[SAGA] Star Wars book advice

[ThatVoice]

Ahoy folks,

I'm running a Star Wars campaign in the near future, and could really use some advice in terms of useful sourcebooks to add to my collection. I already have the Core Rulebook and Starships of the Galaxy, so I'm only looking to get one or (maybe) two more at this moment in time.

Any advice from the playground which ones to pick?

It's probably going to be a Dawn of Defiance era campaign, but is the sourcebook for that actually worth it?

Whilst we're at it, what do Scum and Villainy or Jedi Acadamy actually add in terms of mechanics?

[AstralFire]

Scum and Villainy is the go-to sourcebook for your non-Jedi. Some nice (pricey) equipment rules that I've found to be absolutely awesome if you want a wealthy character to spend money on something besides a ship or a flock of battle droids.

Jedi Academy Training Manual is the go-to sourcebook for your Force Users. Just about all of the mechanically good or flavorfully bizarre powers are in Core, JATM, or the Clone Wars book, it has a lot of nice new talents for Jedi and Force Adepts, several new lightsaber options, and talents for the variant traditions.

Other than that, the rest are pretty much campaign guides. I mean, there's a smattering of useful and interesting stuff in every single one of those books - there aren't any flat-out terrible ones - but if you're on a budget, I'd pick them up only if you're intending to run a campaign in that era.

Force Unleashed and Rebellion are probably the weakest of them for non-fluff supplementation (though Rebellion era especially has some great stuff for flavoring up your campaign, and an alternative to the over-the-top destiny mechanic that's not appropriate to all games), while KotOR and Clone Wars are the campaigns I lean on most heavily for extra mechanics.

EDIT: Dawn of Defiance, amusingly, is one of the few books I don't have. No idea of its quality.

[Lert, A.]

EDIT: Dawn of Defiance, amusingly, is one of the few books I don't have. No idea of its quality.

DoD is the free web campaign that WotC as put out.

[AstralFire]

DoD is the free web campaign that WotC as put out.

Ah, I always assumed there was a book to go with it. That would explain why I've never found it at the store.

[ThatVoice]

Yeah, sorry 'bout that - confused the names of that free campaign and the Rebellion era sourcebook.

I'll probably get S&V and JATM, and keep the others in mind for the future.

Thanks, Astral!

[raitalin]

Dawn of Defiance is set in the Dark Times, which is represented by the Force Unleashed guide. I'm not a huge fan of the Unleashed Mechanic, but that book does have some of the best PrCs, IMO.

My 2 favorite books, what I think are basically "core" for SAGA (why is it ALL CAPS? is that an acronym?), are Core, Starships of the Galaxy, and Scum and Villainy.

[Mando Knight]

(It's all caps because the WotC designer that came up with the name truly believes that ALL CAPS ARE CRUISE CONTROL FOR COOL)

If you're running the game, I'd also look into Threats of the Galaxy, which is basically the Star Wars SAGA Edition Monster Manual.

[AstralFire]

Dude, abuse of caps is one of the defining traits of Star Wars.

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And you're welcome, ThatVoice - and welcome to the playground. :)

[Mando Knight]

Dude, abuse of caps is one of the defining traits of Star Wars.

Hm... that's true. The movie logos, the text scroll at the beginning of each, the lack of capital/not-capital letter differentiation in Aurebesh...

...Also, that arcade game is one of the saving graces of Rogue Squadron III: Rebel Strike, IMO. The other is the addition of multiplayer, including Rogue Leader co-op.

...Damnit, Lucasarts! Team up with Factor 5 again and give the Wii a pure Rogue Squadron game!

[raitalin]

The only problem with Threats is that the book is just poorly done. It is a great reference for GMs since SW relies so heavily on NPCs, which can be a pain to construct, but the book itself is filled with mistakes and poorly created named characters.

The upside is its by far the cheapest book to purchase used on Amazon.

[KillianHawkeye]

Personally, I think Threats of the Galaxy is a great book when I need an NPC on the fly. I treat the stat blocks in there like the ships in SotG: they don't really conform to the rules of making an NPC/Starship, but they're easy and available. Don't sweat the details!

[AstralFire]

Threats is actually more useful than the Monster Manual for me, by far. I rarely used monsters and when I did, I'd pretty much ad hoc them on the fly based on what would give my party a challenge. NPCs require more effort.

[HamHam]

JATM has lightsaber form powers which are the coolest thing ever.