Star Wars Edge of the Empire – Beginner Game Review – More in the Box than You think

February 22, 2016

Hello Nerdarchist Ted here and it looks like we are going to take a break for a while from board games. If you are a board game lover and like my articles please send us an email at nerdarchy @ gmail dot com. It looks like however that most of you out there would prefer that I talk more about RPG stuff so for the time being that is what I am going to do. If you missed last weeks article you can check it out here.

I did a review of the Edge of the Empire corebook here.but today I wanted to go through the beginner game in detail and talk about the value. Nerdarchist Dave, myself and fairly regular guest and DM on our channel, Scott Garibay sat down and did an unboxing video on this.

Contained in the box are a number of very cool and useful things. You get a complete set of 14 dice, very useful for playing the game. You get the read this first insert with a great example play. You get the Long arm of the hit insert. There is a double sided fold out map. You get a wonderful adventure book. You get a mini or modified rule-book. I say mini or modified because it is condensed from the core rule-book. Last you get 4 awesome character portfolios detailing the information needed to play these characters.

So lets break it down with each. The dice. The dice retail for rough $15 and though it looks like they are available again on amazon, if you are a dm, why buy just the dice when you can get so much more value by getting the beginner game. These dice are custom made with cool symbols designed to stand out and counter each other. These cool dice are d6s, d8s and d12s. Your players will have to learn the complex dice mechanic that makes this game really shine.

The ‘read this first’ insert is really awesome for several reasons. It gives a brief description about what is role playing and assigning the roles of player and GM. It has an in depth example play so that new GMs will gain a more confidence. But the most awesome thing about this insert is the back. Every Star Wars fan knows the story crawl across the stars is impactful and the back has that with the story you can read to your players at the start of the first session.

The ‘Long arm of the Hut’ insert is a minor thing that many might just shove aside, but don’t. If you read this you will find that there are more resources for your game. If you follow the link and search you will find another full adventure for the characters to explore as well as two full character portfolios that you can allow your players new options or add detailed NPCs to your world.

The foldout map has 4 cool locations that can be used during the game play. The one side is a full battle map on a YT1300, or what most of you know as the type of ship as a Millennium Falcon. Half of the other side is taken up by the map of Mos Shuta streets. You also get a map of a cantina and spaceport control. So having four locations to use is nice. You can of course use these for the pre-printed adventure or for your own adventures. You can of course also use them for both.

The adventure book is a solid 32 pages. It is jam packed with pre-planned encounters, 7 of them to be exact and once completed it gives loads of ideas that could lead the story in a multitude of directions. The adventure unfolds in a cool way as you battle through the story. I think it fits very well with the theme of Edge of the Empire. It gives GMs tips through out with helpful information that they might want to share if players begin making assumptions or bad decisions. Even the back cover is loaded with useful information. It has what happens if a PC suffers critical injuries. It has all the symbols on the dice to help all players familiarize themselves with them. It lastly has the difficulty for skill checks.

The condensed rule book has 48 pages also jam packed with information. Again the back cover has charts to help everyone out. You have skills their respective stats and what type of thing you would do to call for a roll of that type. You also get another spot that helps you learn the dice. Learning them is very important to speeding up game play and making the game more enjoyable for everyone.

The great thing about the condensed rule book is it tells you that the adventure book details a walk through of the rules so there is no need to read the rules in order to play the game. The condensed rule book gives you more information so that you can expand the already created scenarios into a deeper story or take it where ever else you want to go.

The rule book gives you the rules for playing the game. It guides you through combat, skills and talents. It shows you all the things you can buy: gear, equipment, starships and vehicles. The last section gives you NPCs that you can set up as new adversaries or interesting charters to meet on your missions.

If the rule book did not impress you than the full color multi page character folios certainly should. The folios not only give you a full character sheet prepared to play but every page is loaded with handy information designed to teach you the game as you play. You have all the dice symbols and there meaning.

It gives you the four health stat info so you know what these numbers mean and how to use them. The sheet also tells you what a PC can do on a turn. When you turn the page it essentially levels up your character. It shows you have earned 10 XP and it gives you several options of how you would like to spend that XP. It also details where on your sheet those upgrades would be so that you can use the correct option.

When you turn the page again you have a blank character sheet so that you can continue going on adventures with your chosen character and be able to record in pencil your changes based on how much XP you earn. The last page has a talent tree showing you what your options are for advancing up your talent tree, well down actually. There is also the information for advancing skills and talents so that you do not have to refer to a rule book.

When you close the folio and see the back cover you get the characters full back story so you have some role playing info for how to properly play that character. It is enough to give you motivations and mindset which is all you basically need. Also you can

The last thing in the box is your cardboard set of tokens or pawns. This sheet is really cool for two reasons. Number one is that with a pre-planned adventure it gives you every prop you need to make a good adventure. Second is that you can use these tokens to expand out your options should you choose to run other adventures in the Star Wars Universe.

So if you are interested in getting your copy of Star Wars Role Playing Game – Edge of the Empire Beginner Game you can do so here. As always thanks for reading. Until Next Time, Stay Nerdy!