Force Points

Way back when Jedi Academy Training Manual came out, I expressed some interest in doing a daily Force Point system instead of a Points-by-level system. After giving it some thought, I'm going to keep the Points-by-level system as it is. I think we're leveling up at a fast enough rate that you players are actually getting more Force Points now than you would if we were doing daily Force Points.

However, NPCs will switch to a daily Force Points system, because that's just a whole lot easier bookkeeping for me.

Nerdgasm!

Season 1 of Star Wars: The Clone Wars will be on DVD and Blu-ray on November 3.

Even better, here's the new trailer for Season 2:

Oh what a tangled web we weave

I was looking through old recaps and saw a comment from Andy saying, "Wow, we sure have a lot of subplots going on, don't we?" So I thought I would try to point out all the different subplots we have going on:

Major plots:

•Stopping the Sith and their conquest of the galaxy, led by Darth Revan and Darth Malak. Presently that involves tracking the Sith who attacked the Jedi Temple on Coruscant to the Chommell Sector, with Ras in particular assigned to Naboo.

•Stopping Alhu-Zun and his agents, including Wertsnik, who are committing acts of sabotage throughout the galaxy in an effort to help the Republic.

•Marina, now the Raraza's pilot, is searching for the "treasure planet" Iego, believing it holds untold billions in treasure.

•At present, the Raraza is landed in the wilderness of Naboo and requires new parts to get airborne again.

Minor plots:

•Aya Lim, the wayward Jedi apprentice of On-Warr Bistellion, is still out there. Ras was able to talk her down from the dark side a little after freeing On-Warr from her clutches on Myzil V, but she hasn't been seen since.

•Riga the Hutt is still out there, and he has incriminating information on Areta Luk, Rek's dad.

•Kazbich plans to kill Kelly.

•Kazbich is now Yvegeny Reminski. Ras is fully aware of this, and Kelif is only unconsciously aware, creating interparty tension. While Kazbich's old enemies are not aware of this, they really shouldn't be made to find out, either.

•Kazbich is now an agent of the Genoharadan, though they have not given him any assignments.

•When it arrived at Naboo, the Raraza was attacked by Mandalorians swearing allegiance to Mandalore the Divider. This Mandalore's identity is unknown.

•Kelif is seeking his father on Naboo.

•Gobmush has a bounty on his head from Globmulch, a Gamorrean he knows from his old days on Gamorr.

•Ras wants a krayt dragon pearl for one of her lightsabers.

•Lyta wants to create a galaxy-spanning medical organization akin to the Red Cross. She is training Oro for an administrative role.

•Lyta saved the life of Gaph, a Ryn crime boss on Coruscant, but Ras wants to bring him to justice.

•Gobmush went missing on Coruscant, and indicated before the Raraza left the planet that he would probably be seeing them again on Naboo.

•Kazbich wants to kill Zhen, the Zabrak commando who worked for Gorrak the Hutt and helped them on Ithor, for unspecified reasons.

•Mr. Skee told Kazbich that he owes him more for his legal help on Myzil V. However, as Kazbich is "in prison" now, that debt is null, unless Mr. Skee finds out Yvegeny's identity.

•Ras recently realized that Alhu-Zun, the Draethos Keetael master, was On-Warr's master before he joined the Jedi Order.

•Kelif is working to justify both his Mandalorian loyalty and his working with Jedi, with the help of Ras.

•Lyta is developing her own connection to the Force.

•The Eutix corporation is still out there, still doing whatever weird thing it is that they're doing.

•It is unclear why Kelly rescued Borlok, the Dug cutthroat, from Riga the Hutt's palace on Nal Hutta.

•Yvegeny was working on reprogramming the deactivated HK-48 droid back in the Jedi Temple.

•Lyta had Kelif sign a form saying she would be his personal physician for the rest of his life.

•Who knows what crazy adventures Rek Luk has been getting into as a bounty hunter?

•Ras mind-tricked Yvegeny into thinking he is violently allergic to death sticks.

•While R'vanna the Ryn mechanic was violently subdued by Yvegeny before being freed by Ras, he may still play a role in bringing Gaph to justice.

•Jazz Sharmista is still interested in getting "Kazbich" released from prison. "Kazbich" will soon be transferred to the spice mines of Kessel.

I think we can resolve all of these plotlines, plus whatever else I have coming down the line, by level 20, right?

New Species Feats

As the Gungan and Gamorrean get brand-new species feats in the Rebellion Era Campaign Guide, I thought it only fair to whip some up for the Selkath and Umbaran so that the whole party can get in on the action (none for Humans, though):

Kolto Master

You have trained extensively with the doctors and kolto technicians on Manaan, and in a pinch, you are capable of medical miracles.

Prerequisite: Selkath.

Benefit: You may spend a Force Point to use the First Aid function of the Treat Injury skill without expending a medpac.

Light Adaptation

While most Umbarans’ eyes are sensitive to bright light, you have lived away from the ultraviolet rays of the Ghost Nebula long enough for your eyes to adjust to a normal spectrum.

Prerequisites: Umbaran.

Benefit: You are not blinded by bright light. Once per encounter, you may reroll a Perception check to avoid surprise or notice targets, but you must take the second result, even if it is worse.

One with the Shadows

You use techniques developed by your people’s foremost cutthroats, the Shadow Assassins.

Prerequisites: Umbaran.

Benefit: You deal +1 die of damage with weapons during the surprise round.

Poisonous Claws

While the majority of Selkath refrain from using their claws, believing it to be a sign of savagery, you have embraced the use of your claws in combat.

Prerequisites: Selkath.

Benefit: You have natural weapons in the form of claws. Whenever you make an unarmed attack, you may use your claws, which deal 1d4 damage on a successful hit. In addition, if your attack roll also exceeds your target’s Fortitude Defense, the target takes an additional 1d6 damage at the start of its next turn. You are always considered armed with your claws.

Superior Negotiator

Having grown up in a society that revolves around aggressive politicking, you have developed an exceptionally silver tongue.

Prerequisite: Umbaran.

Benefit: Whenever you spend a Force Point to enhance a Persuasion check, increase the die type by two steps (d6 to d10, or d8 to d12).

Telepathic Shielding

Many Selkath are unusually sensitive to telepathic impulses, but through training and mental discipline, you have learned to shut out unwelcome influence.

Prerequisite: Selkath.

Benefit: Whenever an enemy attempts to use a mind-affecting effect against you, the enemy must roll twice and take the lower result.

July 26 recap

•The Jedi Order is dealt a terrible blow when a strike team of Sith attacks the Temple on Coruscant.

•Kelif proves himself a hero to the Jedi.

•Ras comes saber-to-saber with one of the most powerful Sith in the galaxy.

•Lyta talks a Sith into renouncing the dark side, but still walks a fine line herself.

•Despite his new identity, Yvegeny finds it hard to stay discreet, giving Ras plenty to be frustrated about.

•Upon arriving at Naboo, the Raraza is attacked by Mandalorians swearing allegiance to a new Mandalore, and the crew finds itself stuck in an unfamiliar place.

The party hauls Cariaga Sin to the Jedi Temple to keep her in custody until she can be interrogated, and meets up with Kelif, who is keeping up his live fire exercises with the Jedi apprentices. Yvegeny and Kelif meet for the first time, and though Kelif doesn't sense Yvegeny is Kazbich, he thinks there's definitely something wrong with him. The Jedi also bring back Neyeria's body for a traditional Jedi cremation, but Lyta avoids attending the ceremony, preferring to work at the clinic with Oro instead. Yvegeny gets to work on the HK-48 unit he recovered from facing Cariaga Sin, discovering that it's programmed to translate and provide aid for the Sith, and provide mayhem and provide inaccurate translation for non-Sith. Yvegeny debates programming the droid to obey him, noting that if its old programming ever resurfaces, it could try to kill the entire party again.

Ras goes to the Coruscant holding facility, where "Kazbich" is being held en route to transport to the spice mines of Kessel. There she meets up with Jazz, who has been working on Kazbich's release but has had little legal luck. Ras meets up with "Kazbich," who greets her warmly and asks if she's got any Jedi way of getting him out of there. Ras presses him for his real identity, but "Kazbich" ignores her, even saying Kazbich's trademark, "We're all friends here!" Ras finally uses the Force to prompt "Kazbich," who whispers that he's really named Rann and it's sort of a friend-of-a-friend-of-a-friend thing — all he knows is that if he goes along with it, they'll financially support his family (and the food is better in prison anyway). Surprised that Rann is willingly going along with the sentence, Ras comms Yvegeny, telling him to be discreet so as not to screw things up for Rann. Ras then goes to visit Rek Luk at his luxury apartment on Coruscant to discuss the Kazbich dilemma.

While Ras is with Rek Luk, Kazbich is in the Jedi Temple's droid labs, Kelif is training Jedi apprentices and Lyta is in the clinic, alarms suddenly go off in the Jedi Temple. Ras is called back by comlink, telling her the Temple is under attack. Lyta feels a disturbance in the Force, the first one since Neyeria was killed by the Sith. A Jedi tells Yvegeny the Temple is under attack, while Jedi Master Muz tells Kelif to lead the apprentices to an underground bunker for their safety. Ras has Rek Luk fly her to the Temple post-haste; Lyta leaves Oro behind at the clinic and takes off for the Temple.

Kelif leads the apprentices to the bunker, but on the way there is attacked by a Sith mage, who promptly fries him with Force lightning. Yvegeny happens to arrive at the same time and shoots the Sith in the back, knocking him prone and drawing his attention. The Sith uses the Force to summon a whirlwind to disable Kelif while he Force chokes Yvegeny. Unable to escape the grip, Yvegeny pulls the pin on a grenade and prepares to drop it when the apprentices charge the Sith, disrupting his concentration so Kelif and Yvegeny can blast the Sith to oblivion and lead the children to safety to a Cerean Jedi, who heals the both of them. Kazbich gets on a computer terminal and assesses the security reports: a strike team of about 20 Sith charged through the front door, killing Gatekeeper K'Chuk and then spreading out through the Temple to cause mayhem. Most of the Sith seem to have made a stand in the Archives, luring most of the Jedi defenders to them. Yvegeny uses his neck comlink to contact Ras, which makes Kelif realize that Yvegeny is actually Kazbich.

Ras and Lyta arrive at the front gates of the Jedi Temple at the same time, Ras diving out of Rek's ship and using the Force to stop her fall. Ras deduces the Sith must be there to free Cariaga Sin and runs with Lyta to the holding cells. After speaking with Yvegeny, they circumvent the Sith group at the Archives, and meet up with Yvegeny and Kelif at the Room of a Thousand Fountains. They follow the trail of destruction to the holding cells.

However, the two Sith going there had doubled back, so the party arrives before the Sith do: a mage wielding a tremor sword and a warrior with a red lightsaber. The lightsaber-wielding warrior uses the dark side to wound Cariaga Sin in her force cage while the party engages the sword-wielding mage. Yvegeny successfully knocks the mage down, only for him to create an illusion of advancing Sith troopers, which disorients Yvegeny and Kelif before a grenade finishes him off. Oro gets a lucky shot against the remaining lightsaber-wielding warrior, prompting that Sith to go on an uncontrollable rampage. Lyta barely pulls Oro out of the way of the Sith's lightsaber in time, and after the party slows him down, Lyta uses her best Big Girl voice to intimidate the Sith into surrendering, which he promptly does. Ras binder-cuffs the Sith, then charges off to the Archives to help the Jedi there. Lyta attempts to resuscitate Cariaga Sin, but it's too late; she's dead.

Ras arrives at the Archives to a scene of carnage — shelves of datacards have been knocked over, thrown around and destroyed, and the bodies of both Jedi and Sith lie everywhere. Immediately before her are a female Rodian Jedi Master fighting a Sith marauder in black, metallic armor, his face hidden behind a mask, and wielding a lightsaber pike. Ras rushes to the Jedi's defense, unleashing the power of the Force to hurl the Sith into the ceiling three floors up. The Rodian recognizes Ras as Asa Ulara's apprentice and says they can take on the Sith marauder together... she hopes. As Ras has been hurling the marauder all across the room, he slices and dices at her, battering down her defenses and slicing off her left arm and right leg before she passes out from shock.

A few moments later, Lyta, Yvegeny and Kelif arrive in the Archives and find Ras near death's door (the Rodian Jedi is nearby, beheaded). They quickly gather Ras' limbs and Lyta performs emergency surgery to reattach them; as they found her right away, Lyta is successful and Ras will not need cybernetic replacements. Jedi Master Vrook arrives, looking much worse for the wear; the surviving Sith have made their escape. He recognizes the Rodian as Jedi Council member Jeela Ronu, and mourns for her loss.

In the aftermath of the battle, Ras recuperates from the loss of her limbs under the care of Lyta. All told, 29 Jedi were lost in the assault, including Gatekeeper K'Chuk, Council member Jeela Ronu, and Duros artisan Muz, and 12 Sith were killed. Thanks to Yvegeny and Kelif, most of the children made it to safety. Master Archivist Kalor gets right back to work rebuilding the Jedi Archives. Yvegeny tries to find out how the Sith got to the Jedi Temple in the first place, but finds no useful information. Ras has the idea to take a blood sample from the ruins of the Archives and finds that the Sith marauder she fought was once a Jedi Knight named Talvon Esan, who followed Revan during the Mandalorian Wars. The Republic, shaken that the Sith were able to get close enough to attack the Jedi Temple, assigns more Republic soldiers to guard the premises in case of a return attack. Master Kalor tells Ras that she's one of several Jedi Knights assigned to the Chommell Sector, which was found to be the Sith strike team's ship's destination based on their last known trajectory; Ras is being sent to Naboo. To keep Kelif from blowing Yvegeny's cover, Ras uses a Jedi mind trick to make him forget Yvegeny's true identity, though Kelif has a nagging feeling there's something not right about him.

Lyta interrogates the Sith prisoner from the holding cells, whose name is revealed to be Valin. Valin reveals that the purpose of the attack was to cause mayhem and silence Cariaga Sin, whose knowledge of troop movements and hidden Sith bases could not be allowed to fall into Republic hands. Talvon Esan is one of the highest-ranking Sith Lords in the Empire, having followed Revan since the start of the Mandalorian Wars, and he is known among the Sith as "the Butcher" (not being one of the two to get a Darth title). The name of his warship is the Devastator. Lyta spends most of the day talking to Valin, and eventually turns him (mostly) away from the dark side, as he ponders returning to the Jedi.

Lyta trains Oro to be a health administrator and sends him off on a mysterious errand while Ras meets with Yvegeny, trying to probe who Yvegeny's handlers are now but getting no answers. Ras tells him that she's planning to stop Gaph, who she can't let continue his bloody conquest of the lower reaches of the city, especially given that he's got a Sith artifact grafted to his spine. Yvegeny says his handlers aren't interested in Gaph, but he'll do some investigating himself.

Yvegeny talks to his contacts in the Coruscant underground, trying to find someone who's left Gaph's organization. He eventually finds a Ryn named R'vanna, who used to be the transport specialist for that particular Ryn group, and arranges a meeting; Yvegeny drops the Republic Intelligence hammer, saying he needs R'vanna's testimony to bring Gaph down. R'vanna recognizes desperation when he sees it, however, and isn't convinced, especially once Yvegeny starts threatening to kill him and offers to provide witness protection by letting him stay in the Raraza. He walks away, but Yvegeny quietly tails him back to his apartment.

Thinking he can persuade R'vanna to help him, Yvegeny solicits some Trandoshan thugs to claim to work for Gaph and beat him up, so then Yvegeny can "come to the rescue" and win his trust. Yvegeny fails to notice the Trandoshans are a little too eager to help, and so when Yvegeny bursts in to save R'vanna, the Trandoshans draw vibrodaggers and attack him. Yvegeny manages to kill one, but while grappling with the other one, he tries unsuccessfully to tie the Trandoshans to Gaph, to which the still-standing Trandoshan points out that he hired them to beat up the Ryn, then runs off. R'vanna angrily points out that he left Gaph on good terms, and Gaph has no reason to send goons after him. Frustrated with his lack of luck, Yvegeny shoots R'vanna's lamp (it was an heirloom from his mother, he protests) and television, then ties him up and hauls him into the medical clinic speeder ambulance. As soon as they leave the building, R'vanna YELLS OUT that he's being kidnapped by a madman, but it being the lower levels of the city, no one rushes to his defense.

Yvegeny then decides to coerce R'vanna, and goes off to buy some death sticks to get some collateral. The death stick dealer, however, notes Yvegeny's extremely high initial offer — 400 credits — and notes that it's apparently a seller's market, and continues to overcharge, forcing Yvegeny to settle for 650 credits. Yvegeny hauls R'vanna to the factory where the party first tracked Wertsnik's ship and forces the Ryn to ingest death sticks, hoping to get him addicted, and tells him the Republic will provide a cure for his new death stick addiction if he provides evidence against Gaph. Still having no luck, especially since R'vanna is now more worried about his crazy captor than his former boss, Yvegeny calls in Kelif to help intimidate him, claiming, among other insane theories, that R'vanna knows Kelif's father. Kelif takes Yvegeny's prodding the wrong way and nearly executes R'vanna, but instead decides to haul the Ryn back to the Raraza to torture him.

When Yvegeny and Kelif return to the Raraza, Ras, Lyta and Marina are preparing the Raraza for takeoff to head to Naboo. (Oro returns to the ship and tells Lyta his errand was a success.) Ras, extremely frustrated that her attempt to build a case against Gaph took such a nosedive, lets R'vanna go, having Crask drive him to the free clinic Lyta worked at to get the death sticks out of his system and putting him in a Force trance until he gets there, then forcefully mind-tricks Yvegeny into thinking that he's violently allergic to death sticks so that he never does something so stupid again. When Marina hears that the ship is going to Naboo, she relates to the party that a message came to the ship from Gobmush, who says he's been busy with things of his own but is heading in the same direction.

A few days later, when the ship arrives at Naboo, it is immediately set upon by three Mandalorian gunships, who order the ship to surrender to their lord, "Mandalore the Divider." The Raraza naturally refuses, and a gunfight breaks out, with the Mandalorians blasting the ship with ion cannons as the Raraza makes a run for it against the superior firepower while Ras and Yvegeny blast away in the turrets. The escape is hurt by Marina's accidental overtaxing of the systems while trying to boost the ship's speed, and the ship eventually destroys two of the gunships before being disabled. Yvegeny jury-rigs the ship to function again, leading him and Ras to try to blast the remaining gunship again, but the last ship fries the Raraza's circuits again, and this time, the ship has already entered Naboo's gravity well — so it's landing, one way or another. Yvegeny hurriedly jury-rigs the ship again to provide enough piloting control so the ship can safely descend. The Raraza safely lands in the Naboo wilderness, but the Mandalorian ship follows them down, notes their location, and flies off. The ion damage is severe enough that the ship will need new parts to get airborne again, though most of the mundane systems are still online. With the sensors offline, the crew has no idea where the nearest settlement is, leaving them trapped in the wilderness on an unfamiliar planet with Mandalorians on their tail.

July 21 recap

•Kelif moves around Coruscant with impunity.

•Ras makes a difference with the Padawan class at the Jedi Temple.

•Kelif and Ras do some research on Iego and Naboo.

While at the Jedi Temple (set during Kazbich's trial), Ras has Kelif's Mandalorian armor painted up by Jedi Master Muz, the Duros artisan, so that it looks like it's been shot at. Now Kelif can claim that he stole the armor off a Mandalorian he killed, attracting less attention.

Ras performs some meditations in hopes of getting a better grip on the location of Iego on behalf of Marina, while Kelif practices live fire exercises with the young Padawans; Kelif has some reservations about being a Mandalorian being allowed to shoot at Jedi children, but Ras reminds him to set his weapon for stun, and he's there on Ras' good graces, plus no one knows he's actually a Mandalorian. Ras has a vision of Iego — a planet surrounded by many moons and the wreckage of many starships. She gains a vague sense of where Iego is in the Outer Rim, in which she gets a sense of which 1/16th of the Rim it's in (which still encompasses thousands of stars and planets).

The two reunited in the Jedi Archives to perform some research. Jedi Archivist Kalor, an elderly Arkanian, was able to provide a host of information about Naboo — the records of its recent colonization, that the Republic settlers found Mandalorian ruins on the planet (and the hypothesis that the Gungans repelled the Mandalorians, given that the Mandalorians didn't wipe them out), the name of its lieutenant governor (Anet Ramis, from the Core planet Nubia) — but information on Iego is hard to come by. Master Kalor eventually comes upon a scholarly thesis written that tries to collect spacers' tales about Iego and try to figure out consistent facts about it. It discusses the Angels (beautiful creatures who lives on the moons) and Demons (gold-skinned creatures living on Iego itself) and the fact that Iego is reported to not rotate like normal planets.

While walking around the Temple, Ras and Kelif overhear an argument near the entrance between the massive Whiphid Gate Keeper, K'Chuk, and two teen Padawans, a human named Quaar and a Cerean named Dal. They are impatient with their training and want to gain access to their full lightsabers right now, like the Sith do. They are intent on leaving the slow, stodgy Jedi Order. Rather than try to browbeat them into submission, Ras convinces them to agree to a training exercise with her; if they can strike her, she'll let them go without a question, but if not, they stay. She even assembles the entire class of younglings to watch, with an amused Muz and Neyeria watching.

Quaar and Dal get training lightsabers, and Quaar immediately charges Ras — prompting her to telekinetically hurl him backwards. Dal is far more cautious after that show of power, and tries to use the Force to mind-trick her into surrendering, only to fall victim to Ras' mind tricks. Ras explains that a lightsaber is useless without Force ability and the wisdom to use them. One student says that many Jedi have left the Order to join the Sith, who have ships, riches, and power; what do the Jedi have that will help them win the war? The answer is that the Sith destroy themselves, Ras and Muz making the analogy of a wire that runs too much energy and burns itself out. While the Sith are powerful now, the Jedi will outlast them and the Sith will destroy themselves. With that, Ras concludes her lesson, and the Padawans fall back into line. Muz and Neyeria are impressed.

Rebellion Era Campaign Guide

Chapter 1 begins with an analysis of how to play a Rebel Alliance cell, with each PC taking on a role like Command, Intelligence, Medical Officer, etc. — not anything that affects gameplay, but just defined military roles to get everybody in the spirit of it. It's pretty in-depth, even going so far as to say how each class might function in each role. The book is off to an impressive start.

There are no species in the book; the book dives right into the new Background system. Backgrounds are just like they are in D&D — based on your background, you pick up an extra class skill you wouldn't otherwise, and you gain some other bonus as well. The book recommends using them instead of Destinies in more "realistic" campaigns where big, epic moments aren't as common. It also says you can use both in a campaign, though characters should have either a Destiny or a Background; a Destiny is focused on the future, where a Background is focused on the past.

There are three types of Backgrounds, each of which works different. There are Events, which are things that happened in your past that affect who you are now: Bankrupt, Conspiracy, Crippled, Disgraced, Enslaved, Exiled, Imprisoned, Marooned, Orphaned, Scarred, and Widowed. There are also Occupations: Academic, Celebrity, Criminal, Executive, Labor, Law Enforcement, Medical, Military, Pilot, Politics, and Technology. Last are Planet of Origin, which only work if your species isn't typically from that planet (a Gungan from Naboo wouldn't gain any special bonuses, for example) or if you're a species that doesn't have a defined homeworld (such as Human or Ryn). The planets of origin are Alderaan, Bakura, Bespin, Bothawui, Cerea, Corellia, Coruscant, Dorin, Duro, Fondor, Gamorr, Iridonia, Ithor, Kashyyyk, Mon Calamari, Naboo, Nar Shaddaa, Rodia, Ryloth, Socorro, Sullust, Taris, Tatooine, and Trandosha. The book also contains simple rules for creating your own planet of origin.

Next come the talents. The Jedi gets some good talents, such as Guiding Strikes, which gives your allies bonuses to melee attacks against targets you damage, and Recall, which lets you regain 2 Force powers when you spend a Force Point instead of just 1. The Noble gets an interesting new tree: the Gambling Leader, which focuses on giving you big bonuses when you risk your neck. For example, Face the Foe gives you a +1 bonus on attack rolls against targets you don't have cover from, and Assault Gambit lets an ally and enemy make immediate Initiative opposed rolls, the winner getting to make a free attack against the loser. It seems like these are some good abilities to give Nobles an excuse to risk their puny hit points in combat.

The Scoundrel gets the Recklessness talent tree, which let you risk your own neck for big bonuses, similar to the Gambling Leader. Hit the Deck gives your allies Evasion against your area attacks, for example, and Risk for Reward lets you make (once per turn) an extra attack every time you get damaged by an attack of opportunity. These talents go pretty far in getting you to do things you wouldn't ordinarily do in combat.

The Scout's Unpredictable talent tree lets you constantly run around the battlefield, avoid attacks, and strike back out of turn when you're hit by attacks. While I'm not always impressed by some of the talent trees the Scout gets — the Legacy Era one comes to mind — this one seems unique and flavorful.

The Soldier gets the Ambusher talent tree, which keys off of the surprise round, and in fact makes the first round always the surprise round for you (so you can use all kinds of talents and stuff that require surprise). You also get to pick a "prime target" to take out, and gather all kinds of bonuses against them. Again, interesting, flavorful stuff that seems like it would be fun and different to play.

And now the feats, of which there are some serious standouts. Assured Attack lets you reroll the lowest damage die on any attack you make, making it one of the nicest feats I've ever seen. Vehicular Surge lets you take a second wind for vehicles you pilot. And there are four feats keyed off of second winds that let you do all kinds of new things with them, like take them as a free action, or take them even when you're not at half hit points.

The book also introduces Species Feats; every species from the Core Rulebook gets 3 feats, except Humans. They're not all mind-blowing, but they're all pretty flavorful and fun. The Duros ones in particular would make Rek Luk a flying machine. I'll just point out those that are relevant to our party members: Gamorreans get Increased Resistance (+2 Fortitude for one round when an opponent's attack or skill check targets it and fails), Primitive Warrior (+1 die of damage with simple weapons), and Quick Comeback (once per round, you can move up the condition track with only a single swift action the round after you get knocked down the track). Gungans get Gungan Weapon Master (whenever you spend a Force Point while attacking with an atlatl or cesta, increase the die type by one step, d6 to d8), Perfect Swimmer (whenever you reroll a Swim check, you take the best of the two rolls, not just the second one), and Warrior Heritage (+2 to Will while wielding an atlatl or cesta). The book closes out with a new Force tradition, the Kilian Rangers, who first appeared in the Revised Core version of the Rebellion Era Sourcebook.

The ace pilot and officer get new talent trees that are really awesome. The ace pilot gets the Wingman tree, which gives big bonuses for aiding allies and staying in formation with your squadron. More impressive is the Officer's Rebel Recruiter tree, which lets you convert a dying enemy to your cause for the rest of combat. It's a really cool mechanic that I think would be fun to try out for an Officer character. There are two new prestige classes: the Improviser and the Pathfinder. The Improviser is all about using improvisation to do stand-up comedy shows that distract your enemies... no, it's actually about getting and using gear. It's open to a wide variety of classes — Scoundrel, Soldier and Noble all qualify — and it specializes in acquiring black market gear or creating your own out of whatever's laying around. The Pathfinder is for Scouts, and its big mechanic is creating a "Safe Zone" aura that is beneficial for your allies but harmful for your enemies. It also has the ability to create cover out of thin air.

Next comes Equipment & Droids. There's a few standouts here — the Concussion Grenade, the Flechette Launcher, the Gas Grenade — but no must-haves. The droids detailed are the FX-7 medical droid, R4-series agromech droid, WED Treadwell repair droid, LOM-series protocol droid, BT-16 perimeter security droid, and RHTC-560 Hunter Trainer, as well as a sidebar about the B'omarr Monks.

Vehicles and Starships shows a lot of things that I, frankly, don't recognize (as any really identifiable Rebellion-era stuff has already shown up in the core book or Starships of the galaxy). But it does have cloud cars and racing swoops, as well as a nice assortment of starfighters and transports.

Rebellion Era Campaigns talks about how to play as the Rebellion or the Empire and points out the similarities between their playing styles (military command structure, etc.). It has a lot of campaign ideas and themes that can be put to good use. Super-useful is the table News of the Worlds, which details how much you know about the Empire and how much you believe its propaganda by Knowledge (galactic lore) and Knowledge (social sciences) rolls. More educated characters who know where to look will see past the lies, which is kind of cool.

The next chapter is The Rebel Alliance, which begins with a history of the Rebellion dating back through The Force Unleashed. It spells out the command structure of the Rebels and details how these hierarchies might be used in a campaign. It's been done before in Clone Wars and Legacy Era, and it's always nice to see this kind of organizational information to help teach more about how the group functions. Aside from some generic NPCs, the chapter also stats out Admiral Ackbar (though how they didn't give him the It's A Trap! talent from Starships is beyond me), Wedge Antilles, Tycho Celchu, Airen Cracken, Nera Dantels, Biggs Darklighter, Wes Janson, Derek "Hobbie" Klivian, Nien Nunb, Carlist Rieekan, Deena Shan, Wicket, and Winter. The chapter also comes complete with a section on Cracken's Tactics, explaining how to do such things as sabotage a shield generator, jury-rig a power-pack bomb, and overload vehicle weapons. It's some fun stuff. The chapter closes with some new weapon emplacements (now you, too, can have your very own Planet Defender Ion Cannon to take out Star Destroyers in orbit), combat vehicles, and starships.

Next chapter is The Empire. After the organizational stuff, we get into NPCs: the Blackhole stormtrooper, novatroopers (with badass armor), seatroopers, spacetroopers, storm commandos, and swamptroopers. The NPCs detailed are Grand Moff Trachta and Janek Sunber, both from the Empire comic book series. The chapter also details some Imperial equipment and armor, as well as Imperial Espionage Droids, and Phases I, II and III of the Dark Trooper droids from the Dark Forces video game. The chapter ends with all manner of vehicles and starships, including the funny TIE Mauler tracked vehicle and lots of different variations of TIE Fighters.

Fringe Factions launches by statting out some of the neglected bounty hunters: 4-LOM, IG-88 and Dengar. Some of Black Sun's starships are then statted out and illustrated. Lobot and the Cloud City guards are then shown, as well as a sidebar for Lobot's BioTech Borg Construct Aj-6, for computer users going for that Jean-Luc Picard look. Plenty of room is given to Jabba the Hutt, both statting out him and Bib Fortuna and explaining how to incorporate characters who would work for Jabba's organization. A few Zann Consortium vehicles are statted out from Empire At War, and then some Corporate Sector forces. The book ends with the Cracian Thumper creature from way back in the original Star Wars RPG, followed by an index and CL table.

All in all, it fills in a lot of the blanks left by the Core Rulebook. It's a bit haphazard at times, and suffers a bit from the fact that all the really iconic stuff has already appeared in other books, but overall, between the campaign advice, the Background system, and the Species Feats, I'd call it a winner.