1987 Star Wars RPG Four-Page Advertisement from Dragon Magazine
There have been three different Star Wars roleplaying game publishers over the last three decades, and regardless of the wonderful work both Wizards of the Coast and Fantasy Flight Games sunk into their interpretations of the Star Wars universe as an RPG they simply cannot top the joy of the old West End Games books. The West End Games Star Wars roleplaying game (find at Amazon.com*) came at the perfect time when Star Wars was in a dead spot, making the books the (almost) only option for us at the time.
This four-page advertisement from Dragon magazine in 1987 shows how much money West End Games was sinking into the new RPG and looking at this massive ad reminds me of just how exciting it was when the game released. I started buying these that year and even today those first two hardcovers and works of art. If you don’t own the first two books in the series then track them down right now. Seriously, these books are great!
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Marvel Super Heroes was the first RPG I played. AD&D (2nd edition) came next. But West End Games’ Star Wars was/is the RPG that I loved the most. I could play that any week and not get bored.
I buy 2E manuals whenever I see them for $15 or less (in reasonable condition) for our game group. Passing them out to players when they sit down to make their characters really charges them up!