[Katanarchist]

Unless I've missed it, something that the QSR doesn't directly address is how NPCs handle Edge.

Which is a bit concerning, seeing as that would seem to indicate that the same rules apply to NPCs as they do PCs, and if the goal is to streamline the game, then requiring a bunch of fiddly point tracking for the GM to handle runs contrary to that goal.

The grunts rules will alleviate that problem some, but also has some other complications.

In my mind, the ideal approach would be for the GM to have a single Edge pool that all NPCs -- at least the ones antagonistic to the players -- draw from and contribute to, which also resets between scenes. If the CRB doesn't take that approach, it will probably be the top of my list of things to house rule.

[Michael Chandra]

SR5 used 1 pool for an entire group, based on their PR. SR6 is under NDA if it hasn't been mentioned anywhere yet. However, grunts are inferior to PCs.

[Katanarchist]

I understand SR6 is still under NDA, but until it's not, all those of us who don't have advance copies can do is speculate based on the available information.

Considering the importance of Edge, how it's handled for NPCs seems like something that should have been touched on in the QSR, especially if it makes running the game easier than tracking Edge for every non-PC in the field of play.

[Stainless Steel Devil Rat]

Generally: NPCs also have/use Edge, but PCs will tend to have more of it.

[Shinobi Killfist]

There are a lot of ways it can work so it’s hard to guess. Group edge is the least clunky though if they all feed to the same pool is it also capped at 7?  Because they could hit that fast without trying. The boss mob might get crazy powerful if 4 goons feed it edge every turn. Which I actually like if it’s not too overwhelming. I haven’t felt like I could do a boss mob without just making a unbeatable spirit or something for a couple editions.

[Stainless Steel Devil Rat]

...I haven’t felt like I could do a boss mob without just making a unbeatable spirit or something for a couple editions.

I hate to tease something like this on you, but they got you covered.  Clearly some writer felt the same way and there's a new mechanic that wasn't in 5e to reflect this.  I lol'd and thought it had to be a typo on the statblock before I found the rule behind it.

You'll see in a couple days

[Michael Chandra]

I understand SR6 is still under NDA, but until it's not, all those of us who don't have advance copies can do is speculate based on the available information.

Considering the importance of Edge, how it's handled for NPCs seems like something that should have been touched on in the QSR, especially if it makes running the game easier than tracking Edge for every non-PC in the field of play.

The QSR doesn't follow CRB rules anyway: You'll see that for example the Ancients got 0 Edge. It also doesn't touch on Professionality Rating. Detailed grunt rules were apparently left out for easiness in the Beginner Box, which is exactly why you can't depend on the QSR for a full SR6 CRB impression: It simplifies some things.

[Katanarchist]

There are a lot of ways it can work so it’s hard to guess. Group edge is the least clunky though if they all feed to the same pool is it also capped at 7?  Because they could hit that fast without trying. The boss mob might get crazy powerful if 4 goons feed it edge every turn. Which I actually like if it’s not too overwhelming. I haven’t felt like I could do a boss mob without just making a unbeatable spirit or something for a couple editions.

I think capping it at 7 would still work, as there's really no reason to horde Edge, unless there are some ways to spend it that cost more than 7.

Grunt groups should limit ridiculous Edge gain for NPCs, just by reducing their action economy. Not to mention that, as Chandra points out, goons are generally going to be inferior to PCs, so they're likely not going to be as efficient at generating Edge. Also, if the boss is the one spending the whole pool, the goons are just going to drop that much quicker. Generally speaking, of course.

The QSR doesn't follow CRB rules anyway: You'll see that for example the Ancients got 0 Edge. It also doesn't touch on Professionality Rating. Detailed grunt rules were apparently left out for easiness in the Beginner Box, which is exactly why you can't depend on the QSR for a full SR6 CRB impression: It simplifies some things.

Okay, but if I'm doing prep to run a QSR game tomorrow, the CRB having the full set of rules and being available soonish doesn't really matter much, because I can only GM with what I have access to now.

And I get that it's probably frustrating for you guys to know the answers to all these questions and have to keep it to yourselves because of the NDA, but for those of us on the other side of the fence, all we can do is discuss and speculate until the CRB is available.

[Xenon]

As I understand it you don't only try to gain a tactical advantage over your opposition, you also try to prevent the opposition to gain any tactical advantage over you and your team. If this is the case then a potential cap on edge have less of an impact (as you still benefit from the opposition not gaining edge) which also ties in to the situation where you potentially don't care about body armor because you are confident that you will gain your edge from other means (as you still want to have enough body armor to also deny the opposition from gaining edge).

However, this is only true under the assumption that the opposition can gain edge in the first place. I hate making assumptions, but since I kinda like the tactical mini-game of denying edge for the opposition I will, at least for now, continue to assume that not only high professional opponents may earn edge.

Having said that, there might be other limitations in place. Maybe grunts always only start with only one edge. Maybe they are counted as a swarm with a collective edge. Maybe they can only spend edge on actions when they gain them. Maybe edge actions cost twice as much edge for non players. Maybe grunts don't have access to all edge actions that a player have access to. Maybe edge is capped at their professional rating (similar that edge is presumably capped at 7 for player characters).

For your home game before core rules are out, please feel free to use any of my 'maybe' listed above that you feel make sense.