Dathomir

Sriluur

Vorzyd V

Iego

The Star Wars galaxy encompasses millions of worlds, so for ease of organization and navigation, the spiral-shaped body is divided into several enormous regions. The Core, the heart of the galaxy, is renowned for being the center of government and culture. In contrast are the Outer Rim Territories, the hazy perimeter fringe of the galaxy.

Those in the Core sometimes look down their nose at the Outer Rim, but classifying the entire region as the galactic boonies is too limiting a generalization. This outlying frontier isn't just unruly desert planets and critter-filled jungles. The worlds of the Outer Rim are as varied and fascinating as any other sector -- perhaps more so, for they all share an air of danger; by being so far away from the orderly Core, anything can happen.

For players of the Star Wars Roleplaying Game looking for new territories to explore, Wizards of the Coast presents Geonosis and the Outer Rim Worlds. The full color 160-page hardcover sourcebook features detailed descriptions of over 25 worlds from the Outer Rim, written by Star Wars experts Craig R. Carey, Jason Fry, Jeff Quick and Daniel Wallace. Christopher Perkins, Star Wars Creative Director at Wizards of the Coast, served as Design Manager on the book, and divvied up a number of planets equally among the authors. He also let each author pick either a new world or a preexisting Outer Rim planet to add to the mix.

In the Star Wars Roleplaying Game, players gather together to tell an original story set in the Star Wars universe. They take on the role of a specific character, which they can create from scratch, and imagine his actions as he goes through the paces of the story. There's no board or set path to follow -- the player has total control to make any decision, but the outcome of those decisions are determined by rolling dice and checking the rules.

One player acts as the gamemaster (or GM), and it's her job to not only come up with the story, but to describe the setting and play the supporting cast. This new sourcebook provides dozens of ready-to-play worlds, so that the gamemaster doesn't have to strain with the heavy lifting involved in world creation.

For those Star Wars fans who have never rolled a Saving Throw or calculated Hit Points, this book is a wealth of Star Wars lore, detailing planets from the films, comics, novels and video games, and is full of some never-before-revealed information. Each planet has a summary of orbital and climate data, a description of its environment and inhabitants, and some entries have specific locales, flora and/or fauna that are worth noting. For gamemasters, there are also story tips, adventure ideas and new characters available.

Geonosis gets the star treatment in the book, having the most number of pages dedicated to its entry. Familiar locations from Episode II -- such as the Stalagsin Hive, the execution arena and the droid factory -- are explored, along with new areas like the E'Y'Akh Desert and the Ebon Sea. These details, extrapolated from what's seen in film and what's already in print, serve to make Geonosis a real, believable environment.

"When writing Geonosis I noticed that some of its geologic features showed signs of water erosion," says Daniel Wallace. "Inspired by a documentary about the Sahara's rainy season, I wrote a passage explaining how Geonosis periodically combines torrential rains with bubbling underground aquifers to create a Biblical deluge that completely submerges the landscape. Environmentally speaking, is this scenario likely? Probably not. But I believe that in Star Wars, the dial always goes up to eleven."

Other planets from the movies featured in the book include the gas giant Bespin, the forest moon of Endor, the storm shrouded world of Kamino, and the jungle moon of Yavin 4.

"Yavin was the biggest challenge, and the most rewarding," says Jason Fry, who cobbled together many disparate sources to write the definitive Yavin 4 history. "Yavin's been identified as being located in two different sectors -- one of which also contains Ord Mantell, which is on the other side of the galaxy. The tale of its evacuation has been told at least three times. It was a Sith base and home to some of the richest gemstones in the galaxy, yet wound up forgotten and used as a Rebel base and a Jedi academy. There are all these great stories set there and all this interesting history, yet a lot of parts might not seem to fit. The idea of assembling that into a coherent, satisfying history that someone would enjoy reading scared me a bit. But I think I did it. Well, I hope I did it!"

From the novels come such diverse worlds as Bakura, a planet annexed by the Empire and later attacked by the ghastly Ssi-ruuk aliens; Dathomir, a quarantined world inhabited by Force-wielding witches; Kessel and its infamous spice mines; Ryloth, home of the Twi'leks; Eriadu, one of the most cosmopolitan planets in the region and home of the Tarkin estate; the agrarian world of Garqi; and the watery world of Mon Calamari.

One of the most obscure planets in the book is Roon, which dates back from the mid-1980s. Craig Carey took on the assignment of fleshing out its details and making it a game-able environment. "The world had only been seen in the old 'Droids' cartoons and the spin-off children's books that followed," he says. "Only the diehards have seen either in the last decade. One of the baddies on Roon, an insectoid alien by the name of Gaff, pilots a craft in 'The Frozen Citadel' episode, the design for which the artists obviously took from one of Kenner's old mini-rig toys. Because these sourcebooks require not only entries detailing the planet's topography, history, flora, fauna, etc., but also weapons and technology and the like, I briefly covered the toy in 'in-universe' terms."