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Review of The Far Orbit Project
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The Far Orbit Project is a campaign setting designed for the short-run campaign. The first Death Star has just been destroyed and the Alliance is exploring the possibility of enlisting privateers to further their war against the Empire. Enter the Far Orbit, a Nebulon-B escort frigate which has mutinied against its former nasty captain. The new captain is looking for revenge on the Empire and decides to make a buck in the process by volunteering his services to the Alliance. The players are members of his crew who have volunteered to serve as privateers for a tour of duty.
The majority of the supplement is devoted to describing the ship (with deck plans), the enemies that may be encounters and the Ringali Shell where the campaign takes place. There is lots of detail here, enough for a GM to use the book for this section of space alone.
One problem with the setting is figuring out exactly where do the characters fit in. West End Games normally does a wonderful job of making sure that the characters aren't playing second fiddle to the "main stars" of the Star Wars universe. This supplement doesn't do as good a job. The players are simple members of a privateer crew; yet in the example adventures it is common for the players to come up with a plan and then convince the captain to execute the plan. If the GM isn't careful he will have a captain who is viewed as a complete wuss by the players.
The rest of the book is a description of the campaign and sample adventures. Unfortunately this is the weakest part of the book which a GM will need to work on. The adventures can be summed up as "board and raid while something goes wrong" which can get old.
This is a book worth taking a hard look at in the store, if the background material gets the imagination juices going then pick it up, but judging the book by the sample adventures would be looking at the weakest part.
Style: 3 (Average)
Substance: 4 (Meaty)
