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Dragonstar: Guide to the Galaxy
Length: 176 pages
Price: $27.95
Publisher: Fantasy Flight Games www.fantasyflightgames.com
ISBN: 158994057-1
 Well, if the Starfarer's Guide is the Player's Handbook of Dragonstar, then this book is the DMG.
The congruence is strong. Like the DMG is to the PHB, the Guide to the Galaxy isn't quite as exiting as the Starfarer's Guide, but it contains a wealth of solid details needed for running a game. (And the Guide the Galaxy is easier to reference than the DMG.) But while "not quite exiting" means I didn't shout when I got the book, but that doesn't mean I didn't love every bit of it. If you want to run Dragonstar, you need this book.
Like the previous volume, it opens with a full-color section, this time with a map of the Empire and more information on its history and how it is run. This information is continued in Chapter Two, which goes into even more detail about the Dragon Houses, the different corporations of the Dragonstar world, and the state religion. All of this information is solid, detailed, and worth the GM's time. I was particularly pleased to see more detail is given on the Long Road, the magical highway that links all of the different Throne Worlds.
The most interesting part of Chapter Two outlines Emperor Mezzenbone's secret plan to remain on the throne after the end of his 5,000-year term. (C'mon, he's Chaotic Evil -- you think he's going to give up the throne when he's supposed to?) It's a interesting plan, and a bold one, and it almost makes me want to run a game set at the end of his reign, rather than the start.
Even more interesting is Chapter Three, which goes into the different Organizations of the Dragonstar galaxy. It discusses the Adamantine Order (the Empire's primary intelligence organization, run by a black half-dragon halfblood yuan-ti crossbreed), several Blackguard orders (I particularly like the Eternal Order of Night, associated with House Osorus), the Black Hole Syndicate (a very interesting mafia-like organization), the Druidic Society, the Imperial Legions, the Imperial Society of Arcane Magic (for those not lucky enough to be born Sorcerers), the infamous drow-run Imperial Special Police Directorate that was set up by Emperor Mezzenbone himself, the Insurrection (think "the Rebellion" from Star Wars -- luckily, not much space is taken up by this derivative concept, tho they're more grass-roots and activist than the Rebellion of Star Wars), several Paladin Orders (I particularly like S.O.L.A.R., the Special Outlands Army Recon, which really emphasizes the Dragonstar Paladin as Holy Commando), the Noetic Order (for those of you who were curious about the situation regarding psionics in the Empire, the Noetic Order is the place to look), and last but not least the Royal Exploratory Service. This entire chapter is filled with politics and adventure seeds, and is likely to be one of the most-read by players aside from the Spellware chapter. "Hey, I want to play a Royal Marshal!"
Chapter Four is one of those chapters that most DMs are either going to love or hate. It's a complete Outlands star system, that is just starting to be exploited by the Empire. DMs who already have an idea what they want to do with Dragonstar will consider it a waste of space, but other DMs will appreciate it as an example or as a potential compaign setting. Plus, it only takes up about 12 pages, and manages to cram in a lot of detail for all that.
Chapter Five is more generically useful. It describes Outlands Station, which is best thought of as Babylon 5 with a Dragonstar twist. One of the more interesting twists is that parts of the station exist in every single sector of the Empire, linked by magical gates, making it a prime stop for space travellers, as it can cut down travel time immensely, tho use of the gates to transfer a ship is expensive. An interesting cast of NPCs is presented, giving PCs ample opportunity to work the personalities to their advantage, or (more likely) to get themselves in trouble. I particularly like the station's ISPD agent, Lt. Fasila Durlexis, a curiously stunted drow woman with a chip on her shoulder. Detailed personality descriptions and statistics are given for all the important NPCs, who are hardly godlike -- the aforementioned Lt. Durlexis is a 5th-level rogue. This makes the station an excellent stomping ground for low-level characters that have just reached the stars.
Chapter Six is what many people have been waiting for: the magic items of the Empire. Aside from magical power armor and enchanted high-tech weapons (including the Antimatter Cannon, where it's better to be wearing less armor when you're hit by it) that one would expect, there is a high-tech potion variant (dermpatches), various smaller items (like the Ring of Vacuum Protection), and a most interesting item: an alternate star drive, the Astral Drive, which moves a ship to the timeless Astral Plane to travel from point A to point B.
After going into detail on elven lifeships (ships that are grown rather than made) and liquid mithral (a valuable magical fuel), we get to the part players have been waiting for: Spellware. The Dragonstar equivalent of cyberwear, these are essentially magic items that are implanted in the body of the user, and the user, not the spellcaster implanting the item, has to pay the XP cost for them, representing the life force invested in the item. Of particular interest is Divine Spellware, which is available to paladins for free -- tho they still have to pay the XP cost.
Of course, a D&D game is incomplete without monsters, and Chapter Seven provides them. Most notable are the dragons that are native to the void, the Space Dragon and the Star Dragon (who are too aloof to engage in the Empire's politics), as well as the Space Kraken and the Asterwrath, a giant metal-eating creature that looks like an asteroid -- until it takes a bite out of your ship.
Chapter Eight is entitled "Running Dragonstar" and goes into all sorts of small details the DM is going to want to know, like how the Empire's monatary and banking system works, public transportation, and how special abilities (like gaseous form) interact with space and high technology. There are also rules on vacuum (including explosive decompression), radiation, and gravity, as well as an excellent (but short) section on high-tech security systems and traps. The chapter ends with an excellent twelve-page section on world building, covering issues from star type to the amount of magical development of encountered cultures.
Chapter Nine is entitled "Dragonstar Campaigns", and contains a lot of campaign advice and options, none of which is anything a DM didn't consider upon first acquiring the Starfarer's Guide in all likelyhood. However, the end of the chapter, in an easy-to-miss section, is a bit of pure gold -- an excellent discussion of the effect of high-tech weapons on the Challenge Rating and Encounter Level system, and on how D&D adventures are genereally set up. This four-page section is almost worth the price of admission alone, explaining how Dragonstar differs from simply "D&D in space", and how this affects the award of XP. I expect this to be one of the most well-thumbed parts of the book for DMs running Dragonstar.
Chapter Ten is somewhat of a disappointment. It's a sample adventure which promises political intrigue, but really boils down to a linear adventure with a lot of combat. However, considering it's only fifteen pages long, and considering the quality of the material that comes before it, it's forgivable, and the combat can lead to more interesting things... it's just those things are largely left in the hands of the DM.
Overall, while some may gripe at the adventure and the pre-created star system as "filler", the remaining material is of such high quality that the book is more than worth the price, and for those who care about such things, it's very pleasing to the eye and easy to use, with a good index. (Personally, I care about the latter but not the former.) With this book and the Starfarer's Guide, you have everything you need to run a Dragonstar campaign, and more. Anything else (like the upcoming Imperial Supply book), while undoubtedly cool, is gravy -- the real stuff is here.
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