I'm looking at starting an AoR/FaD game for my girlfriend and our roommate soon (after playing FaD Beginner Game, roommate wanted to continue with the Force, girlfriend was more interested in the Rebellion and didn't want to worry about powers). My plan is to place the campaign in Coronet City on Corellia and keep the action mostly kept to the planet, with maybe some travel around the sector.

I'll do character creation sometime soon, and I just wanted some pointers. Roommate seems to have at least a somewhat solid idea of what she wants to play. She wants to be a Sentinel (how fortuitous that I had managed to pick up the book!), and I'm sure we'll be able to narrow down specialization with little trouble. Girlfriend has had a little more trouble, though. There are too many options, and I've tried to kinda go through things a little at a time. I think we've narrowed it down to either Ace, Diplomat, or Spy. I'm actually making an Ace Hotshot (because Corellia) for her now that hopefully she'll be able to fine tune when we do Session 0. Has anyone else had a player who ran into difficulty because they felt like there were too many options, and did you have any pointers for how to help with that? I'm okay making a character for her, but I don't want her to feel like she's missed out or not feel attached to the character.

My other question is about starting resources. The book offers a Lambda Shuttle, a Y-Wing, or a base (+1,000 credits). Since I plan to keep the action primarily on Corellia, the base makes the most sense, especially the given example of a speeder chop shop. I'm wondering if I good alternative to the credits would be giving them a speeder bike, either one to share or one for each. Which ones would be appropriate for starting characters?

A speeder bike each is a nice idea - if it's primarily a planet-based campaign, giving them some nice mobility around the planet is good.

Besides which, swoop racing rules allows for some fun sessions...

Has anyone else had a player who ran into difficulty because they felt like there were too many options, and did you have any pointers for how to help with that?

Remember that this isn't D&D or 40k RPG. A squadron leader doesn't need to have an officer's rank and you don't need to be a spy to do spy-esque things. Anyone can attempt anything. Start with the story, and feel free to leave some elements of the character as narrative only. If someone's having trouble with character creation, then sit down and write out the background with them. Feel free to do the mechanical character creation for them, but make sure you explain as you do why what you're choosing matches up to what they want the character to be (not just "I'll take this because it's really good"). There are a lot of options for a starting character - but that's the point; you can take whatever and then add abilities with XP once you have a better idea what you need and want for that character.

For starting resource, each of them having a speeder bike won't harm anything, since you plan on keeping the campaign restricted to a single planet for the foreseeable future.

As for "too many options," most of the folks I regularly game with tend to have a pretty strong idea of what sort of character they want to play, and then try to find the best match in terms of career and starting specialization.

You mentioned you were building an Ace/Hotshot for your girlfriend, but did she give any inclination that she wanted to play a pilot-type? I'd say the best solution to the dilemma would be to sit down and just have a long chat about what sort of character she'd really like to play, telling her that right now mechanics aren't a concern, just the concept of who she wants her character to be in this game. Once you've got the archetype concepts pinned down, then work on narrowing down the options.

I think we've narrowed it down to either Ace, Diplomat, or Spy...

...

Has anyone else had a player who ran into difficulty because they felt like there were too many options, and did you have any pointers for how to help with that? I'm okay making a character for her, but I don't want her to feel like she's missed out or not feel attached to the character.

Yes, all my players. Most of the specs can cater to both a primary and secondary purpose, but of course my players wanted 3 (which looks like what your GF wants). My Ace wanted to be a pilot/mechanic/pistol-slinger. My Enforcer wanted to be a bad-ass face who could play nice and charming when necessary. My Diplomat wanted to be a politico/medic/slicer.

I asked them to rank these three aspects and helped them pick a career that covered their first two. I also lowered the cost on purchasing other specs, provided certain conditions were met with the specs they already had. The Ace was the easiest, because the Driver spec has Ranged-Light as a career skill...no special talents for shooting, but at least he got a discount on skill ranks. Later he picked up the Gunslinger spec and has been working his way through it to become ridiculously lethal with two pistols. The Diplomat was a bit harder, but taking the Ambassador spec and being a human, he got Medicine and Computers for free at chargen, then eventually picked up Propagandist which has "Well-Rounded" so he could pick those as career skills. The Enforcer just ate the cost of Charm as a non-career skill, no big deal.

I'd agree with what's been said, I think it's not a good idea to make the character for them. Instead, ask them which two of the three aspects they want to focus on. Also, given those choices you mentioned, I'd also suggest the Colonist:Politico. It has Well Rounded, excellent face skills, and Deception is a handy skill for spies. Later branch into Thief.

Thanks for the help guys! Still need to get around to true Session 0, but I did talk to the gf a little more about her character.

She is definitely interested in playing a pilot character, and when I showed her the Hotshot entry in the Ace book her reaction was along the lines of "That!" We've discussed a few details about the character, and she borrowed Suns of Fortune to try to get an understanding of the setting (though I don't think she's read much of it yet). I'll also say that she's just not a fan of the rigors of character creation in any game (whereas I can't stop making characters), and she actually likes to have a block of premade stats that she breathe life into. For example, when we played Pathfinder Society, she took the Valeros pregen and ended up copying him almost exactly after the first session, turning him into Argos, total dudebro who would not put his weapons down. Ever. She's also fond of silliness, so it will be interesting to see if we can strike a good balance on that front.

Roommate just now confirmed she'd like to handle character creation herself, and she has already looked through both the FaD Core and Endless Vigil. She's feeling Investigator... We'll see if I'm up to the task of making a game for these characters.

Regarding speeder bikes, is there any in particular I should avoid? I don't know about giving them one with a weapon, but maybe D-22 or the Mobquet S-5? Depending on what roommate wants to do, I could see giving the Hotshot a bike and the Investigator either a mentor or a holocron. That would be reasonable, yeah?