How to start a campaign?

[Varon]

Hey, y'all! So, some roommates and friends at college are wanting me to run an Edge of the Empire/Age of Rebellion campaign of some sort. They're all, except one, new players both to EotE and RPGs like this in general. So, I'm not entirely sure how to run games for that. They like more overarching stories. One is already playing some sort of FS Exile/Emergent and another is down to create the crew of Firefly and run stuff like that.

This is the initial concept I had, but I'm not sure how well it might work or if it could work well with new players. So, looking for your suggestions, wisdom, etc.

In an attempt to flush any remaining Jedi and Force sensitives out of hiding, the Empire begins spreading rumors about a secret nomadic fleet of Jedi mystics with a massive bounty for information or individuals
That way, it's a lure for any Jedi/rebels/Force sensitives, and a motivation to set bounty hunters on the trail in case there is anything happening

So, what do y'all think?

[JustIgnoreMe]

Hey, y'all! So, some roommates and friends at college are wanting me to run an Edge of the Empire/Age of Rebellion campaign of some sort. They're all, except one, new players both to EotE and RPGs like this in general. So, I'm not entirely sure how to run games for that. They like more overarching stories. One is already playing some sort of FS Exile/Emergent and another is down to create the crew of Firefly and run stuff like that.

This is the initial concept I had, but I'm not sure how well it might work or if it could work well with new players. So, looking for your suggestions, wisdom, etc.

In an attempt to flush any remaining Jedi and Force sensitives out of hiding, the Empire begins spreading rumors about a secret nomadic fleet of Jedi mystics with a massive bounty for information or individuals
That way, it's a lure for any Jedi/rebels/Force sensitives, and a motivation to set bounty hunters on the trail in case there is anything happening

So, what do y'all think?

A Firefly-like crew is perfect for the setup in EotE, and you can just have a Force User pop up anywhere (Force in EotE/AoR is pretty well balanced against what everyone else can do without the Force, it's all just a question of where you spend your XP). Give them a sometimes-Patron (I used a Hutt) who gives them little jobs from time to time: use someone who can justifiably either call them to his/her/it's home world, or who could have agents everywhere. They'll have a few routes, runs or 'gons where they know how to get goods and people in and out, one planet where they know who to ask for Spice and another where they know who to sell it to. Write up a few planets within short distances of each other (I use index cards), each with something interesting about them.

Are they going to be hunting for the fake nomadic fleet to turn the Jedi in to the Empire for a bounty? If the game pitch tells them OOC that it's a fake rumour, then I think it'll be difficult to get them to pursue a task they OOC know is futile. Following a mysterious nomadic fleet is a good way to get the PCs moving from planet to planet, but it doesn't really set up much possibility of ongoing NPCs: it'll be a new star system every week. It's Battlestar Galactica, not Firefly (and there were only a couple of recurring characters in Firefly: Badger, Mrs Reynolds, maybe a few others).

Instead of a fleet, how about rumours of a single ship that stays within the same few systems the party do (or close by), that's specifically looking for Something (explaining why it has to stay in the area). The Something can be a stash of Holocrons, the Mind's Eye gemstone, the Katana Fleet, anything really (especially if it's just an Imperial rumour, although having the rumour actually turn out to be true could be hilarious). The crew can go from planet to planet and hear rumours of the mysterious ship. If they ever actually find it (there has to be an actual ship for there to be solid rumours) it turns out to be an Imperial-crewed spy ship, the honey-trap you want to catch the rebels and Jedi.

[Hopeless]

Session zero this to explain why they're together when the game starts.
Encourage them to involve each other in their introduction only revealing one of them is force sensitive only if they understand turning them over to the Empire is very bad and ideally you should have the Empire responsible in some way for whatever event left them scavenging in the Outer Rim.

As far as that mystic rumour have them witness the Empire at its worst revealing they can't be trusted maybe a friend or ally of the PCs is killed transporting a force sensitive family to reinforce just how dark the Empire truly is?

Is there anything you can tell us of their obligations and motivations so far?

[Anonymouswizard]

If the PCs have access to a ship, a good way to get them looking for work is to charge for the repairs/mortgage. The cost of running a ship should be roughly 'what you managed to earn this month minus food and a couple of nice toys'. Of course, this will have the downside of causing them to fly away from any nomadic fleets and go after more certain money, because even a brand new starship needs constant maintenance.

On that note, anyone with a sense of scale will realise that this 'fleet' is only a few ships or would be relatively easy to spot. Then they have to get food, unless they're large enough to be self-sustaining, at which point they'll be outside the border of the Empire and finding them is probably a poor idea money-wise. They'll pop into the outer regions of the empire occasionally to get fuel and other things they can't make themselves, assuming the haven't gone full asteroid miner as well. Most Jedi will realise that they're better off in hiding.

Yes, I am focusing on the fact that the PCs are going to want money fairly regularly, food+fuel+repairs isn't cheap even before you're trying to upgrade. If you've ever played Traveller any ship without a decent cargo hold is useless to your average group of PCs for this reason unless it has the firepower for and is in the right location to find mercenary work. If you're going to let your players have a ship you need to think about this, either state their ship is reliable and outright owned by the PCs or have them semi-regularly contacted for jobs with big payouts (although less than in some games because Star Wars ships are fast).

Also, have a session zero. This allows you to know what the players want and make sure everybody's on the same page.

[Corsair14]

Depends on how you want them to start. Now granted I play the WEG version of the game because I hate how restrictive and complicated the FFG version is but with new players I put them somewhere familiar to learn the ropes. My current campaign had the PCs start in the scramble in Rogue One in a civilian tramp freighter quickly hired to rescue ground forces on Scariff. Ship is piloted by a grizzled old captain and PCs are crew. Note they are not part of the Rebellion but simply allied to it through their boss. Basically this early scenario has them on a theme park ride on board the ship learning the rules of the game, shooting TIE fighters, dropping into atmo to rescue a couple of the unnamed movie commandoes on the beach(a future contact with the Rebellion), back into space where one character learns they are force sensitive as an undercover inquisitor in the TIE fighter force detects them and they feel something dark from Vader's presence. The Captain is killed by an exploding panel leaving the PCs to fight their way out and jump to light speed. Then there is a time jump 6 months, ships still a mess and they are short on cash, and the force sensitive person learns a bit more about their abilities and had the player put a dice in a force ability. They find a Sith relic in a curio shop and started an adventure to figure out where it came from including springing the former owner from prison, finding this Rim planet and an old temple archeological site and running into the Inquisitor who set the trap in the first place who becomes a recurring villain.

[Varon]

Thanks for the input, guys! It did help me get things started, especially once I ended up throwing some pregens at them first, because they were ready and excited to play well before I could get things planned. So, they did the Redezvous at Ord Mantell and briefly visited Arda 1. That gives them a rebel patron and some service with the Alliance, mainly smuggling bacta to them. Because they totally skipped my adventure hook with the distress signal

Anyways, I'm going to try and incorporate some more of y'all's ideas as we work on advancing this.

As for obligation, one is an astromech with smuggling routes stolen by our Chiss bounty hunter from the Black Sun. Those two are a group and then the other two are a freelance spy with an obsession for knowledge and wanted for helping hide the other one, who is basically a fugitive mercenary sniper. So plenty to work with as far as crime and bounties go. Thinking maybe send a Black Sun agent and Sector Ranger after them. See how that goes.