The latest purchase from my FLGS, pt.8

With the end of the Star Wars Saga Ed. coming soon, I actually have the opportunity to own the entire game, every hardcover published in the product line. To that end, I picked up Galaxy of Intrigue, the penultimate sourcebook in the SWSE series. I knew before I bought it that it would be one of, if not the weakest product so far and in that regard, my expectations were realized. However, it does have just enough crunch, combined with my inherent collector's obsessive-compulsiveness, to compel me to buy it. The main selling point is updated stats for a number of fairly important alien races, such as the Bith, the Defel, the Gotal and the Neimoidian. Although these races had been described in past releases, they had not been given the full treatment. No doubt, the SWSE braintrust had been saving them up for just this reason.

There are some new feats and talents, as well as equipment and droids, but Galaxy of Intrigue is, without a doubt, the fluffiest book so far, knocking The Rebellion Era Sourcebook off that pedestal. Still, some the fluffy bits, like the numerous mini-adventures, are not completely devoid of merit. A seasoned group of SWSE players probably won't find much that's indispensible in Galaxy of Intrigue, but new players and GMs, especially those with an interest in "cloak-and-dagger" gameplay will find a lot of useful material.

-Rognar-

Further note: With only The Unknown Regions remaining to be released, a lot of the "Expanded Universe" stuff will not get covered in SWSE. One notable omission is the Yuuzhan Vong. Although there have been fragments of info about this race scattered through several books, it has never gotten a sufficiently detailed description to create a campaign centered on the Yuuzhan Vong invasion. My suspicion, however, is that few tears will be shed by diehard Star Wars fans.