For Players: Two Things About Skills

#1: Roll Already!

Many of the skills on the character sheet are pretty obvious - Gather Information, Perception, the Knowledge skills, Jump... This means that very often, if you say, "I'm going to X", you can be pretty sure the DM will immediately reply, "Okay, make a Y check." (For example, "Can I see any tracks?", "Okay, make a Perception check.")

So... why wait? You know what the appropriate skill is, you know the DM is going to ask for it, so just go ahead and roll. That way, when you ask you can also announce the result of the roll right away.

#2: Don't be afraid to ask the real question

Quite often, your PC might be talking to an NPC and you want to find out what he knows about the shield generator. Or you're searching for a trap. Or, in whatever case, there's something you want to know. And maybe you're not entirely sure how best to move the conversation around to what you want to know. Or you don't know quite what the best question is to ask, or whatever.

In such cases, don't be afraid to say to the DM directly, "I'm trying to find a trap. Is there one?" or "I want to find out what he knows about the shield generator, but real tactful." Or whatever - just simply what you are really trying to achieve, and perhaps something about how you approach it.

Because, yes, I would generally prefer that you try to stay in character, but let's face it: you are not your character. With the best will in the world, you simply don't know the intricate details of how Star Wars technology works (and neither do I!). You can't see the million-and-one body language cues that your character would probably pick up on. And sometimes you just can't find the words. That's all fine.

So if it comes to it, don't be afraid just to cut to the chase - "I want to know X", and leave it at that. I promise I won't judge!

(More to the point: I have no interest in adversarial play. Believe it or not, I don't adjust NPC strategy based on the PCs declared actions, or fiendishly concoct plans to thwart the players' best laid plans. So the players really should feel confident discussing strategy in front of the DM, because the DM is supposed to be an impartial adjudicator, not the advocate for the NPCs. Unfortunately, a lot of players simply don't believe that, because of far too many bad DMs back in the day. So, it's okay to tell me what you're trying to do, without agonising that I'm going to use that knowledge somehow to screw your character over!)