 Goto [ Index ] |
Surprisingly, there has been very little mentioned about this supplement; which is a disappointment, because it achieves what so many supplements attempt to do; but fail. It purposes is clearly defined: to support and enhance the rules already presented in Saga Edition. Bringing “Starships of the Galaxy” into any campaign does not disrupt game balance. There are no new character classes or prestige classes, but rather an extension of talent trees and feats from the Saga Edition’s core/prestige character classes. A player can easily bring these additional rules to a gaming group without the fear of over empowerment from other players or the gamemaster. Additionally, the rules do not radically change the tone or purpose of the original Saga Edition. Ship combat is still the same as presented in Saga Edition, but has a little more flare for those who want to specialize in it. The final result, ironically, is that this supplement is not essential to playing the game. If a gamemaster comes across adventures that use these additional rules, they can easily ignore them or change them to fit the gaming group without ruining the adventure. Congratulation Gary Astleford, Owen K.C. Stephens, and Rodney Thompson. I hope you continue investing this type of quality in further supplement for Saga Edition.
“You have taken your first step into a larger world” - Obi-wan Kenobi
With many game reviews, authors will break down their reviews presenting a Reader’s Digest version of each of the chapters in the book. “Star Wars Starships of the Galaxy” has such a well-written introduction stating clearly the goals of the book, I have decided to base the meat of the review on these goals.
Getting Everyone Involved
“In the Past, one of the more common drawbacks to starship combat was that it left many players sitting and waiting for the encounter to end due to their lack of starship-relevant skills” (SotG page 6)
I thought Saga Edition solved this problem with the rule that everyone can use most skills. However, "Starships of the Galaxy" does branch out and detail various talents that character classes have that can be effective in starship battles. Those players who are new or timid might find these details useful; otherwise, experienced players have probably already incorporated them into their space combat. There are a few new talents for the core classes, the Scoundrel gets the most, Scout and Soldier classes get none. These talents are extensions of the class archetypes and are supporting abilities to starship talents. Such as jury-rig and engineering, which means a Noble character is not suddenly going to out-shoot a Scout. Additionally, all the talents and feats presented in Starships of the Galaxy have very little prerequisites. A character does not need to allocate many of their Talent/Feats slots to starship combat to enhance their abilities. Furthermore, they do detail the use of Deception, Perception, Stealth, and Use Computer Skills, which caries the same sentiments as to Talent and Feats.
The largest rule adjustment, or rule patch, that is in "Starships of the Galaxy" is Maneuvers. This is handled just like Force Powers for Jedi in combat, but instead for starship combat. You gain a number of Maneuvers, instead of Force Powers, with the Starship Tactics Feat. A player can use each Maneuver once during a starship encounter where appropriate and then gain them back after the fight. The prerequisites are Vehicular Combat and trained in pilot skill, which means that any character can gain them by third level if they want them. There are over twenty-five Maneuvers to choose from, ranging from piloting, dog-fighting, defensive, gunners abilities. The Maneuvers do provide an advantage, however they are well balance and will not give a solid upper hand to any specific player. Additionally, these rules are not encumbersome to use. Additional dice rolls are kept to a minimum, such as some special effects are compared to the normal attack roll.
"Starship of the Galaxy" does accomplish “getting everyone involved.” However, they also accomplish this in Saga Edition. This part of supplement is a nice feature, yet not a sole reason to purchase the book. Although it is well written and provides good details, there is a hidden underline feeling of being redundant.
Starship Specialists “With the expanded system present in this book, starship combat becomes a more tactical affair for some characters, letting them do incredible things when behind a flight stick.” (SotG, page 6)
With the Maneuver system, you may take Starship Tactics Feat more than once gaining additional Maneuvers. However, this Feat is not included in any class’s Feat group, so therefore, they have to allocate the feat slots from Experience and Level-Dependent Benefits (table 3-1, page 37 Saga Edition.) Only increasing their maneuvers every three levels. Just like the Jedi, to be a specialist in Starships combat you devoting a lot those Feats to Maneuvers. Yes, characters can become powerful in space combat but they will be sacrificing abilities in other areas.
Naturally, those who are specializing in space combat will want to become Ace Pilots or Officer prestige classes. "Starships of the Galaxy" expands these prestige classes with additional talents. The Ace Pilot gets the most added to their existing trees and both prestige classes receive new Talent Trees as well. There is only one talent that works with the new Maneuver system. Additionally, most of the Talents do not require many prerequisites. This works well because it allows another resource other than Feat Slots to improve your character’s space combat and does not add to Maneuvers making them godlike abilities.
If you want to have Starship Specialist, you have to have this book. "Starships of the Galaxy" provides a dynamic for non-Jedi that mimics what Force Powers do. It accomplishes this goal perfectly by not creating new character classes that will perform godlike powers over other characters, but rather through the use of Feats and Talents. Allowing for any character to become a specialist if they choose, while having sacrificing other aspects of your slot resources to do so. This is a well-blended rule system addition that capitalizes on a method already familiar within the Saga Edition.
The Codex “Though the new character options certainly make starship combat more appealing, the bulk of this book is dedicated to presenting statistics and information for a wide variety of starships, ranging from small starfighters to massive capital ships and space stations.” (SotG Page 6)
There are over a hundred ships presented in this supplement and goes into greater depth (and illustration) with each ship than what is presented in Saga Edition. This includes companies that produced the ship, brief history and a “Capabilities” section on performance and deployment. There is an excellent cross section from the expanded universe, going beyond the three eras. Ships from video games, novels, and comic books can now be apart of your own story. Additionally, they provide four templates covering junkers, archaic, advance, and prototype ships. All ten of the ships presented in Saga Edition has been updated or repeated. Some may be annoyed by the repetition. With the more expansive details of each ship provided in this book, the redundancy was needed. I personally did not even think about the repetition until writing this review.
Of course the folks at Wizards of the Coast accomplished this, the codex is the point of the book. However, they suggest that players will find the codex useful, to encourage them to purchase the book. I disagree. The codex is not a splatbook and naturally a gamemaster is going to need it more often than players do.
Make It Your Own “Starships of the Galaxy presents a complete guide to modifying your starship to make it the way you want it.” (SotG Page 6)
"Starships of the Galaxy" provides a rather simple ship modification system, designed for players to customize pre-existing ships. The system covers cost, with cost factors based on ship size. The supplement introduces “Emplacement Points” which regulate space within the ship, methods to increase emplacement points. And of course, installation times. The system is efficient, it took me 15 minutes to take a Gozaliti Cruiser increase it’s speed from one (shipscale) to three and add combat thrusters to make it maneuver like a fighter. It would cost me 35,000 credits, a lost of 15 tons of cargo, and a crew of 5 to install in a week. The strength within this rule addition is the thoroughness of the equipment options. Nothing “new” to the setting is designed here but covers everything including hyperdrive rings, smugglers compartments, tractor beams, docking bays, space mines, and much more. The weakness within this system is there are no formal rules on how these modifications affect the Challenge Levels. I cringe whenever a formal rule system writes in “gamemaster’s judgement” within rules system; and there it is in black and white when covering CL and ship modifications. I find it hard to believe that there was not enough space to put a column in the equipment tables with these adjustments or that there was not enough time to determine how these upgrades could affect combat encounters. I feel that this could lead to confrontations between players and gamemaster. As players beef up their ships only to find that their experience point rewards drop because the gamemaster is modifying their levels. This could easily be avoided with this information.
"Starships of the Galaxy" provides a very simple and efficient modification system. The rules provide characters a way to design a ship from scratch with Ship Design Feat. Additionally, there is a table of stock “bare bones” ship types so players can create a ship from scratch with the use of the modification rules. The supplement encourages working with ships already presented in the codex. The approach here subtle, keeping the Star Wars setting and imagery by having players use established ships, but providing a method to satisfy their gaming needs. Starships of the Galaxy meets this goal excellently. Gamemasters are going to find this section highly valuable although the section is encouraging player characters to use it. Unfortunately, this rule system is hidden behind the more flashy Maneuvers and can be easily be overlooked by those using the supplement. I think as the supplement is used throughout gameplay this portion will overshadow the Maneuvers.
Enhanced Encounters “Gamemasters will find this book exceptionally useful for designing starship combat encounters.” (SotG, page 7)
The section that directly addresses this goal is the weakest writing in the whole book. If you are expecting some innovated genius to designing encounters, you will be sorely disappointed, because they have two ideas. First is space terrain, and it reads just like any other “terrain use” section in any other RPG. Yawn. The second I was happy to see, which is they suggest split encounters between space and melee combat. This mimics the climatic scenes from “Return of the Jedi” and “Phantom Menace.” However, the way they write this suggestion, sounds as if they have never done it themselves or that it has faults that they have not figured out how to overcome. There are no in-depth suggestions, just run two maps at the same time. I was hoping for a little more description or razzal-dazzle to encourage a gamemaster to try it out.
Despite this weak point, I would have to say the Starships of the Galaxy does accomplish the goal. A gamemaster who uses the whole book will enhance their ship encounters regardless what is written this section. The Codex alone provides a diverse selection of new ships, dropping in a NPC with a maneuver to shake things up, and as adventure arcs mature the unpredictable starship modification and antagonists with pilots/officer class will prevent repetition.
“Many of the truths we cling to depends greatly on our own point of view” - Obi-wan Kenobi
Here is a brief review based on various different points of views
The Realist- For those players who want to immerse themselves into the Star Wars universe will find this book highly enjoyable. Not only doe Starships of the Galaxy cover the full range of information about the space travel experience; but there is plenty of background details sprinkled though the book to quickly get into the mindset keep it throughout the whole reading experience. Additionally, the codex provides a catalog for memorization for any player who wants to spout off data.
The Competitor- Players who are competitors probably have realized that at low levels being in a ship has its advantages; as one progress into higher levels it turns into vulnerability. This supplement might not satisfy these insecurities. A non-Jedi character will find this supplement more useful and dynamic, allowing them to excel in an area that is fairly exclusive. Those playing Jedi could find their resources slightly stretched. Although with this supplement the Jedi could excel in an overall playability of an adventure, they could discover that a weaker opponent out matches them in a specific field. Anakin Skywalker was strong in the force and an excellent pilot, who was defeated by Obi-Wan who was weaker in the force and not a pilot. Because of this, I think that most competition-orientated players will gravitate to modifying their ships than picking up maneuvers.
The Novelist- those players who enjoy exploring the themes of Star Wars will not find much use with Starships of the Galaxy. Apparently, there are not many destinies in a ship. Although one can run an adventure arc where the ship is central and or compels the story, similar in the way the droids did in New Hope, it really is not the subject that Wizards of the Coast was trying to address with this supplement. Quite honestly, I think attaching new types of destinies involving ships or expanding aspects of dark/light side would have been inappropriate in this supplement.
Final Conclusion
It is extremely difficult create a game supplement that introduces valuable new information and rule systems without upsetting game balance, changing the core rules, and bogging down game play. Gary Astleford, Owen K.C. Stephens, and Rodney Thompson have met this difficult challenge with Star Wars Saga Edition Starships of the Galaxy. This is a rarely successful feat of game design and more consumers should be raving about it. With Maneuvers mimicking the same system as Force powers, players are already familiar with this style rule system. Non-Jedi players can gain a similar experience as Jedi players while gaining an area to excel in. Where as Jedi players will have to sacrifice other areas of expertise to gain these benefits. The additional talents provided for character classes increases their roles in space combat while further defining their archetypes already presented in Saga Edition. The modifications system is not as bulky as ship building system, which keeps things running smoothly. Unfortunately, because of the successful nature in design, I am concern that this will affect sales. Although I recommend getting the book, gamers simply do not need this book to play and I doubt that you will see more than one within a gaming group. If sales are not strong, I fear the corporate temptation to pander to gimmicks that produce sales sacrificing good game design. However, despite the fact that this supplement is not needed, including within any campaign will enhance the climatic spaceship battle.
