SWRPG - Basic knowledge for players

[Jurble]

Hey guys,
so im getting an SWRPG game going for a bunch of friends, and trying to work out what they need to know beforehand. All except one have seen all the movies so that basic level of understanding is there.

What makes me wonder is how to get them to take initiative when they dont know the resources are round. For example - Data terminals. Im hopig to use them for getting info, using the comm/holonet, slicing etc with different terminals having different levels of access and info.

Also things like hydrospanners and navicomputers, any suggestions of things worth explaining/understnading to players would be awesome

From those who have played SWRPG before (with non-star wars nuts hehe) what do you suggest explaining before the game/in the game and how do you go about that? Would you explain it the first time they find a data terminal or explain it before the game even starts, maybe even givign them a reference sheet for things they should know about?

interested in what people do/think?

tnx guys

 

[Donovan Morningfire]

From the sounds of it, most of your group would have a fair idea of the day-to-day stuff.

In short, a lot of the stuff we have in our world exists in Star Wars, it just has a different name.

Internet -> Holonet (which also covers TV)
Computers -> Data Terminals (although more advanced in terms of processing speed)
Basic Tools -> Basic Tools with funny names.
GPS -> Navicomputer
PDA -> Datapad (with a much bigger memory capacity)
Booze and Food -> Booze and Food (there were a couple lists on the Holonet Forums of all the different mixed drinks and foodstuffs found in Star Wars RPG).

Just let them know that the type of stuff they'd be used to in today's world exists in some form in the Star Wars galaxy, just a bit more advanced than what they're used to.

 

[masshysteria]

What time period will you be playing in?

While Star Wars has black and white good guys and bad guys (literally!), it helps to make sure everyone knows who are allies and who are enemies.

If your players only Star Wars reference is the movies, try to remember what happened in the movies. There wasn't much information gathering (holonet surfing, slicing, etc.) by the main characters. Instead, it was often a droid who took over those duties. You may want to supply the party with an R2 unit (perhaps GM controlled) that can do those duties so that the players may focus on more "heroic" endeavors. Also, if the droid is GM controlled, it gives you an easy way to get the players back on track or help them out when lost.

 

[Pbartender]

Booze and Food -> Booze and Food

Change that to:

Booze and Food -> Booze and Food with the name of an exotic planet or alien animal added in.

For example: Bantha Steaks or Corellian Whiskey.

 

[Donovan Morningfire]

If your players only Star Wars reference is the movies, try to remember what happened in the movies. There wasn't much information gathering (holonet surfing, slicing, etc.) by the main characters. Instead, it was often a droid who took over those duties. You may want to supply the party with an R2 unit (perhaps GM controlled) that can do those duties so that the players may focus on more "heroic" endeavors. Also, if the droid is GM controlled, it gives you an easy way to get the players back on track or help them out when lost.

Besides, it's common knowledge that R2-D2 is the main hero of the movies

 

[Jurble]

good points all of em, id forgotten about the holonet being the main "TV" in SW. Might make a really basic info sheet for em to get them going.

Would love to get my hands on that food list, but i cant access the holonet forum at all? strange. anyone else get the problem? Anything under holonet (holonet.swrpgnetwork.com) I get some sort of parse error and fatal error. Weird stuff.

Hydrospanners! thats a good one to explain

I guess when your familiar with the universe its alot easier to know what you can play with and what your options are. (ie. divert deflector power on an to long range comm to boost the signal. Shutting down engines and active scanners to avoid detection etc

Anyone else have that problem with holonet forums?

thanks!

 

[Rhun]

Here you go:

Swear words and alcoholic beverages.

 

[Donovan Morningfire]

Would love to get my hands on that food list, but i cant access the holonet forum at all? strange. anyone else get the problem? Anything under holonet (holonet.swrpgnetwork.com) I get some sort of parse error and fatal error. Weird stuff.

Anyone else have that problem with holonet forums?

thanks!

Over on the WotC boards, there's an entire thread for us Holonetters to help keep the faith. Last word from Rodney is that they are well aware of the issue, have a dedicated guy working on fixing it, but are having some issues with the host.

Thread linkage

 

[Donovan Morningfire]

Here you go:

Swear words and alcoholic beverages.

I'd forgotten about those. Not much for blogs meself, which is probably why.

 

[shadowbloodmoon]

Not to be a nit picker, but one small minor detail. Depending on the era, HoloNet may not be available to the players at all. During the Imperial era, the Empire restricts HoloNet access to Imperial ships and such... just so you know... Otherwise, good points all around.