Post originally by Larry Lade at 2005-03-18 17:13:50
Converted from Phorums BB System

I would say Deep Beyond should be you first choice for supplement if you are undecided as to setting. It was originally slated to be the TS "core" book, but was pushed into a supplement for (wise) marketing reasons. It's the "other" book by David Pulver. The crunchy stuff is better integrated, too.

High Frontier was authored by numerous other authors, so it has an anthology feel. Some stuff is superb, some stuff is kind of iffy. Not a bad little cookbook though. Also remember, it doesn't cover the Earth itself, just Earth orbit and Luna.

That said, either book features independent idealogical colonies in space, which is to my mind the fun part about the setting. The primary difference between the two settings is the stations in earth orbit are, of course, in a much smaller area, meaning you can shuttle around from place to place without having to calculate the months-long voyages for the outer system. Also, the nation-states of earth can more easily stick their noses (and arms) into things, so it's politically more familiar.

And if you really want to gearhead out your own space station, the components you want are in High Frontier.