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Title: Alien Anthology (Star Wars Roleplaying Game) by Steve Miller, Owen K. C. Stephens ISBN: 0-7869-2663-5 Publisher: Wizards of the Coast Pub. Date: October, 2001 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $26.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.33 (3 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Alien Anthology vs Ultimate Alien Anthology
Comment: I own a copy of this... and i own a copy of the Ultimate Alien Anthology. I can say that despite popular opinion... the smaller Alien Anthology is still something i use quite often. Why?
Alien Anthology has several species that you could use, more than enough for any campaign that i would write. Granted i do like the larger selection the Ultimate Alien Anthology offers, the smaller version has more than enough for me and more than I'll probably ever use. It also has creatures, non playable species that the Ultimate Alien Anthology doesn't have. It also has guidelines on how to create your own creature and descriptions of creature skills and feats. Granted the Ultimate Alien Anthology has 180 species, pretige clases, new skills and feats, it doens't have predators, herd animals, vermin and scavangers.
Don't misunderstand, the Ultimate AA is a very very good resource for any GM, right up there with the Arms and Equipment Guide. The Ultimate AA lists out the species like they do in the book, with personality desriptions, sample names, adventurer types and whether or not Force users exist among the species, which the Alien Anthology doesn't. But if you are running an adventure and need a preditorial cat, the Ultimate Alien anthology will tell you how to hunt one, which speices hunt them, which prestige class to get to tame then, feed them, hunt them, breed them... but won't tell you a thing actually telling you what a preditorial cat is. It has speices ranging from the Space Slug to the Vornskr. And there aren't any repeats either... those mentioned in the RCR are not in the AA, creatures mentioned in the Power of the Jedi, Darkside, NJO or other source books are not in the Alien anthology. So is it still worth getting? Yes. I use it more often than my Ultimate Alien anthology because it is smaller, easier to navigate, easier to read, has more variety (not just playable species) and still a large selection of playable species.
If you are a GM you should own this and the Ultimate Alien Anthology. It maybe a marketing ploy, but it is still a vital piece of my campaign writing.
Rating: 3
Summary: Wait for the Ultimate Alien Anthology
Comment: If I could describe the Alien Anthology in one word, it would be "utilitarian." Granted, there is a whole lot of information here about a wide range of races, most of which are suitable as PCs. There is also a nice section on creatures and creature creation which encompasses about 1/3 of the book (actually, I found this to be the most useful part).
However, I walked away from this book feeling decidedly unimpressed. Perhaps it was the artwork and layout. The book is so neat and "clean" that it's practically sterile, and comes off feeling quite bland and uninspired. You definitely don't see the level of quality that was heaped on similar products such as the Dark Side Sourcebook or the Revised Rulebook.
Furthermore, I was hoping to see much more attention devoted to species-specific feats, equipment, and prestige classes. There just isn't much of that to be found here.
In short, it's my opinion that any potential buyer will be best off waiting for the release of the Ultimate Alien Anthology. The Ultimate book supposedly won't have any creatures, which may still prompt you to buy the original, but it promises to have a much more comprehensive list of races, gear, feats, and prestige classes.
At first I was tempted to rate this book at a 2, but I'm going to give it a 3 because of the excellent creature section and because there actually is a lot of information to be found here. This book is definitely the 1987 Honda Civic of Wizard's Star Wars line- it gets you where you need to go, but it does so with a minimum of style and flair.
Rating: 5
Summary: The Star Wars Monster Manual
Comment: Wizards of the Coast has gotten a lot of bad flak for their take on the Star Wars Roleplaying Game. I, for one, have been very pleased with most of the books so far. Alien Anthology is no exception. This book contains full-color illustrations and information necessary to run many of your favorite Star Wars aliens as characters including Duros, Zabrak and Gand. It also includes information on other alien creatures such as Banthas and Womp Rats.
You also get creatures rules/classes, new prestige classes, Challenge Codes for multiple creatures and a table listing the ages for all the aliens (similar to that in the Core Rulebook).
All-in-all a very useful book for any Star Wars gamer.
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Title: Arms and Equipment Guide (Star Wars Roleplaying Game) by Jeff Grubb, Owen K. C. Stephens ISBN: 0786927828 Publisher: Wizards of the Coast Pub. Date: 09 November, 2002 List Price(USD): $21.95 |
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Title: Coruscant and the Core Worlds (Star Wars Roleplaying Game) by Craig Robert Carey, Paul Sudlow, Jason Fry, Daniel Wallace ISBN: 0786928794 Publisher: Wizards of the Coast Pub. Date: 03 January, 2003 List Price(USD): $29.95 |
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Title: Power of the Jedi Sourcebook (Star Wars Roleplaying Game) by J.D. Wiker, Michael Mikaelian, Jeff Grubb, Owen K. C. Stephens, James Maliszewski ISBN: 078692781X Publisher: Wizards of the Coast Pub. Date: 07 August, 2002 List Price(USD): $29.95 |
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Title: Ultimate Alien Anthology (Star Wars Roleplaying Game) by Eric Cagle, Michael Mikaelian, Steve Miller, Owen K. C. Stephens ISBN: 0786928883 Publisher: Wizards of the Coast Pub. Date: 19 April, 2003 List Price(USD): $34.95 |
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Title: Revised Core Rulebook (Star Wars Roleplaying Game) by Bill Slavicsek, Andy Collins, J.D. Wiker, Steve Sansweet ISBN: 078692876X Publisher: Wizards of the Coast Pub. Date: 01 May, 2002 List Price(USD): $39.95 |
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