My new group started a game of Over the Edge last Sunday. I was very nervous going into it, as I already had 6 strikes against me right out of the gate:

1. It was the first session of a new campaign.
2. There was a new player in the group (me).
3. There was a new GM (me).
4. I had not run a game in almost 5 years (not counting my woefully inadequate annual Spookybeans playtests).
5. It was a new game system for all involved.
6. I really didn't do enough prep.

However, I did have several things going for me as well:

1. My brother Joel was there.
2. The rest of the group was hand-picked by him for me.
3. We were able to sit down and just talk about gaming in general for a while before we decided on anything.
4. They all made really combat-light characters (even the assassin is more of a hands-off, one-shot-one-kill type).
5. I'm really digging the light system mechanics.
6. The prep I did do carried me through most of the session.

The full writeup is on my LiveJournal, but basically, the PCs are all people who have come to the island for various reasons, have been there for varying lengths of time (ranging from 2 years to "just off the plane"), didn't know each other at all to start with, but all share some thematic elements in common. I managed to get each PC to cross paths with at least one other, and have plans to tie them more closely together as the story goes on with overlapping plot elements and mutual NPC acquaintances.

All in all, I think it went very well, certainly much better than I was dreading it would be. The players are all fantastic, and much fun time was had by all. More to come.

-- Ben

Hey Ben,

I apologize for not getting to this sooner.

What canonical NPCs did you use? Did you make up any? And, in play, which ones "felt right" to you as you went along?

In the first edition of the game, drawing your own character was actually a required step in character creation. Did you guys do this?

Best, Ron

Hi, Ben!

I'm, interested to know more about your play as well, since I've been running Over the Edge for some time with various problematic issues, and I'd love to see how someone else handles it. (Speaking of which, I logged into LiveJournal to read your link, but it says it's a "protected entry." WhaddoIdo?)

So: one of my biggest pitfalls when I started running OTE was in taking all the source material as one great big "Canon" and trying to unfold every last nook and cranny of it. This for two reasons: One, that's really how I thought of the setting info--all those pages of writeup "are" Al Amarja, so when I GM I'm faithfully reporting what the players find there. Even a bit that goes entirely undetailed, like forever, still "is" a part of the setting. And Two, I wasa HUGE fanboy of the material, both from the On the Edge card game and from reading the RPG book, and wanted to present all the super-cool environments and NPCs and such that I'd grown to love to my players in the most awesome way possible so that they'd love them too. Which, since I only had the vaguest idea what they were "supposed" to be like (rather than making them what I wanted or was capable of portraying), was rather like a blind guy running to all his buddies to tell them about this cool 'elephant" he's discovered. Or, as I've often likened it, like trying to celebrate the coolness of Star Wars with a bunch of guys who've never seen it, when I've only read a "behind the scenes" sourcebook or something. :P

So! These might be entirely my issues, and perhaps they didn't inform your play at all. Still, there might be something I could learn from your avoidance of my pitfalls, so I'm curious either way. Just how did it go with using setting NPCs?

Oh, and Ron: That "draw your character" rule is in the second edition as well. Not that I could ever get most of my players to do it. . .:( They generally ignored "signs" too (the little mannerisms and "tells" that accompany traits). I think it was a case of "oh, we know how to 'roleplay,' that stuff is all advice/fluff," and me not having the conviction to insist.

Peace,
-Joel

PS. In case anyone's confused, no, I'm not the "brother Joel" that Dan refers to above. Small world. . .