Star Wars Galactic Phrase Book & Travel Guide

I am currently reading the Star Wars Galactic Phrase Book and Travel Guide by Ben Burtt which I just received last week from Paperback Swap dot Com. I thought this looked like a fun and funny book and my guesstimation was correct.

I have not spent much time playing Sci-Fi rpgs but I always seem to have some Sci-Fi related game ideas floating around. I probably wouldn't play a Star Wars rpg because I wouldn't know where to start the game. My approach to a Sci-fi game would involve the Mutant Future rules applied to any phaser and planet idea I may have in mind. Of course, Encounter Critical rules could be applied to any game genre a geek might want to try.

No mater what your rule set, the Star Wars Galactic Phrase Book and Travel Guide could be useful for adding some details to the setting. This quote could help set the scene if the setting is among the stars; "Thanks to the absence of open warfare in the space lanes, and the dry-docking of Imperial Interdictor cruisers responsible for pulling craft out of hyperspace during the recent Rebellion, you may be among the many who find it relatively safe and economical to cross space again." (p. 17) This sounds like Ben Burtt's been crossing his Star Wars with Doug Adams' Hitchhiker's Guide which is fine and fun and right up the ol' home brew Sci-Fi alley.

I've read 71 pages of this book and it's given me plenty of possible adventure seeds already. Here's a useable quote from Hutt cultural history, "the Baobab Archives have uncovered tablets in archaeological diggings on the moons of Varl (the Hutt home world) showing ransom notes written in ancient Huttese at least 1000 years ago." (p. 31)

Do you want to run some player characters through Mos Eisley? "Mos Eisley .... has less scum (and villiainy) nowadays. The recent cleanup (by Imperial Troops) has helped stimulate the tourist and business trade." (p. 32) Chapter Three, Survival in Huttese, contains three pages on Mos Eisely with details of hostels, markets and dinning establishments.

How about the Forest Moon of Endor, what's been happening there after the Jedi returned? We learn this on page 49, "There have been several privately funded salvage expeditions to retrieve valuable hardware, the most significant being the hire and transport of 480 Jawas from Tattoonie ... to clean up the wreckage. Last reports indicate they mutinied and formed a roving bandit gang that had been known to prey on innocent visitors. No one has been hurt, but..."

Lastly, for now, if you're running a Star Wars game or Encounter Critical, perhaps your playing your own home brew Planet Algol setting, and you need some Wookiee terms, the phrase "Huwaa muaa mumwa," is certain to come in handy. (Can I buy you a drink?)

I'd like to mention that I also received an abridged edition, 160 pages, of Gargantua and Pantagruel from Paperback Swap last week. I am certain it will be full of potential gaming fun too. I may include more from the Star Wars Galactic Phrase Book and Travel Guide in another post but, for now, I leave you with this Ewok phrase;

Allayloo ta nuv, coatee-cha tu yub nub.
(Celebrate the love, celebrate the freedom.)