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Introduction
As I mentioned in my review of the Star Wars Roleplaying Game Revised Core Rulebook most people are already familiar with the Star Wars setting. Thus the main book didn't need to spend too much time detailing it in the core book.
The release of Coruscant the the Core Worlds provided players and GMs with a lot more information about the setting. it provided a number of new races, creatures, technology and locations for groups to use in their games. The Star Wars galaxy is a massive place, and it helps to have as much inspiration as possible to help focus on areas.
Geonosis and the Outer Rim Worlds is a perfect addition to this. It essentially follows the same format as Coruscant, this time detailing the edges of the Star Wars galaxy. It doesn't cover Naboo or Tatooine - these have have been detailed in their own supplements. But it does provide us with 26 more locations to use in a Star Wars game.
Layout
Following the format first used in Star Wars Revised, the book is lushly illustrated in full colour glossy pages with the standard epic cinematic style cover. Each entry has the same statistical format and a picture of the world described. This is a great element of the book. I like the idea of a GM being able ot show his players a picture of the world on approach - it is very much in line with the Star Wars Milieu.
General Comments
Due to the standardised format, this book is very easy to reference.
A variety of interesting races are provided - fifteen in total. They range from the inspired - such as the Swokes Swokes whose culture follows a strange mix of civilised barbarism - to the oddly generic - The Murachaun look suspisciously like the Tskrang from Earthdawn.
Each planet is given a detailed treatment, providing history, culture and locations. Following this detail are NPCs that players are likely to either meet or hear of, and adventure hooks that are possible over all three eras.
While the book does gather information from a variety of sources - including the old WEG supplements - it provides a fantastic mix of new and old. Of particular note are Bespin, Kamino (the Sea world where the clones were made in Attack of the Clones) and Iego, an odd world populated with alien angels and demons.
Thoughts
I genuinely enjoyed this book. It's a tough read if you're wanting to read cover to cover. But then that isn't how it is intended to be used. The idea is to just flick through and pick worlds that grab your attention.
While the details are mostly generalised, I feel that this is to the book's advantage. What you are paying for here is a source to help inspire games, give players places to explore and provide a variety of background resources. Now worldwise PCs can refer to worlds that aren't necessarily in their games, but still have details that GMs can draw upon to make their campaigns a little richer.
Summary
With twenty-five different detailed worlds, all of which are presented with sufficient detail to help inspire a GM into action, over fifteen new aliens and several new creatures - this book is packed with handy information for GMs and players alike.
Should I buy this Product?If you are a Star Wars player and you want to study up on various key worlds in the galaxy? Yes. If you're a Star Wars GM who needs new ideas to help move your campaign along. Yes. Overall, a good addition to your Star Wars collection if you want something to provide you with more world detail - especially about such locales and Ryloth, Bespin, Geonosis, Kimino and Endor.
