Age of Rebellion at Pair a Dice Games

A couple months back, I approached the management of Pair a Dice Games in Vista and asked them if they'd like me to run a game of Age of Rebellion for them when Free RPG Day rolled around. I did some work on the AoR core rules, and I thought it'd be a neat way to get the word out about FFG's latest entry into the Star Wars RPG market.

Just before we got started.

They thought it was a swell idea, especially since I contributed to the game. I was suddenly being treated like a minor celebrity, even being mentioned by name in their email flyers leading up to the event. It put a little pressure on, to be sure. After all, I didn't want to go in there and run a crappy scenario for folks who were expecting champion-level storytelling from someone "in the industry."

Thing is, I don't generally go out of my way to tell people I do freelance writing/game design and that I've worked for several big-name game publishers. When they get to know me, they usually find out. Maybe it's worth bragging about, maybe it's not, but I keep it on the down-low most of the time. I don't think I'm better than anyone because of it, and I'd hate for anyone to assume I feel that way. It's just something I do because I find it fulfilling.

Anyway. It is what it is.

Kane, Jared, and Bridgette.

Yesterday was the day of truth. I'd put together a small adventure along with seven pre-genned characters. Since the AoR core rules haven't been released yet, I had to rely on the AoR Beta rules. Using the Beta wasn't a problem, and I don't think any of the players had even seen the book before. Hopefully, when the core book comes out next month, it'll have a positive response with folks. It really is an excellent product.

Where was I? Oh, yeah. The day of truth.

I was worried that the publicity would result in me having too many players to fit into the scenario. In the end, the player group consisted of five very awesome players. Three of them were experienced with Edge of the Empire, so they knew what they were doing. This was great, because they ended up explaining rules to the players who weren't familiar with the game. By the end of the session, everyone was rolling the dice, reading the symbols, and contributing to the story effectively.

Robert and Vance.

My other fear was that I hadn't had an opportunity to playtest the adventure prior to Free RPG Day. The schedule's been tight lately, so I ended up going in blind. Fortunately, the adventure worked. I made a couple of changes on the fly, but overall I felt it was successful (in fact, it might have been too easy!). We got rolling around 1 pm and were finished up by 5:30 in the afternoon.

A number of my personal friends showed up to say hello to me. Since I was running the game, I couldn't break away and socialize, which made me feel kind of bad for them. They understood, though, and it was nice to see everyone, even for a brief moment.

The players succeeded on their mission, and they all seemed to enjoy themselves. Hopefully I run into them all again sometime. If I had more time, I might even make a regular night of it. As it is, my schedule is pretty crowded, so I can't. It's going to have to be an occasional thing rather than a regular one.

In the end, I'd like to extend my thanks to Vance, Robert, Bridgette, Jared, and Kane for playing and making the game a success. It wouldn't have been the same without you guys!