I have to chime in as SW has become my group's go to system.
A couple quick comments. If you are coming from D&D, DO NOT PLAY Fantasy to start. The rules play very differently. Combat is not a grind like in D&D. People can die...fast. Run the Wild Hunt. It's a great, free, intro adventure.
As for GM prep, I feel guilty some game nights, like last night. We started a little Sci fi thing a couple weeks ago. I did 20 minutes of prep for last night's 3 hour session. That prep consisted of downloading a few pictures and putting them into roll 20 along with going to a name generation site and copying down all kinds of names to have them ready. That's pretty much it. After that, I let the players loose and see where things go. If you're a GM who likes to script stuff, this may not be for you. If you like improving and letting your players scratch whatever itch they have, you'll revel in this.
I ran these guys through War of the Dead and they enjoyed it, except for the rigidness of the story. It is an adventure path, they recognize they need to ride the train from time to time with that. Last night, they couldn't even hear the train or see the station. They loved it.
Bottom line, SW made me a better GM and more importantly, my players better role players. We went from a 4E home brew adventure path to a completely free form adventure in less than a year. There was one point last night, the RP at the table was so good I could have taken a 20 minute nap. The simplistic skill checks make it so easy, and more importantly, unobtrusive, to resolve events.
I can't say enough good things except that I want the sci-fi companion NOW.
A couple quick comments. If you are coming from D&D, DO NOT PLAY Fantasy to start. The rules play very differently. Combat is not a grind like in D&D. People can die...fast. Run the Wild Hunt. It's a great, free, intro adventure.
As for GM prep, I feel guilty some game nights, like last night. We started a little Sci fi thing a couple weeks ago. I did 20 minutes of prep for last night's 3 hour session. That prep consisted of downloading a few pictures and putting them into roll 20 along with going to a name generation site and copying down all kinds of names to have them ready. That's pretty much it. After that, I let the players loose and see where things go. If you're a GM who likes to script stuff, this may not be for you. If you like improving and letting your players scratch whatever itch they have, you'll revel in this.
I ran these guys through War of the Dead and they enjoyed it, except for the rigidness of the story. It is an adventure path, they recognize they need to ride the train from time to time with that. Last night, they couldn't even hear the train or see the station. They loved it.
Bottom line, SW made me a better GM and more importantly, my players better role players. We went from a 4E home brew adventure path to a completely free form adventure in less than a year. There was one point last night, the RP at the table was so good I could have taken a 20 minute nap. The simplistic skill checks make it so easy, and more importantly, unobtrusive, to resolve events.
I can't say enough good things except that I want the sci-fi companion NOW.
