Rating: 
Summary: Better than the hype, worth your while for a Space campaign
Review: Campaigns set on one planet are fine, but what if you want to step offworld, or duke it out with Tie Fighters? You could hop into a Corellian YT-1300 or an X-Wing Fighter for the Nth time, but what if you want some spice?Starships of the Galaxy gives you all sorts of options. That's what most of this book is about. There are a few new feats, the mandatory prestige classes, etc., but most of SotG is dedicated to building starships and giving stats to Established ships of the Star Wars Universe. SotG is an excellent reference book, and great for building your own ships. The rules for modifications are scant, but they are there and can be worked with. The new space combat rules are about 50/50--They can help as much as they hurt. It's nice to have the options, though, and they are strictly at the GM's discretion. This is a must-have for any Star Wars D20 GM/Gamer who wants to keep it fresh or build their own ship for gaming purposes.
Rating:
Summary: Better than the hype, worth your while for a Space campaign
Review: Campaigns set on one planet are fine, but what if you want to step offworld, or duke it out with Tie Fighters? You could hop into a Corellian YT-1300 or an X-Wing Fighter for the Nth time, but what if you want some spice? Starships of the Galaxy gives you all sorts of options. That's what most of this book is about. There are a few new feats, the mandatory prestige classes, etc., but most of SotG is dedicated to building starships and giving stats to Established ships of the Star Wars Universe. SotG is an excellent reference book, and great for building your own ships. The rules for modifications are scant, but they are there and can be worked with. The new space combat rules are about 50/50--They can help as much as they hurt. It's nice to have the options, though, and they are strictly at the GM's discretion. This is a must-have for any Star Wars D20 GM/Gamer who wants to keep it fresh or build their own ship for gaming purposes.
Rating: 
Summary: Starships of the Galaxy
Review: Decent mechanics for generating your own ships. A few examples of ships for the new SW d20 system. I would have prefered to see a few more examples of ships, and some guidelines for ships in the different eras of play.
Rating:
Summary: Starships of the Galaxy
Review: Decent mechanics for generating your own ships. A few examples of ships for the new SW d20 system. I would have prefered to see a few more examples of ships, and some guidelines for ships in the different eras of play.
Rating: 
Summary: Mediocre at best
Review: I never truly enjoyed this book, and even though Amazon doesn't carry it any more, I feel compelled to write a review of it for the sake of completeness. If you're looking at it now, the main reason to get it would be as a reference tool for the wide variety of starships described within. It is, at least, useful for that purpose. There is also a rule system that one can use for custom starship construction, and while it is overly complex, at least it's available. Unfortunately, Starships of the Galaxy stops delivering about right there. Not only is it softcover, a fact that I despise, but all of the content within is in black and white. At least the old Alien Anthology, a book cut in the same mold which I also disliked, was full-color. The interior artwork is composed mostly of rough sketches showing several ships squashed together in the same frame, leaving the reader to determine which vessel is which. No offense to the artist, Matt Hatton, but he has really done much better work elsewhere. There are a few new feats and a few new prestige classes, but none of them really stand out as anything special. It's also important to note that this book uses the older rules from the Original Core Rulebook, not the Revised Rulebook. If that doesn't turn you off even further, then there is a PDF rule update for the prestige classes on the Wizards of the Coast website, in the Star Wars RPG section archive. In short, unless you are really dying to get at this book, I'd suggest spending your money elsewhere. While there was a point two years ago where this book might have been considered merely adequate, it was never much better than mediocre, and has now fallen far into obsolescence. Of course, that is merely my opinion. In the meantime, we can only hope that at some point in the future we see an improved, revised version of this book that succeeds in taking advantage of the topic's potential.
Rating:
Summary: Mediocre at best
Review: I never truly enjoyed this book, and even though Amazon doesn't carry it any more, I feel compelled to write a review of it for the sake of completeness. If you're looking at it now, the main reason to get it would be as a reference tool for the wide variety of starships described within. It is, at least, useful for that purpose. There is also a rule system that one can use for custom starship construction, and while it is overly complex, at least it's available. Unfortunately, Starships of the Galaxy stops delivering about right there. Not only is it softcover, a fact that I despise, but all of the content within is in black and white. At least the old Alien Anthology, a book cut in the same mold which I also disliked, was full-color. The interior artwork is composed mostly of rough sketches showing several ships squashed together in the same frame, leaving the reader to determine which vessel is which. No offense to the artist, Matt Hatton, but he has really done much better work elsewhere. There are a few new feats and a few new prestige classes, but none of them really stand out as anything special. It's also important to note that this book uses the older rules from the Original Core Rulebook, not the Revised Rulebook. If that doesn't turn you off even further, then there is a PDF rule update for the prestige classes on the Wizards of the Coast website, in the Star Wars RPG section archive. In short, unless you are really dying to get at this book, I'd suggest spending your money elsewhere. While there was a point two years ago where this book might have been considered merely adequate, it was never much better than mediocre, and has now fallen far into obsolescence. Of course, that is merely my opinion. In the meantime, we can only hope that at some point in the future we see an improved, revised version of this book that succeeds in taking advantage of the topic's potential.
Rating:
Summary: Good Source Book, Bad Mechanics
Review: If you want a book to tell you all about different starships in the Star Wars universe, give you plenty of D20 RPG stats, and tell you how to modify ships, this book is for you.
If you want a book that gives you playable rules for space combat, you are out of luck. The new combat system is just as screwed up as the main RPG version. For Space Combat, go see Star Wars Gamer magazine #8.
Rating:
Summary: A very useful tool. Though out of date now...
Review: It is out of date. The Starships of the Galaxy worked with the original rules for Star Wars RPG d20. Since the revised rule book came out, many of the things in this book are no longer valid, just as the range increment or even the Starship record sheet. But is it still worth it? well that's for you to decide. I write many different types of campaigns, and one of the types i write cater towards those people who put a lot of points in Pilot and Astrogate skills, as well as those who ventured into the Ace Pilot or Jedi Ace prestige classes. With this book i have managed to come up with so many varieties of craft and made so much available to my heroes. This book gives you guidelines for creating small craft (starfighters and transports) capital class (Star Destroyers, Frigates) and space stations (Executor, Hosk). It comes in very handy when for a reference on how to modify a craft. I use it a lot when writing these types of campaigns to try and provide a craft for the heroes on a budget. It list out many things about creation of starcraft that i wouldn't be able to write these modules without it. It lacks in many departments as well, partly due to the outdated rules it was based off of. First of all, the combat system for space combat and airspeeder combat has changed dramatically, from abstract to a grid. So range increment is no longer needed and now the Speed needs to signify how many squares the ship can move. Since Ramming is the fastest Ion engine in this book, you're left wondering why a Ramming-class ion engine in the X-wing only moves 10 squares while the Ramming-class ion engine in the Millennium Falcon moves 12 squares. (RCR p 277 & 230). There is no clarification for this. As well many craft have a different atmospheric speed, this book doesn't even mention that. Another smaller problem are the prestige clases, they're outdated and you have to get the official Errata from WoTC. Final verdict? I use it a lot when writing. I use it for the creation purposes of starships, capital to small, and even installations. I've already created my own starship record sheet. See if you can find this book for a cheaper price... becuase right now it really isn't worth what many places are asking for it...
Rating:
Summary: A very useful tool. Though out of date now...
Review: It is out of date. The Starships of the Galaxy worked with the original rules for Star Wars RPG d20. Since the revised rule book came out, many of the things in this book are no longer valid, just as the range increment or even the Starship record sheet. But is it still worth it? well that's for you to decide. I write many different types of campaigns, and one of the types i write cater towards those people who put a lot of points in Pilot and Astrogate skills, as well as those who ventured into the Ace Pilot or Jedi Ace prestige classes. With this book i have managed to come up with so many varieties of craft and made so much available to my heroes. This book gives you guidelines for creating small craft (starfighters and transports) capital class (Star Destroyers, Frigates) and space stations (Executor, Hosk). It comes in very handy when for a reference on how to modify a craft. I use it a lot when writing these types of campaigns to try and provide a craft for the heroes on a budget. It list out many things about creation of starcraft that i wouldn't be able to write these modules without it. It lacks in many departments as well, partly due to the outdated rules it was based off of. First of all, the combat system for space combat and airspeeder combat has changed dramatically, from abstract to a grid. So range increment is no longer needed and now the Speed needs to signify how many squares the ship can move. Since Ramming is the fastest Ion engine in this book, you're left wondering why a Ramming-class ion engine in the X-wing only moves 10 squares while the Ramming-class ion engine in the Millennium Falcon moves 12 squares. (RCR p 277 & 230). There is no clarification for this. As well many craft have a different atmospheric speed, this book doesn't even mention that. Another smaller problem are the prestige clases, they're outdated and you have to get the official Errata from WoTC. Final verdict? I use it a lot when writing. I use it for the creation purposes of starships, capital to small, and even installations. I've already created my own starship record sheet. See if you can find this book for a cheaper price... becuase right now it really isn't worth what many places are asking for it...
Rating:
Summary: Finally, some original content!
Review: Starships of the Galaxy finally delivers some truly new content for WotC d20 Star Wars rpg. Unlike many of the previous supplements, which while nice to look at, SoG is not a re-tread of West End Games material or a retelling of things most fans know from the movies and novels.
Let me say it now, the old Smugglers Guide was one of my favorite West End supplements for their SW game, if only because it allowed us to customize our starships (would Han Solo be as cool w/o the Millenium Falcon?). However, you couldn't build your own, and you could only modify light transports like the YT-1300.
SoG, however, gives you the tools to create new ships from scratch, from a small fighter to a massive space station, and then follows up with rules to modify existing ships.
The book also includes updated, more detailed ship combat rules that are a great improvement over the ones included in the core-rulebook. Things I would have liked, but weren't included:
Economic rules, like how to finance your purchase, or deal with loansharks, blackmarket cargos, etc. I can do without the rules, since it would add at least another chapter to the book.
Things I think they should have included, and cannot fathom why not:
They provided stats, cost and flavor text for a various ship types. Some are new to d20, some are merely updated. What they did not do, however, was include the build points for given ships, which would make comparisons and modifications much easier. This would only require a few more lines per ship. As it is, you know how many guns a stock YT-2400 mounts, but you don't know how many it could mount after modification.
Also, a ship building worksheet would have been nice. Much nicer than the add for other SW products that takes up the last page of the book...
All in all, I'd have to say it's well worth the money, esp if you like to go beyond the movies in your game.
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