Hello. I'm set to GM a new game at some point in the dim future and am getting a bit of ground-work out of the way. My initial "Session 0" idea has been pitched to the group and they like it, so here's the plan: we're going to do a Fate-style game creation where we rough out our Player Characters as well as some details about the setting- the "home" planet, some settings, organisations, and a few friendly and unfriendly NPCs. (With the goal of building everything custom for the players and giving them the kind of game they want to play- it also saves a bit of work on my end.) I plan to use the "crossing paths" method so there's some initial connections between Player Characters. (Because I'm tired of that initial "you guys are in a bar, and..." situation; it's so awkward.) Once we're done with this, we'll do a more formal character creation. However, I would love to do some short role-playing either just before or just after SWRPG character creation to give each player a chance to do their "Call to Action" scene. (Order 66 mentioned: "show The Farm" once, many episodes ago.) The idea is to push the new characters down the gauntlet and hope that the Drama informs Character and encourages some ideas that might not have come up otherwise.

Has anyone surprised their players by putting them on the spot like this? How did you accomplish it and how well (or not so well) did it work? Did you do short scenes with two or three players or give everyone their own individual scene? Do you have any other interesting tips for early-game creation and drama?

I've done this before with varying degrees of success. In general, my approach is an informal "sit around and chat" approach to character creation. We go through the process one step at a time and think out loud; I'll also feed my players some relevant details about my campaign. For example, if I tell them where the campaign will be starting (like a specific planet) and say each player should have a connection with it. Then, based on whatever the players come up with, I might do a quick narrative scene where they get the chance to feel out their character.

As an example, using Edge of the Empire :

• Step one is choosing a background, so I would ask everyone to consider where in the galaxy their character comes from. Are they from an upper-class family that fell on hard times, or maybe they specifically had a fall from grace? Did they grow up in slums or the wilderness, where everything they had they fought for? Did they live an otherwise unremarkable life, except for one choice or mistake that got them in trouble with the authorities? At this stage, I encourage them to think as generally as possible, while writing down any ideas they have.
• Step two is choosing their Obligation, and that involves some specific thinking. With the general idea about a background, I ask them to think of what problems they might be facing. If nobody has a firm idea what they want their Obligation to be (which I describe to new players as "the part of your character's past they can't escape from, no matter how hard they try") I suggest picking two or three that sound promising, writing them down, and moving on.
• Step three is choosing a species, which is pretty straightforward already. I ask them to tie it back to what they thought for a background, maybe pinning down details about where they're from or what happened to push them to the fringes.
• Step four is choosing their career and first specialization, at which point I ask whether the character's previous life had any bearing on what they do on the edge of the galaxy, and if not, how they responded to their new situation—bearing in mind their Obligation, if they already picked one.
• Steps five through nine are all pretty straightforward, so we just go through one at a time. We spend more time on Motivations than any other single part, but I also have a house rule that makes Motivations more relevant in social encounters. I say that their first Motivation should address either where they came from in their background or where they hope to go, while the second can either address the other part of that or introduce something new and/or surprising about the character. We also hammer down any lingering details, like Obligation and anything they want to have written in stone about their background. (I tell them they're free to leave as much of their background fuzzy as they like, but anything they don't fill in with details I will.)

So by the end, I've got a pretty good idea of who the characters are and what hooks I can include in the first session. And if the opportunity comes up to roleplay a little, I take it.

so, I'm gonna give a 2 part answer. That's mostly because I write campaigns after the characters are created. (it's imported from other systems, but still applies)

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Character creation's in 3-4 steps. I'm not the biggest fan of how FFG recommends the character development process.

1. What cool crap does the player want to do? (charmer, brawler, pilot, sniper, etc). GM, who's familiar with the system, guides the player to the best class/character combo. Player chimes if if they want to play to trope or against it. I strongly recommend doing this first, since this has the greatest impact on actual gameplay. A player in my group wanted to be a sexy smooth talker, so I actually found that the Colonist/Performer/Twi'lek to be her best option ... which she liked.
2. Why is the player not a civilian? I've found that framing the question this way cuts to the heart of the matter far quicker. Basically they'll get the anchor of: parents killed, craving adventure, kidnapped then freed, this is the way, etc. Added info can be expanded later.
3. What's the non-material thing that the character craves for HIMSELF? Examples: honor, adrenaline rush, hedonism, etc. An askajian bounty hunter in my group wanted their character to be kill crazy, so I guided them to think about why (sadism v adrenaline rush). Likewise a revenge arc could be fueled by either vengence/rage or seeking inner peace. Getting this question out of the way will anchor the character's role-play motivations (better than the clunky mechanics raw)
4. Add extra sauce as needed by the campaign. In edge that's "give your character a horrible flaw that the DM can exploit" (that askajian is a frivilous spender with high debt and a glitterstim addiction)
5. everything else can be improv'd

So I've found to be way faster and my players have gotten a lot more buy-in due to it.

I explained that approach first, because it ties into the question proper...

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How do you get the actual incident going? Here's options I've seen ...

The following are disfamiliar set-ups. These are best if the party forms the step 1 together (everyone decides what type of cool crap they want to do, so that the party's balanced), but leave the other steps to one-on-one with the GM so players can surprise each other. (That smooth talking twi'lek that's your party face? turns out she stole her luxury yacht from a Black Sun Vigo, sent it through a chop shop with BOSS reverification, but now has a bounty she conveniently forgot to tell the others about.)

• You meet in a bar - I don't like it either, it feels artificial. Moving on...
• You're on assignment - If you're using AoR, you can just say "everyone's been assigned to this newly formed platoon." You don't have to worry about player agency, because they don't have a choice. And if you pair it with a rushed time table you can force them to delay getting to know each other.
• Fellow guild members - Did this in a one-shot, it worked decently well. Each player (during the one on one session) crafted their actual back stories ... then I (as GM) formed the rumors. So, player A meets player B ... and before even saying anything to each other, I reveal what the table knows about player B through rumors/repuation (typically bad gossip and notable feats). Then they had to team up and got to know each other on the fly.
• Individual call to action - The big downside is that group size will restrict accessibility. Because you're having X number mini adventures where there's only 1 person acting ... that can kill player interest for everyone else. The upside, like you saw, was good involvement for active members. Where I've seen this MORE useful is adding a character to a party. Not going to link it (because heavy language), but Acquisitions Incorporated PAX South 2017 session opened with a mini adventure in media res of the new player before she joined the party ... and that worked beautifully. But I don't recommend it for a brand new group.

Then there's the familiar set-up. Everyone's cut from mostly the same cloth, or you've been working with each other for at least a year or two. You don't get as many moments of discovery (this is my backstory) or surprises from the past ... but you can hit the ground running since you're already friends.

• ... Honestly, there's little reason to not do this. It's just plain easier, and everyone can sit in on the character creation process with each other and bounce ideas off one another.

Hopefully that helps!

so, I've thought about the YOU MEET IN A BAR annnnnd ... in the right group it can actually play off well (and be your best bet). Since everyone knows how the trope runs, I'll give the scenarios where it's actually useful...

• The group of friend/heroes at the table aren't into dramatic roleplay. They aren't vying for those sad feelies that happen when a crit-role hero dies. So, this trope totally bypasses it and everyone's basically "here's my character, let's play now"
• If the players have enough buy-in from the get-go of "let's work together to do awesome stuff!" ... you probably don't need character buy-in building moments. Bar-meets, again, bypass the character-sales pitch moment and lets everyone get to the fun stuff. If your group designed characters in the open and helped each other, this is great.
• Bar Meets are also wonderful for onboarding new party members. This is how my first d&d3.5e character was introduced to the existing party-group, and I didn't think anything weird of it.
• There's no story/logic restrictions by the circumstance. One of my fave D&D5e podcast groups (Oxventure) has a cast of blood-crazed warlock, wannabe pirate, pure-heart bard, adorable druid, and -1 INT paladin ... trying to make a story where these people would normally meet wouldn't really work ... so running with the bar-meet allowed all of them to work together since the players were on the understanding of "we're friends, let's just have fun with this". ... in contrast, if you run AoR, you need to explain (to an extent) why a murder-crazy gunslinger would be enlisted in the rebellion.
• Again - it gets to the action faster. Sometimes you just want a brainless Fast and Furious explosion fest. Bar-meets are great for this, especially if everyone at the table is on the same page of "let's go see what we can pull off."

So yeah, it's still not my favorite. But I did realize some strong arguments for the trope ... enough so to where I felt it appropriate to write a little blurb explaining it.

In Star Wars there is no bars, there is only cantinas ! 😉