I can’t say I’ve had to transition.

I’m running my campaign in a time period of months before the destruction of the death star. As most of my main player group is composed of aliens (5 to 1 human), and I have played The Empire as the Nazis they were intended to model, my players have had no love lost over them.

From the very get-go, when I asked my characters their intentions, they wanted to oppose the empire. This was before we even rolled the dice. I had one, a rodian, that has been a rebel from the start. He was looking for others that might be sympathetic to the cause and has found the rest of the group.

They have since formed a rebel cell in the outer rim, where they attempt to recruit persons that are on the run from criminal empires, freed slaves, etc… to the rebellion.

So far,

-they have stumbled and freed a battalion of the early clone troopers (not given the ageing advancements), that didn’t stand up to par. Placed on a remote planet, to fend for themselves, but given a chance due to Skirata’s insistence. Not having communications they never received 66 and when given the run down of what has occurred in the galaxy since, have joined the rebellion (thanks to great rolls from a politico).

-They have transported Bail Organa to clandestine meetings.

- They have smuggled a bothan that held the death star plans that eventually end up with R2.

- They broke Crix Madine from an imperial prison asteroid.

-And have brought a entire species into the rebellion.

- Rescued a jedi padawan from the gladiatorial pits of a hutt crime lord.

Really they have played as just off screen and just avoiding the characters of the movies. They have been early warriors of the rebellion and have played extremely important roles in the formulation and rise of such. None of them are traditional soldiers, and none are composed of anything from AoR (I don’t even have the book yet).

Luckily I’ve always had the rebel alliance as a core focal point of my game. I can’t wait for the book so I can stat out some of these NPCs more accurately (like the clones), but it’s not going to be a great transition for my crew.

I don't really care what the books say as far as combining them, I've got a great game running with a group that enjoys the heck out of it, that I almost enjoy running it as much as.

I really hope they do less of a here's how to convert your character section (sidebar is probably all that's needed) and more of here's how to add characters from Edge of the Empire to your Age of Rebellion games. How to use both obligation and Duty. That's all that is needed.

The joy I find of this system is that anything new just opens doors for a character, you don't have to go back to the front door.

Only thing that bugs me (more of a niggle) is where the mechanics will clash with character backgrounds.

In our group we've two PCs who were either trained by or served in their homeworld's military (a Merc and a Bounty Hunter). Mechanically, they'll be paying more for a specialisation that suited their background more than the (by necessity) limited careers available to them at creation.

If the players are really that up in arms about it, let them rebuild their characters using the AoR careers and specs as a one-time deal offered by you as the GM.

Although it's easy enough to justify that both those characters got their basic combat training (ranks in combat skills) that come with their existing careers and specializations because of their background of having trained/served with their homeworld's military. So it sounds like (based on what little you've said of the matter) that the players are more hung up on the names of the specs & careers than anything.

Only thing that bugs me (more of a niggle) is where the mechanics will clash with character backgrounds.

In our group we've two PCs who were either trained by or served in their homeworld's military (a Merc and a Bounty Hunter). Mechanically, they'll be paying more for a specialisation that suited their background more than the (by necessity) limited careers available to them at creation.

If the players are really that up in arms about it, let them rebuild their characters using the AoR careers and specs as a one-time deal offered by you as the GM.

Although it's easy enough to justify that both those characters got their basic combat training (ranks in combat skills) that come with their existing careers and specializations because of their background of having trained/served with their homeworld's military. So it sounds like (based on what little you've said of the matter) that the players are more hung up on the names of the specs & careers than anything.

Don't worry, nobody's up in arms at all. Hence, "more of a niggle".

I really hope they do less of a here's how to convert your character section (sidebar is probably all that's needed) and more of here's how to add characters from Edge of the Empire to your Age of Rebellion games. How to use both obligation and Duty. That's all that is needed.

The joy I find of this system is that anything new just opens doors for a character, you don't have to go back to the front door.

I'm nearly positive that's how it will be.

I find the idea that there needs to be a "transition" or "upgrade" odd seeing as these are more sidegrades than better classes. I can see wanting to edit a character if you just had, say, a smuggler thief when you really wanted a spy infiltrator but that's an isue any time any game releases any new character option at all. The only needed sidebar would be combining duty and obligation.