I'm only really familiar with the Star Wars in the sense that I've watched the movies and some of the cartoons. I've never read any books and so I'm not familiar with IG88, Howlrunner, Soontir Fel, and the like. I'm not familiar with what the other worlds are and what you can find where. Because of this, I'm a bit hesitant to GM a SWRPG game.... but nobody seems to be stepping up to the plate. Anyway, what's the best way to get more immersed in the SW universe? I was thinking maybe a good novel would be a good start, but that'll only really be dealing with a focused section/timeframe of the universe.

Suggestions?

If you are wanting something in the star wars universe, you can't go wrong with the X-wing series.

You mean the game?

He more likely means the novels. Personally I enjoy short story anthologies in the style of Tales of the Mos Eisley Cantina, Tales of the Bounty Hunters,... There's at least four. Cause they show a side of the Star Wars galaxy that doesn't revolve around the main characters from the movies.

There's a series of novels "Star Wars X-Wing" that Ironcaster is referring to.

What kind of characters are your players interested in? Scum and Villainy? Rebel soldiers? Lightsabers and Force powers? Similarly, what kind of adventure are you wanting to run?

For EU (Expanded Universe) knowledge, no source is better and more thorough than Wookieepedia.

Yeah, I know about Wookiepedia but I feel that is more for research purposes.... am I wrong? I liked playing Soontir Fel (Interceptor) in X-Wing (the game) so I read about him on Wookiepedia but I felt that was very lacking. I'd love to read about him on novels and such and get a better feel of the character rather than the Wookiepedia synopsis.

As to what I'm interested in, well, maybe start along the lines of the timeline/era covered in the original trilogy. The time when lightsabers were rare and force powers were lost. Personally, the adventure I'd want to run is one wherein a Jedi-wannabe needs to search for and work for his education, not just turning up to the Jedi Academy and getting trained.

If you are interested in Soontir Fel, go to his wookieepedia page and look through the references section. That should list all the books and other material in which he makes an appearance. Starting with a Character that you already are interested in is a great way to jump into the EU.

As for specific books related to the era you are interested in, I'll leave that to other members more steeped in the EU than myself.

i'd recommend some of the Essential Guide books if you're looking for a primer on non-movie places, people and stuff to include in the game. Though the RPG core rule books should cover enough of how the galaxy works and some major planets to get started. Beyond that it's mainly what you feel comfortable including in an adventure versus simply making up.

If you're looking for Star Wars novels I'd go with pretty much anything by Timothy Zahn; he's by far the best of the writers who have written SW novels. Start with the "Thrawn trilogy" - Heir to the Empire, Dark Force Rising and The Last Command.

As to what I'm interested in, well, maybe start along the lines of the timeline/era covered in the original trilogy. The time when lightsabers were rare and force powers were lost. Personally, the adventure I'd want to run is one wherein a Jedi-wannabe needs to search for and work for his education, not just turning up to the Jedi Academy and getting trained.

Although this is the Age of Rebellion forums and not Edge of the Empire, I would heartily suggest reading Scoundrels, by Timothy Zahn. Set shortly after the Battle of Yavin, it follows the exploits of Han, Chewie, and a crew of... well, scoundrels. It could easily be someone's Edge of the Empire campaign.

Brian Daley's Han Solo Adventures trilogy is also great, and very early work so it doesn't draw upon more than the first movie for background material.

It's important to note that very few of the novels are now considered canon, so you only need to go as deep as you want to. A New Dawn was the first of the works from New!Canon, but that was more aimed at middle grade readers. Tarkin wasn't bad, either.

In general, though, I find the comics are a great way to get into the universe. The novels don't work very well for me -- Star Wars remains a visual experience in my mind and needs the color and motion as presented in graphic novel format. Marvel's new series is still in its infancy, so if you're up for collecting individual issues that's a good way to go. Otherwise, trades of the Dark Horse comics are plentiful and (almost) unfailingly awesome. Personal favorites of mine include Rogue Squadron, Legacy, Dark Times, and the on-going series that got canned to pass the IP off to Marvel, which was simply called Star Wars. I also heard Rebellion was good, though that was canceled prematurely as well.

Really, it depends on what kind of story you're looking for. If you want military might and warfare, X-Wing is a great way to go, and I personally loved the Republic Commando books. (Speaking only of its value as military SF, of course; not inviting discussion on the author's conduct or politics.) For the Jedi or the New Republic in general, anything by Timothy Zahn, particularly his Thrawn trilogy. (That has a comic adaptation as well, a **** good one.) If scum and villainy is more your thing, I think someone mentioned the Tales of... books.

Im more for the comic books then the novels. The Timothy Zahn Thrawn trilogy comic is really excellent and I highly recomend its as your first buy if your going to dive into Star Wars comics as its set reasonbly short after the movies, has great art and writing and is available in collected editions. I also personally enjoyed the series Republic that later was remade into Empire. My brother owns large parts of the Legacy of the Force and its a good read to if your ok with something that is set some 200 years after the movies and want to see a different take on the whole star wars setting.

When it comes to books there are several easily read pockets, I own Courtship of Princess Leia, Planet of Twilight, Children of the Jedi and Tales from Jabbas Palace and they are all rather quick to read and pretty fun to. Thers a bunch of other novels in the same weight class for a quick read and getting a deeper feel for the universe. I recomend to just pick up a few cheap pockets that are not part of any larger series and see what you think of them.

Also I own a signed copy of Revan that was sent to me by bioware. I dont recomend you to get it unless youve played Kotor 1 and 2. I just really wanted to take the chance to brag since we are discussing star wars books

Before the Vector prime and the Vong war (hate it so much) I had all the novels at the time. Highly recommend anything by Timothy Zahn. For me he really had the right ideas for the theme, scope and feel of the star wars universe

The Dark Empire Graphic novels suffer from Keven Anderson "Super weapon" problem. Beyond that it shows some darker sides of the Galaxy and is a great trove of ideas for running a Rebellion vs Empire or New Republic themed military game.

The Knights of the Old republic graphic novels for F&D.

For the military side of things I think the X-Wing novels and the Thrawn novels are the best starting point.

For Scum and villainy I recommend Scoundrels, Shadow Games and both the Brian Daley Han Solo Adventures trilogy and the AC Crispen Han Solo Trilogy which came out much later. As a bonus if you are a Fel fan he appears in the second book of the Crispen trilogy. I haven't read Honor Among Thieves yet so I don't know if that's more military focused or S&V focused.

My only caveat on the x-wing novels is to remember that they're pulp. (Like the OT) That does mean that they tend to the super-skills and dues ex machina that comes with the feeling of the old pulp fighter-pilot books.

Star Wars is so able to morph into so many genres of movies and books it isn’t funny. For books you could throw in a multitude of titles, both fictional and non-fictional.

Stephen Ambrose’s “The Wild Blue” would be a non-fiction that would work well I expect. Being Stephen Ambrose there is also room to wiggle on the fiction requirement.

Now, rather than bestow a list of titles I would give you just two more, the first is a bit unexpected: Hornblower by CS Forester. If you find Napoleonic Naval Fiction unappealing, then you could try the Honor Harrington character by David Weber. I felt there was a fairly strong resemblance between the two.

Harrington, especially the early books would do well for inspiring stories focused on capital ship action sure But while I love the series I'm not so sure that it would do well for campaigns focused on smaller craft tough it might do ok for inspiring some character scale battle ideas too.

I actually really enjoyed A New Dawn but I never forget what the target audience was while I read it...

It was a great light read after rereading the intense, bloody and down-right-miserable-at-times Blood Meridian.

It als is a good book to add some depth to the Rebels show.

As it happens, Heir to the Jedi, a novel about Luke Skywalker set during the time of AoR, just came out today. Bonus: it's canon.

Any more EU goodies made canon in this one?

According to Wookieepedia a number of people and places show up, particularly some from West End Games' SWRPG like Moff Abran Balfour and the Ghest from Rodia. Denon and Llanic are also listed as in there along with regions like the Deep Core and the Llanic Spice run.

It's nice to see they so far aren't making writers reinvent the wheel when filling out the breadth and depth of Star Wars' setting with what the EU had previously established. I'm particularly pleased to see WEG still holding its place as SW reference material, I miss that aspect of SW Roleplaying supplements.

I'm hoping thy draw in some of the characters and hardware from the computer games and such too. I was honestly shocked when the CC-7700 became canon but since it has my hopes of some of the other lesser known EU ship classes, which include many of my favorites, becoming canon, is high.

The big caveat to all this is that the books take place over a focused, ~100 year timeframe, and some of the great books (Zahn trilogy, X-Wing novels) take place a decade after FFG's setting. I'll focus on recommends for the time period FFG is trying to stick with.

Timothy Zahn does have two specific novels, Allegiance and Choices of One, that are spot-on for the time period, though they focus on a small squad of stormtroopers and the Emperor's Hand. As mentioned, Scoundrels is great for an Edge reference book. The Bounty Hunter Wars trilogy fits in thereabouts as well. Most of the anthologies - Tales from the Empire, Mos Eisley Cantina, etc - are full of great vignettes, but be warned as many of the authors had little published work before those came out. The Han Solo Trilogy (not to be confused with the Han Solo Adventures, or the Corellian Trilogy) I think were very underrated, and they do well at showing how mortals have to operate in the Star Wars universe.