Player Tips

OOC

This advice for succeeding in Edgewar.

General Advice

The secret to success in Edgewar is: Situation + Lore + Edge/Skill/Power + Creativity/Bullsh*t = GM says, "Roll something!"

• The Rule of Cool: regardless of the rules, if your idea idea cool, I’m more likely to let it happen. This is especially true if you’ve made a plan, you’ve specifically prepared, and/or you’re collaborating with other characters.
• History matters. The past may offer clues to what’s happening.
• The environment matters. For example, try using terrain for a tactical advantage.
• Your character may know more than you or have more relevant experience. As a player, you can roll to use your PC’s knowledge and/or experience.
• Talk with NPCs. They know things (e.g., history, local lore).
• You can roll in a social encounter. You can roll to use your PC’s abilities, you can use spoken role-play, or a mix of both.

Feeling Overwhelmed?

I’ve been running Edgewar on and off since 1994. It's become a vast multiverse of worlds, factions, heroes, and villains. That depth has become intentional: just as your player may feel overwhelmed at times, your character may feel that there are a lot of secrets and history beneath the surface of events. You don’t need to understand everything as a player: you can rely on your character’s knowledge, or just focus on the current story.

Character Concept Tips

1. "Yes, and…" and "No, but...." As a GM, I encourage player passion and creativity. I will try to make an unusual character concept work, within the other principles below.
2. Lord of the Rings, not Scooby Doo (or "Arkham Asylum, not LEGO Batman"). Edgewar is often a dark superhero story (without capes): the themes and on-screen elements can be serious or even horrorific (e.g., cybernetic assimilation). My table is mature/focused, not beer-and-pretzels. Some character concepts are blatantly in the wrong direction (e.g., cartoonish or outright silly).
3. No room for tourists on these jobs. The PCs rescue others. PCs shouldn't need rescuing. Every PC should have self-sufficiency during combat and useful abilities out of combat. Every player should participate in planning and tactics. (Every player has the right to a bad day now and then, when they prefer to be more quiet. Similarly, new players may prefer to ramp up participation in planning and tactics as they learn Edgewar.)
4. More than a fighter. Many sessions include little or no combat. Sometimes, the better win condition is avoiding or minimizing combat, rather than, "Kill everyone and let the gods sort them out." Every PC should be helpful outside of combat.
5. Solve problems; don't bring them. Every PC should make the GM and team's jobs easier, not harder. Collaborate in advance as needed, bringing ideas not just complications. There's plenty of room for having disability, unhealed mental trauma, etc. But it hurts my Fun when a player surprises me during a session with a major complication to the PC's basic mobility or participation, with an attitude of, "That's a problem for you, GM."
6. Teamwork makes the dream work. Edgewar is always a team story. No PC should be created and played as a lone wolf. Come to collaborate. When the leader or majority have settled on a plan, get on board so that discussion can end and the action can begin.
7. Walk the talk. Both IC and OOC, back up opinions with solutions you can implement. It hurts my Fun and other players' Fun when a player criticizes or suggests ideas, but didn't create their PC to actually do the work.