Hey guys,
so Im a long time roleplayer who is now finally getting a decent shot at GMing a group. (tried a few times but they fizzled, this one looks like it could get going). Im an avid star wars reader and my group has just finished their 3rd session in my new SWSE game.
Im setting the game immediately after Ep3/Order 66, i think its such a crazy period that theres so many interesting directions to take it, and so much darkness to use for the feel of the campaign.
Anyway most of my roleplaying experience comes from persistant world RP such as using NWN where i got a real feel for strong RP based character driven stories. I spent several years on one server, and Dmed there as well for awhile but its a very different style to PnP obviously. After playing with a few GMs i definately feel that my style is more towards providing a few paths for the characters and letting them decide which way to go, as opposed to setting them a single direction and having them wait on me most of the time for a prod in the main direction. That said, being kind of new to DMing a weekly group I could really use a hand
So Im at the point where its really time for the characters to make a decision, but im worried that if i dont give thme enough direction they will lose interest (due to lack of direction). Im trying to balance giving them direction with not teaching them to expect me to tell them where to go. (I really love the idea of "i know lets go to Nar Shadda, i know a guy there who coudl help us")
So first of, ive given my characters a contact list each. It contains 5-15 names of people they know from before the campaign whom they may run into, call on etc. Some may owe them favours, some are just contacts who could help for the right price, and some of them are already dead or bait for Imperial traps (ie some of the Jedi's old Jedi informant contacts)
Im also running the game in fantasy grounds so we play over the net (a great networking "game table" program), and the game has a forum for the players with a forum dedicated to Holonet News Network announcements. This way the players have an eye into whats going on in galaxy around them as we go, as well as seeing the consequences of their actiosn (or i hope it will hehe havnt done anything big yet)
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The campaign so far:
Akaine - Alderaanian Diplomat
Octima - Akaines Jedi body guard
These two were on their way to the planet HoruunIII to observe with the Republic battle group in orbit. Coming out of hyperspace (just after Order 66), their troopers attacked them and they crash landed as the fleet opened fire on them. They made their way through the wreakage of HoruunIII, and through an informant found a way offplanet via the other PCs
Vander - Failed Jedi/Mechanic/Smuggler - - trying to reclaim his force heritage
Axis - Smuggler, force sensitive - trying to reclaim his force heritage
L0-5T - R2 unit, very quirky - found in the hold of their ship
After stealing a ship, then finding out its of importance to a black sun Vigo, Vander ran into axis and found L0-5T on his ship. They landed on HoruunIII, where their ship was grounded by imperials, right after ORder 66. They met with the other two through an information broker, and made a deal to get them to Alderaan.
Plot Hook 1: while meeting in the tapcafe, a freaked out guy was handing out small clear spheres, mumbling about freedom and a senator who recently fled the senate after being revealed to be a separatist double agent. This senator is going to be the embryo of a small resistance group which will one day be absorbed into the larger resistance groups which form the rebellion. Hence should the players follow this path they will find thme selves trying to forment resistance against the growing empire.
1st session:
Characters met in the tapcafe, and had to try and get to the ship and offplanet, navigating roadblocks and spot ID checks with varying success. They managed to get off the ground by the end
2nd session:
because of networking problems we had a really short session where the groups ship made a run through the imperial blockade and made it to hyperspace
3rd session:
Kythia - smuggler who had to dump her ship and cargo when it was impounded by the imperials with a load of glitterstim
Alot of RP on the ship, seraching the ship, found a stowaway (our 6th and last player) and made repairs. There was some interesting RP as a few characters have secrets the others dont know about. Also our Jedi intercepted the signal for jedi to return to Coruscant to the Jedi Temple (Vaders trap)
They then came out of hyperspace, were boarded by an imperial customs team and were let through since the captain was a "Republic" era officer and didnt want to cause the death of a Jedi (Even though he didnt really know they had one on board there were signs).
So now im up to the 4th session and I see a few directions they could go in.
1. Octima the Jedi will probably want ot go to Coruscant to investigate the signal, he already knows many Jedi have died, having felt it. He also knows he is being hunted
2. The sphere they were given was investigated and found to be a map sphere (like yoda/obi wans in Ep2) but theres something strange in it. The person who gave it to them asked thme to take it to Senator Faroli (the separatist sympathiser).
3. Vander has black sun on his back, after his ship and him for stealing it. They want the ship badly he wonders why?
So the group is just landing on Alderaan. Akaine has many contacts within the government and great houses, but it will not take long for people to start tell ing him to leave. Imperials will be on his tail after not too long (records show he partnered with Octima who isnt listed as dead yet, and they crashed on Horuun III).
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So after all that summary of the game so far, i go back to my first question. How do I encourage them towards picking a path, without forcing them into one? At the same time im looking for interesting things to do with this next session, on Alderaan. Im thinking peaceful protests against imperial travel restrictions, which are met with brutality by the Imperials. They will want to investigate Alderaans small underground black market to get anew IFF code for their ship, perhaps a black sun encounter? Bounty hunters?
Anyway any help would be great, i feel like im just really getting my "legs" for this and looking for some inspiration and any ideas would be great! thanks so much!
so Im a long time roleplayer who is now finally getting a decent shot at GMing a group. (tried a few times but they fizzled, this one looks like it could get going). Im an avid star wars reader and my group has just finished their 3rd session in my new SWSE game.
Im setting the game immediately after Ep3/Order 66, i think its such a crazy period that theres so many interesting directions to take it, and so much darkness to use for the feel of the campaign.
Anyway most of my roleplaying experience comes from persistant world RP such as using NWN where i got a real feel for strong RP based character driven stories. I spent several years on one server, and Dmed there as well for awhile but its a very different style to PnP obviously. After playing with a few GMs i definately feel that my style is more towards providing a few paths for the characters and letting them decide which way to go, as opposed to setting them a single direction and having them wait on me most of the time for a prod in the main direction. That said, being kind of new to DMing a weekly group I could really use a hand
So Im at the point where its really time for the characters to make a decision, but im worried that if i dont give thme enough direction they will lose interest (due to lack of direction). Im trying to balance giving them direction with not teaching them to expect me to tell them where to go. (I really love the idea of "i know lets go to Nar Shadda, i know a guy there who coudl help us")
So first of, ive given my characters a contact list each. It contains 5-15 names of people they know from before the campaign whom they may run into, call on etc. Some may owe them favours, some are just contacts who could help for the right price, and some of them are already dead or bait for Imperial traps (ie some of the Jedi's old Jedi informant contacts)
Im also running the game in fantasy grounds so we play over the net (a great networking "game table" program), and the game has a forum for the players with a forum dedicated to Holonet News Network announcements. This way the players have an eye into whats going on in galaxy around them as we go, as well as seeing the consequences of their actiosn (or i hope it will hehe havnt done anything big yet)
------------------------------------------------------
The campaign so far:
Akaine - Alderaanian Diplomat
Octima - Akaines Jedi body guard
These two were on their way to the planet HoruunIII to observe with the Republic battle group in orbit. Coming out of hyperspace (just after Order 66), their troopers attacked them and they crash landed as the fleet opened fire on them. They made their way through the wreakage of HoruunIII, and through an informant found a way offplanet via the other PCs
Vander - Failed Jedi/Mechanic/Smuggler - - trying to reclaim his force heritage
Axis - Smuggler, force sensitive - trying to reclaim his force heritage
L0-5T - R2 unit, very quirky - found in the hold of their ship
After stealing a ship, then finding out its of importance to a black sun Vigo, Vander ran into axis and found L0-5T on his ship. They landed on HoruunIII, where their ship was grounded by imperials, right after ORder 66. They met with the other two through an information broker, and made a deal to get them to Alderaan.
Plot Hook 1: while meeting in the tapcafe, a freaked out guy was handing out small clear spheres, mumbling about freedom and a senator who recently fled the senate after being revealed to be a separatist double agent. This senator is going to be the embryo of a small resistance group which will one day be absorbed into the larger resistance groups which form the rebellion. Hence should the players follow this path they will find thme selves trying to forment resistance against the growing empire.
1st session:
Characters met in the tapcafe, and had to try and get to the ship and offplanet, navigating roadblocks and spot ID checks with varying success. They managed to get off the ground by the end
2nd session:
because of networking problems we had a really short session where the groups ship made a run through the imperial blockade and made it to hyperspace
3rd session:
Kythia - smuggler who had to dump her ship and cargo when it was impounded by the imperials with a load of glitterstim
Alot of RP on the ship, seraching the ship, found a stowaway (our 6th and last player) and made repairs. There was some interesting RP as a few characters have secrets the others dont know about. Also our Jedi intercepted the signal for jedi to return to Coruscant to the Jedi Temple (Vaders trap)
They then came out of hyperspace, were boarded by an imperial customs team and were let through since the captain was a "Republic" era officer and didnt want to cause the death of a Jedi (Even though he didnt really know they had one on board there were signs).
So now im up to the 4th session and I see a few directions they could go in.
1. Octima the Jedi will probably want ot go to Coruscant to investigate the signal, he already knows many Jedi have died, having felt it. He also knows he is being hunted
2. The sphere they were given was investigated and found to be a map sphere (like yoda/obi wans in Ep2) but theres something strange in it. The person who gave it to them asked thme to take it to Senator Faroli (the separatist sympathiser).
3. Vander has black sun on his back, after his ship and him for stealing it. They want the ship badly he wonders why?
So the group is just landing on Alderaan. Akaine has many contacts within the government and great houses, but it will not take long for people to start tell ing him to leave. Imperials will be on his tail after not too long (records show he partnered with Octima who isnt listed as dead yet, and they crashed on Horuun III).
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
So after all that summary of the game so far, i go back to my first question. How do I encourage them towards picking a path, without forcing them into one? At the same time im looking for interesting things to do with this next session, on Alderaan. Im thinking peaceful protests against imperial travel restrictions, which are met with brutality by the Imperials. They will want to investigate Alderaans small underground black market to get anew IFF code for their ship, perhaps a black sun encounter? Bounty hunters?
Anyway any help would be great, i feel like im just really getting my "legs" for this and looking for some inspiration and any ideas would be great! thanks so much!
