Quasqueton
First Post
I got to see a first-time GM run a game this weekend. The game was Star Wars d6. The GM was well versed in the SW Universe, and he knew and understood the game rules reasonably well (for having never played/GMed them). There were two Players, one which had never played this particular game before, and the other (me) had played it many (~12) years ago. Both Players were also well versed in the SW Universe.
The game was just a one shot, to include character creation. The GM did not volunteer to run the game, but was talked into it by the Players. But he rose to the challenge admirably.
I chose to make my character based off a template (archtype) in the back of the book – picking 4 or 5 skills that looked appropriate from the list under the template. I added points the GM gave us to those skills.
The other Player initially wanted to create a character from the ground up, but soon came around to the idea of using a template for quicker creation. He asked for explanation of some of the skills, like the difference between star ship and space transport skills. (This seemed unnecessary to me, as we knew any ship was just to get us to the adventure locale.)
I was finished and ready with my character in about 10 minutes, by myself. The other Player took about 40 minutes, with the GM’s attention.
The other Player would occasionally comment how some rule was “stupid” or “doesn’t make sense”. (I hate when this Player acts like this in my game. It was particularly annoying this time because this game was the first GM experience for the GM.)
I would usually say, “OK”, or occasionally “are you sure?” if the rule sounded particularly odd. Sometimes the “are you sure?” would prompt a more thorough read and reveal more sense. Sometimes it wouldn’t (prompt a more thorough read, and/or reveal more sense).
During play, the GM seemed to call for skill checks much more often than probably needed. Perception checks were often. The GM called for skill checks to use basic machinery. The GM often described things rather than just identify things – even things that arguably, the PCs would recognize (like a monorail dock and a forklift). I think this was strictly because it was his first time GMing – he hadn’t found that balance.
There were three firefights in the game session – one on an outdoors landing zone; the other two inside, in very large chambers (~200 meters linear space) with several obstacles around for cover. My character had just the “default” heavy blaster pistol (max range: 50 meters). The other Player’s character had bought a blaster rifle (max range: 300 meters). The enemy NPCs had sporting blasters (max range: unknown, but more than 50 meters).
The GM said he chose the sporting blasters because they do less damage (and he wasn’t sure how deadly the game was going to be to our two characters), but he hadn’t considered the range difference.
We were using a standard 1” square = 5’ battle grid, but we used it as 1” square = 5 meters. This really skewed how we visualized the battle field – 50 meters doesn’t look very far in that scale.
Because my weapon had such a short range (relative to the battlefield, and the blaster rifle), I didn’t get to fire much. In the end, the other character fired ~12 shots, and dropped 10 enemies. My character fired 5 shots, and wounded one enemy. (The other character’s 10th enemy dropped was the one I had wounded.) Both our characters had 6D in blaster skill – but I was always firing at long range, and he was never beyond medium range.
My character was actually unable to act for two whole rounds in one fight because of a misread of the stunned (0-3 points of damage “stunned”, not gun-setting “stunned”) condition. And an enemy was within range of my blaster during those two rounds! :-(
Overall, the game session was fun. It was very interesting seeing a GM’s first time. It was also interesting (in a bad way) to see how some Players can make GMing tougher than it needs to be. Criticizing the rules, and/or complaining about how the GM applies the rules is annoying to an experienced GM, but probably cuts deeper to a first-time GM.
As for the game’s combat system (really, the only part I saw in depth), I like it, but I also dislike it. For one, I like how it makes getting hit by a blaster something to try to avoid – unlike using hit points. But it is kind of weird to get hit but shrug off the damage completely (as my wookie did, once – got hit, but took no damage). The model makes you think of using cover rather than just standing and shooting it out with the enemy.
But the whole declaring actions and everyone taking one action at a time, in sequence with each other, does bog things down a bit. But it works, and makes sense, actually.
I like it for what it does, but I also dislike it for how it does it (but I can’t think of a better way).
We didn’t finish the adventure. And I learned that I hate one-shots. I like RPGs because what you do in them has “meaning” beyond the moment – you are creating a story. A one-shot takes that story and just tosses it aside at the end of the night. Might as well be playing a board game.
Quasqueton
The game was just a one shot, to include character creation. The GM did not volunteer to run the game, but was talked into it by the Players. But he rose to the challenge admirably.
I chose to make my character based off a template (archtype) in the back of the book – picking 4 or 5 skills that looked appropriate from the list under the template. I added points the GM gave us to those skills.
The other Player initially wanted to create a character from the ground up, but soon came around to the idea of using a template for quicker creation. He asked for explanation of some of the skills, like the difference between star ship and space transport skills. (This seemed unnecessary to me, as we knew any ship was just to get us to the adventure locale.)
I was finished and ready with my character in about 10 minutes, by myself. The other Player took about 40 minutes, with the GM’s attention.
The other Player would occasionally comment how some rule was “stupid” or “doesn’t make sense”. (I hate when this Player acts like this in my game. It was particularly annoying this time because this game was the first GM experience for the GM.)
I would usually say, “OK”, or occasionally “are you sure?” if the rule sounded particularly odd. Sometimes the “are you sure?” would prompt a more thorough read and reveal more sense. Sometimes it wouldn’t (prompt a more thorough read, and/or reveal more sense).
During play, the GM seemed to call for skill checks much more often than probably needed. Perception checks were often. The GM called for skill checks to use basic machinery. The GM often described things rather than just identify things – even things that arguably, the PCs would recognize (like a monorail dock and a forklift). I think this was strictly because it was his first time GMing – he hadn’t found that balance.
There were three firefights in the game session – one on an outdoors landing zone; the other two inside, in very large chambers (~200 meters linear space) with several obstacles around for cover. My character had just the “default” heavy blaster pistol (max range: 50 meters). The other Player’s character had bought a blaster rifle (max range: 300 meters). The enemy NPCs had sporting blasters (max range: unknown, but more than 50 meters).
The GM said he chose the sporting blasters because they do less damage (and he wasn’t sure how deadly the game was going to be to our two characters), but he hadn’t considered the range difference.
We were using a standard 1” square = 5’ battle grid, but we used it as 1” square = 5 meters. This really skewed how we visualized the battle field – 50 meters doesn’t look very far in that scale.
Because my weapon had such a short range (relative to the battlefield, and the blaster rifle), I didn’t get to fire much. In the end, the other character fired ~12 shots, and dropped 10 enemies. My character fired 5 shots, and wounded one enemy. (The other character’s 10th enemy dropped was the one I had wounded.) Both our characters had 6D in blaster skill – but I was always firing at long range, and he was never beyond medium range.
My character was actually unable to act for two whole rounds in one fight because of a misread of the stunned (0-3 points of damage “stunned”, not gun-setting “stunned”) condition. And an enemy was within range of my blaster during those two rounds! :-(
Overall, the game session was fun. It was very interesting seeing a GM’s first time. It was also interesting (in a bad way) to see how some Players can make GMing tougher than it needs to be. Criticizing the rules, and/or complaining about how the GM applies the rules is annoying to an experienced GM, but probably cuts deeper to a first-time GM.
As for the game’s combat system (really, the only part I saw in depth), I like it, but I also dislike it. For one, I like how it makes getting hit by a blaster something to try to avoid – unlike using hit points. But it is kind of weird to get hit but shrug off the damage completely (as my wookie did, once – got hit, but took no damage). The model makes you think of using cover rather than just standing and shooting it out with the enemy.
But the whole declaring actions and everyone taking one action at a time, in sequence with each other, does bog things down a bit. But it works, and makes sense, actually.
I like it for what it does, but I also dislike it for how it does it (but I can’t think of a better way).
We didn’t finish the adventure. And I learned that I hate one-shots. I like RPGs because what you do in them has “meaning” beyond the moment – you are creating a story. A one-shot takes that story and just tosses it aside at the end of the night. Might as well be playing a board game.
Quasqueton
