Okay, with the Rebel Sourcebook, you get to glimpse into the workings of some of the more “covert” type of units that the Rebel Alliance uses. While they didn’t expand on them much in that book, this one covers special operation units very well!
Let’s start by opening the cover on this one. Second page in has a table of contents. Not just any table of contents, but one that is actually USEFUL! The inclusion of this alone is enough to give this book a high rating, as most of the table of contents that are in the WEG books tend to be lacking. After the table of contents comes the introduction to the use and daily life of a special forces individual. They even have a breakdown on the ranks for specforces and the regular Alliance military. This little tidbit is handy for just about any Rebel based game, not just special forces.
Next is some Special Forces terms and jargons. Useful if you have characters who like to play in character well, or if you want to include a little sense of “individualism” in your game. The jargon is neat, but not as neat as some of the jargon lists I’ve seen for Star Wars.
Now you get into some of the operations, including a really neat picture explanation for room clearing, hand signals (for silent communication) and travelling in hostile zones. This really gives the players a sense of being special forces, and the hand signals are neat for getting them to communicate without talking...and seeing how well they do. The section directly after that is equipment, which covers a LOT of equipment. There is suits and all sort of infiltration and sensor type stuff. There’s enough stuff in here to make almost every gamer drool.
There’s also a pretty decent section in here on transports and other vehicles used by the special forces. From quiet and stealthy to fast and tough. Then comes the weapons. There is everything from light weapons to some heavy artillery to explosives. Again, there’s enough here to tickle the fancy of your “blast happy” players.
Finally comes the real meat of the book. There’s a decent section on the jobs of each branch of special forces, and a section detailing the enemies of the rebel special forces. You soon realize why they have all of the nifty gadgets from the earlier sections. This book also has a section on some semi-important NPCs as well, so you can use these people in your games. Bringing up the rear, per usual, are the character templates. There are 9 templates that cover each section of the special forces.
So, overall, this book is very useful. It’s got hints on how to run special forces campaigns, what their duties are, and who the best “bad guys” are to throw at them. The only thing that I found wrong with it is that the hand signal part wasn’t as thorough as I thought it should have been. I’d definitely recommend this book, though, especially if you want to run a game with special forces units, be they Rebel or Imperial.
My rating:
© 1997 grimacePCH@aol.com
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