Bag of Games

I got my hands on the book almost ages ago, but I think now I have the time to give my little review of the book (Thanks to huge amount of schoolwork and such). I’ve said it before, I am a fan of Star Wars Roleplaying, but I try to keep my post as objective as I can. So here it is: Star Wars Roleplaying Game: Force Unleashed Campaign Guide

Chapter I: Species Aleena, Caamasi, Felucian, Gran, Nosaurian, Talz, Togorian, Togruta, Whiphid and Yarkora. Those are the new races introduced in this book. There are some “never-heard” species in this book, but that is ok. I know that there are huge amount of species in the Star Wars universe. Images of the races are quite nice, though the picture of the Caamasi looks like it is a humanoid owl but instead the beak there are male genitals… I always get the shivers when I look at that. Anyway, nice addition since it gives the players more freedom to create their characters. After going trough this chapter it already gave me a bunch of new character ideas, so I think the chapter does what it is supposed to.

Chapter II: Heroic Traits This book assumes that the heroes are fighting during the dark times against The Empire, so every theme what is introduced is tied to that. There are also some key questions that the players should answer when they’re creating their heroic back story. It is nice to have these questions, but it is usually the GM’s job the get it out of the players. Even by Force if necessary *drums (sorry I just had to). After bunch of character concepts there are nice amount of talents for heroic classes. Talents for old talent trees and some new talent trees as well. Then there are new uses for skills i.e. mechanics has now the possibility for build objects (other than droids). Maybe I should create a character who can construct almost… never mind. Then there are feats, even few feats to exploit the rage ability. I don’t like the idea of controlling one’s rage. Of course there is the Unleashed feat which allows you to gain access to unleashed abilities:

I had horror images in my mind considering how do they deal with this unleashed ability thing in a roleplaying game. These images came from the video game and everyone who has seen the trailer knows what I am talking about. I was positively surprised after reading trough the chapter. The Unleashed abilites are tough, but they need destiny point to use them and the Unleashed feat as well. At least in our games, we don’t have that many destiny points in our use so this works, I think. It is a good way to enhance roleplaying in my opinion and the player and the GM should work together, at some parts, to gain to maximum awesome effect. Quick summary about the chapter: Nice.

Chapter III: Prestige Classes Chapter introduces new talents for existing prestige classes and of course new prestige classes such as: Enforcer which is a bad ass cop, Independent droid which is a prestige class to droids only, Infiltrator which is a kind of ninja, Master privateer who is a combat veteran, Medic which is a.. well a medic and finally there is Saboteur who’s speciality is to get gadgets to malfunction. I especially like the saboteur prestige class. (Once again bunch of new “cool” character concepts in my mind).

Chapter IV: Organizations This chapter can provide lot of fun and little extra bonuses for campaigns which are heavily dealing with organizations. It introduces several organizations such as Antarian rangers, Black sun, Bothan spynet, House Organa etc. It also gives you the tools to create your own organizations. I.e I can easily imagine a campaign where few renegade jedis try to establish their own organizations or such. I have even tried that myself with a one character, but it did not work however cause maybe the GM could not deliver the experience that I wanted. If we however, have had these tools, I think the situation may have been different. Chapter IV can be source of fun if established in a correct manner.

Chapter V: The Force Once again they have dedicated a whole chapter for The Force. First they describe how do people react to the Force in dark times and give optional rules to make the atoning process harder. Then there is the goodies part: New powers, new talents, new secrets and of course The Force Unleashed abilities which are the improved versions of certain force powers. Then there are some force user traditions which is always good source of information especially for the game master.

Chapter V-VI: Equipment and Droids – Vehicles and Starships These chapters are full of what the title says. New melee weapons, gadgets etc. and droids, starships and vehicles. Nothing special here. Even when I say nothing special, it does not mean that these chapters are useless or such. No, these chapters will definetely have their uses.

Chapter VII: Campaign Guidelines This chapter focuses on common campaign elements. It tells something about locations, events, allies, resistance operations and such. This chapter is for the GM. There are even some sample adventures.

Rest of the chapters are Galactic gazeetter, which information about planets and such and after that there is the Empire and Allies and Opponents. I am not going to go trough these since there are only stats for the npc’s here. Anyway as a summary of this book: Anyone who likes to play Star Wars Roleplaying game can benefit from this book. It isn’t much but it surely is a nice addition if you are a fan of Star Wars Roleplaying Game.