The Inside Scoop on Gaming

From the very beginning the Star Wars game was plagued with the danger of the player characters being second class citizens in the Star Wars universe. After all, we all know who was responsible for destroying the evil Empire and restoring an age of rebirth and greatness to a certain galaxy far, far away. In order to get around this problem the folks at West End have made every effort to introduce character and campaign concepts which would make the game enjoyable for the "average" player character. "Secrets of the Sisar Run" is a wonderful example of this and is geared for quick setup and use by a beginner GM or a more experienced GM who wants to have a quick throw-away campaign.

The basic premise of the this product is that the PCs become involved with a deadly interstellar organized crime ring. At first the characterss may think that they are working for another Hutt-type crime lord when in fact they are working for a near mythical organization called the Black Sun. This information gradually becomes evident to the characters who most likely will want to make a break from an organization which has a lousy retirement plan.

The book is broken down into three sections. The first is a physical description of the Sisar section of space as well as an explanation of who the main players are in the Black Sun organization. It is followed by a rather linear adventure which gets the characters involved with the adventure. This adventure is probably the weakest part of the book because the players are offered very little leeway in what actions their characters can perform, an expeienced GM will probably want to do a lot of modification to it for his players. After that comes the short campaign in which the characters are hired to track down information which can bring down the Black Sun organization. Rival criminals, mercenaries and even the Empire get involved in this hunt which allows room for lots of action, combat, investigation, intrigue, conspiracy and role-playing. The campaign has events which must occur in a certain order which helps the beginner GM but doesn't stymie the experienced GM.

All in all this sourcebook was a fun read, looked like it would be fun to play and seemed ready to run with few preparations.

Style: 4 (Classy and well done)
Substance: 4 (Meaty)

Secrets of the Sisar Run
Author: Craig Carey, Shane Hensley and Pablo Hidalgo Category: game Company/Publisher: West End Games Cost: $15.00 Page count: 96 ISBN: 0-87431-290-6 Capsule Review by Tomas J Skucas on 11/01/97. Genre tags: none	From the very beginning the Star Wars game was plagued with the danger of the player characters being second class citizens in the Star Wars universe. After all, we all know who was responsible for destroying the evil Empire and restoring an age of rebirth and greatness to a certain galaxy far, far away. In order to get around this problem the folks at West End have made every effort to introduce character and campaign concepts which would make the game enjoyable for the "average" player character. "Secrets of the Sisar Run" is a wonderful example of this and is geared for quick setup and use by a beginner GM or a more experienced GM who wants to have a quick throw-away campaign. The basic premise of the this product is that the PCs become involved with a deadly interstellar organized crime ring. At first the characterss may think that they are working for another Hutt-type crime lord when in fact they are working for a near mythical organization called the Black Sun. This information gradually becomes evident to the characters who most likely will want to make a break from an organization which has a lousy retirement plan. The book is broken down into three sections. The first is a physical description of the Sisar section of space as well as an explanation of who the main players are in the Black Sun organization. It is followed by a rather linear adventure which gets the characters involved with the adventure. This adventure is probably the weakest part of the book because the players are offered very little leeway in what actions their characters can perform, an expeienced GM will probably want to do a lot of modification to it for his players. After that comes the short campaign in which the characters are hired to track down information which can bring down the Black Sun organization. Rival criminals, mercenaries and even the Empire get involved in this hunt which allows room for lots of action, combat, investigation, intrigue, conspiracy and role-playing. The campaign has events which must occur in a certain order which helps the beginner GM but doesn't stymie the experienced GM. All in all this sourcebook was a fun read, looked like it would be fun to play and seemed ready to run with few preparations. Style: 4 (Classy and well done) Substance: 4 (Meaty)