What should i know and research before dming a star wars game to a bunch of nerds

[Salgood]

So im a star wars fan and have loved the setting for years (especially the clone wars/ prequal movie era) but now am getting ready to dm a campaign with my family set in the mandalorian jedi war an era thats interesting to me however that i am pretty unkowledgeable on. My family arent as aware of history around that time aswell but my father has recently listened to teh thrawn audiobooks and will be playing a chis which is going to have the campaign involve the outer region alot more than i intended which no matter the era of star wars I HAVE NO IDEA ANYTHING ABOUT :(. MY father also grew up on the old republic games so in general it will be hard to keep up with him as he has much mroe knowledge on the old republic era than me. I have two questions basically, 1 is General knowledge i should research on the star wars world to run it fluidly (i.e. planets names and histories, race histories, ect ect) I have alot of knowledge on the jedi and force specifically as its always bene such a cool concept to me but getting away from a force heavy game (everyone playing a mandalorian and prolly not meeting a jedi until lvl 6 or 7) is rly pushing me out of my comfort zone. and 2 im wondering what specifially should i know about the era im in? like what are some cool things i could include in the story around this time, also what should i research to learn about the chis and outer region (without reading all the thrawn books cause theres like a thousand from what i can tell lol/j). Any helps rly appreciated ALSO SRY FOR POSTING THIS IN A DND FORUM IK ITS STAR WARS (specifically saga edition) BUT I WAS HOPING SOME OF YOU DUDES WOULD HAVE SOME HELPFUL ADVICE THANKS IN ADVANCE <3

[quetzalcoatl5]

I actually have a lot of thoughts on this since I ran a Star Wars real play podcast using the 3.0 inspired ruleset from WotC.

Shameless plug: https://www.certainpov.com/d20-star-...=1495684860392

I generally recommend researching obscure trivia (don't worry if it's Legends or Canon) and finding what appeals to you. Big thing is that you are still running the game. If someone has encyclopedic knowledge of Star Wars canon and wants to argue a story point, remind them that you're putting the story out there (and then try to privately figure out a headcanon reason to justify it that you can later share to make it seem like it was all your plan).

Don't give too much fan service, save big things for big moments, but trickle in little bits of trivia to wet their whistle.

[vasilidor]

Avoid big name characters outside of big moments as previously suggested. Don't be afraid to stray from canon, especially if your characters manage to pull something off like blowing up Slave One prior to the events of The Empire Strikes Back. Warn them ahead of time that if they do something like that, they are going into uncharted territory. Star Wars is also a big galaxy, there is no reason that new things can not be introduced.
Acknowledge that you are probably going to get bits of lore wrong, even if you read up on things.
If you have things take place on a particular planet, a scram sheet of that planet would be useful.
The books and comics take place in a different universe, effectively, than the later trilogy that has everyone divided right now.

[Gnaeus]

Ultimately, if your father wants an outer rim thrawn type setting experience, you have 2 choices, Read the books, or just throw out up front that you don't know all those details and if you are caught on the fly you are going to make stuff up that won't match cannon. You could use him as a resource, as in: please make a quick reference sheet for the people in this region and their important traits that are important to your enjoyment of the setting.

Ultimately, though, I would use 2 techniques, control the setting, and control your time. Get a broad overview of the region, which your dad could probably do for you in 5 minutes. But then make your own planet (or system, with a few planets or stations). Its an entire galaxy after all. On that planet, you aren't going to contradict any lore, because you just made it up. Make the central conflict of at least the first part of that game focus on that planet, so even if the players leave, they are going to keep going back there, because they have some IC interest. If you don't know anything about some criminal faction, there aren't any of them in that system, only local groups, or only introduce wider connections as you learn more about them.

Make it clear that if someone is doing something outside your comfort zone, they need to let you know beforehand. So if your dad says I am going to planet X to interact with NPC/faction Y, ask him politely to tell you a week or so ooc before he jumps in his ship and flies there. Then you can look it up. This is a wildly detailed setting with massive fan support. Jump on wookiepedia and get the run-down. And as Vasildor says, avoid big name characters, ESPECIALLY ones he knows better than you. That guy is off planet dealing with something and won't be back for 2 years.

[Pugwampy]

Umm be careful about someone taking a Noble class . Depending on the charisma stats a noble can get thousands of credits free daily . A tactical nerd might ask for an unusual species that has a charisma boost .

This might break your game .

I played a hutt Noble

[Iamyourking]

You're dealing with a time and place that legitimately has very little written about it (4,000 years before the movies in the Outer Regions), so you really have a lot of latitude to make things up. The planets will be the same, but it's a largely uncharted and extremely large region and you could easily go an entire campaign without encountering a single canonical world.