My first thought upon picking up the EOTE beta, and then the core rulebook were this: "this artwork kicks arse!"

FFG, a huge pat on the back for your decisions as to who should provide the artwork. It really brings the game to life, and stokes the imagination. There's one picture I like so much, for example, that I wanted to use it to represent an NPC in my PbP game - just wish I knew who did the art!

I find the drawings of Han Solo oddly creepy, but everything else is fantastic. I'm particular fond of the female Explorer's outfit.

I liked the female bounty hunter, but it's not my favourite. For some reason, the art I was referring to was the one in Escape from Mos Shuuta: the picture where a human female is pointing to a star chart. Simple stuff, but the character looked interesting and compelling enough for me to want to base a character off of her.

I couldn't agree more. I especially appreciate that when they show pictures of what could be considered player characters, they, by and large, stick to characters (species) that players are able to be create.

Sometimes they give what feels like a bit of a preview of upcoming playable species (pg 18 of the Beginners rulebook, pg 22, of EtoE core gave me those thoughts), and 313 of EotE core leads me to believe we will be seeing bith sometime in the near future.

I am so glad they went with artwork instead of movie stills. That actually might have been a deal breaker for me... maybe not, but still.

I am so glad they went with artwork instead of movie stills. That actually might have been a deal breaker for me... maybe not, but still.

Be that as it may, I do wish there were more scenes like the one on Pg.114 that shows two aliens haggling over the price of a speeder.

I rather like the pieces that recreate movie scenes (although yes, Fake Han is creepy and there's something odd about Not Luke and Not Leia in the AoR beta; something makes me wonder if they look less like Luke and Leia or more like two of the artist's friends posing for that scene), I like how those tend to really capture the sense that this is Star Wars and the sort of myth and adventure being evoked.

As cool as the FFG material looks it's very easy to miss the simplicity of the classic Star Wars look and feel. Maybe it's the 1970s flair, I dunno.