Star Wars Missions

Star Wars Missions was an unusual book series was released as a mail-order book club promoted through schools starting in 1997. The books were written by Ryder Windham and Dave Wolverton. Members first received a boxed kit containing two dice (one six-sided, one twelve-sided), a rulebook, a pad of score sheets, a blank notebook, some cards, a small poster and the first adventure in the series. Subsequent packages contained additional books, cards and posters. Club members also received a magazine, unrelated to gameplay, called Star Wars Kids.

Each book contains several linear chapters followed by the actual gamebook segment. Upon reaching the interactive portion of an adventure, the reader must first select some cards (representing characters, vehicles, weapons and powers) based on criteria specified in the book at hand. Unlike most gamebooks, these adventures do not feature numbered sections, nor do they instruct the reader to turn to particular pages; instead, they are composed of a linear sequence of events. Each event is described, then several choices are listed. The reader must select one of these choices and then skip ahead to find the matching paragraph describing the results of the choice. Readers are sometimes forced to revise their decisions before proceeding, but no choice ever leads to a premature ending. Since victory is inevitable, gameplay revolves around a score kept as a running total throughout the adventure. Rolls of the dice and values printed on the cards are frequently used to raise or lower this score, and while it has no impact on gameplay, it can be considered a measure of success.

After twenty adventures based on the original Star Wars trilogy, the series came to a close in 1999 and was replaced by the similar Star Wars Episode I Adventures.

Rulebooks

 * Star Wars Missions Mission Guide

Gamebooks

 * Star Wars Missions 1: Assault on Yavin Four
 * Star Wars Missions 2:Escape from Thyferra
 * Star Wars Missions 3:Attack on Delrakkin
 * Star Wars Missions 4:Destroy the Liquidator
 * Star Wars Missions 5:The Hunt for Han Solo
 * Star Wars Missions 6:The Search for Grubba the Hutt
 * Star Wars Missions 7:Ithorian Invasion
 * Star Wars Missions 8:Tagorian Trap
 * Star Wars Missions 9:Revolt of the Battle Droids
 * Star Wars Missions 10:Showdown in Mos Eisley
 * Star Wars Missions 11:Bounty Hunter vs. Battle Droids
 * Star Wars Missions 12:The Vactooine Disaster
 * Star Wars Missions 13:Prisoners of the Nikto Pirates
 * Star Wars Missions 14:The Monsters of Dweem
 * Star Wars Missions 15:Voyage to the Underworld
 * Star Wars Missions 16:Imperial Jailbreak
 * Star Wars Missions 17:Darth Vader's Return
 * Star Wars Missions 18:Rogue Squadron to the Rescue
 * Star Wars Missions 19:Bounty on Bonadan
 * Star Wars Missions 20:Total Destruction