So the EU has sort of established that some Clonetroopers did not abide by Order 66 and were consequently dealt with as traitors. So I don't really buy into the idea that there are some "good" Stormtroopers out there. Also, with the brotherhood between the clonetroopers that is established in TCW I think it is highly unlikely very many would betray their brothers at all. I can easily stretch the imagination to cover the indoctrination (brainwashing) of non-clone stormtroopers to have similar camaraderie and dedication to each other.

So the EU has sort of established that some Clonetroopers did not abide by Order 66 and were consequently dealt with as traitors. So I don't really buy into the idea that there are some "good" Stormtroopers out there. Also, with the brotherhood between the clonetroopers that is established in TCW I think it is highly unlikely very many would betray their brothers at all. I can easily stretch the imagination to cover the indoctrination (brainwashing) of non-clone stormtroopers to have similar camaraderie and dedication to each other.

The indoctrination for non-clones apparently doesn't work THAT well, because we see a large number of big names that defected, especially from the officer ranks. Kyle Katarn was one such example.

There was also a pair of books (again, EU) that showed a group of five troopers that killed a superior officer and defected to become vigilantes. They were still Imperial per se, but they disagreed with how the Empire handled things that should have been clearly done.

Even with indoctrination, stormtroopers are still people at the end of the day.

Individual members of the Empire can't be UNIFORMLY puppy-murdering evil, or else we'd have no source for the various Rebel heroes whose back-stories involved defecting from the Empire.

I'm running my current "Edge of Empire" campaign as a bit grey and nuanced, because my players are going for smugglers and scoundrels who are nonetheless "good guys" in their own right, but have chosen not to sign up with the Rebellion (at least, not yet). If the Empire were uniformly cackling EVIL, and if I kept driving it home constantly, I'd be more-or-less forcing my group into "Age of Rebellion," or else playing a bunch of selfish jerks. As my campaign has been progressing, the group has occasionally done little things for people they strongly suspected were Rebel operatives, but not going so far as to commit themselves to the Rebel cause. At the same time, they've occasionally extended help to (or received help from) people who are technically part of the Empire -- but they're not about to sign up for any "rent-a-thug" jobs (if such were to arise).

I've tried to maintain some nuance: Yes, the Emperor IS evil, and there are plenty of horrible, corrupt individuals in the Empire who make life horrible for anyone in their way. However, even in the grand old Republic, apparently slavery was tolerated (the Jedi didn't go back and free Anakin's mother, for instance, and those clone troopers didn't exactly sign up for service did they?), and trying to resist the rule of the Republic (the bad guys in the prequels were called the "Separatists") earned military retaliation. For much of the galaxy, the Empire is the authority, so if you want to do your part and fight off space pirates and keep the peace on your backwater planet, you'll probably be ultimately answering to them in some respect.

That's more nuance than I would ever expect from a Star Wars movie, but I'm not spending all my time dwelling on that anyway. It's just that in my games, the bad guys are slavers and pirates and psychopaths who aren't necessarily marching around in white plastoid armor, flying TIE fighters, or such. We can have plenty of swashbuckling space opera adventure regardless.

Now, if my players wanted to transition our campaign wholeheartedly to Age of the Rebellion, then my focus would change -- and that may well happen at some point. I'd assume that the Rebels my heroes are working with are genuinely good guys, and if they're being sent on a mission, it'll be against genuinely BAD guys. Why waste your effort going after the decent fellows only trying to keep the peace, when you could instead target some wannabe-Sith "inquisitor," or an oppressive governor who's subjugated an alien people in order to rob their world of its resources? It'd be the same Star Wars universe, but the transparently evil types would be front and center. I might still have a few "not-quite-so-bad" guys around, but that would be largely for the benefit of any "face" types in my group (the character who invested primarily in "people skills"), so that everything doesn't devolve into "shoot first, don't bother asking questions later."

So, to summarize, how "evil" my Empire is in my campaign really depends upon what I'm gauging best facilitates the sort of adventures that interest my players.

On the subject of the Stormtroopers, one of the most memorable NPCs I ran into on the old Str Wars Galaxies MMO was a retired clone trooper. He reminded me that the clones were modified to age at double speed. Considering the Clone Wars were about 20 years back and the average physical age of the clones would be about 50-60, I suspect the vast majority of the Stormtroopers in service are actually normal dudes.

@Thantrax, it has now been established as fact that Stormtroopers are not clones of Jango Fett. They are normal people, who were indocternered into the Empire. They are just fanatical in their beliefs, probably from some degree of brain washing. This comes from Dave Filoni, the supervising director of The Clone Wars and Star Wars Rebels.

I am planning on making my Empire Third Reich-ish. Is everyone in the Empire evil? No, but most whole heartly agree and believe in the New Order. Plus my guys are operating on the fringe of society, and breaking laws, so in essence, my players are the "bad guys". Albeit, they will be trying to accomplish "good" through their unlawful actions.

I do want to show how this regime brings out the worst in people, and through the Empires use of self espionage, self sabatoge, and self centeredness, it can cause normally rational people to do unthinkable acts. The ISB, COMPNOR, and II will be major factions in my game.

So for me, I'm going back to the roots of what the Galactic Empire was formed from, WWII Nazi Germany. My game is set a few years before A New Hope, so the Senate is still around, but it crumbling and a mere shadow of its former self, with no real power. I am debating if I want to set my game closer to the Rebels time line...

Evil like this XD

http://www.starwars.com/databank/galactic-empire

http://www.starwars.com/news/from-world-war-to-star-wars-rise-of-an-empire

This is the general thing. Of course there is a lot of good people living there, but, Empire itself its evil.

Until 1975, my sisters and family lived on a dictatorship. They explained tons of things about that, and actually in Spain and in Catalonia there are a lot of people that support fascism yet (not proud of it) but if you listen to them they talk about those days as brilliant days.

My family was pursued and punished by the streets, and other people was killed just for speak our mother language, Català, or just say "long live to the Republic!" I don't want to imagine what Empire do to people who blame the Emperor/Empire, or just is a Force user, an alien... or a Jedi XD

I listened the fascist version, the republican, the comunist and the most important, the people version. So, if Lucas pretended to be that Empire is a simulation of an European dictatorship then no doubt that Empire itself in general therms is EVIL, but as I use to say nothing is absolutelly black or white.

I think there is a reason Lucas made the Imperial uniforms so closely mirror SS uniforms from World War 2. It's a great parallel. Not every soldier was evil but the regime in general was and that's how I play the Empire.

On the outer rim they're basically alright with the exception of Stormtroopers, ISB personnel and the governors/Moffs. But the general army and navy troopers are more interested in stopping criminals than executing civilians. However, here is where the Nazi comparison comes in. If orders come from on high to round up a bunch of rebel sympathizers and execute them they'll do it.

Generally if I've portrayed an Imperial as a decent and good person you can bet that at some point my players will successfully lure them away from the Empire, generally after some atrocity.

I'm planning for the Empire in my campaign to be rather grey. The party are going to be caught up in the events of a post Yavin universe with media reports (from Imperial Galactic News) blaming the Rebels for the destruction of Alderaan and the assasination of Grand Moff Tarkin. In responce the Empire's military forces are carrying out more operations in order to hunt down and destroy these terrorist cells where ever they might be hiding.

The party might have trouble from the Empire if they are suspected to be Rebels but the Empire might just be a bit of a hinderance (stopping and searching their ship) or might actually be a benefit (chasing away some pirates that are attacking the party).

I might also introduce the idea that the forces that are being sent to the Outer Rim aren't the best quality soldiers that the Empire possesses. Some might be sympathetic to the party or idealistic crusaders whose idea's don't fit with the general Imperial ethos and are shipped off to where they won't do any damage. It might be cool to have the local Imperial commander as a bit of a 'white knight' when compared to the criminal enemies the party have. I just love the idea of Imperial Stormtroopers turning up to save the day and arrest the bad guys with the PC's being happy that they turned up.

I'm planning for the Empire in my campaign to be rather grey. The party are going to be caught up in the events of a post Yavin universe with media reports (from Imperial Galactic News) blaming the Rebels for the destruction of Alderaan and the assasination of Grand Moff Tarkin.

Actually, that brings up something I've been struggling with as a GM: What is the "official line" on matters such as Alderaan and the Death Star? It would be nice to know what the canon word is (or as close to it as possible) on what the Imperial propaganda says and what would be considered "common knowledge" among the general public (i.e., not anyone directly involved with the Rebel Alliance).

I mean, the point of the Death Star was presumably to instill FEAR in the hearts of those who might rebel, and the destruction was Alderaan a demonstration toward that end -- e.g., "Dantooine is too remote to make an effective demonstration." Demonstration to whom?

Wookieepedia claims, "The Imperials attempted to pin the blame for Alderaan's destruction on the Rebels, keeping a small number of people loyal to the Empire; however, it convinced few." (No source given for statement.)

On the other hand, in the "Trilogy Sourcebook" for the old West End Games Star Wars, there's a quote from an Inquisitor who seems to be openly defending the destruction of Alderaan -- "The cost of maintaining order is high - some would say too high - but to preserve peace and stability, difficult choices must be made. Yes, the destruction of Alderaan was regrettable, but so was the destruction of the Death Stars. Are the death of millions of Alderaanians - who conspired to overthrow the government - more tragic than the deaths of the millions of Imperial soldiers who laid down their lives to defend our way of life? I think not."

It's unclear as to whether he's speaking publicly, to a subordinate, or what (it's just a "fluff quote" from the book), so I'm not sure how it would relate to the "official Imperial line."

I vaguely recall something about how the Death Star was publicly billed as the "Defense Star," or that its existence was denied entirely, but I can't find any convenience quotes or references to back that up, so I might just be getting it confused with something else.

Actually, that brings up something I've been struggling with as a GM: What is the "official line" on matters such as Alderaan and the Death Star? It would be nice to know what the canon word is (or as close to it as possible) on what the Imperial propaganda says and what would be considered "common knowledge" among the general public (i.e., not anyone directly involved with the Rebel Alliance).

I mean, the point of the Death Star was presumably to instill FEAR in the hearts of those who might rebel, and the destruction was Alderaan a demonstration toward that end -- e.g., "Dantooine is too remote to make an effective demonstration." Demonstration to whom?

Timothy Zahn's recent book "Allegiance" mentions this. It's set a little more than a year after the Battle of Yavin, and one group of characters are Stormtrooper deserters. This is what they know through the grapevine:

The details still weren't entirely clear, but the official reports all agreed that the planet had been a center of Rebel strength, and that it had been destroyed only when it defied an order to surrender the traitors...And then the quiet rumors had started.

The book was published in 2008, so it's EU "Legends", but it's one of the most recent pieces available. I've got a couple of Lucasfilm sourcebooks published just before the Disney announcement too, if you want me to look up anything else.

I don't want to imagine what Empire do to people who blame the Emperor/Empire, or just is a Force user, an alien... or a Jedi XD

That happened to the father of one of my old characters kind of. He was a firm believer in the CIS, as was the character's mother but she was long dead by this point, because he and his wife had lost their jobs at the shipyards over their homeworld a decade or so pre Clone Warsand been forced to move to get lower paying jobs after the shipyards they worked had a contract canceled due to the ships they had built being a minor violation of republic regulations concerning ship size and hyperdrive capability.

Anyway the character's father said something about how much better life was under the CIS in a bar and an ISB agent over heard him. I played the PC in question in eight campagins scattered over two distinct Star Wars timelines but in both the character was working in another system. (In one timeline he was born in 28 BBY with his father's execution taking place in 6 BBY and he became an Anti-Empire Pirate, an Alliance Sector Force Privateer before the Alliance approved Privateering, an Alliance Privateer after the Alliance approved privateering, and an Alliance naval officer. In the other he was born in 22 BBY and the execution took place in one BBY with him just joining the Alliance fleet.