Which is a better starter adventure: This set or EotE?

[Doc, the Weasel 1,777]

I'm considering picking one of the two boxes up to demo the game in the future. The people involved would be regular rpgers, but there may come a time where I want to use it to introduce people to gaming. 

 

For those who have (or have played in) both, which of the boxed sets should I buy and why?

[MrHotter 32]

Some discussion on the topic can be found here:

 

http://community.fantasyflightgames.com/index.php?/topic/105151-new-to-ff-sw-rpg-which-to-get/

 

Many people are getting both. If you find a good price on them, it's worth it just to get the dice.

[BroodyGambit 36]

Getting the dice is definitely an advantage to both. If you will only get 1, it depends on the themes of the game you want to play. Having played through both I feel like the adventure for Edge of the Empire had a little bit of an easier learning curve than the Age of Rebellion. My perceptions could have been slightly tweaked because I have a lot of experience with playing Edge of the Empire.

[awayputurwpn 7,720]

They're both good, but I think that perhaps AoR Beginner Game is better suited to being a "beginner" game. It has rails, just like the EotE beginner game, but for some reason it just feels like "staying on the rails" is easier with the AoR box. Probably due to the whole military/mission aspect of the thing. Doesn't feel as forced, and that's really what you want from an adventure that's built to teach the game to newbies, IMO. 

 

Plus the follow-on adventure is way better (again, IMO). 

[Jamwes 643]

If you can afford it, get both for the extra dice and more options for pre-generated characters.

[ScooterinAB 120]

One thing to consider is how each launches your campaign (if you're using it in that capacity). Mos Shuuta provides the party with a ship that totally isn't the Millennium Falcon. Whisper Base, in the other hand, is far more open and nebulous. While the objective is to capture the base, the party could easily be given use of the shuttle as their starting equipment. There is even a mention about how many fighters the base could maintain, if you wanted to go for a squadron of Y Wing pilots and crew. The taking of the base could simply be the mission, not the set up for the team.

As with other, I recommend buying both if the opportunity is there. There dice and tokens alone are almost worth it, and the maps are quite good. Both are good products for what they are. Because of the cost vs value, I'll probably also be picking up the F&D beginner whenever it comes out. Three sets of dice, tons of tokens and maps, and some adventures to draw ideas from seems like a good buy.

[Doc, the Weasel 1,777]

No campaign in my case. My regular group is already onboard with EotE.

 

(shameless plug: listen to our podcasted sessions linked in my signature)

 

This would be a one-shot only, for people who haven't played the game before.

 

Also, buying both isn't an option right now (otherwise I wouldn't have asked). Too many other purchases vying for my gaming dollar.

Edited May 6, 2014 by Doc, the Weasel

[Brother Bart 89]

Hey Doc, I've been listening to your live play sessions for a few years...all the way back to the first WFRP games you guys posted up. Great group, very entertaining players (and good GMing). I have both, and will be running both at our local games convention in June. I just wrote a short synopsis of what the story would be about...basically pulling stuff from the crawls and the previews of the adventures. I figure that each game will appeal to a different type of player...much like FFG did when they decided to split the game into 3 sections. 

 

Oddly enough, we had a survey here at work about what types of activities people would like to take part in in our new Rec room in our recent office expansion. Several people responded with RPGs and low and behold we formed an RPG group at work. We have about 15 people (out of about 150) that spoke up, and of those, about 10 people actually showed up to play on our designated RPG day at lunch break. Most had played before (mostly 3.5 and Pathfinder) and a few had never played an RPG but wanted to see what it was all about. 

 

We took a survey...What game did we want to play?...lunch break, or after work? ...how long? ...Are we willing to GM? I attempted to sell everyone on Star Wars or WFRP...but D&D 3.5 won out and we played a couple of sessions (2 groups of 4 players and 1 GM). Well, one of the GMs left for vacation for a week, and the other finished his mini adventure...so I put out an email saying I was willing to run a Star Wars game for people to try it out...and gave the two beginner box games as options...most didn't have a preference, but those who did thought Escape From Mos Shuuta sounded more fun.

 

I am running 5 of my co-workers through the EotE Beginner Game adventure at noon this Friday. I can post back if anyone is interested in how it goes.

 

Basically, this really long story was meant to show which of the two stories appealed to RPGers and non-RPGers alike...who had no experience with Star Wars RPGs. I agree with Awayputyrwpn about how the AoR adventure seems less forced (if you go strictly by what is written in the book). The mission, which is clear from the get-go, does seem to be the glue...where in the EotE game, the 'mission' isn't presented until after the first encounter...and its sort of obviously shoved in the PCs faces. Another thing to consider is that 

'Escape' has a YT-1300 vs Tie Fighter encounter at the end of the adventure a la A New Hope. 'Whisper Base' has an AT-ST-speeder bike chase through the jungle at the end of the adventure a la Return of the Jedi. Starship vehicle combat mechanics VS land-based vehicle mechanics...similar, but different.

 

Now, some people have been trying to flesh out Mos Shuuta a bit more (http://community.fantasyflightgames.com/index.php?/topic/79796-expanding-mos-shuuta/), so the PCs can wander around a bit and explore the town in more detail. Maybe you can tweak the encounters a bit to make the suggestions more subtle so the players can feel like THEY came to the most logical conclusion of how to escape. Doc, I know for a fact that you have the experience to make it a better adventure...so for you, I would simply choose which story interests you more, which one you'd have more fun running, and which one you think would appeal to the most new players....then, I would get the other one when you can more comfortably fit it into your budget.

Edited May 8, 2014 by Brother Bart

[I. J. Thompson 770]

Brother Bart, that sounds such a great situation you've got going in your office. I'd be interested in reading about how it goes!

[Brother Bart 89]

Brother Bart, that sounds such a great situation you've got going in your office. I'd be interested in reading about how it goes!

 

Well, we met last Friday, and in an hour, the party got about 1/3 of the way through the adventure. Which is pretty good...I blocked out 4 hours to run it start to finish at our local games convention coming up in June, so I think that time estimate is good. 

 

We had 5 people confirmed, but 2 had to bow out last minute due to family illness. So, I had 3 players...2 with previous RPG experience, one brand new, though none of them had any experience with this game. I sent out the names and backstories of the characters (all 6) via email earlier in the week to save time in having them choose before we started. We had 41-VEX (chosen by the only lady player), Pash and Sasha present. The two guys that didn't make it chose Mathus and Oskara. The way the beginner game introduces the concepts and rules slowly worked very well, and by the end of the hour, they were fairly comfortable with how the dice system worked. 

 

I would give more details, but don't want to spoil any of the story for those that still want to play it. The narrative came from me mostly, and I ended up interpreting most of the advantage and triumph rolls for everyone. I think that part takes time to get into for new players though, so no complaints there. 

 

Mathus will be joining us this week (tomorrow), so we'll have four PCs. The only thing that really scares me is teaching starship combat, but we may not get to that in the next session....in fact, I know we wont get there...so I have another week to (not) listen to GM Chris and Sam Stuart talk about it again on the Order 66 podcast.

 

They all enjoyed it enough to come back and spend their lunch hour with me again, so I see that as a big win!

Edited May 15, 2014 by Brother Bart

[I. J. Thompson 770]

Awesome. I hang my head and confess that... your workplace is cooler than mine. 

[swordman 4]

This sounds cool, I play X-wing miniature and have been wondering about the star wars RPGs. I think I might could get people to play at lunch, but we only get thirty minutes with two fifteen minute breaks.