By John Grigsby, Staff Reviewer d20 Magazine Rack
Initiative Round
The Galactic Campaign Guide is a Star Wars supplement from Wizards of the Coast . This is a 160-page full-color hardcover by Peter Schweighofer and JD Wiker. The wrap-around cover art by Tommy Lee Edwards depicts Han Solo over a Star Wars montage. Landon Foss, Matt Hatton, Raven Mimura, Vindo Rams, Marc Sasso, Greg Staples, Mark Tedin, and, of course, Lucasfilm, Ltd. contribute to the interior art. The Galactic Campaign Guide retails for $29.95.
Where the Hero’s Guide was primarily aimed at players, the Galactic Campaign Guide can be thought of as more of a “GM’s guide” for a Star Wars campaign. A typical fantasy campaign world is usually a pretty big place. A Star Wars campaign “world” is an entire galaxy and when you’re talking about a scale that big, any help is a welcome relief! That’s what the Galactic Campaign Guide proposes to do for you; provide a helping hand.
The first piece of advice is actually the most intuitive, yet most often overlooked; get the thoughts of your players! The GCG proposes “Twenty Questions for a Better Campaign,” ranging from “How often does the group want to play and for how long,” to “What level of realism versus heroism does the group like?” They’re good questions, and it is an excellent way to get your campaign off on the right foot. In fact, with some modification, these questions would work equally well in preparing to start a fantasy campaign, a modern campaign, or a super-hero campaign.
The questions are followed up by some thoughts on how the campaign should be planned out. This is best done using the SMART system to define the character’s specific goals, measurable goals, attainable goals, realistic goals, and timely goals. A selection of quick “mini-campaign” ideas accompanies this section, providing the GM with 15 short scenarios that could easily kick-off a short (or even epic) campaign (such as “rescue the princess” or “marooned.” Of course, planning the adventure is equally important as planning the campaign, and that topic is also covered; 100 one or two-line adventure ideas provide plenty of suggestions to kick off an adventure. There’s also a discussion on checking the player’s character sheets, citing the things to watch for (like oddball concepts or inadvertent (or blatant) cheating).
Where many fantasy campaigns do just fine on the small scale, Star Wars is all about the epic storyline, the larger-than-life characters, and the mystic elements. It’s a saga, and many GMs and players will want to capture that feeling in their campaigns. The GCG offers plenty of help advice on developing saga, depth, and emotion aplenty. Certain things can go a long way towards setting the mood. There are the readily-available soundtracks, of course, but beyond that, there are several offerings that anyone can pull off with a minimum of effort. Narrate the opening crawl to your group, use cut scenes (and let the players participate), set cliffhangers, and don’t settle for a single TIE fighter if the group would be better challenged by a squadron of them!
From considering what bonds the group together, handling splits in the party, and side quests for various character types, to handling combat and non-combat encounters, even experienced GMs will find something of value here. A system for hit locations and critical hits (including severed and broken limbs) is introduced. Rules for a few of the common games of the Star Wars universe are described, and rewards other than experience points are discussed.
An entire chapter has been devoted to the often grandiose settings of the Star Wars universe. Twenty thrilling locations are described, each a description and any special game rules that may apply to action scenes in the area. Some also have maps and adventure hooks. Need a hotel room? There’s one in there? Need a luxury apartment? They’ve got one, complete with map. Have a scene set in a factory? No problem, there’s even some table you can roll on to see what kind of things may be found there. You’ll seldom be at a loss to handle a sudden action scene in any locale!
The Galactic Campaign Guidealso goes a long way towards helping define the universe in which the campaign takes place, by providing a list of common services (and the prices). It’s a lot more realistic when your heroes go to enter the posh Coruscant nightclub and the door guard demands a 10 credit cover charge (and if they refuse to pay, sic the wookie bouncer on ‘em!). There are notes on the military organizations of the Star Wars universe and on putting together believable worlds. Not all planets have Earth-like gravity, but how do you handle a planet with low gravity? The Galactic Campaign Guide has the answer. It even has a system for randomly generating a planet!
In a Star Wars campaign, props tend to play a large part in the action. Consider the scene where Luke and Leia are on the run in the Death Star and Luke blasts the control panel to seal the door (in the process, blasting the controls to extend the bridge). The control panel, and even the blast door, are props. Other elements include fire extinguishers, raised walkways, pressure doors, and turbolifts. These are things that many players and GMs take for granted, but the Galactic Campaign Guide provides rules for using them in ways other than intended. We know that magnetically shielded doors reflect blaster fire, but now you have the rules to handle that situation. Wondering just what an oil bath does for a droid (aside from the obvious)? Wonder no more, now the mechanical effects are revealed.
Props and locations aren’t all this book has to offer, either. You’ll find a devious selection of new traps, seven new drugs, 13 new poisons, and seven new diseases. Infest your characters with dune mites, have a bounty hunter shoot one of them with a dart tipped with lawah saliva, or offer them some death sticks. Drugs are a new mechanic providing a short-term benefit with longer-term side effects. Spice, for example, may provide a boost to Wisdom, but also detracts from Dexterity and Constitution. If you fail a number of Fortitude saves equal to your Constitution, you’re hooked.
Of course, props and locations are not what gives the Star Wars universe its character; characters do. An interesting character, even if used strictly for background, can bring a scene to life and make it memorable. The GCG presents ten “essential” supporting characters. These aren’t specific individuals; they’re archetypes, like the man on the street, the gambler, and the air-taxi driver. A table provides the GM with instant detail on the level of skill these people might posses. It is also here that you will find random tables for generating appearance, mannerisms, personality traits, and an exhaustive list of names and their meanings (for non-humans) for each of the major character races.
Finally, there is advice on how to make you game “epic,” to take it beyond the scope of merely exciting into the realm of legends. This is accomplished not only by involving the heroes, but also by assigning heroic qualities. This goes beyond feats and skills into the realm of the unexplainable. Anakin’s amazing ability with the Force is a prime example. You will also find here advice on designing adventures that are epic in scope and archetypal themes.
Critical Hit
For me, the locations and props rules alone make this book invaluable to my campaign. I only wish that the d20 Modern books had something like this. They’re great because not only do I get a map of the locale, I also get all the notes I need to run an encounter in that location (with suggestions like leaking fluids and tripping over loose parts in a parts shop). If I had time to develop the encounter beforehand, I’d probably think of these things and address them, but if the bounty hunter the heroes are pursuing suddenly ducks into a repair bay, I might overlook these gems.
There’s also some good information on running side encounters, minor events that help flesh out a character’s background. Han Solo’s meeting with Greedo in the cantina at Mos Eisely is a fine example of a side encounter. Though that one ended in combat, others may not. Examples are given for potential side encounters for each of the character classes.
John’s Hot Pick
Definitely the locations. There’s really not much more to be said about that.
Critical Fumble
While I liked seeing the new diseases, drugs, and poisons, I was disappointed to find that they weren’t described beyond the mechanical effects. I want to know the origins of aquyfin, for example. Tell me what ryll looks like! What are the physical effects (beyond game mechanics) of Gamorrean rot? Where might one contract Bonadan cough? What is found here is a good start, but I’d like to have seen it go a lot deeper.
One other thing I’d like to have seen was a little more detail on the Planet Generation System. The one that was provided for West End Games’ d6 System was more detailed than this one. The generation system here will allow you to toss together a quick exotic planet, but if you need more detail than just an overview, you’re on your own.
Coup de Grace
For a Star Wars GM, this book is a must-have. It can saves, quite literally, hours of time and effort, in addition to providing spur-of-the-moment assists like names for aliens (how many rodians named “Bob” have you met because the GM didn’t have a clue what a rodian name should sound like?). Players will get a little mileage out of the name tables, but for the price, it’s just as easy to ask your GM to check the table while you make a few rolls. Most of what is in here is intended for GMs, and players really won’t find the price of the book justified.
As usual, there is no index, but the table of contents is pretty solid. Because this is a WotC product, forget about Open Game Content. The artwork, however, is up to the usual and expected standards for Star Wars products.
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