Review – Star Wars Roleplaying “Citizens of the Galaxy” Adversary Deck

For use with any of Fantasy Flight Games’ Star Wars RPGs, the Citizens of the Galaxy* Adversary Deck is a clever product idea that was pulled together perfectly. Adapting game statistics and information from the three core rulebooks — Edge of the Empire*, Age of Rebellion*, and Force and Destiny* — the twenty cards in this deck are arguably unnecessary, yes, but the product’s utility is so high that I believe many gamemasters would find this a worthy purchase.

As an idea of what to expect from the Citizens of the Galaxy* Adversary Deck, the below card front (as well as the product announcement at the FFG website) shows the “Shadowport Mechanic,” a rival character from the Age of Rebellion* rulebook. The card (front and back, both) present the same game mechanics and description as found in the rulebook, meaning that the only true value to the card is that it requires a lot less space on the table during a game session.

Personally, I feel that the utility of the cards makes the deck worth the $6.95 asking price, though I understand that some out there prefer books over cards when sitting down to a roleplaying game. Still, the addition of artwork to each of the character cards — the adversary descriptions in the three rulebooks do not always include art — may push those on the edge of a decision to the “buy side” of the line. On top of that, since the twenty characters are drawn from three separate rulebooks there’s a chance that someone who owns only one of the three titles will find value in the characters from the two unowned titles.

The Citizens of the Galaxy* Adversary Deck is a smart product, both useful and attractive. As part of Fantasy Flight Games’ series of print-on-demand supplements for their Star Wars RPGs this isn’t available everywhere, but the card deck is offered at their website and it isn’t the only such collection of character cards.

Recommended if you’re at all involved in one of the FFG Star Wars roleplaying games, especially since these POD products — as we saw when the company no longer had the Warhammer license — may get pricey in the future. There are likely a lot fewer copies of these decks available than there are books, so if you come along at some point in the future and want this then it may be expensive. I think I’ll make my future self happy and buy more of these today.