So, according to the book, Edge of the Empire refers to being the scum and villainy of the star wars galaxy. However, I was curious as to how far others have taken this idea. Are your characters heartless, do they have large sympathies, or somewhere in between?

I'd also be interested in what others do in their campaigns (i.e. The primary basis; what kind of jobs you take, with maybe a few down to bones examples). I ask because my group has been a bit willy-nilly on what's going on in the game, and I'm planning to start a structured campaign.

Who decides the monikers Scum and Villainy though? Is that judgement imposed from our perspective in reality or from that of those tasked with pursuing the players and attempting to hold them accountable for their actions?

I think it depends on the types of hives you dwell in.

Well,so far our group has been pretty clean - either we're doing legitimate trading jobs or we haven't gotten caught (IE - clean sheet after heisting the Jewel of Yavin). Honestly, I kind of like it that way. We've not done a "Honest traders making a living" campagin yet, so it's been a cool change of pace.

My group are definitely villainous scum.

We blew up the water supply for Mos Shutta while escaping, killed 4 of Drom's thugs and used their severed heads to intimidate the others, hacked the protocol Droid at the bar on Geonosis to push drugs for us, killed all of Teemo's thugs, blackmailed all the money he had in exchange for his life and not selling him out to Jabba, and then sold him out to Jabba anyway. We also messaged the orbiting Imperial Cruiser that the fighter Thwheek escaped in was carrying a rebel sympathizer trying to flee the planet.

We left Teemo literally alone in his palace with all the lights off.

We do jobs for a 'business man' in a GM made system. We occasionally hunt bounties, but are particular about the ones we have done. We cleared out the current crime boss on a space station for reward, then put in our own proxy.

When it is all said and done we have been 'good' guys. We never go murder hobo and only collect bounties on some real nasty people.

So far my group is still in the "escaping and trying to go straight" type of group, but I will be curious to see what choices they end up making once they get some of the short-term things hanging over their head cleared away.

There's a potential for being real scum types, but I suspect they'll lean a bit more altruistic. They're trying to set up their freighter in a legit business, or at least legit out on the rim.

My first group was full of terrible people. They were smugglers, but the smuggling compartments were often filled with the bodies of those they killed until they could dump them in deep space somewhere. After about six months of play, I (as GM) had seen enough and decided I wasn't going to run this game any longer.

Everyone still wanted to play, and they all still wanted me to GM, so we created a second group. This group consists of Guild bounty hunters that do their best to work as law enforcement in the Mid Rim and Outer Rim. Of course, since that's Imperial law that they enforce, it's creating some tough choices for them at times. The game is set in 2 BBY, and they're just now hearing about some sort of Rebel Alliance that's taking action against the Empire. The Guild has forwarded a great many bounties on suspected Rebels, but the group is feeling a lot of sympathy for them. Right now they're trying to avoid jobs hunting Rebels (which comes up with their Sponsorship Obligation) and stick to murderers and other despicable targets.

Our GM thinks we are.

One of us is a heartless killing machine. CC-2N8 is a BX series commando droid and derives immense satisfaction from performing its function well. It's also impeccably loyal, though, so the "villain" moniker isn't 100% accurate (maybe 97%).

Manny - our politico - has been telling us jobs he's found us pay X, when they really pay more (we only knew for sure during the last session). He's okay with double-dealing, backstabbing, setting up an allied (though rival) Bothan politician (chap named Borsk Fey'lya. We told the player he'd hate him (we'd met him in a post-RotJ campaign) and he didn't believe us. For five minutes.). He's greedy and shady but has his limits. Not really a "villain", hands not dirty enough to be "scum", but definitely not a good guy.

Pash is mostly scum. He's a delusional, lazy, unhygienic, unrepentant alcoholic with an evil sense of humour. He's happiest when he's doing something illegal. Smuggling spice, pulling heists and, recently, wet-work. Not because he's a rebel, but because he get's bored easily. He's a thrill-seeker. On the other hand he's a fan of the underdog (at our lowest point with the odds stacked further against us than they'd ever been he gave away his last credits to a guy being shaken down for protection money). He's also fiercely loyal to his crew - he'd go to the wall for any of us. On the other, other hand he's willing to manipulate us in any fashion to get us to do what he wants. Yeah, "scum".

Oskara thinks of herself as scum, but isn't as bad as she believes herself to be. She has an unwritten personal "code" and struggles with it when things get truly dark. She won't kill unless she feels threatened, but when she feels there is danger will kill with a more ruthless efficiency than even CC-2N8. Revenge means nothing to her - only survival. She's almost as loyal as Pash and is truthful with her crew-mates - more than once she's told them how she'll react to their choices ("If you go to that meeting, I will not be coming to save you if it goes wrong."). She feels like a jaded noir detective a lot of the time.

My group is a group of bounty hunters that are members of a company they collectively own, Imminent Apprehension Inc. Their company is independent and not part of a guild.

So far they have taken 4 "jobs":

-Shadows of a Black Sun: Investigation and tracking down a fellow bounty hunter on Coruscant.

-Debt to pay: Survey a mining facility on the planet Gavos for a Hutt Crime Lord.

-Plague of Chamax (Old traveller adventure): A mission for a remote mining company on the edge of wild space. Serve a bounty on two errant employees that turned into a rescue mission/bug hunt on a remote planet with man eating "aliens".

-Beyond the Rim: A mission to hunt for a lost Separatist treasure ship on the remote planet of Cholganna.

They are generally out for themselves or running from their past. No real heroes, not no real villains either.

Tengo Ryder- Human Smuggler - Running from his past as an Imperial Officer, motivated by freedom.

Bosski- Trandoshan Hired Gun- Trying to make some extra money on his way up the Galactic MMA rung as a prize fighter, motivated by his obsession with prize fighting.

FA-13- Droid Hired Gun - Conducting business as a bounty hunter for the credits, motived by his greed.

Gur - Wookie Technician - Working as a part of Imminent Apprehension as a mechanic to earn credits, motivated by his desire to reduce the practice of slavery.

Ooyakk - Gand Smuggler - Gand Findsman working as a bounty hunter to perfect his skills and clear his good name, motivated for religious reasons.

Jihm Stonecrusher- Klatooninian Bounty Hunter - Working the company to earn credits perfect his trade and motivated by the success of the company.

Huckyl B Finn- Selonian Explorer (Big Game Hunter) - Along for the ride. Likes to tell tall tales and take down huge monsters, motivated by the challenge of the ultimate hunt.

Quite a motley crew.