New to Star Wars gaming, I'll try to make this question as short as possible--can anyone recommend some books to get started on building some adventures? Right now I have my eyes on:
The Essential Guide to Warfare
The Essential Atlas
The Essential Reader's Companion
Recommend any cool, required-reading sourcebooks for the star wars universe?
I'm sure some sourcebooks are coming soon from FFG, but I want to start building!
http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page
This is all you will ever need.
See if you can snag a copy of Secrets of Tatooine. If you wanted to use the location for a campaign. Also check out D20 "Rough and Tundra" which is a campaign setting for the greater Javin systems which include Bespin and Hoth.
I have the Essential Atlas. It's a good book containing both SW history, planetary and sector data. Price was just over 20€ if I my memory serves me right.
Just spend hours and hours on Wookieepedia.com.
Cool, thanks for the good advice--definitely going to check out Secrets of Tattooine and the Essential Atlas. Not too thrilled about Wookipedia, I'd rather hold a book, but thank you, I am sure some folks prefer digital references (ahem EotE pdf cough). Complete Encyclopedia might be cool, too, if I can find it for cheaper than Amazon.
Stars of Inequity for Rogue Trader from FFG is an awesome system generator if you don’t mind that it isn’t Star Wars. I plan on using it when I do a Star Wars campaign.
http://store.fantasyflightgames.com/productdetails.cfm?SKU=RT14
Stars of Inequity for Rogue Trader from FFG is an awesome system generator if you don’t mind that it isn’t Star Wars. I plan on using it when I do a Star Wars campaign. http://store.fantasyflightgames.com/productdetails.cfm?SKU=RT14
woah, that book looks amazing...
Stars of Inequity
Part 1 World Generator is pages 7 – 52. This will be of most use. It does a good job of building the system in ways that will inspire you.
Part 2 Planetside Adventures is pages 53 – 98. This will be a good resource for some adventures, but will lean more towards the Warhammer 40K universe. I think it would still be good for the rim adventures.
Part 3 Populating the Expanse is pages 99 – 124. This can provide ideas setting up towns on the planets.
Part 4 Factions of the Expanse is pages 125 – the end. This will probably be the least useful.
Since it is similar in feel, anything from the old WEG Star Wars line would be good, especially the Classic Adventures and Adventure Journals products. They tend to focus on Rebel vs. Imperial (which will be good for the next core book release), but all of the material can be used with some modification.
Other, non-Star Wars, RPG material to consider:
Traveller--This RPG has been around a long time. It is generally focused on a small band of free merchants piloting a transport around the galaxy. While it is hard sci-fi compared to Star Wars sci-fantasy, it has a lot of adventure ideas in it.
Firefly/Serenity--If Edge of the Empire seems like Firefly in the Star Wars universe, might as well take the best of both worlds.
I am mining ideas from all of the above, plus I am reading older Star Wars novels courtesy of my local library.
Since my crew made all original characters, I am using the beginner box pre-gens as NPCs. Oskara is now piloting a modified Firespray (along with Thwheek from Long Arm of the Hutt, who managed to survive his fight with the PCs), and she is pursuing the party to collect a bounty. Pash and Lowhhrick are now the "Han and Chewie" of my campaign, who have a sizable bounty on their heads. I am guessing the PCs (mostly bounty hunters and hired guns) will go after them soon.
Personally, I'm a huge fan of "Tales from the Mos Eisley Cantina."
It's not a sourcebook or wiki.
It's just a great collection of short stories. Essentially, the book wheels around that original bar scene from Episode IV and gives each minor character/alien you glimpse their own fully-fledged backstory.
For seedy Star Wars fluff, it doesn't get much better.
Something I have found that I use to get some of my players up to speed on EU stuff is the Star Wars Report Podcast.
If you look through the list of episdes, there is like 5 or so that are listed as the "EU Primers". These are great, they bust through most major plots and such. Keep in mind... SPOILERS obvilously.
Also another FYI... the folks running this podcast are HORRIBLE at pronunciation. If you listen to the normal episodes, there is one guy who is supposed to be EU expert. He is knowledable but pronouces everythingdifferent than the rest of fandom. He even pronounces Primer as "prim -er" (not Preye-mer). lol
In this case Primer is pronounced Prim-er - http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/primer