Starships of the Galaxy (Star Wars Roleplaying Game)

Unfortunately, Starships of the Galaxy stops delivering about right there. Not only is it softcover, a fact that I despise, but all of the content within is in black and white. At least the old Alien Anthology, a book cut in the same mold which I also disliked, was full-color. The interior artwork is composed mostly of rough sketches showing several ships squashed together in the same frame, leaving the reader to determine which vessel is which. No offense to the artist, Matt Hatton, but he has really done much better work elsewhere. There are a few new feats and a few new prestige classes, but none of them really stand out as anything special. It's also important to note that this book uses the older rules from the Original Core Rulebook, not the Revised Rulebook. If that doesn't turn you off even further, then there is a PDF rule update for the prestige classes on the Wizards of the Coast website, in the Star Wars RPG section archive.

In short, unless you are really dying to get at this book, I'd suggest spending your money elsewhere. While there was a point two years ago where this book might have been considered merely adequate, it was never much better than mediocre, and has now fallen far into obsolescence. Of course, that is merely my opinion. In the meantime, we can only hope that at some point in the future we see an improved, revised version of this book that succeeds in taking advantage of the topic's potential.


A very useful tool. Though out of date now...   May 6, 2003
 13 out of 22 found this review helpful

It is out of date. The Starships of the Galaxy worked with the original rules for Star Wars RPG d20. Since the revised rule book came out, many of the things in this book are no longer valid, just as the range increment or even the Starship record sheet. But is it still worth it? well that's for you to decide.

I write many different types of campaigns, and one of the types i write cater towards those people who put a lot of points in Pilot and Astrogate skills, as well as those who ventured into the Ace Pilot or Jedi Ace prestige classes. With this book i have managed to come up with so many varieties of craft and made so much available to my heroes. This book gives you guidelines for creating small craft (starfighters and transports) capital class (Star Destroyers, Frigates) and space stations (Executor, Hosk). It comes in very handy when for a reference on how to modify a craft. I use it a lot when writing these types of campaigns to try and provide a craft for the heroes on a budget. It list out many things about creation of starcraft that i wouldn't be able to write these modules without it.

It lacks in many departments as well, partly due to the outdated rules it was based off of. First of all, the combat system for space combat and airspeeder combat has changed dramatically, from abstract to a grid. So range increment is no longer needed and now the Speed needs to signify how many squares the ship can move. Since Ramming is the fastest Ion engine in this book, you're left wondering why a Ramming-class ion engine in the X-wing only moves 10 squares while the Ramming-class ion engine in the Millennium Falcon moves 12 squares. (RCR p 277 & 230). There is no clarification for this. As well many craft have a different atmospheric speed, this book doesn't even mention that. Another smaller problem are the prestige clases, they're outdated and you have to get the official Errata from WoTC.

Final verdict? I use it a lot when writing. I use it for the creation purposes of starships, capital to small, and even installations. I've already created my own starship record sheet. See if you can find this book for a cheaper price... becuase right now it really isn't worth what many places are asking for it...


Not Worth the $... i paid for it.   February 6, 2003
 4 out of 15 found this review helpful

Where to Begin...
This book is not what you want. Granted, this book has About 150 or so Spaceships described, With Basically full stats and a short biography for each, There are very few inaccurate pictures of Each. Each picture may contain up to 7 ships, with merely a sidebar to say what ships are included in the picture.
While i don't actively play The Star Wars RPG, I am interested in simply learning the rules so that it may be adapted to D&D, or some other RPG World. This is Not what i expected. I expected More ships to be explained, More pictures, and better descriptions. If your looking for an indepth book thats worth the time to invest money in, Look somewhere else.


Useful Reference   January 10, 2003
 5 out of 9 found this review helpful

This could have stood to feature more starships, but it is useful for a lot of GM NPC ships and the like. The new combat system is confusing, but my RPG group ignores it anyway, and uses the original system from the Core Rulebook.

This features many lesser known vessels, including the recently-added Defender Star Destroyers, and offers some help for customizing and modifying vessels. For those who can't find the YT-1300, you are just too lazy to actually read the Core Rulebook. The YT-2400 is nice to see, but others like the older Clone Wars vessels, YT-2000 and YV-666 would have been nice to see. Overall, if you just want to yank a lesser seen vessel into an RPG, this is helpful.


Better than the hype, worth your while for a Space campaign   July 23, 2002
 14 out of 20 found this review helpful

Campaigns set on one planet are fine, but what if you want to step offworld, or duke it out with Tie Fighters? You could hop into a Corellian YT-1300 or an X-Wing Fighter for the Nth time, but what if you want some spice?

Starships of the Galaxy gives you all sorts of options. That's what most of this book is about. There are a few new feats, the mandatory prestige classes, etc., but most of SotG is dedicated to building starships and giving stats to Established ships of the Star Wars Universe.

SotG is an excellent reference book, and great for building your own ships. The rules for modifications are scant, but they are there and can be worked with.

The new space combat rules are about 50/50--They can help as much as they hurt. It's nice to have the options, though, and they are strictly at the GM's discretion.

This is a must-have for any Star Wars D20 GM/Gamer who wants to keep it fresh or build their own ship for gaming purposes.