 | 
Roleplaying Game from West End Games |
Column by Reuben Beattie
GETTING INTO CHARACTER:
The Beginner's Guide to Star Wars RPG Manuals
[Ed. Note: For those RPG veterans who already know about Role-Playing, more recent Mind's Eye columns deal with game ideas, so hang in there and enjoy the ride.]
At first glance, the amount of material that West End Games has published for Star Wars Role-Playing seems a little daunting. The hardcover books alone could easily top $300 for American players and probably more for the foreign gamer. The softcover books, including Galaxy Guides, will run a pretty penny as well.
So, you may ask, what are the best books to begin your journey into SW Role-Playing?
The first required book is, of course, the "Star Wars Role-Playing Game: Second Edition - Revised and Expanded" a black covered book with a Millennium Falcon/TIE Fighter space battle on the front (see this article's artwork.) This book (SW:RPG) has everything needed for basic role-playing in the Star Wars universe, including equipment lists, Force powers, character templates, starships, and alien races. The book also contains adventure ideas, as well as all of the basic rules. None of the characters from the movies or books are included, as they are dealt with in other sourcebooks. This book has a little bit of everything, enough for the first several adventures.
The next book to buy is a bit of a toss-up, depending on the needs of the individual Gamemaster, or "GM." Realistically, there are four more that are essential.
First is a book called the "Gamemaster Handbook." This is a very well written introduction to the craft of Gamemastering, leading a new GM through all of the steps required to run successful, enjoyable adventures. I regret that this type of book wasn't available when I started playing, as it is invaluable to a fledgling GM. It starts on a basic level and works upward, assuming that most players of Star Wars Role Playing come to it fresh, without a lot of gaming experience. A good idea for beginners, but not necessary for veteran players. If you have the opportunity, skim a couple of the sections and see where you fall.
The next on my list is the "Star Wars Sourcebook." This book is slightly misnamed, as it is a hold-over from the first edition and doesn't cover the movie Star Wars. Instead, it covers the workings of the SW galaxy itself in a broad, general scope. There are chapters on the workings of Hyperspace and lightsabers, as well as expanded equipment lists and new ships not covered in the SW:RPG main book. The first edition of this book was the book I relied upon the most heavily when I started out, so I have a special fondness for it. It gives the starting SW group a great deal of important information, such as what an Imperial or Rebel base would normally look like, as well as an in depth overview of Stormtrooper units. I would highly recommended this book.
The Star Wars Sourcebook fleshes out the galaxy and provides a solid base to start from.
My third choice would be the Dark Force Rising Sourcebook (DFRSB), based on the second book in the bestselling Timothy Zahn Trilogy. This book is a bit of a surprise, as it spends less time covering the Zahn novel than it spends in supplying valuable new source material. This book is the one I currently use most, as it adds a sizable number of Force powers and ships to those included in the core book. This book also covers walkers of all types (AT-AT, AT-ST, AT- PT, etc.), a number of fascinating alien races (Defel, Verpine, Gotal, Barabel, and Sluissi, et. al.), as well as some very useful equipment. (A word of caution here to all GM's: I personally recommend against allowing a player to have a "Noghri" for a character, no matter how badly they want one. These are the most unbalancing creatures ever created for the game. I tried this once. Once.)
DFRSB is a wonderful book, one of the best that West End has written in terms of sheer utility. But be advised that the other sourcebooks drawn from the trilogy are not nearly as useful. The Last Command Sourcebook (LCSB) covers the events from that book, and little else. If the GM is running a campaign that occurs during that time period or is trying to run their adventure parallel to the events in the book, it is a must to have. The Heir to the Empire Sourcebook (HTESB), on the other hand, has a decent amount of material in it, but it was written before the Second Edition rules were, and talks about such devices as Fate Points. Most of the same material is covered in the DFRSB, so I'd recommend holding off on this one. [Ed. Note: Since this column originally came out, West End has released the Thrawn Trilogy Sourcebook, which covers all of this material with Second Edition rules.]
Finally, there is the "Second Edition Gamemaster's Screen," something that no GM should ever be without. It has all of the pertinent charts from the core book and is fleshed out with a whole slew of adventure ideas. While these aren't as fleshed out as module adventures, they are easily expanded. And as it says in the foreword to the screen, these are just great for pick- up games, as a rest between big adventures or when the GM hasn't had time to plot an adventure. There is every type of adventure included, from simple smuggler runs to complex murder mysteries. My favorite is one that deals with a character's rich uncle and the inheritance that has been promised on the uncle's death. (It's the type that ends with "And I would have gotten away with it, if it weren't for you pesky Rebels..." A person can almost see the characters solving it, climbing into their psychedelically painted "Mystery Freighter", and flying off into the credits.) This screen is indispensable, and unlike those available for other game systems, the material included is well worth the money. [Ed. Note: Reuben refers here to the original Second Edition Gamemaster Screen, which is a white and blue cover featuring the dueling father and son Skywalkers. Since the original printing of this article, WEG released a new "Revised" Gamemaster Screen with Boba Fett on the cover. This version does NOT include the many game scenarios mentioned here, and is in essence a pared down Gamemaster's Book, with brief Quick References to game play, character creation and equipment listing, among others, including some gorgeous Star Wars company logos (want to know what Sienar Fleet Systems corporate typestyle is?) and includes the Galactic alphabet, Star Wars timeline, and character templates.]
Armed with these books (with or without the GM Handbook, depending), all of the essentials are covered. From this point, all purchases depend on where the campaign is going (Campaign, in case I didn't define it before, is the term for a series of linked adventures.)
There are, however, still plenty of additional books to spend your money on. The hardcover books are all useful, if only to a certain extent. The Movie Trilogy Sourcebook covers a lot of material that was featured in the three movies, and is a good book to have for the trivia factor alone. As a GM, though, I don't use it much, as I tend to stay away from the stream of the movies. It's a large galaxy, and I don't feel that my group will cross paths with too many of the people that Luke and Han did.
The Imperial Sourcebook and Rebel Sourcebook cover details of each organization - roughly everything you ever wanted to know, but were afraid to ask or know... and more! The utility of these books depends on how in-depth a person wants to get into the technical side of the Galactic War. These are good books, if a person needs the full picture of each organization, but there is more information covered here than most will ever need.
The Dark Empire Sourcebook is one of my most favorite sourcebooks, based on the stunning visuals taken from the Dark Horse Comics series and the material covered. This book is what I casually term as the "GM's Revenge." All of the material covered here is taken from the comic, and the book works to capture the dark and grim feeling of the comic series. The problem is that most campaigns don't take place that far along in the SW timeline, after the Zahn Trilogy. And most players don't want to run into the new forces of the resurrected Emperor. (If you thought the Royal Guards from ROTJ were nasty, try the bigger and meaner Imperial Sovereign Protectors.) This book has new Force Powers, ships, vehicles, and details on the World Devastators - all the things that no player ever wants to run up against. I'd recommend that this book be bought, but never used very much. (I mainly use it as a threat.)
The Han Solo and the Corporate Sector Sourcebook (CSASB) is another of the well stocked sourcebooks, containing a veritable plethora of new equipment, vehicles, starships, and locals. This book is based on the first two books of Brian Daley's Han Solo Trilogy (with a follow-up sourcebook due someday soon to cover the third, Han Solo and the Lost Legacy,) and it makes a lot more sense if you've read the trilogy. The books aren't necessary; However, as with all the sourcebooks based on novels, it's a good idea to read the novel beforehand. It's been some time since I last read them, and I find this book to be one of my favorites. It's a good book for the smuggler types that haven't joined the Rebellion.
A companion book to the CSASB is the Tramp Freighters Galaxy Guide, number 6. This deals with the modification of players' ships and resultant malfunctions, making it possible for every player to have a ship that performs as fitfully as the Millennium Falcon. It also has details on how to run a campaign for smugglers, one of my favorite backdrops.
The Alien Races Galaxy Guide, number 4, has the racial descriptions and game stats for over 40 alien races - some from the movies, most from West End material. This is a good book to add flavor to campaigns. Instead of populating a setting with vague aliens, a bar can be stocked with such diverse species as Ri'Dar, Squib, and Togorians. I've used this book so much in the past that my players have started sounding like XenoAnthropology majors.
Planets of the Galaxy, either in the huge bound edition or in the smaller editions, provides well fleshed out descriptions of such far flung places as the Elrood Sector (a favorite in the circles I frequent) and the wasteland of Atraken. Included is a system to generate your own planets and a wealth of material to put into campaigns.
From there, such books as Platt's Starport Guide, Galladinium's Fantastic Tech, and Fragments from the Rim book vie for attention. Platt's is taken from a series of articles presented in the SW Adventure Journal, a quarterly publication from WEG. Platt O'Keefe is the character creation of Journal Editor Peter Schweighofer, and material in this supplement is some of the most interesting original material that I've seen around. The spaceports are what a person would expect from the backdrop of the SW galaxy. Good stuff, if you want rich and detailed settings. Fantastic Tech is also wholly original material, dealing with such mundane things as the galactic equivalents of credit card holders and shower stalls, which is good for adding flavor to things. Tech might best be described the Sears-Roebuck catalog of the SW galaxy.
The Fragments from the Rim Galaxy Guide, number 9 (FFTR), deals with the Outer Rim territories, a section of space where the Imperials don't have a great deal of influence. FFTR skims a lot of material like musical groups and specialized Stormtroopers for the Rim territories, not covering much in great detail but providing a lot of hooks for adventures.
After this falls the various specialized Galaxy Guides: Scouts (8), Bounty Hunters (10), and Criminal Organizations (11). These Guides are mainly for the purpose of tailoring a campaign to a group. These books allow a campaign to diverge from the standard Rebel agent setting, where all characters have to be members of Rebellion. But, unless there is a good purpose for these books (i.e. a group of scouts or bounty hunters, or a player that wants a lot of background) they aren't much use. These books go along with the aforementioned Tramp Freighters and CSASB in their specialization, but these three have less general and widely useful material.
I know I've left a lot of material off of this list, but there is a lot more that WEG has done than I feel is integral to the beginning player. This list will give an idea of what would be best to get at the onset. I will admit that my choices herein reflect my own preferences (ie fast and loose without a lot of Rebel supervision,) but the galaxy's a big place, and there's plenty of room for everyone to explore.
(Reuben Beattie runs many a RPG campaign himself, and might play-act a response at his Email address beattier@river.it.gvsu.edu)
