My players know the world/galaxy/universe better than I do [closed]

Question

A bunch of friends decided they wanted to try RPG. As the only person with any RPG experience I offered to GM. We have had the first few sessions and so far it's a laugh! I am quite new to GMing and they have never played before, but we have a very rules light, story driven approach, with a lot of comedy. So far its working great.

The game is d6 Star Wars, and unfortunately one of my players knows the universe a little better than me, and another has read and seen every single thing ever published...

I cannot hope to match that level of knowledge, and I didn't intend to try. I like Star Wars, but not that much. So the initial plan was to stay away from plot, and just use the universe. We are playing toward the end of the Hundred year darkness, which is temporarily far from most events, and on a star system that's not cannon.

This had been going well, but the players want to go to favorite cannon planets (Dantooine, Tatooine) and poke the star forge, and I'd like to accommodate them.

They players are easygoing and will happily prompt me if I ask about the world, let me retcon things that don't make sense and let me fudge the lore details. I will obviously do basic research, like reading wookieepedia, but I'm still not going to know all that much.

Do you have any tips for GMing in this situation? How do I give players the cannon that they want, when they know it better than I do? What's likely to optimise the fun here?

Answer 1

Method A: Do your research.

When you are not an expert, you have to become one. According to the wiki rule, there is a specialized wiki for about every fictional universe ever imagined just a web search away.

For Star Wars in particular, there is for example Wookiepedia where you can look up lots of trivia about Dantooine or Tatooine.

When you have the time and enjoy reading, you could also consider to get some of the Star Wars novels which take place on these planets in that timeframe to study the setting from the primary source.

Method B: Design the setting with your players

Alternatively, you could consult your local Star Wars experts and ask for their input. Before you do your actual game session, have an out-of-character session with your players where you discuss the scenarios where your adventure could take place and what challenges the characters would expect to face there. Then use the players suggestions to craft your campaign.

Method C: Give your players narrative control

Depending on what system you use, this might work more or less good. But there are role-playing systems which still work quite well when the players have some limited narrative control about the setting which goes beyond just their characters (example: when the player says there is a space port, then there is a space port and you have to make it work). This style of playing allows your players to use their knowledge about the setting to greatly enhance the game. However, GMing such a game requires a lot of skill at improvising and all your players need to have a roleplayer mentality and not a powergamer mentality or they will abuse the power they have over the setting. This style of playing is certainly not for every group.