IronWolf
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Beware! This review contains major spoilers.
Secrets Of Naboo is an accessory describing the planet Naboo surrounding its invasion by the Trade Federation, for the Star Wars roleplaying game. It costs $19.95.
Production & Presentation: This is a 96-page softcover accessory. The front cover is good colour artwork showing Queen Amidala and some of her subjects against the background of an off-planet view of Naboo, using the usual comic-style art of WotC’s Star Wars game. The back cover gives a very brief overview of the accessory against a background of invading Trade Federation droids. The inside covers are both blank. The first page contains credits and contents. The layout is standard two columns of clear text bordered by a bland strip on the outer edge of each page. There is some black & white internal artwork showing off the typical Star Wars style art, along with many stills from Star Wars I, and various maps.
Whats Inside:
The Introduction (2 pages) comprises a fictional letter from Chancellor Valorum to Qui Gon-Jinn giving us an overview of the ‘present’ situation with the Trade Federation (i.e. the time frame is as Star Wars I) and a fictional report on the Naboo system from Colonel Tapps to Chancellor Valorum adding to this information. It also includes a ‘Story Idea’ sidebar – a very brief adventure outline where the PCs investigate a security leak.
The next section, the Trade Federation (10 pages), briefly covers the Trade Federation’s agenda, before going into detail regarding the Trade Federation’s technology (technological advancements, battle fleets, starships, ground attack vehicles, and droids) including full stats for relevant entries.
The next section, The Neimodians (5 pages), covers the aliens behind the power of the Trade Federation, and briefly discusses their society, gives information on the three Neimodian commanders behind the Naboo blockade, and details three pieces of Neimodian technology. Sidebars cover Neimodians as PCs, NPC stats, and stats for the technology discussed – data goggles, mechno-chair, and Neimodian shuttle.
The following section, Naboo Planetary Brief (1 page), gives an overview of Naboo itself, specifically the humans and the gungans, and their mutual dislike.
The Naboo (22 pages) covers the society of the Naboo humans (and slight changes to be made to the human PC template for Naboo humans), the settlements of note (including important people in each location – with stats) - especially The Royal Palace (including guidelines for Queen Amidala’s Handmaidens as PCs, and stats for their use as NPCs), the Armed Forces of Naboo, Naboo technology (starships and ground vehicles – with stats), and Naboo weapons (with stats). Also included, is another ‘Story Idea’ sidebar regarding rescuing two foolish young lovers, which is more fleshed out than the idea in the introduction. This section is further enhanced by the WotC website, which provides stats on Queen Amidala’s royal starship: http://www.wizards.com/starwars/article.asp?x=sw20010405a_naboo&c=rpg .
The Gungans (9 pages) covers their society, the settlements of note (including important people in each location – with stats), Armed Forces, and technology (vehicles, weapons and defences – with stats).
The next section, Flora and Fauna of Naboo (10 pages), include details on the poisonous Glie algae (with a sidebar on the various effects resulting from different doses of glie poison), as well as a variety of animals seen in the Star Wars I movie. One of the new animals, the clodhopper (a giant grasshopper/locust) sparks another ‘Story Idea’ sidebar with an interesting adventure synopsis of a terrorist group bringing clodhoppers to another planet as an environmental weapon – an alternative is given where the PCs are actually the terrorists, and this idea is expanded on the WotC website at http://www.wizards.com/starwars/article.asp?x=rpg_clodhopper&c=rpg where a full version of the adventure can be found.
The remainder of the accessory is an adventure for 2nd Level Star Wars heroes, Peril on Naboo, where PCs are given a chance to adventure against the backdrop of the Trade Federation’s invasion of Naboo. The PCs must escape the invasion of Theed, and meet up with Gungans and the Naboo underground, before travelling through Naboo’s undersea tunnel system in order to help re-take Theed. On the way, they get a chance to thwart a Neimodian’s underhanded plot to delay help to Naboo, using a forged holo of Queen Amidala announcing an exclusive trade agreement with the Trade Federation.
Further web-based enhancements can be found on the WotC website at the following address: http://www.wizards.com/starwars/archive.asp?x=archive,2,en&c=rpg
The High Points: I liked the ‘Story Idea’ sidebars that were scattered through the accessory – a good idea for all accessories of this nature – I often have my own ideas from reading the text but this helps to focus attention on these possibilities, and lends some form to them. The adventure managed to take the PCs through much of the more interesting aspects of Naboo, without impinging directly on the main storyline of the movie. The section dealing with the uses of special Naboo plants in terms of poisons was good. After reading this accessory, I watched Star Wars I again, and found that my greater understanding of the situation, cultural aspects of the different societies, and technology enhanced my appreciation of the film.
The Low Points: I found much of the text very dry – I sometimes had to force myself to pick the book up to continue reading through it. This was compounded by the plethora of game statistics within – all very necessary as reference material, but it sometimes seemed as if there were more statistics than description. I would have appreciated more information on the Gungans, and more information on the geography of the rest of the planet, and it would have been nice to have had a bit of information on Naboo outside the Star Wars I timeframe. The text seemed to cover a lot of information I had already picked up from the movie, and its usability outside the movie timeframe is limited.
Conclusion: If you want to run a game directly related to Star Wars I, then this certainly provides you with information, statistics and a decent adventure to do so. The accessory has limited usefulness outside this scenario, and is a bit dry. There are some interesting tidbits scattered within for more discerning Gamemasters, and some of the web enhancements are also useful. A mix of a few bad things, a few good things, and a good deal of indifferent things, grants this an Average rating from me – the good adventure is cancelled out by the high price.
Secrets Of Naboo is an accessory describing the planet Naboo surrounding its invasion by the Trade Federation, for the Star Wars roleplaying game. It costs $19.95.
Production & Presentation: This is a 96-page softcover accessory. The front cover is good colour artwork showing Queen Amidala and some of her subjects against the background of an off-planet view of Naboo, using the usual comic-style art of WotC’s Star Wars game. The back cover gives a very brief overview of the accessory against a background of invading Trade Federation droids. The inside covers are both blank. The first page contains credits and contents. The layout is standard two columns of clear text bordered by a bland strip on the outer edge of each page. There is some black & white internal artwork showing off the typical Star Wars style art, along with many stills from Star Wars I, and various maps.
Whats Inside:
The Introduction (2 pages) comprises a fictional letter from Chancellor Valorum to Qui Gon-Jinn giving us an overview of the ‘present’ situation with the Trade Federation (i.e. the time frame is as Star Wars I) and a fictional report on the Naboo system from Colonel Tapps to Chancellor Valorum adding to this information. It also includes a ‘Story Idea’ sidebar – a very brief adventure outline where the PCs investigate a security leak.
The next section, the Trade Federation (10 pages), briefly covers the Trade Federation’s agenda, before going into detail regarding the Trade Federation’s technology (technological advancements, battle fleets, starships, ground attack vehicles, and droids) including full stats for relevant entries.
The next section, The Neimodians (5 pages), covers the aliens behind the power of the Trade Federation, and briefly discusses their society, gives information on the three Neimodian commanders behind the Naboo blockade, and details three pieces of Neimodian technology. Sidebars cover Neimodians as PCs, NPC stats, and stats for the technology discussed – data goggles, mechno-chair, and Neimodian shuttle.
The following section, Naboo Planetary Brief (1 page), gives an overview of Naboo itself, specifically the humans and the gungans, and their mutual dislike.
The Naboo (22 pages) covers the society of the Naboo humans (and slight changes to be made to the human PC template for Naboo humans), the settlements of note (including important people in each location – with stats) - especially The Royal Palace (including guidelines for Queen Amidala’s Handmaidens as PCs, and stats for their use as NPCs), the Armed Forces of Naboo, Naboo technology (starships and ground vehicles – with stats), and Naboo weapons (with stats). Also included, is another ‘Story Idea’ sidebar regarding rescuing two foolish young lovers, which is more fleshed out than the idea in the introduction. This section is further enhanced by the WotC website, which provides stats on Queen Amidala’s royal starship: http://www.wizards.com/starwars/article.asp?x=sw20010405a_naboo&c=rpg .
The Gungans (9 pages) covers their society, the settlements of note (including important people in each location – with stats), Armed Forces, and technology (vehicles, weapons and defences – with stats).
The next section, Flora and Fauna of Naboo (10 pages), include details on the poisonous Glie algae (with a sidebar on the various effects resulting from different doses of glie poison), as well as a variety of animals seen in the Star Wars I movie. One of the new animals, the clodhopper (a giant grasshopper/locust) sparks another ‘Story Idea’ sidebar with an interesting adventure synopsis of a terrorist group bringing clodhoppers to another planet as an environmental weapon – an alternative is given where the PCs are actually the terrorists, and this idea is expanded on the WotC website at http://www.wizards.com/starwars/article.asp?x=rpg_clodhopper&c=rpg where a full version of the adventure can be found.
The remainder of the accessory is an adventure for 2nd Level Star Wars heroes, Peril on Naboo, where PCs are given a chance to adventure against the backdrop of the Trade Federation’s invasion of Naboo. The PCs must escape the invasion of Theed, and meet up with Gungans and the Naboo underground, before travelling through Naboo’s undersea tunnel system in order to help re-take Theed. On the way, they get a chance to thwart a Neimodian’s underhanded plot to delay help to Naboo, using a forged holo of Queen Amidala announcing an exclusive trade agreement with the Trade Federation.
Further web-based enhancements can be found on the WotC website at the following address: http://www.wizards.com/starwars/archive.asp?x=archive,2,en&c=rpg
The High Points: I liked the ‘Story Idea’ sidebars that were scattered through the accessory – a good idea for all accessories of this nature – I often have my own ideas from reading the text but this helps to focus attention on these possibilities, and lends some form to them. The adventure managed to take the PCs through much of the more interesting aspects of Naboo, without impinging directly on the main storyline of the movie. The section dealing with the uses of special Naboo plants in terms of poisons was good. After reading this accessory, I watched Star Wars I again, and found that my greater understanding of the situation, cultural aspects of the different societies, and technology enhanced my appreciation of the film.
The Low Points: I found much of the text very dry – I sometimes had to force myself to pick the book up to continue reading through it. This was compounded by the plethora of game statistics within – all very necessary as reference material, but it sometimes seemed as if there were more statistics than description. I would have appreciated more information on the Gungans, and more information on the geography of the rest of the planet, and it would have been nice to have had a bit of information on Naboo outside the Star Wars I timeframe. The text seemed to cover a lot of information I had already picked up from the movie, and its usability outside the movie timeframe is limited.
Conclusion: If you want to run a game directly related to Star Wars I, then this certainly provides you with information, statistics and a decent adventure to do so. The accessory has limited usefulness outside this scenario, and is a bit dry. There are some interesting tidbits scattered within for more discerning Gamemasters, and some of the web enhancements are also useful. A mix of a few bad things, a few good things, and a good deal of indifferent things, grants this an Average rating from me – the good adventure is cancelled out by the high price.
