Does the book follow the Secrets of Naboo format in that it has 2/3 source material, 1/3 adventure?

JD: "More or less. Each of three major cities are discussed in terms of their prominence during the Rise of the Empire Era (Mos Espa), the Rebellion Era (Mos Eisley), and The New Jedi Order Era (Mos Entha). There will be a map for each of the three major cities.

The adventure is set in the Rebellion Era, but there are guidelines for adapting it to other eras--and considering how little Tatooine changes, it's not difficult to adapt *any* adventure there to other eras.

There will be an updated map of Jabba's Throneroom, and the Boonta Eve track--but not actually a map of the Arena.

Most of the major characters who are either indigenous to Tatooine or who more or less permanently live on Tatooine are covered--so Jabba, Gardulla, Bib Fortuna, Chalmun, Wuher, Momaw Nadon, Prefect Talmont, Muftak and Kabe, Lady Valarian, Eefive-tootoo, the Weequays, Salacious Crumb, and some all-new characters for The New Jedi Order Era, including Valarian's protege and the "reborn" Bib Fortuna. And this is just skimming the surface."

2 stories, one by Kevin J. Anderson titled Bane of the Sith. Another one dealing with Talon Karrde.

The stuff regarding the RPG: The main meat is the articles on how to build and play droid characters. Also info on our favorite little guys, the Jawas. Also info on Spaceports and Landing pads. Also an article entitled "The smugglers Alliance". It gives the stats for Karrde and his buddies.

I got my subscription copy of Gamer #3 yesterday, too...It's got a vast wealth of valuable RPG content.

Not only have they listened to the fans and included sidebars of game info for things in the short stories ("Dxunian Stalker" and "Dxunian Raptor" in this issue), there also seems to be proportionally more RPG content compared to the rest. One of the stories in this issue is just a three-page novel excerpt about Talon Karrde, which allowed for more space for RPG articles. There's also only one adventure in this issue, though it's a sweet 12-pager. ("Cloud Cover" -- Two acts...set on Cloud City, of course.)

The computer game section also includes a bunch of valuable game stats: one vehicle (Trade Federation gunboat) plus a few characters from the planning of Star Wars Galaxies: A Bothan Scoundrel/Jedi Guardian, a [blue-skinned but cool looking] Mon Calamarian Scout, and a Twi'lek Noble/Crimelord. Topping it off are stats for a Krayt Dragon.

Even if you don't count this extra RPG stuff, there's a total of 9 RPG-related articles, plus the adventure. While the droid stuff will no doubt get a lot of attention and the starport maps are cool, I suspect the real gem of the issue will be the 14 pages of rules, ship stats, and ship tokens for playing out starfighter combat on the poster-sized hex map.

All in all, it appears to be a very worthy issue.

The previously announced "Creatures of the Galaxy" will not be coming out. Nor will "Denizens of the Galaxy." Contrary to rumor, nor will there be two separate books about Star Wars creatures and aliens released by WotC for the 'Star Wars Roleplaying Game.'

What WILL be coming out is "Alien Anthology," a 128-page full color book. It covers creatures and aliens drawn from the movies, novels, comic books, and game material. Many of the aliens featured are being expounded upon for the first time in official game material.

"Alien Anthology" is slated for an October 2001 release. It was written by Steve Miller and Owen K.C. Stephens, and edited by Brian Campbell and Cory Herndon. Illustrations are by Sam Wood & Co.

I think SW Gamer #2 is a vast improvement over #1... the fiction's better, the game articles are better [well, MY short story in #1 is unmatched... ;-)]...overall, it's just BETTER.

And the same is true of #3. I got an advanced look at a copy of it this morning. Cory Herndon's written a GREAT expansion of the droid rules in the core rule book--more droids, official droid PC guidelines; there are some great starport maps; and the starfighter rules using the 'Silent Death' game mechanics are also neat. (And even if you don't want to use those rules, there are some great counters of TIE fighters and such.) And in #3, there are game stats that tie to the short story (!)... we had 'em for #1, but they were web downloads, or hidden in the computer game section.

If #4 continues to show the same upward trend of improvement we've been seeing, it'll be better than I can imagine.

"Bane of the Sith"
Kevin To Do New Star Wars Short Story: The Origin of Darth Bane

Many fans have written to ask when Kevin will return to the Star Wars universe with more original fiction. You have only to wait until March for a 5000-word short story, never before published, in issue #3 of the Star Wars Gamer magazine (on newsstands March 19).

The new story, "Bane of the Sith," is set a thousand years before Episode 1, and tells the origin of Darth Bane, an evil Sith Lord who changed the nature of dark-side followers forever. This story provides a bridge between the Tales of the Jedi History and The Phantom Menace and also acts as a springboard for a new Dark Horse Comics series, Jedi vs. Sith.