Creating Player Characters
Creating Player Characters
In your early games, you might want to limit the types of characters that the players can choose to those that both you and the players are familiar with—and that you feel the players can play proficiently.
You may want to restrict beginning players to Human characters, because new players often won't have sufficient roleplaying skills to develop an appropriately alien character.
Good suggestions for beginning character templates would be: • Bounty Hunter • Brash Pilot • Laconic Scout • Gambler • Kid • Smuggler • Tongue-Tied Engineer • Wookiee • Ewok
The Wookiee and Ewok are included, despite their being alien templates, because most people who are familiar with the Star Wars movies will be sufficiently familiar with the characters of Chewbacca and the Ewoks to develop an appropriate personality.
When the players arrive, have them select a character template they would like to play and help them complete the template. Show them how to allocate their 7D for skill dice, give them some suggestions for beginning skills, show them how to roll attributes and skills, and how Character Points and Force Points work. You will also want to explain how the Wild Die works.
Before you begin playing, ask the players if they have any questions, then hand out the adventure scripts and get the adventure rolling. If you have the time, you may also want to prepare a handout that explains the basic mechanics of the Star Wars game—it will serve as a reference for the rules that you just explained to them. This will allow your newest players to concentrate on playing and not worrying about the rules.
Create an Improvised Star Wars Movie
As stated before, the whole point of an adventure is to get the players to feel like they are taking part in their own Star Wars movie. Therefore, you as gamemaster need to get the adventure rolling with a bang and keep things exciting and interesting for them.
As you go through the various scenes and episodes, let the players dictate the game's action. If you drop them into a cantina and they are having fun meeting aliens and hearing stories of the space lanes, let them have fun; if they ask if there is gambling, run an impromptu gambling scene. If the players get bored with your cantina scene, then cut to the next scene in the adventure. In short, give the players the story they want.
Performing
One of the most important things that you should remember about any roleplaying game is that you and the players are all performing during the game. Encourage the players to stay in character as much as possible. The game is much more exciting if it is experienced in the first person, not the second.
Don't say, "Your character is hit by the laser bolt." Instead say, "You are hit by the laser bolt!" Anytime the players say, "My character does something," you should correct them, asking, "What are you doing?"
It is also helpful to refer to the players by their characters' names. Instead of playing with Rob, Doug, and Paul, for example, you are dealing with Marx, Narse, and Grerph the Wookiee. If you refer to the players in this manner, it will dramatically increase the flavor and "realism" of your game.
Finally, if you expect your players to act in character, then it is important for you to act in character. Don't detach yourself from these roles when you can act out the roles of the gamemaster characters.
When you have the characters meet a gamemaster character, think about something you can do to establish the character's personality: perhaps he has a unique voice, or has a habit of rubbing his chin while he's lying, or he has a tendency to point with his pinky, or he always stands hunched over. If you make notes of these mannerisms and use them in your game, it will help add realism to the task of roleplaying a gamemaster character.
Some of you will probably be nervous about the prospect of acting out another character—relax! The people you will be playing with are your friends, and they'll probably appreciate seeing you act out roles that you've never done before. Besides, if you show that you're willing to act out a character or two, they will be encouraged to act out the roles of their characters.
Troubleshooting
Beginning players are often unsure of what to do or may easily lose the path of the adventure they are playing. As gamemaster, it is your job to give the players a little help.
Players new to roleplaying games seldom realize how much freedom they have. Without a board to move pieces around on, they often wonder to themselves, "What can I do?" Tell them that they can do whatever they want to—tell them to put themselves in their character's shoes and do what he or she would do. Tell them to explain to you what they want to do, whether it is to shoot a stormtrooper or rig a starship's engines to blow out at a certain time. Then, you will tell them what skill to use and give them an approximate task difficulty.
Players who are unsure may have plans suggested by gamemasters. Maybe a gamemaster character provides information on a target or troop strength, or gives them a map. This gives the players vital information, yet still allows them to plan their strategy.
Relax!
All of this may sound like a lot of things to remember, but everything in this chapter, and the chapters that follow, is geared toward helping you run a better game. The key is to relax and have fun and let the game take care of itself. With a little practice, you'll learn a lot about gamemastering and how to create a great Star Wars adventure!
Source: REUP:206