Any suggestions for what to ask during Session Zero? Online polls have the group split more or less equally between being Smugglers, Con-artists/Thieves, or Bounty Hunters/Assassins.

What info is it essential I give them (the players)? What kind of questions should I ask?

Some of the things I'm looking to nail down are:

• Type of group
• Mobile base (ship), static base, both?
• Obligation and Motivation themes (to get people thinking of how they fit in the group)
• Character concepts for the group (base concepts are already pretty solid for the players)

Oddly enough, most people seem to want to work for a Hutt to start. To make that doable, and flexible for those not directly working for the Hutt, I've decided to start/base them on Nar Shaada.

Which Hutt would be near the top of my list. Also what said hutt pays the group for

What books do you have access to?

1) Do all of your characters' hail from the same home world or star system?

2) If no to the above describe your home world, name it if desired if its not one listed with the Star Wars Universe until you thought it up?

3) What do you prefer a game about mercenaries, military action or something a mite unusual?

4) Since this is Star Wars and set around the time of the first released movie how did the Clone Wars effect you if at all and if it did how does it effect your life now?

5) What is your character's view on the Empire?

6) If you had to describe your base where would you locate it and how would it operate if close to civilisation?

7) What ship would you want your character to use to travel between worlds and star systems?

8) Why is your character doing what they're doing and what plans do they have to better themselves or achieve if they have a goal they want to accomplish?

9) Describe your character's family and more importantly is there anyone other than them of importance to them whether a rival, enemy or former lover?

10) What kind of stuff do you think would be cool to see in your Star Wars game?

I better stop there in case I'm miles off the original suggestion... again!

It sounds like you already know your group, but for the sake of others reading looking for ideas:

1. How often can you play? What happens if someone misses a session?

2. What kind of game do you all want? You can surmise some elements from what characters they choose, but straight up asking can yield good information.

What kind of themes do you want to explore? Loss? Betrayal? Triumph? Heroism? Fear? Underdog vs the world? The Heroes Journey?

What do you want your credit situation to be like? Constantly broke a la firefly? Starting out broke but becoming rich throughout the story? Keep broke but use Obligation to acquire new resources?

Do you want looting and high combat-centered characters to be a thing in your story? Does anyone want Assassin droids with 10+ soak and dual disruptor pistols in their game?

What about the Force? Does anyone want to see Jedi stuff in the game?

I also recommend reading up on Begging For XP's session 0 notes . It's ripped from Fate but with a Star Wars bend.

What some people do is try to end the session with each player having produced:

- their character

- their backstory/obligation

- the most significant NPC in their backstory/obligation

- a small variety of other NPCs who might be significant in their life

So "A Rodian Smuggler who's looking for his long-lost sister Looby who was kidnapped by Gnarlo the Hutt and sold into slavery."

"A Weequay former pirate who's been on the run from his former pirate boss Sup-Lex after preventing the pirate gang from killing an innocent Twi'lek and her family."

"A Chiss aristocrat who abandoned her wealthy family on their homeworld in order to become an archaeologist working for human Ederos Sula and her organization, the mysterious Voren Institute."

and so on.

What kind of themes do you want to explore? Loss? Betrayal? Triumph? Heroism? Fear? Underdog vs the world? The Heroes Journey?

What do you want your credit situation to be like? Constantly broke a la firefly? Starting out broke but becoming rich throughout the story? Keep broke but use Obligation to acquire new resources?

Do you want looting and high combat-centered characters to be a thing in your story? Does anyone want Assassin droids with 10+ soak and dual disruptor pistols in their game?

What about the Force? Does anyone want to see Jedi stuff in the game?

I also recommend reading up on Begging For XP's session 0 notes . It's ripped from Fate but with a Star Wars bend.

I'm sad that I can only give this one Like. It needs more. So far we only have a couple hard decisions made. This isn't supposed to be combat focused (that would be Age of Rebellion instead of Edge of the Empire). And there are no Force powers in the game (except as legends, tales, stories). No Force powers for PCs or NPCs. I'm leaning toward the Firefly-esqe economics of being usually broke, but still able to get what they need/want through hard work. That one is flexible though. If they want to set up a business and make profits, then I'll let it happen. Won't be any easier then the real world, probably more difficult, but again, with hard work they could make it happen.

Now working with the group to create the setting... that's beautiful. First, because it cuts down on my share of the work as GM, second, because they can't complain if they've helped make it. It also gives me some pretty solid insight into what they're looking for. If they recreate Gotham City, then I know they're looking for something different then the typical Mos Eisley experience. And of course any NPCs they come up with should matter more to them, thus threatening those NPCs should get more of reaction from the players then just some random innocent merchant.

Terghon, that's what happened in our Edge of the Empire session zero.

The players came with general concepts and by the end of the night, we'd determined that several of them were working for the same organization in search of the same relic, and had come up with reasons for the others to be on the ship working together.

Then as GM, I went off and fleshed out a lot of the backstories to find ways to connect them or to give them twists or fill out some details.