''Dark Empire Sourcebook'' is a supplement published by

West End Games West End Games (WEG) was a company that made Board game, board, Role-playing game, role-playing, and wargaming, war games. It was founded by Daniel Scott Palter in 1974 in New York City, but later moved to Honesdale, Pennsylvania. Its product line ...

in 1993 for the science fiction role-playing '' Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game''.

In 1987, four years after the release of the third (and at the time, the final) ''

Star Wars ''Star Wars'' is an American epic film, epic space opera multimedia franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the Star Wars (film), eponymous 1977 film and quickly became a worldwide popular culture, pop-culture Cultural impact of S ...

'' movie, ''

Return of the Jedi ''Return of the Jedi'' (also known as ''Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi'' is a 1983 American epic space opera film directed by Richard Marquand. The screenplay is by Lawrence Kasdan and George Lucas from a story by Lucas, who ...

'', West End Games published the popular ''Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game''. However, by 1992, having published many supplements and adventures, West End Games was finding it increasingly difficult to create original material out of the original trilogy of movies; they decided to release a second edition of the game based on other material that had been published. The third supplementary sourcebook to be published for the second edition, ''Dark Empire Sourcebook'', is based upon the ''

Dark Empire ''Dark Empire'' is a ''Star Wars'' comic book metaseries produced by Dark Horse Comics. It consists of a six-issue Limited series (comics), limited series written by Tom Veitch and drawn by Cam Kennedy, followed by a second six-issue limited seri ...

'' comic series by

Tom Veitch Tom Veitch (September 26, 1941 – February 14, 2022) was an American writer, known for his work in the comic book industry. He was also a novelist and a poet. He was the brother of comics writer and artist Rick Veitch. Early life Veitch was ...

and

Cam Kennedy Campbell ("Cam") Kennedy is a Scottish comics artist. He is best known for his work on '' 2000 AD'', especially the flagship titles ''Judge Dredd'' and ''Rogue Trooper''. Biography Following work in commercial art in his hometown of Glasgow, ...

. ''Dark Empire Sourcebook'' is a 126-page softcover book written by Michael Allen Horne and Carol Hutchings, with graphics, illustrations and cover art by John Paul Lona,

Dave Dorman Dave Dorman (born 1958 in Michigan) is a science fiction, horror and fantasy illustrator best known for his '' Star Wars'' artwork. Early life Dorman's parents are Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Jack N. Dorman and Phyllis Dorman. Both parents ...

and Cam Kennedy. The sourcebook gives biographical profiles of notable personalities from the comics, a brief overview of the history of the New Republic, an essay on the Force, and brief profiles of planets and aliens mentioned in the comics. It also includes a 16-page color insert, and several sidebars covering various incidents.

Reception

In the November 1993 edition of ''

Dragon A dragon is a reptilian legendary creature that appears in the folklore of many cultures worldwide. Beliefs about dragons vary considerably through regions, but dragons in western cultures since the High Middle Ages have often been depicted as ...

'' (Issue #199),

Rick Swan Rick Swan is a game designer and author who worked for TSR. His work for TSR, mostly for Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, appeared from 1989 to 1995. Swan also wrote ''The Complete Guide to Role-Playing Games'' (1990), published by St. Martin's Pre ...

called sections of this book "dreary" and found that there was an overlap of material previously published in other second edition sourcebooks. He liked the "imaginative sidebars", which he found to be "competently written and liberally illustrated with artwork from the comics". Overall, Swan thought the book "makes an engaging side trip for players on vacation from the New Republic." He gave ''Dark Empire Sourcebook'' an average rating of 4 stars out of 6, saying that "players on a budget" could probably get along without it.

Reviews

*''

White Wolf Magazine ''White Wolf'' is a game magazine that was published by White Wolf Publishing from 1986 to 1995. History While still in high school, Stewart Wieck and Steve Wieck decided to self-publish their own magazine, and Steve chose the name "White Wolf" a ...

'' #38 (1993)

References

{{reflist Role-playing game supplements introduced in 1993 Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game supplements

Contents

Reception

Reviews

References