I've only posted a couple times around here, but today was a momentous day. I've GM'ed an FFG Star Wars game since about June 2013, first with Edge of the Empire. About a year ago we started a campaign set in Knights of the Old Republic-era, right after the Mandalorian Wars. The PCs are recently-knighted Jedi and Jedi allies tasked with setting a war-torn frontier to rights.

My players dealt with a lot of disputes in really mature ways. They helped organize better relief for war refugees straining local resources, brought the opposed parties of a civil war to the negotiation table, struck a blow against the slave trade, defeated a corrupt admiral of the fleet, repelled an ancient menace, and talked a group of Mandalorian holdouts out of going on one last bloody crusade. They built a fragile, but hopeful, peace.

Of course, the New Sith Empire invaded shortly after. Their contributions to peace have hindered the Sith invasion, but things still look mighty dire.

Today, one of the Jedi hunters that came with the Sith got the sights of his disruptor rifle on our party's melee specialist, and rolled a 94 on his crit. I was worried, because even with Durable 1 she was going to bleed out. But then my player reminded me--the party had ran out of kolto in their tank a couple sessions back (they've established a colony of escaped slaves and war refugees who go through lots of medical supplies), so the PC still had four crits on her. Instant obliteration!

I designed this Jedi hunter as a bit of a terminator, but I still didn't expect him to actually wipe someone. What a shock!

They captured the hunter, of course. Got all the information they could out of him. Then our resident Paragon (not a Jedi but a moral, Force-sensitive person), overcome with emotion, gripped the hunter's throat until he breathed no more. Our other Jedi is gray as gray can be, but now I'm wondering if this death will send them careening into full vengeance mode. I'm excited to find out!

Especially as the player in question has asked about running a Sith apprentice who flips sides...

Not just dead, disintegrated.

I’ve recently taken over an F&D campaign set about six months after the Battle of Endor, where Master Luke is still trying to rebuild the New Jedi Order. The previous GM had work conflicts that forced him to bow out, and so if the game was going to continue, then someone else was going to have to take over. As one of the players in that game who didn’t want to see it die, I volunteered to take the reins.

The scenario you describe is one that absolutely terrifies me.

I do want to push the PCs and test them, but the last thing I want to do is to actually kill any of them.

I can’t imagine how I would react if I were put into that same kind of situation.

Well done getting your players that into the game! That's what this is all about.

And do not feel bad for killing a PC: hes become one with the force AND it lends to plot.

Unfortunately combat in this system is very swingy. Even if the party is clearly winning, one unlucky roll can put a character down.

It sucks when you have a death that you didn't anticipate but sometimes it can take the campaign in some new and very interesting directions. I had a player in a different campaign die. I even rerolled the dice twice but when it kept coming up with the same result I decided it was fate and rolled with it (no pun intended). The new character took things in directions that I just did not see coming.

I had a PC in this campaign almost die, which would have been bad since there is a personal story arc still ongoing for that player's character. I thought maybe this near-death experience would have made the character more cautious but so far it seems not so much. Even suffering permanent injury hasn't done the trick. I have a feeling that it's only a matter of time before the dice say it's time to go.

Sounds like you have a great roleplaying opportunity there. Sometimes it's hard to get the players to really care about something in the game, but you can bet they always get attached to their characters: an unexpected death can make the group suddenly care very much about what happens in game - especially to those responsible - and as such you should welcome it.

Of course, you should never actually plan for a character to die just to serve your story (unless you have a special arrangement with the player), but death is and should be an ever present threat.

A character dying shouldn't be a time of mourning for a player. This is an opportunity. If they don't see that, just slick back your hair, put on a cheap suit, and channel your inner car salesman. Sell that stuff.

They'll come around and see the opportunity to roll someone new as an exciting chance for a change. Help them with the character, too. Maybe it's time to play the character's former Jedi Master come to investigate the death and Sith threat. Or, the grieving uncle war veteran comes for revenge.

Our group is yet to have somebody die in this system, though I'm sure it will happen eventually. Sounds like you and your players handled it well.

I had a character die a few months back. Well not so much die as get left behind. His T-47 was shot down and we just did falling damage for the impact. Strained him out cold, no chance of waking up before the end of the session. Luckily, my friend managed to bail out of the burning wreckage and fly to safety on his little Toydarian wings. Problem was that AT-ATs were approaching a rebel base and the party had to focus their efforts on evacuating personnel. Thus, they left me broken in the wreckage as the Imps pushed forward.

Anyway, the lesson we all took from this was to invest in anti-grave chutes. Such a good investment.