Magazine Madness 17: Parallel Worlds Issue #04

The gaming magazine is dead. After all, when was the last time that you were able to purchase a gaming magazine at your nearest newsagent? Games Workshop’s White Dwarf is of course the exception, but it has been over a decade since Dragon appeared in print. However, in more recent times, the hobby has found other means to bring the magazine format to the market. Digitally, of course, but publishers have also created their own in-house titles and sold them direct or through distribution. Another vehicle has been Kickstarter.com, which has allowed amateurs to write, create, fund, and publish titles of their own, much like the fanzines of Kickstarter’s ZineQuest. The resulting titles are not fanzines though, being longer, tackling broader subject matters, and more professional in terms of their layout and design.

—oOo—

The fourth issue of Parallel Worlds magazine was published in the winter of 2020. As with previous issues, beginning with the inaugural issue, Parallel Worlds Issue #01 published in 2019, it contains no gaming content as such, but rather discusses and aspects of not just the hobby, but different hobbies—board games, roleplaying games, computer games, films, and more. Unlike like later issues, for example, Parallel Worlds Issue #21 and Parallel Worlds Issue #22, this fourth issue is a fairly unbalanced issue, with relatively little, direct gaming content in favour of focusing on computer games and films. Further, the standard of writing is better, which when combined with its selection of interesting articles and brevity serves to make it overall an engaging, even sometimes thoughtful read. Of course, Parallel Worlds Issue #04 is readily available in print, but all of the issues of Parallel Worlds, published by Parallel Publishing can also be purchased in digital format, because it is very much not back in the day of classic White Dwarf, but here and now.

Parallel Worlds Issue #04 opens with its editorial from Tom Grundy, briefly mentioning the importance of escaping into the fantasy of a new book, film, or video during the winter, before giving an overview of the issue’s contents. It is followed by the first of several articles in the issue dedicated to computer games. This is the issue’s ‘Interview’ with Julian Gollop, designer and programmer of the classic, turn-based strategy games, Laser Squad and UFO: Enemy Unknown. Timed with the then release of Phoenix Point, this is a relatively short piece which looks back at the creation process of UFO: Enemy Unknown in particular and how that has developed with the then new game. It would have been useful perhaps if there had been some more information on the designer’s earlier titles, perhaps to give context for younger readers, but otherwise an enjoyable read. Aliens are the subject of the second article dedicated to computer games. In Louis Colvert’s Thinkpiece, ‘Why Aren’t Aliens In Video Games More… Alien?’, the author explores the role and expectations of the alien in our most modern form of fiction—the video game. Drawing from a number of different titles, Halo and Oddworld: Abe’s Oddysee in particular, he notes how the design of the aliens have been used to reinforce and subvert the expectations of the players. In Halo, the size and speed of the aliens often reflects what expect of the animal world—larger aliens are slower, hit harder, and take more damage, whereas with the smaller ones, the reverse is true. Oddworld: Abe’s Oddysee has alien creatures which are human-like in all but appearance, meaning that in telling a story around slavery it can draw parallels with our own history. Ultimately, the near familiarity of how these aliens act is how we are best able to interact with them in game.

Under ‘Video Games’, Parallel Worlds Issue #04 continues its computer game strand with Ben Potts’ ‘Anthem: The game that nearly was’ examines the perceived failure and difficulties of Bioware’s Anthem, drawing parallels in terms of development with Destiny and Destiny 2 and highlighting the anticipation for the game following its 2017 demo versus the disappointment upon its release. That was in 2019 of course, and Anthem can be seen as a failure now, since development on the game ceased in 2021. Nevertheless, the article is another interesting read, and contrasts nicely with the piece that follows by Thomas Turnbull-Ross. ‘Lambda Cubed: The continuing mystery of Half-Life 3’ sets up and then explores the anticipation, even then a decade old, for the eagerly awaited, but yet to appear, third part in the Half-Life series from Valve. Even several years on from the article, fans will have to be satisfied with a sequel of sorts, Half-Life: Alyx, though that, of course, is unlikely. Consequently, this article has not really dated!

The ‘TV & Film’ articles in the issue open with ‘Star Wars Rebels: A Love letter To The Fans’ which examines the animated series and how it fits into Star Wars canon. Exploring the links to what is now known as ‘Legends’, but which was previously known as ‘The Expanded Universe’, the article highlights how much fan service it delivered, how it delved into and developed the lore, and some of the stories it told. It is clear that its author, Louis Colvert, is a fan, and he very much sells the series. Fans of Star Wars Rebels will enjoy the article, whilst anyone else should be intrigued enough to want go and watch it. Next, Jane Clewett provides thumbnail reviews of various genre films, such as Us, Midsommar, and It Chapter Two in ‘2019 in horror cinema’, which are decent enough. More interesting is ‘Let’s Talk About... Ad Astra’, which is a follow on from Parallel Worlds Issue #03 and its ‘Let’s Talk About... The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance’. This is a discussion piece, a two-hander between Tom Grundy and Jane Clewett about their reaction to the film and their thoughts about it. This article is shorter, but it highlights the odd nature of the film and disparity of its story elements.

The issue includes three entries under the ‘Tabletop Games’ label. First, ‘We Found a Body’ launches the first in a series of ‘The Generic Adventure Module’ which explore particular plot types which can be added to a game. In this case, Allen Stroud adds a corpse and accompanying mystery. Graphically, it suggests that this is for a modern game, but the article is broad enough to suggest otherwise, in turn examining ways in which the body can be introduced, forensics applied, suspected questioned, and the death investigated. This is all from a point of setting up a good story and whilst it could have been more detailed, the advice is sound and the article lays the groundwork for future articles to come. It is followed by Christopher Jarvis’ review of Zombie Kidz, which is given high praise. The trio is rounded out the ‘Mini of the Month’, this time by Allen Stroud. The regular article, this time devoted to ‘Grak, warlord of the Clan’, an orc miniature that he purchased at Gen Con UK, benefits greatly from being a page in length rather the two in earlier issues, but is very much a nostalgia piece, since the convention and the miniature date from 1995.

Ant Jones and Tom Grundy follow up Allen Stroud’s ‘Diamonds in the Rough: Read Adventurous!’ on self-published novels in Parallel Worlds Issue #03 with ‘Self-Pub Review’, a trio of reviews of three self-published books. These are all good and sound interesting reads from the reviews. With half of the article devoted to its award winners, Allen Stroud’s ‘Fantasy Con Glasgow’ is never given sufficient space to make the event come alive or sound interesting as other entries in the ‘Events’ department in previous issues managed to do. Rounding out the issue are two pieces of short, ‘Original Fiction’. They consist of ‘Lazaraki Chronicles’, a horror piece by Connor Edles, and a Science Fiction piece, ‘Red 14’ by Ben Potts. These are decent enough.

Physically, Parallel Worlds #04 is printed in full colour, on very sturdy paper, which gives it a high-quality feel. Unlike in previous issues, it not does suffer from a lot of empty space and the articles are compact rather than stretched out. Consequently, the issue does not feel as empty as was the case with the first three issues.

Parallel Worlds Issue #04 is the best issue yet. It has more content, the less interesting articles take up decidedly less space, and there are more interesting articles to read. ‘We Found a Body’ is good, as is, again ‘Let’s Talk About... Ad Astra’, and also ‘Star Wars Rebels: A Love letter To The Fans’. Yet as much as there is more interesting content in the pages of the issue to read, it is unbalanced. The tabletop gaming content does not come off as a poor second or third so much as a poor fourth or fifth. Three articles, one of which is a review (and compare that to the fact that three books are reviewed to one game) and another a nostalgia piece about a twenty-five year old miniature, compared to four computer game articles and three film and television articles, all lengthier articles, do not feel enough for magazine which was at the time being pitched to sell in game shops. ‘We Found a Body’ is a good start, but Parallel Worlds needs more gaming content to balance everything else out. In the meantime, Parallel Worlds #04 is still a decent read.

Pulp Space Wizardry

When you are at an international gaming convention and an Italian man comes barrelling at you in order to thrust a copy of his book into your hands in order to review it, then it would seem churlish not to review said book. The book in question is Dare the Stars! The Future as it Once Was, a Sci-Fi RPG based upon the Pulps of the 1930s and 1950s. Thus with Dare the Stars! we are firmly in the territory of Buck Rogers, Flash Gordon, et al. Published by Wild Boar Games, LLC, it is a retroclone based on the Old School Renaissance RPG, White Star: White Box Science Fiction Roleplaying published by Barrel Rider Games, which means that Dare the Stars! is not only compatible with White Star: White Box Science Fiction Roleplaying, it is also compatible with the recently released White Star Companion.

In presenting an Old School Renaissance take upon the all-action prewar and postwar Sci-Fi of the last century it provides six new Classes, rules for assistants and followers, Insights and Alien Powers, as well as a setting. In addition it also includes complete rules based on Swords & Wizardry so it can be played complete as is or expanded with other White Star compatible supplements. The six Classes are Adventurous Noble, Android, Brave Soldier, Clever Scientist, Daring Explorer, and Wise Spacer. Each Class has ten Levels and various more abilities. So the Adventurous Noble can persuade others to do his bidding with ‘Let’s Talk This Out’, inspire others with Initiative and To-Hit bonuses by leading the way ‘To the Breach’, and later gain a retinue of Brave Soldiers as bodyguards and normal humans as personal servants. The Android differs in that it is only an eight-Level Class rather than the standard ten Levels. Otherwise, the Android has high Intelligence, but low Charisma. Low-Level Androids cannot initiate combat, but every Android has ‘Keen Senses’, and is both a ‘Living Computer’ and a ‘Walking Cyclopedia’. The Brave Soldier is one of a ‘Band of Brothers’ and can organise allies to grant a To-Hit bonus, can use weapons of any type—including alien weapons, knows how to use ‘Camouflage’ to hide himself and others so that the negative To-Hit numbers for targeting with long range weapons are doubled, and as ‘War Driver’ is skilled enough to improve the Armour Class of any vehicle he drives. 

The Clever Scientist can use ‘Science!’ to repair tools, machinery, and the living as well as to build devices; temporarily fix things with ‘Jury Rig’; and as a ‘Gimmick’, disassemble two similar items of technology and reassemble them to create better, if irreplaceable prototype. For example, a Clever Scientist might redesign two pieces of armour as one to improve the new armour’s Armour Class or the wearer’s Saving Throw, or two weapons to improve the new design’s damage or rate of fire. The Daring Explorer can once per day withstand deadly damage with ‘Man of Steel’, reroll a single failed roll with ‘Hero’s Luck’, and with ‘Jack-of-all-Trades’, make a single roll with +4 bonus. He also has a ‘Signature Weapon’ that he can use faster than anyone else. The Wise Spacer is all about his prior experience, so can lend a ‘Helping Hand’ to grant another character a bonus to his roll, and once per day draw upon his ‘Secret Stash’ for that piece of equipment you really need in a tight situation and because we are all ‘Brothers and Sisters’, can persuade other not to attack him or even to become an ally. More importantly, a Wise Spacer trusts his instincts and can provide Insights into whatever situation he and his companions find themselves. The Wise Spacer has access to a wide range of these, for example, ‘As a Sibling to Me’ let's him persuade an NPC that they are friends, whilst ‘Find the Way’ means that he can always successfully plot a Jump between star systems. There are over twenty Insights given in Dare the Stars!, enabling a Wise Spacer to bring wisdom aplenty into the game as well as offering some fun roleplaying opportunities for his player. All that player has to do now is channel his inner Walter Houston.

In the basic version of Dare the Stars!, the RPG does not offer anything in the way of Race options, so effectively, a player cannot create a Alien character. As an option though, rules are provided to enable a player to create his own. Two methods are provided, one more complex than the other. The more complex method enables a player to create a variety of Races, for example, the Hawk-Men and the Lion-Men from Flash Gordon. 

The equipment list is kept relatively short, but covers most things that a Pulp Sci-Fi RPG will need. Of course it includes the Raygun, something that every good Earthman—and Earthwoman—will want to equip themselves with. It also includes the Atomic Grenade, which is of course ludicrous, but perfectly in keeping with the genre. This being a Sci-Fi RPG, Dare the Stars! gives various types of starship and vehicle, the latter including the aircar and the moon buggy, the former, this being is a Pulp Sci-Fi RPG, the atomic warship, the exploration rocket, and the gunship rocket. The various vehicles feel more workmanlike than exciting though, perhaps not helped by their bulky rather than sleek-looking appearance.

If there is a real issue with the spaceships in Dare the Stars! it is the inability of the player characters to get hold of, and crew, one. It would probably take ten player characters to roll enough starting credits to purchase their own ship and that is before they even think of purchasing their personal equipment. Really though, owning a spaceship in a Pulp Sci-Fi RPG should not be a matter of having enough money and Dare the Stars! needed to address this problem.

The combat rules covers the usual melee and missile combat common to all OSR retroclones, but it also details combat between vehicles and starships. These rules are compatible with White Star: White Box Science Fiction Roleplaying, so the spaceships and vehicles nicely integrate between the two systems. More interesting though are the rules for Followers and Assistants. These enable the player characters to hire anyone from an animal trainer or assassin to starship repairman or translator, or alternatively any of the Class-based Assistants. This is in addition to the Followers that every Class in Dare the Stars!—except the Android Class—gain as they go up in Level. Whilst a Follower is essentially a member of one of the RPG’s Classes, but of a lower Level, each type of Assistant is nicely described as what he can do and what equipment he has. These not only serve to provide the means to crew a player character spaceship, for example, they also provide a ready supply of NPCs.

The setting detailed in Dare the Stars! posits a galaxy populated by races seeded in the past by the mysterious Progenitors who have long since disappeared. Their interaction with the Space Shadows, spurred the Space Shadows to attack our galaxy just as humanity took its first footsteps beyond the Solar System. The resulting War of Shadows only ended when the Space Shadows mysteriously disappeared. Earth and the nations of the Solar System have since formed the Solar Compact to protect humanity’s colonial expansion against the predations of space pirates, the Aleph Theocracy, and the Empire of the Wolf. Various alien species, such as the (prairie) Dogs of Venus, the insectoid Moonfolk, and the blue-skinned, nomadic Truggen, all native to the setting, are also given as NPCs.

Beyond some decent advice for the GM, Dare the Stars! goes further in its appendices by detailing some of the alien races native to the RPG’s setting as playable Classes. They include the Kheethee Warrior, jolly if naive warrior reptiles allied with mankind; the four-armed, short tempered green Martian Brawler and the red Martian Nobles known for their psychic abilities and thus make use of the Alien Powers rules included in Dare the Stars!; and the cat-like Taucetian Rogue, forced to leave his homeworld. These nicely expand the options available to the player characters and showcase what can be done with RPG’s alien creation rules.

Now as much as Dare the Stars! presents the means to run a Pulp Sci-Fi game, it's content is let down in terms of its presentation. The fundamental problem is that it suffers from issues that plague too many first books from new publishers. It needs another edit. Another good edit. The problem is not necessarily the writing, which given that it is not in the author’s native tongue, is decent enough, but rather the inconsistent formatting and some of the phrasing. Worse though, it needs more development, first and foremost to make the RPG’s default background more coherent and accessible, but then to give reasons for the player characters to go adventuring. That and the means for the player characters to gain a spaceship and start adventuring. The last thing that Dare the Stars! is missing a bibliography, which is disappointing.

That said Dare the Stars! includes some a good range of artwork. Some of it nicely evokes the genre it is seeking to emulate, while other illustrations are quite creepy. Others though, are a bit bland and at best merely okay.

Where White Star: White Box Science Fiction Roleplaying very clearly drew upon Star Wars for its inspiration, Dare the Stars! draws from the very same source as did Stars Wars for its inspiration—the Pulp Sci-Fi stories of the thirties and fifties. Dare the Stars! provides the means to run an RPG game in that genre, not quite as effectively as it could, but the Classes it provides to that end are solid and the setting is not without potential, but the presentation and the lack of development undermines much of that designer’s efforts. At the moment, Dare the Stars! feels like a late draft. Neither unplayable or unuseable, Dare the Stars! The Future as it Once Was is just not quite as polished, quite as professional as the designer would have intended.

Space Wizard's Companion

This last year has proved to be a highly successful for White Star: White Box Science Fiction Roleplaying. Based on Mythmere Games’ Swords & Wizardry and published by Barrel Rider Games, the Science Fiction RPG has constantly remained in the top twenty best selling titles at RPGnow for the last twelve months. Successfully combining a clean, stripped back style and a set of influences clearly worn on its sleeves, White Star: White Box Science Fiction Roleplaying is the charming, fun Space Opera RPG that we never had in 1977. Yet it was not quite perfect, since its lack of technical and scientific character Classes meant it could not be quite the encompassing and flexible Science Fiction RPG that it had the potential to be. The good news is that Barrel Rider Games has published the White Star Companion that sets out to rectify this lack and provide much, much more.

The White Star Companion includes eight new Classes, rules for vehicle combat, new vehicles and spaceships, a skills system, new equipment, new alien races and creatures, a whole new setting, and more. The eight new Classes include the Bounty Hunter, a capable combatant and tracker who can also subdue a target; the Deep Space Explorer possesses good survival skills and can identify the basic features of any newly encountered species; the Freed Assimilant has several innate pieces of cyberware, never sleeps, and can block incoming laser fire; a Man of Tomorrow is a good in a brawl, can shrug off Critical Hits, and once per session, has Uncanny Luck; and the Novomachina are robot survivors of a civil war each capable of of transforming into a particular vehicle. The Plucky Kid takes Inspiration whenever another player rolls a natural twenty to hit in combat, can inspire others when they attempt Saving Throws, and can mimic the ability of another character if he sees them use it; the Two-Fisted Technician is good at destroying robots, can quickly learn to use alien technology, perform temporary percussive maintenance, and temporarily improve a weapon’s damage; and Yabnabs are cute, adorable, and typically underestimated. For the most part, the inspiration for these Classes are obvious, Transformers for the Novomachina, the Ewoks for the Yabnabs, Seven of Nine from Star Trek: Voyager for the Freed Assimilant, and so on. Others are less obvious.

This octet of new Classes is a nice addition to those in the core rules, expanding the range of choices available to player and GM alike. The choice enables the GM to better tailor the Classes to his campaign. So for example, if the GM does not want to run a Star Wars-like campaign, then he might not include the Star Lord or the Yabnab. Notably, all of the eight new Classes are given as Classes rather than Races, though this is what the Yabnab really are. Accompanying the eight are rules for Multi-Classing, which allows a player to pick multiple Classes and their features but at a cost of having a acquire a whole lot more Experience Points per level.

New rules in the White Star Companion add vehicles and vehicular combat, so that the player characters can now travel and fight down the gravity well as well as up. Essentially the new rules for vehicular combat are the same as those for starship combat, but with a couple of extra options, including vehicles being immobilised if their Hit Points are reduced to zero rather than being destroyed and allowing the Pilot Class to add its Level when determining the number of points of damage repaired. The new rules are supported by a selection of new vehicles, the inspiration for which, much like many of the character Classes, are fairly obvious. So the Assault Springer, Assault Strider, Skybike, and Yabnab Glider are inspired by Star Wars. Others like the Hover Tank are more generic in origins. To this are added new starships, including the Orbital Battle Station, Orbital Shuttle—whose illustration looks like the Far Merchant from Traveller, the Scout Ship, and the Stunt Bomber. There are also cinematic rules for inflicting the effects of minor, moderate, and major damage when a vehicle or starship is reduced to three-quarters, half, and a quarter of its Hit Points as well as details of the Ion Grappler and Planetary Laser, new modifications to fit onto the Orbital Battle Station and other larger vessels.

The White Star Companion also provides a simple skill system using just Athletics, Interaction, Knowledge, Larceny, Medicine, Navigation, Survival, and Technology. Each is rated between one and five and associated with an attribute and one or more Classes, such as Interaction with Charisma and the Aristocrat and Star Knight Classes and the Navigation skill with Intelligence and the Pilot Class. Each character starts with three skills, one of which must be an associated skill, and they can be modified by attribute modifiers also. These rules are quick and dirty, but cover most situations, for example the Technology skill covers computers, Faster-Than-Light engines, robotics, and more, including hard science. So now a player can create scientist character or a better engineer for example. By broadening the types and proficiencies of characters that White Star: White Box Science Fiction Roleplaying allows, it also widens the types of Science Fiction that the RPG can do.

Likewise, the new rules for Serials enables the players to flesh out their background by rolling for their Homeworld, Family, Youth, First Adventure, Allies, Adversary, and Critical Event, though the latter is optional. Just six options are given for each, so similarities in terms of results between player characters could be used to forge links between members of a party. Our sample character originally appeared in the review of White Star: White Box Science Fiction Roleplaying and is here further developed with the new rules in the White Star Companion.

Pooma Mupoo, Level 1 Star Lord
Str: 10 Int: 13 (+1) Wis: 17 (+2)
Con: 12 Dex: 15 (+1) Chr: 13 (+1)
Hit Points: 6 Save: 15 (+2 vs. Meditations & Gifts)
Armour Class: 7 Ascending Armour Class: 12
Experience Bonus: +20%
Skills: Interaction 3, Medicine 4, Athletics 2
Languages: 3
Equipment: Star Sword (+1), Light Armour, Energy Shield, 60 Cr

Serial
Homeworld: Cosmopolitan (+1 Charisma, -1 Constitution); Family: Most of your family is dead or missing; Youth: Delinquent (Successfully pickpocket on a roll of 1-2 on a 1d6); First Adventure: Captured by Outlaws (Pick mechanical locks on a roll of
1-2 on a 1d6); Allies: Street Rat—A street urchin in a major metropolitan planet calls
you his friend (Automatically know the criminal activity on one specific sector of a planet in the galaxy.); Adversary: Void Knight (A terrible Void Knight is searching the galaxy for you); Critical Event: Located a previously undiscovered hideout, known only to you (You now have a secret base that no one else knows about, such as an abandoned space station or undiscovered planet.)

There is also new items of equipment—weapons and armours mostly—and new aliens and creatures. The White Star Companion continues its plundering of the genre, for example, Wellsians are floating tentacled brains who arm themselves with death rays; Alureans are green skinned and charismatic, so very Star Trek-like; and the Rawrarr are tall, lean, and fur covered who use a mix of technologies and live in treetop cities, so very Wookie-like. Then there are the Space Ducks…

Random Encounters provides the means for the Referee to create star sectors and planetary systems, to create the backdrop for a game. The rules are designed to be quick and easy and to provide cinematic, somewhat pulpy settings, particularly in the form of Exotic Traits, such as abandoned societies, crystal landscapes, flying islands, and so on. The suggested natives are drawn from both White Star: White Box Science Fiction Roleplaying and the White Star Companion. The chapter finally lives up its title with a set of tables for rolling up encounters in both space and on planet.

Rounding out the White Star Companion is a description of the Sterling System. It expands upon the setting of the Kelron Sector described in the White Star: White Box Science Fiction Roleplaying, but where that was set on the frontier and full of mining space stations, abandoned planets, and stellar dangers, the Sterling System lies at the heart of the Galactic Consortium, full of secrets and mysteries. Divided by Adlar’s Wall, a dense belt of asteroids, the sector is ruled with an iron fist by Supreme Lord Adlar, and might be ripe for rebellion…  This setting is not as interesting as that of Kelron Sector and does feel as if the author is trying just a bit too hard. Of all the entries in the White Star Companion, the description of the Sterling System is ever so slightly disappointing and not quite so useful in comparison.

White Star: White Box Science Fiction Roleplaying was one of the best Retroclones released in 2015, being a great toolkit for running a Science Fiction genre Old School Renaissance game. Nevertheless, there were tools missing from that kit that meant that it was not the all encompassing treatment of the genre that it could have been. With the release of the White Star Companion, the absence of those tools—of technological and scientific abilities for characters, there was no skill system, and no means to create planets, all things that a good, generic  Science Fiction RPG needs—has been addressed. Which means that  the White Star Companion makes White Star: White Box Science Fiction Roleplaying the superb Science Fiction retroclone and toolkit that it was meant to be.

Space Swords & Wizardry

The Old School Renaissance has always been about one thing—aping a version of Dungeons & Dragons from the days of yester yore. Whether Swords & Wizardry, Labyrinth Lord, or Lamentations of the Flame Princess Weird Fantasy Roleplaying, the focus has been on the Tolkienesque swords and sorcery of Dungeons & Dragons. There are of course exceptions, notably Backswords & Bucklers: Adventuring in Gloriana’s Britain and X-plorers: The role playing adventures of Galactic Troubleshooters! Science Fiction is also the genre of choice for the latest Old School Renaissance RPG. White Star: White Box Science Fiction Roleplaying from Barrel Rider Games is based on Swords & Wizardry for it mechanics and draws on the Space Opera sub-genre, as typified by Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe, John Carter of Mars, and Star Wars, for its inspiration. These though are not the only inspiration and given their presence, it should be easy enough for a Referee to do a number of different Science Fiction settings using these rules.

Swords & Wizardry employs four core classes and White Star does exactly the same. They are Aristocrat—Star Wars’ Leia Organa, Firefly’s Inarra Serra, Blake 7’s Roj Blake; Mercenary—Star Wars’ Bobba Fett, Firefly’s Zoe Washburne or Jayne Cobb, Blake 7’s Olog Gan; Pilot—Star Wars’ Han Solo, Firefly’s Wash, Blake 7’s Jenna Stannis; and Star Knight—Star Wars’ Luke Skywalker or Obi-Wan Kenobi, Firefly’s River Tam, and Blake 7’s Cally. Aristocrats are powerful speakers, capable of inspiring others to give To-Hit and Saving Throw bonuses, charming others as per Charm Person, and acquiring a retinue of assistants. Mercenaries get extra attacks against foes of 1 Hit Dice or less, whilst Pilots possess an Initiative bonus in space combat, assign bonuses to their ship’s statistics in combat, and once per day, can carry out a temporary repairs to their ships. Lastly, Star Knights can activate Meditations like Charm Person, Detect Life, and Dark Vision, and are renowned as Star Sword duellists.

Of the four core Classes, the Star Knight is the most obvious in its inspiration, their being cast as wandering protectors of the galaxy. Much like other retroclones, the Fighter-type Class, in the case of White Star, the Mercenary, is the least interesting and the least developed. A number of House Rules are given throughout the book, including Strength bonuses for combat and damage, Wisdom bonuses for the Star Knight’s Meditations, Dexterity bonuses for Armour Class, and so on. One possibility to address the weakness of the Mercenary Class would be to let it have the Strength bonus, but a better alternative might be to give it a simple bonus with a single selected weapon as a specialisation.

Besides the four core Classes, White Star includes three optional character races as Classes. These are the Alien Brute—Star Wars’ Chewbacca or Stargate SG-1’s Teal’c; Alien Mystics—Star Wars’ Yoda or Star Trek’s Spock; and Robot—Star Wars’ C-3PO and R2-D2 or Star Trek’s Data. The Alien Brute is a combat specialist like the Mercenary, but is better in hand-to-hand combat and has keen senses. Alien Mystics tend to be peaceful and introspective and can use Gifts such as Light, Phantasmal Force, and Alter Time, and also have keen senses. Lastly each Robot must be of a specific model, either Combat, Diplomacy, or Mechanical. This does mean that they replicate some of the abilities of White Star’s other Classes, for example, the Mechanical model of Robot can repair starships and vehicles and can assign bonuses to a starship’s statistics much like the Pilot Class.

Pooma Mupoo, Level 1 Star Lord
Str: 10 Int: 13 (+1) Wis: 17 (+2)
Con: 13 (+1) Dex: 15 (+1) Chr: 12
Hit Points: 7 Save: 15 (+2 vs. Meditations & Gifts)
Armour Class: 7 Ascending Armour Class: 12
Experience Bonus: +20%
Languages: 3
Equipment: Star Sword (+1), Light Armour, Energy Shield, 60 Cr

For the most part, running and playing White Star: White Box Science
Fiction Roleplaying is much like running and playing Swords & Wizardry or any other retroclone. The equipment list includes a mix of medieval and advanced devices and weaponry; there are rules for concealed and secret doors; experience Points are gained for uncovering treasure or advanced technology as well as defeating opponents and advancing the story of the current game; and whilst White Star uses a descending Armour Class mechanic, it also includes rules for ascending Armour Class as another house rule.

Although the list of advanced equipment pushes White Star into other Science Fiction sub-genres, most notably Cyberpunk with cyberware, but it includes a good mix of items that sort of get treated like ‘magic items’, rewards for the player characters to find. Fun items include a LASER Attraction Gauntlet for that Han Solo shot at Darth Vader deflection moment, Star Sword Gems because Star Wars: Force Unleashed is fun, Jet Boots, well, because, and Warp Gates, because only good things can come out of them… Now White Star is not a dark and gritty game, so there is no penalty for having cyberware fitted, though a house rule does suggest a limit on the number that can be fitted.

The biggest addition to White Star are the rules for starship combat. Starships themselves are simply defined by Armour Class, Hit Points, Shield Strength (which reduces damage). Movement, Targeting bonus, weaponry, and modifications. The rules are nicely kept simple and streamlined, much in keeping with the rules for standard melee and ranged combat. Characters are expected to work together to operate a starship in such circumstances and any Experience Points earned is divided between the party. Various starship types are included, ranging from ‘stunt’ fighters, light transports, and blockade runners up to dreadnoughts, gunships, and star cruisers.

As to be expected with a retroclone based on Swords & Wizardry, the Gifts and Meditations in White Star are essentially spells from Dungeons & Dragons and both work as per Vancian magic. That is, learn, cast, and then forget. Both lists of Gifts and Meditations are actually a mix of Magic-user and Cleric spells, so you have Charm Person and Heal Other included in the list of Meditations and Hold Person and Fly in the list of Gifts. This divide between Gifts and Meditations seems odd given the obvious inspiration for White Star, even arbitrary. Surely the Star Lord and the Alien Mystic should be able to learn both?

Of its alien species, White Star draws from Battlestar Galactica, Doctor Who, Firefly, Flash Gordon, Guardians of the Galaxy, Star Trek, and Star Wars for its inspiration. For the most part, the inspiration for its non-sentient species is less obvious, though Dune is one of the more obvious ones. Of course, a capable Referee could easily adapt any of the creatures or monsters that appear in other Swords & Wizardry compatible material. Overall, these inspirations are fun to spot, most being fairly obvious, like the Void Knight, the dark counterpart to the Star Knight Class.

One of the highlights in White Star: White Box Science Fiction Roleplaying is its discussion of campaigns and campaign types. It neatly dissects and summarises several different familiar Science Fiction and space opera campaign types. These include ‘Rebels Against the Regime’, ‘Explorers Amongst the Stars’, ‘Invasion!’, ‘Brothers in Arms’, and ‘Just Keep Flying’. So that list covers Star Wars, Firefly, Blake’s 7, Starship Troopers, Star Trek, and obviously, much, much more. These discussions are very nicely done, exploring each Class’ role in each campaign type in a very helpful fashion.

To get a  campaign started, White Star is rounded out with the ‘Interstellar Civil war’ campaign setting and a description of the Kelron Sector, a region isolated behind several asteroid belts.It is broadly drawn and described, leaving room for the Referee to develop more. To support the setting, ‘The Second Battle of Brinn’, an adventure for six to eight characters of First to Third Levels, takes the heroes to an asteroid mining station to retrieve some data. Although it does feel undeveloped in places, it is a reasonable introductory adventure that is really a dungeon in space in which the heroes must race to achieve their objective before the situation goes sour on them. 

If there is an issue with White Star, it is that there are not enough character classes. Notably, there is no scientific or technical classes, so it is not possible to create Spock, Scottie, McCoy, Avon, and so on. To an extent, the Pilot and Robot classes can cover elements of this, but it does not quite feel right. Similarly there is no equivalent of the Thief class, so it is not possible to create Vila, for example. The problem is that without these additional Classes, White Star cannot quite do the types of Science Fiction that it is clearly inspired by, which is a shame because there is a great deal to like about the RPG. In addition, it would have been nice if the house rules had included options for skill use and some rules and guidance for creating planets and solar systems rather than just leaving it up to the Referee.

Physically, White Star is nicely presented. The artwork looks good and much effort has gone into the book’s graphic design feel futuristic as per 1977. That said, another edit would not have gone amiss.

There is great deal to like about White Star: White Box Science Fiction Roleplaying, a game that  very obviously wears its influences on its sleeves. The rules are simple and the game has a clean, stripped back style that together nicely models those inspirations and their genres. The good news is that the designer has bowed to demands from his customers and thus has made ita available in print. That said, it is surprising that it has not yet appeared in its own ‘White Box’. It could do with a companion volume though as there is slightly too much missing for it really to be fully capable of doing its inspirations justice. Certainly if White Star included the two or three extra Classes  it so needs, it would realise its aim of being a superb Science Fiction retroclone. As it is, White Star: White Box Science Fiction Roleplaying is the charming, fun Space Opera RPG that we never had in 1977.

Reviews from R'lyeh Christmas Dozen 2014

Since 2001, I have contributed to a series of Christmas lists at Ogrecave.com, suggesting not necessarily the best board and roleplaying games of the preceding year, but the titles from the last twelve months that you might like to receive and give. Continuing the break with tradition—in that the following is just the one list and in that for reasons beyond its control, OgreCave.com is not running its own lists—Reviews from R’lyeh would once again like present its own list. Further, as is also traditional, Reviews from R’lyeh has not devolved into the need to cast about “Baleful Blandishments” to all concerned or otherwise based upon the arbitrary organisation of days. So as Reviews from R’lyeh presents its Baker’s Dozenth’s Christmas List Dozen, we can only hope that the Baker’s Dozen below includes one of your favourites, or even better still, includes a game that you do not have and someone is happy to hide in gaudy paper and place under that dead tree for you.

-oOo-

Dungeons & Dragons Starter Set 
(Wizards of the Coast), $19.99/£16.99
If you are going to list some of the best games of 2014, then you have to deal with the ‘elephant’—or rather the ‘dragon’ in the room, for 2014 saw the return of the number one roleplaying game. 

Forty years after the original version was released, Wizards of the Coast published Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition. This new version of the classic RPG is immensely accessible and very playable, and there is no better place to start but with the Dungeons & Dragons Starter Set. It includes everything necessary to play: the basic rules, a set of five pre-generated characters, a good adventure, and of course, dice. This is a great way to bring old players to the game and a great way for old players to bring new players to the game, and the provided scenario, ‘Lost Mine of Phandelver’, is an excellent starting point, offering plenty of play before the DM (and the players) needs to invest in the Player’s Handbook.

Machi Koro

(IDW Games), $19.99/£16.99

Japanese games came of age in the English language hobby in 2014 when the highly regarded Love Letter and Trains both won Origins awards. This year they were joined by the easy-to-play and ever so cute, Machi Koro, published by IDW Games. It is a simple card and dice game in which all the players have to do is roll the die (or dice), check the buildings on their cards and get some income, and then buy another building or even improve their suburbs with landmarks. 

Each player is the mayor of suburb whose inhabitants wants better landmarks; build four landmarks and he wins the game. This is ever so easy-to-learn, quick-to-play, and can be enjoyed by the casual player and the seasoned gamer alike. Plus there are expansions to come which will provide more cards and thus more buildings. Which means more options. In the meantime, the core box for Machi Koro is simply fun.

You Are The Hero:
A History of Fighting Fantasy™ Gamebooks 

(Snow Books) $45/£40

2014 was a great year for gaming and the history of gaming. You Are the Hero looked at one aspect of gaming history and then one aspect of that aspect… By that we mean that it explored the history of the British Fighting Fantasy™ series of solo adventure books rather than the history of the solo adventure books. This delves back to the origins of the publishing phenomenon that put The Warlock of Firetop Mountain and nearly sixty subsequent titles on the shelves of bookshops around the round and accumulated millions of sales, before going on to examine each and every entry in the series, and then the board games, computer games, magazines, and more. All commented upon by both the creators and the fans. This is also a history in part of the British gaming scene, but mostly it is a loving look at the Fighting Fantasy™ series that enabled us to go on fantastic adventures in the comforts of our own homes before the digital age.

Ivor the Engine

(Surprised Stare Games) $42.50/£25.00

Some games have ‘meeples’ or ‘my people’. Only one game has ‘sheeple’ or ‘sheep meeple’. That is, little wooden sheep; and that game is the most charming game of the year—Ivor the Engine.

Based on the BBC children’s television classic, this game sees the players come to the aid of a small green locomotive who lives in the “top left-hand corner of Wales” and works for The Merioneth and Llantisilly Railway Traction Company Limited with the help of his driver, Jones the Steam. Their prime task is tidying up all of the escaped sheep, but they can also complete jobs and so visit places such as Grumbly Gasworks and Gwynaudolion Halt, Mrs Porty’s House and Pugh’s Farm, and Tan-Y-Gwlch and Dinwiddy’s Gold Mine. Fans of the television series will enjoy the references, whilst those new to them will find them equally as charming. Although this looks a lot like a children’s game, it is competitive enough that experienced gamers can pick and play it with gusto. Plus it comes with little wooden sheep. Really cute little wooden sheep.

Firefly Role-Playing Game

(Margaret Weis Productions) $49.99/£31.99

Although we got a good taster of the game last year with Gaming In The ‘Verse, this year we finally got to see how shiny the Firefly Role-Playing Game really is. It lived up to that tag, because the game not only takes you step-by-step through every Firefly episode, but through the rules at the same time, so the original television series truly serves as a big set of fat examples of play. It is a great way to learn the Cortex Plus mechanics—the best yet—and once learned you can play out the further adventures of Mal Reynolds and the crew of the Serenity, or even better create your own crew and your own ship and chance all of the possibilities and dangers of being out in the Black. With the Cortex Plus rules, everyone’s character comes alive, not just what they do, but also what they hold dear and what just might make life difficult for them and their crew. Life don’t go easy in the ‘Verse and the Firefly Role-Playing Game is designed to bring that to your adventures and make them as dramatic as Joss Whedon’s Firefly.

Colt Express

(Ludonaute) $54.99/£27.99

There is a train coming down the track—and you are going to rob it! The year is 1899 and the Union Pacific Express is heading out of New Mexico with the Nice Valley Coal Company's weekly pay aboard. So you and fellow bandits have boarded the train and must race down the carriages, stealing bags of money and jewels from the passengers, punching and shooting at each other, climbing up to the roof (and running along the rooftops), all trying to get to the front of the train where Marshal is guarding the $1000 payroll. 

In this fun game, the players take turns to program what their bandits will do over the course of each round. Some of these actions will be seen by everyone, but whenever the train goes through a tunnel, none of the bandits can see what each other is going do. Once everyone has programmed their actions, they are revealed in order, and guess what? No plan ever survives contact with the enemy, or in the case of Colt Express, contact with rival bandits, the passengers, and the Marshal. So plans go awry, punches are landed where you never expected, gunshots miss, and some rotten stinking, varmit steals the loot before you do! All of which takes place aboard a fantastic cardboard train that comes as part of the game. So get ready for some schemin’ and stealin’ and see if you can leave the Colt Express with the most loot!

Designers & Dragons
(Evil Hat Productions) $80

2014 was an important year for the roleplaying hobby. Not only was it the fortieth anniversary of the original version of Dungeons & Dragons—and thus of the very hobby itself—but it also saw the return to our shelves of the very first roleplaying game with Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition. So there has never been a better year in which to look back at our hobby and that is exactly what Shannon Appelcline has done with Designers & Dragons, a four volume examination of the roleplaying hobby, decade by decade, publisher by publisher, trend by trend, from 1974 right up to the present day. In the process updating the original series that ran at RPG.net and was previous published by Mongoose Publishing. A useful reference for the ‘grognard’ looking to refresh his memory or delve into some nostalgia as it is for the newcomer wanting to know where it all started, Designers & Dragons is the definitive history of the hobby.

Player’s Handbook
(Wizards of the Coast) $49.95/£29.99
When you have exhausted all of the possibilities of the Dungeons & Dragons Starter Set or want to more choices when playing ‘Lost Mine of Phandelver’, its included scenario, then what you need is the Player’s Handbook, also published for Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition.

This new volume gives everything that player needs to play (minus dice) and gives him choices aplenty in terms of what he can play. All the classics are present—Elves and Orcs, Fighters and Wizards, plus Dragonborn and Tiefling, and Sorcerer and Warlock; and then all new in this edition, character options that support actual roleplaying rules. The Player’s Handbook not only supports playing adventures of the DM’s own devising, but also those published for Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition, and then for almost every scenario published in the last forty years (with just a very little work, of course)! This is an easy-to-read, easy-to-grasp introduction to the world’s number one roleplaying game—and it is truly great to see it back on the shelves at our games stores.

Star Realms

(White Wizard Games) $14.99/£12.99

Star Realms is a deck building card game of starship combat. Specifically designed for two players, it sees them start small with just some Scout ships to generate money and Viper ships to inflict damage on the enemy. With the money a player can buy better ships, bases, outputs, and more from four factions. These include the Blobs with their strong combat vessels, the Machines which destroy their own ships and enemy bases, the Star Empire which can quickly bring its own ships into play or force the enemy ships to retreat, and the Trade Federation which generates wealth and Authority (the game’s equivalent of health points).

Each player is free to purchase ships, bases, and outposts of whichever faction he can afford, and with both players buying from the same deck, the competition is on—not only to see who can generate money enough to purchase ships and build a good deck, but also use the deck to the best of its ability to destroy his opponent! All of this—just 128 superbly illustrated cards—fits neatly into a tiny box and is just as easy on the pocket!

Pandemic: The Cure

(Z-Man Games) $49.99/£37.99

Ogrecave.com has been a fan of Matt Leacock’s Pandemic since it was released in 2008. The infamous co-operative game pitches four players against the game itself as they race to find the cures for four diseases that are ravaging the world whilst trying to prevent them from spreading and further outbreaks from occurring. That though was a board and card game, but now the designer has turned the Pandemic concept into a fast playing dice game: Pandemic: The Cure. Now the players not only have to rush from continent to continent treating diseases, they also need to take and collect samples enough to roll for a cure! In the original version of Pandemic, the diseases were represented by cubes and their appearance controlled by city cards, but in Pandemic: The Cure the diseases are represented by dice—dice that are rolled to see where they appear and then if the players have collected enough, rolled again to see if a cure can be found for the disease—and until a cure is rolled, the samples have to be stored somewhere and that somewhere is the players’ dice. Which means that the players give up possible actions in order to focus on a cure. Pandemic: The Cure is quick playing dice game that presents as much challenge as the original Pandemic, but in a slightly different fashion. Just remember to wear gloves—after all, the diseases are the dice!

Mindjammer: The Roleplaying Game

(Mindjammer Press) $54.99/£34.99

In this FATE Core powered Science Fiction RPG, the New Commonality of Humankind is spreading out from Earth using relatively recently discovered faster-than-light technology and rediscovering colonies founded centuries before using generation ships. Yet as these lost colonies are found and reintegrated into interstellar culture, the New Commonality of Humankind finds itself facing cultural adulteration from these previously isolated worlds. This sets up the central conflict at the heart of Mindjammer, played out on a frontier of old new worlds as a space opera with Transhuman elements, that plays out across the physical universe as much as it does the virtual world known as the Mindscape, a shared reality that connects all of the Commonality. This is a setting in which it is possible to play a sentient starship, the memories of a dead man downloaded into a robot, a genetically engineered soldier, and more. Mindjammer: The Roleplaying Game is a game with not just the scope to play out a campaign in its highly detailed setting, but also the capacity to be taken apart and used as parts of kit for the GM to create and design aliens, technologies, worlds, and more to create a campaign of his own devising.

Castles of Mad King Ludwig

(Bezier Games) $59.99/£47.99

Have you ever wanted to build Neuschwanstein, the ‘Swan Castle’ of King Ludwig II of Bavaria? As pleased as he is with that castle, the good king has asked you to build the biggest, the best, the most extravagant castle ever—all subject to his mercurial nature and whims. Which means that each of the architects/builders must build their castle at one room at time, even as they are actually selling rooms to their rival builders!

Beginning with a simple foyer, a player tries to build the most fantastic castle possible, whether that is outside, upstairs, or downstairs in the storerooms (and dungeons). Every turn is challenging because the player take turns being the Master Builder who sets the prices for the randomly drawn buildings and gets paid when his rival builders purchase them. As the game progresses, a player will add new rooms and as he completes each room by ensuring that all entrances of the room are connected to other rooms, he will score points and gain special benefits, such as another turn, more points, or more money. At game’s end a player can score bonus points based on the random goals set at the start of the game. The random nature of King Ludwig’s whims and thus of the game means that Castles of Mad King Ludwig is worth playing again and again—after all, everyone loves castles and getting to build castles is the best way to show this love.

-oOo-

So that was the Ogrecave.com Christmas Dozen for 2014. Yet, 2014 also marks the Ogrecave.com Christmas Dozen’s ‘Baker’s Dozen’, the thirteenth year of the Ogrecave.com Christmas Dozen. So only seems fitting that for this thirteenth list, it should be a Baker’s Dozen—meaning thirteen entries, not twelve! Thus we round out this year’s list with the other elephant in room that just snuck under the wire to qualify for 2014 and not 2015, where the elephant is both the setting and the price!

Star Wars: Imperial Assault 
(Fantasy Flight Games) $100/£79.99

There is no bigger game in 2014 than Star Wars: Imperial Assault and no board game with a bigger canvas! This is a miniatures game in which the heroes of the Rebellion are pitched against the Stormtroopers and the villains of the Galactic Empire in two modes. The campaign game sees a group of elite Rebel operatives on desperate missions to undermine the Empire which ruthlessly protects its interests and holdings, whilst the skirmish game is a two-player head-to-head fight between Imperial and Rebel strike teams for the same objectives. 

The game comes packed with detailed miniatures and full colour interlocking map sections, as well as the Luke Skywalker Ally Pack and the Darth Vader Villain Pack, giving another miniature each and yet more missions. This is a big game on which to play out a big story, whether exploring the events of the Star Wars tale and bringing back your Rebel operatives back again and again, each time getting better and better with successful missions, or designing armies to pitch against each in skirmish mode. Star Wars: Imperial Assault offers play aplenty and being set in the Star Wars universe means that there are expansions and thus more play to come!

Your Star Wars RPG Starter

In 1997, West End Games published the Star Wars Introductory Adventure Game. It was the best introduction to the Star Wars d6 RPG that the classic RPG could have been given, and indeed, it remains not only the best introduction to role playing in nearly forty years of the hobby, but also the standard by which all products designed to introduce players to the hobby are measured. Now late in 2012, Fantasy Flight Games published Star Wars: Edge of the Empire – Beginner Game, the introduction to its forthcoming RPG, which is the first of three. It is designed for use by between three and five players, one of whom has to be the GM.

It should be noted that this was not our first exposure to the Star Wars: Edge of the Empire Roleplaying Game in 2012. The publisher released a "beta" version of the core rules as part of a public play test effort. A full review of that is available to read here. What the Beginner Game does have, which the "beta" did not, is dice. Like the publisher's version of Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, this new game uses dice marked with icons appropriate to the setting of the game rather than just standard numbers.

Of course, the box that Beginner Game comes in includes a whole lot more than just the dice. Open up the box and slide out the contents and they are revealed to be a "Read This First" pamphlet, the Adventure Book, a Map Sheet, four Character Folios, a sheet of counters, and the Rulebook. All presented in that specific order with everything being done in full colour on glossy paper and is pleasingly illustrated.

The four-page "Read This First" pamphlet starts with a quick explanation of what a roleplaying game is before presenting a two-page example of play. It uses the four sample characters provided with the Beginner Game as they play through the first scene in the provided scenario. On the back is the introductory text for the scenario, done in the Star Wars classic opening text crawl. Sat underneath the "Read This First" pamphlet is a sheet advertising the forthcoming release of the Star Wars: Edge of the Empire Roleplaying Game and a link to the Fantasy Flight Games’ website for a scenario, “The Long Arm of the Hutt,” to be downloaded and played after the scenario in the Beginner Game. Extra support for the game also includes two more Character Folios that can be downloaded and used to add more players to the game. They consist of a Human Explorer and a Human technician.

The meat of the Beginner Game starts with the Adventure Book, which is labelled, “Read This Second.” It properly introduces the Beginner Game and its contents, but is solely intended to be read and used by the GM. It is written to help him run between two and four players through the scenario, “Escape from Mos Shuuta.” Over the course of seven short encounters it guides the GM through how to run each of them, how to roll the dice and interpret their results, gives options that the player characters might take, and includes break point when the players gets to spend some of their hard earned Experience Points before the action continues. At each stage it introduces new aspects of the rules all laid out clearly so that the GM can find them as the adventure proceeds. Rounding out the Adventure Book are some tips and advice on being a good GM as well as some ideas for future adventures, both in Mos Shuuta and elsewhere.

As written, “Escape from Mos Shuuta” is designed to be run as it is read. To that end, the scenario structure is kept linear and simple. The GM is even advised to tell his players that they might have missed some clues if they have their characters step ahead of an encounter. As read, it does a good job of presenting the GM with the information that he needs at the right time. Even so, it would probably be worth the prospective GM reading through the Adventure Book in order to be better prepared. An experienced GM will probably have no difficulty in running “Escape from Mos Shuuta” as written.

In keeping with Star Wars: Edge of the Empire Roleplaying Game, “Escape from Mos Shuuta” is set on the Outer Rim at the furthest extent of the Galactic Empire’s reach, a region that is home to scum and villainy as well as explorers and colonists, all with concerns beyond the rule of law or the rule of tyranny. Specifically, it takes place in Mos Shuuta, a spaceport in the midst of the Dune Sea on Tatooine. The four player characters, each of whom is employed by, if not indebted to, the local crime boss, Teemo the Hutt, have decided to make a run for it. For this they a need a spaceship and it so happens that one has just docked…

The A3-sized Map Sheet is double-sided. On the one side is the deck plans of the Krayt Fang, a YT-1300 Light Freighter and the docking bay where the player characters find it in the scenario. On the other side is a map of Mos Shuuta, the setting for the scenario; plus plans of a cantina and the spaceport control, both locations in Mos Shuuta.

Each of the four Character Folios runs to eight pages in length. Besides presenting a character and its accompanying character sheet, each Character Folio explains the elements of a character sheet, advancing the character, and the available Talents. Together with the skills available, there is plenty for a player to spend his character’s Experience Points on. The four characters included in the Beginner Game are a Wookie Hired Gun, a droid Colonist, human Smuggler, and a Twi’lek Bounty Hunter, each with their own background story on the last page of their respective Character Folios. In each case, this background is specifically tied into the opening events of “Escape from Mos Shuuta.” Plus, there is a counter for each of the characters included in the counter sheet along with counters for the various NPCs and vehicles encountered over the course of the adventure, “Escape from Mos Shuuta.”

Rounding out the Beginner Box is the Rulebook, which is marked “Read This Book Last.” Expanding upon the rules presented in the Adventure Book, the Rulebook covers all of the action presented in “Escape from Mos Shuuta” and more. Besides all of the extra detail and explanation, it adds support with more gear and equipment, starships and vehicles, and adversaries.

So how do the rules work in the Star Wars: Edge of the Empire Roleplaying Game? Essentially it uses a dice pool mechanic with a player required to assemble a pool drawn from the RPG’s six dice types. The eight-sided Ability dice, the twelve-sided Proficiency dice, and the six-sided Boost dice are positive dice, whilst the eight-sided Difficulty dice, the twelve-sided Challenge dice, and the six-sided Setback dice are negative dice. The Ability dice represent a character’s base skill or aptitude, the Proficiency dice his innate ability and training, whilst Boost dice are benefits granted from the situation. The Difficulty dice represent the task’s inherent complexity, the Challenge dice more extreme adversity; and Setback dice obstacles that come from the situation. The positive dice are marked with Success, Advantage, and Triumph symbols, all of which a player wants to roll, as opposed to the Failure, Threat, and Despair symbols on the negative dice, which he does not.

When rolled, the opposing symbols on the dice cancel each other out, but a player only needs to roll a single Success to succeed at a task. At its heart though, the dice mechanic in Star Wars: Edge of the Empire is orientated towards a narrative outcome rather than a simple binary yes/no outcome. Thus the symbols rolled will actually tell the story of the outcome. For example, a character might roll a simple number of Successes; no Successes, but an Advantage or two; or a number of Failures and several Triumphs; and so on. How these outcomes are interpreted perhaps represents the most challenging aspect of the game, especially for those players new to roleplaying.

The Star Wars: Edge of the Empire – Beginner Game comes with fourteen dice. These consist of three Ability dice, two Proficiency dice, two Boost dice, three Difficulty dice, a single Challenge die, and two Setback dice. The last and fourteenth die is the twelve-sided Force die. This is solely used to generate Destiny Points in the Beginner Game, which both the players and the GM can spend to upgrade the dice types in their pools. An Ability die to a Proficiency die for a player character, a Difficulty die to a Challenge die for the GM’s NPCs. Destiny Points do a lot more in the Star Wars: Edge of the Empire Roleplaying Game, but common to both the full roleplaying game and the Beginner Game, Destiny Points have a dark side and a light side. The player characters use the light side, whilst the GM uses the dark side, and cleverly, when a Destiny Point is used by one side, it flips so that it can be used by the other side. Thus, when a player uses a light side Destiny Point, it switches to a dark side that only the GM can use. Several Destiny Points are included as counters in the Beginner Game.

There is no doubt that the Star Wars: Edge of the Empire – Beginner Game comes nicely appointed. It is also written and overall, a pleasing package. For the experienced roleplayer or GM, it is easy to open up a copy of the Beginner Game and get playing after a relatively short period of preparation. It will be even easier if the GM has read the Rulebook that comes with the Beginner Game, or indeed read either the Star Wars: Edge of the Empire Roleplaying Game beta
or the forthcoming full version of the Star Wars: Edge of the Empire Roleplaying Game.
It is not though, as well an appointed introduction to roleplaying Star Wars as was West End Games’ Star Wars Introductory Adventure Game. That was as much a utility package as it was an introduction and to that end included more adventures, more support, and more hand outs. Times change though, and so production values, for the production values in the Star Wars: Edge of the Empire – Beginner Game are much higher, with better art and a stronger themed layout.

Yet whilst it appears to include everything that a GM and his players needs to play, there are two issues with the Beginner Game. The first is minor; the second is more of an issue. The first is that it feels concise, as if it could have included something more. The emptiness of the box that the Beginner Game comes in only contributes to that feeling, and perhaps the inclusion of a second scenario would gone some way to negating this feeling. The second is an issue for the player coming to the Beginner Game for the first time. He is just not quite as well served as the GM. Other introductory boxed sets for other RPGs, including the one for the d6 Star Wars, have provided a player with a means of learning the rules and the mechanics, usually some kind of solo adventure. Now each Character Folio does include an explanation of the dice symbols and it does indicate which types of dice have to be rolled with each skill check, but it does not explain how a dice pool is rolled and how its results are interpreted. This is perhaps the biggest omission in Star Wars: Edge of the Empire – Beginner Game.

Despite this omission, the Star Wars: Edge of the Empire – Beginner Game is everything that a prospective Star Wars roleplayer would want. It includes the rules, an adventure, characters, maps to play on, and perhaps most importantly of all, the dice! Not just a solid introduction to the Star Wars: Edge of the Empire Roleplaying Game, but a good introduction to the roleplaying hobby too.