things. Was there more to these events than I've shared? Yes, but I don't want to embarrass any kids more than what I have illustrated as game play decisions. To all of this, add three guys wanting a date with a young lady whose affections are already spoken-for. That was a powder keg behind all of these incidents, aside from the new church angle, I think.

The next day, I got a phonecall and visit by two different parent sets. "Why did you rip my son's new book?" "Why did so-and-so throw stuff at my son?" "Why did you let my son drink caffeine (specifically, Coca-Cola)?" Whoah...okay. I explained away the book rip as an accident, and how an offer was made to replace it but was held for a later buy. I explained how the dice throw was a one-time emotional blow-up, and that nobody was hurt and apologies given. I reminded both parents how their kids know each other for a good near-decade, and that some general horse-play is to be expected by teens with these connections and history. These explanations seemed to suffice. Coca-Cola? Since when was this a problem, having witnessed the boy swish gallons of Code Red while playing video games at our house (HE brought his own caffeinated beverage). They explained how they were considering joining a new church, and that caffeine was not allowed. To each their own, and I can only respect what I know about a situation. In the future, we can drink caffeine-free root beer or ginger ale or water. I wished them well on their spiritual journey, and added how I can only help if I know what to expect or other family rules. They added how swearing and a list of very expected other social vices won't be tolerated in the game. "...and no violence." I thought they meant the dice-throwing incident, but they further clarified how we shouldn't be teaching kids to kill. I tried to differentiate between violence and killing, to no avail. So, umm...now what? NO VIOLENCE? Ever done it? With technicians, it might work, especially as they all kind of stink at combat as a group. The multi-goo gun works as a 'weapon' and may side-step the request. How would you respond to such a request? I got as far as generic Stormtroopers can fire a blaster weapon at the characters, but maybe they could have a way to run away instead of fight. Is there a (non-violent) trap-setting mechanics specialization? Maybethe Force would work well, but that's a new direction, too. Please help with this request!

My son is writing about his experiences for a high school vo-tech assignment. He takes a lot of notes, and some interesting insights. For example, he hopes the game will be an easier example of multicultural togetherness than we see on our mainstream media channels. If an alien can work well with another alien, why can we all just get along? I'm excited to see his final draft. With the species question up in the air, he offered other players their choice of a jawa he pre-made for each of the technician careers and gadgeteer. He really put a lot of thought into these characters, as shown by his inclusion of Survival as a skill for some crafting checks (p 76 Special Modifications) that built on his higher Cunning. One player made a Chadra-Fan and everyone watched how he made his selections and offered this thoughts. This was a fun experience! With some character examples, we ran some very staged encounters. I'm talking: "The assassin droid you were tracking is at the spaceport with its back to you. What do you do?" No real backstory, no real consequences, just dice rolling and interpretations. We had a sales check (Negotiation) for spare parts, an Utinni! check (of course!), and two combat scenarios (close and ranged). We didn't do anything with piloting or astrogation yet. A player accidentally dropped dice off the table. Kids laughed and started the show. Every time, dice fell off the table for this kid. One player commented how fallen dice shouldn't count, and it was wasting too much time. What- 10 seconds? Still, I decided to put a new house rule to a vote. Should heroic dice that fall onto the floor NOT count? (Am I at an unfair advantage because of the app?) The kids voted Yes, dice won't count. After some serious arguing, we amended this house rule to all re-rolls of fallen dice if someone bumped the table or knocked them off intentionally. How do you handle fallen dice? This ate up 30 minutes of discussion and dice were actually THROWN at a player in anger. I guess he got some revenge over his book being ripped! The dust settled, and play resumed.

I'll preface this post with a voting request: 1. Do you allow careers and species from books you (collectively) don't own, but are in fact official FFG species? 2. Do you allow unofficial species, most likely drawn from the Unofficial Species Menagerie? A player revealed a new copy of Stay on Target. He immediately professed to wanting a Chadra-Fan, who would get at least one yellow die in Mechanics per the party agreement. He also made sure everyone knew Chadra-Fan are genetically smarter than their chosen species. The book was passed around, and care taken to avoid pizza cheese or grease stains. However, one page ripped (less than a quart of an inch, but damage was done) as a player tried to turn a page while another reached and pulled the book to them. This was an accident, but set the stage for future drama. I was happy to see that the other parents are willing to chip-in on gaming resources! The player wasn't too distraught over the small tear that he immediately fixed with clear tape from his backpack. Not to be outdone, enter the Verpine player. He drew from OggDude's Character Generator, and impolitely suggested how we're chumps for buying books. He also shared his notes how Ugnaughts are also mechanically-inclined but we didn't know it. The air filled with doubts over what possible species could be played. Closing Session 0, the kid who accidentally ripped offered to buy a new book for the other player. Since it was a small tear, they agreed to wait and a new book will be bought with lessons learned about grabbing books. I thought this was handled very well, but still felt nauseated about any ripped pages in a book. So, what to do about different species from different sources? Can you weigh-in on what reasonable options exist if we allow Edge of the Empire careers, and any species, who would (easily) start play with at least one yellow die in Mechanics? As far as I can tell, this includes all Technicians and the Gadgeteer specialization regarding career choices but am I missing any? What species would also work? Is it official (source?) or unofficial? Yeah, Humans could work with anything, but the players don't want to be too human if they are rpg'ing even as themselves.

So, our players have been talking out of game about their characters and possibilities. I encourage and expect this planning, especially given their history as friends. Together, they decided that they will play themselves as alien species in Star Wars, and legitimize that idea by having at least one starting yellow die in Mechanics to tie their party together. This approach seems logical, at least, and makes my job easier than merely suggesting "you meet in a tavern..." We agree to use the pay for Technician jobs found in Special Modifications, plus whatever the next adventure will bring. We already acknowledged how we will add Jawas from the Unofficial Species files, and I printed the jazzy pdf I found on this forum. We have the Edge of the Empire Core Rules and two other Edge career books (Technician, Colonist). I have my dice app and we have one set of narrative dice. Since we disallowed electronic devices at the table aside from my cell phone to take parental calls/emergencies, having the dice app on it helps. Pencils? Check. Paper? Check. (Homemade) Pizza (In the oven)? Check. So far, so good, right? We have a starting time, an ending time, and a series of really staged encounters to test dice pools and build understanding. These players are teens who play video game rpgs more than the traditional variety, but my son has access to a lot of our game books so is no stranger to rpgs (or even LARPs). Everyone began snacking and talking while the pizza cooled. The players began rolling the dice just to guess how they might work. None of these things were a problem. In fact, I think the players handled themselves very well for the opening of a new weekly game. I printed out the house rules, and read them, too. At this point, I'm feeling like a proud mamma and good GM and hostess. Wait...they will be more to share. I just wanted to highlight some of the very good things that started us on a good path.

Well, we had session 0 on Saturday as planned. Today Tonight is Tuesday, so you might guess that I am still recovering from the fallout. Honestly, I'm not even sure where to begin to ask for redirection or help. If the kids continue to plot against themselves and me, we won't have any games. That's it, I guess. There're a lot of hurt feelings, and I'm going into mom mode more than GM. Thanks for your help, everyone. Unless I revisit this post, I doubt I'll stick around to post other stuff and just read other posts.

I 100% misread this as you already have a Vehicle deck from the newest MTG Kaladesh set!!!

Thanks for your collective support. I'm more than a little embarrassed by my behavior, but I hope it'll remind me to be less critical of others when I, myself, am new here. ***ON TOPIC: My Trip to the Store!*** It's a short drive for me. To prevent me from being overwhelmed, I chose this strategy for today- Stick to Edge of the Empire books. Since my son and I have already played the EotE boxed set, I didn't want to have him replay it (although, I image we could take a million new directions). I didn't want to confuse other players with Force users, so opted to steer clear of Force and Destiny titles for the group (me? I may want to dabble more in the Force once I can tread water with EotE CRB). Likewise, Duty and the Rebellion may be difficult to juggle; I don't know yet, so I avoided those titles for purchasing consideration today. I still looked at everything available, but knew the money would be spent on EotE-related products before another product. The owner welcomed me to browse the books because he knew I'd be buying something today. He even brought me a soda! He's well known and liked for his customer service, which is a reason my son and I participated in the boxed set adventure at the end of summer. So, what did I get? I bought the EotE GM Screen and Far Horizons. The GM Kit shouldn’t be hard to explain, but I chose Far Horizons too because it offers some non-lethal weapons, lots of droids to encounter, and the (Entrepreneur) specializations seem well-rounded. The Gran’s high Presence and Negotiation may better fit the possible droid tech who wants to make, sell, and use droids in many different situations. I will recommend this species to the player on the fence about their character. I also like the Improving Station modular encounter, and it seems to fit well with a Hutt Crime boss I already have from my one adversary deck! The large sound system looks like something this party may have fun fixing, repairing, etc., too. Question: Give up a ship? Homesteads can have mechanics shops, while businesses seem less robust in this way. Either option gives up a starship, though. In the adventure I mentioned, players lose their ship from the beginning, so maybe this is something they can recoup later in the game (with directions mentioned how to do it)? I think I could alter/expand the adventure as to pick up after the loss of their ship to quarantine. Would this work? If I had to do-over, I might opt for Age of Rebellion and the new Soldier book. The species look rough (literally), but the solider career seems diverse with lots of options. TL;DR: I bought Far Horizons because of its many options.

I'm glad we chatted, too. When my son gets overly excited, he speaks in word salad, with unconnected nouns and verbs tossed together in a jumbled mess. Just to understand how someone bullied him at school may take an hour or more until he calms down. I'm sorry- I guess I try to reorient myself when things get off topic, but I shouldn't censor others, especially if they have a good rapport and may have some inside jokes with others. While my son isn't likely to read my private messages, I do expect he may visit the forums. This acknowledgment is as much for him to see how to behave, as well as an apology to Maelora and the community at large. I may enjoy a reputation as a fierce advocate and mom, yet I don't want to be seen as a parent to others on the forum. Forgive me- I crossed a line, and then took steps to build a better relationship with helpful members.

oh, I got one for you: No PVP, period. Considering the demographic you'll be running the game for, gunning each other down over an argument or an opportunity to get a leg up on the others might be on the go-to list of solutions, but - and mind you, this applies to 'mature' adults too - this way lies real life anger and bad feelings. So it's just easier to say "No fighting other players" right from the get-go. I added it as part of House Rules, third one down. Thanks- it could really messy, otherwise, and these kids are all really good friends and have known each other since elementary school. We live in a small town, too, so having hurt feelings over a game is best avoided - this is a great rule to follow!

My son (10) plays a Jawa Outlaw Tech, and has great fun jabbering away in Jawaese whenever he gets excited. I have used the stats from the PDF I posted on this forum, and it is working well. Thanks! This is so inspiring, to see other parents sharing their SW & RPG love with their kids with great success! Thanks for posting the jawa pdf, too! I'm expecting to print it out, since we can more easily reference it. It looks like professional quality, which helps with buy-in from other players.

Thank you! The link worked. I copied-and-pasted it into a .doc file to print out for Saturday's Session 0.

Thank you! I added it as an edit to our house rules! One night a week, our family tries to have no 'screen' time, where we listen to the radio and read books. I'm a fan of the old-fashioned radio dramas now on CDs or lurking on the internet. I'm happy to see another parent with a child (even mildly) on the spectrum, share their thoughts on the game. Thanks, too, for sharing how his attention improved his game play. Kudos on welcoming you son into (y)our shared hobby!

The equivalent of a medpac for droids is the took kit. The equivalent for stimpacks are emergency repair patches. All of this is laid out in the section of the books that covers healing and recovering health. I can't give you a page number at the moment, but maybe somebody else can? Most of the cybernetics are written as if they are solely for meatbag characters, but they are intended to be usable by droids as well. The trick is to ignore the names and description, open your mind to what they do mechanically/practically, then reword and rename them to work for droids. Droids have no need for prosthetic organs as they don't have organs, but droids do have plenty of parts, like all machinery. Prosthetic limbs and organs just become replacement parts. Droids are totally immune to toxins, so they have no need for an immunity implant; but, all that it does is provide a rank of Resilience. So "immune implant" becomes "droid environmental safeguards." There are a few that would be completely useless and cannot be rationalized to be useful, such as the cybernetic breath mask on one of the books, which a droid will never ever need, and Special Modifications has a few that are called out as being droid only or not being compatible with droids. Thanks! I'm still reading through all of the rules we got less than a week ago. I appreciate how you suggested to mentally rename the terms to best fit their usefulness.

After the kids went home and dust settled, we are likely looking at the following: A Dug Modder who functions as our TBD starship pilot and vehicle repair specialist. A Droid Slicer whose presence around computers as a LE-V0 model seems innocuous. A hopeful Jawa Outlaw Tech with the Utinni! talent, at least. Feedback requested (see above) about Jawa. If no Jawa, he'll likely skip it for something else. And one on the fence, choosing between a Droid Tech and lots of leadership to guide them, or a Bounty Hunter: Gadgeteer to add more oomph in combat. Suggestions on which may work well with the group, and suggestions on a species, too? I'll swing by the store today after lunch and browse...oops- maybe a little later than that now! Time flies when we're having fun! I know (because I asked) they have Far Horizons on the shelf. Does that book offer any smarter species? If not, at least everyone is in the same boat regarding Intellect and ranged weapon career skills. I'll post later today or tomorrow, but will still visit when I've time! Thanks again!!!

Character Concepts, Backgrounds, and Obligations will be drawn from Special Modifications, too, unless someone wants to play another career. Owing to the lack of Technicians' combat skills, one player asked if Bounty Hunter: Gadgeteer could be used. I said I will strongly consider it, and post his request to the forums. Humans, Dugs, Northern Mustafarians, Trandoshans, and Wookiees all have an option for some combat skills. Mechanics and Modders also get a rank in Brawl and Gunnery, respectively. Is it just me, or are Edge of the Empire species - even those IN the Technician sourcebook - unusually stupid? With such a dependence on Intellect (Computers, Mechanics), not one core species nor splatbook species starts with an Intellect over 2. Sigh... A player noticed how the Outlaw Tech has the Utinni! talent, but we have no Jawas. I searched the forums and found a pdf of the species. Are they printed anywhere else yet? Is it balanced for inclusion? Any suggestions about it, because that player has a hankerin' for Jawa after seeing the Outlaw Tech.

House Rule: All players must maintain good standing, like in sports, to remain a part of the game. School grades, attendance, etc. will be considered. I will talk regularly with parents to keep them updated on time changes, bad weather, and overall participation/story outcomes to keep them in the proverbial loop. House Rule: No favoritism. While I GM my son and some players are closer friends to each other over others, nobody gets any in-game breaks. The kids know that I prefer to 'parent-first' over being their 'friends,' and this includes my son. House Rule: Treat everyone with respect, and let the person who rolled the dice interpret the results with the option to ask for help if needed or they draw a blank. No player-versus-player battles will happen; I'll adjudicate that all such participants will lose more than they hope to gain. House Rule: Only shared resources can be used. Currently, this means the Edge of the Empire Core Rules and Special Modifications sourcebook. Players can bring other resources to the table for consideration, like their own purchases or errata they find. Two kids pooled their money and offered it to me to buy a new book, with their parents' permission (they actually wrote a note, and consider $50 'payment' for quasi-babysitting). I can buy a book (or more?) - so help me prioritize! Far Horizons? Stay on Target? Between their stores, our local comic book store can order stuff for us if not already on shelves, and I get my subscription discount, too (10%)! NOTE: I called, and Far Horizons is in stock today, if I want it. House Rule: Players clean up after themselves after each session. I will build-in ten minutes each session for this to happen. For this, they get an XP, as well as about 10 per week when we game for a little less than two hours. Any other suggestions for general house rules? EDIT because adding Nytwyng's suggestion of no electronics at the table, aside from MY cell phone with the dice app.

Wow- I'm humbled by the outpouring of encouragement and good suggestions! Thank you to everyone who read and replied. You've given me much to ponder. With my son, I shared how I (finally) registered for an account on these forums. Reading your replies, he leapt into action! He asked if our players could visit after dinner, and promised to finish ALL laundry chores I had planned (to do myself). So, I brought books to the dining room table and made "Death Star" popcorn balls as snacks. Earlier, I mentioned how a teacher would consider my son's SWRPG experience as a 'book report' of sorts. Well, he opened a new notebook and began writing to chronicle his experience with players, rules, and doodles. I don't think FFG ever really expected their game to have an academic influence, but it exists in our world! The kids visited from 7:30 til 9ish last night, and I drove them home afterwards. What follows are some questions, ideas, and opportunities for more community feedback.

Can droids heal with medpacs? What about cyberneticists? Thanks for your help!

I'm new here, and in a similar boat. Our local comic book store staff suggested the CRB to whichever system I prefer as GM, and some Adversary Decks for more NPCs without the need to buy lots of splatbooks. I also bought Special Modifications since a lot of my intended players have a preference for this aspect, like making droids. I have a good understanding of the generalities. I know Hutts are crime lords, but not necessarily which Hutts are which. For our games, this is far less important than keeping players happy and on-track. I expect some of them would fact-check me or research Wookieepedia if I named dropped any specific canonical characters or events. For my tribe, just knowing Hutts are bad news is sufficient for now.

I'm new to this RPG, but our friendly comic book store staff suggested this advice to me that helped differentiate skills from Pathfinder, for example. I think it applies: If you need to make a non-combat skill roll, pre-determine how Triumphs and Despairs might be spent. If this is too much work, reconsider the need for a skill check. Does this help?