Last time I tried running a two-to-three adventure long game, I specifically told the players that they were all going to be agents and aides to a senator, and as such, they ought to be mostly on the respectable side of things. This was to try out some new flavor, since previous games have all been fairly Firefly-style, with the grandest dreams of the players amounting to starting their own little criminal empire. Which went nowhere near according to plan, probably do to Coerce being the only social skill that any of them had taken...

Anyways, I digress. I wanted to try out a group with more legitimate flavor, with less criminal aspects and more of an agent of the Rebellion but not quite flair. They were supposed to be in the employ of a senator who sympathized with the Rebellion, but wasn't fully ready to join.

The group churned out a Drall grenadier (think Rocket Raccon, even personality-wise), a Rodian bounty hunter, a Cathar assassin / black market fence, and a human vibrosword mercenary. And I asked some pointed questions about how they were tied to a generally upstanding senator, and got some shrugs... ...So, being the flexible sort, I hastily put a new spin on things and had someone entirely different hire them for the job, which I gave a more fringe atmosphere, and they all enjoyed it. Except me. I did enjoy improvising and love that part of GMing, but I had to cut a lot to make it work.

I *thought* I had all my ducks in a row, with a story leading into the Rebellion en force. I encouraged the use of AoR or even FaD over EotE, was very specific about this game not being about fringe criminals, bounty hunters, and smugglers, and heck, I called them on it when they showed me a group of just that. Yet they all just love the fringe too much and shy away from anything that falls outside the scope of EotE.

We're on a long kick of other stuff right now, but I'm poking at some ideas, and sometime in the future, I'd love to run something more in an original Dark Forces / Jedi Knight 1 vibe, but I'm afraid my players are stuck, and that their fringe ambitions will derail even the most lovingly-crafted Rebellion plots.

-Anybody else had this problem? If so, have you got around it?

-Do I just need to reject some characters and say, outright, "This game isn't about some smugglers on the run from the Hutts - it's about Rebel agents. Try harder."?

-Any suggestions on how to get my players onto the same page I'm on?

How much have you guys played in the AoR universe? Any at all? I would suggest having them keep those characters but also roll new characters and limit their options to the AoR CRB. OR maybe get your hands on the Beginner's Set adventure or one of the other shorter AoR adventures, so they could get a feel for what it's like to play in that place as opposed to EotE. I think it's important for them to have fun, but it's just as important for you to have fun, too, because if you're not, eventually it will bleed into the game and they will stop having fun. I would say work together as a group to come up with AoR characters, maybe toss around character ideas. Doing it as a group may help.

The group churned out a Drall grenadier (think Rocket Raccon, even personality-wise), a Rodian bounty hunter, a Cathar assassin / black market fence, and a human vibrosword mercenary. And I asked some pointed questions about how they were tied to a generally upstanding senator, and got some shrugs...

-Anybody else had this problem? If so, have you got around it?

-Do I just need to reject some characters and say, outright, "This game isn't about some smugglers on the run from the Hutts - it's about Rebel agents. Try harder."?

-Any suggestions on how to get my players onto the same page I'm on?

Are you sure they hadn't just recently seen Guardians of the Galaxy? Sounds like the right mix for that.

As to group composition, when I started EotE, I wanted firefly-level and wound up with murderhobos. If you want to run a specific game and play style, I think you were being a little too lenient with source material - I'd say for initial careers, restricting them to AoR, and maybe opening up EotE if it fit where the story had gone. However, even though that's the game you want to run - it's clearly not the game they want to play. You might have better luck either running it for a different group of friends, or even trying something online.

Tell them that they can only make characters from AoR? If they want races from EotE, those could potentially be allowed with your permission, but the rest should be Rebellion-ready.

Or maybe you have them use the F&D Beta instead?

I would recommend having the player in question read the articles at http://www.rpg.net/columns/list-column.phtml?colname=building

Maybe your other players could also do with a refresher course on what needs to be done in order to make a group work well together.

If your players are committed to fringe-style characters and play, but you're really wanting a Rebellion campaign, you can still fit it together. If you're familiar with the X-Wing books, think Wraith Squadron. Let their fringe skills be put to use as a commando squad for the Rebellion. Independent, but still under the Rebellion leadership and going after objectives for the rebellion.

I'm actually running sort of a combined EotE and AoR campaign -- mostly fringer characters, save for one Republic spy who is actually going to end up being an Imperial spy by the end, but in my homebrew they started as prisoners on a Star Destroyer and have since been trying to shake their followers while mostly working on the Outer Rim. Eventually I think we're going to head more towards the core once they've completed the main campaign, but I think it's been going fairly well.

How about having them assigned to act as the bodyguard to the Senator's family and during the cruise its attacked forcing them to escape with as many of the surviving family as they can protect.

Maybe have the Senator mortally wounded and asking them to take his family to safety except the person their family assume is a friend is actually an Imperial Sympathiser who arranged the attack and turns on them.

How your party reacts will see if they actually escape with any of the family and the subsequent charge of being responsible for their deaths.

Their knowledge of the fringe comes in handy to stay one step ahead but they need help... maybe those rebel contacts they thought they misheard could help...

They'd work better if they have any of the Senator's family still alive to vouch for them though!

I also wanted Firefly, but most of my players keep going with murder-hoboes as well. On a more amusing note, most of them continually pump up their combat abilities, but ignore any social abilities or social defenses, so they're pretty much pawns of anyone with a few ranks in Charm/Deception and supporting Talents.

I was amused when one of them brought "Jewel of Yavin" and said that I should run it. I told them that I've read it and pretty much discarded the idea of running it (at least as written) for their group. I pointed out that it's a heist adventure (a la Ocean's 11) and this party had all of the subtlety of an Expendables movie.

Are you doing a session 0? Session 0 is when the first session to any campaign. It's when you and your players get together and all talk about what the campaign you want to run and the feel and setting you and your players want to have. This needs to be more than just a pitch but a back-and-forth between you and the players so everyone is on the right page. This is also when they create their characters. Have them all do it during the session and while they are with one and another. That way you can guide them towards the kind of characters that can fit well into the campaign you are planning.

If you're already doing session 0, I recommend the next time you start a new campaign, set some extra time during the next session 0. Before you all begin discussion, pop in a movie that portrays the kind of story and mood the campaign will have. Firefly, Italian Job, Avatar the last Airbender, Red Tails, etc... Whatever it is, make sure you sit and watch and get a feel for the mood of the story. Point out things you like about the more subtle characters. "Everyone likes Jayne and his gun, but Book's mysterious past has gotten them out of a lot of situations!"

Encourage them to try new character types. I used to exclusively play combat characters until my last Saga game a few years back. I instead rolled up a Chiss noble and she grew more organically than any other character up until then. It was really refreshing.

tl;dr: Try to inspire them before they roll characters and encourage them to play character types they usually pass up. Have them focus on backstory to make those characters interesting for them.

It's rather hard for an 'upstanding' senator to employ a wetwork squad. However, it's not hard for their assistant to do so. If they want to play heavies, then have them one step removed from the politicians. Also have them running jobs that are of dubious legality but solid value to the senator. Plausible deniability is his friend.

On the note about wanting them to be a more 'above-board' group, if that's what you want, don't approve characters that don't fit that mold. Use stricter character-creation guidelines along the lines of "all careers chosen must have at least one social skill as a class skill."

Finally, know your players, if they want to play murder hobos and SWAT teams, then exclusively give them combat missions. If you want them to try something else, make sure they know it's going to be a one-shot or only a few sessions. Most players should be happy to try something new for a game or two, even if they don't want to make a long-term commitment.

A lot of good advice here. Thank you all!

What I gather is that I should be glad I don't always get murderhobos, and try restricting them to Age of Rebellion, while still adding some fringe-y-ness to the game so they stay happy. And of course, communication of the campaign idea is going to be of the utmost importance, particularly in how that translates into the characters they create.

They can always buy into Edge's specializations if they like, but my players are somewhat particular about spending XP without an immediate mechanical bonus.

I had a similar problem with my players, where I had created quite a few sessions which were drifting into the AOR style and they would have a lot to do with the rebellion. The players conducted one mission getting them some good grace with the rebellion and then demanded hefty payment for it. The bounty hunter even suggested selling their location to the imperials. The simply were not interested in what I had planned.

Since they were all having fun though I improvised a couple of bounty missions and went back to the drawing board. I have since created a starter mission or two for a different story line that I hope they like.

If you have your heart set on running a set style of mission then the advice above is great. If not, It may be easier to find a middle ground that interests both you and the players. Keep what you have planned though you may be able to use it as the game progresses.

A compromise may be to have them work for a senator who runs an gangster organization but who assigns them missions which need to appear more legitimate. "Make their death look natural". Instigate a riot or prison break then solve the issue appearing to be heroes. If they fail the social part of the mission their employer may not be happy about it (no pay, placing bounties on them, having them arrested, etc..)

I would even give them the change to rise to the head of that organization, but they will have to sweet talk other leader, earn the respect of subordinates, keep a legitimate public image or they will never manage it.

I tend to draw the line when it comes to the premise of my games. The one I'm running right now is fairly open, but a.) these guys tend to be good about creating and adhering to their own premise, and b.) I told them up front that they could be as criminal as they wanted, but they each had to have a solid moral compass. I ended up with scoundrels with a heart of gold, and I expect the game will develop in a Firefly kind of direction.

Another game that I run off and on is a game based on Halo, and I also told them outright that, as Spartans, their characters had to follow a certain template. They had wiggle room outside of it, but there couldn't be any super-soldiers who didn't much care for super-soldiering. I'm planning two AoR games -- a Republic Commando-type game, and a Rogue Squadron-type game -- and I'll be taking the same approach, telling players that they have to have characters in a certain Career -- Soldier and Ace respectively. They have to have a common background as military people, but I'll be giving them extra starting XP for the express purpose of buying other Specializations if they'd like.

In my experience, that's what it takes. If you want the most creative results, don't give your players freedom -- give them restrictions.

Run session 0.

Come to the table with the backbone of a campaign, then flesh out ideas for the plot of the campaign, involve them in coming up with some of the NPC's they will be dealing with and some of the places they will be adventuring.

Encourage them to create the backstory as to how they got together as a group, how they know each other.

Possibly come up with a list of character archetypes for them to choose from.

ask them to only choose from the AoR careers and specialisation (this will get easier as the career splat books are released)

You could let them have their Fringe-expedition, but maybe say that they are employed by the Rebels (Sleeper cell or something) or that one of them is an active member (perhaps that Black Market guy is organising weapons and ships for the Rebels.) Try those if you're dead set on the "Rebellion" theme