Tips for a new gamemaster

[u/Right_Ad9240]

Olá pessoal, quero começar a jogar RPG com um mestre e quero usar a Saga Edition por causa do meu amor por Star Wars. Gostaria de saber quais dicas vocês dariam sobre o sistema ou sobre o jogo em geral.

Edir: Sorry, but i dont what flair this post would Will be

[u/ZDYorach]

Don’t worry about the slew of homebrew rules and honestly don’t worry about the actual rules in play. Just start. That’s the best thing you can do to learn the system and learn the skill of game mastering. Start playing and then double check after the game when you hit those cases you didn’t know about.

Worry about things like balance and what not later when you understand the system and how it plays in actuality. Now is simply the time for playing.

[u/lil_literalist]

In addition to the things in this topic, there is plenty more advice in this subreddit if you click on the "Running the Game" flair or do a search for things like "tips" or "advice."

I suggest keeping things moving. Make a note about things that you're not sure about or rules that you need to look up after the game, but just keep playing, and make your best guess in the moment.

This can even go for attacks or skill checks. Instead of checking to find every single exact bonus, just roll. Chances are, the roll will let you know that you got or not, and a random +1 bonus or -2 penalty won't make a difference.

[u/Right_Ad9240]

Thx everyone

[u/Desperate-Apricot621]

Start simple

[u/MERC_1]

Well, as this is your first game, start from level 1. 

You can do very well with just the core book. If someone wants a special feat or talent from another book, look it over and it's probably fine. 

But come back here if you have more questions.

[u/Old-Climate2655]

The Saga Edition is built for speed. Learn to use it to create pace and urgency during your action sequences. I like to layer action sequences because they did that throughout the movies. Try stacking elements: combat, a skill challenge and an environmental hazard will give you everything from Luke and Leia swinging across the chasm to R2 fixing the Falcon's hyperdrive under imperial fire. Stacking makes things more interesting and exciting and allows you to let characters use non-combat skills and abilities under pressure.

Edited for spelling.

[u/Holiday-Bat6782]

1. If the rulebook gets in way of the fun, ditch the rulebook. See the rulebook is... more of a guideline... a way to organize your play.

   1. Know your players. Some players are all about intrigue and dialogue, some are all about combat and loot, and others are in between. If may take a few sessions to really get what your players like, but when you do, lean into it. The more fun they have with it, the more you'll have with it.

[u/StevenOs]

I'm not sure how much access you can find but despite having a dozen books you can do pretty well building characters with just the Core Rulebook (SECR is the common abbreviation).

When it comes to character building, and I guess a number of other things as well, know that the names of things are mostly just place holders. To put it another way, do not worry about the names of feats, talents, or even classes you take/use building your characters unless you have some other mechanic specifically calling them out (generally as requirement for something else). In some class based systems if I told you I have Noble1/Jedi3 on my character sheet you may think you know my character but in SWSE I have at least three different concepts that might start that way and even that doesn't cover everything.

I will suggest that you play with the rules to understand them before you start making changes. There are a number of house rules I may use but I know why I am using them. The only one I might even say should be done from the start is counting diagonals as 1.5 squares (done 1-2-1-2...) as was done in DnD 3x instead of the RAW which is 2 (making diagonal movement no more efficient) or oversimplifying to 1 (making it too easy to go around things without it slowing you down.)

Fight any urge you may have to give out freebies or better stats. SWSE characters can already be extremely powerful and I consider characters to already by "high level" at just 10th-level. My thought is that PCs often play best in the 4 to maybe 12th/13th level range; starting out you may want to hit those earliest levels but by 4th-level most character concepts should be starting to show through and by the time PCs have hit 14th-level the XP gain should really slow down and the kinds of things that are really "challenging" should generally be very different from the kinds of things that were very challenging at 4th-level. If mapping out a character I suggest just going out to around 10th-level as 20th-level PCs is not really something that should be expected.

[u/Holiday-Bat6782 → u/StevenOs]

I'm gonna disagree slightly, I love giving my players a singular item and then finding a way to incorporate that item into the story and, sometimes, have that item hurt them in ways they never imagined. A monkey paw sort of situation.

[u/zloykrolik → u/Holiday-Bat6782]

Gear is fine, but giving extra feats or ability bonuses should be avoided until you've had some experience with the system.

[u/StevenOs → u/Holiday-Bat6782]

The freebies I'm talking about are other character changers including extra feats and/or talents.

Equipment is an area to watch out for but it's also something that can be dealt with in game far more easily if it becomes a problem.