I have a baddy that has been hounding my crew from the get go who could easily be promoted to Moff, and my BBEG is Blackhole. Does anyone see any problem with replacing the written characters with mine to keep these stories personal to my players?

That's why you are the GM. I don't see any issues with doing that.

I would encourage you even.. anything that makes it more personal to the players is going to make them feel more engaged and enjoy it that much more.

I figured as much. I just wanted to make sure there wasn't anything that was absolutely hinging on the written characters having to be there that anyone saw.

Thanks

I'm not intimately familiar with the beginner game for AoR unfortunately.. but really, when you think about it, all you are really doing is 're-skinning' their characters. There is a follow up adventure that uses at least some of these characters again as well. But so long as you are consistent in replacing any instances of these characters with yours I can't see there being any problems.

Absolutely go for it, the more the adventure is customized to reflect the players action, the higher their PCs personal stake, the better the chance the players get emotionally invested in the game. Let the PCs have a chance to create their own nemesis, it will make it that more satisfying when they put and end to his/her evil ways.