I enjoy rogues and smugglers, so it was a pleasure to see an entire
adventure devoted specifically for them. Set before the conclusion
of "Shadows of the Empire", it can be fit fairly easily into any
Star Wars campaign.
There are five pieces, intelligently presented. The setting is
described, then the Sisar run is given in detail. Then, a single
adventure, followed by instructions on how to run a smuggling campaign
game. Finally, we get an actual 3-part campaign. All in all, that
makes this book a potent little bundle for a GM... and definitely
something players either shouldn't read or must buy (depending on
how ethical they are!)
The writing is decent, with obligatory fiction bits being passable.
The adventure ideas sprinkled liberally in sideboxes are a nice
relief from the occasionally encyclopedic text, and indeed having
the fiction breaks does lighten up the book. The line art works
very effectively, giving you a good idea of the aliens and other
players in the various gambits.
The scenarios themselves are nicely corrupt and plausible. The
Black Sun, for example, is nicely set up as a corrupt crime mini-empire
without being either omnipotent nor, conversely, overly stupid.
Instead, it's an effective business that can either work with or
against the players, and cause delightful game-provoking strife either
way.
If you also favor rogues, this would be a good book for a Star Wars
GM to buy. In fact, the Star Wars influences aren't so strong that
it wouldn't transplant nicely into Traveller or any other future
space opera, actually.
Style: 2 (Needs Work)
Substance: 4 (Meaty)
