A digression of sorts. The Star Wars Essential Guides aren’t technically roleplaying sourcebooks, but I definitely used them when I ran the West End Games Star Wars RPG.

Let’s start with the most recent, Alien Species, which manages to incorporate material from The Phantom Menace and not suck. It is also my favorite of the series, because R.K. Post was the illustrator. I appreciate an artist who can draw the familiar and make it new and exciting, which is exactly what I think Post does here.

As for content, well, it is an alphabetical guide to aliens in the Star Wars universe. Each entry is a fairly exhaustive one-page summary of the alien’s place in the expanded universe, which, for these books, is limited in scope to the novels, comics and other media while excluding content unique to the RPG. Which is almost preferable for someone like me coming at these books to supplement my WEG library. By not having to waste space on game stats, there’s room for more background material. Got general questions about the Faleen, or the Gran? This book probably has your answers.