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By John Grigsby, Staff Reviewer d20 Magazine Rack
Sizing Up the Target
Coruscant and the Core Worlds is a 160-page hardcover sourcebook for the STAR WARS D20 role-playing game from Wizards of the Coast. It is written by Craig R. Carey, Chris Doyle, Jason Fry, Paul Sudlow, John Terra, and Daniel Wallace and is full-color throughout. It retails for $29.95.
First Blood
“If there’s a bright spot in the galaxy, you’re on the planet that it’s farthest from.” — Luke Skywalker, Star Wars: A New Hope
Whether or not Luke’s pessimistic view of Tatooine is true, it remains that there is indeed a bright spot to the galaxy, and this book describes it. As any Star Wars fan could tell you, the Core is the center point of the galaxy, the place to which all roads (well, space lanes, at any rate) lead. It is the heart of civilized space. Here, one finds a collection of systems and planets which make up the region known as the Core Worlds, and among them, the shining jewel that takes center stage is Coruscant.
Coruscant is unique in all the worlds of space. Every single square foot of the surface, with the exception of the tiny polar ice caps, has been paved over with urbanization. The entire planet is one huge, never-ending city. From space, it almost appears as an artificial construct, a huge space station, like the Death Star. Layer upon layer of buildings and towers form artificial canyons over an under city which has not seen daylight for tens of thousands of years. Fortunately, most citizens live their entire lives without ever seeing these dark and dangerous depths, where adventure lurks.
Coruscant is, as may be expected, the focus of this book, and there is enough adventure to be found there for ten lifetimes. Coruscant is examined in great detail, with notes on the three major eras of game play, prominent NPCs, places to see (and avoid), and adventure seeds for the GM to draw off of. Of course, no adventurer worth their salt going to be content to remain on one world in a galaxy where space travel is available…
The remaining 28 worlds are not given quite as much detail as Coruscant, but there’s still more than enough material here to use them in your games. Each world is headed up with a datasheet providing information on climate, terrain, atmosphere, population, length of day, and other essential data, including the other worlds in the system. This is followed by a description of the world, a brief history, notes on the native species, prominent locations, adventure hooks, allies and antagonists, and any new species, creatures, game mechanics, or equipment.
And there is plenty of crunch in the book mixed in with the chewy goodness. Besides the host of GM characters, eight new species, six new feats, 14 new pieces of equipment, 11 new vehicles, five new starships (including a new TIE fighter variant), 29 new creatures, four new droids, and a new prestige class are also described. There are also plenty of maps of neighborhoods, adventure locales, and space ports. That’s quite a commendable effort for a book that is largely a galactic travelogue.
It should be noted that not all of this material is wholly original. As noted on the credits page, it is drawn from The Essential Guide to Planets and Moons, Star Wars Gamer magazine, and from a web enhancement on Wizard’s own site, but there’s still a lot of material that is original herein, so those who own all of these references need not be concerned that they aren’t getting their money’s worth; far from it. There’s more here than meets the eye at a casual glance.
Critical Hits
One thing that caught my eye that I just have to mention was the illustration of each planet that accompanies the introductory datasheet. These graphics, though small, give the book the feel of, well, a travelogue. Each planet is beautifully rendered as it might be seen from an orbital approach and the artwork is a nice touch that really enhances the feel of the work. Little things like this are what make STAR WARS D20 such a great RPG.
Here, once again, we see that Wizards does not have any intent of letting the system stagnate by limiting themselves to canon material. Instead, they have forged out on their own, further expanding the Star Wars universe by drawing on the work of others and by adding their own original touches. It is my hope that this treatment will keep the franchise alive long after the final film has come to a close.
Packing 29 worlds into a 160-page book is no small task, but the writing team has done an excellent job, providing enough detail that a group can do plenty of exploring without the GM being at a loss for flavor. More importantly, a book that could have been relatively short on game mechanics turns out to have an equal mix of crunch and chew. I tend to dislike game books that offer very little in the way of meat. Give me something I can sink my teeth into… and they did.
Critical Misses
If there is one complaint I have, it is that Coruscant really deserved its own book (in the manner of Secrets of Tatooine or Secrets of Naboo). The other worlds included here are relatively untouched by canon material, but Coruscant offers so much in the way of detail that it seems a shame to limit it to one chapter. Not that what they provide isn’t well-done, but I would like to have seen even more.
As I’ve noted previously, I balk at paying $30 for a book that has half the page count of the core rulebook, which sells for $35. Production values are consistently high, but I just don’t think that a $30 price tag is justified, even for a hardcover book with full-color throughout. Can anybody offer me a good explanation for this?
Coup de Grace
As you’ve no doubt come to expect, there is no Open Game Content designated in this book. I expect that’s not entirely the fault of Wizards (though they seldom designate any of the work as OGC), but also a request from Lucasfilm. At any rate, there is none here.
D20 Compliance is spot on and there is a lot of original material here, enough to keep you in adventures for several gaming sessions, at least. As a bonus, it’s equally valuable to players (the sections for the Game Master are clearly marked as such, so if players seem to know too much, you can punish them with impunity) and I recommend that, at the very least, they be permitted to peruse the description and history for the worlds.
For the price, there is some very good material here, but I still think that $30 is a bit much. Maybe it’s just me, I don’t know, but I’ll protest that until the day I can’t rattle my dice any longer. The bottom line: if you are a Game Master, or just a die-hard Star Wars fan, you’ll likely find this book both useful and enjoyable reading. Players will also find plenty here that can enhance their role-playing (especially if a character originates from one of these worlds), making it a worthwhile purchase for them as well.
To see the graded evaluation of this product and to leave comments that the reviewer will respond to, go to The Critic's Corner at www.d20zines.com.
Sizing Up the Target
Coruscant and the Core Worlds is a 160-page hardcover sourcebook for the STAR WARS D20 role-playing game from Wizards of the Coast. It is written by Craig R. Carey, Chris Doyle, Jason Fry, Paul Sudlow, John Terra, and Daniel Wallace and is full-color throughout. It retails for $29.95.
First Blood
“If there’s a bright spot in the galaxy, you’re on the planet that it’s farthest from.” — Luke Skywalker, Star Wars: A New Hope
Whether or not Luke’s pessimistic view of Tatooine is true, it remains that there is indeed a bright spot to the galaxy, and this book describes it. As any Star Wars fan could tell you, the Core is the center point of the galaxy, the place to which all roads (well, space lanes, at any rate) lead. It is the heart of civilized space. Here, one finds a collection of systems and planets which make up the region known as the Core Worlds, and among them, the shining jewel that takes center stage is Coruscant.
Coruscant is unique in all the worlds of space. Every single square foot of the surface, with the exception of the tiny polar ice caps, has been paved over with urbanization. The entire planet is one huge, never-ending city. From space, it almost appears as an artificial construct, a huge space station, like the Death Star. Layer upon layer of buildings and towers form artificial canyons over an under city which has not seen daylight for tens of thousands of years. Fortunately, most citizens live their entire lives without ever seeing these dark and dangerous depths, where adventure lurks.
Coruscant is, as may be expected, the focus of this book, and there is enough adventure to be found there for ten lifetimes. Coruscant is examined in great detail, with notes on the three major eras of game play, prominent NPCs, places to see (and avoid), and adventure seeds for the GM to draw off of. Of course, no adventurer worth their salt going to be content to remain on one world in a galaxy where space travel is available…
The remaining 28 worlds are not given quite as much detail as Coruscant, but there’s still more than enough material here to use them in your games. Each world is headed up with a datasheet providing information on climate, terrain, atmosphere, population, length of day, and other essential data, including the other worlds in the system. This is followed by a description of the world, a brief history, notes on the native species, prominent locations, adventure hooks, allies and antagonists, and any new species, creatures, game mechanics, or equipment.
And there is plenty of crunch in the book mixed in with the chewy goodness. Besides the host of GM characters, eight new species, six new feats, 14 new pieces of equipment, 11 new vehicles, five new starships (including a new TIE fighter variant), 29 new creatures, four new droids, and a new prestige class are also described. There are also plenty of maps of neighborhoods, adventure locales, and space ports. That’s quite a commendable effort for a book that is largely a galactic travelogue.
It should be noted that not all of this material is wholly original. As noted on the credits page, it is drawn from The Essential Guide to Planets and Moons, Star Wars Gamer magazine, and from a web enhancement on Wizard’s own site, but there’s still a lot of material that is original herein, so those who own all of these references need not be concerned that they aren’t getting their money’s worth; far from it. There’s more here than meets the eye at a casual glance.
Critical Hits
One thing that caught my eye that I just have to mention was the illustration of each planet that accompanies the introductory datasheet. These graphics, though small, give the book the feel of, well, a travelogue. Each planet is beautifully rendered as it might be seen from an orbital approach and the artwork is a nice touch that really enhances the feel of the work. Little things like this are what make STAR WARS D20 such a great RPG.
Here, once again, we see that Wizards does not have any intent of letting the system stagnate by limiting themselves to canon material. Instead, they have forged out on their own, further expanding the Star Wars universe by drawing on the work of others and by adding their own original touches. It is my hope that this treatment will keep the franchise alive long after the final film has come to a close.
Packing 29 worlds into a 160-page book is no small task, but the writing team has done an excellent job, providing enough detail that a group can do plenty of exploring without the GM being at a loss for flavor. More importantly, a book that could have been relatively short on game mechanics turns out to have an equal mix of crunch and chew. I tend to dislike game books that offer very little in the way of meat. Give me something I can sink my teeth into… and they did.
Critical Misses
If there is one complaint I have, it is that Coruscant really deserved its own book (in the manner of Secrets of Tatooine or Secrets of Naboo). The other worlds included here are relatively untouched by canon material, but Coruscant offers so much in the way of detail that it seems a shame to limit it to one chapter. Not that what they provide isn’t well-done, but I would like to have seen even more.
As I’ve noted previously, I balk at paying $30 for a book that has half the page count of the core rulebook, which sells for $35. Production values are consistently high, but I just don’t think that a $30 price tag is justified, even for a hardcover book with full-color throughout. Can anybody offer me a good explanation for this?
Coup de Grace
As you’ve no doubt come to expect, there is no Open Game Content designated in this book. I expect that’s not entirely the fault of Wizards (though they seldom designate any of the work as OGC), but also a request from Lucasfilm. At any rate, there is none here.
D20 Compliance is spot on and there is a lot of original material here, enough to keep you in adventures for several gaming sessions, at least. As a bonus, it’s equally valuable to players (the sections for the Game Master are clearly marked as such, so if players seem to know too much, you can punish them with impunity) and I recommend that, at the very least, they be permitted to peruse the description and history for the worlds.
For the price, there is some very good material here, but I still think that $30 is a bit much. Maybe it’s just me, I don’t know, but I’ll protest that until the day I can’t rattle my dice any longer. The bottom line: if you are a Game Master, or just a die-hard Star Wars fan, you’ll likely find this book both useful and enjoyable reading. Players will also find plenty here that can enhance their role-playing (especially if a character originates from one of these worlds), making it a worthwhile purchase for them as well.
To see the graded evaluation of this product and to leave comments that the reviewer will respond to, go to The Critic's Corner at www.d20zines.com.
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