".....aaaahhrrrr, matey.... Make 'em walk the airlock..." 

   Pirates have been present in the Star Wars RPG since the first edition rules came out ten years ago. They have, for the most part , only been used as adversaries. There had really been no information on how to run a pirate campaign, except for an article in the Star Wars 
Adventure Journal, issue number 2 page 164 (Privateers, written by Timothy S. O'Brien). With the release of PIRATES AND PRIVATEERS, players and gamemasters now have the information needed for play as both pirates and privateers. 

   As is usual for his work, Mister O'Brien has done his research, and immediately sets off the differences between pirates and privateers. Topics such as Letters of Marque and Reprisal, ship's articles, and boarding actions are covered nicely in this book.  Some optional rule 
mechanics for targeting a specific ship location and for stopping hyperspace jumps are added. 

  Of course, there are the requisite new entries of weapons and equipment, covering three chapters; the last of which details some adversaries that pirates and privateers can run afoul of. Information on average prices for different cargoes is listed, which is useful when trying to fence your ill-gotten plunder. Information on bounties that the Alliance pays privateers for Imperial prisoners are useful as well. The chapter on ships is quite extensive, listing over 40 different types of cargo ships, along with the requisite reprinted information on some fighters and warships. Unfortunately, instead of illustrations for the new vessels, three pages of silhouettes are present. Illustrations would have helped visualize these vessels much better. 

   An entire chapter is devoted to the opposition forces that pirate and privateer players can face; including Imperial Navy forces, bounty hunters and Sector Rangers. Some reprinted information from previous sourcebooks is present in this chapter, mostly on some capital ships. 
Some information on Imperial Piracy codes is also listed herein. 

   Some noted pirates are listed in the chapter entitled Pirate's Gallery. My only disappointment in this section is the lack of an entry on Crimson Jack, a pirate that figured prominently in early issues of Marvel's Star Wars comics. Considering how quite a bit of the 
Marvel materials have been "snuck" into some of the sourcebooks, I had hoped to see one of my favorite villains. Some organization profiles are included , as are some illustrations of standard pirate insignia. 

   Several pirate bases are listed in the chapter Ports of Call. Over a dozen different ports are listed in brief capsules, along with three detailed listings for other pirate bases.  Information for making Alliance Securidex listings for various ports of call is included as well. 
 
   The final chapter gives a few details on running a Privateer campaign, both as Rebel Alliance/New Republic and Imperial crews. Four new character templates are included, which seems to be a bit low for a book of this scope, considering that Rules Of Engagement and 
Platt's Smugglers Guide had approximately a dozen each. The Index to Pirates on the last two pages is highly useful, giving the locations of various information entries of use in a Pirate/Privateer campaign. Some of the listings include gangs, individuals, shadowports and 
ships. This listing probably could have been more extensive, but it is quite useful in its present form. 

   Pirates and Privateers is one of those outstanding books that showcases the talents of the West End Games staffers. Excellent writing from Tim O'Brien  (as per usual), and outstanding artwork from some of the regulars like Mike Vilardi, Allen Nunis and Storn Cook among others. A great player and gamemaster resource, I highly recommend this book. 

Rating: 9 out of 10