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SpikeFightwicky
2010-03-16, 12:42 PM
I was wondering if other people who have some decent experience with SW: Saga Edition could give their thoughts on the content quality of the various SW: Saga edition sourcebooks. I have some of the books, but not all, and want to pick the set up before WotC looses the license, but if the book is a fiasco, I won't worry. Also, are there any that are so good that it's worth it for anyone to pick up (to suggest to some of my friends that are interested?). As far as I know, these are all the sourcebooks that were released (not counting SW Tiles and the GM screen). I've heard that the KotOR book was sub par, so I'll start with that (and update the list as necessary).

Ratings from one star to five stars:

Starships of the Galaxy - ****½ (Excellent additional rules and feats, ship related force powers. However, as its name suggests, the contents are narrowly focused on space and starships, so not worth it if you mostly concentrate on non-space combat)

Threats of the Galaxy - **½ (Monster manual, so it has some useable content, but the stat blocs leave much to be desired)

Knights of the Old Republic Campaign Guide - **** (Good content. New additions to most facets of the game, and Mandalorians)

Force Unleashed Campaign Guide - ***½ (New mechanics and force powers a bit of a let down, organization rules interesting. Very useful if there's a droid PC in the party for the droid PrC)

Scum and Villainy - **** (Class and prestige class options are underwhelming, but additional content makes up for it. Mainly of use for scoundrel and techie type characters)

The Clone Wars Campaign Guide - ***½ (Good content, though lacking in mass space combat rules)

Legacy Era Campaign Guide - ***½ (Good content, geared towards a popular era to begin campaigns in)

Jedi Academy Training Manual - ***½ (Good content, but narrowly focused towards force users and force centric campaigns. Still more satisfying than the Jedi Academy trilogy :smallwink:)

Rebellion Era Campaign Guide - ****½ (Solid content. Something new for everyone, and lots of new equipment and ships)

Galaxy At War - **** (Good content. Geared towards war campaigns)

Scavenger's Guide to Droids - ***½ (Like Starships of the Galaxy, but the content reflects droids instead starships. Very good content in a droid heavy campaign, or if the players are or use droids)

Galaxy of Intrigue - ***½ (Good content. Introduces skill challenges, skill talents and group talents)

Grynning
2010-03-16, 01:29 PM
Starships of the Galaxy
Threats of the Galaxy
Knights of the Old Republic Campaign Guide (Not worth it?)
Force Unleashed Campaign Guide
Scum and Villainy
The Clone Wars Campaign Guide
Legacy Era Campaign Guide
Jedi Academy Training Manual
Rebellion Era Campaign Guide
Galaxy At War
Scavenger's Guide to Droids
Galaxy of Intrigue

The ones I have or have read extensively, in brief:

Starships of the Galaxy - Great book, almost a must-have since many later books reference its rules. Unfortunately, it's out of print, and expensive if you can find it.

Knights of the Old Republic Campaign Guide - I actually like this book. Has some cool equipment and character options, although the discrepancy in tech level with stuff that's supposedly 4000 years newer is just as big as in the video games. Also out of print.

Scum and Villainy - Another good one for techie characters. The class and prestige class options are kind of underwhelming, but the equipment and ship mods are pure gold. Most of the book is actually mini-adventures, though. YMMV.

Jedi Academy Training Manual - Decent, adds a ton of options for Jedi, not much for anyone else. Only needed if you're running a force-user centric campaign.

Rebellion Era Campaign Guide - Has some good options for everyone, adds a lot of new ships and gear. A solid purchase.

The J Pizzel
2010-03-16, 03:57 PM
First off, the game is amazing. Second off, almost all the books add talents and feats that are worth looking into. Some offer completely new things like spaceship maneuvers and such. You can't go wrong with almost any of the books. Here's what I own:

Clone Wars - Good. Really good for military based stuff.
Scum and Villiany - Very good. Obviously for scout and scoundrel stuff. I think this one has all the good tech stuff too.
Starships - Very good. Simply awesome.
Threats of the Galaxy - Average. Pretty much a monster manual.
KotoR - Good. Lots of stuff added in this one that people were waiting on. Mandalorians anyone?
Force Unleashed - Just below average. We really don't use much from it. The unleashed mechanic blows and the new force powers aren't that great.
Galaxy of Intrigue - Good. Introduces skill challenges and skill talents. As well as group talents.
Galaxy at War - Very good. Obviously good for war stuff, like Clone Wars.

All I got for ya.

The Big Dice
2010-03-16, 04:39 PM
These are the books I have for SWSE and more or less what I think of them.

Clone Wars: Not bad. The mass combat stuff was fun, but it could have done with being expanded for space battles as well as ground ones.

Legacy Era: Again, some interesting stuff there. Best if you want to use it as a jumping off point, as that's the setting that allows the most freedom of story.

Jedi Academy:Some seriously powerful stuff here that doesn't really fit with my view of the Force. But there's some hidden gems too.

KotOR: There's lots of good stuff here. Pretty much if it's in the video games, it's in here. And Mandalorians, too. And Sith Moooks!

Force Unleashed: Unleashed mechanics aside, this book has a lot of good stuff. Organisations alone make it worth getting.

Scum and Villainy: Stripped down equipment customisation rules, tons of mini adventures and a few other interesting bits and pieces. Not essential, but good for the wannabe Han Solo.

Threats of the Galaxy: Monster Manual with some questionable stat blocks. In fact, questionable stat blocks are endemic to SWSE sourcebooks, now I think of it.

Ships of the Galaxy: Not as good as it's made out to be. Extensive starship customisation rules, but it's basically a Monster Manual of big ships.

Grynning
2010-03-16, 05:40 PM
Ships of the Galaxy: Not as good as it's made out to be. Extensive starship customisation rules, but it's basically a Monster Manual of big ships.

*begin respectful disagreement*
Starships is good not because of all the ship stats, but because of three things it adds in the beginning in the book: The tech specialist feat and modifications, starship maneuvers (basically force powers but for pilots; uses piloting checks to do super neat stuff with your ship), and tactical fire rules for capital ships. The tech specialist feat and modification rules are NOT reprinted in Scum and Villainy or any other book, and are needed to use all the neat stuff out of Scum and Villainy and the Rebellion Era guide. The ship maneuvers and tactical fire are damn near essential if you want to run a interesting space combats and have a space-flight focused game.
*end*

SpikeFightwicky
2010-03-18, 06:43 AM
Awesome! Thanks for the feedback. Sorry for the late reply. I've updated my post with feedback information.

I started up a SW:Saga game about a year ago, but after 2 sessions (2 very fun sessions, I might add), the group sort of disolved (some players had to move). Hopefully I'll be able to start something up again. I like the '3.75' rules it has.

Also, do you guys houserule the Skill Focus: Use the Force feat? I've read that it's the only thing (or rather, the biggest of little things) that can cause issues.

Kiero
2010-03-18, 08:20 AM
Knights of the Old Republic Campaign Guide - I actually like this book. Has some cool equipment and character options, although the discrepancy in tech level with stuff that's supposedly 4000 years newer is just as big as in the video games. Also out of print.


The Republic is pretty stagnant, technologically, so I see no problem with this.

qcontinuum
2010-03-18, 08:46 AM
Scavenger's Guide to Droids is a lot like Starships (or maybe Jedi Academy)... if you're running a Droid-heavy campaign or if you've got a Droid PC it's invaluable but otherwise its not necessary. It's certainly a nice book to have, and I'd probably put it above one of the non-relevant Campaign Guides or Threats of the Galaxy. I'd say it's about 3.5-4 stars.

Incidentally, in a game with a Droid PC I'd bump the Force Unleashed CG at least 1/2 star, if only for the Independent Droid prestige class.