New player question

[legolas18 114]

I'm very new to this game, haven't played it yet in fact, but am very excited to soon. Here's my problem: In the group I'll be playing with (also all newbies) there'll be about seven of us, and the tutorial scenario is meant for only five. Is there a way I could alter the scenario to fit the number of people playing? How would one do that? I also have the Core Rulebook, so I can make new characters for the people without pre-made characters, I just wanted to play this first to introduce us all to the game.

Thanks

[Josep Maria 685]

Try to use pseudo-characters and increase "everything".

 

Don't let players pick characters with so different skills from the premade chars because probably the module is designed to fight with those "tools/skills". Also at encounters add a few more minions per group and things like that.

 

Don't fear to add some extra skill/stats/wounds to a NPC.

 

I prefer Sandbox, but those adventures uses to be pretty nice and Star Wars-Essence style

 

I hope that I helped and enjoy the game!

[Boros 2]

I see no problem that you can play with 7 people.

http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_minisite_sec.asp?eidm=224&esem=4 here you can find two aditional chars for begginers game. So you can have 6 players + GM.

[Yoshiyahu 545]

I've run the Beginner's Box with six players before (seven including myself as the GM), and it went fairly smoothly. In most cases, simply adding an extra minion or two (for example, with the Gamorreans in the cantina encounter) to compensate for the additional characters was all that was necessary.

 

Additionally, unless you're absolutely set on running the game with characters you and the players have created yourselves, I'd like to second Boros' suggestion of using the extra pre-gens provided by FFG.

[legolas18 114]

Thanks! I didn't know about the other pre-made ones. Guess we'll see how it goes!

[legolas18 114]

Okay. We've played about half of the scenario, and really enjoyed it so far. I do have a couple of questions: When fighting the Gamorreans, how do you carry out the Gamorrean's actions? Does the group all do the same thing at the same time? Or does each pig carry out a separate action? Also: The group's plan after the junk shop was to split up. I didn't want to hinder their decisions, so I'm just going along with it. How should I go about doing that?

Thanks again!

[Veruca 190]

Yes, the Gamorrean thugs all take seperate actions. Only minions take actions as a group, rivals and nemeses act like PC's.

As for the splitting up, go with it and see where it takes them/you. On my 3rd playthrough, the team also split up. One group went straight for the hangar bay, while the other group went for the spaceport control office. Even though that wasn't in the book, it still worked.

 

And remember, if you're stuck with something, or are not sure what to do, ask your players. You should all help each other out. Don't feel pressured into having to know everything. I know that's what players might expect of you, but you are new to this... just like them. Besides, I found that letting your players have some say into what might happen, increases their enjoyment of the game.

[legolas18 114]

Thanks. The hangar bay/spaceport control is the exact thing my group's doing. Should I just follow the encounters in the book out of order?

[Veruca 190]

Yeah, just mix 'em up. Just be sure to switch back and forth between scenes, that way nobody has to wait too long before it's their turn again. This is something you can only really learn by doing. You'll find out for yourself what works and what doesn't. It also really depends on the kind of players you have in your playgroup. What might work for one group, might not work for another. Learning by doing is something that's very important as a GM, so don't be afraid to try stuff out. If it doesn't work... well, that's something you know for next time then. Just go with the flow and don't stress too much. I'm sure your players are reasonable people who understand that you are also learning the game.

 

There's one important thing to remember: no matter how prepared you are, mistakes will happen. So don't freak out when they do, but rather embrace them, learn from them... laugh about them. In the end, it's just a game.

 

Note: I'm pretty new to GM'ing and RPG's myself (about a year now) and I'm still figuring this out myself.... so not sure how useful my advice really is.

[legolas18 114]

It's great!    Thanks. I think we're planning to continue in a few days. Now I have great advice to go off of! 

[Veruca 190]

Be sure to let us know how it went. One of the best tools for a new GM is reading and seeing how other GM handle things, so the more people share, the bigger the pool gets where other GMs can draw information from.

 

What I found especially useful, was watching youtube videos of RPG sessions. You get to see different ways of playing, and it improves your game as well. For example: just by watching the Call of Cthulhu videos from The Dicestormers' channel, I managed to bring more atmosphere to my own CoC games. Monkey see, monkey do... right?

Edited January 30, 2014 by Veruca

[kaosoe 7,573]

What I found especially useful, was watching youtube videos of RPG sessions. You get to see different ways of playing, and it improves your game as well. For example: just by watching the Call of Cthulhu videos from The Dicestormers' channel, I managed to bring more atmosphere to my own CoC games. Monkey see, monkey do... right?

 

This is the reason why half of the podcasts in my feed are live play podcasts.

[legolas18 114]

Well, just played tonight. I'm afraid I wasn't as prepared as I should have been. The split up thing didn't work at all. It ended up leaving the other players doing nothing for a long time. And I found out later that I was doing some things wrong, like when they fail to pick the lock on the second entrance to the spaceport control building, they have to find another way in. I practically just let them keep rolling until they got in. Haha. Oh well, it was still pretty fun either way. Thanks for all the help again. Also, I have some more questions: How do you determine when Trex dies? It said that he suffers Critical Injuries just like PCs because he's a nemesis.. But does that mean you have to give him four whole Crits before he goes down? Our droid player ended up throwing a stun grenade that put him over his strain limit, so we assumed he went unconscious and tied him up. Was that correct? And when a PC suffers a Crit, all it does is give him 2 strain? It doesn't wound him at all?

Edited February 1, 2014 by legolas18

[Veruca 190]

Well, just played tonight. I'm afraid I wasn't as prepared as I should have been. The split up thing didn't work at all. It ended up leaving the other players doing nothing for a long time. And I found out later that I was doing some things wrong, like when they fail to pick the lock on the second entrance to the spaceport control building, they have to find another way in. I practically just let them keep rolling until they got in. Haha. Oh well, it was still pretty fun either way. Thanks for all the help again. Also, I have some more questions: How do you determine when Trex dies? It said that he suffers Critical Injuries just like PCs because he's a nemesis.. But does that mean you have to give him four whole Crits before he goes down? Our droid player ended up throwing a stun grenade that put him over his strain limit, so we assumed he went unconscious and tied him up. Was that correct? And when a PC suffers a Crit, all it does is give him 2 strain? It doesn't wound him at all?

 

Ah, the endless reroll... I've fallen into that trap a few times myself now.

 

"Roll to see if you can break open the closet door with that crowbar." *fail*

"Err, roll again." *another fail*

"Ah crap, err... roll again?" *more fails*

"You know what, you just break it open."

 

So yeah, don't sweat it. Only by failure, do we truly learn. (Look at me, being all philosophically and stuff. )

 

As for the splitting up downtime, that's another thing you'll get a better hang off the more times you do it. If it's any comfort, it's not all your 'fault' that people might have to wait a bit longer before it's their turn again. After all, they're the ones who decided to split up, right? Might just be that, from now on, they're more prone to staying together... which in turn makes it easier on you. (And if they're still not happy with it, let them GM for a bit and experience how it's not that easy for a beginning GM.)

 

It truly depends on the kind of players you have at your table. There's the ones that are entertained by what's happening even if it's not their turn, and then there's the ones that lose focus after half a minute of doing nothing. The latter group might be an issue you have to talk about. I've had a few players that started talking to each other when it wasn't their turn, which lead them to not keeping up with what was happening and asking me several times to repeat what was going on. I found it both annoying and disrespectful to the other players. So I've decided to not repeat anything again. If they lose track of what is happening, then it's their own fault (and might even encourage them keep their mind on the game).

 

It's been a while since I played the beginners box, so I'm not sure how the criticals work there as they are different from the core book. But you did good with the stun grenade and knocking him unconscious. That's what one of my BB groups did as well.

 

Another thing to remember when playing: if you're not sure about the rules, don't spend too long looking them up. You're better off just winging it. And even if you make a mistake, don't let your players know... that way you let them keep the idea that you know exactly what you're doing.

 

And as always, when in doubt, don't be afraid to ask your players how they think you should handle a certain situation. Sure, you are there to guide the game... but that doesn't mean that you should do all the work.

 

Keep up the good work, you'll get better at it the more you do it!

[kaosoe 7,573]

 

Another thing to remember when playing: if you're not sure about the rules, don't spend too long looking them up. You're better off just winging it. And even if you make a mistake, don't let your players know... that way you let them keep the idea that you know exactly what you're doing.

I'm the opposite. If I make a bad rules call. I'll look it up between sessions and let my players know the next session so we all know. That way I don't get the inevitable "But that's now how you ruled it last time".

 

As for the crit situation. I usually just have my nemesis die when their wounds exceed their threshold. If they are meant to be a long-term big bad, then I do one of two things. I either flip a destiny point when the nemesis' wounds exceed their threshold and have some narrative way of escaping. Or I have them appear to die, only for them to come back later with some cybernetics like a cheesy comic book villain/hero.

[legolas18 114]

Thanks again for your advice! (I've probably said that in every post)

I guess it's just a learning experience. It'll go more smoothly next time. 

 

And now, I'm starting to read the Core Rulebook. So we'll see how far I get before I break down because of too much stuff being crammed into my poor brain. 

[Veruca 190]

Haha, have fun with that.

 

If you've got some money to spare, I can highly recommend getting the GM screen. I has a lot of useful information for during gameplay, and reduces some of the stuff you have to remember by heart.

[DrNate 37]

My stance when GMing, and this may be too controversial, is that there's no roll unless there is a significant chance of failure. If a failure allows you to just go ahead and try again without consequence, I have a hard time declaring the need for a roll. In the case of the crowbar door above, I would probably either go with "It opens BUT..." or "While you are trying to open it..." and think of a fun twist to dump on the players. 

[Veruca 190]

Yeah, that's how I've changed my stance as well. Don't let them roll if they're not meant to fail or if it's something very trivial.