Star Wars Wednesday - Resource Sources

When working on my own game and other projects, I periodically need photos or other resources for reference or other uses. Some might find them useful for their home Star Wars or other RPG game sessions.

First off, I'm looking for free or cheap photos or other items that I can be sure of their source. I'm not just doing a google image search and running with whatever shows up if I'm including it in some kind of online or other published work. I will do that if I'm simply looking for reference for a general look or feel of a place or subject. Otherwise, I want to be sure of the original source, under what terms I can use an item, and what sort of credit is needed or desired.

PublicDomainPictures.net was one of the first photo collections I found with a wide variety of materials. Need a stone wall, sweeping landscape, jungle scene, or some other basic stock photo? It has a wide variety of subjects. It does get a bit odd because they also include a few images labeled "shutterstock" which is a commercial site and not public domain images. I'm sure its some kind of affiliation ad deal, but it strikes me as an odd mix. Also, weirdly, you can't pick a photo off the big main splash image that appears on the home page, it's just a big link to the top photos page.

Sometimes, I need specific textures for backgrounds or photoshop. Texturemate.com has a lot of subjects, though not all have a lot of depth within each subject. They also have free photoshop brushes and patterns that could be useful.

Over the last year, I've gotten more serious about photography (again), which means I spend a bit too much time reading photography websites. However, it recently led me to a free photo site called Unsplash.com, which is pretty spectacular. You can use the photos for anything, with or without credit. Some pro photographers aren't happy about it. [Edit - Watch out for using anything with identifiable people or products for commercial use, as there probably isn't a proper release or permission to use them.]

If you're looking for Star Wars specific art for home use only, there is the Star Wars Artists Guild or DeviantArt.

In other news, FFG posted a new preview of The Star Wars Roleplaying Game 30th Anniversary Rulebook. It's aimed at gamers who may have never seen the game or know anything about it.

Star Wars Legion miniatures game has a release date - March 22, with preorders for the core set and 8 expansions available now. There's a new preview of the Imperial forces.