Old DM/GM veteran, new to Edge. First session coming up.

[Lifer4700 396]

I will be running EotE for the first time next week.  I am an experienced GM/DM from many RPG systems, but this will be the first narrative RPG that I've attempted.  Also, this will be my first attempt at non-tactical combat.

 

I just learned of FFG's systems about three weeks ago, bought all the Edge books and have been reviewing them.  I have also started NOT listening to Order 66, but have only gotten to the 8th or 9th one so far.

 

My main concern is that I might not remember enough of the basics to even fake it well - I won't be able to maintain the fast-paced action that I feel I should.

 

I have gotten all the wonderful resources from this site, OggDude's software, Gribble's reference sheets, talent trees from BeggingForXP.com, Stan Shinn's combat tracker, and a few that I've made for myself.

 

Is there anything anyone can recommend?  I feel like I've got so much information that I've absorbed over the past few weeks, that I might not be able to remember any of it!

 

--------------------------

 

I've kept the group of players small, only 4.  I hand-picked them from our normal group of 9 because I thought they'd be the best fit for a change away from (what for me has become pretty boring) classic hit/miss tactical "roll" playing.

 

One of them is also an experienced GM/DM, and I hope that after a few sessions he and I can begin tag-teaming.  I would run Edge of the Empire, he would probably run Age of Rebellion.

 

If everything works well, this could be a huge win-win.

 

 

[Kshatriya 1,199]

Your first session or three will be slow. Just expect it and understand that that's got to be OK when you're learning a new system. Let everyone ease into the system - the special dice are a little strange for some people. This may sound like a no brainer but tell your group you're new to the system - they probably are too, and I'm sure y'all can still have fun even if you're all still acclimating to the ruleset. 

 

One thing I might do is make a photocopy of or bookmark the "things you can spend Advantage/Triumph/Threat/Despair in combat" tables on p. 206-207. It's easy to forget the options even when you're experienced and having a quick reference that can be passed around (like a photocopy) might be a good idea to help with pacing and help the players realize they have a lot of narrative power in this game.

[kaosoe 7,573]

Once you get comfortable with the rules, try not to over think it. The most important advice right now is to "Be your PCs biggest fan".

[awayputurwpn 7,720]

A few things:

 

1. Have the players get involved in the narrative as much as possible. Encourage them to start interpreting their own dice after you give them a couple examples. 

2. Be creative. 1 Advantage can mean a Boost die, but why is the Boost die there, in-game? Then when you've determined what effect caused the Boost, you can use the results of the Boost to further the narrative. This way, 1 Advantage = 1 Boost die option doesn't get stale. 

3. Ninja'd by kaosoe. If you can't remember a rule, err in favor of your players. Be a little more generous.

4. Use that Obligation. Your players wanna get a sweet weapon? "For a 10-magnitude Debt Obligation, that gun can be yours!" Your players wanna loot the dead stormtroopers? "That's fine, but doing so will incur a Criminal Obligation of 5." 

 

The guys from the Tales from the Hydian Way podcast recently did a cast about doing character creation together, and what you should be looking for in a party of PCs. Their suggestions might help get your game off the ground in as painless a way as possible, giving your PCs the chance to best compliment each other with their stats and stories.

[Gaglug 4]

The narrative system is really rewarding if the GM and players put effort in to it.  It will take a little getting used to for everyone.   I'd encourage you to help keep the focus on the narrative aspects of the results and to not let the system fall into a simple results/dice buying type of result like: "Ok with those results I'll trigger my crit and buy a blue dice for Tom when he takes his action".

 

I'd additionally suggest making sure combat goes quickly, don't get bogged down.   Sometimes it's the rules fault, sometimes it's the players, sometimes it's the GM.   But you're in control of all of that, keep things moving.   Star Wars is epic heroic action so make sure combat feels that way and don't let the game get too bogged down in minutia.   Make sure you are solid on what difficulties to assign for tasks, and how and when to consistently award black and blue dice for stuff that's happening.  Keep things moving and keep your players on their toes.  When it comes to a player's turn they should know what dice they need to scoop up and roll, and you can always toss an extra few blue or black dice their way.

 

Also make sure that you encourage players (and yourself) to make liberal use of Destiny Points.   It's a sad day when the points sit there unspent and/or are all one color or the other.

[Lifer4700 396]

This sessions is a pre session zero.

 

I have created throw-away characters that are pretty close to something they would play (I've known theses guys for many, many years).  I intend to completely steal the "amnesia" in media res style of introduction - similar to Order 66's Celebrity game.

 

After grabbing the McGuffin (which was trapped with amnesia gas), leaving the old, self-destructing temple, fleeing from angry natives through the jungle on their speeder, getting to their ship only to find pirates awaiting them in space, just waiting to get their hands on the ancient relic.  I hope it won't take too long.  I intend to keep the challenges easy at first, just a few dice here and there, building as they get more comfortable, just like "Under a Black Sun" intro PDF does.

 

Once the players have played through that, I will introduce them to obligation, motivation, careers, specialisations, species, and we'll sit around and talk about creating they characters they want to play for the rest of the night.

[invictus_1693 67]

2. Be creative. 1 Advantage can mean a Boost die, but why is the Boost die there, in-game? Then when you've determined what effect caused the Boost, you can use the results of the Boost to further the narrative. This way, 1 Advantage = 1 Boost die option doesn't get stale. 

 

This system makes doing this very natural, for all sorts of checks.  Any time they pick a regular "mechanical" effect of advantage, either quickly describe something that happens that helps or ask the player what their character does that helps out their buddy.  It makes the checks and especially combat much more fun than "You hit.  Activate a crit?  Now he's hamstrung.  You, take a boost die." Uuuuggghhh I'm cringing just writing that.

[Lifer4700 396]

Wow, quadruple ninja'd!

 

Thanks for the great feedback and suggestions, guys.

 

...not let the system fall into a simple results/dice buying type of result like: "Ok with those results I'll trigger my crit and buy a blue dice for Tom when he takes his action".

 

This is what I absolutely fear could happen, and I really want to make sure I discourage this at all cost.  I know I have to pay attention to myself, and lead by example, so this is another big fear of mine.

 

These players are good players, but over the years any creativity has been stifled and suppressed by the rest of the players.  (the ones I didn't invite)  The key will be to break us all back out of our shell.

 

I guess I should also add that I haven't actually done any GM/DM work in many years.  I've simply been a player for a while, giving myself a break from thinking.     Now I need to blow the dust off my brain again!

Edited March 5, 2015 by Lifer4700

[swrider 90]

I would start slow. by that i mean do not introduce to many new talents and stick to land based combat during the first session. I ran through two sessions before introducing any space combat with my players. I had also played several sessions as a player before that.

 

for you as GM. I would review the rules for minions one you get them down they are great and can really smooth the game out.

 

you may also want to review the difficulty rules. If you can remember what makes something easy, hard, daunting etc... than you can improvise any check.

 

Besides that the best thing to remember is that exceding your WT does not kill you only crits can kill a PC they just go unconcious and take a critical hit. A lot of damage can happen quickly wich can be scarry for a gm but if you remember they are not dead but unconcious it helps.

[Kshatriya 1,199]

 

2. Be creative. 1 Advantage can mean a Boost die, but why is the Boost die there, in-game? Then when you've determined what effect caused the Boost, you can use the results of the Boost to further the narrative. This way, 1 Advantage = 1 Boost die option doesn't get stale. 

 

This system makes doing this very natural, for all sorts of checks.  Any time they pick a regular "mechanical" effect of advantage, either quickly describe something that happens that helps or ask the player what their character does that helps out their buddy.  It makes the checks and especially combat much more fun than "You hit.  Activate a crit?  Now he's hamstrung.  You, take a boost die." Uuuuggghhh I'm cringing just writing that.

 

Yeah my group is unfortunately in that state right now - I think largely because when we started playing Edge, it had been a while since we played a game that rewards narrative and have fallen into bad habits and in part because most of the players are very much D&Ders. It's something I'm trying to encourage adjustment of.

Edited March 5, 2015 by Kshatriya

[Gaglug 4]

 

...not let the system fall into a simple results/dice buying type of result like: "Ok with those results I'll trigger my crit and buy a blue dice for Tom when he takes his action".

 

This is what I absolutely fear could happen, and I really want to make sure I discourage this at all cost.  I know I have to pay attention to myself, and lead by example, so this is another big fear of mine.

 

 

Your instincts on this are absolutely right, but don't sweat it...when you lead by example your players should pick up on it and run with it.

 

When you're assigning difficulties, bonus dice, using destiny points, etc just let your creativity go.  Encourage your players to do so as well.   You can be descriptive and help your players out a bit.  If one of them just simply says "I buy a blue dice for Bob", when it comes to Bob's turn you can put narrative behind it.   Describe how the previous player's attack put the enemy off balance, or knocked over some of the debris the bad guy was hiding behind, or how the previous player's shots caused the enemy to flinch and expose himself to Bob's fire.  Anything you can think of.    When you start putting these little elements in your players should seize on it and add their own flavor for why Bob is getting a blue die or come up with creative use of destiny points.

 

The game can be immensely rewarding and fun to play, I hope you and your players have as good a time with the game as my group does.  

 

Good luck!

[Bishop69 411]

You might also want to read through the beginner game (which is actually pretty good) if you can get your hands on it...

 

Having said that, your story idea sounds fun. I wish I was going to be at the table!

 

Otherwise, everyone else's recommendations above are fantastic. Have fun, don't sweat the small stuff, focus on the story as opposed to the mechanics, and keep things moving!

 

Welcome back to fun. This really is one of the best RPG systems on the market...

[Sturn 2,958]

Is there anything anyone can recommend?  I feel like I've got so much information that I've absorbed over the past few weeks, that I might not be able to remember any of it!

 

Know the basic dice system and dive in. Don't put it off over-preparing. If you grasp the dice system, you already got most of the game figured out.

 

I did the same thing you did (minute preparation) when worrying about my first FFG Warhammer game. It uses the same narrative system. After putting off play for literally weeks in preparation I finally played a game and the basics of the system became oh so much understandable.  All of the prep time meant nothing compared to just one game session of experience.

 

Don't fret it. Dive in.

[FangGrip 1,060]

There are a lot of good suggestions here already.

 

You already have a lot of good tools, but the biggest thing will be the concepts of narrative games.  If you have done the standard systems for your entire life it may be hard to change up.  We actually played a few games of FATE (Dresden Files Version) before this system came out and I found it helped immensely.  If you have access to the starter rules it will help you get your mind around some of the possibilities that are hinted at in the rules but not in any real depth.

[theclash24 137]

I recommend the beginner game than. Or something similar to that for the first season. It helped me get back into GMing-- after my friends were all about the next session I already have another session written up and into a two part game/mission half way written up. It will get those juices flowing.

I had my players make the characters they wanted and dropped them into the beginner game. They loved it plus you get the feel for the system with them-- ass well as seeing their play styles. You can than tell them afterwards how you'd like to run the games afterwards.

[cupajo 92]

One thing I did that helped a lot was to tell my players that running this game will be kind of a collaborative effort. I said that if they came up with interesting or clever ways to interpret Advantage or Threat, to let me know.  I might not take their suggestion, but then again I might.  It really helped get buy-in from my players and made the whole thing feel more narrative.

[Lifer4700 396]

You might also want to read through the beginner game (which is actually pretty good) if you can get your hands on it...

 

 

I chickened out at the last minute and went with the beginner box instead of my idea.

 

It only took me a few hours to read through the whole adventure, decide I didn't like the pre-fab characters for it

(they wouldn't really match my players' style), grab the pre-fabs for the core rules (closer to their play style), and go.

 

The night went successfully, it was a huge hit.  I glossed over a few things, since my players are very veteran and also I didn't want to take too long - we wanted to make characters afterwards.

 

Here's a transcript as best I can remember.  The formatting is horrible and inconsistent, but even though I did this late at night while very tired, it should still give you an idea of how much fun we had.

 

 

Now we're all working with character creation, obligation, and motivation - and looking forward to playing more of this wonderful system!

 

The best way for me to describe the feel I got for this system is that it doesn't get in the way of the story (like many other systems), but instead actually helps tell it.

Edited March 18, 2015 by Lifer4700