Any Tips for a New StarWars RPG DM?

[Tech Boy]

Hey playgrounders!

I have recently accepted the status as a Dm for an upcoming game with a couple friends.
We will be running a Knights of the Old Republic Era- Fringe campaign.

I'm not nearly at a loss on this, but I am positive there is more for me to learn.

Any Noob friendly tips for a new Dm?

[turkishproverb]

What system you using?

[LOTRfan]

I think Saga is the only system that included KotOR material. Could be wrong, though.

[Tech Boy]

I'm just using the SAGA EDITION and any expansion books that can be found.

[The Big Dice]

There used to be a KotOR era module in the SWSE site at Wizards, but I can't remember what it's called.

Things to bear in mind, for Stormtroopers, read Sith Troopers. Most of the Imperial hierarchy is represented by non force using sith. Also, swords are popular, personal force fields like those in Dune are very much in vogue, and jedi are all over the place.

[Katana_Geldar]

Here is my tip: don't have any Jedi straight away. Get yourself and your players used to the game and the campaign setting, then later on go into the whole Jedi thing as a story with people being "awakened" ala Kotor 2. And probably have an NPC master to teach them powers.

Until you do that, familiarise yourself with how Jedi work and how Force points work

The only reason I say that is because Jedi are tough to master along with getting a new system, and they tend to be scene stealers unless you know what to do with them.

[Hal]

My group is in the midst of a SE campaign, and we really struggled with the space combat portion of the game.

If you're going to include space combat, figure out a way to give everyone at the table something to do. We have one ship, and we struggle with this because the only person who has any real choices at any given time is the pilot. Everyone else? The gunners shoot stuff, and the computer guy recharges the shields. Truly exciting stuff, and by that I mean mind-numbingly boring.

One solution is to make sure everyone has their own ship. We're also currently experimenting with giving out free maneuvers, so that there's still something interesting you can choose to do on your turn, even though you're still only acting as pilot/gunner, etc.

[Katana_Geldar]

I love space battles! You really need to make them exciting and fast though, have John Williams playing and make sure that the players have headsets to roleplay.

[The Big Dice]

I used to have an "opening crawl" at the start of SW sessions. I'd play a little bit of the theme that I had on my phone and read the crawl. It was cheesy, but it really did help set the tone.

[Katana_Geldar]

I only have that to open a campaign.

[KillianHawkeye]

Don't let your players take Force Lightning.

[turkishproverb]

If worst comes to worst on space combat, I think there's a conversion guide to the starships miniatures game out there somewhere. You might just use that to simplify the ruleset.

[Katana_Geldar]

I prefer to have no game map for starship combat, personally, as it removes the whole Space is an Ocean thing.

[turkishproverb]

True. That's why I was only recommending that method if mapless combat got too confusing. I'm used to "diving" upward in combat myself.

[Mad Wizard]

As previous posters have indicated, space battles and force-using jedi are trouble patches. Be careful with jedi that specialize in Use the Force, too - I've had some force-using jedi that, frankly, broke the game. Their modifiers were too high, none of the enemies stood a chance. Space combat also has the potential to be extremely lethal for untrained characters, so make sure you have a way to take care of this.
Other than that, you should make sure you don't give out equipment that's too powerful too quickly. A lot of power comes from equipment in Star Wars, at least for certain classes and builds. This generally only applies to low levels, however.

[Katana_Geldar]

Be also very careful with Skill Focus. I only allow characters above level 5 to take it, and then they have to space it out 5 levels at a time as it can be too over powered.

Level 1 Jedi with Skill Focus on Use the Force...*shudders*

[Tech Boy]

Thank you SO much guys! I really appreciate it!

[The Big Dice]

As previous posters have indicated, space battles and force-using jedi are trouble patches. Be careful with jedi that specialize in Use the Force, too - I've had some force-using jedi that, frankly, broke the game. Their modifiers were too high, none of the enemies stood a chance.

There's a few answers to jedi. One is lots of opponents. Their chances to block blaster fire drops rapidly with multiple uses in one turn. Another is autofire. Grenades and other area effect wepons are yet another way for muggles to deal with those pesky jedi.

And don't forget the vintage weapons. Flame throwers and slug throwers play havoc with jedi.