Dark Force Rising Sourcebook

Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game (D6)

by Bill Slavicsek, Timothy Zahn

A guide to volume 2 of Timothy Zahn's three-book cycle. This book includes complete information and game statistics on all of the characters, aliens, vehicles, Droids, planets, and starships from this gripping adventure.

Genres: Star Wars, Role Playing Games, Science Fiction, Gaming, Space Opera

142 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1992

About the author

Bill Slavicsek's gaming life was forever changed when he discovered Dungeons & Dragons in 1976. He became a gaming professional in 1986 when he was hired by West End Games as an editor. He quickly added developer, designer, and creative manager to his resume, and his work helped shape the Paranoia, Ghostbusters, Star Wars, and Torg roleplaying games. He even found some time during that period to do freelance work for D&D 1st Edition. In 1993, Bill joined the staff of TSR, Inc. as a designer/editor. He worked on a bunch of 2nd Edition material, including products for Core D&D, Dark Sun, Ravenloft, and Planescape. In 1997, he was part of the TSR crowd that moved to Seattle to join Wizards of the Coast, and in that year he was promoted to R&D Director for D&D. In that position, Bill oversaw the creation of both the 3rd Edition and 4th Edition of the D&D Roleplaying Game. He was one of the driving forces behind the D&D Insider project, and he continues to oversee and lead the creative strategy and effort for Dungeons & Dragons.

Reviews

[Max · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think my feelings on this are pretty similar to how I felt about the Heir to the Empire Sourcebook. It's neat to see an early resource for Star Wars fans and see what sort of ideas and concepts pop up that don't really fit into the canon that was established further into Legends and/or when the prequels started popping up. Han Solo used to be a swoop racer and there's the classic confusion over what exactly "forest moon of Endor" is meant to mean. I was amused to see that the bios of existing characters were considered to be shortened, since they usually took up a page or more. This is also definitely a book you'd want to read after reading the novel, since there's plenty of spoilers of what happens during the book.

And while I did mention last time I'm unlikely to be playing this game any time soon, I did actually have a lot of fun in the alien species chapter because there are some that seem like they'd be fun to play. There's space dragons (with a warning not to let players use them) and guys with strong electromagnetic senses and a species of humanoid whales who get addicted to gambling. It feels reminiscent of the sense of wonder in the original cantina scene, seeing all these wacky concepts hanging out together.

I will also say I enjoy the visuals in this book. There are some nice diagrams of locations and vehicles. The info on the AT-AT's interior isn't up to the standard of the cross section books I had as a kid, but it's kinda more useful for gaming and fanfic purposes. And the black and white art is mostly good and supplements the text quite well. I mean, okay, there's a picture or two where Han and Luke look rather goofy, and it's interesting to see how Mara Jade is drawn here before she got official art on the cover of The Last Command.

Overall I'm having a fun time reading this sourcebooks alongside my reread of the Thrawn trilogy. I don't think I've been truly missing anything by never having read these sourcebooks before, but it's a fun way to expand my enjoyment of this era of Star Wars.