Hey, so I'm currently a couple of sessions in on an AoR game based (so far) on the Beginner's Game Box and the addon, Operation Shadowpoint. I was wondering if any other AoR GMs wanted to weigh in on these matters:

1) PCs and Alliance discipline

After capturing Whisper Base, my players decided to interrogate their prisoners. I talked the Soldier down from outright stabbing an Imperial to death in front of the others, but in order to help the Diplomat with her interrogation he then sliced off one of the Imperials' fingers. The skill check was good, and they succeeded in getting the info they wanted, but I'd like to impose a minor penalty or repercussion on the character to discourage him from doing the same in the future - one option would be some form of minor disiplinary action by the Alliance.

Any suggestions? Are any of you having to deal with PCs who push the envelope on the whole "Good Guys" side of things?

2) PC group and rank

The Alliance is, after all, a military organisation. How have people's groups handled the relative ranks in-game? One of my players is a bit of a control freak and I was concerned when he brought the topic up, but he then nominated the Diplomat as the notional team leader based on the character background. Reading the background info on the pregens they're using (AoR Beginner's game: Ace, Soldier, Diplomat, Engineer, Spy) they could all be considered junior officer rank (say LTs) but that doesn't help with a notional chain-of-command.

Are people's groups ignoring the rank issue on the grounds that they are an irregular unit?

3) Potential for Railroading

One of the draws of the Edge of the Empire based game is that the players have, at least the illusion of, choice. While there are limitations on where they are going and what they can do, driven by obligation, opponents, etc, an Edge group can realistically decide to jump on the starship and head off across the galaxy - in fact, that's what they're supposed to do.

An AoR group, though, is a little more focussed, they have a mission to complete and it is largely dictated by Alliance High Command (ie, the GM). Have any AoR GM's groups felt constrained by this?

Do you have any hints or tips to at least give the appearance of choice and freedom to your players, even if it just means you're hiding the rails a little better? :-)