World Famous Comics: Star Wars: Scum and Villainy: A Star Wars Roleplaying Game Supplement (Star Wars Roleplaying Game)
Star Wars: Scum and Villainy: A Star Wars Roleplaying Game Supplement (Star Wars Roleplaying Game)
By: Wizards RPG Team Publisher: Wizards of the Coast Average Rating: Binding: Hardcover Label: Wizards of the Coast Number of Items: 1 Number of Pages: 224 Publication Date: November 18, 2008 Release Date: November 18, 2008
Product Description: New options for scoundrel characters from the Star Wars Roleplaying Game.
Learn what it takes to be a smuggler, or how to build up a criminal empire that can rival the Hutt clans. Take your ship on the dangerous Kessel run, or chase down a bounty and claim your reward. Watch out for the long arm of Imperial law, though, or you may find yourself on a one-way trip to the spice mines.
This book provides extensive information on life on the fringe in the Star Wars universe. More than just information for players, this book gives Gamemasters a wide variety of information on bounty hunters, crime syndicates, smugglers, pirates, and criminals of all stripes throughout the Star Wars setting. Covering everything from vile Hutt gangsters to smooth-talking con artists, Scum and Villainy gives both players and Gamemasters everything they need to fit right in at Mos Eisley spaceport.
Scum and Villainy brings the Saga Edition rules to the fringes of society, introducing new rules and information on smugglers, bounty hunters, crime lords, and anyone else that walks outside the law.
Old School Meets New School Scum and Villainy is probably Wizards of the Coast's most creative, fluffy book in its Star Wars line ever. Beyond the tons and tons of new character options and the new (exhaustive) rules for upgrading and modifying equipment, this book contains great information about the Star Wars universe - specifically the seedier side of Star Wars.
This was the side of Star Wars most often represented in West End Game's line of Star Wars RPG books in the 80s and 90s, and now WotC has picked up where they left off almost 10 years ago, forgoing the Jedi and the Force, and presenting the kind of lives Han Solo, Lando Calrissian and Boba Fett lived.
Like every other book in the line, this book contains a little bit of everything (except for anything dealing with the Force). You get new species, starships (and 2 new deckplans), weapons & equipment, etc... But what you also get is an entire chapter based around Point Nadir, an entirely new little slice of Star Wars never before written about. And after that chapter, you get page after page of fleshed-out adventures (something not usually seen in WotC's Star Wars line).
Rounding everything out are tons of "hidden" little nuggets of Star Wars gaming goodness: extensive docking bay generation tables, actual rules for nearly every kind of underworld job there is, and even how to navigate the Kessel Run. You get a few pages on exactly what happens if the heroes get arrested, from the arrest itself all the way through to the trail - with rules for everything along the way. I so badly want to run a courtroom scene with my heroes on trial now.
This review may seem little scattershot, but then again, so is this book. This is one of those rare few RPG books you can read from cover to cover, and yet, there is so much information on so many things, so many aspects of the Star Wars universe, that it's hard to pin the book down. But needless to say, this is a 5-star book all the way, and like pretty much every other book released for this line thus far, it's practically required reading.
You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy. The Star Wars RPG team is really on a roll here. Another great book though it's far more focused than recent supplements. This is the perfect book if you're running a campaign with a smuggler, pirate, crime lord, bounty hunter, or any type of unsavory character we've seen in the Star Wars Universe.
That having been said there's almost nothing for Jedi here (they receive only one talent) so if you're playing a Jedi campaign and pressed for money, get the Knights of The Old Republic guide which came out in August. A breakdown of the book:
Chapter I: Character Options:
Here we get stats for the new species Blood Carver, Clawdite, Falleen, Gand, Jawa, Ryn, Toydarian, and Ubese. Honestly, these races are wonderful and really thought out. I wasn't the biggest fan of the KoTOR races, which i felt were too powerful, but these are just great.
All the classes get new talents. There's a whole new Noble talent tree called Disgrace, and previous trees receive major additions; most notably the Scoundrel's Fortune, Misfortune and Spacer trees, the Scout's Fringer tree, and the Soldier's Brawler tree. There's also new high tier talents that promote staying in a base class for an extended time.
New feats include Burst of Speed, Close Combat Escape, Collateral Damage, Cornered, Deadly Sniper, Deceptive Drop, Desperate Gambit, Duck and Cover, Fleet-footed, Friends in Low Places, Hasty Modifications, Hideous Visage, Impersonate, Impetuous Move, Impulsive Fight, Knife Trick, Lightning Draw, Metamorph, Opportunistic Retreat, Resurgence, Signature Device, Slippery Maneuver, Staggering Attack, Stay Up, Superior Tech, Tactical Advantage, and Wicked Strike.
Prestige classes receive lots of love. Ace Pilot gets the very Han Solo-ish Blockade Runner tree, Bounty Hunter gets some new talents and a new tree (Gand Findsman), Crime Lord is HUGELY expanded on (14 new talents!). Gunslinger gets a new talent and a new Pistoleer tree, based around dual wielding pistols. New prestige classes include Assassin, Charlatan (think Lando Calrissian), and Outlaw. Also, The Force Unleashed's Master Privateer class is updated here, with a new write-up and a new Piracy tree.
Chapter II: Outlaw Tech
This is a huge chapter on upgrading weapons and armor using a new slot based system. There's also a nice section on installing illegal upgrades to ships as well as some brand new starships (some with deckplans).
Chapter III: Fringe Campaigns
This chapter has some really great information on running a campaign set in the seedy parts of the galaxy. It also has an awesome table that helps build jobs for characters and calculates appropriate XP and Credit rewards. There's information on bounty hunting and running famous smuggling runs (The Kessel Run!) as well as information on the justice system and penalties for breaking the law.
Chapter IV: Fringe Elements
This part lists some famous fringe characters (Tyber Zann, Xizor, Zam Wessell, Zuckuss, etc.) as well as many archetypes. It also goes on to list some famous criminal organizations (lots of fluff here)and relevant starships.
Chapter V: Port Nadir
This entire chapter is dedicated to fleshing out Point Nadir, which is a fully realized shadowport that can be inserted into any campaign. I haven't gotten much into it, but it seems extraordinarily detailed.
Chapter VI: Mini-Adventures
Pretty self-explanatory. Rodney Thompson (the game's designer) said that in many campaigns a character will start off as a bounty hunter or a smuggler but will soon start working for a larger organization as the main focus of the story comes into play. So characters that call themselves "smugglers" don't very often do smuggling by a certain point in the game. He put these adventures in here to keep characters doing what they want to do in between the main story arc. 8 mini-adventures are here, all of varying CLs and themes.
Chapter VII: The Fell Star
An entire fringe adventure. I haven't played it yet but as soon as I do, I'll update it here.
That just about wraps us up. So like I said, if you're not a Jedi you should definitely consider purchasing this book. It has tons of invaluable information.
Anything Goes Trivia
Megaton Man
Trevor
