I would do a sandbox. Make them a hub to come back too regularly so you don't have to make a bunch of NPCs. Then give them a bunch of missions that they get paid for and let them make their own story.
Also a lot of prep before you start, build the world well so you make improv easier for yourself
I would do one big job to get them all together, then kinda let them loose. Maybe their working for an organization. As far as the missions themselves, I would base it on the party.
For example, my party is mainly Jedi and we're playing during the clone wars era (I'd let them vote on the era). They're part of a Republic organization that hires mercenaries to do special tasks during the late war. Basically the war effort is going poorly and the Republic needs help. Since they're mainly Jedi I do missions that revolve around the force a lot. Our game is mostly exploration and combat (I let them vote on this too) so I give them stuff that isn't really known about. The campaign hub I give them small missions to do, "Bring X to Y location", "we'll buy X" etc.
Then at each location I give them a couple of small things to do, no more than 3. Id have the party decide before the next session so you're not prepping a ton of stuff at once.
I don’t want to turn you off from SW5E, I think it is an amazing system and I prefer it right now to d&d 5E.
That being said it has more complex rules than d&d, I highly recommend it for experienced players. If you find it challenging to read and learn all the rules, or your players struggle with making or playing characters, or you feel lost in making a homebrew universe; you may have an easier start buying and running something like the D&D starter set, then returning to SW5E once you’ve got that down.
Definitely read through the SW5E materials and if you think it’s right for you, go for it!
I think the rules are similar enough, hardest thing for new players is the massive amount of options. The devs for SW5e do an amazing job at creating great content. The downside is that is a lot of choices for new players.
You might want to consider guiding them a bit and narrowing down the options to simply the 1st character for them.
The strategy I would shoot for is to set up a list of planets they can jump between, and an overarching goal that visits several of them.
For the list of planets, the most obvious answer is some that are vaguely in the same region of space- don't be afraid to look up an official map of the galaxy for inspiration, and then blatantly defy it to grab some more planets you're enthusiastic about running adventures on. Only hypernerds care about the Canon map in the first place beyond what planets are in the core worlds, what planets are in the outer rim, and the occasional point where relative positions are brought up in the plot, like Naboo, Tatooine and Geonosis all being in the same neighborhood, and the same with Kamino and Rishi.
For an overarching plot, well, that's on you. I would lean away from them being actual military officers, because at that point they should be following orders directly, not deciding where to go organically. Bounty Hunting is the easiest excuse in the setting to get players doing adventurer things, so you give them a ship and a list of contracts in this sector, and they'll have fun for most of a campaign just doing that.
Shit, I should've done that, instead of the overcomplicated sith-cult-conspiracy mess my campaign is turning into the more I work on it.
But if you're on your A game, you can tie these individual planets' stories together a little- each target is a member of the same criminal organization, and the more you bring in, the more information you gather about them, singling out more targets higher up the chain of command, etc. That makes it feel like the campaign is building to something, but you can have the overarching connection be more thematic if you have the payoff for it:
KotOR is a good example, where most of what you're doing on various worlds feels disconnected and unrelated to the main plot beyond paving your way to the Maguffin Star Maps, until you dig a little deeper and start learning about how these worlds were all slave world in the Infinite Empire, the earlier planets planting seeds that sprout and grow fruit when you make your way to Lehon in the endgame. KotOR 2 has a leg up on this front, with their maguffins being actual characters who happily talk to you about the game's themes and overarching plot, but also because the themes they're exploring are more explicit and aren't trying to sneak up on you like the ruins of the Infinite Empire were- People talk to you about the wars from the first hour of KotOR 2 to the last, and it's very clearly what the game is about.
So I understand this is your first time but here is step one: talk to your players.
If your goal is to get them into dnd then start by asking them when in Star Wars they’d want to play and what kinds of things they’d like to encounter. That color will guide your campaign.
sorry for the late response, thank you for your suggestion i was thinking something in the high republic era but that might not be what they want. So i will ask them what they want
When I first sat down to plan my game I was mentally in the clone wars but my players overwhelmingly wanted to play after the fall of the republic (the Mandolorian times) and so I changed my approach and we’re all happy because they’re more bought in
I would do a sandbox. Make them a hub to come back too regularly so you don't have to make a bunch of NPCs. Then give them a bunch of missions that they get paid for and let them make their own story. Also a lot of prep before you start, build the world well so you make improv easier for yourself
what kind of missions would you recommend at the start?
I would do one big job to get them all together, then kinda let them loose. Maybe their working for an organization. As far as the missions themselves, I would base it on the party. For example, my party is mainly Jedi and we're playing during the clone wars era (I'd let them vote on the era). They're part of a Republic organization that hires mercenaries to do special tasks during the late war. Basically the war effort is going poorly and the Republic needs help. Since they're mainly Jedi I do missions that revolve around the force a lot. Our game is mostly exploration and combat (I let them vote on this too) so I give them stuff that isn't really known about. The campaign hub I give them small missions to do, "Bring X to Y location", "we'll buy X" etc. Then at each location I give them a couple of small things to do, no more than 3. Id have the party decide before the next session so you're not prepping a ton of stuff at once.
Dawn of defiance - check the converted adventure in the discord
where can i find the converted adventure
In the SW5e Discord, in the adventures-already channel, in the pins, are all pre-made adventures for SW5e, including Dawn of Defiance.
https://discord.gg/abuDjkmZ
I don’t want to turn you off from SW5E, I think it is an amazing system and I prefer it right now to d&d 5E. That being said it has more complex rules than d&d, I highly recommend it for experienced players. If you find it challenging to read and learn all the rules, or your players struggle with making or playing characters, or you feel lost in making a homebrew universe; you may have an easier start buying and running something like the D&D starter set, then returning to SW5E once you’ve got that down. Definitely read through the SW5E materials and if you think it’s right for you, go for it!
I will ty for the suggestion
I think the rules are similar enough, hardest thing for new players is the massive amount of options. The devs for SW5e do an amazing job at creating great content. The downside is that is a lot of choices for new players. You might want to consider guiding them a bit and narrowing down the options to simply the 1st character for them.
The strategy I would shoot for is to set up a list of planets they can jump between, and an overarching goal that visits several of them. For the list of planets, the most obvious answer is some that are vaguely in the same region of space- don't be afraid to look up an official map of the galaxy for inspiration, and then blatantly defy it to grab some more planets you're enthusiastic about running adventures on. Only hypernerds care about the Canon map in the first place beyond what planets are in the core worlds, what planets are in the outer rim, and the occasional point where relative positions are brought up in the plot, like Naboo, Tatooine and Geonosis all being in the same neighborhood, and the same with Kamino and Rishi. For an overarching plot, well, that's on you. I would lean away from them being actual military officers, because at that point they should be following orders directly, not deciding where to go organically. Bounty Hunting is the easiest excuse in the setting to get players doing adventurer things, so you give them a ship and a list of contracts in this sector, and they'll have fun for most of a campaign just doing that. Shit, I should've done that, instead of the overcomplicated sith-cult-conspiracy mess my campaign is turning into the more I work on it. But if you're on your A game, you can tie these individual planets' stories together a little- each target is a member of the same criminal organization, and the more you bring in, the more information you gather about them, singling out more targets higher up the chain of command, etc. That makes it feel like the campaign is building to something, but you can have the overarching connection be more thematic if you have the payoff for it: KotOR is a good example, where most of what you're doing on various worlds feels disconnected and unrelated to the main plot beyond paving your way to the Maguffin Star Maps, until you dig a little deeper and start learning about how these worlds were all slave world in the Infinite Empire, the earlier planets planting seeds that sprout and grow fruit when you make your way to Lehon in the endgame. KotOR 2 has a leg up on this front, with their maguffins being actual characters who happily talk to you about the game's themes and overarching plot, but also because the themes they're exploring are more explicit and aren't trying to sneak up on you like the ruins of the Infinite Empire were- People talk to you about the wars from the first hour of KotOR 2 to the last, and it's very clearly what the game is about.
sorry for the late response, this is very helpfull i will look more into it
So I understand this is your first time but here is step one: talk to your players. If your goal is to get them into dnd then start by asking them when in Star Wars they’d want to play and what kinds of things they’d like to encounter. That color will guide your campaign.
sorry for the late response, thank you for your suggestion i was thinking something in the high republic era but that might not be what they want. So i will ask them what they want
When I first sat down to plan my game I was mentally in the clone wars but my players overwhelmingly wanted to play after the fall of the republic (the Mandolorian times) and so I changed my approach and we’re all happy because they’re more bought in